Chapter Summaries

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.

Emperor Kaide appointed Fang Weiyan to govern Jiangling Commandery despite the court’s lack of resources, and granted him broad authority to remove obstructive officials. Fang Weiyan also asked for a cultivation method, but when the Jiang Kingdom had none, the emperor gave him a piece of spirit rootlet instead.

• Emperor Kaide appointed Fang Weiyan governor of Jiangling Commandery, while faction-affiliated ministers secretly welcomed the decision, expecting the Dragon King of the Wu River to kill him.
• Emperor Kaide summoned Fang Weiyan and asked whether he could govern the commandery without court funding; Fang Weiyan confidently accepted because he could earn money with scratch cards.
• Fang Weiyan asked Emperor Kaide for authority to execute colleagues who obstructed him, and Emperor Kaide granted it so he could govern freely.
• Fang Weiyan asked whether he could learn a cultivation method to protect himself, but Emperor Kaide said the Jiang Kingdom had none.
• Emperor Kaide gave Fang Weiyan a piece of the rootlet from a brocade box.

Emperor Kaide gave Fang Weiyan a life-saving root, and Princess Jin'an gave him a jade pendant after he let her keep his copy of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. As Fang Weiyan prepared to govern Jiangling Commandery, Princess Jin'an offered him her savings to help him manage it.

• Emperor Kaide gave Fang Weiyan a root that could protect him when his life was in danger.
• Qiao'er led Fang Weiyan to Princess Jin'an, who asked to keep his copy of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and he agreed.
• Princess Jin'an gave Fang Weiyan an intricately carved jade pendant in return for the book.
• Princess Jin'an asked Fang Weiyan about his favorite character in the book, and he chose Liu Bei before explaining why Lü Bu's words were ironic.
• Princess Jin'an asked about Fang Weiyan's appointment to govern Jiangling Commandery, and he promised to make its people prosperous.
• Princess Jin'an sent Qiao'er to fetch a chest of her personal savings and offered its gold and silver jewelry to help Fang Weiyan govern Jiangling Commandery.

An Weiyan accepted the little princess’s provisions and left Yanhuai City for Jiangling Commandery with Cheng Feng and his companion. Meanwhile, the Dragon King of the Wu River worried over his son’s coming Human Tribulation and began discreetly arranging for the fish demons to help.

• The little princess gave An Weiyan a box of funds and provisions, and he accepted it before returning to the courtyard.
• After Cheng Feng and his companion found no new information, An Weiyan told them to pack for their return to Jiangling Commandery.
• An Weiyan and his companions left Yanhuai City before dawn and avoided traveling by water because of the Dragon King of the Wu River.
• The little blackfish told the Dragon King that his cultivation had reached its limit and feared he would not survive his Human Tribulation.
• The Dragon King reassured his son and, after the little blackfish swam away, summoned the fish demons to make preparations without revealing the reason.

Fang Weiyan returned to Jiangling Commandery with a hundred loyal bailiffs and entered Pingjiang City to take up his post as governor. At the government office, he confronted the local officials and ordered the city's bailiffs to disarm, leaving control of the city on the brink of a forceful takeover.

• Fang Weiyan ordered Lin Liyun to bring the hundred bailiffs from Linbei County to Pingjiang City and waited outside the city for them to arrive.
• Fang Weiyan promised the bailiffs compensation and support for their families if they died in battle, and they pledged their loyalty before marching with him into the city.
• Fang Weiyan presented his imperial decree at the gate, entered Pingjiang City, and led his men to the government office, where the county magistrate, county deputy, and county commandant received him.
• Fang Weiyan ordered the county commandant to summon the city's bailiffs, then compared their shabby appearance with the uniforms of his own men.
• Fang Weiyan ordered Pingshui City's bailiffs to remove their armor, and Cheng Feng and the other bailiffs drew their sabers.

Fang Weiyan disarmed Pingshui City's bailiffs and confined the county magistrate and his staff while seeking evidence of their corruption. His search found clean records and an excuse blaming the Dragon King of the Wu River for missing relief grain, but Lin Liyun's public appeal for witnesses drew the people's attention as the officials remained confident they had covered their tracks.

• Fang Weiyan ordered Pingshui City's bailiffs to surrender their weapons and armor, then had the county magistrate and other officials taken into the government office and placed under guard.
• Lin Liyun offered one tael of silver to anyone who reported evidence or grievances, prompting commoners to wonder whether the new governor's promise was genuine.
• Fang Weiyan inspected the granary and registers, learning that the records blamed the Dragon King of the Wu River for sinking grain shipments meant for disaster relief.
• The assistant county magistrate panicked, but the county magistrate insisted they had concealed their crimes and could obstruct Fang Weiyan's efforts.
• A group of hostile bailiffs entered the hall where the officials were confined.