Chapter Summaries

Li Banfeng investigated Ling Family Film Industry and suspected Tu Yinghong had ambushed him, so he planned to use Ling Miaoying’s image as bait. Meanwhile, He Jiaqing attacked Lu Maoxian and later learned that Tu Yinghong’s men had spotted Ling Miaoying at Carefree Dock, leaving her poised to investigate.

• The glove secretly fed the projector flesh from the Mountain Pulling Master and advised it not to record everything it saw for Li Banfeng.
• Qin Xiaopang told Li Banfeng that Tu Yinghong was a craftsman cultivator from Black Stone Slope, and Li agreed to pay for Xiaopang’s promotion and territory.
• Li Banfeng used the projector to display Ling Miaoying’s image as bait, while the phonograph suggested it could attract spies who might lead them to Tu Yinghong.
• He Jiaqing ambushed Lu Maoxian, killed many of his retainers, and left him gravely injured before noticing the Green Water Beggar watching him.
• He Jiaqing secretly tested a drop of medicine on a frame of film, then ordered Wan Jinxian to keep Tu Yinghong inside the building.
• Wan Jinxian told Tu Yinghong that his men had seen Ling Miaoying at Carefree Dock, and she asked where.

Tu Yinghong escaped the Shadow Play Building to confront Li Qi over the missing Iron Rulers, while Wan Jinxian secretly tracked her and planned to capture Li Qi. Li Banfeng defeated Tu Yinghong in a fierce warehouse battle and fled with her body after sensing Wan Jinxian’s hostility, leaving Wan Jinxian unable to find him.

• Wan Jinxian told Tu Yinghong that Ling Miaoying might be colluding with Li Qi, prompting her to arm herself and slip out through a hidden passage.
• Wan Jinxian tracked Tu Yinghong’s footsteps as she left the Shadow Play Building, while Li Banfeng prepared for her expected attack at the warehouse.
• Tu Yinghong’s puppet triggered Li Banfeng’s attack, and she realized the fighter inside was Li Qi rather than Ling Miaoying.
• Tu Yinghong’s weapons and armor pushed Li Banfeng into a disadvantage, but the Blood-Containing Pendulum drained her blood and Li Banfeng’s shout broke her spying hairpin.
• Li Banfeng used Ride a Horse and Admire Flowers to kill Tu Yinghong, then carried her body away instead of collecting her weapons.
• Wan Jinxian pursued Li Banfeng with a magical artifact, but Li Banfeng vanished before he could catch him.

After Tu Yinghong’s attack, Li Banfeng rushed Ma Wu to Boundless Hospital, where Disease Cultivator Cui Tike cured him. Wan Jinxian tracked them to the hospital and fought Cui Tike, whose unusual abilities turned the battle against him.

• A middle-aged man threatened Ma Wu and ordered him to send Li Qi to Yue Lai Restaurant, then Ma Wu collapsed after helping put out a warehouse fire.
• Li Banfeng brought Ma Wu to Boundless Hospital, where Cui Tike treated him and recognized the taste of a fellow disciple’s illness.
• Wan Jinxian arrived at the hospital, killed the nurse who refused to reveal Ma Wu’s ward, and confronted Cui Tike.
• Cui Tike resisted Wan Jinxian’s disease attacks and countered with a sneeze, phlegm, and a fiery belch.
• Wan Jinxian attacked Cui Tike, but green pus sprayed from Cui Tike’s wound and raised pustules across Wan Jinxian’s face.

Cui Tike questioned Wan Jinxian about the Plague Miasma Gang and the Hand and Foot Alliance, then cured most of Wan Jinxian’s illness in exchange for future information. Wan Jinxian left with one permanent pustule as a reminder to report news about the alliance.

• Li Banfeng used the Thread-Pulling Earring to overhear Cui Tike questioning Wan Jinxian in the emergency room.
• Wan Jinxian explained the Plague Miasma Gang’s brutal succession rules and said he had entered the sect by eating his master’s corpse.
• Wan Jinxian admitted that he had targeted Ma Junyang to get the Mystic Life Crimson Lotus and described He Jiaqing’s Hand and Foot Alliance and its goal of restoring Pro State’s dignity.
• Cui Tike cured most of Wan Jinxian’s pustules and asked him to share future news about the Hand and Foot Alliance.
• Cui Tike left one crystalline pustule on Wan Jinxian’s spine so Wan Jinxian would report to him later.

Li Banfeng pieced together how He Jiaqing may have used Wan Jinxian and Lu Dongjun to gather businesses and tip the balance of power in Pro State, but he could not yet determine why Red Lotus had to return. As Li Banfeng sought older newspapers in Green Water City, Qiu Zhiheng separately bought papers about Medicine King Gully and recognized a medicine courier as Xue Yingying, whose childhood name was Cao Ye.

• Li Banfeng learned that Wan Jinxian had likely used Lu Dongjun to gather businesses for He Jiaqing, then found evidence linking those acquisitions to Chu Er and the Lu Family's loss of influence.
• Li Banfeng examined the timing of He Haiqin's illness and the Lu-He conflict, suspecting He Jiaqing had shaped events but questioning why he had required Red Lotus to return to Pro State.
• Li Banfeng asked where to find old newspapers, and Chu Xuan directed him to Lu Family Bookstore on Wan Sheng Road.
• Li Banfeng visited the Green Water City Lu Family Bookstore and found that its owner, Boss Lu, had moved there from Medicine King Gully.
• Qiu Zhiheng bought old newspapers to study Medicine King Gully's businesses, then learned from Wife that the medicine courier Xue Yingying had the childhood name Cao Ye.

He Jiaqing searched for Tu Yinghong and arranged for his big sister to take over the Ling family's film business. Meanwhile, Li Banfeng investigated the celebrated Shen Rongqing's business dealings, traveled to Black Stone Slope, and learned that Tu Yinghong may have mistaken his Iron Rulers for her lost pair.

• He Jiaqing learned Tu Yinghong had left the film company, ordered Wan Jinxian to search for her, and arranged for his big sister to take over the Ling family's film business.
• Li Banfeng examined a decade of newspapers and, after Ma Wu insisted Shen Rongqing could not be a businesswoman, traveled to Black Stone Slope to investigate her.
• On the train, Li Banfeng prepared Golden Essence Pills from Tu Yinghong's lotus seed and heard from the projector that Tu Yinghong's lost Iron Rulers might explain why she had come after him.
• Li Banfeng arrived at Black Stone Slope and boarded a Small Train to visit Shen Rongqing.

Li Banfeng investigated Shen Rongqing’s paper mill and learned that its former owner, Tu Shumei, was a sixty-year-old Craftsman Cultivator whose abilities and cultivation matched Tu Yinghong’s. He also discovered that Chuanzi’s sudden illness came from advancing through his shadow-play machine’s success, treated him, and ended by asking whether Craftsman Cultivators could change their faces.

• Li Banfeng questioned a newsstand owner, learned about Tu Shumei, and bought a Night-Blooming Jasmine shadow-play machine before posing as a reporter to visit the mill.
• Li Banfeng returned to the newspaper office and found Chuanzi bedridden; Wine Gourd and Wife determined that Chuanzi was suffering from a difficult advancement caused by the success of his shadow-play machine.
• Wife prescribed a pill for Chuanzi, and Li Banfeng arranged for him to rest and later receive Soul Return Soup.
• Bai Qiusheng told Li Banfeng that Tu Shumei was a sixty-year-old Craftsman Cultivator who had made a widely used hand-cranked printing press.
• Li Banfeng realized Tu Shumei’s age and cultivation could match Tu Yinghong’s, then asked Wife whether Craftsman Cultivators could alter their faces; Hong Ying said they could.

Li Banfeng learned that Tu Shumei had spent her fortune buying the Iron Rulers from the Merchant Path trader Feng Chongli, then changed her appearance and became Tu Yinghong. Lü Yuesan died after revealing that Li Banfeng had visited Black Stone Slope, and Tang Peigong prepared to trap Li Banfeng there.

• Li Banfeng questioned Lü Yuesan and learned that Tu Shumei bought the Iron Rulers from Feng Chongli after locating him through his brother Feng Xincheng.
• Lü Yuesan explained that Feng Chongli followed the Merchant Path, which cultivated through conducting business, and Li Banfeng realized Tu Shumei had become Tu Yinghong after buying the weapon.
• Li Banfeng made Lü Yuesan sign a Contract Paper and let him collect his payment, while Bai Qiusheng asked whether they should silence him.
• Ai Chixiang questioned Lü Yuesan about his visit to Night Fragrance, and Lü Yuesan coughed up rusty water before his body shattered into rusty dregs.
• Ai Chixiang reported to Tang Peigong that Li Banfeng had come to Black Stone Slope, and Tang Peigong ordered his people to hold Li Banfeng there.

Li Banfeng realized the Qingshou Association was trying to keep him at Black Stone Slope while Lu Maoxian arranged an attack on Lu Chunying. Duan Shaoxia arrived alone to save Lu Chunying, and Lu Maoxian was stabbed just as he believed his plan was foolproof.

• Li Banfeng suspected the Qingshou Association’s threats to buy his projector business were meant to hold him at Black Stone Slope, while Lu Maoxian ordered his people to delay Li Qi and move against Lu Chunying.
• Lu Maoxian learned that Ma Wu was recovering from illness and that Tan Fucheng was away, so he sent forces to attack Lu Chunying and planned to blame Duan Shaoxia.
• Duan Shaoxia arrived alone at Lu Chunying’s residence and offered her a choice between fighting one battle or fleeing for a lifetime.
• Ai Chixiang continued pressuring Bai Qiusheng to sell the Shadow Play Machine business, while Li Banfeng watched footage from Lu Maoxian’s house to investigate his intentions.
• Lu Maoxian waited for news of Lu Chunying’s death and planned to take control of the Lu Family, but an attacker suddenly stabbed him through the chest.

Li Banfeng killed the wounded Lu Maoxian, then rushed to Lu Chunying’s residence and helped turn back the assassins attacking Duan Shaoxia and her family. With Zhang Xiuling’s people surrounding the house, Lu Chunying decided to face Duan Shaoxia outside rather than keep running.

• Li Banfeng used the Portable Abode to enter Lu Maoxian’s bedroom and killed him before returning toward Carefree Dock.
• Li Banfeng discovered that the White Poplar Teahouse was closed and learned that Lu Chunying’s residence was under attack.
• Duan Shaoxia resisted Lu Dongchun with oil, a candlestick, and scissors, while Lu Yuanxin’s Clothes Moths drove Lu Dongchun to flee.
• Li Banfeng arrived at Lu Chunying’s residence and used Ride a Horse and Admire Flowers to kill several assassins.
• Zhang Xiuling and the Hundred Flowers Gate surrounded the residence and killed the escaping assassins, while Zuo Wugang subdued Lu Dongtang.
• Duan Shaoxia called for Lu Chunying, and Lu Chunying agreed to go out and face her with Li Banfeng’s support.

Lu Chunying’s allies confronted the Lu Family’s plotting branch, and Lu Yuanxin executed Lu Dongtang under family law. The Guanfang Envoy halted the purge and invited Lu Chunying to a banquet, while Ma Wu revealed that Duan Shaoxia was a powerful Emotion Cultivator.

• Duan Shaoxia asked Lu Chunying and Xiao Yeci to return to the main residence, but Lu Chunying refused and Ma Wu arrived with reinforcements.
• Duan Shaoxia and Zhang Xiuling confirmed that Lu Maoxian had ordered an attack on the main branch, and Lu Yuanxin killed Lu Dongtang according to family law.
• The group went to Lu Maoxian’s residence, where they found him dead, and Lu Yuanxin called for Lu Maoxian’s branch to be wiped out.
• Guanfang Envoy Liao Zihui arrived, ended the confrontation, and invited Lu Chunying to a banquet at the Guanfang Hall.
• Lu Chunying’s group left without finding Lu Dongchun, who burned Clothes Moths from her body and stitched her wounds; Ma Wu later explained that Liao Zihui’s invitation recognized Lu Chunying’s position and revealed that Duan Shaoxia was an Emotion Cultivator.

Li Banfeng returned to Black Stone Slope, uncovered how He Jiaqing had profited from the He and Lu Families’ decline, and tried to travel to Medicine King Gully through the Portable Abode. He learned the Abode had only two rails, leaving him to wonder how to extend its reach and bring the key along.

• The Sage concluded that He Jiaqing had killed Lu Maoxian and ordered his disciple to lure He Jiaqing to Pro State as bait for a scheme.
• The glove revealed a box of gold it had stolen from Lu Maoxian’s house, and Li Banfeng gave the entire hoard to the glove as a reward.
• Ma Wu took over one of Lu Maoxian’s coal mines without interference from the Qingshou Association, then left the remaining businesses to his subordinates while he rested.
• Li Banfeng traced the sale of Shumei Paper Mill and other He Family assets, realizing He Jiaqing had used Wan Jinxian to weaken He Haiqin and amass great wealth.
• Li Banfeng tried to leave for Medicine King Gully through the Portable Abode, but it told him he could not go because its two rails did not reach far enough.

Ma Wu recovered from his advancement and discovered that Aqin and Huo Ling were obsessively watching “Blood Blade Detective Six” because the film caused bloodshot eyes. Meanwhile, He Jiaqing gathered cultivation resources and Xiao Zhengong secretly entered the Dark Star Bureau’s data room, where he found a file marked “Boundary Line.”

• Aqin arrived at Black Stone Slope after Qiu Luoye and Shui Yongquan helped her travel there, and she and Huo Ling got along while Ma Wu cultivated.
• He Jiaqing recharged a special battery to restore his cultivation, then considered gathering more resources as his sister reported strong attendance for the new movie.
• Ma Wu woke as a third-layer Joy Cultivator and learned that Aqin and Huo Ling had watched “Blood Blade Detective Six” repeatedly; he found a ruptured blood vessel in each woman’s eye and realized the film’s popularity had a strange cause.
• He Jiaqing met Big Head, learned Xiao Zhengong would be on duty, and left the park.
• At the Dark Star Bureau, Xiao Zhengong urged Qin Minghui to leave his post, but Qin stayed on duty and responded when a dark-energy aberration attacked two children at Ruirong Textile Factory.
• After Qin Minghui left for the scene, Xiao Zhengong used a magical artifact to enter the bureau’s restricted data room without leaving a record and found the file marked “Boundary Line.”

He Jiaqing infiltrated Xiao Zhengong's villa and borrowed a technique from Zhao Xiaowan's sealed spear, but he could not tell whether it had worked. In Yuezhou City, trainee Qin Minghui faced a giant silkworm Strange Monster to save two children, and Light Bulb and Tangyuan arrived as the fight escalated.

• He Jiaqing found Zhao Xiaowan's sealed spear in a hidden chamber, borrowed a technique, and escaped Xiao Zhengong's villa after dodging Xiao Zhengong's attack.
• He Jiaqing discovered that his speed had not improved and wondered whether he had borrowed the wrong technique.
• Qin Minghui entered the abandoned Ruirong Textile Factory, identified the Strange Monster as a giant silkworm, and found two children trapped in yarn.
• Qin Minghui shot the silkworm when it attacked the children, but the creature knocked him down and wrapped him in its body.
• Light Bulb arrived and fought the silkworm, then Tangyuan joined the battle and used Steel Pen to unleash ink that transformed into attacking words.

Tangyuan’s team subdued the silkworm, and Chen Changrui discussed the team’s lack of field experience with Qin Minghui. Li Banfeng returned to Medicine King Gully, where warnings to avoid disaster led him to Qiu Zhiheng and the arrival of a Mourning Cultivator.

• Tangyuan’s Word Entity technique endangered Qin Minghui and two children, but Big Head knocked down the silkworm and injected it with medicine; Qin Minghui and the children were taken to the hospital.
• Chen Changrui praised Qin Minghui for protecting the children and explained that Pro State hunters considered silkworms easy prey.
• Ma Wu found that Aqin’s root of love had disappeared, then prepared to travel to Belt Ridge to investigate Huo Ling’s lingering bloodstains.
• Li Banfeng heard that the Carriage Driver with flaming wheels and Steward Feng had both gone to avoid disaster, then met Qiu Zhiheng at his pharmacy.
• Cao Ye arrived upset while an older man criticized her ambitions, and Qiu Zhiheng closed the pharmacy before revealing that the man was a Mourning Cultivator.

Li Banfeng learned why the mourning cultivator outside Qiu Zhiheng’s medicine shop was dangerous, while Ma Wu investigated the strange effects surrounding the films at Belt Ridge. The chapter left Ma Wu showing Feng Daiku a bloodstained False Emotion Root and asking where it came from.

• Qiu Zhiheng explained that mourning cultivators used techniques such as Dirge Bell Resonance and Mourning Face, and that provoking them could bring lasting misfortune.
• Cao Ye recognized Li Banfeng as Brother Bai Sha, but the mourning cultivator’s taunts drove her to despair and he continued harassing the medicine shop.
• Li Banfeng wanted to confront the mourning cultivator, but Qiu Zhiheng and the sister-in-law warned that injuring or killing him could invite lifelong persecution from other mourning cultivators.
• Ma Wu arrived at Belt Ridge, watched Blood Blade Detective, and noticed that its viewers showed none of the Emotion Roots he had seen at Black Stone Slope.
• Feng Daiku joined Ma Wu at the cinema, recognized the bloodstained item he showed her as a False Emotion Root, and asked where he had obtained it.

Feng Daiku discovered that a film company had used Illusion Technique to plant False Emotion Roots in moviegoers, and Ma Wu promised to expose the scheme. Meanwhile, Qiu Zhiheng drove the Mourning Cultivator Yu Heshun away from his pharmacy with a donkey, leading to a public scandal that Medicine King Gully reporters recorded.

• Feng Daiku identified a scene in the Black Stone Slope version of Blood Blade Detective that used Illusion Technique to plant a False Emotion Root, and Ma Wu vowed to expose the film company.
• Feng Daiku offered to teach Ma Wu Illusion Technique methods, and he agreed to pay her tuition.
• Qiu Zhiheng learned that the Mourning Cultivator Yu Heshun had been tormenting his pharmacy and arranged for Li Banfeng to invite Medicine King Gully reporters.
• Sister-in-law gave Yu Heshun tonic porridge, while Qiu Zhiheng placed two donkeys beside him and used their braying to lure him away.
• Yu Heshun followed a donkey to Pailou Street, where he and the donkeys engaged in sexual acts as stunned pedestrians watched.
• Li Banfeng told the Medicine King Gully reporters to photograph and record the incident.

Li Banfeng investigated the Mourning Cultivators targeting Medicine King Gully and learned that Feng Chongli had warned local merchants to hide. After Yao Lao heard that fifteen Mourning Cultivators had arrived and learned Yellow Earth Bridge was nearly deserted, he feared the Mourning Star had set his sights on him.

• Luo ZhengNan refused Han Jinwei's request to take charge of Yellow Earth Bridge and banned people trafficking at Medicine King Hall.
• Yu Heshun returned to Qiu Family Business Pharmacy, where Ding Youming projected footage of his donkey incident and the crowd drove him away.
• Li Banfeng learned from Steward Feng that his brother Feng Chongli had warned people about Mourning Cultivators and had returned to Yellow Earth Bridge.
• Li Banfeng and Qiu Zhiheng visited Yao Lao, who learned that fifteen Mourning Cultivators had come to Medicine King Gully.
• After hearing Yellow Earth Bridge had become desolate, Yao Lao wondered whether the Mourning Star had targeted him.

Yao Lao explained how Mourning Star planned to weaken Medicine King Gully and prepared to fight the Mourning Cultivators, but Li Banfeng realized the attack might be a trap aimed at Yao Lao’s contract. After Yao Lao’s clone accidentally struck him, news that a Mourning Cultivator had died led him to suspect Mourning Star had set up a formation that made killing the invaders bring him ill luck.

• Yao Lao told Li Banfeng that Mourning Star had sent his disciples to ruin Medicine King Gully’s popularity and lower Yao Lao’s cultivation.
• Qiu Zhiheng explained that Mourning Star cultivated through dead water, allowing his cultivation to remain steady as Yellow Earth Bridge declined.
• Yao Lao dressed for battle and set out to kill the Mourning Cultivators, but Li Banfeng warned that Mourning Star might be luring him away to dig up his contract.
• Yao Lao decided to go down the mountain anyway, leaving a clone to guard his home, but the confused clone fought him and lodged its blade in his skull.
• Yao Lao learned that Yu Heshun had died at the Train Station and suspected Mourning Star had placed a Mourning Gate Formation in Medicine King Gully that caused him ill luck whenever a Mourning Cultivator died.

Li Banfeng and Qiu Zhiheng investigated the Mourning Gate Formation that Mourning Star had established in Medicine King Gully as bad luck and pests spread through the region. As residents began fleeing, Luo ZhengNan joined the effort to find the funeral cultivators and help people escape.

• Yao Lao explained that funeral cultivators who died inside the Mourning Gate Formation would make its bad luck grow, so Li Banfeng and Qiu Zhiheng split up to investigate Yu Heshun's death and search for the cultivators.
• Li Banfeng found no clear cause of death on Yu Heshun's body, while Wife warned him against bringing the unlucky corpse home.
• Mold ruined goods across Medicine King Gully, and after the Old Woman died at the Train Station, pests infested shops and fields until rain poisoned them.
• Li Banfeng and Qiu Zhiheng searched for the missing funeral cultivators as residents fled or hid, but both men chose to remain in Medicine King Gully.
• Luo ZhengNan brought a captured funeral cultivator to Qiu Zhiheng and pledged Medicine King Hall's help in searching for the others and arranging Travel Permits and train tickets.