Chapter Summaries

Lin Ke used his Sun Pool Water to convince the Jade-Wave Three-Legged Frog that he possessed a rare ancient bloodline, then recruited him and stored him in Pokémon. After moving the Coldwater Pool and Jade-Skin Moon-Chill Lotus into the book’s world, Lin Ke considered connecting Jingang’s mountain to create a convenient base.

• Lin Ke revealed the ultimate-yang aura of his Sun Pool Water, and the Jade-Wave Three-Legged Frog mistook it for proof of a powerful ancient bloodline.
• The Jade-Wave Three-Legged Frog agreed to follow Lin Ke and entered Pokémon, where Lin Ke captured him and then summoned him back out.
• The Jade-Wave Three-Legged Frog explained that the Jade-Skin Moon-Chill Lotus needed its pool water and cold jade mud to be collected along with it.
• Lin Ke used Pokémon to absorb the entire pool, its creatures, the mud, and the lotus into the book’s world.
• Lin Ke named the relocated pool the Coldwater Pool and assigned the Jade-Wave Three-Legged Frog to cultivate there until the lotus seeds ripened.
• Lin Ke considered connecting Jingang’s mountain and its pool to Pokémon as a convenient base with a Special Passage.

Lin Ke followed the Dark-Gold-Eyed Leopard to find a Green Python whose yearly tribute consisted of treasures. After learning the leopard’s stealth technique and offering to teach him in return for good service, Lin Ke reached the Green Python’s territory and faced its sudden attack.

• Lin Ke linked the mountain pool he had claimed to the Coldwater Pool in the Pokémon space, allowing people with permission or a key to pass between them.
• The Dark-Gold-Eyed Leopard told Lin Ke about a Second Realm Green Python that paid the Mountain Giant Banyan tribute in treasures, and Lin Ke went to find him.
• As they traveled, Lin Ke watched the Dark-Gold-Eyed Leopard’s stealth movements and learned to blend into his surroundings so well that the leopard could no longer sense him.
• Lin Ke promised to teach the Dark-Gold-Eyed Leopard his stealth technique if the leopard performed well, and the leopard eagerly agreed.
• When they reached the Green Python’s territory, a huge red mouth lunged at them and its suction began pulling them forward.

Lin Ke fought off a green python that recognized him as human and chased it to keep it from revealing his identity. After his beasts failed to stop the python, he used his newly awakened Word-Bound Law to immobilize it.

• Lin Ke escaped the green python's suction with a poem-powered strike, while the Jade-Wave Three-Legged Frog hit the python and knocked it down.
• The green python recognized Lin Ke as human and fled, so Lin Ke sent the Golden Leopard and Dark-Gold-Eyed Leopard after it.
• The green python used air pressure from its tail to knock both leopards out of the chase, and Lin Ke realized he needed ranged options.
• Lin Ke commanded the green python to freeze and immobilized it with Word-Bound Law.

Lin Ke captured a green python and learned that it possessed an ancient artifact-refinement inheritance and a collection of treasures. As the python led him to the treasures, Lin Ke began studying its innate suction ability.

• Lin Ke used the Immovability Spell to freeze the green python, knocked it unconscious, and captured it with Pokémon.
• The green python explained that he had fled because he mistook Lin Ke for a descendant of a great clan training in Cloud Dream Marsh.
• The python revealed that he had inherited artifact-refinement methods from an ancient Third Realm demon and had accumulated twenty-three treasures over fifteen years.
• Lin Ke asked the python to lead him to its collection and questioned him about how his suction ability worked.
• The python demonstrated using suction to pull in branches and leaves, and Lin Ke tried to learn how to reproduce the ability.

Lin Ke followed Green Python to its cave abode and learned how to slither through the entrance by practicing Essence-Taking. There, he received an Elder Demon's legacy describing Wood Refining, a method for making pills and artifacts with plants, and an idea that other materials might refine artifacts too.

• Green Python led Lin Ke to its cave, and Lin Ke learned to slither through the entrance by watching it go in and out.
• Lin Ke followed Green Python through the pungent tunnel into a bright underground cave furnished with tables, chairs, and a writing desk.
• Green Python activated the landscape painting and produced a sapling that contained the Elder Demon's legacy.
• Lin Ke grasped the sapling and learned how a third realm worm developed Wood Refining to turn the essence of plants into pills and artifacts.
• The legacy explained a formation that protected artifact blanks and pills during Wood Refining, then proposed that metal, water, earth, and other things might refine artifacts as well.

Lin Ke explained that the Wood Refining Method was an inventive form of artifact refinement, then began teaching Green Python to understand force through natural science. Green Python was left pondering whether the earth’s pull was the strongest suction, while Lin Ke planned a major change to education in the Great Wei Sacred Dynasty.

• Lin Ke recognized the Wood Refining Method as a groundbreaking refinement technique, though he noted that it lacked a way to remove impurities.
• Green Python explained that he had refined treasures with the method and was now targeted by third-realm demons, relying on Mountain Giant Banyan’s protection.
• Lin Ke encouraged Green Python to develop his suction technique and described how studying force could lead to deeper discoveries about energy and the forces of nature.
• Lin Ke suggested that the earth’s pull explained why everything fell toward the ground, leaving Green Python lost in thought.
• Lin Ke considered replacing the Great Wei Sacred Dynasty’s humanities-focused education with a revolution in natural science.

Lin Ke examined Green Python’s cave abode, exchanged offers of artwork for the treasures Green Python had hidden, and encouraged him to pursue greater strength. They left to find the treasures, and Lin Ke sensed a wine cup Wood Refining artifact inside a pagoda tree before thinking about taking the tree for his island.

• Lin Ke asked Green Python about his treasures and offered calligraphy or paintings in exchange for them.
• Green Python gratefully accepted Lin Ke’s offer and resolved to strive toward becoming a Fourth Realm Demon General.
• Green Python led Lin Ke out of the cave abode, and Lin Ke collected glowing moss to test whether he could grow it aboveground.
• Lin Ke used the Wood Refining method to sense a wine cup artifact hidden inside an ordinary pagoda tree, which Green Python had prepared as a gift for Mountain Giant Banyan.
• Lin Ke remarked that his island needed a tree, making Green Python’s scales stand on end.

Lin Ke explored Green Python’s territory, learned more about the Wood Refining Method, and decided to develop his island as a long-term home. After renaming it Great Wilderness Island, he began planning its gardens, hidden shelter, and protective formation.

• Lin Ke rejected the idea of fighting or taking the Mountain Giant Banyan and decided to stay in Cloud Dream Marsh unless he faced a life-or-death crisis.
• Green Python guided Lin Ke through its territory, where he saw over a hundred wood refining sites and learned that only fifteen or twenty had produced successful artifacts.
• Lin Ke returned to his island, renamed it Great Wilderness Island, and checked on the Golden Crow in secluded cultivation.
• Lin Ke released his Spirit Beasts and asked them how to develop the island, but dismissed their suggestions and recalled them into Pokémon.
• Lin Ke surveyed the island and planned a plantation forest, crop fields, a residence, a hidden cave abode with a sea passage, and a formation powered by the Novelists' School’s imagination.

Lin Ke began building a cave abode inside the island’s mountain, using controlled rodents to excavate a chamber and setting up a magical entrance linked to Pokémon. He turned to planning the foundation, including a cellar, escape passages, concealment, temperature control, and mosquito protection.

• Lin Ke surveyed the island and considered using Wood Refining to turn modern machines into treasures, while worrying that introducing scientific education could provoke established schools and lineages.
• Duck-Headed Mouse told Lin Ke that the rodents had finished digging a large chamber in the mountain, supported by eight wooden posts made with Green Python’s Wood Refining Method.
• Lin Ke thanked the rodents and dismissed the mice, then linked the cave entrance, A Leaf Shrouds the Heavens, Pokémon, and his subdued spirit beasts with the power of imagination.
• Lin Ke enchanted the stone doorway so opening it from inside led to Pokémon, while unauthorized or malicious visitors would trigger the Heavenly Emperor Cauldron.
• Lin Ke began planning the cave abode’s foundation, including a cellar, escape passages, concealment, temperature regulation, and protection from mosquitoes.

Lin Ke sent his beasts to gather materials for his cave abode while his doppelganger struggled to keep up with the sweeping changes he had set in motion across the Great Wei Sacred Dynasty. After laying the groundwork for a new education department, the doppelganger prepared to begin putting the plan into practice.

• Lin Ke asked the Mouse-Headed Duck to find Heart-Clearing Grass and useful metals or stones, then sent his demon beasts out to gather materials for their new cave abode.
• Lin Ke's doppelganger worked continuously in the Imperial Capital, using his seven-part mind to handle his many responsibilities.
• The Imperial Court relocated and rebuilt Chaoyang District, supported Lin Ke's businesses, and spread his comics and writings through schools and across the realm.
• The War Department had armies study Lin Ke's poems, which could aid them in battles beyond the Divine Land against the Di-Yi.
• Lin Ke's doppelganger finished preparing the groundwork for an education department and was ready to put the plan into practice.

Lin Ke reviewed three important letters amid a flood of official correspondence and found an offer of capable staff from Minister Xun of the Rites Department. A message from the Meng Family head invited him to visit the Meng Family Small World, leaving Lin Ke curious about the sage-created realm.

• Ning Caichen told Lin Ke that officials had sent gifts, letters, and messages, then delivered three letters Chen An had selected for him.
• Lin Ke read Minister Xun's letter, which offered experienced Rites Department personnel to help with education and oversight.
• Lin Ke decided he would visit the Twelve Departments soon to learn more and look for talented people.
• The head of the Mencius Lineage showed Lin Ke several of his daughters and invited him to visit the Meng Family Small World.
• Lin Ke grew curious about what a small world created by someone in the sage realm would be like.

Lin Ke received a letter saying students from Clear Stream Academy were coming to become his disciples, so he set out with Ning Caichen to buy a larger property at the Tooth Market and ask about the old Lin Residence. The chapter ended with Capital City officials recognizing Lin Ke’s carriage and greeting him as Young Master Lin.

• Lin Ke read Dean Wu’s letter announcing that he and a group of Clear Stream Academy students would come to become Lin Ke’s disciples that day.
• Lin Ke told Ning Caichen to prepare a carriage and visit the Tooth Market to buy a larger property and inquire about the old Lin Residence.
• Lin Ke dressed in Confucian robes and left with Ning Caichen in an ordinary two-horse carriage.
• Capital City traffic officials stopped the carriage to check its permits, then recognized Lin Ke and greeted him respectfully.

Lin Ke went to the Tooth Market to arrange the purchase of the Lin Residence, land for pilot schools, and help for his household, while also planning to explore Spirit Beast and other markets. He arrived at the Breathing Soil Pavilion to meet Elder Huang and was shown to a tea room to wait.

• Ning Caichen drove Lin Ke through the Tooth Market toward its central shops as brokers called out to them.
• Lin Ke considered buying the Lin Residence through a broker, acquiring land for pilot schools, and hiring household help.
• Lin Ke planned to inspect Spirit Beast businesses and other markets, including artifact and medicine shops.
• Ning Caichen stopped at the Breathing Soil Pavilion, where Lin Ke said he had an appointment with Elder Huang.
• A maid led Lin Ke to a tea room to wait while Elder Huang met other guests, and two cups of milk tea were served.

Lin Ke encountered the arrogant Murong Mu at the Breathing Soil Pavilion after agreeing to move from a reserved private room. Murong Mu assaulted a maid and challenged Lin Ke, leaving Lin Ke to face the trouble his low-profile visit had brought him.

• Lin Ke learned that Elder Huang wanted to buy a milk tea franchise and considered using the purchase of the Lin Residence to curry favor with him.
• A maid apologized that Lin Ke's private room had been reserved, and he agreed to move without complaint.
• Murong Mu shouted that no one could occupy his exclusive room, then accused Lin Ke of taking his room and milk tea as Lin Ke descended the stairs.
• Murong Mu slapped his maid and sent her tumbling down the stairs when she tried to explain that the Breathing Soil Pavilion had no rule allowing him to throw guests out.
• Lin Ke asked whether the pavilion tolerated such behavior, and Murong Mu mocked him and claimed that backing mattered in the Imperial Capital.

Lin Ke tried to buy the Lin Residence incognito at the Breathing Soil Pavilion, but Murong Mu confronted him and drove him off. Murong Mu planned to buy the estate himself and give it to Lin Ke, unaware that the supposed country bumpkin was Lin Ke.

• Murong Mu sent a maid flying and confronted Lin Ke, flaunting his cultivation and asking whether Lin Ke knew the Murong Family.
• Lin Ke said he had never heard of the Murong Family, while other guests identified Murong Mu as a descendant of a distinguished lineage.
• Murong Mu warned Lin Ke away from the Lin Residence, claiming he knew what Lin Ke wanted and that the estate could earn him a favor.
• Lin Ke decided not to reveal his identity or argue with Murong Mu, and prepared to look for another estate elsewhere.
• Murong Mu mistook Lin Ke for an outsider hoping to curry favor with Lin Ke and decided to buy the Lin Residence to give it to him.

Elder Huang recognized Lin Ke as his important client and struck Murong Mu unconscious for insulting him, then invited Lin Ke to discuss the Lin Residence. As Lin Ke and Elder Huang headed upstairs, Murong Mu’s mother arrived through a jade pendant and demanded to know who had attacked her son.

• Elder Huang realized Lin Ke was the customer who had come to buy the Lin Residence and rushed downstairs.
• Elder Huang slapped Murong Mu unconscious, apologized to Lin Ke, and ordered Murong Mu taken to Daoist Void River at the Void River Temple.
• Lin Ke accepted Elder Huang’s invitation to discuss business in Heavenly Room Three.
• Murong Mu’s jade pendant summoned his mother, who revived him with medicine and demanded to know who had harmed him.

Elder Huang defended Lin Ke after Murong Mu’s mother demanded justice for her unconscious son, warning her that Murong Mu had offended a powerful honored guest. Murong Mu’s mother refused to back down and challenged Elder Huang to let the facts decide who was right.

• Elder Huang confronted Murong Mu’s mother and demanded that she bring her son out, while Lin Ke remained silent and watched.
• Murong Mu’s mother pleaded with Elder Huang to uphold justice, but he blamed Murong Mu for his arrogance and for nearly driving Lin Ke out of the Breathing Soil Pavilion.
• The onlookers speculated about Lin Ke’s identity and the power behind him as Elder Huang warned that Murong Mu’s offense could bring ruin upon his lineage.
• Murong Mu’s mother accused Elder Huang of humiliating her son and invoked Lin Ke and the new rites, prompting Elder Huang to reveal that he had slapped Murong Mu himself.
• Murong Mu’s mother rejected Elder Huang’s attempt to send them away and declared that she and her son would seek justice, threatening to disregard their past friendship if her son was in the right.

Lin Ke met with Elder Huang at the Breathing Soil Pavilion to discuss buying the Lin Residence. Elder Huang offered it for ten thousand taels of gold and treated the payment as both a gift and the franchise fee for three milk tea shops, leaving him hopeful that Lin Ke would continue doing business with him.

• Elder Huang teleported Murong Mu and his mother away, then calmed the Pavilion’s customers by promising them fruit platters and milk tea.
• Elder Huang led Lin Ke to Heavenly Room Three and explained the room’s soundproof screen.
• Elder Huang told Lin Ke that the Lin Residence cost ten thousand taels of gold and waived the brokerage fee.
• Elder Huang showed Lin Ke the residence’s deeds, which he had bought in his own name, and Lin Ke checked them for hidden traps.
• Elder Huang said the payment would count as a gift and as the franchise fee for three milk tea shops, and he welcomed Lin Ke’s suggestion that he might need Elder Huang’s help again.

Lin Ke asked Elder Huang of the Breathing Soil Pavilion to arrange property, shops, pets, and other services, then requested loyal candidates for steward and manager positions. After Lin Ke left, Elder Huang summoned the pavilion’s elders and called in Brother Zhang to handle the major client.

• Lin Ke explained his plans to buy land for Clear Stream Academy, shops, and other necessities, and Elder Huang offered to arrange them without brokerage fees.
• Lin Ke accepted the waived fees on the condition that he might help Elder Huang in the future if it was within his power.
• Elder Huang showed Lin Ke nineteen possible locations, but Lin Ke asked him to choose one and gather information about pets and various crafts.
• Lin Ke asked Elder Huang to find loyal steward and manager candidates for interviews at the Lin Residence the next day.
• After Lin Ke left, Elder Huang summoned the Ten Directions Pavilion Elders and called Brother Zhang to Heaven Room Two.

Lin Ke was confronted by an old woman from the Wa royal family who blamed him for injuring her grandson and attacked him with Plague Wind. As the street fell into chaos, Lin Ke summoned a sword and struck at her, but someone abruptly ordered them to stop.

• Lin Ke heard that a distinguished Imperial Academy Doctor had arrived, but he told Ning Caichen to take him home instead of joining the crowd.
• The old woman destroyed Lin Ke's carriage with a gale, and Ning Caichen caught Lin Ke on a rising tree root.
• An Inspector recognized Lin Ke and the old woman as powerful figures, then withdrew to summon officials from the Capital Prefecture.
• The old woman accused Lin Ke of injuring her grandson and humiliating her daughter-in-law, then attacked him with her Purplewood Cane.
• Lin Ke recognized her as a member of the Wa royal family, accused her of street violence, and ordered Ning Caichen to protect nearby people as Plague Wind harmed bystanders.
• Lin Ke summoned a hazy white longsword and lunged at the old woman, but a voice suddenly commanded them to stop.