Chapter Summaries

Yi Shuyuan brought Lu Yuwei ashore at Heaven-Bearing Harbor and used Borrowed Magic to counter the Water God Spell while leaving it intact. Cao Yugao arrived to question Yi Shuyuan about the Kaiyang Water God’s complaint, and Yi admitted he had destroyed the god’s temple and golden body.

• Yi Shuyuan and Lu Yuwei arrived at Heaven-Bearing Harbor, where the Water God Spell began to restrain her as she stepped ashore.
• Yi Shuyuan lent Lu Yuwei his magic power, easing the spell’s effects while keeping it in place as a possible aid in upcoming matters.
• Yi Shuyuan, Lu Yuwei, and Hui Mian waited at a quiet teahouse for a heavenly deity to arrive.
• Cao Yugao entered the teahouse and asked Yi Shuyuan whether he had encountered an accomplished Immortal Dao master near Kaiyang.
• Cao Yugao revealed that Nian Chaosheng had complained to heaven about the destruction of his temple and golden body, and Yi Shuyuan admitted responsibility.

Yi Shuyuan explained to Cao Yugao why he had ruined the Kaiyang Water God's cultivation, and Cao Yugao agreed to take the matter to the Celestial Court. After hearing their report, the Heavenly Emperor ordered Nian Chaosheng, his adopted son, and his Yaksha general brought to court to answer for their actions.

• Yi Shuyuan admitted that he had caused the Kaiyang Water God's downfall and told Cao Yugao how the god's lack of virtue had made his altar collapse after Yi offered incense.
• Cao Yugao examined Lu Yuwei's Water-Binding Curse, then vowed to defend Yi Shuyuan if the Heavenly Court failed to uphold the law.
• Yi Shuyuan, Cao Yugao, and Lu Yuwei flew to the Celestial Court, where Cao Yugao denounced the Kaiyang Water God to the Heavenly Emperor's attendant.
• The attendant reported Yi Shuyuan's admission and Cao Yugao's account to the Heavenly Emperor, who ordered the Thunder and Dipper Departments to summon Nian Chaosheng, his adopted son, and Yaksha to the Celestial Court.

The Heavenly Emperor summoned Nian Chaosheng and Yi Shuyuan to the Divine Firmament Treasure Hall to address the destruction of Nian Chaosheng’s temple and the damage to his Golden Body. Yi Shuyuan recognized the Heavenly Emperor’s stern accusation as an act, and the chapter ended with the Emperor demanding that he admit guilt.

• The Dipper Department summoned Nian Chaosheng and his subordinates to the Celestial Court, where Heavenly Soldiers found the Catfish Demon and the Great Yaksha trying to escape the Water Palace prison.
• The Divine Firmament Treasure Hall’s barrier barred the Catfish Demon and the Great Yaksha from entering, so Nian Chaosheng went inside alone.
• The Heavenly Emperor asked Nian Chaosheng how Yi Shuyuan should be punished, and Nian Chaosheng blamed his subordinates while suggesting severe penalties for Yi Shuyuan.
• Yi Shuyuan entered the hall with Lu Yuwei, greeted the Heavenly Emperor with his full divine title, and remained composed under the Emperor’s pressure.
• The Heavenly Emperor sternly accused Yi Shuyuan of humiliating Nian Chaosheng and damaging his Golden Body, while Yi Shuyuan realized the Emperor was putting on an act.

The Heavenly Emperor used the Demon-Revealing Mirror and Heaven-Deriving Divine Radiance to expose Nian Chaosheng’s crimes, then stripped him of his divine post and ordered his execution. Nian Chaosheng’s death brought rain to the Kaiyang Grand Canal, toppled its river-god statues, and left a gigantic catfish head near Cloud Moor Harbor.

• Yi Shuyuan and Nian Chaosheng appeared before the Demon-Revealing Mirror, which showed Yi Shuyuan as pure qi and Nian Chaosheng as a demonic catfish.
• The Heavenly Emperor used divine radiance to reveal Nian Chaosheng’s many crimes, including his complicity in abuses by demons and ghosts.
• The Heavenly Emperor stripped Nian Chaosheng of his position and ordered him executed on the Demon-Slaying Platform, while the other evil beings were destroyed by the Five Thunders.
• Nian Chaosheng was executed, and his body reverted to that of an enormous catfish as his remaining divine radiance and demonic qi vanished.
• Rain spread across the Kaiyang Grand Canal, every river-god statue along its waterways cracked and collapsed, and villagers found a gigantic catfish head near Cloud Moor Harbor.

Yi Shuyuan settled on Yan Mountain and forged a magical book to embody his Way of Transformation, then began studying spells compiled by Qi Zhongbin. Meanwhile, rumors spread that the Kaiyang Grand Canal’s river god had died after every River God statue along the canal collapsed.

• Lu Yuwei thanked Yi Shuyuan and Cao Yugao, then left to swim back to the Heavenly Origin Pool; Cao Yugao later parted from Yi Shuyuan on Yan Mountain.
• Yi Shuyuan found a sheltered ruin on Yan Mountain and decided to forge a book that could record stories and reveal their feelings.
• Yi Shuyuan drew on the paper, bound the sheets with ink transformed into threads, and sealed the burning book inside the Gourd to forge a magical treasure.
• Yi Shuyuan began reading the spells compiled by Qi Zhongbin and became engrossed in them over several days.
• People traveling the Kaiyang Grand Canal discovered that every River God statue along it had collapsed, and rumors spread that the river god had perished.

Yi Shuyuan refined wine and a mountain spirit began cultivating in his abandoned hut before he left Yan Mountain with Hui Mian for Heaven-Bearing Prefecture. After hearing storytellers invent conflicting tales about the Kaiyang River God, Yi Shuyuan decided to tell his own version.

• Hui Mian gathered radiant dew and delivered it with dried fruit to Yi Shuyuan, who used his Gourd to begin drafting a story.
• A mountain spirit brought offerings to Yi Shuyuan's hut for half a month, then drank the wine he left behind and began cultivating there.
• Yi Shuyuan and Hui Mian traveled from Yan Mountain to Heaven-Bearing Prefecture and entered the bustling capital.
• Yi Shuyuan heard storytellers offer different versions of the Kaiyang River God's fall and decided to tell his own tale.

Yi Shuyuan used his storytelling skill to draw customers to Moxin Teahouse and began a new version of “River God's Fall.” His vivid performance plunged the audience into the tale of a family resisting the river god’s demand for a human sacrifice.

• Hui Mian warned Yi Shuyuan that their recent spending was draining their silver, but Yi Shuyuan said he could earn more by telling stories.
• Yi Shuyuan entered the newly opened Moxin Teahouse and offered to fill it with customers in exchange for a pot of Mistgreen tea.
• Yi Shuyuan’s announcement of a fresh telling of “River God's Fall” brought customers into the teahouse.
• Yi Shuyuan opened his story with the history of the Kaiyang Grand Canal and the catfish demon honored as its river god.
• Yi Shuyuan acted out the cries, threats, and struggle of a family whose daughter was to be sacrificed, leaving the audience captivated and frightened.

Yi Shuyuan’s dramatic telling of “River God Sacrifice” packed the Moxin Teahouse and earned him generous contributions. After a man surnamed Tan recognized him as Mingzhou’s Sixteenth Wonder and invited him to perform at his home, Yi Shuyuan declined and vanished before the man could catch up.

• Yi Shuyuan narrated the river sacrifice and the Catfish Demon’s attack, drawing a packed audience into the story.
• After ending the installment, Yi Shuyuan collected contributions from listeners and received praise from the teahouse proprietor, who offered him regular work.
• A wealthy guest surnamed Tan recognized Yi Shuyuan as the storyteller he had sought in Tea Province and offered him gold to perform at his home for half a month.
• Yi Shuyuan declined Tan’s invitation, collected the contributions, and left the teahouse.
• Tan and the proprietor went outside, but Yi Shuyuan had disappeared from the street.

Yi Shuyuan recognized a familiar, predatory allure in the courtesan riding the flower float and suspected she might be connected to the supposedly dead Xuan Ji. He sent Hui Mian to search the Thirteen Pavilion Quarter for sick, docile cats while he questioned whether his earlier killing of Xuan Ji had taken two of her lives.

• Yi Shuyuan refused a wealthy gentleman’s offer to hire him to tell stories for fifteen days and went with Hui Mian to explore the examination compound district.
• Yi Shuyuan overheard Chu Hang and Yang Bencai chasing a courtesan’s float, then watched them decide to visit the Thirteen Pavilion Quarter.
• The courtesan noticed Yi Shuyuan and smiled at him, and he sensed that her alluring composure resembled Xuan Ji’s.
• Yi Shuyuan and Hui Mian reached the Thirteen Pavilion Quarter, where Yi Shuyuan found its currents of love and desire too dense to read clearly.
• Yi Shuyuan asked Hui Mian to search for sick, inconspicuous cats and wondered whether Xuan Ji had survived because he had killed two of her nine lives.

Yi Shuyuan pursued the Nine-Lives Cat Demon’s trail to the Thirteen Pavilion Quarter, hoping to learn about transformations that could advance his cultivation. Disguised as Long Feiyang, he entered the Cloud Fragrance Pavilion, sensed a strange aura, and began questioning its secrets while sharing lunch with Zhuo Qing.

• Yi Shuyuan guessed that the Nine-Lives Cat Demon’s rebirth cost it much of its cultivation, and he grew eager to study its transformations.
• Yi Shuyuan changed into Long Feiyang and headed to the Thirteen Pavilion Quarter with Hui Mian, following Chu Hang and Yang Bencai toward the Cloud Fragrance Pavilion.
• Yi Shuyuan entered the Cloud Fragrance Pavilion, sensed an unfamiliar deathlike smell, and requested a waterside room, food, and a mature companion.
• Yi Shuyuan ate lunch with Hui Mian as Zhuo Qing arrived to play the pipa, then invited her to share the food when she worried she had displeased him.

Yi Shuyuan spent the day at the Thirteen Pavilion Quarter, using a meal with Zhuo Qing to investigate a strange odor and possible monster. He left after refusing Zhuo Qing’s advances, intending to seek help from the river’s remaining Water God generals and watch for trouble on Lu Xiaoxiao’s first-patron night.

• Yi Shuyuan shared a meal with Zhuo Qing and asked about cats, nightmares, and other strange occurrences in the Thirteen Pavilion Quarter.
• Zhuo Qing mentioned that several sisters had suffered nightmares and that Lu Xiaoxiao would soon receive her first patron.
• Yi Shuyuan warned Zhuo Qing that a monster might be troubling the quarter and inscribed a protective talisman on her palm.
• After Zhuo Qing left to order supper, Hui Mian spoke with Yi Shuyuan, who decided to ask the former Water God’s surviving generals for help investigating the river.
• When Zhuo Qing offered Yi Shuyuan a bath and implied he could stay with her, he declined, paid for the room and meals through her, and left the quarter.

Yi Shuyuan recruited General Crab and the City God of Heaven-Bearing Prefecture to help search for a demon near the Thirteen Pavilion Quarter, hoping to capture the Nine-Lives Cat Demon alive. As he continued telling his popular River God's Fall story during the Spring Examinations, the emperor read a report about the Kaiyang River God's execution and wondered whether immortals truly existed.

• Yi Shuyuan visited the Water Palace, where General Crab Xie Qing agreed to muster eleven yakshas and eight hundred water soldiers to search the river quietly.
• Yi Shuyuan told the City God about the suspected demon near the Thirteen Pavilion Quarter and urged him to capture the cat demon alive if possible.
• The City God agreed to help monitor the area and said he would contact the Land God while Yi Shuyuan kept watch.
• Yi Shuyuan continued telling the final part of River God's Fall at Moxin Teahouse as the Spring Examinations began.
• The emperor read Li Qian's report about divine statues falling across the Kaiyang region and asked Liangxi whether heavenly gods and immortals existed.

The emperor learned that Tan Yuanshang planned to donate one million taels of gold to the treasury and agreed to hear the popular story River God's Fall after the examinations. Meanwhile, General Crab's forces discovered an escaped corpse in the Kaiyang Grand Canal and fought to keep it trapped underwater.

• Zhang Liangxi gave the emperor Tan Yuanshang's letter, explaining that Tan had spent twenty-three years raising nearly one million taels of gold for the treasury.
• The emperor asked to hear River God's Fall with Tan Yuanshang after the imperial examinations.
• A yaksha reported a bronze coffin and corpse aura in the canal to General Crab, who sent him to warn Yi Shuyuan.
• Yi Shuyuan told General Crab's troops to remain concealed and prevent the creature from leaving the water.
• General Crab's forces found the coffin open and empty, then attacked the corpse as it emerged from hiding.
• The corpse broke free from General Crab's pincer and tried to escape, but the Aquatic Folk Formation repelled it at the river's surface.

General Crab and the aquatic folk fought a corpse shadow underwater until Yi Shuyuan aided them with moonlight and a sword shadow that burned the corpse to ash. They remained on guard and began searching the riverbed for further demons and remnants.

• General Crab trapped the corpse shadow with his formation, but it broke free, spread corpse aura, and drained a fish of its essence.
• Yi Shuyuan reached the Grand Canal, saw the aquatic folk fighting beneath a blackened stretch of water, and used the Heaven and Earth Gourd to send moonlight into the formation.
• General Crab grasped a sword formed from the moonlight and used its light to clear the corpse aura and drive the corpse shadow back.
• General Crab pierced the corpse shadow with the sword, and the descending moonlight burned it to ash.
• General Crab told the aquatic folk to keep the formation active, and a yaksha relayed Yi Shuyuan's instruction to search the riverbed before withdrawing.

After the river crisis ended, Yi Shuyuan suspected another being had carried corpse aura from the coffin to the Thirteen Pavilion Quarter. As the metropolitan laureate Shi Niandong prepared to visit Lu Xiaoxiao, Yi Shuyuan tried to lure out the cat demon and unexpectedly transformed into Zhuo Qing.

• General Crab and the Aquatic Folk withdrew after the Bronze Coffin closed, and Yi Shuyuan concluded that something other than the river corpse had left corpse aura in the Thirteen Pavilion Quarter.
• Chu Hang and Yang Bencai failed the metropolitan examination, while Shi Niandong was named its top scorer and was urged to visit Lu Xiaoxiao at the Cloud Fragrance Pavilion.
• Xuan Ji watched the river, decided to regain a human body that night, and entered a corridor near the Cloud Fragrance Pavilion.
• Zhuo Qing felt a warning as a cat passed, then welcomed Yi Shuyuan when he arrived and asked her not to cry out in surprise.
• Yi Shuyuan used his feelings for Zhuo Qing as he spoke, then discovered that he had transformed into her before capturing the cat demon.

Yi Shuyuan transformed into Zhuo Qing to take her place at the Cloud Fragrance Pavilion and prepared to confront the cat demon. After learning her pipa pieces and settling into his disguise, he forged a sword intent from his own understanding and Zhuo Qing’s longing for freedom, then drew his sword with a plan for the night.

• Yi Shuyuan reassured Zhuo Qing that his transformation was an Immortal Dao art and asked her to lend him clothes and play her pipa pieces.
• Zhuo Qing played for Yi Shuyuan, who learned and recreated her music in her appearance, easing her fear and earning her admiration.
• Yi Shuyuan sent Zhuo Qing to his inn for safety, changed into her clothes at the Cloud Fragrance Pavilion, and left with her pipa while telling the madam that Long Feiyang had gone.
• Yi Shuyuan returned to Zhuo Qing’s room and shaped a sword intent from his own understanding of the Dao and her hidden yearning to escape her constraints.
• Yi Shuyuan drew his sword and prepared to capture the cat demon that night while Hui Mian teased him about his disguise.

Yi Shuyuan disguised himself as Zhuo Qing and joined Lu Xiaoxiao’s Beauty Contest Hall event to draw out the Cat Demon. When Xuan Ji emerged aboard the pleasure boat, Yi Shuyuan struck down her body and trapped her demonic presence in the Gourd.

• Yi Shuyuan posed as Zhuo Qing, spoke with her friend, and went to Beauty Contest Hall as one of the pavilion’s musicians.
• Lu Xiaoxiao hosted the contest, favored Shi Niandong, and invited him aboard the pleasure boat.
• Yi Shuyuan followed the pair onto the boat and played music while sensing Xuan Ji hiding nearby.
• Xuan Ji revived on the boat’s roof and prepared to attack Lu Xiaoxiao and Shi Niandong.
• Yi Shuyuan killed Xuan Ji’s cat body, pursued her escaping presence with Sword Intent, and sealed it in the Gourd.

Yi Shuyuan captured the cat demon and returned to Heaven-Bearing Prefecture with the aquatic folk’s help. Back at the inn, he offered to help Zhuo Qing buy her freedom and change her household registration, then disguised her appearance so she could safely walk around the city while he arranged it.

• Yi Shuyuan told the aquatic folk and Heaven-Bearing Prefecture’s deities that he had sealed the cat demon inside his gourd, and he thanked them for their help.
• After returning to the pleasure boat, Yi Shuyuan found Hui Mian stealing food and later faced the Cloud Fragrance Pavilion’s madam, who questioned his absence the previous night.
• Yi Shuyuan returned to the inn and told Zhuo Qing that the monster had been dealt with and that his supposed cat was actually the cultivating marten Hui Mian.
• When Yi Shuyuan asked whether Zhuo Qing wanted to buy her freedom, she admitted that she did, and he promised to arrange it lawfully within several days.
• Yi Shuyuan used his folding fan to give Zhuo Qing an illusory new appearance so she could leave the inn without being recognized while he handled her freedom.

Yi Shuyuan sent a letter telling the Cloud Fragrance Pavilion that Long Feiyang had taken Zhuo Qing away and would buy her freedom, then returned to storytelling and arranged help for his friend. Zhuo Qing heard him tell a tale as a storyteller and began to understand that Yi Shuyuan, Long Feiyang, and Mili were all forms of the same master.

• Yi Shuyuan sent Sanniang a letter saying Long Feiyang had taken Zhuo Qing away and would buy her freedom when they returned.
• A woman found the letter in Zhuo Qing's room and brought it to Sanniang, who flew into a rage.
• Yi Shuyuan told the sequel to the River God's story at the Moxin Teahouse, describing the aquatic generals who guarded the canal.
• Tan Yuanshang invited Yi Shuyuan to tell stories at his home, and Yi Shuyuan asked him to help Long Feiyang secure Zhuo Qing's freedom.
• Zhuo Qing recognized Yi Shuyuan's fan at the teahouse and accepted Hui Mian's explanation that the storyteller, Long Feiyang, and Mili were all forms of the master.

Tan Yuanshang brought Yi Shuyuan to the Tan Residence to tell River God's Fall before the emperor and his family. Yi Shuyuan captivated the audience, and the emperor praised the story's historical basis and meaning.

• Tan Yuanshang invited the emperor to hear Yi Shuyuan tell stories and explained that Yi Shuyuan had agreed in exchange for help freeing Zhuo Qing from the Cloud Fragrance Pavilion.
• Tan Yuanshang confirmed that the arrangements for Zhuo Qing were settled and agreed she should accompany Yi Shuyuan's friend when they went to the pavilion.
• Yi Shuyuan arrived at the Tan Residence and realized from the unusual signs that the emperor might be among the distinguished guests.
• Yi Shuyuan entered the hall, greeted the guests, and began telling River God's Fall before the emperor, consorts, princes, princesses, and Tan Yuanshang's family.
• Yi Shuyuan's telling of the River God Sacrifice captivated the audience, and the emperor praised the story's historical roots and its criticism of present-day practices.