Chapter Summaries

Su Yuan learned that Tianlu World’s cultivation hierarchy was governed by an Immortal Official System and agreed to impersonate Su Youlin to take its Civil Servant Examination. After arriving in Tianlu World, he received a mission from the Dog System to break its rules and spread chaos.

• Su Yuan and Captain Zhang learned that ascendants from Cold Plum World competed to reach Tianlu World and take the Civil Servant Examination, while Zhu Qingqing identified Saintly Law Heavenly Monarch as the force behind its Immortal Official System.
• Captain Zhang gave Su Yuan a Communication Headset, and Su Yuan used a Human Skin Mask to disguise himself as Su Youlin.
• Captain Zhang switched Su Yuan with a puppet, and Su Yuan traveled through the Ascension Channel with the other ascendants for two days.
• Su Yuan arrived in Tianlu World with less than twelve hours before the Immortal Official Grand Examination and learned that a teleportation array led to the exam site.
• The Dog System assigned Su Yuan the Environment Destroyer mission, ordering him to break rules across Tianlu Continent and spread chaos.

Su Yuan arrived in the Tianluo World and discovered that its supposedly strict laws allowed blatant corruption, earning him a system violation for paying an extorted fee. At the Immortal Official Grand Examination venue, he saw the world’s rigid class divisions and learned that candidates could buy secret exam information, leaving him wondering how the Tianluo World had become so corrupt.

• Su Yuan learned that his mission required him to break the Tianluo World’s rules a hundred times, then followed the Cold Plum World ascenders toward the Immortal Official Grand Examination.
• Two silver-armored guards charged the ascenders an unofficial passage fee, and the Cold Plum World leader paid them an additional thousand Spirit Coins to share among them.
• The Dog System counted Su Yuan’s payment as a violation of the Holy Law Executive Council’s rules, prompting him to conclude that completing his mission would be easy in such a corrupt world.
• Su Yuan arrived at the examination hall, observed its Golden Divine Eye and the candidates’ divisions by world rank, and renewed his resolve to carry out his undercover mission.
• A hooded man offered Great World candidates secret Immortal Official Grand Examination information for ten thousand Spirit Coins, and Su Yuan wondered whether the Tianluo World had only recently become corrupt.

Su Yuan bought intelligence on the corrupt Immortal Official Grand Examination by exploiting the Dragon Emperor Coins, then learned that bribery could secure success at every stage. He tracked down examiner Huai Lingwei, and his Night Raid Must Succeed ability activated as he approached her residence.

• Su Yuan used the Dragon Emperor Coins to borrow ten thousand Spirit Coins from the information broker, then used them to buy the examination intelligence without spending his own money.
• Su Yuan learned that the examination included a written test, a Heavenly Trial, and an interview, and that candidates could bribe their way through each stage.
• Su Yuan decided to seek an examiner's favor and paid the information broker ten thousand Spirit Coins for details about the examiners and where they were staying.
• Su Yuan learned that examiner Huai Lingwei was the youngest and least powerful examiner, but had a powerful family connection as the niece of a Third Rank Great Official.
• Su Yuan followed the broker's directions to Huai Lingwei's residence, passed the guards unnoticed with Night Raid Must Succeed, and triggered the ability when he drew within a hundred meters of her.

Su Yuan abducted Huai Lingwei into Jieyue Space and overwhelmed her with Black Mud and the Secret Realm of Severing Heaven after she rejected his demand for help with the Immortal Official Grand Examination. He claimed the Corrupting Heavenly Monarch was his master, and Huai Lingwei began to suspect she had been drawn into a scheme against the Immortal World.

• Su Yuan used Night Raid Must Succeed and his prepared buffs to move Huai Lingwei from her bedroom into Jieyue Space.
• Huai Lingwei tried to kill Su Yuan, but he dodged her attack and received a system notification for breaking rules.
• Su Yuan unleashed Black Mud and tentacles, then used the Secret Realm of Severing Heaven to interrupt Huai Lingwei and seal her cultivation.
• Su Yuan told the bound Huai Lingwei that the Black Mud came from the inheritance of his master, the Corrupting Heavenly Monarch.
• Huai Lingwei believed Su Yuan might be part of a larger scheme to invade the Immortal World and asked what his master wanted him to do.

Su Yuan forced Huai Lingwei to accept a Corrupting Spore and ordered her to help him succeed in the Immortal Official Grand Examination. The exam began with Huai Lingwei among the examiners, and Su Yuan found that its questions matched the information broker’s predictions exactly.

• Huai Lingwei tried to avoid pledging allegiance to Su Yuan, but he told her she had no choice and implanted a Corrupting Spore in her dantian.
• Su Yuan warned Huai Lingwei that the spore could kill her, then returned with her from Jieyue Space to her bedroom and left her there.
• Su Yuan returned to the examination hall and told the information broker that his gift-giving had gone fairly smoothly.
• Five examiners arrived shortly before the examination, including Huai Lingwei and a Purple-Robed Official who presided over the panel.
• The examinees took their seats, and Su Yuan saw that the three exam questions matched the information broker’s questions exactly.

Su Yuan struggled with the written exam before an examiner secretly supplied him with answers, while Huai Lingwei replaced Su Youlin’s blank paper with a prepared answer sheet. Su Youlin took first place, leaving the other candidates puzzled and Ying Ding eager to learn how he had won Huai Lingwei’s favor.

• Su Yuan failed to work out answers to the three major questions and rested as the exam continued.
• A male examiner accepted Spirit Coins from candidates and replaced their papers with prepared answers.
• Huai Lingwei gave Su Youlin a prepared answer sheet, then hinted to the other examiners that his success would benefit them.
• The examiners announced Su Youlin as the written exam’s first-place candidate, and Su Yuan received a system notification for breaking the rules.
• Ying Ding asked Su Yuan how he had ranked first, and Su Yuan claimed he had won Huai Lingwei’s favor.

After topping the written exam and Heavenly Exam, Su Yuan used Ying Ding’s help to bring Qi Junxiang into contention and went before the examiners for his interview. He left them stunned by introducing the 996 Management Method as a personnel strategy.

• After the Heavenly Exam rankings appeared, Su Yuan saw Qi Junxiang could not afford the required payment, and Ying Ding gave him three thousand Spirit Coins so he could pay and improve his rank.
• The Dog System credited Su Yuan with recruiting a demonic follower and corrupting a promising talent, while Su Yuan waited for his interview.
• Su Yuan entered the interview room and told the examiners to get straight to the point, prompting them to probe his management abilities and background.
• Su Yuan described the 996 Management Method, recommending debt and financial pressure to make subordinates work overtime willingly, and mentioned a secret 007 version.
• Huai Lingwei and the other examiners were stunned by Su Yuan’s management technique.

Su Yuan impressed the examiners with his management ideas and the powerful treasures backing him, earning the highest rank and an appointment as County Magistrate of Longcheng County. After collecting his official robe, he set out for Longcheng with Ying Ding and Qi Junxiang.

• Su Yuan used a flesh Official Seal and the Crimson Origin Sword to show the examiners how he could handle local opposition, and they awarded him the highest rank available.
• The examiners speculated about the force behind Su Youlin and the possibility of gaining influence in the Cold Plum World, while the Purple-Robed Official told Huai Lingwei to watch him closely.
• The examiners assigned Qi Junxiang to Longcheng County as County Lieutenant and Ying Ding as County Assistant.
• The examiners appointed Su Youlin Principal Seventh Rank and named him County Magistrate of Longcheng County.
• After collecting his Official Robe, Su Yuan led Ying Ding and Qi Junxiang toward Longcheng to take up their posts.

Su Yuan reported his exam results and fabricated background to Captain Zhang, who approved his appointment and outlined how the organization could support him. As Su Yuan arrived at Longcheng County, he accepted Ying Ding’s repayment and began considering why three senior county posts had become vacant.

• Su Yuan secretly contacted Captain Zhang, reported his examination and bribery, and explained how he had controlled examiner Huai Lingwei by posing as a disciple of the Corrupting Devil Lord.
• Captain Zhang told Su Yuan to build a record of success and rise through the bureaucracy, while offering the organization’s support; Su Yuan cut off the call when Captain Zhang questioned his reimbursement claim.
• Ying Ding repaid Su Yuan twenty thousand Spirit Coins, privately lamenting the money he had spent and anticipating the profits he could make as County Assistant.
• Su Yuan asked Ying Ding why Longcheng County had vacancies in three important offices, and Ying Ding said he would investigate.
• Su Yuan suspected powerful local clans, pirate attacks, or both had driven out the previous officials, and reasoned that the examiners had sent him there to earn merit.
• Su Yuan saw Longcheng County appear beyond the carriage window.

Su Yuan arrived in Longcheng County and attended a welcome feast hosted by its cultivation powers. After discovering that the local Golden Core leaders had stayed away, he left the gathering terrified of his strength and ready to discipline them.

• Wang De, a Golden Core Brigade General, welcomed Su Yuan outside Longcheng County and introduced Lin Yanluo and Daoist Bai Xuan.
• Lin Yanluo and Daoist Bai Xuan invited Su Yuan to Zuixian Restaurant and claimed their feast's ingredients were inexpensive local specialties.
• Su Yuan asked why the Lin Family's Old Ancestor and the Liuyang Sect Master had not come, and Lin Yanluo said they were busy.
• When Bai Xuan began eating, Su Yuan crushed his head into the table with a casual gesture.
• Su Yuan condemned the local cultivation families and sects for failing to welcome him personally and declared that he would bring down the hammer.

Su Yuan accepted the Lin Family and Liuyang Sect’s twenty thousand Spirit Coins while condemning their attempted bribe, then demanded one million more to fund a campaign against pirates backed by the Blood God Cult. As Lin Yanluo and Daoist Bai Xuan planned to disrupt his rule, Su Yuan gathered the County Yamen staff and Xiang Army, ordered the army’s vacancies filled, and began inspecting a soldier’s clothing.

• Lin Yanluo offered Su Yuan twenty thousand Spirit Coins on behalf of the Lin Family and Liuyang Sect, and Su Yuan declared the money a donation to the County Yamen after denouncing the bribe.
• Wang De told Su Yuan that pirates raided Longcheng County’s coast, while Lin Yanluo and Daoist Bai Xuan revealed the pirates were backed by the Blood God Cult, whose leader was a Nascent Soul True Lord.
• Su Yuan insisted the pirates must be wiped out and ordered the Lin Family and Liuyang Sect to provide one million Spirit Coins within seven days, threatening to accuse them of collusion if they refused.
• Lin Yanluo and Daoist Bai Xuan decided to organize a disturbance to undermine Su Yuan before he won over the County Yamen constables and Wang De’s Xiang Army.
• Su Yuan gathered the County Yamen staff and about four hundred and fifty Xiang Army soldiers, ordered Wang De to fill the army’s vacancies, and asked a young soldier whether his clothes kept him warm.

Su Yuan used seized wealth to reward Longcheng County’s soldiers and officials, then arranged reimbursement and a raise for Yuan Sect employees. The next morning, cultivation-family scions stirred a crowd outside the County Yamen against him, and Su Yuan went out to face them.

• Su Yuan gave the Xiang Army twenty thousand Spirit Coins, promised merit records, and ordered rewards for the constables and yamen staff.
• Su Yuan gave Qi Junxiang ten thousand Spirit Coins for constable red envelopes and Ying Ding ten thousand for better meals.
• Su Yuan asked Captain Zhang to reimburse his spending and to have Chen Nuoyi raise Yuan Sect employees’ wages with the funds.
• The Dog System added three to Su Yuan’s rule-breaking count, and Captain Zhang teased him about suddenly showing concern for the workers.
• Su Yuan worried that Chen Nuoyi, Qi Hanyua, and the others would miss the Immortal Official Grand Examination and considered ways to prepare identities for them.
• The next morning, Su Yuan learned that more than a thousand people, stirred up by cultivation-family scions, had gathered outside the County Yamen to protest his actions.

Su Yuan crushed a riot incited by the Four Great Families, ordering his constables and soldiers to beat and arrest their scions while rewarding his forces with confiscated Spirit Coins. By nightfall, the county yamen had taken three hundred family members into custody, and Su Yuan sent his exhausted subordinates to rest and eat well.

• A Foundation Establishment scion urged Su Yuan to abandon his campaign against the pirates, while the crowd grew increasingly agitated.
• Su Yuan summoned eighty disciplined constables and ordered them to arrest and beat the Four Great Families’ scions for inciting a riot.
• Qi Junxiang led the constables into the crowd, and more than four hundred soldiers blocked the escape route as the scions fled or resisted.
• Su Yuan ordered the forces to pursue anyone sheltering fugitives and distributed seized Spirit Coins in red envelopes, prompting tired constables and soldiers to return to the fighting.
• Ying Ding joined the fight for a share of the rewards, and the county yamen defeated the Four Great Families’ resistance after nearly ten hours, arresting three hundred people.
• Su Yuan instructed Wang De and Qi Junxiang to let the soldiers and runners eat Spirit Beast Meat and rest, strengthening their loyalty to him.

Lin Yanluo tried to bribe Su Yuan into releasing the arrested scions of the Four Great Families, but he refused to free them and demanded support for fighting pirates instead. She left with the families’ plans in tatters, realizing she would need help from powerful golden-core figures.

• Su Yuan waited in the county yamen, expecting someone from the Four Great Families to visit, and Lin Yanluo arrived with offers to secure the release of their arrested scions.
• Lin Yanluo offered Su Yuan one hundred thousand Spirit Coins, five pounds of Ink Tea Eight-No, and her service as his maid.
• Su Yuan rejected the bribe by throwing Spirit Coins at Lin Yanluo, earning another rule-breaking count from the Dog System.
• Su Yuan demanded one million Spirit Coins for the fight against pirates and ordered the arrested scions to serve in the army until the pirates were defeated.
• Su Yuan accepted the Ink Tea Eight-No as a local specialty, and Lin Yanluo left planning to call on the Lin Family head and the master of Liuyang Sect.

Lin Yanluo and Lin Yonghua tried to protect the Lin Family’s profits from piracy by enlisting a high-ranking official to pressure Su Youlin. As Su Yuan prepared Longcheng County’s forces to suppress the pirates, Transport Commissioner Fan arrived and immediately questioned his purchase of a hundred thousand jin of Spirit Beast Meat.

• Lin Yanluo told Lin Yonghua that Su Youlin had refused the Lin Family’s gifts, and they agreed to use their connection to Transport Vice Commissioner Fan to pressure him.
• Su Yuan delegated government paperwork to Ying Ding and trained the soldiers and imprisoned Aristocratic Clan scions while repairing and upgrading Longcheng County’s military equipment.
• Qi Junxiang informed Su Yuan that the East Continent Transport Vice Commissioner was coming to inspect Longcheng County, and Ying Ding warned that he could target Su Yuan on fabricated grounds.
• Su Yuan welcomed Transport Commissioner Fan at the County Yamen, where Fan asked whether the county had bought a hundred thousand jin of Spirit Beast Meat in fewer than ten days.

Su Yuan deflected Lin Yonghua’s accusation with Transport Commissioner Fan’s backing, then learned the requirements for direct promotion to fifth rank. He planned to earn the merit, public approval, and Spirit Coins himself, and said he would raise the money from those who had it.

• Lin Yonghua accused Su Yuan of misusing a hundred thousand jin of Spirit Beast Meat, but Su Yuan claimed he had eaten it all.
• Transport Commissioner Fan defended Su Yuan, ordered Lin Yonghua dragged away and slapped, and then warmly invited Su Yuan to dine with him.
• At Zuixian Restaurant, Commissioner Fan asked about Su Yuan’s plans, and Su Yuan said he aimed to reach Principal Fifth Rank within a year before rising to Subordinate Fourth Rank.
• Commissioner Fan outlined the three requirements for direct promotion to fifth rank: major merit, approval from at least eighty percent of the people, and three million Spirit Coins.
• Su Yuan said he would meet the requirements without relying on the forces behind him and planned to raise the money from those who had it.

Su Yuan accepted the Heavenly Patrol Envoy post in Cold Plum World after Transport Commissioner Fan tested his background and warned him about its dangers. Back in Longcheng County, Su Yuan told his officials to investigate the local power brokers and raise their taxes.

• Transport Commissioner Fan explained how difficult it would be for Su Yuan to reach Principal Fifth Rank in East Continent and offered him a vacant Heavenly Patrol Envoy post in Cold Plum World.
• Fan revealed that the Golden Core Peak cultivator Yan He had founded a rising faction in Cold Plum World, and Su Yuan recognized him as the man he had killed in Absolute Sword World.
• Su Yuan accepted the post and told Fan he would investigate Yan He, convincing Fan that he had powerful connections in Cold Plum World.
• After Fan left Longcheng County, Su Yuan told Ying Ding and the other officials that someone had denounced him, while Chief Clerk Liu explained that the local families and sects had pooled nine hundred thousand Spirit Coins for him.
• Su Yuan ordered his officials to investigate the Four Great Families and Six Great Sects and raise their taxes.

Su Yuan completed his first month as Longcheng County magistrate, claimed a demonic art that could rewrite cultivators’ common sense, and arranged for Chen Nuoyi to join him. He then told Captain Zhang he planned to raise three million Spirit Coins in six months by taxing the Four Great Families and Six Great Sects at least ninety-four percent and fighting pirates, hoping to reach the Cold Plum World before summer vacation.

• Su Yuan’s embellished reputation spread through Longcheng County, while the Four Great Families and Six Great Sects stayed quiet after Lin Yonghua was slapped.
• Su Yuan completed his task and claimed Demonic Art: Finger Technique, which could twist the common sense of up to one hundred Golden Core cultivators.
• Su Yuan chose Chen Nuoyi as the first Mai Gou Plan operative to join him and explained that he could summon her using the Holy Sect Blood Sacrifice Array.
• Su Yuan asked Captain Zhang about the three million Spirit Coins needed for promotion and declared that he would raise the money within six months by taxing the clans at least ninety-four percent and fighting pirates.
• Su Yuan said he wanted to explore and develop the Cold Plum World with his master during summer vacation, and Captain Zhang offered help, but Su Yuan said he already had a plan.

Su Yuan used his demonic art to make Lin Yanluo accept a 94-percent tax contract for the Lin Family and ordered Qi Junxiang to summon Longcheng County’s other powerful families and sects. Lin Yanluo returned home treating the tax as common sense and demanded the treasury key from her father.

• Su Yuan summoned Lin Yanluo and presented her with a contract imposing a 94-percent tax on the Lin Family’s wealthy members and other high earners.
• Lin Yanluo initially refused to sign, but Su Yuan’s words altered her common sense, and she signed the contract and promised to pay the family’s unpaid taxes within seven days.
• Qi Junxiang witnessed Lin Yanluo’s sudden change and feared Su Yuan could alter his own common sense, then agreed to summon the county’s other powerful families and the Six Great Sects.
• Su Yuan considered the tax collection just and decided not to waste his limited mind-altering ability on his own officials.
• Lin Yanluo returned to the Lin Family and scolded Lin Yonghua for disrespecting Su Yuan before demanding the treasury key to get money.

Lin Yonghua mistook Su Yuan’s tax collection for a plot to control Longcheng County’s powerful families, then fled overseas with the Lin Family’s treasure. Su Yuan revealed that he had expected the escape and planned to use Lin Yonghua to draw the pirates into a conflict, while counting the collected taxes toward his promotion target.

• Lin Yanluo took the Lin vault key and collected ninety-four percent taxes from her family, alarming Lin Yonghua, who believed Su Youlin had twisted her mind.
• Lin Yonghua tried to warn the other family and sect leaders, but found them summoned to the Yamen and saw them return willingly to pay taxes; he also watched the Liuyang Sect leader undergo the same change.
• Fearing Lin Yanluo would expose him, Lin Yonghua looted more than five hundred thousand Spirit Coins’ worth of goods from the Lin vault and escaped overseas.
• Wang De reported Lin Yonghua’s flight, and Su Yuan ordered the county navy to prepare to capture him; Lin Yanluo apologized, but Su Yuan assured her the taxes were already collected.
• Su Yuan disclosed that he had let Lin Yonghua flee to drive him toward the pirates, then calculated that he had collected two million Spirit Coins and allocated five hundred thousand to government bonuses and tax relief.
• Su Yuan considered how his position as Heavenly Patrol Envoy helped conceal Old Man Taibai’s outsider status while he worked toward his promotion target.