Recaps

After returning to his cultivation grounds, Fang Zelin studied an alchemy manual for more than ten days, hoping to fix a flaw in his treasure gourds. The tiger demon’s suggestion gave him a possible solution: expose the gourds to the lightning where Bearing the Heavens had been born and see whether they gained spiritual sentience.

• Fang Zelin inspected the spiritual rice and medicinal field, then told the medicine boy to plant more gourd vines.
• Fang Zelin gathered his stored gourds and spent more than ten days studying an alchemy manual to find a way to eliminate their drawback.
• The tiger and deer demons kept watch over Fang Zelin while he read, and the tiger demon suggested making the gourds like Bearing the Heavens.
• Fang Zelin realized the gourds needed a trace of spiritual sentience and considered taking them to the place where Bearing the Heavens had been born so lightning could awaken them.

Fang Zelin returned to cook and caught up with Xiao Qin, whose cultivation was bringing her closer to the True Dragon Tribulation. After sharing a meal with Xiao Qin and the medicine boy, he learned that the gourd vines had been planted and decided the amount was sufficient for now.

• Fang Zelin cooked spirit rice after realizing he had gone several days without eating.
• Xiao Qin came to visit Fang Zelin, drawn by the food, and told him the Dragon Palace elders had been pushing her cultivation.
• Fang Zelin sensed that Xiao Qin was nearing the True Dragon Tribulation and warned her not to neglect her training.
• Fang Zelin cooked greens and shared a meal with Xiao Qin and the medicine boy.
• The medicine boy reported that he had planted several mu of gourd vines, and Fang Zelin told him that was enough for now.

Fang Zelin cultivated by the stream while Xiao Qin and the two demons tried to comprehend the Dao of Water. After decades without progress, Xiao Qin told the demons that the Dao did not suit them, and the tiger demon decided to wait for the Immortal Master's promised guidance.

• Fang Zelin sat beside the stream to cultivate, while Xiao Qin dipped her hand into the water to help her contemplate the Dao.
• The tiger demon and deer demon imitated Xiao Qin, but the tiger only soaked its head and then resolved to drink the stream dry.
• Xiao Qin stopped the tiger and told the demons to feel the Dao with their hearts, as the Immortal Master had taught.
• The demons said they had spent decades trying without gaining anything, and Xiao Qin suggested that the Dao of Water did not suit them.
• The tiger demon accepted that it should stop pursuing the Dao of Water and recalled that the Immortal Master had promised to guide them after returning.

Fang Zelin welcomed a fisherman who had wandered through the mist to Yingping Peak and learned that the man’s good fortune had allowed him to pass the formation. After sharing mountain spring water and news from town, Fang Zelin offered him herbs from the garden as he prepared to leave.

• The deer demon told Fang Zelin that a fisherman had come ashore at Yingping Peak.
• Fang Zelin welcomed the fisherman and offered him a seat and mountain spring water.
• Fang Zelin recognized from the clouds around the fisherman’s face that he had done good deeds in a previous life and was deeply blessed.
• The fisherman drank more water, admired Fang Zelin’s garden and rice field, and answered his questions about the town.
• As evening approached, the fisherman prepared to leave, and Fang Zelin invited him to take herbs from the garden.

Fang Zelin let the fisherman choose a gift from his mountain of treasure, but the fisherman passed over the herbs and gold for a jar of wine. The fisherman left with the wine after Fang Zelin warned him to dilute it before drinking.

• The fisherman marveled at Fang Zelin’s abundant medicinal herbs and asked if he could really take anything he wanted.
• The fisherman spotted a mountain of gold, and Fang Zelin said he could choose it, though its magic was nearly spent.
• The fisherman wondered if Fang Zelin was a yao, and Fang Zelin suggested he might be an immortal cultivator instead.
• The fisherman explained that immortals were taboo to discuss in Great Qian and that common folk believed yao still existed.
• The fisherman chose a jar of Fang Zelin’s wine instead of the herbs or gold, saying he feared greed might bring him bad luck.
• Fang Zelin gave the fisherman aged wine and told him to dilute it with water before drinking; the fisherman carried it back to his boat.

After the fisherman left the immortal realm with a jar of wine, Fang Zelin discussed the possibility of future visitors with the demons. He then began guiding the demons in cultivation, pointing to the medicine child as an example of their shared cultivation method.

• The deer demon sent the fisherman away with a warning not to tell outsiders about the immortal realm, and the fisherman saw the realm vanish behind him.
• The deer demon discovered the mountain of gold had turned to stone, and the tiger demon said future visitors might seek treasure.
• Fang Zelin said the formation would keep out people without affinity and that those who entered could be treated as guests.
• The deer demon suggested making more gold, but Fang Zelin ignored the demons and returned to his alchemy manual.
• Fang Zelin gathered the demons to discuss cultivation and explained that the medicine child’s natural birth and growth reflected their own method of cultivation.
• The demons realized the medicine child cultivated much faster than they did, while they themselves became restless and stopped progressing after long periods of cultivation.

Fang Zelin taught the two yao to cultivate more diligently, while the chapter followed the Immortal-Welcoming Tavern, whose diluted immortal wine drew customers from across Great Qian, including spirits and underworld officials. When customers asked the innkeeper where he had found the wine, he said he could not remember the immortal mountain he had entered.

• Fang Zelin explained how the two yao should cultivate, and they listened respectfully.
• The fisherman who had obtained the wine opened the Immortal-Welcoming Tavern, and its fame spread as business boomed.
• Judge Wen drank the diluted Clear as Empty with Zhang Weichu and lamented how much the wine had been watered down.
• Yao, yin gods, and underworld officials frequented the tavern, while some of them helped protect it.
• A customer asked the innkeeper which immortal mountain had supplied the wine, and he replied that he had been too dazed to remember.

At the inn, Zhang Weichu and Judge Wen discussed Great Qian’s prosperous age while the innkeeper concealed that he knew how to return to the immortal realm. Hours later, the suspicious burly martial artist went to the Yongding River to search for it and found many boats already there.

• The burly man questioned the innkeeper about the immortal realm, but the innkeeper denied knowing how to find it.
• Zhang Weichu and Judge Wen praised Great Qian’s prosperity and discussed how foreign visitors had changed the dynasty.
• Zhang Weichu and Judge Wen finished their wine and left, and the waiter found that their bowls held only water.
• The burly man left the inn and, several hours later, reached the Yongding River, where he saw many boats and realized others were searching too.

The burly man rented a boat on the Yongding River to search for the immortal realm, convinced that the fine wine he had tasted came from immortals. Shang Lewei returned to the river with her daughter and played a guqin piece in the mist, but nothing happened, and she planned to search once more before leaving.

• The burly man learned that the boatmen knew why visitors had gathered, then paid to rent a boat for half a month.
• The burly man rowed along the Yongding River and moved aside for a large boat carrying Shang Lewei and her daughter.
• Shang Lewei told her daughter that she had returned after hearing about the fisherman and still hoped to find the immortal realm.
• Shang Lewei played an unfamiliar guqin piece into the mist while people nearby listened for its source.
• When nothing unusual happened, Shang Lewei told her daughter to search again and said they would leave after spending the night.

Fang Zelin recognized Shang Lewei, an old acquaintance, arriving by boat on the Yongding River and arranged for the white deer to bring her to Yingping Peak after moonrise. He welcomed her by illuminating the area with a moon he drew on paper, and Shang Lewei was astonished by the technique.

• Fang Zelin recognized Shang Lewei by her zither tune and decided to meet her after moonrise to avoid attracting more visitors to Yingping Peak.
• The white deer entered Shang Lewei's room and offered to carry her to Yingping Peak on Fang Zelin's invitation.
• The white deer carried Shang Lewei across the Yongding River and through the mist to Yingping Peak.
• Fang Zelin drew a moon on paper, borrowed moonlight, and hung the glowing moon on a branch to brighten the area.
• Fang Zelin invited Shang Lewei to sit, and she marveled at his ability to hang the moon.

Shang Lewei returned the pearl she had carried for most of her life and reunited with Fang Zelin after more than forty years. Before she left, Fang Zelin confirmed that he had guided the emperor of Great Qian, leaving Shang Lewei stunned.

• Fang Zelin gave Shang Lewei a pill that stabilized her vital Qi and helped her feel more vigorous.
• Shang Lewei offered the pearl back to Xiao Qin, explaining she no longer dared keep such a precious treasure for fear it would endanger her descendants.
• Xiao Qin accepted the pearl after Shang Lewei insisted on returning it.
• Shang Lewei thanked Fang Zelin for letting her see an immortal again and asked whether an immortal had guided the emperor of Great Qian.
• Fang Zelin admitted that he had given the emperor some guidance, and Shang Lewei sat stunned by the revelation.

Shang Lewei learned that Fang Zelin had guided the Great Qian Dynasty’s founding and kept his warnings about the immortal secret. After returning her pearl to its rightful owner, she left by white deer, while Fang Zelin praised the deer’s cultivation and assessed the giant tiger’s progress.

• Shang Lewei heard Fang Zelin explain that cultivators guarded the mortal world and that the Great Qian Dynasty’s unification had followed the Heavenly Dao; he warned her not to tell outsiders.
• Shang Lewei asked Fang Zelin about cultivation through the night and returned to her room before dawn.
• Shang Lewei’s daughter noticed her mother’s youthful appearance and missing pearl, then wondered whether an immortal was near after glimpsing a white deer vanishing into the Yongding River’s mist.
• Fang Zelin’s white deer returned and told him Shang Lewei had arrived safely; Fang Zelin praised its cultivation progress.
• The giant tiger asked Fang Zelin about its own cultivation, and he said it had progressed well along a different path from the deer.

Fang Zelin tried refining Calming Pills but found that the pills repeatedly burst just as they were taking shape. He suspected his own restlessness was interfering, used the Calming Incantation to settle his mind, and began another attempt.

• Fang Zelin asked the medicine boy for Calming Pill ingredients and learned that only three batches were available.
• Fang Zelin spent three days refining a batch, but the forming pills burst and turned to charcoal.
• Fang Zelin examined the dregs and realized his restless state might be disrupting the pills as he used his Law Power.
• Fang Zelin recited the Calming Incantation until his mind became tranquil.
• Fang Zelin started refining another batch and felt that the process was now under control.

Fang Zelin used the Calming Incantation while refining pills, and his still State of Mind affected everything around him. After three days, he successfully completed more than a dozen pills and let the eager tiger demon test one; the chapter ended as the tiger demon swallowed it.

• Fang Zelin focused his mind with the Calming Incantation, and Xiao Qin discovered that his State of Mind had made a nearby drop of water completely still.
• Xiao Qin explained to the puzzled demons that Fang Zelin's State of Mind had improved and warned them not to disturb him while he refined pills.
• After three days, Fang Zelin sent Law Power into the Pill Furnace and successfully condensed the medicinal ingredients into more than a dozen pills.
• Fang Zelin examined the pills and gave one to the medicine boy to test, but the tiger demon eagerly volunteered to try it instead.
• Fang Zelin agreed to let the tiger demon test the mind-calming pill, and the tiger demon swallowed it in one gulp.

Fang Zelin tested a pill on the tiger demon, then traveled to Ten Thousand Blades Peak to try refining gourds with heavenly lightning. Bearing the Heavens suggested he follow the method used to forge the sword, and Fang Zelin began reshaping a lightning-filled gourd, though the outcome remained uncertain.

• The tiger demon swallowed Fang Zelin’s pill, sensed new insight into Daoist scriptures, and began cultivating while Fang Zelin watched.
• Fang Zelin told the medicine attendant to tend the field and plant more herbs, then picked several gourds and asked Bearing the Heavens to guard the area.
• Fang Zelin and Bearing the Heavens reached Ten Thousand Blades Peak, where Fang Zelin waited seven days for lightning to strike the gourds.
• Lightning shattered two gourds, and Bearing the Heavens urged Fang Zelin to refine the rest using the method he had used to forge the sword.
• Fang Zelin used lightning to temper a gourd and began applying the Heaven and Earth Technique to create a small space inside it.

Fang Zelin refined eighty-one gourds to contain heavenly lightning and tested one with Bearing the Heavens. After the sword sensed that his idea might work, Fang Zelin sent a letter to Jade Void Mountain, where the disciples received it without knowing what he needed.

• Fang Zelin trapped heavenly lightning inside a gourd, then added more lightning when he could not draw its power back out.
• Fang Zelin finished refining eighty-one gourds and returned to Yingping Peak on Bearing the Heavens, which had eaten more lightning.
• Fang Zelin sent Bearing the Heavens into a gourd to investigate, then wrote a letter and sent it by paper crane to Jade Void Mountain.
• A new Jade Void Mountain disciple intercepted Fang Zelin's letter and brought it to the eldest senior brother.

Fang Zelin invited disciples from Jade Void Mountain to lend him their flying swords so he could test whether his newly refined gourds could enhance them with lightning. The swords absorbed the lightning inside the gourds, and Fang Zelin began to suspect his experiment would succeed.

• Daoist Priest Qingyun told the Jade Void Mountain disciples that Fang Zelin needed to borrow their flying swords, and they chose a group to travel to Yingping Peak.
• Yang Xiang led the disciples to Yingping Peak, where Fang Zelin welcomed them and explained that he wanted to test his Law Treasures with their swords.
• Yang Xiang and the other disciples handed their flying swords to Fang Zelin.
• Fang Zelin placed the swords inside the gourds and sensed lightning surrounding and tempering them until they were filled with its power.

Fang Zelin tested gourds that stored lightning around the disciples’ flying swords, then refined the gourds to seal the swords and build their power. He gave the disciples the finished gourds and a stele bearing his sword intent to study.

• Fang Zelin led Yang Xiang and the Jade Void Mountain disciples into Wangqing Mountain to test the gourd-stored flying swords.
• Yang Xiang and the other disciples launched their swords, which struck with lightning and blasted the barren ground with powerful blows.
• Fang Zelin took back the gourds and spent ten days adjusting them so the sealed swords could accumulate power for a single slash.
• Fang Zelin returned the gourds to the disciples and told them to keep their flying swords sealed unless the moment was critical.
• Fang Zelin gave the disciples a stone stele marked with his sword intent and instructed them to study it while tempering their swords.

Fang Zelin gave Yang Xiang more sword-sealing gourds for Jade Void Mountain and learned how greatly the sect had grown under the Great Qian Dynasty. After Yang Xiang left with wine for Qingyun, Fang Zelin began working on Daoist classics that he hoped to imbue with his understanding of the Great Dao.

• Fang Zelin explained that the gourds’ flying swords could be unsealed by calling, “Treasure, please turn around,” and imagined Jade Void Mountain disciples using them against enemies.
• Yang Xiang told Fang Zelin that Jade Void Mountain had two hundred and thirty-nine disciples, with another thirty-eight training in the mortal world, and credited the Great Qian Dynasty’s academies and moral teachings for making suitable disciples easier to find.
• Fang Zelin decided to refine enough gourds for all the disciples and gave Yang Xiang the remaining ones, warning him to temper the stored flying swords and not unseal them without reason.
• Fang Zelin gave Yang Xiang wine for Qingyun and another fellow Daoist, and Yang Xiang flew back toward Jade Void Mountain.
• Fang Zelin sat at his stone table and began writing Daoist classics, hoping to add a trace of the Great Dao he had comprehended.

Cultivators from Great Qian and Northern Liang gathered at Yingping Peak to receive Dao writs Fang Zelin had left behind before going wandering. The white deer welcomed them to rest at the wooden house, while the visitors learned how Jade Void Mountain’s disciples now carried their sealed flying swords in gourds.

• Disciples from Jade Void Mountain, Dinggui Mountain, and Rising Tide Valley met by the river and discussed the Scripture of Salvation Fang Zelin had left at Jade Void Mountain.
• A white deer emerged from the mist and handed out Fang Zelin’s Dao writs, explaining that he had gone wandering to seek comprehension of the Dao.
• Rising Tide Valley’s disciples asked where Fang Zelin had gone, but the white deer said his whereabouts were unknown and invited everyone to rest at the wooden house.
• The cultivators asked why Jade Void Mountain’s disciples traveled on clouds instead of flying swords, and learned that Fang Zelin had sealed their swords inside gourds he had refined.
• The Jade Void Mountain disciples said they contemplated sword intent and believed their swords would unleash immense power once the seals were opened.

Fang Zelin traveled toward Youjing City, reflecting on the changes in Great Qian and the dwindling supply of his Clear as Empty wine. Along the way, he saw signs of the dynasty’s prosperity and considered what had become of his old friend’s descendants.

• The White Deer warned the Northern Liang cultivators that yao might try to seize the immortal master’s Dao inscriptions, and the Jade Void Mountain disciples offered to escort them home.
• Fang Zelin recognized the wine at the Immortal-Welcoming Tavern as watered-down Clear as Empty and heard drinkers complain that its flavor had declined.
• Fang Zelin guessed that the tavern’s original jar of Clear as Empty was nearly gone, then continued toward Youjing City to explore and seek his old friend’s burial place.
• Fang Zelin saw that Great Qian’s official road was being rebuilt and traveled at a leisurely pace, visiting nearby sights along the way.
• Fang Zelin camped for the night, concluded that Great Qian’s Human Race Karmic Fortune had driven most yao away, and reflected that his old friend’s descendants already numbered in the hundreds.

Fang Zelin followed a faint trace of Yao Qi to a village and learned that the Li family’s beautiful, unmarried young lady might be the yao he was seeking. The villagers welcomed him to stay and join their celebration of the newly repaired ancestral hall, while the enticing aroma of the Li family’s cooking drew his attention toward her.

• Fang Zelin spotted faint Yao Qi beneath the village’s Human Race Karmic Fortune and decided to investigate.
• Fang Zelin arrived at the brightly lit village and asked the guards for a place to stay.
• Fang Zelin learned that the Yao Qi seemed mild and came from the far end of the village.
• A villager told Fang Zelin that the Li family’s young lady was cooking for the village’s joyous occasion and praised her beauty and cooking.
• Fang Zelin accepted the village head’s invitation to stay and learned the celebration marked the completion of repairs to the ancestral hall.

Fang Zelin joined a village feast and heard the villagers lament that the famed wine from the Immortal-Welcoming Tavern was running out. He offered them some of the watered-down wine he had brought, and its fragrance stunned the villagers.

• Fang Zelin followed a villager to a feast outside the ancestral hall, where the villagers praised Young Mistress Li’s cooking and beauty.
• The villagers asked Fang Zelin where he came from, and he told them he was from Anzi County, near the famous Immortal-Welcoming Tavern.
• Fang Zelin heard that the tavern’s wine was running out and that travelers had complained its quality had declined.
• Fang Zelin offered the villagers some wine from his gourd and poured each person a little.
• The wine’s fragrance overwhelmed the food’s aroma, and the villagers were visibly impressed.

Fang Zelin used Clear as Empty to draw out the Li household’s young woman and discovered she was a yao with faint Yao Qi. She became convinced the wine came from an immortal and asked Fang Zelin for a cup, which he willingly poured.

• Fang Zelin served Clear as Empty to the villagers, who lamented that Great Qian’s finest wine might soon disappear.
• The young woman of the Li household came out, sensed the wine’s Spiritual Qi, and questioned Fang Zelin about its origin.
• Yan San defended his claim that the wine smelled like wine from the Immortal-Welcoming Tavern, and the villagers admitted they had been wrong to doubt him.
• The young woman concluded that the Immortal-Welcoming Tavern’s wine had come from an immortal, while Fang Zelin considered why she lived alone in the village.
• The young woman asked Fang Zelin for a cup, and he poured her one because she had harmed no one.

After sharing wine and a meal with the villagers, Fang Zelin quietly went to visit the female yao, whose wine had stirred a puzzling sense of familiarity. The village elders followed him to her house, where he sensed she was awake and waiting for him.

• The female yao recognized a familiar flavor in Fang Zelin’s wine and resolved to seek clues at the Immortal-Welcoming Tavern.
• After a villager pointed out that Fang Zelin had not been served food, the female yao prepared several dishes, and the villagers shared a long feast with him.
• Once the others were asleep, Fang Zelin slipped out and encountered the village elders, who mistook him for a thief targeting the Young Lady of the Li Household.
• Fang Zelin told the elders that the Young Lady of the Li Household was a yao, explaining that her cultivation hid her nature and that she had harmed no one.
• Fang Zelin and the elders reached the female yao’s house, where he sensed that she was awake and waiting for him.