Chapter Summaries

Zhou Yi uncovered that Yuan Shun had fabricated the Yunshan rumors under pressure from the Brocade Guard and secretly bound him with gu insects. Months later, Zhou Yi was called to interrogate the enormous water bandit River-Mixing Dragon, who broke his chains and attacked before Zhou Yi brought him down.

• Zhou Yi visited Yuan Shun in disguise and ordered him to watch the eight great Jiangnan families, especially the Yang Family of Hongzhou.
• Yuan Shun confessed that Feng Zhong and the Brocade Guard had forced him to spread false Yunshan reports and lure Zhou Yi into an ambush.
• Zhou Yi spared Yuan Shun, warned him to seize the chance to become Vice Commander after Feng Zhong died, and planted gu insects around his heart.
• Over the following months, Captain Yang enforced strict prison rules, replacing guards who took bribes as the prisoners grew thinner.
• Zhou Yi joined Captain Yang's interrogation of River-Mixing Dragon, who broke his chains and attacked the guards.
• Zhou Yi dodged River-Mixing Dragon's punch and used his inner qi to bring the giant crashing to the ground.

After River-Mixing Dragon died during his escape attempt, Captain Yang consolidated his hold over the prison guards by offering them profits from Happy Forest. Zhou Yi rejected the new arrangement and decided to leave Heavenly Prison, saying goodbye to Yu Su.

• Zhou Yi killed River-Mixing Dragon, and Captain Yang recruited Old Lei as a captain while claiming the death was an accident.
• Captain Yang treated the prison guards to a feast at Happy Forest and promised them shares in its profits through a scheme that disguised prison bribes as purchases.
• Zhou Yi recognized Captain Yang’s mix of severity and favors as a way to win loyalty, but he distanced himself by saying he preferred Spring Breeze Pavilion.
• Warden Feng urged Zhou Yi to follow Captain Yang, while Zhou Yi delivered Yu Su a pig’s trotter and wine and told him he was leaving Heavenly Prison.
• Yu Su accepted Zhou Yi’s decision and asked him to burn extra paper money for him after he died, and Zhou Yi promised he would.

Zhou Yi planned to abandon his known identity and cautiously seek a path into the Cultivation World. Years later, Yuan Shun reported on the Jiangnan families and Yang Zheng’s growing influence, leaving Zhou Yi with new leads to investigate.

• Zhou Yi resigned from the Heavenly Prison and considered possible routes into the Cultivation World, deciding to wait in seclusion before investigating further.
• In the seventh year of Zhengtong, Yuan Shun delivered tribute tea and told Zhou Yi that he had accepted the Emperor’s overtures and secured control of key Brocade Guard posts.
• Yuan Shun presented records showing that each of the Eight Great Jiangnan Families had several extraordinary figures who evaded surveillance.
• Zhou Yi noted the cultivation-related names Little Dan Mountain, Mount Qiyun, and Dan Ding Sect, then asked Yuan Shun about major events in the capital.
• Yuan Shun reported that Yang Zheng had become Commander of the Imperial Guards and expanded his influence over Shenjing’s gangs, pleasure quarters, gambling dens, and Su River transport.

Zhou Yi investigated the mysterious prisoner held beneath the Imperial Prison while the Zhang Family was executed and Yang Zheng rose in power. He reached the prisoner's iron cage and saw an ancient, white-haired man in a ruined Daoist robe.

• Zhou Yi warned Yuan Shun that Yang Zheng's growing network could become powerful, then learned that the prisoner beneath the Imperial Prison was still alive and had been confined by Emperor Chongming's order.
• At the execution grounds, Zhou Yi disguised himself as the deaf-mute Old Zheng while Yang Zheng supervised the beheading of over a thousand members of the Zhang Family.
• Old Yu and the Brocade Guard colleagues celebrated at Spring Breeze Pavilion, where they discussed Emperor Zhengtong's decision to exterminate the Zhang Family and Zhang Heng's execution by a thousand cuts.
• The next day, Zhou Yi carried food through the Imperial Prison and descended to its deepest level, where he found an elderly, white-haired man inside a refined-steel cage.

Zhou Yi watched Ji Sheng’s madness worsen over four years while remaining a meal deliverer in the Imperial Prison, then visited Yuan Shun and asked why Yu Su had been imprisoned again. Yuan Shun explained the accusations against Yu’s clan, but Zhou Yi suspected the clan’s crimes were not the real reason.

• Ji Sheng alternated between violent madness and lucid moments, ate the meal Zhou Yi brought, and recited a Daoist incantation to preserve his sanity.
• Zhou Yi returned to his duties and judged that Ji Sheng was nearing death, but chose not to press him for an inheritance.
• Four years later, Zhou Yi disguised himself as Li Shun and saw Yu Su practicing Tai Chi Fist in the Imperial Prison without contacting him.
• Ji Sheng’s violent outburst shortened, and he cursed the emperor and threatened to exterminate his lineage.
• Zhou Yi visited Yuan Shun, advised him to preserve his health and send one branch of the Yuan Lineage north, then asked why Yu Su was imprisoned again.
• Yuan Shun described accusations that Yu Su’s clan had sold offices, taken bribes, seized farmland, and killed people, while Zhou Yi questioned whether those charges were the true cause of the imprisonment.

Yu Su was sentenced to death for treason but was rescued at his execution by remnants of Duke Who Pacifies the Nation's faction. Emperor Zhengtong ordered forces gathered to defend the capital and approved transferring one hundred thousand soldiers from the northern border army.

• Zhou Yi learned that Yu Su had been imprisoned for proposing taxes on officials and gentry, then ordered a dragon robe planted in Yu Su's home to frame him for treason.
• Yu Su was sentenced to execution, but armed rescuers broke into the execution grounds and carried him away through the crowd.
• Chen Jinyu fought three grandmasters at the execution ground, while Li Hong used a flying sword to kill one and drive off the other two.
• Emperor Zhengtong approved Chief Minister Qin's proposal to summon the Capital Garrison and investigate the Li rebels, whose traces Yuan Shun had found in Jiangnan.
• Minister Yan proposed transferring one hundred thousand northern border troops to Shenjing, and Emperor Zhengtong approved the order.

Zhou Yi watched Zhou Hong’s triumphant entrance into Shenjing and discussed the court’s politics with Yuan Shun, then discovered Ji Sheng’s death and uncovered a jade-bone message pointing to Little Dan Mountain. The chapter ended with Zhou Yi killing the condemned prisoner who had found the relic.

• Zhou Hong entered Shenjing with the Black Armor Army, impressing the crowds and reminding an old man of the Duke Who Pacifies the Nation.
• Zhou Yi and Yuan Shun discussed Minister Yan’s loyalty to Yu Su and the difficulty of breaking the cycle of dynasties.
• Months later, Zhou Yi found Ji Sheng’s dried skeleton in the Imperial Prison and confirmed that no ghostly soul remained.
• Zhou Yi secretly brought a condemned prisoner to search Ji Sheng’s cage, where the prisoner found a purplish-red jade rib containing a message about Little Dan Mountain.
• The prisoner revealed that the jade bone could expose Emperor Chongming’s crimes and lead its holder to fortune, so Zhou Yi killed him.

After decades of cultivation and cautious investigation, Zhou Yi learned that Little Dan Mountain was a market run by the Dan Ding Sect and decided it was time to go there. He discovered that Li Hong had founded Great Qian and unified the former Fengyang Kingdom, and the chapter ended with Zhou Yi preparing to approach the cultivation world.

• Zhou Yi tested the bone jade on more death-row prisoners, killed a liar who claimed to be a White Lotus Sect Dharma transmitter, burned the dungeon, and hid the jade in a dry well.
• Zhou Yi traveled to Cloud Mountain, confirmed that cultivators gathered at Little Dan Mountain, and spent years cultivating the Origin Returning Art while observing the peaks.
• In Heng City, Zhou Yi learned that Li Hong had become emperor and that the Jiangnan Aristocratic Families claimed to have immortal backing, so he sent a message asking the northern frontier to investigate Little Dan Mountain.
• After decades passed, Zhou Yi learned that Li Hong and Chen Jinyu had become registered disciples of the Dan Ding Sect, that Li Hong had founded Great Qian and reunited the realm, and that Little Dan Mountain was a market open to righteous-path Rogue Cultivators.

Zhou Yi read about Little Dan Mountain Market and its exploitative system, then decided to enter the Cultivation World after confirming the route was safe. He reached the market, learned its basic prices, and found himself penniless.

• Zhou Yi learned that the Dan Ding Sect controlled Little Dan Mountain Market and made rogue cultivators repay their cave-estate costs through labor.
• After deciding to experience the Cultivation World, Zhou Yi waited three years for a suitable cultivator to follow toward Little Dan Mountain.
• Zhou Yi approached Xu Yi, who declined to travel with him and entered the market ahead of him.
• Zhou Yi used the booklet's instructions to pass through the mist barrier and entered Little Dan Mountain Market.
• Zhou Yi surveyed the market and its shops, discovered the high prices of cultivation goods, and realized he had no spirit stones.

Zhou Yi registered as a rogue cultivator in Little Dan Mountain Market, rented a Cave Estate and three mu of Spirit Fields, and learned to cultivate spirit rice. After a year of farming, his earnings barely covered his rent and left him wondering whether all his work had been for nothing.

• Zhou Yi registered under the name Zhu Gang and was directed to Senior Brother Liu to claim a Cave Estate and Spirit Fields.
• Zhou Yi rented three mu of Spirit Fields and Cave Estate Number 306, and Senior Brother Liu gave him cultivation insights for a future drink.
• Zhou Yi settled into the vacant Cave Estate and found that the market's dense spiritual energy made cultivation much faster.
• Zhou Yi studied farming advice from nearby cultivators, mastered the Spirit Rain Technique, and planted spirit rice.
• After a year, Zhou Yi harvested two shi and four dou, paid his rent in rice, and sold the remaining six dou for thirty Spirit Stones.
• When his Cave Estate payment came due, Zhou Yi lamented that he had worked for nothing all year.

Zhou Yi weighed farming against other ways to earn Spirit Stones, chose a cautious approach, and built a relationship with Senior Brother Liu. By the third year, he had learned more about the Cultivation World and recognized how vast the path ahead was.

• Zhou Yi calculated that expanding his Spirit Fields would consume his time, so he decided to farm three mu while improving his cultivation and considering talisman-making.
• Zhou Yi harvested three more dou in his second year and hosted Senior Brother Liu at Phoenix Cry Pavilion to thank him for his spell guidance.
• Senior Brother Liu advised Zhou Yi to build connections and told him where to borrow ordinary historical texts about the Cultivation World.
• In his third year, Zhou Yi harvested another three dou, met several fellow cultivators through Senior Brother Liu, and borrowed books about the lands and powers beyond Little Dan Mountain.
• Zhou Yi learned that Dan Ding Sect governed more than twenty kingdoms in Cloud Province and reflected on the distant realms beyond Qi Refinement.

Zhou Yi spent a leisurely day talking with Gu Chen, browsing the trading district, and sharing wine with Quiet Void. Quiet Void gave him a restricted book, Pure Serenity True Monarch's Notes on Spirit Energy Analysis, leaving Zhou Yi curious about its contents.

• Zhou Yi and Gu Chen discussed Gu Chen's struggle to repay his Cave Estate debt and secure a better future for his grandson.
• Zhou Yi wandered through the trading district, tracked market prices, and bought a jar of twenty-year Crimson Rainbow Spiritual Wine from Hu the Taoist.
• Zhou Yi visited Quiet Void Abode and asked Quiet Void whether The Tale of Three Heroes had a latter half.
• Quiet Void shared the wine with Zhou Yi and gave him Pure Serenity True Monarch's Notes on Spirit Energy Analysis, instructing him not to pass it on.

Zhou Yi studied Pure Serenity True Monarch’s notebook and learned how spiritual energy, spirit veins, and spiritual objects worked, while discovering that his Soul Stabilizing Mirror was an old treasure losing its power. He resolved to keep cultivating, and the next day found Quiet Void had left on an unknown journey.

• Zhou Yi accepted Pure Serenity True Monarch’s notebook from Quiet Void and hurried home to read it.
• Zhou Yi learned that spirit veins produced spiritual energy and that spiritual energy dispersed from high-concentration areas to low-concentration areas.
• Zhou Yi realized his Soul Stabilizing Mirror had retained unusual spirituality despite being centuries old, and decided to nurture it rather than trade it away.
• Zhou Yi concluded that the ancestral vein was vital to the Cultivation World, then calmed himself and focused on reaching the fourth layer of Qi Refinement.
• Zhou Yi found Quiet Void Abode closed the next day, with a note saying Quiet Void had gone traveling and would return at an unknown time.

Zhou Yi continued farming and cultivating at Little Dan Mountain while worrying about Gu Chen's unexplained absence. Gu Chen returned grievously injured after avenging his grandson, and Zhou Yi watched him leave with little hope for the future.

• Zhou Yi watched newcomers buy fake spiritual items and stayed cautious after learning that the sellers had powerful backing.
• Zhou Yi tended his Spirit Essence Flowers, replanted herbs, and continued working his Spirit Field while Gu Chen remained absent.
• The Enforcement Team harvested Gu Chen's ripe spirit rice and recorded it for him in case he returned.
• Gu Chen came back with his left arm missing and told Zhou Yi that he had killed the wicked cultivator who had murdered his grandson.
• Gu Chen said he had sold everything to ransom his grandson, then asked Zhou Yi to bury his bones in the Spirit Field when he died.
• Zhou Yi watched Gu Chen stagger back to his Cave Estate and irrigated the field.

After Gu Chen died, Zhou Yi received his letter and inheritance, then continued cultivating at Little Dan Mountain for years. When thefts unsettled the market town, Zhou Yi realized a long-awaited opportunity had arrived and began planning to profit from it.

• Senior Brother Zhang delivered Gu Chen's letter, which revealed that Gu Chen's former friend had slaughtered the Gu family, and Gu Chen had later avenged them by wiping out that friend's family.
• Gu Chen left Zhou Yi three hundred Spirit Stones, asked him to look after surviving Liu relatives from Ling Province, and entrusted him with burial in the Spirit Field; Senior Brother Zhang helped carry out the will.
• Zhou Yi buried Gu Chen, continued his cultivation and farming, enjoyed dual cultivation, encountered Li Hong and Empress Chen Jinyu, and eventually broke through to the fourth level of Qi Refinement.
• Zhou Yi noticed protective talisman prices had risen and learned that thieves had robbed more than a dozen cultivators in the market town without killing anyone.
• Zhou Yi concluded the thieves had likely escaped and that the market town remained safe, then decided to plan around a security problem he had been anticipating for years.

Zhou Yi recruited Senior Brother Liu and Senior Brother Zhang to turn his Illusory Formation into a market-wide business protecting Cave Estates from Spirit Stone thieves. Senior Brother Liu planned to use the profits to buy merit for a junior in his Lineage, and Zhou Yi brought Little Dan Mountain Market’s four Rogue Cultivator formation masters into the scheme.

• Zhou Yi proposed selling Illusory Formations to protect Cave Estates from thieves and invited Senior Brother Liu and Senior Brother Zhang to help.
• Senior Brother Liu proposed selling the formations through the market’s authority for fifty Spirit Stones each, while Zhou Yi offered to supply the flags for five.
• Senior Brother Liu explained that he wanted to use the profits to buy merit and secure a registered disciple position for a talented junior in his Lineage.
• Zhou Yi, Senior Brother Liu, and Senior Brother Zhang settled the business details and agreed that the two formal disciples would take the larger share.
• After celebrating with Senior Brother Liu, Zhou Yi visited the market’s four Rogue Cultivator formation masters and invited them to join the venture.

Zhou Yi organized a group of rogue cultivator formation masters to install Illusory Formations across Little Dan Mountain, earning a fortune and drawing unwanted attention. After rejecting Ye Yuer’s proposal to become Dao companions, he bought Heavenly Thunder Pearls and began showing them around the trading district.

• Zhou Yi persuaded four rogue cultivator formation masters to work together, agree on prices, and demand prompt payment from the market office.
• After the Enforcement Team failed to catch the Spirit Stone thief, Zhou Yi and the formation masters installed Illusory Formations for Cave Estate owners, earning Zhou Yi a net profit of 2,200 Spirit Stones.
• Ye Yuer proposed that she and Zhou Yi become Dao companions, but Zhou Yi refused and realized that his wealth had made him a target.
• Zhou Yi bought all five Heavenly Thunder Pearls available at Heavenly Craft Pavilion for 500 Spirit Stones and carried two around the trading district while greeting acquaintances.

Zhou Yi armed himself with Mystic Items and began studying the Five Thunder Technique while keeping his identity and safety carefully guarded. Months later, Hu the Taoist asked him to set up a protective formation for a newly founded Cultivation Family, but Zhou Yi refused to leave Little Dan Mountain.

• Zhou Yi bought five Mystic Items, learned the complete Origin Returning Art and Myriad Treasures Art, and discovered he could control six Mystic Items at once.
• Zhou Yi began comprehending the Five Thunder Technique after testing his Mystic Items.
• Months later, Zhou Yi evaded someone calling him Daoist Zhu, but Hu the Taoist found him at his Cave Estate.
• Hu the Taoist told Zhou Yi that he had discovered a spiritual land, settled members of the Hu family there, and established a Cultivation Family.
• Hu the Taoist asked Zhou Yi to set up a clan-protecting formation, but Zhou Yi refused to leave Little Dan Mountain.

Zhou Yi traded his array inheritance for Hu the Taoist’s Crimson Rainbow Wine recipe, then used shared array discussions to deepen his knowledge and build ties with the other array masters. As Senior Brother Liu prepared to retire to the mortal world, Zhou Yi agreed to take over his office reception duties.

• Zhou Yi exchanged two arrays from his inheritance for Hu the Taoist’s Crimson Rainbow Wine recipe, and the two swore to keep their inheritances from third parties.
• Zhou Yi bought ingredients, brewed a batch of Crimson Rainbow Wine, and began meeting regularly with four array masters to discuss and test array principles.
• Over three years, Zhou Yi and the array masters gained more from their discussions than they had from decades of solitary study, while their group monopolized repairs for thousands of arrays.
• Zhou Yi repaired the Illusory Formation at Cave Estate No. 475, accepted spirit peaches from its elderly resident, and returned to the market office.
• Senior Brother Liu introduced his young clansman Liu Heng, whose place in the sect had been confirmed, and asked Zhou Yi to take over the office reception duties when he retired.

Zhou Yi settled into his new reception job at Little Dan Mountain and attended a staff trading gathering, where he bought an ancient body-cultivation technique. He returned to his Cave Estate with the Jade Slip for the technique, Divine Bull Transformation.

• Zhou Yi began working at the Little Dan Mountain office, where he shared spirit peaches and celebrated his new position with colleagues at Phoenix Cry Pavilion.
• Zhou Yi rented three mu of Spirit Field to Xiao Tiezhun and gave him a Jade Slip of the Spirit Rain Technique.
• Luo Xun invited Zhou Yi to the monthly gathering on the office's third floor, where colleagues traded spiritual items.
• Luo Xun explained that an ancient body-cultivation technique was incomplete and costly, but Zhou Yi bought it from Senior Brother Li for one hundred Spirit Stones.
• Zhou Yi irrigated his Spirit Field, returned to his Cave Estate, and identified the technique in the Jade Slip as Divine Bull Transformation.