Chapter Summaries

Xu Yi met Tang Shanhai, who offered to help revive Guanglong Hall, but Xu Yi concealed his plans. Tang later reported that Xu Yi was a World Child to a hidden superior, while Xu remained occupied with Guanglong Hall and promised Kong Qi he would seek guidance on alchemy once matters there were settled.

• Xu Yi realized Tang Shanhai was sounding him out, and Tang explained that Elder Xi had praised Xu Yi and introduced them.
• Tang Shanhai offered business advice for Guanglong Hall's medicinal-herb trade, but Xu Yi claimed he was merely carrying out orders and knew little of the plan.
• Tang Shanhai warned Xu Yi that spies from three families had visited, then left Guanglong Hall.
• Tang Shanhai reported to a hidden figure that Xu Yi was an exceptional World Child, and the figure ordered him not to neglect Xu Yi.
• After a month at Guanglong Hall, Xu Yi contacted Kong Qi, who urged him to pursue the Way of Alchemy; Xu Yi promised to seek Kong Qi's guidance when his current work was settled.

Xu Yi continued his unexplained preparations for Guanglong Hall’s reopening while his rivals decided to help him buy up ingredients, believing they could thwart his plans. As the reopening approached, Xu Yi raised prices early and strengthened the loyalty of his newly promoted staff, then learned that a Guanglong Token holder had come to see him.

• Xu Yi told Kong Qi about an opportunity, and Kong Qi said he would report it before responding.
• Zuo Feng, Wang Qijue, and Lei Qianxiao discussed Xu Yi’s costly ingredient purchases and decided to help him buy in bulk so they could undermine his plans.
• Desolate Ancestor warned Xu Yi to rest and reported that Qingxing City’s cultivator population had risen by thirty percent.
• Xu Yi ordered Guanglong Hall to raise its prices a day early and reassured Desolate Ancestor that the decision would not cause a loss.
• Bai Rushui reported that a Guanglong Token holder was waiting to see Xu Yi, who encouraged Bai Rushui and promised formal appointments based on merit within three months.

Xu Yi staged the third medicinal-ingredient exchange to expose the three rival halls’ undercover merchants and explain his tactics to the waiting traders. He revealed that the rivals had sold Guanglong Hall ingredients worth 130,000 origin pills, then asked the others why they feared he would refuse to trade with them.

• Xu Yi promised Bai Rushui and the other servants official appointments, and Bai Rushui swore their loyalty to the Hall Master.
• Bai Rushui brought a cloaked figure to meet Xu Yi, who invited him to watch a magic trick in the alchemy room.
• More than three hundred merchants gathered for the exchange, but Desolate Ancestor reported that the three rival families had already sold ingredients worth 130,000 origin pills.
• Xu Yi revealed that only undercover merchants sent by Wang Qijue, Lei Qianxiao, and Zuo Feng's families had made deals, while the other visitors had been used as spectators.
• Xu Yi apologized to the merchants, explained his suspicions about Qingxing City's other three halls, showed the transaction receipts, and asked why they thought he would refuse to buy from them.

Xu Yi persuaded the merchants to sell medicinal ingredients despite Guanglong Hall's shortage of origin pills by arranging a guarantee from Tang Shanhai and Guanglong Trading Company. After the merchants signed contracts, Xu Yi rewarded two disguised helpers who had helped make the deal happen.

• Xu Yi explained that unexpected demand and his rivals' schemes had left him short of origin pills, then offered to pay the merchants' balance within half a month.
• When the merchants objected to receiving only a deposit, Xu Yi said he had invited a guarantor and Tang Shanhai emerged.
• Tang Shanhai offered to hold the merchants' ingredients in trust, pay them a twenty-percent advance, and return their goods if Guanglong Hall failed to settle the balance within fifteen days.
• The merchants accepted the arrangement, signed contracts witnessed by Tang Shanhai, and went to the alchemy workshop to collect their deposits.
• Xu Yi met two disguised helpers in his secret chamber, praised their role, and told them to collect rewards from Bai Rushui and avoid using those disguises again.

Xu Yi’s staged transaction succeeded, and Tang Shanhai showed him that the traders’ purchases had far exceeded expectations. The chapter revealed that Xu Yi had secured Guanglong Trading Company’s enormous loan by demonstrating his pill-refining ability, leaving Tang curious about Xu Yi’s larger plan.

• Xu Yi recalled how two inconspicuous performers, planted in the crowd, had steered the transaction toward a successful conclusion.
• Xu Yi sent Desolate Ancestor to fetch Tang Shanhai, who showed him a tally far larger than Xu Yi had expected.
• Tang Shanhai asked Xu Yi to explain his plan, while Xu Yi pointed out that the deal benefited Tang as well.
• Xu Yi’s plan relied on Tang Shanhai and Guanglong Trading Company lending him funds, with medicinal ingredients as collateral and pill-refining ability backing repayment.
• Xu Yi had revealed his alchemy skills to Tang Shanhai, convincing him that the loan’s shortfall was no real risk.

Xu Yi kept his real plan from Tang Shanhai, while the leaders of three factions tried to decipher Guanglong Hall’s rapid purchases of essence-pill ingredients. They suspected Xu was using his buying spree to scare them away from interfering, but Zuo Feng warned that their theory might be wrong.

• Xu Yi told Tang Shanhai to wait for the results of his secret plan, and Tang agreed to keep cooperating.
• Boss Jia cleared White Tiger Tower again as Lei Qianxiao, Zuo Feng, and Wang Qijue arrived without attendants and sealed themselves in Cangfeng Residence.
• Lei Qianxiao and Zuo Feng worried that Xu Yi and Guanglong Trading Company were pursuing a dangerous scheme, while Wang Qijue tried to reassure them that their deal had made a profit.
• Wang Qijue said rising ingredient prices came from Guanglong Hall’s purchases and suggested Xuanqing Sect was behind the company’s plans.
• Zuo Feng proposed that Xu Yi was using the purchases to frighten the three leaders into staying out of his way, and Wang Qijue agreed.
• Lei Qianxiao celebrated the possibility that they had helped Xu’s plan, but Zuo Feng cautioned that his explanation was only a guess.

Lei Qianxiao, Zuo Feng, and Wang Qijue expected Guanglong Hall to collapse, but its closure and the rejection of a proposal to buy its stockpile sent medicinal-ingredient prices plunging. They realized their costly inventory had become difficult to sell, even in distant markets.

• Lei Qianxiao, Zuo Feng, and Wang Qijue agreed to risk buying more medicinal ingredients in hopes of driving Xu and Guanglong Hall out of business.
• Merchants gathered outside Guanglong Hall as its doors stayed shut and it failed to announce purchase prices.
• Xu Yi announced that Guanglong Hall would suspend operations for rectification after suffering enormous losses.
• Tang Shanhai's proposal for Guanglong Trading Company to buy Guanglong Hall's stockpile was rejected by its Elder Council, triggering market chaos.
• Wang Qijue received news that prices had already plunged in Cloud City, and Zuo Feng warned that their large inventory would be hard to sell.

After the medicinal-ingredient market collapsed, Lei Qianxiao, Wang Qijue, and Zuo Feng were forced to sell their stock at a loss. More than half a month later, Guanglong Hall reopened all nine locations with a new model centered on customers choosing Origin Pill ingredients from display cases.

• On September 6, three major trading houses began buying medicinal ingredients, then two lowered their prices after the first finished buying, triggering a rush to sell.
• Lei Qianxiao returned after ordering his men to sell their ingredients and lamented the losses he, Wang Qijue, and Zuo Feng had suffered.
• The three accepted that they had been caught in a much worse market collapse than they had expected.
• More than half a month later, Guanglong Hall and its eight branches reopened across Qingxing City.
• Guanglong Hall replaced its old counters with display cases of four Origin Pill ingredients that customers could choose and pay for at the counter.

Xu Yi's unusual trade fair at Guanglong Hall baffled Qingxing City's merchants, while Tang Shanhai questioned whether Xu Yi had a real plan. The chapter left Zuo Feng, Lei Qianxiao, and Wang Qijue rushing to the South Plaza after learning Guanglong Hall had outmaneuvered them.

• Zuo Feng, Lei Qianxiao, and Wang Qijue dismissed Guanglong Hall's rising prices as the desperate antics of a failing business.
• Zuo Feng ordered his attendant to stop reporting on Guanglong Hall, but Deputy Hall Master Sui urgently summoned him to the South Plaza and said they had suffered a major loss.
• Wang Qijue hurried to the South Plaza, followed by Zuo Feng and Lei Qianxiao.
• Tang Shanhai woke Xu Yi and confronted him about the trade fair's dramatically inflated medicinal-ingredient prices.
• Tang Shanhai recalled that Xu Yi had borrowed from Guanglong Trading Company against his ingredients and had until October fifth to repay the loan.
• Tang Shanhai wondered whether Xu Yi's prices were part of a scheme or proof that he had mistaken a fool for a genius.

Xu Yi’s staged pill demonstration drove up the value of alchemy materials and let him profit while Guanglong Trading Company waited to settle its loan. After Tang Shanhai handed over the storage ring and debt certificate, Xu Yi offered him a chance to lead a future cooperation agreement and had already arranged backup financing to redeem the pledged materials.

• Xu Yi showed Tang Shanhai a Ruyi Pearl image of a cultivator demonstrating pill arts at South Plaza, and Tang realized Xu Yi had orchestrated the day’s events.
• Xu Yi refused Tang Shanhai’s offer to settle the loan early, leaving Guanglong Trading Company to wait as alchemy-material prices continued to soar.
• On the agreed settlement date, Tang Shanhai gave Xu Yi a storage ring and received the debt certificate after the pledged materials’ value had sharply increased.
• Xu Yi urged the haggard Tang Shanhai to pursue a cooperation agreement that could help him lose the deputy title.
• Xu Yi revealed he had arranged favorable backup financing with several trade associations so he could redeem his pledged alchemy materials.

Xu Yi thanked Tang Shanhai and later hosted Kong Qi to celebrate their successful plan to manipulate the pill-material market. The Golden Core Society had acquired the merchants’ stranded stock, and Xu Yi’s new connections and alliance left him poised to expand his influence in Qingxing City.

• Xu Yi promised Tang Shanhai future support, and Tang recorded the promise with a Ruyi Pearl.
• Tang Shanhai explained that he hoped Xu Yi’s cooperation would help him become president of Guanglong Trading Company’s southwest branch.
• Xu Yi spent the day meeting Qingxing City’s new helmsmen and merchant association leaders before inviting Kong Qi to dinner in his pill-refining room.
• Xu Yi recalled that he had recruited the Golden Core Society by offering it the fourth round of pill-material stock in exchange for a public demonstration of Pill Arts.
• Xu Yi and Kong Qi celebrated as the Golden Core Society bought the merchants’ holdings after Xu Yi’s acquisitions, staged sell-off, and bad news drove prices down.
• Kong Qi tasted Xu Yi’s wine and asked what it was.

Xu Yi learned that his proposal had helped the Golden Core Society acquire valuable pill materials, and Kong Qi revealed that Xu Yi had been approved for a place in the future Golden Core Academy if he reached the Spiritual Root stage. Xu Yi celebrated the opportunity, checked on Qiu Wa, and the chapter ended with Lei Qianxiao lamenting the losses he had suffered from selling pill materials before their prices soared.

• Kong Qi praised Xu Yi for helping the Golden Core Society profit from the spread of the new alchemy technique and explained how the Elder Council had approved the plan.
• Kong Qi told Xu Yi that his contribution had earned him approval to enter the Golden Core Academy, provided he reached the Spiritual Root stage before its first class began.
• Xu Yi gave Kong Qi his last gourd of Spirit Wine and was delighted by the chance to become one of the Academy's first students.
• Xu Yi returned to the alchemy room, found Qiu Wa asleep in the transformed Starry Sky Ring, and reflected on protecting those he cared about.
• Lei Qianxiao recalled struggling for two months after selling pill materials cheaply before prices surged.

Lei Qianxiao hosted a banquet to seek Xu Yi’s help with his financial crisis, while Zuo Feng and Wang Qijue joined him to pursue their own interests. Xu Yi challenged the two uninvited men to provide their own banquets before he would entertain them.

• Lei Qianxiao paced anxiously as he prepared a banquet to ask a distinguished guest for help.
• Zuo Feng arrived, revealed he knew Lei Qianxiao’s purpose, and asked to share the banquet.
• Wang Qijue joined them, and Zuo Feng and Lei Qianxiao discussed their strained relations with him.
• Lei Qianxiao, Zuo Feng, and Wang Qijue welcomed Xu Yi and escorted him to the seat of honor.
• Lei Qianxiao apologized and drank to Xu Yi, who asked why Wang Qijue and Zuo Feng were attending his banquet.
• Xu Yi said he would not let Wang Qijue and Zuo Feng freeload and demanded that they provide their own banquets.

Xu Yi staged a poisoning at the banquet, provoking Lei Qianxiao and Zuo Feng to attack Wang Qijue before revealing that he was unharmed. Wang Qijue exposed Xu Yi’s ruse, and Xu Yi invited him to explain himself while holding the three hall masters at his mercy.

• Wang Qijue and Zuo Feng arranged an elaborate banquet after Xu Yi demanded it.
• Xu Yi pretended to be poisoned, spat out black blood, and accused Lei Qianxiao as the hall masters turned on one another.
• Lei Qianxiao and Zuo Feng attacked Wang Qijue, then paused to search for the supposed poisoner downstairs.
• Xu Yi drank an antidote and revealed that he had staged the poisoning.
• Wang Qijue recognized the trick and accused Xu Yi of manipulating them, and Xu Yi admitted it before asking Wang to speak.

Xu Yi questioned the three hall masters about Qing Xiu’s death, and Wang Qijue confessed that the Witch Ghost Sect had killed him while insisting he had no part in it. Wang revealed that Witch Ghost Sect members had infiltrated his entourage, leaving his connections exposed and his fate uncertain.

• Wang Qijue explained that the Witch Ghost Sect killed Qing Xiu after trying to use his gambling debt to gain influence in Guanglong Hall.
• Wang admitted that he had considered helping the Witch Ghost Sect enter Qingxing City and had encouraged the alliance against Xu Yi’s hall for profit.
• Xu Yi asked why Lei Qianxiao and Zuo Feng had attacked Wang Qijue after Xu Yi appeared to be injured, and Wang explained that his panic had exposed his scheme.
• Zuo Feng challenged Wang over Witch Ghost Sect members found among his people, and Wang questioned how Xu Yi had identified them first.
• Xu Yi refused to reveal how he had overheard the impostors, while Wang insisted he had not been involved in Qing Xiu’s death and hoped to avoid that accusation.

Xu Yi uncovered the truth behind Qing Xiu’s murder and resisted True Man Scarlet Fire’s demand that he give up Guanglong Hall. He ended by invoking his vow to protect the sect’s interests as Scarlet Fire threatened him over a ledger revealing Guanglong Hall’s profits.

• True Man Scarlet Fire arrived with the captured Witch Ghost Sect remnants, and Xu Yi left the remaining matters to him.
• Several days later, Desolate Ancestor reported that Lei Qianxiao and Zuo Feng had been removed from their posts, Wang Qijue had died under soul-refining torture, and the four sects had exposed the Witch Ghost Sect’s role in Qing Xiu’s murder.
• True Man Scarlet Fire asked Xu Yi to give up Guanglong Hall and return to Xuanqing Sect, promising future rewards and advancement.
• Xu Yi handed Scarlet Fire a ledger showing Guanglong Hall’s finances and a large quantity of origin pills, prompting Scarlet Fire to threaten him.
• Xu Yi reminded Scarlet Fire of his vow to protect the sect’s interests and challenged him to consider whether killing him would violate that vow.

Xu Yi resisted True Man Scarlet Fire’s attempt to remove him as Guanglong Hall’s master by explaining how its success depended on his staff and his ties to the Golden Core Society. True Man Scarlet Fire left without settling the dispute, then suddenly reappeared as Xu Yi prepared to sleep.

• Xu Yi told True Man Scarlet Fire that Guanglong Hall’s business had flourished because he promoted capable employees from humble backgrounds.
• Xu Yi revealed that he had lent the pill ingredients to the Golden Core Society under an agreement and offered to increase his contributions to the sect.
• True Man Scarlet Fire realized that seizing Guanglong Hall by force could ruin its business and risk a conflict with the Golden Core Society, so he abandoned his attempt to remove Xu Yi.
• Xu Yi said he would wait in seclusion for the new hall master and hand over control, and True Man Scarlet Fire vanished.
• Xu Yi complained about his courtyard’s security, but True Man Scarlet Fire suddenly reappeared and startled him.

Xu Yi negotiated with True Man Scarlet Fire over Guanglong Hall’s profits and asked for a Spirit Derivation Pill and its formula. Three days later, Inner Emissary Su arrived to oversee Xu Yi’s blood oath and announce his reward from the sect.

• True Man Scarlet Fire confronted Xu Yi about Guanglong Hall’s profits, and Xu Yi defended his accounts while offering a gift for the elders.
• Xu Yi gave True Man Scarlet Fire a storage bracelet, which left him stunned and softened his resentment toward Xu Yi.
• Xu Yi asked how to obtain a Spirit Derivation Pill, and True Man Scarlet Fire explained that the sect could not provide one while the Sect Master was unable to refine it.
• Xu Yi asked for the Spirit Derivation Pill formula, and True Man Scarlet Fire promised to petition the people above for it.
• Inner Emissary Su arrived three days later to oversee Xu Yi’s blood oath and announce that the sect had granted him the benefits and privileges of an Inner Sect Disciple with meritorious service.

Xu Yi secured Guanglong Hall with a powerful defensive formation, expanded its operations through an auction, and handed its management to Desolate Ancestor. He then prepared to attempt refining the Spirit Derivation Pill, whose recipe offered little guidance beyond trial and error.

• Xu Yi gave Inner Emissary Su the medicinal ingredients owed to several elders, then bought and tested the Turtle Origin Myriad Manifestations Formation to protect Guanglong Hall.
• Xu Yi pursued Spirit Derivation Pill ingredients as Guanglong Hall expanded its herb-trading business and became a major supplier in Qingxing City.
• Tang Shanhai became chairman of the southwestern branch, and Xu Yi hosted a banquet before Guanglong Trading Company and Guanglong Hall announced a joint auction.
• Xu Yi contributed two Black Origin Beads to the auction, which drew wide attention and helped Guanglong Hall's operations flourish.
• Xu Yi handed Guanglong Hall's day-to-day management to Desolate Ancestor and went to the alchemy room to prepare for refining the Spirit Derivation Pill.
• Xu Yi gave Qiu Wa a rabbit-shaped popsicle that put her to sleep, then studied the pill recipe and concluded that its crucial final step would require experimentation.

Xu Yi spent months testing Spirit Derivation Pills and then hosted a banquet to meet influential figures while warning them that he would avoid leaving Guanglong Hall. He continued to keep to the hall to focus on mastering the Turtle Godly Skill and pursuing his own alchemy, refusing Tang Shanhai’s offer of outside help because of the danger to his life.

• Xu Yi persuaded the newly awakened Qiu Wa to help him refine Spirit Derivation Pills, and after months of tests he exhausted nearly all his Spirit Derivation Fruits and compiled thick spectrum charts.
• Xu Yi rested, listened to Desolate Ancestor’s report, and ordered a banquet for important figures who had been seeking an audience with him.
• At the banquet, Xu Yi openly said he was afraid of his many enemies and planned to stay behind a protective array, declining future invitations.
• Xu Yi told Tang Shanhai that staying alive mattered more to him than preserving his dignity.
• Xu Yi avoided social and sect obligations at Guanglong Hall Main Hall and refused Tang Shanhai’s offer to use Guanglong Trading Company’s resources to find a Tribulation-Transcending Mighty One to help with his Spirit Derivation Pills.