Chapter Summaries

Li Banfeng pursued a Jiang Xiang Gang Shadow Play operator who was abducting children, but Guanfang Hall agents ambushed him and defended the operator. After Li Banfeng defeated them and demanded that the commissioner acknowledge the children, he gouged out the man's eyes when he insisted he could not see them.

• Luo ZhengNan refused to leave Li Banfeng alone, then agreed to gather information while Li Banfeng rested in his Portable Abode to build fortune.
• After staying home for more than a day, Li Banfeng met Luo ZhengNan, who reported that a Shadow Play operator had gone to the West Suburbs and that the children might be hidden at the operator's residence.
• Li Banfeng followed the Shadow Play operator to Willow Pond Village and saw five children lured into the cabinet, while Luo ZhengNan found the operator's residence empty and sent Li Banfeng a warning.
• Li Banfeng walked into an ambush of the Shadow Play operator and five others, including a Guanfang Hall commissioner who claimed the operator was an honest businessman.
• Li Banfeng smashed the cart open to reveal the five children, then used Trample Ten Thousand Rivers to knock down the commissioner and his four guards.
• When the commissioner denied seeing the children and threatened Li Banfeng, Li Banfeng gouged out both of his eyes.

Li Banfeng escaped the boundary after defeating the Guanfang Hall Hall Master and his four subordinates, then rescued the abducted children and returned them to Willow Pond Village. He left the villagers without revealing his identity, calling himself En Benefactor.

• Li Banfeng stole the boundary remote, used the lever to shut off the barrier, and killed one pursuing subordinate before resetting it to kill another.
• Li Banfeng threw the Hall Master back through the boundary and used Ride a Horse and Admire Flowers to kill the Hall Master and a loyal guard.
• The last subordinate, a Mole Cricket, attacked Li Banfeng from behind, but his shovels could not pierce Li Banfeng's body, and Li Banfeng's weapons finished him.
• Li Banfeng captured the Shadow Play operator, examined the boundary, and found that Cut Path Opening Road could not breach it.
• Li Banfeng took down the boundary, brought the children back to Willow Pond Village, and left after telling the villagers his name was En Benefactor.

Li Banfeng interrogated Mei Laokan about the child trafficking operation and the new Black Stone Slope Hall Master’s ties to Sage Peak. After discovering that a dead guard was connected to the Chu family, Li Banfeng learned that his sickle and the phonograph came from the same place and that the sickle was a Self-Born Spirit.

• Li Banfeng questioned Mei Laokan and learned that the new Hall Master planned to deliver twenty abducted children to Sage Peak to meet a sage’s trusted aide.
• Mei Laokan revealed that he had met Saint Envoy Zhong, received pills for delivering children, and was warned by a Gold Picking Gate fortune-teller that his den was watched.
• Li Banfeng had the Blood-Containing Pendulum skin Mei Laokan, then reviewed the battle footage and recognized a dead Mole Cricket as a former Chu family retainer from Pro State.
• Wife identified the dead guard in a fifteen-year-old newspaper photograph of Chu Shaoqiang and Lu Dongliang signing a business deal.
• Li Banfeng asked whether his sickle could eat souls, prompting it to reveal itself to the phonograph and claim they came from the same place.
• The phonograph recognized the sickle as a Self-Born Spirit.

Li Banfeng investigated the scythe’s new sentience, then used a fabricated Shadow Play man to gather the Jiang Xiang Gang at its main warehouse and rescue the abducted children. After clearing out Black Stone Hall, he sent Luo ZhengNan to Green Water City with a film for Ma Wu and stayed behind to see how the Guanfang Envoy would respond.

• Wife explained that the scythe had recently become a Self-Born Spirit, and Li Banfeng agreed to bring her along and teach her.
• Li Banfeng used the Shadow Play man to convince Jiang Xiang Gang members to gather with the abducted children at the main warehouse.
• Luo ZhengNan and the Shadow Play man locked the gang members inside, while Luo rescued the children and sent them home.
• Li Banfeng cleared out Black Stone Hall and gave Luo ZhengNan a film to deliver secretly to Ma Wu in Green Water City.
• Li Banfeng stayed on Black Stone Slope and watched Guanfang Hall as he waited to see how much Blood Capital the Guanfang Envoy would spend for the Jiang Xiang Gang.

After the Jiang Xiang Gang vanished, Cheng Mingke sealed Black Stone Slope and cut off its transportation, worsening the city's food shortage. Li Banfeng and Tang Shijiang began distributing the Guanfang Hall's grain, while Cheng Mingke's search for the missing gang continued.

• Tong Lingzhu told Cheng Mingke that the Jiang Xiang Gang and its two city branch offices had disappeared, so Cheng Mingke shut down Black Stone Slope's transportation and ordered a search.
• Ma Wu secretly edited Li Banfeng's film of Fu Botai meeting the Shadow Play man, and Shen Rongqing and Bai Qiusheng used it to expose the Jiang Xiang Gang in the newspapers.
• Cheng Mingke ordered the newspaper office sealed, but Li Banfeng left the Guanfang Hall and secretly delivered small sacks of rice to households across the city.
• Du Zhaohui reported that the Guanfang Hall's grain had been stolen, and Cheng Mingke arranged for a trainload of supplies to arrive the next morning.
• Li Banfeng watched as the supply train lost control and sped out of the station, then followed Tang Shijiang aboard it.
• Tang Shijiang used moving screws to carry sacks of grain out of the train and distribute them, telling Li Banfeng that Black Stone Slope's people would dare to take the rice.

Li Banfeng and Tang Shijiang opposed Guanfang Hall’s attempts to seize grain from Black Stone Slope’s rice shop. After Cheng Mingke ordered a crackdown, General Envoy Liao Zihui arrived and removed him from his post, warning that Pro State’s strength must remain unknown to its people.

• Tang Shijiang shared a meal with Li Banfeng and warned him not to interfere when the Outer State tried to seize supplies.
• Cheng Mingke sent Du Zhaohui and two fifth-layer cultivators to force a purchase of grain from the rice shop.
• Li Banfeng and Tang Shijiang attacked Chen Yusheng and the body cultivator as the rice shop owner and onlookers fought back, forcing Du Zhaohui’s group to retreat without grain.
• Cheng Mingke ordered Guanfang Hall to raid the rice shop and arrest everyone involved, but Liao Zihui arrived before the crackdown began.
• Liao Zihui told Cheng Mingke to leave Black Stone Slope for Green Water City and warned him that Pro State’s people must not discover how formidable they were.

Xiao Zhengong considered the Jiang Xiang Gang’s losses and sought the boundaries that could give him power over Pro State, while Li Banfeng tried to evade surveillance and find a way across Black Stone Slope’s border. The Portable Abode modified a remote control for him, but Li Banfeng was left to decide whether he dared to test it.

• Shen Jingye told Xiao Zhengong that the Jiang Xiang Gang needed to change and that the Guanfang Envoy planned to eliminate He Yuxiu in the gang’s name.
• Xiao Zhengong returned home, spoke with the white clothes about his losses, then used a shift at the Dark Star Bureau to search the data room for the file about boundaries.
• Li Banfeng bought cheap jewelry for Wife, but after a resident recognized him as Benefactor, he tried to leave Black Stone Slope and noticed he was being watched.
• Li Banfeng changed into a long gown and considered escape routes before the Portable Abode swallowed Brother Tang’s screws and the mechanism he had taken from a Jiang Xiang Gang subordinate.
• Li Banfeng tested the mechanism at Black Stone Slope’s border, but it did not affect the boundary line.
• The Portable Abode swallowed the mechanism, returned it after more than an hour, and told Li Banfeng its use at the border depended on whether he dared to try.

Li Banfeng used Portable Abode’s modified remote to cross Pro State’s border and reached Soda Kiln, where he turned a fortune teller’s scam into a way to attack the Jiang Xiang Gang. After striking two branches, he entered the gang’s hall and discovered He Yuxiu imprisoned in its dungeon.

• Li Banfeng tested Portable Abode’s remote, crossed the border line, and traveled to Soda Kiln.
• A Jiang Xiang Gang fortune teller tried to frighten and swindle Li Banfeng, who claimed he had come to visit a life-and-death friend.
• Li Banfeng followed the fortune teller to a gang branch, attacked its members, and forced the fortune teller to guide him onward.
• Li Banfeng knocked out guards, tested the safe route with paper effigies, and entered the Jiang Xiang Gang’s hall.
• Thread-Pulling Earring alerted Li Banfeng to sounds beneath the hall, where He Yuxiu was chained in a dungeon and fighting to escape.

He Yuxiu was captured and poisoned by the Jiang Xiang Gang, but Li Banfeng infiltrated the hall and helped her escape. After she killed the gang members responsible, she collapsed from the poison, leaving Li Banfeng to help her.

• The Jiang Xiang Gang’s Hall Master captured He Yuxiu after a soda vendor poisoned her, then tortured her while debating whether to report her to Guanfang Hall.
• Li Banfeng set fire to the hall’s backyard, entered the dungeon during the confusion, and unlocked He Yuxiu’s chains.
• He Yuxiu fought her way through the Jiang Xiang Gang while Li Banfeng seized fleeing disciples and killed the Hall Master together with her.
• A sixth-level Labor Cultivator tripped He Yuxiu with glass marbles and tried to flee, but Li Banfeng intercepted and killed him.
• He Yuxiu tracked down the soda vendor who had poisoned her, killed him with her whip, and collapsed as the poison took hold.

Li Banfeng helped He Yuxiu recover from poison and persuaded her to become his sworn younger sister, then arranged for her to return to Green Water City despite the Guanfang Envoy’s order to kill her. The chapter left them hiding in a coal car on a freight train while the conductor approached.

• Li Banfeng left He Yuxiu in Wine Gourd’s care while he and Glove divided the Soda Kiln branch’s spoils, and the Portable Abode and phonograph claimed several items.
• After recovering, He Yuxiu asked Li Banfeng for clothes and a meal, and they became sworn siblings after he insisted she call him Seventh Brother.
• He Yuxiu told Li Banfeng that the Guanfang Envoy had seized her family’s businesses, that she had escaped an attack by over a hundred cultivators, and that the Jiang Xiang Gang had captured her while she was exhausted.
• Li Banfeng urged He Yuxiu to return openly to Green Water City, contacted Luo ZhengNan and Ma Wu, and arranged for the He Family to send a special train to Soda Kiln.
• The Guanfang Envoy ordered the Jiang Xiang Gang to kill He Yuxiu before she could board the special train, while Li Banfeng and He Yuxiu secretly rode toward Green Water City in a coal-filled freight car.
• When He Yuxiu questioned their rough journey, Li Banfeng defended his plan before she warned him that the train conductor was approaching, and he hid motionless in the coal.

Li Banfeng discovered that You Tao and Xiao Feng had been reclaiming land on his territory while fleeing Xiao Feng’s Home Spirit, A Xia. Xiao Feng’s divination said Li Banfeng was the only Local Earth God who could shelter them, leaving him to face the threat of A Xia’s pursuit.

• Li Banfeng returned to his territory after sensing something was wrong and learned from Meng Yuchun that two girls had set up an offering table and refused to leave.
• Li Banfeng found You Tao, who admitted she had come to reclaim land and brought him to meet Xiao Feng.
• You Tao and Xiao Feng explained that A Xia, Xiao Feng’s Home Spirit, had tried to kill Xiao Feng, so they fled after the house fought A Xia.
• Xiao Feng said her divinations had led them to Li Banfeng’s territory because he could protect them while allowing them to reclaim land.

Li Banfeng learned how New Land Heavenly Light could benefit his territory and prepared to accept You Tao and Xiao Feng as wasteland openers. After struggling to make the Land Block recognize his authority, he finally convinced himself that he was its Local Earth God, and the boundary lit up.

• Wife explained that successful wasteland opening would bring New Land Heavenly Light, Dao Affinity, and future growth, while warning Li Banfeng to carefully assess the landowners.
• Wife told Li Banfeng that Bitter Mist Mountain’s Heavenly Light produced cultivation-boosting herbs and warned him not to return there lightly.
• Li Banfeng arranged a dramatic display with Hong Ying, the Tang Blade, Judge's Brush, and the projector before asking You Tao and Xiao Feng to open the land themselves.
• Li Banfeng used the Deep Mansion Technique and Wife’s encouragement to raise his apparent power, but the Land Block did not light up because he doubted his rank.
• Li Banfeng convinced himself that possessing the deed contract made him the Local Earth God, and the Land Block boundary lit up as You Tao and Xiao Feng celebrated.

Li Banfeng prepared an assessment for You Tao and Xiao Feng’s land reclamation, but grew suspicious that Xiao Feng was concealing her real abilities and escaping pursuit for a reason. After discussing ways to intervene without breaking his contract as Local Earth God, he and Meng Yuchun considered using two Wandering Monsters against her.

• Li Banfeng abandoned his plan to recruit Strange Monsters himself and had Meng Yuchun organize the assessment instead.
• Meng Yuchun’s summons received little respect from the Strange Monsters in Li Banfeng’s territory, while Li Banfeng expected some would still come for the rewards.
• A venomous Black Finned Snake entered You Tao and Xiao Feng’s tent, but You Tao drove it away with her Joy Cultivation Technique.
• You Tao fought a Bamboo for three hours and forced it to retreat, while Xiao Feng repeatedly became a burden by requiring rescue.
• Li Banfeng questioned whether Xiao Feng could be using divination to evade her Home Spirit and asked Meng Yuchun about intervening in the assessment without violating his contract.
• Meng Yuchun offered to use two Wandering Monsters she controlled, and Li Banfeng recognized them as the monsters he had helped her subdue.

A Chef Cultivator used irresistible food to defeat You Tao and force Xiao Feng to explain why they had come to the territory. Xiao Feng revealed that A Xia had sent them to find a Local Earth God’s deed, while the chef exposed her efforts to deceive both her home and You Tao; the chapter ended with Li Banfeng pressing to learn how A Xia discovered the Local Earth God’s situation.

• A Chef Cultivator entered the Land Block and used the aroma, appearance, and taste of his food to make You Tao abandon the fight and eat.
• Xiao Feng resisted the food with Benevolent Dwelling Heart and escaped the Land Block using Homesickness Like An Arrow, but the reclamation rules prevented her from returning.
• Meng Yuchun seized and pinned Xiao Feng while the chef fed her roast duck and demanded answers.
• Xiao Feng admitted that A Xia had sent her to find a territory whose Local Earth God was dead and obtain the god’s deed.
• The chef deduced that Xiao Feng and A Xia had staged a falling-out to deceive Xiao Feng’s home, and that Xiao Feng had misled You Tao to keep her close and test whether a Local Earth God remained.
• The chef asked how A Xia learned what had happened to the Local Earth God, while Li Banfeng listened for the source of A Xia’s information.

Li Banfeng and Meng Yuchun let Xiao Feng go to draw out A Xia, then learned that Gao Shuxia had sent her to investigate Mountain Pulling Master’s death. After Gao Shuxia left with Xiao Feng, Li Banfeng questioned the cook about the Wandering Monsters and worried over the threats to Meng Yuchun’s territory; meanwhile, Gao Shuxia met a woman in white who suggested they wait for a chance to act against Bei Wushuang.

• You Tao asked the cook to spare Xiao Feng, and Meng Yuchun ordered him to let Xiao Feng leave.
• Xiao Feng was covered in vines and called for A Xia, who appeared as Gao Shuxia; Gao Shuxia explained that she had sent Xiao Feng to investigate Mountain Pulling Master’s death.
• Meng Yuchun chose not to fight Gao Shuxia, who carried Xiao Feng away after warning that she would not return to Meng Yuchun’s territory.
• Li Banfeng tried to encourage You Tao to reclaim her land, but she broke down crying after he refused her offer to repay him with her body.
• The cook identified the Hundred-Eyed Fish as one of Mountain Pulling Master’s hired Wandering Monsters, and Li Banfeng asked him to investigate her.
• Gao Shuxia met a woman in white, who told her that Bei Wushuang had provoked a dangerous opponent and that they might find an opportunity to act.

Li Banfeng helped You Tao open her first Land Block and brought He Yuxiu to reclaim a three-li plot in his territory. When he sensed another person opening land, he rushed over and recognized Genzi, whose usual method could cause trouble.

• Wife advised Li Banfeng to cultivate Strange Monsters as a source of human presence, but he found too few in his territory for that to be practical.
• You Tao opened her first Land Block, and Li Banfeng arranged for Dao-Affinity seeds to be planted there.
• Li Banfeng urged You Tao to resume cultivation with a companion, then heard that He Yuxiu was looking for him in Meng Yuchun's territory.
• Li Banfeng brought He Yuxiu to his territory, where she arranged to open a three-li Land Block with You Tao's help.
• Li Banfeng sensed two men opening another plot, rushed over, and told Genzi to put down his bucket.

Li Banfeng allowed Genzi and Zhang Wanlong to reclaim land in his territory after Zhang demonstrated that he could grow a talking sapling, while weighing the risks of letting a powerful Farming Cultivator settle there. When Li inspected the new land the next day, he saw a giant leech devour a Zhang Wanlong, only for another Zhang Wanlong to emerge from an eggplant grown on the leech as the real Zhang Wanlong watched nearby.

• Genzi explained that he and Zhang Wanlong wanted a quiet plot where Zhang could grow unusual plants using Genzi's golden juice, and Zhang demonstrated his ability by growing a talking sapling.
• Li Banfeng permitted the pair to reclaim land but forbade Genzi from using his bucket, then discussed with Wife how he would protect the territory and its reputation.
• He Yuxiu killed a giant mosquito that tried to attack You Tao during He Yuxiu's trial in the land block.
• Li Banfeng accepted Zhang Wanlong and Genzi's offering and lit up their land block.
• Li Banfeng saw a giant leech devour a Zhang Wanlong, then watched an eggplant grow from the leech and produce another Zhang Wanlong while the real Zhang Wanlong emerged from the weeds.

Li Banfeng discovered that Zhang Wanlong’s blood-fed seeds could grow lifelike, controllable Cabbage Men, then sought a way to travel between his territory and Green Water City without being trapped away from the Portable Abode. The Portable Abode suggested building a train station so the train could make a normal stop with its doors open.

• He Yuxiu discussed the He Family’s worsening situation in Green Water City with Li Banfeng while settling into her new Land Block.
• Zhang Wanlong showed Li Banfeng his orderly Land Block, where crops fed Strange Monsters and enabled Genzi to collect gold, and sold him seeds that grew fruit resembling whoever supplied the blood.
• Li Banfeng planted a blood-fed seed, which produced a Cabbage Man resembling a dead Jiang Xiang Gang disciple; after Li ate cabbage leaves, he could command it to move and attack.
• He Yuxiu destroyed the Cabbage Man and warned Li Banfeng that thousands of such creatures could threaten Pro State.
• Li Banfeng worried that leaving his territory for Green Water City could prevent him from responding to trouble there, and the Portable Abode proposed building a train station so it could stop with its doors open.

Li Banfeng took Wife out of the Portable Abode to find Heaven Spring Joy Soil and followed a Three Joy Worm toward its location. After killing a murderous traveling merchant, he confronted the merchant’s camel, who introduced himself as Bei Wushuang.

• Li Banfeng learned that major stations required expensive Heaven Heart Stone and minor stations required Heaven Spring Joy Soil, so Wife suggested finding Three Joy Worms that could lead him to the soil.
• Li Banfeng persuaded the Portable Abode to let Wife leave for two hours, and Wife used the song “little husband” to attract a Three Joy Worm.
• Wife spoke with an aged Three Joy Worm, which agreed to guide them to Heaven Spring Joy Soil more than eighty li away.
• Li Banfeng sent Wife back to the Portable Abode, bought small gifts from a New Land traveling merchant, and left silver dollars as a warning when he realized the merchant was following him.
• The merchant continued after Li Banfeng at his camel’s urging, but Li Banfeng vanished and the merchant exploded; the camel introduced himself as Old Single Hump, or Bei Wushuang.

Li Banfeng collected Heaven Spring Joy Soil from Bei Wushuang, then discovered the Portable Abode had secretly filled several rooms with it. After eating a pellet, he succumbed to its effects, while the gramophone tried to divert him toward Hong Ying before he recognized her disguise.

• Bei Wushuang questioned Li Banfeng, accepted his explanations, and let him take Heaven Spring Joy Soil after he killed one of Bei Wushuang’s subordinates.
• Meng Yuchun told Li Banfeng that A Xia might be colluding with Bei Wushuang and that Bei Wushuang might soon fight Pan Dehai, but Li Banfeng hurried away instead of going to her home.
• Li Banfeng hid the key and returned to the Portable Abode, where he found the Portable Abode had filled several chambers with Heaven Spring Joy Soil.
• After learning Li Banfeng had eaten a pellet of the soil, the gramophone subdued Hong Ying, concealed her in a cabinet, and made a fake gramophone to mislead him.
• Li Banfeng woke, realized the gramophone by the bed was not his wife, and found the real gramophone hiding in the Second Chamber.
• The gramophone pleaded for Li Banfeng to make do with her as he seized her.