Chapter Summaries

Li Banfeng found himself on the face of Face Not Big, who pursued him as he tried to escape through oily terrain and battled facial parasites. After Li Banfeng sang “Train Ballad,” Face Not Big suspected he had come to steal oil and vowed to stop him, leaving Li Banfeng trapped on the hostile face.

• Face Not Big questioned Li Banfeng about how he had reached the enormous face, then threatened to kill him as Li Banfeng fled.
• Li Banfeng used Trample Ten Thousand Rivers and Ride a Horse and Admire Flowers against the landscape and swarming mites, then opened a path through them with Cut Path Opening Road.
• Li Banfeng set a Blood Larva ablaze, but Face Not Big extinguished the fire and flooded the ground with grease while pursuing him.
• Li Banfeng sang “Train Ballad,” which made Face Not Big pause and ask whether Train Grandpa had sent him.
• Face Not Big caught up with Li Banfeng in the woods, accused him of stealing oil, and declared he would not let anyone take it.

Li Banfeng escaped the vast face of Little Face Not Big, who sent him back to the New Land after taking back his oil. As Li Banfeng wondered about the oil cultivators and planned to visit Oil Lake again, a woman began an assessment around the Land Block.

• Face Not Big accused Li Banfeng of stealing his oil and dragged him into a hollow in his nostril to escape a rising flood of snot.
• Face Not Big removed most of the oil from Li Banfeng, but chased him when oil remained on his feet; Li Banfeng fled across Face Not Big's beard and forehead.
• Li Banfeng and Little Face Not Big ate roast chicken and discussed oil cultivation, the Inner State, and the Dao school's surviving disciples; Little Face Not Big said he could not move and asked Li Banfeng to tell Peddler to save him.
• Little Face Not Big recognized Li Banfeng's connection to Old Train, explained that his eye had been covered, and sent Li Banfeng back to the New Land while warning him to tell Old Train that burning oil was better than burning coal.
• Li Banfeng questioned the gloves about stealing oil, learned they had taken only half a roast chicken, and then heard a woman agree to begin an assessment as a halo rose around the Land Block.

Li Banfeng was forced into an immediate trial to reclaim a three-li Land Block and fought off waves of Strange Monsters until he succeeded. Back in the Portable Abode, Hong Ying’s clash with the house left her with new hands, feet, and apparent doorways, raising questions about the house’s power and cultivation arts.

• The Local Earth God accepted Li Banfeng’s chicken offering, sealed the Land Block’s boundary, and forced him to begin its reclamation trial without preparation.
• A giant tiger, an animated tree, a Literary Cultivator toad, and a regenerative earthworm attacked Li Banfeng, who called on the projector for help.
• The projector summoned a young woman who began undoing her qipao instead of fighting, while the phonograph, Hong Ying, and Red Lotus endured the house’s eerie laughter inside the Portable Abode.
• Hong Ying broke free and attacked the Portable Abode’s wall, then emerged with hands and feet and spoke of new doorways and the house’s cultivation arts.
• Li Banfeng fought for three days and nights against the Strange Monsters, and the Local Earth God declared that he had passed the trial.
• The Strange Monsters retreated, the reclamation succeeded, and Li Banfeng fell asleep before he could clearly see the Local Earth God.

Li Banfeng learned from Local Earth God Meng Yuchun how cultivation beyond Earth Skin worked and what she had endured to earn her rank. He left with a new lead on reaching Cloud Above without serving the Inner State: stealing a Local Earth God’s rank and cultivation.

• Li Banfeng met Meng Yuchun, signed a land-reclamation contract, and asked her about Local Earth Gods and cultivation.
• Meng Yuchun explained the Life and Death Tribulation, the consequences of failing it, and how Cloud Above First Layer cultivation required a reward from the Inner State.
• Meng Yuchun showed Li Banfeng her scars and told him she had endured years of abuse, including watching her Home Spirit be killed, to become a Local Earth God.
• Meng Yuchun explained that Local Earth Gods needed population to grow stronger and that she feared dying before reaching Cloud Above Second Layer.
• Meng Yuchun told Li Banfeng that cultivators could reach Cloud Above by stealing a Local Earth God’s rank and cultivation, citing Green Water Beggar’s defeat of Thin Donkey Yuan.

Li Banfeng learned about theft and robbery as paths to the Cloud Above, then returned to Blue Poplar Village and confronted Song Zhigang, who had come back with Old Master Lu’s Big Supports. Li Banfeng killed one martial cultivator, crippled the other, and told Song Zhigang to stay in the village.

• Meng Yuchun explained the two forms of theft and agreed that Li Banfeng could choose capable people to clear land under revised arrangements.
• Li Banfeng hired a Confucian cultivator frog as his steward, a gray-furred wolf and a golden eagle as Big Supports, and marmots to build rooms on his Land Block.
• Li Banfeng reached Blue Poplar Village and learned that Song Zhigang had returned to reclaim the village while Little Genzi fought to stop him.
• Song Zhigang challenged Li Banfeng to leave or settle the dispute by force, then revealed that Old Master Lu had sent two Big Supports with him.
• Li Banfeng killed one of Song Zhigang’s martial cultivators and crippled the other after they threatened him and Little Genzi.
• Song Zhigang begged to leave, but Li Banfeng told him to live steadily in Blue Poplar Village.

Li Banfeng questioned Song Zhigang and his retainers in the Portable Abode, then discovered the house had stolen a huge quantity of oil for an unexplained purpose. At Yuezhou Third Hospital, He Jiaqing learned that Ling Miaoying was alive, while He Haisheng confronted him after realizing he had lied.

• Li Banfeng brought Song Zhigang and the others to Carefree Dock, questioned them, and learned that Xu Yangbo—not Lu Maoxian directly—had ordered the attempt to reclaim Blue Poplar Village.
• Li Banfeng showed the projector’s recordings to Wife, but the footage of Face Not Big revealed only an oily yellow image.
• Li Banfeng found every liquid-holding container in the Third Hospital filled with oil, and the Portable Abode admitted it had taken the oil to burn.
• The Portable Abode told Li Banfeng it could move on its own because of railroad tracks, then stopped answering his questions.
• Wan Jinxian told He Jiaqing that a spy had seen Ling Miaoying at Carefree Dock, and He Jiaqing concluded that Ling Miaoying was alive.
• He Haisheng discovered He Jiaqing was awake and confronted him about lying to his father.

Li Banfeng suspected Duan Shaoxia had orchestrated the attack on Blue Poplar Village to endanger Lu Chunying and clear the way for Zhang Huaiyi, so he declined Duan Shaoxia’s banquet and prepared to reclaim new land. The chapter left Li Banfeng’s group heading out while Genzi met a mysterious Farming Cultivator who rejected the quality of his liquid gold.

• Monkey Qiu changed trains with Lu Chunying and the others as a precaution, then told Ma Wu to warn Li Qi not to investigate the Blue Poplar Village attack beyond Song Zhigang for now.
• Li Banfeng tested how the Portable Abode followed his thoughts and returned safely to the warehouse at Carefree Dock.
• Qin Tianjiu told Li Banfeng that Lu Maoxian had denied responsibility for the attack and that Duan Shaoxia had recently been promoting Zhang Huaiyi.
• Li Banfeng suspected Duan Shaoxia had bribed Lu Maoxian’s steward to target Lu Chunying, declined Duan Shaoxia’s dinner invitation, and ordered Cao Zhida to assemble men for a land-reclamation trip.
• Genzi met an old Farming Cultivator on the new land, gave him liquid gold, and heard that its quality was not good enough.

Little Genzi encountered an old man who demonstrated the true power of his golden juice, while Li Banfeng’s group traveled toward their new land and He Haiqin learned that He Jiaqing had secretly left him Golden Essence Pills. Back in the Portable Abode, the phonograph transformed Dream Virtue into a Pocket Watch attachment to help Li Banfeng keep track of time in the new land.

• An old man criticized Little Genzi’s golden juice, revealed its strength by melting a rock, and began teaching him how to prepare it.
• Li Banfeng and Cao Zhida recruited land-clearers in Blue Poplar Village under the rule that they would become landlords, then led more than fifty people toward the new land.
• He Haisheng found thirty top-grade Golden Essence Pills hidden in He Jiaqing’s hospital room, and He Haiqin realized his son had intended him to find them.
• He Haisheng returned to the hospital and whispered to He Jiaqing that he would keep him there a few more days while he finished his business.
• The phonograph fused Dream Virtue with Li Banfeng’s Pocket Watch so he could check the date while traveling through the new land.

Li Banfeng brought Hunters to open land in Meng Yuchun's territory, where Cao Zhida's sudden infatuation was traced to an Emotion Wound Slug. After removing the slug and turning it into material for a Spiritual Object, Li Banfeng left the story with six Golden Essence Pills from Ling Miaoying's Lotus Seed.

• Li Banfeng brought more than fifty Hunters to Meng Yuchun's territory and limited their land-opening attempt to one li, while Cao Zhida insisted on opening a separate plot alone.
• After three days, the Hunters and Cao Zhida successfully opened their plots, and Cao Zhida declared that he would risk his life to stay near Meng Yuchun.
• The big toad identified an Emotion Wound Slug in Cao Zhida's nose, and Li Banfeng used Ling Miaoying's Music Box to put Cao Zhida to sleep.
• The big toad pulled the slug from Cao Zhida, and Li Banfeng lured it into a projected woman before bringing it to Wife.
• Wife dismembered the slug and collected six Emotion Cultivator souls, while Red Lotus ate its remains and Copper Lotus accepted the Mandarin Duck Halberds to refine as a Spiritual Object.
• Li Banfeng harvested Ling Miaoying's fully ripened Lotus Seed, which produced six Golden Essence Pills.

Li Banfeng encountered a fake Meng Yuchun that a neighboring Local Earth God identified as a Wounded Demon Fiend, then discovered the old man could control him by claiming he owed three offerings. As Dream Virtue challenged the old man’s reasoning and Li Banfeng exposed a lie about the demon, the old man’s control weakened, leaving Li Banfeng able to move one leg.

• Li Banfeng questioned why Ling Miaoying’s seventh-layer cultivation had yielded only six Golden Essence Pills, and Wife reassured him that there was no need to fuss over it.
• Li Banfeng returned to Meng Yuchun’s territory, where reclaimers had joined the second round because of local food and rewards, and he encountered someone impersonating Meng Yuchun.
• A neighboring Local Earth God used a bronze mirror to drive off the fake Meng Yuchun, then pursued Li Banfeng and stopped him with his techniques.
• The old man claimed Li Banfeng owed him three payments for saving him, carrying him, and wiping his sweat, and he tried to burn and stab him when Li Banfeng could not resist.
• Li Banfeng used Benevolent Dwelling Heart to withstand the flames, while Dream Virtue challenged the old man’s claims and briefly loosened his control.
• Li Banfeng questioned whether the creature had really been a Wounded Demon Fiend, and Dream Virtue accused the old man of lying, causing his arm to tremble and allowing Li Banfeng to move his right leg.

Li Banfeng and Dream Virtue exposed Feng Qu Weng’s scheme and escaped into the Portable Abode, where the household defeated him and consumed his remains. The phonograph warned Li Banfeng that such a rare, high-level Wandering Monster would not have appeared without a reason, and Li Banfeng asked the projector whether he recognized Feng Qu Weng.

• Li Banfeng challenged Feng Qu Weng’s claim that his accomplice had meant him harm, giving Dream Virtue an opening to overwhelm the old man with accusations.
• Dream Virtue made Feng Qu Weng look at her as a show, breaking his hold over Li Banfeng’s legs; Li Banfeng opened the Portable Abode and pulled Feng Qu Weng inside.
• Wife and Hong Ying immobilized Feng Qu Weng, severed his limbs, and killed him while Wife explained the Offering Path and his debt-collecting technique.
• The household members ate Feng Qu Weng’s soul, flesh, and blood, and Red Lotus absorbed what remained.
• The phonograph warned Li Banfeng that Feng Qu Weng’s appearance was suspicious, and Li Banfeng asked the projector whether he remembered what Feng Qu Weng looked like.

Li Banfeng investigated who was targeting Meng Yuchun and suspected Xiao Die had been impersonated by the Actor Cultivator. After luring Xiao Die with Feng Qu Weng’s image, he heard her report that the plan was done.

• Li Banfeng showed Wife and the projector footage of the woman who had impersonated Meng Yuchun, and learned she might be a sixth-layer Actor Cultivator.
• Li Banfeng visited Meng Yuchun, who revealed that someone had sent a Knife-Brush Clerk to her territory and might be trying to discover her home.
• Meng Yuchun introduced Li Banfeng to Red Butterfly, Yellow Butterfly, and Xiao Die, while he considered whether one of them had been replaced by the Actor Cultivator.
• Li Banfeng brought the Knife-Brush Clerk’s corpse to the Portable Abode, where Hong Ying and the artifacts ate it; Red Lotus produced Yin Yang Halberds that could react to nearby targets.
• Li Banfeng and Meng Yuchun followed Xiao Die through the forest, and Li Banfeng used the projector to show her Feng Qu Weng’s image.
• Xiao Die approached the projected Feng Qu Weng and quietly told him, “It’s done.”

An Actor Cultivator led the Mountain Pulling Master and her forces to attack Meng Yuchun, but Li Banfeng’s cave trap captured most of the monsters and Meng Yuchun trapped the Mountain Pulling Master in her territory. The Mountain Pulling Master broke through the defenses and charged into Li Banfeng’s cave, where she collided with him and began searching for the Home Spirit.

• Li Banfeng used a projector to impersonate Feng Qu Weng and drive the Actor Cultivator away from Meng Yuchun’s territory.
• The Actor Cultivator recovered from poison, reported Meng Yuchun’s location to the ghost fire, and led twenty-six Strange Monsters and two Wandering Monsters to her cave.
• Li Banfeng lured the attacking monsters into his false cave and captured eighteen of them in the Portable Abode.
• Meng Yuchun emerged, trapped the remaining attackers with her Shut-in Cultivation Technique, and learned that the Mountain Pulling Master had sent them.
• Meng Yuchun fought the Mountain Pulling Master, who charged through the halos and into Li Banfeng’s cave in a desperate attempt to reach the Home Spirit.
• The Mountain Pulling Master slammed into Li Banfeng and searched the room while he and Hong Ying wondered what she was.

Li Banfeng interrogated Mountain Pulling Master, the Local Earth God who had tried to steal Meng Yuchun’s deed, and learned how deeds, lifespan, and cultivation were connected. After Mountain Pulling Master died, Li Banfeng set out to find her deed despite Wife’s warning, while Wife tried to distract him with a claim that the contract had other uses.

• Wife and Hong Ying subdued Mountain Pulling Master, and Wife pierced her with the phonograph needle when she attacked Li Banfeng.
• Mountain Pulling Master admitted that she was the Local Earth God of the eastern territory and had targeted Meng Yuchun to steal her deed.
• Mountain Pulling Master explained that a deed could be exchanged in the Inner State for a hundred years of lifespan, while losing one could cause a Local Earth God to lose their rank and cultivation.
• Mountain Pulling Master revealed that she hired Wandering Monsters with cultivation gathered from her territory, then told Li Banfeng to ask Actor Cultivator where her residence was.
• Wife killed Mountain Pulling Master and warned Li Banfeng that using new land’s cultivation could change him, but he decided to look for the deed anyway.
• As Li Banfeng opened the gramophone to add Machine Oil, Wife urged him to stop and said the Local Earth God’s contract had other uses.

Li Banfeng persuaded Meng Yuchun to accept the Mountain Pulling Master's territory as the price for their deal, then uncovered Actor Cultivator's deception and learned where the Mountain Pulling Master's residence was. He and Meng Yuchun reached the sealed cliff entrance, where Li Banfeng weighed ways to get inside and retrieve the deed.

• Li Banfeng discussed the Local Earth God position with the phonograph, who warned him about its risks and advised him to let Little Slave inspect the deed.
• Li Banfeng emerged from the cave and told Meng Yuchun that the Mountain Pulling Master was dead, proposing to place her territory under Meng Yuchun's name.
• Meng Yuchun agreed to claim the Mountain Pulling Master's territory, and Li Banfeng exposed Actor Cultivator's disguise and learned that Xiao Die had gone to transform in a chrysalis.
• Actor Cultivator led Li Banfeng and Meng Yuchun to the Mountain Pulling Master's residence inside a Broken Cliff.
• Li Banfeng considered using Cut Path Opening Road or Unimpeded Travel to enter the cliff, but worried about exposing himself or becoming trapped in the rock.

Li Banfeng borrowed Hong Ying’s Unimpeded Travel to enter Mountain Pulling Master’s Residence and search for her contract document. He found the hidden cellar beneath a stone lion and discovered the yellow seal case, leaving the contract document still to be located.

• Li Banfeng gave Hong Ying Silver Coins in exchange for borrowing Unimpeded Travel, and she agreed after bargaining over his machine-oiling routine.
• Meng Yuchun explained that the contract document was buried beneath the Local Earth Seal and that its yellow seal case, marked with a silver ring, would reveal its location.
• Li Banfeng used Hong Ying’s strength and Unimpeded Travel to pass through the Broken Cliff and reach Mountain Pulling Master’s Residence.
• Li Banfeng killed one blind Mountain Wolf and made the other lead him to a cellar where Mountain Pulling Master had distributed cultivation.
• Li Banfeng found a second cellar beneath an immovable stone lion and discovered the yellow seal case inside.

Li Banfeng altered Mountain Pulling Master's Iron Certificate to claim the land under the nickname Li Furong and began taking charge of its eyeless inhabitants. The chapter ended with He Jiaqing secretly using a matching Local Earth Seal beneath Garden Stadium.

• Li Banfeng learned from Wife that the Iron Certificate recorded territorial changes and that Inner State could see its writing.
• Wife altered the deed to name Li Furong, and Li Banfeng buried it again with the Local Earth Seal.
• Li Banfeng promised Mountain Wolf the granary's food, accidentally gave him too much cultivation, and introduced himself as Local Earth God.
• At Garden Stadium, He Jiaqing entered a hidden underground chamber, took out a golden-yellow seal, and stamped it onto his head.

He Jiaqing returned to Pro State in disguise to secure pills, investigate Ling Miaoying’s disappearance, and arrange for the unfinished film to be completed. He Haiqin swallowed Golden Essence Pills to attempt a tribulation, and the chapter ended with him transformed into a massive pile of grease.

• Li Banfeng made the Strange Monsters sign contracts to obey Meng Yuchun, and the two reluctant Wandering Monsters agreed after the Actor Cultivator was killed.
• He Jiaqing hid the seal, disguised himself as He Haisheng, and gave He Haiqin ten pills while He Haiqin entrusted the family business to He Yuxiu.
• He Jiaqing visited Ling Miaosheng and asked her to help manage the family business, but she remained unmoved by his pleas.
• He Jiaqing met Wan Jinxian, learned that Tu Yinghong had disappeared and the film had stopped filming, and ordered him to find her and finish the movie.
• He Haiqin ate mutton for three days and swallowed five Golden Essence Pills, then became a huge mass of grease that servants discovered the next morning.

After He Yuxiu secured Qiu Zhiheng’s promise not to oppose the He Family, Qiu Zhiheng left the Lu Family after confronting Duan Shaoxia over her deception about Yuanhai. As he departed with his wife and child, Li Banfeng offered him a partnership in an apothecary in Medicine King Gully, giving Qiu Zhiheng a new business of his own.

• Qiu Zhiheng attended He Haiqin’s funeral with Lu Chunying, then drank with He Yuxiu, who asked him to become the He Family’s chief steward; he declined but promised not to become her enemy after she recognized Lu Chunying as head of the Lu Family.
• A masked attacker confronted Ma Wu at Carefree Dock, but He Yuxiu disarmed him and blocked his darts while Huo Ling’s fire forced him to vanish; outside, He Jiaqing identified the attacker as Best Actress Tu Yinghong.
• Li Banfeng returned to Carefree Dock and learned the masked attacker had been looking for him, then told Ma Wu to find the Guanfang Envoy.
• Qiu Zhiheng told Duan Shaoxia he knew the child was Yuanhai, resigned from the Lu Family, and explained that he had returned everything the family had given him before leaving to join his wife and child.
• At the station, Li Banfeng gave Qiu Zhiheng noodles for the journey and offered to partner with him in an apothecary in Medicine King Gully; Qiu Zhiheng accepted the land deed and boarded the train.

He Haiqin entered the Sage’s service as a laborer in the Inner State, while He Yuxiu backed Lu Chunying and Li Banfeng planned to expand Shadow Play machines and films. He Jiaqing learned that Lu Maoxian had caused trouble at the cinema again, but Wan Jinxian’s thoughts were elsewhere.

• He Haiqin received a sealed document from the Sage, followed instructions through a cave, and began hauling stones in the Inner State as a servant.
• He Yuxiu ordered the He Family to recognize Lu Chunying and support her claim to the Lu Family’s bonus money.
• Li Banfeng learned that Lu Maoxian’s supporters threatened his position in Green Water City and decided to have Chuanzi manufacture Shadow Play machines and Bai Qiusheng produce short films for them.
• He Jiaqing kept Tu Yinghong at the Shadow Play company, while she insisted she wanted to find Ling Miaoying and leave for Carefree Dock.
• He Jiaqing and Wan Jinxian suspected Tu Yinghong wanted the Mystic Life Crimson Lotus, though she was actually searching for her Iron Ruler.
• He Jiaqing received word that Lu Maoxian had caused trouble at the cinema again and ordered Wan Jinxian to retaliate, while Wan Jinxian’s attention was elsewhere.