Chapter Summaries

Wang Quan began his training at the Drowning Dao Lower Court, where he learned that cultivation methods grew more powerful with deeper mastery of Daoist scriptures. He secretly continued studying beyond nine thousand volumes while telling Wu Yong he had learned only 3,050, and weighed when to begin cultivating.

• Wang Quan joined the Drowning Dao Lower Court after an influential figure switched his Orthodox Mystic Sect token for an unorthodox one, and vowed to return for revenge.
• A Daoist nun explained that the Drowning Dao offered its methods and spells freely, warned newcomers to conceal how many scriptures they had mastered, and said they had thirty years to reach Foundation Establishment.
• Wang Quan passed the test for volume 9050 in the Scripture Repository after studying it carefully.
• Wu Yong told Wang Quan that many newcomers had started cultivating and asked how many scriptures he had learned.
• Wang Quan claimed he had barely mastered 3,050 volumes and wanted to reach five or six thousand before cultivating, while Wu Yong secretly believed he was progressing faster.
• Wu Yong mentioned shops selling higher-version fundamental methods, but both he and Wang Quan said they had no money to buy them.

Wang Quan continued studying Daoist Scriptures while his companions gradually abandoned their goal of mastering six thousand volumes and began cultivating. As the first anniversary approached, he remained close to reaching ten thousand volumes, while Wu Yong agreed to attend Zhao Hongyi’s banquet.

• Wang Quan and Wu Yong persisted in studying Daoist Scriptures as Zhao Hongyi left to begin cultivation and later invited the group to visit her mountain estate.
• Qian Xiuyue quit the contact group and began cultivating after struggling to learn more scriptures, while Wang Quan and Wu Yong chose to continue studying.
• Wang Quan reached 9,900 volumes, and Wu Yong decided to persevere until he mastered at least 7,000.
• Zhao Hongyi returned on a red-crowned crane and invited Wang Quan and Wu Yong to a banquet for their first anniversary.
• Wang Quan declined the invitation to focus on his studies, while Wu Yong accepted and watched Zhao Hongyi depart on her crane.

Wang Quan spent two and a half years mastering ten thousand Dao scriptures while refusing to begin cultivation, outlasting his cohort at the Scripture Repository. After unlocking the First-Rank Dao Seal, he chose the Qi gathering trait and prepared to start refining magical power.

• Wu Yong returned from Zhao Hongyi's manor, later left the Scripture Repository to begin refining magical power, and told Wang Quan about the cultivation progress of the others.
• Wang Quan continued studying the Dao scriptures alone, sharing what he knew with newcomers and declining Wu Yong's invitation to a gathering.
• Wu Yong visited again and explained that cultivators could attempt Foundation Establishment after accumulating 360 strands of magical power, though Wang Quan still chose to keep studying.
• Wang Quan mastered his ten-thousandth Dao scripture and unlocked the First-Rank Dao Seal, which appeared only after he had mastered ten thousand volumes without magical power.
• Wang Quan spent his heavenly opportunity to condense the Qi gathering trait, then messaged Wu Yong, Qian Xiuyue, and Zhao Hongyi that he was ready to begin refining magical power.

Wang Quan chose three fundamental methods and two spells, then set out to refine his first strand of dharmic power safely within the lower courtyard. He left the crowded lakeshore to find a quieter place to cultivate.

• Qian Xiuyue warned Wang Quan against choosing the [White Bone Great Strength Demon God Method], advised him not to join a group, and urged him to take lower courtyard assignments first.
• Wang Quan selected the [Purple Qi Reaches the Heavens Method], the [Bright Moon Shines on Me Method], and the [Great Sun Across the Sky Art] at the Transmission Hall.
• Wang Quan chose [Moonlight Escape] and the [Plain Moon Paper-Cutting Art] for escape, concealment, and a death substitute.
• Wang Quan decided to cultivate inside the lower courtyard before venturing outside, where he would be safer from harm.
• Wang Quan found the unnamed lake crowded and left to seek a quieter place to gather moonlight and refine dharmic power.

Wang Quan used his perfected cultivation method and Paper Moon technique to refine mana at an astonishing rate, then worshiped the moon and gathered purple qi at dawn. He ended the chapter with his cultivation efficiency far surpassing that of other lower-court cultivators.

• Wang Quan made a Paper Moon from spirit paper and used it to gather moonlight, refining two wisps of mana in his first session.
• Wang Quan infused the Paper Moon with mana and cultivated until he had accumulated forty wisps.
• Wang Quan made seven more moons to represent the moon phases, and the eight infused moons helped him refine 240 wisps of mana.
• Wang Quan worshiped the moon by burning sandalwood incense and sending his accumulated mana toward it, then sensed a ring-shaped crater on the moon.
• Wang Quan used the Purple Qi Reaches the Heavens Method at dawn and gathered two wisps of purple qi, confirming his cultivation efficiency.

Wang Quan cultivated his first strand of bright moon mana, formed his Inner Landscape and Yin Spirit, and registered as a true disciple of the Drowning Dao. He learned he had twenty-seven years to reach Foundation Establishment and asked a senior sister how to earn money without leaving the lower courtyard.

• Wang Quan avoided the available sect missions, continued studying Dao scriptures, and used his moon phases to cultivate bright moon mana.
• Wu Yong messaged Wang Quan, recommending the [White Bone Great Strength Demon God Method] and offering to help place him on a team once he cultivated white bone magic power.
• After four days of cultivation, Wang Quan gathered ten thousand wisps of mana, formed his Inner Landscape, and created a Yin Spirit that he strengthened with purple qi.
• Wang Quan registered his mana and became a true disciple of the Drowning Dao, with twenty-seven years to complete Foundation Establishment.
• Wang Quan asked a ponytailed senior sister how he could earn money without leaving the lower courtyard, and said he wanted both big and small opportunities.

Wang Quan learned that he could sell mana for a fortune and sold one strand of his unusually pure [Bright Moon Mana] to raise money for a spellcasting implement. After buying materials for a [Plain Moon Paper-Cutting Box], he openly warned the Daoist priest who had looked down on him that he planned to deal with him later.

• The ponytailed Daoist nun explained that Wang Quan could earn money by selling mana or taking lower court field-tilling assignments, and he decided to sell a strand to fund a [Plain Moon Paper-Cutting Box].
• Wang Quan studied scriptures, analyzed spells, and refined his second strand of mana over the next four days.
• Wang Quan used [Parting Chaos] to sever his [Bright Moon Mana] and sold it to the ponytailed Daoist nun for 1.1 million Green Beetle coins after she found it exceptionally pure.
• The ponytailed Daoist nun referred Wang Quan to her roommate, Senior Sister Xu, at the Miscellaneous Goods Hall so he could buy materials for the box.
• Wang Quan asked Senior Sister Xu to prepare materials within a million-coin budget, then told the sneering Daoist priest he intended to deal with him later.

Wang Quan learned about the conflict between the old and new cultivation methods, then refined a Plain Moon Paper-Cutting Box and completed Moonlight Escape. He wondered whether combining the two methods could make side-door techniques rival orthodox Daoist schools.

• The round-faced Daoist nun warned Wang Quan that Qin Feng, a powerful practitioner of the new method, might retaliate, and explained the differences between the new and old cultivation methods.
• Wang Quan asked Qian Xiuyue about the new method, and she dismissed its practitioners as weaker than old-method cultivators with extensive Daoist-scripture knowledge.
• Wang Quan used the materials he had bought to refine the Plain Moon Paper-Cutting Box, linking it to his yin spirit so it could prepare paper-cutting materials for him.
• Wang Quan gathered moonlight and used Dao characters to refine it, successfully completing Moonlight Escape.

Wang Quan improved his paper effigies by studying real human anatomy, then learned the Paper Effigy Death-Substitution Art and built up his cultivation over the following month. His Dao Seal showed substantial progress, but he realized he needed to earn Green Fly Coins to support his cultivation and unlock a second trait.

• Wang Quan bought a male corpse and a female corpse, dissected them, and used what he learned to create paper effigies with detailed internal structures.
• Wang Quan made a lifelike paper effigy of himself and used it to learn the Paper Effigy Death-Substitution Art, giving him protection from a fatal injury.
• Over the next month, Wang Quan studied Daoist scriptures, refined his mana and purple qi, and infused the Plain Moon Paper-Cutting Box with the memories of more than a thousand martial artists and hundreds of maidservants.
• Wang Quan created more than twenty Damage-Substituting Paper Guardians and a protective paper house for his yin spirit, limited by the number of mana strands he possessed.
• Wang Quan checked his First-Rank Dao Seal and realized he needed Green Fly Coins to pay for cultivation supplies and obtain materials to unlock a second trait.

Wang Quan sought work outside the Drowning Dao Lower Court and signed up for a flower-scattering job, while Wu Yong tried to draw him into practicing the New Method and working with Zhao Hongyi’s team. Zhao Hongyi ordered Wu Yong to prepare for a dangerous trip to gather Black Sinking Sand and told him to cut off contact with Wang Quan.

• Wang Quan asked the round-faced senior sister for an outside job and signed up to scatter flowers at a senior sister’s dual-cultivation appearance for twenty thousand coins.
• Wu Yong questioned Wang Quan about his magic power and spells, urged him to switch to the New Method, and asked him to join the Red-Clothed Manor team, but Wang Quan refused.
• Wu Yong grew angry because Wang Quan had rejected the role he had planned for him as a fighter and decoy in Zhao Hongyi’s team.
• Zhao Hongyi ordered Wu Yong to join another expedition to the Fury River to gather Black Sinking Sand for her senior brother.
• Zhao Hongyi told Wu Yong to stop contacting Wang Quan and have Xiuyue and the others cut ties with him.

Wang Quan went to Courtyard No. 95 for a job and discovered it was preparing an elaborate opening ceremony for a dual cultivation academy. He accepted a well-paid role using his paper puppets to escort Fairy Qin, then took his position as the ceremony was about to begin.

• Wang Quan entered the market and pushed through crowds of spirits to reach Courtyard No. 95.
• Wang Quan found the courtyard preparing a lavish ceremony for its first dual cultivation academy and went to the flower-scattering station.
• The young Daoist nun assigned spirits and cultivators to scatter flowers and demonstrate their techniques.
• Wang Quan used the Plain Moon Paper-Cutting Box to summon twenty-two palace maids who scattered lifelike petals.
• The young Daoist nun hired Wang Quan for thirty thousand Green Beetles to arrange Fairy Qin's palanquin procession with his paper puppets.
• Wang Quan took his place beneath the eaves beside a Daoist nun skilled in illusions, and they agreed to help each other if anything went wrong.

Wang Quan attended a lavish cultivators’ wedding procession for Fairy Qin and discovered that the Officiant Daoist Nun wanted to recruit him for wedding and funeral work. He agreed to join and received the title Flower-Scatter Daoist.

• The Officiant Daoist Nun fired cannons to begin Fairy Qin’s procession, while Wang Quan and the spirits filled the courtyard with flowers, paper attendants, music, and acrobatics.
• Wang Quan recognized Fairy Qin as the aloof Daoist nun he had met when he first arrived at the Drowning Lower Court and used the Inchlight Art to inspect her.
• Dream Nun explained that cultivators were much like ordinary people, then invited Wang Quan to meet the Officiant Daoist Nun at the banquet.
• The Officiant Daoist Nun praised Wang Quan’s lifelike paper figures and offered him regular wedding and funeral work, including other ways to earn money with his skills.
• Wang Quan agreed to join after learning that most ceremonies took place during the day, and the Officiant Daoist Nun named him the Flower-Scatter Daoist.

After earning thirty thousand Green Beetles for the banquet, Wang Quan avoided taking sides in a dispute over the New and Old Cultivation Methods, then secretly prepared to use Nightmare Victory spells against Zhao Fei’s group. Qin White Lotus revealed that she exploited New Method cultivators to make money and cultivate, while dismissing their threats as easy prey.

• Wang Quan collected thirty thousand Green Beetles from the Officiant Daoist Nun and turned down Dream Nun’s suggestion to rent a room in Courtyard No. 95.
• Zhao Fei and the Blissful Union House confronted the residents of Courtyard No. 95 and pressured Wang Quan to judge the dispute between the New and Old Cultivation Methods.
• Wang Quan refused to take sides, then told Zhao Fei he would join the Blissful Union House before heading up the mountain.
• Wang Quan asked the round-faced Daoist nun to prepare top-grade Nightmare Victory materials on credit, claiming he would use them to temper his Yin Spirit.
• Zhao Fei used Wang Quan’s apparent agreement to promote the New Method and imagined earning enough merit to establish his own lineage.
• Qin White Lotus used a corpse transformed to resemble her to serve a guest, then told an associate she intended to exploit New Method cultivators and could easily kill their Foundation Establishment Ancestors.

Wang Quan prepared golden straw dolls and protections against being targeted by the Nightmare-Subduing Technique, then waited until night to leave the Lower Court and kill Zhao Fei and the others. Before he could go, a young man and woman asked him about studying Daoist Scriptures, and he encouraged them to master as many as they could before cultivating Dharma Power.

• Wang Quan used the Plain Moon Paper-Cutting Box to make portraits of Zhao Fei and the others, then recovered his spent Dharma Power with the Bright Moon Shines on Me Method.
• Wang Quan turned the portraits into golden straw dolls and used the Nightmare-Subduing Technique to burn away traces of his hair, skin, and other bodily remnants.
• Wang Quan waited for nightfall because the Lower Court's Magic Treasure would detect and punish spells cast to harm someone inside the court.
• Wang Quan returned to the Coffin Dormitory, cultivated Dharma Power beneath eight Lunar Phases, and prepared to leave to kill his targets.
• A young man and woman stopped Wang Quan to ask whether Daoist Scriptures mattered, and he advised them to study diligently before cultivating Dharma Power for a chance to obtain the First-Rank Dao Seal.

Wang Quan used the Nightmare-Subduing Technique to kill Zhao Fei and twenty-nine others, leaving behind a valuable Nightmare-Subjugation Relic. Two Foundation Establishment Ancestors could not stop the flames or identify the culprit, so they called for a cultivator from Zhao Fei's Lineage to investigate.

• Wang Quan burned the thirty straw figures, and Zhao Fei's figure survived as a scarlet Nightmare-Subjugation Relic.
• Wang Quan planned to curse the remaining twenty targets before daybreak.
• At a banquet, Zhao Fei's companions offered to pool contribution points so he could obtain a Foundation Establishment Pill.
• Flames erupted from the banquet guests, killing Zhao Fei and twenty-nine others despite the Foundation Establishment Ancestors' efforts.
• The survivors said Zhao Fei had only pressured people to praise the New Method, and the Ancestors summoned a cultivator from Zhao Fei's Lineage to track down the culprit.

After Zhao Fei and thirty others died from Wang Quan’s curses, a Zhao Lineage cultivator tried to trace the caster but was killed by Wang Quan’s counterspell. Wang Quan later cursed the twenty survivors, then returned to the Coffin Dormitory Area, where Ying Jiaren set out with her companion to study the Daoist Scriptures as Wang Quan prepared to gather purple qi.

• The Zhao Lineage's Old Cultivation Method cultivator used blood essence and skulls to protect the twenty survivors and trace the curse, but Wang Quan countered his spell and killed him.
• Wang Quan replenished his mana, cursed the twenty New Method cultivators again, and returned to the Coffin Dormitory Area.
• Wang Quan told Ying Jiaren that sleeping in a coffin would help her study the Daoist Scriptures, and she later admitted she had fallen asleep and felt rested.
• Wang Quan used sandalwood incense and his [Bright Moon Mana] to glimpse a volcano on the moon and strengthen the connection between his paper moon phases and the moon.
• Ying Jiaren and her companion left for the Scripture Repository, while Wang Quan circulated the [Purple Qi Reaches the Heavens Method] to gather purple qi.

After a deadly night gathering black sinking sand, Zhao Hongyi returned to investigate an Old Cultivation Method cultivator who had killed members of her lineage, while Qian Xiuyue reconsidered her place at the manor. Wang Quan learned that a funeral commission involved a client likely to become an anomaly after death, and prepared to help suppress the corpse.

• Wu Yong, Zhao Hongyi, Qian Xiuyue, and the others escaped the Fury River after many martial arts experts and New Method cultivators were killed or wounded gathering black sinking sand.
• Zhao Hongyi told Wu Yong that an Old Cultivation Method cultivator had killed members of her lineage with a curse, so she and Wu Yong returned to the manor to investigate.
• Qian Xiuyue arranged care and rewards for the survivors, then contacted Wang Quan and admitted that she regretted following Zhao Hongyi.
• Wang Quan invited Qian Xiuyue to return to the Lower Court, while he declined her suggestion to establish a manor and continued studying Daoist Scriptures.
• The Officiant Daoist Nun told Wang Quan to study feng shui, earth-vein, ritual, and underworld spells for a funeral commission involving a client who had cultivated the Fundamental Method without mastering any Daoist Scriptures.
• The Officiant Daoist Nun explained that such a client could become an anomaly after death and that specialized spells and a feng shui site were needed to suppress or permanently kill it.

Wang Quan mastered dozens of spells before joining Dream Nun and the Officiant Daoist Nun for work in the mountains. After Dream Nun’s Beauty Snakes drove off newcomers who were following them, the group continued toward a suitable burial site, with Wang Quan studying the terrain.

• Wang Quan studied spells from the four major categories and mastered dozens of them with the help of his [First-Rank Dao Seal].
• Wang Quan met Dream Nun and the Officiant Daoist Nun at Immortal-Welcoming Mountain, and the three headed into the mountains to find a burial site.
• Wang Quan noticed newcomers following the group and asked whether they planned to rob them.
• Dream Nun sent her Beauty Snakes into the clouds, where they defeated the attackers and collected their Green Fly Coins and bodies.
• Wang Quan studied the mountain paths and terrain, and the Officiant Daoist Nun summoned a seven-colored auspicious cloud to survey the area from above.

Wang Quan selected a burial site with the Officiant Daoist Nun and the Dream Nun, then worried that the funeral work paid too little to support his cultivation. After deciding to test whether he could condense spiritual essence himself, he returned to studying Daoist Scriptures with Ying Jiaren.

• Wang Quan used paper figures to carry him and the two nuns as he surveyed mountains and chose a shaded, sinister-looking burial site, explaining its feng shui to them.
• The Officiant Daoist Nun arranged payment for the burial sites and told Wang Quan that the clients had been killed by a cultivator’s curse, leaving only white bones.
• Wang Quan worried that funeral work paid too little and considered earning money by condensing spiritual essence or selling magical power.
• Ying Jiaren noticed Wang Quan’s troubled mind and encouraged him to take a walk, then studied Daoist Scriptures beside him.
• Wang Quan resumed studying, planned to try condensing essence after the next day’s funeral, and later went to refine magical power.

Wang Quan joined the Officiant Daoist Nun and Dream Nun in a lavish funeral procession for the dead cultivators, whose souls could not be summoned. When the coffins began falling open, skeletons emerged and joyfully headed toward the Blissful Union House.

• Wang Quan arrived at the second Blissful Union House and helped stage a funeral with hired mourners, Paper People, suonas, and spirit money.
• Zhao Hongyi told Wu Yong the dead had practiced the Lower Court's Fundamental Method, and the Lineage had hired professionals because attempts to summon their souls had failed.
• Wang Quan asked Dream Nun and the Officiant Daoist Nun whether trouble with the corpses could earn the funeral team more money, and the Officiant Daoist Nun warned him not to invite disaster.
• During the fast-moving procession, the ox spirits complained that the coffins were growing heavier, then one coffin hit the ground after its ropes snapped.
• More coffins fell, and Wang Quan, Dream Nun, and the Officiant Daoist Nun tried to negotiate higher pay with the Blissful Union House and Zhao Lineage.
• The coffins burst open, and skeletons climbed out, carrying ox spirits away and dancing as they called for everyone to go to the Blissful Union House.