Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• Li Shouyi survives Wu Dalang’s explosion and reveals that he has secretly been in the Spirit Severing Realm for some time. He claims he hid his strength so he could kill Wu today.
• The disciples who had doubted Li immediately try to become his students, even blaming one another for not joining the fight sooner. Li is disgusted by their sudden opportunism.
• Su Wan’er and Lin Shuishui learn that Li is far stronger than they realized. Su Wan’er is thrilled, imagining the prestige and benefits of having such a powerful master, while Li pushes her away when she gets too close.
• Wu Dalang refuses to concede. He takes a pill that boosts him from the early to the peak of the Spirit Severing Realm, then attacks with a massive hammer.
• Li gets his disciples to safety and evades Wu’s crushing blows. He then summons his sword technique, “Rhythm of the Dao—Thirteen Hundred Swords,” while Wu raises a defensive barrier. Li launches himself straight at it, and the chapter ends as their attacks collide.

Character developments

• Li Shouyi finally drops his long-maintained disguise and enjoys proving that he is powerful. His confidence is tempered by surprise when Wu’s pill gives him a major advantage.
• Wu Dalang reveals both his deep grudge against Li and his willingness to rely on a powerful pill and a defensive technique to win.
• Su Wan’er shifts from uncertainty about her master’s strength to excited admiration, though her enthusiasm is partly self-interested.
• The disciples reveal their cowardice and opportunism by changing sides as soon as Li’s hidden strength is exposed.

Significant themes

• Hidden strength and revelation: Li’s true cultivation overturns everyone’s assumptions.
• Opportunism and loyalty: The disciples’ sudden eagerness to follow Li contrasts with the genuine trust shown by his two students.
• Power and escalation: Wu’s pill turns an apparent victory into a dangerous contest between near-equal opponents.
• Pride and rivalry: Both men’s personal hostility fuels the fight, which remains unresolved at the chapter’s end.

Character interactions

• Li publicly humiliates Wu by holding him by the head, then taunts him after revealing his strength.
• Su Wan’er eagerly approaches Li, but he keeps her at arm’s length and sends her and Lin Shuishui away before the duel escalates.
• Wu accuses Li of seducing his wife and declares that he has wanted him dead for years, framing their battle as a personal vendetta.
• Li and Wu trade attacks: Wu uses his hammer and barrier, while Li responds with aerial movement and a powerful sword technique.

Plot points

• Li Shouyi defeats Wu Dalang, but Wu escapes using a rare Great Shift Talisman that Li cannot interrupt.
• After the battle devastates the Cloud Cliff Sect, Li demands spirit stones from Sect Master Tang Que and the elders. They hand over their Spatial Rings, hoping to keep him—and the danger surrounding him—away from the sect.
• Before leaving, Li privately insults Tang Que, then returns to his courtyard. His system warns that its cheat is about to go offline, making Li anxious that his powerful-seeming cover will fail.
• Li’s disciples, Su Wan’er and Lin Shuishui, are relieved to find him safe. When Lin suggests he establish his own sect, Li adopts the idea and decides they will leave immediately.
• The three depart east on Li’s flying sword. Su keeps asking questions, while Li’s thoughts turn to future system rewards.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Shouyi appears formidable after defeating Wu, but his authority is partly a bluff sustained by the system. He is opportunistic, extracting wealth from the elders, and hastily leaves to avoid being exposed. He also shows affection for his disciples, though he frequently scolds them.
• Tang Que and the elders are cowed by Li and comply with his demand, partly from fear and partly to protect the sect from Wu’s likely return.
• Su Wan’er is exuberant and talkative, and imagines the advantages of joining her master’s new sect.
• Lin Shuishui is sleepy and laid-back, but her suggestion gives Li the idea to found a sect.

Themes

• Power and appearance: Li’s victory makes him seem invincible, but the system’s impending shutdown reveals how precarious his power is.
• Self-interest and survival: The elders pay Li to leave, while Li departs to avoid exposure and retaliation.
• Found family and fresh starts: Li leaves with his disciples and turns their journey into the beginning of a new sect.
• Comic contrast: Epic magical destruction and threats sit alongside petty insults, awkward disciple behavior, and Li’s mundane hopes for more rewards.

Plot points and events

• Li Shouyi travels with his disciples Su Wan’er and Lin Shuishui, who sleep through the flight and then urge him to stop for food. He considers where to establish their sect, but learns that founding one requires Dao Alliance approval and yearly spirit-stone fees.
• At a city restaurant, Su Wan’er orders every signature dish. Li Shouyi explains that founding their sect could take at least a month, disappointing her hopes of quickly gaining more junior disciples.
• Overhearing talk of the Heavenly Sword Sect’s upcoming recruitment assembly, Li Shouyi decides to go there and recruit overlooked candidates rather than chase famous geniuses.
• The meal ends in chaos: the disciples gorge themselves, Lin Shuishui falls asleep, and Li Shouyi leaves covered in food stains. Su Wan’er pays the bill before carrying her sleeping senior sister after him.
• Outside the city, Li Shouyi tries to punish Su Wan’er by setting her on fire. She escapes, and they crash through the campsite of Zhang San and Li Si, two long-time Qi Refining cultivators. The pair mistake the fiery chase for ghosts and flee in terror.
• Li Shouyi unknowingly passes up Zhang San and Li Si, whom the narration identifies as missed “geniuses.”

Character developments and interactions

• Li Shouyi is practical and opportunistic, viewing the recruitment assembly as a place to find uncelebrated disciples. His patience with his troublesome pupils repeatedly wears thin, though he still treats them as his own.
• Su Wan’er is food-loving, crafty, and easily frustrated by delays. Her attempts to charm or escape her master’s discipline bring out the comic, volatile side of their relationship.
• Lin Shuishui remains largely silent and sleepy, even nodding off at the table.
• Zhang San and Li Si are timid and painfully slow cultivators; their brief encounter with Li Shouyi and Su Wan’er leaves them convinced they have seen ghosts.

Significant themes

• Comedy through contrast: Li Shouyi’s plans to build a sect and recruit disciples are constantly disrupted by his pupils’ eating, sleeping, and misbehavior.
• Hidden potential and mistaken judgment: The master seeks overlooked prospects but fails to recognize two nearby candidates.
• The burdens of sect-building: Spiritual ambition is constrained by bureaucracy, fees, and the practical work of recruiting followers.

Key plot points and events

• Li Shouyi travels with Su Wan’er and the sleepy Lin Shuishui to the Heavenly Sword Sect, where cultivators have gathered.
• Su Wan’er jokes and complains about Li Shouyi’s favoritism, while he trades teasing insults with her. Their apparent conflict over her “burn injuries” is revealed to have been a staged excuse for him to vent his anger.
• A streetwise information seller offers a guide, but Li Shouyi pressures him into admitting the book is worthless and asking about notably unsuccessful cultivators.
• The seller points out Pei Zhujiu, a woman born without a spiritual root who is mocked as a useless drunk. Li Shouyi sees her as an ideal candidate for his next disciple and the system’s cultivation-related mission.
• Li Shouyi approaches Pei and recognizes her envy of cultivators. When she doubts he can help someone with no spiritual root, he has his two disciples reveal their supposedly lowest-grade spiritual roots and claims both reached Foundation Establishment in under two months.
• Pei is astonished and begins to consider that Li Shouyi may be able to help her. He invites her to become his third disciple and challenge others’ assumptions about what is possible.

Character developments

• Li Shouyi remains shrewd and domineering, but also persuasive: he identifies Pei’s hidden longing and frames discipleship as a chance to defy conventional limits.
• Su Wan’er is playful and provocative, teasing both her master and senior sister; she cooperates when asked to demonstrate her spiritual root.
• Lin Shuishui remains sleepy and quiet, but follows Li Shouyi’s instructions and serves as evidence for his claim.
• Pei Zhujiu is introduced as a mocked, alcohol-dependent woman who secretly longs to cultivate. Li’s offer gives her a reason to hope.

Significant themes

• Defying expectations: Pei’s presumed inability to cultivate and the disciples’ “useless” roots challenge conventional judgments.
• Hidden ambition and longing: Pei’s drinking and reputation conceal her desire to join the world of cultivators.
• Persuasion and opportunity: Li appeals to Pei’s pride and yearning by offering not just instruction, but a chance to prove her critics wrong.

Character interactions

• Li and Su trade familiar, sharp-edged banter, while Su tries unsuccessfully to get attention from the sleepy Lin.
• Li intimidates the information seller into giving up useful information, then takes back the payment.
• Li speaks directly to Pei’s envy and skepticism, using his disciples as examples to persuade her to become his third disciple.

Plot points and events

• Li Shouyi formally accepts Pei Zhujiu as his third disciple. The system confirms she qualifies, describing her as extraordinarily untalented and setting a seven-day mission: if she makes no progress, Li Shouyi earns a major cultivation reward.
• Pei meets her senior sisters, Su Wan’er and Lin Shuishui, and appears much shyer than the bold persona she showed earlier. Su gives her spare clothes and wine; Li promises a gift later.
• Hoping to keep Pei from improving during the mission period, Li decides to brew exceptionally strong fruit wine that could knock her out for several days.
• While Li goes to find fruit, rogue cultivators approach the three disciples and mock Pei’s reputation as the “Wine Immortal.” Su stands up for her, but the newcomers ridicule them.
• Li returns, intimidates the group with his aura, and drives them off without a fight. The one-eyed leader appears to recognize something and leaves with a knowing smile.
• The group then reaches the Heavenly Sword Sect’s selection gathering. Elder Zhuo Yifan explains that entrants will enter through two stone pillars, must keep moving forward to clear the secret realm, and only the top three will be accepted. The chapter ends as he declares the realm open.

Character development

• Pei Zhujiu joins Li’s group and drops her swaggering act, revealing a more reserved, vulnerable side shaped by constant ridicule.
• Li Shouyi is protective of his new disciple but remains preoccupied with exploiting the system mission. His plan to use strong wine shows his comic, self-serving scheming.
• Su Wan’er is fiercely loyal and eager to defend Pei, though her cheeky comments about Li’s wealth and inheritance exasperate him.
• Lin Shuishui remains sleepy and detached, greeting Pei politely but showing little outward involvement.

Character interactions

• Li welcomes Pei and introduces her to her senior sisters; Su immediately tries to make her feel included.
• Su confronts the rogue cultivators when they insult Pei, while Pei withdraws under their taunts.
• Li steps in as Pei’s master, using his intimidating presence to protect the group.
• Su’s continued boldness sparks a playful, frustrated exchange with Li, who reminds himself that he chose her as a disciple.

Significant themes

• Belonging and protection: Pei moves from being mocked and isolated to having a master and sisters willing to stand by her.
• Appearances and hidden vulnerability: Pei’s earlier confidence is revealed as a defense against mistreatment.
• Mentorship mixed with self-interest: Li offers protection and care, yet also schemes to secure a personal reward.
• Competition and opportunity: The secret-realm selection introduces a high-stakes contest for a limited number of places in the Heavenly Sword Sect.

Key plot points and events

• Li Shouyi and his three disciples enter the Heavenly Sword Sect’s selection trial, hoping to win rewards rather than join the sect.
• Three cultivators—the East Lake Three Brothers—recognize Pei Zhujiu as the “Wine Immortal.” They explain that a man named One-Eye has spread rumors that bad luck follows her.
• When Pei worries that she is a burden, Li sends his other disciples ahead and reassures her. He gives her wine and encourages her to keep drinking, framing each sip as a different stage of life.
• Pei takes his words to heart, drinks too much, and passes out. The system announces that she has comprehended the Dao of Wine, Drunken Dream of Life and Death. Li’s mission fails, its difficulty increases, and he is tasked with finding an exceptionally rare useless disciple.

Character developments

• Li Shouyi tries to act like a supportive mentor, but privately hopes Pei’s drinking will not lead to any remarkable insight. Her sudden enlightenment leaves him exasperated.
• Pei Zhujiu initially fears that her bad reputation makes her a burden. Li’s reassurance gives her confidence, though she interprets his advice in a way that leads directly to enlightenment.
• Lin Shuishui and Su Wan’er support Pei; Su catches her when she gets drunk.
• The East Lake Three Brothers recognize Pei and flee after warning Li about the rumors surrounding her.

Significant themes

• Accidental cultivation and comic irony: Li’s efforts to avoid successful disciples keep producing extraordinary results.
• Misunderstood mentorship: Li intends his words as reassurance—and, privately, as encouragement to simply drink—but Pei takes them as profound guidance.
• Perseverance: Li argues that cultivators should not avoid every hardship or enemy.

Character interactions

• The East Lake Three Brothers approach Li’s group, but Li’s Golden Core aura pins them down until they explain their reaction to Pei.
• Pei asks Li to abandon her; instead, he gives her wine and affirms that he accepts her.
• Pei shares Li’s wine with her senior sisters, who laugh together, before she becomes intoxicated and discovers the Dao of Wine.

Key plot points and events

• Pei Zhujiu enters a visionary state, experiencing many different lives. Li Shouyi’s remark comparing lives to wine inspires her to treat spiritual energy as something her body can “drink” and digest.
• Using this unusual method, she strengthens her dantian and breaks through directly to Foundation Establishment. Her ascent is interrupted by an unknown event.
• She wakes in a mountain passage to find Li Shouyi, Su Wan’er, Lin Shuishui, and many other contestants unconscious. After failing to wake her companions, she decides to continue alone and promises to bring help once she wins.
• Earlier, Li Shouyi trades insults with the one-eyed man. Before they can fight, a strange fragrance spreads through the passage and knocks nearly everyone out.
• A flashback explains the danger: Heavenly Sword Sect elder Zhang Daoyuan accidentally placed the sect’s Shadow-Bearing Sword—an ancestral sword—in the recruitment trial. To keep anyone from reaching it, he orders Zhuo Yifan to ensure that no contestant passes. Zhuo Yifan realizes his martial uncle likely made the mistake while drunk on his master’s wine, and Li Shouyi ominously appears to have overheard him.

Character developments and interactions

• Pei Zhujiu displays ingenuity and independence, turning her lack of spiritual roots into the basis of a novel cultivation method. Her breakthrough marks a major leap forward.
• Li Shouyi remains foul-mouthed and provocative, trading crude taunts with the one-eyed man while his disciples react with amusement.
• Su Wan’er and Lin Shuishui recognize Pei Zhujiu’s transformation from their own experience with Li Shouyi’s wine, but wisely avoid intervening in his quarrel.
• Zhuo Yifan and Zhang Daoyuan reveal a familiar, teasing relationship centered on Li Shouyi’s wine; Zhuo suspects Zhang’s drunkenness caused the trial’s crisis.

Significant themes

• Ingenuity and unconventional growth: Pei Zhujiu turns an apparent limitation into a new path to cultivation.
• Experience and perspective: Her visions of many lives echo the idea that each life offers distinct insight.
• Comic disorder and unintended consequences: A quarrel, a strange fragrance, and a drunken mistake combine to derail the trial.
• Ambition and loyalty: Pei Zhujiu presses on toward victory while intending to secure her companions’ rescue.

Plot points and events

• Zhuo Yifan follows his master’s instructions to activate hallucinogenic mist and eject the challengers when time runs out. Unaware of it, he also disables the dangers in every stage.
• Pei Zhujiu crosses the secret realm’s trials without realizing they have been neutralized. She reaches the final platform and takes the Shadow-Bearing Sword, triggering the realm’s collapse and sending everyone outside.
• Li Shouyi wakes to learn that Pei Zhujiu placed first. Furious that she apparently ignored his advice to drink, he demands to know what she comprehended.
• Pei reveals that she comprehended Drunken Life, Dreaming Death—the ability to turn herself into a furnace and refine all things beneath heaven. Li is stunned but urges her to cultivate it.
• Su Wan’er tries to explain that Li often reacts this way when his disciples comprehend their own Daos. Her remark that he is “just an ordinary Golden Core cultivator” makes him explode with anger, and she flees with Pei.
• Zhuo Yifan blocks them and asks Pei to return the sword, explaining that it belongs to his sect. Pei insists it is hers. Unable to resolve the dispute, he calls his master; the girls mistake his unseen conversation for madness.

Character developments and interactions

• Pei Zhujiu proves unexpectedly capable and cheerful: she clears the trials while singing, wins the sword, and gains a profound Dao despite thinking she may have done something wrong. She is also stubbornly possessive of her prize.
• Li Shouyi swings between fury, shock, and reluctant acceptance of Pei’s achievement. His pride is particularly wounded by Su Wan’er’s teasing assessment of his cultivation.
• Su Wan’er is familiar with her master’s dramatic reactions and jokes about them, but quickly tries to escape when his anger turns toward her. She uses Pei as a shield.
• Zhuo Yifan is careless enough to disable the trial hazards by mistake and later finds himself helpless in the face of Pei’s refusal to give up the sword.

Significant themes

• Accidental success and irony: Pei’s impressive victory is made possible by Zhuo Yifan’s mistake, though her unexpected comprehension is real.
• Misunderstanding and comic contrast: Pei treats the trials and sword with innocent enthusiasm, Li interprets her achievement as a challenge to his instructions, and the girls misread Zhuo’s communication with his master.
• Mentorship, pride, and recognition: Li’s anger masks astonishment at his disciple’s achievement, while his students’ accomplishments—and their comments about him—test his pride.

Plot points and events

• Su Wan’er and Pei Zhujiu seek help from their master, Li Shouyi, after Zhuo Yifan refuses to let them leave with the Shadow-Bearing Sword.
• A one-eyed rogue cultivator tries to intimidate Li and his disciples, but Li mocks him until he loses his temper.
• Heavenly Sword Sect leader Zhang Daoling arrives with another senior. He asks politely for the sword, offering Pei Zhujiu another spiritual treasure in return.
• Li agrees to return it after securing two conditions: Pei may later choose a treasure from the sect, and Zhang must slap the one-eyed man.
• When Pei hands over the sword, Zhang warns Li not to touch it: it can injure anyone it has not acknowledged. Zhang then accepts it himself.
• Zhang immediately sends the one-eyed man flying with a slap, admitting he had wanted to do so for a long time.

Character developments

• Li Shouyi remains sharp-tongued and protective, negotiating for Pei’s benefit while turning an awkward dispute into comic revenge.
• Pei Zhujiu shows deep trust in Li by handing him the sword without hesitation and accepts his promise to find her a better treasure.
• Zhang Daoling demonstrates the Heavenly Sword Sect’s power and civility by negotiating rather than seizing the sword, while revealing his own dislike of the one-eyed man.
• The one-eyed rogue cultivator is exposed as a boastful sycophant: he insults Li’s group, then tries to curry favor with Zhang, only to be ignored and slapped.
• Su Wan’er reacts confidently to Zhang’s praise, while Pei and Lin Shuishui are shy and hide behind Li.

Significant themes

• Trust and loyalty: Pei readily relies on her master, and Li acts to secure a benefit for her.
• Power tempered by courtesy: Zhang could take the sword by force but chooses a respectful exchange.
• Status and hypocrisy: The one-eyed man’s self-important posturing contrasts with Zhang’s authority and judgment.
• Comic justice: Li’s requested slap gives the scene a humorous, satisfying payoff.

Character interactions

• Li trades barbs with the one-eyed man, who attempts to provoke him and impress Zhang.
• Zhang praises Li’s disciples, prompting a mix of embarrassment and Su Wan’er’s playful modesty.
• Li and Zhang negotiate the sword’s return; Zhang warns Li about its danger and honors Li’s conditions.
• Zhang’s final slap aligns him with Li against the one-eyed man, ending the confrontation.

Plot points and events

• After Zhang Daoling defeats the one-eyed man, he asks the witnesses to pretend nothing happened. They play along. He gives Li Shouyi a token for contacting or visiting the Heavenly Sword Sect, then drags his unruly disciple Zhuo Bufan away by the ear.
• Li Shouyi leaves with his three disciples, teasing them as they joke and bicker during the flight.
• Hoping to recruit more effectively, Li decides to apply for a Sect Founding Token from the Dao Alliance.
• At the Dao Alliance’s bustling headquarters on floating Mount Wuwang, the disciples shop and eat. Lin Shuishui is especially tempted by roast chicken; Su Wan’er buys four chickens, and Li manages to get a drumstick.
• At the eleventh branch, Li asks to found a sect. The attendant checks his cultivation, and an official says the application requires a 100,000-spirit-stone deposit and an inspection of the sect’s location.
• Li has Su Wan’er pay. She offers a gold banknote, which the official accepts—then abruptly waives the remaining procedures, hands over the token, and ushers them out. The group is left baffled.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Shouyi gains a connection to Zhang Daoling and moves ahead with founding his sect. He remains resource-conscious and wary of bureaucracy, while trying to keep Su Wan’er from saying anything that might jeopardize the application.
• Zhang Daoling shows his temper and affection for his disciple by threatening Zhuo Bufan, while discreetly managing the aftermath of the fight.
• Su Wan’er remains playful and outspoken, but readily pays for food and the sect application when Li orders her to.
• Lin Shuishui is openly food-motivated, while Pei Zhujiu joins in the lighthearted teasing.
• Li’s familiar banter with his disciples continues: he jokes about Su Wan’er’s offer to comfort him, then threatens to punish her for talking too freely.

Significant themes

• Comic contrasts: Serious matters—sect founding, alliance procedures, and public violence—are undercut by jokes, appetite, and petty money worries.
• Found family and mentorship: Li’s exasperation is balanced by easy affection and playful closeness with his disciples; Zhang’s rough handling of Zhuo Bufan similarly suggests a familiar teacher–student bond.
• Bureaucracy and opportunism: The Dao Alliance presents formal requirements, but the official’s sudden decision to accept a banknote and skip the process makes its procedures seem arbitrary and possibly corrupt.

Plot points and events

• After obtaining a Gate-Establishment Token quickly, Li Shouyi grumbles that the Dao Alliance’s system can be bypassed with money and vows to rob the Alliance once he is strong enough.
• Li Fengnian and several young men stop Li Shouyi. Assuming they want to court his disciples, he jokingly tries to sell them all three—until Li Fengnian reveals that the group is attracted to Li Shouyi himself.
• Disgusted, Li Shouyi and his disciples summon the Metropolitan Guard. The guards recognize Li Fengnian as a repeat offender notorious for harassing men and move to arrest him.
• Unknown to Li Shouyi, his encounter with the group has kept him from crossing paths with his enemy Wu Dalang. Wu and his grandfather are plotting to steal Li Shouyi’s supposed treasure, castrate him, and sell him.
• Meanwhile, at Cloud Cliff Sect, sect master Tang Que tries to shift responsibility for Zhou Kangyong’s ordeal onto Li Shouyi. King Zhou Tianlong rejects the excuse and warns that the harm to his son will have consequences.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Shouyi is irreverent and provocative, but his teasing of Li Fengnian is undercut by his immediate, visceral disgust at the group’s advances. His disciples’ trust in him is reinforced.
• Su Wan’er reassures the confused Pei Zhujiu that Li Shouyi would never sell them; she explains that teasing fools is one of his habits.
• Pei Zhujiu is still learning her master’s personality and briefly fears he might sell the disciples.
• Li Fengnian and his companions are presented as persistent, shameless harassers, while the Metropolitan Guard is exasperated by their repeated misconduct.
• Wu Dalang and his grandfather reveal a cruel scheme against Li Shouyi, whom they believe possesses a valuable treasure.
• Tang Que tries to protect himself by blaming Li Shouyi, while Zhou Tianlong asserts his authority and demands accountability for his son.

Significant themes

• The chapter uses crude, absurd humor and reversals of expectation, especially in Li Shouyi’s mistaken assumption about Li Fengnian’s intentions.
• Beneath the comedy, several characters are pursuing schemes involving coercion, exploitation, and revenge.
• It contrasts Li Shouyi’s genuine protectiveness toward his disciples with the self-serving behavior of those plotting against him, while chance briefly shields him from one danger.

Key plot points and events

• Zhou Tianlong pretends his threat against Cloud Cliff Sect was a joke, then orders his subordinate sects to destroy it within a month.
• Li Shouyi takes his disciples to Good Fortune Mountain, whose weather shifts through all four seasons in a single day. He plans to use its chaotic spiritual energy to expose weak applicants while benefiting talented ones.
• The disciples tease Li Shouyi; he catches Su Wan’er mocking him and chases her in comic retaliation.
• After Zhou’s threat, Cloud Cliff Sect suffers an immediate exodus. Around a hundred disciples, led by Wu Suowei, leave to find Li Shouyi and become his students, hoping to achieve the success they believe he gave Su Wan’er and Lin Shuishui.
• A restaurant waiter—bribed with spirit stones—guesses that Li Shouyi went to the Heavenly Sword Sect. Wu Suowei publicly swears that Li’s teaching transformed two supposedly talentless disciples into formidable Foundation Establishment cultivators in under two months.
• The claim impresses the crowd, and a Dao Alliance intelligence agent hears it, setting Li Shouyi’s reputation to spread further.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhou Tianlong reveals his cruelty beneath a joking façade: he sees Cloud Cliff Sect as insignificant and moves to crush it.
• Li Shouyi remains confident and mischievous, choosing a harsh training ground while trading playful insults with his disciples.
• Su Wan’er talks back to her master but quickly apologizes when he catches her; Lin Shuishui warns her, while Pei Zhujiu innocently asks whether Li has lost his mind.
• Wu Suowei shifts allegiance from Cloud Cliff Sect to Li, driven by admiration and ambition. His dramatic oath convinces the crowd that Li’s achievements are real.
• The waiter exploits the seekers’ enthusiasm for money, while the Dao Alliance agent’s presence turns a local boast into potentially wider news.

Significant themes

• Power and vulnerability: Zhou’s order shows how easily a weaker sect’s fate can be controlled by a stronger authority.
• Ambition and envy: The fleeing disciples believe Li’s success with his students could be replicated for them.
• Reputation and rumor: A bribe-fueled guess and a public claim quickly amplify Li’s fame.
• Comic contrast: The danger facing Cloud Cliff Sect contrasts with the playful banter and absurdity surrounding Li and his disciples.

Key plot points and events

• Li Shouyi starts the day admiring the sunrise, but his mood shifts when Su Wan’er warns him about standing too close to the cliff. He flings her over it; she returns unharmed on a magical Mahjong tile.
• With all three disciples present, Li Shouyi performs a simple founding ceremony and officially establishes the Useless Talent Sect. The name reflects his claim that once-labeled “useless” people can cultivate under good teaching.
• The disciples offer prayers that reveal their personal priorities, while Li privately hopes Heaven will send him easygoing new students.
• A large group of Cloud Cliff Sect cultivators arrives. Led by Wu Suowei, they announce that they have left their former sect and ask Li to accept them as disciples.
• Su Wan’er urges Li to take them in, offering to manage the newcomers herself—and eagerly anticipates the new connections they could bring.

Character developments

• Li Shouyi is stern and short-tempered with Su Wan’er, yet presents himself as a teacher who believes no talent is beyond instruction. He is surprised by the sudden influx of prospective disciples.
• Su Wan’er remains reckless, shameless, and eager to pursue her own goals. She wants permission to recruit and teach others so she can build karmic connections.
• Lin Shuishui is sleepy and practical; her prayer is for long mornings and roast chicken.
• Pei Zhujiu, still adjusting to the group’s strange dynamics, wants Li to keep his promise of daily wine.
• Wu Suowei takes the lead in bringing the former Cloud Cliff disciples to Li and formally asking to join.

Significant themes

• Potential versus reputation: The sect’s founding principle challenges the idea that people deemed useless cannot succeed.
• Teaching and responsibility: Li’s motto places failure on an incapable teacher rather than an incapable student, even as his treatment of his own disciples is comically harsh.
• Self-interest beneath ceremony: The disciples’ prayers—and Su Wan’er’s eagerness to recruit—contrast with the solemnity of founding a sect.
• Belonging and change: The departing Cloud Cliff cultivators seek a new home and a chance to follow Li.

Character interactions

• Li’s rough teasing of Su Wan’er establishes their chaotic master–disciple relationship; she responds to being thrown off the cliff as if nothing happened.
• Lin and Pei react with varying degrees of confusion to the group’s eccentric routines, showing Pei’s outsider perspective.
• The disciples humor Li’s choice of sect name after his earnest explanation.
• Wu Suowei and the others approach Li respectfully, while Su Wan’er tries to persuade him to accept them so she can take charge.

Key plot points and events

• Hundreds of people kneel before Li Shouyi, asking to join his new sect. He agrees, and Wu Suowei quickly recognizes the occasion as the founding of the Useless Talent Sect.
• The newcomers present Li Shouyi with gifts, including large quantities of Spirit Stones. The system warns that accepting disciples who fail its requirements makes the next recruitment mission harder; eventually, the next disciple must be an exceptionally rare “useless talent.”
• Li Shouyi leaves the newcomers in Su Wan’er’s care and retreats with the gifts. Su Wan’er promptly turns the solemn founding day into a gambling session, hoping to build karmic ties and advance her cultivation.
• Lin Shuishui goes back to sleep, sensing that she may soon break through. Pei Zhujiu, unable to help with sect administration and craving wine, heads to a nearby tavern.
• Li Shouyi encounters Pei Zhujiu there. He offers to pay for all the wine, but slips away while she is packing it, leaving her with the bill. He privately reflects that she has advanced remarkably quickly—reaching Foundation Establishment in under six hours—and decides to teach her a lesson about human treachery.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Shouyi is burdened by the system’s escalating recruitment requirements and reacts to the sudden flood of disciples and gifts with visible frustration. His apparent generosity toward Pei Zhujiu proves deceptive.
• Wu Suowei is quick-witted and socially adept: he identifies the sect’s founding day, accepts Su Wan’er’s seniority, and presents an apprenticeship gift.
• Su Wan’er takes charge confidently, but her priorities are playful and self-serving: she organizes gambling instead of routine sect business. Her motive is to deepen karmic connections for cultivation.
• Lin Shuishui remains sleepy and food-loving, but her sense of an imminent breakthrough hints at progress through her Dao.
• Pei Zhujiu is direct, wine-loving, and rapidly growing in strength. Her trust in Li Shouyi’s promise sets her up for his trick.
• The disciples’ interactions establish a chaotic, informal sect: newcomers follow Wu Suowei’s lead, while the senior disciples each pursue their own habits rather than orderly administration.

Significant themes

• Comedic disorder: A formal sect founding quickly becomes a money-counting spree, a gambling event, and a tavern outing.
• Cultivation through personal Dao: The senior disciples advance by deepening their individual paths rather than conventional training.
• Greed and self-interest: Gifts, gambling, and wine drive much of the action, while Li Shouyi’s final deception turns the chapter’s title into a joke about the treachery of the human heart.
• The cost of success: The new disciples bring wealth and opportunity, but their acceptance makes Li Shouyi’s future system mission far more difficult.

Plot points and events

• Pei Zhujiu, stranded without money after her master leaves, tries to recruit the tavern owner, Zhang Sanpang, as a disciple to cover her wine debt. He doubts she is an immortal, so she proves it by taking him flying—terrifying him as she carries him off to meet her master.
• Meanwhile, Su Wan’er runs a gambling game with the new disciples, deliberately losing large sums of Spirit Stones. Unseen threads bind her to the players and grow darker as she loses, while she senses her cultivation nearing a breakthrough.
• Lin Shuishui leaves to find food with three disciples. She orders ten roast chickens for herself and devours them astonishingly quickly, startling everyone.
• At the restaurant, Lin sees the owner kicking a starving young beggar who is scavenging leftovers. She intervenes and offers to pay for the food.
• Learning that the girl’s family died in the war, Lin asks her to come along. The girl, Bao’er, accepts, and Lin takes her hand and leaves with her.

Character developments and interactions

• Pei Zhujiu is resourceful and impulsive, using her identity as an immortal to solve a mundane debt problem. Her interaction with Zhang Sanpang turns from a dispute over payment into a recruitment attempt; his confidence quickly gives way to fear of flying.
• Su Wan’er appears carefree and generous while gambling, but the mysterious threads suggest her losses have a deeper spiritual or karmic significance. The disciples, worried she might demand their winnings back, eagerly leave with Lin.
• Lin Shuishui is innocent and food-loving, yet compassionate and decisive. Despite her comically enormous appetite, she immediately stands up for Bao’er and offers her a home.
• Bao’er, hardened by hunger and loss, initially focuses only on eating. Lin’s gentleness earns her trust, and she chooses to leave with her.
• The restaurant owner shifts from cruelty toward Bao’er to flattery once Lin offers to pay; the waiter supplies the key information about the girl’s past.

Significant themes

• Compassion and belonging: Lin responds to Bao’er’s suffering with practical help and an offer of family.
• Choices and consequences: The opening reflection about choosing is echoed in Bao’er’s decision to accept Lin’s offer, while Su Wan’er’s mysterious gambling threads hint at unseen consequences.
• Humor and contrast: The chapter balances supernatural antics and Lin’s extraordinary appetite with Bao’er’s painful poverty and loss.

Plot points

• Li Shouyi searches for a “peerless piece of trash” but finds yet another exceptional talent: a merchant’s adorable son, Ku’er, who has an innate sword body.
• To satisfy the merchant, Li Shouyi recommends Ku’er to the nearby Heavenly Sword Sect. Zhuo Yifan arrives, confirms the boy’s rare talent, and invites Li Shouyi to visit the sect. Li refuses and leaves, irritated that he seems destined to find geniuses despite his system’s demand for useless disciples.
• On his way back to Good Fortune Mountain, Li Shouyi learns that Su Wan’er’s growing insight into cause and effect has strengthened their karmic bond and raised his cultivation to early Nascent Soul.
• The system raises the standard for his next recruit to a “once-in-a-thousand-years piece of trash.” Then it reports that Lin Shuishui and Pei Zhujiu have each already taken in such a person. Delighted, Li races home, ready to admit he misjudged his disciples.
• Meanwhile, Su Wan’er deepens her understanding of cause and effect by observing her fellow disciples’ connections and winnings. Spiritual energy flows back to her, a golden pill forms, and a heavenly tribulation begins.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Shouyi remains frustrated by his knack for finding geniuses, but his sudden breakthrough and the disciples’ success transform his irritation into excitement and gratitude. He also discovers that Su Wan’er’s progress can benefit his own cultivation.
• Su Wan’er advances through her insight into cause and effect, with her growing network of karmic ties supplying spiritual energy.
• Zhuo Yifan recognizes Ku’er’s extraordinary sword talent and is surprised that the Heavenly Sword Sect’s scouts missed him.
• The merchant is fervently eager to secure a sect placement for his son, while Ku’er responds with confusion to his father’s attempts to make him kowtow.
• The disciples’ playful gambling and apparent success contrast with Li Shouyi’s earlier belief that they only caused him trouble.

Significant themes

• Irony and reversal: Li wants to recruit trash but repeatedly finds prodigies—and then his disciples unexpectedly meet the system’s exact demand.
• Karma and mutual benefit: Su Wan’er’s cultivation insight strengthens her ties to others, while her progress also advances her master.
• Expectations versus reality: Li’s assumptions about his disciples and his own role are overturned just as he begins to “eat his words.”

Summary

Plot points and events

• Su Wan’er unexpectedly begins a heavenly tribulation while sitting beneath gathering storm clouds, with no preparation or warning. Wu Suowei and the other disciples can only watch from outside the danger zone.
• Nine bolts of lightning strike her, the last red and powerful enough to shatter the cliff beneath her. Su Wan’er remains completely unharmed and advances to Golden Core.
• The disciples interpret her effortless survival as proof of their master Li Shouyi’s teachings and resolve to trust his guidance.
• In reality, Li Shouyi is badly burned: because his cultivation comes from his disciples’ advances, he takes the full force of Su Wan’er’s tribulation. The system explains that his Nascent Soul cultivation made the Golden Core tribulation survivable, though his cultivation method makes tribulations unusually severe.
• Li Shouyi retreats to a sealed cave to recover using Unfettered Selflessness, a powerful but demanding art that requires far more spiritual energy and makes its user’s tribulations ten times stronger.
• Lin Shuishui and Pei Zhujiu return to Good Fortune Mountain with Bao’er and a restaurant proprietor. Lin says Bao’er’s damaged spiritual root may be repaired with Heavenly Flow Essence; the proprietor, she adds, was born missing part of his soul.
• Su Wan’er agrees to take them to the Treasure Pavilion to look for remedies, beginning a possible turnaround for both newcomers whom the system labels exceptionally unlucky.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Wan’er demonstrates extraordinary strength by enduring the tribulation without injury. She remains warm and playful with Lin Shuishui, while showing compassion toward Bao’er and willingness to help both newcomers.
• Li Shouyi is revealed as the hidden recipient of his disciples’ tribulations. Despite his pain and anger at the system, he withdraws to heal rather than abandoning his demanding cultivation path.
• Lin Shuishui remains outwardly calm and matter-of-fact, even when congratulating Su Wan’er. She reports new progress in her Dreamscape True Understanding and predicts she may reach Golden Core the next day.
• Pei Zhujiu explains that Master’s wine-drinking trick left her feeling indebted to the proprietor, so she asks Su Wan’er to help him. Su Wan’er readily includes him in the search.
• Wu Suowei and the other disciples move from alarm at Su Wan’er’s apparent danger to awe at her achievement, strengthening their admiration for Li Shouyi.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus reality: The disciples credit Li Shouyi for Su Wan’er’s effortless success, unaware that he suffered the tribulation on her behalf.
• Mentorship and sacrifice: Li Shouyi’s bond with his disciples carries a hidden physical cost, while the disciples’ trust in him continues to grow.
• Cultivation’s risks and rewards: Unfettered Selflessness offers immense power but demands far more energy and imposes far harsher tribulations.
• Compassion and obligation: The seniors’ willingness to seek cures for Bao’er and the proprietor contrasts with the chapter’s dangerous cultivation trials.

Plot points and events

• Su Wan’er leads the group into Luoyang and, guided by Wu Suowei, takes them to the Treasure Pavilion’s cultivator entrance.
• She books the best private box for the auction. The auctioneer introduces a rare medicinal treasure: Soulwood roots, which can repair soul damage.
• Several bidders compete, pushing the price from 100,000 to 930,000 spirit stones. Su Wan’er’s group bids one million, then the rival bidders in box eighteen raise it to 1.2 million.

Character developments

• Su Wan’er confidently handles the arrangements and bids, showing that she has money and is willing to spend it for her companions.
• Pei Zhujiu reaffirms that she intends to take Zhang Sanpang as her disciple and help him obtain medicine to heal his soul. Her sincerity moves him, and he resolves to repay Li Shouyi, whom he assumes arranged it.
• Lin Shuishui hopes to buy medicine for Bao’er to heal her spiritual root so she can cultivate. Bao’er remains quiet and only partly understands.
• Wu Suowei acts as the group’s practical guide, explaining the auction and its procedures.

Character interactions

• Wu Suowei guides the senior sisters through the city and gives Su Wan’er the lead when speaking with the attendant.
• Lin Shuishui tenderly holds Bao’er and promises to help her cultivate.
• Pei Zhujiu responds firmly to Zhang Sanpang’s doubts, insisting she keeps her word; he is touched by her earnestness.
• The two men in box eighteen discuss the Soulwood roots as a mission-critical purchase and decide to keep bidding despite the personal cost.

Significant themes

• Loyalty and care: The group seeks healing remedies for Bao’er and Zhang Sanpang.
• Honor and sincerity: Pei Zhujiu stands by her promise, changing Zhang Sanpang’s view of her intentions.
• Scarcity and sacrifice: The fierce auction reveals how valuable soul-healing medicine is—and how much the bidders are willing to risk to obtain it.

Key events

• Su Wan’er outbids the two black-robed disciples for an item they need, pushing its price to two million spirit stones and leaving them stunned. Pei Zhujiu thanks her enthusiastically and collects the item.
• Su Wan’er then buys Heavenly Flow Essence for Bao’er, and the group retires to a Treasure Pavilion inn to restore Bao’er’s spiritual root and Zhang Sanpang’s soul.
• The treatment reveals that Bao’er has an exceptionally rare golden spiritual root. Pei Zhujiu uses soul tree root to replace Zhang Sanpang’s missing souls, allowing both to awaken with their conditions repaired.
• Li Shouyi receives system messages reporting the two restorations. Frustrated that his disciples have made the “useless” pair talented, he rushes toward Good Fortune Mountain.
• The group holds a banquet to celebrate Bao’er and Zhang Sanpang’s “rebirth.” While drunk, Su Wan’er tries to give Bao’er wine, but Pei Zhujiu intervenes.

Character developments and interactions

• Su Wan’er displays extravagant generosity, happily spending large sums to help her junior disciples. She also embraces Pei Zhujiu’s flattering title of “Eldest Senior Sister,” despite Lin Shuishui being the actual eldest.
• Pei Zhujiu shows gratitude and devotion toward Su Wan’er, then takes responsibility for restoring Zhang Sanpang. Her attempt to stop Bao’er drinking is motivated less by concern than by not wanting a future rival for wine.
• Bao’er and Zhang Sanpang are transformed from “useless” disciples: Bao’er’s spiritual root is restored as a golden root, while Zhang Sanpang regains his complete soul.
• Li Shouyi remains exasperated by his disciples’ habit of undoing his plans to teach supposedly useless students. His comic anger grows as he heads back to confront them.
• The two black-robed disciples are left shocked and defeated by Su Wan’er’s overwhelming bid.

Significant themes

• Generosity and loyalty: The disciples invest heavily in one another’s recovery and well-being.
• Comic reversal: Those regarded as useless become extraordinarily gifted, directly frustrating their master’s expectations.
• Misunderstanding and irony: Li Shouyi interprets his disciples’ helpful actions as sabotage of his teaching mission, while they celebrate the recoveries as victories.
• Found family and celebration: The banquet treats the restored disciples’ new beginnings as a shared occasion, even as the festivities become chaotic.

Key plot points and events

• Two peak-Golden-Core members of the Missing One Sect lurk near the group, planning to steal the soul-tree root and attack once everyone is drunk.
• Li Shouyi catches them by surprise, jokes that he thought they were “just passing through,” then reveals he has already stabbed them in the lower back.
• Their screams wake the group. Li Shouyi orders Wu Suowei to rouse everyone, then disciplines the disciples for drinking and neglecting their responsibilities.
• Su Wan’er admits she was wrong, hoping to escape punishment, but Li Shouyi postpones her lesson until he has dealt with the intruders. He also scolds Pei Zhujiu for drawing a shopkeeper into cultivation rather than considering the man’s family.
• Li Shouyi softens when he sees Bao’er, but she blocks him from approaching her sleeping master, Lin Shuishui. He then tightens his grip on the captives until they pass out.
• When Li Shouyi draws his swords and threatens them, the men drop their act of playing dead, leap up, and beg for mercy.

Character developments

• Li Shouyi is shown as both ruthless and comically self-satisfied: he uses his old assassination reflexes to capture the spies, then turns his attention to enforcing discipline. Bao’er’s cuteness briefly overwhelms his sternness.
• Su Wan’er is revealed as drunk and inattentive to the responsibility Li Shouyi assigned her. She acknowledges her fault but remains in line for punishment.
• Pei Zhujiu appears to have diverted from Li Shouyi’s intended lesson by recruiting a shopkeeper into cultivation; his claim that the man has no family only irritates his grandmaster further.
• Bao’er is quiet and protective of the sleeping Lin Shuishui, keeping Li Shouyi at a distance.
• The two intruders go from plotting confidently to terrified captives, then try to feign unconsciousness before surrendering.

Significant themes

• Discipline and responsibility: Li Shouyi rebukes the disciples for behaving irresponsibly and failing to uphold their duties.
• The gap between appearance and reality: The men claim they are merely passing through, and later pretend to be unconscious, but Li Shouyi sees through both acts.
• Comic reversal: A planned ambush becomes a humiliating capture, while the stern master’s unexpected fondness for Bao’er undercuts his fearsome persona.

Character interactions

• Li Shouyi outmaneuvers and intimidates the two spies, turning their attempted ambush into a confession and surrender.
• He confronts Su Wan’er over her leadership, then rebukes Pei Zhujiu for his handling of the shopkeeper.
• Bao’er silently intervenes between Li Shouyi and Lin Shuishui, while the other disciples watch nervously as their master punishes the intruders.