Recaps

Li Boyang told Xuan that sacrificing his soul could restore Roaring Heaven Clan, and Xuan eagerly accepted. Roaring Heaven Clan then joined with Tufang Clan, became the wind of the netherworld, and began hunting down Wuzhiqi’s forces as Li Boyang’s effort to quell the flood began.

• Li Boyang arrived with Xiluo and explained to Xuan that Roaring Heaven Clan could be revived through a sacrifice that would cost Xuan his life.
• Xuan agreed without hesitation to sacrifice his soul to bring Roaring Heaven Clan back.
• Roaring Heaven Clan reappeared amid the storm and circled the ancestral temple altar as Rain Master’s defenses faltered.
• The altar exploded, freeing Tufang Clan, and Roaring Heaven Clan joined with him through the power of the Taiji Diagram.
• Roaring Heaven Clan became the wind of the netherworld and slaughtered Wuzhiqi’s fleeing subordinates.

Li Boyang and the Rain Master discussed the battle unfolding in the [Diagram of Mountains, Rivers, and the Land], and Li Boyang gave him a book as payment before the Rain Master departed. Li Boyang then took Xuan’s remaining skeleton and set out with Xiluo and Kunyu to witness Wuzhiqi’s endgame.

• The Rain Master told Li Boyang he would not get involved in what came next and accepted a book containing guidance and the 'Perception Method.'
• The Rain Master asked Kunyu to travel with him, but Kunyu chose to remain in the Hundred Lands Mountain Range, and the Rain Master departed alone.
• Xiluo asked what Li Boyang would do with Xuan’s crystalline skeleton; she refused to add it to her collection, so Li Boyang stored it in his shadow.
• Li Boyang invited Kunyu to witness Wuzhiqi’s endgame, and Kunyu agreed, saying he would like to bash the Heaven-Eroding Lord if he got the chance.
• Li Boyang said the Heaven-Eroding Lord was their ally for now and predicted that Wuzhiqi would ultimately pay for his arrogance.

Li Boyang revealed that he had trapped Wuzhiqi inside the [Diagram of Mountains, Rivers, and the Land] and used Wuzhiqi’s greed and concern for Huoji to bring him to the final confrontation. He restrained Wuzhiqi with the Shadow Baleful Intent Dharma Aspect and unleashed an arsenal of weapons, blasting Wuzhiqi’s body apart.

• The world inside the [Diagram of Mountains, Rivers, and the Land] collapsed into pure energy, and Li Boyang appeared with Xiluo and Kunyu as the Heaven-Eroding Lord withdrew.
• Li Boyang told Wuzhiqi that his greed for the diagram and his concern for Huoji had allowed the plan to succeed.
• Wuzhiqi admitted Li Boyang had exploited his weakness, but declared he could still win by killing him.
• Wuzhiqi attacked Li Boyang, but the Shadow Baleful Intent Dharma Aspect blocked his blow and bound him with its tentacles.
• Li Boyang explained that the diagram could be upgraded, then transformed its Shadow Baleful Intent Dharma Aspects into mechanical weapons.
• Li Boyang’s barrage left Wuzhiqi howling in agony and blasted his body to pieces.

After witnessing Li Boyang defeat Wuzhiqi with modern weapons, Huoji met Yin Fei, a fully transformed Guhuo Bird who explained his connection to her and forced him to trade his memories of the Method of the Celestial Person for help awakening a power of foresight. Yin Fei left Huoji alive and expected him to grow stronger, while he vowed to kill her.

• Huoji watched Li Boyang destroy Wuzhiqi and feared that machine guns and cannons could let mortals challenge the gods.
• Yin Fei appeared before Huoji and revealed that she had once been a Night-Wandering Woman and that Wuzhiqi had implanted a fragment of her soul into him.
• Yin Fei explained that Huoji's mother had sacrificed herself to prevent her children from becoming Guhuo Bird incarnations, and that Wuzhiqi's attempt to resurrect her was doomed.
• Yin Fei awakened Huoji's potential to foresee fortune and calamity, demanding his memories of the Method of the Celestial Person in return.
• Huoji vowed to kill Yin Fei, but she welcomed the possibility as proof that the Guhuo Bird had grown stronger.

Li Boyang failed to track Huoji, whose strange ability to evade divination remained unexplained, and focused instead on how to control the Huai River flood. In the flooded Baling Kingdom, Xuanyu received Chi’s River Chart and Luo River Book from a Human-Faced Fish and resolved to help rebuild the kingdom.

• Li Boyang determined that Huoji could somehow sense divination and change his plans, though he had not cultivated a Primordial Spirit.
• Li Boyang and Xiluo discussed their lack of information about Huoji and Wuzhiqi as Li Boyang considered how to control the flood upstream.
• Xuanyu found a village where residents used channels, windmills, and waterwheels to divert floodwaters.
• Xuanyu spoke with a Human-Faced Fish and learned that Chi had sent it to teach flooded villages water-management methods.
• The Human-Faced Fish gave Xuanyu the River Chart and Luo River Book, and Xuanyu vowed to help rebuild the Baling Kingdom and honor Chi and the Great Arbiter of Fate.

Lu Huaijin struggled to relate to her classmates as Li Jingshu warned her that her exceptional intelligence could attract jealousy, then took her to see Flying Peak. Meanwhile, the old village chief scolded Qiwa for remaining unmarried, and reflected on how much village life had improved.

• Li Jingshu explained that Lu Huaijin's name referred to precious jade and warned her that her intelligence could invite jealousy, then dismissed the class and arranged to take her to Yunmeng Marsh to see Flying Peak.
• The old village chief arrived to deliver lunch and learned from Qiwa that Li Jingshu had left, prompting him to complain about her thoughtlessness and lack of suitors.
• The old village chief berated Qiwa for not marrying, but Qiwa insisted through his actions that he would not deceive a wife or choose someone who looked down on his father.
• Qiwa escaped the old village chief's scolding by handing out the children's free meals, while the old village chief reflected on how village life had changed over the past decade.

Li Jingshu discovered that Lu Huaijin had secretly learned talisman seal script and made a working revolver, then confiscated both the weapon and her talismans. As they hurried toward Li Household Village using the talismans, Li Jingshu reflected on how roads and water transport had transformed the Hundred Lands Mountain Range.

• Li Jingshu stopped on the road and made Lu Huaijin empty her pockets.
• Li Jingshu found Lu Huaijin's handmade revolver and talisman seal script, and Lu Huaijin explained that she had secretly learned by listening to lessons.
• Li Jingshu scolded Lu Huaijin for studying ahead and making a revolver, while Lu Huaijin complained that she had not been taught the Speech Talisman Incantation.
• Li Jingshu reflected on the mountain villages' growing prosperity and the role of roads and water transport in connecting them.
• Li Jingshu confiscated the revolver and talismans, then applied Light Body and Divine Movement Talismans to Lu Huaijin and sped off with her.

Li Jingshu and Lu Huaijin entered Yunmeng Marsh and saw how Li Boyang used bound ghosts and gods to maintain its artificial islands and unusual ecosystems. The chapter also recounted Li Boyang’s efforts to share medicinal knowledge and literacy with mountain folk and spirit creatures, who had come to recognize him as a sage.

• Li Jingshu and Lu Huaijin reached Yunmeng Marsh’s misty interior with the help of talismans.
• They saw bound ghosts and gods maintaining the waterways and hundreds of artificial floating islands created by Li Boyang.
• Li Boyang cultivated unusual species and materials on extreme-environment islands for pill and artifact refining.
• Li Boyang promoted medicinal herbs for cultivation and helped mountain folk sell them beyond the Hundred Lands Mountain Range.
• Li Boyang distributed practical illness manuals to mountain folk and spirit creatures to encourage treatment and literacy.
• The mountain folk, spirit creatures, and deities came to acknowledge Li Boyang as a sage.

Li Jingshu brought Lu Huaijin to Flying Peak in Yunmeng Marsh, where they encountered the recently awakened God-Binding Cord and Xiao Gui. After Xiao Gui discovered Lu Huaijin’s transformed Heavenly Eye, she gave the girl a protective talisman as a first-meeting gift.

• Li Jingshu flew toward Flying Peak with Lu Huaijin, passing golden lights from the God-Binding Cord that the ghost gods avoided.
• Xiao Gui told Li Jingshu that the God-Binding Cord had thrown a tantrum and nearly overturned Xiluo’s treasury while trying to taste food.
• Xiao Gui noticed Lu Huaijin, and Lu Huaijin’s Heavenly Eye opened, briefly revealing Xiao Gui’s spider-woman form.
• Li Jingshu explained that Lu Huaijin’s progress in the Perception Method had caused her Heavenly Eye to undergo its first transformation.
• Xiao Gui gave Lu Huaijin a crystal-silk ghost-faced spider talisman that warded off ordinary spiders and briefly protected against poison.

Li Jingshu brought Lu Huaijin up Flying Peak, where Li Boyang was teaching ghosts and gods through a voice of the mind. As his lessons expanded from cultivation methods to the nature of the Dao, Lu Huaijin struggled to absorb his ideas, while Li Boyang urged his listeners to keep seeking truth rather than cling to fixed answers.

• Li Jingshu led Lu Huaijin up Flying Peak on foot and told her not to be surprised by what they encountered.
• Lu Huaijin saw ghosts and gods sitting quietly along the path, listening to Li Boyang expound the Dao through a voice of the mind.
• Li Boyang explained cultivation methods, describing how deities could quiet their minds, awaken their spirituality, and develop beyond the limits of the flesh.
• As they climbed, Lu Huaijin heard Li Boyang teach subjects ranging from divine abilities and crafts to the underlying nature of the Dao.
• Li Boyang described the Dao as the source and law underlying all things, urged the deities to pursue paths suited to themselves, and warned them not to cling to fixed names or answers.

Li Boyang taught the ghosts and gods of Yunmeng Marsh while Xiluo slept through his discourse, then explained his mind-reading Divine Ability to her. He revealed that Lu Huaijin’s talent could help her learn it faster, while Xiluo remained hostile to Li Boyang’s decision to take her as a disciple.

• Li Jingshu brought Lu Huaijin to Ghost God Cliff, where they saw Li Boyang expounding the Dao from the altar.
• Li Boyang’s monthly discourse rewarded ghosts and gods who had worked well, as part of his effort to reform them and eventually let them leave Yunmeng Marsh.
• Xiluo woke after the discourse and asked Li Boyang when she could learn his mind-transmission Divine Ability.
• Li Boyang explained that the Discerning the Hidden Subtleties of Others' Minds · Barrier-Free Communication Divine Ability used the Primordial Spirit and that Lu Huaijin’s talent would make it easier to learn.
• Xiluo criticized Li Boyang for taking Lu Huaijin as his disciple, while Lu Huaijin accepted that Xiluo might still kill her.

Xiluo explained that Li Boyang’s growing ability to hear believers’ voices was part of advancing toward godhood and suggested Yunmeng Marsh as a place for him to become a god. After complaining about the bizarre Human-Faced Fish statues made in his image, Li Boyang considered whether godhood could coexist with his Way of the Celestial Person and looked beyond the Hundred Lands Mountain Range for guidance.

• Xiluo told Li Boyang that his many believers and the converging water veins of Yunmeng Marsh could help him advance to godhood.
• Li Boyang blamed Chi for the Human-Faced Fish spreading stories that led people to make statues of him, and Xiluo teased him about their strange designs.
• Li Boyang complained that some villagers had imagined him as a crimson, three-eyed book with sharp fangs.
• Xiluo explained that gods could usually choose which believers’ voices to hear, but Li Boyang’s inability to block them might stem from not yet being a god.
• Li Boyang wondered whether becoming a god conflicted with his Way of the Celestial Person and sought an answer beyond the Hundred Lands Mountain Range.

Wu Yi and Yue traveled toward the fallen Guifang Kingdom, where a village had raised a statue of the Arbiter of Fate. As they entered the devastated land, Wu Yi discovered that the lingering Wind of the Netherworld and the aftermath of battles between Heavenly Deities had made the kingdom nearly uninhabitable.

• Wu Yi and Yue saw a village statue of the Arbiter of Fate, and Yue said the prophet might not want to become a god.
• Wu Yi recalled the prophet's many achievements and said they could make him a candidate to succeed Wu Yi as the future common sovereign.
• Yue explained that the Wind of the Netherworld was the Roaring Heaven Clan, who targeted Wuzhiqi's followers and troublesome water gods but left outsiders alone unless they provoked him.
• Wu Yi and Yue entered Guifang Kingdom and found flood-damaged rivers, swamps, and collapsed riverbanks across the land.
• Wu Yi discovered that remnants of battles between the Roaring Heaven Clan, the Tide-Swallowing Clan, the Tufang Clan, and Wuzhiqi had disordered the region's earth veins, water veins, and primordial Qi.

Wu Yi and Yue reached the Hundred Lands Grand Canal and saw the mountain folk’s advanced vessels carrying goods toward the outside world. Their journey was interrupted when Yan Xiaojun, the mountain god of River Pillow Peak, sensed them and prepared a lightning attack with his enormous metal bow.

• Wu Yi and Yue skirted Cliff Settlement City and reached the border between the Guifang Kingdom and the Hundred Lands Mountain Range.
• Yue recognized the Hundred Lands Grand Canal as the former Thread of Sky, while Wu Yi observed that the mountain folk had turned it into a trade route.
• Wu Yi explained that the mountain folk’s ships carried cargo for trade and marveled at how much they had advanced.
• Wu Yi and Yue sensed an approaching threat, and Yue formed a fire dragon to shield them.
• Yan Xiaojun detected the pair at River Pillow Peak, forged a giant metal bow, and summoned a lightning arrow with a Thunder Method Talisman Seal Script.

Yan Xiaojun attacked Wu Yi and his companion with lightning arrows, while the Left Path Primordial Spirit shielded them from the first strike before being overwhelmed. Yan Xiaojun continued firing as the pair was driven toward the mountain peak.

• Yan Xiaojun's lightning arrow collided with the fire dragon formed by the Left Path Primordial Spirit, creating a huge explosion above the Grand Canal.
• The mountain folk fled the gods' battle and prepared to defend their boats from spirits and monsters, using crude talisman launchers.
• Wu Yi recognized Yan Xiaojun's lightning attack as an altered form of his Thunder Method Witchcraft Incantation and realized the arrow's force made it especially powerful.
• Yan Xiaojun's arrow overwhelmed the Left Path Primordial Spirit, and one of the figures crashed into the mountain peak.
• Yan Xiaojun fired more lightning arrows toward Wu Yi and his companion, filling the sky with lightning.

Wu Yi defeated Yan Xiaojun by countering his lightning magic, then stopped short of killing him when One-Horned Incantation intervened. Wu Yi accepted the explanation that the encounter was a misunderstanding and asked what had changed in the Hundred Lands Mountain Range and what position Li Boyang held there.

• Wu Yi used iron pillars to draw Yan Xiaojun’s lightning arrows into the earth, then explained the old Lightning-Summoning Incantation behind his technique.
• Yan Xiaojun tried to prepare flame arrows, but Wu Yi appeared beside him, dispersed the flames, and kicked him to the ground.
• One-Horned Incantation emerged from the stream and claimed that Li Boyang had sent him to resolve the misunderstanding.
• One-Horned Incantation privately feared that Wu Yi might take Li Boyang away to become Great Xia’s next Witch King, or expose him to the deadly Witch King ritual.
• Wu Yi agreed not to tell Li Boyang about the encounter and asked One-Horned Incantation about recent changes in the Hundred Lands Mountain Range and Li Boyang’s status there.

Li Boyang confronted Lu Huaijin about secretly using her Heavenly Eye to learn and explained why he had let her grow up alongside other children. He began teaching her how to develop the eye, revealing that an Ominous Deity had provided the vitality that let her open it before birth.

• Lu Huaijin eagerly asked Li Boyang what he planned to teach her, and he revealed that she had secretly learned Talisman Seal Script and mechanical engineering.
• Li Boyang explained that Lu Huaijin’s unusual soul and advanced mind made it important for her to have a complete childhood, while Li Jingshu realized Lu Huaijin had lied about using her Heavenly Eye.
• Li Boyang opened his own Heavenly Eye and offered to teach Lu Huaijin how to tap its potential.
• Li Boyang explained that the Heavenly Eye required nourishment and that an Ominous Deity had infused Lu Huaijin’s mother with vitality to help seize Lu Huaijin’s body, allowing the girl to open the eye at birth.
• Lu Huaijin felt disappointed that her Heavenly Eye did not mean she was related to Li Boyang by blood.

Li Boyang explained that Lu Huaijin had to cultivate a Primordial Spirit to escape the Guhuo Bird’s influence, then taught her how the Heavenly Eye could help her and Li Jingshu overcome their physical deficiencies. The chapter ended with Li Boyang describing the Heavenly Eye’s three levels and the abilities his own Black and Yellow Qi had given it.

• Li Boyang told Lu Huaijin that the Guhuo Bird was sealed within her and that cultivating a Primordial Spirit would let her absorb the Six-Tailed Fox’s memories and resist the bird’s influence; Lu Huaijin rejected his offer of a shortcut.
• Li Jingshu explained that she had delayed manifesting her Primordial Spirit because her body was congenitally frail and she wanted to remedy its deficiencies first.
• Li Jingshu revealed a temporary, incomplete Heavenly Eye, which Li Boyang said came from the Thousand Transformations Divine Ability and was not yet a true awakening.
• Li Boyang warned that Lu Huaijin could become the Guhuo Bird, suffer a body-and-soul rejection, or become mentally frozen if she manifested her Primordial Spirit too soon.
• Li Boyang outlined three levels of the Heavenly Eye, from Thousand-Mile Eyes and X-Ray Vision to abilities shaped by unique Primordial Qi, and described how his Black and Yellow Qi let him see through arts and falsehoods.

Yin Fei admired the Prophet of the Mountains’ cement works while questioning Flower Mantis about his knowledge and her reasons for saving him. She admitted that turning him into a Guhuo Bird would require slaughtering the mountain folk and spirits, something she was unwilling to risk because she feared the prophet.

• Yin Fei bathed in an abandoned reservoir in Flood Control Village and praised the prophet’s cement while Flower Mantis stood guard.
• Yin Fei asked whether the mountain folk’s plans to build a larger reservoir with reinforced concrete came from the prophet, and Flower Mantis said he had read about something similar in the Luo River Book.
• Flower Mantis said the Prophet of the Mountains had a vision, prompting Yin Fei to recall the horrific death of a human woman whose soul she had once seen.
• Flower Mantis asked why Yin Fei had not turned him into a Guhuo Bird, but he refused to play along with her teasing invitation.
• Yin Fei explained that transforming Flower Mantis would require so much life force that she would have to slaughter the local mountain folk and spirits, and she did not dare provoke the Celestial Person prophet.

Yin Fei admitted she had rescued Flower Mantis because she found him beautiful, then prepared to leave when someone she considered dangerous approached. She explained that she had come to the Hundred Lands Mountain Range to help a fellow Guhuo Bird whose reincarnation the prophet had sealed, and she and Flower Mantis left before meeting the newcomer.

• Yin Fei told Flower Mantis she had saved him because he was beautiful and said she would respect his refusal to become a Guhuo Bird.
• Yin Fei transformed into a bird and said an annoying person was coming, while confessing that the Perception Method had made her question her identity, life, and immortality.
• Flower Mantis redirected Yin Fei from her growing confusion by asking why she had come to the Hundred Lands Mountain Range.
• Yin Fei explained that she had come to help an immature Guhuo Bird, a former Eight-Tailed Fox who had fled Qingqiu and reincarnated after the ruler betrayed her.
• Yin Fei said the prophet had sealed the fox’s final reincarnation and implied that she might seek the complete Way of the Celestial Person through her fellow Guhuo Bird.
• Yin Fei and Flower Mantis left the area to avoid the approaching person, whom she called a genuine lunatic.

Wu Yi, One-Horned Incantation, and Yue explored the abandoned reservoir and roads near Flood Control Village, where One-Horned Incantation described Li Boyang’s innovations. Seeing how the mountain folk could transform their world without divine interference, Wu Yi grew more convinced that humanity did not need gods and continued toward the village.

• One-Horned Incantation, Wu Yi, and Yue emerged from a nearby stream after Flower Mantis and Yin Fei had left the reservoir.
• One-Horned Incantation questioned why Wu Yi had insisted on visiting the area, and Wu Yi praised its reservoirs, canals, and concrete roads.
• One-Horned Incantation described Li Boyang’s plans for stronger reservoirs and plant-growing roads made from prefabricated ecological composite regenerative material.
• Wu Yi recognized that the new roads accommodated spirits and wild gods, while One-Horned Incantation warned him not to recruit Li Boyang as a ruler of Great Xia.
• Wu Yi concluded that human progress was constrained by the gods and headed toward Flood Control Village instead of going straight to Li Boyang.

Wu Yi and his companions reached Flood Control Village, where they saw mountain folk using bronze machines called Bronze Beasts to work the fields. One-Horned Incantation explained how Li Boyang had redesigned the Artificial Fang Boars and organized their production, but did not reveal how the beasts were distributed.

• Wu Yi and his companions reached Flood Control Village and saw mountain folk operating green, boar-shaped machines in the fields.
• One-Horned Incantation identified the machines as Bronze Beasts, explaining that Li Boyang had removed their intelligence and made them controllable tools.
• Wu Yi observed that the Bronze Beasts had intricate mechanical parts, which the mountain folk struggled to repair.
• One-Horned Incantation explained that Li Boyang had developed a durable special bronze for the beasts, while Wu Yi deduced that villages pooled their mineral resources to produce them.
• Wu Yi asked whether Li Boyang gave the Bronze Beasts to all mountain folk for free or whether Flood Control Village was an exception, and One-Horned Incantation denied that his master was so shallow.

At the bronze beast repair factory, Blacksmith Li learned that Cliffside Village had damaged another beast, this time breaking the Speech that made it work, and ordered it melted down. Shanzhu then guided the villagers through Yunmeng Marsh to meet Cai Gu and buy a replacement.

• Shanzhu told Blacksmith Li that Cliffside Village's bronze beast had rammed into a tree and damaged its Speech.
• Blacksmith Li said the factory could not repair Speech and ordered the beast sent to the furnace to be recast.
• Blacksmith Li told Shanzhu to send Cliffside Village to Granny Hanging Silk if they wanted to buy another bronze beast.
• Shanzhu led the Cliffside villagers through Yunmeng Marsh while Eleven guided them through the mist.
• Eleven brought the group to a vast lake and called for Cai Gu, who appeared as a colorful fish and formed a bridge from gathered fish.
• Cai Gu said the villagers could bring only one person across the fish bridge.

Shanzhu crossed Yunmeng Marsh on a bridge of fish with the spider lady and reached Bronze Island, where he discovered that Bronze Beasts grew as fruit on living Bronze Trees. The chapter ended with a bronze spider producing a Fang Boar-type Bronze Beast from a fallen fruit in seconds, leaving Shanzhu stunned.

• The spider lady reassured Shanzhu that Cai Gu’s full divine power and the fish would keep him safe as he crossed the fish bridge.
• The spider lady suggested Yunmeng Marsh’s master was greater than Shanzhu imagined, and Shanzhu recalled a rumor linking the Red-Haired Ghost God to the Son of the Mountain God.
• The spider lady led Shanzhu to the moving Bronze Island, where he saw living Bronze Trees covered in complex Life Talisman Incantations.
• The spider lady called on the bronze spider, Sixty-seventh Sister, to select a Fang Boar-type Bronze Beast, and the spider demanded a mouse as payment.
• After eating the mouse, the bronze spider knocked a bronze fruit from the tree, and the metallic soil transformed it into a complete Bronze Beast within seconds.

Hanging Silk Lady achieved a Primordial Spirit and discovered that the skeleton Xuan Ta left behind had changed. When it drew a vast amount of Essence Qi from a giant bronze tree, a powerful Yuan Qi storm erupted, leaving her stunned.

• Hanging Silk Lady transformed into a woman, cultivated a Primordial Spirit, and turned her Life Primordial Qi into Essence Qi.
• Hanging Silk Lady petrified Qingfu for making noise, while Mu Chuan placated her and told her the skeleton Xuan Ta left behind had changed.
• Hanging Silk Lady went to the heart of Bronze Island and found a gigantic bronze tree beside Xuan Ta's skeleton.
• Hanging Silk Lady confirmed that the tree held vast Essence Qi and caused it to shine across Bronze Island.
• Xuan Ta's skeleton moved and drew the tree's Essence Qi into itself, unleashing a storm of Yuan Qi that knocked over nearby spider ladies.