Chapter Summaries

Zheng Fa declined Zhou Ganyuan’s Spirit Stones and agreed to exchange Talisman Dao knowledge, then chose to pursue the Talisman Dao Foundation Establishment Method despite Senior Sister Zhang offering him another path. Senior Sister Zhang explained her Origin Talisman Dao Foundation and the disagreement between their lineages, and a month later Zheng Fa swallowed an Origin-Consolidating Pill.

• Zhou Ganyuan offered Zheng Fa forty Spirit Stones to learn Talisman Arts, and Zheng Fa returned them while proposing that they exchange knowledge.
• Zhou Ganyuan explained that Pang True Person had allowed disciples to learn from Zheng Fa and said he would ask his master about sharing their Talisman Dao insights.
• Senior Sister Zhang told Zheng Fa he could choose thunder arts instead of the Talisman Dao Foundation Establishment Method, but Zheng Fa firmly chose the Talisman Dao.
• Senior Sister Zhang showed Zheng Fa her Origin Talisman Dao Foundation and explained how she arranged Talisman Diagrams according to Yin-Yang and the Five Elements.
• Senior Sister Zhang explained that she believed Origin Talismans were finite while Pang True Person believed they were infinite, and she encouraged Zheng Fa to learn from Pang True Person’s methods.
• A month later, Zheng Fa swallowed an Origin-Consolidating Pill at home.

Zheng Fa condensed an Upright Shadowless Talisman, broke through to Qi Refinement Second Layer, and was invited to join Pang True Person’s branch. He refused the offer to avoid being caught between rival branches, and Senior Sister Zhang teased him by withholding the Void-Piercing Spirit Eye.

• Zhou Ganyuan told Sun Daoyu that he would keep studying with Zheng Fa despite complaints from their branch, and Sun Daoyu warned him not to pass on Pang True Person’s secret teachings.
• Zheng Fa used an Origin-Consolidating Pill to condense an Upright Shadowless Talisman, which increased his cultivation speed, and he broke through to Qi Refinement Second Layer.
• Zhou Ganyuan and Sun Daoyu witnessed Zheng Fa’s breakthrough, then Sun Daoyu told him that Pang True Person intended to accept him as a disciple and had approved teaching him the Void-Piercing Spirit Eye.
• Zheng Fa questioned whether Pang True Person would protect him from Senior Sister Zhang and whether he would receive the same regard as Zhou Ganyuan, then declined the offer.
• Senior Sister Zhang asked Zheng Fa why he had refused Pang True Person, and after he explained his reasons, she said she would not give him the Void-Piercing Spirit Eye.

Senior Sister Zhang explained that the Void-Piercing Spirit Eye required rare Millennium Purple Bamboo Tears, then planned to trade the Talisman Dao Foundation Establishment Method for enough materials to cultivate it. In the modern world, Zheng Fa demonstrated his invisibility talisman to Old Man Bai and Tang Lingwu, leaving Tang Lingwu eager to learn it for her own reasons.

• Senior Sister Zhang told Zheng Fa that cultivating the Void-Piercing Spirit Eye required Millennium Purple Bamboo Tears and proposed obtaining more from Uncle-Master Pang by trading the Talisman Dao Foundation Establishment Method.
• Zheng Fa, Old Man Bai, and Tang Lingwu studied the method, but they found it too brief to explain how Talisman Diagrams related to yin-yang and the five elements.
• Old Man Bai suggested they needed more Talisman Diagrams and computer analysis to investigate whether Origin Talismans could be divided further.
• Old Man Bai admitted he had spent the night reading comics and asked Zheng Fa to demonstrate immortal cultivation, so Zheng Fa used the Upright Shadowless Talisman to turn invisible.
• Old Man Bai excitedly revealed he had once fantasized about using invisibility to rob banks and spy on women, prompting Tang Lingwu to move away from him.
• Tang Lingwu slapped her bank card on the desk and demanded to learn the invisibility technique so her mother would sometimes be unable to see her.

Tang Lingwu tried to buy a moment of freedom through Zheng Fa, then helped him hire Han Xiaobai to analyze the Talisman Diagrams. Zheng Fa completed skin tempering, advanced his talisman business fairly, and learned Senior Sister Zhang would inspect its books the next night.

• Tang Lingwu pleaded with Zheng Fa to help her escape her mother's constant gaze, and he promised to help when he could.
• Zheng Fa contacted Han Xiaobai about using machine learning to classify Talisman Diagrams, and Tang Lingwu persuaded him to take the job by offering more money and a lesson in dating.
• Zheng Fa used his variable transformer and discovered that his skin tempering was complete, giving his skin a jade-like protective membrane.
• Han Qi brought Zheng Fa the spirit stone earned from selling talismans, but Zheng Fa gave it to Han Qi and the other two as compensation for their work.
• Han Qi told Zheng Fa that they had previously survived by collecting protection money, and Zheng Fa insisted they earn money honestly.
• Han Qi relayed Senior Sister Yuan's message that Zheng Fa should organize the account books before Senior Sister Zhang inspected them the next night.

Senior Sister Yuan discovered Han Qi and his two companions enthusiastically selling Zheng Fa’s talismans, then asked Zheng Fa to help her prepare for Senior Sister Zhang’s audit of the market accounts. After Senior Sister Zhang tested Yuan and announced that Zheng Fa should manage the market, Zheng Fa defended Yuan and said she had only forgotten the figures under pressure.

• Senior Sister Yuan found Han Qi and his two companions energetically selling Zheng Fa’s talismans and scolded them for having worked lazily for her.
• Senior Sister Yuan told Zheng Fa that Senior Sister Zhang planned to audit the accounts and asked him to teach her the important figures.
• Senior Sister Zhang arrived and questioned Senior Sister Yuan about the accounts, and Yuan answered several questions before failing to recall last month’s income.
• Senior Sister Zhang told Zheng Fa to manage the market after he supplied the missing figure and identified a drop in income.
• Zheng Fa told Senior Sister Zhang that Yuan had known the figures but had forgotten them because she was nervous.

Senior Sister Zhang persuaded Zheng Fa to oversee the marketplace, with Senior Sister Yuan helping him for six months before handing it over fully. Zheng Fa began touring the marketplace with Senior Sister Yuan, while Han Qi and his companions worried they had offended her and then saw how warmly she treated Zheng Fa.

• Senior Sister Zhang explained that she needed Zheng Fa to manage the marketplace because she trusted him to keep its funds safe, and she offered to support him against anyone who challenged his authority.
• Zheng Fa agreed to help Senior Sister Zhang but asked to manage the marketplace jointly with Senior Sister Yuan for a while.
• Senior Sister Zhang revealed that Senior Sister Yuan was an Azure Luan who had reached Golden Core, then arranged for her to train Zheng Fa for six months before transferring the marketplace to him.
• Senior Sister Yuan happily agreed to teach Zheng Fa and began showing him around the marketplace.
• Han Qi worried that he and his companions had offended Senior Sister Yuan and planned to apologize to Zheng Fa, but they spotted Zheng Fa touring with a cheerful Senior Sister Yuan and Han Qi decided they had nothing to fear.

Zheng Fa learned the market steward’s duties from Senior Sister Yuan, then spent his savings on an Origin-Consolidating Pill and condensed a Frost Blade Talisman. As he prepared to take charge of the market, its disciples discussed resisting his appointment and sought a way to turn Senior Sister Yuan against him.

• Senior Sister Yuan showed Zheng Fa the market’s districts and duties, promised to help him, and arranged for him to meet the market disciples in half a month.
• Zheng Fa used his savings to buy an Origin-Consolidating Pill and condensed a Frost Blade Talisman beside his Upright Shadowless Talisman.
• Senior Brother Yang and the market disciples discussed Zheng Fa’s appointment, while a short, sturdy disciple argued that Senior Brother Yang should manage the market instead.
• Senior Brother Yang told the short, sturdy disciple to make his case to Zheng Fa without invoking his name, then challenged the disciple’s willingness to oppose Senior Sister Zhang.
• The short, sturdy disciple proposed approaching Senior Sister Yuan, claiming she would resent losing the steward’s position and would eventually clash with Zheng Fa.

Zheng Fa presented Senior Sister Zhang with a plan to revive the Marketplace by offering free transport and delivery to attract more customers, winning her approval and support. When he met the Marketplace disciples, he discovered Senior Sister Yuan had already intimidated them into cooperating, leaving his preparations unnecessary.

• Zheng Fa told Senior Sister Zhang that the Marketplace's income had declined and proposed free Jieyin Ship rides and delivery services to bring in customers.
• Senior Sister Zhang approved Zheng Fa's detailed pilot plan and told him he could manage the Marketplace as he wished.
• Zheng Fa arrived at the Marketplace to meet its disciples, who greeted him with exaggerated enthusiasm and readily praised his plan.
• Zheng Fa asked Senior Sister Yuan why the disciples were so cooperative, and she revealed that she had punished them after they tried to sow discord.
• Zheng Fa tested his newly condensed Frost Blade Talisman on a potted plant and felt dejected that his preparations for conflict had been unnecessary.

Zheng Fa sent Han Qi and two junior brothers to sell spirit Talismans on the transport ship while Sun Daoyu secretly investigated Zheng Fa’s cultivation speed for his master. In the modern world, Zheng Fa, Old Man Bai, and Tang Lingwu searched classified Talisman Diagrams for a pattern, and Old Man Bai spotted a frequently recurring structure among the water-attribute diagrams.

• Zheng Fa entrusted Han Qi and two junior brothers with selling a shipload of spirit Talismans, and Han Qi warned his companion to work carefully and avoid greed.
• Sun Daoyu watched Zheng Fa’s courtyard with his Void-Piercing Spirit Eye and explained to Zhou Ganyuan that his master had sent him to investigate Zheng Fa’s cultivation progress and the Talisman Dao Foundation Establishment Method.
• Zheng Fa, Han Xiaobai, and Old Man Bai tried broader classifications of Talisman Diagrams after their initial algorithm results revealed no useful pattern.
• Zheng Fa and Old Man Bai reviewed the water-attribute diagrams, and Old Man Bai pointed out a structure that appeared frequently in that category.

Zheng Fa and his companions identified structures corresponding to all five elements in Talisman Diagrams and found that the structures could join into a single whole. They left the discovery awaiting further verification, with Zheng Fa naming the proposed principle Bai's First Law of Talisman Dao.

• Zheng Fa and Old Man Bai studied the water-element Talisman Diagrams, while Han Xiaobai searched the other elemental diagrams and found a matching structure for earth.
• At school, Tang Lingwu showed Zheng Fa her notebook identifying a common structure in metal-element talismans, then fell asleep from exhaustion.
• Zheng Fa, Tang Lingwu, Old Man Bai, and Han Xiaobai used the revised search method to identify structures for metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, but found no corresponding structures for yin and yang.
• Zheng Fa arranged the five elemental structures on the screen and showed that they connected in the cycle earth, metal, water, wood, fire, and earth.
• Zheng Fa wrote down his proposed law that Five-Element Sub-Talismans could combine into a whole and named it Bai's First Law of Talisman Dao.

Zheng Fa advanced his Five-Thunder Dharma Form and adjusted his Origin Talismans, while Sun Daoyu discovered that the spiritual energy around Zheng Fa's courtyard had become harmonious. Sun Daoyu concluded that Zhang had repaired the Talisman Dao Foundation Establishment Method and decided to report it to his master and exchange for the method.

• At home, Zheng Fa raised the transformer’s voltage until his Five-Thunder Dharma Form reached the muscle-tempering stage.
• In the Xuanwei Realm, Zheng Fa tested his increased strength and began reshaping the Upright Shadowless Talisman and Frost Blade Talisman to harmonize them.
• Sun Daoyu explained to Zhou Ganyuan that the Void-Piercing Spirit Eye could reveal discord in the five-element spiritual energy and that a perfected Talisman Dao Foundation Establishment Method could offer a path to forming a core.
• Sun Daoyu noticed the earth- and metal-element spiritual energy above Zheng Fa’s courtyard had become harmonious and inferred that Zhang had resolved the method’s hidden danger.
• Sun Daoyu decided to report the discovery to his master and exchange for the Talisman Dao Foundation Establishment Method, despite Zhou Ganyuan’s reluctance to spend his Millennium Purple Bamboo Tears.

Senior Sister Zhang secured two portions of Millennium Purple Bamboo Tears after Pang True Person’s branch judged Zheng Fa’s progress too valuable to ignore. Zheng Fa tested his theory about Five-Element Talisman classifications on Senior Sister Zhang, and his findings excited her enough to invite further discoveries.

• Senior Sister Zhang refused to lower her terms for Pang True Person, expecting Zheng Fa’s progress to persuade him, and a talisman soon confirmed that the two portions of Millennium Purple Bamboo Tears were ready.
• Zheng Fa asked Senior Sister Zhang to lend him her Primordial Spirit Dao Body so he could verify his ideas about Talisman Diagrams.
• Senior Sister Zhang tested several hundred diagrams by replacing lotus-petal talismans, and every result matched Zheng Fa’s Five-Element Sub-Talisman classifications.
• Senior Sister Zhang grew irritated when Zheng Fa kept testing through the afternoon, but his explanation of the classification method and the linked sub-talismans caught her interest.
• Senior Sister Zhang told Zheng Fa he could be as disrespectful as he liked if he made more discoveries, and Senior Sister Yuan said she wanted to play with Senior Sister Zhang’s body too.

Zheng Fa asked Senior Sister Zhang about yin-yang sub-talismans, and she explained that yin and yang were inseparable twins. After Pang True Person realized Zheng Fa had improved the cultivation method, Senior Sister Zhang visited her master to ask that their lineage’s spirit materials be given to him.

• Senior Sister Zhang demonstrated how one lotus platform could regenerate the other and explained that yin and yang were born as twins.
• Pang True Person concluded that Zheng Fa had improved the Talisman Dao Foundation Establishment Method and decided to seek him out for an exchange.
• Senior Sister Zhang visited her master on the Seventh Peak and asked her to take in another disciple and give Zheng Fa their lineage’s spirit materials.
• Senior Sister Zhang told her master about Zheng Fa and argued that a Daoist companion who could advance alongside her was more valuable than scarce spirit materials.

Zheng Fa reached the third level of Qi Refinement Realm, then helped manage the Jieyin Ship’s first busy market visit, which brought little net profit but won the market vendors’ support. Senior Sister Zhang insisted that the ship continue sailing, and Zheng Fa saw how bringing outside customers benefited the lower-level disciples.

• Zheng Fa broke through to the third level of Qi Refinement Realm, while Pang True Person praised his progress and dismissed Zhou Ganyuan’s similar breakthrough.
• The Jieyin Ship returned with more than a hundred visitors, keeping Zheng Fa and Senior Sister Yuan busy as the market handled crowds, disputes, and requests for new stock.
• Zheng Fa calculated that the trip had earned about twenty Spirit Stones in net profit, prompting Senior Sister Yuan to worry the return was low.
• Han Qi overheard disciples criticizing the Jieyin Ship’s meager earnings and worried that Zheng Fa lacked the authority to win their genuine support.
• Market vendors showered the duty disciples with food, and Senior Sister Zhang explained that the visitors had boosted their business and insisted the Jieyin Ship keep making trips.
• Senior Sister Yuan brought Zheng Fa gifts from vendors, including many more items she could not carry, with his name attached to them.

Zheng Fa’s growing influence prompted Pang True Person to plan to bring him into his branch, while Zheng Fa condensed a Nourishing Spirit Talisman intended for Tang Lingwu’s mother. The chapter ended with Tang Lingwu arriving late at Old Man Bai’s home in tears and saying she might stop attending class.

• Senior Sister Yuan carried the gifts sent to Zheng Fa and Senior Sister Zhang, and the three agreed that the Jieyin Ship could not stop.
• Han Qi told his companions that Zheng Fa had won the market’s support, while the skinny, tall man speculated about Zheng Fa’s growing standing.
• Pang True Person announced that he wanted to take Zheng Fa as his disciple and explained to Zhou Ganyuan and Sun Daoyu that doing so could balance the two branches and help mend their conflict.
• Zheng Fa used an Origin-Consolidating Pill to condense a Nourishing Spirit Talisman, which he hoped could help Tang Lingwu’s mother.
• Tang Lingwu arrived late at Old Man Bai’s home with red eyes and told him and Zheng Fa that she might not come to class anymore.

Tang Lingwu told Zheng Fa and Old Man Bai that her mother had barred her from visiting because of their arguments and her poor health. Zheng Fa used the Nourishing Spirit Talisman on Tang Lingwu and Old Man Bai, and they arranged for him to visit Tang Lingwu’s mother the next day; the chapter ended as they arrived at her home.

• Tang Lingwu explained that her mother opposed her plans to study computer science and had stopped her from leaving home after they argued.
• Zheng Fa offered to use the Nourishing Spirit Talisman on Tang Lingwu, who fell asleep briefly and woke feeling markedly better.
• Old Man Bai tried the talisman too, then convinced Tang Lingwu’s mother over the phone to let Zheng Fa visit the next day.
• After school, Tang Lingwu took Zheng Fa to her home, with Old Man Bai accompanying them as his guarantor.
• Tang Lingwu, Zheng Fa, and Old Man Bai arrived at the villa compound where Tang Lingwu lived.

Zheng Fa used a Nourishing Spirit Talisman to help Tang Lingwu’s mother, Aunt Ye, sleep for the first time in years, and she canceled her plan to go abroad. The chapter ended with Senior Sister Zhang telling Zheng Fa that Uncle-Master Pang wanted him instead of the Talisman Dao Foundation Establishment Method.

• Tang Lingwu brought Zheng Fa and Old Man Bai to meet her mother, who said she planned to go abroad for treatment and send Tang Lingwu to the provincial capital.
• Aunt Ye reluctantly let Zheng Fa try treating her, and he used a Nourishing Spirit Talisman to put her to sleep.
• After waking refreshed, Aunt Ye offered Zheng Fa money and asked him to treat her weekly; he agreed to return after she got an examination.
• Aunt Ye told Tang Lingwu to stay close to Zheng Fa, believing he was a valuable person to know.
• Senior Sister Zhang told Zheng Fa that Uncle-Master Pang no longer wanted the Talisman Dao Foundation Establishment Method and wanted Zheng Fa instead.

Zheng Fa wrestled with Pang True Person’s offer to make him a disciple, but Senior Sister Yuan brought him to meet the Sect Leader instead. The Sect Leader refused to take disciples, leaving Zheng Fa’s hopes of joining his lineage uncertain.

• Senior Sister Zhang told Zheng Fa that Pang True Person offered to make him his sole personal disciple and provide resources for reaching the Nascent Soul Realm, while warning that refusing could offend him.
• Senior Sister Zhang explained to Senior Sister Yuan that Pang True Person’s offer put Zheng Fa under pressure, and Zheng Fa later struggled with whether to accept it.
• Senior Sister Yuan transformed into an Azure Luan and flew Zheng Fa to Ninth Peak to meet the Sect Leader, explaining that the Sect Leader had no disciples left because they had all died.
• The Sect Leader showed Zheng Fa his World Within the Hut, a magical scene where he staged a revenge story based on a popular mortal storybook.
• The Sect Leader praised Zheng Fa but said he did not want to take disciples, explaining that his former disciples caused trouble and that he preferred a quiet life in the Nine Mountains Sect.

Zheng Fa refused to pursue the Sect Master as a master and instead sent him unfinished storybooks, which quickly enthralled the reclusive old man. After the Sect Master discovered Zheng Fa had fled to Senior Sister Zhang’s courtyard, he confronted him over the cliffhanger endings and demanded that he finish the stories.

• The Sect Master explained how his two previous disciples had caused him trouble, and Zheng Fa accepted that he would not be taken as a third disciple.
• Zheng Fa asked Senior Sister Yuan to deliver his storybooks to the Sect Master, and she brought them up the mountain over the following days.
• When Senior Sister Yuan told Zheng Fa the Sect Master wanted to see him, Zheng Fa sent another book and moved his belongings toward Senior Sister Zhang’s courtyard instead.
• The Sect Master secretly read Zheng Fa’s latest story alongside Senior Sister Yuan, became furious when it ended on a cliffhanger, and went down the mountain to find him.
• The Sect Master found Zheng Fa at Senior Sister Zhang’s home and scolded him for leaving several stories unfinished, including one whose protagonist died just as everyone finally understood him.

Zheng Fa persuaded the Sect Master to use World Within the Hut to stage stories as a market attraction, and the Sect Master agreed to take him as a disciple. Afterward, Pang True Person tried to recruit Zheng Fa with gifts, only to learn he had already become the Sect Master's disciple.

• Zheng Fa proposed turning World Within the Hut into a cinema that would draw customers to the Nine Mountains Sect market, and the Sect Master agreed after Zheng Fa offered him complete sets of storybooks.
• The Sect Master revealed that the Nine Mountains Patriarch had endorsed Zheng Fa’s choice of the Spirit Mountain Method, which the Sect Master also practiced.
• Sun Daoyu tried to console Zhou Ganyuan about being sent to invite Zheng Fa, but Zhou Ganyuan complained that the situation resembled introducing a childhood sweetheart to a fellow student.
• Pang True Person praised Zheng Fa’s talisman work and gave him two portions of Millennium Purple Bamboo Tears, expecting him to join Pang True Person’s branch.
• Zheng Fa told Pang True Person he had already taken the Sect Master as his master, and Pang True Person let him keep the gifts while lamenting that the Sect Master would fiercely protect his new disciple.