Chapter Summaries

Chu Xinghe attended a formal gathering in Martial Emperor City wearing the one-of-a-kind Moonlight Illusion Garment Xinghe, designed by Sacred Venerable Vermilion Bird. After Zheng Yu toured him through two favorite shops, Chu Xinghe’s visit brought a flood of customers, revealing that Zheng Yu owned most of both businesses.

• The chapter described how Moonlight Illusion Garments became wildly popular, with legendary outfits Dragon Soars Across the Four Seas and Phoenix Dances in the Nine Heavens prized by cultivators.
• Chu Xinghe wore Xinghe, a unique garment that left a trail of stars forming a galaxy behind him, and onlookers admired it while joking about impossible ways to obtain it.
• Black Sha watched the Haotian Mirror broadcast and argued that Chu Xinghe’s elegant formal appearances differed from the thrifty, easily flustered person people remembered.
• Zheng Yu showed Chu Xinghe around Martial Emperor City’s outer city and took him into two shops he particularly liked.
• After Chu Xinghe left, both shops drew crowds hoping to follow his route, and their owners celebrated the sudden surge in business.
• Zheng Yu revealed that he owned nine tenths of each shop’s equity and had deliberately chosen them because Chu Xinghe brought good fortune wherever he went.

Zheng Yu explained why Rogue Cultivators sought homes in powerful cities, prompting Chu Xinghe to abolish Haotian’s limits on how long they could cultivate there. He left for Martial Emperor City’s inner city delighted by the plan to draw in Rogue Cultivators, while the city’s disciples gathered to see him.

• Zheng Yu explained that Rogue Cultivators rarely kept discovered blessed lands or grotto-heavens, and that Martial Emperor City’s outer city offered them a safer place to cultivate if they owned or rented property.
• Chu Xinghe learned that Haotian City expelled Rogue Cultivators who stayed too long and ordered Ma Liang to let them cultivate freely throughout the Haotian Mountain Range outside the Vast Heaven Sect’s grounds.
• Zheng Yu warned that the new policy would bring many Rogue Cultivators and greatly increase resource consumption, making Chu Xinghe enthusiastic about the plan.
• Ma Liang contacted Feng Fei, who managed the Vast Heaven Holy Land while its senior figures were away, to put Chu Xinghe’s order into effect.
• Chu Xinghe entered Martial Emperor City’s inner city with Zheng Yu, and crowds of disciples gathered to see him.
• Zheng Yu scolded the gathered disciples for neglecting their cultivation, and they fled in fright.

Chu Xinghe arrived in Martial Emperor City, where Zheng Yu arranged lavish accommodations and a banquet for him. When Bai Yu toasted Chu Xinghe with a curse about his future defeat, Chu Xinghe enthusiastically returned the toast, prompting the guests to conclude that Bai Yu had switched sides.

• Zheng Yu escorted Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang to private accommodations and arranged a personal rocking chair and male attendants for Chu Xinghe.
• Zheng Yu received the arriving guests and noted that Chu Xinghe's lavish gifts had encouraged them to bring more valuable gifts to Martial Emperor City.
• Cheng Xiaotian hosted a banquet where Chu Xinghe accepted toasts from the Four Continents' geniuses with small sips.
• Bai Yu toasted Chu Xinghe by predicting that he would eventually suffer a crushing defeat, and Chu Xinghe drained his cup and returned the toast.
• The guests recognized Bai Yu as Leader Bai of the Xinghe Haters' Group and concluded that rumors he had switched sides were true.

At the banquet, everyone mistook Bai Yu’s threats against Chu Xinghe for proof that he was a hidden defector, while Chu Xinghe sincerely admired him as a kindred spirit. Meanwhile, Chu Xinghe asked Feng Fei to launch a costly plan at Vast Heaven Holy Land, and Feng Fei assigned Shen Chun to carry it out.

• The banquet guests concluded that Bai Yu had secretly been helping Chu Xinghe and treated his toast as evidence that he was a hidden defector.
• Bai Yu blamed Chu Xinghe for turning the crowd and the Evil Lords against him, then vowed to make Chu Xinghe lose everything before leaving without giving his name.
• Chu Xinghe misunderstood Bai Yu’s threat as heartfelt support and wished he could keep drinking with his new kindred spirit.
• Chu Xinghe contacted Feng Fei and insisted that he fully open a plan despite Feng Fei’s concerns about the expense and influx of people.
• Feng Fei assigned Shen Chun to carry out Chu Xinghe’s plan, and Shen Chun agreed after hearing that Chu Xinghe considered it foolproof.

Zhang Bin, a rejected Rogue Cultivator, secretly cultivated in the Haotian Mountain Range to benefit from the Vast Heaven Holy Land’s Spiritual Qi. He learned that Senior Brother Xinghe had changed the rules to let Rogue Cultivators cultivate on the mountain’s outskirts without a time limit, and he joined others in praising the Vast Heaven Holy Land.

• Zhang Bin recalled how sects had rejected him and how another Rogue Cultivator taught him to cultivate near powerful factions to benefit from Spiritual Qi leaking out of their grounds.
• Zhang Bin cultivated in the Haotian Mountain Range, hoping to reach the fourth rank before his permitted stay ended.
• Two Bear Clan patrol disciples arrived, and Zhang Bin prepared to leave when he thought his time in the mountains was up.
• The patrol disciples told Zhang Bin that Senior Brother Xinghe had removed the time limit for cultivation on the mountain’s outskirts, while forbidding entry to inner areas and damage to the grounds.
• Zhang Bin confirmed that cultivation was free, then praised Lord Xinghe as Rogue Cultivators across the Haotian Mountain Range celebrated the new rules.

Chu Xinghe’s order allowed Rogue Cultivators to cultivate in the outer Haotian Mountain Range as long as they followed the rules, astonishing people across the Four Continents. After learning how easily the Vast Heaven Holy Land accepted his decisions, visiting prodigies recognized the extraordinary authority he held there.

• Zhang Bin learned that Bear Clan disciples would let Rogue Cultivators cultivate in the Haotian Mountain Range if they obeyed the rules.
• The Vast Heaven Holy Land announced across the Four Continents that Rogue Cultivators could cultivate in the mountain range’s outer areas without being driven away for staying long-term.
• Prodigies in Martial Emperor City questioned whether Chu Xinghe had authorized the order, and Ma Liang confirmed that he had.
• Zheng Yu explained that Chu Xinghe had made the decision on the spur of the moment and had not needed to report it or hold a meeting.
• The grand elder said he had not known about the order but considered it a small matter Chu Xinghe or Ma Liang could handle.
• Zheng Yu explained Chu Xinghe’s standing to the visiting prodigies, who realized that his authority in the Vast Heaven Holy Land surpassed their own status in their sects.

Chu Xinghe opened the Haotian Mountain Range to Rogue Cultivators, drawing criticism over the resources they would consume, and claimed he simply wanted to use up the Vast Heaven Holy Land’s resources. The crowd interpreted his words as a hidden plan and a pointed response to Bai Yu, while Zheng Yu mistook Chu Xinghe’s question about Bai Yu for another deliberate insult.

• Young prodigies and senior figures questioned Chu Xinghe’s decision to let Rogue Cultivators freely absorb spiritual power in the Haotian Mountain Range and worried about the cost to the Vast Heaven Holy Land.
• Chu Xinghe declared that he wanted to consume the sect’s resources, and the gathered big shots assumed he was concealing a deeper purpose.
• The crowd connected Chu Xinghe’s statement to Bai Yu’s article accusing him of wanting to consume sect resources, while Bai Yu took the remark as a personal attack and stormed away.
• Chu Xinghe wondered aloud who Bai Yu was, hoping to learn the identity of the person who had wished him such auspicious success.
• Zheng Yu stopped others from naming Bai Yu and answered that he was probably a nameless nobody, interpreting Chu Xinghe’s question as a calculated slight.

At Cheng Xiaotian’s promotion banquet, Chu Xinghe redirected the crowd’s questions from the Vast Heaven Holy Land to Cheng’s breakthrough. Cheng credited Xinghe’s Happy Cultivation Method with helping him open his state of mind, revealing his Dao of Happiness and leaving Zheng Yu privately unconvinced that his master’s disciple was happy.

• Chu Xinghe praised a nobody’s auspicious words while the gathering’s prodigies interpreted his sincerity as him saying the opposite of what he meant.
• The Grand Elder deflected questions about Chu Xinghe and the Vast Heaven Holy Land, and Chu Xinghe steered the gathering’s attention toward Cheng Xiaotian.
• The gathered big shots asked Cheng Xiaotian how he had reached the Half-Step Main God realm, and Cheng said he had to thank Chu Xinghe.
• Cheng Xiaotian explained that Xinghe’s Happy Cultivation Method cultivated the heart and that happiness opened one’s state of mind, which he called his Dao of Happiness.
• Zheng Yu privately thought Cheng Xiaotian’s Dao of Happiness had made his master happy but had not made Zheng Yu happy.

Cheng Xiaotian explained that his Dao of Happiness came from topping up in the Haotian Mirror and realizing he could defeat Gu Mingchao there, which broke his Heart Demon and triggered his breakthrough to the Half-Step Main God realm. Gu Mingchao arrived to protect his old friend as Cheng Xiaotian began the dangerous breakthrough.

• Cheng Xiaotian described how he found happiness by topping up and used his victories over Gu Mingchao in the Haotian Mirror to overcome his Heart Demon.
• Cheng Xiaotian gained a sudden insight and began breaking through to the Half-Step Main God realm.
• The Grand Elder and Martial Emperor City directed everyone to retreat as Spiritual Qi gathered around Cheng Xiaotian.
• Gu Mingchao arrived from the Vast Heaven Holy Land and used his Flame Divinity to guard Cheng Xiaotian during the breakthrough.

Gu Mingchao guarded Cheng Xiaotian through his breakthrough to Half-Step Main God, then celebrated with him at the resumed banquet. As the faction leaders pressed Cheng Xiaotian about whether top-ups could make them stronger, Chu Xinghe worried that the Haotian Mirror would tempt them to spend their resources.

• Gu Mingchao arrived at Martial Emperor City and protected Cheng Xiaotian while he broke through to Half-Step Main God.
• Cheng Xiaotian completed his breakthrough, and he and Gu Mingchao traded old nicknames and jokes before celebrating as old friends.
• The gathered factions congratulated Cheng Xiaotian, whose advancement gave Martial Emperor City new standing and a chance to pursue the Main God realm.
• At the banquet, Cheng Xiaotian claimed top-ups had made him stronger and told leaders he had spent more than half a Martial Emperor City's worth.
• Chu Xinghe grew alarmed as leaders asked about top-ups and Gu Mingchao also discussed wanting to become stronger.

After a banquet, Chu Xinghe hoped the Four Continents’ leaders would not believe Cheng Xiaotian’s claims about topping up, but Zheng Yu’s promise to repay him triggered a frenzy on the Haotian Mirror rankings. As major figures and factions competed for rank, Chu Xinghe realized his plans had collapsed.

• Cheng Xiaotian and Gu Mingchao drank late into the night, then reminisced noisily together in Cheng Xiaotian’s room.
• Chu Xinghe checked the Haotian Mirror and saw that the top-up rankings had not changed, but Zheng Yu visited and promised to repay Chu Xinghe’s kindness with a big surprise.
• Undefeated Legend Xing Yushen appeared in the top ten, and the rankings quickly became a fierce contest among figures from across the Four Continents.
• Wang Daoquan, Ming Clan, Hua Clan, Cui Clan, and Earth Sha contestants battled for places near the top of the rankings as Evil Lords claimed several top-ten spots.
• Wu Xingyun, King of the Night Road, surged to second place for the Blazing Sun Continent, while Lord of the Ape School and his rival fought over Demon Star Continent’s standing.
• The Haotian Mirror’s trending topics filled with the top-up competition, and Chu Xinghe realized that everything had gone wrong.

Zheng Yu’s schemes sparked a top-up spending battle among the Four Continents’ faction leaders, who kept charging to defend their pride and hoped the Haotian Mirror might help them grow stronger. Lu Chengqing reported the leaderboard surge to Ma Liang, who credited Chu Xinghe’s planning, while Chu Xinghe insisted the affair had nothing to do with him or the Vast Heaven Holy Land.

• Zheng Yu arranged for disciples to spread rumors that topping up could make people stronger, prompting Wang Daoquan and other faction leaders to join the Haotian Mirror leaderboard and compete for status.
• Clan Head Hua confirmed through Hua Xichen’s divination that Cheng Xiaotian had truly comprehended the Dao of Happiness, while he and the Evil Shadow Continent’s lords remained eager to reach the Half-Step Main God realm.
• Lu Chengqing noticed the leaderboard’s explosive growth and contacted Ma Liang, who told him that Chu Xinghe had anticipated and controlled the situation.
• Ma Liang praised Chu Xinghe’s calculated influence and found him calmly reclining with his Haotian Mirror set aside.
• Chu Xinghe denied having anything to do with the spending frenzy, and Ma Liang agreed that it had absolutely nothing to do with Chu Xinghe or the Vast Heaven Holy Land.

Chu Xinghe tried to stop the Four Continents' big shots from losing more spirit stones through the Haotian Mirror, but small recharges and rumors that recharging made people stronger sparked an even bigger wave of spending. It left Chu Xinghe sprawled beneath his broken rocking chair, still composed as he declared himself beaten.

• Chu Xinghe told Zheng Yu to explain the events truthfully on the Haotian Mirror and urge the big shots to stop recharging.
• Chu Xinghe ordered Lu Chengqing to disable large recharges, and Lu Chengqing carried out the order while Zheng Yu posted his account.
• Zheng Yu's post explained that Cheng Xiaotian's breakthrough came from his unique Dao, but Haotian Mirror users began arguing over whether recharging could make people stronger.
• People who had made small recharges falsely claimed they had grown stronger so they would not be the only ones fooled, and their posts encouraged others to recharge.
• Small recharges surged across the Four Continents, leaving Lu Chengqing excited by the growing income and Chu Xinghe lying beneath his shattered rocking chair.

Chu Xinghe’s broken rocking chair gave him a moment to reflect on how people who had topped up their Haotian Mirror accounts were persuading others to do the same to protect their own pride. Lu Chengqing realized that Chu Xinghe had stopped large top-ups to calm the wealthy cultivators while drawing small payments from across the Four Continents, leaving the Vast Heaven Holy Land with vast earnings and little blame.

• Chu Xinghe’s rocking chair broke, and Zheng Yu mistakenly threatened Martial Emperor City’s stewards before Ma Liang explained that he had brought the chair.
• Chu Xinghe reasoned that cultivators who regretted topping up were urging others to do it so they would not be mocked alone.
• Small Haotian Mirror top-ups spread across the Four Continents as cultivators misled friends into joining in, while large top-ups remained restricted.
• Lu Chengqing saw the growing stream of small payments and understood that Chu Xinghe’s plan could earn more from ordinary cultivators than from the few wealthy big shots.
• Lu Chengqing realized that stopping large top-ups had also prevented the big shots from overspending and made them grateful to the Vast Heaven Holy Land.

Chu Xinghe’s scheme turned his master’s breakthrough into a Four Continents-wide spending frenzy, earning the Vast Heaven Holy Land a fortune while keeping the powerful from retaliating. Zheng Yu recognized the depth of Chu Xinghe’s planning, and the affair ended with everyone denying they had been fooled except Erlüzi, who was branded Duped Erlüzi.

• Lu Chengqing received thanks from major factions for Chu Xinghe’s decision to disable large top-ups and limit their losses.
• Erlüzi accused the Vast Heaven Holy Land of cheating people, but commenters mocked him for admitting he had been duped and gave him the nickname Duped Erlüzi.
• Bai Yu denied being fooled and explained that anyone admitting to it would be cursed by the crowd, even though many people had topped up.
• Zheng Yu realized Chu Xinghe had used the tide of his master’s breakthrough to harvest the Four Continents while keeping the powerful calm and ordinary people satisfied.
• Chu Xinghe sighed that he had been wrong, and Zheng Yu understood that Chu Xinghe was already examining the plan’s flaws rather than celebrating.
• The next morning, everyone claimed they had not been fooled, while the final tally named only Erlüzi as a victim, for one spirit stone.

Chu Xinghe tried to make the Vast Heaven Holy Land refund the resources people had topped up the night before, hoping the payouts would count as a loss. Almost nobody claimed a refund, however, because they refused to admit they had been fooled, and the Misfortune Compass rewarded him with only a minor rank increase.

• Chu Xinghe ordered Lu Chengqing to announce that anyone who had topped up on the Haotian Mirror the previous night could get a full refund.
• Elder He defended Chu Xinghe to the Fate Divinity, arguing that the resources belonged to Chu Xinghe and that giving them away would not drain the sect.
• Chu Xinghe posted the refund announcement on the Haotian Mirror and watched his Misfortune Compass, expecting the refunds to cost the sect resources.
• Commenters insisted they had not been deceived, with many claiming their top-ups had been tips for female streamers rather than results of the previous night's incident.
• The big shots also refused refunds to protect their reputations, leaving few claims and earning Chu Xinghe only enough of a reward to rise from Subordinate First Rank to Second Rank.

Chu Xinghe’s refund offer backfired as almost everyone refused to admit they had been fooled, leaving the Vast Heaven Holy Land with more prestige and the Four Continents calm. He insisted the Misfortune Compass still favored him, while Gu Mingchao, frustrated by his low top-up ranking, resolved to take action.

• Chu Xinghe realized he had misjudged human nature by stopping the top-ups too soon and not urging people to spend more.
• The Vast Heaven Holy Land offered refunds, but nearly everyone refused them to save face; the Holy Land gained praise, while Erlüzi received his one spirit stone back.
• Lu Chengqing reflected on Chu Xinghe’s ability to orchestrate events without causing unrest and rejected offers to manipulate the Haotian Mirror’s trending searches.
• Chu Xinghe argued that ongoing resource consumption at the Formation Spirit Palace, in the Dead Spirit Realm, and in the Haotian Mountain Range meant the Misfortune Compass still gave him an advantage.
• Gu Mingchao saw his top-up ranking fall from 325,671st to 14,698,716th place and decided he would take action.

Gu Mingchao drugged Cheng Xiaotian, then stripped his room and courtyard of nearly everything to improve his Haotian Mirror ranking. Back at Vast Heaven Holy Land, he hinted at a separate scheme, while Huang Ritian confronted Chu Xinghe and earned a new confinement sentence from the grand elder.

• Gu Mingchao drugged Cheng Xiaotian during their drinking and carried off the bed, furnishings, building materials, plants, and well from his home.
• Cheng Xiaotian woke to find his room emptied, cursed Gu Mingchao, and was buried when the weakened house collapsed.
• Gu Mingchao sold the stolen goods to a pawnshop and rose to 325,671st place on the Haotian Mirror's top-up rankings.
• Gu Mingchao returned to Vast Heaven Holy Land smiling and hinted to Chu Xinghe that he had made a killing with a secret plan.
• Huang Ritian and the Civil Engineering Department disciples stopped Chu Xinghe, and the grand elder sentenced Huang Ritian to 128,000 years of confinement.

Chu Xinghe assigned Huang Ritian and the Civil Engineering Department to keep the Haotian Mountain Range's Spiritual Qi from declining as Rogue Cultivators flocked there to freeload. Huang Ritian urged them to cultivate without restraint, setting up a contest between their consumption and the department's replenishment.

• Huang Ritian questioned Chu Xinghe about bringing home resources from Martial Emperor City, and Chu Xinghe argued that the Holy Land faced much greater expenses from the Dead Spirit Realm, new disciples, and arriving Rogue Cultivators.
• Chu Xinghe told Huang Ritian the Civil Engineering Department must maintain Vast Heaven Holy Land's usual Spiritual Qi concentration, and Huang Ritian accepted the assignment rather than risk defying the Grand Elder.
• Rogue Cultivators across the Four Continents learned that Vast Heaven Holy Land had opened the Haotian Mountain Range for freeloading and began traveling there in large numbers.
• The Rogue Cultivators initially limited their cultivation when the Spiritual Qi fell, but Huang Ritian and the Civil Engineering Department told them to keep cultivating while they replenished it.
• Huang Ritian challenged the Rogue Cultivators to see whether they could consume Spiritual Qi faster than the Civil Engineering Department could restore it, and they began to suspect the situation was not so simple.

Chu Xinghe watched the Vast Heaven Holy Land’s Spiritual Qi get consumed by Rogue Cultivators and worried that the Misfortune Compass’s sudden slowdown meant trouble was coming. On the Evil Shadow Continent, Wu Ling spotted a Shadow Ghost hiding near the party leader and used a Shadow-Revealing Spirit Stone to expose it.

• Huang Ritian put Gui Li in charge of replenishing Spiritual Qi, and Gui Li easily kept pace with millions of Rogue Cultivators cultivating in the Haotian Mountain Range.
• Chu Xinghe checked the Dead Spirit Realm, the four thousand new disciples, and Gui Li’s work, found everything stable, then grew alarmed when the Misfortune Compass slowed down.
• Shadow Ghosts escaped from the Dead Spirit Realm on the Evil Shadow Continent and began devouring people, while many recipients absorbed their Shadow-Revealing Spirit Stones instead of keeping them.
• Wu Ling joined an adventuring party, became valued for providing support and refining pills, and accompanied them as they cleared a set of ruins.
• Wu Ling spotted a Shadow Ghost lurking in the party leader’s shadow and activated a Shadow-Revealing Spirit Stone, whose light exposed hidden Shadow Ghosts.