Recaps

Li Xiuchang went to the White Cloud City Lord's Manor to test his aptitude for the Immortal Dust Sect, hoping to begin cultivating and avoid becoming a servant disciple. His Spiritual Aperture qualified him for the outer sect, and he noticed that a number visible only to him had changed during the test.

• Li Xiuchang left South Mountain Martial Arts Hall and joined the line for the Immortal Dust Sect's recruitment test at the City Lord's Manor.
• While waiting, Li Xiuchang learned from Pang Yuanfu that the Aperture Stone measured Spiritual Aperture quality and that mid-grade aptitude allowed entry into the outer sect.
• Pang Yuanfu tested with an upper-grade Spiritual Aperture and entered the City Lord's Manor after meeting Song Yu.
• Li Xiuchang's Aperture Stone produced a two-and-a-half-inch Qi Pillar, qualifying him as an outer-sect disciple.
• Li Xiuchang saw that the number in the lower-left corner of his vision had changed from 2.13 to 1.13.

After passing the aptitude test, Li Xiuchang learned how the Immortal Dust Sect assigned work and duties to its new disciples. He looked forward to studying a cultivation art, hoping its practice would help him accumulate more length and advance despite his inferior Spiritual Aperture.

• Li Xiuchang recalled how cooking first raised his Length Value and how he used his first inch to turn a Gold Leaf into a Gold Brick.
• Li Xiuchang explained that practicing different skills increased his Length Value, with martial arts raising it much faster than cooking.
• After two days at the White Cloud City Lord's residence, Song Yu gathered the eight successful candidates and announced that they would soon return to the Immortal Dust Sect.
• Song Yu explained that Registered Disciples handled miscellaneous duties, Outer Disciples studied a cultivation art and completed assigned tasks, and Inner Disciples focused on cultivation under inspection.
• Li Xiuchang decided that becoming an Outer Disciple suited him and looked forward to sect assignments that could help him accumulate length.

Li Xiuchang and the other new disciples reached the Immortal Dust Sect after a cramped, tear-soaked flight and learned how its outer area and inner grounds were organized. Song Yu brought Li Xiuchang, Pang Yuanfu, and one other disciple through the mountain gate, leaving them inside the sect’s protected inner grounds.

• Song Yu flew the eight recruits from White Cloud City toward the Immortal Dust Sect, while Chi Hui got splashed by Pang Yuanfu’s wind-induced tears.
• Song Yu landed in the sect’s outer area, explained that Registered Disciples lived there, and handed five recruits to the reception disciples.
• Song Yu carried Li Xiuchang, Pang Yuanfu, and another recruit to the mountain gate, where Elder Zhao Yuansi had just finished writing the sect’s name.
• Song Yu led the three recruits through the protective formation and explained that Elder Zhao studied Confucian culture without practicing Confucian cultivation.
• Li Xiuchang recalled the Immortal Shade Realm’s legend of the vanished Sky-Piercing Immortal Tree and why he had traveled to join the flourishing Immortal Dust Sect.

Li Xiuchang and Chi Hui registered as Immortal Dust Sect outer sect disciples and chose their residences. Despite warnings about the supposedly cursed Eastern Geng District, Li Xiuchang moved into House Eighteen, where Wang Long showed him how to use his Identity Token and gave him the sect’s Beginner's Guide.

• Senior Brother Song Yu left Li Xiuchang and Chi Hui with Wang Long after offering to advise them about choosing among the Hundred Cultivation Arts.
• Wang Long registered the two disciples, showed them the residential map, and explained the rumors that the Eastern Geng District was cursed.
• Chi Hui chose a residence in a district with more female disciples, while Li Xiuchang insisted on moving into the quiet Eastern Geng District.
• Wang Long took Li Xiuchang to the district, where he chose House Eighteen and learned that his Identity Token controlled its protective formation.
• Before leaving, Wang Long remembered to give Li Xiuchang the Beginner's Guide compiled by the outer sect Reception Area.

Li Xiuchang memorized the Immortal Dust Sect’s extensive rules and set out for the examination, where Zhang Wanzhi gave him a ride. During the trip, Zhang Wanzhi explained that the white-haired Gui was the Eastern Geng District’s youngest and newest senior brother, then began to reveal why he looked so old.

• Li Xiuchang studied the Beginner's Guide, memorized more than ninety sect rules, and headed toward the Reception Area to take the examination.
• Li Xiuchang met a white-haired neighbor who smiled but did not answer when he introduced himself.
• A pockmarked disciple offered Li Xiuchang a ride for one spirit stone, but Zhang Wanzhi intervened and offered him a free lift instead.
• Zhang Wanzhi introduced himself to Li Xiuchang and said he had been in the sect for more than eighty years.
• Li Xiuchang asked Zhang Wanzhi about the white-haired Senior Brother Cang, and Zhang Wanzhi identified him as Junior Brother Gui, the youngest and most recent arrival in the district.
• Zhang Wanzhi said Gui had been in the sect for less than forty years and asked Li Xiuchang whether he knew Divination Arts.

Li Xiuchang learned why Divination Arts were dangerous, passed the sect-rules exam, and tested his constitution before choosing a cultivation method. He left the Library Pavilion’s selection unfinished, intrigued by an unusual book called Fire Starting Skill.

• Zhang Wanzhi explained that Divination Arts consumed lifespan when diviners revealed or pursued Heavenly Secrets, and that Senior Brother Gui had nearly exhausted his life despite practicing Mouth-Sealing Zen.
• Li Xiuchang resolved to avoid Divination Arts, then arrived at the Reception Area with Zhang Wanzhi, who left to handle his own business.
• Li Xiuchang passed the sect-rules examination with full marks and received twenty low-grade Spirit Stones.
• The Library Pavilion’s guardian tested Li Xiuchang’s constitution and found that he had a fire-and-wood dual-attribute constitution, with fire as his primary attribute.
• Li Xiuchang browsed the Fire Attribute cultivation methods and reached for the unconventional Fire Starting Skill.

Li Xiuchang chose the Fire Starting Skill, a powerful Qi Condensation technique with no known continuation, and learned more about Zhang Wanzhi’s remarkable talents and reputation. Zhang Wanzhi arrived to take him back to the Eastern Geng District.

• Li Xiuchang selected the Fire Starting Skill after learning it could boost his fire magic power, though it had no Foundation Establishment section.
• The Library Pavilion elder explained that the technique’s creator had made many Qi Condensation methods and might never finish their continuations.
• Li Xiuchang waited for Zhang Wanzhi, and Wang Long offered him a ride while praising Zhang’s cultivation and Hundred Cultivation Arts skills.
• Wang Long told Li Xiuchang that Zhang Wanzhi had reached Foundation Establishment at forty-one and had mastered more than a dozen arts to the peak of the second tier.
• Zhang Wanzhi arrived, reassured Wang Long about his debt, and flew with Li Xiuchang toward the Eastern Geng District.

Li Xiuchang began cultivating but struggled to sense Spiritual Qi because of his low-grade Spiritual Aperture. After using the Immortal Dust Sect’s Spirit Eye to draw out concentrated Spiritual Qi, he sensed it for the first time, while Old Gui’s costly divination about him left Zhang Wanzhi intrigued.

• Zhang Wanzhi told Li Xiuchang that his other two neighbors were difficult to meet, then privately discussed whether Li Xiuchang should remain in Eastern Geng District.
• Old Gui divined Li Xiuchang’s fate using pyromancy, lost a year of his lifespan, and refused to reveal the result because doing so might kill him.
• Zhang Wanzhi guessed that Li Xiuchang was beneficial to their plans, and Old Gui left without denying it.
• Li Xiuchang tried to cultivate in his Quiet Room but could not sense Spiritual Qi, so he ate a Grain-Aversion Pill and moved to the cultivation room.
• Li Xiuchang inserted a spirit stone into the Spirit Eye, raising the Spiritual Qi concentration until he sensed Spiritual Qi in less than half an hour.

Li Xiuchang cultivated his first strand of dharmic power, only to discover it was black and produced smoky flames that seemed to have a charcoal attribute. Unsure whether the cultivation method or he was at fault, he went to seek Senior Brother Song Yu’s advice and accepted Wang Long’s offer to take him there by flying boat.

• Li Xiuchang cultivated his first strand of dharmic power and became a Qi Condensation Cultivator after the fire and wood energies merged.
• Li Xiuchang discovered that his dharmic power was black and produced a flame that filled his meditation room with thick smoke.
• Li Xiuchang suspected that his dharmic power had a charcoal attribute and decided to consult Senior Brother Song Yu about it and his choice among the Hundred Cultivation Arts.
• Li Xiuchang found that cultivation had not increased his Length Value and traveled to the Reception Area to seek a ride to the inner sect.
• Li Xiuchang met Wang Long at the Reception Area, and Wang Long took him aboard his flying boat.

Li Xiuchang visited Song Yu to ask about his unusual Charcoal Attribute Mana and learn about the Hundred Cultivation Arts. After hearing about the fierce competition among Tier 1 craftspeople, he was left weighing which art to pursue.

• Wang Long escorted Li Xiuchang to the inner sect, where Li visited Song Yu's sparse residence.
• Li Xiuchang demonstrated his black, fire-producing Charcoal Attribute Mana, and Song Yu explained that its unusual properties might be useful but would require Li to discover their applications himself.
• Song Yu lent Li Xiuchang a book introducing the Hundred Cultivation Arts, and Li considered Alchemy and Artifact Refining while ruling out Divination Arts and questioning his aptitude for Formation.
• Song Yu warned Li that Tier 1 Talisman Masters faced intense competition and falling prices, while Tier 2 practitioners were much rarer.
• Song Yu explained that alchemists benefited from strong demand and that the Immortal Dust Sect's large marketplace could absorb pills and magical artifacts, though talismans faced competition from Rogue Cultivators.

Li Xiuchang weighed several Cultivation Techniques and asked Senior Brother Song Yu for advice, learning that an opportunity to study alchemy under Elder Zhao Yuansi might be within reach. Song Yu agreed to recommend him, but Li Xiuchang would still have to compete in Elder Zhao’s selection trial.

• Li Xiuchang considered the Spirit Chef path, which suited his cooking foundation, but worried that Length Value would not benefit it.
• Li Xiuchang asked Senior Brother Song Yu to compare alchemy, artifact crafting, and culinary arts, and Song Yu recommended Spirit Chef unless he could seize an alchemy opportunity.
• Song Yu explained that outer sect disciples could study several Cultivation Techniques and take multiple arts mentors, though they could have only one Dao Master.
• Song Yu revealed that Elder Zhao Yuansi, a Fifth Tier Alchemy Grandmaster, planned to take a disciple and would choose from candidates recommended by people he knew.
• Song Yu agreed to recommend Li Xiuchang and said Elder Zhao would likely set a trial; Li Xiuchang listened eagerly as Song Yu began to discuss it.

Li Xiuchang learned that Elder Zhao Yuansi’s disciple test required him to pass without outperforming the elder, and he worried about how to manage that. On his way back to Eastern Geng District, he offended a flying-boat pilot by asking whether he was a Tier 1 Talisman Master and resolved to avoid the talisman path.

• Senior Brother Song Yu told Li Xiuchang that Elder Zhao Yuansi’s test would likely involve poetry, ci poetry, or painting, and advised him to pass without drawing attention to himself.
• Song Yu explained that Elder Zhao preferred disciples who were pleasing to the eye and might dislike someone whose artistic skills surpassed his own.
• Li Xiuchang realized he had to perform poorly enough not to outshine Elder Zhao, and he began hoping the test would involve his weak painting skills.
• Song Yu offered to arrange a recommendation for Li Xiuchang, then reacted strangely when Li Xiuchang said he lived in Eastern Geng District.
• A pockmarked flying-boat pilot offered Li Xiuchang a discounted ride, but flew off angrily after Li Xiuchang asked whether he was a Tier 1 Talisman Master.
• Li Xiuchang concluded that Talisman Masters had difficult lives and decided not to pursue talisman-making unless he became financially secure.

Li Xiuchang began cultivating with spirit stones, then chose the Spirit Chef inheritance while waiting for Elder Zhao’s disciple-selection trial. The chapter also revealed Zhang Wanzhi’s doubts about Li Xiuchang’s role in a mysterious plan.

• Li Xiuchang spent two days absorbing the spiritual energy from two spirit stones and concluded that his poor aptitude made solitary cultivation too slow.
• Li Xiuchang received Senior Brother Song Yu’s letter, which arranged Elder Zhao’s disciple-selection trial for ten days later at the summit of Wangping Mountain.
• Zhang Wanzhi entered Eastern Geng District No. 8 and complained to Old Gui that Li Xiuchang seemed too weak to help their plan, then discovered Old Gui had used Nascent Soul Egress to avoid listening.
• Li Xiuchang chose the first-rank Spirit Chef inheritance at the Reception Area and received its paper instructions and a Storage Bag.

Li Xiuchang studied the Spirit Chef inheritance, then bought practice ingredients, a low-grade Artifact Fire Furnace, and utensils at the Immortal Dust Sect Market with Wang Long’s help. On his walk back to the Eastern Geng District, he spotted a sparkling Spirit Stone and realized it was mid-grade.

• Li Xiuchang learned that he could skip basic cooking practice but needed to study how to handle spirit creature ingredients and practice Spirit Chef techniques.
• Li Xiuchang ran into Wang Long, who warned him about the Talisman Dao bottleneck and offered him a ride to the Immortal Dust Sect Market.
• Wang Long showed Li Xiuchang where to shop, shared approximate prices, and advised him to buy a low-grade Artifact Fire Furnace.
• Li Xiuchang bought practice materials, a low-grade Artifact Fire Furnace, and unranked kitchen utensils, spending fourteen Spirit Stones.
• Li Xiuchang walked back toward the Eastern Geng District and spotted a mid-grade Spirit Stone on the ground.

Li Xiuchang cautiously avoided a mid-grade Spirit Stone left on the road, unaware that Zhang Wanzhi had planted it to help him. After Zhang Wanzhi finally gave him half its value, he left with Old Gui’s body, while Li Xiuchang returned home pleased with his Spirit Stones and progress in Spirit Chef Arts.

• Li Xiuchang spotted a mid-grade Spirit Stone but passed it by, suspecting it was a trap, while Zhang Wanzhi watched and wondered how to get it to him.
• Li Xiuchang checked the stone once a day for five days but refused to pick it up, even after snow covered it, until Zhang Wanzhi lost patience.
• Zhang Wanzhi called out to Li Xiuchang, picked up the stone, and gave him fifty low-grade Spirit Stones as his share.
• Zhang Wanzhi took Old Gui’s physical body from No. 8 in the Eastern Geng District and departed on his flying sword.
• Li Xiuchang returned to his residence with the Spirit Stones and reflected that practicing Spirit Chef Arts had increased his Length Value faster than martial arts practice.

Li Xiuchang practiced the Spirit Chef blanching technique with an Artifact Fire Furnace, but his first attempt failed and wasted ingredients. Noticing the smoke from his Charcoal Attribute Mana, he decided to test whether it could smoke spirit meat.

• Li Xiuchang tracked his growing Length Value and planned to reserve one inch while using another for experiments.
• Li Xiuchang prepared his Artifact Fire Furnace in the courtyard, using Charcoal Attribute Mana to produce flames and thick smoke.
• Li Xiuchang attempted to blanch a slice of unranked Yellow Ox meat, but most of its Spiritual Energy was lost and the technique failed.
• Li Xiuchang gained 0.01 Length Value from the experience of his failed attempt.
• Li Xiuchang wondered whether his Charcoal Attribute smoke could process spirit meat and cut a thicker piece of Yellow Ox meat to test the idea.

Li Xiuchang perfected smoked Spirit Meat, discovered it could be a profitable product, and prepared to attend the disciple-recruitment trial at Wangping Mountain. On his snowy journey, three flying-boat drivers competed to take him, and he asked whether they were all Tier 1 Talisman Masters.

• Li Xiuchang used his Charcoal Attribute Mana to smoke Spirit Meat while practicing the Blanching Method, and confirmed the smoke preserved the meat’s Spiritual Power without transferring toxins.
• After several days of smoking a marinated piece of yellow ox meat, Li Xiuchang found it flavorful, filling, and mildly replenishing to mana.
• Li Xiuchang calculated that selling smoked meat could bring a substantial profit, then planned to buy more supplies and test the method on Tier 1 Demonic Beast Meat after the trial.
• Li Xiuchang set out for Wangping Mountain through deep snow and encountered three flying-boat drivers offering competing fares.
• Li Xiuchang asked the three drivers whether they were all Tier 1 Talisman Masters.

Li Xiuchang joined Elder Zhao Yuansi’s disciple-recruitment trial, where the candidates had to compose poems about snow without using the word “snow.” As the first candidates recited deliberately awkward verses, Li Xiuchang realized the trial was a contest to see who could write the worst poem.

• Li Xiuchang walked through the snow to Wangping Mountain, and Elder Zhao Yuansi mistook his footprints for evidence of firm Daoist determination.
• Elder Zhao announced that he would choose a disciple based on a poetry test about snow, with the character “snow” forbidden.
• The first candidate recited a clumsy poem, and Li Xiuchang noticed Elder Zhao seemed envious of it.
• Red-Skirts Senior Sister recited a deliberately repetitive poem that impressed Elder Zhao and left the first candidate discouraged.
• Scholar Senior Brother recited a polished poem, while the others looked at him sympathetically because they understood the trial was about writing badly.

Li Xiuchang won Elder Zhao Yuansi’s disciple selection with a humorous doggerel poem after the final candidate was expelled for reciting vulgar verses. Zhao Yuansi chose Li Xiuchang for his yearning for the Dao, and gave him a Storage Bag as they left together.

• After the earlier candidates recited deliberately poor poems, Li Xiuchang performed a simple doggerel that pleased Elder Zhao.
• The final candidate recited a poem about urinating, and Elder Zhao angrily expelled him from the mountain.
• Elder Zhao considered Li Xiuchang and Red-Skirts Senior Sister, then chose Li Xiuchang as his disciple.
• Aboard Zhao Yuansi’s flying vessel, Li Xiuchang praised his master’s calligraphy, and Zhao Yuansi explained that Li’s traces of snow showed his yearning for the Dao.
• Zhao Yuansi gave Li Xiuchang a Storage Bag as a gift for becoming his disciple.

Li Xiuchang received alchemy materials and a High-grade Magic Tool Alchemy Furnace from Zhao Yuansi, then sought out Wang Long to recruit him to help sell Smoked Spirit Meat. He showed Wang Long the meat, though his attempts to retrieve it from his Storage Bag first exposed a pile of spirit stones.

• Zhao Yuansi gave Li Xiuchang an Introduction to Alchemy book and promised to guide him toward becoming a Second-tier Alchemist within twenty years.
• Li Xiuchang declined Zhao Yuansi's offer of an escort and decided to visit Wang Long about selling Smoked Spirit Meat.
• Li Xiuchang found alchemy materials and a High-grade Magic Tool Alchemy Furnace in Zhao Yuansi's Storage Bag.
• Li Xiuchang met Wang Long and tried to show him Smoked Spirit Meat, repeatedly pulling out spirit stones before dumping his Storage Bag's contents out.
• Li Xiuchang handed Wang Long a piece of Smoked Spirit Meat to try.

Li Xiuchang offered Wang Long a steady supply of smoked Spirit Meat to sell, then considered expanding production with hired workers and rented Artifact Fire Furnaces. Wang Long proposed ways to find cheap labor and equipment, leaving Li Xiuchang ready to scale up his business.

• Wang Long tasted Li Xiuchang's unranked smoked Spirit Meat and estimated it could sell for about twice the price of a Grain-Aversion Pill.
• Li Xiuchang offered to supply Wang Long with twenty strips for three low-grade Spirit Stones, and Wang Long agreed to help sell them.
• Li Xiuchang explained that his Charcoal Attribute Mana let him smoke Spirit Meat, and he considered hiring workers to operate more furnaces.
• Wang Long suggested hiring Tier 1 Talisman Masters for one low-grade Spirit Stone a day and renting Artifact Fire Furnaces from First-tier Artifact Refiners.
• Li Xiuchang recognized that competition among the sect's disciples could make it easier to expand his smoked-meat production.

Li Xiuchang and Wang Long prepared to smoke-cure Spirit Beast Meat by gathering ingredients, renting Artifact Fire Furnaces, and hiring Talisman Masters. After marinating the meat and studying an alchemy book, Li Xiuchang welcomed Wang Long and the three Talisman Masters to his residence, where the work was about to begin.

• Li Xiuchang lent Wang Long ten Spirit Stones to cover the cost of hiring workers and renting furnaces.
• Li Xiuchang bought Spirit Beast Meat, a piece of Tier 1 Spirit Paulownia Wood, and a cheap piece of Tier 1 Demonic Beast Meat at the market.
• Wang Long rented thirty low-grade Artifact Fire Furnaces, hired three Tier 1 Talisman Masters, and resigned from his Reception Area work.
• Li Xiuchang set up the furnaces at his Eastern Geng District residence and spent half a day marinating the meat.
• Li Xiuchang read Introduction to Alchemy until Wang Long arrived the next day with the three Talisman Masters, one of whom Li Xiuchang recognized.

Li Xiuchang started producing Smoked Spirit Meat with hired Talisman Masters while experimenting with a furnace artifact and cultivating the Charcoal Burning Skill. The smoke from his furnaces drew the attention of the Immortal Dust Sect’s Law Enforcement Hall, whose members arrived at his courtyard.

• Li Xiuchang hired Pockmarked Senior Brother and two other Talisman Masters to help Wang Long operate thirty furnaces.
• Li Xiuchang calculated that the first batch of Smoked Spirit Meat could bring in more than 180 spirit stones in net profit.
• Wang Long took over tending Li Xiuchang’s furnace while Li Xiuchang planned to practice alchemy and cultivate with Spirit Tung Wood.
• A huge column of smoke gathered over the Eastern Geng District, prompting the Law Enforcement Hall to investigate a suspected fire.
• Li Xiuchang stopped cultivating and saw several Law Enforcement Hall members descend into his courtyard.

Li Xiuchang’s smoking operation produced so much smoke that the Law Enforcement Hall came to investigate, but several groups of cultivators soon arrived hoping to use it. He arranged for the groups to share the smoke collection rights and realized the nuisance could bring in spirit stones.

• Senior Brother Wu told Li Xiuchang to stop releasing the smoky, slightly poisonous fumes inside the sect or find a way to contain them.
• Tier 1 Poison Masters, Gu Masters, artifact refiners, Formation Masters, and other cultivators arrived to collect the smoke for their work.
• Li Xiuchang watched the groups bid for exclusive collection rights, then proposed that they each contribute one spirit stone and collect the smoke together.
• The groups accepted Li Xiuchang’s proposal to expand production, and he asked Senior Brother Wu to witness a written agreement.
• Senior Brother Wu and Li Xiuchang’s hired fire tenders were astonished that the smoke could earn more than the workers’ wages.

Li Xiuchang turned the smoke from his furnaces into a source of income, recruited more workers, and borrowed money to expand production. Four days later, the first batch of smoked spirit meat was finally ready.

• Li Xiuchang signed contracts with several small groups to collect smoke for daily spirit-stone payments, and their members quickly cleared much of the smoke overhead.
• Five Law Enforcement Hall disciples joined Li Xiuchang’s workshop after Senior Brother Wu gave them permission to leave.
• Li Xiuchang arranged to rent fifty more furnace artifacts, and Wang Long secured a fifty-spirit-stone loan from the five new workers.
• Wang Long bought spirit meat and rented the furnaces, which began smoking a second batch outside Li Xiuchang’s courtyard the next day.
• Four days later, the first batch of spirit meat from thirty furnaces finished smoking.