Chapter Summaries

Yi Shuyuan gathered a spirit-aura rosy cloud and arranged to collect Jiang Lang’s broken scales for his ritual robe before heading to visit Zhuo Qing. He reunited with her at her expanded home after four years apart.

• Yi Shuyuan captured a colorful spirit-aura cloud in his Gourd after realizing it might help him craft a ritual robe.
• Yi Shuyuan asked Jiang Lang for shed skin or scales, and Jiang Lang agreed to give him the broken scales once they regrew.
• Yi Shuyuan split the cloud beneath Jiang Lang and left him behind, then continued traveling with Stoneborn, Qi Zhongbin, and Hui Mian.
• Yi Shuyuan brought his companions to Zhuo Qing’s fishing village, where they found her home expanded beside a vast mulberry grove.
• Zhuo Qing recognized Yi Shuyuan outside her courtyard and hurried to greet him.

Yi Shuyuan reunited with Zhuo Qing in Fishmulberry Village and discovered that she had spent four years weaving silk and making clothes inspired by his different forms. After sharing a meal and hearing about her work, he found a way to anchor a transforming magical garment to her clothing designs, leaving Zhuo Qing hopeful that he could wear them all.

• Zhuo Qing welcomed Yi Shuyuan and his disciples Mo Shisheng and Qi Zhongbin, while Hui Mian revealed that Mo Shisheng was the senior disciple despite being a child.
• Zhuo Qing showed Yi Shuyuan the silk she and the villagers had woven, and he infused one length with spiritual energy.
• Zhuo Qing showed Yi Shuyuan a room filled with garments she had made for him and Sister Mili over the past four years, and Yi Shuyuan praised her resemblance to his transformed form.
• Zhuo Qing served Yi Shuyuan and his disciples lunch, and they shared news about the past four years.
• Yi Shuyuan realized he could use the Spirit Pearl and the designs of Zhuo Qing’s clothes as anchors for a transforming magical garment, and Zhuo Qing asked if he could wear all the clothes she had made.

General Crab visited Yi Shuyuan to seek reassurance about accepting the Celestial Court’s appointment as Kaiyang Water God, and Yi Shuyuan promised Dragonkind would not obstruct him. After Hui Mian revealed that Yi Shuyuan had once defeated the former Kaiyang Water God, Yi Shuyuan began using the Spirit Pearl’s power to help Zhuo Qing weave cloud brocade.

• Stoneborn and Qi Zhongbin met General Crab, who asked to see Yi Shuyuan and bowed to him when they met.
• General Crab told Yi Shuyuan that the Celestial Court intended to appoint him Kaiyang Water God but that he feared offending Dragonkind.
• Yi Shuyuan assured General Crab that he could accept the appointment without worry and urged him to protect the waters of the Open Sun Canal.
• Hui Mian told Qi Zhongbin and Stoneborn that Yi Shuyuan was the immortal who had brought down the former Kaiyang Water God, Nian Chaosheng.
• Yi Shuyuan drew transformed energy from the Spirit Pearl and asked Zhuo Qing to guide it through the loom to weave cloud brocade.

Yi Shuyuan and Zhuo Qing wove spiritual rosy clouds into a Magical Garment, with Yi Shuyuan transforming into a white dragon to gather the clouds from the heavens. After completing the Rosy Cloud Feather Garment, Yi Shuyuan agreed to make clothes for his disciples and Hui Mian from the remaining brocade.

• Yi Shuyuan stabilized rosy-cloud threads with the Spirit Pearl while Zhuo Qing wove them into cloth, drawing colorful clouds over Fishmulberry Village.
• Yi Shuyuan transformed into a white dragon and gathered rosy clouds from the sky, while a passing Heavenly God observed him and then departed.
• For nine days, Zhuo Qing wove the cloud brocade as Yi Shuyuan gathered clouds, and Stoneborn, Qi Zhongbin, and Hui Mian watched and handled their own meals.
• Yi Shuyuan and Zhuo Qing made the cloud brocade into a Magical Garment that could change into Yi Shuyuan's familiar clothes, and they named it the Rosy Cloud Feather Garment.
• Hui Mian and Stoneborn asked for garments from the remaining brocade, Zhuo Qing encouraged Yi Shuyuan to make them, and Qi Zhongbin admitted that he wanted one too.

Yi Shuyuan’s disciples received their Rosy Cloud Feather Garments, and he explored a strange lucid dream that deepened his sense of spiritual transformation. After waking, he decided to take Stoneborn with him, while Qi Zhongbin would follow his own path.

• Yi Shuyuan gave Qi Zhongbin and Stoneborn their magical garments, while Hui Mian wrapped its garment around its fur and Zhuo Qing appeared in a beautiful outfit she could freely command.
• Several days later, Yi Shuyuan wrote a story about Wang Yunchun and reflected on spiritual awareness before falling into a vivid dreamlike state.
• Yi Shuyuan saw himself sleeping at the table as he walked through the courtyard, then woke and wondered whether the experience resembled Zhuang Zhou’s Butterfly Dream.
• Yi Shuyuan resumed writing and told Stoneborn to discuss leaving with his parents, explaining that Qi Zhongbin already had his own path.
• Hui Mian insisted that Yi Shuyuan needed to guide it and Stoneborn, warning Stoneborn that Xiao Lin might become immortal before Hui Mian learned anything.

Jiang Lang appointed Dai Zhong as his Water Steward and sent him to recruit Chu Qinglin to design Longwind Lake’s Water Palace. Chu Qinglin repeatedly dreamed of meeting the Dragon King and began drawing plans, while Chu Hang wondered about the lake’s rumored deity.

• Stoneborn asked Yi Shuyuan to take him to visit Jiang Lang, and Hui Mian joked about getting fish and shrimp to eat.
• Jiang Lang complained that the Aquatic Folk had made no progress on the Water Palace until Dai Zhong offered to organize them and recruit Chu Qinglin.
• Jiang Lang appointed Dai Zhong Water Steward, and Dai Zhong brought Chu Qinglin to Longwind Lake in a dream to meet the Dragon King.
• Chu Qinglin agreed to plan the Water Palace, watched Dai Zhong raise walls with magic, and woke with vivid memories of the meeting.
• Chu Qinglin searched construction books and drew a palace complex, while Chu Hang connected his father's dreams to stories of a deity beneath Longwind Lake.

Chu Hang followed his father, Chu Qinglin, to Longwind Lake and discovered that Chu Qinglin was designing the Dragon King’s Water Palace. After showing Chu Hang around, Jiang Lang learned about his encounters with Yi Shuyuan and began doubting whether Yi Shuyuan’s identity and background were genuine.

• Chu Hang kept watch for several nights before an old man arrived to escort Chu Qinglin to Longwind Lake, and Chu Hang insisted on going with them.
• Chu Hang saw the Water Palace taking shape and learned that Chu Qinglin was respected by the Aquatic Folk for designing it.
• Jiang Lang arrived, introduced himself to Chu Hang, and offered to show him around while Chu Qinglin returned to his work.
• As they toured the palace, Chu Hang told Jiang Lang how he had met Yi Shuyuan in Yuanjiang County and later invited him to stay with his family.
• Jiang Lang realized Yi Baokang was too young to be Yi Shuyuan and questioned whether Yi Shuyuan’s apparent identity was a transformation.

Chu Hang and Chu Qinglin acknowledged their shared dream, while Jiang Lang arranged to use Longwind Lake’s Dragon King Temple to draw Yi Shuyuan’s attention. Yi Shuyuan guided Zhuo Qing and Qi Zhongbin in their cultivation before sensing a faint, mysterious incense fragrance.

• Chu Hang woke from a cold night and told Chu Qinglin he would study diligently after they realized their shared dream had been real.
• Jiang Lang praised Dai Zhong’s work on the dragon palace and appointed him to manage Longwind Lake’s affairs.
• Dai Zhong suggested offering incense to Yi Shuyuan so he could sense the offerings and locate them, and Jiang Lang approved the plan for a statue in the Dragon King Temple.
• Yi Shuyuan listened as Zhuo Qing described her unusual cultivation experience and gave her a book while advising her to follow her own understanding.
• Yi Shuyuan gave Qi Zhongbin revised sorcerer spells and urged him to balance technique with cultivation.
• Yi Shuyuan noticed a faint, elusive incense fragrance and picked up his teacup to investigate.

Yi Shuyuan followed the scent of incense to a Longwind Lake temple, where he discovered Jiang Lang had erected a statue in his likeness, and visited Jiang Lang’s newly completed dragon palace. He decided to explore the path of incense offerings and prepare to resume his search for an immortal cultivator and a monk, while Jiang Lang remained suspicious of Yi Shuyuan’s true form.

• Yi Shuyuan sensed incense offerings and flew to the Dragon King Temple of Longwind Lake, leaving Stoneborn behind.
• Yi Shuyuan found a statue modeled after himself, and an old man explained that he had erected it to help Jiang Lang find him and honor his deeds.
• Yi Shuyuan followed the old man underwater and admired Jiang Lang’s magnificent new dragon palace before Jiang Lang showed him around.
• Yi Shuyuan drew incense smoke into his Folding Fan and said he would study the path of incense offerings through a separate transformation.
• Yi Shuyuan told Jiang Lang he would resume traveling to find an immortal cultivator and a monk, and asked him to notify Dragonkind that General Crab would likely accept investiture from the Celestial Court.
• When Jiang Lang asked whether this was Yi Shuyuan’s true form, Yi Shuyuan said it was and quickly departed to fetch Stoneborn.

Yi Shuyuan took Stoneborn on a journey through the mortal world to cultivate his character, and they settled for the night at an abandoned waystation. A large group of travelers arrived with a coffin, leaving Yi Shuyuan to open the door to their wind-lashed shelter.

• Yi Shuyuan left Zhuo Qing in Fishmulberry Village and later brought Stoneborn from the Mo Household to begin traveling with him.
• Yi Shuyuan told Stoneborn that they would travel like ordinary people and avoid using immortal arts unless necessary.
• After walking for half a month, Yi Shuyuan, Stoneborn, and Hui Mian found shelter at the abandoned Stoneforest Waystation.
• Stoneborn ate sweet wild persimmons, warmed himself by the fire, and fell asleep beside Yi Shuyuan.
• A group of travelers arrived with horses, a carriage, and a coffin on an ox-drawn cart, then knocked and asked to enter the waystation.
• Yi Shuyuan opened the door as the wind swept in and revealed the travelers waiting outside.

Yi Shuyuan and Stoneborn shared a waystation with travelers transporting a coffin, and Yi Shuyuan realized they were feeding blood to a corpse that was growing stronger inside. He left the night knowing the coffin could not contain it if it chose to break free.

• Yi Shuyuan let a group of travelers bring their belongings and coffin into the waystation, where they set up camp and shared meat soup with him and Stoneborn.
• The travelers warned one another to watch Yi Shuyuan and Stoneborn, while Yi Shuyuan noticed their covered chicken cage and the coffin they were transporting.
• During the night, a watchman killed a chicken and dripped its blood through a crack in the coffin lid, causing the coffin to tremble and its sinister yin baleful intent to intensify.
• Stoneborn watched the watchman, then asked Yi Shuyuan about the coffin after its contents scratched and creaked inside.
• Yi Shuyuan told Stoneborn that the coffin could not keep the intelligent corpse trapped and wondered whether the travelers were nurturing the corpse or the corpse was nurturing them.

Yi Shuyuan and Stoneborn spent the night at a waystation with sorcerers transporting a coffin, where their leader tried to recruit Yi Shuyuan into seeking immortality. The coffin burst open and its walking corpse attacked Stoneborn, but the sorcerer beheaded it, while Yi Shuyuan secretly dispersed its lingering Yin Baleful Intent.

• Yi Shuyuan warned Stoneborn that the sorcerers did not fully understand the dangerous walking corpse they were transporting.
• The sorcerer discussed immortality with Yi Shuyuan, gave him two talismans, and invited him to learn the way of immortals.
• The coffin reacted to Stoneborn’s vital energy, shattered, and released a walking corpse that lunged toward him.
• The sorcerer and his disciples tried to restrain the walking corpse, but it threw them aside and pursued Yi Shuyuan and Stoneborn.
• The sorcerer cut off the walking corpse’s head with a bloodied sword, and Yi Shuyuan secretly dissolved its remaining Yin Baleful Intent with his breath.

Yi Shuyuan helped defeat a zombie and challenged the sorcerer’s beliefs about the Immortal Dao. After meeting the local Land God, the sorcerer learned his life was short and offered Yi Shuyuan his school’s Peerless Elixir Art so its knowledge would not be lost.

• Yi Shuyuan bandaged the sorcerer’s bleeding finger and argued that the Immortal Dao should follow moral principles rather than crooked paths.
• The sorcerer’s disciples burned the zombie and its coffin fragments, while the Land God appeared and gave Yi Shuyuan a basket of wild fruit and roots.
• The Land God told Yi Shuyuan that the sorcerer’s lineage had caused trouble for generations and that the zombie’s corpse stench had disturbed the hills.
• Yi Shuyuan told the sorcerer that the Land God believed he had only three to five years left to live.
• The sorcerer gave Yi Shuyuan the Peerless Elixir Art, hoping to preserve his school’s two hundred years of work.

Yi Shuyuan accepted Jiao Zengping’s alchemical book and secretly cured the sorcerer’s elixir poison before leaving the waystation with Stoneborn. As they watched the sunrise, Stoneborn glimpsed the yang fire, while Jiao Zengping woke to find his health improved and Yi Shuyuan gone.

• Jiao Zengping gave Yi Shuyuan his alchemical book, and Yi Shuyuan warned him to stop working as a sorcerer.
• Hui Mian told Stoneborn that Jiao Zengping had lied to recruit disciples, and Yi Shuyuan explained that people could not be judged simply as good or bad.
• Before dawn, Yi Shuyuan used fiery essence from the Heaven and Earth Gourd to dissolve the elixir poison in Jiao Zengping’s liver.
• Yi Shuyuan and Stoneborn left the waystation, exchanged farewells with the Land God, and headed down the road as Hui Mian teased them.
• At sunrise, Yi Shuyuan taught Stoneborn to sense the yang fire, and Stoneborn briefly saw flames descending from the sky.
• Jiao Zengping woke after Yi Shuyuan had left, noticed his improved breathing and vision, and discovered that the wound on his finger had healed.

Yi Shuyuan and Stoneborn reached Xiangshan Zen Temple and received a private guest room after Yi Shuyuan's simple salute to the Buddha caused dust to fall throughout the main hall. The chapter left them settling in for the night as Stoneborn went to find food for himself and Hui Mian.

• Yi Shuyuan and Stoneborn arrived at Xiangshan Zen Temple and asked the abbot for lodging.
• Yi Shuyuan declined to bow before the Buddha, explaining that he had no requests, then saluted the statue and caused dust to rain down in the hall.
• The abbot recognized Yi Shuyuan as an unusual guest and assigned him and Stoneborn a private room.
• Yi Shuyuan learned from the young monk that the temple's ancient sappanwood tree reflected its long history and local standing.
• Yi Shuyuan stayed behind instead of going to the vegetarian meal and asked Stoneborn to bring him food; Stoneborn left with Hui Mian hidden in his clothes.

Yi Shuyuan read the Peerless Elixir Art while waiting for Master Zhaoli, a long-lived spiritual body tied to the Sappanwood tree, to visit him at Xiangshan Zen Monastery. After Zhaoli offered to help find an eminent monk for Yi Shuyuan’s task, Stoneborn identified him as a monster, and Hui Mian warned that the monastery’s guests included people with killing intent and sinister auras.

• Yi Shuyuan studied the Peerless Elixir Art and waited in the guest quarters while other visitors went to eat.
• Master Zhaoli arrived, bowed to Yi Shuyuan, and explained that he had cultivated at Xiangshan Zen Monastery for nearly four hundred years and had received enlightenment from Buddha King Maitreya Light.
• Yi Shuyuan asked Zhaoli where to find an eminent monk for a task entrusted to him by a Bodhisattva, but declined Zhaoli’s offer to help.
• Stoneborn returned with Yi Shuyuan’s meal, called Zhaoli a monster, and Yi Shuyuan explained that he was the spiritual body of the Sappanwood tree outside Miguang Hall.
• Hui Mian reported that many guests at the monastery had killing intent or sinister auras, prompting Yi Shuyuan to consider the monastery’s character as he ate.

Yi Shuyuan and Stoneborn watched a wandering monk named Ding Feixiong kill the martial artists pursuing him over the Returning Origin Art and Pill. After Master Zhaoli ordered the abbot to expel him, Ding Feixiong was told to leave the monastery the next day.

• Yi Shuyuan and Stoneborn noticed a shabby wandering monk at Xiangshan Zen Monastery and saw suspicious, hostile people following him.
• Ding Feixiong fled into the mountains, where his pursuers demanded the Returning Origin Art and Returning Origin Pill.
• Ding Feixiong used his iron prayer beads and martial arts to kill the attackers, then collected the beads and returned to the monastery.
• Yi Shuyuan and Stoneborn appeared after the fight, and Yi Shuyuan noted that Ding Feixiong seemed to want to become a real monk.
• Master Zhaoli ordered the abbot to expel Ding Feixiong and report him to the authorities.
• A monk told Ding Feixiong that the abbot wanted him to leave the next day, and Ding Feixiong sighed as he restringed his prayer beads.

Ding Feixiong prepared to leave Xiangshan Zen Monastery and met Yi Shuyuan, who taught him why everyone could be called a benefactor and offered to recite an obscure Buddhist sutra. The chapter ended as Yi Shuyuan began reciting the Nameless Sutra to Ding Feixiong, with Monk Zhaoli hurrying over to listen.

• Ding Feixiong left his quarters before dawn and encountered Yi Shuyuan and Stoneborn feeding birds in the courtyard.
• Yi Shuyuan imitated the birds to stop two of them from fighting, then explained that everyone could be called a benefactor because all people gave in some way.
• Ding Feixiong thanked Yi Shuyuan, revealed that he had no Dharma name or knowledge of Buddhist teachings, and accepted the name Dharma-less Monk.
• Yi Shuyuan walked with Ding Feixiong and explained the requirements for becoming an officially ordained monk in Great Yong.
• Yi Shuyuan offered to teach Ding Feixiong the Nameless Sutra and began reciting it as Monk Zhaoli hurried over to listen.

Yi Shuyuan’s recitation of the Nameless Sutra gave Monk Zhaoli and Ding Feixiong a Zen opportunity, while revealing that Ding Feixiong had eaten a Snow Python Gallbladder. After standing in contemplation for three days, Zhaoli awakened with new power and learned the monastery had reported their situation to the authorities.

• Yi Shuyuan recited the Nameless Sutra, drawing Monk Zhaoli and Ding Feixiong into deep contemplation and sensing a Snow Python Gallbladder’s aura within Ding Feixiong.
• The clay Bodhisattva’s Śarīra circled the two monks and then settled into the ornamental finial atop Miguang Hall.
• Monk Zhaoli awakened beneath the tree after three days, while Ding Feixiong remained in contemplation and a crowd gathered nearby.
• Zhaoli used his voice to push the crowd back and asked Abbot Guangji how long they had been standing there.
• Guangji told Zhaoli that the monastery had reported the incident to the authorities, and Zhaoli decided to wait for Ding Feixiong to awaken before paying his respects to Yi Shuyuan.

Monk Zhaoli stayed beside Ding Feixiong while Abbot Guangji sent the guest-prefect monk to withdraw Xiangshan Zen Monastery’s complaint. The Three Signs County constables investigated anyway, followed footprints into the snowy mountains, and found several brutally slain bodies.

• Monk Zhaoli remained beside Ding Feixiong, and Abbot Guangji hurried away to have the monastery’s complaint withdrawn.
• The guest-prefect monk withdrew the complaint, but the County Deputy grew suspicious and sent the chief constable and his men to investigate Xiangshan Zen Monastery.
• The constables questioned worshippers, then split into groups to inspect the monastery and search its outer walls.
• The chief constable and his men followed footprints from a wall near the mountain and realized the people who made them had practiced martial arts.
• The constables found seven or eight frozen bodies bearing animal bites and signs of a violent fight, including one corpse with a huge hole through its chest.