Recaps

Yun Qing, Yun Tianluo, and Yun Ruyi met with Xia Wushang and discussed how their different Dao Paths were connected to the mortal world and its people. Yun Ruyi spoke of the impartial Heavenly Dao, leaving Yun Qing startled by the change in her bearing.

• Xia Wushang agreed to provide what the Yun Clan sought and invited the group to set politics aside to discuss their Dao Paths.
• Xia Wushang described the Human Emperor way as a Dao rooted in the people, the state, and the mountains and rivers.
• Yun Qing connected chaos and harmony to protecting others, saying transcendence need not mean turning away from the mortal world.
• Yun Tianluo said the Dao could be understood through the patterns of human hearts and desires.
• Yun Ruyi described the Heavenly Dao as impartial toward all things, and Yun Qing wondered if she had become sp Big Ruyi.

Yun Ruyi expounded on the Heavenly Dao’s impartiality, revealing an extraordinary understanding that unsettled Yun Qing and impressed Xia Wushang. As the discussion continued, Xia Wujie declared that his Dao was battle, then used the moment to reaffirm his loyalty to the emperor.

• Yun Ruyi described the Heavenly Dao as impartial and observed that Yun Qing, Yun Tianluo, and Xia Wushang each followed a Dao close to Heaven.
• Yun Qing asked what would happen if the Heavenly Dao changed, and Yun Ruyi said someone would step forward to set it right.
• Xia Wushang sensed Yun Ruyi’s words stirring the fortune of heaven and earth, praised her, and wondered about her past life.
• Yun Ruyi became dazed and exhausted after the discussion, while Yun Qing decided not to interfere with her Dao Path.
• Xia Wujie said his Dao was battle and pledged to protect Great Xia, its people, and Xia Wushang.

After three days of discussing the Dao, Yun Qing and the others parted with a deeper understanding of their own paths, and later generations would remember their gathering as the Red Dust Dao Inquiry Banquet. Xia Wushang offered Yun Qing the Immortal Court fragment but hinted that Great Xia faced an impending departure, then revealed Central Province’s origins as a piece of the Human World.

• Yun Qing praised Xia Wujie's direct battle-centered Dao, and the five youths toasted and continued discussing the Dao for three days and nights.
• Their interwoven Dao principles produced spiritual rain over Great Xia's border pass, while the five gained insight into their own paths.
• Later generations named the gathering the Red Dust Dao Inquiry Banquet and regarded it as the prelude to an era shaped by the five youths.
• Xia Wushang told Yun Qing that Great Xia would hand over the Immortal Court fragment of the Thirty-Three Heavens, then urged him to stay and see Great Xia before they parted.
• Xia Wushang revealed that Central Province had been torn from the Human World during the ancient Heavenly Origin catastrophe, and Yun Qing began to suspect Great Xia planned something drastic.

Xia Wushang revealed that Great Xia planned to move the Central Province and its people back to the Human World, and asked Yun Qing to authorize their passage with the Immortal Court seal. Yun Qing agreed, and Xia Wujie began showing him and his companions around Yu Pass while Great Xia prepared for the migration.

• Xia Wushang told Yun Qing, Yun Tianluo, and Yun Ruyi that Great Xia intended to return the entire Central Province to the Human World.
• Xia Wushang explained that restored ancient routes, the Central Province's shared origins with the Human World, and Yun Qing's Immortal Court seal would make the migration possible.
• Xia Wushang asked Yun Qing to stamp the seal to authorize Great Xia's passage through the World Barrier, and Yun Qing agreed on behalf of the Immortal Emperor.
• Xia Wushang said preparations would take time and asked Xia Wujie to guide Yun Qing and his companions around Great Xia.
• At dusk, Xia Wujie led the group through Yu Pass's bustling streets as Yun Tianluo remarked that their visit felt more like a sightseeing tour than a tense negotiation.

Yun Qing and his companions toured Yu Pass while Xia Wujie explained that Great Xia was preparing to move its realm into the Human World and warned outsiders to avoid Central Province. As Yun Qing savored the mortal city's everyday bustle, he realized he had no copper coins to buy a sugar painting and reflected on how far he had drifted from ordinary life.

• Xia Wujie explained that Central Province was sealed and unstable as Great Xia prepared to relocate, and joked that outsiders caught in the formation would be dragged into the Human World.
• Yun Qing decided to warn Uncle Lan to withdraw the Yun Clan's people from Central Province before they were caught in the upheaval.
• Yun Qing watched the ordinary life of Yu Pass's bustling streets and felt moved by the mortal world he had long forgotten.
• Yun Qing stopped at a sugar-painting stall, searched his storage items, and discovered he had no copper coins.
• Yun Qing sighed that he had strayed far from mortal life, then smiled with self-mockery and release.

Yun Qing enjoyed sugar paintings in the mortal market, briefly savoring the warmth of ordinary life as he ate a chick and a cat. Yun Ruyi bought a sugar wolf, but her Little Wolf Cub promptly devoured it, leaving her with only the bamboo stick.

• Xia Wujie paid the vendor in copper coins after explaining that cultivators rarely carried mortal currency.
• Yun Qing ordered sugar paintings of a chick and a cat, then happily ate bites from both as Yun Tianluo watched and abandoned his plan to record him.
• Yun Ruyi asked the vendor to make a sugar figure resembling her Little Wolf Cub.
• The Little Wolf Cub snatched and ate most of its sugar likeness, leaving Yun Ruyi staring at the bare bamboo stick.

Yun Qing’s days exploring Great Xia’s ordinary life deepened his understanding of the human world, and he prepared to help Great Xia migrate Central Province. As the Xia Emperor activated the migration formation, Xia Wushang faced his fears and went to fetch Yun Qing to affix the seal.

• Yun Qing and his companions toured Yu Pass, while Yun Qing watched the daily lives of its people and began to see how mortal life could belong within the Dao of chaos.
• Yun Tianluo watched performances, and Yun Ruyi learned to sculpt clay figures and made Yun Qing a miniature doll.
• When the agreed date arrived, Yun Qing left the guesthouse with Yun Tianluo and Yun Ruyi to discuss Great Xia’s migration.
• At the Mysterious Heaven Golden Palace, the Xia Emperor and Great Xia’s court gathered the nation’s fortune and formed a vast spatial formation over Central Province.
• Xia Wushang admitted he feared the risks but vowed not to retreat, and the Xia Emperor sent him to ask Yun Qing to affix the seal.
• The Xia Emperor opened the way between heaven and earth, and Central Province began to shake.

Yun Qing used the Immortal Court's seal and the Immortal Emperor's Dharma manifestation to send Central Province toward the Human World, but a second appearance of the manifestation sent him flying into the departing land. The chapter ended with Yun Tianluo and Yun Ruyi watching in shock as Yun Qing crossed the boundary.

• Yun Qing and Xia Wushang exchanged farewells at Yu Pass as Central Province prepared to depart for the Human World.
• Yun Ruyi gave Xia Wushang and Xia Wujie embroidered Fortune Pouches before Central Province began to rise.
• Yun Qing raised the Immortal Court's seal, and the Immortal Emperor's Dharma manifestation declared that Heavenly Origin's Immortal Dao granted passage.
• Central Province tore free of the Immortal World and began crossing the world barrier along the crimson-gold Human Emperor Way.
• As Yun Huang played Go in Great Zhou's Divine Palace, the Immortal Emperor's manifestation reappeared and poked Yun Qing into Central Province.

Yun Huang swept Yun Tianluo, Yun Ruyi, and the wolf cub into the world-crossing formation, and the Great Xia Ancient Dynasty descended into the Human World. Yun Qing and the others survived the passage and reunited with Xia Wushang, while the Immortal Emperor watched and wondered which path Yun Qing would attain.

• Yun Huang swept Yun Tianluo, Yun Ruyi, and the wolf cub into the formation, and the Cloud Valor Guards withdrew rather than risk being sent to the Human World.
• The World Barrier closed as the Great Xia Ancient Dynasty crossed into the Human World, and the Immortal Emperor placed a Go stone and called the Human World Yun Qing's true place of cultivation.
• Azure Cliff's True Person sect leader and a mortal dynasty's astronomical bureau director witnessed the arriving continent and raised alarms.
• Yun Qing shielded Yun Ruyi and Yun Tianluo from the violent, rejecting passage with his Chaos Immortal Power as Central Province crossed the barrier.
• Yun Qing, Yun Ruyi, and Yun Tianluo landed in the Human World and discovered that Xia Wushang and Xia Wujie had arrived there too.
• Yun Qing greeted Xia Wushang in surprise after their unexpected reunion.

Yun Qing and his companions were stranded in the Human World after Great Xia’s return, and the Immortal Seal revealed Yun Huang had arranged for them to remain there. They learned that the Human World’s laws suppressed outside cultivators to the mortal world’s limits, leaving Yun Tianluo stunned by the enormous drop in power.

• Yun Qing and his companions found themselves in the Human World beside the relocated Great Xia Ancient Dynasty, and Xia Wushang welcomed them.
• Yun Tianluo wondered if they had been sent on a diplomatic mission, while Yun Ruyi asked whether they could return; the Immortal Seal told Yun Qing to temper his heart in the mortal world.
• Qing Kitty realized Yun Huang had arranged the journey to keep Yun Qing from leaving and had manipulated the mission from the start.
• Yun Qing and his companions felt their powers suppressed by the Human World’s laws, while Xia Wujie’s human emperor way qi grew stronger.
• Xia Wushang explained that the Human World limited cultivators to the seven stages of mortal cultivation and that the Body Integration Realm was its current peak.
• Yun Tianluo silently clutched his chest after learning that the Human World’s cultivation ceiling was far below his Immortal King realm.

Yun Qing left his siblings in Great Xia and entered the Human World disguised as an ordinary man to seek his Dao. In the Immortal World, Yun Huang confronted three Yun Clan elders as three possible Dao Paths hung before him.

• Xia Wushang explained that the Human World favored mortal traditions and would suppress Yun Qing especially because of his Immortal Court Orthodoxy and treasures.
• Yun Qing accepted Xia Wushang's invitation to stay in Great Xia and settled Yun Tianluo and Yun Ruyi at the imperial capital.
• Yun Qing told his siblings he had no plan for his Dao and left to experience the mortal world as an ordinary man.
• Yun Huang studied three Dao Path scrolls, including ones titled "All Beings Sharing the Dust" and "Free and Unfettered True Heart," while the third remained untitled.
• Yun Huang summoned Yun Che, Yun Yuan, and Yun Jun, the elders responsible for the three Yuns being sent to the lower realm.

Yun Huang dismissed the Yun Clan elders after telling Yun Jun to let Yun Ruyi follow her Dao Path, then watched Yun Qing’s mortal-life scroll reveal a shop called “A Little Shop.” In Blackwater Town, Yun Qing returned to Liu Niang’s stall for wontons, leaving his life in the Human World underway.

• Yun Che reported that the Yun Clan was stable and that Yun Qing had arranged its affairs before leaving for Great Zhou.
• Yun Jun admitted Mei Hao had shown him kindness in a previous life, and Yun Huang told him to let Yun Ruyi go.
• Yun Yuan and the other elders departed, each accepting that they could not choose Yun Qing’s Dao Path for him.
• Yun Huang watched the mortal-life scroll reveal a humble shop named “A Little Shop” and criticized the name.
• Yun Qing visited Liu Niang’s stall in Blackwater Town and ordered his usual wontons with extra chopped scallions.

Yun Qing settled into Blackwater Town by opening A Little Shop, where he sold an unusual assortment of goods and hid valuable treasures among them. The chapter foreshadowed that a destined boy would become his disciple, while Yun Qing continued his quiet life as a traveling shopkeeper.

• Yun Qing chatted with Auntie Chen and a burly escort-agency worker while waiting for wontons, then paid Liu Niang and returned to his shop.
• Yun Qing admired the sign he had written for A Little Shop and reflected that its lettering concealed profound power few people could recognize.
• Yun Qing described the repairs and preparations he had done by hand before opening the shop, then added valuable odds and ends from his Storage Ring for a destined buyer.
• The narration foreshadowed that someone would claim one of Yun Qing's treasures and form a rare master-disciple bond with him, and that the disciple would later puzzle His Majesty the Immortal Emperor.
• Liu Niang congratulated Yun Qing on opening his shop and asked why he had come to Blackwater Town; Yun Qing said he was traveling.

Yun Qing settled into his shop in Blackwater Town and witnessed thugs conscripting beggars for a deadly mine. As he compared the town’s lawless misery with Yu Pass, he hoped Xia Wushang and the others would arrive soon.

• Liu Niang warned Yun Qing that Blackwater Town was plagued by demons, gangs, corrupt officials, and dangerous cultivators.
• Yun Qing spent the morning arranging his goods and gave Old Zhao writing paper for free.
• Li Er and other thugs beat a beggar and dragged two beggars away to work in the mine under orders from the yamen and the Immortal.
• A hidden figure watched the thugs leave before retreating into the shadows.
• Yun Qing reflected on the suffering and lawlessness he had witnessed and wished Xia Wushang and the others would hurry.

Yun Qing settled into his quiet life as a mortal shopkeeper while a battered young beggar lingered outside his store. After hearing that Heaven Sect cultivators were arresting people nearby, Yun Qing noticed the beggar’s reaction and grew curious about him.

• Yun Qing kept his shop and refrained from using his Double Pupils to inspect the beggar’s fate.
• He left the beggar some leftover noodle soup, and the boy cautiously ate it.
• Yun Qing watched a commotion in which several men dragged a gaunt man from an alley and beat him into kowtowing.
• Liu Niang brought Yun Qing bone broth and told him that Heaven Sect cultivators were searching Lone Goose City and Blackwater Town.
• The beggar briefly raised his head at the news, and Yun Qing wondered why he returned to the shop each morning after disappearing at night.

Yun Qing gave food to the crippled beggar and learned his name was Ye Hui, a fallen cultivator from the Heavenly Pivot Sect. When Ye Hui tried to secretly devour a prized herb in Yun Qing’s shop, Yun Qing covered the box with his hand.

• Yun Qing left steaming noodle soup for the motionless beggar, who later told him his name was Ye Hui.
• Aunt Chen visited Yun Qing’s shop, and Ye Hui struggled inside to buy wound medicine for five copper coins.
• Ye Hui recognized the three-hundred-year-old meridian-congealing grass in a wooden box and used his hidden power to devour it.
• Yun Qing suddenly covered the wooden box with his hand as Ye Hui tried to steal the herb’s essence.

Yun Qing caught Ye Hui devouring the spiritual energy of an immortal herb, broke one of his fingers as punishment, and made him work in the shop to repay its value. After Ye Hui left for the woodshed, Yun Qing recognized his rare spirit-devouring constitution and found him interesting.

• Yun Qing stopped Ye Hui from devouring the herb and demanded three hundred high-grade spirit stones in compensation.
• When Ye Hui admitted he could not pay, Yun Qing broke his left little finger according to Blackwater Town's rule for theft.
• Ye Hui offered his life, but Yun Qing refused it and told him to work as a menial in the shop until he had repaid the debt.
• Ye Hui accepted the arrangement and went to tidy the woodshed.
• Yun Qing discovered that the herb was an Origin-Congealing Immortal Herb and recognized Ye Hui's spirit-devouring body.

Ye Hui endured the pain of repairing his meridians while recalling how Ye Tianchen had defeated him and driven him from the Heavenly Pivot Sect. Yun Qing recognized the potential in Ye Hui’s Spirit-Devouring Body but chose not to teach him yet; the next morning, Ye Hui began helping around the shop.

• Ye Hui absorbed the remaining power of the stolen Meridian-Congealing Grass and remembered how Ye Tianchen had defeated him, branded his Spirit-Devouring Body an evil art, and left him ruined and hunted.
• Yun Qing recognized Ye Hui’s unusual Spirit-Devouring Body and considered teaching him, but decided against it for now.
• Yun Qing found Ye Hui asleep in the woodshed and shut the door to keep out the night wind.
• Ye Hui stood in the courtyard the next morning, and Yun Qing noticed the serpent-like nature of his eyes with his Double Pupils.
• Ye Hui took the well rope from Yun Qing and struggled to haul up a bucket of water with his weakened body.

Yun Qing put Ye Hui to work carrying water and cooking, then invited the wary servant to share breakfast at the table. After watching Ye Hui wash the dishes, Yun Qing wondered whether the young man would eventually rise from his misfortune or fade into obscurity.

• Yun Qing watched Ye Hui carry water despite the pain in his injured right leg, then told him to cook breakfast.
• Ye Hui prepared pork congee and fried eggs, impressing Yun Qing with his skill.
• Yun Qing ordered Ye Hui to sit and eat with him, and Ye Hui reluctantly joined him at the table.
• After breakfast, Ye Hui washed the dishes while Yun Qing considered what might become of him.

Yun Qing gave Ye Hui clean clothes and medicine, then warmed the water so he could wash without enduring the cold. Ye Hui remained suspicious of Yun Qing’s kindness, but the unexpected care left him deeply unsettled.

• After finishing the dishes, Ye Hui followed Yun Qing around the shop like a silent shadow.
• Yun Qing gave Ye Hui clean clothes and ointment and told him to wash.
• Ye Hui began to wash with cold water, but froze when Yun Qing appeared behind him.
• Yun Qing warmed the water with a spiritual flame and told Ye Hui to apply the ointment, set his broken fingers, and come to the shop for work.
• Ye Hui washed with the warm water, troubled by the possibility that Yun Qing had shown him genuine kindness.

Yun Qing let Ye Hui use precious healing ointment, then put him to work sorting herbs in the shop. When Ye Hui described his strange power as evil and vicious, Yun Qing silently took offense and smacked him on the head with a piece of Chinese yam.

• Yun Qing added ten thousand High-Grade Spirit Stones to Ye Hui's bill for heating his bathwater.
• Ye Hui reset his crookedly healed shin, applied Yun Qing's ointment to his injuries, and washed and dressed himself.
• Yun Qing asked Ye Hui to sort herbs, then asked whether swallowing meridian-congealing grass had improved his injuries.
• Ye Hui said Yun Qing had seen the evil power inside him that devoured spiritual essence and was intolerable to the world.
• Yun Qing took offense at Ye Hui's description and rapped him on the head with a piece of Chinese yam.

Yun Qing challenged Ye Hui’s belief that his innate constitution was evil and gave him a place as a relative in his shop. As Ye Hui began to feel safer beside Yun Qing, Aunt Chen revealed that vagrants were being seized for brutal labor at an illegal mine, and Ye Hui realized he had nearly been taken.

• Yun Qing asked Ye Hui who had taught him to call his innate constitution evil and told him that believing it made him a fool.
• Ye Hui continued sorting herbs in Yun Qing’s shop and felt some of the tension in his heart ease.
• When Blacksmith Zhao asked about Ye Hui, Yun Qing introduced him as a relative who had come to stay, surprising Ye Hui.
• Aunt Chen warned Yun Qing that vagrants were being seized and sent to an illegal mine, where two beggars had died.
• Ye Hui recalled that the yamen runners had first tried to seize him on the street.

Yun Qing confronted Ye Hui about sacrificing beggars to save himself, but responded by feeding him instead of condemning or punishing him. Ye Hui accepted Yun Qing’s kindness and ate with him, leaving their relationship unexpectedly warmer.

• Aunt Chen warned Yun Qing that Ye Hui seemed cold, then left the shop.
• Yun Qing told Ye Hui he knew Ye Hui had tripped the beggars so they would be taken to the mine in his place, and Ye Hui admitted it.
• Yun Qing asked Ye Hui if he wanted to eat, then went to the kitchen and made two bowls of noodles.
• Ye Hui cautiously ate the noodles Yun Qing served him, surprised that Yun Qing did not reject or punish him.
• Yun Qing pushed his unfinished noodles toward Ye Hui, and Ye Hui accepted and ate them.

Yun Tianluo decided to enter the mortal world and pursue his Dao by joining Great Xia. His request to join the Great Xia Ancient Dynasty left Xia Wushang and Xia Wujie thinking he intended to defect from the Yun Clan.

• In Langhuan Clear Void, Yun Huang watered a Beauty Poppy intended for Yun Tianluo and considered finding a Dao-attainment gift for Yun Qing.
• In Great Xia's Imperial Capital, Yun Tianluo joked with Yun Ruyi about Yun Qing returning from his mortal journey with children, then said he was ready to walk his own path.
• Yun Tianluo went to the Eastern Palace, where Xia Wushang and Xia Wujie discussed bringing mortal sects under Great Xia's control.
• Yun Tianluo asked to join the Great Xia Ancient Dynasty, prompting Xia Wujie to exclaim that he was defecting from the Yun Clan.

Yun Tianluo accepted Xia Wushang’s offer to serve Great Xia, while Yun Ruyi chose to follow her own path. In A Little Shop, West Street thugs demanded protection money and began stealing goods, prompting Ye Hui to seize one thug’s wrist.

• Yun Tianluo explained that he wanted to serve Great Xia and observe how the Human Emperor Way governed the world.
• Xia Wushang welcomed Yun Tianluo and offered him a post, while Yun Tianluo left Yun Ruyi free to choose her own path.
• Yun Ruyi decided to visit places untouched by blessings and left with Little Wolf Cub.
• West Street thugs barged into A Little Shop, and Yun Qing calmly paid their demanded dues.
• The thugs rummaged through the shop and stole its goods, so Ye Hui grabbed one thug’s wrist as devouring power gathered in his palm.