Chapter Summaries

Wang Ba tested whether Tendon-Cutting Nematodes could trigger bloodline breakthroughs in Precious Chickens, hoping to find a cheap way to produce Spirit Chickens openly. After enduring the worm’s agonizing effects himself, he put one into a rooster and watched to see what would happen.

• Wang Ba selected twenty healthy Precious Chickens and spent the night grinding three Spirit Stones into powder for an experiment.
• Wang Ba put a Tendon-Cutting Nematode into a small cut on his finger, endured terrible pain, and saw the worm leave through his nostril to coil around a Spirit Stone.
• Wang Ba concluded that the method seemed to work but vowed never to try it on himself again.
• Wang Ba put the Tendon-Cutting Nematode into a rooster’s nostril and watched anxiously for pain or a fatal stress response.
• After ten breaths, the rooster tilted its head and curiously clucked at Wang Ba.

Wang Ba tested Tendon-Cutting Nematodes on his Precious Chickens, then spent days tending the flock and tracking his Yin Spirit Power. After Song Lun failed to buy his sick-looking chickens, Steward Li arrived with news that Old Sun had died.

• Wang Ba confirmed that a Tendon-Cutting Nematode had taken effect and fed Spirit Stone Powder and ground Chicken Gizzard Lining to three Precious Chickens.
• Wang Ba restored his Yin Spirit Power by eating six Spirit Chickens and grew attached to Jia Five, whom he nicknamed Shit King.
• Wang Ba treated all twenty Precious Chickens with Spirit Stone Powder and Tendon-Cutting Nematodes, after which they stopped eating.
• Old Hou told Wang Ba about a Chicken Plague at Ding Fifty-Four Manor and a Spirit Beast that ate chickens at Ding Sixteen Manor, whose owner, Song Lun, received a hundred Spirit Stones in compensation.
• Song Lun visited Wang Ba to buy Precious Chickens, but left after seeing their poor condition.
• Steward Li arrived to collect the tribute and told Wang Ba that Old Sun had died.

After learning that Old Sun had been murdered by a suspected cultivator, Wang Ba feared the attacker might target him over the Yin Spirit Great Dream Scripture and resolved to stay inside the Sect until he formed a Spiritual Root. He successfully bred two Spirit Chickens, prompting Steward Li to report his achievement to the Sect, while Wang Ba planned to gather more Precious Chickens and advance his Body-Strengthening Scripture.

• Steward Li told Wang Ba that Old Sun and his household had been brutally killed, possibly by a cultivator, and Wang Ba suspected the attack might be connected to the gold sheet Old Sun had given him.
• Wang Ba decided not to leave the Sect until he formed a Spiritual Root, then used lifespan breakthroughs to raise and consume his remaining male Precious Chickens, strengthening his Yin Spirit Power.
• Old Hou told Wang Ba that the Immortal Ascension Society claimed Servant Disciples had to reach the tenth level of the Body-Strengthening Scripture within three years to have any chance of cultivating a Spiritual Root.
• Wang Ba successfully bred two Precious Chickens that were transforming into Spirit Chickens after using Spirit Stones and Tendon-Cutting Nematodes.
• Steward Li took the two Spirit Chickens to report Wang Ba's achievement to the Sect and told him to keep the breeding method secret.
• Wang Ba decided to visit the Market for more Precious Chickens and planned to push his Body-Strengthening Scripture forward.

Wang Ba traded four spirit roosters at several markets for more precious chickens, then used the lifespan gained from their transformation to cultivate the Body-Strengthening Scripture to its sixth layer. With chicken prices soaring and his body needing time to adjust, he bought Spiritlight Talismans and tested one on Jia Five.

• Wang Ba sold spirit roosters to Shopkeeper Lu for precious roosters and learned how to raise and breed Tendon-Cutting Nematodes.
• Wang Ba traded more spirit chickens at East Mountain Market and North Pine Market, raising the manor's flock to around two hundred and sixty precious chickens.
• After the precious chickens transformed ten days later, Wang Ba gained enough lifespan to advance the Body-Strengthening Scripture through its fourth, fifth, and sixth layers.
• Wang Ba decided to pause his breakthroughs because his body ached and market shortages had driven precious chicken prices sharply upward.
• Wang Ba bought a stack of low-tier Spiritlight Talismans and tested one on Jia Five, whose yellow paper ignited and released a faint white glow.

Wang Ba learned that livestock diseases had spread through many manors despite the Sect’s efforts, threatening both its Precious Chickens and his cultivation plans. As he considered the simultaneous outbreaks suspicious, the chapter left him uneasy about what was behind them.

• Wang Ba confirmed Jia Five was a first-tier middle-grade Spirit Chicken and rewarded him with Spirit Insects.
• Wang Ba told Old Hou his fluctuating chicken-feed use came from his Spirit Chicken research, while hiding his results to prepare an explanation for the Sect.
• Old Hou told Wang Ba that the Sect was forcing Servant Disciples to work outside the Sect, reportedly to excavate a newly discovered spirit spring.
• Old Hou warned Wang Ba that disease had spread among livestock at Jiazi and Yizi Manors and that more than twenty manors under Dingzi Manor had Chicken Plague.
• Wang Ba worried the disease would wipe out the Precious Chickens and derail his cultivation plans, then suspected the simultaneous outbreaks had an unnatural cause.

Wang Ba concealed most of his Spirit Chickens when Steward Li unexpectedly visited and questioned him about his cultivation and breeding. Steward Li told Wang Ba that Meng Randao had risen from a Servant Disciple to an Outer Sect disciple, then revealed the secret behind his rapid advancement.

• Wang Ba condensed a fourth drop of Yin Spirit Power and found his senses growing sharper.
• When Steward Li arrived, Wang Ba hid most of his Spirit Chickens and concealed his Yin Spirit Power, which drained rapidly as Steward Li entered.
• Wang Ba claimed he had reached the Fourth Layer of the Body-Strengthening Scripture and admitted that he had bred the Spirit Chickens Steward Li saw.
• Steward Li explained that Meng Randao had mastered the Tenth Layer and joined the Outer Sect in under two and a half years, while Steward Li remained stuck at the Ninth Layer after thirty years.
• After Wang Ba gave him a Spirit Stone, Steward Li revealed that Meng Randao had already possessed a Spiritual Root.

Wang Ba suspected Steward Li was hiding his true strength and questioned the meaning of his remarks about Spiritual Roots. Old Hou revealed that the Body-Strengthening Scripture was designed to identify people with Hidden Spiritual Roots, leaving Wang Ba with the revelation that the scripture’s ninth-to-tenth-layer barrier depended on having one.

• Wang Ba realized Steward Li’s visit had consumed Yin Spirit Power unusually quickly and decided the steward was concealing his true identity and motives.
• Wang Ba continued cultivating by eating Spirit Chickens as he tried to make sense of Steward Li’s remarks about Spiritual Roots.
• Old Hou hurriedly delivered Chicken Feed, and Wang Ba gave him a Spirit Chicken egg before asking about the Chicken Plague; Old Hou said Spirit Chickens were not known to catch it.
• Wang Ba offered Old Hou a two-part Spirit Stone to learn why people who failed to master the Body-Strengthening Scripture within three years had no later hope.
• Old Hou explained that the scripture was created to reveal Hidden Spiritual Roots, and that people without a Spiritual Root could never break through from the ninth to the tenth layer unless...

Wang Ba avoided the Sect’s recruitment, focused on cultivating and raising animals, and learned that unrest might be brewing within the Sect. His quiet routine ended when someone tore the roof off his house.

• Wang Ba suspected that Old Hou had gained cultivation benefits from the Immortal Ascension Society, but Old Hou refused to explain further.
• When the Sect began recruiting new disciples, Wang Ba declined Steward Li’s offer to help at the ceremony and stayed to tend his Spirit Chickens.
• Shopkeeper Lu told Wang Ba that an inner sect disciple had chosen a servant disciple as a personal attendant and that a talented young woman had become an elder’s disciple.
• Wang Ba bought a thousand Tendon-Cutting Nematodes from Shopkeeper Lu, who warned him that something seemed wrong in the Sect and urged him to be cautious.
• Wang Ba stayed at home, condensed ten drops of Yin Spirit Power, and bred stronger Tendon-Cutting Nematodes, but lacked the high-grade Spirit Beast remains needed to raise more.
• Someone tore the roof off Wang Ba’s house.

After Ye Lingyu accidentally tore off Wang Ba’s roof, she apologized and gave him a talisman before leaving. Wang Ba later learned that Lu Yuansheng had died and discovered a batch of sick Precious Chickens at the grain shop, leaving the shopkeeper to call after him as he walked away.

• Ye Lingyu apologized to Wang Ba for tearing off his roof, introduced herself, and gave him a yellow talisman as compensation.
• Wang Ba examined the talisman but decided not to take it to a shop, then went to the Market to buy spirit rice and learn the latest Sect news.
• At the newly renamed grain shop, the goateed shopkeeper told Wang Ba that Lu Yuansheng had died and that the Lu Family’s circumstances had changed.
• Wang Ba followed the shopkeeper to the rear courtyard to see his Precious Chickens, then realized they were infected with Chicken Plague and stormed away.
• The shopkeeper called after Wang Ba, promising to make the sick chickens worth his while.

Wang Ba learned that Lu Yuansheng’s death had brought the Lu family’s fortunes crashing down, and he eventually followed a strange impulse to visit Shopkeeper Lu in South Lake Village. He arrived at the family’s home and found their circumstances worse than he had expected.

• Wang Ba bought forty-six sick Precious Chickens, added lifespan to each, and kept them apart from his healthy chickens.
• Old Hou told Wang Ba that Lu Yuansheng had been killed and that the Lu family had lost its grain shop and moved to South Lake Village.
• Wang Ba finished repairing his roof and made his room more comfortable.
• Wang Ba felt compelled to visit Shopkeeper Lu, took a chicken in a bamboo basket, and went to the Lu family’s home in South Lake Village.
• Wang Ba saw that the Lu family’s situation was even worse than he had imagined.

Wang Ba visited the ailing Shopkeeper Lu, sold him a Spirit Chicken for half a Spirit Stone, and received a cryptic warning to leave the Sect. He debated whether to heed it, then heard someone behind him ask his name.

• Wang Ba visited Shopkeeper Lu and learned that the Lu Lineage had fallen into hardship after deaths, illness, and an attack on Seventh Uncle.
• Wang Ba sold Shopkeeper Lu a Spirit Chicken for half a Spirit Stone, hoping to help the Lu Lineage while preserving Shopkeeper Lu's dignity.
• After sending Lu Anwu away, Shopkeeper Lu privately warned Wang Ba to leave the Sect because a major upheaval was coming.
• Wang Ba weighed the danger of staying against the resources and relative safety the Sect provided, and remained uncertain about leaving.
• As Wang Ba neared South Lake Market, a cold voice behind him asked whether his name was Wang Ba.

Wang Ba met Zhao Feng, an Outer Sect disciple who recognized his hidden spiritual root and warned him that upheaval was coming within the Sect. After his third-generation Spirit Chickens hatched, Wang Ba decided to investigate the Sect’s boundaries so he could leave.

• Zhao Feng stopped Wang Ba, identified his perfected Body-Strengthening Scripture and hidden spiritual root, and said he had done well by helping the Lu Household.
• Zhao Feng gave Wang Ba a protective magic pendant that would summon him once and revealed that he had once received kindness from Lu Yuansheng.
• Wang Ba considered Zhao Feng’s warning about upheaval and grew more determined to leave the Sect.
• Seven days later, Jia Four’s three eggs hatched into third-generation Spirit Chickens with lifespans near 80 years and grayish-white Spiritlight.
• Wang Ba recorded his breeding observations, then turned his attention to the Sect’s boundary defenses as he prepared to leave.

Wang Ba bought a one-use underground passage map from Gou Mu to escape the Eastern Saint Sect, where he feared the danger and could not leave through normal channels. He found the map hidden in the pictures and hoped it would let him slip out unnoticed.

• Gou Mu sold a picture book to the burly customer for nine taels after bargaining with him.
• The customer revealed himself as Wang Ba and worried that the map had cost him nine Spirit Stones.
• Wang Ba recalled that leaving the sect legally was nearly impossible because his departure would require approval and someone to replace him at Dingbaqi Manor.
• Wang Ba decided to use Rat-Head Gou Mu’s one-use underground passages to escape the sect.
• Wang Ba examined the book and discovered that the map was hidden on a beauty’s red-painted toenail.

Wang Ba planned to leave the Eastern Saint Sect in fifteen days through Rat-Head Gou Mu’s hidden tunnels and gathered information for life beyond the sect. Before he could carry out his plan, Ye Lingyu damaged his roof again and left him a middle grade Spirit Stone, then Old Hou arrived with a manager of the Immortal Ascension Society.

• Wang Ba studied Rat-Head Gou Mu’s map and decided to leave the Eastern Saint Sect through the hidden tunnels in fifteen days, taking only a few essentials.
• Wang Ba bought books about nearby sects and cultivators to prepare for choosing a sect after his departure.
• Ye Lingyu crashed through Wang Ba’s roof again, apologized, and left him a middle grade Spirit Stone as compensation.
• Wang Ba decided to return Ye Lingyu’s Spirit Stone through Steward Li with witnesses present.
• Old Hou arrived with an unfamiliar man and introduced him as a manager of the Immortal Ascension Society.

Wang Ba met Yu Changchun, a Qi Refining steward of the Immortal Ascension Society, who claimed the Society could help people without Spiritual Roots cultivate and invited Wang Ba to join. Yu Changchun gave him the first volume of the Society’s method, and Wang Ba began reading it while knowing Yu Changchun was still watching him.

• Wang Ba realized Yu Changchun was a Qi Refining cultivator and grew suspicious of the Immortal Ascension Society.
• Yu Changchun introduced himself and claimed Wang Ba had the potential to become a cultivator through the Society’s special method.
• Yu Changchun demonstrated his cultivation, and Wang Ba pretended to be shocked and awed.
• Old Hou vouched for the Society’s method and offered to show Wang Ba his progress with a Spiritual Root Testing Talisman.
• Yu Changchun invited Wang Ba to join the Society and gave him the first volume of its cultivation method.
• After Yu Changchun and Old Hou left, Wang Ba studied the book while Yu Changchun continued watching him.

Yu Changchun monitored Wang Ba after giving him the first volume of the Bone-Burying Secret Art, while reporting his recruitment efforts to the Chief Steward through Old Hou. Wang Ba escaped the surveillance by staying in his room, studied the art’s bone-replacement methods, and learned that its solution to the dangers of foreign bones was in the second volume.

• Yu Changchun watched Wang Ba read the Bone-Burying Secret Art and expected the book to draw him in.
• Old Hou relayed the Chief Steward’s questions, and Yu Changchun reported recruiting over eighty Servant Disciples and warned that further recruitment might attract attention.
• After the Chief Steward ordered Yu Changchun to monitor Wang Ba and prevent leaks, Yu Changchun privately resented Old Hou and checked the water mirror for Wang Ba.
• Wang Ba found that remaining inside his room stopped Yu Changchun from seeing him and examined the book’s method of implanting bones to help form a Spiritual Root.
• Wang Ba learned that bone replacement could accelerate the Body-Strengthening Scripture but risked mental confusion, and that the remedy was recorded in Volume Two.

Wang Ba realized the Immortal Ascension Society was secretly surveilling him and began searching for a way to escape its attention before leaving the sect. While investigating a ruined room in the Mountain Manor, he found signs of unexplained destruction and ended the chapter baffled by a mischievous little hen.

• Wang Ba recognized the Immortal Ascension Society’s Bone-Burying Secret Art as bait and decided to keep the booklet in case the Body-Strengthening Scripture failed him.
• Wang Ba discovered that Yu Changchun’s surveillance reacted whenever he left his room, and suspected the society had been watching him for some time.
• Wang Ba cleaned the Mountain Manor and found that the rooms were outside the surveillance he could sense, though escaping observation elsewhere seemed nearly impossible.
• Wang Ba entered Old Sun’s Room and found smashed cabinets, a shattered stone bed, and deformed chicken cages, but could not determine who or what had caused the damage.
• Wang Ba ruled out Jia Five as the culprit, then slapped away a little hen that repeatedly hopped onto his leg to defecate.

Wang Ba discovered that Jia Seven had mutated into a Spirit Chicken with remarkable fighting ability and considered keeping her as a companion. He then tried to use Yin Spirit Power to disguise himself as air and evade the Immortal Ascension Society's surveillance, but a Precious Chicken suddenly flew toward him.

• Wang Ba noticed that Jia Seven had a lifespan of 111.4 years and was nearly high grade.
• Jia Seven crushed and split stones with startling strength and speed, leading Wang Ba to realize she had caused the damage in Old Sun's room.
• Wang Ba concluded that Jia Seven had likely mutated during her breakthrough, named her Jia Seven, and considered keeping her for protection.
• Wang Ba reasoned that Yin Spirit Power might let him disguise himself as air, then tested the idea by leaving his room with a bucket of chicken droppings.
• As Wang Ba walked out while hidden by his disguise, a Precious Chicken spotted feed behind him and suddenly flapped toward him.

Wang Ba escaped the estate after realizing the Immortal Ascension Society’s surveillance was fixed in place, but a Qi Refining disciple and then a possible Foundation Establishment cultivator arrived in South Lake Village. Unsure whether Gou Mu had been exposed and unwilling to approach the powerful cultivator, Wang Ba changed course for South Lake Market.

• Wang Ba kept his Yin Spirit Power active and walked beyond the estate’s surveillance range, confirming that the monitoring did not follow him.
• Wang Ba abandoned his preparations and decided to leave the Sect immediately, hiding the bucket of chicken manure as he made his way toward South Lake Village.
• Wang Ba sensed a streak of light enter South Lake Village and wondered whether it was a Sect disciple responding to a disturbance.
• Wang Ba saw a second, more powerful streak of light with a glimpse of purple and suspected it belonged to a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
• Wang Ba worried that Gou Mu might have been exposed, then turned away from South Lake Village and headed for South Lake Market.

Wang Ba learned that South Lake Village would be occupied for days, so he secretly returned to Dingbaqi Manor despite Yu Changchun’s surveillance. The next morning, after concluding Yu had not noticed his escape, Wang Ba heard that Niu Yong had gone missing.

• At South Lake Market, Wang Ba disguised as a burly man learned that new Servant Disciples were being settled in South Lake Village and the process could take eight or ten days.
• Wang Ba worried that staying outside would trigger a search, while the tunnel out of the Sect was watched by a Foundation Establishment cultivator, and he decided to return to Dingbaqi Manor under surveillance.
• Wang Ba used Yin Spirit Power to enter the manor unnoticed, did chores, and went back to his room while observing that harder disguises consumed more power.
• Yu Changchun watched Wang Ba return through a water mirror, then briefly roused Old Hou and sent him back to his work.
• The next morning, Wang Ba believed Yu Changchun had not noticed his escape, but then learned that Niu Yong had gone missing.