Mountain and Sea Butterfly — I Shall Seal the Heavens

The Mountain and Sea Butterfly is a dead Devil Realm World-Butterfly repurposed by Shui Dongliu as a refuge for the surviving Mountain and Sea cultivators. Its wings are animated by the transformed lives of Meng Hao's parents, making the vessel a living sacrifice and sanctuary rather than owned property.

History

Shui Dongliu's escape plan

Shui Dongliu releases the dead World-Butterfly hidden beneath Planet South Heaven as the central ark of his plan to preserve the Mountain and Sea Realm. The life forces of Fang Xiufeng and Meng Li animate its wings, and the butterfly draws the realm's cultivators into an internal world while Meng Hao and the realm's reserves defend its flight. (Chapter 1396)

Refuge in the Vast Expanse

The butterfly escapes toward the Green Coffin Vortex carrying the survivors, with Fang Clan bloodline members appointed as guardians of the Mountains and Seas. Across the following epochs it remains the distant home of Meng Hao's family, friends, and people while he seeks the strength to return and restore what was lost. (Chapters 1409, 1411–1418, 1481, and 1506)

Completion of the vessel's purpose

After Meng Hao defeats Allheaven and breaks the curse, the coffin containing the butterfly opens. The butterfly dissolves into life-filled motes that reform as Meng Hao's parents; they then enter reincarnation and begin new lives. The vessel itself therefore no longer exists at the end of the supplied corpus. (Chapters 1611–1613)

Abilities and properties

Its wings open into a world capable of sheltering the surviving cultivators of the Mountain and Sea Realm. (Chapter 1396)
It travels through the Vast Expanse as a realm-vessel while carrying an entire displaced civilization. (Chapters 1396 and 1409)
Fang Xiufeng and Meng Li provide the life force of its two wings; they are transformed persons, not property or replaceable mechanisms. (Chapters 1396 and 1613)
Once its refuge role ends, its form can dissolve and release their lives into reincarnation. (Chapters 1611–1613)

Ownership and custody

Holder or custodian	Relationship to the item
Shui Dongliu	Planner and steward who releases the World-Butterfly and directs its use as the realm's ark; he does not treat it as ordinary property.
Meng Hao	Defender and later restorer of the people carried within it, but not established as the butterfly's owner.