Chapter Summaries

Elder He and Elder Yu discovered that the Hand of the Evil God could copy the Dark Moon Clan’s curse only when used by the Three Shadow Rat Brothers, whose copied curse had limited resurrections. Holy Lord Gu Mingchao explained that the curse embodied the Dao of Death, which the brothers had begun to comprehend through their clones repeatedly dying in the Dead Spirit Realm, revealing the purpose behind Chu Xinghe’s secretive plan.

• Elder He tested Shu Da’s rebirth and found that the copied curse had a cooldown and could not revive him endlessly.
• Elder He and Elder Yu failed to copy An Mo’s curse with the Hand of the Evil God, while the Three Shadow Rat Brothers succeeded.
• Holy Lord Gu Mingchao explained that the Dark Moon Clan’s curse was rooted in the Dao of Death, which the brothers possessed but Elder He and Elder Yu did not.
• Elder He realized that Chu Xinghe had kept sending the brothers’ clones into the Dead Spirit Realm so their repeated deaths would help them comprehend the Dao of Death.
• The Vast Heaven Holy Land’s elders understood that Chu Xinghe’s plan had turned the Dead Spirit Realm into a means for the Three Shadow Rat Brothers to gain the Dao of Death.

Chu Xinghe’s plan to send the Three Shadow Rat Brothers into the Dead Spirit Realm unexpectedly helped them comprehend the Dao of Death and discover that their clones could revive at full strength. As everyone celebrated, Chu Xinghe privately resolved to find a way to turn his increasingly disastrous successes around.

• Elder He and Shu Da recognized that the Three Shadow Rat Brothers had each comprehended the Dao of Death, a far greater gain than Formation-Locking Jade.
• Shu Da and his brothers realized Chu Xinghe had secretly guided their repeated deaths to help them comprehend the Dao, and they expressed their gratitude to him.
• Ma Liang noticed Shu Da’s clones revived at their peak condition, eliminating the Shadow Rats’ need to spend resources maintaining their cultivation.
• Ma Liang called the process “refreshing,” leaving Chu Xinghe to silently plead with Thunder Shadow not to kill him.
• Chu Xinghe decided he still had ideas and vowed to turn the situation around.

The Three Shadow Rat Brothers comprehended the Dao of Death after repeatedly dying, turning Chu Xinghe’s apparent decision to send them to their deaths into a major success. Determined to reverse that outcome, Chu Xinghe planned to use their stronger clones to destroy the Dead Spirit Realm’s Shadow Ghosts and prevent them from producing valuable Formation-Locking Jade.

• The Three Shadow Rat Brothers gained the Dao of Death, stunning the Four Continents and making clear that few others could imitate their achievement.
• Chu Xinghe stayed on the ninth floor of the Technique Repository Tower and reassured Azure Dragon Sacred Venerable that the Misfortune Compass still showed he had not lost.
• Chu Xinghe focused on the Formation-Locking Jade produced by Shadow Ghosts in the Dead Spirit Realm and devised a plan to stop that resource from accumulating.
• Chu Xinghe planned to send the Three Shadow Rat Brothers’ stronger clones into the Dead Spirit Realm and have them self-destruct against the Shadow Ghosts.
• Chu Xinghe prepared to consume both the Shadow Ghosts and the brothers’ clones, hoping to give away everything he had gained and secure a massive loss.

Chu Xinghe ordered the Three Shadow Rat Brothers to kill Shadow Ghosts inside the Dead Spirit Realm by making their clones self-destruct, preventing the ghosts from escaping and becoming Formation-Locking Jade. As the blasts drew the Vast Heaven Holy Land’s leaders, Holy Lord Gu Mingchao told them to watch quietly, then realized his Flame Divinity was missing.

• Chu Xinghe stopped Shu Da and his brothers from demonstrating their combat abilities and told them he wanted to resolve the Dead Spirit Realm problem.
• Chu Xinghe ordered the Three Shadow Rat Brothers to stop cycling their clones through the realm and instead seize Shadow Ghosts and self-destruct.
• Shu Da’s clones began exploding inside the Dead Spirit Realm, killing Shadow Ghosts that vanished rather than turning into Formation-Locking Jade.
• The Grand Elder, Elder He, and other leaders arrived and questioned Chu Xinghe’s apparent destruction of valuable resources.
• Holy Lord Gu Mingchao told the leaders to watch quietly, then asked who had borrowed his Flame Divinity.

Chu Xinghe kept Shu Da and his brothers blowing up Shadow Ghosts in the Dead Spirit Realm while he tried to lift the Body Cultivation disciples’ spirits by declaring that formations and the Dead Spirit Realm held the key to their future cultivation. He left the solution to the Misfortune Compass, hoping either to gain from the explosions or to uncover a path for his junior brothers and sisters.

• The Holy Lord rushed to the Artifact Refining Palace to search for his missing Flame Divinity, while Chu Xinghe watched the other powerful figures leave.
• Shu Da, Shu Er, and Shu San sent their clones into the Dead Spirit Realm to explode and destroy Shadow Ghosts, stabilizing the seal as the Misfortune Compass spun faster.
• Chu Xinghe visited the Formation Spirit Palace and found its Body Cultivation disciples discouraged because they could not test what they had learned about formations.
• Qu Yifeng explained that the disciples had consulted the White Tiger Holy Venerable, who doubted that Body Cultivators could use formations or Qi and Blood to activate them.
• Chu Xinghe told the disciples that formations concealed a way to cultivate beyond the Ninth Rank, then claimed that combining formations with the Dead Spirit Realm was their future path.
• Chu Xinghe gambled that the Misfortune Compass would either bring him a great gain or reveal a cultivation solution for the Body Cultivation disciples.

Chu Xinghe refused to sacrifice his Body Cultivation juniors’ future for a personal breakthrough and challenged the Misfortune Compass to find them a path through the Dead Spirit Realm. As Shu Da chased the surviving Shadow Ghosts into the realm’s depths, they entered a vortex that absorbed all the deathly presence, and the Dead Spirit Realm began transforming.

• Chu Xinghe told his Body Cultivation juniors to study formations and assured them that the Dead Spirit Realm held their future path of cultivation.
• News of Chu Xinghe’s plan spread through the Vast Heaven Holy Land and across the Four Continents, leaving most factions puzzled; Leader Bai Yu warned that Chu Xinghe’s repeated destruction of Shadow Ghosts was wasting Formation-Locking Jade.
• Shu Da, Shu Er, and Shu San kept pursuing and blowing up Shadow Ghosts, which had begun fleeing from them.
• After Shu Da destroyed another group, the surviving Shadow Ghosts fled together underground, and he followed them into a vast space deep beneath the Dead Spirit Realm.
• The Shadow Ghosts plunged into a massive vortex, which then drew in all the realm’s deathly presence as the Dead Spirit Realm shook and began to transform.

Shu Da arrived at the Spirit Crane Palace with news of a crisis in the Dead Spirit Realm, while Chu Xinghe tried to steer Ouyang Ming toward developing rocking chairs and away from reaching a new level in artifact refining. The chapter ended with Shu Da about to explain the emergency after Chu Xinghe missed his rocking chair and Shu Da blamed the chair.

• After finding the rocking chair had been damaged by a powerful impact, Ouyang Ming told Chu Xinghe about its new massage function, and Chu Xinghe urged him to focus on inventing rocking-chair features.
• Chu Xinghe persuaded Ouyang Ming to explore rocking chairs as a new branch of artifact refining, hoping to delay his progress toward the Slight Understanding Level.
• The chapter recounted how Ouyang Ming had won over the Evil Shadow Continent's artifact refiners by forging divine artifact-grade food bowls and eating 162 bowls of cold noodles.
• Chu Xinghe asked Ouyang Ming to develop a cooling function and an air conditioner for the rocking chair, and Ouyang Ming left to consider the ideas.
• Shu Da rushed into the Spirit Crane Palace to report that something terrible had happened in the Dead Spirit Realm, and Chu Xinghe fell beside his chair as Shu Da blamed the rocking chair for failing to catch him.

Chu Xinghe and the Vast Heaven Holy Land discovered that the Dead Spirit Realm had turned into an enormous but incomplete Spirit Realm after its Shadow Ghosts vanished into a vortex. They learned the vortex concealed the Source of Fear, which had to be dealt with before the realm could fully transform, and Chu Xinghe focused on how to get rid of it.

• Chu Xinghe saw that the Shadow Ghosts had disappeared and learned from Elder He and the Great Sage that the Dead Spirit Realm had become a Spirit Realm.
• The Vast Heaven Holy Land entered the realm under Gu Mingchao’s blue Flame Divinity, which had become poisonous after Ouyang Ling altered it.
• Elder He and the Great Sage realized the realm was incomplete because no one inside had entered enlightenment.
• Shu Da explained that the Shadow Ghosts had been drawn into the vortex after the group killed them, and Elder He and the Great Sage identified the vortex as the Source of Fear.
• The Holy Mother of Wujiang produced a text explaining that the Source of Fear was the Dead Spirit Realm’s core and prevented its full transformation into a Spirit Realm.
• Chu Xinghe wondered how to get rid of the Source of Fear.

The Vast Heaven Holy Land learned that the Lord of Fear hid within the Source of Fear and could be defeated only by conquering fear and making the Lord afraid. Chu Xinghe declined to offer a solution, and as the Source remained sealed, people across the Four Continents began saying he had run out of ideas.

• The Great Sage explained that the Lord of Fear grew stronger by absorbing the fear of whoever entered the Source, and that making him afraid could cause him to collapse.
• At the Grand Elder's request, Shu Da sent a clone into the Source, where it lost its abilities as its fear of losing them overwhelmed it.
• The White Tiger Holy Venerable sealed the Source of Fear, and the Vast Heaven Holy Land's high-ups left the spirit realm to discuss what to do.
• When the Grand Elder asked for his thoughts, Chu Xinghe said he had no way to deal with the Source and resolved to stay uninvolved.
• As news spread across the Four Continents, Zheng Yu and others wondered why Chu Xinghe had offered no outrageous plan, and Leader Bai Yu's post claiming he had run out of ideas trended.

Chu Xinghe stayed silent about the Source of Fear, hoping to avoid causing another bizarre outcome, while Ouyang Ming unveiled an air-conditioned rocking chair. Chu Xinghe accidentally seemed to approve mass production, leaving Ouyang Ming convinced he should make a million air conditioners.

• Chu Xinghe swallowed a Silence Pill and silently refused to advise Ma Liang or the other disciples about the Source of Fear.
• Ouyang Ming brought Chu Xinghe a self-rocking chair with four settings, a massage function, and spirit-stone-powered air conditioning.
• Chu Xinghe silently praised the rocking chair with a thumbs-up, and Ouyang Ming described how popular the air conditioner was among the disciples.
• Ouyang Ming said Qin Xiangqian wanted to sell the air conditioners through the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce, and Chu Xinghe's nod seemed to confirm his approval.
• When Ouyang Ming proposed producing more air conditioners, Chu Xinghe shook his head, but Ouyang Ming mistook it for a request to increase the order to a million sets.

Ouyang Ming built a highly efficient air conditioner from Chu Xinghe’s silent design, and the Vast Heaven Holy Land’s disciples and elders eagerly sought one. Qin Xiangqian saw it as a breakthrough for the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce and believed Chu Xinghe had created the opportunity to help him.

• Chu Xinghe remained unable to speak because the Silence Pill had not worn off, while Ouyang Ming credited him with the air conditioner’s design.
• Ouyang Ming’s air conditioner cooled rooms quickly, maintained a steady temperature, and cost far less to use than Myriad-Year Frost Ice.
• Disciples, elders, and the Grand Elder praised the air conditioner, and Ouyang Ming sent one to the elders of every palace.
• Feng Fei summoned Qin Xiangqian after seeing the air conditioner, and Qin embraced Ouyang Ming in excitement over its commercial potential.
• Ouyang Ming told Qin Xiangqian that Chu Xinghe had conceived the design, and Qin believed the invention could revive the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce.

Qin Xiangqian and Ouyang Ming developed an affordable air conditioner for the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce, while Ma Liang proposed splitting its heating and cooling functions and selling decorative models. Chu Xinghe tried to stay silent when they brought the plan to him, but his rocking chair’s fourth setting made everyone think he approved.

• Qin Xiangqian praised Chu Xinghe for arranging a major boost for the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce through the air conditioner.
• Ouyang Ming explained that lowering the unit’s cost would shorten its lifespan, then modified it to last fifteen years and provide year-round heating and cooling for about one and a half spirit stones.
• Ma Liang proposed selling separate cooling and heating units, along with customized models for wealthy buyers, and the First Elder approved his plan.
• Qin Xiangqian, Ouyang Ming, and Ma Liang went to the Spirit Crane Palace to ask Chu Xinghe about the proposal.
• Chu Xinghe took a Silence Pill, but accidentally activated his rocking chair’s fourth setting, which Ouyang Ming interpreted as a cheerful sign of agreement.

Chu Xinghe tried to stop the air conditioner project, but his silence and gestures were mistaken for encouragement, and his order to sell the devices at cost left Ma Liang and Ouyang Ming convinced the venture would lose money. Qin Xiangqian recognized a deeper business strategy, but the chapter ended before he explained it.

• Ma Liang announced that the air conditioner would soon go on sale, prompting curiosity across the Four Continents and criticism from Bai Yu, who accused Chu Xinghe and Ouyang Ming of neglecting their proper duties.
• Chu Xinghe, unable to speak because of an overly strong Silence Pill, tried to stop production at the Artifact Refining Palace, but Ouyang Ling and the disciples mistook his gestures for encouragement.
• Chu Xinghe rejected Ma Liang's proposed price of fifteen spirit stones and ordered the air conditioners sold for one and a half spirit stones, then kicked Qin Xiangqian when he questioned the decision.
• Ma Liang and Ouyang Ming calculated that the sale price would leave the Vast Heaven Holy Land losing three or four spirit stones per air conditioner and suggested abandoning the project.
• Qin Xiangqian insisted that Chu Xinghe's pricing move was a brilliant business strategy, but he had not yet explained how it would work.

Qin Xiangqian explained that Senior Brother Xinghe planned to sell air conditioners at a loss to protect the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce’s reputation and drive away competitors. He revealed that the real profit would come from monopolizing the special spirit stones that powered the machines, leaving Ma Liang and Ouyang Ming impressed by Xinghe’s business strategy.

• Qin Xiangqian urged Ouyang Ming to combine the air conditioner’s heating and cooling functions, explaining that selling them separately would damage the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce’s reputation.
• Qin Xiangqian said Senior Brother Xinghe intended to sell air conditioners below cost and publish their blueprints and production expenses, preventing competitors from gaining an advantage through secrecy.
• Qin Xiangqian argued that rival manufacturers and the limited market would make air conditioners a poor source of lasting profit, while selling at a loss could deter competitors and create a monopoly.
• Qin Xiangqian identified the air conditioner’s power source as the true business opportunity and asked Ouyang Ming to make it usable only with special spirit stones from the Vast Heaven Holy Land.
• Ouyang Ming said no one could duplicate his special spirit stones, and Ma Liang and Ouyang Ming realized this would let the Vast Heaven Holy Land control the air conditioner industry.

Qin Xiangqian explained his plan to lose money on air conditioners while earning long-term profits from their energy monopoly, and the Vast Heaven Holy Land publicly released the blueprints and costs. Chu Xinghe mistook Qin's strategy for a genuine effort to lose money and urged him to expand production and give units away if necessary, leaving Qin determined to lose over a hundred million by year's end.

• Qin Xiangqian explained to Ma Liang and Ouyang Ming how cheap air conditioners could build a market for the Holy Land's monopolized energy stones and generate profits over time.
• Qin Xiangqian and Ma Liang published the air-conditioner blueprints and production costs, and artifact refiners across the Four Continents confirmed that making them at the advertised price caused a loss.
• Chu Xinghe checked the Misfortune Compass, approved Qin Xiangqian's announcement, and praised him for putting the common people first.
• Chu Xinghe learned that the artifact refiners could produce tens of thousands of air conditioners each day and urged Qin to sell more, even giving them away to expand the market.
• Qin Xiangqian pledged to live in the Artifact Refining Palace and ensure the Holy Land lost over a hundred million by year's end, and Chu Xinghe was delighted by his commitment.

Qin Xiangqian gathered the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce’s leaders and advisers to plan how to lose more than one hundred million selling Ouyang Ming’s air conditioners, revealing Chu Xinghe’s strategy for turning the apparent losses into a long-term monopoly. The chamber installed air conditioners throughout its locations across the Four Continents, while influential figures at the Vast Heaven Holy Land investigated the Source of Fear.

• Qin Xiangqian promised Chu Xinghe that the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce would lose more than one hundred million this year, then summoned Sima Bian, Shi Biao, Lu Chengqing, and their advisers.
• Qin Xiangqian demonstrated the air conditioner and explained Chu Xinghe’s plan to sell it at a loss while using Ouyang Ming’s unique spirit stones to secure a monopoly.
• The advisers embraced the plan after realizing that the early losses would lead to substantial profits over the following seventeen years.
• Qin Xiangqian and the advisers decided to install air conditioners at Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce locations so customers could experience their effects directly.
• Qin Xiangqian sent air conditioners to locations across the Four Continents, while big shots at the Vast Heaven Holy Land investigated the Source of Fear.

The Vast Heaven Holy Land began sending disciples into the Source of Fear to search for its treasures, using Elder He's Nightmare Power to protect them. Zhang Bahu explained why his team traded only with the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce, recalling how faulty Fasting Pills had trapped his first team in a ruin and left him as the sole survivor.

• Elder He told the Vast Heaven Holy Land leaders that his incomplete Fate Divinity might eventually let him devour the Lord of Fear, but could not solve the danger immediately.
• The grand elder proposed searching the Source of Fear for the ancient battlefield's resources, and Elder He offered to rescue endangered disciples through his Nightmare Realm.
• The grand elder ordered disciples from each palace to enter the Source of Fear, and Elder He blessed them with Nightmare Power.
• Zhang Bahu required his Rogue Cultivator teammates to buy and sell only through the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce, despite their objections.
• Zhang Bahu recounted how his first team entered a ruin with Fasting Pills bought nearby, became trapped, and discovered after five days that the pills had stopped working.

After recalling how counterfeit fasting pills had cost him his left eye and his teammates’ lives, Zhang Bahu trusted only the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce. He discovered its new air conditioners and decided to buy its entire stock for resale, convinced he had found a chance to make a fortune.

• Zhang Bahu recalled how inferior fasting pills had left his team trapped without food or water, costing him his left eye and his teammates their lives.
• Zhang Bahu explained why he now bought and sold only through the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce, whose reliable goods had repeatedly saved his team.
• Zhang Bahu visited the chamber’s desert branch and learned from a saleswoman that its new air conditioner cost one and a half spirit stones, with replacement guaranteed for twenty years.
• Zhang Bahu decided to buy air conditioners for his parents and his dead teammates’ families, then realized he could profit by purchasing the branch’s entire stock of eight thousand units.
• Zhang Bahu persuaded most of his teammates to join his twelve-thousand-spirit-stone purchase, but Zhao Chao refused because he feared the air conditioners would not sell.

Zhang Bahu bought all eight thousand air conditioners from the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce, convinced he could profit from their low price and the desert’s demand. He reassured his teammates that they could return the units within a month, while the chapter also explained Chu Xinghe’s strict rules for safe, honestly labeled pills.

• Zhang Bahu persuaded his teammates that the air conditioners worked well and could be resold at a profit compared with Myriad-Year Frost Ice.
• Zhang Bahu argued that the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce’s purchase limits made buying the air conditioners before their official sale a rare opportunity.
• Zhao Chao warned that poor sales or plentiful stock could leave the team with a loss, and explained that he usually bought cheaper pills from small workshops.
• The narration described how Chu Xinghe instructed Mu Bai that alchemists must not take lives, harm bodies, or conceal risks, and required the Vast Heaven Holy Land to ensure pill safety and disclose side effects.
• Zhang Bahu told Zhao Chao that the chamber allowed any item to be returned within a month without giving a reason, so the team could recover its investment if the air conditioners did not sell.

Zhang Bahu promoted the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce’s cheap, reliable air conditioners, which sold out across the Four Continents and sparked a rush among cultivators and sects. Zheng Yu and Cheng Xiaotian considered profiting with Tantai Jing, while Chu Xinghe celebrated the prospect of enormous losses as the chamber prepared to restock.

• Zhao Chao asked a Fifth Rank alchemist for help breaking through, but the alchemist blamed years of low-quality pills for ruining Zhao Chao’s spiritual sea and used him as a lesson for his disciples.
• Qin Xiangqian guaranteed the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce’s products and promised thousandfold compensation if they failed to match their advertised effects, drawing crowds to buy the air conditioners.
• Zheng Yu bought up half the air conditioners on the Blazing Sun Continent, then considered partnering with Tantai Jing to resell them at a higher price; Cheng Xiaotian stepped in and demanded an additional thirty percent.
• Wang Daoquan explained that Jade Void Palace’s disciples had cultivated and earned fewer resources during hot summers, so the palace tried to buy air conditioners but found them sold out.
• Powers across the Four Continents rushed to buy air conditioners, but even the White Spirit Evil Lord waited in line only to learn the stock was gone.
• Qin Xiangqian reported the sellout to Chu Xinghe, who rejoiced because he expected the air conditioner sales to cause him massive losses.