Recaps

Chen Jianghe avoided a pair of human traffickers at the port, then met with Yu Daniu, Zhou Miaoyun, and Gao Peiyao before buying a Qi-Nourishing Pill. After absorbing the pill’s medicinal power, he reached the qi refining third layer.

• Chen Jianghe recognized the middle-aged man who had tried to recruit him as a spirit farmer seven years earlier and refused his offer to travel to Qinghe Market.
• Yu Daniu told Chen Jianghe that the supposed brokers were human traffickers who had helped the Lan Household recruit short-term spirit farmers.
• Yu Daniu informed Zhou Miaoyun and Gao Peiyao about the traffickers, and Gao Peiyao revealed that she had reached the qi refining third layer.
• Chen Jianghe bought a Qi-Nourishing Pill at the Cultivator Market and took it aboard his fishing boat.
• Chen Jianghe cultivated with the pill’s medicinal power and broke through to the qi refining third layer.

Chen Jianghe learned the Water Escape Technique and went to the Fisher-Farmer Conference, where Fifth Elder Yun Zhonghou addressed the Yun Household’s troubled retainers and fisher-farmers. Yun Zhonghou offered those who wished to leave permission to go and invited those who remained to return to the Inner Waters.

• Chen Jianghe sensed his increased magical power and successfully practiced the Water Escape Technique, traveling a hundred meters on his first attempt.
• Over nine days, Chen Jianghe practiced the technique five times and improved until he could travel one li with each use.
• Chen Jianghe arrived at the crowded Fisher-Farmer Conference and reunited with Yu Daniu, Zhou Miaoyun, and Gao Peiyao.
• Those gathered discussed attacks on Yun Household descendants, the loss of senior fisher-farmers, and the household’s planned changes to the Outer Waters.
• Fifth Elder Yun Zhonghou announced that the Yun Household would allow anyone wishing to leave to do so, while those who stayed could return to the Inner Waters.

The Yun Household gathered its junior fisher-farmers and selected those who qualified to become senior fisher-farmers, offering them a chance to work in the safer, more spiritually rich Inner Waters. Chen Jianghe and two others were kept behind for a separate selection whose purpose remained unclear.

• Several dozen senior fisher-farmers and some retainers left the Yun Household, while the junior fisher-farmers stayed at the harbor meeting grounds.
• Yun Zhonghou dismissed members of qi refining aristocratic clans, and the Outer Waters steward called forward junior fisher-farmers who met the fish-yield requirements or had entered cultivation through the Yun Household's benevolence.
• Chen Jianghe, Yu Daniu, and another fisher-farmer qualified under both conditions and were told to remain while other junior fisher-farmers departed.
• Yun Zhonghou asked the remaining fifty-two junior fisher-farmers to share the Yun Household's hardship, and they pledged their support.
• Yun Bufan announced that qualified junior fisher-farmers would become senior fisher-farmers and raise Small Blue Fish in the Inner Waters, while Chen Jianghe and the other two double-qualified men stayed behind for further selection.

Yun Zhonghou offered the junior fisher-farmers a chance to marry into the Yun Household, and seven accepted, including Yu Daniu. After Chen Jianghe told Gao Peiyao and Zhou Miaoyun what had happened, a Yun Household attendant summoned him to the Inner Waters in three days.

• Yun Zhonghou offered the junior fisher-farmers marriages to women of the Yun Household with spiritual roots, promising treatment based on their contributions.
• After learning their children would bear the Yun surname, seven junior fisher-farmers stepped forward, including Yu Daniu, while Chen Jianghe stayed behind.
• Chen Jianghe left the gathering and regretted missing the chance to become a senior fisher-farmer early, then went to the Welcoming Inn to meet Gao Peiyao and Zhou Miaoyun.
• Chen Jianghe told Gao Peiyao and Zhou Miaoyun about the offer, and they accepted Yu Daniu's choice to marry into the Yun Household.
• An attendant from the Welcoming Inn told Chen Jianghe that the Yun Household wanted him to accompany them to the Inner Waters in three days.

Chen Jianghe learned that he could enter the Inner Waters as a Senior Fisher-Farmer, while Yu Daniu confirmed he would become a live-in son-in-law of the Yun Household. After sharing a meal, Chen Jianghe returned most of Yu Daniu’s spirit stones and warned him that married life would bring expenses.

• Chen Jianghe received news that the Yun Household would let him enter the Inner Waters early, and Zhou Miaoyun ordered a celebratory meal.
• Yu Daniu arrived and said the Fifth Elder would take him and six other live-in sons-in-law to Heart of the Lake Island in three days.
• Yu Daniu returned two spirit stones to Gao Peiyao and told the group that the Fifth Elder had given each of the seven men ten spirit stones and ten Qi-Blood Pills.
• Chen Jianghe and the others sampled braised Big Blue Fish, then agreed to meet again the following year.
• Yu Daniu offered Chen Jianghe five spirit stones, but Chen Jianghe kept only one and told him to save the rest for expenses after marriage.

Chen Jianghe arranged for Xiao Hei to hide in the Five-One-Two Waters until he could return, then joined thirty-five Junior Fisher-Farmers traveling to the Inner Waters to become Senior Fisher-Farmers. Yun San explained that their work would involve raising Big Blue Fish into ranked Small Blue Fish using Immortal Spirit Rice.

• Chen Jianghe returned to the Five-One-Two Waters and told Xiao Hei to hide in the lakebed until he came back for him in a month.
• Xiao Hei told his father that he was going to the legendary Immortal Domain, but kept Chen Jianghe's existence secret.
• Chen Jianghe traveled with thirty-four other Junior Fisher-Farmers to the Inner Waters, where Yun Bufan welcomed them as Senior Fisher-Farmers of the Yun Household.
• Yun San explained that Senior Fisher-Farmers had to use Immortal Spirit Rice to transform Big Blue Fish into ranked Small Blue Fish.
• Yun San warned that anyone who stole the Immortal Spirit Rice or fed it to their own spirit beast would have their dantian destroyed and be expelled from Mirror Moon Lake.

Chen Jianghe entered the Inner Waters and learned the rules and risks of raising small blue fish as a senior fisher-farmer. After receiving his fingerlings, he struggled to stop them from attacking each other and found that feeding them caused several to turn belly-up.

• Chen Jianghe arrived in the Inner Waters, where he found the spiritual energy far richer than in the Outer Waters.
• Yun San explained the senior fisher-farmers’ duties, payment rules, and restrictions in the Inner Waters.
• Yun San assigned Chen Jianghe to Sector C, Waters Number Twelve, and Chen Jianghe decided to wait a month before fetching Xiao Hei.
• Three days later, the Yun Household delivered one hundred fingerlings and fish feed to Chen Jianghe.
• Chen Jianghe tried to separate the fingerlings as they bit one another, then poured rice bran into the water, and several fish turned belly-up amid the feeding frenzy.

Chen Jianghe brought Xiao Hei to the Inner Waters to take over raising the Small Blue Fish, freeing him to practice the Water Escape Technique. Meanwhile, Yun Bufan questioned his father about the Yun Household’s claim that he could reach Foundation Establishment within ten years and suspected the Foundation Establishment Pill had not been stolen.

• Chen Jianghe brought Xiao Hei to the Inner Waters and explained how to raise the Small Blue Fish, warning him not to eat their Immortal Spirit Rice.
• Chen Jianghe left Xiao Hei to care for the fish and began practicing the Water Escape Technique, aiming to extend its range beyond two li.
• The fifth elder led Yun Bufan into the Yun Household ancestral hall to meet his father, Yun Xiaotian, and four elders.
• Yun Bufan asked why the fifth elder had announced that he could reach Foundation Establishment within ten years.
• Yun Xiaotian said the household believed Yun Bufan could succeed, prompting Yun Bufan to suspect the Foundation Establishment Pill had not been stolen.

Yun Bufan learned that the Yun Household had spread misleading rumors to protect his future Foundation Establishment. Half a year later, Xiao Hei successfully became a ranked spirit beast, and Chen Jianghe discovered that his lifespan limit had increased to 360 years.

• Yun Xiaotian told Yun Bufan that the Foundation Establishment Ancestor would recover within five years and explained why the Yun Household was spreading rumors about Bufan's prospects.
• Yun Zhongbo urged Yun Bufan to cultivate toward the peak of the ninth level of Qi Refining, while Yun Zhongwei hoped the household head might also reach Foundation Establishment.
• Chen Jianghe spent half a year improving his Water Escape Technique while Xiao Hei cared for the Small Blue Fish fry.
• Chen Jianghe sensed Xiao Hei's breakthrough beginning and guarded the turtle as it absorbed spiritual energy and grew larger.
• After four hours, Xiao Hei condensed a spiritual core, became a ranked spirit beast, and learned that its lifespan was 120 years.
• Chen Jianghe saw that his own lifespan limit had risen to 360 years after Xiao Hei's breakthrough.

Chen Jianghe discovered that he and Xiao Hei had exchanged lifespans, and learned that Xiao Hei had advanced into a Spirit Beast with a cultivation art. The chapter ended with Chen Jianghe planning to cultivate cautiously and ensure Xiao Hei survived so he could achieve Foundation Establishment.

• Chen Jianghe saw that his lifespan limit had risen to three hundred and sixty years and realized he had exchanged lifespans with Xiao Hei.
• Xiao Hei awakened communication through Chen Jianghe's Spiritual Platform and explained that he had been born with a shortened lifespan before entering the Immortal Dao.
• Chen Jianghe persuaded Xiao Hei to call him Master and promised him a Qi-Nourishing Pill for raising the Small Blue Fish.
• Xiao Hei revealed that he had gained the [Three-Turn Demon Ascension Art] after condensing his Spirit Core, though he could not transmit it to Chen Jianghe.
• Chen Jianghe concluded that he needed to achieve Foundation Establishment within Xiao Hei's remaining lifespan and resolved to prioritize cultivation and caution.

Chen Jianghe reunited with Wang Kui and met Gao Peiyao and Zhou Miaoyun at the Welcoming Inn, where they discussed their changing fortunes and the Yun Household’s shrinking territory. The chapter ended with Chen Jianghe learning that the Yun Household had retreated to a smaller domain amid threats from the Bai Household and Lan Tianxiang.

• Chen Jianghe met Wang Kui at the Welcoming Inn, and Wang Kui apologized for their past misunderstanding and offered to help him.
• Chen Jianghe met Gao Peiyao and Zhou Miaoyun and told them that Yu Daniu had to miss their gathering because his wife was about to give birth.
• Chen Jianghe shared his Inner Waters location and described its spiritual energy and Heart of the Lake Island’s resources to Gao Peiyao and Zhou Miaoyun.
• Zhou Miaoyun explained the many valuable uses of graded Small Blue Fish, including their flesh, blood, spiritual cores, and scales.
• Chen Jianghe learned that the Yun Household had reduced its territory from an eight-hundred-li radius to three hundred li, with Shixia Town now marking its border with the Bai Household.

Chen Jianghe visited Heart of the Lake Island for the first time and explored the Yun Household's shops, where he learned the price and limitations of Black Crystal Mystic Tortoises. The shopkeeper's surprise at Chen Jianghe's question about inherited cultivation techniques left Xiao Hei's nature in doubt.

• Zhou Miaoyun told Chen Jianghe and Gao Peiyao that Lan Tianxiang had killed members of the Bai Household, and they speculated that the Yun Household might have impersonated him.
• Chen Jianghe received Yu Daniu's letter announcing the birth of a son and inviting him to visit.
• Chen Jianghe traveled to Heart of the Lake Island and noticed its spiritual energy was weaker than he expected.
• Chen Jianghe explored the Yun Household's market district and entered the Spirit Beast Pavilion.
• The shopkeeper told Chen Jianghe that a Black Crystal Mystic Tortoise cost twelve spirit stones and could not advance to a second-tier spirit beast.
• Chen Jianghe asked about the tortoise's inherited cultivation technique, and the shopkeeper said spirit beasts cultivated by consuming resources rather than using techniques.

Chen Jianghe learned more about Xiao Hei’s inherited cultivation art while shopping at the Clock Tower Market and then visited Yu Daniu to congratulate him on the birth of his son. The chapter ended with Chen Jianghe giving Yu Daniu a gift and declining to enter the celebration.

• Chen Jianghe discovered that Xiao Hei had the [Three-Turn Demon Ascension Art] and wondered whether it could help Xiao Hei advance to Tier 2.
• Chen Jianghe asked the fat shopkeeper about selling a Black Crystal Mystic Tortoise and learned that one would cost two Spirit Stones, or three without a Heart-Linking Lock.
• Chen Jianghe browsed the Clock Tower Market, bought a Peace Talisman and a medicinal sachet, and considered how to keep Xiao Hei from attracting attention.
• Chen Jianghe found Yu Daniu at No. 32 Fumen Residence, where friends and acquaintances had gathered to celebrate the birth of Yu Daniu’s son.
• Chen Jianghe congratulated Yu Daniu, gave him a gift for his nephew, and said he would not come inside.

Over five years, Chen Jianghe cultivated in the Inner Waters, Xiao Hei advanced as a spirit beast, and Yu Daniu prospered within the Yun Household. After receiving a joint letter from Gao Peiyao and Zhou Miaoyun saying they planned to leave Mirror Moon Lake, Chen Jianghe decided to learn more at the year-end gathering.

• Chen Jianghe questioned Xiao Hei about his new abilities, and Xiao Hei revealed his petrification defense, longer lifespan, and ability to communicate with Chen Jianghe.
• Chen Jianghe cultivated in the Inner Waters for five years and reached Qi Refining Third Layer Perfection.
• Xiao Hei raised three Small Blue Fish into spirit beasts, earning three spirit stones for the Yun Household.
• Chen Jianghe received a joint letter from Gao Peiyao and Zhou Miaoyun announcing that they planned to leave Mirror Moon Lake and suggesting they discuss it at the year-end gathering.
• Chen Jianghe recalled how Gao Peiyao, Zhou Miaoyun, and Yu Daniu had advanced over the years, then resolved to ask about the departure when he visited the Welcoming Inn.

Chen Jianghe received payment for his Small Blue Fish and learned that Yun Bufan’s praise had helped him gain favor with Yun Wu. As Yu Daniu took him to Port No. 1, he gave Chen Jianghe eight spirit stones, easing his financial strain and allowing him to consider expanding his plans.

• Yun Wu praised Chen Jianghe’s fish-farming talent, paid him six spirit stones and twenty grains of spirit sand, and credited Yun Bufan’s earlier praise.
• Yu Daniu arrived with Yun Xiaoniu and invited Chen Jianghe to travel with him to Port No. 1.
• Yu Daniu and Chen Jianghe discussed why Gao Peiyao and Zhou Miaoyun planned to leave Mirror Moon Lake, agreeing to seek the reason at the Welcoming Inn.
• Yu Daniu offered Chen Jianghe eight spirit stones after explaining that his wife had agreed and that the clan might reward him with a Calamity-Breaking Pill.
• Chen Jianghe accepted the spirit stones and calculated that they would help him buy cultivation pills, repay Gao Peiyao and Zhou Miaoyun, and pursue his plan to support himself and Xiao Hei.

At the Welcoming Inn, Gao Peiyao told Chen Jianghe and Yu Daniu that she planned to leave Mirror Moon Lake and try to join the Tian Nan Sect. With Zhou Miaoyun set to travel with her as far as Qinghe Market, the chapter ended with Chen Jianghe and Yu Daniu offering spirit stones to support their journey.

• Gao Peiyao and Zhou Miaoyun met Chen Jianghe and Yu Daniu at the inn, where they discussed Yun Bufan's cultivation and the Yun Household's troubles.
• Yu Daniu asked Gao Peiyao why she planned to leave Mirror Moon Lake, and she explained that she wanted to attempt the Tian Nan Sect's recruitment examination.
• Gao Peiyao said she could travel with Zhou Miaoyun to Qinghe Market, then take a flying boat toward the Tian Nan Sect.
• Chen Jianghe gave Gao Peiyao and Zhou Miaoyun spirit stones, and Yu Daniu added a gift to help with Gao Peiyao's travel expenses.

At the Mutual Aid Alliance’s final year-end gathering, Gao Peiyao and Zhou Miaoyun left Mirror Moon Lake, while Chen Jianghe decided to begin learning the Talisman Dao. He bought a Qi-Nurturing Pill and talisman-making supplies, including a worn secondhand brush, and left the market ready to test his talent.

• Gao Peiyao and Zhou Miaoyun repaid their debts and took their leave, ending the alliance’s annual year-end gatherings as they departed Mirror Moon Lake.
• Yu Daniu invited Chen Jianghe to visit on New Year’s Eve, and Chen asked him to find a book on common knowledge about the cultivation world.
• Chen Jianghe used his remaining funds to buy a Qi-Nurturing Pill, twenty sheets of talisman paper, and a box of spirit ink.
• Chen Jianghe bargained a stallholder down to one spirit stone for a worn peachwood talisman brush and left the cultivator market with his supplies.

Chen Jianghe used a Qi-Nurturing Pill to break through to the fourth level of Qi Refining, then considered the expense of further cultivation for himself and Xiao Hei. After the Yun Household delivered the Small Blue Fish fry, he began trying to draw talismans as a new source of income.

• Chen Jianghe returned to the Inner Waters with his purchases and spent two days preparing for his breakthrough.
• Chen Jianghe told Xiao Hei to guard the fish and promised to buy him Qi-Nurturing Pills when they could afford them.
• Chen Jianghe took the Qi-Nurturing Pill and used the Origin Returning True Water Art to break through to the fourth level of Qi Refining.
• Chen Jianghe calculated the cost of further cultivation for himself and Xiao Hei and decided to pursue the Talisman Dao for income.
• Chen Jianghe stabilized his cultivation and skipped the New Year's Eve visit to Heart of the Lake Island to conserve his remaining funds.
• Chen Jianghe entrusted the Yun Household's delivery of a hundred Small Blue Fish fry to Xiao Hei and began trying to draw talismans.

Chen Jianghe taught himself to draw spirit talismans, progressing from Water-Cleansing Talismans to Water-Gathering Talismans. After a month of practice, he reached a ninety percent success rate with Water-Gathering Talismans and prepared to attempt low-grade spirit talismans.

• Chen Jianghe began drawing talismans and destroyed his first attempts while learning to control his magical power and steady his wrist.
• After meditating, Chen Jianghe succeeded on his third attempt at a Water-Cleansing Talisman and tested it by purifying lake water.
• Over seven days, Chen Jianghe drew ten Water-Cleansing Talismans, improving their effectiveness and reaching a ninety percent success rate.
• Chen Jianghe spent two days learning to draw Water-Gathering Talismans, then practiced them for half a month until his success rate also reached ninety percent.
• Chen Jianghe counted his completed talismans and prepared to try low-grade spirit talismans, noting that his spirit ink was nearly used up and his Peachwood Talisman Brush was damaged.

Chen Jianghe completed another Water Arrow Talisman, bought new talisman-making supplies at the Cultivator Market, and received a jade slip from Yu Daniu. He learned that the slip contained the Yun Household’s basic cultivation-world knowledge and would need to be returned on New Year’s Eve.

• Chen Jianghe assessed his progress in drawing low-grade talismans and decided to invest in a replacement brush and more materials.
• Chen Jianghe heard conflicting rumors that Lan Tianxiang had committed several robberies, then traded his spirit talismans and spirit stones for supplies at the Cultivator Market.
• Yu Daniu sent Chen Jianghe a letter boasting that his fifth child, another boy, had been born.
• A White Egret delivered Yu Daniu’s letter and a jade slip containing the Yun Household’s Basic Knowledge of the Cultivation World.
• Chen Jianghe took the jade slip into the cabin to read it, knowing he had to return it by New Year’s Eve.

Chen Jianghe studied the Yun Household Magazine to learn about the Tian Nan Region, cultivation arts, and spirit-beast bloodlines. Xiao Hei revealed that the Three-Turn Demon Ascension Art had doubled its magical power, leaving Chen Jianghe to wonder whether the art could improve its talent and bloodline.

• Chen Jianghe memorized the gazetteer and information about treasures and cultivation arts from the Yun Household Magazine.
• Chen Jianghe learned that spirit beasts advanced through bloodline inheritances and that their potential depended on bloodline purity.
• Chen Jianghe wondered why Xiao Hei cultivated faster than a spirit beast with a first-grade bloodline should.
• Chen Jianghe contacted Xiao Hei, who said the Three-Turn Demon Ascension Art had doubled its magical power.
• Xiao Hei said another Qi-Nourishing Pill could bring it to the peak of the early first tier, and Chen Jianghe suspected the art could improve its talent or bloodline.

Chen Jianghe studied the Yun Household Miscellany, learned about pills and dharmic instruments, and spent five months improving his Water Arrow Talisman skills to earn spirit stones. On New Year's Eve, he left Xiao Hei hiding at the bottom of the lake and traveled with the fleet to Heart of the Lake Island to visit Yu Daniu.

• Chen Jianghe decided he could safely leave the Yun Household around age fifty, relying on his growing talisman skills and Xiao Hei's rapid cultivation.
• Chen Jianghe finished reading the Yun Household Miscellany and learned the uses and costs of cultivation pills and dharmic instruments.
• Chen Jianghe prepared talisman materials and practiced drawing Water Arrow Talismans, aiming to earn spirit stones for Xiao Hei's Qi-Nourishing Pills and more spirit ink.
• Over five months, Chen Jianghe used thirty-five sheets of talisman paper to make seven Water Arrow Talismans, raising his success rate to forty percent.
• On New Year's Eve, Chen Jianghe told Xiao Hei to hide in the lakebed, then rode his black canopy boat with the fleet toward Heart of the Lake Island.

Chen Jianghe replenished his supplies on Heart of the Lake Island, then visited Yu Daniu’s family with gifts for the children. He met Yun Huixiang and joined the household for a New Year’s Eve meal, while he and Yu Daniu wondered about Gao Peiyao and Zhou Miaoyun.

• Chen Jianghe sold seven Water Arrow Talismans at Clock Tower Market, bought a Qi-Nourishing Pill and spirit ink, and purchased five puppet toys for Yu Daniu’s children.
• Chen Jianghe visited Yu Daniu at No. 32 Fumen Residence and returned the pouch containing the jade slip.
• Chen Jianghe and Yu Daniu discussed whether Gao Peiyao had passed the Tian Nan Sect’s assessment and whether Zhou Miaoyun had written from Qinghe Market.
• Yun Huizhen arrived with dinner and introduced her younger sister, Yun Huixiang, to Chen Jianghe.
• Chen Jianghe suggested that Yu Daniu invite the children to join them at the table.

Yu Daniu worried over whether his children would have Spiritual Roots, while his wife Yun Huizhen asked Chen Jianghe what he thought of her sister Yun Huixiang. Back in the Aquaculture Waters, Chen Jianghe reflected on his progress and gave Xiao Hei a Qi-Nourishing Pill, which strengthened the turtle’s magical power.

• Yun Huizhen complained that Yu Daniu was consumed by anxiety over Xiao Niu’s upcoming Spiritual Root test, and Chen Jianghe tried to comfort them.
• As Chen Jianghe left, Yu Daniu asked what he thought of Yun Huixiang, then learned that she wanted a husband at least at the late Qi Refining stage and looked down on Chen Jianghe’s prospects.
• Chen Jianghe returned to the Aquaculture Waters, reflected on turning thirty and his steady progress in cultivation and the Talisman Dao, and resolved not to rush.
• Xiao Hei eagerly demanded the Qi-Nourishing Pill and drove away the Small Blue Fish that swarmed toward it.
• After swallowing and refining the pill, Xiao Hei’s magical power grew stronger, and he asked Chen Jianghe to draw him a pie.

Chen Jianghe continued improving his talisman skills while caring for Xiao Hei, then received a letter from Zhou Miaoyun about her family settling in Qinghe Market. Her invitation led him to consider the market as a future destination, and he wondered whether Gao Peiyao had joined the Tian Nan Sect.

• Chen Jianghe promised Xiao Hei clear spirit herbs as rewards for raising extra small blue fish.
• Chen Jianghe spent the next half year practicing talisman-making and improved his success rate to around forty percent.
• Chen Jianghe received Zhou Miaoyun’s letter saying her family had settled in Qinghe Market and offering to help if he ever left the Yun Household.
• Chen Jianghe wrote back to Zhou Miaoyun and considered Qinghe Market as a safe place with abundant spiritual energy.
• Chen Jianghe wondered whether Gao Peiyao had joined the Tian Nan Sect.