Chapter Summaries

Li Banfeng arranged to help Qiu Luoye pass the first gate by secretly replacing his body with a Cantaloupe Person while Qiu Luoye’s soul left his flesh. Qiu Luoye regained his sight in the new body, believed an assassin had attacked them, and Li Banfeng concluded that the first gate was passed.

• Li Banfeng planned the operation with Wife, timed each step with Dream Virtue, and arranged a bathhouse, grime, and a Cantaloupe duplicate of Qiu Luoye.
• Li Banfeng and Ma Wu brought Qiu Luoye to the bathhouse, where Qiu Luoye soaked and drank while the men prepared the staged scrubbing-room scene.
• Li Banfeng dug up Qiu Luoye’s deed, and Wife concealed it from the Inner State with water mist.
• Cantaloupe Qiu Luoye scrubbed away Qiu Luoye’s flesh until his soul left his body, and Li Banfeng used the Flesh Grafting Technique to attach the duplicate body to him.
• Li Banfeng and Ma Wu staged an attack and scattered grime over Qiu Luoye’s discarded flesh, which Qiu Luoye mistook for an assassin’s remains after he regained his sight.
• Li Banfeng recognized that Qiu Luoye had passed the first gate.

Li Banfeng severed Qiu Luoye’s connection to his old contract and tricked the Inner State’s guardians, while Qiu Luoye survived the poison and regained his flesh. Qiu Luoye stabilized his soul by focusing on his territory, passing the third trial as Seven Autumn City became one piece of land again.

• Wife altered Qiu Luoye’s contract into one naming Qiu Daxiang, and Li Banfeng used the cantaloupe’s juice and Qiu Luoye’s blood to make the territory transfer take effect.
• Li Banfeng gave the contract to the Portable Abode’s old master, who burned the Inner State guardians that touched it before the document melted away.
• Hong Ying sensed trouble, but the phonograph immobilized her, hid her in a box, and made a fake phonograph.
• Li Banfeng crossed the vanished boundary and declared that Seven Autumn City was one piece of land again.
• Qiu Luoye’s poisoned body burst, revealing his restored flesh, but his soul became unstable and he collapsed.
• Li Banfeng told Qiu Luoye to remember his own territory, and Qiu Luoye steadied his soul and passed the third trial.

After restoring Qiu Luoye and discovering the Inner State had blamed Chu Shaoqiang for the crisis, Li Banfeng taught his wife the Flesh Grafting Technique and traveled with his companions to Ink Fragrance Shop. The group arrived at the strange territory and heard an unexplained voice say, “Home.”

• Chu Shaoqiang learned that the deed contract had been destroyed and that the Censorate blamed him for Qiu Luoye’s desperate actions, so he decided he needed to bring land back rather than return to the Inner State.
• Qiu Luoye recovered his rank and cultivation, ate pumpkins while healing, and worried about how he could repay Li Banfeng.
• Li Banfeng reviewed how he had saved Qiu Luoye and taught his wife the Flesh Grafting Technique, which she suspected belonged to the Glue Cultivation path.
• Li Banfeng chose to visit Ink Fragrance Shop with Xiao Yeci, Lu Chunying, Lu Yuanxin, Tan Fucheng, and others to explore business opportunities.
• At Ink Fragrance Shop’s ornate station, the group encountered elaborate etiquette and a rickshaw puller who asked exactly where they wished to go.
• As the group left the station, Li Banfeng heard an unexplained voice sigh, “Home.”

Li Banfeng explored Ink Fragrance Shop, learned its scholarly customs, and encountered Cui Tike, who warned him that Chu Shaoqiang was coming to claim the territory. Cui Tike also said Grandmaster intended to kill Chu Shaoqiang and hinted that he had news about one of Li Banfeng’s friends.

• Tan Fucheng and the others traveled to Yan Sha Study, where a woman at the front desk challenged Xiao Yeci over her choice of rooms until Lu Yuanxin used a millipede to force her to provide ten superior rooms.
• Li Banfeng visited the local Lu Family Bookstore, bought the first volume of Wise Scholar, and learned from Boss Lu how Ink Fragrance Shop’s scholars concealed their business intentions behind refined speech.
• He Jiaqing bought old newspapers from Boss Lu and then headed to Carefree Dock for a Jiang Mengting performance.
• Li Banfeng explored Ink Fragrance Shop and saw Cui Tike leave a Poetry Club after the women criticized his poem.
• Cui Tike told Li Banfeng that Chu Shaoqiang was coming for Ink Fragrance Shop, Grandmaster was coming to kill Chu Shaoqiang, and he had news about one of Li Banfeng’s friends.

Li Banfeng agreed to help Cui Tike investigate Ink Fragrance Shop’s Local Earth God in exchange for information about He Jiaqing, while the town’s influence drew Tan Fucheng and others into reading. After learning the Local Earth God was Wise Scholar Murong Gui, Li Banfeng discovered Judge’s Brush might be connected to him, and the brush woke Li Banfeng to talk.

• Cui Tike told Li Banfeng that Chu Shaoqiang sought Ink Fragrance Shop’s territory and asked him to investigate its weakened Local Earth God in exchange for information about He Jiaqing.
• Li Banfeng returned to Yan Sha Study and found Tan Fucheng, Xiao Yeci, and others absorbed in reading, while Lu Chunying reported that Ink Fragrance Shop had not affected her or Lu Yuanxin.
• The gramophone identified Ink Fragrance Shop’s Local Earth God as Wise Scholar Murong Gui and described his exceptional abilities and Judge’s Brush.
• Hong Ying warned Li Banfeng that Judge’s Brush might be trying to return to Murong Gui, but Li Banfeng offered to send it home if it promised not to reveal their shared past.
• Late at night, Judge’s Brush rose from the table, then woke Li Banfeng and said it wanted to discuss something with him.

Li Banfeng followed the Judge's Brush to the Local Earth God's residence, where they found the Wise Scholar battling a giant toad. After learning the toad's blood could grow a Cabbage Man, Li Banfeng asked Qiu Luoye to identify it, and Qiu Luoye recognized it as Ge Jun, a purebred from the Inner State.

• The Judge's Brush secretly took Li Banfeng to the Wise Scholar's residence, where a giant toad attacked the Local Earth God beneath the frozen lake.
• Li Banfeng distracted the toad with Ride a Horse and Admire Flowers, collected blood from its wound, and escaped with the Judge's Brush.
• The Judge's Brush explained that he had checked on the Wise Scholar for Ink Fragrance Shop, and Li Banfeng concluded the toad's attack had left the Local Earth God vulnerable.
• Li Banfeng showed the toad's blood to the phonograph, who suspected the creature was a newly advanced Evolved Body Cultivator.
• Li Banfeng used the toad's blood to grow a Cabbage Man and asked Qiu Luoye to identify the creature.
• Qiu Luoye recognized the giant toad as Ge Jun and said he was a purebred from the Inner State, not a body cultivator.

Li Banfeng discovered that Ge Jun was a purebred Inner State native and sought Murong Gui’s help to stop him from taking Ink Fragrance Shop. Murong Gui attacked Li Banfeng instead, Ge Jun escaped beneath the frozen lake, and Li Banfeng left Willow Garden with no ally besides the hoped-for Peddler.

• Li Banfeng learned from Qiu Luoye that purebred Inner State natives were forbidden from entering Pro State and suspected Chu Shaoqiang would come to claim Ink Fragrance Shop.
• Li Banfeng sent Luo ZhengNan to find Peddler at Belt Ridge and ask him to help defend Ink Fragrance Shop.
• Li Banfeng returned to Murong Gui’s residence and asked him to join forces against Ge Jun, but Murong Gui attacked him with written characters.
• Ge Jun emerged from beneath the lake and fought Li Banfeng while Murong Gui continued attacking them both.
• Murong Gui’s written attacks drove Ge Jun back under the lake, and Li Banfeng left Willow Garden unable to secure his help.

Li Banfeng uncovered how Murong Gui’s weakening influence shaped the people of Ink Fragrance Shop and sought help as the shop faced a looming threat. After passing news of Ge Jun to Cui Tike, he learned that Green Water Bow and He Jiaqing were preparing to seize the territory and kill its defenders.

• Li Banfeng realized Murong Gui’s order made illiterate people ashamed, literary cultivators diligent, and ordinary people eager to study, but Murong Gui’s battles had left him too exhausted to maintain it.
• The Portable Abode refused to track down the Peddler, and Luo ZhengNan reported that he could not find him at Sea Eat Ridge or Belt Ridge.
• Li Banfeng told Cui Tike that Murong Gui was Ink Fragrance Shop’s Local Earth God and that Ge Jun had fought him, while Cui Tike revealed He Jiaqing had gained Qi Gong’s contract and could break Bastard Slope’s Layered Peaks Technique.
• Green Water Bow and He Jiaqing discussed dividing the spoils of an attack on Ink Fragrance Shop, with He Jiaqing seeking its territory and Green Water Bow aiming for the heads of Chu Shaoqiang, Ge Jun, and Murong Gui.

Li Banfeng prepared Willow Garden for the coming confrontation after learning Chu Shaoqiang had arrived at Ink Fragrance Shop. As Chu Shaoqiang and Wang Fuqi tested the woods, Green Flower intervened and began to rot Wang Fuqi’s hand.

• Cui Tike told Li Banfeng that his Grandmaster would arrive that night and explained how he planned to secure Green Water Bow amid the conflict over Murong Gui and Ge Jun.
• Li Banfeng sent Tan Fucheng, Xiao Yeci, and Lu Yuanxin back to Green Water City, then realized Boss Lu’s delivery of a marked book was a warning that Chu Shaoqiang had arrived.
• Li Banfeng hid the special willow tree in Willow Garden with the projector’s help and urged Luo ZhengNan to keep searching for the Peddler.
• Chu Shaoqiang entered Willow Garden with Wang Fuqi, who threw a stone through the woods to test the concealment.
• Green Flower caught the stone and returned it to Wang Fuqi, whose hand rapidly began to rot.

Green Water Bow and Chu Shaoqiang fought as their hidden allies and helpers entered the battle, while Li Banfeng secretly aided Green Water Bow’s side. Li captured the Poison Cultivator, but Green Water Bow and Chu Shaoqiang’s fight remained unresolved.

• Green Water Bow killed Wang Fuqi with his spreading rot, and Chu Shaoqiang revealed that he had protected himself with lime.
• Chu Shaoqiang’s five concealed helpers attacked Green Water Bow, who countered with dragonfly lesions and pus while Chu used his scarf and lime to defend.
• Green Water Bow was trapped by fire, a Tribute Cultivator’s control, and a Mud Cultivator’s mud pit, but He Jiaqing stole Chu’s cement and dumped it over the Mud Cultivator instead.
• Green Water Bow escaped and unleashed pus that killed the Mud Cultivator, whose remains became infectious Snot Worms; the worms forced Chu and his surviving helpers to seek shelter.
• Li Banfeng attacked the Poison Cultivator with his halo and travel skills, then dragged the wounded cultivator into the Portable Abode for the gramophone to eat.

The Green Water Bow and He Jiaqing defeated Chu Shaoqiang’s five helpers, but Chu Shaoqiang revealed He Jiaqing’s grandfather He Caiyuan, who demanded that He Jiaqing return home and ordered the Green Water Bow to surrender his deed and go to the Holy Land.

• The Green Water Bow endured the Fire Cultivator’s flames, extinguished two of his fire seeds, and killed the Feng Cultivator after He Jiaqing immobilized him with a Water Cultivator technique.
• He Jiaqing extinguished six more of the Fire Cultivator’s fire seeds, allowing the Green Water Bow to infect and kill him, while Chu Shaoqiang’s remaining helpers were wiped out.
• The Green Water Bow offered to spare Chu Shaoqiang, but Chu Shaoqiang stayed and revealed He Caiyuan, He Jiaqing’s grandfather, who had supposedly died ten years earlier.
• He Caiyuan explained that he had helped He Haiqin secure a post in the Holy Land, then told He Jiaqing to abandon the conflict and return home.
• He Caiyuan attacked He Jiaqing with the character “Listen,” triggering his Spy Cultivator technique, and ordered the Green Water Bow to return to Green Water City, surrender the deed, and confess in the Holy Land.

Li Banfeng stayed behind to defend Ink Fragrance Shop after He Caiyuan overwhelmed the group and drove the others away. Just as He Caiyuan’s written attack threatened to kill Li Banfeng, the Peddler arrived and confronted him.

• He Caiyuan attacked Green Water Bow, He Jiaqing, and Li Banfeng with characters created by his Scholar Cultivation Technique, then pursued Li Banfeng through the woods.
• Li Banfeng and Cui Tike tricked He Caiyuan’s clone with a false Ge Jun, but He Caiyuan’s true body appeared and attacked them with a swarm of characters.
• Green Water Bow and He Jiaqing retreated, and Cui Tike left after Li Banfeng chose to remain and defend Ink Fragrance Shop alone.
• He Caiyuan and Chu Shaoqiang attacked Li Banfeng, while the Portable Abode prepared Hong Ying to intervene but shut its door when someone arrived.
• The Peddler shattered He Caiyuan’s written attack, immobilized He Caiyuan and Chu Shaoqiang, and dropped a huge frog corpse before He Caiyuan.

The Peddler killed He Caiyuan and spared Chu Shaoqiang by forcing him to swallow a bar of soap, then explained how Murong Gui had escaped Ink Fragrance Shop by transferring his cultivation into a brush. Li Banfeng learned that the Judge’s Brush was Wise Scholar and the current Local Earth God was the Peddler’s worn-down magical brush.

• He Caiyuan mourned Ge Jun, pretended to submit to the Peddler, then attacked him with blood-written characters and tried to flee; the Peddler twisted him to death.
• Chu Shaoqiang admitted that Inner State had sent him to rescue Ge Jun in exchange for dropping the matter of Qiu Luoye, and the Peddler forced him to swallow soap before letting him go.
• The Peddler met Li Banfeng in the forest and offered him Snow Cream, then explained that the Local Earth God had become unable to distinguish friend from foe.
• The Peddler revealed that the Judge’s Brush was Wise Scholar, once Murong Gui, who had become Ink Fragrance Shop’s Local Earth God before escaping by transferring his cultivation into the brush.
• The Peddler showed Li Banfeng the brush serving as the Local Earth God and explained that its intellect had worn away while it maintained the territory; the brush then bit the Peddler’s hand.

The Peddler explained why Ink Fragrance Shop mattered and urged Li Banfeng to become its Local Earth God, but Li refused. Before leaving, the Peddler revealed that the place Li Banfeng knew as the Demon Soil was now called Pro State.

• The Peddler gave the Local Earth God ink and explained that its scrolls grew inside Ink Fragrance Shop as people wore away the rules by not reading them.
• The Peddler urged Li Banfeng to become Ink Fragrance Shop's Local Earth God, explaining that literacy helped its people see farther and that losing the land would leave Pro State vulnerable to Inner State and Outer State; Li refused.
• The Peddler told Li Banfeng that Luo ZhengNan had used the radio station to look for him, and he handed Ge Jun and He Caiyuan over to Li Banfeng.
• Li Banfeng asked the Peddler about Face Not Big, and the Peddler said he knew of the Oil Lake but had not found a way to rescue him.
• The Peddler said he had given Li Banfeng Portable Abode to compensate him for suffering a loss when he entered the Path, then left without explaining further.
• When Li Banfeng asked where the Demon Soil was, the Peddler told him it had not been called that for a long time and was now called Pro State.

Li Banfeng brought the survivors of the battle into the Portable Abode, where his household devoured nearly all the toad, He Caiyuan, and the poison cultivator, leaving the projector without a meal. The Peddler advised the Carriage Driver to seek Li Qi’s help to save Yellow Earth Bridge, while the projector retreated to the Fifth Chamber to contemplate art—and apparently made the vase disappear.

• Li Banfeng forced the giant toad into the Portable Abode, where the household turned it into food and fuel while he put He Caiyuan away.
• Li Banfeng found the couple still clinging to each other in the snow and sent them to an inn before returning to Yan Sha Study to rest.
• Li Banfeng retrieved the projector from Willow Garden and learned that the household had eaten the toad, He Caiyuan, and the poison cultivator, leaving the projector with nothing.
• The Carriage Driver asked the Peddler for help as Yellow Earth Bridge threatened to become Old Land, and the Peddler told him to approach Li Qi with proper compensation.
• The projector entered the Fifth Chamber to contemplate art, and the glove later noticed that the room’s vase had vanished.

Li Banfeng investigated the strange effects of Ink Fragrance Shop and Black Stone Slope while deciding what his latest advancement meant. Hong Ying revealed that he had already learned the Travel Cultivator Eighth Layer Technique, Intent Travels a Thousand Mountains.

• Li Banfeng found no history books at Yan Sha Study, then learned from Ma Wu that Ink Fragrance Shop was a poor place for cultivation.
• Li Banfeng noticed that Chuanzi could read fluently and suspected Black Stone Slope's newspapers had helped him, but the newspapers and films were missing from the Portable Abode.
• Li Banfeng left Ink Fragrance Shop for Seven Autumn City, sending Xiao Yeci back with Liang Wucai and ordering Tan Fucheng to accompany her.
• Li Banfeng regained his urge to travel after running around Seven Autumn City and asked Hong Ying about the Travel Cultivator Eighth Layer Technique.
• Hong Ying painted a mountain landscape for Li Banfeng, and he learned that the technique was Intent Travels a Thousand Mountains.

Li Banfeng learned how Intent Travels a Thousand Mountains Technique moved real dangers and imagined scenes, then investigated the power hidden in Black Stone Slope newspapers. He ended the chapter overhearing the projector speak to an unfamiliar woman inside the Portable Abode.

• Hong Ying explained that Intent Travels a Thousand Mountains Technique could bring real dangerous terrain into battle or create imagined scenes, though Li Banfeng could not yet use false moving.
• Li Banfeng left for Black Stone Slope, and a bricklayer who had hoped to ask him for help disappeared after learning he had gone.
• At the Night Fragrance newspaper office, Li Banfeng ordered the surrounding buildings taken over and asked for three months of newspapers and magazines.
• A projector secretly entered the Sixth Room twice and made nearly half of newspapers from Night Fragrance and Full Spring Fragrance vanish.
• Li Banfeng listened at the Fifth Chamber with the Thread-Pulling Earring and heard the projector ask, “Is it good?” before an unfamiliar woman replied, “Oh my, how embarrassing!”

Li Banfeng discovered that the Portable Abode held unseen residents and learned that its voices were known to Wife and Red Lotus. At Black Stone Slope, he uncovered how newspapers, cheap printing, and workers’ desire to read created a cycle that raised literacy, then found Tang Shijiang meeting the Carriage Driver.

• Li Banfeng watched the projector’s story in the Fifth Chamber and heard a faint, unfamiliar voice while exploring the rooms of the Portable Abode.
• Red Lotus told Li Banfeng that she had lived in every room and heard muddled voices throughout the Portable Abode, while Wife later assured him she knew how to handle them.
• Li Banfeng observed Xiao Fu struggling to read and learned that Chuanzi and Yuwen Qi had taught themselves to read and write.
• Li Banfeng realized that Black Stone Slope’s accessible newspapers and inexpensive paper and printing encouraged workers to learn, creating two reinforcing cycles of literacy and cultural growth.
• Tang Shijiang offered food to the Carriage Driver in an abandoned factory, but the Carriage Driver said he had an urgent request for him.

Li Banfeng and Ma Wu invested in a coal mine at Yellow Earth Bridge, but a series of increasingly brazen acts of sabotage disrupted the business. After the workers’ barracks and equipment were damaged and the payroll book vanished, Li Banfeng sensed a ruthless enemy was responsible, and his Tang Blade began trembling as if it remembered something.

• Li Banfeng recognized a vase in the projector’s film as one the gloves had reported missing, then met the Carriage Driver, who took him and Ma Wu to inspect Yellow Earth Bridge’s coal mines.
• Li Banfeng secured permission to operate unowned land, and Ma Wu recruited workers, repaired the mine railway, and arranged a coal sale to Green Water City.
• The first shipment’s carts overturned, and all sixteen carts of coal were stolen while the train crew vanished.
• The saboteurs burned the workers’ barracks, smashed mine carts, damaged the Train Head’s boiler and connecting rods, and stole the foreman’s account book.
• Ma Wu suspected Mourning Cultivators, but Li Banfeng ruled them out, and his Tang Blade began trembling as if it remembered something.

Li Banfeng and Ma Wu realized that a strange technique was making everyone in Yellow Earth Bridge act chaotically, and Li Banfeng began tracing the disturbance back to the Mourning Star. The chapter left them suspecting that the chaos might be connected to the emergence of a new Dao Sect.

• The Carriage Driver explained that someone had stolen his carriage while he searched for it, leaving the mine unguarded when trouble began.
• Ma Wu failed to find the train parts he needed, then lost his temper and injured the Green Water City buyer when the man complained about delayed shipments.
• At the mine, workers argued over lost account books and unequal wages, while Li Banfeng's inner selves broke into a chaotic dispute.
• Li Banfeng told Ma Wu to let the workers complain and provide food, wine, and lodging rather than immediately forcing the mine back into operation.
• Li Banfeng explained that he, Ma Wu, the Local Earth God, and the workers had all been reacting blindly to each new problem, and proposed dealing with whoever was behind the attacks before resuming business.
• The Tang Blade suggested that a new Dao Sect might have arisen, and Li Banfeng said they needed to trace the chaos back to the Mourning Star.