Recaps

Fang Shu defeated Chang Feng in the Dharma battle, then returned to the Scripture Pavilion, where his book knowledge impressed Song Mo. Song Mo urged Fang Shu to meet his master and seek discipleship.

• Fang Shu forced the Chang Family to concede after Chang Feng lost consciousness, then departed the arena without accepting Han Zihe’s feather robe.
• Wu Tong and his wife celebrated Fang Shu’s victory as spectators gathered around them, while Tie Zhenglian and Liu Wuxing fled in fear and regret.
• Fang Shu returned to the Scripture Pavilion to read before reporting to Yellow Wolf Immortal.
• Fang Shu met Song Mo, and the two tested each other’s knowledge of the books on the ninth floor.
• Song Mo learned Fang Shu had been reading there for less than ten days and urged him to meet Song Mo’s master, who should take him as a disciple or direct disciple.

Fang Shu declined Song Mo’s offer to become Mirage Origin Immortal’s disciple, then learned that Yellow Wolf Immortal had left the Vast Sea and entrusted him with a token and instructions. While Fang Shu refined the Suppression Technique beneath the ginkgo tree, Chang Feng recovered from his injuries and went to ask his Patriarch for punishment.

• Song Mo revealed that Mirage Origin Immortal was his aunt and offered to introduce Fang Shu, but Fang Shu declined because Yellow Wolf Immortal had already made him a direct disciple.
• Fang Shu finished reading the ninth-floor texts, visited Yellow Wolf Immortal Mountain, and learned from a talisman that his master had left the Vast Sea for several years.
• Yellow Wolf Immortal’s message named another direct disciple and gave Fang Shu permission to borrow one Dao Scripture monthly and seek Green Lion’s aid in a life-threatening emergency.
• Fang Shu stayed beneath the sentient ginkgo tree and used Three Lights Divine Water and Chang Feng’s blood essence to analyze the Suppression Technique.
• The Yuan Family was dismantled after the Dao struggle, while the Tang Family prospered and the Chang Family nursed Chang Feng back to health.
• Chang Feng recovered, climbed to his Patriarch’s palace, admitted his failure, and asked to be punished.

Chang Feng’s ancestor erased his memories and personality after discovering that his fortune had already been drained, while Fang Shu completed a protective suppression coin. Fang Shu returned to the Tang Family, received a grand procession, and accepted his formal elevation as a direct disciple.

• Chang Feng entered the Dao palace expecting punishment, but his ancestor made him an attendant and erased his memories and personality after finding his fortune depleted.
• Fang Shu finished refining a copper coin that would absorb the backlash of his suppression arts and wore it as a protective pendant.
• Fang Shu left Yellow Wolf Immortal Mountain and returned to the Tang Family, where the family and visiting immortals welcomed him as a direct disciple.
• Wu Tong, his wife, and other Iron Clan members came to congratulate Fang Shu, while Tie Zhenglian’s mother and Wang Tishen failed to get his attention.
• A jade carriage procession arrived and invited Fang Shu to return to the Immortal Prefecture and be entered into the azure registers as a direct disciple.
• Fang Shu boarded the carriage and circled the city before ascending above the Immortal Prefecture in full view of its people.

Fang Shu completed his formal investiture as a direct disciple of the Vast Sea Immortal Prefecture and searched the available estates after learning that the Earth-grade mountains had been requisitioned. He chose a Profound-grade island containing a Dead Sea Water Eye, drawn by the traces of ancient Daoists despite its dangerous curse.

• Fang Shu received direct-disciple robes, servant talismans, a new identity token, and a year's provisions, then completed the incense rite confirming his status.
• A sweeping elder told Fang Shu that the Earth-grade estates had been temporarily requisitioned by the Chang Family True Immortal and that only Profound-grade choices remained.
• Fang Shu recognized the requisitioned estates as lying near the Chang Family ancestral grounds and suspected the Chang Family True Immortal had arranged the obstruction while Master Huang was away.
• Fang Shu examined the available Profound-grade estates and discovered that one aquatic island held a Dead Sea Water Eye with a spirit vein and traces of an ancient Daoist formation, but also a dangerous curse.
• Fang Shu decided to choose the Dead Sea Water Eye estate and announced his choice to the sweeping elder, who reacted with surprise.

Fang Shu claimed the Dead Sea Water Eye as his immortal mountain and discovered an ancient altar hidden inside it. After absorbing the Dragon Qi sealed within the altar’s boulder, he watched the altar open a doorway into a secret realm.

• The sweeping old man assigned the Dead Sea Water Eye to Fang Shu, and Fang Shu ordered his servants to travel there.
• Fang Shu arrived at the immortal mountain, ordered its structures demolished, and explored the lake and its spiritual acupoints.
• Fang Shu found an ancient stone altar sealed inside a boulder and realized the sinister qi within it was Dragon Qi that could nourish his Dao Insect.
• Fang Shu spent several dozen days using Gu insects to inspect and secure the Water Eye before drawing the Dragon Qi from the boulder.
• The drained boulder cracked apart, and the altar formed a spiritual energy doorway that Fang Shu recognized as an entrance to a secret realm.

Fang Shu entered a tiny hidden realm in the Dead Sea Water Eye and discovered an ancient Daoist inheritance, The Five Decays of Heaven and Man, a scripture for cursing living beings and immortals. He gained control of the realm’s gateway, then moved the altar and redirected the spiritual vein to hide it from intruders.

• Fang Shu tested the altar’s gateway with gu insects and found that it severed their karmic connections to the outside world without harming them.
• Fang Shu entered the hidden realm, confirmed that it was isolated from the Outer World, and found a bronze bamboo slip beneath the altar.
• Fang Shu deciphered the Dao Scripture The Five Decays of Heaven and Man and recognized it as an ancient curse-killing inheritance compatible with the Witchcraft Suppression Discipline.
• Fang Shu bowed to the predecessor who left the scripture, then used spirit stones and his true qi to gain control over the altar’s gateway.
• Fang Shu discovered that opening and closing the gateway strained the Dead Sea Water Eye’s spiritual vein, then moved the altar and redirected the vein to conceal the hidden realm.

Fang Shu sealed his mountain, established Fang Immortal Cave, and accepted a post in the Beast Hall after reconnecting with Han Zihe. Their relationship remained guarded, but they agreed to maintain the appearance of proper senior and junior brothers.

• Fang Shu gave the mountain’s strongmen and jade maidens the choice to leave or stay under his rules, then kept ten and freed them from their life-and-death talismans.
• Fang Shu spent more than half a year completing his cave estate, which he named Fang Immortal Cave.
• After receiving Han Zihe’s invitation to meet other direct disciples, Fang Shu replied and asked him to find a position in the immortal prefecture.
• Han Zihe gave Fang Shu a token appointing him to manage the Beast Hall, explaining that he could later move to the Gu Palace if a vacancy opened.
• Fang Shu accepted the post, and he and Han Zihe privately resolved to remain formally cordial despite their past entanglements.

Fang Shu settled into the Beast Hall, where he refined gu insects, built relationships, and enjoyed increasingly generous access to resources. When a questionable spirit-beast rental request arose in the Beast-Raising Elder’s absence, Fang Shu refused to approve it, and the young visitors who wanted the beasts confronted him.

• Fang Shu toured the Beast Hall, studied its creatures, and began refining gu insects with beast materials and other hall resources.
• After half a year, the Beast-Raising Elder checked on Fang Shu, and the hall’s stewards began proactively supplying him with resources and introductions.
• Fang Shu became established in the Beast Hall, befriended Song Mo, and grew closer to the Beast-Raising Elder.
• A steward urged Fang Shu to stamp a spirit-beast rental document with the borrowers’ names left blank, but Fang Shu refused and withdrew to his quiet room.
• A group of arrogant young men and women forced open Fang Shu’s quiet-room door and complained that the hall was obstructing their request to rent demonic creatures.

Fang Shu confronted mountain disciples from the Upper Nine Gates after they barged into his quiet room, assaulted Beast Hall stewards, and demanded spirit beasts under a True Immortal decree. He restrained them and prepared a public trial, leaving their motives and the wider response unresolved.

• The Upper Nine Gates' mountain disciples berated Fang Shu and whipped a Beast Hall steward, while the stewards revealed the visitors' powerful ties to True Immortal Dancheng.
• A silver-crowned youth surnamed Zhao asked Fang Shu to let the matter go, but then chopped through Fang Shu's quiet-room doors with a jade axe.
• Fang Shu used his pressure to force the group to their knees and learned from a steward that attacking a direct disciple without cause could be punishable by execution.
• After the mountain disciples threatened him with their True Immortal connections, Fang Shu sent Song Mo a voice transmission to investigate their backgrounds and used Sword Qi to immobilize them.
• Fang Shu bound the disciples with a whip, brought them to the Beast Hall's main hall, and ordered a public trial, notices to the Zhao-surnamed clans, and the Inspection Hall's attendance.

After learning from Song Mo that the Immortal Mountain youths could be challenged without fear, Fang Shu refused to release them and crippled them before the aristocratic families and the Inspection Hall. The Inspection Hall took up the dispute, and Fang Shu left the Beast Hall unopposed.

• Song Mo warned Fang Shu about the Immortal Mountain youths and urged him not to let them bully a direct disciple.
• The Beast-Tending Elder returned and tried to persuade Fang Shu to release the youths, but Fang Shu insisted on handling the matter through the Inspection Hall.
• Representatives of the Upper Nine Gates families and the Inspection Hall arrived, and Fang Shu destroyed the blank document before declaring that they were witnesses.
• Fang Shu formed a Gu Formation around the Immortal Mountain youths and extracted their spiritual roots and veins, crippling their cultivation.
• The Beast-Tending Elder shielded Fang Shu from the enraged families, and the Inspection Hall began mediating the dispute under palace regulations.
• Fang Shu withdrew the Gu Formation and left the Beast Hall without anyone stopping him.

Fang Shu received a Millennium Marrow Pearl from the Beast Hall as compensation for the dispute with the immortal mountain disciples. He fed it to the long-unhatched giant toad egg, which transformed into a powerful demon embryo and began consuming his resources in the small secret realm.

• Fang Shu secluded himself in Fang Immortal Cave after Song Mo and Senior Brother Wu Tong and his wife advised him to wait for the Immortal Prefecture's decision.
• The Beast Hall told Fang Shu he no longer needed to report for duty and sent him a premium Millennium Marrow Pearl, while the Inspection Hall confirmed that the nine great clans had taken their disciples back for strict supervision.
• Fang Shu studied the Pearl, found it could strengthen bloodlines, and decided against consuming it himself because of the risk of irreversible effects.
• Fang Shu gave the Millennium Marrow Pearl to the giant toad egg he had kept for years, then entered the small secret realm and prepared to oversee its hatching.
• Fang Shu nourished the egg with his dharma power and spirit stones for eight days, raising it to Foundation Establishment potential before its vitality and Bloodline finally stabilized.

Fang Shu used a curse-killing ritual to eliminate the former Immortal Mountain disciples who had threatened him, then turned his attention to the unexpectedly early hatching of his toad egg. The creature emerged with Foundation Establishment strength but appeared to lack Golden Core potential.

• Fang Shu discovered that the toad egg would take months or years to hatch and learned that the expelled Immortal Mountain disciples were being sheltered by their families.
• Fang Shu performed the Heaven-Human Five Decays Curse-Killing Art inside his small mystic realm, using the disciples’ essence blood and paper figures as links to his targets.
• Fang Shu burned the paper figures outside the Immortal City, returned to his cave, and kept out of sight as the disciples began dying from sudden losses of vitality.
• The great families eventually connected the deaths to the victims’ past conflicts with Fang Shu and sent him questioning and reproachful transmission talismans.
• Fang Shu found that the toad egg had cracked early, and its hatchling emerged at Foundation Establishment level while resonating with the laws of heaven and earth.
• Fang Shu concluded that the hatchling had been forced to emerge early by the nourishment inside its egg and likely lacked Golden Core potential, though it was already a powerful Foundation Establishment spirit beast.

Fang Shu bonded with the newly hatched spirit beast Steamed Bun and discovered it had absorbed curse-killing qi, prompting him to consider turning it into a Curse Frog. Meanwhile, Zhao Yunfan persuaded the Zhao Family to stop pursuing Fang Shu, and the affected aristocratic families covered up the deaths.

• Fang Shu used a blood-red talisman to bind the hatched toad-frog, named it Steamed Bun, and decided to raise it as a spirit beast rather than teach it immortal arts.
• Fang Shu found curse-killing qi inside Steamed Bun and learned it had absorbed the qi while living in the minor mystic realm during his spellcasting.
• Fang Shu realized Steamed Bun might be able to use curse-killing qi as true qi and considered making it a Curse Frog that could cast curse techniques for him.
• Zhao Yunfan told the Zhao Family that, without evidence, they should stop pursuing the matter and avoid provoking Fang Shu.
• The Zhao Family burned the evidence and claimed their disciple had died from qi deviation; the other aristocratic families also concealed the deaths and chose not to pursue Fang Shu.

Fang Shu investigated his spirit pet Curse Frog Mantou and received an invitation to a golden core ceremony, whose purpose he could not determine. After learning the ceremony would be held by the Scarlet City Immortal Prefecture, he went to seek Azure Lion Immortal’s advice and protection.

• Fang Shu discovered that Curse Frog Mantou had absorbed fortune from people killed by his curses, but its soul and intelligence had been stunted by curse-killing aura.
• Fang Shu introduced Mantou as the second master of Fang Immortal Cave and left the servants to care for it.
• Fang Shu received an Auxiliary Hall invitation to a golden core ceremony and asked Wu Tong and Song Mo to investigate whether it was a trap or a reward.
• Wu Tong and his wife identified the host as the Scarlet City Immortal Prefecture but could not learn which faction had invited Fang Shu.
• Fang Shu decided to consult Azure Lion Immortal, brought spirit fish as gifts, and called out to him from the iron chain before his mountain.

Fang Shu visited Azure Lion Immortal to ask why he had been selected to travel to Scarlet City Immortal Prefecture and learned that the journey was both a reward and a test. After agreeing to go, he heard Azure Lion Immortal explain the major Dao orthodoxies of Zucchini Continent, leaving him with a clearer picture of the continent’s power structure.

• Fang Shu entered Azure Lion Immortal’s mountain and learned that the bald old fisherman was his master Yellow Wolf Immortal’s close associate.
• Fang Shu explained his Beast Hall conflict and asked why he had been chosen as a ceremonial envoy; Azure Lion Immortal sent a message to investigate.
• While waiting, Azure Lion Immortal praised Fang Shu’s boldness and entertained him with stories about Yellow Wolf Immortal’s past.
• Azure Lion Immortal reported that Prefecture power brokers had selected Fang Shu as a reward for joining the Master-Disciple Lineage, but warned that the journey could test him and expose him to danger.
• Fang Shu asked about the trip’s arrangements, then agreed to depart after Azure Lion Immortal explained the risks.
• Azure Lion Immortal outlined the ranks of Zucchini Continent’s orthodox powers, and Fang Shu reflected that the Five Sects of Mount Lu barely qualified as an unorthodox lineage.

Fang Shu visited the Azure Lion Immortal for advice about traveling to the True Inheritance Grand Ceremony and received permission to fish in his lightning pond for a meeting gift. He caught the Azure Heavens Blue Nether Lightning, which the Azure Lion Immortal turned into a reusable spirit-lightning hairpin and gave him.

• Fang Shu thanked the Azure Lion Immortal for his guidance and learned that his master, the Yellow Wolf Immortal, had left him no specific means of protecting his life.
• The Azure Lion Immortal told Fang Shu to fish in the pond, promising that whatever he caught would be his gift.
• Fang Shu sensed that the pond connected to the lightning beyond the mountain and risked his mana to catch a bolt of False Core lightning.
• The Azure Lion Immortal caught the lightning before it struck Fang Shu and recognized it as the Azure Heavens Blue Nether Lightning he had cultivated before forming his Golden Core.
• The Azure Lion Immortal transformed the spirit lightning into a serpent-shaped hairpin for Fang Shu, explaining that it could be used repeatedly and restored in thunderstorms.

Fang Shu joined a ceremonial diplomatic mission to Scarlet City Immortal Prefecture aboard Yu Manlou’s heavily laden Cloud Ship, alongside the Heavenly Spirit Root disciple Qi Yuexin. When the ship stopped at a Vast Sea oasis for trade, Fang Shu secretly inspected its cargo and discovered unusually elaborate restrictions below deck, leaving him suspicious of what Yu Manlou was carrying.

• Fang Shu received the departure notice, gathered his belongings, and went to the Auxiliary Hall, where he met Yu Manlou and learned the mission would also carry goods for trade.
• Fang Shu met Qi Yuexin, a Heavenly Spirit Root direct disciple, and boarded the Nine Tribulations Cloud Ship with her and Yu Manlou.
• Fang Shu meditated during the voyage while feeding the delivered food and medicine to Curse Frog Mantou, which developed more curse-killing aura.
• Yu Manlou stopped the ship at a Vast Sea oasis to trade with the Longtail Tribe, despite Qi Yuexin warning him not to jeopardize the ceremonial mission.
• Fang Shu used the Invisibility Technique to inspect the ship and found unusually intricate restrictions protecting the cargo below the cabins.
• Fang Shu grew suspicious and forced his divine consciousness into the restrictions.

Fang Shu broke into a restricted cabin aboard Yu Manlou’s cloud ship and discovered that the Yu Family was harvesting living people for magical implements and cultivating Sha. He and Qi Yuexin confronted Yu Manlou, who let them leave, but Fang Shu ended the chapter by questioning whether Yu Manlou planned to kill them and blame the Longtail Tribe.

• Fang Shu forcibly broke through the cabin restrictions, and Qi Yuexin joined him inside.
• Fang Shu and Qi Yuexin found organs harvested from living people, hollowed-out bodies, and arrays that gathered souls and resentment.
• Fang Shu recorded evidence while Qi Yuexin nearly sent a message to the Immortal Prefecture, but Fang Shu told her to put away her token and face the cabin’s master.
• Yu Manlou returned, and Fang Shu demanded that he let them leave; Yu Manlou agreed and claimed the clan’s dealings would not affect their cultivation.
• As Fang Shu and Qi Yuexin prepared to disembark, Fang Shu asked whether Yu Manlou might kill them and frame the Longtail Tribe.

Fang Shu exposed evidence linking Yu Manlou to the killing of Immortal Prefecture disciples and joined Qi Yuexin in confronting him aboard the Cloud Ship. Fang Shu killed Yu Manlou’s body with Azure Heavens Blue Nether Lightning, then trapped his soul, leaving Yu Manlou defeated and in his custody.

• Fang Shu attacked Yu Manlou and struck the Cloud Ship’s cabin, while warning Qi Yuexin that artifacts below contained traces of Immortal Prefecture disciples.
• Qi Yuexin attacked Yu Manlou and demanded he submit to an investigation, but Yu Manlou retaliated with talismans and tried to retreat into the cabin.
• Fang Shu activated the Gu Insects he had arranged around the deck, trapping Yu Manlou as Qi Yuexin helped seal his escape routes.
• Fang Shu killed Yu Manlou’s body with Azure Heavens Blue Nether Lightning, then revealed the lightning had exhausted itself as Yu Manlou’s soul tried to flee.
• Qi Yuexin and Fang Shu ensnared Yu Manlou’s soul in a net, and Fang Shu began searching the charred corpse while Yu Manlou cursed helplessly.

Fang Shu and Qi Yuexin uncovered the Yu Family’s crimes and the Longtail Tribe’s role in hunting and harvesting immortals, then destroyed both groups aboard the cloud ship. After dividing the captured wealth, Qi Yuexin began to recognize how readily she had grown pleased by the spoils of slaughter, and found reassurance in Fang Shu’s calm presence.

• Fang Shu rejected Qi Yuexin’s suggestion to report Yu Manlou’s crimes immediately and searched Yu Manlou’s soul for evidence, but Yu Manlou destroyed himself before Fang Shu could stop him.
• Fang Shu and Qi Yuexin learned from Yu Manlou’s memories that the Yu Family and Longtail Tribe had been killing and harvesting immortals, and that others had hired Yu Manlou to cripple or kill Fang Shu.
• Fang Shu and Qi Yuexin sent secret reports to their masters, seized control of the cloud ship, and summoned and killed the Yu Family members aboard, sparing the souls of those with lesser guilt.
• Fang Shu divided the ship’s remaining resources with Qi Yuexin, then invited Longtail Tribe leaders aboard and killed the tribe’s members through a staged banquet and successive waves of traps.
• Qi Yuexin killed thousands during the destruction of the Longtail Tribe and felt delight at the spirit stones they gained, but her panic eased when she saw Fang Shu calmly drinking tea among the corpses.

Fang Shu and Qi Yuexin crossed the Dead Sea while Fang Shu cultivated the Azure Heavens Blue Nether Lightning in its storm clouds. Qi Yuexin repeatedly healed his lightning injuries with her Three Lights Divine Water, and Fang Shu restored the lightning technique and gained insight into the Dao of lightning.

• Fang Shu spared the Longtail Tribe's spirit vein and left the ancestral oasis with Qi Yuexin on his Peach Blossom Mistcloud.
• Fang Shu and Qi Yuexin reached the Dead Sea, where Fang Shu used Gloomy Wood to give them footing across the water.
• Fang Shu entered the storm clouds to nourish the Azure Heavens Blue Nether Lightning, and Qi Yuexin watched him draw on heavenly lightning.
• After Fang Shu fell gravely injured, Qi Yuexin offered him Three Lights Divine Water, which rapidly healed him.
• Qi Yuexin continued treating Fang Shu whenever he returned from the thunderclouds, allowing him to restore the Azure Heavens Blue Nether Lightning in seven or eight days and deepen his understanding of lightning.

Azure Lion Immortal, Qi Yuexin’s master, and the Yu Family Ancestor reacted to the deaths of Yu Manlou and his companions, while Fang Shu and Qi Yuexin recovered on the Gloomy Wood. Fang Shu’s injuries healed, and he saw the Azure Heavens Blue Nether Lightning mark in his palm.

• Azure Lion Immortal read Fang Shu’s message, suspected the Yu Family, and sent a transmission to Qi Yuexin’s master.
• Qi Yuexin’s master crushed Azure Lion Immortal’s transmission without replying, leaving her stance unclear.
• The Yu Family Ancestor learned that Yu Manlou and the others had died, ordered a secret search for their killer, and forbade the clan from involving Immortal Prefecture disciples.
• Fang Shu and Qi Yuexin reasoned that the Yu Family had learned of the deaths and agreed they could stay away from the Immortal Prefecture if necessary.
• Qi Yuexin repeatedly gave Fang Shu fresh Three Lights Divine Water, healing his thunderfire injuries.
• Fang Shu opened his eyes and saw the Azure Heavens Blue Nether Lightning pattern in his palm.

Fang Shu and Qi Yuexin reached Scarlet City Immortal Prefecture after traveling across Zucchini Continent, where Fang Shu guided Qi Yuexin through the mortal world and its cruelties. They reunited with Vast Sea’s other direct inheritors, but questions about the absent Fellow Daoist Yu left their gathering awkward as they awaited the True Inheritance Grand Ceremony.

• Fang Shu took Qi Yuexin through mortal cities for two months, letting her witness human schemes and cruelty until she killed thirty-eight culpable cultivators and mortals.
• Fang Shu explained how clan hierarchies could exploit their own members, then led Qi Yuexin toward Scarlet City Immortal Prefecture.
• Fang Shu and Qi Yuexin reached Scarlet City Mountain, presented Fang Shu’s Vast Sea token, and were escorted into the city.
• Ming Jianxi welcomed Qi Yuexin and introduced the gathered disciples, who explained that Vast Sea had sent eight direct inheritors and that White Dust was visiting Scarlet City.
• Ming Jianxi questioned Fang Shu about the missing Fellow Daoist Yu, but Fang Shu and Qi Yuexin declined to answer, leaving the gathering subdued.

Fang Shu and Qi Yuexin paid their respects to True Immortal White Truth, who pressed Fang Shu about Yu Manlou’s disappearance. After Fang Shu’s palm sparked with lightning and the True Immortal withdrew his pressure, he dismissed the disciples and privately warned Fang Shu about his many Storage Bags.

• Ming Jianxi persuaded Fang Shu and Qi Yuexin to wait for True Immortal White Truth and pay their respects with the other Vast Sea disciples.
• True Immortal White Truth arrived, noticed Yu Manlou was missing, and asked Fang Shu what had happened.
• Fang Shu gave a brief account of the fire and fight aboard Yu Manlou’s Cloud Ship, then fell silent under the True Immortal’s pressure.
• Lightning flickered across Fang Shu’s left palm, and True Immortal White Truth withdrew his divine pressure before hearing Qi Yuexin’s account and dismissing the disciples.
• As Fang Shu and Qi Yuexin left, True Immortal White Truth warned Fang Shu to keep his many Storage Bags hidden and not flaunt his wealth outside the prefecture.

White Dust Immortal suspected Fang Shu had killed Yu Manlou but let him leave because Fang Shu had the protection of Yellow Wolf Immortal and Green Lion Immortal. After facing a True Immortal’s pressure, Fang Shu resolved to rely on his own strength and pursue forming his Golden Core.

• White Dust Immortal told Ming Jianxi that Yu Manlou’s soul lamp had gone out and that Fang Shu was likely responsible, but warned her not to meddle because Fang Shu had two powerful patrons.
• Ming Jianxi admitted her concern for Yu Manlou, then concealed her involvement in shady dealings with him and hurried to dispose of the goods aboard her Cloud Ship.
• Fang Shu sealed his room with swarms of gu insects and angrily reflected on White Dust Immortal’s pressure.
• Fang Shu recognized that his backers could not protect him at all times and that he remained powerless before a True Immortal without a Golden Core.
• Fang Shu resolved to reclaim his will to survive, cultivate his own strength, and form his Golden Core, then hurried out of his spirit residence.