Chapter Summaries

Li Banfeng secured a freight-fee concession from Outer State while warning that Luo Yanjun’s ability to disguise herself could let Inner State people infiltrate Pro State. As the Inner and Outer States raced to strengthen themselves, Li Banfeng wondered what Pro State could rely on, while Sun Tiecheng ordered Gui Jianchou to fetch rare ingredients from Sage Peak.

• Chuunibyou thanked Li Banfeng for his help and discussed the Outer State’s rules for matching resources to threats; Li Banfeng explained that the state excelled at prepared battles but struggled with sudden events.
• Shen Jingye reprimanded Chuunibyou and asked Li Banfeng to contact Inner State about ending the war, but Li Banfeng demanded safeguards for Pro State before negotiating.
• Li Banfeng asked Du Wenming for Three-Headed People, lower freight charges, and technology to control the boundaries; Du Wenming refused two demands and agreed to waive freight charges for Li Banfeng’s businesses.
• Luo Yanjun transformed into a human woman, prompting Li Banfeng to realize that Inner State people might disguise themselves well enough to enter Pro State undetected.
• Li Banfeng warned Ma Wu and Feng Daiku about an arms race between Inner State and Outer State and asked what Pro State could do to protect itself.
• Sun Tiecheng gave Zhang Gunli’s soul to Gui Jianchou as a Ghost Servant, then ordered him to collect golden thorn peaches from Sage Peak for Red Lotus to refine Profound Essence Pills.

Gui Jianchou obtained Golden Thorn Peaches from Cui Tike, while Li Banfeng arranged new territory for Ma Wu and investigated the Peddler’s disappearance. At Pine Ridge Village, Li Banfeng found Gui Jianchou and his Ghost Servants suffering from a contagious illness and asking him to find City Lord Sun.

• Sun Tiecheng accidentally touched Red Lotus, was struck by heavenly light, and abandoned his farewell with Gui Jianchou to find his sweetheart.
• Gui Jianchou sent A'Zhong to Sage Peak for Golden Thorn Peaches, but Cui Tike detected him and surrounded Gui Jianchou before giving him peaches and letting him leave.
• Li Banfeng left a piece of new land and five thousand Three-Headed People with Feng Daiku and Ma Wu, then discussed assigning another territory to Chu Er with Qiu Luoye.
• Qiu Luoye warned Li Banfeng about disguised Inner State infiltrators and recounted how the Peddler had destroyed an infiltrating being that had turned into a village.
• Li Banfeng learned that the Peddler and his informant Mao Caoye were missing, then traveled to Pine Ridge Village and found Gui Jianchou and his Ghost Servants unable to speak because of a contagious illness.
• Gui Jianchou and his Ghost Servants asked Li Banfeng to find City Lord Sun to save them.

Li Banfeng met Song Qianhun, the gambling cultivator and Local Earth God of Iron Gate Fort, who revealed that Pine Ridge Village’s residents were safe and told him the Peddler had gone to deal with people from the Inner State. After Li Banfeng returned to Sun Tiecheng, Sun discovered that the ghost Gui Jianchou had captured was not really Zhang Gunli.

• Gui Jianchou and his Ghost Servants arrived at Pine Ridge Village with an illness that spread through speech, and Song Qianhun cured them after winning a dice gamble against Gui Jianchou.
• Song Qianhun told Li Banfeng that he had moved the villagers, including Mao Caoye, to his residence to protect them from the epidemic, and admitted that the Peddler had left to deal with people from the Inner State.
• Li Banfeng won information from Song Qianhun through wagers, learned the Peddler’s destination, and asked Song to tell the Peddler to wait for him at Iron Gate Fort.
• Li Banfeng returned to the Portable Abode, spoke with Wife, and decided to help the Peddler by taking the deed to the new land to Green Water City.
• Sun Tiecheng questioned Gui Jianchou about the battle in which he captured Zhang Gunli, then took Zhang Gunli’s abacus and discovered that the ghost reacted to it as if it were not Zhang Gunli.

Sun Tiecheng used the abacus to draw out Huang Zenan’s conflicting memories before the dead soul exploded, then sent Gui Jianchou and A'Se on separate errands. At the Chu residence, He Jiaqing tried to take over Bai Le Men, but Li Banfeng intervened, and the chapter ended with both men waiting in hiding, unsure of each other’s identity.

• Sun Tiecheng questioned the dead soul, whose memories shifted between Zhang Gunli and Huang Zenan, and learned Huang Zenan had changed his Bloodline Seed to infiltrate Snowflake Port.
• The dead soul lost control when Sun Tiecheng kept the abacus, then swelled and exploded, destroying Sun Tiecheng’s residence; Sun Tiecheng ordered the city to mourn him and sent Gui Jianchou to warn Seventh Brother and investigate the abacus.
• Chu Huaiyuan refused He Jiaqing’s offer to buy Bai Le Men, and He Jiaqing defeated Wen Hongyan, Yang Yanzheng, and Xiang Fenglan when they tried to stop him.
• Li Banfeng shot at He Jiaqing, then pursued him into the streets; they ended up hiding across from each other by a café, each unsure who the other was.

Li Banfeng’s household captured an impostor posing as He Jiaqing and learned that Inner State agents sought Bai Le Men, while Li Banfeng gave Chu Er land and discovered that Qiu Daoyu’s fan concealed a steam engine. The chapter ended with Portable Abode identifying the bloodline seed shared by Inner State people.

• Li Banfeng lured the man posing as He Jiaqing into the Portable Abode, where Hong Ying disarmed and trapped him.
• Zhao Xiaowan questioned the impostor, who revealed that his real name was Qiu Daoyu, that he came from Inner State, and that he had been sent to seize Bai Le Men; after he began to explode, Zhao Xiaowan consumed him.
• Li Banfeng gave Chu Er the deeds to a territory, then visited the sick Jiang Mengting at Carefree Dock.
• A'Chun and A'Se showed Li Banfeng a painting of Sun Tiecheng questioning an Inner State man and warned him about Zhang Gunli’s unusual abacus.
• Tang Shijiang examined the abacus at Black Stone Slope and figured out its mechanism, while Li Banfeng’s household investigated Qiu Daoyu’s folding fan.
• Portable Abode and the phonograph activated the fan and discovered it worked as a steam engine, prompting Portable Abode to identify Inner State people’s bloodline seed.

Li Banfeng learned how Inner State spies concealed their steam engines and prepared ways to expose them, then attended Chu Er’s territory ceremony to look for infiltrators. He detected a suspicious sound from Shui Yongquan’s teapot and invited him back to investigate.

• The phonograph explained that disguised Inner State people carried external steam-engine parts, and Li Banfeng trained his Golden Eyes Autumn Down Technique to detect their heat.
• The phonograph modified the Thread-Pulling Earring to recognize steam-valve sounds and gave Li Banfeng a backscratcher that could provoke suspicious people into losing their composure.
• Jiang Mengting told Li Banfeng she wanted to become a Martial Cultivator, but he advised her to consider the Voice Cultivator Path and lent her pills.
• Li Banfeng attended Chu Er’s ceremony, where Bitter Granny kicked Ma Wu into the river after catching him staring at her.
• Li Banfeng checked the gathered guests for signs of Inner State spies, then heard a faint valve-like sound when Shui Yongquan arrived with a teapot.
• Li Banfeng asked Shui Yongquan to come sit with him, suspecting that the teapot might conceal an Inner State steam engine.

Li Banfeng uncovered that Ni Shangqiu had impersonated Shui Yongquan to investigate the Mystic Life Crimson Lotus and learned that Shui had lost his rank and cultivation after Guo Gaoge took over his territory. Back in Decency Village, Li confronted Guo and solved his Riddle Cultivator’s riddle, leaving Guo’s deception exposed.

• Li Banfeng trapped the fake Shui Yongquan in the Portable Abode, where Ni Shangqiu admitted the Inner State had sent him to learn about Red Lotus and the Peddler’s promised battle with the Heavenly Person.
• Ni Shangqiu revealed that Guo Gaoge had schemed to take Shui Yongquan’s territory, causing Shui to lose his rank and cultivation; Li Banfeng learned that Guo was a Riddle Cultivator.
• Li Banfeng returned to Decency Village and heard conflicting reports about Shui’s condition, while Yanzi warned that Guo’s people had been searching for him.
• Guo Gaoge claimed he was protecting the injured Shui and showed Li a contract transferring the territory, then invited him to visit Shui.
• Li Banfeng challenged Guo to dig up the territory’s contract, arguing that Guo’s refusal proved he was lying, and broke through the riddle.

Li Banfeng defeated Guo Gaoge, recovered Shui Yongquan’s deed, and learned that Wang Zimian had taken Shui Yongquan away. Li Banfeng and his companions reached Sleepless Town to find Wang, who claimed Shui Yongquan had gone to Outer State, leaving Li Banfeng to question whether he had saved or sold him.

• Li Banfeng broke Guo Gaoge’s riddles by turning his guesses about Guo’s cultivation into plausible answers, then defeated and captured him.
• Guo Gaoge revealed that he had seized Shui Yongquan’s territory and that Wang Zimian had taken Shui Yongquan away alive.
• Li Banfeng recovered Shui Yongquan’s deed from a hidden space in Hundred Vine Valley and arranged for his village to prepare for trouble from Inner State.
• Li Banfeng, Ma Wu, and Feng Daiku traveled to Sleepless Town, where they saw its exhausted workers and learned that Wang Zimian was an Exhortation Cultivator from Snowflake Port.
• Wang Zimian told Li Banfeng that Shui Yongquan had gone to Outer State, and Li Banfeng challenged whether Wang had saved or sold him.

Li Banfeng defeated Wang Zimian, seized control of Sleepless Town, and learned that Shui Yongquan had erased his own memories to protect Li Banfeng. Shui Yongquan was in Chu Zikai’s hands in Yuezhou, and Li Banfeng set out to save him.

• Li Banfeng exposed Wang Zimian’s hidden trap, then left with Feng Daiku and Ma Wu after Wang Zimian revealed that Shui Yongquan was in Yuezhou.
• Kong Baofen and more than two hundred townspeople blocked Feng Daiku and Ma Wu, while Li Banfeng slipped away to confront Wang Zimian alone.
• Li Banfeng incapacitated Wang Zimian in his secret room and took him into the Portable Abode, then returned carrying Wang Zimian’s severed hand and ordered the town’s Exhortation Cultivators to leave.
• Ma Wu killed Kong Baofen, and Li Banfeng placed Feng Daiku and Ma Wu in charge of Sleepless Town while he questioned Wang Zimian.
• Wang Zimian confessed that Shui Yongquan had erased his memories with Mind Cleansing Thought Washing and had been handed to Chu Zikai in Yuezhou as payment.
• Li Banfeng learned that Wang Zimian’s contract document was buried beneath his residence and went to retrieve it before setting out to save Shui Yongquan.

Li Banfeng investigated the Yanlou Village grand banquet and attended with Jin Shunying to find and rescue Shui Yongquan. When Song Qianhun joined the bidding for Shui Yongquan, Li Banfeng proposed they work together to rescue him and recover Song Qianhun’s underpants.

• Jin Shunying told Li Banfeng about the grand banquet, and he bought two tickets from Chang Shigui, who revealed that his family’s auction item was a pair of underpants belonging to Song Qianhun.
• Song Qianhun tried and failed to buy the underpants before the banquet, then vowed to stop them from being auctioned.
• Li Banfeng questioned Tangyuan about Yanlou Village and learned the Dark Star Bureau largely tolerated its illegal spirit-medium trade.
• Li Banfeng and Jin Shunying attended the banquet, where Chu Zikai presented Shui Yongquan as a Wounded Demon Fiend for auction.
• Song Qianhun bid heavily for Shui Yongquan, explaining that he was his friend, and Li Banfeng suggested they rescue Shui Yongquan and retrieve the underpants together.

Li Banfeng fought the blond elder and Chu Zikai after stealing the grand finale dish, while Song Qianhun defeated Chu Zikai with his many Ghost Servants. Li Banfeng recovered Shui Yongquan, became Song Qianhun’s sworn brother, and took the captured Chu Zikai to the Portable Abode to question him.

• Jin Shunying panicked when Song Qianhun bid sixty million for the Wounded Demon Fiend, then realized he had made the bid and not her.
• Li Banfeng interrupted the grand finale auction, seized the box from Chang Shigui, and knocked down most of Chi Huiyi’s guards.
• Song Qianhun tried to default on the sixty-million payment, while Li Banfeng fought the blond elder and Song Qianhun battled Chu Zikai.
• The blond elder summoned a castle that swallowed him and Chu Zikai, but Li Banfeng put it to sleep as Song Qianhun’s artisan Ghost Servants dismantled it.
• Li Banfeng recovered Shui Yongquan and handed Song Qianhun the pants he wanted; the two swore brotherhood before Song Qianhun left Yanlou Village.
• Li Banfeng took the captured Chu Zikai into the Portable Abode and stopped him from activating a technique so he could question him.

Li Banfeng learned about Snowflake Port’s financial crisis, Chu Zikai’s rise, and the differences between Dark Energy Users and cultivators while trying to uncover the Birch Hermit Association’s plans. He sent Jin Shunying to Pro State for safety and began investigating the association, ending by testing Chuunibyou’s weapon instincts.

• Li Banfeng left Shui Yongquan with Qiu Luoye in Seven Autumn City, then questioned Chu Zikai about Snowflake Port, the Ferry Gang, the Birch Hermit Association, and the path from Dark Energy User to cultivator.
• Chu Zikai explained how Snowflake Port had supported his music career and cultivation, how he helped form the Ferry Gang with Miglov, and how Snowflake Port had once controlled the Mystic Life Crimson Lotus.
• The phonograph and Hong Ying began forcing Chu Zikai to answer Li Banfeng’s questions, while Li Banfeng returned to Yuezhou and arranged for Jin Shunying to travel to Green Water City in Pro State.
• Tangyuan directed Li Banfeng to Chuunibyou for information about the Birch Hermit Association, whose names and connections appeared in old literary works and Dark Energy cases.
• Li Banfeng learned that Chuunibyou had reached two and a half layers, then took him to a wild lake and found that he rejected a pebble and mud as unsuitable weapons.

Li Banfeng traced the Birch Hermit Association through the Black Market and raided Miglov’s hideout, but Miglov died before he could be questioned. Li Banfeng found evidence to investigate and learned that a translated incantation was hidden among Miglov’s papers, only for Judge's Brush to burn it.

• Li Banfeng learned from Tang Changfa that Zeng Hongfu had bought rare limb-regrowth paste, then followed him to Miglov’s hideout.
• Li Banfeng entered Miglov’s apartment and brought him into the Portable Abode, where Hong Ying accidentally burned Miglov to death while trying to force him out of his mud castle.
• Li Banfeng searched the apartment and found photographs of formulas, a blueprint, a ledger, and cash, then returned to the Black Market and dealt with Zeng Hongfu and his men.
• Li Banfeng asked the scholar in Ninth Room to translate Miglov’s papers, and she identified the writing as an ancient incantation with mathematical derivations.
• Li Banfeng read the translated incantation, but Judge's Brush burned it and dismissed it as nonsense.

Judge's Brush translated the Birch Hermit Association ledger, exposing its paid dealings with Dark Energy enthusiast groups, while Li Banfeng and Teacher Song separately investigated the apparent arrival of a DaoLao Ghost in Yuezhou. The search at the construction site found no ghost, and He Jiaqing used the Dark Star Bureau’s distraction to persuade Big Head to escape with him.

• Judge's Brush translated research notes about the boundary and later rendered the ledger, revealing that the Birch Hermit Association collected regular payments from Dark Energy groups and sold them rituals, formulas, and low-level Dark Energy Carriers.
• Li Banfeng asked Chuunibyou to identify mistranslated ledger names, then ordered Chen Changrui to monitor the groups’ contacts and finances.
• The phonograph asked Li Banfeng to take an incomplete derivation to Teacher Song, who worked on it with him before discovering surveillance footage of a DaoLao Ghost and going to investigate alone.
• Teacher Song identified the figure in the footage as a DaoLao Ghost, prompting a large Dark Star Bureau response at He Sheng Community; Li Banfeng entered the construction site and encountered Teacher Song, whom the surveillance equipment could not detect.
• Li Banfeng and Teacher Song searched Buildings Nine and Ten together but found no DaoLao Ghost.
• He Jiaqing infiltrated the Dark Star Bureau as smoke, asked Big Head to flee to Pro State with his family, and received Big Head’s agreement.

Li Banfeng rushed Teacher Song to Knife Ghost Ridge after discovering she had been injured by the creature in Yuezhou and feared she had contracted the Ang Virus. Cui Tike found no virus in her, revealing that whatever attacked her was not a DaoLao Ghost, while Shen Jingye learned that Zou Guoming had disappeared.

• Teacher Song suffered a severe episode after killing the creature in Fifth Building, and Li Banfeng took her home while concealing her condition from the Dark Star Bureau.
• Song Qianhun arrived with his Ghost Servant Kang Zhenchang, and they revealed that Teacher Song had a wound from a DaoLao Ghost and that Kang Zhenchang could not cure the poison.
• Li Banfeng carried Teacher Song through a hidden passage to New Land and then to Bastard Slope, where Cui Tike said she had no Ang Virus and could recover with medicine.
• Shen Jingye ordered the creature’s corpse burned without testing it, then learned that Zou Guoming had disappeared.
• Teacher Song improved after taking medicine, and Cui Tike’s examination showed that the creature that injured her was not a DaoLao Ghost.

Li Banfeng traced the supposed DaoLao Ghost incident to He Jiaqing’s scheme, which drew the Dark Star Bureau away while He rescued Zou Guoming’s family and stole confidential materials. After the group reached Pro State, Li returned to Yuezhou, while He settled Big Head’s family in Green Water City and Zou Guoming began asserting himself against local gangsters.

• Li Banfeng learned that Teacher Song had received the DaoLao Ghost video from He Jiaqing, and concluded He Jiaqing’s hint must have served his own interests.
• He Jiaqing smuggled Big Head, Miao Ruifang, and Zou Xiaohao through the New Land, evaded Song Qianhun’s Ghost Servants, and took them to Green Water City.
• Song Qianhun reunited with Li Banfeng and Teacher Song, while Li later told Shen Jingye that the Lion Peak Road threat was an isolated case.
• Shen Jingye told Li Banfeng that the Dark Star Bureau had been robbed of Zou Guoming, twenty-three Dark Energy Carriers, and more than two hundred confidential documents; he kept his post but lost his chance at promotion.
• He Jiaqing brought Big Head’s family to a residence on Fruit Abundance Road, and Li Banfeng prepared to send ten thousand Three-Headed People to reclaim wasteland.
• Zou Guoming confronted Tie Hongjian over protection payments and killed him with flying chopsticks.

Ma Wu celebrated his new territory as Li Banfeng defended Feng Daiku’s Belt Ridge from Hua Manchun’s pressure and publicly drove him away. As the celebrations continued, Chu Yaoqian hesitated to approach Li Banfeng, but He Jiaqing recruited her as a friend by promising protection from Hua Manchun and help retrieving her contract deed from the Inner State.

• Ma Wu inspected his five thousand Three-Headed People while Jiang Mengting sang for them, and he dreamed of making them performers at a future Carefree Dock.
• The phonograph told Li Banfeng he needed to use a combat technique through Shadows Pitying Each Other before she would help him advance his House Cultivator level.
• Hua Manchun demanded that Feng Daiku give up Belt Ridge and tried to pressure Li Banfeng into supporting him, but Li Banfeng rejected his complaint and told him to leave.
• Hua Manchun left, and Dou Jiyan introduced herself as a Gambling Cultivator while the guests promised Strange Monsters and other support for Ma Wu’s new territory.
• Chu Yaoqian considered visiting Ma Wu’s celebration to mend her grudge with Li Banfeng, but He Jiaqing warned her against it and offered to protect her from Hua Manchun.
• He Jiaqing promised to help Chu Yaoqian retrieve her contract deed from the Inner State, and she agreed to become his friend and go with him to Flower Immortal Manor.

Hua Manchun discovered that He Jiaqing had repeatedly impersonated him and negotiated a truce over Chu Yaoqian, then killed servants who had mistaken him for the impostor. Meanwhile, Li Banfeng investigated hints of a Birch Hermit Association resurgence and faced a suspiciously timed Black Market inspection, ending with Teacher Song inviting him to a wormhole academic conference.

• Hua Manchun learned that someone had impersonated him twice inside Flower Immortal Manor, and He Jiaqing revealed himself as the culprit while asking him to spare Chu Yaoqian.
• He Jiaqing returned Chu Yaoqian's dressing case, while Hua Manchun privately suspected Li Qi might also be involved and secretly ordered Yuan Chunping to draw Li Qi away.
• Hua Manchun killed Ru Yu and Xiu Yan, then vowed to deal with He Jiaqing before turning his attention to Li Qi.
• Li Qi asked Feng Daiku to arrange a meeting with Hua Manchun, while Liao Zihui and Shen Jingye warned him indirectly about a new force of Three-Headed People and the Birch Hermit Association.
• Li Banfeng investigated the Birch Hermit Association's possible activity in the Black Market and questioned whether to join a sudden Dark Star Bureau inspection.
• Teacher Song called Li Banfeng and invited him to an academic exchange conference about wormholes after Lin Fojiao warned that someone was scattering bait around him.

At an academic debate about whether life could survive inside wormholes, Yu Yaoming argued that life might adapt to wormhole conditions and demonstrated his claim by killing Yan Youjun with a seemingly living steel pen. Li Banfeng subdued Yu Yaoming, while Teacher Song incapacitated Fang Yufei and made her forget that she had seen Li Banfeng.

• Yan Youjun dismissed Yu Yaoming’s ideas about life adapting to wormholes, and Fang Yufei denounced the audience as ignorant while Li Banfeng studied Yu Yaoming’s equations.
• Yu Yaoming claimed that life could exist inside wormholes and that his steel pen possessed life characteristics, then threw it through Yan Youjun’s forehead and killed him.
• The audience fled as Fang Yufei praised Yu Yaoming’s power and urged Li Banfeng to escape, but Li Banfeng vanished before she could pull him away.
• Yu Yaoming tried to flee after Li Banfeng confronted him, but Li Banfeng appeared on the roof, kicked him into the audience seats, and pinned him down.
• Teacher Song confronted Fang Yufei, erased her memory of Li Banfeng, and left her unconscious.

After Yu Yaoming’s killing, Shen Jingye warned Li Banfeng about the investigation and revealed that Yu’s experiments had changed his abilities and mental state. Meanwhile, Hua Manchun cornered He Jiaqing in Chu Yaoqian’s territory and trapped him with the help of two Local Earth Gods.

• Shen Jingye shared Yu Yaoming’s statement with Li Banfeng, explaining that experiments simulating wormhole conditions had given Yu special abilities and that Yu had killed Yan Youjun out of long-held anger.
• Shen Jingye warned Li Banfeng that someone surnamed Hua might be connected to the Black Market investigation, and admitted that he had failed Big Head, Candied Fruit, Awl, and Huajia.
• After hearing a song on Li Banfeng’s gramophone, Shen Jingye’s emotions intensified, and Li Banfeng concluded that Yu Yaoming’s influence had affected him.
• Hua Manchun learned that He Jiaqing had reached Chu Yaoqian’s territory, while Dabo Ensi sold Feng Daiku the information and asked her to conceal his whereabouts.
• Feng Daiku passed the warning to Ma Wu, who relayed it to Li Banfeng as he headed toward Flower Lake Park.
• Hua Manchun confronted He Jiaqing at Chu Yaoqian’s residence, where Ren Antian and Sun Peiying helped immobilize him before Hua Manchun attacked him with sinister fire.