Recaps

Fang Weiyan reunited Silver Scale with her sister, then charged Wang Youxian two million to change his luck and asked Silver Scale to use her ability on the coin Wang Youxian had given him. He left the two koi together in Linbei County, where Silver Scale revealed she had kept the coin in her mouth.

• Fang Weiyan explained that Silver Scale's mother had died after revealing heavenly secrets and put Silver Scale and her second sister in the same bucket.
• Fang Weiyan returned to Cloud-Stilling Temple and told Wang Youxian he could change his luck for two million.
• Wang Youxian agreed to the fee, gave Fang Weiyan a coin, and transferred two million to his account.
• Fang Weiyan returned to Linbei County and asked Silver Scale to change the luck of the coin's owner.
• Silver Scale opened her mouth and revealed the coin Fang Weiyan had given her.

Fang Weiyan received blessings from Silver Scale and her sister, then decided not to risk traveling to Pingshui City. In the Jiang Kingdom, the old emperor mourned the death of another consort and child, and considered the capable Linbei County official as a possible husband for his twelve-year-old daughter and successor to the throne.

• Fang Weiyan gave coins to Silver Scale and the fiery-red koi, who blessed his fortune.
• Silver Scale warned Fang Weiyan that the Dragon King of the Wu River and his elite forces could still endanger him, so he chose to lie low.
• Midwives told the old emperor that the consort and her child had died in childbirth, and a guard killed the midwives.
• The old emperor welcomed his twelve-year-old daughter and considered finding her a husband who could take the throne and steady the Jiang Kingdom.
• The old emperor read a report about Linbei County and was impressed by its locally appointed official’s capable administration and care for the people.

Fang Weiyan strengthened his authority in Linbei County and ordered the first cabbage harvest distributed alongside grain rations. The people received the food with gratitude, while Silver Scale set out to bring her brothers to the county.

• Fang Weiyan used his money to expand his yamen runners to more than a hundred armed men and planned to recruit more people and build a force of his own.
• Fang Weiyan asked Cheng Feng to find nearby villages and considered opening a road to Pingshui City to bring in refugees and establish trade.
• Silver Scale left the pond to summon her older brothers, hoping they would gain merit and avoid their Human Tribulations.
• Fang Weiyan visited the fields and learned from Uncle Fu that the first cabbage harvest had been brought to the yamen.
• Fang Weiyan ordered the cabbages distributed as disaster relief, adding half a head to each household’s grain ration.
• The people collected rice and cabbage, and a woman who had worked in the fields was moved to receive the cabbage she had assumed belonged to Fang Weiyan.

A poor mother fed her sons a cabbage given by the county magistrate, while Fang Weiyan discovered that Silver Scale had brought more koi to help him bring fortune to the temple’s wishing-pool coins. The koi gained merit without taking on karma and decided to remain with Fang Weiyan to make their future tribulations easier.

• The mother returned home with a cabbage from the county magistrate, and her sons promised to remember his kindness.
• The mother boiled cabbage leaves to serve with rice, giving her sons a meal they found delicious.
• Fang Weiyan found several new koi in the fishpond, and Silver Scale introduced them as her siblings who had come to bring him fortune.
• Fang Weiyan took the koi to Cloud-Stilling Temple, where they swam over the wishing-pool coins before returning to the fishpond.
• Fang Weiyan tossed three coins into the pond for the new koi, then returned to his study to read and reflect on his changing body.
• After Fang Weiyan left, the koi discussed how the wishing pool had given them merit without karma and agreed that following him would ease their future tribulations.

Silver Scale persuaded her koi brothers to help Fang Weiyan accumulate merit, while Wang Youxian reported that his fortunes had improved after visiting Fang Weiyan’s temple. At the orchard, the peach tree demon followed Fang Weiyan and became curious about the fertilizer he spread.

• Silver Scale told her koi brothers that they should help Fang Weiyan encounter more good fortune so he could earn merit, and they went to cultivate in a nearby cave.
• Fang Weiyan followed his routine at the Daoist temple and returned to Linbei County.
• Wang Youxian told Feng Haixuan that a lost project had returned to his company and former clients had begun placing large orders after his visit to Fang Weiyan.
• Wang Youxian agreed to organize a company outing to the temple, while Feng Haixuan considered seeking a fortune from Fang Weiyan himself.
• Fang Weiyan had fertilizer spread in the orchard, and the peach tree demon followed him, sensed the fruit trees’ cheerful emotions, and moved closer to inspect it.

Tao Lingluo absorbed Fang Weiyan’s fertilizer and found that it strengthened her remnant soul, so she asked to serve him in exchange for more. Fang Weiyan agreed and began considering chemical fertilizer’s unusual effects on the crops and demons around him.

• Tao Lingluo absorbed the fertilizer, which crumbled into powder and made her remnant soul more solid.
• Fang Weiyan questioned Tao Lingluo about the vanished fertilizer, and she explained that it suited her cultivation and the fruit saplings.
• Fang Weiyan suspected the fertilizer was accelerating crop growth and decided to use chemical fertilizer instead of manure for compost.
• Tao Lingluo offered to serve Fang Weiyan for life in exchange for more fertilizer, and Fang Weiyan accepted on the condition that she obey his commands.

Fang Weiyan discovered that fertilizer from Earth made crops in Linbei County grow extraordinarily well, and he allowed Tao Lingluo to serve him in exchange for more fertilizer. After inspecting the thriving fields, he returned to Cloud-Stilling Temple and found an unusually large crowd waiting to offer incense.

• Fang Weiyan agreed that Tao Lingluo would obey his orders and promised her more fertilizer, while explaining that thriving crops could help the commoners and strengthen the Earth God through future incense offerings.
• Tao Lingluo objected to using the fertilizer on saplings, but Fang Weiyan reprimanded her and reassured her that she would receive fertilizer as long as she followed his orders.
• Fang Weiyan saw that the fertilizer had helped produce enormous, undamaged cabbages and made the corn and sweet potatoes grow rapidly.
• Fang Weiyan considered planting hybrid rice and hoped its harvests could build a prosperous dynasty and increase the power of incense offerings.
• Fang Weiyan returned to Earth to check on Cloud-Stilling Temple and saw an unusually large crowd lining up to offer incense.

Fang Weiyan gained a large amount of incense offerings from visitors to the Daoist temple and gave them to the Earth God, whose divine image nearly condensed before dispersing. After the Earth God said he could now protect travelers going to Pingshui City, Fang Weiyan ordered the yamen runners to gather so he could prepare an expedition for the next day.

• Fang Weiyan discovered that Wang Youxian and Feng Haixuan had brought Wang Youxian’s company employees to offer incense at the Daoist temple, and he welcomed the extra offerings.
• Su Qingyun messaged Fang Weiyan to arrange a visit, and he asked her to tell him in advance.
• After the temple emptied, Fang Weiyan carried the divine statue to Linbei County and gave its accumulated incense offerings to the Earth God.
• The Earth God absorbed the offerings, nearly formed a divine image, and told Fang Weiyan he could protect travelers going to Pingshui City.
• Fang Weiyan decided to send people to Pingshui City the next day and summoned the yamen runners, gathering around a hundred of them.

Fang Weiyan sent Cheng Feng and twenty runners to Pingshui City to pawn three glass marbles, gather news, and recruit people with extraordinary abilities. Cheng Feng reached the city safely and began comparing pawnshops’ offers.

• Fang Weiyan chose Cheng Feng to lead a team to Pingshui City and entrusted him with three glass marbles to pawn for gold.
• Fang Weiyan ordered the runners to investigate Pingshui City and the imperial court, spread word about Linbei County’s disaster relief, and seek people with extraordinary abilities.
• Cheng Feng set out at dawn with twenty men and reached Pingshui City without encountering danger.
• Cheng Feng’s team split up to carry out their assigned tasks, while he headed to a pawnshop to compare offers for the marbles.

Fang Weiyan learned from Tao Lingluo that Peach Blossom Ravine and the nearby Divine Farmer Valley had once been home to powerful tree demons and sentient spirit medicines. He left the locations undiscovered and put the matter aside, asking Tao Lingluo to tend his fruit tree saplings.

• Tao Lingluo absorbed the three bags of fertilizer Fang Weiyan gave her and said it had helped her recover.
• Fang Weiyan asked Tao Lingluo whether she knew of extraordinary people or strange happenings in the world.
• Tao Lingluo recalled that Peach Blossom Ravine, her former home, had been destroyed by a group of people who had barged in.
• Tao Lingluo described Divine Farmer Valley’s sentient medicinal herbs, including ancient ginseng, fleeceflower roots, lingzhi, and snow lotuses.
• Fang Weiyan asked where Divine Farmer Valley was, but Tao Lingluo had forgotten its location, so he set the search aside and sent her to check on his fruit tree saplings.

Ning Yunbin urged refugees in Pingshui City to return to Linbei County, where work relief could feed them, and some agreed to go with him. Elsewhere, Cheng Feng sought offers for a glass marble after a pawnshop offered 200 taels of gold.

• Ning Yunbin told a refugee father that Linbei County offered work relief and urged him to bring his family there instead of selling his child.
• A young man who had fled Linbei County challenged Ning Yunbin, then considered returning after hearing that the county had improved under its new magistrate.
• The refugee father agreed to go back with Ning Yunbin, encouraged by the chance that his child could survive.
• Bailiffs searched around Pingshui City for news of extraordinary people and strange happenings, including the rumored adept who had suppressed the Dragon King.
• Cheng Feng left a pawnshop after being offered 200 taels of gold for his glass marble and went to seek another price.

Cheng Feng returned to Linbei County with his men, refugees, and the goods and information Fang Weiyan had requested. Fang Weiyan learned that the Jiang Kingdom faced a dangerous succession crisis as the emperor’s health declined and his heirs remained scarce.

• Cheng Feng warned the refugees not to steal Linbei County’s vegetables and brought them before Fang Weiyan, who ordered them settled according to the usual procedure.
• Cheng Feng reported that several people had followed his group but left after they put on their bailiff uniforms.
• Cheng Feng handed Fang Weiyan 599 taels of gold from the sale of three glass marbles, along with purchased salt and books.
• Cheng Feng told Fang Weiyan that the expert he had asked about was only passing through and that he had found no other news of experts.
• Cheng Feng reported that the Jiang emperor had lost another unborn child, that almost none of his consorts’ pregnancies had survived, and that the emperor’s failing health threatened the kingdom’s succession.

Fang Weiyan learned that the Jiang Kingdom was nearing collapse and asked Silver Scale whether she could help him defend Linbei County from an invasion. Meanwhile, the emperor decided to summon Fang Weiyan to the capital, hoping to use his abilities to restore the kingdom and considering him as a possible heir.

• Cheng Feng told Fang Weiyan that demons were trying to sever the Jiang Kingdom’s national fortune, and Fang Weiyan worried about the kingdom’s collapse and the danger to Linbei County.
• Fang Weiyan asked Silver Scale whether her luck could help defend Linbei County; she said they could withstand petty bandits and minor officials, but not a ruler or a person with great fortune.
• Silver Scale warned Fang Weiyan that Tao Lingluo seemed to harbor ill intentions toward the koi, and Fang Weiyan told Tao Lingluo not to target them.
• The emperor read a report about Fang Weiyan’s success in restoring the Earth God and decided to send trusted men to bring him back from Linbei County.

Fang Weiyan learned the demons’ cultivation ranks while the koi transferred luck, then continued distributing food to refugees in Linbei County. The Earth God told him that the emperor had noticed his success and would send someone to bring him to the imperial capital, leaving Fang Weiyan worried about the danger and unsure whether he could refuse.

• Silver Scale explained the Spirit Gathering, Transformation, Spirit Platform, and Flower Blooming ranks to Fang Weiyan.
• Fang Weiyan returned the five koi to Linbei County after they finished transferring luck.
• Fang Weiyan distributed grain, cabbage, and fine salt to the refugees waiting outside the county office.
• The Earth God told Fang Weiyan that the imperial capital would send someone to bring him there because his appointment and achievements had come to the emperor’s attention.
• Fang Weiyan asked whether he could refuse the summons and what the emperor was like, and the Earth God said the emperor valued talent but earlier officials sent to Linbei County had been eaten by demons on the road.

Fang Weiyan considered going to the imperial capital to help save the Jiang Kingdom after the Earth God urged him to serve the emperor, and Silver Scale promised the koi would ward off calamities for him. Meanwhile, the emperor learned that another crack had appeared on the koi protecting the little princess and vowed to find and punish those threatening his only remaining child.

• The Earth God told Fang Weiyan that strengthening the Jiang Kingdom would raise the quality of incense offerings and urged him to go to the imperial capital.
• Fang Weiyan weighed the dangers of leaving Linbei County and asked Silver Scale whether the five koi could protect him.
• Silver Scale explained that each of their scales could ward off one calamity, and Fang Weiyan felt safer about traveling to the imperial capital.
• In Yanhuai City, the little princess saw that Ling Yi’s scales were cracking and cried as the koi comforted her.
• The old servant reported the new crack to the emperor, who ordered an investigation and vowed to exterminate those responsible.

Fang Weiyan realized that improving Linbei County alone could not raise the grade of its incense offerings because the Jiang Kingdom’s national strength had a fixed ceiling. After imperial envoys arrived to escort him to Yanhuai City, he arranged for Uncle Fu to manage the county and prepared to leave.

• Fang Weiyan concluded that the Jiang Kingdom’s national strength was limiting the incense offerings, despite his efforts to improve life in Linbei County.
• Fang Weiyan asked Tao Lingluo whether she would follow him to the imperial capital, and she agreed.
• Fang Weiyan summoned Uncle Fu and the yamen runners to arrange the county’s affairs in his absence.
• Imperial envoys presented Fang Weiyan with a token and ordered him to return secretly to Yanhuai City as soon as possible.
• Fang Weiyan finished instructing Uncle Fu, moved his belongings and the koi back to Earth, and left provisions and growing crops for Linbei County.

Fang Weiyan set out for Yanhuai City with Cheng Feng and Lin Liyun, while Su Qingyun postponed her planned visit and waited for his reply. As he traveled, she remembered how she had first met him and convinced herself that he was simply too busy to answer.

• Fang Weiyan asked Cheng Feng and Lin Liyun to accompany him to Yanhuai City, warned them of the danger, and gave each fifty taels for their families.
• Cheng Feng and Lin Liyun returned after saying goodbye to their families, and Fang Weiyan departed with them and the men in fitted clothes, carrying Tao Lingluo in the form of a peach branch.
• Fang Weiyan learned that the journey would take five days and spent the bumpy ride trying to read.
• Su Qingyun postponed her planned visit to Fang Weiyan because of company business and sent him a message.
• While waiting for Fang Weiyan to reply, Su Qingyun recalled how he had carried her to the hospital after her embarrassing incident at school and how she later enrolled at his university.
• After seven minutes without an answer, Su Qingyun decided Fang Weiyan must be busy rather than unwilling to talk.

After arriving in Yanhuai City, Fang Weiyan rested at a courtyard residence and briefly returned to Earth to check on Cloud-Stilling Temple and contact Su Qingyun. He later went out to explore the city with Cheng Feng and Lin Liyun, keeping a low profile while awaiting the emperor's summons.

• Commander Yan escorted Fang Weiyan into Yanhuai City and settled him in a courtyard to await His Majesty's summons.
• Fang Weiyan returned to Earth, replied to Su Qingyun, and asked what trouble she had encountered.
• Fang Weiyan restocked incense and candles at Cloud-Stilling Temple, where the five koi continued cultivating in the Golden Crow Divine Power.
• Fang Weiyan returned to Yanhuai City and slept until later in the day.
• Fang Weiyan told Cheng Feng and Lin Liyun to call him 'young master' instead of 'my lord,' then set out with them to eat and explore the city.

Fang Weiyan explored Yanhuai City with Cheng Feng and his companion, where he heard that demons had killed another person and noticed the sun seemed unnaturally weak. At the palace, the Jiang Kingdom’s emperor ordered Commander Yan to bring Fang Weiyan to the imperial garden after court the next day.

• Fang Weiyan walked through the lively streets with Cheng Feng and his companion, but saw that the people’s colors were only pale yellow and that beggars lined the roadside.
• At a restaurant, Fang Weiyan overheard diners say that a corpse with its heart removed had been found in the river south of the city, marking the tenth such incident that month.
• Fang Weiyan considered whether demons were evading the Underworld Administration or colluding with it, then listened to rumors about unusual people and events in Yanhuai City.
• Fang Weiyan studied the weak, yin-tinged sunlight and wondered whether the sun was a Golden Crow, but could not discern anything about it.
• Commander Yan reported that Fang Weiyan had reached Yanhuai City, and the Jiang Kingdom’s emperor ordered him brought to the imperial garden after morning court the next day.

Fang Weiyan was summoned to meet Emperor Kaide, who told him that the Dragon King of the Wu River had overturned tax ships carrying most of the Jiang Kingdom’s revenue. The emperor asked Fang Weiyan for his thoughts, leaving him to consider the crisis just after arriving in Yanhuai City.

• Commander Yan woke Fang Weiyan and escorted him to the imperial palace after morning court.
• Ministers argued over whether the Jiang Kingdom should send troops against the Dragon King after tax ships sank in the Wu River.
• Emperor Kaide appointed someone to investigate the overturned ships and postponed deciding how to respond.
• Emperor Kaide met Fang Weiyan in the imperial gardens and judged him a promising, suitable heir for the throne through his daughter.
• Emperor Kaide explained the crisis with the Dragon King and asked Fang Weiyan what he thought.

Fang Weiyan argued that the Jiang Kingdom should avoid war with the Dragon King and broaden its understanding of national strength. Emperor Kaide was impressed by Fang Weiyan’s vision, but his illness worsened as he listened.

• Fang Weiyan advised Emperor Kaide against fighting the Dragon King because the Jiang Kingdom was too weak to bear the cost.
• Emperor Kaide asked how the kingdom could restore its national strength and listed its army, treasury, territory, people's welfare, and Underworld Administration.
• Fang Weiyan proposed adding medical care, territory, national standing, and transportation to the measures of national strength.
• Emperor Kaide praised Fang Weiyan’s ideas and reflected that the Jiang Kingdom’s former standing would have prevented the Dragon King from making demands.
• As Emperor Kaide struggled to breathe, a guard brought him a brocade box containing a rootlet from a thousand-year-old fleeceflower, and Kaide explained that it had been left by the late emperor.

Fang Weiyan asked Emperor Kaide to appoint him commandery governor so he could put his governing methods to use and build a power base away from the dangers of Yanhuai City. Emperor Kaide considered the request, and Princess Yongning met Fang Weiyan as he was leaving, forming a favorable first impression of him.

• Emperor Kaide ate spirit medicine from Divine Farmer Valley and asked Fang Weiyan to serve the Jiang Kingdom.
• Fang Weiyan requested authority over a commandery, arguing that he could improve its people’s lives and demonstrate policies that might benefit the kingdom.
• Emperor Kaide weighed the request and told Fang Weiyan to leave while he considered it.
• Princess Yongning stopped Fang Weiyan at the doorway and studied the man her father wanted her to marry.
• Princess Yongning found Fang Weiyan’s gaze appealing and formed a good first impression of him.

Princess Yongning met Fang Weiyan and quietly assessed him by asking what books he read. She and Emperor Kaide considered whether Fang Weiyan’s character and ambitions made him suitable to entrust with a commandery, and Yongning advised her father to grant his request rather than leave him vulnerable at court.

• Princess Yongning met Fang Weiyan and asked him to lend her a book, then sent Qiao'er with him to retrieve one.
• Yongning told Emperor Kaide that Fang Weiyan seemed widely read and said she would leave the decision about him to her father, while voicing concern about his character.
• Emperor Kaide explained that Fang Weiyan cared about the common people, had improved Linbei County, and wanted a commandery where he could put his abilities to use.
• Yongning learned Fang Weiyan did not want an official post in Yanhuai City and smiled at his difference from the scheming officials she had heard about.
• Emperor Kaide weighed keeping Fang Weiyan at court against granting him a commandery, and Yongning urged him to grant the request to protect Fang Weiyan from court rivalries and danger.

Fang Weiyan gave Princess Jin'an a book, asked his men to seek accomplished masters, and returned to the Daoist temple after they found only old rumors. Meanwhile, conspirators in Yanhuai City plotted to kill the Dragon King's offspring and provoke a clash with the emperor.

• Emperor Kaide teased Princess Jin'an about worrying over Fang Weiyan, then began forming a plan.
• Fang Weiyan gave Qiao'er a copy of Romance of the Three Kingdoms for Princess Jin'an and warned her to keep it private and not draw conclusions from its fictional events.
• Fang Weiyan sent Cheng Feng and Lin Liyun to look for accomplished masters, while Princess Jin'an carefully wrapped the book and took it to her room.
• In a secret chamber in Yanhuai City, conspirators discussed the emperor's refusal to send the Underworld Administration against the Dragon King and plotted to kill the Dragon King's offspring during its human tribulation.
• Cheng Feng and Lin Liyun returned with only rumors of masters from years ago, and Fang Weiyan went to the Daoist temple to replenish incense and candles and check the wishing pool.

Fang Weiyan tested the luck bestowed on him by the five koi by buying scratch-off tickets in Cloudwater City and won a total of two hundred thousand. He bought a lottery ticket at another shop and returned to the Daoist temple before hurrying back to Yanhuai City.

• Fang Weiyan warned the five koi to stay hidden, and Silver Scale returned to bask in the evening sun.
• Fang Weiyan traveled to Cloudwater City, ate at a restaurant, and entered a sports lottery shop to test his luck.
• Fang Weiyan won fifty thousand on his first scratch-off and one hundred thousand on his second.
• Fang Weiyan scratched the final ticket and won another fifty thousand, bringing his winnings to two hundred thousand.
• Fang Weiyan cashed in his tickets, bought a lottery ticket at another shop, and returned to the Daoist temple.
• Fang Weiyan hurried back to Yanhuai City after night fell in the other world.