Recaps

Fang Zelin continued his solitary cultivation, helping spirits and ordinary people while searching for a master and learning from Yang Xiang. The stretch ended with him reuniting with Jiuchuan in Yuanqing Prefecture, where Blazing Summer was preparing to build cities in Cloud-Linking Mountain.

• Fang Zelin taught Bearing the Heavens to contain its sword presence, then traveled onward and heard that Blazing Summer was buying grain and developing Yuanqing Prefecture.
• In Beiqu County, Fang Zelin witnessed Magistrate dismiss Zhang Shilin’s accusation against Wu Changlin, rebuked the magistrate, and helped ensure Zhang Shilin was buried and cared for.
• Fang Zelin searched White Stone County for an accomplished master, but instead left insight in a couplet at an abandoned Mountain God Temple, where an old man and the Dragon King of the Jing River recognized its power.
• In Jiangxing Prefecture, Fang Zelin met Yang Xiang, who showed him how to capture an evil presence before a female ghost accused the Wang Household of killing her and her unborn child.
• Fang Zelin subdued the female ghost with Bearing the Heavens and handed her and her child over to the City God, while Yang Xiang explained the trials faced by disciples sent into the mortal world.
• Fang Zelin reunited with Jiuchuan in a ruined temple and learned that Blazing Summer planned to build cities in Cloud-Linking Mountain, so he proposed seeking permission from its spirits.
• Jiuchuan explained Blazing Summer’s grain purchases and brought Fang Zelin to meet his three wives, including one who had reached the realm of a first-rate expert.

Fang Zelin slew the tree demon on Cloud-Linking Mountain, then returned to Yingping Peak and guided Meng Yunqing through his tribulation to become a True Dragon. At the Dragon Palace banquet, Fang Zelin stopped Chen Shanyao from scheming to seize Great Jin’s fortune and helped Xiao Qin reveal her potential, while signs of unrest gathered over Great Jin.

• Fang Zelin found the tree demon beneath Cloud-Linking Mountain’s strange fire, cut through its roots with Bearing the Heavens, and helped the Yuanqing City God burn it to ashes and release its wronged souls.
• Fang Zelin returned to Yingping Peak, learned the Soul-Bewildering Formation, and welcomed a ginseng spirit as his medicine attendant.
• Meng Yunqing sought Fang Zelin’s guidance toward becoming a True Dragon, contemplated his explanation of rivers taking the lower place, and later passed his tribulation by drawing up the waters of a hundred rivers.
• The Dragon King of the Jing River invited Fang Zelin to Meng Yunqing’s True Dragon banquet, where the Dragon Lord seated Fang Zelin in the place of honor and the Aquatic Race celebrated Meng Yunqing’s achievement.
• Chen Shanyao urged the Dragon Race to flood Great Jin and seize the Human Race’s fortune, but Fang Zelin challenged him and warned him against interfering with it.
• Fang Zelin touched Xiao Qin between the brows, revealing True Dragon Qi and causing her to transform into a dragon, while Chen Shanyao fled toward the East Sea.
• Fang Zelin returned to Yingping Peak and resumed cultivating, then Zhang Weichu told him that the emperor was failing, officials were being exiled, and people were fleeing hardship.
• Fang Zelin and Zhang Weichu saw Mars Guards the Heart in the sky, an omen that could be used to inflame bloodshed.

Fang Zelin traveled through a troubled Great Jin, defeating demons and aiding the people he encountered. At Jade Void Mountain, he carved the Scripture of Salvation, helping its disciples enter Seeking Dao Mountain, then agreed to lead some of them on a demon-slaying campaign.

• Qingyun told Yunyi that Great Jin had only about two years of fortune remaining, while Zhenke worried that Yunyi would perish in the coming tribulation.
• Fang Zelin met Shang Lewei by the Yongding River, helped her complete a musical piece, and offered her Clear as Empty after she played it for him.
• Fang Zelin developed a water chain that could hold incantations and used Clear as Empty to preserve seal-script characters within it.
• Fang Zelin investigated Zhang Family Village, killed the cat demon holding the children’s souls, and helped the villagers bring their children home.
• Fang Zelin traveled through villages emptied by hardship, killed a nonhuman creature near Xiang Genfeng’s camp, and gave the travelers Clear as Empty before leaving.
• Fang Zelin rescued Xuan Yi and Yang Xiang from demons at Jumbled Stone Cave, then visited Jade Void Mountain and asked Qingyun for manuals on slaying demons.
• Fang Zelin carved the Scripture of Salvation into a cliff at Jade Void Mountain, and its spiritual power helped Zhenke, Yang Xiang, and the other disciples enter Seeking Dao Mountain.
• Fang Zelin agreed to lead Jade Void Mountain disciples on a demon-slaying campaign, and Qingcheng showed him four routes that would meet in Hang River Circuit.

Fang Zelin hunted Leng Sizhao in Blazing Summer, then joined the cultivators in defeating Demon King Wu and settling Xue Yan’s fate. As the Daoists sought a wise ruler to bless, Zhenke identified someone north of Yingping Peak for Fang Zelin to meet.

• Fang Zelin let Zhenke travel with him to Yining County, where he uncovered and destroyed the demons abducting people for Demon King Wu’s plans.
• Fang Zelin met Daoist Lü in Guyuan Commandery, learned the wounded fox demon had ties to Demon King Wu, and returned to Blazing Summer to hunt her.
• Fang Zelin lured Leng Sizhao into a deserted park and killed her with his water-chain and sword spells, then rejoined Daoist Lü and the Jade Void Mountain disciples.
• Fang Zelin and Daoist Lü encountered the demons’ assault on the cultivators, and Fang Zelin’s golden water swords helped turn the battle before Demon King Wu appeared.
• Fang Zelin called on Bearing the Heavens, whose giant sword pierced and killed Demon King Wu, ending the battle at the cost of many cultivators’ lives.
• Minglian pleaded for Xue Yan after she admitted stealing Human Race Karmic Fortune, and Daoist Qianji allowed her to live if pill fire could refine the fortune from her.
• Fang Zelin agreed to study the Blessing Technique and pray for a wise ruler, while the Daoists observed the feudal lords and Xue Yan entered the Pill Furnace.
• Zhenke told Fang Zelin that a wise ruler would be fifty li north of Yingping Peak and wear a golden crown at noon the next day, and Fang Zelin agreed to meet him and perform the blessing.