Chapter Summaries

Ma Liang’s Ten-Colored Spirit Stone drawing drove the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce’s rapid expansion into the Evil Shadow Continent, and Ma Liang publicly credited Chu Xinghe with the plan. Chu Xinghe was left baffled and blamed for a strategy he had not devised.

• The Vast Heaven Holy Land announced that anyone who bought an item from the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce could enter a drawing for Ten-Colored Spirit Stones, and its branches promised not to raise prices.
• Chu Xinghe realized that the drawing would draw evil spirits into the chamber’s stores and force the Evil Shadow Continent’s factions to accept its expansion or risk driving their people elsewhere.
• Ma Liang told the public that Chu Xinghe had come up with the entire plan, prompting Tantai Jing and others to praise Chu Xinghe’s open strategy.
• The Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce established itself across the Evil Shadow Continent as resistance faded.
• Chu Xinghe wondered how the plan had been attributed to him when he had learned about it only after it was announced.

Chu Xinghe let events unfold as the Xinghe Haters' Group complained that his actions had not caused the expected loss. Bai Yu devised a plan to undermine the Vast Heaven Holy Land by spreading rumors that its Ten-Colored Spirit Stone drawing was rigged, leaving the outcome of his scheme unresolved.

• Chu Xinghe decided not to interfere with Ma Liang and the others as events continued to unfold.
• The Xinghe Haters' Group confronted Bai Yu because Chu Xinghe had brought the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce to the Evil Shadow Continent instead of suffering a major loss.
• Bai Yu argued that the Vast Heaven Holy Land could not distribute enough Ten-Colored Spirit Stones to satisfy everyone and that disappointed Rogue Cultivators would be vulnerable to rumors.
• Bai Yu proposed spreading claims that the drawing was unfair and that the winners had been chosen in advance.
• The Xinghe Haters' Group praised Bai Yu's plan to damage the Vast Heaven Holy Land's reputation, and Bai Yu declared that Chu Xinghe would ultimately be defeated.

Bai Yu arranged a covert rumor campaign to undermine the Vast Heaven Holy Land’s Ten-Colored Spirit Stone drawing. Meanwhile, Chu Xinghe ordered the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce’s Evil Shadow Continent branches built ten times larger and more lavishly, hoping their enormous costs would finally let him take a loss.

• Bai Yu recruited ten experienced rumor spreaders from the Xinghe Haters' Group to infiltrate Rogue Cultivators and gradually seed claims that the drawing was rigged.
• Chu Xinghe decided to seek losses through the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce because its expansion into the Evil Shadow Continent could no longer be stopped.
• Chu Xinghe argued that larger branches would ease customer queues, despite Qin Xiangqian warning that the proposed buildings were ten times their usual size.
• Chu Xinghe ordered every new Evil Shadow Continent branch built to lavish standards and told Ma Liang and Qin Xiangqian not to question his deeper purpose.

Chu Xinghe ordered the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce branches on the Evil Shadow Continent built to extravagant new standards because he hoped the wasteful spending would trigger a crushing loss. The Vast Heaven Holy Land trusted that he had a deeper plan, while outsiders wondered whether Chu Xinghe had suddenly become fond of luxury.

• Chu Xinghe celebrated his growth and ordered every Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce branch on the Evil Shadow Continent built to the height of luxury, hoping the expense would bring misfortune.
• The Grand Elder and other leaders of the Vast Heaven Holy Land questioned the costly plans until Ma Liang assured them Chu Xinghe had a deeper plan, and they trusted him.
• Evil spirits on the Evil Shadow Continent were stunned when the Chamber of Commerce halted construction and unveiled plans so grand they seemed fit for an imperial city.
• People across the Four Continents recalled that Chu Xinghe inspired awe without relying on status or lavish displays, and that he was known to disregard worldly possessions.
• Auspicious Dwelling had once created a unique ornament for Chu Xinghe, but he never met its owner or looked at the gift, leaving outsiders puzzled by his new extravagance.

Chu Xinghe delayed construction of the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce by handing its lavish design to the Azure Dragon Sacred Venerable, while Ma Liang and Qin Xiangqian struggled to understand his purpose. Just as they were at their wits’ end, Shen Chun told them that Tantai Jing and Zheng Yu had come to see them.

• Zheng Yu reflected on Chu Xinghe’s priceless possessions and concluded that ordinary people’s pursuit of Auspicious Dwelling’s accessories could not compare with Senior Brother Xinghe.
• Ma Liang and Qin Xiangqian asked Chu Xinghe why he was building the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce, but he told them to wait if they could not figure it out.
• Chu Xinghe secretly celebrated their confusion and explained that the Azure Dragon Sacred Venerable’s elaborate design was delaying the chamber’s opening and its profits.
• Ma Liang and Qin Xiangqian grew so baffled that they ate pig brains while struggling to understand Chu Xinghe’s plan.
• Shen Chun told Ma Liang and Qin Xiangqian that Tantai Jing and Zheng Yu had arrived looking for them.

Tantai Jing and Zheng Yu offered to fund and build parts of the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce, hoping to gain a foothold for their businesses on the hostile Evil Shadow Continent. They realized Chu Xinghe's lavish construction plan was another calculated opportunity that would benefit the Vast Heaven Holy Land, and they hurried to secure a place in it.

• Tantai Jing proposed that the Demonic Sect provide labor, materials, transportation, and all costs for part of the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce, with the completed work belonging to the Vast Heaven Holy Land.
• Zheng Yu offered the same terms on behalf of Martial Emperor City, leaving Ma Liang and Qin Xiangqian bewildered.
• Tantai Jing explained that the Demonic Sect's Momo businesses had grown wealthy and influential, but their expansion into the Evil Shadow Continent had met fierce resistance and heavy losses.
• Tantai Jing learned that Chu Xinghe had opened the Evil Shadow Continent to the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce using Ten-Colored Spirit Stones, a strategy he could not copy.
• After hearing that Chu Xinghe planned to build an extravagant Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce, Tantai Jing met Zheng Yu and they both recognized the chance to profit by joining the project.

Tantai Jing realized Chu Xinghe’s lavish Vast Heaven Chambers of Commerce could give the Demonic Sect a way into the Evil Shadow Continent by letting its businesses enter alongside the construction work. Zheng Yu recognized the same opportunity for Martial Emperor City, and the Vast Heaven Holy Land arranged for both factions to build the chambers at their own expense.

• Tantai Jing heard about Chu Xinghe’s extravagant construction plans and rushed to the Vast Heaven Holy Land, where he and Zheng Yu understood each other’s intentions.
• Tantai Jing offered to have the Demonic Sect provide all labor, materials, and transportation for the Vast Heaven Chambers of Commerce.
• Tantai Jing explained to Ma Liang and Qin Xiangqian that construction would let Devil Devil Logistics and other Demonic Sect businesses enter the Evil Shadow Continent without facing the usual resistance.
• Ma Liang and Qin Xiangqian realized the Vast Heaven Holy Land could receive the lavish chambers without paying for them, while the Demonic Sect gained access to a vast new market.
• Zheng Yu arranged for Martial Emperor City to contribute construction resources as well, and Ma Liang settled the arrangements with Tantai Jing without a contract.

Chu Xinghe discovered that the Demonic Sect and Martial Emperor City had volunteered to build Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce branches in the Evil Shadow Continent, and other major factions soon rushed to make the same deal. He tried to refuse their offers, but their leaders mistook every refusal for a demand for better terms, and the Grand Elder finalized an agreement giving the Vast Heaven Holy Land a share of their profits.

• Ma Liang and Qin Xiangqian told Chu Xinghe that Tantai Jing and Zheng Yu had agreed to build branches of the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce, covering all costs and maintenance.
• The Grand Elder concluded that Chu Xinghe had drawn the Demonic Sect and Martial Emperor City into a profitable arrangement, while a memory crystal showed Tantai Jing sincerely thanking Chu Xinghe.
• The Wolf King and representatives of major factions from across the Three Continents arrived at the Vast Heaven Holy Land seeking construction contracts after realizing the Evil Shadow Continent market could be lucrative.
• Chu Xinghe repeatedly told the assembled leaders that the Vast Heaven Holy Land would handle the remaining construction itself, but they interpreted his refusals as invitations to offer higher profit shares.
• Clan Head Ning offered the Vast Heaven Holy Land all first-year proceeds and thirty percent of later proceeds, and the Grand Elder finalized the agreement after Chu Xinghe gave in.

Chu Xinghe’s negotiations brought the Three Continents’ factions into the Evil Shadow Continent through funded Vast Heaven Chambers of Commerce, and their businesses rapidly challenged the Evil Lords’ control. The White Spirit Evil Lord promised a countermeasure, but the Heavenly Secrets Evil Lord begged him to stop making plans.

• The factions spent a day and night dividing the Vast Heaven Chambers of Commerce construction contracts, and Chu Xinghe retreated to the ninth floor of the Technique Repository Tower.
• Chu Xinghe took the plans from Azure Dragon and arranged for construction to begin, while Huang Ritian’s confinement was extended to two hundred years after he ran into the Grand Elder.
• Tantai Jing launched Demon Demon Express and other Demonic Sect businesses across the Evil Shadow Continent, and factions from the Three Continents followed with their own trade.
• The Evil Lords grew furious as the new businesses took markets from them, and the Heavenly Secrets Evil Lord accused the White Spirit Division of helping Chu Xinghe open the continent to the Three Continents.
• The White Spirit Evil Lord announced that he had a countermeasure, and the Heavenly Secrets Evil Lord begged him to stop coming up with ideas.

The White Spirit Evil Lord convinced the other Evil Lords that they had lost to Chu Xinghe’s information advantage rather than his Star Divination Art, then presented a plan they believed could work. Meanwhile, the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce’s branches neared completion across the Evil Shadow Continent, and Tantai Jing dealt with corner-cutting contractors while launching the Demonic Sect’s construction business.

• The White Spirit Evil Lord argued that Chu Xinghe’s abilities mattered more than his Star Divination Art and said the merged Four Continents had narrowed the information gap.
• The White Spirit Evil Lord explained his plan to the Evil Lords, who judged it promising and agreed it might seriously harm Chu Xinghe.
• Qin Xiangqian reported to Chu Xinghe that construction of the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce’s branches was nearly complete, with the Demonic Sect’s branches finished first.
• Qin Xiangqian reported that Tantai Jing had personally punished Demonic Sect workers who cut corners and ensured the buildings were repaired.
• Tantai Jing established the Demon Demon Construction Group and the One-Night Housebuilding Group, but feared the flawed chamber branches would undermine the new business.

Tantai Jing’s Demonic Sect construction business partnered with Azure Dragon for architectural designs, earning the Vast Heaven Holy Land a ten percent fee and infuriating Chu Xinghe. As the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce prepared to open branches across the Evil Shadow Continent, Chu Xinghe ordered an equal number of Evil Spirit clerks and assistants hired alongside the existing staff, hoping to cause chaos.

• Tantai Jing expanded the Demonic Sect’s business into demolition and construction, using Azure Dragon’s designs and agreeing to pay the Vast Heaven Holy Land a ten percent design fee after Gui Li threatened to involve Ma Liang.
• Azure Dragon told Chu Xinghe that his attempts to sabotage the designs had failed because the builders praised every result, and he kept cooperating to prevent the Sacred Venerable Vermilion Bird from taking over.
• Qin Xiangqian reported that the Evil Shadow Continent branches and their staff were nearly ready to open within half a month.
• Chu Xinghe ordered Qin Xiangqian to keep the existing clerks’ and assistants’ benefits unchanged while recruiting an equal number of Evil Spirit staff with the same benefits.

Chu Xinghe ordered Qin Xiangqian to hire untrained Evil Spirit assistants and clerks for the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce, hoping their lack of training would cause costly chaos. After the Evil Spirits distrusted the advertised benefits, Axiu applied out of desperation to save his sick mother and was accepted, leaving him stunned when Qin Xiangqian immediately approved his request for a year’s wages in advance.

• Chu Xinghe decided to hire Evil Spirit assistants and clerks without training them, and Qin Xiangqian carried out his orders.
• Qin Xiangqian announced the hiring, but Evil Spirits ignored the offer until he published the pay and benefits in detail.
• The Evil Spirits suspected the benefits were a scam, while Axiu considered applying because his mother needed an expensive seventh-rank pill.
• Axiu became the first Evil Spirit to apply, and Qin Xiangqian accepted him into the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce.
• Axiu asked for a year of wages in advance and expected Qin Xiangqian to refuse, but Qin ordered the full amount paid, including the attendance bonus.

Axiu suspected the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce was plotting against him, but accepted a year of salary in advance and used some of it to buy medicine for his mother. Qin Xiangqian then revealed that the chamber would have provided the medicine free, leaving Axiu stunned.

• Axiu demanded his salary in advance and insisted on taking it home, while Qin Xiangqian agreed to pay him in front of the watching evil spirits.
• Steward Liu gave Axiu a year of full-attendance resources, and Qin Xiangqian secretly had people follow him after he left.
• Axiu bought a seventh-rank pill for his mother, evaded no one following him, and gave her the pill when he reached home.
• Two Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce followers arrived at Axiu's courtyard, and Qin Xiangqian confronted him about spending the resources on an overpriced pill.
• Qin Xiangqian told Axiu that the chamber provided free medicinal pills for employees' immediate family members in need, leaving Axiu bewildered.

Axiu misunderstood Qin Xiangqian’s anger as an attempt to reclaim the resources, but Qin instead gave him an eighth-rank pill to cure his mother and explained the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce’s generous employee benefits. Axiu remained convinced the chamber must be recruiting him as a death soldier, even after Steward Liu explained that employees were told to abandon resources and save their lives.

• Qin Xiangqian confronted Axiu for buying an overpriced defective seventh-rank pill instead of reporting his mother’s illness and using the chamber’s benefits.
• Qin Xiangqian gave Axiu an eighth-rank pill, which quickly cured Axiu’s mother.
• Axiu returned to the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce, where Steward Liu registered him, explained his allowances and future opportunities, and told him about the employee benefits.
• Axiu offered to become a death soldier, but Steward Liu insisted that employees were expected to abandon resources and prioritize their own safety.
• Axiu received a medical allowance, delivered within a day under Chu Xinghe’s rules, and remained baffled by the chamber’s generosity.

Axiu discovered that the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce gave its Evil Spirit employees generous benefits and strict limits on working hours, then recruited two desperate friends who embraced him as their godfather. As the chamber filled up, freelance spies joined its ranks and exposed infiltrators, while Qin Xiangqian realized the Evil Spirits cherished the security they had found and were fiercely protective of the chamber.

• Axiu received generous subsidies and learned that his warehouse job meant three shichen of work each day, with overtime strictly forbidden.
• Axiu asked Qin Xiangqian if he could bring friends into the chamber, then recruited two who thanked him by calling him their godfather.
• As word of the benefits spread, positions filled, and Evil Spirits began asking Qin Xiangqian to let them sign Life and Death Contracts.
• Freelance spies confessed their former work and joined the chamber, then identified and exposed spies sent by the Evil Lords and other infiltrators across the Four Continents.
• Qin Xiangqian realized the Evil Spirit employees valued their newfound security so deeply that they were more worried than he was about the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce's safety.

The Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce automatically granted Evil Spirit workers generous subsidies, then Chu Xinghe expanded medical reimbursements to cover foot therapy and brothel visits as psychological treatment. Ma Liang volunteered to research brothels across the Four Continents, but Chu Xinghe kicked him away.

• New Evil Spirit workers learned that the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce assessed their family circumstances and automatically provided eligible subsidies without requiring applications.
• Chu Xinghe ordered the chamber to make subsidies easy to obtain, insisting that workers should receive support whenever their circumstances could justify it.
• Qin Xiangqian reported that the chamber already reimbursed all medical costs, but Chu Xinghe argued that foot therapy should also qualify as treatment.
• Chu Xinghe further ordered brothel visits covered as psychological care, and Qin Xiangqian added both benefits to the reimbursement policy.
• Ma Liang offered to visit brothels across the Four Continents to research the new benefits, so Chu Xinghe kicked him away.

Qin Xiangqian saw how the Vast Heaven Holy Land’s generous benefits and strict oversight kept the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce orderly, while Shen Chun’s intelligence network protected its agents and enterprises. As the Evil Shadow Continent branches prepared to open, Qin Xiangqian realized the recruited Evil Spirits could help identify local villains before the Ten-Colored Spirit Stone drawings began.

• Qin Xiangqian maintained strict rules and transparent promotions at the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce, expelling anyone who crossed the line.
• Shen Chun’s intelligence network monitored the Four Continents, and the Vast Heaven Holy Land supported agents who reported threats instead of surrendering to them.
• The Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce filled its Evil Shadow Continent branches with Evil Spirit helpers and clerks as Qin Xiangqian prepared for the opening.
• Ma Liang asked Qin Xiangqian to help identify heinous Evil Spirit Rogue Cultivators before the Ten-Colored Spirit Stone drawings.
• Qin Xiangqian realized the local Evil Spirit employees could identify the villains and understood why Senior Brother Xinghe had insisted on recruiting them.

Qin Xiangqian, Ma Liang, and Shen Chun realized that Chu Xinghe had arranged for Evil Spirit hands and clerks to identify dangerous Rogue Cultivators and provide intelligence on the Evil Shadow Continent. They returned to the Vast Heaven Holy Land together, eager to thank him and share what they believed were his many successes.

• Qin Xiangqian ordered the Evil Spirit hands and clerks to identify local heinous villains so the Vast Heaven Holy Land could keep Ten-Colored Spirit Stones from them.
• The Evil Spirit hands and clerks compiled and cross-checked information about Rogue Cultivators across the Evil Shadow Continent.
• Shen Chun arrived and explained that the clerks' local knowledge could help him identify recruits and establish an intelligence network.
• Ma Liang and Qin Xiangqian agreed that Shen Chun had understood Chu Xinghe's plans more fully than they had.
• Qin Xiangqian activated the teleportation array, and he, Ma Liang, and Shen Chun returned to the Vast Heaven Holy Land to thank Chu Xinghe.

Chu Xinghe learned that the Evil Spirit workers and clerks he had recruited were preventing villains from obtaining Ten-Colored Spirit Stones and had helped Vast Heaven Holy Land establish intelligence work in the Evil Shadow Continent. When Shen Chun asked how to profit from the intelligence, Chu Xinghe sarcastically suggested sharing it with every faction, but Shen Chun mistook the suggestion for a brilliant plan and decided to sell the information.

• Qin Xiangqian and Ma Liang praised Chu Xinghe for recruiting Evil Spirit workers and clerks, who were keeping most Ten-Colored Spirit Stones out of villains’ hands.
• Shen Chun thanked Chu Xinghe for supposedly preparing a breakthrough in intelligence work in the Evil Shadow Continent, while Chu Xinghe silently wondered how his smile had caused the misunderstanding.
• Shen Chun asked Chu Xinghe how Vast Heaven Holy Land could maximize the benefits of its new intelligence, and Chu Xinghe suggested sharing everything with every faction out of frustration.
• Shen Chun interpreted the suggestion as a plan to sell the information and control what rival factions learned and how they acted.
• Shen Chun celebrated the prospect of profiting from the intelligence and gathering information on other factions, while Chu Xinghe could only stare in disbelief.

Shen Chun interpreted Chu Xinghe’s intelligence-sharing strategy as a way to profit by selling information and anticipating other factions’ plans. He rushed off to put it into practice, leaving Chu Xinghe worried that Shen Chun had misunderstood him completely.

• The chapter described how Shen Chun’s Vast Heaven Holy Land intelligence department consumed resources, while the Grand Elder urged him to spend freely for useful information.
• Shen Chun wondered whether intelligence work could make money, but Elder He told him that Tantai Jing’s success could not be replicated.
• Shen Chun concluded that Chu Xinghe’s intelligence-sharing plan would let the Holy Land sell information and predict buyers’ next moves.
• Shen Chun hurried away, promising to show the Four Continents that the intelligence department could make a fortune.
• Chu Xinghe realized Shen Chun had badly misread his instructions, while Ma Liang and Qin Xiangqian regarded Shen Chun as a formidable rival in imagining schemes.