Chapter Summaries

Wang Chen killed the Gray Wolf Bandits, recovered a great store of wealth, and freed hundreds of miners from the mine. After leading them to safety, he returned underground and discovered a Mandarin Duck Mirror concealed in the tunnel wall.

• Wang Chen took the Great Leader of the Gray Wolf Bandits' copper hammer and Storage Bag, finding more than thirty thousand Spirit Stones and over ten thousand jin of refined Purple Copper.
• Wang Chen found the abducted miners, introduced himself as the village chief of Datian Village, and freed them from their seals.
• Wang Chen and two miners searched the passages, rescued four to five hundred miners, and killed more than thirty hidden bandits.
• Wang Chen led the miners to the surface, told them to wait, and returned to inspect a deep passage.
• Wang Chen used his Divine Sense to locate and draw a concealed Mandarin Duck Mirror from the tunnel wall.

Wang Chen discovered a hidden passage monitored by a Mandarin Duck Mirror and found a blood pool and altar where a black-robed cultivator was performing an evil ritual. Their battle began underground, and the chapter ended with Wang Chen surviving a devastating blood blade strike with only a faint wound.

• Wang Chen found and shattered a concealed Mandarin Duck Mirror, then broke through a rock wall to reveal a hidden passage.
• Wang Chen entered an underground Cave Dwelling and saw a blood pool, an altar, and a black-robed cultivator.
• The black-robed cultivator attacked with a blood curtain, a bloody palm, and flying skulls, but Wang Chen destroyed them with his Geng Metal Qi energy and Vajra Fist.
• Wang Chen's fist force battered the cultivator's blood-light barrier and nearly destroyed the blood pool's defenses.
• The black-robed cultivator crushed a blood-red skull and sent a blood blade through Wang Chen's armor, but Wang Chen steadied himself with only a faint line of blood on his chest.

Wang Chen fought a powerful demon cultivator hidden beneath the mine and defeated him with his Sword Pellet after the man unleashed his life-bound poison blood. He left the foe bound and sealed, then sent a silver shuttle through the rock and waited for someone to arrive.

• The black-robed cultivator's Nirvana Blood Ray failed to harm Wang Chen, who recognized his opponent's Heavenly Dragon Vajra Righteous Dharma.
• The black-robed cultivator defended himself with regenerating blood-red tentacles as Wang Chen attacked with his Wind Thunder Sword and Meteor Fire Talismans.
• Wang Chen rushed the altar and shattered the cultivator's blood claw with a Vajra Fist, forcing him to spray corrosive essence blood.
• Wang Chen's Sword Pellet pierced the blood mist and destroyed the black-robed cultivator's Sea of Consciousness, while Wang Chen leapt clear of the poison.
• Wang Chen bound and sealed the apparently dead cultivator, sent a silver shuttle through the rock, and waited beside him.

Chen Anhe and Huang Deqi feared that Wang Chen had discovered their connection to the Gray Wolf Bandits, while Wang Chen captured a wanted demonic cultivator and earned great merit. Luo Zhen revealed that the reward could secure Wang Chen the rank of Inner Sect Disciple, and Wang Chen offered to share the merit with him.

• Chen Anhe joined Huang Deqi and the elderly woman surnamed Xu in plotting their next move after Wang Chen went missing in the mountains.
• Luo Zhen arrived in Wang Chen's mine Cave Dwelling and recognized the nearly completed Myriad Transformation Fiendish Blood Pool.
• Wang Chen handed Luo Zhen the captured demonic cultivator and explained how he had uncovered and disrupted the scheme.
• Luo Zhen removed the captive's disguise and identified him as the wanted Yuan Shenkui.
• Luo Zhen told Wang Chen that capturing Yuan Shenkui earned five thousand merit points, enough to exchange for Inner Sect Disciple rank.
• Wang Chen offered to share the merit with Luo Zhen, crediting him for recommending him.

Wang Chen shared the merit from rescuing the miners with Luo Zhen, then returned the captives to Datian Village. After sensing Chen Anhe’s fear, Wang Chen left him alone, while Chen Anhe and Huang Deqi plotted to frame Wang Chen by spreading a rumor about Treasure Daoist’s hidden treasure.

• Wang Chen agreed to share the bounty merit with Luo Zhen, who told him to return the villagers to Datian Village and wait for news.
• Wang Chen led several hundred rescued miners home, where their families and villagers welcomed them with tearful reunions and thanks.
• Wang Chen sensed Chen Anhe’s guilty fear but took no action against him and sent the villagers home.
• Chen Anhe rushed to the ancestral hall and urged Huang Deqi and the Houtu Temple Priestess to flee, fearing their involvement had been exposed.
• Huang Deqi rejected the idea of fleeing and proposed praising Wang Chen while spreading a rumor that he had obtained Treasure Daoist’s hidden treasure from the Gray-Eyed Bandits.

Wang Chen sorted through the Gray Wolf Bandits' spoils and handed the captured demonic cultivator Yuan Shenkui over to Luo Zhen. The West Sea Sect then arrested Datian Village's leaders for aiding Yuan Shenkui, leaving the village in turmoil as Wang Chen reassured its frightened residents.

• Wang Chen and Xiao He sorted the bandits' Storage Bags, finding more than seventy thousand Spirit Stones and other valuable items.
• Wang Chen gave Xiao He a golden hairpin for helping him, then gazed at the moon and thought of his beloved.
• After receiving a message talisman, Wang Chen watched West Sea Sect Battle Cultivators arrive at Datian Village and arrest Huang Deqi, Chen Anhe, Temple Priestess Xu, and other local leaders.
• Wang Chen calmed the frightened villagers and returned to the Village Chief's residence, where he spoke with Luo Zhen.
• Luo Zhen explained that Huang Deqi and the others had helped Yuan Shenkui sell Purple Copper ore and gather resources for years, enabling him to build the Myriad Transformation Fiendish Blood Pool.

Luo Zhen explained that Huang Deqi, Chen Anhe, and Temple Priestess Xu had colluded with Yuan Shenkui in hopes of obtaining Myriad Transformation Pills, though Yuan had intended to sacrifice them. After Luo Zhen left Datian Village with the three leaders and their followers, Wang Chen took charge of the village and waited for news about his reward and Inner Sect Disciple qualification.

• Luo Zhen told Wang Chen that the three leaders had helped Yuan Shenkui for promised Myriad Transformation Pills, which Yuan planned to keep for himself and obtain by sacrificing them.
• Luo Zhen said Yuan Shenkui had been sent to the sect and promised Wang Chen his reward after review; Wang Chen asked only for qualification to become an Inner Sect Disciple.
• Luo Zhen returned Yuan Shenkui's Storage Bag to Wang Chen, and Wang Chen thanked him for his assistance.
• Luo Zhen's War Hall Battle Cultivators confiscated the assets of Huang Deqi and the other two leaders before taking them, their relatives, and their subordinates away from Datian Village.
• Wang Chen became the village's new pillar after villagers learned that the three leaders had helped abduct people for Yuan Shenkui's blood pool.
• Wang Chen managed village affairs while continuing his cultivation, but even after the autumn harvest, Luo Zhen had sent no news beyond a communication talisman.

After discovering that Datian Village’s public granary was empty, Wang Chen assigned its management to the village elders and returned to cultivation. When Little Ya sought help for her gravely wounded grandfather, Wang Chen rushed to their home and saved the old man with medicine.

• Wang Chen found the public granary empty and told the elders to redo its accounts and manage it from then on.
• Little Ya came to the village chief’s residence and begged Xiao He to save her grandfather.
• Wang Chen took Xiao He and Little Ya to the family’s home, where Little Ya’s grandfather lay unconscious and badly wounded.
• Wang Chen treated the old man with a Healing Pill and Trauma Powder, and he regained consciousness.
• Little Ya wept with relief and kowtowed to Wang Chen in gratitude.

After seeing Little Ya’s family struggle to survive, Wang Chen decided to create lasting support for Datian Village’s poorest households and improve village life before he left. The elders agreed to help establish the new programs.

• Wang Chen learned from Xiao He that many poor village households, especially those with outside surnames, lacked clan support.
• Wang Chen proposed identifying Five Guarantees Households and providing food, clothing, medical care, shelter, and burial assistance from the public treasury.
• Wang Chen offered to fund the first winter’s assistance and proposed a Guard Team whose organized hunts would support the treasury, with members earning work points for their contributions.
• Wang Chen proposed building Datian Primary School, providing enrolled children with free lunch, and covering its initial costs himself.
• Elder Chen pledged his help, and Elders Huang and Xu also declared their support.

Wang Chen oversaw Datian Village’s Guard Team as it hunted a herd of Tusked Boars, then sent the hunters deeper into the mountains to gather provisions for winter. With the villagers’ confidence boosted by Wang Chen’s support, the team continued its hunt.

• Xiao Hong and the Guard Team ambushed a herd of Tusked Boars with armor-piercing arrows and killed them.
• Wang Chen praised the hunters and told Xiao Hong to hurry the work so they could scout farther ahead.
• Xiao Hong reflected on how Wang Chen’s leadership had made him captain and equipped the Guard Team with weapons, armor, and Storage Bags.
• The hunters processed and stored the boars, rested briefly, and continued deeper into the mountains to stockpile meat for winter.

At the start of winter, Wang Chen led Datian Village through its sacrifice and feast before an Evil Spirit killed four members of the Huang family. He gave the Guard Team Evil-Dispelling Talismans and began investigating the tragedy, which he suspected was connected to Master Huang.

• Wang Chen presided over the Day of Sacrifice, and the villagers honored him as their village chief while sharing sacrificial stew and wild boar meat.
• After heavy snow settled over Datian Village, Xiao Hong reported that four members of the Huang family had been found strangled, while Huang Ze was missing.
• Wang Chen concluded that an Evil Spirit had likely possessed Huang Ze and made him kill his family, then gave Xiao Hong Evil-Dispelling Talismans for the Guard Team.
• Xiao Hong told Wang Chen that Huang Ze had once worked for Huang Deqi, and Wang Chen suspected the connection had brought the calamity.
• Wang Chen used Rebirth Talismans and Exorcism Talismans to send the victims' souls on their way, then decided to handle the matter himself.

After finding Huang Ze possessed by an Evil Spirit and consuming human remains, Wang Chen destroyed it with the Evil-Exorcising Net. Suspecting more Evil Spirits were hiding in Datian Village, he ordered the villagers indoors and began searching the village with his Divine Sense.

• After hearing a warning whistle, Wang Chen flew to a hill and found Huang Ze eating human remains in a graveyard.
• Huang Ze attacked Wang Chen with blood mosquitoes and tried to ambush him from underground, but Wang Chen blasted him out with the Vajra Fist.
• Wang Chen trapped Huang Ze in the Evil-Exorcising Net, which drained the Evil Spirit until it turned to ashes.
• Wang Chen told Xiao Hong to warn the village and ordered the Guard Team to keep all villagers indoors.
• After the village had been cleared of people, Wang Chen hovered above the Village Chief's residence and searched Datian Village with his Divine Sense.

Wang Chen discovered and cleansed households tainted by evil power in Datian Village, then learned its Exorcism Drum had been taken by Huang Deqi. He arranged for the village to sell a shop registered under the Huang clan’s name and use the proceeds to buy a replacement drum.

• Wang Chen used his Divine Sense and Cave Truth Technique to find signs of evil in more than a dozen households in Datian Village.
• Wang Chen expelled evil power from an elderly woman with an Exorcism Talisman and cleansed the other affected households.
• Wang Chen summoned the elders of the three clans and asked whether the village had an Evil-Warding artifact.
• The elders told Wang Chen that Huang Deqi had kept the village’s Exorcism Drum and that it had disappeared after his arrest.
• An elder revealed that Huang Deqi had a shop in Wancheng City registered under the Huang clan’s name.
• Wang Chen ordered the elders to sell the shop and use the proceeds to buy an Exorcism Drum, and the Huang clan elder reluctantly agreed.

Wang Chen cultivated the Innate Five Elements Technique and presided over the consecration of Datian Village’s new Exorcism Drum, earning the villagers’ gratitude and trust. As the village celebrated his leadership, Wang Chen sensed that his time there was nearly over and that he would soon leave.

• Wang Chen gained a point of experience after condensing a thread of Innate Five Elements True Qi, bringing his technique to 27/100.
• Xiao He told Wang Chen that the three elders had returned with a superior-grade Exorcism Drum.
• The villagers gathered at Houtu Temple as eight men carried the heavy drum from the village entrance.
• Wang Chen infused the Exorcism Drum with Innate Five Elements True Qi and struck it, dispersing gray smoke and cleansing Datian Village.
• The villagers cheered and regarded Wang Chen with gratitude and reverence, while he sensed that he would soon leave the village.

On New Year's Eve, Luo Zhen visited Wang Chen to confirm that the West Sea Sect had accepted his merits and granted him Inner Sect Disciple status. Wang Chen received his identity token and agreed to help Luo Zhen with a favor in the future before Luo Zhen departed.

• Wang Chen welcomed Luo Zhen to the Village Chief's residence and shared the New Year's Eve dinner and spirit wine with him.
• Luo Zhen told Wang Chen that his merits had passed review and that the sect had granted him the reward of an Inner Sect Disciple.
• Luo Zhen gave Wang Chen a West Sea Sect identity token and warned him that his life was tied to the token.
• Wang Chen offered Luo Zhen one hundred thousand Spirit Stones, but Luo Zhen returned them and asked him to help with an unspecified favor later.
• Luo Zhen bid Wang Chen farewell, saying they would meet again if fate permitted.

After Wang Chen’s admission to the West Sea Immortal Sect became known, local powers in Wancheng City brought him lavish gifts to secure his help and build ties. He accepted them as he prepared to leave Datian Village for the Central Region the next day.

• Song Wude arrived on behalf of Song Yuanshan and presented Wang Chen with eight chests of gifts worth over one hundred thousand Spirit Stones.
• Wang Chen read Song Yuanshan’s letter asking him to buy cultivation resources and exchange information, then accepted the gifts as payment.
• Fang Xiaoyue arrived on behalf of County Deputy Fang Hantao with another eight chests, and Wang Chen accepted them despite the rivalry between Fang Xiaoyue and Song Wude.
• More local powers came with gifts, and Wang Chen accepted them while resolving to repay them when possible.
• By the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, Wang Chen had only one day left before leaving Datian Village for the Central Region.

After receiving lavish gifts, Wang Chen appointed Xiao Hong as Datian Village’s new chief and entrusted him with the village’s systems and Xiao He’s care. He said farewell to the villagers and flew toward Wancheng City, while they later raised a stele in his honor.

• Wang Chen arranged for Fang Hantao to appoint Xiao Hong as Datian Village’s new chief, trusting him to preserve the changes Wang Chen had introduced.
• Wang Chen gave Xiao Hong cultivation supplies and asked him to look after Xiao He, then reassured Xiao He and left her with a Storage Bag.
• The villagers gathered outside the village chief’s residence, and Wang Chen drank their Hundred Family Wine before bidding them farewell.
• Wang Chen flew toward Wancheng City, and the villagers later pooled their funds to erect a stone stele commemorating his service.

Wang Chen arrived in Lotus City to report to the West Sea Sect’s Southern Domain Palace before traveling to the Inner Mountain Gate. He hired Little Gui Zi to find an affordable inn and saw how many Purple Mansion cultivators filled the city.

• Wang Chen’s Flying Ship reached Lotus City, and he prepared to report to the Southern Domain Palace and establish his immortal registry.
• Little Gui Zi offered to guide Wang Chen around Lotus City for thirty Spirit Stones a day and explained how he could help him avoid overpriced lodging and fake lake fish.
• Wang Chen hired Little Gui Zi for one day and agreed to pay five additional Spirit Stones for a carriage ride.
• Little Gui Zi brought Wang Chen through Lotus City, where he noticed numerous Purple Mansion cultivators, and the carriage stopped outside Lichun Courtyard.

Wang Chen stayed at Lichun Courtyard after Little Gui Zi offered him a first-visit discount, and spent the evening listening to Xiao Lian sing without asking to see her face. Xiao Lian was left staring at the spirit stones he gave her, while Wang Chen went to his guest room.

• Little Gui Zi explained that Wang Chen could stay three days for free if he paid to hear a girl sing, and Wang Chen agreed to spend one night at Lichun Courtyard.
• Little Gui Zi arranged for Xiao Lian to sing for Wang Chen and pocketed the spirit stones Wang Chen gave him.
• Xiao Lian sang Drunken Falling Flowers, and Wang Chen praised her performance and asked her to continue without removing the screen.
• Wang Chen paid Xiao Lian for the rest of the night and asked Little Gui Zi to take him to his guest room.
• After Wang Chen left, Xiao Lian emerged from behind the screen, revealing the ghost scar covering the left side of her face, and stared at the spirit stones.

Wang Chen attended the Red Sleeve Workshop Singer Gathering at Lichun Courtyard to hear Xiao Lian perform. After learning about her difficult past and Little Gui Zi’s devotion to her, he watched the gathering begin as singers took the stage.

• Little Gui Zi welcomed Wang Chen to a private room and explained that Xiao Lian was joining the Singer Gathering to sing for a kindred soul, not to win flower pins.
• Little Gui Zi told Wang Chen that he and Xiao Lian had grown up together and described how Xiao Lian’s birthmark had left her shunned despite her talent for music.
• Wang Chen used the Mystic Mirage Dragon Art to confirm Little Gui Zi was sincere, then considered cultivating the technique in Lotus City before deciding his ten-day departure for the West Sea Sect left too little time.
• Lichun Courtyard filled with guests, and an Illusion Array projected the performers above the stage.
• Two comic actors warmed up the crowd with amusing tales from Lotus City before the Singer Gathering officially began with singers performing one after another.