Chapter Summaries

After returning to Shushan, Li Ping'an discovered that his home had been demolished to make way for an Elder’s residence, while Bai Gei’s protests ended in his expulsion. Li Ping'an continued researching a medicinal formula with Old Ox and finally succeeded after nearly half a month.

• The training expedition ended, and Li Ping'an returned to Shushan with Old Ox and the other disciples.
• Li Ping'an found that his hut and the surrounding homes had been demolished, and learned that an Elder wanted the land for a residence.
• Bai Gei led a protest demanding compensation, but a scandal turned Shushan against him, and he was expelled after the others received new housing and compensation.
• Li Ping'an saw Bai Gei off alone, then continued experimenting on his medicinal formula with Old Ox.
• After nearly half a month of research, Li Ping'an exclaimed that the formula had worked.

Li Ping'an and Old Ox made two inexpensive medicines and then sneaked into Medicine Valley to experiment on a third. Wu Mengxi caught them, but Li Ping'an proved he was making medicine, leaving her to wash her hair in a handstand as promised.

• Li Ping'an and Old Ox finished making a wound-healing medicine and a low-cost body-strengthening medicine, while Li Ping'an still lacked an herb for his own cultivation medicine.
• Situ Lei treated Li Ping'an to drinks and confided that Qin Miaomiao had distanced herself from him.
• After parting from Situ Lei, Li Ping'an and Old Ox entered Medicine Valley at night to gather herbs and experiment.
• Wu Mengxi discovered them while patrolling and accused Li Ping'an of lying about making medicine.
• Li Ping'an demonstrated that he could make medicine, so Wu Mengxi washed her hair in a handstand and admitted he had won.

Li Ping'an tested a new medicinal pill, then turned a confrontation with Grasshopper into a profitable settlement at the Enforcement Pavilion. He and Wu Mengxi launched a commission-based medicine business that rapidly dominated Shushan's low-end market, leaving Li Ping'an and Old Ox rich but overworked.

• Li Ping'an offered Wu Mengxi a ten-percent commission for bringing in buyers, and she agreed to help sell his medicine.
• After making and testing a large pill on himself, Li Ping'an cultivated for two days and felt refreshed.
• Grasshopper and his men confronted Li Ping'an, who pretended to be bullied before slapping Grasshopper and letting the group beat him until a disciple intervened.
• At the Enforcement Pavilion, Li Ping'an asked for monetary compensation and forgave Grasshopper, who grudgingly thanked him.
• Li Ping'an met Wu Mengxi in secret, sold medicine to her recruits, and offered them commissions for bringing in more buyers.
• Over the next month, Li Ping'an's Black Market medicine business spread rapidly, overwhelmed Shushan's low-end market, and filled his Storage Ring with Spirit Stones.

Li Ping'an took Old Ox to a market town, bought livestock after haggling with a chicken seller, and returned to Shushan to build animal shelters. After sharing a meal and wine with Elder Qingfeng, he waited for Qingfeng to fall asleep and began cultivating in peace.

• Li Ping'an rented a house, collected a pass to leave Shushan, and went to the market town with Old Ox.
• Li Ping'an identified an old hen as a poor layer, negotiated a low price, and bought several hens and other livestock.
• Li Ping'an and Old Ox built shelters for the animals on their land at Shushan.
• Elder Qingfeng visited Li Ping'an, brought immortal wine, and stayed to share a meal.
• Elder Qingfeng fell asleep after drinking, and Li Ping'an closed the door and began cultivating.

Li Ping'an escaped a raid on his medicine-selling operation, only for Qingfeng to discover that he was the dealer. Qingfeng watched Li Ping'an refine the medicine and realized the culprit he had hoped to meet was the very person he knew.

• The Enforcement Pavilion elder condemned the fake-medicine operation, while Qingfeng assumed it had nothing to do with him.
• Li Ping'an sold medicine at the latrine until Wu Mengxi warned that the Enforcement Pavilion was coming, then escaped through a tunnel with his accomplices.
• Lin Xue led the Enforcement Pavilion raid and captured more than twenty people left behind.
• Qingfeng read that the medicine was effective rather than fake, and the Enforcement Pavilion ordered the alchemy hall elders to investigate their disciples.
• Qingfeng followed Li Ping'an to Medicine Valley and watched him refine herbal medicine, confirming that Li Ping'an was the dealer.

Li Ping'an teamed up with Elder Qingfeng to protect and expand his medicine business, then gained a Field Cultivation Technique and gave Old Ox a Magical Brick. Qingfeng brought Li Ping'an to a Medicine Valley on Heaven-Reaching Peak to recommend him for a garden-tending position.

• Qingfeng caught Li Ping'an and Old Ox making medicine, then demanded a share of the profits as his protective umbrella.
• Li Ping'an paid Qingfeng, and their partnership helped his low-end medicine business flourish.
• Li Ping'an advanced The Moon's Reflection on the Second Spring and gained the Field Cultivation Technique and a Magical Brick, which he handed to Old Ox.
• Qingfeng introduced Li Ping'an to the Medicine Valley on Heaven-Reaching Peak and said he had recommended him for a disciple position tending the garden.
• Li Ping'an and Old Ox entered the valley, marveled at its spirit medicines, and excitedly explored the garden.

Li Ping'an impressed Medicine Valley with his cultivation skills and secured a job there, moving in with Old Ox to tend the fields and animals. He settled into a peaceful routine while knowing he was destined to leave Shushan and return to the martial world someday.

• Lin Xue and Li Ping'an blushed as they recalled the time he treated her poisoned wounds, while Old Ox hid his face.
• Qingfeng introduced Li Ping'an to Gao Shicheng, who tested him by assigning him a small patch to sow despite learning he was not a cultivator.
• Li Ping'an used his Field Cultivation Technique to sow all thirty-odd mu, clear the weeds, and impress Gao Shicheng with his work.
• Li Ping'an secured a place in Medicine Valley and moved there with Old Ox, bringing their chickens and pigs as they settled into a busy routine.
• Li Ping'an and Old Ox secretly stole taro, roasted it beneath a pine tree, and watched the sunset.

Li Ping'an settled into life guarding Medicine Valley, where he caught a chah stealing spirit herbs and built a bathing pool with Old Ox. He became enemies with Elder Lu Bai over the elder’s embezzlement and hostility toward his medicine business, and the chapter ended with Situ Lei telling Qin Miaomiao that Academy disciple Jing Yu had reached the fifth grade.

• Li Ping'an caught the chah stealing spirit herbs, and Old Ox helped him string it up as punishment.
• Li Ping'an and Old Ox built a pool fed by the valley’s spring water, where they later bathed with the chah beneath the moonlight.
• Li Ping'an learned that Elder Lu Bai resented his cheaper medicine and often embezzled from Medicine Valley, so the two became enemies.
• Li Ping'an met Situ Lei and Qin Miaomiao at the dining hall, where Situ Lei said Jing Yu had reached the fifth grade.

Li Ping'an reflected on the lives of old acquaintances, cultivated medicines, and experimented with new remedies before Elder Lu Bai demanded spirit herbs without proper paperwork. The chapter ended with Li Ping'an asking Lu Bai to sign for the ten shilan plants he had requested.

• Li Ping'an read news about Jing Yu and Yan Shisan, who had become a Confucian disciple and slain an Evil Cultivator.
• Li Ping'an planted spirit medicine seeds and watched other disciples struggle under the pressure of cultivation.
• Li Ping'an and Old Ox read news of the Turkic Lands' destruction and the Empress's achievements while Chah ate Li Ping'an's failed medicinal brews.
• Elder Lu Bai demanded ten two-hundred-year-old shilan plants without presenting a requisition slip.
• Li Ping'an had Old Ox fetch the plants but asked Lu Bai to sign for them before handing them over.

Li Ping'an tested his new Mighty Pill by setting up a stall on Red Agate Street, where two disciples sent by Lu Bai tried to intimidate him. He then went to Elder Qingfeng and framed their harassment as an insult to the elder, leaving Qingfeng to react to the provocation.

• Li Ping'an refined a black medicine called the Mighty Pill, which proved three times as effective as an ordinary Qi-Blood Pill, and decided to test it himself before selling it widely.
• Li Ping'an set up a stall on Red Agate Street, where two disciples approached him and demanded pork and Cunjin Soft Bone.
• Li Ping'an fulfilled their orders and gave them Spirit Stones, leaving the disciples satisfied and convinced that their presence had intimidated him.
• Li Ping'an packed up his stall, dirtied his face and clothes, and went to Elder Qingfeng's residence to report that he had been bullied.
• Li Ping'an told Elder Qingfeng that the disciples' actions were not just a slap in his face but a slap in the elder's face.

Li Ping'an joined Situ Lei on a mission to investigate the Hundred Mothers Hall, a temple rumored to worship a demon responsible for several deaths. While Old Ox distracted the worshippers with acrobatics, Situ Lei exposed the demon, which fled as he attacked it.

• Qingfeng settled Lu Bai’s dispute with Li Ping'an, and Lu Bai thereafter treated him courteously.
• Li Ping'an accepted Situ Lei’s offer to investigate a suspicious temple in the county town.
• At the Hundred Mothers Hall, Situ Lei asked Li Ping'an to divert the worshippers while he used the Absolution Divine Order to reveal the demon.
• Old Ox drew the crowd’s attention by performing acrobatics outside the temple.
• Situ Lei exposed the demon inside the hall and attacked, but it turned and ran.

Li Ping'an's temple visit led to the fiend's defeat after it absorbed poisoned incense, while Situ Lei assumed the battle had gone smoothly. The old man who had paid for Li Ping'an's incense returned home to hear alarming news about his son.

• Situ Lei chased the fiend into the woods and fought it while Li Ping'an stayed at the temple eating offerings.
• An old man scolded Li Ping'an for eating the temple fruit, bought him three sticks of incense, and asked the immortal to heal his sick son.
• Li Ping'an burned the incense, weakening his qi and poisoning the fiend when it absorbed the incense power.
• The fiend collapsed, and Situ Lei bound it with the Demon-Binding Rope before returning to the temple.
• Li Ping'an suggested the fiend's defeat might have been a staged accident, and the old man returned home to find his wife crying about their son.

An old man realized that the blind physician who cured his son was the immortal he had met at the temple. Later, Lin Xue visited Li Ping'an for herbs before the Sect Grand Tournament, and she fell asleep after confiding her worries to him.

• The old man's son recovered, and his wife explained that a blind physician had treated him and left a prescription.
• The old man recognized the physician as the blind man from the temple and concluded that he was an immortal.
• Li Ping'an played a game with Old Ox, then showed off his vegetable garden to Lin Xue when she arrived to collect medicinal herbs.
• Lin Xue told Li Ping'an she was preparing for the Sect Grand Tournament and hoped to break through to the third rank peak.
• While resting in Li Ping'an's garden, Lin Xue shared her anxieties about the tournament and fell asleep.

Lin Xue woke refreshed, while Li Ping'an spent the days before the Sect Grand Tournament fishing, cooking, and catching up on letters from friends. A month later, the tournament began.

• Lin Xue woke among the medicinal plants and found the ingredients Li Ping'an had prepared for her.
• Situ Lei visited before entering seclusion, and Li Ping'an cooked for him after learning he would pay.
• Li Ping'an refused Xiaodao's mission offer so he could enjoy the approaching Sect Grand Tournament and fish instead.
• Li Ping'an read letters from Jing Yu, Aliya, Qin Shi, Wang Yi, and Old Ox, learning that his friends were doing well.
• A month later, the Sect Grand Tournament began.

Shushan’s disciples gathered for the Sect Grand Tournament while Li Ping'an prepared medicine and practiced, then traveled to Main Peak with Old Ox and Run Tu. He arrived ready to watch the matches with snacks, a sunshade, and Projection Stones to record the fights.

• Li Ping'an spent the night practicing visualization as Shushan prepared for the tournament.
• Situ Lei and the disciples of Lesser Qiong Peak set off for Main Peak, where they encountered Lin Xue and the group from Heaven-Reaching Peak.
• Lin Xue thanked Li Ping'an for helping her feel at ease after their conversation in Medicine Valley.
• Li Ping'an and Old Ox walked up Main Peak with Run Tu and arrived at the crowded tournament square.
• Old Ox opened their box of refreshments, a sunshade, and Projection Stones for recording the battles.

Li Ping'an sold snacks at the sect tournament, then watched Lin Xue and Wu Mengxi win their opening matches while analyzing Wu Mengxi's swordsmanship. After a Bamboo Leaf Peak disciple challenged him over his critique, Li Ping'an stood to face him.

• Li Ping'an, Old Ox, and Run Tu sold snacks at the tournament until their peanuts and sunflower seeds ran out.
• Lin Xue defeated her opponent almost immediately in the first match Li Ping'an watched.
• Wu Mengxi greeted Li Ping'an before winning a fast-paced fight against a disciple in white.
• Li Ping'an analyzed Wu Mengxi's swordsmanship as Old Ox took notes, prompting a Bamboo Leaf Peak disciple to challenge him.
• Li Ping'an stood up to accept the disciple's challenge.

Li Ping'an watched the tournament and studied the contestants’ fighting methods, then intervened when the disciple surnamed Zhou was badly injured. After saving Zhou’s life, Li Ping'an left him with a painful fall and settled back in to watch the matches.

• Li Ping'an avoided a confrontation with the disciple surnamed Zhou and found another place to watch Wu Mengxi’s match.
• Wu Mengxi narrowly won her fight, and Li Ping'an studied the contestants’ techniques and resolved to strike quickly in future battles.
• A tournament match ended with one disciple dead and the other gravely wounded while the elder was too late to stop the fatal blow.
• The disciple surnamed Zhou fought on a platform and was badly injured, so Li Ping'an rushed over to stop the elder from worsening his condition and treated him with needles and a healing pill.
• After Zhou began to thank him, Li Ping'an let him fall heavily to the ground, then asked Run Tu and Old Ox to finish recording the fights before relaxing with tea.

Li Ping'an watched the sect tournament while studying the fighters and experimenting with a medicinal bath that left his body changing colors for days. As the top thirty-two began competing, Old Ox told him the tangled history of Qingluan and Yeling, and Li Ping'an suspected Qingluan had just received a cheat.

• Li Ping'an watched the tournament and learned about the tactics, recovery, and endurance involved in the matches.
• Li Ping'an prepared a medicinal bath, but the experiment seemed to fail and made him turn red, yellow, black, and then green over several days.
• Old Ox investigated the top thirty-two competitors and told Li Ping'an about Qingluan and Yeling's history as childhood sweethearts and betrothed disciples.
• Li Ping'an learned that Yeling had distanced herself from Qingluan after his cultivation foundation was damaged while saving her, while Qingluan's junior sister remained devoted to him.
• Old Ox told Li Ping'an that Qingluan's cultivation had recently advanced rapidly, and Li Ping'an suspected a cheat had arrived.

After years of refining his medicinal bath, Li Ping'an succeeded in strengthening his body and celebrated with Old Ox and Run Tu in Medicine Valley. The next morning, a white crane delivered a letter from Jing Yu, leaving its contents unknown.

• Qing Luan defeated Ye Ling, and the Shushan tournament concluded with Lin Xue reaching the final four.
• Li Ping'an returned to Medicine Valley, where he and Old Ox continued researching medicinal baths with Run Tu's help.
• After two and a half years, Li Ping'an completed the medicinal bath and gained control over the surging strength in his body.
• Li Ping'an, Old Ox, and Run Tu celebrated with hot pot and competed to compose poetry, but Run Tu's poems earned him more meat and sparked a chase.
• Run Tu seized the foul-mouthed letter-delivering white crane, and Li Ping'an collected the letter from Jing Yu.

Li Ping'an left Medicine Valley to honor his three-year promise to meet Jing Yu in Jiangnan, but his attempt to travel by flying sword ended in a fall. A month later, he reached a river crossing and defeated a ghostly boatman, then continued toward Jiangnan.

• Li Ping'an decided to travel to Jiangnan to meet Jing Yu, leaving Run Tu in charge of the medicine-making operation and saying farewell to his animal companions.
• Li Ping'an tried to ride Fine Rain with Old Ox, but they fell from the sky instead of flying away.
• A month later, Li Ping'an and Old Ox boarded a boat bound for Ling City, where a martial man and his wife joined them.
• The boatman revealed himself as a ghost and attacked the passengers with wind and waves, sweeping the woman into the air.
• Li Ping'an caught the woman, stopped the storm with a sheet of Xuan paper, and dispersed the boatman with his aura.
• Li Ping'an righted the damaged boat, reclaimed his fare, and rode away across the water toward Jiangnan.