Chapter Summaries

Yi Shuyuan brought rain to Lingdong as a White Dragon, then challenged Jiang Lang to reconsider Dragonkind’s refusal to help. Moved by their encounter, Jiang Lang asked the Dragon Lord for permission to bring rain to Lingdong and received it.

• Yi Shuyuan directed a half-day downpour toward Deng Province, while three Heavenly Gods helped keep the rain from dispersing.
• Jiang Lang confronted Yi Shuyuan beyond Lingdong’s borders and questioned why he was helping a land that had suffered a disaster involving Dragonkind.
• Yi Shuyuan argued that Dragonkind should help Lingdong despite past grievances and mocked Jiang Lang for worrying about praise and the Dragon Lord’s wishes.
• After Yi Shuyuan departed, Jiang Lang went to the Dragon Lord and asked to bring rain to Lingdong for Dragonkind’s responsibility and his own cultivation.
• The Dragon Lord granted Jiang Lang permission to bring rain, and Jiang Lang left excited.

After the rain, Qi Zhongbin and Hui Mian followed the moisture toward Yun Province, hoping to find the water-consuming creature near the drought-relief canals. Meanwhile, Mai Lingfei and Mai Ake’s party encountered a giant Insect Demon amid a locust swarm, and Mai Lingfei revealed power approaching the Innate Realm as the canal water began to vanish.

• Qi Zhongbin left the farmer’s home and hurried toward Yun Province after Hui Mian sensed that the moisture was disappearing.
• Qi Zhongbin decided to search the Sima Office’s canal network, where rainwater had gathered and could attract the creature.
• Mai Lingfei and Mai Ake rested with three companions beside a canal and discussed the recent rain, disasters, and Mai Ake’s wish to marry someone who could defeat her.
• Mai Lingfei’s party hid when a locust swarm approached, then discovered a giant Insect Demon among the insects.
• Mai Lingfei and his companions attacked the Insect Demon, but it evaded them and the locust swarm scattered the group.
• Mai Lingfei unleashed a powerful aura that frightened the locusts, while a northern wind blew and the canal water visibly receded.

Mai Lingfei and his companions were trapped in a locust swarm until Qi Zhongbin arrived and drove the insects back with Palm Thunder. Qi Zhongbin treated the wounded Shaohua and revealed that he had been pursuing the true cause of Lingdong’s drought, while the Insect Demon had already fled.

• Mai Lingfei fought through the locusts, found Shaohua wounded but alive, and carried him away while calling for the hidden monster to face him.
• Qi Zhongbin appeared and unleashed Palm Thunder, killing swathes of locusts and reuniting Mai Lingfei with Mai Ake and the others.
• Qi Zhongbin recognized Mai Lingfei’s near-Innate martial skill and advised him to use xiantian true qi to treat Shaohua’s demonic-qi injury.
• Qi Zhongbin examined the irrigation channel and used copper coins to investigate the drought, explaining that the Insect Demon was not the chief culprit.
• Qi Zhongbin said he had pursued the creature causing Lingdong’s severe drought for more than half a year and believed removing it would ease the drought.

Qi Zhongbin identified a drought-causing insect demon and gave Mai Lingfei his sword, Clear Abyss, urging him to kill the creature as a trial on the path to the innate realm. Meanwhile, Jiang Lang and Yi Shuyuan brought rain to Lingdong and resolved to keep flooding the region until the hidden cause of the drought revealed itself.

• Qi Zhongbin used dried locusts and copper coins to divine the insect demon's whereabouts and sensed that an opportunity was near.
• Qi Zhongbin told Mai Lingfei that defeating and killing the demon could help him break through to the innate realm, then gave him Clear Abyss.
• A tornado appeared over Longwind Lake, and strange weather later gathered into rain clouds moving toward drought-stricken Lingdong.
• Jiang Lang summoned rain with Yi Shuyuan's help, but the moisture vanished unusually quickly and the downpour threatened to last less than two hours.
• Jiang Lang and Yi Shuyuan recognized that a hidden creature was consuming the moisture and decided to bring repeated rains to provoke it into revealing itself.

Yi Shuyuan brought rain to Lingdong, while Chu Hang and the people of Shallow Granary County fought the locust plague. Mai Lingfei and the martial artists wounded the Insect Demon, and Qi Zhongbin sensed Lingdong’s fate clearing as Yi Shuyuan realized the drought’s cause was a Drought Demon in Mo Province.

• Yi Shuyuan persuaded the Heavenly Gods to bring rain, reviving crops across Lingdong while the locust plague grew worse.
• Chu Hang organized thousands of villagers in Shallow Granary County to drive locusts toward fires and expose their eggs to the sun.
• The Insect Demon approached the fields, but Mai Lingfei struck it and the martial artists trapped it in a net.
• Mai Lingfei severed the Insect Demon’s antennae and a wing, then the demon crashed into a burning woodpile and continued fighting.
• Qi Zhongbin sensed Lingdong’s fate becoming clear as the Insect Demon weakened, and Yi Shuyuan realized the drought was caused by a Drought Demon that had reached Mo Province.

Mai Lingfei killed the Insect Demon, and Qi Zhongbin borrowed the Emperor's Sword from Chu Hang to destroy the drought demon in Mo Province. Lingdong's disasters ended, but the chapter concludes by contrasting the immense suffering and effort behind such calamities with the brief passages that recorded them in history.

• Mai Lingfei drew on the Clear Heart Art, pierced the Insect Demon's head, and ended the locust swarm's calamity.
• Chu Hang delayed reporting Lingdong's recovery, then lent the Emperor's Sword to Qi Zhongbin, who pursued the drought's aura into Mo Province.
• Qi Zhongbin joined the people of Lingdong's gathered force of destiny and beheaded the manifested drought demon with the Emperor's Sword.
• The emperor received Chu Hang's report that Lingdong's disasters had ended and granted its people three years of tax relief.
• The historical record summarized Lingdong's disasters in a short passage, as it did an earlier famine, leaving the suffering behind both accounts unrecorded.

After Chu Hang left Lingdong to return to the capital, Yi Shuyuan finished telling the Chronicle of Disaster Relief and brought Qi Zhongbin to Heavenly Battle Mountain to form his immortal furnace. Qi Zhongbin weathered the thunder and succeeded.

• The people of Lingdong crowded Deng Province's port to bid farewell to Chu Hang as he sailed away.
• Yi Shuyuan told the final chapter of the Chronicle of Disaster Relief, recounting the defeat of the Drought Demon.
• Qi Zhongbin met Yi Shuyuan after the story and asked whether he could form his immortal furnace.
• Yi Shuyuan took Qi Zhongbin to Heavenly Battle Mountain and guided him to subdue the water and fire within his inner realm.
• Qi Zhongbin formed his immortal furnace as thunder shook Heavenly Battle Mountain, and Yi Shuyuan, Old Vine, and Xiao Yong recognized his success.

Qi Zhongbin completed his Dao-Transformed Immortal Furnace and was accepted as Yi Shuyuan’s direct disciple. Yi Shuyuan forged and bestowed the Heavenly Gang Mace upon him, while a patrolling Heavenly God witnessed the treasure’s emergence.

• Qi Zhongbin completed his immortal foundation, and Yi Shuyuan accepted him as a direct disciple after he kowtowed nine times.
• Yi Shuyuan summoned the Heaven-Turning Furnace and asked Qi Zhongbin to guess what treasure it held.
• The Heavenly Gang Mace emerged from the furnace amid thunder and lightning, revealing its dark-gold, seven-sectioned form.
• Yi Shuyuan named the treasure and gave it to Qi Zhongbin, who grasped it and thanked his master.
• Old Vine invited Yi Shuyuan and the others to enjoy Heavenly Battle Mountain’s ripening fruits, while a patrolling Heavenly God observed the treasure’s birth.

Yi Shuyuan completed a flawless batch of Immortal Elixirs while healing the damage from his tribulation, then shared one with Hui Mian. Later, in Dengzhou City, Mai Lingfei met Chi Qinghu, who recognized him as the foremost expert of Great Yong’s younger generation.

• Yi Shuyuan spent nearly three months refining Immortal Elixirs at Broken Peak Grotto while treating his damaged qi pathways.
• Yi Shuyuan completed sixteen flawless pills and used the Heaven and Earth Gourd to capture them before they could escape.
• Yi Shuyuan swallowed three Immortal Elixirs and gave one to Hui Mian, who stored it in a jade box instead of eating it.
• Mai Lingfei offered incense at the True Lord Temple in Dengzhou and wished for his younger sister to find a husband she loved.
• Mai Lingfei met Chi Qinghu at the temple, and Chi Qinghu recognized him as the foremost expert of Great Yong’s younger generation.

Chi Qinghu visited Dengzhou and saw how Lingdong had recovered from disaster before sharing wine with Mai Lingfei beside the Datong River. When something surfaced in the water, Mai Lingfei rushed across the reeds to investigate.

• Chi Qinghu watched the bustling crowds around Dengzhou and concluded that Great Yong had recovered while Great Yan was declining.
• Chi Qinghu bought a jug of Haulers' Wine and walked west from the city to the Datong River.
• Mai Lingfei joined Chi Qinghu, shared his food and wine, and explained how Lingdong's people had hauled ships of supplies through the drought-stricken region.
• Chi Qinghu spotted something surfacing in the river, and Mai Lingfei raced across the reeds toward it.

Mai Lingfei and Chi Qinghu followed strange disturbances in the Datong River to the True Lord Temple, where Chen Han used power lent by the Manifest Holiness True Lord to subdue a river monster. Beneath the river, Chen Han learned that a gray serpent had rescued an emaciated child from the monster, but she could not save him herself and decided they needed a master of the Medicine Dao.

• Mai Lingfei chased strange shadows and cries beneath the Datong River, while Chi Qinghu followed and drew his sword.
• At the True Lord Temple, Chen Han cast a spell at the river and called on the True Lord for help as the water boiled and a monster howled.
• Yi Shuyuan heard Chen Han's plea and sent a beam of red light from the True Lord's statue, stilling the river and subduing the monster.
• Chen Han descended to the riverbed and found a gray serpent coiled around the long-necked monster; the serpent explained it had rescued a child the monster was haunting.
• The serpent spat the child out inside a bubble, and Chen Han examined him and concluded that only a true master of the Medicine Dao could save him.

Chen Han rescued an unconscious child from the water with help from a giant serpent and brought him to the True Lord Temple for treatment. After asking Mai Lingfei to stabilize the child and sending Chi Qinghu to fetch Physician Hu, Yi Shuyuan noticed a sinister creature bound beneath the incense ash and sent his divine sense to investigate it.

• Chen Han learned that the giant serpent wanted to cultivate near her, warned it to behave, and sealed the subdued monster in a bundle of aquatic grass.
• Chen Han carried the rescued child ashore, where Mai Lingfei and Chi Qinghu helped warm him in the temple quarters.
• Chen Han hid the bound monster beneath the incense ash in the True Lord Temple's altar burner and introduced herself to Mai Lingfei as the temple keeper.
• Chen Han sent Chi Qinghu to fetch Physician Hu and asked Mai Lingfei to use his xiantian true qi to stabilize the child's meridians.
• Yi Shuyuan saw the sinister bundle through the Manifest Holiness True Lord Statue and sent his divine sense to examine it.

Yi Shuyuan manifested as the Manifest Holiness True Lord and investigated a sinister creature found near his temple. After following its trail with the Snake Demon, he confronted a local Earth Goddess and exposed her lie about missing children.

• Yi Shuyuan entered the Manifest Holiness True Lord Temple as its divine incarnation, heard worshippers’ prayers, and retrieved a sinister creature sealed in the incense burner.
• Yi Shuyuan reassured the Snake Demon in the Datong River, then rode on its head to the place where the creature had appeared.
• Yi Shuyuan summoned the local Earth Goddess and asked about the creature and reports of missing children.
• The Earth Goddess claimed that two missing children had been found, but Yi Shuyuan ordered her to raise her head and accused her of lying.

Yi Shuyuan uncovered that the Earth Goddess had been corrupted by a sinister scrap depicting a monster and helped restore her. The Earth Goddess revealed that the scrap was tied to a sick village boy who was supposed to die that day, while Yi Shuyuan recognized it as part of a larger illustration.

• Yi Shuyuan exposed the Earth Goddess as a ghostlike monster and made her see her transformed appearance in an ice mirror.
• The Earth Goddess led Yi Shuyuan to her temple, where she revealed a scrap hidden beneath the incense burner.
• Yi Shuyuan recognized the monster on the scrap as the creature Chen Han had sealed in the Datong River and used divine power to suppress it.
• The scrap's influence weakened, restoring the Earth Goddess's mind and appearance, while the sealed monster also reacted to the paper.
• The Earth Goddess explained that the Temple Keeper had brought the scrap to the temple after it afflicted a villager, and warned Yi Shuyuan that a boy connected to it was in danger of dying.

Yi Shuyuan enlisted the Temple Keeper to investigate the sinister picture’s origin, then followed him by divine sense. In Dengzhou City, Hu Kuangming treated the surviving boy while Chen Han realized the picture had vanished from the incense burner.

• Yi Shuyuan told the Earth Goddess that the boy had survived and asked her to investigate the picture’s origin.
• The Earth Goddess manifested to the Temple Keeper in a dream and instructed him to investigate without alarming anyone.
• The Temple Keeper confirmed the Earth Goddess’s instructions with divination blocks, took the Peachwood Staff, and set out to find the boy’s family.
• Yi Shuyuan empowered the Peachwood Staff with divine light, then dispelled his manifested body and followed the Temple Keeper by divine sense.
• Hu Kuangming examined the boy and planned to soothe his fright and restore his vitality with gentle medicine and nourishing food.
• Chen Han found the picture missing from the incense burner and wondered whether the Manifest Holiness True Lord had descended.

Chen Han learned that the Manifest Holiness True Lord had encountered a monstrous Land God while investigating the child’s condition, and she strengthened her precautions while caring for him. The old temple keeper and Yi Shuyuan then visited a household in Zhang Family Village, where they learned the family had not warned their town-dwelling relative about a sinister painting.

• Chen Han checked the unconscious child, followed Hu Kuangming’s care instructions, and marked the child’s forehead with incense-ash ink as a safeguard.
• Chen Han warned Mai Lingfei that the child might have been invaded by something evil, then went to question Giant Serpent at the Waterside Steps.
• Giant Serpent told Chen Han that the True Lord had led him to the Drought-Relief Canal, where the Land God had become a monster, and Chen Han ordered him to keep the matter secret.
• The old temple keeper and Yi Shuyuan visited an elderly woman in Zhang Family Village and learned that her family had not warned their relative in town about the sinister painting.

Yi Shuyuan tracked down a reclusive painter outside Xintian County and discovered a room filled with paintings, including a vast work depicting ghosts and monsters. The chapter ended with Yi Shuyuan scrutinizing the faceless figure at its center and wondering whether the painter had seen real supernatural beings or imagined them.

• The family in the village described their reclusive relative to the elderly Temple Keeper, who left after scolding a boy for touching his peachwood staff.
• Yi Shuyuan sensed the painter's location and entered his courtyard outside Xintian County.
• Yi Shuyuan found more than a hundred paintings in the painter's home, including a lifelike portrait of the Manifest Holiness True Lord covering another work.
• The painter woke, lamented that he could not paint something, and uncovered an enormous painting packed with ghosts and monsters.
• Yi Shuyuan focused on the faceless, white-robed figure at the painting's center and considered whether the painter had encountered real ghosts or conjured them through his skill.

Yi Shuyuan entered the Manifest Holiness True Lord’s portrait and discovered how its divine presence clarified the mysteries of the Hundred Ghosts Picture. The painter, Shao Zhen, realized how to depict a god, but the arriving Temple Keeper mistook him for a possessed man and struck him down.

• Yi Shuyuan merged into the True Lord’s image and perceived memories of the child tearing off the painting’s corner, learning that the Long-Haired Ghost had likely escaped on its own.
• Yi Shuyuan witnessed Shao Zhen dot the True Lord’s eyes, which revealed the painting’s divine presence and clarified the ghosts’ different fates.
• Shao Zhen recognized the True Lord’s divine majesty in the portrait and joyfully declared that he had learned how to paint a god.
• The old Temple Keeper arrived at Shao Zhen’s home, heard his laughter, and assumed he was severely possessed.
• The old Temple Keeper struck Shao Zhen with his peachwood staff, knocking him down, then wondered why the blow had caused no reaction.

The old Temple Keeper discovered that an uncanny painting hidden behind the Manifest Holiness True Lord's image was the source of the evil, while Yi Shuyuan entered Shao Zhen's dream and appeared to him as the deity. Shao Zhen asked for protection as he pursued the painting Dao, and Yi Shuyuan confronted him about the sinister nature of his paintings.

• The old Temple Keeper searched the room, found the consecrated image of the Manifest Holiness True Lord, and carried the unconscious Shao Zhen inside to warm him.
• The old Temple Keeper loosened one corner of the black cloth and saw the uncanny painting and its torn-off corner, realizing the True Lord's image had been suppressing its evil.
• Yi Shuyuan entered Shao Zhen's dream, where Shao Zhen remembered how to paint the True Lord's divine image and completed its eyes.
• Yi Shuyuan appeared from the portrait as the Manifest Holiness True Lord and asked Shao Zhen why he had summoned him.
• Shao Zhen explained that he sought the painting Dao sage realm and begged the True Lord to protect him from evil beings.
• Yi Shuyuan asked whether Shao Zhen knew that some of his paintings were sinister.

Yi Shuyuan explained how Shao Zhen’s Hundred Ghosts Picture had harmed a child and disturbed the Land God, then advised him to make amends through paintings. He began to reveal the Way of Transformation, but Shao Zhen woke from the dream with a painful bump on his forehead.

• Yi Shuyuan told Shao Zhen that a fragment of the Long-Haired Ghost’s evil energy had afflicted his relative’s child, while the ghost’s influence had disrupted the Land God’s divine manifestation.
• Yi Shuyuan advised Shao Zhen to paint a picture for the child’s family and a Land God Statue to help repair the harm.
• Shao Zhen asked for guidance on completing the Hundred Ghosts Picture, and Yi Shuyuan described the transformations behind its hundred ghosts and its faceless central figure.
• Yi Shuyuan offered to show Shao Zhen the Way of Transformation and mentioned Yi Daozi as someone who might know wondrous transformation arts.
• The old Temple Keeper worried that he had injured Shao Zhen and went to find a physician as the dream began to collapse.
• Shao Zhen woke in bed, remembered the dream, and found a large bump on his forehead.