Back from Cultivation, I’ve Found Mahjong Truly Good for the Mind and Body

Hu Yiba, a mighty cultivator at the Boundless Realm on the Xuanyue Continent, is on the verge of ascending to immortality when a strange rift in the sky forcibly drags him inside. When he opens his eyes again, he finds himself back in modern-day Chengdu, possessing the body of a recent college graduate who shares his name.

All his cultivation is gone; centuries of painstaking practice have been reduced to nothing overnight. The one piece of good news is that the Immortal Mahjong System he carried with him is still there. It's in a deep slumber, but playing mahjong can reactivate it, and every winning hand boosts his cultivation.

The bad news is that the System has one rule: every cent he wins must be donated. He can't spend a penny on himself. If he dares to, his cultivation will plummet until he is an ordinary person again.

To grow strong again, Hu Yiba has no choice but to embark on an unprecedented path to immortality: spending every day playing mahjong at an old teahouse on Yulin Road. With his superb tile skills and keen insight into human nature, he beats players at mahjong tables all over Chengdu. He donates all his winnings to charity and, before he knows it, becomes a local celebrity.

But trouble follows. He wins so often that no one dares play against him, and his crackdown on gambling and cheating earns him the enmity of the underground casinos. What troubles him most is a girl named Su Zhi, whom he meets at the Jinsha Site Museum. Her face is exactly like that of Zhu'er, his cultivation partner on the Xuanyue Continent.

Chengdu's teahouses, hot pot, and lidded tea bowls; the easygoing bustle and striving of everyday life; the secrets hidden in the ancient Shu civilization; and the love and hatred around the mahjong table... A story of return, protection, and being reborn quietly unfolds amid the slow pace of life in Rongcheng.