Chapter Summaries

After Shen Jianguo died, Shen Jingchuan discovered that his inherited ring could store objects and revealed that it could take him to another world. He focused on the ring and silently commanded it to travel, beginning his first attempt to cross worlds.

• Shen Jianguo gave Shen Jingchuan the ancestral ring before dying in the hospital.
• Three days later, Shen Jingchuan’s blood activated the ring, and he discovered a small storage space inside it.
• Shen Jingchuan tested the ring by storing and retrieving household objects, then rejected the idea of using it for illegal work.
• The ring revealed that it could take Shen Jingchuan to another world, and he wondered if it was a world of cultivation.
• Shen Jingchuan focused on the ring and silently said, “Travel.”

Shen Jingchuan learned that his glowing copper ring let him travel between his home and a barren world, then prepared supplies and weapons for another visit. On the other side, he came across a wounded woman pursued by two men in black, who spotted him and charged.

• Shen Jingchuan discovered he could return to his living room from the barren world, but the ring went dark and would not let him cross again until it glowed later.
• After confirming that the ring’s glow enabled travel and that the two worlds’ times matched, Shen Jingchuan bought protective gear, weapons, food, and supplies over three days.
• Shen Jingchuan packed his belongings into the ring’s space and crossed over at seven in the morning with a backpack as cover.
• After walking for about half an hour, Shen Jingchuan heard a fight and saw several men in black pursuing a woman in white.
• The wounded woman fell near Shen Jingchuan, and two men in black spotted him on the ridge and charged at him with sabers.

Shen Jingchuan killed two men in black who attacked him, then rescued and treated the wounded woman they had pursued. She woke and introduced herself as Lin Qingyao, leaving Shen Jingchuan to learn more about her and this world.

• Shen Jingchuan shot the first attacker with his crossbow and pinned the second beneath a bed he summoned from his space.
• Shen Jingchuan killed the trapped attacker, searched both bodies, and collected silver, a black token, and his crossbow bolt.
• Shen Jingchuan carried the unconscious Lin Qingyao into the woods and discovered that his ring erased signs of Earth origin from items brought across worlds.
• Shen Jingchuan treated Lin Qingyao’s wounds and laid her on a quilt and pillow.
• Lin Qingyao woke, thanked Shen Jingchuan for saving her, and introduced herself by name.

Shen Jingchuan fought off the men pursuing Lin Qingyao, then carried her away from the mountainside before the survivors could return with reinforcements. As they searched for a place to hide until dark, he noticed that his strength and stamina seemed to have improved.

• Shen Jingchuan hid in the woods and killed two of the four men who came looking for Lin Qingyao with his crossbow.
• Scarface and his last subordinate fled after losing two men, threatening to return with help.
• Shen Jingchuan gave Lin Qingyao water and told her they had to leave before the surviving pursuers came back.
• Lin Qingyao agreed to let Shen Jingchuan carry her, and he stored the mattress and pillow in his space before setting off.
• After carrying Lin Qingyao along the mountain path, Shen Jingchuan felt unusually strong and decided to find a secluded place to rest until dark.

Shen Jingchuan brought the wounded Lin Qingyao to an abandoned cave dwelling, treated her injury, and cooked noodles for them. Lin Qingyao ate eagerly, then felt embarrassed and wondered why there had been no beef.

• Shen Jingchuan carried Lin Qingyao into an abandoned cave dwelling and set her on the earthen kang.
• Shen Jingchuan reapplied medicine and bandages to Lin Qingyao’s bleeding back, then covered her with bedding from his storage space.
• Shen Jingchuan cooked tomato and egg instant noodles over a camp stove and brought Lin Qingyao a bowl.
• Lin Qingyao let Shen Jingchuan help her sit up and ate the noodles and broth until the bowl was nearly empty.
• Lin Qingyao realized how eagerly she had eaten and wondered whether Shen Jingchuan had kept all the beef for himself.

Shen Jingchuan worked out the storage ring’s crossing rules and decided to hide the injured Lin Qingyao in the cave while he drew her pursuers away. He sealed the entrance with soil and debris, leaving hidden air holes, and prepared to face the danger outside.

• Shen Jingchuan learned that the ring could make two world crossings each day, refreshing at midnight, but it could not bring electricity-dependent objects into this world.
• After ruling out ways to transport Lin Qingyao, Shen Jingchuan decided to conceal her in the cave and lead the pursuers away.
• Lin Qingyao feared Shen Jingchuan would abandon her, but he explained his plan to hide her until the danger passed and then return for her.
• Shen Jingchuan left Lin Qingyao food and water, then sealed the cave entrance with earth, gravel, grass, and leaves, leaving two concealed holes for air.

Shen Jingchuan ambushed a group of figures approaching the cave, then followed them to a clearing and drove them off with his crossbow. He returned to his hidden resting spot, where he considered using his remaining chance to cross back.

• Shen Jingchuan hid near the cave and shot two figures who approached, wounding one and killing another.
• Shen Jingchuan waited out the group in the woods, then shot a third figure when the person moved into view.
• Shen Jingchuan followed the retreating figures to a clearing and fired at the group, hitting someone in the darkness.
• The group panicked and fled after calling Shen Jingchuan a divine archer, leaving their wounded behind.
• Shen Jingchuan declined to pursue them across the exposed clearing and returned to his shrubs to rest, wondering whether he could still cross back that day.

Shen Jingchuan learned the ring's crossing limits, returned home for supplies, and came back to watch over Lin Qingyao's hiding place. While scouting nearby, he met Lin Yue of the Zhenyuan Escort Agency and stopped him after hearing him call for Qingyao.

• Shen Jingchuan learned that the ring allowed two one-way crossings per day and returned home before midnight to preserve an escape crossing for the next day.
• Shen Jingchuan bought food, household supplies, wound dressings, and antibiotics before crossing back to the undisturbed cave dwelling.
• Shen Jingchuan left Lin Qingyao concealed in the cave and scouted the nearby battlefield, collecting silver and retrieving his crossbow bolts.
• Lin Yue and two escorts arrived, questioned Shen Jingchuan about the bodies, and followed a blood trail into the woods.
• Shen Jingchuan hurried after Lin Yue and called for him to wait after hearing him call out Qingyao's name.

Lin Yue found his injured sister Lin Qingyao with Shen Jingchuan’s help and learned that Shen Jingchuan had rescued and treated her. The family prepared to bring a carriage to the cave so Lin Qingyao could be moved safely.

• Shen Jingchuan questioned Lin Yue about Lin Qingyao to confirm that he was truly her brother, then sent him away while he checked with her.
• Shen Jingchuan confirmed Lin Yue’s identity with Lin Qingyao and brought Lin Yue and his two escorts to the cave.
• Lin Yue reunited with Lin Qingyao and learned that she had been seriously wounded in the back but was no longer in immediate danger.
• Lin Yue thanked Shen Jingchuan for saving his sister, and Shen Jingchuan said the priority was moving her safely.
• Lin Yue sent the two escorts to find his father and eldest brother and bring back the passenger carriage for Lin Qingyao.

Shen Jingchuan changed Lin Qingyao’s wound dressing before her father and elder brother arrived to take her home. After explaining his presence with a fabricated story of being an overseas merchant, he accepted Lin Weiyuan’s invitation to Yuxi Prefecture and changed into clothes borrowed from Lin Yue.

• Shen Jingchuan disinfected and bandaged Lin Qingyao’s back while Lin Yue waited outside the cave dwelling.
• Lin Weiyuan and Lin Shan arrived, and Lin Shan carefully carried Lin Qingyao toward their carriage.
• Lin Weiyuan questioned Shen Jingchuan about his origins, and Shen claimed he was an overseas merchant who had lost his memory after an accident.
• Lin Weiyuan invited Shen Jingchuan to stay with his family in Yuxi Prefecture, and Shen accepted.
• Shen Jingchuan changed into Lin Yue’s blue-green martial clothes, packed away his helmet, and prepared to board the carriage.

Shen Jingchuan traveled with the Lin Household to Yuxi Prefecture and claimed that his memory loss prevented him from recalling his overseas origins. Lin Weiyuan helped him pass the city gate, and Shen Jingchuan arrived at the Zhenyuan Escort Agency, where Lin Yue took him to a guest room.

• Shen Jingchuan told Lin Weiyuan that his head injury had left him unable to remember anything beyond his name and vague images of the sea and tall ships.
• Lin Weiyuan accepted Shen Jingchuan’s explanation and stopped questioning him after Lin Qingyao urged her father to spare him.
• The Lin Household reached Yuxi Prefecture, and Lin Weiyuan paid a gate soldier and described Shen Jingchuan as a distant relative without a travel permit.
• Shen Jingchuan entered the city and looked over its busy streets before the carriage arrived at the Zhenyuan Escort Agency.
• Lin Weiyuan sent Lin Shan to carry Lin Qingyao to her courtyard and instructed Lin Yue to take Shen Jingchuan to the western side courtyard guest room.

Shen Jingchuan attended a welcoming banquet at the Zhenyuan Escort Agency, where he pretended to have lost his memory and learned about Great Qian and the surrounding countries. He concluded that he was in an unfamiliar, much larger world and heard that drought, raids, heavy taxes, and rising banditry were worsening conditions.

• Lin Yue showed Shen Jingchuan to a well-appointed guest room and later brought him to dinner with Lin Weiyuan and Lin Shan.
• Lin Weiyuan thanked Shen Jingchuan for saving his daughter and asked about his background, so Shen claimed a head injury had left him with amnesia.
• Lin Weiyuan described Great Qian and Lin Yue listed neighboring states, leading Shen Jingchuan to realize this was an entirely different world rather than a parallel Earth.
• Lin Yue and Lin Shan told Shen Jingchuan that northern raids, two years of drought, heavy taxes, land seizures, refugees, and bandits had made life increasingly dangerous.
• Shen Jingchuan asked whether immortals existed, and Lin Weiyuan replied that they were only the subject of legends.

Shen Jingchuan taught Xiaoju how to care for Lin Qingyao’s wound, then set out alone to explore Yuxi Prefecture and test the waters for selling goods. He received a hundred taels from Lin Yue and left East Street looking for a suitable place to do business.

• At breakfast, Shen Jingchuan asked Lin Weiyuan to arrange for a maid to take over changing Lin Qingyao’s dressing, and Lin Weiyuan sent Xiaoju to learn from him.
• Shen Jingchuan disinfected Lin Qingyao’s mildly inflamed wound, showed Xiaoju how to change the dressing, and gave her three antibiotic tablets for Lin Qingyao.
• Shen Jingchuan told Lin Yue he planned to explore the prefectural capital, and Lin Yue gave him a hundred taels despite his offer to accompany him.
• Shen Jingchuan left the Zhenyuan Escort Agency alone and walked along East Street, observing the shops, passersby, and refugees.
• Shen Jingchuan decided not to sell anything on East Street because it was too close to the Zhenyuan Escort Agency.

Shen Jingchuan sold ten bags of unusually pure white sugar to a grocery shopkeeper for one tael of silver after explaining the bags’ novel resealable opening. The shopkeeper eagerly bought the whole batch and asked Shen Jingchuan to bring him more goods in the future.

• Shen Jingchuan entered a grocery shop on Groceries Street and told the shopkeeper he had rare goods to sell.
• Shen Jingchuan showed the shopkeeper a bag of snow-white sugar, opened its unfamiliar sealed packaging, and let him taste the sugar.
• The shopkeeper tried to bargain by claiming sugar prices were steady, while Shen Jingchuan judged the sugar’s quality against the local market.
• Shen Jingchuan offered all ten bags for one tael of silver, and the shopkeeper agreed to buy them.
• The shopkeeper paid Shen Jingchuan one tael of silver and urged him to bring more goods in the future.

Shen Jingchuan sold fifty lighters to the shopkeeper for fifty taels, then offered him a large, unusually clear glass mirror. The shopkeeper recognized its rarity and offered thirty taels, leaving the mirror sale unresolved.

• Shen Jingchuan demonstrated a lighter, and the shopkeeper tried to dismiss its value before offering one hundred copper coins.
• Shen Jingchuan demanded one tael of silver per lighter and showed the shopkeeper all fifty.
• The shopkeeper agreed to buy all fifty lighters for fifty taels, and Shen Jingchuan accepted the silver notes.
• Shen Jingchuan showed the shopkeeper a large glass mirror, and the shopkeeper was astonished by its clear reflection.
• The shopkeeper tried to bargain down the mirror’s price, then offered thirty taels after Shen Jingchuan threatened to take it elsewhere.

After selling a mirror for fifty taels, Shen Jingchuan went looking for goods he could resell in the modern world and found a jadeite rough in an antiques shop. He offered the shopkeeper half the asking price, and the chapter ended as the shopkeeper reacted to the offer.

• Shen Jingchuan sold his mirror to the general store shopkeeper for fifty taels and left with a hundred taels total from his goods.
• Shen Jingchuan entered Treasure Gathering Hall and realized paintings and calligraphy from the fictional dynasty would be difficult and risky to sell in the modern world.
• Shen Jingchuan asked the shopkeeper about a jadeite pendant, then noticed a large piece of jadeite rough with a translucent green window.
• The shopkeeper claimed the rough could produce many valuable pieces and asked for a hundred taels of silver.
• Shen Jingchuan offered fifty taels, and the shopkeeper reacted with a thud in his heart.

Shen Jingchuan bought a large rough jadeite stone for fifty taels, then visited Spring Restoration Hall to look for ginseng he could resell in the modern world. Unable to afford the thousand-year-old root, he bargained the price of a hundred-and-sixty-year-old ginseng down to one hundred taels and left with it.

• Shen Jingchuan paid the shopkeeper fifty taels for a large rough jadeite stone and put it into his storage space.
• Shen Jingchuan entered Spring Restoration Hall and asked the old shopkeeper about its oldest ginseng.
• The old shopkeeper offered a thousand-year-old ginseng root for ten thousand taels, which Shen Jingchuan could not afford.
• The old shopkeeper showed Shen Jingchuan ginseng roots aged one hundred and twenty and one hundred and sixty years.
• Shen Jingchuan bargained for the hundred-and-sixty-year-old root, paid one hundred taels, and left with it.

Shen Jingchuan bought thirteen seal blanks from an old craftsman, hoping some might be valuable, then encountered starving refugees and witnessed a man preparing to sell his twin nieces to a brothel. The girls begged their uncle not to sell them, and he stood torn as the madam demanded an answer.

• Shen Jingchuan bought eight yellow and red stone blanks for forty taels, then spent another ten taels on five more stones.
• Shen Jingchuan took a detour and saw disaster refugees selling themselves and their family members for food.
• Shen Jingchuan found a man negotiating with a madam to sell his twin nieces, while the girls wept and begged to stay.
• The uncle said he feared his family would starve and that selling the girls might keep them alive, but he could not answer when the madam pressed him to decide.

Shen Jingchuan intervened to keep Su Qingshu and Su Qinghua from being sold to a brothel, offering their uncle rice and salt instead. After giving the starving family food, he led them toward the Zhenyuan Escort Agency to complete the exchange.

• Shen Jingchuan stopped the girls’ uncle from agreeing to sell Su Qingshu and Su Qinghua to the madam.
• Shen Jingchuan offered the uncle fifty jin of polished rice and ten jin of refined salt for the twins, and the uncle agreed to go with him.
• Shen Jingchuan secretly gave bread to the uncle’s wife and son, then crackers to Su Qingshu and Su Qinghua.
• The refugees watched the family eat, but the onlookers who appeared to be local thugs did not dare approach Shen Jingchuan.
• The uncle supported his wife, carried his son, and followed Shen Jingchuan with the twins toward the Zhenyuan Escort Agency.

Shen Jingchuan rescued Su Qingshu and Su Qinghua from being sold, gave their uncle rice and salt, and brought the sisters to the Zhenyuan Escort Agency as his younger sisters rather than servants. At his courtyard, he ordered Yue'er to treat them respectfully and arranged for them to bathe and change, while Yue'er resisted his generosity toward them.

• Shen Jingchuan gave the sisters' uncle rice and salt, accepted Su Qingshu and Su Qinghua's registration papers, and refused to make them servants under a bill of sale.
• The uncle and the sisters thanked Shen Jingchuan, and he promised the uncle that he could visit them in the future.
• Shen Jingchuan brought Su Qingshu and Su Qinghua into the Zhenyuan Escort Agency and told the gatekeeper that he had rescued them from a brothel madam.
• At his courtyard, Shen Jingchuan rebuked Yue'er for showing disdain and declared that the sisters were his younger sisters, not servants or maids.
• Shen Jingchuan arranged hot water and clean clothes for the sisters, then gave Yue'er fine soap and towels for them to use.