Chapter Summaries

After earning a profit from selling pills, Luo Chen spent most of his savings on medicinal ingredients to expand his pill-making efforts. He returned home to practice his spells and cultivation, then abruptly opened his eyes and stared at the door.

• Luo Chen counted his earnings, talked Old Taoist Chen out of immediate repayment, and promised to repay the fifty spirit stones later.
• Luo Chen bought large quantities of medicinal ingredients and learned Shopkeeper Liu could potentially help sell pills through the Spirit Medicine Pavilion.
• Luo Chen returned home with only forty spirit stones left, sorted his supplies, and practiced the Fireball Spell and Entangling Spell.
• Luo Chen cultivated with the Perfect Grade Evergreen Art, went to bed, then opened his eyes and stared at the door.

Zhou San’s desperate flight brought Gao Ting'e to Luo Chen’s courtyard, where their fight set Luo Chen’s house ablaze. Luo Chen killed Gao Ting'e with a Soul-Breaking Nail and the Entangling Spell, then looted both bodies and lamented that they had little worth taking.

• Zhou San fled toward the Howling Moon Mountain Range while Gao Ting'e pursued him with a Swift Travel Talisman and wounded him with a Flying Sword.
• Zhou San charged toward Luo Chen’s house, and Gao Ting'e’s Fireball struck the courtyard, setting the house ablaze.
• Luo Chen attacked Gao Ting'e with a Fireball and Soul-Breaking Nail, then kept up a barrage that prevented Gao Ting'e from recasting his defensive spell.
• Luo Chen suspected Gao Ting'e was playing dead and killed him with the Entangling Spell when the corpse moved to draw its sword.
• Luo Chen searched both corpses, found little loot, and complained about the poor rewards and his burning house.

Wang Haichao and Xiao Gao discussed the Great River Gang's raid, their losses, and the threat posed by Mad Blade Wang Yuan. Meanwhile, Luo Chen rented a large, cheap room in the Inner City, though its gloomy condition and extra fees left the reason for its low price unexplained.

• Wang Haichao learned that the Great River Gang had looted seven Mountain Shattering Gang strongholds and ordered a High-Grade Magic Tool set aside for Ding Yilong.
• Wang Haichao and Xiao Gao discussed Wang Yuan's growing reputation and Xiao Gao's missing younger brother, whom Xiao Gao believed safe with protective gear and a Swift Travel Talisman.
• Wang Haichao told Xiao Gao to watch for a Mountain Shattering Gang counterattack, noting that reinforcements would soon arrive.
• Luo Chen asked Sun Shou to find him a spacious Inner City rental, and Sun Shou led him through several expensive options before finding a large room in a courtyard.
• Luo Chen agreed to pay rent, a deposit, management and waste-removal fees, and received a smoke-collecting magic tool before asking Sun Shou why the room was unusually cheap.

Cai Yi explained that Great River Market’s Inner City suppressed a Ghost King beneath a formation, while Luo Chen settled into his new room and reckoned with the costs and spoils of his recent fight. After cultivating with the First-Order Spirit Vein, he stopped missing his old home.

• Cai Yi told Luo Chen that the Jade Cauldron Domain’s Founding War had left many ghosts behind and that Great River Market’s formation suppressed a Ghost King beneath the Inner City.
• Cai Yi reassured Luo Chen that the formation kept the Ghost King from affecting daily life, then left for her job dancing at Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion.
• Luo Chen cleaned his room, burned the musk Cai Yi had given him, and took stock of his damaged belongings and the magic tools and Spirit Stones he had seized.
• Luo Chen decided to buy medicinal herbs and household supplies while staying wary of retaliation from the cultivator he had killed.
• Luo Chen circulated the Evergreen Art and felt the benefits of cultivating on a First-Order Spirit Vein.

Luo Chen settled into the Inner City and tested his Jade Knives, realizing he needed the Attraction Art to control them effectively. After reading about a renowned Golden Core Cultivator, he met Cai Yi on his way out and told her he was a Pill Refiner.

• Luo Chen compared the Inner City's First-Order Spirit Vein with the Outer City's poor cultivation conditions and resolved to stay in the Inner City.
• Unable to sleep in the cold, Luo Chen tested his Jade Knives and discovered that the largest blade controlled the child blades.
• Luo Chen decided he needed to buy the Attraction Art so he could control the Jade Knives more effectively.
• Luo Chen practiced Carefree Wander and read about Mu Qingcheng, a Golden Core Cultivator famed for her Mandarin Duck Axes.
• Luo Chen met Cai Yi returning from work and told her he refined pills and usually sold them at the Southern City Rogue Cultivator Market.

Luo Chen sold a Flying Swallow Sword at Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion to raise money after spending most of his Spirit Stones on alchemy materials. Old Chu bought it cheaply, then revealed the sword was in good condition and prepared it for resale.

• Luo Chen bought alchemy materials at Hundred Herbs Hall, leaving himself with twenty-five Spirit Stones after setting aside money for necessities.
• Luo Chen went to Ten Thousand Treasures Pavilion and asked Old Chu to appraise his Flying Swallow Sword.
• Old Chu cited the sword’s damage and repair costs to offer Luo Chen one thousand Spirit Stones, then raised the offer to one thousand one hundred after Luo Chen tried to leave.
• Luo Chen accepted the offer, left the pavilion, and cursed the merchants as shady.
• Old Chu handed the sword to a burly man and told him to remove the carved words, add metal essence, and put it up for sale.

After killing several cultivators, Luo Chen spent much of his Spirit Stones on Qi Nourishing Pills to strengthen himself against possible revenge, then sought affordable spells in Great River Market. He found no spells he could afford, but ran into Wang Yuan selling a bloody heap of goods, leaving Luo Chen under his brother’s protection as their next gang clash approached.

• Luo Chen bought five bottles of Qi Nourishing Pills for five hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones because he feared retaliation from powerful cultivators.
• Luo Chen visited Spirit Source Studio to browse spells, but rejected the costly selections and bought only Spirit Rice.
• Luo Chen searched the Southern City Rogue Cultivator Market for cheap spells but found none.
• Luo Chen encountered Wang Yuan leaving the market and eagerly followed him to his stall.
• Wang Yuan displayed a large collection of bloody Magic Tools, books, Bamboo Slips, and a yellowed Jade Slip, explaining that some of the goods were not his.
• Wang Yuan told Luo Chen that the fighting had stopped for now and would resume in a few days.

Luo Chen bought a spellbook from Wang Yuan, who gave him Chaos Spirit Powder and advice for using the Soul Severing Nail. After meeting his powerful neighbors and learning that the area’s yin-aspected spiritual qi might affect his cultivation, Luo Chen told Gu Cai Yi he was refining Grain Avoidance Pills, and she later asked Yu Xiang about their value.

• Luo Chen bought Five Essential Spells for the Qi Refining Stage from Wang Yuan and learned that Chen Xiao had found a Senior’s Cave Residence before Luo Chen killed him.
• Wang Yuan gave Luo Chen Chaos Spirit Powder to coat his Soul Severing Nail and warned him to finish a fight quickly after using it.
• Luo Chen met Gu Cai Yi and learned that most of their courtyard’s other residents were high-level female cultivators, including Fu Xiu Xiu, Qin Liangchen, Bai Mei Ling, and Feng Xia.
• Gu Cai Yi explained that a Ghost King suppressed north of the city had caused the local spiritual qi to lean toward yin, and she offered to ask Yu Xiang whether it could harm Luo Chen’s cultivation.
• Luo Chen told Gu Cai Yi that he was refining Grain Avoidance Pills, and Gu Cai Yi later asked Yu Xiang whether Mid Qi Refining Stage cultivators earned much from making them.

Luo Chen studied Attraction Art and began training his control over spiritual power, while reviewing his progress toward earning a living from All Wonders Pills. He saw a chance to escape his financial constraints, then drew an angry complaint from a neighbor after celebrating with Fireball Spells.

• Luo Chen checked the quality of the herbs he had bought from Hundred Herbs Hall and began reading the spellbook he had purchased from Wang Yuan.
• Luo Chen learned how Attraction Art trained spiritual-power control and practiced lifting and retrieving a pebble.
• Luo Chen checked his Attribute Panel, saw that Attraction Art had reached Entry Level, and noted his progress in spells and All Wonders Pill proficiency.
• Luo Chen celebrated his hopes of earning more from All Wonders Pills by firing four Fireball Spells into the sky.
• A woman next door shouted at Luo Chen for making noise, and he hurried back inside.

Luo Chen prepared Fire Hound Whips for refining an All Wonders Pill, but the stench disturbed his neighbors and led him to activate the Faint Smoke Sparse Rain Pavilion. After Bai Mei Ling questioned him about the pill, he kept its identity secret and returned to work.

• Luo Chen checked his cultivation progress and began soaking forty Fire Hound Whips in medicinal liquid for three days and nights.
• The odor prompted Bai Mei Ling to knock on Luo Chen’s door and tell him to activate the Faint Smoke Sparse Rain Pavilion.
• Luo Chen activated the magic tool, which removed the odors, and apologized to Bai Mei Ling for disturbing the courtyard.
• Bai Mei Ling asked what pill Luo Chen was refining and warned she would report him if it was a devil-path pill.
• Bai Mei Ling left for work with Feng Xia, and Luo Chen returned to processing the medicinal ingredients.

Luo Chen shared his homemade beef and Spirit Rice with Gu Cai Yi, who reassured him that Great River Market’s Yin Qi posed little danger during short stays. Their conversation turned to her work, his cultivation goals, and ways to practice powerful spells in the crowded Inner City, leaving Luo Chen with a discreet place to train in the courtyard.

• Gu Cai Yi tasted Luo Chen’s beef, praised his cooking, and told him the Yin Qi seeping into Great River Market would only be harmful after at least a month of uninterrupted secluded cultivation.
• Gu Cai Yi described her loneliness and explained that clients crowded Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion at the start of each month, while Luo Chen silently connected their visits to the monthly cycle.
• Gu Cai Yi advised Luo Chen to preserve his Primordial Yang if he still wanted to establish his foundation.
• Luo Chen asked how Inner City cultivators practiced powerful spells, and Gu Cai Yi said they could train outside the city or pay to use the Combat Platform at the Jade Cauldron Sword Pavilion.
• Gu Cai Yi told Luo Chen he could practice spells in an empty corner of the courtyard during the day, as long as he replenished the soil and kept Senior Sun from noticing.

Gao Tingyuan traced his missing brother Gao Ting'e to Luo Chen’s ruined home, then ordered an investigation when the trail led into the mountains. Meanwhile, Luo Chen refined All Wonders Pills, advanced his proficiency, and left Gu Cai Yi astonished by his unusual pill-making method.

• Gao Tingyuan followed the Qi Seeking Plate to Luo Chen’s ruined home and learned that Luo Chen was a Qi Refining Third Layer loose cultivator who had disappeared.
• Gao Tingyuan’s group tracked Gao Ting'e’s aura into the mountains, but the Qi Seeking Plate became chaotic, so they turned back and planned to investigate Luo Chen and nearby cultivators.
• Luo Chen, unaware of Gao Tingyuan’s search, continued refining All Wonders Pills and reached All Wonders Pill Proficient after a successful batch.
• Luo Chen celebrated his success by offering incense to Lord Guan, then Gu Cai Yi arrived with Spirit Fruits and asked what he was making.
• Luo Chen told Gu Cai Yi that the gelatinous substance in his iron pot was a pill, leaving her to wonder whether the pot could refine pills.

Yu Xiang explained why Luo Chen’s iron pot was a dangerous, inadequate pill-refining tool and offered Gu Cai Yi a warning to pass along. Luo Chen improved his spells and planned to sell All Wonders Pills more regularly, but his plans shifted when he learned of a Purple Cloud Copper Furnace.

• Yu Xiang told Gu Cai Yi that Luo Chen’s skill with a poor Spirit Iron Pot suggested exceptional talent or strong foundations, and warned that the pot could explode.
• Luo Chen advanced his Attraction Art, learned the Wind Riding Art and Spirit Eye Art, and found the Spirit Eye Art difficult and uncomfortable to use.
• After producing three batches of All Wonders Pills and reaching Proficient Level in pill refining, Luo Chen decided to set up a stall three times a month.
• The next morning, Luo Chen heard about a Tier 1 Lower-Grade Dharma Artifact called the Purple Cloud Copper Furnace.

Luo Chen learned that Gu Cai Yi could arrange a discounted alchemy furnace for him, then continued refining pills and training until his All Wonders Pill success rate improved. He headed to the Southern City Rogue Cultivator Market at dawn, hopeful about the profits ahead.

• Luo Chen eagerly agreed to buy Courtesan Xiang Xiang’s unused Purple Cloud Copper Furnace from Gu Cai Yi for three hundred Low-Grade Spirit Stones, but planned to wait until he finished his current ingredients.
• Luo Chen adjusted his spell practice and learned from Gu Cai Yi that tenants like him received only the spiritual energy left after the Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion’s Spirit Gathering Array drew from the First-Order Spirit Vein.
• Gu Cai Yi told Luo Chen that Fu Xiu Xiu managed the Divine Talisman Pavilion and might enter the Divine Talisman Sect, making Luo Chen envy her prospects of joining a sect.
• Luo Chen used up his ingredients and successfully refined five batches from his final twenty-five portions, raising his All Wonders Pill success rate to two in ten.
• Luo Chen rushed to the Southern City Rogue Cultivator Market at dawn, expecting a profitable day.

Luo Chen sold All Wonders Pills and Grain Avoidance Pills at a crowded street stall, drawing customers with bold claims while Old Taoist Chen promoted talismans. The Great River Gang confronted Luo Chen over Gao Ting'e’s disappearance, but Luo Chen refused to go with them and pointed out that Wang Yuan was his big brother.

• Luo Chen loudly advertised his All Wonders Pills, and Old Taoist Chen joined in by promoting his talismans.
• Zeng Wen bought several bottles, and other cultivators followed, buying Grain Avoidance Pills and receiving All Wonders Pills as gifts.
• Luo Chen sold most of his pills before Duan Sanfu and another Great River Gang cultivator questioned him about Gao Ting'e, who had disappeared in the Outer City Southwest Wasteland.
• Duan Sanfu ordered Luo Chen to meet the gang's second-in-command, but Luo Chen refused and said Wang Yuan was his big brother.
• Wang Yuan stood at a nearby stall and watched the confrontation.

After Wang Yuan warned Luo Chen that Gao Tingyuan could kill him without attracting the Jade Cauldron Sword Sect’s attention, Luo Chen resolved to strengthen himself and carefully managed his growing business funds. He finished buying supplies and went to Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion to visit Gu Cai Yi, where the spiritual energy impressed him.

• Wang Yuan questioned Luo Chen about Gao Ting'e, warned him that Gao Tingyuan might target him, and offered him refuge at the Mountain Shattering Gang Headquarters.
• Luo Chen calmed himself, decided to earn Spirit Stones and improve his cultivation and combat skills, then went out disguised in black.
• Luo Chen calculated how to divide his 845 Spirit Stones among a Purple Cloud Copper Furnace, pill ingredients, operating funds, and Grain Avoidance Pills.
• Luo Chen bought supplies, arranged for firewood delivery, and headed to Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion to visit Gu Cai Yi.
• A servant directed Luo Chen to the Feather Robe Pavilion, where Gu Cai Yi was usually found.

Luo Chen watched the dancers at Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion, then sold Yu Xiang a bottle of All Wonders Pills in exchange for a Purple Cloud Copper Furnace. He left the pavilion without his disguise and ran into Zeng Wen, who mistakenly believed he had come to test the pills himself.

• Luo Chen admired the performances at Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion and asked Gu Cai Yi if he could accompany her to work and watch her dance, but recoiled when she mentioned the five-spirit-stone admission fee.
• Yu Xiang questioned Luo Chen about his pill refining, offered fifty spirit stones for an All Wonders Pill, and presented him with a Purple Cloud Copper Furnace.
• Luo Chen sold Yu Xiang a bottle of All Wonders Pills and carefully explained their effects and risks before leaving with the furnace.
• Yu Xiang and Gu Cai Yi reacted with surprise after realizing the pills were aphrodisiacs primarily intended for male cultivators.
• Luo Chen forgot to put on his black gauze conical hat before leaving and was recognized by Zeng Wen, who praised his dedication to improving All Wonders Pill.
• Luo Chen fled after telling Zeng Wen that better All Wonders Pills would be available in the future, while Zeng Wen praised him as a responsible pill refiner.

After confirming no one had followed him home, Luo Chen ran into his neighbor Fu Xiu Xiu and accepted her dinner invitation while planning how to prepare for refining pills with his new Purple Cloud Copper Furnace. Bai Mei Ling examined his Grain Avoidance Powder and revealed that genuine Grain Avoidance Pills required a recipe controlled by the great sects, leaving Luo Chen frustrated by their monopoly.

• Luo Chen returned home in disguise, found Fu Xiu Xiu tending a patch where his spell practice had destroyed her Ziyang Flower seeds, and accepted her invitation to dinner.
• While waiting for Fu Xiu Xiu to cook, Luo Chen planned to learn his Purple Cloud Copper Furnace, process ingredients differently, and build a ventilated pill-refining room.
• Bai Mei Ling inspected Luo Chen's Grain Avoidance Powder and told him that a genuine Grain Avoidance Pill recipe could make him a living.
• Luo Chen asked Bai Mei Ling for the recipe, but she said the great sects controlled it, prompting him to curse their monopoly.
• Fu Xiu Xiu called Luo Chen and Bai Mei Ling to dinner, and Bai Mei Ling wondered whether a Fire Hound Whip could refine Grain Avoidance Powder.

Luo Chen joined Fu Xiu Xiu, Bai Mei Ling, and Feng Xia for a warm meal and learned about their difficult lives as rogue cultivators. The next day, he began building a pill room in his Rear Room and offered to care for Fu Xiu Xiu’s sun-loving plants while she stayed at Divine Talisman Pavilion.

• Fu Xiu Xiu hosted Luo Chen, Bai Mei Ling, and Feng Xia for dinner, and they agreed to help one another as family.
• Bai Mei Ling and Feng Xia discussed the danger of Feng Xia’s former medicine-testing work at Hundred Herbs Hall.
• The group talked about Qin Yuanjiang’s prospects at Fallen Cloud Sect and Fu Xiu Xiu’s chance to join Divine Talisman Sect’s outer sect.
• Luo Chen received building materials from Manager Liu and began constructing a pill room in his Rear Room.
• Fu Xiu Xiu answered Luo Chen’s cultivation questions over lunch and told him she had once failed to reach Foundation Establishment.
• Luo Chen offered to watch Fu Xiu Xiu’s sun-loving plants, and she agreed to place them outside.

Luo Chen built and began testing a Pill Room, while Bai Mei Ling explained Ailao Mountain’s construction business and Fu Xiu Xiu’s troubled past with her former Dao companion. After sharing his furnace-fried Immortal Beans with Gu Cai Yi, Luo Chen learned that she had reached the Qi Refining Ninth Layer.

• Bai Mei Ling told Luo Chen about Ailao Mountain’s building expertise and explained that Fu Xiu Xiu disliked Gu Cai Yi because her former Dao companion had died at Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion.
• Luo Chen heated the Purple Cloud Copper Furnace in his new Pill Room and prepared to test it, but the work left him covered in soot.
• Luo Chen offered Gu Cai Yi furnace-fried Immortal Beans, and she enjoyed them enough to take the whole plate.
• Luo Chen watered Fu Xiu Xiu’s plants and discovered that the Moonlight Grass by his bed had helped his cultivation and spell practice.
• Gu Cai Yi told Luo Chen that she had reached the Qi Refining Ninth Layer.