Recaps

Wen Ning encouraged the Sparrow Spirit after a failed blind date, then spoke with his mother and learned that Yamamoto had been sentenced to the Eighteen Levels of Hell. The chapter ended with Wen Ning asking Meng Jiang and his godfather to ensure Yamamoto was sent to the Animal Realm after his sentence.

• Wen Ning advised the Sparrow Spirit to learn singing from an oriole so he could impress the hwamei, and the Sparrow Spirit flew off with the oriole.
• Wen Ning spoke with his mother, reassured her about his health and business, and realized he should visit home after several months away.
• Meng Jiang told Wen Ning that Yamamoto had been sentenced to one hundred years in the Eighteen Levels of Hell.
• Wen Ning asked Meng Jiang and his godfather to arrange for Yamamoto to be sent to the Animal Realm after his sentence.

Wen Ning returned to his hometown to visit his parents and pray at the temple dedicated to Wen Zhong. Wen Zhong sensed him at the temple and burned the cigarettes Wen Ning had once given him beside his incense burner.

• Wen Ning closed his shop temporarily and traveled by coach to his hometown with gifts for his parents.
• Wen Ning reunited with his mother and father, gave them the gifts, and reassured them about his work and well-being.
• Wen Ning ate dinner with his parents and listened as his mother worried about him and urged him to find a girlfriend.
• Wen Ning visited the Grand Marshal Temple the next morning, prayed for his parents' health and safety, and left offerings for Wen Zhong.
• Wen Zhong sensed Wen Ning at the temple, then burned the cigarettes Wen Ning had given him in the Heavenly Court.

Wen Ning reunited with childhood friends over barbecue and heard that his former crush, Liu Siyu, was marrying their classmate Zhao Qiang. He returned home feeling that his ties to ordinary life had faded, though his mother was still waiting for him.

• Wen Ning accepted Zhang Wei's invitation to meet him and Li Chao at their old barbecue place.
• Zhang Wei and Li Chao told Wen Ning that Liu Siyu was marrying Zhao Qiang, and Wen Ning calmly wished them happiness.
• Wen Ning listened as Zhang Wei and Li Chao reminisced about their school days and left after they finished drinking.
• Wen Ning reflected on how life had diverged from their school rankings and recalled that his godfather's power over thunder surpassed the God of Wealth's power over money.
• Wen Ning returned home to find his mother had left him honey water, and he felt he no longer fit into ordinary life.

Wen Ning discovered a hidden monster bar in the mountain woods and befriended its owner, the fox spirit Tu Shan Qingqing. After sharing drinks and learning about the bar’s customers, he invited her to visit his Bathhouse.

• Wen Ning failed to break through to Late Earth Immortal because he lacked enough merit and decided to take a walk the next day.
• Wen Ning followed a gentle stirring in his dantian into a hidden clearing and found a monster bar called The One Bar.
• Tu Shan Qingqing recognized Wen Ning as an immortal and welcomed him with a glass of her Osmanthus Brew.
• Tu Shan Qingqing told Wen Ning about the monster bar’s customers and exposed the Crane Spirit’s false boasts about the Investiture of the Gods War.
• Wen Ning invited Tu Shan Qingqing to his Bathhouse for a free back scrub, then left the bar as the Crane Spirit began boasting again.

Wen Ning left his village after asking the Land God to watch over his parents and returned to his shop in the city. There, Gong Kai announced that he had started dating a nurse named Hu Jiumei.

• Wen Ning packed his mother's food and asked the Land God to protect his parents while he was away.
• The Land God accepted Wen Ning's tea, learned he worked for the Thunder Department, and asked him to recommend him for a promotion.
• Wen Ning's parents sent him off with cucumbers, boiled eggs, and reminders to take care of himself.
• Wen Ning returned to his shop, offered incense to Wen Zhong, and unpacked the food his family had prepared.
• Gong Kai visited Wen Ning and told him he had a girlfriend named Hu Jiumei, whom he had met at a subway station.

Wen Ning learned that Hu Jiumei had returned to the mortal world and become Gong Kai’s girlfriend, then helped register their human-demon relationship with the Heavenly Court. He left Gong Kai unaware that his late-night congratulations marked the couple’s official approval.

• Gong Kai invited Wen Ning to dinner to celebrate his new girlfriend, and Wen Ning recognized Hu Jiumei when they met at the hot pot restaurant.
• Hu Jiumei privately told Wen Ning that a Vermilion Fruit had advanced her cultivation and that she had secured a nursing job and mortal identity so she could build a life with Gong Kai.
• Wen Ning learned that Hu Jiumei had not told Gong Kai she was Little Red, and he helped the couple keep their secret when Gong Kai returned.
• Wen Ning visited the Thunder Department, where Lu Ming and Meng Jiang discussed registering the couple’s relationship and updating Hu Jiumei’s Underworld file.
• Wen Ning completed the paperwork at the Marriage Bureau and later texted Gong Kai congratulations, though Gong Kai did not know what he was congratulating them for.

Wen Ning heard how the Sparrow Spirit began dating his oriole singing teacher, then helped Hu Jiumei with her marriage registration. Lin Yuwei arrived seeking help for her brother Lin Hao, whose unexplained pustules were caused by grudge poison, and Wen Ning went to examine him.

• The Sparrow Spirit told Wen Ning that the hwamei rejected him, but he began dating the oriole who had comforted him.
• Wen Ning asked Hu Jiumei when she and Gong Kai would complete their Yao Qi test and Marriage Bureau registration.
• Lin Yuwei told Wen Ning that her brother Lin Hao had developed spreading pustules that doctors could not explain.
• Lin Yuwei said a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner had identified Lin Hao's condition as grudge poison.
• Wen Ning agreed to examine Lin Hao and left with Lin Yuwei, telling Big Yellow to watch the shop.

Wen Ning discovered that Lin Yuwei’s brother had contracted Grudge Poison through his cruelty to animals and refused to treat him. He left the Lin family’s villa, convinced the man’s suffering was retribution.

• Lin Yuwei drove Wen Ning to her family’s villa and said her brother had always been well-behaved.
• Mr. and Mrs. Lin let Wen Ning examine Xiaohao after hospitals and doctors had failed to help him.
• Wen Ning saw Xiaohao covered in pustules and the faint souls of cats and dogs he had killed gathered around his bed.
• Xiaohao said his pets had disappeared one after another, while Lin Yuwei defended her brother’s affection for animals.
• Wen Ning told Xiaohao he had brought the Grudge Poison upon himself and said he could not cure him.
• Wen Ning rejected Lin Yuwei’s request for an explanation, left in a taxi, and declared that Xiaohao deserved retribution.

Wen Ning refused to save Lin Hao after learning he had tortured several cats and dogs to death, while Lin Yuwei confronted her family about their indifference. Lin Yuwei left after bowing to Wen Ning, who stood by his decision.

• Wen Ning returned to his agency and told the Weasel Old Man that Lin Hao was beyond saving, describing the injured animal souls he had seen.
• The Weasel Old Man told Wen Ning that many people did not value animals' lives, and Wen Ning felt exhausted by what he could not change.
• Lin Yuwei asked Lin Hao what he had done, and he admitted he had killed several stray cats and dogs for fun.
• Lin Yuwei told her parents about Lin Hao's cruelty, but they dismissed it and focused on finding a way to cure him.
• Lin Yuwei returned to Wen Ning and offered money for his help, but he refused to save Lin Hao and said every life carried equal weight.
• Lin Yuwei bowed to Wen Ning before leaving, while he turned away without agreeing to help.

Lin Yuwei’s family sought help for Lin Hao’s grudge poison, but Ma Cheng failed and lost three years of his life. After Lin Yuwei knelt outside Wen Ning’s agency all night, Wen Ning agreed to help and prepared to go with Big Golden Retriever.

• Ma Cheng attempted to cure Lin Hao’s grudge poison, but the effort cost him three years of his life, so he left without treating Lin Hao.
• Lin Yuwei decided to seek Wen Ning’s help, and her father agreed as the family ran out of options.
• Lin Yuwei drove to Wen Ning’s agency and knelt outside through the night while Wen Ning stayed inside.
• The next morning, Wen Ning let Lin Yuwei inside and called Xie Bi'an to ask how the grudge poison could be resolved.
• Xie Bi'an explained that the poison could be dispersed by destroying the victims’ souls or by punishing the perpetrator to satisfy them.
• Wen Ning asked Lin Yuwei whether she accepted any price or punishment, and she agreed; he then took Big Golden Retriever with him.

Wen Ning judged Lin Hao for torturing animals after the kittens and puppies rejected his insincere apology, and Xie Bi'an deducted thirty years from Lin Hao's lifespan. Lin Hao's grudge poison disappeared, but the chapter ended with his family discovering that the lost years had visibly aged him.

• At the Lin family villa, Big Golden Retriever spoke with the kittens and puppies, who asked only for Lin Hao to apologize sincerely.
• Lin Hao gave a careless apology, and Wen Ning summoned Xie Bi'an and Fan Wujiu after the animals refused to accept it.
• Wen Ning declared that thirty years would be deducted from Lin Hao's lifespan, and Xie Bi'an recorded the punishment as the animals' wounds healed.
• Lin Hao's grudge poison vanished, and Lin Yuwei paid Wen Ning three hundred thousand for his help.
• After Wen Ning left, Lin Hao's hair turned white and his face became deeply wrinkled, revealing that the thirty-year deduction was real.

Wen Ning organized a wedding at the Bathhouse for the Sparrow Spirit and Oriole, with their monster friends bringing gifts and celebrating. After the wedding, Wen Ning learned that the Peach Banquet would take place next month and agreed to attend, leaving him to figure out what to wear.

• Wen Ning proposed that the Sparrow Spirit and Oriole hold a wedding at the Bathhouse and assigned Big Yellow and Big Golden Retriever roles in the celebration.
• Weasel Old Man, Hedgehog Spirit, and Xiong Batian brought tea, wild fruit, and medicinal bath brew for the wedding.
• Wen Ning officiated as the Sparrow Spirit and Oriole married, while the monster guests shared their gifts.
• Big Golden Retriever secretly drank some medicinal bath brew and staggered around the shop as the celebration continued.
• Lu Ming announced the Peach Banquet in the Heavenly Court Work Group, and Wen Ning agreed to attend on the fifteenth of next month.

Wen Ning advised Gong Kai to trust Hu Jiumei and wait until she was ready to reveal her secret. He then said goodbye to Big Golden Retriever as the dog left with his owner for a new city, leaving Big Yellow at the Bathhouse without his partner.

• Gong Kai told Wen Ning about Hu Jiumei’s unusual behavior and admitted he wanted to stay with her even if she was not an ordinary person.
• Wen Ning advised Gong Kai not to press Hu Jiumei and to let her tell him about her secret when she was ready.
• Big Golden Retriever’s owner arrived to take him to a new city after accepting a transfer to a large company in a neighboring province.
• Wen Ning gave Big Golden Retriever his old bath towel and accepted money from his owner to keep on account for future baths.
• Big Golden Retriever said goodbye to Wen Ning and Big Yellow, then followed his owner away; Big Yellow watched him go, and Wen Ning reassured him that Big Golden Retriever could return.

Wen Ning took in Xiao Bai, a lost puppy searching for its mother, and asked Big Yellow to organize the local dogs to find her. They located Xiao Bai's mother trapped beneath scrap behind an abandoned lumber mill, and Wen Ning set out with Big Yellow and Husky-Corgi Mix to rescue her.

• Xiao Bai arrived at the alley crying because it could not find its mother, and Wen Ning cleaned it up and gave it milk.
• Xiao Bai explained that it remembered trees, a river, and a bridge, so Wen Ning asked Big Yellow to find its mother.
• Big Yellow rallied the dogs in the area and sent them to search likely locations.
• Husky-Corgi Mix returned and reported that Xiao Bai's mother was trapped in wire fencing beneath scrap in a drainage ditch behind the abandoned lumber mill.
• Wen Ning tucked Xiao Bai inside his jacket and followed Big Yellow and Husky-Corgi Mix to the lumber mill.

Wen Ning and the Paw Patrol found the missing puppy’s mother trapped in a drainage ditch at the lumber mill. After Wen Ning freed her, mother and daughter reunited, and he headed home with the dogs to reward them.

• The Dipper Mother visited Wen Zhong, and they discussed Wen Ning and the Heavenly Lord of Primordial Beginning’s chess games.
• Wen Ning followed the puppy’s barking to her mother, who was trapped beneath a concrete slab with wire mesh cutting into her hind legs.
• Wen Ning freed the mother dog, who checked the puppy for injuries and scolded her for running away.
• The puppy apologized and reunited with her mother, who thanked Wen Ning and the Paw Patrol.
• Wen Ning promised the dogs a share of the food when they returned home, and Big Yellow happily followed him.

Wen Ning received a thank-you basket from the white dog and her puppy, then exchanged messages with Wen Zhong about the Peach Banquet and learned how to help Big Yellow cultivate. After giving Big Yellow an Essence-Nourishing Pill, he saw her senses sharpen and realized she could identify visitors to the alley by scent.

• The white dog brought Wen Ning medicinal herbs and wild fruit to thank him for helping her and her puppy, while the Hedgehog Spirit received some fruit to plant.
• Wen Ning received Wen Zhong’s reminders about the Peach Banquet and how to avoid or handle a chess match with the Heavenly Lord of Primordial Beginning.
• Wen Zhong told Wen Ning that the Merit Exchange Center sold Essence-Nourishing Pills for animals, and Wen Ning ordered one for Big Yellow.
• Three days later, Wen Ning gave Big Yellow the pill, and she immediately identified a stray cat that had recently passed through the alley by its scent.

Wen Ning followed Big Yellow and discovered she had been secretly meeting Big White, so he arranged a matchmaking visit at the Bathhouse. Big Yellow revealed she was female, leaving Wen Ning embarrassed and the proposed match unresolved.

• Wen Ning noticed Big Yellow left the Bathhouse every day and returned carrying herbs, so he followed her to the outskirts.
• Wen Ning saw Big Yellow meeting Big White beneath an old locust tree and assumed Big Yellow was in love with her.
• Wen Ning asked Weasel Old Man for matchmaking advice and prepared a date at the Bathhouse for Big Yellow and Big White.
• Big White arrived with Xiao Bai, and Wen Ning privately asked Big Yellow whether she wanted him to set them up.
• Big Yellow told Wen Ning she was a female dog and proved it by rolling onto her back, while Weasel Old Man and Sparrow Spirit tried not to laugh.

Wen Ning confronted Zhang Siyu, a Dragon-Tiger Mountain disciple who had been secretly observing his Bathhouse because she sensed Yao Qi there. After seeing the demons living peacefully inside, Zhang Siyu set aside her Wooden Sword and entered the shop with Wen Ning.

• Wen Ning noticed Zhang Siyu repeatedly spying on the Bathhouse and confronted her beneath the pagoda tree.
• Wen Ning took Zhang Siyu's notebook and found her sketches and notes identifying the shop's residents as dangerous demons.
• Zhang Siyu revealed she was a thirty-seventh-generation disciple of Celestial Master Zhang from Dragon-Tiger Mountain and had come to investigate the Yao Qi.
• Wen Ning introduced the Weasel Old Man, Sparrow Spirit, Oriole, and Big Yellow, while joking that the Weasel Old Man was a demon king.
• Zhang Siyu saw the demons behaving peacefully, wondered why they differed from her master's descriptions, and followed Wen Ning into the Bathhouse.

Wen Ning found Zhang Siyu hungry and stranded after she spent three days watching his shop, then listened as she recounted her mishaps while hunting supposed monsters. After learning that the creatures were his customers, Zhang Siyu asked to work at the shop, and Wen Ning doubted she could be useful.

• Zhang Siyu admitted she had not eaten for three days, so Wen Ning cooked her egg noodles.
• Zhang Siyu told Wen Ning how she mistook a neighbor's husky for a chicken-stealing monster and a trapped wild cat for a ghost.
• Zhang Siyu explained that her money and phone were stolen, her relative's old address led nowhere, and she followed Yao Qi to Wen Ning's alley.
• Zhang Siyu revealed that she had mistaken Weasel Old Man for the monsters' leader after watching the alley, but Wen Ning explained that the monsters were his shop's customers.
• Zhang Siyu asked whether Wen Ning was hiring and offered to help Big Yellow guard the door, while Wen Ning questioned her abilities.

Wen Ning brought Zhang Siyu to Black Wind Mountain to show her how its monsters lived, but their prank frightened her and she suspected the whole visit was staged. She followed Wen Ning into the Mountain God Temple, still questioning what she had seen.

• Wen Ning invited Zhang Siyu to visit a real monster den, and the two left the city for Black Wind Mountain.
• Xiong Batian, Hedgehog Spirit, Stone Spirit, and the wild dogs surrounded Zhang Siyu and frightened her.
• Xiao Ya intervened, introduced herself as the Mountain God of Black Wind Mountain, and explained the monsters' kinder sides.
• Zhang Siyu accused Wen Ning of arranging a performance to change her opinion of monsters.
• Wen Ning went toward the Mountain God Temple for a meal, and Zhang Siyu followed him.

Zhang Siyu wandered to a Pond and met Carp, a little girl monster who had waited for centuries for the boy who once saved her to return. After hearing Carp’s story, Zhang Siyu reassured her that the boy must know she was still waiting.

• After dinner, Zhang Siyu left the house for a walk while struggling with what she had learned about monsters.
• At the Pond, Zhang Siyu met Carp and sensed the girl’s peaceful Yao Qi.
• Carp told Zhang Siyu she was waiting for a firewood seller who had promised to return.
• Carp explained that the boy had rescued her when she was a fish and later left to take the imperial examinations.
• Carp said she would keep waiting so the boy could find her, and Zhang Siyu told her he must know she was there.

After learning that Carp had waited three hundred years for the Firewood Seller, Zhang Siyu persuaded Wen Ning to help find him. She returned to Carp with the news and promised they would search together.

• Zhang Siyu told Wen Ning, Xiong Batian, and the Hedgehog Spirit that she had met Carp, and learned that Carp had waited at least three hundred years for the Firewood Seller.
• Wen Ning explained that the Firewood Seller might have been reincarnated and that Carp was keeping her promise by continuing to wait.
• Zhang Siyu argued that Carp deserved an explanation, and Wen Ning agreed to help find the Firewood Seller.
• Zhang Siyu returned to Carp and told her that Wen Ning and she would help search for the man.
• Carp gave Zhang Siyu another shriveled wild fruit, and they agreed to give it to the Firewood Seller if they found him.

Wen Ning and Zhang Siyu sought help finding the man the Carp had waited for, and Old Tian used Black Wind Mountain’s Land Gazetteer to identify him as Su Yuanzhi. After learning that Su Yuanzhi had died on his journey and remained an Earthbound Spirit beneath a bridge, Carp decided to go find him.

• Wen Ning asked Xie Bi'an to search the Underworld’s records, but Xie Bi'an said the missing name and birth details made the search impossible.
• Wen Ning consulted the Heavenly Court Work Group, and Lu Ming suggested checking the local Land Gazetteer.
• Wen Ning and Zhang Siyu visited Old Tian, who found that the Firewood Seller was Su Yuanzhi, a poor man from Maple Bridge Town who died of a chill while traveling to the imperial examinations.
• Old Tian revealed that Su Yuanzhi’s spirit had remained trapped beneath an old bridge near town for three hundred years.
• Zhang Siyu told Carp that Su Yuanzhi had not forgotten her, and Carp asked to go find him.

Zhang Siyu helped Carp reunite with Su Yuanzhi beneath the old bridge, where his spirit finally faded after she returned the candy he had once given her. Changed by Carp’s story, Zhang Siyu left Black Wind Mountain determined to tell her master that monsters were not all evil and that her sword would protect both humans and monsters.

• Zhang Siyu led Carp to the old bridge, where Carp found Su Yuanzhi’s weakened spirit beneath it.
• Carp returned the candy she had kept for three hundred years, and Su Yuanzhi apologized before his soul faded away.
• Zhang Siyu told Wen Ning that meeting Carp had changed how she viewed monsters and that she was glad she had come to Black Wind Mountain.
• Zhang Siyu said she would return to Dragon-Tiger Mountain and tell her master that her sword would protect people, whether human or monster.
• Zhang Siyu said goodbye to Wen Ning and Big Yellow, then left Black Wind Mountain with her sword packed away.

After returning from Black Wind Mountain, Wen Ning reopened the Heavenly Court Bathhouse to a crowd of eager monster customers and used his accumulated Merit to break through to the late Earth Immortal stage. He planned to discuss changing the shop’s awkward name with Wen Zhong at the upcoming Peach Banquet and was warned to practice the Five Thunder Righteous Method.

• Wen Ning said goodbye to Xiong Batian and Xiao Ya, learned that Carp had begun looking up at the sky, and left the mountain with Big Yellow.
• Wen Ning returned to find monsters crowding outside his closed shop, reopened the Heavenly Court Bathhouse, and served customers until dark.
• Wen Ning decided to ask Wen Zhong to change the shop’s name at the Peach Banquet and warned Big Yellow not to sneak away during work.
• Wen Ning offered incense to his godfather, then used accumulated Merit to break through to the late Earth Immortal stage.
• Wen Zhong congratulated Wen Ning only briefly and told him to practice the Five Thunder Righteous Method before the Peach Banquet; he also told Wen Ning to stay out of his grandmaster’s way.