Chapter Summaries

Liang Lijian brought reporters to Frost Crimson Peak to interview An Weiyan about how he located seven criminals, and An Weiyan said he had used face reading. He recognized that reporter Feng Haixuan came from a wealthy family, prompting Feng to admit it, then accepted 750,000 in reward money as the group left.

• Liang Lijian climbed Frost Crimson Peak with several reporters and found An Weiyan at the Daoist temple.
• Liang Lijian asked how An Weiyan had found the seven criminals, and An Weiyan requested publicity for the temple before saying he used face reading.
• An Weiyan studied Feng Haixuan and said his face showed great wealth and status despite his ordinary appearance.
• Feng Haixuan's colleagues denied that his family was wealthy, but Feng admitted An Weiyan was right.
• An Weiyan asked the reporters to mention the temple's need for incense offerings, and Liang Lijian gave him 750,000 in reward money before the group left.

After Feng Haixuan and his colleagues decided to publicize An Weiyan’s apparent fortune-telling, An Weiyan used his reward to buy food for Linbei County. He returned to find Lin Liyun training the yamen runners and began calculating the cost of equipping and maintaining a force.

• Feng Haixuan confirmed he was wealthy, and his colleagues debated whether An Weiyan’s abilities were real or a scam.
• Feng Haixuan persuaded the reporters to truthfully publicize An Weiyan’s Daoist temple so they could test whether more visitors would come.
• An Weiyan rented a warehouse and bought rice, flour, salt, and oil for over a hundred thousand yuan.
• An Weiyan returned to the Daoist temple, repaid Su Qingyun, and went to Linbei County, where he saw Lin Liyun training the yamen runners.
• An Weiyan considered buying armor and weapons, then calculated that paying the runners in silver from the main world would cost less than supplying them with rice.

An Weiyan reassured Linbei County’s people that more grain had arrived and arranged for the town’s houses and farmland to be recorded. As the Earth God warned him to hurry with offerings against the danger from demons, several woodcutters set off to gather golden-thread nanmu for the county offices, while An Weiyan remained unaware and later returned to the main world to check the reporters’ publicity.

• An Weiyan announced that a second batch of grain had arrived, and grateful commoners knelt to thank him before he sent them back to their work.
• An Weiyan asked an elderly former teacher to record the town’s houses, fields, and farmsteads.
• The Earth God warned An Weiyan that his divine power was running low and urged him to arrange offerings before the demons turned their attention to Linbei County.
• A woodcutter persuaded several others to climb the mountain and cut golden-thread nanmu to repair the county offices, believing the demons were away watching the peach tree demon’s tribulation.
• An Weiyan read poetry at his desk, then brought rice for the people’s evening meal and returned to the main world to check the reporters’ articles and publicity.

After news of An Weiyan helping capture fugitives drew visitors’ interest in Cloud-Stilling Temple, he prepared for the temple’s growing needs and waited for people to arrive. A group led by Lin Feng came to seek a fortune reading, and An Weiyan saw their deep cyan essence, Qi, and spirit merge into their incense offerings.

• An Weiyan read online reactions to the news report and saw that many people were interested in visiting Cloud-Stilling Temple.
• An Weiyan ordered ceramic ballistic plates and outfits resembling the Jiang Kingdom yamen runners’ clothing.
• An Weiyan left Uncle Fu to oversee cooking and grain distribution in Linbei County, then returned to the temple and waited for visitors.
• A group led by Lin Feng arrived, and An Weiyan invited them to offer incense, assuring them it was free.
• An Weiyan watched the group’s deep cyan smoke merge into the incense smoke and concluded that worshippers’ essence, Qi, and spirit strengthened the offerings.

An Weiyan read Lin Feng’s wealth luck, predicting a career turning point in Cloudwater City within a week, and refused payment. After An Weiyan left to cultivate, hundreds of visitors gathered around Lin Feng to learn about the reading and joined his group to await its result.

• Lin Feng asked An Weiyan to read his wealth luck, and An Weiyan predicted that Lin Feng should stay in Cloudwater City for a career opportunity in about a week.
• An Weiyan declined Lin Feng’s offer of payment and asked him to bring more worshippers if the prediction came true.
• An Weiyan left to cultivate, leaving Lin Feng and his companions unsure whether the reading would prove accurate.
• A crowd arrived seeking An Weiyan, and Lin Feng told them about his reading and said they would know the result in a week.
• More than three hundred visitors added Lin Feng as a friend, so he created a group for them before finally leaving around noon.

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.