Chapter Summaries

After transmigrating into the body of Wang Shouzhe, the new Clan Leader of the declining Ping'an Wang Clan, he learned about the family’s troubled history and resolved to restore its fortunes. He discovered that spirit foods could strengthen him, but his attempts to summon a system brought no response.

• Wang Shouzhe succeeded his late father, Wang Dingyue, as Clan Leader after the mourning period.
• Wang Shouzhe read the family records and learned how the Wang Clan had declined after Ancestor Zhouxuan and other experts died, leaving it vulnerable to the Liu Clan and Zhao Clan.
• Wang Shouzhe recalled that he had transmigrated three days earlier and found himself in the body of an eighteen-year-old cultivator at the advanced Sixth Layer of the Qi Refining Realm.
• Wang Shouzhe sent Wang Gui away, then ate Spirit-Horn Yak, Red-Tail Spirit Mandarin Fish, and White Jade Ganoderma Rice, regaining his strength.
• Wang Shouzhe decided the clan needed to grow stronger so he could continue enjoying spirit foods without draining its resources.
• Wang Shouzhe tried repeatedly to summon a system but received no response.

After recovering, Wang Shouzhe went with Gongsun Hui to Dingpu Ferry to investigate the beating of his uncle Wang Dinghai. They found Wang Dinghai in a tense confrontation with Liu Yongzhou of the Liu Clan, amid a wider struggle over the Wang Clan’s shrinking fishing territory.

• Wang Gui reported that Wang Dinghai had been beaten, so Wang Shouzhe ordered a carriage and set out to help him.
• Gongsun Hui joined Wang Shouzhe and explained how the rival clans had been encroaching on the Wang Clan’s fishing waters as Ancestor Longyan remained secluded.
• Wang Shouzhe and Gongsun Hui arrived at Deepwater Pier, where Wang Dinghai’s group faced Liu Yongzhou and his men.
• Liu Yongzhou mocked Wang Dinghai for losing an underwater fight and taunted him to leave Ping'an Town.
• Gongsun Hui stepped between the groups to stop the fight, while Wang Shouzhe’s guards protected her and he watched Liu Yongzhou closely.

Wang Shouzhe exposed the Liu Clan’s attempt to provoke a public defeat for Wang Dinghai and turned the dispute into a challenge the Liu Clan could not easily accept. When Liu Shengye arrived, Wang Shouzhe redirected the proposed life-or-death battle toward the two Clan Leaders, leaving the crowd stunned.

• Wang Dinghai accused Liu Yongzhou of crossing into Wang Clan fishing grounds, while Liu Yongzhou claimed Wang Dinghai had attacked him first.
• Wang Shouzhe recognized that the Liu Clan had deliberately provoked the dispute and learned that Liu Yongzhou’s water escape technique had unexpectedly improved.
• Wang Shouzhe challenged Liu Yongzhou to a life-or-death arena battle over the fishing grounds, and Liu Yongzhou refused.
• Wang Shouzhe’s challenge shifted public opinion in the Wang Clan’s favor as onlookers praised his boldness and discussed his talent and Purple Mansion Academy screening.
• Liu Shengye arrived and argued that a life-or-death battle should involve opponents of equal status, so Wang Shouzhe challenged him to fight as Clan Leaders.

Wang Shouzhe bluffed Liu Shengye into compensating Wang Dinghai and avoiding conflict, while secretly using the encounter to spread rumors about Wang Longyan’s condition. After boarding the Dinghai, he asked Gongsun Hui how much longer the ancestor could hold on, arguing that he needed to know to plan for the family’s future.

• Wang Shouzhe challenged Liu Shengye to a life-and-death duel over the dispute at An River Fishing Ground, but Liu Shengye offered thirty Qian Gold in compensation instead.
• Liu Shengye told Liu Yongzhou that Wang Longyan was likely near death and ordered him to avoid provoking the Wang Clan while the Liu Clan prepared for her passing.
• Wang Shouzhe sent family guards to carry out secret instructions, then boarded Wang Dinghai’s fishing vessel with Gongsun Hui.
• Gongsun Hui reproached Wang Shouzhe for implying Wang Longyan was dying and spreading rumors, and worried the elders would reprimand him.
• Wang Shouzhe asked Gongsun Hui how much longer Wang Longyan could hold on, insisting that he needed to plan for the family’s future.

Wang Shouzhe persuaded Gongsun Hui and Wang Dinghai to keep Ancestor Longyan’s remaining strength secret and use rumors of the Wang Clan’s imminent fall to deter its rivals. On the clan fishing boat, he watched the crew work and began questioning whether their methods could make the fishing grounds profitable.

• Gongsun Hui revealed that Ancestor Longyan could hold the clan steady for twenty years if she did not act, while Wang Shouzhe argued that waiting for him to reach the Spirit Platform Realm would not save the clan.
• Wang Shouzhe explained that he had spread rumors giving the Wang Clan roughly five years to live, hoping to deter the Liu Clan and Zhao Clan and encourage rivalry between them.
• Gongsun Hui and Wang Dinghai swore to keep the clan secret and support Wang Shouzhe.
• The group sailed into the An River, where Wang Dinghai taught Wang Shouzhe and Gongsun Hui to adjust to the rocking boat.
• Wang Goudan and the other fishermen demonstrated net casting and caught several valuable fish, including a Surging Leopard-Pattern Mandarin Fish.
• Wang Shouzhe questioned whether the crew’s net casting counted as professional fishing, since the catches seemed far too small to make the fishing ground profitable.

Wang Shouzhe reviewed the Fishing Brigade’s finances with Gongsun Hui and Wang Dinghai, then rejected expanding the fleet with more boats. He instead introduced new fishing gear to increase the clan’s returns, leaving Wang Dinghai eager to try the designs.

• Gongsun Hui detailed the Fishing Brigade’s average revenue, expenses, taxes, compensation payments, and net income.
• Wang Dinghai proposed adding two medium-sized boats and ten small ones, and Gongsun Hui explained that the expansion would require 690 Qian Gold.
• Wang Shouzhe declined to expand the fleet and drew a small trawl net for Wang Dinghai to test.
• Wang Shouzhe showed Wang Dinghai a Moving Zither fishing tool and described its River-Blocking Net form.
• Wang Shouzhe introduced Earth Cages and Maze Traps, and Wang Dinghai grew excited by the range of new fishing methods.

Wang Shouzhe and Wang Dinghai tested a new fishing device, the Moving Zither, and quickly improved the clan’s river catch. The device also caught a huge Red-Scaled Eel, which Wang Dinghai killed and brought ashore as a valuable prize.

• Wang Shouzhe told Wang Dinghai to keep the clan’s secrets confidential, and Wang Dinghai eagerly proposed testing a Moving Zither.
• Wang Dinghai built a crude Moving Zither at a hidden dock and caught several fish, proving the device worked.
• Wang Shouzhe guided Wang Dinghai in improving the device with a counter-lever and counterweights, and the fishing hands hauled in over a hundred jin of fish in an hour.
• Wang Shouzhe urged Wang Dinghai to refine and reproduce the device, while Gongsun Hui advised keeping the operation confidential and using reliable helpers.
• A Red-Scaled Eel tore through the net, but Wang Dinghai swam after it, killed it with his Water-Splitting Spike, and brought the valuable first-rank aquatic Fierce Beast ashore.

Wang Shouzhe began cultivating the Wang Clan Profound Origin Technique and made rapid progress, but his need for nourishing resources exceeded what the clan could routinely provide. After Madam Gongsun sent him a lavish breakfast of Spirit Food, he prepared to inspect the clan’s industries.

• Wang Shouzhe cultivated through the night, completing four cycles and improving his Qi Refining Realm cultivation.
• Wang Shouzhe realized his depleted blood and qi and strained meridians limited further cultivation, while the clan’s monthly provisions could not sustain daily progress.
• Wang Gui brought Wang Shouzhe a breakfast of White Jade Spirit Rice porridge and Spirit Mandarin Fish that Madam Gongsun had prepared from her own provisions.
• Wang Shouzhe accepted Madam Gongsun’s kindness, replenished some of his blood and qi, and planned to inspect the clan’s industries.

Wang Shouzhe reflected on how his knowledge from Earth could serve as his golden finger and set out to learn more about the clan’s businesses at Fenggu Farm. On the journey, he learned that Wang Luotong had been denied a Lesser Foundation-Cultivating Pill because Wang Shounuo supposedly needed it more, and he prepared to confront the issue.

• Wang Shouzhe decided to visit Fenggu Farm and began arranging a carriage.
• Wang Shouzhe met Wang Luotong and Wang Luojing, who were traveling to visit their grandfather, Wang Xiaozhi, and invited them to ride with him.
• Wang Shouzhe asked Wang Luotong about her cultivation and learned she had been slowly preparing to break through without a pill.
• Wang Luojing revealed that Wang Xiaozhi had said Wang Shouzhe needed the Lesser Foundation-Cultivating Pill more than Wang Luotong did.
• Wang Shouzhe asked whether Wang Shounuo had been bullying the sisters and offered to teach him a lesson.

Wang Shouzhe visited Fenggu Farm with Wang Luotong and Wang Luojing, reflecting on the Wang Clan’s poverty and the younger generation’s prospects. He met Fourth Grand-Uncle Wang Xiaozhi, who welcomed them to eat wild boar, while the girls were sent to help in the kitchen.

• Wang Luotong explained that she had willingly given Wang Shounuo some of her cultivation resources, and Wang Shouzhe worried that his own large share left too little for his siblings.
• Wang Shouzhe encouraged Wang Luojing to study and cultivate, learned that Wang Luoqiu had already advanced, and told both girls he would test their studies again in three months.
• Wang Shouzhe traveled with Wang Luotong and Wang Luojing to Fenggu Farm and admired its waterways, houses, and wheat fields.
• Wang Xiaozhi arrived after tending the farmland, greeted Wang Shouzhe and the girls, and invited them to eat a wild boar killed in the fields.
• Wang Xiaozhi sent Wang Luotong and Wang Luojing to help prepare the meal while he received Wang Shouzhe in the courtyard.

Wang Shouzhe visited Fenggu Farm to learn about the Wang Clan’s agriculture, though Wang Xiaozhi urged him to focus on cultivation instead. Wang Shounuo began showing him the estate, explaining its history and scale.

• Wang Shouzhe shared a meal and White Jade Spirit Rice Wine with Wang Xiaozhi, Wang Shounuo, Wang Luotong, and Wang Luojing.
• Wang Xiaozhi showed favoritism toward Wang Shouzhe, reserving much of the wine and food for him.
• Wang Shouzhe asked to study agriculture, but Wang Xiaozhi told Wang Shounuo to show him around the farm instead.
• Wang Shounuo explained that Ancestor Zhouxuan established Fenggu Farm and that it now contained 3,567 mu of superior farmland and two hundred tenant households.

Wang Luojing warned Wang Shouzhe and Wang Shounuo that Fenggu Farm’s winter wheat faced a Honey Insect plague, and an inspection confirmed that insects and eggs had infested the fields. As Wang Xiaozhi and Wang Shouzhe considered the cause, Wang Luojing privately told Wang Shouzhe that she knew how to deal with the insects.

• Wang Luojing contradicted Wang Shounuo’s prediction of a bumper harvest and warned that the winter wheat could suffer a poor harvest.
• Wang Luojing explained that the warm winter and dry, hot weather could trigger a Honey Insect outbreak, then urged Wang Shouzhe to inspect the wheat.
• Wang Shouzhe ordered tenant farmers to uproot a small patch of wheat and turn over the soil, revealing Honey Insect eggs across the roots and earth.
• Wang Xiaozhi arrived and suspected the Pest-Exterminating Powder was counterfeit, while Wang Shouzhe proposed that Honey Insects had developed resistance to it.
• Wang Luojing privately told Wang Shouzhe that she had a way to deal with the Honey Insects but was afraid to tell Wang Xiaozhi.

Wang Luojing revealed that she had learned to control insects and demonstrated how Lacewing Insects could prey on the Honey Insects threatening Fenggu Farm’s wheat. She prepared to use a Nine-Spotted Bug Insect King to help protect the farm’s thousands of mu of crops.

• Wang Luojing explained that she had found an Insect Classic and raised Lacewing Insects to control Honey Insects, while Wang Shouzhe promised to protect her and Wang Luotong from unwanted marriages if she could solve the infestation.
• Wang Shouzhe took Wang Luojing and Wang Luotong to a secluded wheat field and helped spread leaves bearing Lacewing Insect eggs across several mu.
• The Lacewing Insect eggs hatched, and Wang Shouzhe watched the larvae attack and consume aphids.
• Wang Luojing explained that the larvae could eat nearly a thousand Honey Insects each before pupating, but Wang Shouzhe worried that they could not cover the thousands of mu at Fenggu Farm.
• Wang Luojing revealed a second box of colorful beetles and named a nine-spotted beetle the Nine-Star Insect King.

Wang Luojing rallied swarms of Nine-Star insects and Lacewing Insects to save the Wang Clan’s wheat from an aphid outbreak. Wang Shouzhe warned that the clan’s likely bumper harvest could provoke resentment, and began planning to help allied clans weather the crisis.

• Wang Luojing used her flute to command the Nine-Star Insect King and its swarm to devour aphids in the wheat fields.
• Wang Luojing sent two aging Lacewing Insect Kings to summon wild companions, and they returned with enormous swarms that ate aphids and laid eggs across the fields.
• Wang Xiaozhi learned that Wang Luojing had saved the crops, then agreed to work with her to protect the clan’s other farms.
• Wang Shouzhe warned Wang Xiaozhi that other clans’ harvests could fall sharply and that the Wang Clan’s success might make it a target.
• Wang Shouzhe proposed helping the Changning Xu Clan, Shanyang Gongsun Clan, and Shanyin Liu Clan, whose ties to the Wang Clan ran deep despite past complications.

Wang Shouzhe assessed the Honey Insect disaster’s threat to the Wang Clan and its allied families, then realized the clan’s stored Pest-Exterminating Powder could become highly valuable. As Wang Xiaozhi celebrated the stockpile’s potential profit, Wang Shouzhe began devising a business opportunity.

• Wang Shouzhe ordered Wang Xiaozhi to prepare an account of the insect disaster and send warnings to six allied families, with aid prioritized for the Yingxiu Lu Clan and Shanyang Gongsun Clan.
• Wang Shouzhe dismissed the idea of concealing the outbreak and asked Wang Xiaozhi about the Pest-Exterminating Powder he had stockpiled.
• Wang Xiaozhi explained that controlling adult Honey Insects required twice the powder dosage, and Wang Shouzhe calculated that treating crops would cost less than allowing yields to collapse.
• Wang Shouzhe concluded that the stockpile could be worth at least six hundred Qian Gold because most families lacked Spirit Insect Masters, while Fifth Sister Luojing could protect the Wang Clan’s farms.
• Wang Xiaozhi praised Luojing and Wang Shouzhe, while Wang Shouzhe formed a plan to profit from the demand for Pest-Exterminating Powder.

Wang Shouzhe rode overnight to Changning Guard City to buy Pest-Exterminating Powder from the Qian Clan Trading Firm. After learning the firm had only two thousand bags on hand, he arranged to purchase three thousand more and introduced the idea of futures.

• Wang Shouzhe warned allied clans about the insect plague, then crossed the An River overnight with two retainers and rode to Changning Guard City.
• Wang Shouzhe presented his clan token at the Qian Clan Trading Firm and met Manager Qian, who had already learned about his new position as clan leader.
• Wang Shouzhe and Manager Qian exchanged pleasantries and discussed the Wang Clan’s history and Wang Shouzhe’s prospects at the Purple Mansion Academy.
• Wang Shouzhe asked to buy five thousand bags of Pest-Exterminating Powder, surprising Manager Qian, who said the branch had only two thousand in stock and needed ten days to obtain the rest.
• Manager Qian explained that rising medicinal-herb production had caused overcapacity, and Wang Shouzhe agreed to buy the two thousand bags in stock and three thousand future bags.

Wang Shouzhe negotiated a contract to buy five thousand bags of Pest-Exterminating Powder on credit, hoping to relieve the Ping'an Wang Clan’s financial crisis. After leaving the trading firm, he toured Changning Guard City with two clan retainers and reflected on the clan’s dwindling strength and its ties to the Changning Xu Clan.

• Wang Shouzhe and Manager Qian agreed on a price of four thousand two hundred Qian Gold for five thousand bags of Pest-Exterminating Powder, payable in one month.
• Wang Shouzhe and Manager Qian signed a detailed contract requiring the first two thousand bags to be delivered in three days and the rest ten days later, with a penalty for failure to deliver.
• Wang Shouzhe left the Qian Clan Trading Firm and told Manager Qian he might soon bring him a great merit.
• Wang Shouzhe toured Citadel City with Wang Zhong and Wang Yong, learning that Wang Zhong’s younger son had lower-grade C Xuanwu aptitude.
• Wang Shouzhe reflected on the Wang Clan’s reduced number of retainers and the growing disparity between the Ping'an Wang Clan and the Changning Xu Clan, which bought raw cocoons from the Wang Clan’s Xinmao Silkworm Farm.

Wang Shouzhe visited the East Market, avoided a fraudulent beast-gallbladder stall, and bought a Tiger-Headed Spirit Bee honeycomb for his sister Wang Luojing. He reached the Ping'an Wang Clan Fish Stall and reflected on the family’s dwindling assets and past losses before someone called out to him.

• Wang Shouzhe rejected a Black-Backed Violent Bear gallbladder after spotting signs that it was not fresh, and explained why the clan needed to protect its foundation.
• Wang Shouzhe bought a Tiger-Headed Spirit Bee honeycomb for ten Qian Gold, hoping Wang Luojing might raise a swarm from it.
• Wang Shouzhe and his retainers found no other goods of interest and arrived at the Ping'an Wang Clan Fish Stall.
• Wang Shouzhe recalled how the clan had sold assets to fund attempts to produce a Spirit Platform Realm expert, and feared he might one day face the same gamble.
• Someone nearby called out to Wang Shouzhe as he stood at the fish stall.

Wang Shouzhe visited the Wang Clan Fish Stall, learned how it operated, and discussed expanding its capacity with Wang Shouyi. Their conversation ended when Ding Youde arrived to demand payment for a gambling debt owed by Wang Shouyi’s nephew.

• Wang Shouyi explained that he was unloading salted fish from the Dingpu warehouse because Sixth Uncle had ordered the stock sold quickly.
• Wang Shouzhe and his retainers helped Wang Shouyi move the fish into the warehouse before Wang Shouyi described the fish stall’s customers and business.
• Wang Shouzhe praised Wang Shouyi’s hard work and asked about his son Zongsheng’s aptitude.
• Wang Shouyi teased Wang Shouzhe about his engagement to Liu Ruolan, prompting Wang Shouzhe to ask whether the fish stall could handle a much larger catch.
• Ding Youde arrived from the Fortune Gambling House and demanded repayment of a gambling debt owed by Wang Shouyi’s nephew.

Wang Shouzhe punished his nephew Wang Zongwei for gambling away clan resources and misbehaving, leaving him stripped of his stipend and cultivation resources. Wang Shouyi warned that the punishment could provoke Wang Zongwei’s mother, but Wang Shouzhe remained confident she would accept his decision.

• Wang Shouyi brought Wang Zongwei before Wang Shouzhe and explained that he had lost forty Qian Gold gambling after repeated failures to behave at his assigned jobs.
• Wang Shouzhe challenged Wang Zongwei to guess which hand held a Qian Gold coin, then declared him the loser when both hands proved empty.
• Wang Shouzhe drew his sword and frightened Wang Zongwei into believing he had lost a hand, then spared him and warned he could claim it later.
• Wang Shouzhe stripped Wang Zongwei of his cultivation resources and stipend and transferred them to Wang Luotong.
• Wang Shouyi warned that Wang Zongwei’s mother might object to the transfer, but Wang Shouzhe said he expected her to understand.