Chapter Summaries

Xiao Hua abandoned his passive trading approach and quickly accumulated rare items, cultivation techniques, and Small Qiankun Bags through dozens of Star Palace trades. He then entered the Tianyi Star Palace to inspect its spirit herbs, where he learned that a thousand-year Qi Heng Grass cost eighteen high-grade Qi Stones.

• Xiao Hua visited ten Star Palaces and traded spirit herbs and spirit stones for cultivators’ goods, including rare materials, demon cores, relics, and eight Small Qiankun Bags.
• Xiao Hua made dozens more trades, obtaining a damaged jade pendant containing a Golden Core technique, a white bone, and three jade slips recording incomplete Nascent Soul techniques.
• Xiao Hua met Xiao Jian and the others, gave Xiao Jian a Small Qiankun Bag of spirit herbs, and asked the group to gather useful items before the auction.
• Xiao Hua entered the Tianyi Star Palace and learned from Three Zero Seven about the Star Picking Tower’s three floors and its appraisal services.
• Xiao Hua examined the Star Picking Tower’s spirit herb selection and learned that a thousand-year Qi Heng Grass cost eighteen high-grade Qi Stones before asking about ten-year Qi Heng Grass.

Xiao Hua used Star Picking Tower’s low prices to buy a vast assortment of spirit seeds and scarce artifact-refining materials, rewarding Three Zero Seven for helping him. He left Three Zero Seven to arrange access to a valuable new batch of materials and bring him catalogs from the tower’s upper floors.

• Xiao Hua asked Three Zero Seven for every kind of ten-year spirit herb and fruit, then learned Star Picking Tower had over twelve thousand varieties and charged a handling fee for gathering them.
• Xiao Hua instead bought one seed of each kind, received a cultivation guide as a gift, and paid Three Zero Seven generously.
• Xiao Hua examined a catalog of artifact-refining materials and bought several dozen types that were scarce on Xiaoyu Continent.
• Three Zero Seven offered to arrange a purchase from a newly acquired batch of materials tied to Tongzhu Kingdom’s wartime activity, and Xiao Hua gave him ten top-grade Qi Stones and one high-grade Qi Stone.
• Xiao Hua instructed Three Zero Seven to bring catalogs from the second and third floors alone, and Three Zero Seven agreed, hoping to keep the business and rewards for himself.

Xiao Hua accepted Star Picking Tower’s offer of a huge batch of damaged magical artifacts and received a distinguished guest token from Three Zero Seven. As Three Zero Seven escorted him toward the third floor and the auction, Xiao Hua learned how Star Picking Tower’s specialized materials improved Wen Scrolls.

• Three Zero Seven gave Xiao Hua a jade catalogue and returned with a Cosmic Bag filled with damaged magical artifacts.
• Xiao Hua recognized the artifacts as valuable materials he could repair and bought the entire batch, then moved the artifacts into his space for green-robed Xiao Hua to handle.
• Three Zero Seven gave Xiao Hua a distinguished guest token that offered discounts and auction benefits.
• Xiao Hua asked Three Zero Seven about Star Picking Tower’s Wen Scroll materials while they traveled toward the third floor.
• Three Zero Seven explained that specially prepared materials helped Wen Scrolls release Vast Righteous Qi more easily, and that some scrolls made by literary masters could be used even by ordinary people.

Xiao Hua finished his business at Star Picking Tower and arranged for Three Zero Seven to look for a detailed map of Cangxian Continent and information about an underground auction where Daoist cultivation techniques might be found. Back at Hong Siliu, he met the Confucian scholar Fu Zhiwen, who had also dabbled in Daoist cultivation, and asked why he had come seeking him.

• Xiao Hua asked Three Zero Seven for a detailed map of Cangxian Continent and a Daoist cultivation technique for a junior, and Three Zero Seven mentioned a secret underground auction in Tongzhu Kingdom.
• Three Zero Seven agreed to ask his manager about the map, while Xiao Hua bought Confucian techniques, medicinal formulas, and artifact-refining methods.
• Xiao Hua asked Three Zero Seven to find strange or unverified items, then left Star Picking Tower and returned toward Hong Siliu.
• Xiao Hua met a brocade-clad young man outside Hong Siliu and brought him inside after learning he sought the Star Palace's owner.
• The young man introduced himself as Fu Zhiwen, a Confucian scholar who had dabbled in Daoist cultivation, and Xiao Hua asked what he wanted.

Xiao Hua traded Fu Zhiwen fifty high-grade Qi Stones for a Soul Cultivator bone joint and discovered it contained the green seal script for controlling the Soul Bridge. He realized the soul treasure might help restore Cai Zhuoxia’s soul, though reviving the dead remained far beyond his reach.

• Fu Zhiwen showed Xiao Hua several Daoist items, then offered him a crystalline bone joint he had found as a child.
• Xiao Hua recognized the bone joint as a Soul Cultivator relic and offered Fu Zhiwen fifty high-grade Qi Stones for it.
• Fu Zhiwen accepted the trade and hurried off to have Star Picking Tower verify his qualifications for the auction.
• Xiao Hua examined the bone joint and learned that it contained instructions and green seal script for controlling the Soul Bridge, a treasure that could contact another person’s soul.
• Xiao Hua connected the Soul Bridge’s abilities to the possibility of restoring Cai Zhuoxia’s soul, stored the bone joint, and resolved to study it further.

Xiao Hua pondered why he could see souls and suspected his Dharma Eye was responsible, then reunited with Xiao Jian, Liu Yi, and Yuan Ya before heading toward the Bidding Convention. Zhu Qing personally offered to ferry Xiao Hua across the Star Palace’s star river, but Xiao Jian would have to take another boat and prove he had enough primeval stones.

• Xiao Hua wondered why he could see souls when other soul cultivators apparently could not, and connected his ability to his Dharma Eye.
• Xiao Jian, Liu Yi, and Yuan Ya returned to Xiao Hua with their purchases, including a jade pupil containing a rudimentary cultivation technique that Liu Yi had found.
• Xiao Hua accepted the group’s Small Qiankun Bags, told Xiao Jian to keep the remaining spirit herbs until after the Bidding Convention, and gave thirty percent of the herbs to Yuan Ya and Liu Yi.
• Xiao Hua led Xiao Jian to the star river and met Zhu Qing, who was waiting to personally ferry him to the Bidding Convention.
• Xiao Hua refused any attempt to mediate the dispute with Young Master Duanmu, and Zhu Qing clarified that he was not acting for the Duanmu Family.
• Zhu Qing invited Xiao Hua aboard his two-person ferry, while Xiao Jian had to take a separate boat and pass the Star Picking Tower’s primeval-stone qualification check.

Zhu Qing questioned Xiao Hua about the words and hand he had seen in Star Picking Tower, revealing that the auction delay was tied to the Star Moon Palace. Xiao Hua learned it was an ancient ruin but immediately tried to refuse any involvement.

• Xiao Hua gave Zhu Qing a bag of top-grade Qi Stones, and Zhu Qing handed him a Three Stars Token that allowed him to bid on anything at Ming Yue Palace.
• As Zhu Qing took Xiao Hua toward the rainbow bridge, they discussed Star Picking Tower’s Register of Heroes and Zhu Qing explained that Xiao Hua’s name had already been entered.
• Zhu Qing asked whether Xiao Hua had seen the words “Star Moon Alliance,” and Xiao Hua said he had seen only “Star Moon” and an enormous hand.
• Zhu Qing explained that Star Moon originated from Star Moon Palace, an ancient ruin, and said other cultivators or Star Picking Tower’s Records of Strange Tales could tell Xiao Hua more.
• Xiao Hua claimed he was uninterested in seeking ancient ruins and asked Zhu Qing to find someone else.

Xiao Hua reluctantly accepted Zhu Qing’s invitation to Star Moon Palace after hearing about its mysteries, but he arrived at Ming Yue Palace to attend the auction rather than commit to an expedition. Disguised behind a mask, he followed Xiao E into the palace and reached its entrance.

• Zhu Qing explained Star Moon Palace’s legends, its uncertain appearance, and how Star Picking Tower selected candidates, persuading Xiao Hua to accept the invitation without forcing him to go.
• Xiao Hua asked whether Bright Moon would mind if he refused, then accepted the Star Token Zhu Qing gave him and boarded the rainbow bridge alone.
• Xiao Hua put on a mask at the moon gate, where a woman named Xiao E greeted him and identified his token as Three Stars VIP.
• Xiao E explained that Star Picking Tower’s disciples in Ming Yue Palace were all called Xiao E, and she led Xiao Hua through the moon gate to the vermilion palace beneath the osmanthus tree.
• At the palace entrance, Xiao E asked Xiao Hua to place his Star Token at the door, where a small white rabbit emerged.

Xiao Hua explored his private room at Star Picking Tower and watched the Bidding Convention’s audience gather beneath an illusion of a starry river. After reprimanding Xiao E for mocking the monks and Confucian scholars, he learned why she disliked the pedantic scholars, and the convention began with a dramatic display.

• Xiao Hua entered his private room after placing the Star Token in a rabbit’s mouth, then declined Xiao E’s spirit wine and looked out at the noisy, star-filled hall.
• Xiao E explained that the monks had come to bid for Buddhist relics and that the pedantic scholars had come to cause trouble.
• Xiao Hua scolded Xiao E for insulting the guests, then changed his mind after she explained the scholars’ demands that Star Picking Tower’s female disciples kneel and serve them.
• A bell announced the start of the Bidding Convention, and Xiao E offered to place bids for Xiao Hua.
• Three glowing spheres appeared amid roaring waves, and a handsome Confucian scholar holding a folding fan emerged on a small boat.

At the Star Picking Tower auction, Xiao Hua learned that people in the Three Great Continents did not know of teleportation arrays and seemed to rely on travel by flying artifacts, beasts, or their own power. As Yu Linfeng began presenting auction items, Xiao Hua listened closely to judge which ordinary offerings might be useful to him.

• Yu Linfeng revealed the stardust figures seated throughout Ming Yue Palace and began explaining the auction rules.
• Xiao Hua asked Xiao E about the map of the Three Great Continents and learned that its shapes were only an auction gimmick.
• Xiao Hua tested whether teleportation arrays existed, but Xiao E had never heard of them and said she had never left Yu Province.
• Xiao Hua reasoned that Buddhist and Confucian cultivators used flying beasts and artifacts instead of teleportation arrays, and Xiao E described the Golden-Winged Great Peng as the fastest flyer.
• Yu Linfeng began the auction with ordinary items, while Xiao Hua listened carefully for anything that might be useful to him.

Xiao Hua watched the auction of beauty and rejuvenation pills, discovering that they sold for far less than he had hoped. After the pills brought back memories of home, the auction presented Lightning Derivation Wood, which caught his interest.

• Yu Linfeng auctioned Beauty-Retaining Pills, and female cultivators bought them for around eight high-grade Qi Stones each.
• Yu Linfeng presented first-grade Rejuvenation Pills, which sold for only ten high-grade Qi Stones and disappointed Xiao Hua.
• Xiao Hua asked Xiao E about ninth-grade Rejuvenation Pills and learned that one could restore a person's appearance from a hundred years earlier and had last sold for one hundred top-grade Qi Stones.
• Xiao Hua thought of Qian Diheng and the spirit stones earned from selling his pills on Xiaoyu Continent, then felt homesick.
• Yu Linfeng offered Lightning Derivation Wood at a reduced opening price and explained that it could withstand up to three lightning strikes.

At the Ming Yue Palace bidding meet, Fu Zhiwen and a wealthy cultivator competed for Lightning Derivation Wood, driving its price far above the reserve. Xiao Hua recognized Fu Zhiwen and realized the bid concerned his wife, but the chapter ended before the sale was settled.

• Yu Linfeng explained that Lightning Derivation Wood could preserve lightning aura during a Geng Xin Metal Lightning tribulation, though the item had failed to attract bids at previous meets.
• A cultivator bid seven high-grade Qi Stones, and a third-floor Senior raised the offer to eight, prompting the first bidder to continue.
• The two cultivators raised the price to forty high-grade Qi Stones as the first bidder pleaded that the item was needed to save someone close to him.
• Xiao Hua suspected the bidder was Fu Zhiwen after remembering he had given him fifty high-grade Qi Stones, then recognized him when Fu Zhiwen revealed his appearance.
• The Senior raised the bid to sixty high-grade Qi Stones, and Fu Zhiwen asked Yu Linfeng how many Qi Stones his life was worth.

Xiao Hua outbid a rival for the Lightning Derivation Wood, which Fu Zhiwen needed for his wife, and chose to give it to Fu Zhiwen despite the risk of offending the rival. After paying three top-grade Qi Stones and ten high-grade Qi Stones, Xiao Hua sent Xiao E to deliver it and prepared to continue the auction.

• Xiao Hua bid one top-grade Qi Stone for the Lightning Derivation Wood, shocking the Ming Yue Palace auction.
• Xiao Hua raised his bids to three top-grade Qi Stones after the cultivator in the opposite pavilion tried to claim the wood for a friend’s birthday gift.
• Xiao E warned Xiao Hua that continuing to bid could offend the powerful figures backing the rival cultivator, but Xiao Hua stayed silent as the rival stopped bidding.
• Xiao Hua paid three top-grade Qi Stones and ten high-grade Qi Stones, then instructed Xiao E to give the Lightning Derivation Wood to Fu Zhiwen.
• Xiao Hua watched Fu Zhiwen wait anxiously below as Yu Linfeng resumed presenting the auction’s rare treasures.

At Star Picking Tower, Yu Linfeng unveiled the Crimson Dragon Bristle, an imitation of the Confucian Divine Brush, while Xiao Hua reunited with Fu Zhiwen after helping him secure the Lightning Derivation Wood. The auction continued, and Xiao Hua asked Fu Zhiwen what the true Divine Brush was like.

• Yu Linfeng used his fan to conjure a celestial maiden, and Xiao Hua realized that Xiao E had helped Fu Zhiwen deliver the Lightning Derivation Wood to his family servant.
• Yu Linfeng explained the Four Treasures of the Study and the Divine Brush, prompting Xiao Hua to wonder about the Ten Great Artifact Controls.
• Xiao E brought Fu Zhiwen to Xiao Hua, and Fu Zhiwen thanked him for helping obtain the Lightning Derivation Wood and gave him a jade pupil containing his address and cultivation insights.
• Fu Zhiwen explained how Confucian cultivators used characters and patterns to seal jade cases as Yu Linfeng opened one at the auction.
• Yu Linfeng presented the Crimson Dragon Bristle, an imitation of the Divine Brush forged from Fire Dragon materials, and Xiao Hua asked Fu Zhiwen about the original.

Fu Zhiwen explained the Divine Brush and other renowned Confucian artifact controls to Xiao Hua, then told him how a monk’s failing compassion led to a beggar’s death and a mysterious judgment at a temple. The tale ended as a Bodhisattva inspected the damaged Buddha statues and departed after lamenting the difficulty of understanding human nature.

• Fu Zhiwen described the Divine Brush, the Thousand Transformations Scarf, and the Misty Like Immortal Robe to Xiao Hua.
• Fu Zhiwen told how a Confucian scholar tested a Buddhist monk’s compassion by posing as a beggar for years, until the monk grew resentful and struck him dead.
• The monk secretly disposed of the beggar’s body in a ravine rather than confessing to the abbot, fearing the consequences before a Bodhisattva’s visit.
• The next day, the temple’s monks found holes torn into every Buddha statue, each marked with a large written character.
• The Bodhisattva examined the characters, sighed that human nature was hard to understand, and flew away without preaching.

Xiao Hua and Fu Zhiwen discussed the steadfast kindness of Master Dao Shan before the auction unveiled Light Beast blood ink and Fu Zhiwen explained the Ten Thousand Li Rivers and Mountains Fan. Fu Zhiwen described fortune as the force that shaped the rise and decline of sects, nations, lineages, and individuals.

• Xiao Hua told Fu Zhiwen that Master Dao Shan of Qiyang Temple had distributed porridge for decades despite his own hunger, and Fu Zhiwen resolved to visit him.
• Yu Linfeng revealed that the dazzling auction item was blood ink refined from a Light Beast's vital blood, which could empower Confucian Wen Scrolls and ward off demons.
• Xiao Hua compared the blood ink's use of spiritual beast blood to Daoist talisman crafting, while Fu Zhiwen said true Wen Scrolls required neither beast blood nor a special brush.
• Fu Zhiwen explained that the Ten Thousand Li Rivers and Mountains Fan had originated as a damaged Daoist artifact and was restored with dragon Qi by a Confucian Grand Artifact Master.
• Fu Zhiwen defined fortune as the force governing the fortunes of the world, sects, nations, lineages, and individuals.

Xiao Hua and Fu Zhiwen discussed providence and the Ten Great Artifact Controls while the auction continued. When Star Picking Tower offered a Daoist Golden Core cultivation technique, a mysterious bidder challenged the first offer, leading Xiao Hua to suspect the bidder was Young Master Duanmu.

• Fu Zhiwen explained how providence related to dragon Qi and described the Beauty Jade and Ten Thousand Character Book artifact controls.
• Yu Linfeng auctioned the Bright Beast Blood Ink to the same bidder who had competed with Xiao Hua for the Lightning Derivation Wood.
• Yu Linfeng offered the Daoist Wind Cloud Art, a third-grade Yuan force cultivation technique, for one top-grade Qi Stone.
• A bidder offered one top-grade Qi Stone, but the person across from Xiao Hua then raised the bid by ten high-grade Qi Stones.
• Xiao Hua suspected the mysterious bidder was Young Master Duanmu, while Fu Zhiwen explained that cultivators from other schools could also possess Daoist abilities.

Xiao Hua provoked Young Master Duanmu into bidding against him for the Wind Cloud Art, then yielded it to make amends while deepening their rivalry. As Fu Zhiwen explained the mysterious God Demon Chess, he recounted a legend of its devastating power, leaving Xiao Hua eager to learn more.

• Xiao Hua and Young Master Duanmu drove the Wind Cloud Art’s price up to three top-grade Qi Stones before Xiao Hua yielded it, prompting Duanmu to thank him as a Daoist friend.
• Xiao Hua told Fu Zhiwen that the bidder was likely Young Master Duanmu of the Duanmu Family, and Fu Zhiwen warned him against confronting the clan directly.
• Fu Zhiwen explained that God Demon Chess was a mysterious artifact said to use heaven and earth as its board and Gods and Devils as its pieces.
• Xiao Hua realized he needed Nascent Soul pill formulas and considered refining the pills himself, then asked Fu Zhiwen to continue his account of God Demon Chess.
• Fu Zhiwen recounted how an enormous chessboard and twelve Divine and Demon Generals annihilated the armies and inhabitants of Eastern Chen and a small nation.

Xiao Hua and Fu Zhiwen discussed the legendary God Demon Chess and its connection to the Divine Demon Blood Swamp before a dispute erupted over Star Picking Tower auctioning ancient Confucian writings. When Xiao E brought Xiao Hua a visiting card from another third-floor guest, he decided not even to look at it and ordered it returned.

• Fu Zhiwen told Xiao Hua the legend of the God Demon Chess and said the Divine Demon Blood Swamp in Yanzhou remained deadly; Xiao Hua felt an inexplicable summons from its name.
• Several pedantic Confucian scholars confronted Yu Linfeng over Star Picking Tower auctioning ancient scholars’ calligraphy and paintings, and Yu Linfeng defended the auction.
• Fu Zhiwen explained that great Confucian scholars were honored for their learning and schools of thought, while Xiao Hua reconsidered his understanding of the title.
• Xiao E informed Xiao Hua that a third-floor guest had sent him a visiting card, but Xiao Hua declined to read it and told her to return it.
• Xiao E warned Xiao Hua that returning the card would insult its sender, but he had already instructed her to deliver his words.

Xiao Hua watched old Confucian scholars protest the auction of ancient Wen Scrolls and reflected on the convictions they guarded as Confucian cultivation declined. As Yu Linfeng prepared to reveal the scrolls, Fu Zhiwen explained the Legalist school and offered to teach Xiao Hua about the other schools through the auction.

• Xiao Hua refused to receive a visitor and left the golden calling card unopened while Fu Zhiwen turned his attention to the auction.
• Several elderly Confucian scholars collapsed after protesting the sale of the Wen Scrolls, rejected Ming Yue Palace’s tea and pastries, and departed.
• Fu Zhiwen told Xiao Hua that his painful experiences with old pedants came from their rigid, heavy love, and Xiao Hua urged him to cherish it.
• Yu Linfeng defended Star Picking Tower’s decision to auction the Wen Scrolls and explained that the first scroll’s character was written by Han Cheng, a descendant of Han Feizi.
• Fu Zhiwen explained Legalism and clarified that the Hundred Schools of Thought did not consist of exactly one hundred schools.
• Xiao Hua asked Fu Zhiwen about the other schools, and Fu Zhiwen suggested explaining them as they examined the auction scrolls.