Chapter Summaries

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.

Fang Zelin and Tianxi discussed Great Qian’s declining karmic fortune and the possibility that someone was deliberately provoking public unrest. On the road, they discovered two ghosts in a cemetery, where a wife was stealing offerings from her husband’s grave.

• Fang Zelin explained that Great Qian’s fate might have been prolonged if its rulers had governed well, but its karmic fortune was now dissipating amid widespread public resentment.
• Fang Zelin suspected that the frequent reports of official abuses and murders were being arranged, but refused to warn the imperial family, saying incompetent descendants could be replaced.
• Fang Zelin and Tianxi traveled along the official road and stopped beneath a tree as evening fell.
• Fang Zelin noticed Yin Qi near a cemetery and went to investigate with Tianxi.
• A female ghost slipped into her husband’s grave to steal the fragrance of his offerings, while the two ghosts spoke affectionately about remaining together after death.

Fang Zelin learned that a devoted couple had been murdered by an official’s son and left in their grave because they could not bear to remain near the injustice. After hearing that miscarriages of justice were common in Lianyun City, he left them spirit rice as an offering, and they discovered it after he departed.

• Tianxi judged the couple to be newly dead and not evil, and Fang Zelin summoned the Night Wandering Gods to explain why they remained in their grave.
• The Night Wandering Gods told Fang Zelin that an official’s son had killed the wife and her husband, while the City God had let the couple stay together in their grave after they refused to remain in the city.
• Fang Zelin learned that officials’ sons often escaped justice and that miscarriages of justice were common, deepening his concern about the Great Qian Dynasty and Human Race Karmic Fortune.
• Fang Zelin cooked spirit rice, shaped it into a ball, and left it before the couple’s grave.
• After Fang Zelin left, the woman eagerly ate the spirit rice and offered a bite to her husband.

Fang Zelin explained to Tianxi that the Great Qian Dynasty’s fading Human Race Karmic Fortune would tempt demons with the promise of immense cultivation gains. Tianxi recognized how easily she might have joined them in the past and decided to remain by Fang Zelin’s side.

• Fang Zelin and Tianxi returned to the roadside fire after giving the ghosts food enchanted with spirit wine.
• Tianxi asked whether demons would covet the Great Qian’s Human Race Karmic Fortune as it dissipated, and Fang Zelin confirmed they would.
• Fang Zelin explained that a small piece of the karmic fortune could equal centuries of cultivation and that demons would gather to plunder it.
• Tianxi realized that she might once have been swayed by other demons into seeking the karmic fortune.
• Tianxi said she would stay beside Fang Zelin so she would not take a step she would regret.

Fang Zelin returned to Yingping Peak with Tianxi, then visited Jade Void Mountain after learning its disciples had once sought him out. He discovered that the Devil Cultivator battle had cost many lives, including Qingyun, Qingcheng, and all the Yang-generation cultivators, leaving him grieving for his old friends.

• Fang Zelin brought Tianxi to Yingping Peak, where he introduced her to the white deer and tiger yao as a yao who would cultivate beside him.
• The white deer told Fang Zelin that a Jade Void Mountain disciple had come looking for him several times decades earlier, so Fang Zelin flew there on Bearing the Heavens.
• A Jade Void Mountain disciple told Fang Zelin that Qingyun had died after joining more than a hundred patriarchs who fought Devil Cultivators in Northern Liang; many were killed or wounded before the Devil Cultivators retreated.
• Fang Zelin learned that Qingcheng had died two hundred years earlier and that all the Yang-generation cultivators had passed away, and he mourned the loss of his old friends.

Fang Zelin reunited with Qin Xuzi at Jade Void Mountain and learned that Daoist Priest Qingyun and many of their old acquaintances had died fighting the Devil Cultivators. After reading Qingyun’s final request and visiting the graves, Fang Zelin mourned the friends who had gone forth to protect the Dao.

• Qin Xuzi recognized Fang Zelin and recalled meeting him centuries earlier when Fang borrowed a flying sword at Yingping Peak.
• Fang Zelin learned that Qingyun and Yunzi had been unable to divine his location during the Devil Cultivators’ attack because Daoist arts obscured the secrets of heaven.
• Qin Xuzi told Fang Zelin that Yunyi and many other cultivators had died in the battle, while Zhenke had become an ancestor of Jade Willow Mountain.
• Qin Xuzi gave Fang Zelin the bamboo slips on which Qingyun asked him to look after Jade Void Mountain’s younger generation and explained why he had fought despite foreseeing disaster.
• Fang Zelin visited the graves of his old acquaintances, poured wine for them, and mourned their sacrifice while Qin Xuzi listened.