Recaps

The second prince investigated the Zhou Household’s role in the proposal to send the princes out of the capital as the emperor’s health worsened and court intrigue intensified. At Jade Void Mountain, Yunyi brought her disciple to meet Qingyun and Qingcheng, who learned that the young woman had passed the Heart-Questioning Trial but had not yet entered Seeking Dao Mountain.

• The second prince questioned a subordinate about the Imperial Astronomical Bureau’s warning and ordered him to investigate whether the Zhou Household was colluding with any prince.
• The emperor’s worsening health fueled his suspicion of those bringing him food, and his executions happened to target eunuchs who had passed messages to the third prince.
• Qingyun told Qingcheng that his divinations had failed to reveal what the Mars Guards the Heart omen portended.
• Yunyi arrived at Jade Void Mountain with her disciple and asked Qingyun and Qingcheng to help the young woman enter Seeking Dao Mountain.
• Yunyi explained that her disciple had entered the Heart-Questioning Trial, surprising Qingyun and Qingcheng.

Yunyi and Zhenke visited Qingyun and Qingcheng on Jade Void Mountain, where they learned that a powerful True Person Daomiao had guided Qingyun into Seeking Dao Mountain but could not be found. With Great Jin’s allotted fortune reduced to about two years by the Mars omen, Yunyi prepared Zhenke for the coming calamity and discussed the demons and fiends with her senior brothers.

• Qingyun and Qingcheng praised Zhenke for passing the Heart-Questioning Trial, then welcomed Yunyi and Zhenke to Jade Void Mountain.
• Qingyun told Yunyi that True Person Daomiao had guided him into Seeking Dao Mountain, but he did not know where the cultivator had gone.
• Zhenke worried that Yunyi would perish in Great Jin’s coming tribulation, and Yunyi urged her to cultivate so she could protect ordinary people from demons.
• Qingyun estimated that Great Jin had only about two years of allotted fortune remaining because Mars hung high overhead.
• Yunyi sent Zhenke to rest, then asked Qingyun and Qingcheng about the celestial omen and the demons and fiends appearing across the land.

Fang Zelin tended his spirit plants, then followed music on the Yongding River to meet the hidden master aboard a pleasure boat. He gave her fragments of a piece he remembered, and she agreed to stay until she completed it.

• Fang Zelin watered the herb field with the Lesser Cloud and Rain Technique and teased the herb boy about giving him ginseng essence.
• Fang Zelin ate spirit rice and went to the Yongding River to quiet his mind and temper his heart.
• Fang Zelin heard a melody from a pleasure boat and crossed the river to ask to meet the musician.
• Fang Zelin told the woman behind the screen that he remembered fragments of a piece and wrote them down for her.
• The woman agreed to complete the piece and stay until it was finished, and Fang Zelin left happily.

Fang Zelin gave Shang Lewei an incomplete score, and she began working to finish the unusual piece while her maid Xiao Xiao wondered about the handsome musician. Later, Meng Yunqing and Xiao Qin visited Fang Zelin for a meal, and Xiao Qin offered him a conch shell as thanks.

• Shang Lewei studied Fang Zelin's incomplete score and decided to stay on the boat for a few days to finish it.
• Fang Zelin returned to the riverbank, spread his awareness over the water, and cultivated while listening to Shang Lewei practice the piece.
• Xiao Xiao teased Shang Lewei about Fang Zelin's looks, but Shang Lewei denied that immortals existed and returned to refining the music.
• Meng Yunqing and Xiao Qin arrived to visit Fang Zelin, and Meng Yunqing asked to eat his rice again.
• Xiao Qin offered Fang Zelin a conch shell as a treasure in return for his past kindness, and Fang Zelin asked what it did.

Fang Zelin welcomed Shang Lewei to play the piece Falling into the Mortal World for his guests. After her performance, he offered her Clear as Empty, and she experienced the wine’s extraordinary effects.

• Xiao Qin gave Fang Zelin a sound-recording conch, and he accepted it and promised her extra spirit rice.
• Fang Zelin heard Falling into the Mortal World from a pleasure boat and agreed to Meng Yunqing’s suggestion to invite its musician over.
• Meng Yunqing brought Shang Lewei to Fang Zelin’s retreat, where she recognized him as the person who had provided the score.
• Shang Lewei played Falling into the Mortal World for Fang Zelin, Meng Yunqing, and Xiao Qin.
• Fang Zelin praised Shang Lewei and offered her Clear as Empty, whose first sip made her feel as though she had entered an immortal realm.

Shang Lewei woke aboard her pleasure boat believing her encounter with Fang Zelin had been a dream, but a pearl on her wrist proved it had happened. After she sailed away from Yingping Peak, Fang Zelin returned to tending his crops and promised Xiao Qin a jar of Clear as Empty when she became a True Dragon.

• Shang Lewei woke on the pleasure boat and learned from Xiao Xiao that she supposedly had never left it, but found a pearl on her wrist and realized her meeting with Fang Zelin had been real.
• Shang Lewei told Xiao Xiao they could leave and said she had already played her piece for the young gentleman.
• Xiao Qin pointed out that Shang Lewei's pleasure boat had sailed away from the Soul-Bewildering Formation, and Fang Zelin let it go, noting that Meng Yunqing had given her a pearl to ward off evil and illness.
• Fang Zelin explained to Meng Yunqing how his Lesser Cloud and Rain Technique differed from the Dragon Race's spell and continued tending his spirit rice.
• Fang Zelin caught Xiao Qin trying to sneak Clear as Empty and promised her a jar when she attained the body of a True Dragon.

Fang Zelin experimented with shaping Yongding River water into weapons and used a technique from the Comprehensive Regulations of the Underworld Bureau to enchant a chain against evil. He realized the chain could hold more incantations and set out to strengthen it further.

• Fang Zelin teased the medicine boy for wilting in the heat, then reminded him that he had failed to learn from the Immortal Master's teachings.
• Fang Zelin formed a sword from river water and split a rock, while Bearing the Heavens grew jealous of the new weapon.
• Fang Zelin transformed the water sword into a chain and found that it was more powerful than the other weapons he tried.
• Fang Zelin consulted the Comprehensive Regulations of the Underworld Bureau and cast the Slay Evil and Suppress Baleful Intent Incantation into one link of the chain.
• Fang Zelin realized the chain could hold more incantations and thought that adding them would greatly increase its power.

Fang Zelin stored Slay Evil and Suppress Baleful Intent Incantation seal-script characters in his wine gourd, giving himself another way to face enemies. The next day, he contemplated the river in the rain and explained his approach to cultivation, though the tiger and deer yao still could not understand it.

• Fang Zelin realized he could preserve incantations in the Spiritual Qi-rich Clear as Empty wine, then filled the gourd with seal-script characters until his Spiritual Power ran out.
• The tiger and deer yao watched Fang Zelin store the incantations and feared how unfathomable he had become.
• Fang Zelin cooked dinner, then replenished his Spiritual Power through cultivation while supplying Bearing the Heavens first.
• After waking the next morning, Fang Zelin summoned spiritual rain for the herb boy and later sat beside the river as a downpour began.
• The herb boy said Fang Zelin was cultivating by watching the river, while the tiger and deer yao moved closer to observe.
• Fang Zelin told the yao that contemplating the workings of heaven and earth was cultivation and urged them to put more heart into it, but they still could not grasp the practice.

Fang Zelin agreed to investigate Zhang Family Village after Zhang Weichu reported that a man from there had lost one ethereal soul and one corporeal soul and carried a trace of Yao Qi. He reached the village and encountered an elderly man who urged him to leave before dark.

• Zhang Weichu told Fang Zelin that a man from Zhang Family Village had fled disaster with signs of a possible demon encounter and asked him to investigate.
• Fang Zelin agreed to help and rode the giant tiger toward the village, telling it to hide while he went inside.
• Fang Zelin found the village run-down, with many fields overgrown, and asked an elderly man why the villagers were not tending them.
• The elderly man warned Fang Zelin to leave before dark and continued toward the village.

Fang Zelin stayed in Zhang Family Village to repair Old Zhang’s hut and discovered the villagers were arguing over sending someone to face a danger tied to their missing children. Old Zhang volunteered to go in Fang Zelin’s place as the villagers followed him out of the ancestral hall.

• Fang Zelin helped Old Zhang into his hut and repaired its roof despite the old man urging him to leave before nightfall.
• Fang Zelin noticed that nearly everyone in Zhang Family Village was elderly and that there were no children around.
• After the villagers gathered in the ancestral hall, Fang Zelin followed them and overheard their argument about sending an outsider to help bring their children back.
• Old Zhang offered to go himself, saying he had no family and believed the villagers would soon choose him anyway.
• The villagers accepted Old Zhang’s offer, and he walked toward the door with them following.

Fang Zelin killed the cat demon that had been taking children’s souls and helped the villagers call their children home. He then questioned the Land God, who admitted he had been too weak to protect the villagers once the demon lured them away.

• The cat demon rejected Old Zhang as an offering, while a woman offered another villager to save her child and Old Zhang tried to stop her.
• Fang Zelin appeared before the villagers and used a wine blade inscribed with three small-seal characters to kill the cat demon.
• Dozens of children’s souls emerged where the cat demon died, and the villagers told Fang Zelin the demon had demanded seventy-one offerings.
• Fang Zelin instructed the villagers to call their children’s names and say they were home, then watched the souls return with their families.
• Fang Zelin placed a small-seal character on Old Zhang’s lintel and asked the Land God why he had failed to protect the village; the Land God said he was too weak to reach villagers lured beyond the village.

Fang Zelin killed the cat demon threatening Zhang Family Village and left the Land God with talismans to protect the villagers. Back at Yingping Peak, he learned Bearing the Heavens could carry him through the air but chose to conserve its Spiritual Qi, then turned to his next brewing plans.

• Fang Zelin explained that the cat demon had tried to gradually seize Zhang Family Village's fortune to avoid provoking a backlash from the human race's fortune.
• Fang Zelin sealed two talismans in a wine cup and gave it to the Land God, explaining how to use it against demons near the village.
• The villagers thanked Fang Zelin for saving them, and he cast the Lesser Cloud and Rain Technique over their fields before leaving on the giant tiger.
• Fang Zelin told Zhang Weichu that he had slain the hundred-year cat demon, and Zhang Weichu praised the character of Fang Zelin's fellow cultivators.
• The next morning, Fang Zelin learned Bearing the Heavens could carry him through the air, but told it to conserve its Spiritual Qi.
• Fang Zelin cast spiritual rain for the medicine boy and considered brewing Clear as Empty and other wines from the new spirit rice harvest.

After two years of cultivation and tending Yingping Peak, Fang Zelin harvested the spirit rice and set out to meet Yang Xiang, leaving the medicine boy and two demons to watch the mountain. After nightfall, he found a campfire and approached a group of wary travelers.

• Fang Zelin brewed ten more jars of wine as the spirit rice and medicinal herbs flourished over two cycles of cold and heat.
• Fang Zelin harvested the spirit rice, told the medicine boy to guard Yingping Peak, and warned him to protect his ginseng leaves.
• Fang Zelin let the tiger demon and deer demon choose whether to stay on the peak or return to the mountains, then left to travel and deal with troublesome spirits.
• After passing through Anzi County and failing to find a place to rest, Fang Zelin spotted a fire and approached the camp.
• A man at the fire shouted at Fang Zelin, and the gathered travelers gripped their weapons as they watched him approach.

Fang Zelin spent the night at a roadside shelter with several wary groups, including refugees, then continued toward Flower Creek Village. He arrived near dusk and recognized the wealthy young man's carriage ahead.

• Fang Zelin asked the travelers at a roadside shelter for a place to rest, and they let him light a fire by the entrance.
• A scholar warned his sister not to trust Fang Zelin, while Fang Zelin overheard them and reflected on the refugees and Great Jin's troubled state.
• Fang Zelin told Bearing the Heavens to keep watch and passed a peaceful night without any spirits or monsters appearing.
• Fang Zelin set out in the morning, saw refugees along the road, and chose to rest at Flower Creek Village.
• Fang Zelin reached Flower Creek Village near dusk and recognized the carriage belonging to the wealthy young man from the previous night.

Fang Zelin met Xiang Genfeng and his younger sister beside an abandoned village, where they discussed the suffering of the people and the dangers on the road. As they camped for the night, Fang Zelin sensed something moving nearby.

• Fang Zelin found the village abandoned, and Xiang Genfeng explained that heavy taxes and mass recruitment had driven its residents away.
• Fang Zelin remarked that people suffered whether the realm rose or fell, and Xiang Genfeng warned him to keep such opinions from the imperial court.
• Xiang Genfeng invited Fang Zelin to camp with him and introduced his veiled younger sister, who privately asked why her brother had grown friendly with Fang Zelin.
• Fang Zelin told Xiang Genfeng he was traveling to keep an appointment with a fellow Daoist, and Xiang Genfeng warned him about spirits and murderous inns.
• Fang Zelin noticed something moving in nearby grass and became distracted while Xiang Genfeng spoke, then apologized to him.

Fang Zelin used water blades and seal-script characters to kill a nearby nonhuman creature, then shared small cups of Clear as Empty with Xiang Genfeng and the others, who passed out after drinking. Thirty years after beginning his mortal tempering, Yang Xiang reunited with his senior brother and prepared to return to the mountain, while waiting for Fang Zelin and agreeing to slay monsters at Jumbled Stone Cave.

• Fang Zelin sensed a nonhuman creature nearby and used water blades enhanced by seal-script characters to kill it.
• Fang Zelin warned Xiang Genfeng and the others to keep the incident secret, then gave them small cups of Clear as Empty, which caused them all to pass out.
• Xiang Genfeng and the others awoke the next morning refreshed, but Fang Zelin had already left.
• Yang Xiang met his senior brother at Sunset Cliff, who said Yang Xiang's thirty years of mortal tempering were complete and invited him back to the mountain.
• Yang Xiang told his senior brother that Fang Zelin would soon arrive to visit the mountain, and agreed to go with him to slay monsters at Jumbled Stone Cave.

Xuan Yi entered Jumbled Stone Cave alone and fought the scorpion spirit after finding a cavern carpeted with bones and a woman being tortured. He bound the spirit in flames, but a cloud of black smoke struck him from behind and sent him flying beneath a tree.

• Xuan Yi left Yang Xiang outside Jumbled Stone Cave and entered alone with the Yao-Beating Whip.
• Xuan Yi found bones covering the cavern floor and confronted the scorpion spirit, who was holding a frail woman captive.
• Xuan Yi rescued the woman and burned through the scorpions attacking him, while the scorpion spirit sent a descendant to fetch Old Ghost Black Wood.
• Xuan Yi bound the scorpion spirit with the Yao-Beating Whip and engulfed him in flames.
• A cloud of black smoke hit Xuan Yi from behind and knocked him beneath a distant tree.

Fang Zelin entered the Jumbled Stone Cave to help Xuan Yi and used water swords and a seal-script chain to overpower the two spirits. He left them bound as his swords attacked, while Xuan Yi’s fate remained unresolved.

• The woman arrived and freed the scorpion spirit from Xuan Yi’s Yao-Beating Whip, then shrouded the Jumbled Stone Cave in black fog.
• Yang Xiang worried that Xuan Yi was in danger, and Fang Zelin appeared and entered the cave to help.
• The woman and scorpion spirit prepared to attack Xuan Yi, but Fang Zelin arrived and offered to deal with the spirits.
• Fang Zelin drew water from a stream, formed it into swords, and sent them against the woman’s black fog.
• Fang Zelin bound both spirits with a glowing water chain, then sent the water swords through the fog to strike them.

Fang Zelin rescued Xuan Yi, Yang Xiang, and several civilians from demons, then traveled with the two cultivators to Jade Void Mountain. There, he reunited with Qingyun, who welcomed him as an honored guest and had been waiting for him to visit.

• Fang Zelin slew two demons with water weapons, recovered his small seal-script characters, and helped Xuan Yi rescue civilians from the cave.
• Xuan Yi introduced himself and Yang Xiang as cultivators of Jade Void Mountain, and Fang Zelin said he sought the Dao on Wangqing Mountain.
• Fang Zelin shared Clear as Empty with Xuan Yi and Yang Xiang during their flight, astonishing them when he said he had visited Seeking Dao Mountain seven or eight times.
• Xuan Yi brought Fang Zelin to Jade Void Mountain, where Fang Zelin met several disciples and shared wine with the immortal cranes.
• Qingyun recognized Fang Zelin when he arrived at the great hall and welcomed him, saying he had been waiting for his visit.

Fang Zelin visited Jade Void Mountain to help protect Great Jin’s dwindling fortune and asked Qingyun for manuals on demon-slaying spells. As Fang Zelin studied the mountain’s treasured manuals, Qingyun directed Yang Xiang to learn Qi Refining and prepare to seek entry to Seeking Dao Mountain.

• Fang Zelin told Qingyun he had come to help safeguard Great Jin’s fortune and asked to borrow spell manuals for slaying demons.
• Qingyun sent Xuan Yi to fetch every manual from the library’s A shelf, and Fang Zelin took the three books to study in a side hall.
• Qingyun and Xuan Yi discussed Fang Zelin’s cultivation of the Treatise on the Supreme One's Response and his apparent ability to enter Seeking Dao Mountain at will.
• Qingyun instructed Xuan Yi to teach Yang Xiang the Qi Refining method and help him seek entry to Seeking Dao Mountain.
• Xuan Yi led the anxious Yang Xiang away and urged him to stay true to his nature and keep his heart steady.

Fang Zelin studied three powerful Law Techniques while the Jade Void Mountain cultivators discussed the coming calamity in Great Jin and their dwindling numbers. Zhenke resolved to descend the mountain to fight demons, and Yang Xiang emerged from seclusion having failed to enter Seeking Dao Mountain.

• Fang Zelin read the manuals for Universe in the Sleeve, Size at Will, and Turning Stone into Gold, then began practicing the first two.
• Qingyun told Yunyi that a senior had guided him into Seeking Dao Mountain and would join them in subduing demons.
• Yunyi recalled how the battles across Great Xia and Great Zhou had cost Jade Void Mountain many disciples and weakened the Human Race's fortune.
• Zhenke volunteered to descend the mountain against demons, and Yunyi agreed that she should go with them.
• Yang Xiang told Xuan Yi that he had failed to enter Seeking Dao Mountain, and Xuan Yi encouraged him to keep cultivating.

Fang Zelin studied Jade Void Mountain’s Law Techniques and learned of the disciples who had died fighting demons through the ages. Moved by their resolve, he carved a poem into the training-ground cliff, and spiritual light, wind, and clouds gathered as he finished.

• Yang Xiang asked to descend the mountain with Xuan Yi, but Xuan Yi refused and told him to cultivate.
• Fang Zelin returned the three Law Technique manuals and asked Xuan Yi for a copy of the Technique of Riding Clouds and Mist.
• Fang Zelin memorized the cloud-riding manual, then learned that the library’s books recorded the insights of disciples who had perished fighting demons.
• Xuan Yi recounted Jade Void Mountain’s past battles as he led Fang Zelin to the training grounds, where Fang Zelin saw the disciples practicing.
• Fang Zelin drew Bearing the Heavens and carved a poem about the human, immortal, and ghost Dao onto the cliff, ending with “Deliverance for all without measure.”
• When Fang Zelin finished carving, spiritual light shone from the words and winds rose as clouds surged around the mountain.

Fang Zelin wrote the Scripture of Salvation on Jade Void Mountain, triggering a supernatural recitation that helped the disciples enter Seeking Dao Mountain. Yunyi asked Fang Zelin to let Zhenke contemplate the scripture, and Zhenke joined the other disciples inside Seeking Dao Mountain.

• Fang Zelin’s Scripture of Salvation sent the disciples’ written insights into the rock wall as winds rose and voices recited across Jade Void Mountain.
• Qingyun, Qingcheng, Yunyi, and Zhenke arrived at the stone platform and learned from Fang Zelin that he had written the scripture after glimpsing Jade Void Mountain’s past.
• Yunyi recognized that the disciples had entered Seeking Dao Mountain, and Fang Zelin explained that his cultivation insights had helped them advance.
• Yunyi asked Fang Zelin to let Zhenke contemplate the scripture, and Zhenke bowed to him before sitting before the rock wall.
• Zhenke was drawn into the recitation and found herself in Seeking Dao Mountain among the other Jade Void Mountain disciples.

Fang Zelin celebrated with the elders of Jade Void Mountain after his Scripture of Salvation helped their disciples enter Seeking Dao Mountain. The disciples returned with new gains, and they looked up to Fang Zelin as their mountain’s future prosperity began to seem possible.

• The old fisherman divined that Fang Zelin’s Scripture of Salvation had drawn cultivators to Seeking Dao Mountain, and the old Daoist celebrated the first sign of their Dao’s prosperity.
• Fang Zelin shared his immortal brew with Qingyun, Qingcheng, and Yunyi as they discussed their cultivation experiences and the Dao.
• The Jade Void Mountain disciples awoke after entering Seeking Dao Mountain and rejoiced at the opportunities the Scripture of Salvation might bring.
• Yang Xiang returned from Seeking Dao Mountain younger, with an increased lifespan, and recognized his experience as a fortuitous opportunity.
• The disciples saw Fang Zelin and the elders drinking and discussing the Dao, while Zhenke admired the scene.
• Fang Zelin put away his wine gourd and told the elders that he had little fine wine left.

After studying Jade Void Mountain’s Law Techniques, Fang Zelin agreed to help Qingyun and the other masters lead the disciples down the mountain to slay demons. As the group prepared to split into four routes, Zhenke asked Yunyi to let her follow someone else.

• Fang Zelin spent nearly half a month studying Jade Void Mountain’s Law Techniques, then sensed the sunrise from beneath a tree.
• Zhenke told Fang Zelin that Qingyun and the others were preparing to descend the mountain to protect common people from demons.
• Qingyun asked Fang Zelin to lead some of Jade Void Mountain’s nearly hundred disciples, and Fang Zelin agreed.
• Qingcheng showed Fang Zelin a map marking four demon-slaying routes and their eventual meeting place in Hang River Circuit.
• Qingyun assigned the disciples, and Zhenke asked Yunyi whether she could follow someone else so her master would not have to choose whom to save in danger.