Chapter Summaries

Lu Zhao struggled with his cultivation and his duties as a Zhou Household retainer while recalling how the destruction of the Lu Household had left him a rogue cultivator. After seven years of painstaking work, he completed a first-tier Azure-Patterned Rat Puppet, awakening the Puppet Pearl’s inheritance and gaining hope of changing his fate.

• Zhou Ming warned Lu Zhao that he had to deliver ten jin of cold iron ore and cautioned him that mastering Puppet Arts was difficult, but granted him one last extension.
• Lu Zhao returned to his courtyard and remembered his previous life as a materials science doctor and the demonic-beast attack that destroyed the Lu Household.
• Lu Zhao resumed carving a Puppet Core and successfully assembled an Azure-Patterned Rat Puppet using a Rat King Fang.
• A mysterious voice announced that Lu Zhao had created a first-tier low-grade puppet and unlocked the First-Tier Puppet Inheritance.
• Lu Zhao summoned the Puppet Pearl and saw its status screen list his new puppet, its abilities, and the inheritance reward.

Lu Zhao tested the Puppet Pearl’s ability to identify market goods, sold Puppet Guards, and bought Body-Protection Talismans before hearing that Zhou Pingyuan had been injured. The chapter left Lu Zhao suspecting that trouble was brewing for the Zhou Household.

• Lu Zhao recalled how he had developed his Puppet Guards and earned money crafting them while investing heavily in his Azure-Patterned Rat Puppet.
• Lu Zhao examined goods in the Zhou Household Market and found that the Puppet Pearl’s panel could identify items, including some he had never seen in person.
• Lu Zhao visited the Hundred Refinements Pavilion, considered the cost of magical artifacts, and then set up his stall in the western district.
• Lu Zhao bought five Body-Protection Talismans from Old Huang for his planned visit to the cold iron mine.
• A Spirit Farmer told Lu Zhao and Old Huang that Zhou Pingyuan had been injured, prompting Lu Zhao to fear new trouble.

Lu Zhao mined cold iron ore and cold jade stone in the Cold Iron Ore Cave, then hunted down a Spirit-Devouring Rat King and its pack. He left the cave after registering his ore and returning to the entrance with the rat corpses.

• Lu Zhao surrendered his storage artifacts, received a Spirit Pickaxe, and entered the mine to work toward his monthly cold iron quota.
• Lu Zhao mined seven liang of cold iron ore and found cold jade stone, which he planned to split in value with the Zhou Household.
• Lu Zhao encountered a Spirit-Devouring Rat King and several ordinary Spirit-Devouring Rats in a mining tunnel.
• Lu Zhao used his modified Ice Bullet Technique to slow the rats and killed the Rat King with an ice cone before dispatching the rest.
• Lu Zhao passed the routine inspection, retrieved his sealed storage bag, and registered the cold iron ore and cold jade stone he had gathered.

Lu Zhao cultivated at the Cold Pool, sold an Azure-Patterned Rat Puppet, and bought wind-patterned stone for his next puppet projects. With almost no spirit stones left, he set out to find the demon hunter Wang Yun.

• Lu Zhao cultivated at the Cold Pool but made no breakthrough beyond the peak of the third level of Qi Refining.
• He reviewed the Hundred Refinements Art and planned to sell an Azure-Patterned Rat Puppet, then make a Frost Rat Puppet and a Flowing Cloud Sparrow.
• Old Huang and other market-goers recognized Lu Zhao as a tiered Puppet Master after he demonstrated the Azure-Patterned Rat Puppet, which he sold for ten spirit stones.
• Lu Zhao searched the market for wind-patterned stone and went to the Nine Abyss Pavilion when he could not find any elsewhere.
• He bought two pieces of wind-patterned stone for thirteen spirit stones and, nearly broke, went to seek out Wang Yun.

Lu Zhao visited Wang Yun and Chen Fang to ask for the corpse of a low-grade sparrow-type demon beast for puppet crafting. Wang Yun said the Zhou Household had stirred up the Heavencloud Mountain Range while searching for something, and Lu Zhao wondered whether the hunt was connected to Zhou Pingyuan’s rumored injury.

• Lu Zhao visited Chen Fang and learned Wang Yun was out selling materials from a Black-Clawed Boar hunt.
• Lu Zhao told Chen Fang he had become a first-tier Puppet Master and needed a sparrow-type demon beast corpse to make a puppet.
• Wang Yun returned and explained that the Zhou Household’s search had disrupted the Heavencloud Mountain Range, with even the Cloud-Pattern Cavalry deployed.
• Lu Zhao grew uneasy and wondered whether the Zhou Household’s hunt was connected to rumors that Zhou Pingyuan had been injured.

Lu Zhao crafted a second Azure-Patterned Rat Puppet and sold it at his West District stall while gathering rumors about the Zhou Family’s Cloud-Patterned Cavalry and Young Master Pingyuan’s injury. The chapter ended as three Zhou Household cultivators arrived to inspect the stalls, including one carrying a badge marking him as a family member.

• Lu Zhao left Wang Yun’s home, mined cold iron, and cultivated at the Cold Pool, estimating he was two to three months from reaching mid-stage Qi Refining.
• Lu Zhao used his remaining azure-grain wood to craft a third puppet core and successfully completed a second Azure-Patterned Rat Puppet.
• Lu Zhao demonstrated the puppet’s speed, strength, and spell-breaking ability at his stall, then sold it to a demon-beast hunter for ten spirit stones.
• Lu Zhao discussed competition and demand for puppets with Old Huang and other stallholders, then asked about the Zhou Family’s recent movements.
• The stallholders said the Cloud-Patterned Cavalry had gone toward Heavencloud Mountain and speculated that the deployment was connected to Young Master Pingyuan’s severe injury.
• Old Huang warned the others to stop discussing the matter as three Zhou Household cultivators inspected the stalls, led by a man wearing a gilded bronze family badge.

Over three months, Lu Zhao earned spirit stones through puppet sales, mining, and hunting while steadily improving his cultivation and craft. He broke through to the fourth level of Qi Refining and began planning how to reach the fifth level and expand his puppet work.

• Lu Zhao demonstrated and sold Azure-Patterned Rat Puppets at the Market while continuing to mine Cold Iron and hunt Spirit-Devouring Rats.
• He refined puppet cores and Puppet Guards, then counted thirty spirit stones in total income after expenses and stored four taels of deep blue cold iron ore and three Cold Jade Pills.
• At the Cold Pool, Lu Zhao took a Cold Jade Pill and broke through to the fourth level of Qi Refining, widening his meridians and unleashing a freezing domain around himself.
• Lu Zhao found that his Azure-Patterned Rat Puppet core success rate had risen to one in three, and he had gathered materials for Frost Rat and Flowing Cloud Sparrow puppets.
• He divided his spirit stones among pills, puppet materials, and emergencies, and planned to exchange his Guest Elder Token and pursue the fifth level of Qi Refining.
• Lu Zhao's Puppet Guards grew more alert and agile, with one turning its head as a night-patrol cultivator passed his courtyard.

Lu Zhao considered Zhou Ming’s invitation to join the Zhou family and learned about a garrison assignment at Green Vine Ravine that could improve his cultivation. After checking its risks and distance from the market, he decided the post was manageable but began considering how to keep selling his puppets and prepare for travel.

• Lu Zhao visited the Nine Abyss Pavilion, bought scarce Wind-Pattern Stone scraps, and learned that the shopkeeper’s business troubles were unresolved.
• Lu Zhao sold three Puppet Guards at his stall, and a demon hunter praised one for warning him of Poison Bats in Black Wind Cave.
• Zhou Ming offered Lu Zhao a three-year garrison post at Green Vine Ravine, where the spiritual spring was richer than the Cold Pool.
• Lu Zhao read the assignment dossier and learned that Ink-Scaled Snakes ambushed cultivators and threatened the ravine’s spirit herbs.
• The steward told Lu Zhao that the ravine was thirty li from the market and that only three of the five guards had to be present each day.
• Lu Zhao accepted that the post was manageable and resolved to seek a merchant partner and practice the Wind-Riding Art.

Lu Zhao prepared for the Zhou Household's journey to Green Vine Ravine by acquiring spells, negotiating a puppet-selling contract, and buying talismans and medicine. With six days left before the expedition, he planned to spend them hunting Spirit-Devouring Rats and Rat Kings.

• Lu Zhao exchanged eight Spirit Stones for the Wind-Riding Art and Water-Nurturing Art, then learned that the library's spell exchanges required a Heart Demon Oath.
• Lu Zhao visited several market shops to sell his puppets, but most rejected them or offered poor prices.
• At the Nine Abyss Pavilion, Lu Zhao accepted an exclusive three-year contract for eight Spirit Stones per puppet, with a guaranteed minimum of five monthly, and heard the Zhou Household wanted flying puppets.
• Lu Zhao bought Wind-Riding, Vajra, and Firebird Talismans, then purchased Detoxification Pills and a Spirit-Restoring Pill at the Zhang Family's Alchemy Chamber.
• Lu Zhao returned to his cellar and resolved to spend the next six days hunting Spirit-Devouring Rats and Rat Kings before departing for Green Vine Ravine.

After spending a week hunting Spirit-Devouring Rats and struggling to master the Wind-Riding Art, Lu Zhao traveled to Green Vine Ravine for his new assignment. He arrived safely, chose a stone house, and discovered that the ravine’s dense spiritual energy could speed his cultivation.

• Lu Zhao killed another Rat King, bringing his haul to eight teeth, four intact corpses, and hundreds of ordinary rat carcasses.
• Lu Zhao failed once again to master the Wind-Riding Art and decided to keep practicing it before leaving for Green Vine Ravine.
• Lu Zhao set out through dangerous country with his puppet guards, repelled an ambush by bandit cultivators, and crossed a rotting-leaf marsh.
• Lu Zhao used the Zhou Household token to enter Green Vine Ravine, where a blue-robed cultivator welcomed him and explained that he would go over the assignment procedures the next day.
• Lu Zhao chose a spacious stone house and found that its spirit-gathering formation could help him approach the fifth level of Qi Refining within two years if he cultivated with Cold Jade Pills.

Lu Zhao learned Green Vine Ravine's watch rules, explored its unsettling features, and secured a cheap source of azure-grain wood from Zhou Qixing. During his first watch, Zhou Qixing revealed that the Zhou Household sought the natural formation patterns in the Bone-Eroding Orchids rather than the plants themselves.

• Chen Moyang explained the patrol schedule and reinforcement rules, while Liu Fengchun warned Lu Zhao to avoid the northern river mouths after the hour of the Dog.
• Lu Zhao explored the ravine and discovered a cavern that disturbed his Rat Puppet and a formation nexus with depleted spirit stones and leaking dark green liquid.
• Lu Zhao agreed to buy azure-grain wood from Zhou Qixing for one spirit stone per three jin.
• Liu Fengchun explained the Ink-Scaled Snakes' venom and attack patterns and warned Lu Zhao that the greater danger lay beneath a demonic beast carcass.
• Lu Zhao entered the main medicinal field on his first watch and found snake corpses beneath the Bone-Eroding Orchids.
• Zhou Qixing directed Lu Zhao to touch the soil with his Rat Puppet, revealing natural formation patterns that accelerated his Little Spirit Rain Art by thirty percent.

Lu Zhao spent a month crafting puppets in Green Vine Ravine, improving his skills and producing several first-tier, low-grade puppets. With materials running low, he prepared to travel to the market town to sell them and search for supplies, including materials for the Thousand Threads Technique.

• Lu Zhao carved a sense-warding formation in his stone chamber and practiced cultivating and crafting puppets there.
• Lu Zhao failed to carve a Flowing Cloud Sparrow puppet core, but later completed two Frost Rat Puppets and a Flowing Cloud Sparrow.
• Lu Zhao’s month-end inventory showed one Flowing Cloud Sparrow, two Frost Rat Puppets, and two Azure-Patterned Rat Puppets, making him a first-tier, low-grade Puppet Master.
• Lu Zhao checked his dwindling supplies and decided to visit the market town to sell puppets, buy materials, and replace his carving knife.
• Lu Zhao prepared his puppets for the journey and set out for the market town, hoping to find materials for the Thousand Threads Technique.

Lu Zhao returned safely from Green Vine Ravine to Zhou Household Market, collected his stipend, and sold three rat puppets at Nine Abyss Pavilion. He kept his Flowing Cloud Sparrow Puppet and agreed to attend the pavilion’s private auction in two days.

• Lu Zhao used the Flowing Cloud Sparrow Puppet to scout his route and deterred a concealed cultivator with the Frost Rat Puppets before reaching the market safely.
• Lu Zhao collected two spirit stones and an Ice Jade Pill for completing his month at Green Vine Ravine.
• Lu Zhao sold two Azure-Patterned Rat Puppets and one Frost Rat Puppet to the Nine Abyss Pavilion shopkeeper for thirty-one spirit stones.
• Lu Zhao declined the shopkeeper’s offer of twenty-five spirit stones for the Flowing Cloud Sparrow Puppet and asked him to find wind-pattern stone and ice-congealing stone.
• Lu Zhao accepted an invitation to the Nine Abyss Pavilion’s private auction, while the shopkeeper wondered whether the flying puppet interested people above.

Lu Zhao bought Spirit-Devouring Rat materials and new carving knives, then visited Wang Yun and Chen Fang with gifts. He asked Wang Yun to find intact Azure-Plumed Sparrow carcasses and learned that the Zhou Household’s activity had disrupted hunting on the northern slopes of the Heavencloud Mountain Range, while the Nine Abyss Pavilion’s auction was approaching.

• Lu Zhao bargained with Hu San and bought two Spirit-Devouring Rat fangs and a rat king carcass for two spirit stones.
• Lu Zhao replaced his worn carving knife at the Zheng Family Shop, buying two new knives for five spirit stones.
• Lu Zhao visited Wang Yun and Chen Fang, bringing Chen Fang jade cream cakes and giving the couple protective armor and a rouge box.
• Lu Zhao asked Wang Yun to find intact low-grade tier-one Azure-Plumed Sparrow carcasses, especially ones with their wings and skulls.
• Wang Yun told Lu Zhao that the Zhou Household’s Cloud-Pattern Cavalry had stirred up the northern slopes, driving hunters away and making sparrow carcasses scarce.

Lu Zhao prepared for his return to Green Vine Ravine, replenishing his supplies before attending an auction at the Nine Abyss Pavilion. He bought a Concentration Fruit to support his Thousand Threads Technique practice and left the market after the auction ended.

• Lu Zhao declined Wang Yun and his wife's invitation, stayed at the Guest Lodge, and bought a rat king's carcass, beast-repelling powder, a Vajra Talisman, and three Meridian-Guarding Pills the next day.
• Lu Zhao entered the Nine Abyss Pavilion under the designation Dinghai and listened as Zhou Zheng explained the auction rules and opened the bidding.
• Lu Zhao watched bidders purchase the auction lots, including a Frost Rat Puppet that a minor lineage representative won for twenty spirit stones.
• Lu Zhao bid fourteen spirit stones for the Concentration Fruit, securing the soul-nourishing fruit for his Thousand Threads Technique practice.
• Bidders in the private seats and boxes bought the final treasures, including a Crimson Dragon's Cry, an ancient body-refining method fragment, and an Essence-Congealing Pill.
• Lu Zhao quietly left the Nine Abyss Pavilion and disappeared into the market crowds, heading back toward Green Vine Ravine.

A year after returning to Green Vine Ravine, Lu Zhao had improved his cultivation and puppet-making while earning a substantial income from selling puppets. He suspected his work might be drawing him into the Zhou Household’s affairs, but chose to keep crafting and focus on becoming stronger.

• Lu Zhao recalled surviving a concealed Mantis Demon Beast attack and resolved to remain more vigilant.
• Lu Zhao learned more about his fellow station members, including Liu Fengchun, Yin Jiu, Chen Moyang, and Zhou Qixing.
• Lu Zhao advanced his Thousand Threads Technique enough to control puppets with two divine threads and raised his puppet success rates.
• Lu Zhao earned nearly three hundred and forty spirit stones over the year, largely by selling Flowing Cloud Sparrows, and stopped making Azure-Patterned Rat Puppets.
• Lu Zhao planned to attempt crafting an Ironwood Guard once his skills improved, but noted that each attempt would cost nearly ten spirit stones.
• Lu Zhao estimated he would reach the fifth level of Qi Refining in three months and decided to continue crafting despite suspecting ties to the Zhou Household’s plans.

Lu Zhao sold his puppets to the Nine Abyss Pavilion at a lower price after the shopkeeper said Frost Rat Puppets were accumulating in the market. The shopkeeper then warned him about suspicious strangers and demon hunters from Northern Plains Commandery, and showed him a Small Thunderclap Talisman as possible protection.

• Lu Zhao brought three Frost Rat Puppets and one Flowing Cloud Sparrow Puppet to the Nine Abyss Pavilion.
• The shopkeeper offered to buy four Frost Rat Puppets monthly at twelve spirit stones each, while keeping the Flowing Cloud Sparrow price at twenty-five.
• Lu Zhao accepted the new terms and received sixty-one spirit stones for his puppets.
• The shopkeeper warned Lu Zhao that suspicious strangers were watching the markets and that demon hunters from Northern Plains Commandery posed a danger on the road.
• Lu Zhao asked for protective goods, and the shopkeeper presented a second-tier low-grade Small Thunderclap Talisman.

Lu Zhao bought a Mystic Water Tortoise-Shell Shield and a Small Thunderclap Talisman from the Nine Abyss Pavilion, choosing defense and a life-saving trump card over an offensive artifact. After he left, the shopkeeper revealed that the Third Elder had arranged the favorable deal to protect Lu Zhao and secure his future flying-puppet work for the lineage.

• The shopkeeper showed Lu Zhao a second-tier Small Thunderclap Talisman, a Mystic Water Tortoise-Shell Shield, and a Cold Chi Serpent Spike, explaining their abilities and prices.
• Lu Zhao weighed the items against the dangers facing him and chose the shield and talisman, bargaining the combined price down to two hundred and seventy spirit stones.
• The shopkeeper accepted Lu Zhao's offer and hinted that the rare talisman was being entrusted to him because of their cooperation and his puppet-making potential.
• Lu Zhao paid, collected the two items, and left the Nine Abyss Pavilion more vigilant than before.
• Zhou An questioned the shopkeeper's discount, and the shopkeeper explained that the Third Elder had ordered the items placed in Lu Zhao's hands to safeguard him and preserve the lineage's access to his flying puppets.

Lu Zhao prepared for the dangerous journey to Green Vine Ravine by refining a defensive shield, buying talismans and pills, and seeking information about people looking for Puppet Masters. He learned that bandits were targeting skilled craftsmen and that two suspicious visitors from the Northern Plains were searching for someone who made flying Beast Puppets, stirring memories of the massacre that had destroyed his clan.

• Lu Zhao rented a Spirit Gathering room and completed the initial refinement of the Mystic Water Tortoise-Shell Shield.
• Lu Zhao bought nine superior-grade talismans and ten middle-grade pills, spending more than half the Spirit Stones he had received from the Nine Abyss Pavilion.
• Lu Zhao paid Zhao Quezi with a wooden bird puppet to investigate whether strangers were asking about Puppet Masters in the Market District.
• Zhao Quezi reported that the Three Blackbone Owls were watching for lone craftsmen who could make flying things, and warned Lu Zhao about their leader, Blackbone Owl.
• Zhao Quezi also reported that two secretive visitors from the Northern Plains were asking for people proficient in flying Beast Puppets and were still hiding in the Market District.
• Lu Zhao connected the Northern Plains visitors to the bloody night five years earlier when Demonic Beasts attacked his clan and its Clan-Protecting Grand Formation shattered.

Lu Zhao discovered that Zheng Yuan and Zheng Ping had ambushed him at Rosy Cloud Slope and survived Zheng Yuan’s sudden attack by unleashing a second-tier Small Thunderclap Talisman. After killing both Zheng cultivators and erasing the evidence, Lu Zhao took their belongings and fled deeper into the slope despite his injuries.

• Lu Zhao used the Flowing Cloud Sparrow Puppet to spot Zheng Yuan and Zheng Ping waiting in ambush and watched them until Zheng Yuan attacked.
• Lu Zhao blasted Zheng Yuan with the Small Thunderclap Talisman, then finished him with three Explosive Flame Talismans.
• Zheng Ping attacked Lu Zhao, but Lu Zhao used a Golden Sword Talisman to sever Zheng Ping’s arm before the Frost Rat Puppets killed him.
• Lu Zhao took Zheng Yuan’s Storage Bag and magical artifact, searched Zheng Ping’s corpse, and burned away the remains with a Fireball Talisman.
• Lu Zhao swallowed a Spring-Rejuvenation Pill and staggered deeper into Rosy Cloud Slope.