Recaps

Meng Yuan, Chen Yuyin, Bai Xingshuang, and Pei Huasheng explored the Immortal Mausoleum and confronted its deadly Sword Qi Bottle and mysterious Bronze Candle Stand. They escaped the first trap, found no way past the second, and left with the mausoleum's secrets unsolved.

• Meng Yuan and Chen Yuyin passed the remains of the Snake Lord and reached the Sword Qi Bottle, whose invisible Sword Qi killed anything living that crossed its boundary.
• Bai Xingshuang released a sack of red bees to reveal the Sword Qi's paths, then crossed the formation safely.
• Chen Yuyin entered the formation but nearly fell to the Sword Qi, and Meng Yuan caught her and carried her through to safety.
• Meng Yuan and the others reached a Bronze Candle Stand that left anyone approaching it witless until their vitality failed, and they found no way to disable it.
• After discussing the danger and the deaths of Chen Yucheng and Pei Liuguang, Meng Yuan, Chen Yuyin, and Bai Xingshuang left the mausoleum without discovering the candle's secret.

After decades searching the Immortal Mausoleum, Meng Yuan entered it and found an immortal’s cultivation method and pills, but his attempt to become immortal ended as he was dying. He opened his eyes to Chen Yuyin declaring him dead and heard Pan Shi cry out that she could not take it anymore.

• Meng Yuan rekindled his relationship with Chen Yuyin, and they spent years together as their families’ successors grew up and their elders died.
• At fifty-two, Meng Yuan decided to enter the Immortal Mausoleum, and Chen Yuyin and Bai Xingshuang escorted him to the bronze candlestick.
• Meng Yuan passed the candlestick, discovered it had cracked, and entered a hidden peach grove where he found an immortal’s method and pills.
• Meng Yuan practiced the method for an unknown length of time, while Chen Yuyin and Bai Xingshuang discussed his failing condition outside.
• Meng Yuan sensed he had advanced, but saw the Turning Wheel reverse and realized he was dying before he could become immortal.
• Meng Yuan opened his eyes to Chen Yuyin saying he was finally dead, then heard Pan Shi shriek that she could not take it anymore.

After choosing tendon and bone tempering, Meng Yuan realized his past cultivation had been an illusion created by the bronze candlestick and began preparing to enter the Immortal Mausoleum by a different route. Two years later, he reached Peach Valley and encountered Pei Liuguang, who recognized his Purple Cloud Technique.

• Meng Yuan chose tendon and bone tempering, then left Pan Shi and returned to his lodgings with the wooden box.
• Meng Yuan concluded the bronze candlestick had trapped him in an illusion and practiced the Purple Cloud Technique instead of the Pure Yang Dragon-Controlling Art.
• Meng Yuan decided not to partner with Chen Yuyin, left his wages for his family, and spent two years training while working as an itinerant physician.
• Meng Yuan traveled to Black Hair Ravine, passed through the waterfall, and fought Pei Liuguang among the peach trees.
• Pei Liuguang recognized Meng Yuan's Purple Cloud Technique and asked whether he could chant funeral scriptures; Meng Yuan then entered Peach Valley.

After Chen Yucheng’s death, Meng Yuan was forced to stay in Peach Valley, where the three families learned of his unusual training and tested his skills. As Chen Yuyin departed, Pei Huasheng decided the families should take Meng Yuan into the newly opened Immortal Mausoleum.

• Pei Liuguang made Meng Yuan chant funeral scriptures for Chen Yucheng, and he explained how an old man had taught him the Purple Cloud Technique and other arts.
• Pei Liuguang, Chen Yuyin, and Bai Xingshuang overwhelmed Meng Yuan in a fight, after which he swallowed their medicine and remained in the valley.
• After twenty-one days, Chen Yuyin prepared to leave and Pei Huasheng told her to return with a child trained to receive the Red Flame Fruit.
• Pei Huasheng revealed that Meng Yuan was the first outsider to enter since the earthquake opened the Immortal Mausoleum and proposed taking him inside in accordance with the immortal’s instructions.
• Chen Yuyin warned Pei Liuguang to be wary of Meng Yuan, whom she considered a boastful, incompetent libertine, then left Peach Valley.

Meng Yuan overcame the Sword Qi Bottle and extinguished the Bronze Candle Stand’s flame by focusing on the Turning Wheel, then opened the stone door beyond it. A faint male voice spoke from the darkness, leaving Meng Yuan and Pei Liuguang readying their swords as they wondered whether the immortal was still alive.

• After spending a year and a half cultivating in the valley, Meng Yuan asked Pei Huasheng to let him enter the Immortal Mausoleum and pass the Sword Qi Bottle.
• Meng Yuan guided Pei Liuguang safely through the Sword Qi Bottle and reached the Bronze Candle Stand with her.
• Ignoring the distracting thoughts stirred by the candlestick, Meng Yuan focused on the Turning Wheel and extinguished its flame.
• Meng Yuan and Pei Liuguang pushed open the stone door behind the candlestick and heard a hoarse male voice speak from the darkness.
• Meng Yuan and Pei Liuguang exchanged puzzled looks and placed their hands on their sword hilts.

Meng Yuan and Pei Liuguang reached the end of the Passage and met a skeletal, chained figure who explained that the world’s Spiritual Qi had been drained and that a Magic Array could take someone elsewhere. The figure chose Meng Yuan alone to receive his guidance, leaving Meng Yuan wondering whether he had taken another person’s fated opportunity.

• Meng Yuan and Pei Liuguang entered the grotto, where a gray-robed figure explained that the Sword-Nurturing Bottle and Heart-Refining Candle had been trials.
• Pei Liuguang told the figure about the Peach Blossom Immortal, the three families guarding the tomb, and the people who had entered the Passage.
• The gray-robed figure revealed that the Peach Blossom Immortal had died, that he was chained there, and that the world’s Spiritual Qi had been drained.
• The gray-robed figure said a Magic Array beneath him could take someone away, then declared that only Meng Yuan had the aptitude to go.
• Meng Yuan accepted the figure’s offer and wondered whether his actions in earlier lives had prevented someone else from claiming the opportunity.

Meng Yuan earned the gray-robed immortal’s favor and was bound by a Soul-Tracking Thread, then sent through a transportation formation. He emerged alone in the sea and, as a storm overwhelmed him, spotted a ship surrounded by strange purple lights.

• The gray-robed immortal asked Meng Yuan to bring him peach blossoms, and Pei Liuguang, Pei Huasheng, and Bai Xingshuang accompanied Meng Yuan back to the Immortal Mausoleum.
• Pei Huasheng reassured Pei Liuguang that Meng Yuan had rejected her, while Meng Yuan promised Pei Liuguang they would watch the peach blossoms and spring rain together if he returned.
• The gray-robed immortal bound Meng Yuan with a Soul-Tracking Thread and gave him ten years to reach late-stage Qi Refining before revealing three tasks.
• The immortal sent Meng Yuan through the transportation formation, and Meng Yuan awoke underwater in the sea.
• A storm battered Meng Yuan until he spotted a large ship surrounded by countless purple points of light.

Meng Yuan was caught in a storm at sea and hauled aboard a ship where cultivators used mortals as bait to catch Raimei Angelfish. After reaching Deer Island, he resolved to stop relying on women and make a name for himself.

• Meng Yuan was bitten by a Raimei Angelfish and pulled aboard in a net with the fish.
• A male Daoist freed Meng Yuan and stored the captured Raimei Angelfish while his junior sister complained that they had caught only sixteen.
• The junior sister proposed killing the mortal witnesses, but her senior brother refused because the mortals were being transported to Deer Island for Senior Brother Huo.
• The two cultivators inspected Meng Yuan and discussed using him as a plaything, but the junior sister decided he was too frail.
• Meng Yuan reached Deer Island at dawn and noticed that his Hundred-Life Reincarnation had begun turning faster.
• Meng Yuan vowed never to rely on women again and resolved to make a name for himself.

Du Yueyi watched an Old Turtle Island refugee named young man win his people’s trust and build a livelihood on Deer Island, while he treated her as a benefactor and elder sister. A year later, he had become a successful sailor and shopkeeper, and he brought her a crescent-shaped red stone as a thoughtful gift.

• Du Yueyi settled the Old Turtle Island refugees in Old Turtle Pit Village and learned that a young man among them had survived an encounter with Fairy Xin Li.
• Du Yueyi met the young man after rumors spread about him, then dismissed the gossip and warned him not to sell himself indiscriminately.
• Du Yueyi discovered that the young man had earned the refugees’ loyalty by helping them through hardship and standing up for them against Deer Island natives.
• The young man asked Du Yueyi for work, and she lent him a fishing boat; after he returned with valuable catches, she took most of the proceeds, which he accepted without complaint.
• After several voyages, Du Yueyi increased the young man’s share and explained Deer Island’s power structure as he built connections and expanded his business.
• A year later, the young man had opened a harbor shop and bought another large boat, and he visited Du Yueyi with a crescent-shaped red stone he thought suited her name.

The young man built a mutual-aid fund for Deer Island’s fishermen, then used their growing solidarity to lead a violent uprising against the thirteen families. After the fishermen burned down four households, leaving only nine, Du Yueyi wondered why he seemed so practiced at rebellion.

• An old cultivator took the boy who guarded the peach trees away to the Starsea Alliance Main Altar, leaving the young man grieving.
• Du Yueyi explained that the thirteen families controlled Deer Island’s grain, nominated candidates for the island master’s selection, and would suppress the young man’s growing business.
• After three villagers died at sea, the young man promised to support their families and established a security-silver fund for fishermen and boat owners.
• When the Kong Household refused compensation for a dead seafarer, the young man repeatedly demanded justice, paid the family himself, and gained the fishermen’s trust.
• The young man organized fishermen to challenge the thirteen families over pay and working conditions, then gathered them after the Kong Clan seized a fisherman’s blue Qiang False Dragon and a violent struggle killed the fisherman’s pregnant daughter-in-law.
• The young man led thousands of fishermen in destroying and looting the Kong Household and burning three more families’ homes, leaving nine of the thirteen families as Du Yueyi watched the island master remain absent.

Meng Yuan used a fishermen’s uprising to force his way into the Deer Island Thirteen Families, hoping to earn Island Master Huo’s teachings, but Du Yueyi confronted him over his methods and their broken trust. Her younger sister Du Xingyi returned as a cultivator, effortlessly wounded Meng Yuan, and left him powerless as the conflict took a dangerous turn.

• Meng Yuan defeated four weak families, rallied the fishermen, and prepared to negotiate with the Remaining Nine Families after announcing the uprising was over.
• Du Yueyi confronted Meng Yuan at Old Turtle Pit, and he explained that he wanted a place among the families and promised to restore trade and work with her.
• Du Yueyi revealed that she had discovered Meng Yuan’s alliance scheme and accused him of using her and the others; she also said her younger sister had returned.
• Du Xingyi flew into the Peach Blossom Grove and dismissed Meng Yuan as a weak mortal, saying she had informed Old Monster Huo about the trouble.
• Du Xingyi used flying peach petals to wound Meng Yuan in the chest, then flew away without looking at him.

Meng Yuan restarted his life on Deer Island with a talent that warned him of deadly dangers, and set out to win Du Yueyi’s favor while helping Li Nineteen meet his chance to become a cultivator. After two years of prosperity and growing intimacy with Du Yueyi, the peach trees at Old Turtle Pit began budding.

• Meng Yuan began his fourth life before landing on Deer Island and gained Azure Sea Tidebirth, a talent that could foresee certain life-threatening attacks.
• Meng Yuan became leader of Old Turtle Pit, befriended Du Yueyi, and used his knowledge of the sea to bring her large catches and valuable finds.
• Meng Yuan encouraged Li Nineteen, and when an old cultivator came to take the youth as a disciple, he bid him farewell with a poem.
• Meng Yuan confided in Du Yueyi and drew closer to her by listening to her private troubles and flattering her.
• Meng Yuan and Du Yueyi became intimate, and in Meng Yuan’s second year on Deer Island, the peach trees at Old Turtle Pit pushed out flower buds.

Du Xingyi arrived while Meng Yuan was caring for Du Yueyi, spared him after her sister intervened, and sent him to Island Master Huo to begin cultivation. After reaching Chaolong Mountain and explaining Du Xingyi’s message, Meng Yuan asked Island Master Huo to accept him as a disciple.

• Meng Yuan tended Du Yueyi through a fever, and Du Xingyi appeared with killing intent after finding him at her sister’s bedside.
• Du Xingyi treated Du Yueyi and questioned Meng Yuan, but Du Yueyi stopped her from killing him by reminding her that she was a widow.
• Du Xingyi gave Meng Yuan a wooden box and directed him to find Huo Old Freak at Chaolong Mountain for cultivation.
• A black crow led Meng Yuan to Island Master Huo, who examined the jade and Jade Slip from the box and asked about Meng Yuan’s background.
• Island Master Huo said Du Xingyi required Meng Yuan not to disturb her mortal family, and Meng Yuan agreed before asking him to accept him as a disciple.

Meng Yuan began cultivating under Huo Qiushi on Chaolong Mountain, but his mixed spiritual root left him making little progress. Huo Qiushi taught him the Bright Garment Art in exchange for three conditions, and Meng Yuan began practicing it with Huo Qiushi's help.

• Meng Yuan settled his affairs at Old Turtle Pit and returned to Chaolong Mountain, where Huo Qiushi had him meditate before explaining cultivation and spiritual roots.
• Huo Qiushi identified Meng Yuan's mixed spiritual root and unusual millstone-like life-bound manifestation, then taught him to sense and draw in Qi.
• Meng Yuan reached the Qi Refining first layer, learned the Circulating Heaven Qi-Gathering Method, and made little progress despite Huo Qiushi's guidance.
• Facing the gray-robed man's approaching ten-year deadline, Meng Yuan asked Huo Qiushi for another way to improve.
• Huo Qiushi offered to teach Meng Yuan the Bright Garment Art if he shared his future earnings, defended Deer Island, and considered becoming dao companions with Huo Qiushi's daughter.
• Meng Yuan accepted the conditions, learned the Bright Garment Art, and felt Spiritual Qi flow smoothly through his body with Huo Qiushi's assistance.

Meng Yuan trained under Huo Qiushi for years, but his growing spiritual power became increasingly difficult to control, leading him to suspect that Huo was restraining him through the Bright Garment Art. As Meng Yuan’s ten-year limit approached, Huo declared him his successor and prepared to reveal Deer Island’s greatest secret.

• Huo Qiushi taught Meng Yuan the Bright Garment Art and cultivation-world knowledge while treating him as a successor, and Xin Li and Zhou Xin arrived to collect Deer Island’s annual tribute.
• Zhou Xin later lost his fortune in the futures market, while Xin Li tried to seduce Meng Yuan and Huo Buzhi rescued him.
• Meng Yuan received a letter from Li Nineteen warning that the alliance was troubled, and he reached the Third Qi Refining Layer after years of cultivation.
• Meng Yuan found that his spiritual power was increasingly obstructed, suspected Huo Qiushi was responsible, and discovered that other cultivation methods would not advance his cultivation.
• As Meng Yuan’s ten-year limit neared, Huo Qiushi took him aside and said he would reveal Deer Island’s greatest secret.

Huo Old Freak brought Meng Yuan to Du Xingyi, whose Foundation Establishment opportunity lay beyond a forbidden Bronze Gate guarded by a mysterious candle flame. Meng Yuan crossed the flame’s boundary but walked past the candle toward the gate, where Netherflame began to consume him as Du Xingyi’s opportunity vanished.

• Huo Old Freak led Meng Yuan into a hidden cavern beneath his cave abode, where Du Xingyi waited before a Bronze Gate and a dragon-shaped Bronze Candle Stand.
• Du Xingyi explained that she sensed her Foundation Establishment opportunity beyond the gate, but the candlelight prevented her from approaching it.
• Meng Yuan realized the Soul-Tracking Thread’s ten-year term had ended and stepped into the forbidden ground despite Huo Old Freak’s warning.
• Meng Yuan crossed the candlelight unharmed and stopped at the stand, prompting Du Xingyi to ask him to extinguish the flame.
• Meng Yuan smiled at Du Xingyi, then passed the candle and approached the Bronze Gate as Netherflame swallowed him.
• Du Xingyi felt her Foundation Establishment opportunity disappear and murmured that yesterday’s cause had borne fruit today.

Meng Yuan purified his four spiritual roots, returned to cultivation, and decided to settle on Deer Island after Old Turtle Island sank. He reached Deer Island and headed toward Chaolong Mountain, determined to explore the secret beyond the Bronze Gate.

• Meng Yuan used Spiritual Root Purification and resolved to stay on Deer Island, spending two years cultivating on Old Turtle Island first.
• Pei Hu delivered a message supposedly from Du Yueyi’s younger sister, and Du Yueyi investigated him before arranging a boat to Scattered Rock Island.
• Meng Yuan cultivated on Old Turtle Island, reached Qi Refining second layer, and left when the island sank beneath the sea.
• Meng Yuan boarded a Kong Clan fishing boat, berated its steward over the sailors’ food and wages, and ordered him thrown overboard.
• Meng Yuan reached Deer Island and set out for Chaolong Mountain to investigate the Bronze Lamp and the secret beyond the Bronze Gate.

Du Xingyi investigated whether Pei Hu’s visit to her family had been a trap, then returned to Chaolong Mountain and learned that the visitor Yuanyuanzi possessed an unusual life-bound object. She arranged for Huo Old Freak to test whether it could counter illusions.

• Du Xingyi questioned Du Yueyi about Pei Hu and ordered the family to move to Longstone Island, then searched Scattered Rock Island for signs of him.
• Du Xingyi found Huo Old Freak chatting with Meng Yuan, who called himself Yuanyuanzi and claimed to come from the Cape Islands.
• Huo Old Freak told Du Xingyi that Yuanyuanzi was poor, boastful, and had a life-bound object shaped like a millstone that could ward off mind-bewitching illusions.
• Du Xingyi told Huo Old Freak to replace the mountain-protecting formation with her own formation and lure Yuanyuanzi into testing it.

After taking Li Nineteen in as a brother and discovering his talent for spirit-plant cultivation, Meng Yuan tested Huo Old Freak’s illusion formation. Huo Old Freak and Du Xingyi recruited Meng Yuan for an expedition to nearby ruins, and he agreed after Du Xingyi offered compensation and future help.

• Xin Li left Meng Yuan a Daoist robe and pills before departing Deer Island with Zhou Xin.
• Meng Yuan found Li Nineteen working in the fields, brought him to Chaolong Mountain, and began teaching him cultivation as his sworn brother.
• Meng Yuan discovered that Li Nineteen had Three Spirit Roots and a green-tree Life-Bound manifestation suited to cultivating spirit plants.
• Huo Old Freak paid Meng Yuan with pills and nightlight grass to test his new illusion formation, which Meng Yuan passed without difficulty.
• When Meng Yuan tried to leave Deer Island, Huo Old Freak introduced him to Du Xingyi, who asked him to help investigate ruins.
• Meng Yuan initially refused to join the expedition but accepted after Du Xingyi offered regular pay, a reward, help if he was injured, and a future favor.

Meng Yuan reached the third Qi Refining layer, then accompanied Du Xingyi and Huo Old Freak to the Bronze Gate Ruins. He briefly entered the candlelight’s reach before retreating, and Du Xingyi offered to teach him a superior cultivation method to persuade him to try again.

• Du Xingyi took Li Nineteen to the Main Mountain and agreed to provide Meng Yuan with Qi-Replenishing Pills while he cultivated.
• After a year of practice and daily pills, Meng Yuan reached the third Qi Refining layer, and Xin Li visited to collect the annual tribute.
• Du Xingyi returned and led Meng Yuan and Huo Old Freak through the cave to the Bronze Gate Ruins.
• Du Xingyi asked Meng Yuan to use his life-bound Divine Ability against the Bronze Candle Stand, but he demanded assurances and described his final wishes before approaching it.
• Meng Yuan entered the candlelight, heard thoughts and desires crowding his mind, and retreated after only a few steps.
• Du Xingyi questioned Meng Yuan about the experience, then offered to teach him a cultivation method superior to the Circulating Heaven Qi-Gathering Method.

Meng Yuan cultivated in seclusion for ten years while Du Xingyi supplied him with pills and resources, and he finally broke through to the late Qi Refining stage just as the Soul-Tracking Thread’s deadline arrived. The thread unraveled, freeing Meng Yuan from its ten-year restraint as Du Xingyi’s opportunity for Foundation Establishment appeared inside the Bronze Gate.

• Du Xingyi taught Meng Yuan the Supreme Clarity True Art of Qi Control, and Meng Yuan persuaded her to swear an alliance while he stayed to cultivate and help open the Bronze Gate.
• Over the following years, Meng Yuan advanced to the sixth layer of Qi Refining, entered the Ruins with Du Xingyi, and repeatedly asked her to buy supplies and support his cultivation.
• Du Xingyi brought Meng Yuan Origin-Opening Pills, spending her savings and eventually returning injured with the last of them.
• Du Xingyi stayed at the cave to recover, and her opportunity for Foundation Establishment appeared inside the Bronze Gate.
• Meng Yuan broke through to the late Qi Refining stage, and the Gray-Robed Skeleton Guest’s Soul-Tracking Thread unraveled as the ten-year deadline ended.

Du Xingyi entered the Bronze Gate to attempt Foundation Establishment while Meng Yuan and Huo Old Freak waited outside. She emerged successful, and a month later she asked Meng Yuan what he planned to do, leaving him poised to claim the favor she owed him.

• Meng Yuan helped Du Xingyi reach the Bronze Gate, and she vanished inside after opening it.
• Meng Yuan and Huo Old Freak waited outside as Meng Yuan reflected on his cultivation, his plans for the next life, and Du Xingyi’s possible success.
• After ten days, Du Xingyi emerged from the Bronze Gate bloodied but having achieved Foundation Establishment, then ordered the others to stand guard while she recovered.
• A month later, Du Xingyi found Meng Yuan beneath the stars and asked what he planned to do.

Du Xingyi brought Meng Yuan to Longstone Island, where he joined the Starsea Alliance and managed White Deer Pavilion in Goldstone Market. After a decade of prosperity and growing weariness, Meng Yuan abandoned the shop and set out to seek his own opportunities along the Great Dao.

• Du Xingyi took Meng Yuan to Longstone Island, where she introduced him to Gong Xiangxian and asked him to look after the Du clanspeople.
• Gong Xiangxian registered Meng Yuan with the Starsea Alliance and made him the managing steward of White Deer Pavilion in Goldstone Market.
• Meng Yuan ran the shop for years, profited through questionable dealings, pursued cultivation and refining, and gathered stories about distant places and secret realms.
• Ten years later, Du Xingyi visited and scolded Meng Yuan for wasting his drive on market affairs and romantic entanglements.
• Remembering his resolve to pursue the Great Dao, forty-two-year-old Meng Yuan left Longstone Island and gave up his position at White Deer Pavilion.

Meng Yuan traveled to the Starsea Alliance's Main Mountain, visited Li Nineteen, and searched for a way to purge his pill toxins while reconnecting with old acquaintances. The chapter ended with Xin Li telling him that Li Nineteen and Wang Zhinong had died exploring a secret realm, and that Li Nineteen had wanted to be buried beside the peach trees he and Meng Yuan planted.

• Meng Yuan arrived at the Starsea Alliance's Main Mountain and visited Li Nineteen, who showed him his spirit plants.
• Meng Yuan wandered the alliance's territory, lost Spirit Stones at the futures market, and declined Xin Li's invitation to explore a secret realm.
• Li Nineteen gave Meng Yuan pills meant to purge pill toxins, and Meng Yuan tried to take him to Hehuan Island to find a partner.
• Li Nineteen joined Wang Zhinong's secret-realm expedition despite Meng Yuan's offer to go in his place, and Meng Yuan gave him a notebook of exploration advice.
• Xin Li returned injured and aged, telling Meng Yuan that Li Nineteen and Wang Zhinong had died in the secret realm and sharing Li Nineteen's final wish to be buried beside their peach trees.