Chapter Summaries

Fang Weiyan brought bedding to Pingjiang City and arranged repairs and construction for its growing population. Meanwhile, refugees gathered across the Jiang Kingdom, leaving Emperor Kaide unable to secure relief funds as the court argued over empty coffers.

• Fang Weiyan ordered carpenters to repair damaged houses, brought ten thousand sets of bedding from Earth, and distributed bedding to families in Pingjiang City.
• The governor of Huaiyun Commandery learned that more than ten thousand refugees had arrived and told his aide to gather them and inflate their reported numbers.
• Emperor Kaide questioned his ministers about the refugees, but they failed to agree on relief as the treasury and local granaries lacked grain and money.
• Princess Jin'an warned Emperor Kaide that the people might revolt, and he explained that the court could not afford relief or even delayed salaries.
• Fang Weiyan ordered twenty large warehouses and more houses built in Pingjiang City, and authorized paid apprentices to address the shortage of workers.

Fang Weiyan learned that Linbei County’s crops were producing astonishing yields and appointed Uncle Fu magistrate while planning to expand farming and transport. As Pingshui City’s residents heard rumors of seven thousand jin of grain per mu, they wondered whether the claim was true.

• Wu Ruichu told Fang Weiyan that fish demons had escorted the grain boats, and the grain arrived safely at Pingshui City.
• Uncle Fu reported that Linbei County’s refugees were settled and its crops were thriving, with corn yielding over seven thousand jin per mu.
• Fang Weiyan inspected the produce, praised Uncle Fu, and appointed him magistrate of Linbei County, while promising to send a county deputy and county commandant.
• Fang Weiyan asked about the sweet potato fields, learned they had not yet been dug up, and had the delivered vegetables stored.
• The next morning, Pingshui City residents working in the fields discussed the reported grain yield and questioned whether one mu could really produce seven thousand jin.

Fang Weiyan learned that famine and unrest were spreading through Huaiyun Commandery and began sending food and arranging shelters for refugees, despite crossing jurisdictional boundaries. Emperor Kaide praised Fang Weiyan’s initiative after reading his memorial and sent him a pardon, while Jin'an’s admiration for Fang Weiyan grew.

• A man told the commoners that farming in Linbei County could earn eighteen taels of silver per mu, and they returned to work while considering their prospects.
• A refugee family reached Pingjiang City without travel papers, and a gate runner heard their account of famine and gathered refugees before reporting it to Fang Weiyan.
• Fang Weiyan ordered flour baked into tens of thousands of flatbreads, sent boats to distribute them to refugees, arranged shelters, and told Lin Liyun to recruit more yamen runners.
• Fang Weiyan submitted a memorial explaining that he had begun relief work without authorization, while Emperor Kaide struggled to raise funds and distrusted other officials’ reports.
• Emperor Kaide read Fang Weiyan’s memorial, praised him as a worthy minister, and wrote a pardon; Jin'an agreed that Fang Weiyan’s concern for the people reflected well on him.

Fang Weiyan’s relief efforts in Pingjiang City won Emperor Kaide’s trust while provoking hostile officials, and Su Qingyun learned that his medicinal rootlets could lead to extraordinary medicines. After a state institute confirmed their potential, Old Zhan promised funding and protection for Su Qingyun’s research.

• Fang Weiyan sent relief grain to disaster victims and directed them toward Pingjiang City, frustrating officials who had hoped unrest would spread.
• Emperor Kaide received a flood of impeachments against Fang Weiyan and became more convinced that he was not allied with the ministers opposing him.
• Fan Mengqi told Su Qingyun that Fang Weiyan’s medicinal rootlets contained substances with remarkable healing and regenerative potential.
• Su Qingyun showed the test results to her father, Su Chuanyun, who arranged a meeting with Old Zhan at a research institute.
• After three days of testing, Old Zhan confirmed the rootlets’ potential and promised Su Qingyun government funding, land support, and protection from investigations.

Fang Weiyan managed Pingjiang City’s growing refugee population and construction while responding to Princess Jin'an’s gift with a large payment of silver. After learning more about the dangers of imperial family members joining the Underworld Administration, he considered how national strength affected Human Sovereigns’ lifespans.

• Fang Weiyan arranged for more refugee oversight and construction, including a road to Linbei County, as Pingjiang City’s population and artisan workforce grew.
• Fang Weiyan received a fire- and water-resistant robe sewn by Princess Jin'an and sent Qiao'er back with eighty thousand taels of silver, claiming the Dragon King had given it to him.
• Fang Weiyan tested the merfolk gauze robe and found that fire left it cool and water left no stain.
• Fang Weiyan asked Wu Ruichu about imperial family members joining the Underworld Administration, and Wu Ruichu explained that such members were barred after past dynasties collapsed amid power struggles.
• Wu Ruichu told Fang Weiyan that Human Sovereigns’ lifespans depended on their dynasties’ national strength, which had prompted crown princes to weaken their dynasties to seize power sooner.

Princess Jin'an received the silver Fang Weiyan sent and, after hearing Qiao'er describe his relief efforts and integrity, grew more favorably disposed toward him. In Pingjiang City, Fang Weiyan considered the challenges of cultivation, checked the housing shortage and the people’s condition, and continued overseeing the city’s development.

• Princess Jin'an opened the chests Fang Weiyan had sent and found them filled with silver, which Qiao'er said came from the Dragon King in gratitude for Fang Weiyan saving its offspring.
• Qiao'er told Princess Jin'an that Fang Weiyan was feeding refugees through work, building homes for them, and living simply; Princess Jin'an ordered the silver delivered to her imperial father and sent Qiao'er to explain the situation.
• Fang Weiyan gave Tao Lingluo fertilizer, then reflected on Wu Ruichu’s warning that cultivation was not an easy route to longevity and considered pursuing the Human Sovereign path instead.
• Fang Weiyan learned that 39,812 households still lacked homes in Pingjiang City and instructed the supervising official to keep precise records of the housing shortage.
• Fang Weiyan observed that the refugees’ fortunes appeared darker than those of people in Linbei County, then headed outside the city to inspect the farmland.

Fang Weiyan spotted the female ghost again and decided to wait before asking the Dragon King for help, then traveled to Wenhai City to sign a pharmaceutical contract with Su Qingyun. He used his koi luck to choose several gambling stones and had the first one cut open.

• Fang Weiyan inspected the fields outside Pingshui City, saw the female ghost watching him, and hurried back inside.
• Fang Weiyan asked the City God to kill the female ghost, but learned the god was too weak unless he reached the Spirit Platform Realm.
• Fang Weiyan returned to Earth, agreed to meet Su Qingyun in Wenhai City, and signed the pharmaceutical shares contract without reading it.
• Fang Weiyan asked Su Qingyun about producing more medicinal rootlets, but said he would check with Divine Farmer Valley before confirming the supply.
• Fang Weiyan visited a gambling-stone shop and bought several stones that his luck made pleasing to him.
• Fang Weiyan had the first stone cut open, hoping to sell anything valuable for cash.

Fang Weiyan profited from cutting stones, then arranged a continuing fertilizer trade with Divine Farmer Valley and agreed to help Tao Lingluo recover so she could fight the demons near Pingjiang City. He distributed new textbooks and woodworking tools, expanded recruitment, and prepared the city for future threats.

• Fang Weiyan sold the jade from his stones for 16,788,000 and returned to Pingshui City.
• Tao Lingluo reported that Divine Farmer Valley wanted a steady fertilizer supply, and Fang Weiyan agreed to trade one hundred thousand medicinal rootlets each month.
• Uncle Bai warned Fang Weiyan that several demons, including a female ghost, were gathering near Pingjiang City; Tao Lingluo offered to fight them in exchange for fertilizer.
• Fang Weiyan gave teachers and physicians books to study and use, offering teachers eighty jin of polished rice each month.
• Fang Weiyan sent woodworking tools to the city's carpenters and told Lin Liyun to recruit more vetted workers.

Fang Weiyan assessed Pingjiang City's grain and equipment needs, then returned to the Daoist temple to arrange supplies for the city and donations to impoverished mountain communities. Meanwhile, conspirators in Yanhuai City decided to have a demon kill him and to pursue a military coup, while the chapter left Fang Weiyan waiting as his ordered supplies began arriving.

• Fang Weiyan reviewed Pingjiang City's loom production, ordered Lin Liyun to train new constables like soldiers, and calculated that the city's grain would last about a month.
• Conspirators in Yanhuai City learned that Jiangling Commandery had sent eighty thousand taels to the court and blamed Fang Weiyan for disrupting their plans.
• The conspirators agreed to send a Transformation demon to kill Fang Weiyan and to recruit generals for a military coup.
• Fang Weiyan dismissed his twitching right eye as superstition, noted that he needed more equipment, and decided to strengthen his territory before pursuing the throne.
• Fang Weiyan told Su Qingyun he could supply a hundred thousand medicinal rootlets per month, ordered construction and military supplies, and arranged donations for impoverished mountain communities.
• Fang Weiyan went down the mountain to coordinate deliveries, and the next day trucks and workers began arriving with the supplies.

After learning that demons had abducted and killed children in Pingjiang City, Fang Weiyan discovered that hundreds of people had vanished while the authorities did nothing. He vowed publicly to punish the demons and ordered the City God to grow stronger, leaving the grieving families hopeful but doubtful that the Underworld Administration could act.

• Fang Weiyan learned from Lin Liyun that two missing children had been found dead, and Tao Lingluo said demon attacks were common across the Jiang Kingdom.
• Fang Weiyan questioned the City God and learned that 367 people had been abducted since his arrival, including refugees and townspeople whose families had not reported their disappearances.
• Fang Weiyan promised the City God more incense offerings and urged him to advance beyond the Transformation Stage into the Spirit Platform realm.
• Fang Weiyan posted notices declaring that he would find the demons responsible for the children’s deaths and make them pay.
• A messenger told the grieving families that Fang Weiyan had posted the notice, giving them hope, though neighbors doubted the weakened Underworld Administration could catch the demons.

Fang Weiyan learned that a rat demon from Yanhuai City had tried to kill him, then demoted Pingjiang City's City God for failing to detect the intruder and appointed Fude in his place. He brought a Buddha statue from an ancient temple to Pingjiang City so Fude could absorb its powerful blue incense offerings.

• A rat demon entered Fang Weiyan's room while he was away, but Tao Lingluo alerted the City God, who captured it; the demon later killed itself after revealing it came from Yanhuai City.
• Silver Scale showed Fang Weiyan a cracked scale and warned him that she had warded off a calamity; Fang Weiyan returned to Pingjiang City and found his quilt slashed.
• Fang Weiyan learned what had happened and demoted the City God to a post in Linbei County, appointing Fude as Pingjiang City's new City God.
• Fang Weiyan went to an ancient temple, secretly took its Buddha statue, and brought it to the City God Temple.
• Fang Weiyan ordered Fude to absorb the statue's incense offerings, which appeared as dense, refined blue offerings.

Fang Weiyan empowered Fude with blue-grade incense offerings, allowing the City God to reach half a step into the Spirit Platform Realm and capture the demons around Pingjiang City. After punishing the demons who had eaten people, Fang Weiyan questioned a pangolin about a mountain ghost he had fought.

• Fang Weiyan brought Fude blue-grade incense offerings, and Fude refined them until he reached half a step into the Spirit Platform Realm.
• Fang Weiyan ordered Fude to capture the demons near Pingjiang City and determine which ones had abducted and eaten people.
• Fude returned with several demons, including the female ghost Fang Weiyan recognized, whom Fang Weiyan ordered beheaded.
• Fang Weiyan used the plaque's bright mirror power to force the demons to confess to eating children, refugees, and other people, then ordered Fude to execute and burn them.
• Fang Weiyan questioned a pangolin about the mountain ghost he had been fighting, and the pangolin said she looked like a beautiful human woman.

Fang Weiyan learned that mountain spirits served only the Human Sovereign, then returned to Earth before resuming his work in Pingjiang City. Meanwhile, conspirators set a date to seize Yanhuai City, and Princess Jin'an received a fatal warning from the koi.

• Fang Weiyan questioned the pangolin about the mountain spirit, learned it avoided humans and served the Human Sovereign, then let the pangolin go.
• Fang Weiyan returned to Earth, confirmed that supplies had reached impoverished mountain regions, and later went back to Pingjiang City to inspect the bailiffs' training and city construction.
• A group of conspirators concluded that the rat demon they had sent to kill the governor was dead and agreed to launch their plan in half a month with General Wei's troops.
• Princess Jin'an visited the fishpond, where the dying koi warned her to run for her life before using up its last fortune and dying.
• Princess Jin'an removed the koi's body and decided to conceal its death so palace observers would not take advantage of her.

Princess Jin'an warned Emperor Kaide that danger was coming, while Fang Weiyan learned that the emperor had considered him as heir and decided to rally to his defense. Fang Weiyan secured the Dragon King's help and began preparing troops for a possible uprising in Yanhuai City.

• Princess Jin'an told Emperor Kaide that the koi had warned her to flee, but she insisted on remaining in Yanhuai City as a princess of Jiang.
• Princess Jin'an sent Qiao'er to Pingjiang City with Fang Weiyan's copy of Three Kingdoms, then took a hidden chest after learning Qiao'er had been searched and the palace matron was dead.
• Fang Weiyan reviewed Linbei County's enormous crop yields and learned that Qiao'er had returned from Yanhuai City with the book.
• Qiao'er tried to kill herself, but Fude stopped her, and she told Fang Weiyan that Emperor Kaide and Princess Jin'an trusted him while conspirators prepared to act.
• Fang Weiyan decided to defend Emperor Kaide, persuaded the Dragon King to help watch Yanhuai City, and ordered preparations to equip Lin Liyun's ten thousand soldiers.

Fang Weiyan prepared Pingshui City for an imminent campaign to Yanhuai City, stockpiling weapons and training people to use incendiaries while arranging boats, catapults, and supplies. As Tao Lingluo recovered from fighting demons, Emperor Kaide and Princess Jin'an shared a farewell meal, believing the Jiang Kingdom was near its fall.

• Fang Weiyan bought riot shields, gasoline, alcohol, and gas cylinders, then sent supplies to Pingshui City and tested a Molotov cocktail with Tao Lingluo nearby.
• Fang Weiyan checked that Cheng Feng had trained catapult operators and arranged boats and dry rations, then ordered more soldiers recruited.
• Fang Weiyan had Lin Liyun gather a hundred people and taught them how to handle gasoline, make Molotov cocktails, and practice throwing them safely.
• Fang Weiyan noticed Tao Lingluo looked weak after she admitted she had fought several demons, and told her to recover her strength for the coming battle.
• Emperor Kaide visited Princess Jin'an for a meal, learned she had sent Qiao'er to Pingshui City, and lamented that Fang Weiyan had appeared too late to save the Jiang Kingdom.

The emperor’s maternal uncle launched a coup in Yanhuai City with Lady Black Mountain, a fifteen-hundred-year-old centipede spirit, while the Underworld Administration fought to stop them. As the palace came under siege and Emperor Kaide prepared to fight, Princess Jin'an poured her blood onto a stone statue.

• The emperor’s maternal uncle and his allies arranged for fifty thousand soldiers to enter Yanhuai City and block reinforcements.
• The army entered the city with the gatekeeper’s cooperation, while Lady Black Mountain arrived and confronted General Fan Yun and the City God.
• Lady Black Mountain and her monsters fought the Underworld Administration, whose deities began to falter as their incense offerings were battered away.
• The emperor’s maternal uncle’s forces surrounded the palace and tried to persuade its guards to surrender, while Emperor Kaide learned of the rebellion and ordered his armor brought.
• Princess Jin'an cut her wrist and let her blood flow onto a stone statue resembling her, saying that if the kingdom fell, only death awaited.

Fang Weiyan sailed with his forces toward Yanhuai City to help defend the emperor, while the centipede spirit battered the city’s Underworld Administration. The City God’s forces neared defeat until Princess Jin'an appeared as a Yin God, revealing that she had died and transformed while still alive.

• Fang Weiyan learned that a fifteen-hundred-year-old centipede spirit was leading the rebellion and set out for Yanhuai City with the Dragon King and his troops.
• Fang Weiyan found Qiao'er hiding aboard the ship; he let her remain but ordered her to obey and stay away from the supplies.
• Fang Weiyan assessed the enemy forces and worried that the Yanhuai City Underworld Administration could not hold off the centipede spirit until his army arrived.
• The centipede spirit overwhelmed the City God and the other Yin Gods, while her demons moved to destroy their clay statues.
• Princess Jin'an appeared before the demons, drove back several lesser demons, and was recognized by the City God and the other Yin Gods as the princess who had become a Yin God.

Princess Jin'an fought the centipede demon as a newly transformed Yin God, holding her off until reinforcements arrived. Fang Weiyan’s army attacked Yanhuai City with gasoline-filled catapult projectiles, and Princess Jin'an opened the gates as Fang Weiyan realized she had become a Yin God.

• Princess Jin'an charged the centipede demon, whose attacks scattered her body but could not initially harm her because she retained Yang Qi.
• The City God and the other Yin Gods joined the battle, while Princess Jin'an’s strength gradually faded and the centipede demon killed the Martial Judge.
• The Dragon King and Tao Lingluo arrived to help, explaining that Fang Weiyan had done them kindnesses and asking the centipede demon to withdraw.
• Fang Weiyan ordered his soldiers to bombard Yanhuai City's walls with gasoline-filled projectiles, setting them ablaze and routing the defenders.
• Princess Jin'an opened the city gates for Fang Weiyan’s army, and Fang Weiyan saw that she had become a Yin God.

Lin Liyun’s forces set Yanhuai City’s imperial uncle’s army ablaze while the Dragon King and Tao Lingluo fought the centipede spirit above the palace. Tao Lingluo used a lightning-struck peach branch to wound the spirit, and the battle remained underway.

• Lin Liyun led his shielded soldiers into Yanhuai City and used Molotov cocktails to wipe out a thousand-man detachment.
• The imperial uncle offered rewards to anyone who killed Emperor Kaide, and the bribed guard captain stabbed the emperor before Kaide killed him in return.
• The imperial uncle’s troops charged the palace, but Lin Liyun’s forces attacked from behind with Molotov cocktails and a fire-spewing iron projectile, throwing the army into chaos.
• The centipede spirit rejected the Dragon King’s offer to retreat and attacked, causing the other Yin Gods to fall while Tao Lingluo escaped behind the Dragon King.
• Tao Lingluo asked the Dragon King to pin down the centipede spirit, then struck it with a peach branch that had grown lightning-shaped shoots and wounded it with Lightning Tribulation power.

Fang Weiyan helped crush the rebellion in Yanhuai City, but the centipede spirit escaped after Tao Lingluo’s lightning-struck peach wood was nearly depleted. Emperor Kaide died after naming Fang Weiyan his successor and promising him Princess Jin'an’s hand, leaving Fang Weiyan to restore order and prepare to rule the Jiang Kingdom.

• Tao Lingluo and the Dragon King drove off the centipede spirit, but Tao Lingluo warned that the lightning-struck peach wood had nearly run out of heavenly lightning.
• Fang Weiyan ordered the Dragon King to contain and extinguish the fires while the rebel army surrendered and the city’s people were reassured.
• Princess Jin'an brought Fang Weiyan to the mortally wounded Emperor Kaide, who arranged his marriage to Princess Jin'an and named him heir to the Jiang Kingdom before dying.
• Fang Weiyan took charge of the aftermath, ordering patrols, the gathering of bodies, and preparations for Emperor Kaide’s funeral.
• Fang Weiyan ordered Cheng Feng to investigate the rebel ministers after Qiao'er persuaded him to distinguish between their levels of involvement rather than execute them all.