Chapter Summaries

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.

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.