Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary: “Crossing the River on a Reed, Walking Upon the Waves”

Key Plot Points and Events

• After escaping the room where Liu Yuhuan had been searching for him, Chen Shaojun carefully passed the painted-face old woman and the fox demon without revealing himself or provoking another fight.
• His Invisibility Talisman was nearing its limit, with only ten breaths of spiritual energy available. Just as he reached the second-floor platform, the talisman expired and his figure became visible.
• Chen Shaojun immediately killed two Red-Clad Cult martial artists blocking his path, using the Baleful Severing Ruler and his greatly improved swordsmanship.
• Cold-Blooded Silver Blade Zuo Bofan attempted to intercept him, but Chen Shaojun chose escape rather than prolonged combat. He leapt from the Moonlit Flower Boat into the river.
• Using the newly mastered Treading Water Technique, one of the Seventy-Two Earthly Fiend spells, Chen Shaojun ran across the river’s surface. He combined it with the Golden Wild Goose Technique to increase his speed and grace.
• Everyone watching mistakenly assumed that Chen Shaojun was an Innate Realm grandmaster. His ability to cross the water without creating significant ripples made him appear like an immortal or an extremely powerful martial expert.
• Xu Zhengcheng recognized Chen Shaojun and invited him aboard the official vessel, hoping to gain his assistance against the Red-Clad Cult. Chen Shaojun ignored the invitation, unwilling to become involved in further complications.
• Chen Shaojun reached shore near dawn and returned home safely. He then opened his Storage Ring and began examining the treasures taken from the flower boat, including ten chests of valuables and three weapons obtained from Wang Xinyuan.
• His initial calculation showed that he had acquired 1,800 taels of gold and 35,000 taels of silver, equivalent to approximately 53,000 taels of silver in total value.

Character Developments

• Chen Shaojun demonstrates increasing confidence and resourcefulness. He remains cautious around stronger opponents, choosing strategic retreat over unnecessary confrontation. His mastery of the Treading Water Technique reveals his rapidly expanding magical abilities.
• His swordsmanship has reached an exceptional level through Swordheart Clarity, allowing him to kill two enemies instantly even with a weapon that is not a treasured sword.
• Chen Shaojun’s priorities become clear: he values secrecy, safety, and returning home to assess his gains more than recognition or participation in another battle.
• Zuo Bofan, despite his usual brutality and confidence, becomes intimidated when he believes Chen Shaojun is an Innate Realm grandmaster. His reaction reveals his awareness of the overwhelming gap between his own strength and that of a true master.
• Xu Zhengcheng shifts from treating Chen Shaojun as an ordinary wandering martial artist to viewing him with awe and embarrassment. He regrets not realizing Chen’s strength earlier and hopes to recruit his aid.
• Liu Yuhuan and the painted-face old woman feel relieved that Chen Shaojun did not attack them, realizing that they would have been helpless against someone they believe to be an Innate Realm expert.
• Mingyue, the fox demon, remains more perceptive than the others. She senses that Chen Shaojun’s performance is somehow different from that of genuine Innate Realm experts, though she cannot identify the reason.

Significant Themes

• Appearance versus reality: Chen Shaojun is not actually an Innate Realm grandmaster, but his spell makes everyone interpret him as one. The chapter emphasizes how easily power can be misread through appearances.
• Strategic restraint: Chen Shaojun repeatedly avoids unnecessary battles, showing that survival and discretion can be more valuable than proving strength.
• The power of reputation and misunderstanding: His effortless passage across the river creates an exaggerated legend around him, granting him protection without requiring him to reveal his true identity.
• Growth through acquired abilities: The chapter highlights Chen Shaojun’s rapid development as he combines magical techniques and martial skills in a practical escape.
• Greed and reward: The enormous wealth he retrieves from the flower boat reinforces the material benefits and risks of his dangerous adventures.

Character Interactions

• Chen Shaojun avoids direct confrontation with the painted-face old woman and Mingyue, maintaining mutual suspicion without initiating violence.
• He briefly clashes with the Red-Clad Cult martial artists, killing two before fleeing.
• Zuo Bofan reacts with fear and respect after witnessing Chen’s apparent mastery, believing that threatening him may have provoked a far stronger opponent.
• Xu Zhengcheng tries to invite Chen aboard the official vessel and enlist his help, but Chen deliberately ignores him.
• The people on both vessels observe Chen’s escape and collectively reinterpret him as a legendary martial expert, while Mingyue alone suspects that something about him does not quite fit that image.

Chapter Summary: “Taking Stock of the Spoils”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Shaojun examines the contents of Liu Yuhuan’s treasure vault after acquiring it.
• The first chest contains an enormous amount of gold and silver—enough to purchase several Lin Family Pawnshops—giving Chen confidence that he will not lack money for some time.
• The second through fourth chests hold jade, calligraphy, paintings, hairpins, and other valuables. Their combined worth is estimated at 70,000–100,000 taels of silver.
• Chen plans to appraise these objects gradually, both to determine their true value and to obtain rewards from the Spirit-Seeking Treasure Mirror.
• The sixth chest contains thirteen martial-arts manuals. Chen evaluates their strengths, limitations, and cultivation requirements.
• The eighth chest contains account books, auxiliary cultivation manuals, and five spirit stones. Chen intends to hand the criminal account books to a government office but keeps the spirit stones for later.
• The ninth chest contains a single silver hairpin, which appears ordinary but has accumulated traces of Killing Intent. Chen begins cleansing it with his Divine Gaze Technique.

Character Development

• Chen Shaojun demonstrates growing confidence and financial independence as he calculates the value of the treasure.
• His appraisal abilities and cultivation knowledge have advanced enough for him to analyze martial arts in detail and recognize the relationship between cultivation realms, meridian requirements, and combat techniques.
• He becomes more pragmatic and mature, understanding that powerful techniques cannot simply be mastered through luck. He rejects the unrealistic idea that an ordinary person can instantly become invincible after finding a legendary manual.
• Although he possesses exceptional sword talent through Swordheart Clarity, he recognizes his current physical limitations and accepts that he cannot yet use Rising Sun Sword Qi.
• Chen shows caution regarding dangerous techniques such as the Self-Sacrificing Blade Art, recognizing that its power comes at the cost of potentially fatal risks.
• His attitude toward politics remains detached. He plans to expose the evidence in the account books but does not concern himself with how doing so might affect the Ninth Prince’s succession struggle.

Martial Arts and Cultivation Insights

• Complete Mountain Swordsmanship: A balanced, foundational sword art emphasizing calmness and comprehensiveness.
• Rising Sun Sword Qi: A powerful, blazing sword technique requiring the Qi Sea Realm and fully cleared hand meridians.
• Self-Sacrificing Blade Art: A desperate, all-out technique focused solely on killing the enemy, useful only when one is prepared to risk death.
• Blazing Sun Art: Produces highly destructive but physically damaging true qi.
• Blood Refining True Art: Cultivates true qi quickly but produces comparatively weak power.
• Violet Palace Qi Refinement Formula: A peaceful, powerful, high-grade cultivation art that nourishes the body but advances slowly.
• Auxiliary methods—including medicinal baths, acupoint qi transfer, and specialized foot techniques—show how wealth and support dramatically improve cultivation speed.

Significant Themes

• Wealth and cultivation: The chapter emphasizes that martial talent alone is insufficient; wealthy families can accelerate cultivation through medicine, treatment, and specialized training.
• Limits and gradual progress: True cultivation requires proper realms, meridian circulation, and sustained effort. Instant mastery is treated as fantasy.
• Practical judgment: Chen evaluates each treasure according to usefulness, risk, and long-term value rather than being dazzled by appearances.
• Knowledge as power: Even techniques Chen cannot currently use expand his understanding and may help him develop future abilities.
• Social inequality: The contrast between poor and wealthy martial artists highlights how resources allow elites to maximize their talent and produce more experts.
• Political detachment and moral action: Chen is willing to expose evidence of corruption but refuses to become emotionally or politically involved in the larger succession conflict.

Character Interactions

• Chen has no direct conversation with other characters in this excerpt, but his decisions are shaped by his connection to several absent figures:
  • Liu Yuhuan’s hidden wealth and personal belongings reveal the scale of her possessions and possibly her emotional attachments.
  • The account books connect Liu Yuhuan’s treasure vault to broader criminal or political wrongdoing.
  • Chen considers how the evidence might affect the Ninth Prince but deliberately keeps his distance from that conflict.
  • The auxiliary cultivation methods require assistance from another trusted person, reminding Chen of his current lack of reliable allies.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Shaojun completes the appraisal of an ordinary silver hairpin and witnesses its history.
• The hairpin belonged to Liu Yuhuan, once Jade Fragrance Pavilion’s most famous courtesan. She had fallen in love with the poor scholar Zhang Guocai, who bought the hairpin as a token of affection.
• Although Liu Yuhuan hoped to redeem herself and marry Zhang, she accepted the wealthy Ninth Prince’s patronage to obtain the necessary money. She continued secretly meeting Zhang, but the Ninth Prince discovered this and caused Zhang to disappear.
• Liu Yuhuan concealed her grief, learned martial arts, left the brothel, established a flower boat, and secretly joined the Red-Clad Tower. Her participation in the plot to assassinate the Fifth Prince and frame the Ninth Prince was motivated by revenge.
• Chen learns that Zhang had never sincerely intended to marry Liu. He had privately admitted that he would not make a brothel woman his wife, despite accepting her financial support. Chen reflects on the hypocrisy and cruelty of human relationships.
• The appraisal ranks the hairpin as Mortal Grade, Upper Rank, and rewards Chen with Paper Effigy Craft.
• Chen realizes that Paper Effigy Craft will complement his Plum-for-Peach Substitution Technique, allowing him to create lifelike substitutes more efficiently and giving him another practical profession.
• Chen opens the final wooden chest and discovers a large Spirit-Sealing Stone, several times bigger than the one he previously obtained from Lin Qi.
• He deduces that the stone was likely Liu Yuhuan’s reward for participating in the “Kill Five” operation.
• Because his Creation Heart Scripture can absorb and refine diverse spiritual energies, Chen sees the stone as an ideal cultivation resource. He hopes refining it will greatly increase his strength and perhaps open all twelve regular meridians.
• At dawn, Chen prepares to refine the stone. He first activates the Spirit Eye Technique and sees countless powerful energies—such as Nine Yang Aura, Solar Aura, Lunar Radiance, Stellar Aura, Thick Earth Aura, and Netherworld Aura—surging within it.

Character Developments

• Chen Shaojun becomes more perceptive and emotionally aware through the hairpin’s memories, recognizing the complicated motives behind Liu Yuhuan’s actions.
• He also becomes increasingly conscious of his own lack of combat power. Despite possessing many techniques and spells, he realizes that his survival often depends on tools such as the Invisibility Talisman.
• Chen gains a new skill, Paper Effigy Craft, expanding both his abilities and his potential means of earning a living.
• Liu Yuhuan is revealed as a tragic and vengeful figure. Her love, betrayal, and desire for revenge ultimately led her into the Red-Clad Tower’s dangerous conspiracy.
• Zhang Guocai is exposed as selfish and deceitful: he accepted Liu Yuhuan’s support while privately rejecting the possibility of marrying her.
• The Ninth Prince is shown to be powerful, calculating, and possessive, eliminating Zhang while concealing his role.

Significant Themes

• The deceptive nature of human relationships: Love and loyalty can conceal selfish motives, as shown by Zhang’s hypocrisy and Liu Yuhuan’s misplaced devotion.
• Revenge and the consequences of betrayal: Liu’s actions are driven by the loss of Zhang and resentment toward the Ninth Prince, illustrating how grief can lead to violence and conspiracy.
• The hidden histories of objects: The silver hairpin, seemingly ordinary, contains an entire tragic story that only Chen’s appraisal can reveal.
• Growth through skill and cultivation: Chen’s acquisition of Paper Effigy Craft and the Spirit-Sealing Stone emphasizes his constant search for greater capability and independence.
• Power and vulnerability: Chen recognizes that knowledge and techniques are not enough without sufficient martial strength.

Character Interactions

• Liu Yuhuan and Zhang Guocai share a passionate but unequal relationship, with Liu offering emotional and financial support while Zhang secretly refuses to accept her as a wife.
• Liu’s secret meetings with Zhang provoke the Ninth Prince, whose influence results in Zhang’s disappearance.
• Liu later joins the Red-Clad Tower and cooperates with others in the plot against the Fifth and Ninth Princes.
• Chen does not directly interact with these figures in the chapter but reconstructs their relationships through appraisal and uses that knowledge to understand the motives behind the ongoing political conspiracy.

Chapter Summary: Qi Sea Realm, Sixth Stage

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Shaojun begins appraising a second, much larger Spirit-Sealing Stone, whose spiritual energy and sealing restrictions are far stronger than the previous one.
• Remembering the rewards from his earlier appraisal—including a Storage Ring and the Treading Water Technique, which helped him escape the Moonlit Flower Boat—he prepares carefully by lighting a candle and burning incense.
• Using the perfected Divine Gaze Technique, Chen constructs a spiritual “city wall” to resist the chaotic spiritual energy inside the stone.
• He successfully withstands the first violent surge, then opens a controlled gap and draws the chaotic energy into his body using the Creation Heart Scripture.
• The energy severely burns and corrodes his body, but his scripture refines it into increasingly powerful Creation True Qi.
• As his dantian becomes full, Chen repeatedly breaks through his meridians:
  • He opens the Foot Three-Yang Meridians, advancing to the Qi Sea Realm, Third Stage.
  • He then opens the remaining Hand Three-Yin and Hand Three-Yang Meridians.
  • Once all Twelve Primary Meridians are open, they form a complete inner circulation, allowing him to reach the Qi Sea Realm, Sixth Stage.
• His Qi Sea expands enormously, while his true qi becomes denser, more abundant, and more powerful.
• Chen realizes that his current strength is more than twice what it was before and imagines that he could have dominated nearly everyone aboard the Moonlit Flower Boat.
• He quickly recognizes that this confidence may be dangerous because his power has risen too rapidly for him to fully control. He decides that he must consolidate his cultivation and remain cautious.
• After absorbing the final strand of chaotic energy, the Spirit-Sealing Stone’s sealing restriction is triggered: the black heavenly net transforms into chains that descend and shroud Chen.

Character Development

• Chen Shaojun demonstrates greater confidence and technical mastery in handling powerful treasures. His perfected Divine Gaze Technique allows him to resist the Spirit-Sealing Stone’s initial assault.
• His cultivation advances dramatically from his previous level to the Sixth Stage of the Qi Sea Realm, showing the immense benefits of appraising the stone.
• Despite momentary excitement and overconfidence, Chen quickly regains composure. He understands that raw cultivation alone does not determine the outcome of a battle and that timing, terrain, and other external factors remain important.
• His willingness to endure intense physical pain for greater strength highlights his determination and ambition, while his decision to consolidate afterward reveals increasing prudence.

Significant Themes

• Power gained through danger: Chen’s rapid advancement requires him to endure destructive chaotic energy, emphasizing that strength comes with risk and suffering.
• Control versus sudden growth: His cultivation increases faster than his ability to fully master it, creating a tension between acquiring power and properly consolidating it.
• Humility and vigilance: Chen’s moment of imagined dominance is tempered by his realization that cultivation is not the only factor in combat.
• Transformation through refinement: The Creation Heart Scripture turns destructive, chaotic energy into Chen’s own power, symbolizing order and growth emerging from disorder.
• Sealed power and uncertainty: The chapter ends just as the Spirit-Sealing Stone’s restrictions activate, creating suspense over whether Chen can overcome the newly triggered chains.

Character Interactions

• There are no direct interactions with other characters in the chapter.
• Chen reflects on past encounters with Steward Zhang, Zuo Bofan, Xu Zhengcheng, the painted-face old woman, Liu Yuhuan, and the fox demon Mingyue, judging that his current strength might surpass them.
• These remembered figures serve as benchmarks for measuring Chen’s dramatic growth and reinforce his awareness that powerful enemies may still pose serious threats.

Chapter Summary: “Sword Token, Sword Elder”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Shaojun confronts the restrictive power sealed within a large Spirit-Sealing Stone. A black giant net transforms into chains and attacks him.
• Using his advanced mental strength, he creates a defensive barrier and manifests a mental sword.
• He applies the Killing Sword, a sword technique derived from the Swordsman’s Sword-Dance Portrait, infusing his mental attack with powerful sword intent.
• Although each mental sword is destroyed quickly, Chen repeatedly forms new ones. Through sheer numbers, the swords gradually break apart the restrictive net.
• He completely erases the restriction but is left with only thirty percent of his mental strength. Despite the exhaustion, he realizes that martial arts can be used directly in treasure appraisal and Baleful Intent removal.
• After recovering his mental strength through meditation and recitation of the Diamond Sutra, Chen begins examining the object hidden inside the Spirit-Sealing Stone.
• He uncovers a thick, sword-shaped token engraved with the character “Sword.” Initially, he suspects it may merely be an outdated symbol of authority.
• Using the Spirit Eye Technique, he detects a highly condensed spiritual imprint and a small amount of Killing Intent on the token.
• Chen patiently removes the imprint by repeatedly striking it with mental swords and grinding it down with his spiritual will. The imprint offers no resistance, suggesting that its original owner’s consciousness has long since vanished.
• The Spirit-Seeking Treasure Mirror reveals the token’s true origin: it is one of six keys connected to Sword Elder’s Immortal Sword Abode.
• Only by gathering all six Sword Tokens can one access Sword Elder’s cultivation abode and obtain his sword-path inheritance and treasures.

Character Developments

• Chen Shaojun demonstrates increasing creativity and flexibility in using mental strength. He discovers that sword techniques are not limited to physical combat and can be transformed into powerful spiritual attacks.
• His mastery of sword intent is strengthened by Swordheart Clarity, allowing him to reproduce the Killing Sword quickly and accurately.
• Chen also shows greater patience and caution. Rather than judging the Sword Token by its appearance, he investigates its spiritual imprint and uses the Spirit-Seeking Treasure Mirror to uncover its history.
• His mental discipline is emphasized through his ability to recover using the Diamond Sutra and maintain vigilance while erasing the imprint.

Significant Themes

• Innovation through adaptation: Chen expands treasure appraisal into a form of spiritual combat by combining mental power with martial arts.
• Persistence and accumulation: Individual mental swords are weak, but repeated attacks eventually produce a decisive result, reflecting the power of sustained effort.
• Hidden value and appearances: The unimpressive Sword Token initially seems useless, but it conceals a connection to a legendary Sword Immortal and an immense inheritance.
• Time and impermanence: The original owner’s spiritual imprint has endured for centuries, yet the consciousness within it has disappeared under the erosion of Sword Qi and the passage of time.
• Discovery and inheritance: The token represents both a mystery and a possible path toward obtaining Sword Elder’s lost legacy.

Character Interactions

• Chen’s main “interaction” is with the Spirit-Sealing Stone’s restriction and the spiritual imprint within the Sword Token.
• He engages in a direct contest of will against the black restriction, using mental swords against its chains.
• He later confronts the token’s ancient imprint, gradually wearing it down without provoking a backlash.
• Through the Spirit-Seeking Treasure Mirror, Chen indirectly encounters Sword Elder’s past, learning about the creation of the six tokens and the hidden Immortal Sword Abode.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• During the appraisal of the Sword Token, Chen Shaojun witnesses its history. The token had once belonged to a powerful mountain lord of Kuiyuan West Mountain, a rogue cultivator who became a demonic cultivator after obtaining the Bloodthirsty Essence-Seizing Art.
• The mountain lord’s cultivation grew rapidly through devouring demonic blood and plundering primordial spirits, but the violent power gradually corrupted his mind. To restrain himself, he sealed his body, treasures, and primordial spirit inside Spirit-Sealing Stones, ultimately sealing himself in the largest one.
• Chen Shaojun realizes that Spirit-Sealing Stones can contain living beings, making large or ancient stones potentially dangerous for Treasure Unsealers. However, he also understands that living beings remain subject to aging and the passage of time.
• After the mountain lord’s cave was discovered during a later battle, the Spirit-Sealing Stones were seized. Four, including the one containing the mountain lord, eventually fell into the hands of Peng Yuan the Immortal Elder of the Red-Clad Cult.
• The Spirit-Sealing Stone Chen possesses had been awarded to the owner of the Moonlit Flower Boat for completing the “Kill Five” mission.
• The appraisal reveals that the Sword Token is one of six high-grade treasure tokens forged by Sword Elder. When all six are assembled, their combined sword intent will reveal the location of Sword Elder’s immortal residence and open its gates.
• Chen receives the Myriad-Mile Tracking Art, a powerful technique that allows him to secretly mark and track a person or object regardless of distance.
• Chen considers using Money Can Move the Gods to locate the other five Sword Tokens but abandons the idea because his current strength is insufficient to seize them or survive Sword Elder’s dangerous inheritance site.
• His appraisal produces enormous gains: 53,000 taels of silver, numerous antiques and treasures, expanded martial arts cultivation, and advancement to the sixth stage of the Qi Sea Realm with all twelve primary meridians opened.
• After leaving his room to report to the Appraisal Hall, Chen notices that the Spirit Tea Seed he planted has already grown into a small sapling, suggesting that he may soon be able to harvest spirit tea.
• He stops at a street stall for steamed buns and shrimp meat patty soup. An elderly peddler then approaches the stall owner, attempting to sell him an unusually expensive steel kitchen knife.

Character Development

• Chen Shaojun becomes more cautious and strategically minded. The possibility of unsealing an ancient monster makes him wary of Spirit-Sealing Stones, but he also shows curiosity and anticipation at the prospect of the Red-Clad Cult accidentally releasing the mountain lord.
• His confidence grows alongside his cultivation. Having reached the Qi Sea Realm’s sixth stage and gained the Myriad-Mile Tracking Art, he recognizes that his abilities are expanding, even though he remains aware of his limitations.
• Chen continues to conceal his true importance. He views himself as a minor figure and relies on the Red-Clad Cult’s current conflict with the Patrol Inspection Bureau to avoid immediate scrutiny.
• His delight at the spirit tea sapling reveals a more relaxed, everyday side of him, contrasting with his careful consideration of powerful enemies and dangerous inheritances.

Significant Themes

• Power and danger hidden within treasures: Objects that appear inert, such as Spirit-Sealing Stones, may contain ancient experts or catastrophic threats.
• The limits of strength: Chen gains substantially but recognizes that knowledge alone does not guarantee the ability to act. The Sword Elder inheritance and the other tokens remain beyond his current reach.
• Sealing and the passage of time: Even powerful cultivators cannot completely escape natural laws. Sealing may delay decline, but it cannot necessarily grant immortality.
• Conflict among evil forces: Chen takes dark amusement in the possibility of the demonic mountain lord clashing with the Red-Clad Cult, hoping their mutual destruction will benefit him.
• Everyday life amid cultivation intrigue: The chapter contrasts ancient treasures, demonic cultivators, and immortal inheritances with street food, practical commerce, and the humble growth of a tea plant.

Character Interactions

• Chen mentally reconstructs the mountain lord’s conflict with righteous experts and contemplates the potential confrontation between him and the Red-Clad Cult.
• He reflects on Peng Yuan the Immortal Elder’s role in acquiring and preserving the dangerous Spirit-Sealing Stones.
• At the food stall, Chen interacts indirectly with the stall owner through his meal, appreciating the honest quality and low price of the food.
• The elderly peddler engages the stall owner in a curious sales pitch for a four-tael steel kitchen knife. The high price surprises the stall owner and surrounding customers, setting up a likely mystery or encounter.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• A mysterious peddler offers a kitchen knife to a breakfast-stall owner on credit. Payment will only be collected when rice rises from thirteen to eighty coins per measure and bridal gifts reach eighteen thousand coins—conditions everyone considers nearly impossible.
• The peddler presents a written contract. After a literate bystander explains its contents, the shop owner signs and seals it, believing he has obtained the knife for free.
• Chen Shaojun recognizes the peddler as a Knife-on-Credit Seller, a practitioner of an unorthodox martial-world technique. The seller is not truly seeking payment for the knife; he is borrowing the buyer’s fortune and fate to help shield himself from future disasters.
• Chen warns the shop owner that apparently generous offers often conceal danger, but the owner dismisses the warning and completes the contract.
• Other spectators attempt to obtain similar knives. The peddler rejects one frail man, whom Chen realizes has weak vitality and poor fortune and therefore cannot serve as a suitable “credit buyer.”
• Chen observes that the shop owner has strong vitality, a stable fate, and the potential to become wealthy, making him an ideal target. However, the contract may undermine his future fortune.
• On arriving at the Appraisal Hall, Chen learns that Master Wu, a prominent appraisal master, was found dead after hanging himself in an appraisal room.
• The death is believed to be connected to a treasure Master Wu had examined. The horrifying circumstances—his stiff body and unnaturally extended tongue—suggest the involvement of a powerful ghost or other supernatural force.
• Chen reflects that the Appraisal Hall has become increasingly dangerous, with more appraisers dying than in previous years, and begins wondering what kind of treasure caused Master Wu’s death.

Character Developments

• Chen Shaojun demonstrates greater supernatural knowledge and discernment. He immediately recognizes the peddler’s ritual technique and accurately judges the fortune and vitality of the potential buyers.
• He also shows restraint: after warning the shop owner, Chen accepts that the man has made his own choice and does not continue arguing.
• The shop owner is portrayed as practical but naïve and greedy. His desire to exploit an apparently impossible bargain blinds him to the possible consequences.
• The Knife-on-Credit Seller appears outwardly sincere and calm but is revealed to be calculating and selective. He chooses customers based on their fortune and fate rather than the value of the knife.
• Master Wu, though already dead, is established as a highly respected appraiser whose mysterious death heightens the chapter’s sense of danger.

Significant Themes

• Hidden costs behind apparent generosity: The knife seems free, but the true payment is the buyer’s fortune and fate.
• Fate as a tradable resource: The Knife-on-Credit Technique treats luck, destiny, and protection from disaster as commodities that can be borrowed or exchanged.
• Choice and responsibility: Chen offers a warning, but the shop owner’s decision remains his own, emphasizing that people must bear the consequences of their choices.
• Supernatural danger in ordinary life: A street transaction conceals a sinister ritual, while a respected professional dies under mysterious circumstances.
• The increasing peril of the appraisal profession: The chapter suggests that dangerous treasures, ghosts, and baleful forces are becoming more common, foreshadowing further threats.

Character Interactions

• The peddler and shop owner negotiate the knife’s unusual terms before the gathered crowd, with the onlookers treating the deal as a joke.
• A literate spectator explains the contract to the illiterate shop owner, allowing him to sign without fear of deception.
• Chen interrupts the signing only to issue a warning, creating a brief tension between his caution and the owner’s confidence.
• The peddler later rejects another customer, and Chen silently confirms that the man’s weak fortune makes him unsuitable.
• At the Appraisal Hall, Chen questions a fellow appraiser about Master Wu’s death. The man gives only a guarded explanation, implying that the subject is taboo and likely connected to a fierce ghost.

Chapter Summary: “Wish Baleful Intent”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Shaojun returns to Room Yi-137 after the incident at the Moonlit Flower Boat, aware that more than thirty official pawnshop appraisers have disappeared.
• The disappearances cause a major disturbance. Official appraisers are essential to their pawnshops, so losing dozens at once threatens the operation and reputation of multiple businesses.
• Authorities question Chen Shaojun because he was also out that night. He pretends ignorance, claiming he remained in his rented room and had no money to visit the Moonlit Flower Boat.
• Since most witnesses are missing or dead and the authorities are already focused on the larger conflict between the Patrol Inspection Bureau and the Moonlit Flower Boat, Chen avoids suspicion.
• Chen analyzes the possible consequences and concludes that only the Red-Clad Cult poses a real threat. The major figures involved are focused on the mysterious Innate Realm expert—Chen’s disguised identity—rather than the seemingly insignificant young appraiser.
• He resumes work at the Treasure Fair, where the disappearance of so many appraisers leaves more treasures for him to inspect.
• His first appraisal is a supposedly century-old teapot used by a martial arts grandmaster. Chen discovers it is actually a newly manufactured, artificially aged counterfeit. The Spirit-Seeking Treasure Mirror rates it Mortal-grade, low rank, and rewards him with a Spirit-Communing Pill.
• His second appraisal is a massive copper gourd allegedly removed from a Buddhist statue. Chen detects two layers of killing intent: one belonging to the gourd itself and another hidden within it.
• When Chen cleanses the inner baleful intent, he discovers it consists of countless unfulfilled wishes—desires for wealth, marriage, success, romance, and other ordinary hopes.
• Chen identifies this as All-Beings Baleful Intent, or wish baleful intent, created when gathered prayers and wishes become resentment after remaining unfulfilled.
• The cleansing is especially difficult because each strand requires much more spiritual power to destroy and repeats its associated wish in Chen’s mind. Despite the mental torment and exhaustion, he successfully removes all of it.
• Using the Spirit-Seeking Treasure Mirror, Chen traces the copper gourd’s origins to Many-Treasure Temple, where it was held by the temple-protecting Many-Treasure Buddha along with other objects used to collect incense and prayer power. The chapter ends as the artifact’s history continues to unfold.

Character Developments

• Chen Shaojun demonstrates greater caution and political awareness. He carefully evaluates the aftermath of the Moonlit Flower Boat incident and successfully maintains his false identity.
• His confidence grows as he recognizes that powerful enemies are unlikely to connect him with the Innate Realm expert because of his Face-Shifting Technique.
• He also shows strong professional commitment: even after a dangerous night and exhausting investigation, he returns to appraising treasures.
• His spiritual power and endurance continue to improve. He is able to overcome a particularly troublesome form of baleful intent, though the experience leaves him mentally drained.
• Chen’s moral anger becomes clear when he realizes that a religious institution removed the valuable prayer power from the copper gourd but left the dangerous resentment behind for others to handle.

Significant Themes

• Identity and concealment: Chen survives by separating his ordinary appraiser identity from his powerful disguised persona.
• Consequences of exploitation: Religious institutions benefit from incense and faith while potentially abandoning the harmful resentment created by unfulfilled prayers.
• The hidden dangers of objects: Treasures may contain not only physical value or ordinary killing intent, but also emotional and spiritual remnants accumulated over time.
• Duty and responsibility: Appraisers are responsible both for determining an object’s authenticity and for cleansing its baleful intent, even when others have irresponsibly passed the danger on.
• Human desire and resentment: Common wishes are harmless individually, but when accumulated and frustrated, they become a powerful and disturbing supernatural force.

Character Interactions

• Chen and the authorities: Chen gives a deliberately false account during questioning, exploiting the lack of surviving witnesses and the authorities’ focus on the larger Moonlit Flower Boat case.
• Chen and the Red-Clad Cult: Their relationship remains indirect and dangerous. The cult is searching for the powerful expert involved in the conflict, unaware that Chen and that figure are the same person.
• Chen and Wang Xinyuan: Wang may suspect Chen because of the missing conical object, but the immediate crisis prevents him from investigating.
• Chen and the copper gourd’s accumulated petitioners: Although the petitioners are not present as living characters, their repeated wishes intrude upon Chen’s mind during the cleansing, creating the chapter’s main psychological conflict.
• Chen and the temple behind the artifact: Chen becomes resentful toward Many-Treasure Temple for benefiting from the prayer power while leaving the wish baleful intent embedded in the treasure.

Chapter Summary: “Treasure-Fixing Divine Light”

Key Plot Points and Events

• The chapter reveals the history of the Bronze Gourd. A monk from Many-Treasure Temple, Mingxin, and a Daoist nun secretly fell in love and had a child, provoking conflict between their religious communities.
• Their relationship became the excuse for a violent confrontation between the Buddhist temple and the Daoist temple. An invited senior Daoist cultivator, who already held a grudge against Abbot Minghui, deliberately intensified the dispute.
• The battle caused heavy casualties and shattered the Many-Treasure Buddha. The treasures held by the statue were stolen, repeatedly resold, stripped of their faith power, and eventually entered the Treasure Fair. The Bronze Gourd retained dangerous Wish Baleful Intent.
• Chen Shaojun completes the appraisal of the Bronze Gourd. The Spirit-Seeking Treasure Mirror ranks it as a High-Grade Treasure, rewarding him with the Treasure-Fixing Divine Light.
• The Treasure-Fixing Divine Light is a defensive combat spell that immobilizes an enemy’s weapon or attacking treasure, functioning as a specialized alternative to a Body-Fixing Technique. Chen is delighted to gain another life-saving ability.
• Chen continues appraising less dangerous treasures and receives ordinary but useful rewards such as Qi-Nourishing, Spirit-Communing, and Spirit-Nurturing Pills.
• News spreads that the Red-Clad Cult may disrupt the upcoming Moonlit Flower Boat auction. More urgently, over thirty official appraisers have disappeared, and Appraiser Master Wu Yuan has apparently hanged himself after failing to appraise a mysterious auction treasure.
• Chief Appraiser Qin Wenshan warns Chen not to accept any assignment involving Appraisal Room Jia-7, where both Wu Yuan and a servant sent to retrieve the treasure died by hanging.
• Because the treasure is intended to be the auction’s finale, officials are pressuring ordinary official appraisers to examine it despite the danger. Qin advises Chen to refuse, even invoking the authority of the Lin Clan Pawnshop if necessary.

Character Developments

• Chen Shaojun becomes stronger and more confident after obtaining the Treasure-Fixing Divine Light. He also shows greater caution, keeping his involvement in the Moonlit Flower Boat incident secret to avoid investigation.
• Chen remains practical and morally detached regarding the Bronze Gourd’s origins, blaming the unscrupulous Daoist who stole and resold it rather than dwelling on the tragic romance that caused the conflict.
• Qin Wenshan is shown to be genuinely concerned for Chen’s safety. Although troubled by the disappearance of the appraisers and the damage to the appraisal profession, he personally seeks Chen out to warn him.
• Mingxin and the Daoist nun are presented as victims of forbidden affection whose relationship sparked a larger institutional conflict.
• The senior Daoist cultivator is characterized as vindictive and opportunistic, using the religious dispute to settle an old grudge against Abbot Minghui.

Significant Themes

• Religious rivalry and institutional hypocrisy: The conflict is ostensibly about broken precepts, but the deeper struggle concerns orthodoxy, prestige, and control of incense offerings.
• Greed and exploitation: Sacred treasures are stolen, stripped of their spiritual power, and resold for profit, while the consequences of their lingering baleful intent are ignored.
• Danger hidden beneath appearances: The Bronze Gourd and the Jia-7 treasure appear to be appraisal objects, but both conceal deadly spiritual hazards.
• Self-preservation versus duty: Officials prioritize presenting a prestigious auction finale even when doing so endangers appraisers. Qin urges Chen to protect himself rather than obey blindly.
• Rumor and uncertainty: Much of the information surrounding the Moonlit Flower Boat, the Red-Clad Cult, and the appraiser deaths spreads through speculation, creating an atmosphere of growing panic.
• Power struggles and collateral damage: Personal grudges and romantic indiscretions escalate into conflicts that harm entire religious communities and the wider appraisal industry.

Character Interactions

• Mingxin and the Daoist nun meet at a wealthy man’s home and develop mutual affection while discussing Buddhism and Daoism.
• The Daoist community confronts Many-Treasure Temple after learning of the pregnancy, leading to a battle fueled by both religious hostility and the senior Daoist cultivator’s personal grudge.
• Chen mentally condemns the Daoist treasure thief and vows to make him pay if they meet.
• In the dining hall, Chen hears appraiser apprentices discussing the Red-Clad Cult and the disappearances, showing how fear and rumors are spreading among the workers.
• Qin Wenshan first confirms that Chen was not involved in the Moonlit Flower Boat incident, then warns him about the deadly treasure in Jia-7 and urges him not to accept the assignment.
• The chapter ends with Chen questioning why the authorities have not simply called in a Daoist cultivator to deal with the supposedly haunted treasure, setting up the mystery of what truly happened in Appraisal Room Jia-7.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Qin Wenshan explains why the finale treasure of the Treasure Auction must be handled by appraisers rather than Daoist exorcists. Exorcism techniques might destroy or severely damage the treasure, whereas appraisers can remove its Baleful Intent and ghosts while preserving its value.
• He warns Chen Shaojun not to accept invitations from anyone seeking him out, since powerful figures may be willing to sacrifice appraisers for the sake of the treasure.
• Chen returns to his appraisal room and cultivates the Tai Shang Perception Scripture, focusing on strengthening his dharma power through the Celestial Cycle Star Chart.
• His first afternoon appraisal is a tower-shaped incense burner. It contains Baleful Intent that has formed a cycle and is released through its fragrance.
• Using the Divine Gaze Technique, Chen destroys the Baleful Intent. The Spirit-Seeking Treasure Mirror reveals that the burner once belonged to a scholarly household. Its accumulated Baleful Intent gradually made the owner violent, reckless, and addicted to gambling, contributing to the family’s decline.
• The appraisal earns Chen the method for creating Spirit-Calming Incense, an Arcane Incense that steadies the mind, improves concentration, and supports cultivation.
• The next item is a beautifully painted Butterfly-Patterned Plate marred by an immovable black patch. Chen discovers that the substance is harmless but absorbs the black particles with his spiritual power.
• This unexpectedly makes his spiritual power denser, stronger, faster, and capable of reaching farther, though its total quantity does not increase. The chapter ends as the Spirit-Seeking Treasure Mirror begins tracing the plate’s origins.

Character Developments

• Chen Shaojun demonstrates increasing caution and maturity by accepting Qin Wenshan’s warning and recognizing the dangers surrounding the auction’s finale treasure.
• His cultivation continues to progress steadily. Though he misses the rapid advancement provided by Merit Golden Light, he comes to value the tangible fulfillment of gradual training.
• Chen’s appraisal abilities and spiritual power improve significantly after absorbing the black particles from the plate, suggesting he may gain unexpected benefits through certain appraisal opportunities.
• Qin Wenshan is established as a protective senior figure who understands the political and personal dangers within the Appraisal Hall.

Significant Themes

• Preserving value versus using brute force: The chapter contrasts destructive exorcism with the delicate methods of professional appraisers.
• Greed and the expendability of individuals: Powerful people may prioritize a rare treasure over the lives of appraisers.
• The gradual corruption caused by hidden evil: Baleful Intent does not ruin the scholarly household instantly; instead, it slowly alters personality, damages relationships, and contributes to financial collapse.
• Patience in cultivation: Chen recognizes that steady improvement is slower but more meaningful and reliable than sudden advancement.
• Unexpected opportunities: The black substance on the plate appears to be an impurity, yet cleansing it grants Chen a major qualitative improvement in spiritual power.

Character Interactions

• Qin Wenshan gives Chen practical advice and warns him not to leave with anyone who approaches him, while Chen respectfully accepts the guidance.
• Chen’s appraisal of the incense burner reveals how supernatural forces can influence ordinary people and families over time, though he chooses not to investigate the household’s remaining problems.
• His interaction with the Butterfly-Patterned Plate is largely internal: curiosity becomes surprise when the seemingly worthless black particles are absorbed and strengthen his spiritual power.

Chapter Summary: “Don’t Get Cocky, You’re Next”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Shaojun appraises a valuable Butterfly-Patterned Plate and learns its history through the Spirit-Seeking Treasure Mirror.
• The plate was a masterpiece from the Ten-Thousand Porcelain Kiln Workshop, created for the Shengde Emperor’s hundredth birthday and later given to Dream Consort.
• After Dream Consort was framed, imprisoned in the Cold Palace, and eventually died from illness, the plate was used as a medicine tray. Residue from the spiritual medicine Celestial Star Illusory God Paste fused to its surface, causing the plate to be discarded from the palace.
• The appraisal reveals that the medicine residue could greatly strengthen spiritual power. Chen Shaojun memorizes the medicine’s name and the physician who provided it, hoping to obtain it in the future.
• The plate is judged a Superior Dharma Grade treasure. Chen receives the Porcelain Firing and Painting Method, allowing him to reproduce high-quality colored porcelain and potentially earn substantial profits.
• Chen then appraises a pair of bloodstained antique walnuts. He quickly removes their Killing Intent and receives the Lu Ban Art, granting him extensive woodworking knowledge.
• Outside the appraisal rooms, Chen witnesses Manager Sun forcibly sending a newly promoted Certified Appraiser on a dangerous assignment. The appraiser fears he will die, like Appraiser Ling, who was previously taken away and never returned.
• Another appraiser explains that the higher-ups are selecting inexperienced, unaffiliated Certified Appraisers to investigate the circumstances surrounding an Appraisal Grandmaster’s suicide.
• The frightened appraiser warns Chen that if he dies or fails, Chen may be chosen next.

Character Developments

• Chen Shaojun grows more confident in his appraisal abilities. His stronger spiritual power allows him to dispel Killing Intent over thirty percent faster than before.
• He gains two valuable skills: porcelain production and painting, and Lu Ban-style woodworking.
• Chen also becomes increasingly aware of the corruption and danger within the Appraisal Hall. Rather than remaining oblivious, he begins investigating the suspicious treatment of fellow appraisers.
• Dream Consort is presented as a tragic figure: once favored for a decade, she is destroyed by palace intrigue, suffers in the Cold Palace, and dies despite the Emperor’s late attempt to save her.
• Manager Sun appears authoritarian and evasive, coercing appraisers into dangerous work while concealing the true nature of their assignments.
• The newly promoted Certified Appraisers are shown as vulnerable employees without powerful backing, easily exploited by the higher-ups.

Significant Themes

• The hidden cost of luxury: The Butterfly-Patterned Plate’s beauty and value conceal the suffering, political struggles, and tragedy associated with its history.
• Power and exploitation: The Appraisal Hall sacrifices inexperienced appraisers to protect more established figures, revealing a hierarchy built on fear and expendability.
• Knowledge as power: Chen’s appraisal abilities provide him with craftsmanship, wealth, and spiritual advantages, while information about the dangerous investigation may help him prepare.
• Impermanence and fate: Dream Consort’s fall from favor and the appraisers’ precarious positions show how quickly status and security can disappear.
• Danger beneath ordinary objects: Both the porcelain plate and the walnuts carry hidden histories, spiritual forces, and consequences that are invisible to ordinary people.

Character Interactions

• Chen silently observes Manager Sun ordering guards to drag away a terrified appraiser.
• When Chen questions Manager Sun, Sun dismisses the incident as a minor misunderstanding and refuses to explain.
• Chen then approaches the neighboring appraiser, who cautiously opens the door and reveals the truth behind the forced assignments.
• The appraiser warns Chen not to become complacent, implying that Chen may be the next target if the current appraiser fails.

Chapter Summary: “The Stingy, Black-Hearted Jiazi Room Seven”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Shaojun realizes that the appraisers waiting ahead of him are likely being sent to their deaths one after another. The frightened appraiser before him even resents Chen because Chen would be called next if he died.
• The Treasure Auction’s final item was apparently stolen or lost during an attack by the Red-Clad Cult, and this dangerous treasure was brought in to replace it.
• After several appraisers die—including an Appraisal Grandmaster and multiple Certified Appraisers—the Mo Clan Trading House continues forcing people to appraise the object.
• Long delays between appraisals reveal that the appraisers are being made to wait like condemned prisoners before their “execution.”
• Manager Sun and guards forcibly remove another reluctant appraiser, ignoring his threats and powerful connections.
• Manager Sun then summons Chen Shaojun to appraise the dangerous item. Chen agrees, partly because he is confident in his abilities and curious about the treasure.
• Manager Sun offers him one hundred taels of silver, a position at a Mo Clan pawnshop, and the possibility of becoming an Appraisal Grandmaster’s disciple. Chen considers these rewards inadequate and insulting, since he has already surpassed such promises.
• Chen is taken to Jiazi Room Seven, a heavily sealed room covered in talismans. Inside is a small green bottle containing immense Killing Intent and a terrifying Red-Clad Female Ghost.
• Chen identifies the ghost as a powerful Vengeful Ghost, far more dangerous than the spirits he previously encountered. He carefully determines that she will attack if he comes within roughly three feet of the bottle.
• Realizing that previous appraisers were treated as expendable sacrifices, Chen prepares to begin the appraisal from a safe distance using candles and incense.
• As soon as the ritual begins, the Red-Clad Female Ghost becomes agitated, vanishes from the bottle, and appears directly in front of Chen.

Character Developments

• Chen Shaojun: Displays growing confidence, composure, and strategic caution. Though disturbed by the ghost’s strength and angered by the Mo Clan’s disregard for human life, he remains analytical rather than panicked. His perfected Divine Gaze and appraisal abilities make him far more capable than the officials realize.
• Manager Sun: Reveals himself as manipulative and morally callous. He minimizes the treasure’s danger, surrounds Chen with guards, and offers rewards that sound impressive to ordinary appraisers but are meaningless to Chen.
• The other appraisers: Their fear and resistance emphasize the deadly nature of the treasure. Their deaths show how the Mo Clan treats lower-ranking appraisers as disposable resources.
• The Red-Clad Female Ghost: Is established as a powerful, intelligent, and highly resentful Vengeful Ghost. Her hostility is linked to the deaths and suffering surrounding the bottle.

Significant Themes

• Exploitation and expendability: The Mo Clan knowingly sacrifices appraisers rather than confronting the danger directly.
• Institutional callousness: Wealth and authority allow the trading house to disregard ordinary people’s lives while disguising coercion as employment.
• Deception and manipulation: Manager Sun downplays the danger and exaggerates the value of the offered rewards.
• Courage versus recklessness: Chen does not blindly trust the situation; he investigates, maintains distance, and prepares carefully before acting.
• Hidden power and underestimated ability: The Mo Clan assumes Chen is merely another Certified Appraiser, unaware that he possesses abilities far beyond their expectations.
• Resentment and accumulated violence: The ghost’s growing Killing Intent reflects the suffering and deaths connected to the treasure.

Character Interactions

• A terrified appraiser angrily slams the door on Chen, resenting him for being next in line.
• Manager Sun orders guards to remove a reluctant appraiser, demonstrating the trading house’s coercive authority.
• Chen confronts Manager Sun about the treasure’s danger and the compensation offered, exposing the manager’s evasiveness and stinginess.
• Manager Sun escorts Chen to Jiazi Room Seven while guards subtly prevent escape.
• Chen observes and mentally judges Manager Sun’s disregard for the appraisers’ lives.
• Inside the room, Chen faces the Red-Clad Female Ghost directly. His cautious approach and ritual preparations provoke her into attacking, ending the chapter on an immediate supernatural confrontation.

Chapter Summary: Treasure Hidden Beneath Dust

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Shaojun appraises the mysterious Green Bottle, preparing to use the Baleful Severing Ruler if its overwhelming Killing Intent becomes uncontrollable.
• His enhanced spiritual power—strengthened by the Celestial Star Illusory God Paste—gradually erodes all the Killing Intent within the bottle. He succeeds but is left with only a tenth of his spiritual power.
• The Spirit-Seeking Treasure Mirror reveals the Green Bottle’s history:
  • It was refined from the stomach pouch of a Heaven-Swallower demon.
  • The bottle absorbs lunar energy and produces Moonlight True Essence, which can aid cultivation, treasure refinement, and the growth of spiritual materials and medicines.
  • It was originally a valuable sect treasure but was lost during a demonic assault.
  • After passing through many owners, it came into the hands of a mortal who used it to begin cultivating.
  • The mortal lost it after leaving it in his cave abode, which was raided by Rogue Cultivators.
• The Green Bottle eventually came into the possession of a father and daughter who ran a small shop. A powerful young prince coveted the daughter, killed her father, and assaulted her after they rejected him.
• Driven by grief and hatred, the daughter committed suicide in red clothing. Because the Green Bottle was absorbing lunar energy nearby, her soul was drawn inside it and gradually became a powerful Red-Clad Female Ghost.
• The bottle later entered the Mo Clan Trading House, where several appraisers died. It was sent to the Treasure Fair as a possible finale auction item, but multiple appraisers were killed by the ghost before Chen Shaojun handled it.
• After the appraisal, the Spirit-Seeking Treasure Mirror begins determining the Green Bottle’s rank and grade, setting up the chapter’s conclusion.

Character Developments

• Chen Shaojun: Demonstrates major growth in spiritual power and appraisal ability. He successfully handles a treasure far beyond the difficulty of his previous appraisals and gains a deeper understanding of the dangers and value hidden within ordinary objects. He also develops sympathy for the Red-Clad Female Ghost and resolves to avenge her someday, once he becomes strong enough.
• The Red-Clad Female Ghost: Her tragic transformation is explained. Once a victim of injustice, she becomes powerful through the Green Bottle’s Moonlight True Essence but is trapped inside it, unable to act on her hatred until she encounters the appraisers.
• The mortal cultivator: His rise from an ordinary person to a practitioner is shown, illustrating how the Green Bottle can transform the fate of someone who understands its value.
• The young prince: Revealed as arrogant, cruel, and protected by status and powerful retainers. His actions directly create the ghost’s resentment and tragedy.
• The Green Bottle: Its apparent ordinariness contrasts sharply with its immense value and dangerous history.

Significant Themes

• Hidden value and recognition: Precious treasures may appear ordinary and remain neglected when no one understands their true nature. The Green Bottle is repeatedly lost, misidentified, or sold cheaply despite being valuable even to major Daoist sects.
• Power and social injustice: The father and daughter are unable to resist the young prince because they lack sufficient strength or backing. The chapter emphasizes that cultivation and status determine whether one can protect oneself.
• Tragedy born from oppression: The Red-Clad Female Ghost is created not by innate evil but by murder, assault, helplessness, and unresolved resentment.
• Growth through hardship: Chen Shaojun’s successful appraisal shows his rapidly increasing abilities, while his inability to punish the young prince reminds him that he is still weak in the wider world.
• The dual nature of treasures: The Green Bottle is both a life-giving tool that nurtures medicines and the vessel that traps and nourishes a vengeful ghost.

Character Interactions

• Chen Shaojun confronts the Green Bottle’s Killing Intent in a contest between his spiritual will and the treasure’s baleful energy.
• The father and daughter resist the young prince’s advances, provoking his violent retaliation.
• The mortal cultivator entrusts the Green Bottle’s function to a puppet before leaving on an expedition, indirectly causing it to be stolen.
• Rogue Cultivators treat the bottle as an ordinary object and sell it cheaply.
• The Mo Clan Trading House recognizes only that the bottle is dangerous and valuable after several appraisers die, eventually sending it to the auction.
• Chen Shaojun becomes emotionally connected to the Red-Clad Female Ghost after learning her history, viewing her as a subordinate he may one day protect and avenge.

Chapter Summary: “Treasures Gathering Dust”

1. Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Shaojun appraises the mysterious Green Bottle, keeping the Baleful Severing Ruler ready in case its Killing Intent becomes uncontrollable.
• His recently strengthened spiritual power allows him to completely cleanse the vast Killing Intent inside the bottle, though the effort leaves him nearly exhausted, with only one-tenth of his spiritual power remaining.
• The Spirit-Seeking Treasure Mirror reveals the bottle’s history:
  • It was created from the stomach pouch of a Heaven-Swallower demon and forged into a magic treasure that gathers Lunar Radiance and produces Moonlight True Essence.
  • The Moonlight True Essence can aid cultivation, refine treasures, and accelerate the growth of spiritual plants and medicines.
  • It was originally a valuable treasure belonging to a sect, but was scattered during a devastating attack by demons and Demon Sect cultivators.
  • After passing through several owners, it came into the possession of a father and daughter who ran a small shop.
• A young prince coveted the daughter. After she and her father rejected and mocked him, he had the father killed and assaulted the daughter.
• Driven by grief and hatred, the daughter committed suicide in red clothing, becoming a powerful Red-Clad Female Ghost. Because the Green Bottle absorbed her soul, it continually nourished her with Moonlight True Essence and intensified her resentment.
• The shop’s belongings were seized and eventually sold cheaply through official channels. The Green Bottle was purchased by the Mo Clan Trading House after several appraisers died trying to examine it.
• Mo Zhu-Xiang selected it as a possible finale item for the Treasure Fair, but the Appraisal Grandmaster and several later appraisers were killed or driven to suicide by the ghost within it.
• Chen Shaojun becomes the first person capable of successfully appraising it.
• The chapter ends as the Spirit-Seeking Treasure Mirror prepares to determine the Green Bottle’s final grade and rank.

2. Character Developments

• Chen Shaojun demonstrates major growth in spiritual power. He can now overcome a level of Killing Intent that would previously have been impossible for him to handle.
• His successful appraisal strengthens his confidence and deepens his understanding of how powerful and valuable the Green Bottle truly is.
• Chen develops sympathy for the Red-Clad Female Ghost and begins to regard her as a subordinate or “little underling.” He wishes to avenge her, but recognizes that his current Qi Sea Realm Sixth Stage cultivation is insufficient.
• His ambition is reinforced: he resolves to become strong enough to kill the young prince and protect those unable to resist powerful enemies.
• The Red-Clad Female Ghost is shown not merely as a dangerous spirit, but as a victim whose hatred was created by injustice and continued suffering.
• The ordinary cultivator who once owned the bottle is portrayed as someone whose rise to cultivation depended heavily on recognizing and properly using hidden treasures.

3. Significant Themes

• Treasures can remain hidden without someone capable of recognizing their value. The Green Bottle is a major treasure, yet it repeatedly changes hands and is eventually sold for only five taels of silver.
• The consequences of ignorance and carelessness: The bottle’s former owner lost it because he entrusted it to a puppet while away, while later owners failed to understand its purpose or danger.
• Power and social injustice: The father and daughter are destroyed because they lack status or powerful backing, while the young prince acts with impunity.
• Strength versus morality: Chen wants to help the ghost, but understands that good intentions are meaningless without sufficient power.
• Suffering and resentment: The Green Bottle’s nourishing power unintentionally strengthens the murdered woman’s ghost, transforming a tool for cultivation into the vessel of a supernatural tragedy.
• The contrast between appearance and true worth: The ordinary-looking bottle conceals immense value, reinforcing the chapter’s focus on hidden potential and overlooked treasures.

4. Character Interactions

• Chen interacts indirectly with the Red-Clad Female Ghost through the Ghost-Repelling Talisman. Though she is dangerous, he sympathizes with her past and promises himself that he will eventually avenge her.
• The father and daughter resist the young prince’s advances, but their defiance provokes his violent retaliation.
• The young prince’s abuse of power becomes the central human tragedy behind the ghost’s creation.
• The Mo Clan Trading House, especially President Mo Zhu-Xiang, treats the Green Bottle as an auction asset, unaware at first of the full danger posed by the ghost inside.
• The succession of appraisers demonstrates the bottle’s lethal nature, while Chen’s successful appraisal distinguishes him from all previous examiners.
• The chapter closes with Chen awaiting the Spirit-Seeking Treasure Mirror’s judgment, setting up the revelation of the Green Bottle’s official treasure grade.

Chapter Summary: “Nail-Head Seven Arrows”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Shaojun appraises the Pure Moon Vase, learning that it is an Upper Spirit Rank treasure capable of absorbing lunar radiance and condensing Moonlight True Essence.
• His reward is Nail-Head Seven Arrows, which he initially expects to be a magical treasure but discovers is actually a powerful curse-killing spell.
• The spell allows him to create a straw or paper effigy of a target and, using the target’s name and birth details, draw out and control their three souls and seven spirits from a great distance.
• Chen realizes that the technique could kill enemies secretly, though its effectiveness depends on his cultivation and carries the danger of backlash against stronger opponents.
• He decides to test the spell by helping the Red-Clad Female Ghost, Lü Xiu, take revenge on the young prince who caused her death.
• Lü Xiu reveals the prince’s name and Eight Characters of birth. Using the Paper Effigy Technique, Chen creates an image of the prince and performs Nail-Head Seven Arrows.
• The spell successfully pulls the young prince’s soul into the effigy. Lü Xiu confronts him and tears his soul apart, killing him.
• Chen burns both the prince’s effigy and the paper effigy used for Manager Sun’s Plum-for-Peach Substitution Technique, eliminating possible traces.
• Completely drained of magical and spiritual power, Chen begins meditating with the Tai Shang Perception Scripture to recover.

Character Developments

• Chen Shaojun gains a highly dangerous curse-killing technique and becomes substantially more formidable. He also demonstrates his willingness to use indirect methods to punish enemies while maintaining his self-image as a righteous person.
• He remains cautious and pragmatic, recognizing that Nail-Head Seven Arrows is not invincible and could leave him defenseless after use.
• Lü Xiu, the Red-Clad Female Ghost, moves from reluctant submission toward genuine gratitude. Her overwhelming resentment is finally given an outlet through revenge.
• The young prince is revealed to be weak and cowardly beneath his privileged position. His terror upon encountering Lü Xiu reflects his guilt and fear of supernatural retribution.

Significant Themes

• Justice and revenge: The chapter explores the blurred boundary between righteous punishment and personal vengeance, as Chen enables Lü Xiu to exact revenge.
• Power and restraint: Nail-Head Seven Arrows grants Chen extraordinary offensive power, but its immense energy cost and risk of backlash emphasize the need for caution.
• Hidden consequences and karma: Chen takes care to destroy the effigies and dispel the substitution technique so that stronger practitioners cannot trace the attack back to him.
• The supernatural nature of guilt: The prince’s past wrongdoing literally returns to confront him in the form of Lü Xiu’s vengeful spirit.
• Control versus loyalty: Lü Xiu remains bound by Chen’s talisman, yet her sincere thanks suggests that their relationship may be developing beyond mere coercion.

Important Character Interactions

• Chen and Lü Xiu negotiate her revenge. He offers his new spell as a means of killing her former tormentor, while she supplies the identifying information needed for the ritual.
• During the ritual, Chen controls the situation and restrains Lü Xiu until the young prince’s soul is captured.
• Lü Xiu confronts and destroys the prince’s soul while Chen observes and allows her to complete her revenge.
• Afterward, Lü Xiu sincerely thanks Chen, and he returns her to the Ghost-Repelling Talisman before collapsing into recovery meditation.

Chapter Summary: “Why Are You Still Alive?”

Key Plot Points and Events

• After cleansing the Pure Moon Vase, Chen Shaojun recovers some of his mana and spiritual power.
• Two guards enter the room expecting to collect his corpse, having assumed the cursed treasure killed him. They panic when they find him alive and summon Manager Sun.
• Manager Sun arrives with black handprints around his neck—the result of the female ghost’s attack—but hides the injury beneath a cloth.
• Chen claims the appraisal was normal, emphasizing that the vase’s Killing Intent was extremely powerful and that he was nearly overwhelmed. He pretends not to know anything about the ghost or Manager Sun’s injury.
• Manager Sun cautiously takes the vase and discovers that its Killing Intent has completely vanished, confirming that Chen successfully appraised it.
• Chen is ordered to remain inside the Appraisal Hall during the auction because of the Red-Clad Cult crisis and the disappearance of more than thirty Certified Appraisers.
• Returning to his room, Chen encounters Chief Appraiser Qin Wenshan and Second Appraiser Dai Ming, who are shocked that he survived the deadly appraisal.
• Chen allows them to believe that previous appraisers weakened the treasure before he handled it, concealing his true abilities.
• Later, Chen overhears guards discussing Manager Sun’s apparent encounter with a ghost. Their fear grows as they wonder whether the female ghost remains inside the Appraisal Hall.

Character Developments

• Chen Shaojun demonstrates increasing control, resourcefulness, and composure. He successfully conceals both his supernatural methods and the ghost’s involvement while manipulating others’ assumptions.
• Manager Sun becomes visibly fearful and suspicious after being attacked. He remains determined to verify whether the ghost is still inside the vase but is unable to uncover the truth.
• Qin Wenshan and Dai Ming are astonished by Chen’s survival but cannot accept that he completed the appraisal through his own strength. Their mistaken explanation helps Chen preserve his secret.
• The guards reveal the growing terror surrounding the cursed treasure and Manager Sun. Their fear turns into resentment and dark humor because of Manager Sun’s harsh treatment of them.

Significant Themes

• Concealment and deception: Chen survives by carefully controlling the information he reveals and allowing others to form convenient but false conclusions.
• Fear of the unknown: The guards and appraisers react to rumors of ghosts and deadly treasures, showing how quickly uncertainty becomes superstition.
• Hidden power: Chen’s true abilities remain underestimated, reinforcing the contrast between his outwardly ordinary appearance and his actual strength.
• Institutional danger and authority: Despite the deadly risks, appraisers are forced to obey orders from powerful officials and remain confined during the auction.
• Justice and resentment: The guards’ satisfaction at Manager Sun’s misfortune reflects their anger over his abuse of authority.

Character Interactions

• Chen calmly misleads the corpse-collecting guards and Manager Sun, pretending ignorance about the supernatural events.
• Manager Sun probes Chen for signs that he saw the ghost, while Chen subtly turns attention toward the handprints on Sun’s neck by joking about his “wife.”
• Qin Wenshan and Dai Ming question Chen’s survival and rationalize it as luck rather than ability.
• The guards’ conversation spreads the rumor that the ghost escaped from the appraisal room, ending the chapter on renewed anxiety about whether it is still present.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Shaojun concludes that Manager Sun’s neck wound contains Yin Baleful Intent mixed with a Vengeful Ghost’s resentment. Although difficult to remove, Chen considers the punishment sufficient and decides not to pursue the matter unless Manager Sun provokes him again.
• Back in appraisal room Yi-137, Chen decides to appraise treasures taken from the Moonlit Flower Boat, including jade, jewelry, paintings, calligraphy, and weapons.
• His first appraisal is a cracked Azure Flame Jade, which can ward off baleful energy and disaster. The jade once saved its owner from a small ghost, but cracked in the process. Its repair would require burying it for three years.
• The Spirit-Seeking Treasure Mirror rewards Chen with the Weeding Technique, which can safely remove spiritually invasive weeds from medicine gardens without harming valuable herbs. Chen is pleased because he has recently planted Spirit Tea Seeds.
• After appraising several ordinary jade pieces and receiving mostly common pills and less useful skills, Chen decides to try appraising ten treasures simultaneously, treating the process like a ten-draw lottery.
• The ten jade pieces reveal varied histories: some were pawned by aristocrats, some stolen, and others exchanged by wealthy patrons or flower-boat entertainers.
• The ten rewards include pills, movement and performance techniques, Lu Ban’s carpenter inheritance, a Bad-Luck Talisman, the archery technique Piercing the Poplar at a Hundred Paces, and, most importantly, a wisp of Merit Golden Light, which can rapidly strengthen his dharma power.
• Chen is especially pleased with the Merit Golden Light but chooses not to absorb it immediately.
• He examines the performance-related rewards—Four-Part Comic Performance and Storytelling Specialization—and realizes that, combined with his existing vocal mimicry skill, he could become an exceptionally famous entertainer.
• Despite the potential fame, Chen rejects the idea for now because performers hold low social status in the current era. He imagines being mocked as “nothing more than an actor” and treated like a beggar despite his talent.

Character Developments

• Chen Shaojun demonstrates restraint by refusing to further punish Manager Sun, though he remains confident that he can settle the matter if necessary.
• He becomes increasingly strategic in using the Spirit-Seeking Treasure Mirror, recognizing that mass appraisals may produce better rewards than appraising items individually.
• His resourcefulness grows as he evaluates how each new skill could complement his existing abilities, especially the Grass-Treading Technique with his Golden Wild Goose Technique.
• Chen also reveals a humorous and practical awareness of fame, money, and social reputation. Although intrigued by the possibility of becoming a celebrity, he values dignity and timing more than empty popularity.
• His growing collection of techniques suggests that he is gradually developing talents far beyond treasure appraisal, including movement, farming, craftsmanship, performance, and combat.

Significant Themes

• Consequences and restraint: Manager Sun’s suffering reflects the consequences of offending others, while Chen’s decision not to pursue revenge shows controlled power rather than weakness.
• Value hidden in ordinary objects: Even low-ranked jade contains histories, supernatural significance, and the possibility of valuable rewards.
• Risk and strategy: Chen treats appraisal like a lottery, balancing the certainty of modest gains against the chance of obtaining rare and powerful rewards.
• The tension between talent and social status: Chen recognizes that exceptional skill does not guarantee respect. Entertainers may achieve widespread fame while still being socially humiliated.
• Adaptability and accumulation: Chen continually combines new abilities with old ones, building a broad and flexible foundation for future cultivation and survival.
• Fame versus dignity: The chapter questions whether public recognition is worthwhile if it comes with degrading treatment.

Character Interactions

• Chen’s main interaction is indirect and adversarial with Manager Sun. After defeating or restraining the vengeful force connected to him, Chen leaves him to suffer the consequences but warns himself that renewed provocation would lead to harsher retaliation.
• The two guards worry that the Vengeful Ghost may return, but Chen dismisses their fears, confident that he has already subdued it.
• Through the treasures’ appraisal visions, Chen observes the relationships between poor scholars, aristocrats, wealthy patrons, flower-boat entertainers, and the boat owner, revealing how jade changed hands through debt, gambling, theft, rewards, and temporary pawning.
• Chen also imagines a future interaction with an audience, picturing the contradiction between being admired for his talent and insulted for being an entertainer. This imagined humiliation ultimately convinces him not to pursue a public performing career yet.

Chapter Summary: “Ancient Immortal Method, Old Trade”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Shaojun examines the rewards from his ten-draw:
  • Lu Ban Art: Carpenter’s Inheritance, granting extraordinary woodworking and mortise-and-tenon skills, though not the legendary spellcasting abilities associated with Lu Ban’s techniques.
  • Bad-Luck Talisman, which causes its target’s fortune to collapse and disasters to occur continuously.
  • Piercing the Poplar at a Hundred Paces, giving him exceptional archery skill and near-perfect accuracy.
  • Most importantly, he receives one point of Merit Golden Light, equivalent to roughly ten days of arduous cultivation.
• He realizes that Merit Golden Light may be obtainable from ordinary treasures and could eventually provide enormous cultivation gains.
• Because the jade treasures contain increasingly heavy Killing Intent and his mental power is depleted, Chen temporarily stops appraising them.
• He uses the Purification Spell, rests, and cultivates the Tai Shang Perception Scripture through the night.
• Troubled by his inability to determine his cultivation level, Chen uses Money Can Move the Gods to ask about the difference between his cultivation method and the world’s Daoist system. The answer costs him three thousand taels of silver.
• He learns that the Tai Shang Perception Scripture is an Ancient Immortal Method with no formal realm divisions. Instead, progress is measured by cultivation time:
  • One year to build the foundation
  • Ten years to enter the Dao
  • One hundred years to attain truth
  • One thousand years to roam freely through chaos
  • Ten thousand years to become an immortal
• Modern Daoist cultivation depends on Spiritual Roots and uses clearly defined realms such as Origin Condensation, Dao Foundation, Golden Core, and Nascent Soul.
• Chen concludes that the Ancient Immortal Method is ideal for him because it requires no Spiritual Root aptitude, whereas he has no innate qualification for conventional Daoist cultivation.
• He estimates that, after about a month of cultivation and the assistance of Merit Golden Light, he has accumulated roughly two months’ worth of cultivation—still far from the one year required for foundation-building.
• He formulates a long-term plan: obtain more Merit Golden Light through treasure appraisal, use Spirit-Sealing Stones to improve martial cultivation, and acquire the Divine Unsealing Technique to surpass his mental-power bottleneck.

Character Development

• Chen Shaojun becomes more confident and methodical regarding his cultivation path. His earlier confusion about his strength is replaced by a clearer understanding of the Ancient Immortal Method.
• He shows growing practicality and ambition, recognizing that Merit Golden Light can dramatically accelerate his progress.
• His personality remains somewhat mischievous, as he considers using the Bad-Luck Talisman against anyone who has offended him.
• He also becomes more disciplined, stopping treasure appraisal when his mental power and the dangerous Killing Intent in the jade make continuing unsafe.
• Chen accepts that his greatest advantage lies in combining cultivation with his profession as a pawnbroker and treasure appraiser.

Significant Themes

• Different paths to cultivation: Ancient and modern cultivation systems may appear different but ultimately lead toward the same goal; the quality and depth of the method determine true strength.
• Innate talent versus accessibility: Modern cultivation depends on Spiritual Roots, while the Ancient Immortal Method allows anyone to cultivate, giving Chen a path despite his lack of aptitude.
• Patience and gradual progress: Merit Golden Light offers rapid advancement, but Chen recognizes that steady cultivation and long-term accumulation remain essential.
• Knowledge as power: Chen willingly spends a large amount of money to resolve his doubts, valuing clarity about his future over temporary financial loss.
• Profession as cultivation support: His identity as a pawnbroker is not separate from his cultivation. Treasure appraisal, cleansing Baleful Intent, and obtaining rewards form the foundation of his advancement.

Character Interactions

• Chen has no direct interaction with other characters in the chapter, but his earlier knowledge from the Three-Corpse Daoist shapes his understanding of conventional Daoist realms and confirms his lack of Spiritual Root aptitude.
• His interaction with Money Can Move the Gods functions as a supernatural exchange: he asks a question, pays three thousand taels, and receives a comprehensive explanation of his cultivation method.
• His thoughts about potential targets for the Bad-Luck Talisman reveal his playful but vengeful attitude toward those who may have wronged him.

Overall Significance

The chapter clarifies Chen Shaojun’s cultivation system and removes a major source of uncertainty. He discovers that his Ancient Immortal Method is uniquely suited to him, establishes realistic expectations for his progress, and decides to return fully to treasure appraisal as the central means of improving both his wealth and cultivation.

Chapter Summary: “Beyond Lowbrow Tastes, Adulation and Rewards”

Key Plot Points and Events

• The Appraisal Hall discusses the heavy casualties caused by the dangerous treasure in Jiazi Room Seven. More than thirty Certified Appraisers had already died during the Treasure Fair, including three who perished while attempting to appraise the treasure.
• Because of the shortage of Certified Appraisers, the authorities and major pawnshops agree to provide spiritual resources to help talented apprentices advance.
• Yan Dingchen learns that the treasure, rumored to contain a terrifying ghostly entity, was successfully appraised. Ayong reveals that the appraiser was actually Chen Shaojun.
• Chen modestly attributes his success to luck and to the previous appraisers weakening the treasure’s Baleful Intent. He refuses to reveal that he personally confronted the ghostly entity, fearing that Manager Sun might connect him to the black handprint left on Sun’s neck.
• Manager Sun and Mo Zhu-Xiang, president of the Mo Clan Trading House, visit Chen to thank him. His successful appraisal saved the finale item of the Treasure Auction and protected the reputation of both the trading house and the Treasure Fair.
• Mo Zhu-Xiang offers Chen three hundred taels of silver, three Spirit-Nourishing Pills, and an appointment with the prestigious Mo Family Pawnshop. The position could provide access to an Appraisal Grandmaster and a broader path for advancement.
• Chen accepts the money and pills but rejects the appointment. He does not wish to leave the Lin Clan Pawnshop, preferring to remain focused on improving his appraisal abilities.
• Impressed by Chen’s independence, Mo Zhu-Xiang invites him to make another reasonable request as compensation.

Character Developments

• Chen Shaojun: Gains public recognition and admiration after successfully appraising the deadly treasure. Although pleased by the praise, he maintains his usual humility and low-profile attitude. His refusal to leave the Lin Clan Pawnshop shows that personal advancement in appraisal techniques matters more to him than status, wealth, or a superior career path.
• Yan Dingchen: Becomes highly impressed by Chen, shifting from friendly curiosity to open admiration after learning that Chen handled the supposedly unbeatable treasure.
• Ayong: Initially envies and feels awkward around Chen, but takes some satisfaction in seeing Yan Dingchen become equally speechless and restrained by Chen’s achievement.
• Manager Sun: Still bears the black handprint inflicted by the ghostly entity, though it is gradually fading after outside treatment. He helps deliver Chen’s reward and appears surprised by Chen’s refusal of the Mo Family’s offer.
• Mo Zhu-Xiang: Shows gratitude and political awareness, recognizing that Chen’s success prevented a major crisis. He begins with a formal reward but develops genuine appreciation for Chen’s character and flexibility when Chen declines the appointment.

Significant Themes

• Recognition versus humility: Chen receives admiration for an extraordinary accomplishment but deliberately downplays it, balancing personal satisfaction with caution.
• The dangers of fame: Chen hides the true extent of his encounter with the ghostly entity to avoid drawing attention to himself or exposing secrets connected to Manager Sun’s injury.
• Personal ambition and independence: Chen values mastery of appraisal techniques over wealth, rank, or institutional advancement.
• The cost of progress: The shortage of appraisers and the deaths caused by the treasure emphasize how advancement during the Treasure Fair comes with severe risks.
• Reputation and responsibility: Chen’s success is important not only personally but also because it preserves the reputation of the Mo Clan Trading House and the entire Treasure Fair.

Character Interactions

• In the dining hall, Yan Dingchen enthusiastically discusses the deadly treasure with Chen, while Ayong reveals Chen’s identity as its successful appraiser.
• Chen deflects their praise by insisting that luck and the efforts of previous appraisers made his success possible.
• Mo Zhu-Xiang and Manager Sun visit Chen personally, thanking him and offering substantial rewards.
• Chen respectfully but firmly declines the Mo Family Pawnshop appointment, surprising both men.
• Mo Zhu-Xiang accepts Chen’s decision and offers him the opportunity to request an alternative reward.

Chapter Summary: “Shield, Dog-Head Chopper”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Chen Shaojun accepts Chairman Mo Zhu-Xiang’s offer of compensation but deliberately makes a modest request: several martial arts manuals, preferably including a Qi Sea Realm cultivation method.
• He avoids asking for access to the Treasure Hall or the Divine Unsealing Technique, recognizing that both requests would be excessive or dangerous, especially with the Red-Clad Cult’s plans and the upcoming Treasure Auction.
• Chairman Mo explains that an appraiser’s advancement depends heavily on strong vitality and blood. Martial cultivation replenishes spiritual power and is essential for progressing from Certified Appraiser to Appraisal Grandmaster.
• Three manuals are delivered:
  • Five Beasts Body-Tempering Formula, an Outer Tempering technique.
  • Immortal Crane Body-Dancing Force, an Inner Refinement technique.
  • Blazing Sun Art, a mid-grade Qi Sea cultivation method.
• Although Chen considers the manuals inferior to his existing techniques, he realizes they provide a believable explanation for his martial abilities. He intends to attribute any suspicious techniques or improvements to Chairman Mo, using him as a protective “shield.”
• Chen begins another day of appraisals. His first object is a heavily rusted Dog-Head Chopper, an execution weapon reportedly used to behead common criminals.
• The chopper carries an extremely dense Blood Baleful Qi and powerful resentment, suggesting that well over a hundred people may have died beneath it.
• Recognizing the danger, Chen lights candles and incense, then prepares the Baleful Severing Ruler and the Ghost-Repelling Talisman before beginning the appraisal.
• The unnatural extinguishing and slowing of the flames confirms that the object contains hidden danger. The chapter ends as Chen activates the Divine Gaze Technique.

Character Developments

• Chen Shaojun becomes more cautious and politically calculating. Rather than seeking powerful but unrealistic rewards, he chooses martial manuals that can help conceal the origins of his true abilities.
• He demonstrates a clearer understanding of the relationship between martial strength, vitality, blood, and appraiser advancement.
• Chen also shows increased confidence in handling dangerous objects, while still taking sensible precautions and relying on auxiliary treasures when necessary.
• Mo Zhu-Xiang is established as a powerful and influential figure who understands the appraiser profession and is willing to support Chen. His reputation as the former Ghost-God Swordmaster and his Innate Realm strength make him a credible cover for Chen’s unexplained martial knowledge.

Significant Themes

• Concealment and self-protection: Chen’s request is less about learning martial arts than creating a plausible public explanation for abilities he already possesses.
• Power and advancement: The chapter emphasizes that spiritual cultivation and appraiser progress depend on the foundation provided by physical vitality and martial training.
• Pragmatism over ambition: Chen avoids greedy or dangerous demands, preferring a modest request that brings long-term benefits with minimal risk.
• The danger of historical violence: The Dog-Head Chopper embodies accumulated killing intent, resentment, and the spiritual consequences of repeated executions.
• Preparation against hidden threats: Chen’s careful use of incense, the Baleful Severing Ruler, and the Ghost-Repelling Talisman highlights the importance of caution when dealing with baleful objects.

Character Interactions

• Chen and Mo Zhu-Xiang: Their conversation is respectful but strategic. Mo offers support while presenting himself as appreciative of talent, and Chen accepts while carefully limiting his request. Mo’s promise to provide manuals creates an informal alliance.
• Chen and the delivered manuals: Chen evaluates the techniques objectively, acknowledging their usefulness and quality while recognizing that he has already surpassed most of them.
• Chen and the Dog-Head Chopper: Their interaction is indirect but tense. Chen senses the weapon’s immense resentment and hidden danger, yet chooses to proceed because the potential appraisal reward may be significant.
• Chen and his supernatural resources: He treats the Ghost-Repelling Talisman’s Red-Clad Female Ghost as a dependable defensive asset and prepares both it and the Baleful Severing Ruler before commencing the appraisal.