Chapter Summaries

Shen Jingchuan urged Xiao Mingshu to stay out of the war, then gathered cultivation supplies for his family and the Azure Cloud Stronghold. After returning to the Spirit Creek Market, he bought Purple Clover Grass seeds and asked a shop assistant what medicines to grow in his spirit field.

• Shen Jingchuan argued that rulers should care for mortal lives, and Xiao Mingshu said she would avoid the war if her clan could not find her, though she would not help attack the Xiao Household's kingdom.
• Shen Jingchuan told Xiao Mingshu that five members of his family had spirit roots and gave her and Huan'er pills before traveling to the modern world to order protective gear and other supplies for the Azure Cloud Stronghold.
• Shen Jingchuan asked Xiao Mingshu about nearby markets, and she warned that two small markets were dangerous and offered to accompany him if he went.
• Shen Jingchuan visited a spirit herb shop and bought all the shop's Purple Clover Grass seeds for fifty Spirit Stones.
• Shen Jingchuan asked the shop assistant for easy-to-grow, in-demand medicinal seeds, and the assistant recommended Essence Condensing Grass and Spirit Gathering Flower.

Shen Jingchuan bought spirit herb seeds and a beast-taming pouch while shopping with Xiao Mingshu and Huan'er in Spirit Creek Market. He left the shop with the pouch, intending to use it as a cover for storing and releasing his horses.

• Shen Jingchuan bought a hundred seeds each of two kinds of spirit herbs, and told Xiao Mingshu they were a gift for a clan uncle with a Spirit Field.
• Xiao Mingshu and Huan'er entered a shop selling robes while Shen Jingchuan went to look for a beast-taming pouch.
• Shen Jingchuan learned that high-grade beast-taming pouches were rare and costly, and decided that a low-grade pouch would be sufficient as a pretext.
• Shen Jingchuan paid twenty Spirit Stones for a low-grade beast-taming pouch and left the Law Artifact shop.

Shen Jingchuan learned that the Wang Household suspected him of involvement in the deaths of two cultivators who had followed him, and he rewarded Accountant Wu for warning him. Wang Cheng'an told Wu to stay out of the dispute and rely on the market's rules and the Shen Household if trouble arose.

• Accountant Wu told Shen Jingchuan that the Wang Household suspected a hidden Shen Household guardian had killed two Qi Refining Ninth Layer cultivators who had followed him.
• Shen Jingchuan denied knowing about the men and gave Accountant Wu a High-Grade Qi Gathering Pill for the warning.
• Accountant Wu privately showed the pill to Wang Cheng'an, who refused it and praised Wu for passing along the warning.
• Wang Cheng'an ordered Accountant Wu to monitor the situation without interfering, noting that the market would handle any attack inside its bounds.
• When Accountant Wu worried about the restaurant partnership if Shen Jingchuan were harmed outside the market, Wang Cheng'an said the Shen Household could be approached with the signed contract.

Shen Jingchuan told Xiao Mingshu that the Wang Household was investigating after he killed three of its cultivators, then visited the ring’s space and learned that Su Qinghua and Su Qingshu had reached the Qi Refining Second Layer. He asked Xian'er whether their unusually rapid progress came from the Cultivation Method they practiced.

• Shen Jingchuan told Xiao Mingshu about killing three Wang Household cultivators and warned her that the household was investigating him at the market.
• Xiao Mingshu said the Wang Household would not dare harm her and urged Shen Jingchuan to be careful when he left the market.
• Shen Jingchuan entered the ring’s space, greeted Su Qinghua, and made Big Black let her stroke him.
• Xian'er praised Su Qinghua and Su Qingshu for tending the space and said both had reached the Qi Refining Second Layer.
• Shen Jingchuan confirmed the sisters’ cultivation and asked Xian'er whether their Cultivation Method explained their rapid progress.

Shen Jingchuan learned that the Five Elements Qi Refining Instruction made his Five Phases Spirit Root exceptionally powerful, then discovered the ring’s new light orb concealed its upgrade function from those living inside. After upgrading his pills and seeds overnight, he gave supplies and planting instructions to Su Qingshu and Su Qinghua.

• Xian'er explained that the Five Elements Qi Refining Instruction let Shen Jingchuan cultivate quickly and wield far more Spiritual Power than a cultivator with a single Spirit Root.
• Shen Jingchuan noticed a light orb in the ring’s sky, and Xian'er explained that it had formed as the space expanded and served as a separate place to upgrade items.
• Shen Jingchuan sent pills and seeds into the orb, used his Divine Sense to upgrade them, and left them to finish while he cultivated outside the ring.
• The next morning, Shen Jingchuan retrieved the upgraded items and gave Su Qingshu and Su Qinghua high-grade Qi Nourishing Pills, seeds, and planting manuals.
• Shen Jingchuan instructed the sisters to cultivate, tend the spirit field, and care for the three horses before leaving the ring space.

Shen Jingchuan strengthened his defenses while lying low in Spirit Creek Market, where he remained threatened by the Wang Household. Accountant Wu told him about the market’s annual grand auction and gave him a VIP invitation, offering him a chance to find a weapon against a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

• Shen Jingchuan stayed in Spirit Creek Market, cultivated, and prepared upgraded protective jade pendants as a gift for Meng Ke's mother.
• Shen Jingchuan traded cautiously in small batches and upgraded three high-grade attack talismans, but could not find a second-tier attack talisman.
• Shen Jingchuan noticed unfamiliar cultivators arriving in Spirit Creek Market and met Accountant Wu, who explained they had come for the annual grand auction.
• Accountant Wu gave Shen Jingchuan a VIP invitation to the auction and offered him a private room where he could bring Miss Xiao.
• Shen Jingchuan thanked Accountant Wu with a High-Grade Qi Gathering Pill, which Accountant Wu secretly inspected.

Shen Jingchuan broke through to the Qi Refining Sixth Layer after using high-grade pills and his Five Elements cultivation method. He revealed his progress to Xiao Mingshu and gave her two bottles of high-grade pills, while she chose not to press him about where he got them.

• Shen Jingchuan told Xiao Mingshu that Spirit Creek Market would hold a major auction in five days, and they agreed to attend.
• Shen Jingchuan used high-grade Spirit Concentrating Pills and two high-grade Qi Condensing Pills to force a breakthrough, reaching the Qi Refining Sixth Layer.
• Shen Jingchuan took another Qi Condensing Pill to stabilize his cultivation and finished by morning.
• Xiao Mingshu noticed Shen Jingchuan's breakthrough at breakfast and questioned whether he had a Heaven Spirit Root.
• Shen Jingchuan gave Xiao Mingshu bottles of high-grade Qi Condensing Pills and Spirit Concentrating Pills, and she accepted them without asking further about his secrets.

Shen Jingchuan inspected the newly fitted-out Returning Geese Tower and agreed to train its kitchen staff before the auction. After tasting Head Cook Ma’s food, he brought out a stockpile of seasonings and began his lesson.

• Accountant Wu told Shen Jingchuan that the auction would be held at Returning Geese Tower and asked him to train the chefs before it opened.
• Shen Jingchuan toured the restaurant, approved its layout, and suggested keeping the stage for future performances.
• Accountant Wu introduced Shen Jingchuan to the kitchen staff as an owner and their cooking instructor.
• Head Cook Ma prepared stir-fried diced chicken, which Shen Jingchuan praised for its heat and wok technique.
• Shen Jingchuan produced a large collection of seasonings and began teaching the staff to recognize them.

Shen Jingchuan trained the Returning Geese Tower’s cooks to use new seasonings and recipes, then opened the restaurant to a crowd of impressed cultivators. The opening succeeded, and True Person Moxuan praised the food before leaving as Accountant Wu tallied the day’s earnings.

• Shen Jingchuan taught Head Cook Ma and the other cooks how to use unfamiliar seasonings and gave them written recipe books.
• Shen Jingchuan set the opening for two days later, while Accountant Wu arranged publicity and preparations.
• The Returning Geese Tower opened with a lion dance, and its dishes drew crowds of cultivators despite some service mishaps.
• True Person Moxuan visited the restaurant, tasted the food, and praised its cooking to Shen Jingchuan.
• At closing time, Accountant Wu held the ledger with trembling hands as he counted the day’s accounts.

Shen Jingchuan toured the temporary market before the annual auction and bought two rare blood-veined golden leaf grass stalks for his spirit beasts. Xian'er then urged him to buy a nail at the neighboring stall.

• Returning Goose Tower finished preparing overnight for the annual auction after three busy days of restaurant sales.
• Shen Jingchuan, Xiao Mingshu, and Huan'er arrived early and browsed the market stalls outside the tower.
• Shen Jingchuan asked a wounded young cultivator about two unfamiliar herbs, and Xian'er identified them as valuable for Big Black and the other horses.
• The young cultivator asked five hundred Spirit Stones for the herbs, explaining that he needed money for his dead companions' families, and Shen Jingchuan accepted the price.
• Xian'er told Shen Jingchuan to buy a nail from the neighboring stall, and he went to inspect it.

Shen Jingchuan bought a rusty nail from a stall after Xian'er identified it as a rare Soul-Seizing Nail, then sent it to the repair orb. He also bought spirit medicines and pills to cultivate or upgrade before heading to the Returning Geese Tower with Xiao Mingshu and Huan'er.

• Shen Jingchuan spotted a faint Spiritual Power fluctuation in a rusty nail and bargained with the stall owner until he bought it for five Spirit Stones.
• Xian'er told Shen Jingchuan the nail was a Soul-Seizing Nail that could harm Divine Sense and souls, and he put it into the repair orb to be nourished, repaired, and upgraded.
• Shen Jingchuan bought fresh spirit medicine seedlings and small quantities of low-grade pills from several stalls to plant or upgrade.
• Shen Jingchuan led Xiao Mingshu and Huan'er to the Returning Geese Tower as cultivators paid one Spirit Stone each to enter.

Shen Jingchuan attended the Spirit Creek Market’s annual auction, where he waited through a long succession of ordinary lots. When a Low-Grade Appearance-Preserving Pill appeared and female cultivators drove its price upward, he decided he had to obtain it.

• Shen Jingchuan entered the Returning Geese Tower with Xiao Mingshu and Huan'er, and the staff welcomed him as their boss.
• The annual auction began, and Liu Meiniang sold a high-grade magic sword for nine hundred and twenty Low-Grade Spirit Stones.
• Shen Jingchuan watched the auction for hours without bidding, while Xian'er dismissed the lots as junk.
• Liu Meiniang presented a Low-Grade Appearance-Preserving Pill, prompting fierce bidding from the female cultivators.
• Shen Jingchuan leaned forward and decided he had to get the pill.

Shen Jingchuan won an Appearance-Preserving Pill for six thousand Spirit Stones while Xiao Mingshu watched, believing he would give it to one of his wives. After Xian'er urged him to improve it, he upgraded the pill in secret, leaving Xiao Mingshu unaware of his intentions.

• Xiao Mingshu admired the Appearance-Preserving Pill but worried she could not afford it, while Shen Jingchuan decided to bid for it.
• Liu Sanniang and the woman in Huang Laoxie's room traded bids and insults until Steward Wang silenced the auction hall.
• Shen Jingchuan outbid Sanniang with six thousand Spirit Stones and received the pill.
• Shen Jingchuan considered giving the pill to Xiao Mingshu, but Xian'er told him to upgrade it first.
• Shen Jingchuan put the pill into the ball of light for an upgrade, while Xiao Mingshu assumed he had no intention of giving it to her.

A Longevity-Extending Pill sold for 9,300 Spirit Stones as Shen Jingchuan and Xiao Mingshu watched without bidding. When Liu Meiniang revealed a section of a First-Tier Spirit Vein, Xian'er urgently told Shen Jingchuan to win it.

• Xiao Mingshu explained that a Longevity-Extending Pill extended a cultivator’s life and could give Qi Refining cultivators more chances to attempt Foundation Establishment.
• A Foundation Establishment cultivator in a private room won the pill for 9,300 Spirit Stones, and Huang Laoxie mocked the Wang Household for buying more time for its aging ancestor.
• After more ordinary items were auctioned, Liu Meiniang presented a section of a First-Tier Spirit Vein and set its starting bid at 10,000 Spirit Stones.
• Xian'er urgently told Shen Jingchuan that he had to win the Spirit Vein.

Shen Jingchuan bid nearly all his wealth to win a segment of a Spirit Vein that could repair and improve his Heaven and Earth Ring. He outbid the Tian Clan of the Qi Kingdom after Steward Wang stopped Tian Chengye from using his Household’s influence to pressure him.

• Xian'er explained that burying the Spirit Vein in the Heaven and Earth Ring would let it produce Spiritual Qi and gradually repair and improve the ring.
• Shen Jingchuan waited as private-room bidders drove the price past seventy thousand Spirit Stones, then entered the bidding at seventy-five thousand.
• Tian Chengye invoked his Tian Household’s newly advanced Golden Core True Person and urged Shen Jingchuan to yield the item, but Steward Wang warned him against threatening bidders at the Spirit Creek Market.
• Shen Jingchuan raised his bid to eighty thousand Spirit Stones, and Tian Chengye withdrew after deciding he could not justify spending more.
• Liu Meiniang declared the segment sold to Shen Jingchuan, leaving him with just over two thousand Spirit Stones and shocking Xiao Mingshu and Huan'er.

Shen Jingchuan bought a section of Spirit Vein for eighty thousand Spirit Stones and let Xiao Mingshu believe the money came from the Shen lineage. The auction then offered a Foundation Establishment Pill, and the Tian Household outbid the Wang Household as the bidding neared its end.

• Shen Jingchuan paid eighty thousand Spirit Stones for the Spirit Vein and told Xiao Mingshu that his lineage had provided the funds.
• Xiao Mingshu reconsidered how powerful the Shen Household might be and decided to stop asking Shen Jingchuan about its resources.
• Liu Meiniang presented a low-grade Foundation Establishment Pill as the auction's final item, starting the bidding at five thousand Spirit Stones.
• Rogue cultivators watched as private rooms drove the pill's price higher, while many of them gave up hope of ever affording one.
• The Wang Household bid nine thousand Spirit Stones, but Tian Chengye raised the offer to nine thousand one hundred, and the Wang Household withdrew.

Shen Jingchuan learned that repairing the damaged first-tier Spirit Vein would greatly improve the Heaven and Earth Ring, while upgrading it was far beyond his means. He used the ring’s stored energy and his remaining Spirit Stones to begin the repair, then discovered that the rusty nail had transformed into a Soul-Seizing Nail.

• Shen Jingchuan watched the Tian Household of the Qi Kingdom win the low-grade Foundation Establishment Pill for nine thousand one hundred Spirit Stones.
• Shen Jingchuan returned to the Heaven and Earth Ring and asked Xian'er about the Spirit Vein fragment he had bought.
• Xian'er explained that the Spirit Vein was missing thirty percent, that repairing it would cost about twenty thousand Spirit Stones, and that upgrading it to second tier would cost over ten million.
• Xian'er advised Shen Jingchuan to use the ball of light's stored energy and his remaining Spirit Stones to repair the Spirit Vein.
• Shen Jingchuan sent the Spirit Vein fragment and all his remaining Spirit Stones into the ball of light, which began repairing the fragment.
• Shen Jingchuan discovered that the rusty nail had become a dark, chilling Soul-Seizing Nail and turned to Xian'er.

Shen Jingchuan learned the Soul-Seizing Nail’s limits and resolved to strengthen his Divine Sense before leaving the market, where enemies including the Tian Household might be waiting. He then gave two stalks of Blood-Veined Golden Leaf Grass to Little Black and Treading Snow after Big Black stepped aside for them.

• Xian'er explained that the Soul-Seizing Nail was a supreme-grade Spirit Artifact that Shen Jingchuan could use at most once with his current Divine Sense, and warned him about the powerful factions watching him.
• Shen Jingchuan decided to refine Spirit Concentrating Pills to strengthen his Divine Sense before leaving the market, then collected the two matured stalks of Blood-Veined Golden Leaf Grass.
• Shen Jingchuan reminded Su Qinghua not to ask other cultivators about their cultivation and gave the sisters spirit medicines and herbs to plant.
• Shen Jingchuan offered the Blood-Veined Golden Leaf Grass to the three horses, but Big Black stepped back so Little Black and Treading Snow could have the two stalks.
• Shen Jingchuan praised Big Black’s generosity and promised to find him something better, and Big Black affectionately nuzzled and licked his hand.

Shen Jingchuan gave Blood-Veined Golden Leaf Grass to Little Black and Treading Snow, whose bloodlines began awakening as they formed cocoons. After cultivating through the night, he gave Xiao Mingshu an Appearance-Preserving Pill, which rejuvenated her and left her looking at him with complicated feelings.

• Shen Jingchuan fed Little Black and Treading Snow Blood-Veined Golden Leaf Grass, and both horses became cocooned as their bloodlines awakened.
• Xian'er reassured Shen Jingchuan and told him to buy contract Jade Slips so the horses could sign Equal Contracts after transforming.
• Shen Jingchuan cultivated through the night, and the Appearance-Preserving Pill in the sphere of light rose to middle grade.
• Shen Jingchuan gave the pill to Xiao Mingshu, who refined it and became younger and more radiant.
• Xiao Mingshu looked at Shen Jingchuan with a complicated expression after seeing the grime expelled from her body and feeling the pill's effects.

Shen Jingchuan gave Xiao Mingshu the Appearance-Preserving Pill, and its effects made her look younger while keeping her mature charm. When she asked how to repay him, he threatened to consummate their marriage, and she agreed.

• Shen Jingchuan explained that he gave Xiao Mingshu the Appearance-Preserving Pill because she was his priority, and his reassurances dispelled her lingering unease.
• Xiao Mingshu cleaned the dark residue from her skin, and Huan'er was astonished by how young and beautiful she looked.
• Xiao Mingshu examined her reflection and questioned why a Low-Grade Appearance-Preserving Pill had rejuvenated her; Shen Jingchuan claimed it was exceptionally high quality.
• Xiao Mingshu asked how she should repay Shen Jingchuan, and he threatened to carry her off and consummate their marriage if she asked again.
• Xiao Mingshu agreed.