Chapter Summaries

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.

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.