Recaps

An Weiyan accepted golden-thread nanmu that local woodcutters felled as thanks for saving their families, and planned to ask Su Qingyun how to sell some of it. Meanwhile, fishermen decided to catch fish for him too, unaware that demons had recently been active in the river.

• An Weiyan learned that the woodcutters had felled rare golden-thread nanmu and offered it to him in gratitude for the grain he had brought.
• An Weiyan accepted the timber, set aside two trunks to take to Earth, and agreed to have some made into furniture for the county office.
• Fishermen nearby, eager to show their gratitude as well, decided to catch fish for An Weiyan and headed toward the river.
• An Weiyan inspected the timber, considered asking Su Qingyun for help selling it, and then went to check on the land reclamation.

An Weiyan inspected the thriving crops outside Linbei County and returned to reading poetry. Beneath a tributary of the Wu River, the Koi King worried that her five gifted children would have to face dangerous human tribulations while humans were starving and demons controlled many places.

• An Weiyan inspected the farmland and found that the tender shoots were growing well with fertilizer.
• An Weiyan returned to the government office and resumed reading his poetry collection.
• The Koi King told her five children that they had to face their human tribulations despite the dangers in the human world.
• Silver Scale Autumn Jade urged her siblings not to worry, while Red-Gold Dragon Phoenix warned that humans might catch and eat them.
• Silver Scale grew frightened and tried to hide among the rocks, while Nine-Marked Dragon stayed composed and considered how to help his siblings.

An Weiyan equipped Lin Liyun and the bailiffs with protective gear and sabers while more refugees arrived in Linbei County. He ordered the newcomers to receive congee first, then the same meals as the others.

• An Weiyan noticed fresh incense at the Daoist temple and decided to buy more books, incense, and supplies.
• Su Qingyun warned An Weiyan that golden-thread nanmu was a nationally protected Class II tree species, so he abandoned the idea of taking it.
• An Weiyan collected deliveries, sent the supplies to Linbei County, and found that visitors had offered incense at the temple again.
• An Weiyan gave Lin Liyun and the bailiffs clothes, ceramic bulletproof steel plates, and long sabers, then ordered them to continue training.
• Lin Liyun told An Weiyan that villagers had brought more refugees to Linbei County, and An Weiyan ordered the newcomers to be fed congee before receiving the usual meals.

An Weiyan planned how to house and feed Linbei County’s growing refugee population while preparing for the dangers ahead. Nearby fishermen expressed gratitude to him and set out to catch fish to offer him, as the Koi King secretly watched from the riverbed.

• An Weiyan counted 756 people in Linbei County, assigned able-bodied refugees to clear land and repair houses, and wrote down the tasks he still needed to complete.
• An Weiyan worried that his funds might not sustain the refugees, planned to expand publicity for the Daoist temple’s incense offerings, and considered the danger posed by the peach tree demon’s tribulation and the demons beyond the mountains.
• Fishermen discussed how An Weiyan’s relief efforts contrasted with famine and demon attacks elsewhere, and hoped he would remain in charge of Linbei County.
• The fishermen decided to catch good fish to offer An Weiyan, then one of them caught a black crucian carp.
• The Koi King secretly patrolled the river, hoping to locate where its children would face their tribulations and improve their chances of survival.

The Koi King found Lin Household Village deserted and explained to Silver Scale the legends behind the Demon Race’s Human Tribulation. In Linbei County, An Weiyan considered the people’s need for timber as a woodcutter volunteered to lead others into the dangerous mountains.

• The Koi King discovered that everyone in Lin Household Village had died and worried that its children would lose a safe place to undergo tribulation.
• Silver Scale asked why the Demon Race had to undergo the Human Tribulation, and the Koi King recounted several legends about its origins.
• An Weiyan reflected on how reading new books improved him and noticed that his appearance and vision had changed.
• A carpenter asked An Weiyan to send woodcutters into the mountains for timber because damaged houses and new arrivals had exhausted the village’s supply.
• A woodcutter volunteered to lead others up the mountain, but An Weiyan warned him that it was dangerous.

An Weiyan organized repairs to Linbei County, arranging for woodcutters to gather timber and for townspeople and masons to rebuild the roads, drainage channels, and toilets. Construction began across the county, while An Weiyan left the detailed plans to the experienced masons.

• An Weiyan checked that the peach tree demon had not begun its tribulation, then agreed to send woodcutters up the mountain with Lin Liyun and several men for protection.
• An Weiyan ordered cement, received it the next day, and hung notices at the Taoist temple saying incense offerings were free.
• An Weiyan divided the townspeople into teams to dig up the roads, collect river sand and stones, and carry out other construction work.
• The woodcutters returned with trees and found the streets dug up as An Weiyan discussed drainage channels with the masons.
• The masons planned the drainage system and toilets, then began work as An Weiyan watched the county's renovation proceed.

Lin Feng doubted Su Mu’s fortune-telling after nearly a week without results, but a conversation with his boss brought him a promotion to manage Pingliu District. He told the Cloud-Stilling Temple group that Su Mu had been accurate, though the other members had not yet replied.

• Members of Lin Feng’s chat group questioned whether Su Mu’s fortune-telling was real, and Lin Feng admitted nothing had happened to him yet.
• Lin Feng’s boss summoned him and proposed sending him to develop business in a neighboring city.
• Lin Feng declined and suggested Xiaoxiao for the assignment, then learned he would instead manage the profitable Pingliu District.
• Lin Feng returned to the group, announced his promotion, and declared that the Taoist priest at Cloud-Stilling Temple had been incredibly accurate.
• When the group fell silent, Lin Feng insisted that his story was true.

An Weiyan ended disaster relief in Linbei County and arranged for commoners to earn grain through work, with support for children and the elderly. Meanwhile, Lin Feng led a large group of visitors up the mountain to Cloud-Stilling Temple, hoping to receive fortune readings.

• An Weiyan announced that disaster relief had ended and promised grain in exchange for labor, while children and the elderly would receive grain for free.
• An Weiyan organized work payments, grain distribution points, and recordkeeping, bringing greater order to Linbei County.
• An Weiyan cleaned the incense burner at Cloud-Stilling Temple and went to sleep as usual.
• Lin Feng and his friends joined people from the group chat and climbed the mountain to seek readings from the priest.
• The group reached the summit and spotted Cloud-Stilling Temple.

More than a hundred visitors came to An Weiyan’s temple hoping for divinations, but found him away cultivating, while Feng Haixuan’s unlucky friend Wang Youxian hurried off to deal with another crisis. An Weiyan, meanwhile, wondered why this world’s sun seemed so weak before heading to the government office to inspect Cheng Er’s finished furniture.

• Lin Feng led his friends in offering incense at An Weiyan’s empty temple, and more than a hundred visitors filled the incense burners.
• Lin Feng found the sign saying An Weiyan was cultivating and told the visitors they would have to return another time for divinations.
• Feng Haixuan told Wang Youxian that An Weiyan had been accurate before and might help with his bad luck, but Wang Youxian received a call and rushed away to handle a crisis.
• Feng Haixuan left the temple after Wang Youxian, while some visitors stayed behind hoping An Weiyan would appear by noon.
• An Weiyan studied the sun, felt it was weaker than Earth’s, and headed to the government office to see the table and chairs Cheng Er had finished making.

An Weiyan learned that the koi could turn people’s luck around and tested whether he could carry living creatures between worlds. After building a pond at the Daoist temple and placing the koi in it, he unwittingly exposed Silver Scale to the temple’s blazing Golden Crow Divine Power.

• A fisherman brought An Weiyan a beautiful koi caught while digging sand by the river, and An Weiyan asked the Earth God whether it could bring good luck or pose a danger.
• The Earth God confirmed that the koi could improve someone’s luck and assured An Weiyan it was harmless, while privately recognizing that it was undergoing a Human Tribulation.
• An Weiyan tested whether an ordinary fish could survive being carried across several crossings, then decided to bring the koi to his Daoist temple.
• An Weiyan dug a pond outside the main hall, and the next morning he brought the koi from Linbei County and released it into the water.
• Silver Scale sensed the blazing Golden Crow Divine Power and felt it purifying her Demon Race bloodline, though her Divine Sense remained sealed.

An Weiyan turned the fishpond into a wishing pool after seeing Silver Scale collect a coin, while her family searched for her nearby. As incense offerings grew at the Taoist temple, a young man asked An Weiyan when he would get rich, and An Weiyan sent him to try the pool.

• Silver Scale endured the Golden Crow’s heat, then retrieved a coin An Weiyan tossed into the pool and carried it into her hole.
• An Weiyan put up a sign labeling the fishpond a “Wishing Pool.”
• The Koi King and her fiery-red daughter worried that Silver Scale had vanished, and the Koi King suspected the Human Tribulation had obscured their senses.
• An Weiyan inspected the flourishing fields and county renovations, then agreed to collect the temple’s incense offerings that night.
• An Weiyan watched worshippers offer incense and noticed their essence, Qi, and spirit flowing into it in greater streams than before.
• A young man asked An Weiyan when he might get rich, and An Weiyan pointed him toward the wishing pool.

An Weiyan encouraged visitors to toss coins into the wishing pool, where Silver Scale absorbed their wishes to help pass her Human Tribulation. He then brought incense offerings to the Earth God, strengthening their alliance, and learned that demons and fiends were descending from the mountain after a peach tree demon died in its tribulation.

• An Weiyan gave a young man a coin to toss into the wishing pool, and Silver Scale collected it with her mouth.
• An Weiyan urged the incense worshippers to make wishes, while Silver Scale sensed their pure wishes and planned to use them to improve their luck without incurring karmic power.
• An Weiyan brought the divine statue and fresh incense offerings to the Earth God, who absorbed the offerings and grew stronger.
• An Weiyan and the Earth God agreed to cooperate, with the Earth God promising to protect Linbei County and An Weiyan.
• The Earth God said he needed incense offerings about three more times to keep the route to Pingshui City safe.
• The Earth God told An Weiyan that the peach tree demon had died in its lightning tribulation and that demons and fiends were descending the mountain.

After An Weiyan left with the divine tablet, spirits noticed Linbei County’s recovery and considered attacking it, but the female ghost leading them chose to wait until An Weiyan became even more delicious. An Weiyan returned to the county office to read, while a ragged, travel-worn man arrived at a police station in Cloudwater City to file a report.

• An Weiyan left with the divine tablet, and the Earth God sensed that the koi had disappeared but stayed silent about it.
• Spirits in the mountains saw Linbei County’s renewed human vitality and the Earth God’s stronger divine power, then agreed to attack the town together.
• The spirits transformed into refugees and spotted An Weiyan, but their leader recognized him and ordered them to wait until his scholar’s flavor developed further.
• An Weiyan sensed something in the night, returned to the county office, read until late, and went to sleep while the county’s commoners began repairing roads and reclaiming farmland at dawn.
• A ragged, travel-worn man entered a police station in Cloudwater City to file a report, and the receptionist invited him to sit down.

Zhou Wenfei searched for his abducted son and hoped a child in a village near Cloudwater City might be his, but a DNA test ruled out the match. Liang Lijian directed him to Cloud-Stilling Temple, and Zhou Wenfei headed up Frost Crimson Peak hoping its Taoist could help him find his child.

• Zhou Wenfei told the officers that he had spent years searching for his abducted child and had come to them for help after a village family drove him away.
• Liang Lijian and Zhou Yinghuan accompanied Zhou Wenfei to the village, where officers persuaded the family to provide a sample from the child for testing.
• After the test came back as not supporting a match, Zhou Wenfei thanked Liang Lijian and Zhou Yinghuan and prepared to continue his search.
• Zhou Yinghuan suggested asking the Taoist at Cloud-Stilling Temple for a divination, and Liang Lijian privately recommended that Zhou Wenfei visit the temple.
• Zhou Wenfei rode to Frost Crimson Peak and started climbing toward Cloud-Stilling Temple after hearing visitors praise the temple and its Taoist.

Zhou Wenfei went to Cloud-Stilling Temple hoping its Daoist priest could help him find his missing son, and knelt for hours waiting to be seen. Fang Weiyan finally emerged and found Zhou Wenfei kneeling before the main hall.

• Zhou Wenfei arrived at Cloud-Stilling Temple and learned that its Daoist priest was usually unavailable while cultivating.
• After waiting without seeing a priest, Zhou Wenfei knelt outside the main hall and explained that he had spent ten years searching for his missing son.
• Worshippers gathered around Zhou Wenfei, and some waited to see whether the priest would help him.
• Fang Weiyan returned from Linbei County, noticed the crowd, and hurried toward the main hall.
• Fang Weiyan spotted Zhou Wenfei kneeling and stepped forward to help him up.

Fang Weiyan used a photograph and fortune-telling to direct Zhou Wenfei toward a school where his abducted child might be, then welcomed worshippers whose incense offerings strengthened the Earth God's power. After running out of divine power, he stopped taking requests, while a silver koi collected a coin from the wishing pond and a worshipper praised the pond's effects.

• Zhou Wenfei asked Fang Weiyan to help find the child who had been abducted ten years earlier, and Fang used the child's photograph to perform a reading.
• Fang Weiyan told Zhou Wenfei to search southwest, about seventy kilometers away, at a school for a student named Bao Chongliang and suggested a paternity test.
• A worshipper offered to drive Zhou Wenfei, and the group created a chat so everyone could hear whether he found his child.
• Fang Weiyan invited the remaining worshippers to offer incense, and he saw the offerings increase the incense power flowing into the divine tablet.
• Fang Weiyan refused further fortune-telling because he had used up the divine power shared by the Earth God, while a silver koi picked up a coin from the wishing pond.
• A woman questioned why her boyfriend kept visiting the wishing pond, and he said his luck had improved since he began coming.

Fang Weiyan asked the Earth God how he could cultivate and learned that he might establish a City God shrine to become one after death, though he still hoped to cultivate while alive. Later, books about gods and strange lands led him to suspect that foreign lands knew the truth about the Kingdom in the Clouds and might be more powerful than the Jiang Kingdom.

• Fang Weiyan returned to Linbei County and asked the Earth God to teach him cultivation, but the Earth God said he knew no cultivation method.
• The Earth God suggested that Fang Weiyan establish a City God shrine in his own likeness so he could become the City God after death if the shrine gathered enough incense.
• Fang Weiyan questioned whether mortals could absorb incense directly, then left to consider the Earth God's proposal.
• Fang Weiyan read books about gods and strange occurrences in his study and found accounts of the Merfolk Kingdom and the Kingdom in the Clouds.
• Fang Weiyan read that the so-called fairies of the Kingdom in the Clouds might be women with unusual bloodlines living in a Law Treasure, and wondered whether foreign lands were more powerful than the Jiang Kingdom.

Zhou Wenfei confirmed through a paternity test that Bao Chongliang was his son, validating Fang Weiyan’s help in finding the boy. Meanwhile, Fang Weiyan planned ways to expand work and bring more people to Linbei County, while noting that dangerous spirits made building roads difficult.

• Zhou Wenfei waited outside the hospital with Bao Chongliang, his adoptive parents, and school administrators for the paternity test results.
• A doctor gave Zhou Wenfei the report, which confirmed that Bao Chongliang was his son, and the group chat celebrated Fang Weiyan’s ability to locate the boy.
• Fang Weiyan proposed a fishpond, an orchard, and a craft workshop to create work for Linbei County’s residents.
• Uncle Fu told Fang Weiyan that nearby villages had skilled craftspeople, and Fang Weiyan agreed to bring as many villagers as possible to town.
• Fang Weiyan reviewed poverty-alleviation plans and marked a road to Pingshui City as a priority, though spirits and monsters made the route dangerous.

Fang Weiyan sent yamen runners to bring starving villagers to Linbei County, where disaster relief was available. At the Cloud-Stilling Temple, Liang Lijian met Fang Weiyan to discuss how Zhou Wenfei had found his child with Fang Weiyan’s help.

• Fang Weiyan ordered Cheng Feng and the other yamen runners to bring people from nearby villages to Linbei County.
• Cheng Feng and the runners split into five groups and traveled to villages stricken by famine.
• Cheng Feng persuaded the frightened villagers to leave for Linbei County with only a few belongings, warning them about dangers in the mountains.
• An unfamiliar woman appeared among the villagers as they set off, but no one noticed her.
• Fang Weiyan admired the abundant incense offerings at the Cloud-Stilling Temple before Liang Lijian asked to speak privately with him.
• Liang Lijian told Fang Weiyan that Zhou Wenfei had found his child with Fang Weiyan’s help and came to discuss the matter after receiving his superior’s approval.

Fang Weiyan agreed to help Liang Lijian solve cases for payment, with limits on his availability and the accuracy of his divinations. As Fang Weiyan returned to Linbei County, Cheng Feng led exhausted villagers toward the county to collect grain, and they discovered its roads had changed.

• Liang Lijian asked Fang Weiyan to help the police solve cases, and Fang agreed while warning that his divinations could be inaccurate and that he was usually available only near sunset.
• Fang Weiyan and Liang Lijian agreed that the police would pay him for his help, then exchanged contact information.
• Fang Weiyan inspected the Daoist temple and wishing pool before returning to Linbei County as dusk approached.
• Cheng Feng led hungry villagers toward Linbei County and promised they could collect polished rice at the county office.
• The villagers reached Linbei County and noticed that its roads were smooth and comfortable to walk on.

Cheng Feng brought the villagers to the county yamen, where Fang Weiyan arranged porridge for disaster relief. When a woman offered to serve as his maid, Fang Weiyan suspected she was a fox spirit and led her to the Land God Temple, but the Land God did not immediately act.

• Cheng Feng led the villagers along the new road to the county yamen, where they washed up and lined up for porridge.
• Cheng Feng reported to Fang Weiyan, who praised him and sent him to eat and rest.
• A starving woman knelt before Fang Weiyan and asked to become his personal maid; he agreed to take her with him.
• The woman followed Fang Weiyan, believing he wanted her as a lover, but he led her to the Land God Temple and accused her of being a demon.
• Fang Weiyan urged the Land God to subdue the woman, but the Land God only trembled and did not attack, leaving Fang Weiyan afraid they might be allies.

Fang Weiyan learned that the peach tree demon Tao Lingluo had come to Linbei County seeking the koi, though she hid her true purpose from him. He let her stay on the condition that she harmed no innocents, then returned to the yamen and planned to distribute fertilizer for a fruit-growing plot.

• The Earth God explained that he could not kill Tao Lingluo without cause because doing so would damage his hidden virtue.
• Fang Weiyan questioned Tao Lingluo, who refused to explain why she had come but offered to serve as his personal maid.
• Tao Lingluo revealed that she was a peach tree demon whose failed tribulation had left her as a remnant soul, and she secretly hoped to find and eat the koi.
• Fang Weiyan allowed Tao Lingluo to remain in Linbei County as long as she did not harm the innocent, but forbade her from entering his government compound.
• Fang Weiyan returned to the yamen and decided to give fertilizer from the warehouse to the common people for the fruit-growing plot.

Fang Weiyan organized relief and rebuilding in Linbei County while the Koi King worried over her daughter’s tribulation and planned to seek help in a dream. After Feng Haixuan showed Wang Youxian proof of Fang Weiyan’s divination, Wang agreed to visit him.

• Fang Weiyan arranged food, composting, repairs, an academy, and more bailiffs for Linbei County, and asked nearby villagers to come there.
• The fiery-red koi worried that her Second Sister had not returned from her Human Tribulation and wanted to enter Linbei County.
• The Koi King stopped her and resolved to ask someone in a dream to spare her daughter when she faced her tribulation.
• Feng Haixuan urged Wang Youxian to seek a divination from the Daoist at Cloud-Stilling Temple and showed him evidence that Fang Weiyan had located a missing child.
• Wang Youxian agreed to visit Fang Weiyan, and Feng Haixuan offered to arrange the divination.

Fang Weiyan learned that the koi delivered to him was a demon undergoing a Human Tribulation after its mother appeared in his dream and pleaded for its life. The Land God explained that the mother had been struck down for revealing heaven’s secrets, while the koi could not harm Fang Weiyan during its tribulation.

• Wang Youxian and Feng Haixuan returned to Cloud-Stilling Temple and waited for Fang Weiyan.
• Tao Lingluo asked Fang Weiyan to sell her the fiery-red koi, but he refused and took it to his government office.
• As Fang Weiyan tried to send the koi away, he fell asleep and dreamed that an old woman begged him to spare her daughter, the koi.
• The old woman vanished amid thunder and flames, and Fang Weiyan awoke to the sound of tribulation lightning outside Linbei County.
• Fang Weiyan questioned the Land God, who explained that the koi was undergoing a Human Tribulation and could not harm him, while its mother had died for revealing heaven’s secrets.

Fang Weiyan released the silver koi into the river, but she begged to return to the wishing pool because it helped her pass her Human Tribulation without accumulating karmic power. Intrigued by the fortune she could bring him, Fang Weiyan agreed to take her back to the government office for now.

• Fang Weiyan asked the Earth God about demons’ Human Tribulations and received more divine power.
• Fang Weiyan returned to the Taoist temple to retrieve the silver koi, while Feng Haixuan and Wang Youxian asked him to examine Wang Youxian’s bad luck.
• Fang Weiyan carried the silver koi to a river outside Linbei County and released her.
• The silver koi asked Fang Weiyan to return her to the wishing pool, explaining that its coins’ wishes and the Golden Crow’s divine light had helped her pass her tribulation without karmic power.
• Fang Weiyan wondered whether he had exploited a bug between worlds and agreed to bring the koi back with him.