Chapter Summaries

Cui Jiuyang visited Wang Dali’s home with Ninth Lady and divined that Wang Dali’s pregnant wife would give birth to a boy. He arranged for Wang Dali to manage a Shengdelong Chamber of Commerce shop, revealing that the child would grow up to become the famed swimmer known as Lake God and fight the Japanese.

• Cui Jiuyang and Ninth Lady ran into Wang Dali, who invited them to his home for tea.
• Cui Jiuyang recognized that Mrs. Wang was pregnant and predicted she would have a son, delighting the couple.
• Cui Jiuyang gave Wang Dali a talisman and told him to seek a shop manager’s position through Fifth Master Yang at Shengdelong Chamber of Commerce.
• Cui Jiuyang told Ninth Lady that Wang Dali’s son would become Lake God, an exceptional swimmer who would join the Huxi Guerrilla Force against the Japanese.

Ninth Lady and Cui Jiuyang visited Shovel Liu’s meat flatbread stall, then climbed Jining’s city wall, where Ninth Lady spoke about being abandoned as a child. The Land God warned them that unexploded bombs in Lake Taibai could be ignited underwater by Flame-Breathing Beetles, leaving them facing an imminent threat to the sluice gate.

• Ninth Lady and Cui Jiuyang ate Shovel Liu’s meat flatbreads and watched him perform with his enormous shovel.
• Ninth Lady told Cui Jiuyang that the troupe master had found her as an unwanted child at the foot of the city wall.
• Ninth Lady explained that Lake Taibai’s floodwater had nowhere to drain and that the sluice gate was holding.
• Cui Jiuyang joked that his great-grandfather’s cultivation reached as high as his raised hand, making Ninth Lady laugh.
• The Land God told Ninth Lady and Cui Jiuyang that the Giant Softshell Turtle had damaged a beam beneath the sluice gate.
• The Land God revealed that fishers had pulled up unexploded bombs and that Flame-Breathing Beetles could ignite them underwater.

Ninth Lady and Cui Jiuyang used Little Huzi to fish explosive charges from beneath the Water Gate, then spent rainy days reflecting on their time together in Jining City. As Ninth Lady prepared to return to Jidu Shrine, Cui Jiuyang decided he had to leave soon to seek a way to extend his dwindling life.

• Ninth Lady and Cui Jiuyang found that fish would not approach the Water Gate and recruited Little Huzi to fish out the explosive charges.
• Little Huzi hauled up two charges, and Cui Jiuyang and Ninth Lady arranged for the old man to reward him for retrieving the rest.
• Ninth Lady recalled her adventures with Cui Jiuyang and the quiet happiness of exploring Jining City with him.
• Ninth Lady realized she would soon return to Jidu Shrine, while Cui Jiuyang reflected that he needed to leave and search for opportunities before his life ran out.
• Cui Jiuyang remembered leaving home, becoming lost, and disguising himself as a fortune-teller to reach Jining City.

On the day Jining City celebrated its victory over the flood, Ninth Lady spent the day with Cui Jiuyang, bringing him back to his old fortune-telling spot and then treating him to a meal beside the canal. Their farewell remained unspoken as they shared wine and food.

• Ninth Lady dragged Cui Jiuyang through the city's flood celebration and watched the procession and opera with him.
• Ninth Lady persuaded Cui Jiuyang to reopen his old fortune-telling stall, where he advised a steady stream of customers until evening.
• Ninth Lady counted the eighty-two copper coins Cui Jiuyang had earned and used them to arrange their promised drink.
• Ninth Lady chose a quiet canal-side eatery, supplied wine from her Treasure Bag, and shared a meal with Cui Jiuyang.
• Cui Jiuyang raised his cup and offered to drink as punishment for not earning enough, while Ninth Lady sat across from him.

Cui Jiuyang learned that Ninth Lady loved him and discovered she had sacrificed greatly to save him, then promised to return with a Numinous Treasure despite his short lifespan. The story shifted to Yangshan County, where Old Li took his five sheep to graze on West Mountain.

• Ninth Lady confessed her feelings for Cui Jiuyang and recounted how his courage and kindness had won her heart.
• Cui Jiuyang told Ninth Lady he was going to die, and she revealed that saving him had bound her to remain at the Jidu Shrine.
• The Turtle Chancellor interrupted them, and Ninth Lady left after telling Cui Jiuyang to bring a Numinous Treasure and take her out of the shrine.
• Cui Jiuyang returned to the guild hall and realized that the gourd Ninth Lady had been drinking from contained water, not wine.
• Old Li drove his five sheep up West Mountain to graze, hoping the ewe would give birth to a lamb he could sell for new clothes.

Cui Jiuyang followed a divination to a mountain where Old Man Li had vanished, then joined villagers searching for him. After Old Man Li’s son Jincai and Li Jinbo went toward the mountain’s forbidden back side, Cui Jiuyang stayed overnight in Heyang Village to await their return.

• Old Man Li lost sight of a pregnant ewe, searched the woods behind the mountain with his remaining sheep, and disappeared.
• Cui Jiuyang’s divination led him to the same mountain, where he met villagers seeking the missing Old Man Li.
• Cui Jiuyang used Old Man Li’s bowl to divine that he was alive and somewhere on the mountain.
• Jincai rushed toward the back of the mountain, and Li Jinbo followed with two young men after ordering the others to take Cui Jiuyang to his home.
• Cui Jiuyang learned that the villagers feared the back of the mountain, ate sorghum buns and pickles at Li Jinbo’s house, and waited in the courtyard for Li Jinbo to return.

Cui Jiuyang joined Li Jincai and Li Jinbo in searching the mountains behind Heyang Village for Li Jincai’s missing father. After finding signs that Old Li had entered the vast, dangerous forest, the three went in to search.

• Li Jinbo told Cui Jiuyang that villagers had long been forbidden from entering the mountains, where people often disappeared and rumors spoke of a demon.
• Cui Jiuyang sensed a faint connection to something on West Mountain and decided to accompany Li Jincai and Li Jinbo into the mountains to find Old Li.
• The three followed signs of sheep droppings into the ancient forest, confirming that Old Li had gone there.
• Cui Jiuyang reassured Li Jincai that his father was alive, and the three entered the dense forest, where darkness and thorny undergrowth made travel difficult.

Cui Jiuyang, Li Jincai, and Li Jinbo searched the forest for Old Li, but a divination said he was safe and meeting an old friend. The three became lost after nightfall, made camp beneath a large oak, and Cui Jiuyang sensed the elusive connection again.

• Li Jincai and Li Jinbo searched the forest with Cui Jiuyang, but found no trace of Old Li and eventually changed direction to search east.
• Cui Jiuyang cast a coin divination and told the others that Old Li was safe and happily meeting an old friend in the forest.
• As darkness fell, Li Jinbo suggested returning to the village, but the three realized they were lost in the woods.
• Cui Jiuyang, Li Jincai, and Li Jinbo returned to a large oak, lit a fire, and toasted buns for supper.
• Cui Jiuyang sensed the faint, elusive connection again while the three sat by the fire.

Cui Jiuyang followed Li Jinbo and Li Jincai through the forest to a clearing where Heyang Village’s missing residents gathered around a bonfire. The wine jar at the clearing’s center drew Cui Jiuyang in, and he succumbed to its influence as he walked toward it.

• Cui Jiuyang woke to find Li Jinbo and Li Jincai sleepwalking toward the source of his strange sensation.
• Cui Jiuyang followed the two men through the forest and discovered a clearing filled with thatched huts.
• Cui Jiuyang saw Li Jinbo, Li Jincai, and a crowd of people warmly greeting one another around a bonfire.
• Cui Jiuyang sensed that the pull came from a wine jar on a stone platform and struggled against its growing influence.
• Cui Jiuyang left the grass with a dreamy smile and walked toward the wine jar.

Cui Jiuyang resisted a wine that entranced everyone in a hidden settlement and discovered it came from the corpse vapor of a Feifei skeleton. He stored the vapor and realized the wine had drawn missing villagers into a carefree life that could end in starvation as its supply dwindled.

• Cui Jiuyang accepted a cup of wine from the villagers, but his spiritual protections and a fireball jolted him out of its enchantment before he could drink.
• Cui Jiuyang used the Three Realms Clear-Sight Spell and saw vapor rising from beneath the stone platform and condensing into wine.
• Cui Jiuyang struck the platform with Mysterious Thunder Strike, shattering it and sending the wine jar flying while the villagers licked up the spilled wine.
• Cui Jiuyang identified a small beast skeleton as possibly belonging to a Feifei and collected its vapor in his Celadon Porcelain Gourd.
• Cui Jiuyang deduced that the wine had drawn missing people from Heyang Village into the forest, where they lived without worry and risked wasting away as the wine ran out.