Recaps

Fang Zelin confronted the female demon hiding in the village and asked her to leave, explaining that he had no intention of harming her. She agreed, but asked where his immortal brew came from, and was stunned when he said he had brewed it himself.

• Fang Zelin and the shrine elders approached the female demon, and he called her out of the house.
• The demon revealed that she had noticed Fang Zelin’s ordinary clothes and the seemingly endless supply of expensive immortal brew in his gourd.
• Fang Zelin admitted he had been careless, then calmly asked the demon to leave the village because her presence could cause trouble.
• The demon agreed to leave and asked where the immortal brew came from.
• Fang Zelin said he had obtained recipes and brewed the wine himself, leaving the demon astonished.

Fang Zelin learned that the field snail demoness, Tianxi, had gained her cultivation from Spiritual Qi in rain he spread a hundred years earlier. He agreed to let her travel with him as a maid so she could repay her debt, and told her to leave the village and catch up with him the next day.

• Tianxi recognized Fang Zelin as the benefactor whose rain had given her the Spiritual Qi that began her cultivation.
• Tianxi explained that she had stayed in the village for years hoping to find Fang Zelin and repay him.
• Fang Zelin initially dismissed the need for repayment, then agreed that Tianxi could accompany him and serve him during his travels.
• Tianxi told Fang Zelin that she had taken the name Tianxi after living in Old Man Li's home and caring for him until his death.
• Fang Zelin told Tianxi to leave the village on her own the next day and catch up with him on the road, then reassured the ancestral hall elders that she would go with him.

Fang Zelin and Tianxi traveled toward Youjing City, stopping in Qinlan City for the night. As they shared a meal, Fang Zelin set rules for Tianxi and recognized that his old habits were out of step with the times.

• Fang Zelin left the village, and Tianxi soon caught up with him to travel together.
• Fang Zelin and Tianxi walked for a day and reached Qinlan City, which Fang Zelin remembered from the past.
• Fang Zelin realized he had no silver, so Tianxi offered to pay for their stay and meal.
• Tianxi ordered the inn’s specialty dishes and asked Fang Zelin about cultivators while they waited for the food.
• Fang Zelin told Tianxi to sit and eat with him, saying she should follow his rules if she wanted to travel with him.

Fang Zelin explored Qinlan City with Tianxi and learned how foreigners had arrived in Great Qian. Some foreigners secretly planned to find immortal cultivators and learn cultivation, while Night Wandering Gods overheard them and continued their patrol.

• Tianxi explained that Great Qian's seafaring ships had discovered a foreign continent decades earlier, bringing foreigners to the dynasty.
• Fang Zelin realized some foreigners had come from Earth and wondered whether their continent had immortal cultivators.
• Several foreigners studied a booklet about Great Qian's history and planned to visit Falling Stream Mountain to find an immortal and learn cultivation.
• Night Wandering Gods overheard the foreigners' plans but decided the matter did not concern the Underworld Bureau.
• The Night Wandering Gods passed through the foreigners, leaving them chilled and confused, while Fang Zelin noticed the officers and continued sightseeing with Tianxi.

Yunzi welcomed the returning Rising Tide Valley disciples and received Fang Zelin’s Dao manuscript, which revealed astonishing Dao resonance and profound teachings. She learned that Fang Zelin had gone traveling and was left marveling at the manuscript’s power and his cultivation.

• Rising Tide Valley’s disciples returned with the Dao manuscript, accompanied by cultivators from Jade Void Mountain, who soon took their leave.
• Yunzi asked why Fang Zelin had not come and learned that he had already gone traveling, and that the disciples had not been able to find him.
• Yunzi asked to see the Dao manuscript and felt her Dao Heart tremble at its opening line and faint Dao resonance.
• Yunzi asked whether demons had tried to rob the disciples, and they said they and the Jade Void Mountain cultivators had driven the demons away.
• Yunzi explained that the manuscript contained rich Dao resonance and profound teachings, and marveled at how deeply Fang Zelin had comprehended the Dao.

Yunzi used Fang Zelin’s garment to divine his location and learned he was traveling with a woman, unsettling her. At Rising Tide Valley, the disciples began comprehending his Dao inscription, which immediately helped one junior sister enter Seeking Dao Mountain and inspired hopes for the sect’s growth.

• Yunzi sent her disciples away, then revealed that Fang Zelin’s garment was intact and used it to divine that he was in Qinlan City.
• Yunzi cast another hexagram and learned that Fang Zelin was traveling with a woman, leaving her troubled.
• Rising Tide Valley’s disciples gathered around Fang Zelin’s Dao inscription and discussed Jade Void Mountain and the Scripture of Salvation.
• A little junior sister entered Seeking Dao Mountain after only briefly viewing the inscription, astonishing the other disciples.
• The eldest senior sister urged everyone to sit down and comprehend the inscription, and the disciples began cultivating before the stele.

After gaining insight from a handwritten journal, an old Daoist from Southern Chu entered Seeking Dao Mountain for the first time. He found nearly a thousand cultivators from many sects gathered there and wondered whether his secluded years had left him out of step with the cultivation world.

• After thirty years in his sect, the over-seventy old Daoist gained enough insight to enter Seeking Dao Mountain, and his junior brothers congratulated him.
• The old Daoist entered Seeking Dao Mountain, expecting to find a quiet place to begin cultivating with Spiritual Qi.
• He heard cultivators from various sects greeting one another and saw nearly a thousand fellow Daoists gathered on the mountain.
• Yang Xiang introduced himself as a cultivator from Jade Void Mountain in Great Qian and invited the old Daoist from Southern Chu to visit.
• The old Daoist looked over the crowd and wondered whether his years of seclusion had left him behind in the cultivation world.

Yang Xiang explained to a newly arrived old Daoist that Fang Zelin’s Dao writings had allowed Daoist sect disciples to enter Seeking Dao Mountain repeatedly. Inside the mountain, an old Daoist and a Daoist boy observed the growing number of cultivators and the rise in the cultivation world’s karmic fortune, anticipating a revival.

• Yang Xiang told the old Daoist that Fang Zelin’s Dao writings had helped Daoist sect disciples enter Seeking Dao Mountain more than ten times.
• The old Daoist envied the other sects’ access to the Dao writings and recalled that his senior brothers had died in seated meditation.
• An old Daoist playing a board game and a Daoist boy discussed the growing crowds at Seeking Dao Mountain.
• The old Daoist said Fang Zelin’s writings had raised the cultivation world’s karmic fortune and could help it flourish again.
• The old Daoist and the Daoist boy expected the cultivators studying the writings to strengthen their Daoist sects over time.

A Daoist returned from Seeking Dao Mountain with renewed youth and recounted meeting nearly a thousand cultivators gathered to discuss the Dao. After learning that Senior Fang’s Dao text had enabled them to enter, the disciples of Gold and Jade Mountain considered traveling to Great Qian or Northern Liang to seek the Dao.

• The Daoist opened his eyes on Gold and Jade Mountain, looking younger, and told his junior brothers he had met nearly a thousand fellow Daoists inside Seeking Dao Mountain.
• His junior brothers doubted that so many cultivators could have entered, but the Daoist insisted he had seen them discussing the Dao together.
• The Daoist described the Dao text and Senior Fang, and his junior brothers realized the text could repeatedly guide cultivators into Seeking Dao Mountain.
• A junior brother suggested that they go to Great Qian or Northern Liang to seek the Dao from those fellow Daoists.
• The Daoist judged that they would be welcomed, and the disciples agreed they would need to observe proper courtesies.

Fang Zelin visited the tomb of his old friend Jiuchuan, Great Qian’s founding emperor, and found a letter the emperor had left for him. As Fang Zelin read it and shared wine at the grave, he answered Jiuchuan’s worries and reminisced about their friendship.

• The disciples of Jade and Gold Mountain prepared to seek the Dao after their senior brother urged them to observe proper rites and inform their Master.
• Fang Zelin and Tianxi arrived at Youjing City, where Fang Zelin explained that the Underworld Bureau’s pressure was meant to deter demons.
• Fang Zelin took Tianxi to Great Qian’s imperial mausoleum to visit Jiuchuan’s grave, then used spells to slip past the guards and enter the tomb.
• Fang Zelin found a hidden letter beneath Jiuchuan’s grave marker after spotting the words “You came!” and a small arrow.
• Fang Zelin poured a cup of hundred-year-old Clear as Empty for Jiuchuan and read his letter, answering his questions about Great Qian and recalling his friend’s life.

Fang Zelin visited his deceased friend Jiuchuan’s tomb, then traveled with Tianxi to Youjing City to see how Jiuchuan’s descendants were faring. At the city inn, underworld constables recognized Tianxi as a demon and confronted them, and Fang Zelin tried to secure her leniency.

• Fang Zelin read Jiuchuan’s farewell letter, promised to visit again, and poured fine wine for his old friend.
• Fang Zelin and Tianxi went to Youjing City, where they discovered they had only twenty taels of silver left.
• Fang Zelin explained that he would not take money from Jiuchuan’s descendants because he was not acquainted with them and would incur karmic debt.
• As Fang Zelin and Tianxi approached an inn, two underworld constables accused Tianxi of being a demon and restrained her Law Power with soul-binding chains.
• Fang Zelin defended Tianxi as harmless and used an underworld spell to show the constables his connection to the Underworld Bureau.

Fang Zelin accompanied Tianxi to the City God Temple so the City God could investigate her, where he was recognized as the Wine Sword Immortal. The City God welcomed him warmly, and Fang Zelin asked him to examine Tianxi before they continued their journey.

• Fang Zelin agreed to accompany the underworld officials and Tianxi to the City God Temple for an investigation.
• The underworld official reported the encounter to the City God, who recognized Fang Zelin by the gourd at his waist and asked if he was the Wine Sword Immortal.
• Fang Zelin confirmed his identity, and the City God explained that the title came from stories of his wine-linked Daoist arts and his sword strike against yao.
• Tianxi was shocked to learn how renowned and powerful her benefactor had been, while the Bearing the Heavens Sword seemed to turn toward her gaze.
• Fang Zelin asked the City God to examine Tianxi for any wrongdoing before he took her to stay in the city for a few days.

Fang Zelin secured the City God’s approval to keep Tianxi, then took her to inspect the Great Qian imperial palace. They saw the powerful Human Race Karmic Fortune above the palace and entered the emperor’s council chamber, where the emperor seemed to sense someone at the entrance.

• The City God checked the yin register, confirmed Tianxi had done no evil, and allowed Fang Zelin to keep her.
• The City God discussed Fang Zelin’s apparent youth with his subordinates and said his presence was good for Great Qian.
• Tianxi admitted she had been afraid of the Underworld Bureau, and Fang Zelin told her they would visit the imperial palace the next day.
• Fang Zelin and Tianxi used an illusion to enter the palace and discovered the dense Human Race Karmic Fortune gathered above it.
• Fang Zelin led Tianxi into the council chamber, where the Great Qian emperor glanced toward the entrance but saw nothing.

Fang Zelin confirmed that the Great Qian emperor appeared likely to live out his natural lifespan, then learned that overseas visitors had entered Great Qian to seek immortals and study their methods. The emperor and his ministers debated the threat, with some calling for an attack and others warning that the foreigners might actually find an immortal.

• Fang Zelin examined the Great Qian emperor and decided that nothing suggested the emperor would die before his natural lifespan.
• Tianxi noticed the emperor’s Blood Qi, and Fang Zelin said the Underworld Bureau would judge him after his death if he had harmed good people.
• Fang Zelin overheard ministers say that overseas visitors were searching for immortals, so he stayed to listen.
• The Shadow Guard minister reported that the visitors intended to learn Immortal Methods and use them against Great Qian in a future invasion.
• Several ministers demanded that Great Qian attack the foreigners, while a cautious minister argued that finding an immortal would be difficult.
• Another minister warned that the foreigners might have the fortune to meet an immortal, citing the fisherman from Anzi County who had once met one.

Great Qian’s ministers discussed the immortal connected to the Immortal-Welcoming Tavern and worried that foreigners might learn cultivation from him. They rejected relying on the elusive immortal or killing the newcomers outright, leaving them without an agreed way to address the threat.

• The ministers recalled that the immortal who gave the tavernkeeper wine was likely the Earth-born cultivator who had helped Jiuchuan and struck in Yuanqing Prefecture.
• The ministers worried foreigners might find the immortal, learn cultivation, and invade Great Qian, but noted that they had never managed to find him near the Yongding River.
• An older minister reasoned that cultivators had withdrawn from mortal affairs since peace returned, while the youngest minister joked that he could not leave his wife to cultivate in the mountains.
• A minister proposed killing the foreigners and disguising their deaths as accidents, but another warned that killing them could provoke trouble among the more than one hundred thousand foreigners already in Great Qian.

Great Qian’s court discussed how to handle foreign visitors searching for immortals and decided to watch them rather than intervene. Fang Zelin realized the court knew about the outsiders’ intentions and believed they would never earn an immortal’s teachings with such poor character.

• The ministers recalled how Jiuchuan’s would-be assassins had died in accidents, leaving his officials too frightened to challenge him and his descendants.
• The emperor of Great Qian proposed leaving the outsiders alone and letting them reach the Yongding River, where their actions might prompt their ancestral immortal to emerge from seclusion.
• The ministers agreed to have someone follow the outsiders while they turned to other state matters.
• Fang Zelin heard the court’s discussion and concluded that the outsiders would not get past the other cultivators or receive an immortal’s true teachings.

After confirming that Jiuchuan’s descendants were safe, Fang Zelin left the imperial palace with Tianxi, while the Great Qian emperor and his ministers wondered whether an immortal had visited. Fang Zelin planned to travel downriver with Tianxi, but they realized they were nearly out of money.

• Fang Zelin told Tianxi that the ministers had been talking about him, then left the palace with her.
• After Fang Zelin departed, the ministers smelled the fragrance of immortal brew and speculated that he had visited to honor the Grand Progenitor.
• The emperor told the ministers that the Grand Progenitor had arranged for an immortal to look after his descendants, though they could not confirm the visitor’s presence.
• Tianxi asked why Fang Zelin had not met Jiuchuan’s descendants, and he replied that they had never met and he had no reason to introduce himself.
• Fang Zelin proposed traveling downriver to enjoy the early-autumn scenery, but Tianxi warned that they were running short of silver.

Fang Zelin and Tianxi searched Youjing City’s river landing for affordable passage downriver, then bought an old black-awning boat from a fisherman. They set off together, leaving the old man puzzled by how the boat seemed to move on its own.

• Tianxi learned that the large passenger ships cost a hundred taels per person, beyond what they could afford.
• Fang Zelin and Tianxi searched the landing but found no cheaper boats and prepared to leave on foot.
• Fang Zelin spotted an old black-awning boat and asked its owner to sell it to him.
• Fang Zelin demonstrated that he could stand on the river, reassuring the old man about his ability to handle the trip.
• Tianxi paid three taels for the boat, and Fang Zelin and Tianxi rowed away downriver.
• The old man wondered why the boat seemed to move on its own, then dismissed the thought and returned to his fishing net.

Fang Zelin and Tianxi traveled downriver, and he advised her that her stalled cultivation stemmed from her temperament. They continued toward a ginkgo grove after effortlessly passing through the dangerous Eagle Gorge.

• Fang Zelin told Tianxi to temper her state of mind before trying to advance her cultivation, and she understood his guidance.
• The next morning, Fang Zelin tried rowing but stopped the boat, so Tianxi took the oar and rowed.
• Crew members on nearby large vessels warned Fang Zelin that the current ahead was dangerous, but he thanked them and continued downstream.
• Fang Zelin's little boat sped past the large vessels and passed through Eagle Gorge before the crew could react.
• Fang Zelin drank wine at the bow and said they would soon reach the ginkgo grove.

Fang Zelin followed the river to the sea and began meditating on the Dao amid the waves. Thirty years passed as Tianxi kept watch, while he remained motionless and she wondered what he was cultivating.

• Fang Zelin admired the golden ginkgo grove and declined Tianxi's offer to plant trees near his home.
• After drifting downstream for weeks, Fang Zelin told Tianxi to take the boat out onto the sea so he could contemplate its vastness and the river flowing into it.
• Fang Zelin sat above the sea's surface and meditated on the Dao while Tianxi moved the boat away and guarded him.
• Thirty years passed, and Tianxi continued watching Fang Zelin sit motionless, baffled by the length and nature of his cultivation.

Tianxi watched Fang Zelin cultivate for several hundred years, gradually sensing the vast Spiritual Qi around him, while he remained in seclusion. At Yingping Peak, Jade Void Mountain disciples continued seeking Fang Zelin, and his companions tended the grounds and wondered when he would return.

• Tianxi realized Fang Zelin had been cultivating for more than five hundred and eighty years and sensed that his Spiritual Qi now reached beyond her ability to measure.
• Yunya and other Jade Void Mountain disciples visited Yingping Peak, but the white deer told them Fang Zelin had gone traveling and had not returned.
• The medicine boy argued with the spiritual rice and medicinal fields, which accused him of secretly drinking stored spiritual rain.
• The white deer and tiger demon confirmed the medicine boy had hidden and drunk spiritual rain, so he changed the subject to the visiting Daoist Sect disciples.
• The medicine boy complained that Fang Zelin had been gone for several hundred years and admitted he had saved a little spiritual rain before Fang Zelin left.

More than eight hundred years after Great Qian's founding, visitors approached its shores and debated why it had endured while other dynasties rose and fell. The travelers disagreed over whether an immortal had guided Great Qian's founder, leaving the dynasty's longevity attributed either to legend or to sound governance.

• Daoist Sect disciples left after learning that Senior Fang had not returned and could not be found, despite Patriarch Qingyun's efforts to divine his whereabouts.
• A ship carrying men from neighboring dynasties neared Great Qian, whose maritime reach and lasting power had grown over more than eight hundred years.
• The men anticipated seeing Great Qian and discussed how its prosperity and longevity had influenced the policies of surrounding dynasties.
• One man, Brother Wang, claimed an immortal had guided Great Qian's founding emperor, but his companions dismissed the rumor and credited the dynasty's governance.
• Brother Wang reflected that rumors of immortals had evidence despite being absent from books, and he suspected emperors had suppressed such accounts to protect their rule.

Fang Zelin tested his Dharma Form Heaven and Earth technique above the sea, creating a colossal phantom that awed everyone nearby and stirred up dangerous winds and waves. He stopped the disturbance and dispersed the phantom, then opened his eyes as Tianxi approached him.

• A gigantic mirage appeared above the sea, and passengers on nearby ships marveled at its towering shape and radiant surface.
• Tianxi recognized the phantom as Fang Zelin’s Law Technique and sensed the immense Spiritual Power within it.
• Fang Zelin opened his eyes, and his phantom breathed in, stilling the sea, then breathed out, unleashing fierce winds and towering waves.
• Fang Zelin used a Law Technique to calm the winds, decided against testing the phantom further, and dispersed it.
• Tianxi rowed toward Fang Zelin in her battered boat and greeted him as he opened his eyes.

After more than six hundred years of cultivation, Fang Zelin and Tianxi returned to shore, where he agreed to let her accompany him. As they sampled local food, Fang Zelin realized that Great Qian had used up more than eight hundred years of its thousand-year fortune.

• Fang Zelin learned he had cultivated for more than six hundred years and discovered that he had gained an Immaculate Body.
• Fang Zelin gave Tianxi clothes, then invited her to stop acting as his maid and asked what she planned to do.
• Tianxi chose to follow Fang Zelin, and he agreed before they sailed back to shore on the battered black-awning boat.
• Fang Zelin exchanged Tianxi’s pearls for silver and took her to eat local delicacies.
• Fang Zelin calculated that Great Qian had been founded more than eight hundred years earlier and had little of its thousand-year fortune remaining.

After cultivating for hundreds of years, Fang Zelin returned to a Great Qian transformed by time and learned that his new Divine Ability was called Dharma Form Heaven and Earth. He asked an innkeeper about the current Imperial Family and suspected that the emperor’s poor reputation explained the weakened Human Race Karmic Fortune.

• Fang Zelin explained to Tianxi that he had derived the Law Technique Dharma Form Heaven and Earth from Size at Will, and Tianxi decided it would not suit her.
• Fang Zelin and Tianxi noticed how much Great Qian had changed and how their old-fashioned clothes made them look like antiques.
• Fang Zelin paid twenty copper coins for their meal and noted that prices seemed much lower than they had been centuries earlier.
• Fang Zelin asked the innkeeper what he thought of the current Great Qian Imperial Family.
• The innkeeper called the current emperor so-so, and Fang Zelin suspected the emperor’s unpopularity was behind the weakened Human Race Karmic Fortune.