Recaps

Li Ping'an and Old Ox transformed Floating Jade Mountain’s Spirit Herb Garden, clearing pests and weeds and building an irrigation and filtration system. After giving Bi Qing and Bi An books on herb cultivation, Li Ping'an headed to the Scripture Pavilion to leave his disciple something worth passing down.

• Li Ping'an asked Bi Qing and Bi An how they handled pests, then summoned Old Ox to help clear the Spirit Herb Garden.
• Li Ping'an removed pests and introduced beneficial insects while Old Ox ate the weeds across the garden.
• Li Ping'an built a reservoir, latrines, settling tanks, and planted ponds to create an irrigation and water-filtration system.
• Li Ping'an gave Bi Qing and Bi An two books on growing and managing spirit herbs, and they kowtowed to him, Old Ox, and Kitten.
• Li Ping'an and Old Ox walked to the Scripture Pavilion, where they passed Guan Li and Lin Xiao before arriving at the guarded entrance.

Li Ping'an brought a vast collection of books to the Floating Jade Sect and spent the night copying the Supreme Yin Breathing Spirit-Opening Art into its Scripture Pavilion. At the sect’s disciple recruitment ceremony, Song Ziyun asked Li Ping'an to use his connections to help him get selected, leaving Li Ping'an unsure how to respond.

• The Attendant proudly described the Scripture Pavilion’s books, and Li Ping'an had Old Ox unload a huge collection of texts that buried the Attendant.
• Li Ping'an and Old Ox spent the night copying books, including the Supreme Yin Breathing Spirit-Opening Art, while the Attendant secretly studied the newly written manual.
• When the recruitment bell rang, Li Ping'an dragged Old Ox away from his beef jerky to watch the ceremony.
• Song Ziyun greeted Li Ping'an at the crowded Main Peak square and asked him to have his friend pull strings to get him selected.

Li Ping'an watched the Floating Jade Sect’s first large-scale disciple assessment and laughed at the applicants’ mishaps. He and Old Ox later returned to the Scripture Pavilion, while Kitten enjoyed being treated as a Cat Immortal until she tripped in front of some children.

• Song Ziyun offered Li Ping'an banknotes and hinted at using connections, but Li Ping'an urged him to compete honestly.
• A disciple recognized Li Ping'an as Grandmaster Ancestor, and Song Ziyun realized he had tried to bribe the sect’s ancestor.
• Li Ping'an and Old Ox watched the assessment, where rejected applicants argued and a newlywed learned his Pure Yang Body had already been broken.
• Li Ping'an and Old Ox spent the next few days in the Scripture Pavilion and left the assessment results of Guan Li, Lin Xiao, and Song Ziyun to others.
• Kitten heard children speculate that she had centuries of cultivation, then failed to notice a step and fell face-first.

Li Ping'an and his companions left Floating Jade Mountain after preparing a gift for Yan Shisan, then continued their journey toward Shushan. After witnessing the curious customs of Great Sui's cultivators, they spotted Shushan cultivators streaking across the sky and followed them.

• Li Ping'an and Old Ox finished writing their gift for Yan Shisan and departed Floating Jade Mountain without saying goodbye.
• Yan Shisan discovered Li Ping'an was gone, remembered his difficult childhood, and thanked his teacher at the Ancestral Shrine Hall.
• Li Ping'an, Old Ox, and Kitten shared fish soup with a fleeing cultivator and his pursuers, who later beat him for spying on their junior sister.
• The group saw many Shushan cultivators flying across the sky and followed them toward Shushan on Li Ping'an's Fine Rain Flying Sword.

Li Ping'an and Old Ox joined a Shushan party headed to suppress demons and fiends drawn to a leaking dragon vein. They reached the besieged island, where Li Ping'an saw the dragon vein and Wen Ruyu prepared to warn those fighting over it.

• Li Ping'an encountered Shushan cultivators led by Wen Ruyu and introduced Old Ox and Cat Immortal.
• Wen Ruyu explained that a small country's exposed dragon vein had drawn demons, fiends, and cultivators, and Li Ping'an agreed to join the mission.
• Li Ping'an traveled with the Shushan party for five days, playing his erhu along the way.
• The group arrived at an island where demons, fiends, and human cultivators fought amid layered restrictions.
• Li Ping'an used his Dharma Eye to see the dragon vein's golden threads gathered into the shape of an infant.
• Wen Ruyu asked Li Ping'an for help and said he would warn the intruders to leave.

Wen Ruyu led Shushan’s disciples to attack the Yaomo around the Imperial City while Li Ping'an guarded the skies and drove off the Cultivators who refused to leave. After the battle began, Li Ping'an sensed that something was wrong with the old emperor inside the Imperial Palace.

• Wen Ruyu announced Shushan’s arrival and ordered the factions and Yaomo to leave, then led Shushan’s disciples into the black mist to slay the Yaomo.
• Li Ping'an warned the remaining onlookers to leave while holding Old Ox and rescuing Kitten as Shushan’s disciples fought the Yaomo in coordinated formations.
• When several Cultivators attacked or lingered to watch, Li Ping'an swiftly killed more than a dozen of them, forcing the remaining factions to retreat.
• Kitten asked whether she could open her eyes, and Li Ping'an looked through the Imperial Palace with his Dharma Eye and sensed that something was wrong with the old emperor.

Li Ping'an discovered that the old emperor was draining the dynasty’s fortune to restore his youth, so he severed the hidden formation and helped Old Ox seal the Dragon Vein. The old emperor had already absorbed much of the fortune, and his transformation into a young man continued inside the palace.

• Li Ping'an saw that a hidden formation was channeling the Dragon Vein’s power to the old emperor to prolong his life.
• Li Ping'an struck down a mountain summit and broke the formation, then repelled the Yaomo and rogue cultivators who attacked him.
• Old Ox used talismans to guide the Dragon Vein qi back and seal it away, then charged into battle against an ox Yaomo.
• Wei Ruyu ordered the Shushan cultivators to form an array and prioritize killing Yaomo as Li Ping'an fought near the Imperial City.
• The old emperor continued absorbing the dynasty’s fortune as his white hair turned black, his wrinkles disappeared, and his vitality flared anew.

Li Ping'an defeated the emperor's schemes, killed the Chief Attendant, and left the emperor alive but deprived of his senses and sealed inside the palace. After Shushan cleared the Yaomo and departed, Li Ping'an returned for Cat Immortal, whom he had forgotten on a hill.

• Li Ping'an entered the Imperial Palace after Wen Ruyu explained that Shushan could not simply kill a mortal emperor.
• Li Ping'an crushed the Chief Attendant for helping the emperor and condemned the emperor to live without his senses inside the sealed palace.
• Li Ping'an and the Shushan disciples destroyed the Grand Arrays, cleared out the Yaomo, and left as Wei Ruyu warned that war and famine would likely follow.
• Li Ping'an dragged Old Ox away from an ox Yaomo's corpse, then realized Cat Immortal was missing and went back to retrieve her.
• Cat Immortal revealed that she had seen Li Ping'an and Old Ox leave without her, but Li Ping'an distracted her with the promise of pastries.

Run Tu led Heaven-Reaching Peak’s increasingly prosperous business while Qingfeng got into trouble after trying to take a sword from the Feng City Auction House without paying. Li Ping'an returned to Shushan with Old Ox and Kitten and was stunned by how drastically Heaven-Reaching Peak had changed.

• Run Tu learned that the Tianshui Gang had robbed Heaven-Reaching Peak’s goods again and prepared to gather disciples to retaliate.
• Elder Sun warned Run Tu that the peak’s business practices were making it look like a bandits’ den.
• Qingfeng returned from Feng City after fighting at the auction house because its staff refused to give him a sword without payment.
• Run Tu comforted Qingfeng and boasted about the wealth he had built for Heaven-Reaching Peak.
• Run Tu learned that Li Ping'an had returned with Wei Ruyu, and Li Ping'an arrived with Old Ox and Kitten.
• Li Ping'an and Old Ox stared in disbelief at the lavishly transformed Heaven-Reaching Peak.

Li Ping'an and Old Ox returned to Heaven-Reaching Peak and reunited with Run Tu and Qingfeng, revisiting old memories as they explored the changed mountain. Qingfeng and Cat Immortal became friends, then competed over their knowledge and hurried off to study, leaving Li Ping'an amused by their newfound motivation.

• Li Ping'an and Old Ox arrived at Heaven-Reaching Peak, where Qingfeng and Run Tu joyfully welcomed them.
• Run Tu showed Li Ping'an and Old Ox around the renovated peak as they recalled their past adventures there.
• Qingfeng and Cat Immortal squabbled over their heights, but later bonded while playing together.
• At dinner, Cat Immortal quizzed Qingfeng on reading and arithmetic, prompting Qingfeng to rush off and study.
• Cat Immortal grabbed food to take with her and hurried after Qingfeng, determined to study too.

Li Ping'an resumed his peaceful life on Heaven-Reaching Peak, reunited with old friends, and reflected on how much time had passed. He spent a sunny day sewing clothes while the others studied, slept, or played nearby.

• A disciple told Li Ping'an that the Tianshui Gang had robbed their shipment, but Li Ping'an declined to decide what to do while Run Tu was drunk.
• Li Ping'an visited Servant Peak, ate at the Dining Garden, and greeted a few acquaintances before returning to Heaven-Reaching Peak.
• Li Ping'an met Situ Lei and Yun Shu, and he and Situ Lei laughed over their reunion after many years apart.
• Li Ping'an sewed clothes for Little Girl and Qingfeng while Kitten tried to study, then turned into a cat and napped after checking that Qingfeng was asleep.
• Run Tu rode Old Ox through the fields pretending to lead soldiers into battle, while Li Ping'an continued sewing in the sunshine.

Li Ping'an went to Heaven-Reaching Peak's Alchemy Room to help its struggling pill business and successfully refined an eighth-rank Spirit Pill. Drained by the effort, he returned home, collapsed onto Kitten, and fell asleep.

• Run Tu told Li Ping'an that Heaven-Reaching Peak's pill business was losing customers to a competitor that had refined an eighth-rank pill, and asked him to guide the peak's Alchemists.
• Li Ping'an followed Run Tu to the Alchemy Room, where he admitted he did not know how to use its advanced furnace and Gusu Ke showed him how.
• Li Ping'an used Heaven-Reaching Peak's final set of rare ingredients to refine an eighth-rank Spirit Pill, whose formation summoned terrifying Pill Tribulation Lightning.
• Li Ping'an caught the Spirit Pill as it tried to escape, drank from his Sword-Nurturing Gourd, and calmly left the Alchemy Room.
• Li Ping'an returned to his little house, collapsed from exhaustion, and fell asleep with his head on Kitten, who protested that she was not a pillow.

After recovering from exhaustion, Li Ping'an spent nearly half a month resting before gathering with Old Ox and their friends for a farewell barbecue beneath the stars. As meteors crossed the sky, they had a disciple paint their group together, and Li Ping'an inscribed a poem about parting.

• Li Ping'an woke from a deep dream, ate a meal brought by Little Girl, and resumed knitting while resting at his cottage.
• Li Ping'an and Old Ox invited Qingfeng, Kitten, and Run Tu to a barbecue on Heaven-Reaching Peak's rear slopes before their remaining days together ran out.
• Kitten drank a whole pot of wine and fell asleep before the group noticed meteors streaking across the night sky.
• Run Tu said he was glad to have met Li Ping'an and Old Ox, and Qingfeng proposed having a portrait painted.
• A disciple painted the group together, and Li Ping'an inscribed the poem, “Like windblown tumbleweeds, we each drift far away; let us drain the cups in our hands!!”

Li Ping'an, Little Girl, and Old Ox left Shushan and traveled toward Nantong by canal. On the boat, Little Girl tried to avoid paying a child’s fare, shared candy with her companions, and sent a high official’s son crashing onto his backside after he shoved her.

• Run Tu tearfully said goodbye to Li Ping'an, who said he might visit Nantong; Little Girl gave Qingfeng her last dried mouse, and he brought her an enormous beast.
• Li Ping'an, Little Girl, and Old Ox traveled for half a month and reached the canal docks, where they negotiated passage to Nantong.
• Little Girl claimed she was under three feet tall so she could ride free, then called the boatman Uncle to get candy and shared it with Li Ping'an and Old Ox.
• As the boat traveled, a boy who bragged that his father was a high official shoved Little Girl, so she sent him flying onto his backside and hurried away.

Kitten hid after pushing an official’s son, while Li Ping'an later spoke with the newly appointed prefect, Li Maocai, about Nantong’s troubled state. The chapter left Li Ping'an aware that Nantong’s unrest was worse than Zhao Ling'er had suggested.

• A woman demanded to know who had pushed her son, but the boy could not find Kitten, who had transformed into a cat and hidden on Old Ox.
• Li Ping'an quietly asked Kitten whether she had pushed the boy, and she denied it before the farce ended without anyone discovering her involvement.
• Li Maocai introduced himself to Li Ping'an as the newly appointed prefect of Chunyan, Nantong, and they began discussing a medical book.
• Li Maocai described Nantong’s coastal bandit attacks, repeated tax increases, peasant uprisings, and powerful lineages, saying Zhao Ling'er was holding the situation steady.

Li Ping'an revisited Tortoise-Carried City with Kitten and Old Ox, where the Turtle God had become the Turtle God Lady. As Li Maocai and Li Ping'an watched, a streak of light descended from the temple and a graceful woman appeared.

• The boatmen caught and cooked a large haul of seafood, and Li Ping'an declined to let Li Maocai's son play with Kitten.
• Li Ping'an advised Kitten to reason with bad people when possible and run if she could not defeat them, while Kitten joked about eating the boy and his mother.
• A boatman announced that the ship had reached Tortoise-Carried City, and Li Ping'an recalled visiting its Turtle God Temple years earlier.
• Li Ping'an, Old Ox, and Kitten revisited the temple and found that its statue now depicted the Turtle God Lady instead of the old turtle.
• Li Maocai explained that officials of Great Sui could not worship gods while in office, then spoke of the Turtle God Lady's cultivation and future status as an Orthodox God.
• A streak of light descended from the temple, and a graceful woman appeared before Li Maocai and Li Ping'an.

Li Ping'an reunited with Ning Ninglong, the Turtle God Lady, who thanked him for helping bring down her father years ago. As Ning Ninglong discussed the difficulties of her coming promotion to Orthodox God, Li Ping'an listened at her temple.

• Ning Ninglong greeted Li Maocai and recognized Li Ping'an, who recalled her past and was surprised to learn she credited him with her father's death.
• Ning Ninglong invited Li Ping'an to Ninglong Temple, while Li Maocai realized she had not been addressing him and declined to join them.
• A woman asked Li Maocai who Ning Ninglong was, and he warned his wife not to offend powerful people.
• At Ninglong Temple, Li Ping'an and Ning Ninglong shared tea and pastries as she asked whether he planned to remain in Great Sui.
• Ning Ninglong told Li Ping'an that her coming appointment as an Orthodox God had brought increased duties and trouble from Dragonkind and neighboring river powers.

Li Ping'an freed the Third Young Master and sent him with Kitten to confront the dragonkind causing trouble downstream on the Ning River. Kitten’s warning was mocked until Li Ping'an’s spell revealed the Third Young Master’s overwhelming power, leaving the mansion’s guests stunned.

• Li Ping'an freed the Third Young Master from his seal and asked him to negotiate with the troublesome dragonkind without taking lives.
• Li Ping'an sent Kitten along and taught her a spell to keep the Third Young Master from causing trouble.
• Kitten rode on the Third Young Master’s head to a lavish underwater mansion, where an azure-robed young master was drinking and making merry.
• Kitten told the azure-robed young master to stop causing trouble and warned that she would beat him up, but the guests laughed at her.
• Kitten formed a Hand Seal as Li Ping'an flicked a finger, and the Third Young Master appeared behind her in dragon form, making the guests fall silent.

Little Girl and Third Young Master intimidated the blue-robed man at the underwater mansion, then stayed to eat and drink before returning to Li Ping'an. Kitten came back drunk, and Li Ping'an quietly had Old Ox make sobering soup.

• Little Girl summoned Third Young Master in his dragon form, frightening the blue-robed man and the guests into apologizing.
• Little Girl warned the blue-robed man not to cause trouble again, and he promised to obey.
• Third Young Master persuaded Little Girl to stay for the mansion's food and wine, and she secretly packed some food for Big Ping'an and Niu Niu.
• Third Young Master caught Kitten after she fell from his head while drunk, and she bit his tail.
• Li Ping'an and Old Ox returned to the boat, where Third Young Master and the swaying Kitten arrived and claimed everything had gone smoothly.
• Li Ping'an did not expose them and asked Old Ox to brew sobering soup.

Li Ping'an arrived in Nantong with Old Ox and Little Girl, then traded a string of Magic Money for a taste of exclusive wine. The shopkeeper dismissed the coins as ordinary copper, but Steward Zhang noticed them and asked about them.

• Li Maocai invited Li Ping'an to travel with him in Nantong, and they parted after meeting the officials welcoming Li Maocai as the new Prefect.
• Li Ping'an and his companions checked into an inn, where Little Girl went out to search for mice.
• Li Ping'an traded five pieces of Magic Money for a cup of wine and saved half of it for Old Ox.
• The shopkeeper set the Magic Money aside and welcomed Steward Zhang, who noticed the coins and asked what they were.

Steward Zhang discovered the magical power in the five copper coins Li Ping'an had traded for wine, while Li Ping'an spent time in Nantong with Old Ox and Cat Immortal. At the temple fair, he rescued Li Maocai's abducted son and took him to the yamen.

• Steward Zhang accepted the five copper coins from the shopkeeper and was astonished when he tested their magical power with his divine sense.
• Li Ping'an bought three Nuo Ghost Masks for fifteen copper coins, and Cat Immortal later gave him fifteen coins she had earned carrying sacks.
• As the Tanxi approached, Li Ping'an planned to visit Nantong's temple fair with Old Ox and Cat Immortal.
• Li Ping'an recognized Li Maocai's unconscious son being carried by two beggars and stopped them from escaping.
• Li Ping'an revived the boy, handed the beggars to two yamen runners, and accompanied the child to the yamen.

Li Ping'an learned that the newly appointed prefect, Li Maocai, and his wife were dead, then brought their surviving child to the Governor's Residence to seek Zhao Ling'er. Meanwhile, Liu Changze traced mysterious magic money to Li Ping'an and ordered him watched; the chapter ended with a residence official inviting Li Ping'an inside to meet the governor.

• Li Ping'an forced the Shiye to reveal that Li Maocai and his wife had died, though the man said he did not know how they had been killed.
• Steward Zhang admitted that Shopkeeper Qian had given him the magic money after receiving it from a blue-robed man, and Liu Changze killed him after he left the hall.
• Liu Changze told Liu Yunhan that the man matched Li Ping'an and suggested he might have discovered something in Nantong.
• Liu Yunhan ordered the Governor's Residence to monitor Li Ping'an's movements because of his ties to Zhao Ling'er.
• Li Ping'an brought the prefect's surviving child to the Governor's Residence, where an official said Zhao Ling'er was waiting to receive him.

Li Ping'an entrusted the murdered Prefect's son and the investigation to Zhao Ling'er, then took Old Ox and Kitten to climb Cloudglow Mountain. They learned the Female Emperor would soon visit Nantong for an extended Nuo Festival, and Zhao Ling'er arrived at their inn to discuss her tour and ask how long Li Ping'an planned to stay.

• Li Ping'an explained the Prefect's murder and his orphaned son to Zhao Ling'er, who promised to investigate and notify him of the results.
• Li Ping'an, Old Ox, and Kitten climbed Cloudglow Mountain, where Kitten impressed other climbers by leaping up nine steps at once.
• Soldiers blocked the mountain path because preparations were underway for the Female Emperor's southern tour, so Li Ping'an and his companions turned back.
• Zhao Ling'er waited at Li Ping'an's inn, and Kitten checked that her money pouch was safe before relaxing around her.
• Zhao Ling'er told Li Ping'an that the Female Emperor would likely arrive in the next few days and that the Nuo Festival would be extended until the eighteenth, then asked how long he would stay.

Li Ping'an left Nantong after the Nuo Festival and learned that the ancient willow in Riverside Valley had fallen, prompting him to connect the incident to the festival, the emperor’s visit, and Zhao Ling’er’s earlier political remarks. He feared Zhao Ling’er was preparing to take a dangerous action.

• Zhao Ling'er explained that Li Maocai had been murdered by local officials who tried to conceal a treasury shortfall, and said she had detained the suspects.
• Li Ping'an watched the Nuo Festival with Little Girl and Old Ox, then left Nantong on the sixteenth after bidding Zhao Ling'er farewell.
• Li Ping'an met Li Maocai's son at the Governor's residence and learned that his father had been a master mask-maker who taught him the craft.
• At a roadside tea stall, Li Ping'an heard that the five-hundred-year-old willow in Riverside Valley had fallen and the valley had collapsed.
• Li Ping'an linked the willow, Nuo masks, the emperor's southern tour, and Zhao Ling'er's earlier comments, then worried that she was about to do something reckless.

Li Ping'an confronted Zhao Ling'er and Nantong's Lineage leaders as they prepared to assassinate the Female Emperor during her southern tour. Zhao Ling'er defended her plan by citing the suffering caused by the emperor's taxes, while Li Ping'an challenged her judgment and warned of the chaos her death could bring.

• Li Ping'an left the tea stall after realizing he needed to act, and Little Girl asked Old Ox to teach her how to disappear like him.
• Liu Changze warned Zhao Ling'er and the gathered Lineage leaders that Li Ping'an had returned, prompting Zhao Ling'er to acknowledge their plot might have been discovered.
• The Lei Family head welcomed the chance to face Li Ping'an, but Li Ping'an walked past the gathered leaders and addressed Zhao Ling'er directly.
• Li Ping'an asked Zhao Ling'er to abandon the assassination, and she answered that their plan had to proceed because the Female Emperor's wars would not stop while she lived.
• Liu Yunhan admitted that the Lineage leaders had killed Prefect Li Maocai after he noticed irregularities in the masks, while claiming Zhao Ling'er had known nothing beforehand.
• Zhao Ling'er argued that the Female Emperor's taxes had driven commoners to kill their children, and Li Ping'an maintained that war would continue regardless of who ruled.