Chapter Summaries

Luo Chen inspected the Mountain Shattering Gang’s new Pill Room and pressed Sikong Shoujia for extensive upgrades, prompting Sikong to take him to Mi Shuhua for approval. Luo Chen arrived at Bright Moon Hall, where Mi Shuhua was waiting with tea and a broad smile.

• Luo Chen praised the new Pill Room but demanded it be divided into workspaces and equipped with specialized tools and materials.
• Luo Chen persuaded Sikong Shoujia to consider hiring Ailao Mountain designers and buying costly construction materials, firewood, pavilions, and a library.
• Sikong Shoujia, overwhelmed by Luo Chen’s requests, took him to meet Mi Shuhua, while Gu Cai Yi stayed behind to investigate the Pill Hall’s personnel.
• Luo Chen kept pace with Sikong Shoujia in flight using his Cloud Stepping Boots, concealing the full extent of his speed.
• Luo Chen and Sikong Shoujia reached Mountain Shattering Gang Headquarters, where Mi Shuhua waited in Bright Moon Hall with tea and a broad smile.

Luo Chen received Qing Yuanzi’s alchemy notes and studied the Jade Marrow Pill recipe that Mi Shuhua hoped he would refine for the Mountain Shattering Gang. He recognized its potential as an affordable cultivation pill for poor cultivators, then turned his attention to the incomplete Spirit Communication Pill recipe.

• Mi Junping questioned the cost of building a Pill Room, and Mi Shuhua explained that the Gang’s investment was modest compared with the expense of supporting a true Pill Refiner.
• Luo Chen thanked Sikong Shoujia for handling the Pill Hall arrangements and returned home with his new Qi Nourishing Pills, an alchemy book, and two Bamboo Slips.
• Luo Chen read Qing Yuanzi’s Alchemy Detailed Explanation and began studying the complete Jade Marrow Pill recipe Mi Shuhua had given him.
• Luo Chen concluded that the Jade Marrow Pill could earn Mi Shuhua substantial profits because it offered low-level cultivators an affordable way to increase spiritual power, despite its risks of drug resistance and Dantian Jade Transformation.
• Luo Chen turned to the burned Bamboo Slip and read the name of its incomplete recipe: Spirit Communication Pill.

Luo Chen studied the incomplete Spirit Communication Pill recipe and the Hundred Herbs Illustrated Handbook while overseeing construction of three Pill Rooms. When Ailao Mountain cultivators abruptly left, he checked that the work was mostly intact, then departed to see friends returning to their sect after a ten-year rotation.

• Luo Chen treasured the incomplete Spirit Communication Pill recipe because it could strengthen Spiritual Sense, and resolved to study it before secretly attempting to complete and refine it.
• Luo Chen borrowed the Hundred Herbs Illustrated Handbook from the Mountain Shattering Gang's Merit Hall and studied medicinal herbs while the Pill Rooms were being built.
• Sikong Shoujia told Luo Chen that the Ailao Mountain cultivators had left without collecting the remaining payment, and Luo Chen inspected the nearly finished Pill Rooms.
• Luo Chen told Sikong Shoujia he would be away to see friends off as they returned to their sect after completing their ten-year rotation.
• Luo Chen entered the Inner City with his guards, while Liu Qiang envied his protected life and Zhou Yuanli warned him to speak carefully about Hall Master Luo.

Luo Chen settled the month’s business with Yuan Xiaoyue, then went to Lancang Wharf to bid farewell to Fu Xiu Xiu, Chen Xiuping, and Xiao Shuyi as they departed for the Divine Talisman Domain. He asked Fu Xiu Xiu to look after Chen Xiuping and Xiao Shuyi, and the chapter left him watching their flying vessel disappear into the distance.

• Yuan Xiaoyue brought Luo Chen six hundred and twenty Low-Grade Spirit Stones in income, and he paid her thirty Spirit Stones as her salary and gave her snacks to sell.
• Luo Chen left the Inner City with Zhou Yuanli and Liu Qiang and headed to Lancang Wharf, where the Divine Talisman Pavilion was loading spiritual materials onto a ship.
• Luo Chen called Chen Xiuping and Xiao Shuyi down from the ship, gave Xiao Shuyi beef jerky, and asked Fu Xiu Xiu to look after them during their journey.
• Fu Xiu Xiu agreed to help, and Xiao Shuyi went to stay with her aboard the flying vessel.
• Chen Xiuping gave Luo Chen a piece of gauze before boarding, and Luo Chen waved farewell as the flying vessel departed for the Divine Talisman Domain.

Luo Chen met Gao Tingyuan, who suspected him of killing Gao Ting'e, and denied the accusation while demanding five Spirit Stones for damage to his home. Gao Tingyuan let him leave but remained determined to investigate Ting'e's death, while Luo Chen encouraged his bodyguards to follow his example.

• Duan Sanfu invited Luo Chen to Clear River Tavern to meet Gao Tingyuan, and Luo Chen went upstairs with Zhou Yuanli and Liu Qiang.
• Gao Tingyuan questioned Luo Chen about Gao Ting'e's death, but Luo Chen denied responsibility and explained that he had visited Chen Xiuping's home.
• Luo Chen argued that a Qi Refining Third Layer cultivator could not have defeated Gao Ting'e and demanded five Spirit Stones for the courtyard Gao Ting'e had destroyed.
• Gao Tingyuan let Luo Chen leave after Luo Chen invoked Mi Shuhua, and the blue-clad cultivator suggested investigating rogue cultivators who traveled to the Howling Moon Mountain Range.
• Gao Tingyuan insisted that he would continue investigating Gao Ting'e's death, while Luo Chen praised his own show of nerve to Zhou Yuanli and Liu Qiang.

After meeting Gao Tingyuan, Luo Chen returned safely and learned that Mi Shuhua had ordered his protection strengthened. He then examined Old Taoist Chen’s parting gift, a spell manual for the Aura Concealing Spirit Art, and began practicing it.

• Luo Chen reflected on how he had prepared safeguards before meeting Gao Tingyuan and relied on Mi Shuhua, Wang Yuan, and his own escape skills to stay safe.
• Mi Shuhua decided to warn Wang Haichao about Gao Tingyuan and gave Zhou Yuanli a Sound Transmission Jade Pendant to protect Luo Chen.
• Luo Chen brewed tea and examined the pale gray gauze Old Taoist Chen had given him.
• Luo Chen discovered that the gauze contained the Aura Concealing Spirit Art, which could hide his aura and, at Great Accomplishment, conceal or alter his apparent cultivation realm.
• Luo Chen memorized the spell’s formula and began practicing by forming a Spiritual Power Seed outside his Dantian.

Luo Chen heard that Fei Bai Wen, a Late-Stage Foundation Establishment cultivator with an unusual defensive Magic Treasure, had been murdered in Great River Market, then busied himself preparing the Mountain Shattering Gang’s new Pill Hall. As the hall’s opening ceremony approached, Mi Shuhua asked about Luo Chen’s pill research and offered to arrange a ceremony, and Luo Chen proposed combining it with a furnace-opening demonstration.

• Bai Mei Ling and Qin Liangchen told Luo Chen that Fei Bai Wen’s body had been recovered from the Lancang River, and Gu Cai Yi explained that he had once given her a defensive Magic Tool.
• Gu Cai Yi confirmed that Fei Bai Wen was an Ailao Mountain contractor, while Luo Chen and the others speculated about who could have killed him.
• Luo Chen assessed the young people assigned to his Pill Hall, while Tang Quan and Luo Erduo nearly came to blows before Mi Li calmed them.
• Mi Shuhua arrived at Slanting Moon Valley and asked Luo Chen about his research into the Jade Marrow Pills.
• Mi Shuhua explained that the Pill Hall would open in three days and asked Luo Chen about a ceremony; Luo Chen suggested holding the opening and furnace-opening together and promised a demonstration.

Luo Chen opened the Mountain Shattering Gang’s Pill Hall by refining Grain Avoidance Pills in three furnaces at once, impressing the assembled cultivators with the pills’ quality. Mi Shuhua praised him as the gang’s Pill Hall Master, and Luo Chen began building his reputation as its leading Pill Refiner.

• Luo Chen spent three days in Slanting Moon Valley teaching twenty Mountain Shattering Gang cultivators how to tend alchemy fires and preparing ingredients for the Pill Hall’s opening.
• Gu Cai Yi, Sikong Shoujia, and more than a hundred gang cultivators attended the opening, where Luo Chen began refining pills in three furnaces simultaneously.
• Luo Chen refined Grain Avoidance Pills and concealed his true mastery by producing a mixture of high-, mid-, and low-grade pills.
• Luo Chen distributed more than two hundred pills to the gang cultivators, and Mi Shuhua praised the batch and urged everyone to support him.
• The cultivators cheered for Luo Chen, who left the gathering recognized as the Mountain Shattering Gang’s number one Pill Refiner.

Luo Chen negotiated the Pill Hall’s plans and secured three bottles of Qi Nourishing Pills each month, then focused on cultivating toward Qi Refining Layer Six. The next day, he gathered his thirty direct subordinates in Slanting Moon Valley to assign their work.

• Mi Shuhua set the Pill Hall’s priorities: produce about a thousand Grain Avoidance Pills monthly, pursue the Jade Marrow Pill, and refine All Wonders Pills for profit.
• Luo Chen asked for another bottle of Qi Nourishing Pills each month, and Mi Shuhua agreed to provide three bottles total.
• Mi Shuhua assigned Sikong Shoujia to handle external affairs and Gu Cai Yi to manage internal matters, while directing Luo Chen to focus on pill refining.
• Luo Chen reviewed his cultivation progress and estimated that, with sufficient pills and steady practice, he could reach Qi Refining Layer Six in about a month and a half.
• Luo Chen noticed that his Grain Avoidance Powder proficiency had risen by the number of high-grade pills he had refined and suspected proficiency depended on pill grade.
• The next day, Luo Chen brought two bodyguards to Slanting Moon Valley, gathered his thirty direct subordinates, and prepared to divide up the work.

Luo Chen reorganized the Pill Hall into specialized teams and resumed refining All Wonders Pills, impressing Mi Shuhua and Mi Li with his results. After securing more workers and enjoying the gang’s support, he visited Murong Qinglian and began plotting how to extract even more benefits from the Mountain Shattering Gang.

• Luo Chen divided thirty workers into Medicine Apprentice and Fire Worker teams, teaching them separate pill-preparation tasks to protect his own expertise.
• After five days of training, Luo Chen began refining All Wonders Pills under Mi Shuhua’s watch, and Mi Li entered a Pill Room to observe after Mi Shuhua agreed to provide Luo Chen an extra bottle of Qi Nourishing Pills each month.
• Luo Chen produced successful batches of mostly Mid-Grade All Wonders Pills, convincing Mi Li of his skill and prompting Mi Shuhua to transfer more cultivators to the Pill Hall.
• Luo Chen paused work to rest, then collected a generous lunch and walked around Slanting Moon Valley.
• Luo Chen visited Murong Qinglian, who complained that the Pill Hall had taken so many Medicine Hall workers that her branch was short-handed.
• After boasting about his treatment as the gang’s money tree, Luo Chen considered how to obtain even more benefits from Mi Shuhua and the Mountain Shattering Gang.

After reaching Qi Refining Layer Six, Luo Chen realized his cultivation required ever more resources and resolved to develop the Jade Marrow Pill. He revealed that he could refine a High-Grade All Wonders Pill, prompting Mi Shuhua to guard his seclusion in hopes he could make Jade Marrow Pills; after three days, Mi Shuhua immediately asked whether he could refine one.

• At the Mountain Shattering Gang meeting, Mi Shuhua assigned three Combat Hall squads to support the Pill Hall, while Luo Wudi's proposal to sell pills in Snow Lotus Market was set aside because production was limited.
• Luo Chen broke through to Qi Refining Layer Six, discovered that Qi Nourishing Pills were becoming less effective, and worried about the growing cost of cultivation.
• Gu Cai Yi confided that her reduced income had left her doubting her prospects for Foundation Establishment, and Luo Chen decided he could no longer delay developing the Jade Marrow Pill.
• Luo Chen refined a High-Grade All Wonders Pill and claimed he would enter three days of seclusion; Mi Li brought the pill to Mi Shuhua, who hurried to the Pill Hall to protect Luo Chen.
• During seclusion, Luo Chen studied the Blood Fiend Pill formula and practiced his spells; when he emerged, Mi Shuhua congratulated him on reaching Qi Refining Layer Six and asked whether he could refine the Jade Marrow Pill.

Luo Chen struggled to refine Jade Marrow Pills, eventually producing a low-grade pill that modestly increased a cultivator’s spiritual power. After Mi Shuhua learned how slowly the pills were being made, Luo Chen persuaded him to provide Soul Calming Incense to help improve his results.

• Luo Chen’s first Jade Marrow Pill batch mineralized into colorful stone beads, disappointing Mi Shuhua.
• Over the next ten days, Luo Chen refined All Wonders Pills by day and kept practicing Jade Marrow Pills alone in the evenings.
• Mi Shuhua arrived at the Pill Hall and found Luo Chen, Gu Cai Yi, and Sikong Shoujia playing a bead game with the discarded pill beads.
• Luo Chen gave Mi Shuhua a Jade Marrow Pill, and Luo Erduo swallowed it before reporting that it increased his spiritual power by one or two parts in a thousand.
• Luo Chen told Mi Shuhua that he had produced eleven pills in ten days and explained that processing Jade Washing Herb required intense concentration.
• Luo Chen asked Mi Shuhua to supply Soul Calming Incense, and Mi Shuhua agreed on the condition that Luo Chen show results.

Luo Chen collected martial arts manuals from Sikong Shoujia and Gu Cai Yi, then used Wang Yuan’s palm art to blast through the Pill Hall floor and discover sealed mine tunnels beneath Slanting Moon Valley. While Luo Chen explored underground, Mi Junping delivered his monthly dividend to Gu Cai Yi and left it for him.

• Luo Chen forced Sikong Shoujia to hand over the wager after publicly accusing him of welshing, and Gu Cai Yi gave Luo Chen a copy of Wang Yuan’s Mountain Splitting Boulder Breaking Palm.
• Luo Chen secretly ate Jade Marrow Pills from his unusually large yield, then studied the manuals and used a failed pill as material for practicing Heavenly Maiden Scattering Flowers.
• Luo Chen opened the palm acupoints required by Mountain Splitting Boulder Breaking Palm and accidentally blasted through the floor into the old Star Silver Mine tunnels beneath the Pill Hall.
• Luo Chen sent a puppet down a mine tunnel and began exploring the underground passages while Gu Cai Yi supervised the Fire Workers.
• Mi Junping came to see Luo Chen, learned he was in seclusion, and left his monthly dividend with Gu Cai Yi, who was astonished by the amount.

Luo Chen collected his Mountain Shattering Gang dividend, spent heavily on ingredients and cultivation resources, and hosted a hotpot meal for his neighbors. After absorbing Nourishing Origin Spirit Liquid with pills and Soul Calming Incense, he discovered that his Qi Refining progress had advanced unusually quickly, though he still did not know exactly what benefits his resource-intensive cultivation provided.

• Luo Chen accepted 650 Spirit Stones and a box of Soul Calming Incense as his dividend, then concluded that joining the Mountain Shattering Gang had benefited him despite the deductions.
• Luo Chen left the Pill Hall early, shopped in the Southern City Rogue Cultivator Market and Central Shop Street, and spent 300 Spirit Stones on cultivation ingredients and supplies.
• Luo Chen prepared Nourishing Origin Spirit Liquid and a demon-beast hotpot, then shared the meal with Gu Cai Yi, Bai Mei Ling, Qin Liangchen, and Murong Qinglian.
• Qin Liangchen and Murong Qinglian discussed saving for their son and considered buying Qin Liangchen a High-Grade Metal-Attribute Magic Tool to support his hope of Foundation Establishment.
• Luo Chen soaked in Nourishing Origin Spirit Liquid, used Qi Nourishing Pills and Soul Calming Incense through the night, and found that his cultivation progress had risen from four to five points in one night.
• Luo Chen wondered how to verify the benefits of his resource-intensive cultivation and compare his results with another cultivator.

Luo Chen discovered that the Grandmaster Evergreen Art had greatly increased his spiritual power capacity, making cultivation breakthroughs more demanding, while he continued expanding his pill business and met his new neighbor, Duan Feng. After the Spirit Eye Art advanced to Grandmaster Level, Luo Chen saw through the earth and sensed dense spiritual energy gathered deep underground.

• Luo Chen tested Qu Hancheng's Fireball Spell and realized that his own spiritual power reserves far exceeded those of ordinary cultivators, a benefit of the Grandmaster Evergreen Art that would also make breakthroughs harder.
• Luo Chen shifted the Pill Hall's afternoons to refining Jade Marrow Pills, brewed Nourishing Origin Spirit Liquid, and later met the new tenant Duan Feng, a fighter ranked nineteenth on the Great River Market Heaven's Pride Ranking.
• Luo Chen succeeded in refining twenty Jade Marrow Pills, then suffered bleeding eyes after using the Spirit Eye Art too much and withdrew to his room.
• Luo Chen's Spirit Eye Art advanced to Grandmaster Level, allowing him to see spiritual energy and formations without casting signs or attracting notice.
• Luo Chen looked through the ground into the Earth Vein and saw an unusually dense gathering of spiritual energy.

Luo Chen secretly dug through the mines beneath Slanting Moon Valley and discovered a small First-Order Spirit Vein Branch with Spirit Stone Ore, giving him a private place to cultivate. Meanwhile, Mi Shuhua showed concern for Luo Chen’s health and sent him Lustrous Pearl Liquid, while Mi Junping learned that her father feared the Mi Family’s future.

• Luo Chen concealed his exploration from the Pill Hall cultivators, then used Mountain Splitting Boulder Breaking Palm to dig deeper into the mine over two nights.
• Mi Shuhua learned from Mi Li that Luo Chen’s eyes had bled after refining Jade Marrow Pills, so he gave her Lustrous Pearl Liquid to deliver to Luo Chen.
• Mi Shuhua reprimanded Mi Junping for mistreating the Mountain Shattering Gang’s cultivators and warned that he might not live much longer.
• Luo Chen accepted the Lustrous Pearl Liquid, continued directing the Pill Hall’s workers, and returned to the mine to keep digging.
• Luo Chen broke through into a cave containing Spirit Stone Ore and recognized it as a small natural First-Order Spirit Vein Branch beneath Great River Market.
• Luo Chen sat in the cave and began cultivating the Evergreen Art amid the dense spiritual energy.

Luo Chen cultivated in a Spirit Vein Cave and organized the Pill Hall to improve his Jade Marrow Pill refining. He discovered that Grain Avoidance Powder had reached Great Perfection and examined the unusual golden pill it produced.

• Luo Chen found that the Spirit Vein Cave greatly improved his cultivation, then sealed the cave and resolved to conceal its benefits and his unusual cultivation speed.
• Luo Chen watched Yuan Dongsheng cultivate spirit fields in Slanting Moon Valley and declined his offer to teach him spirit-plant techniques.
• Luo Chen began refining Jade Marrow Pills in the Xuan Yun Cauldron and ordered the medicine apprentices to study the Hundred Herbs Illustrated Handbook.
• Luo Chen told Sikong Shoujia to borrow the Flame Manipulation Art for the Pill Hall's fire workers.
• Luo Chen showed Mi Li and the apprentices how to turn Grain Avoidance Powder's medicinal paste into pills, then found a golden pill stuck to the furnace lid and wondered if it was the result of Great Perfection.

Luo Chen refined a Top Grade Grain Avoidance Powder, learned the Flame Manipulation Art, and tested his growing combat skills by defeating a Gray Leaf Wolf. After returning to Slanting Moon Valley, he learned the gang had called a meeting and set out for headquarters.

• Luo Chen found that his Great Perfection Grain Avoidance Powder had a cloud pattern and could keep him full for a month, though producing one ranked pill consumed a batch of ingredients.
• Luo Chen received the Flame Manipulation Art from Sikong Shoujia and spent the following month refining pills, studying spells, and practicing in the forest.
• Luo Chen used his Jade Knife Formation, Entangling Spell, Fireball Spells, and Jade Marrow Waste Pills to kill a lone Gray Leaf Wolf without using his trump cards.
• Luo Chen reviewed the battle, noted his improved spells and fighting ability, and concluded he could challenge most Late Qi Refining Stage cultivators.
• Sikong Shoujia told Luo Chen that the main headquarters had called the gang to convene, and Luo Chen immediately agreed to go.

At the Mountain Shattering Gang meeting, Luo Chen secured Mi Shuhua’s cultivation insights and resources while learning that Great River Market would hold an auction. After shopping and hosting a courtyard dinner with his neighbors, he realized that cultivating at home was less effective than using the Spirit Vein Cave beneath Slanting Moon Valley.

• Mi Shuhua explained that the Profound Unity Society was formed by five Foundation Establishment families and told the gang to avoid unnecessary conflicts with its members.
• Mi Shuhua ordered Luo Chen to focus on refining Jade Marrow Pills and gave him a Jade Slip containing his Qi Refining insights; Luo Chen also received pills, Soul Calming Incense, and a dividend of seven hundred and fifty Spirit Stones.
• Mi Shuhua announced that Great River Market would hold its usual large auction at the beginning of winter, and Luo Chen later spent much of his money on cultivation supplies.
• Luo Chen hosted a mutton hotpot dinner, where Duan Feng revealed that he had killed the Unicorn Qian Sheep and brought Yang Wu Eggs to share.
• After cultivating at home, Luo Chen concluded that he needed to find more excuses to stay at the Pill Hall and use the Spirit Vein Cave beneath Slanting Moon Valley.

Luo Chen pushed the Pill Hall’s Jade Marrow Pill production forward, but a furnace explosion killed Zuo Xiangyu and badly injured Qu Hancheng. After arranging compensation and concealing that he had already mastered mid-grade pills, Luo Chen prepared to break through to the Qi Refining Seventh Layer in the Spirit Vein Cave.

• Luo Chen asked Duan Feng to repair a damaged Jade Knife blade and paid him extra for the work.
• Luo Chen led the Pill Hall’s large-scale Jade Marrow Pill refining, failed repeatedly, and later succeeded in making a batch of twenty pills.
• Luo Chen stayed at the Pill Hall to practice pill-processing techniques and secretly refined Nourishing Origin Spirit Liquid in the Spirit Vein Cave.
• Mi Shuhua praised Luo Chen’s progress and suggested that Sikong Shoujia’s son marry into the Mi Family in exchange for Mi Shuhua’s support.
• A furnace exploded in Pill Room Number Three, killing Zuo Xiangyu and injuring Qu Hancheng, who revealed that he had produced a Mid-Grade Jade Marrow Pill.
• Luo Chen ordered compensation and care for the workers, then returned underground with a furnace to attempt his breakthrough to the Qi Refining Seventh Layer.