Chapter Summaries

Fang Zelin entered the Seeking the Dao World in his physical body and repaired the severed meridians in his legs, allowing him to walk again. After learning that players faced penalties for dying in the world, he returned to the inn and began cultivating with his body.

• Fang Zelin entered the Seeking the Dao World physically and found that his Primordial Spirit and cultivated Spiritual Power had returned to his original body.
• Fang Zelin cultivated until the severed meridians in his legs healed, then stood and confirmed that he could walk without discomfort.
• Fang Zelin washed, dressed, and ate breakfast while listening to players discuss the world’s reality and the consequences of dying there.
• Fang Zelin inferred that a player's diminished aptitude after death might result from the loss of a sliver of their Primordial Spirit.
• Fang Zelin returned to the inn, cultivated with his physical body, and watched his treasured sword absorb the remaining Spiritual Qi.

Fang Zelin enjoyed Bamboo Leaf Green at an inn and noticed underworld officials investigating a case, who recognized that he could see them. He then overheard two players discussing how to find spirits and learn their spells, leaving him curious about their plan.

• Fang Zelin left his room after practicing the Treatise on the Supreme One's Response and went downstairs to order Bamboo Leaf Green.
• Fang Zelin sampled the wine and spotted several underworld officials passing the inn while investigating a case.
• An underworld constable noticed Fang Zelin watching them, saluted him, and told his colleagues that he was no ordinary mortal.
• Fang Zelin overheard a player in a flying-fish robe argue that spirits' spells could be more powerful than martial arts.
• A player in a scholar's robe considered the idea, while the other player suggested seeking out a good demon to learn from.

Fang Zelin listened as people discussed sprites and the expert who had slain three skeleton spirits, then returned to cultivating while planning to go back to Yingping Peak in spring. A scholar seeking information visited Lady Green Robe, who confirmed the expert was likely a Dao-attained cultivator but did not know where to find him.

• A burly man told a scholar that an expert had slain three skeleton spirits near Yueyang City and that an Earth God had helped.
• Fang Zelin considered how the Seeking the Dao World was changing Earth, then went back to his room to cultivate and planned to return to Yingping Peak in spring.
• The scholar went to a hillside outside the city and offered roast chicken and wine to Lady Green Robe, a fox spirit.
• The scholar asked Lady Green Robe about the expert who had killed the skeleton spirits.
• Lady Green Robe said the expert had likely attained the Dao and warned that she was being cautious after a god of slaughter appeared near Yueyang City.

The man in scholarly robes learned that masters were nearly impossible to find, then secured Lady Green Robe’s promise to help him pass the preliminary examinations. Meanwhile, Fang Zelin cultivated through the night as his treasured sword absorbed all the Spiritual Qi in his room.

• The fox spirit told the man in scholarly robes that she knew of no masters beyond the one in Zhao Family Village near Yueyang City.
• The man in scholarly robes asked Lady Green Robe to help him pass the preliminary examinations, and she agreed after seeing azure Qi above him.
• Lady Green Robe returned to the forest, while the man left happily and planned to pursue higher scholarly honors.
• Fang Zelin cultivated at the inn overnight as his treasured sword absorbed Spiritual Qi alongside him.
• Fang Zelin found that the treasured sword had drained all the Spiritual Qi from the room and resolved to keep practicing the Treatise on the Supreme One's Response.

Fang Zelin tried to name and calm his sentient treasured sword before visiting the Jingyun City God to seek cultivation texts. He left with a black book of underworld rules and minor spells after offering spirit rice as an apology for the sword’s threatening presence.

• Fang Zelin spoke to his treasured sword about choosing a name and soothed its desire for a name with killing intent.
• Fang Zelin went to the City God's temple and asked to meet the City God of Jingyun.
• Fang Zelin's treasured sword released a threatening presence, causing the City God and underworld officials to appear.
• Fang Zelin apologized and offered the City God two taels of spirit rice after learning he had no cultivation texts.
• The City God gave Fang Zelin a black book containing underworld rules and several minor spells.

Fang Zelin received a tome of Underworld Bureau rules and spells from the City God, then began studying it at the inn. During cultivation, he was drawn again to the mysterious mountain, where he met the old fisherman Zhou.

• The City God accepted Fang Zelin’s spirit rice, and his attendants cooked it for the first time in the Underworld Bureau.
• Fang Zelin scolded his treasured sword for challenging the City God on his own turf and urged it to behave with humility and courtesy.
• Fang Zelin studied the City God’s tome, learning the Underworld Bureau’s rules and finding spells for beating the underworld drum and summoning clerks.
• After completing the book and beginning to cultivate, Fang Zelin was transported to the mysterious mountain for the third time.
• The mountain’s inhabitants wondered at Fang Zelin’s repeated visits, while he greeted the old fisherman and asked his surname again before casting a straight fishhook into the river.

Fang Zelin fished beside an old man on a towering mountain and learned that creatures of the Aquatic Race could gain a fortuitous opportunity by taking the hook. After the old man released a hooked river snail, Fang Zelin returned to the inn with his memories of the mountain fading.

• Fang Zelin asked the old man for a fortuitous opportunity, but the old man questioned whether he needed one given his extraordinary aptitude for comprehending the Dao.
• The old man explained that any aquatic creature that took his hook would receive its own fortuitous opportunity, and Fang Zelin connected this to Heaven leaving a thread of hope for survival.
• Fang Zelin warned the old man that something had taken his hook, and the old man pulled up and released a river snail.
• Fang Zelin chatted with the old man while they fished, then left after hearing a birdcall and returned to the inn.
• Fang Zelin sensed he had done something on the mountain but forgot the thought as he watched the busy street from the inn.

Fang Zelin celebrated the Lantern Festival in Yunjing City, then returned to Yingping Peak after sharing Spiritual Power with farmers’ rice seedlings along the way. Back home, he cultivated with his spirit rice and treasured sword, and discovered six new seedlings beside the original plants.

• Fang Zelin watched the Lantern Festival celebrations, ate sweet rice balls, and decided to return to Anzi County to tend his spirit rice.
• On his journey from Jingyun City, Fang Zelin spread Spiritual Power over farmers’ rice seedlings and strengthened them, also giving a little to a field snail.
• After more than ten days, Fang Zelin reached Yingping Peak, crossed the Yongding River, and found his cabin and spirit rice in good condition.
• Fang Zelin cleaned his cabin and began cultivating, while his treasured sword slowed its absorption of Spiritual Qi so the spirit rice could share it.
• After cultivating for a day, Fang Zelin found six new spirit rice seedlings growing beside the original plants.

Fang Zelin bought chickens and supplies in Anzi County, then settled into a simple routine beside the river while tending his spirit rice. In Wangqing Mountain, the White Deer struggled with a cultivation barrier and provoked the tiger, who backed down rather than fight.

• Fang Zelin traveled to Anzi County and bought an old hen, chicks, rice, oil, salt, and other supplies.
• Fang Zelin carried everything back to his wooden house, fed the hen, stored his purchases, and cleared a patch for vegetables.
• Fang Zelin cooked a humble dinner and hoped his spirit rice plants would eventually produce enough rice for him to eat.
• The White Deer drew lunar essence beneath the moon but grew frustrated because its cultivation had slowed and it could not fully understand Dao Emulates Own Inherent Spontaneity.
• The White Deer challenged the tiger to exchange moves, but the tiger remembered losing their previous fight and lowered its head.

Fang Zelin welcomed the returning water ghost, Fan Youzong, and learned that underworld officials were taking him to the City God for judgment and rewards for his good deeds. Meanwhile, the white deer and striped tiger set out to search Wangqing Mountain for spiritual objects to offer the immortal master.

• The white deer persuaded the striped tiger to help search Wangqing Mountain for spiritual objects they could offer the immortal master.
• Fang Zelin finished cultivating, checked his spirit rice seedlings, and gave them Spiritual Power as they grew.
• Fang Zelin offered rice to the water ghost, Fan Youzong, who thanked him and bowed deeply before saying they might not meet again.
• Zhang Weichu arrived with other underworld officials and explained that Fan Youzong was being escorted to the City God's temple for an assessment of his accumulated Yin Merit.
• Fang Zelin asked whether Fan Youzong could become an underworld official, and Zhang Weichu explained that he would instead shed his water ghost form and receive other benefits.

Fang Zelin watched a dragon summon rain, learned the Technique of Summoning Clouds and Bringing Rain, and was confronted by the Heavenly Dao for using it without authorization. After he explained his intentions and bowed in apology, the Dao resonance faded, leaving him believing he had been permitted to use the technique.

• Zhang Weichu explained that Fan Youzong’s impatience had cost him the chance to earn more Yin Merit, then took him to the City God Temple.
• After Zhang Weichu departed, Fang Zelin noticed that He Chenyi was missing and went to water his vegetable patch as rain began to fall.
• Fang Zelin saw a dragon moving through the clouds and used the Supreme Sensitivity Technique to study how it summoned clouds and brought rain.
• Fang Zelin learned the technique and formed a small cloud, but a dark cloud and the Heavenly Dao’s resonance appeared above him.
• Fang Zelin apologized to the Heavenly Dao and explained that he hoped to help struggling people; the resonance and dark cloud then disappeared.

Fang Zelin comprehended a new spell, the Lesser Cloud and Rain Technique, and used its spirit rain to water his spirit rice. He Chenyi told him that the Dragon King of the Jing River had sought his help in securing a heavenly conferment for the Dragon King’s second prince, leaving Fang Zelin unsure why they believed he could do it.

• Fang Zelin discovered that his cloud-and-rain spell produced spirit rain and named his modified spell the Lesser Cloud and Rain Technique.
• Fang Zelin watered his spirit rice with spirit rain, which the plants readily absorbed, while his spirit sword playfully poked at the cloud.
• He Chenyi returned from his spring-rain duties, and Fang Zelin thanked him for looking after the place while he was away.
• He Chenyi told Fang Zelin that the Dragon King of the Jing River had come looking for him to ask for help obtaining a heavenly conferment for his second prince.
• Fang Zelin questioned how he could grant such a conferment, while He Chenyi insisted that his great cultivation gave him the ability.

Fang Zelin refused to help the Dragon King seek a heavenly conferment and asked He Chenyi to keep their meeting secret. He learned that a water ghost’s good deeds could bring a blessed next life, but He Chenyi warned him that this was a secret of heaven; afterward, He Chenyi departed, leaving Fang Zelin curious about his escape technique.

• Fang Zelin told He Chenyi he could not help the Dragon King and asked him not to reveal anything about him.
• He Chenyi explained that the two reformed water ghosts had restored the Yongding River’s safety and brought back offerings from local people.
• He Chenyi told Fang Zelin that Fan Youzong might have earned a blessed next life by accumulating more Yin Merit, then warned him not to reveal this secret to water ghosts.
• Fang Zelin accepted He Chenyi’s warning and invited him to taste the spirit rice when it ripened.
• He Chenyi turned into a puddle and vanished, and Fang Zelin admired the escape technique he had witnessed.

Fang Zelin showed Zhang Weichu his newly awakened spirit sword and named it Bearing the Heavens. Their visit was interrupted by a fight beside the Yongding River, where a surrounded group escaped into the water after luring their pursuers with a decoy manual.

• Zhang Weichu visited Fang Zelin and asked about his travels, and Fang showed him the sword whose spirituality had grown.
• Fang asked the sword what name it wanted, then named it Bearing the Heavens after it accepted his suggestion.
• Fang Zelin and Zhang Weichu noticed two foreign groups fighting near the Yongding River, and Zhang said he had no need to intervene because foreigners had no souls after death.
• A surrounded man threw a secret manual into the air and tried to destroy it, while his companions struck down their pursuers' horses and fled into the river.
• The pursuers retrieved the manual and realized it was not the one they wanted.

Fang Zelin watched a pursuit over a martial arts manual, then cultivated his spirit rice with the Lesser Cloud and Rain Technique while Zhang Weichu and He Chenyi looked on in awe. He invited them to share the harvest, but confirmed he planned to leave once the rice ripened to seek fellow cultivators and avoid the Dragon King of the Jing River.

• Fang Zelin watched a group chase people downstream over a secret manual, and Zhang Weichu explained that it was a Qi Force manual said to lead to first-rate mastery.
• Fang Zelin asked whether the Underworld Bureau kept martial arts manuals, and Zhang Weichu replied that its officials had no use for them.
• Fang Zelin cast the Lesser Cloud and Rain Technique over his spirit field, surprising Zhang Weichu and He Chenyi with his ability to summon clouds and spiritual rain.
• He Chenyi asked about the unusual rain, and Fang Zelin said he had failed to grasp the technique's essence when he first comprehended it.
• Fang Zelin invited Zhang Weichu and He Chenyi to taste the spirit rice when it ripened, then confirmed he would leave afterward to seek fellow cultivators.

Fang Zelin traveled to Anzi County with Bearing the Heavens to ask about traces of immortals and learned why players were still risking death in the martial world. He left with no confirmed news of immortals, but heard rumors of a secret manual and spirits helping people pass the imperial examinations.

• A river snail emerged in a field outside Jingyun City and absorbed the moonlight.
• Fang Zelin tended his spirit rice and chickens, then decided to search Anzi County for rumors of immortals.
• Fang Zelin entered Anzi County with Bearing the Heavens and noticed the strong scent of blood on passing martial artists.
• Li Tongming explained that rumors of a peerless secret manual had drawn martial artists into danger and that costly medicinal decoctions made training difficult.
• Li Tongming told Fang Zelin that some players had found spirits to help them pass the imperial examinations, while cultivation to immortality remained a popular but unconfirmed dream.

Fang Zelin learned from Li Tongming that rumors of immortal cultivators came from secret accounts preserved among the Demon Race. The stories convinced Fang Zelin that cultivators existed, but he realized he would not find these reports on the forums.

• Fang Zelin invited Li Tongming to tea, and they discussed how cooks had improved the food available in the area.
• Fang Zelin asked about immortal cultivation, and Li Tongming said the Demon Race had shared rumors about cultivators with a few people.
• Li Tongming recounted a story of three cultivators who had slaughtered demons in the State of Wei three hundred years earlier, a massacre that historical records confirmed had occurred.
• Li Tongming described a battle two hundred years earlier in which Daoists fell from the sky and more than a thousand mountain peaks were destroyed.
• Fang Zelin accepted that immortal cultivators existed and realized the secret accounts Li Tongming shared would not be available on the forums.

Fang Zelin discussed how little news about immortals reached distant places and found no new information while asking around Yingping Peak. As he returned, he wondered about the old border-town battle and warned Bearing the Heavens not to overestimate his strength.

• Li Tongming explained that reports of the border-town incident had spread poorly because Great Jin was newly founded and travel was dangerous.
• Fang Zelin and Li Tongming agreed that finding immortal cultivators was difficult, and Li Tongming said he had stopped pursuing it relentlessly.
• Li Tongming left to attend to other matters, and Fang Zelin asked around Yingping Peak but learned nothing useful.
• Fang Zelin pondered who had fought in the border-town spell battle and whether cultivators had been injured or killed.
• Bearing the Heavens signaled that he wanted to fight, and Fang Zelin urged him to keep cultivating instead of seeking trouble.

Fang Zelin agreed to let the white deer demon and a friend cultivate near him in exchange for a three-thousand-year-old ginseng once it ripened. Meanwhile, an old Daoist divined that a journey to Wangqing Mountain would bring him great fortune.

• Fang Zelin returned to Yingping Peak and encountered the white deer, which offered him a three-thousand-year-old ginseng growing on Wangqing Mountain.
• The white deer explained that it wanted Fang Zelin's cultivation guidance, and then asked to cultivate beside him with a friend.
• Fang Zelin agreed, believing the demons wanted to benefit from the Spiritual Qi around him, and the white deer hurried back to guard the spirit medicine.
• An old Daoist cast copper coins, divined great fortune, and identified Wangqing Mountain as his destination.

Qingyun received a divination of great fortune and planned to set out in half a month, while Qingcheng stayed behind to avoid affecting the reading. On Yingping Peak, Fang Zelin asked Zhang Weichu about underworld officials’ living relatives.

• Qingyun told Qingcheng that his divination showed great fortune, though he knew its outcome could change.
• Qingcheng offered to accompany Qingyun, but Qingyun refused because another cultivator could increase the divination’s variables.
• Qingcheng left Qingyun to pursue the opportunity alone, and Qingyun decided to depart in about half a month.
• Fang Zelin watched the chicks get swatted out of the spirit field while reading the Comprehensive Regulations of the Underworld Bureau.
• Fang Zelin asked Zhang Weichu what happened when underworld officials had living relatives, and Zhang Weichu said they could not meet them.