Chapter Summaries

Wu Qun learned why Chu Xinghe had made the Crystal of Xinghe affordable and publicly supported the Vast Heaven Sect, while Rogue Cultivators rallied behind the crystals and proved their effectiveness. As the crystals flooded the market and ushered in a new era of pill refining, Wu Xingyun blamed Tantai Jing and Yan Shoujing for the Demonic Sect’s losses.

• Wu Qun heard Sima Bian’s news about Chu Xinghe’s reasons for setting the Crystal of Xinghe’s low price and recognized the compassion behind his decision.
• Wu Qun berated the low-rank pill refiners who had sought his support and declared that he backed Chu Xinghe and the Vast Heaven Sect.
• Countless Rogue Cultivators formed the Anti-Anti-Crystal of Xinghe Alliance and challenged the low-rank pill refiners’ opposition.
• Early buyers tested the Crystals of Xinghe, found their effects powerful and their taste appealing, and prompted more people to buy them.
• Crystals of Xinghe flooded the market, making low-rank pills uncompetitive and ushering in a new era of pill refining.
• Wu Xingyun lamented the Demonic Sect’s stockpiles of low-rank pills, blamed Tantai Jing and Yan Shoujing, and demanded to know why Yan Shoujing had not warned him.

Chu Xinghe worried as Sima Bian, Lu Chengqing, and Shi Biao competed for the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce vice presidency, threatening to undermine his plans. When Ma Liang volunteered to help Ma Biao collect the sect’s overdue debts, Chu Xinghe enthusiastically supported him, hoping the task would keep Ma Liang out of trouble.

• The Crystal of Xinghe’s low price boosted the Eastern Branch, and the Great Elder encouraged Sima Bian to become vice president of the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce.
• Ma Liang told Chu Xinghe that Lu Chengqing was touring with the Soul-Devouring Banner and competing for the vice presidency with a tribute-funded performance business.
• Shi Biao launched the Vast Heaven Shopping Festival to challenge Sima Bian and Lu Chengqing, while Chu Xinghe resolved to support Qin Xiangqian for president instead.
• Ma Liang explained that he had joined Ma Biao to collect the Vast Heaven Sect’s overdue debts, and Chu Xinghe praised him and urged him to see the task through.
• After Ma Liang left, Chu Xinghe celebrated, convinced that debt collection would keep Ma Liang occupied and likely end in failure.

Ma Liang and Ma Biao returned from visiting eight indebted sects without collecting anything, so Chu Xinghe put Ma Liang in charge of the sect’s debt-collection team. Determined to improve, Ma Liang searched for advice but found no one with collection experience, and Ouyang Ming offered to share the Ouyang Lineage’s experience as debtors instead.

• Feng Fei explained that the Vast Heaven Sect could not destroy its debtor allies without damaging its righteous reputation.
• Chu Xinghe personally set up a teleportation array to send Ma Liang and Ma Biao on their debt-collection trip.
• After ten days, Ma Liang and Ma Biao returned empty-handed after eight sects pleaded poverty, and two even asked to borrow more.
• Chu Xinghe encouraged Ma Liang and appointed him and Ma Biao to lead the sect’s debt-collection team.
• Ma Liang searched the sect for debt-collection advice, but the senior disciples had no experience to offer.
• Ouyang Ming told Ma Liang that the Ouyang Lineage had no collection experience, but could share its experience as debtors.

Ma Liang enlisted Ouyang Ling and the Ouyang Lineage to help collect the Setting Sun Sect’s debt, but they instead overwhelmed the sect with excessive meals and unwanted artifact-refining lessons. The Setting Sun Sect finally paid what it owed, yet Ouyang Ling refused to leave until the next day, leaving its grand elder desperate.

• Ma Liang heard the Ouyang Lineage boast about its notorious deadbeat history and brought Ouyang Ling’s group along on his debt-collection journey.
• At the Setting Sun Sect, Ouyang Ling praised the alliance, offered artifact-refining instruction, and announced that the Ouyang Lineage would stay until the lessons were complete.
• Ouyang Ming and Ouyang Ling repeatedly toasted the Setting Sun Sect with huge servings of noodles, pork knuckles, and other food, leaving its people incapacitated and its stores depleted.
• Ouyang Ling insisted the Ouyang Lineage was helping rather than collecting a debt, even when the grand elder delivered the full repayment to Ma Liang.
• After Ouyang Ling agreed to leave following one more day of instruction, the Setting Sun Sect’s grand elder begged her outside her door and passed out crying.

Ouyang Ling left the Setting Sun Sect after a disastrous farewell banquet and took Ma Liang to collect debts from the Yu Lineage, which refused to repay them by exploiting its ties to Elder Yu. She promised to recover the debts without threatening or harming the family, then arranged for a row of Dark Moon Palace senior brothers to hang themselves outside its gates, leaving Ma Liang stunned.

• Ouyang Ling made the Setting Sun Sect's artifact refiners cook a farewell banquet, and the Ouyang Lineage ate the strange food while the hosts suffered.
• Ma Liang escorted Ouyang Ling from the Setting Sun Sect and explained that the Yu Lineage repeatedly borrowed Vast Heaven Sect resources and refused to repay them.
• Yu Chengshu dismissed Ma Liang and Ouyang Ling's arrival, confident that Elder Yu's connection would protect the Yu Lineage from consequences.
• Ouyang Ling assured Ma Liang she would recover the debt within three days without harming or threatening the Yu Lineage.
• The Yu Lineage's gatekeeper found a row of Dark Moon Palace senior brothers hanging outside the gates, and Ma Liang realized this was Ouyang Ling's method of frightening the family into repayment.

Ouyang Ling forced the Yu Lineage to repay its debts by staging shameless spectacles at its gate, then took Ma Liang to collect from the Bright Light Sect. The Yu Lineage paid up, and Ouyang Ling left the Bright Light Sect’s disciple recruitment in chaos with a Ten Thousand Ghosts Grand Formation.

• Ouyang Ling brought Dark Moon Palace senior brothers to the Yu Lineage, where they hanged themselves from a pole outside its gate and sparked public outrage and rumors.
• Yu Chengshu threatened to complain to the Vast Heaven Sect, but Ouyang Ling denied responsibility and dismissed his appeals to her reputation.
• The Yu Lineage’s wedding business lost customers after the corpses at its gate became a citywide spectacle, so Ouyang Ling promised a daily Great Blood Spray there.
• Yu Chengshu paid the Yu Lineage’s accumulated debts, and Ouyang Ling warned that she would personally collect if they borrowed again.
• Ouyang Ling and Ma Liang went to the Bright Light Sect, which refused to receive them during its disciple recruitment.
• Ouyang Ling had Ma Liang activate the Ten Thousand Ghosts Grand Formation that night, sending ghosts among the Bright Light Sect’s examination candidates.

Ma Liang and Ouyang Ling used the Fengdu Grand Formation and increasingly outrageous pressure to recover the Vast Heaven Sect’s old debts from more than a dozen sects and lineages. Their haul left Chu Xinghe and the Grand Elder worried about the damage their methods had caused.

• Ouyang Ling unleashed the Fengdu Grand Formation at the Bright Light Sect, scaring away prospective disciples and trapping the sect master in the Ghost Emperor’s illusion until the elders repaid their debt.
• Ma Liang withdrew the formation after the Bright Light Sect repaid the Vast Heaven Sect, and Ouyang Ling warned the sect master against leaving to complain.
• Ma Liang and Ouyang Ling traveled together, settling debts and bringing a mountain of resources back to the Vast Heaven Sect.
• Chu Xinghe learned from Feng Fei that Ma Liang had recovered the debts with Ouyang Ling’s help, then heard the Grand Elder explain that the pair had swept through more than a dozen debtors.
• Ouyang Ling pressured the Sikong Lineage into repaying by offering to help its women have children, and Ma Liang and Ouyang Ling forced the Departing Fire Sect to pay after accusing its young sect master of pursuing Ma Liang.
• Ouyang Ling’s guidance caused the Strange Weapons Sect’s furnaces to explode and its spirit enchanters’ failure rates to rise, prompting the sect master to repay its debt.

Ma Liang and Ouyang Ling’s ruthless debt collection embarrassed the Vast Heaven Sect, and the First Elder punished Ouyang Ling by cutting the Artifact Refining Palace’s cooks in half and banning pork hock. After learning that the sect also owed debts, Chu Xinghe insisted it repay them, even if the original creditors were gone.

• Ma Liang and Ouyang Ling collected old debts through shameless threats and schemes, bringing resources back to the Vast Heaven Sect and damaging its reputation.
• The First Elder recalled the pair, cut off Ma Liang’s resources, and punished Ouyang Ling by reducing the Artifact Refining Palace’s cooks and banning pork hock.
• Ma Biao told Chu Xinghe that the Vast Heaven Sect also had debts it had not repaid, prompting Chu Xinghe to propose paying them back with interest.
• The First Elder explained that the creditors’ factions no longer existed, but Chu Xinghe insisted the sect should repay their descendants or burn offerings for the dead.
• Chu Xinghe urged the Vast Heaven Sect to make repayment a public effort and declared that no creditor would be allowed to refuse its payment.

Chu Xinghe proposed that the Vast Heaven Sect repay every debt recorded since its founding, and the sect master and elders approved the plan as both righteous and a way to bolster the sect’s reputation. Ma Liang volunteered to handle the unpleasant work while leaving the credit to Xinghe, convinced that a future Grand Elder should take the blame rather than claim glory.

• Chu Xinghe realized the Vast Heaven Sect also owed debts and proposed repaying every one of them.
• Elder He supported Xinghe’s proposal, and Ma Liang brought in chests of debt records dating back to Great Emperor Haotian’s era.
• Chu Xinghe argued that repayment was right and would protect the Vast Heaven Sect’s reputation after Ma Liang’s recent debt-collection efforts.
• Gu Mingchao and the elders approved the plan, recognizing that repaying the debts could encourage others to settle what they owed the sect.
• Ma Liang volunteered to help Xinghe with the dirty and tiring work, deciding that the credit for repayment should belong to Xinghe.

Chu Xinghe brought Ma Liang along to repay debts owed by the Vast Heaven Sect, while the Grand Elder recognized Ma Liang’s loyalty and ambition to become Xinghe’s future assistant. They arrived at the Heavenly Martial Sect to return its resources, leaving Grand Elder Qu Ying alarmed by the unexpected repayment.

• The Grand Elder approved Ma Liang’s decision to accompany Chu Xinghe and concluded that Ma Liang was loyal, shameless when needed, and determined to assist Xinghe rather than compete with him.
• Ma Liang privately resolved that his only ambition was to become the Vast Heaven Sect’s Grand Elder and help Chu Xinghe, while Chu Xinghe organized a plan to repay the sect’s debts.
• Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang stole Ouyang Ling’s last two pork knuckles before leaving the Vast Heaven Sect through a teleportation formation.
• Chu Xinghe arrived at the Heavenly Martial Sect with Ma Liang and told Grand Elder Qu Ying that they had come to return resources the Vast Heaven Sect owed.
• Qu Ying was stunned that Chu Xinghe had come to repay a debt rather than collect one.

Chu Xinghe brought the resources and interest owed to the Heavenly Martial Sect, but Zhao She feared repayment meant the Vast Heaven Sect planned to sever their affiliation and begged him to take everything back. Ma Liang turned Chu Xinghe’s attempt to reassure them into a demand for a larger share of their joint earnings, which the Heavenly Martial Sect eagerly accepted along with the repayment.

• Chu Xinghe arrived at the Heavenly Martial Sect with Ma Liang and presented the resources and interest owed to them.
• Zhao She and the elders panicked, believing repayment meant the Vast Heaven Sect would end their affiliation, and confessed to having skimmed resources and inflated prices.
• Chu Xinghe explained that he only wanted to repay the debt, but the Heavenly Martial Sect refused the resources and begged him to take back the IOU.
• At Chu Xinghe’s signal, Ma Liang reassured Zhao She, then demanded the Vast Heaven Sect’s share of their joint earnings increase by twenty percentage points.
• Zhao She accepted the repayment and agreed to the increased share immediately, while Ma Liang mistakenly concluded that Chu Xinghe had planned the demand all along.

Chu Xinghe tried to repay the Vast Heaven Sect’s debts to its subordinate sects, but Ma Liang’s threats prompted the sects to offer extra revenue as proof of loyalty instead. After Chu Xinghe returned, guilty subordinate sects flocked to the Vast Heaven Sect with the same offer, and Ma Liang realized Chu Xinghe had anticipated their response.

• Ma Liang warned the Heavenly Martial Sect that Chu Xinghe had spared it, and Zhao She recognized that the Vast Heaven Sect knew about the sect’s secret misconduct.
• The Heavenly Martial Sect hosted Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang, and Ma Liang later resolved to act more directly after Chu Xinghe told him to say less.
• At the Moon Shadow Sect, Ma Liang hinted that it could prove its loyalty with an extra twenty percent of its revenue, and its master immediately agreed.
• Chu Xinghe ended the visits to subordinate sects and returned to the Vast Heaven Sect, despite Ma Liang’s confusion.
• The next day, masters from nearly all the Vast Heaven Sect’s subordinate sects arrived to offer twenty percent of their annual revenue as proof of loyalty.
• Ma Liang concluded that Chu Xinghe had used the Heavenly Martial Sect and Moon Shadow Sect to expose which subordinate sects had guilty consciences.

Chu Xinghe’s debt repayments prompted guilty affiliated forces to pledge loyalty and surrender a share of their revenue, while innocent forces remained untouched. After the Vast Heaven Sect praised his tactful warning, sects across the world copied his approach, and the affiliated forces thanked him for ending their fear of harsher punishment.

• Ma Liang realized Chu Xinghe had used visits to two affiliated sects to warn the rest, prompting guilty forces to pledge loyalty voluntarily.
• Gu Mingchao and the Grand Elder praised Chu Xinghe’s strategy after Ma Liang recounted what had happened, and Gu Mingchao commended Ma Liang for supporting him.
• Zheng Yu learned from Chu Xinghe’s approach and repaid debts to two troublesome affiliated forces, which then pledged loyalty to Martial Emperor City.
• Major sects across the world adopted Chu Xinghe’s debt-repayment warning to settle embezzlement by affiliated forces.
• The affiliated forces thanked Chu Xinghe because pledging loyalty had ended their fear of being punished more harshly.

After his attempt to repay the Vast Heaven Sect’s vassals unexpectedly brought the sect praise and more revenue, Chu Xinghe learned he had received only a token reward and became eager to turn the costly millennium grand ceremony into a setback. He then found debts owed to non-vassal forces and insisted the sect repay them even though the creditors had lost their IOUs and tokens.

• The vassal forces increased their annual payments to the Vast Heaven Sect, and Gu Mingchao’s proposal to make Chu Xinghe his personal disciple was rejected; the elders instead approved ten thousand spirit stones and some pills as his reward.
• Feng Fei told Chu Xinghe to collect his reward from the treasury and pill room himself, then explained that he was busy preparing the millennium grand ceremony hosted by the Vast Heaven Sect.
• Chu Xinghe grew excited at the prospect of a huge ceremony with no sponsors and began planning how to ensure it caused the sect a loss.
• After reviewing why his earlier debt repayments had backfired, Chu Xinghe searched the accounts and found large debts owed to non-vassal forces.
• Ma Biao explained that the creditors had lost their IOUs or loan tokens, so the sect had no way to repay them under its usual procedures.
• Chu Xinghe rebuked Ma Biao and insisted that the Vast Heaven Sect repay the debts to protect its reputation, even if the creditors might later demand payment again.

Chu Xinghe persuaded the Great Elder to repay the Vast Heaven Sect’s debts even when the IOUs and tokens were missing, with interest, and sent disciples to deliver the payments. At the Hundred Herbs Hall, Li Xing despaired over his failing business until Vast Heaven Sect disciples arrived to settle one of its outstanding bills.

• Chu Xinghe convinced the Great Elder that the Vast Heaven Sect should honor debts with missing IOUs and tokens and pay the accrued interest.
• Chu Xinghe arranged for disciples to calculate the debts and deliver the payments, while he stayed at the sect and warned the teams not to risk their lives over their cargo.
• Li Xing recalled how his father’s death and the loss of the Hundred Herbs Hall’s IOUs and tokens had left the business unable to collect its debts.
• Uncle Li urged Li Xing to seek payment from the Vast Heaven Sect, but Li Xing believed it would follow its rules and refuse without the bill.
• Vast Heaven Sect disciples arrived at the Hundred Herbs Hall and announced they had come on Senior Brother Xinghe’s orders to settle the payment for their goods.

Gu Feng and the Vast Heaven Sect disciples repaid the Hundred Herbs Hall’s five-year-old debt with the highest interest, despite Li Xing having lost the invoices. Chu Xinghe’s decision restored the struggling business and Li Xing’s faith in trust, leaving him deeply grateful to the Vast Heaven Sect.

• Li Xing welcomed Gu Feng and the Vast Heaven Sect disciples, who said they had come to settle a debt from five years earlier.
• Li Xing explained that his father had died and the Hundred Herbs Hall had lost the invoices, but Gu Feng said the Vast Heaven Sect would repay the debt without proof.
• Overwhelmed by the gesture, Li Xing and Uncle Li knelt and kowtowed to Gu Feng before the disciples helped them up.
• Gu Feng presented the full payment with interest at the highest rate, and Li Xing thanked Chu Xinghe and the Vast Heaven Sect.
• Gu Feng refused Li Xing’s offer of a receipt and relayed Chu Xinghe’s instruction that people should trust one another and keep their word.
• Li Xing pledged the Li Clan’s gratitude and support, while Gu Feng and the disciples left to repay other outstanding debts.

After the Cloud Firmament Sect demanded the Myriad Spirits Sect’s secret technique to compensate for stolen spirit treasures, Liu Quanshan resigned himself to surrendering it. A Vast Heaven Sect disciple then arrived unexpectedly, claiming the Vast Heaven Sect had come to repay a two-hundred-year-old debt.

• The Myriad Spirits Sect lost the Cloud Firmament Sect’s spirit treasures to an ambush, and Ling Su demanded their full value or the Myriad Spirits Return to Origin technique.
• Liu Quanshan and the Myriad Spirits Sect elders suspected the Cloud Firmament Sect had arranged the theft to seize their secret technique.
• Liu Quanshan learned that no allied powers would help and decided to prepare the technique for the Cloud Firmament Sect.
• A Myriad Spirits Sect disciple reported that a Vast Heaven Sect disciple had arrived to repay a debt.
• Xu Qing explained that the Vast Heaven Sect had borrowed resources two hundred years earlier, though the Myriad Spirits Sect had lost the loan token.

The Vast Heaven Sect repaid the Myriad Spirits Sect’s long-overdue debt with the highest interest, despite the missing IOU and token, prompting Liu Quanshan and the elders to regret their past loyalty to the Cloud Firmament Sect. As the Vast Heaven Sect continued repaying debts across the world, Chu Xinghe celebrated the sect’s growing reputation for benevolence and credibility.

• Gu Feng brought the Myriad Spirits Sect its original loan and the highest possible interest, explaining that Chu Xinghe had ordered the Vast Heaven Sect to repay every debt, even without IOUs or tokens.
• Xu Qing and Liu Quanshan realized the Vast Heaven Sect was not targeting the Cloud Firmament Sect and reconsidered their long-held view of the two sects.
• Liu Quanshan and the elders recognized that the Cloud Firmament Sect still threatened to seize Myriad Spirits Return to the Source, while the Myriad Spirits Sect had no safe way to leave its alliance.
• Gu Feng departed to repay other debts, and the Vast Heaven Sect continued returning resources to factions throughout the world.
• Chu Xinghe watched the repayments drain the sect’s resources and took pride in earning the Vast Heaven Sect a reputation for benevolence and credibility.

The Vast Heaven Sect’s debt repayments inspired Zheng Yu to realize Chu Xinghe was establishing a precedent that would let sects reclaim debts for which they had lost the IOUs and tokens. Martial Emperor City and the other great sects joined the repayments, and Chu Xinghe was left baffled when Martial Emperor City sent resources to the Vast Heaven Sect.

• Martial Emperor City’s elders debated why the Vast Heaven Sect was repaying debts without requiring IOUs or tokens.
• Zheng Yu deduced that Chu Xinghe was gaining moral authority so the Vast Heaven Sect could later demand repayment of debts owed to it despite missing tokens.
• Cheng Xiaotian and the elders agreed Martial Emperor City should join in, and Zheng Yu arranged for its debts to be tallied and repaid.
• Zheng Yu secretly explained the scheme to the Star Moon Sect and the Heavenly Sword Alliance, which began repaying debts the next day.
• The ten great sects recognized Chu Xinghe’s strategy and joined the repayments, expecting to recover even more than they paid out.
• Chu Xinghe continued paying debts at the Vast Heaven Sect and wondered why Martial Emperor City was sending it resources with interest.

Chu Xinghe’s attempt to make the Vast Heaven Sect lose resources by repaying old debts instead made the sects across the world repay what they owed, earning the Vast Heaven Sect immense wealth and prestige. The Grand Elder celebrated the results, while Chu Xinghe lamented that his plan to cause a loss and advance to the Seventh Rank had failed.

• Chu Xinghe watched the Vast Heaven Sect send out resources to repay debts, but Martial Emperor City returned its own debts with the highest interest and Zheng Yu praised Chu Xinghe’s supposed master plan.
• Guo Qizhen and representatives of the Star Moon Sect, followed by other major sects, came to repay their debts and expressed admiration for Chu Xinghe.
• The sects interpreted Chu Xinghe’s repayments as a campaign for trust and credibility that also warned subordinate factions against embezzlement, so they repaid debts and promised to pay those they could not yet afford.
• The Grand Elder had Feng Fei tally the results and discovered that the Vast Heaven Sect had recovered more than five times the resources it had paid out.
• Chu Xinghe wondered why his attempt to make the sect lose resources and help him reach the Seventh Rank had turned into another success.