Chapter Summaries

Tang Wen strengthened his ties with Ding Tong and Yu Mei by showing off his wealth and hospitality, then received official backing as the City Lord's Residence named his hall and supermarket under its authority. Xifang Feiwen raised the problem of the city lord's eighteen wives all wanting Tang Wen's expensive luxury bathtubs.

• Tang Wen welcomed Ding Tong and Yu Mei with an extravagant meal and let them marvel at his modern rooms and goods, increasing their regard for him.
• Ding Tong and Yu Mei discussed Tang Wen's wealth and hoped he could help them obtain Void Bags.
• Xifang Feiwen declared Tang's Medicine Hall the Second Medicine Hall of the City Lord's Residence and announced Tang Wen's appointments and the supermarket's new name.
• Tang Wen noticed Ding Tong's and Yu Mei's Popularity angles rise after the official announcement, which followed his lucrative commission to Xifang Kongming.
• Xifang Feiwen told Tang Wen that all eighteen of the city lord's wives wanted luxury bathtubs, and Tang Wen said he could not give one to each of them for free.

Tang Wen negotiated a land deal with Xifang Feiwen, planned to expand his businesses and recruit staff, and heard of a struggling sect that could provide experts for his Guardian Hall. The chapter left him considering whether to help Sword Gazing Mountain Manor, whose land had been seized by a powerful city official’s relative.

• Tang Wen offered the City Lord’s Residence eighteen bathrooms at the price of fourteen and agreed to exchange goods for the land beside his workshop.
• Tang Wen planned to bring in power and water equipment to support more bathrooms, while postponing wind turbines because they were vulnerable.
• Tang Wen appointed Wu Yunpeng to lead a new Construction Hall and directed Zhang Taiben to expand the Medicine Hall and recruit medical staff.
• Tang Wen announced plans for a Guardian Hall and the Tang Sect, but his associates warned that recruiting powerful experts would be difficult.
• Redbeard told Tang Wen that Sword Gazing Mountain Manor, led by Tie Tuo, had over a thousand members and faced losing its land to Mi Long, the brother-in-law of Flying Tiger City’s lord, Zhan Tianyang.

Tang Wen arranged for Redbeard to help persuade Sword Gazing Mountain Manor to relocate, then saved Hong Wu’s mother with a blood transfusion. Zhang Taiben became Tang Wen’s disciple and Medicine Hall master, while Hong Wu joined the Tang family to repay Tang Wen for saving his mother.

• Tang Wen bargained with Redbeard to accompany him to Sword Gazing Mountain Manor and help persuade its people to move to Black Tortoise City.
• Hong Wu brought his gravely injured mother to the Medicine Hall, and Zhang Taiben judged her condition nearly hopeless.
• Tang Wen stopped the woman’s bleeding and used a blood test to match Hong Wu’s type O blood for a transfusion.
• Zhang Taiben knelt and asked Tang Wen to accept him as a disciple, then became the Medicine Hall’s hall master.
• Hong Wu insisted on serving the Tang family to repay Tang Wen, and Tang Wen finally accepted him.

Tang Wen convinced Tu Qianqiu to provide a Qi-Coalescing Pill and help Hong Wu fuse his inherited power, enabling Hong Wu to break through to the Origin-Gathering Realm Middle Stage. Afterward, Tu Qianqiu described stronger martial artists in other domains and hinted at a realm beyond Divine Sense.

• Tu Qianqiu told Tang Wen that Hong Wu’s restless foreign energy could make him an Origin-Gathering expert, and Tang Wen tricked Tu into giving him a Qi-Coalescing Pill in exchange for supermarket discounts.
• Tang Wen persuaded Tu Qianqiu to help refine Hong Wu’s energy by offering him ten grenades, then set up a Fusion Array with three hundred high-grade spirit stones and Zhuge Ziliang’s Command Token.
• After ten hours in the array, Hong Wu broke through to the Origin-Gathering Realm Middle Stage and said he had gained his power after eating a strange egg he found in the mountains.
• Tu Qianqiu speculated that the egg belonged to a divine bird and described the greater strength found in the Western Black Domain, where rumors spoke of a figure who could kill ten Divine Sense Realm experts with one hand.
• Redbeard challenged Tu Qianqiu after they argued about their relative strength, and Tu casually sent Redbeard flying into a tree.

Tang Wen completed housing and bathrooms for his growing staff and learned that Tao Yong was blocking the sale of the neighboring plot to resell it at a large profit. After Tang Wen hinted that electricity could be supplied to the City Lord's Residence, the city lord summoned him to a Council of Elders meeting.

• Redbeard attacked Tu Qianqiu, but Tu Qianqiu easily disarmed him and struck his grenade away before Tang Wen stopped their fight.
• Tang Wen moved into his new villa, while his staff, craftsmen, and associates settled into the villa and prefab housing.
• Xifang Feiwen told Tang Wen that Tao Yong had seized the neighboring plot and intended to resell it for a steep markup, so Tang Wen decided not to buy it.
• Xifang Feiwen reported that the city lord's family wanted electric lamps after seeing them in Tang Wen's bathrooms, and Tang Wen hinted that supplying the residence would be possible but costly.
• The next morning, the city lord summoned Tang Wen to a Council of Elders meeting that afternoon.

Tang Wen faced hostility from powerful elders at the Council of Elders meeting, but City Lord Xifang Kongming explained that he had summoned Tang Wen to discuss the bathrooms and electric lamps Tang Wen had introduced. The elders questioned the cost, and Tang Wen pointed out how distant and unfamiliar the Mysterious Nether Domain was.

• Tu Qianqiu told Tang Wen that an Outer Prefecture Elder like him had no standing to attend the Council of Elders meeting.
• Hall Master Cui Shigong and Third Elder Wei Xiaolin berated Tang Wen outside Black Tortoise Palace, while the Grand Elder also treated him with disdain.
• Cui Shigong and Wei Xiaolin tried to keep Tang Wen out of the meeting, but Tang Wen said Xifang Kongming had summoned him.
• Xifang Kongming confirmed that the meeting concerned Tang Wen's bathrooms and electric lamps, and Deputy City Lord Jiang Wei praised the bathroom's comfort.
• Cui Shigong objected to the bathrooms' price, and Tang Wen asked the elders how far away the Mysterious Nether Domain was.

Tang Wen explained the high costs of importing his modern bathroom fixtures, and the City Lord's Residence elders debated which courtyards and halls should receive them. After Cui Shigong insulted Tang Wen and demanded free installations, Xifang Kongming clarified the Medicine Hall's new structure and the dispute ended with Cui agreeing to build his own latrine.

• Tang Wen justified the bathroom's price by describing the long, dangerous shipments and the losses involved.
• Xifang Xiangyun praised her bathroom, while Xifang Kongming revealed that she had taken it rather than received it as a gift.
• The elders proposed installing bathrooms in their private courtyards and public halls, and Tang Wen agreed to sell them.
• Xifang Kongming announced that the Medicine Hall would split into independent Inner and Outer Halls, with Cui Shigong overseeing the Inner Hall and Tang Wen the Outer Hall.
• Cui Shigong insulted Tang Wen and demanded a free bathroom, so Tang refused to sell him one; Xifang Kongming offered reimbursement if Cui found one himself.
• Cui Shigong said he would build a latrine and burn sandalwood incense, and Jiang Deputy City Lord asked Tang Wen what they would do about the electric lights.

Tang Wen explained that wind turbines could provide the City Lord's Residence with cheaper, safer electricity than batteries or candles, but the elders doubted the cost and their other uses. He demonstrated a small turbine powering a lamp and an induction cooker, leaving the elders eager to taste the food he prepared.

• Tang Wen proposed installing wind turbines and explained their cost, transport, and long-term savings, while Wei Xiaolin and Cui Shigong objected to the expense.
• Tang Wen claimed wind turbines could power cooking appliances, prompting the elders to mock him and question his abilities.
• Tang Wen set up a small wind turbine, an electric lamp, and an induction cooker, then asked Jiang Wei and Li Yu to turn the turbine blades with palm force.
• Jiang Wei and Li Yu spun the blades until the lamp lit, exciting the elders.
• Tang Wen used the turbine to cook several dishes and soup, and Xifang Xiangyu asked to taste them.

Tang Wen persuaded Black Tortoise City's leaders to buy Wind Turbines and household appliances, then negotiated to accept City Lord's Residence land as payment. The deal expanded to include Moon Gazing Peak, leaving Tang Wen protesting that he could not move the enormous rocky mountain.

• Li Yu, Jiang Wei, Xifang Xiangyu, and other leaders sampled Tang Wen's food and drinks, then agreed that the City Lord's Residence should install Wind Turbines.
• Tang Wen demonstrated appliances and offered the elders Sumei Cards with discounts at Sumei Supermarket; the Grand Elder, Wei Xiaolin, and Cui Shigong refused cards.
• Xifang Kongming proposed paying Tang Wen for the Wind Turbines and Bathrooms with City Lord's Residence land near Sumei Supermarket, while the Grand Elder tried to reserve a nearby plot for his brother-in-law Tao Yong.
• Zhou Quan and the elders discussed alternative plots, and Xifang Kongming settled on valuing the nearby land at current prices as payment.
• The Grand Elder demanded that Moon Gazing Peak also be included in the deal, and Tang Wen protested that he could not move the enormous rocky mountain.

Tang Wen negotiated with the elders over land and a spirit mine to fund wind turbines, then sold them compact bathrooms. The council promoted him to Inner Prefecture Elder and appointed him deputy steward of the City Lord's Residence.

• The Grand Elder and Wei Xiaolin proposed giving Tang Wen the Heavenly Gold Mountain mine to pay for the wind turbines, but Tang Wen rejected the deal and demanded ten thousand high-grade Spirit Stones instead.
• Tang Wen offered each elder a free compact bathroom, and the elders began ordering additional units for their families.
• Xifang Heluo and Xifang Kongming proposed promoting Tang Wen to Inner Prefecture Elder, and the council approved it despite the Grand Elder's objection.
• Tang Wen offered the elders commissions for bulk customers at Sumei Supermarket and invited them to dinner there.
• Xifang Kongming appointed Tang Wen deputy steward of the City Lord's Residence and issued official announcements of both appointments.

Tang Wen arranged wind turbine projects, hosted a lavish dinner where he sold modern goods to Black Tortoise City's elites, and traded with Tu Qianqiu for warming pills during their flight. The chapter left Tang Wen and Tu Qianqiu landing in a primeval forest at dawn.

• Tang Wen chose sites for six wind turbines and planned to use machinery to mine Heavenly Gold Mountain, while putting the subjugation of Sword Gazing Mountain Manor back on the agenda.
• Tang Wen hosted the elders and apothecaries at a dinner, impressing them with a rotating table and qipao-clad servers.
• Tang Wen sold wineglasses, novelty lighters, and cosmetics to the guests, earning about two hundred thousand taels of gold.
• Tu Qianqiu took Tang Wen away on a Black-Eagle Roc and gave him a Firebird Pill to keep him warm.
• Tang Wen traded wine for Firebird Pills and Cold Ice Pills as the roc carried them for several hours to a primeval forest, where it landed at dawn.

Tu Qianqiu took Tang Wen to Gu Elder, who threw Tang Wen into a pit of insects and sent his Insect King into Tang Wen’s dantian to fight the Gu within him. Two days later, Tang Wen was still trapped in the pit, while Gu Elder planned to let the Insect King devour the mysterious Gu.

• Tu Qianqiu warned Tang Wen about Gu Elder’s insect-filled forest and led him into the clearing after Gu Elder invited them in.
• Gu Elder pulled Tang Wen into a Ten-Thousand-Insect Pit, where insects burrowed into his body as Gu Elder investigated the Gu inside him.
• Gu Elder released his Insect King, which shrank and entered Tang Wen through his nostril before forcing its way into his dantian.
• Tang Wen suffered as the Insect King and the Gu fought inside his dantian, while Gu Elder covered the pit and left him in darkness among the insects.
• After two days without food, Tang Wen ate scorpions and a king cobra, while Gu Elder told Tu Qianqiu that the Insect King would stay inside him for at least ten days and devour the Gu.

Tang Wen survived the Gu king’s evolution and gained poisonous qi, then persuaded Gu Elder to become his master and move to Tang Sect. As Gu Elder prepared to leave, the Gu king returned and bonded with Tang Wen, while the Great Landlord System registered a huge increase in his land and left only the popularity requirement for Crossing Mode.

• After ten days in the cellar, Tang Wen emerged amid insect remains, and the evolved Gu king escaped despite Gu Elder’s attempts to call it back.
• Tang Wen’s poisonous qi withered a tree, so he bowed to Gu Elder and asked to learn the Myriad Poisons Art; Gu Elder agreed to become his master.
• Tang Wen offered Gu Elder land for his insects at Tang Sect, and a month later Gu Elder agreed to move while Tang Wen learned to control his poison cultivation and reached late second grade.
• The Gu king returned, landed on Tang Wen’s shoulder, and burrowed into his body, prompting Tu Qianqiu to joke that it belonged to Tang Wen now.
• The Great Landlord System added 2,380 qing to Tang Wen’s holdings and reported that only the popularity requirement remained before Crossing Mode could be activated.

Tang Wen returned to the Chu Kingdom with supplies and learned that Niu Hanzi had emerged from seclusion at half-step second grade. As the household prepared for rising seas and continued recruiting people, Tang Wen discussed improving the sect’s facilities and giving its servants a better life.

• Xiang Wu delivered Tang Wen a supreme-grade Void Bag, and Tang Wen gave him hand grenades for the Heavenly Tears Elder and for himself.
• Tang Wen returned to the Medical Hall, where Zhang Taiben had performed eighteen operations, and Tang Wen carried out more than a hundred minor surgeries over ten days while training the apothecaries.
• Tang Wen crossed back to the Chu Kingdom with spirit stones, gold, grain, and medicinal herbs, then unloaded the supplies on Su Mei Island.
• Niu Hanzi emerged from seclusion at half-step second grade, and Tang Wen tested his strength before ordering high-grade spirit stones for the cave residence and more cultivation floors.
• Zhan Dongwen reported that the sea was rising, the bridge piers were complete, and recruiting people remained difficult because refugees feared slavery; Tang Wen ordered the War Fox Team to increase recruitment and said he would treat the Tang household’s servants well.

Tang Wen went to Qingniu Town to confront Wen Jinyuan and the government slaves resisting their transfer into private ownership. After disarming himself and his companions to show good faith, he argued with Wen Jinyuan and Hong Feng, then Niu Hanzi challenged Hong Feng to a fight.

• Li Quan told Tang Wen that the new government slaves in Qingniu Town had refused to submit, and Mo Dachang’s forces were at a standoff with them.
• Tang Wen learned that Wen Jinyuan had organized the townspeople, who would rather face imprisonment, exile, or death than become private slaves.
• Tang Wen ordered his Personal Guards to withdraw and discarded his weapons so he could approach Wen Jinyuan peacefully.
• Wen Jinyuan and Hong Feng rejected Tang Wen’s appeal to stand on their own feet and insulted him for relying on his parents’ status.
• Niu Hanzi challenged Hong Feng to a fight and offered to give him a one-hand handicap.

Tang Wen defeated Wen Jinyuan in a contest of poetry and fists, then ordered the Personal Guards to gather at Su Mei Island. After traveling to Red City, Tang Wen found that Yan Beitian had already arrived with nearly a thousand guards.

• Tang Wen matched Wen Jinyuan’s plum poems and agreed to call their poetry contest a draw.
• Wen Jinyuan attacked Tang Wen with a powerful fist, but Tang Wen casually repelled him and destroyed a distant earthen wall with a punch.
• Tang Wen ordered the Personal Guards to leave Qingniu Town and reach Su Mei Island within three days; Wen Jinyuan, Hong Feng, and Wen Jinrong decided to go as well.
• Tang Wen’s party traveled through Jiudao Liangzi to Red City and lodged at the Red River Inn.
• Yan Beitian emerged from beneath Tang Wen’s bed, having arrived several days earlier with nearly a thousand Personal Guards.

Tang Wen investigated whether Liangzi Stronghold had robbed the government grain convoy and planned to gain access by impersonating a physician and consulting Red River officials. At dinner, a haughty young woman challenged Mei Niansu and Tang Wen, then was struck back by Niu Hanzi, revealing the strength of Tang Wen’s companions.

• Yan Beitian reported that Liangzi Stronghold was heavily guarded, its leaders were Ma Yao, Sun Hongqing, and Ye Xiangyin, and Ma Yao had fallen ill.
• Tang Wen proposed impersonating Li Mingkong to enter the stronghold and ordered an investigation into the Li Family.
• Tang Wen decided to visit Prefect Zhao Duan and had Luo Yiwu deliver a visiting card.
• A fairy-like young woman confronted Tang Wen over his riverside table, and Mei Niansu and the woman exchanged attacks that revealed both were powerful.
• The young woman struck at Tang Wen, but Niu Hanzi blocked her with a punch and sent her staggering backward.

Tang Wen clashed with Feng Jiuxue, who had come to arrest him for the Fang Family, but she decided to follow him instead. At an inn, Tang Wen saved the choking son of Qiao Yi, the Military Commissioner of the Black Cavalry Battalion at Red River, and left with Qiao Yi’s gratitude.

• Feng Jiuxue revealed that she had come to arrest Tang Wen because the Feng Family owed the Fang Family a favor, but she abandoned the attempt and vowed to follow him.
• Tang Wen explained his conflict with the Fang Family and Kang Qingfeng, while Feng Jiuxue accused him of scheming and threatened to report him to the Six Fan Division.
• A woman called for help when her child began choking, and Feng Jiuxue and Tang Wen rushed to the private room.
• Tang Wen cut open the child’s throat, removed the obstruction, and stopped the bleeding despite Qiao Yi’s initial attempts to attack him.
• Tang Wen arranged for a doctor to help care for the child and gave Qiao Yi instructions for his recovery.
• Luo Yiwu identified Tang Wen as the First-Class Earl of Linghai and Deputy Tuanlian Commissioner of Linghai, and Qiao Yi apologized for offending him.

Tang Wen treated Qiao Yi’s injured child and drew Feng Jiuxue into investigating the seizure of military grain, which might involve Ridge-Sea Academy. He demonstrated the power of a Spirit Stone to Feng Jiuxue, who wanted to buy some from him, but Tang Wen gave no answer.

• Tang Wen reassured Qiao Yi that the child would recover, then sent Lin Jiaojiao with them to care for him.
• Tang Wen told Feng Jiuxue that he was investigating the seizure of the Provincial Administration Office’s grain and fodder and suspected a connection to Ridge-Sea Academy.
• Feng Jiuxue agreed to join the investigation, and Chun’er arranged to request protection from Blood Slaughter Hall.
• Tang Wen planned to visit the Prefect and investigate Liangzi Stronghold, beginning at Jiudao Liangzi.
• Tang Wen showed Feng Jiuxue a Spirit Stone, and she felt its energy strengthen her cultivation.
• Feng Jiuxue offered to buy Spirit Stones, but Tang Wen only smiled and asked whether she planned to take them by force.

Tang Wen negotiated with Feng Jiuxue for her help investigating the grain and fodder robbery, then learned Ridge-Sea Academy’s Intelligence Hall was watching him. He planned to investigate Liangzi Stronghold with Feng Jiuxue and revealed that Wen Jinyuan would arrive the next day.

• Feng Jiuxue threatened Tang Wen for his Spirit Pills, but agreed to cooperate on the grain and fodder case in exchange for one.
• Tang Wen returned to the Red River Inn while two Ridge-Sea Academy agents discussed watching him and keeping the Tang family under pressure.
• Luo Yiwu brought Tang Wen a War Fox Team recording that exposed the agents, and Tang Wen ordered expanded surveillance of Ridge-Sea Academy’s elders.
• Tang Wen and Luo Yiwu discussed investigating the Li Family and treating the sick at Liangzi Stronghold while Li Kongming was away.
• Tang Wen decided to take only Feng Jiuxue up the mountain, then told Luo Yiwu that Wen Jinyuan would arrive the next day.