Chapter Summaries

Wang Shouzhe examined Wang Shouyi’s live-fish transport and explained simple ways to improve oxygenation, filtration, and temperature control. Wang Shouyi began planning experiments, while Wang Shouzhe wondered whether producing MSG could become another business for the Wang Clan.

• Wang Shouyi told Wang Shouzhe that many valuable live fish died during transport, cutting their sale value and profits.
• Wang Shouzhe inspected the fish barrels and explained how aeration, filtration, and cooler water could help keep fish alive.
• Wang Shouyi understood the principles and eagerly questioned Wang Shouzhe about siphons, pumps, and water circulation.
• Wang Shouzhe advised Wang Shouyi to test simple devices, then continued explaining siphon-based drainage and manual water filtration over lunch at Hundred Flavors Pavilion.
• Wang Shouzhe found the restaurant’s dishes ordinary and considered whether making MSG could become a profitable industry.

Wang Shouzhe prepared to help the Gongsun Clan face the coming insect disaster while bringing his mother and Fifth Sister to visit his grandfather. He gave Wang Luojing a rare Amethyst Spirit Bee honeycomb, whose potential value surprised the family.

• Wang Shouzhe instructed Wang Shouyi to experiment with improving the clan’s fish business while protecting its secrets.
• Wang Shouzhe met Gongsun Hui and Wang Luojing at Changning Ferry and discussed the insect disaster and the Wang Clan’s plans to help the Gongsun Clan.
• Wang Shouzhe told Gongsun Hui that he intended to visit her father, Gongsun Mo, and she was pleased by his newfound closeness to her family.
• Wang Shouzhe gave Wang Luojing a honeycomb he had bought for ten Qian Gold, and she identified it as a rare Amethyst Spirit Bee hive.
• Gongsun Hui explained that mature Amethyst Spirit Bees produced valuable honey and that Amethyst Queen Bee Honey was an ingredient in the Spirit Awakening Pill, prompting Wang Shouzhe to wonder about its ability to improve Xuanwu aptitude.

Wang Shouzhe traveled with Gongsun Hui and Wang Luojing into Shanyang, where the Gongsun Clan’s Young Clan Leader welcomed them. Gongsun Qiang apologized after insulting Wang Shouzhe’s late father, and the party was left on cordial terms.

• Wang Luojing promised to work hard to raise the Amethyst Spirit Bees and obtain a Spirit Awakening Pill for Wang Shouzhe, while Wang Shouzhe and Gongsun Hui urged her not to feel pressured.
• Wang Shouzhe’s carriage traveled through Shanyang, avoiding the Zhao Clan’s waterside territory near Mountain Hawk Ravine.
• Wang An met the carriage with riders and announced that the Gongsun Clan’s Young Clan Leader had come to welcome Wang Shouzhe and Gongsun Hui.
• Gongsun Qiang greeted his younger sister Gongsun Hui and praised Wang Shouzhe while disparaging his late father, Wang Dingyue.
• Gongsun Hui demanded that Gongsun Qiang apologize, and he apologized to both her and Wang Shouzhe, admitting that Wang Dingyue had surpassed him in talent and achievements.

Wang Shouzhe traveled with Gongsun Hui to visit her parents, where the Gongsun family welcomed them and reflected on Wang Dingyue’s death. The visit ended with Madam Gongsun Chen learning that Wang Shouzhe was already promised to a legitimate daughter of the Shanyin Liu Clan.

• Wang Shouzhe rode alongside Gongsun Qiang and impressed him with his maturity and cultivation, while declining an invitation to stay longer because of clan affairs.
• Gongsun Hui reunited tearfully with Gongsun Mo and Madam Gongsun Chen at the Gongsun Clan residence, and Madam Gongsun Chen mourned Wang Dingyue’s death.
• Madam Gongsun Chen tried to arrange a marriage for Wang Shouzhe with a Gongsun or Chen Clan girl, but Gongsun Hui explained that his marriage was already settled with a legitimate daughter of the Shanyin Liu Clan.
• Madam Gongsun Chen’s expression changed when she heard Wang Shouzhe’s betrothed was from the Shanyin Liu Clan.

Wang Shouzhe warned the Shanyang Gongsun Clan about a Honey Insect plague and helped organize a response using beneficial insects. The chapter ended after the insects were released over the clan’s wheat fields and the family gathered for dinner at the farm estate.

• Gongsun Mo confirmed Wang Shouzhe’s warning that the Honey Insect plague could cut the harvest by more than sixty percent and thanked him for helping limit the losses.
• Gongsun Mo gave Wang Shouzhe a yearly allowance of Shanyang Small Spirit Seed tea.
• Wang Shouzhe and Gongsun Mo hurried to the Gongsun Clan’s largest farm estate after the first captured beneficial insects arrived.
• Wang Luojing tamed three Lacewing Insect Kings and one Nine-Star Insect King, then helped direct the insects into the wheat fields.
• Gongsun Mo arrived with Spirit Food, and Wang Shouzhe greeted Gongsun Zhong and Wang Liuyu while Wang Luojing embraced her aunt.

Wang Luojing earned the Gongsun Clan’s admiration after helping control the insect plague, and Wang Shouzhe recognized the great value of her Spirit Insect Master talent. After Luojing finished stabilizing the Gongsun farms, she urged Shouzhe to travel to the Yingxiu Lu Clan before the plague worsened there.

• Wang Liuyu gave Wang Luojing a ten-Qian Gold banknote, and Wang Shouzhe encouraged her to accept it.
• Gongsun Qiang proposed a match between Wang Luojing and Xiao Yan, but Wang Shouzhe and Gongsun Hui rejected the idea and stressed Luojing’s value as a Spirit Insect Master.
• Wang Shouzhe and the Gongsun family discussed how Luojing could help clans control pests and earn substantial income.
• The next day, Wang Luojing tamed and released Insect Kings at the Gongsun farms, then warned Wang Shouzhe that they needed to visit the Yingxiu Lu Clan soon.
• Wang Shouzhe recalled his close ties to the Yingxiu Lu Clan through his late mother, Lu Mengxue, and his aunt, Wang Liuling.

Wang Shouzhe escorted Wang Luojing toward the Yingxiu Lu Clan, but his party found signs of an injured fugitive in a border forest. After his retainers captured the man, Wang Shouzhe chose to take him to the Lu Clan for investigation, and the captive revealed he had more valuables hidden away.

• Wang Shouzhe and Wang Luojing set out for Yingxiu by way of Shanyang, with Wang Shouzhe warning his retainers to stay alert in the forest.
• Wang Zhong found blood and a scrap of costly cloth near a stream, then tracked the injured person into the forest with Wang Yong and Wang Wu.
• The retainers captured a rogue cultivator, who claimed bandits had wounded him and offered his possessions as ransom.
• Wang Shouzhe ordered that the captive be taken to the Lu Clan for investigation and promised to return his belongings if he was innocent.
• The captive turned pale and begged not to be taken to Yingxiu, offering to reveal other hidden possessions if Wang Shouzhe released him.

Wang Shouzhe captured a rogue cultivator who had taken part in a robbery and brought him to the Yingxiu Lu Clan instead of claiming the stolen goods. After reuniting with his uncle Lu Zhengjie and reaching the Lu residence, he found Lu Xiaoxiao and Wang Luojing glaring at each other.

• A rogue cultivator confessed to robbing a merchant household and offered Wang Shouzhe the stolen goods in exchange for his life.
• Wang Shouzhe refused to pursue the loot, explaining that the Wang Clan must uphold its principles and avoid offending the Lu Clan.
• Lu Zhengjie met Wang Shouzhe on the road, and Wang Shouzhe handed over the captured criminal for interrogation and recovery of the stolen property.
• Lu Zhengjie escorted Wang Shouzhe to the Yingxiu Lu Clan residence, where Lu Xiaoxiao rushed into his arms.
• Wang Luojing claimed to feel unwell, and she and Lu Xiaoxiao exchanged hostile looks.

Wang Shouzhe visited the Yingxiu Lu Clan with Wang Luojing, where he met his relatives and arranged for Luojing to help with an insect-eradication operation. Before he could join the work, Ancestor Mingsheng summoned him, leaving him uneasy about the reason.

• Lu Xiaoxiao and Wang Luojing argued over who Wang Shouzhe favored more, and Xiaoxiao ran off crying when he refused to promise her an expensive Amethyst Spirit Bee honeycomb.
• Wang Shouzhe and Wang Luojing met Lu Clan Leader Lu Zhengxiong and Wang Liuling in the ancestral residence, where they exchanged greetings and shared Ice Crystal Dew Drink and Spirit Food.
• Wang Shouzhe arranged for Wang Luojing to cooperate with the Lu Clan in an insect-eradication operation modeled on the Shanyang Gongsun Clan's method.
• Before Wang Shouzhe could join the operation, Ancestor Mingsheng summoned him, and Wang Shouzhe wondered whether Lu Xiaoxiao had complained about him.

Wang Shouzhe visited Ancestor Mingsheng, who gave him five hundred Qian Gold after Lu Xiaoxiao asked for an Amethyst Spirit Bee Honeycomb. He learned that Lu Xiaoxiao had talent for formations, then asked Ancestor Mingsheng questions about cultivation before leaving with his doubts clarified.

• Wang Shouzhe arrived at Yingxiu Rising Moon Pavilion and found Lu Xiaoxiao complaining to Ancestor Mingsheng about not receiving an Amethyst Spirit Bee Honeycomb.
• Lu Xiaoxiao asked Ancestor Mingsheng for five hundred Qian Gold to buy a honeycomb, and Ancestor Mingsheng gave the money to Wang Shouzhe to support the Wang Clan.
• Ancestor Mingsheng told Lu Xiaoxiao she had talent for formations and promised to find her a master if she worked toward becoming a first-rank Formation Master.
• Wang Shouzhe asked Ancestor Mingsheng numerous cultivation questions for more than two hours, while Lu Xiaoxiao fell asleep listening.
• Wang Shouzhe thanked Ancestor Mingsheng for answering his questions and took his leave.

Wang Shouzhe received the Bee Taming Notes from Ancestor Mingsheng, cultivated through the night, and learned that Wang Luojing had helped contain the insect plague. After returning to Changning Guard, he met Manager Qian, who feared the consequences of Wang Shouzhe’s scheme, and promised him a chance to earn great merit and advance.

• Ancestor Mingsheng gave Wang Shouzhe the Bee Taming Notes as a gift for the Wang Clan’s new Spirit Insect Master, then praised Lu Xiaoxiao’s Li Fire Physique.
• Wang Shouzhe cultivated through the night at the Lu Clan guest residence and made progress toward the seventh level of the Qi Refining Realm.
• Wang Zhong reported that Wang Luojing had controlled several Nine-Star Insect Kings and helped suppress the insect plague.
• Lu Zhengjie told Wang Shouzhe that the massacre case had been solved and that the Town Guardian Office had awarded him fifty Qian Gold.
• Wang Shouzhe gave the Bee Taming Notes to Wang Luojing, left her with guards and Lu Clan protection, and rode back to Changning Guard.
• Manager Qian confronted Wang Shouzhe over the trading firm’s role in his scheme, and Wang Shouzhe promised him a great merit that could help him advance.

Wang Shouzhe offered Qian Xue'an the findings about the Honey Insect plague and its drug resistance in exchange for an alliance, giving Qian a chance to earn enough merit to seek a breakthrough into the Spirit Platform Realm. After they signed a pact, they discussed the Qian Clan Trading Firm’s leverage over Pest-Exterminating Powder as the plague threatened harvests and grain supplies.

• Qian Xue'an revealed his peak ninth-level Qi Refining cultivation and explained that he needed great merit to win family support for attempting the Spirit Platform Realm.
• Wang Shouzhe and Qian Xue'an agreed to a secret alliance and signed a fair pact that either could end by paying ten thousand Qian Gold.
• Wang Shouzhe gave Qian Xue'an documents explaining Honey Insect drug resistance and how to research a new Pest-Exterminating Powder.
• Qian Xue'an said the aristocratic families would need to pay heavily for the powder because the plague threatened to cut production by sixty to seventy percent.
• Qian Xue'an explained that grain-price laws made the worsening harvest especially dangerous for commoners, while Longzuo faced an inevitable grain shortage.

Wang Shouzhe negotiated with Qian Xue'an to turn the Qian Clan Trading Firm’s broken contract into a major payout and a supply of grain, while planning how the Wang Clan could store it. He sent retainers to carry out preparations, believing the locust disaster might become a turning point for the clan.

• Qian Xue'an advised Wang Shouzhe to demand ten thousand Qian Gold and grain worth three thousand Qian Gold to cancel the trading contract, and Wang Shouzhe agreed while barring sales of Pest-Exterminating Powder to the Ping'an Zhao and Liu Clans.
• Qian Xue'an staged an angry departure to make the dispute look genuine, and Wang Shouyi later reassured Wang Shouzhe that trials of new live-fish equipment were succeeding.
• Wang Shouzhe considered how to store the enormous grain supply and identified the Wang Clan Main Residence’s empty buildings and waterways as useful resources.
• Wang Shouzhe wrote two letters and sent Wang Zhong and Wang Yong to deliver them and remain to help, then reflected that the locust disaster could reverse the Wang Clan’s decline.

As insect damage threatened Changning Guard’s harvest and drove up food prices, Wang Shouzhe expanded the Wang Clan’s salted-fish production and arranged to move a huge reserve of old grain. He met Gongsun Qiang outside the city and revealed that the shipment would total fifty or sixty thousand dan.

• Wang Shouyi reported the surge in salted-fish sales, and Wang Shouzhe ordered the clan to raise prices, ration public sales, and expand production to more than two thousand dan that month.
• Wang Shouzhe gave Wang Shouyi authority to mobilize the clan’s workers and guards, while warning him to keep the accounts in order.
• Wang Shouzhe received Qian Xue'an’s letter confirming their agreement and traveled in disguise to meet Wang Zhong outside the city.
• Wang Zhong reported that Gongsun Qiang had arrived with the requested heavy-duty carriages.
• Wang Shouzhe told Gongsun Qiang that he planned to transport fifty or sixty thousand dan of old grain, stunning him.

Wang Shouzhe arranged for the Qian Clan to repurchase Pest-Exterminating Powder in exchange for sixty thousand dan of aged grain, then organized a concealed route to transport it to Fenggu Farm. The grain reached temporary storage, but the effort exposed serious weaknesses in the Wang Clan’s transport network.

• Wang Shouzhe took Gongsun Qiang to Jucai Manor, where Qian Xue'an completed the repurchase of the Pest-Exterminating Powder for ten thousand Qian Gold and sixty thousand dan of grain.
• Gongsun Qiang brought twenty carriages and eighty mine slaves to load the grain, and Qian Xue'an offered thirty additional Qian Clan carriages for rent.
• Wang Shouzhe and Gongsun Qiang loaded the grain onto fifty carriages and used a concealed cove and a human relay to transfer it onto boats at the An River.
• Wang Shouzhe crossed the river with the fleet and arranged for Fenggu Farm laborers to carry the grain through Fenggu Sluice into temporary storage.
• Wang Shouzhe recognized that the Wang Clan needed private docks, a ship lock, and stronger water and carriage transport systems.

Wang Shouzhe returned to the Wang Clan Main Residence with a shipment of grain and considered how Zhuwei Lake might be developed for fish farming. There, he found Gongsun Hui and Wang Luotong ready to help manage the clan, and the grain was unloaded through the united efforts of the household.

• Wang Shouzhe studied Zhuwei Lake's shallow, silty waters and weighed the challenges of fish farming and the risks of introducing new production techniques.
• Wang Shouzhe arrived at the rear-yard dock, where Gongsun Hui explained that she had returned to help with the clan's affairs and had begun clearing the storerooms.
• Wang Shouzhe congratulated Wang Luotong on reaching the Qi Refining Realm, Third Layer, after receiving a Lesser Foundation-Cultivating Pill from the clan treasury.
• Gongsun Hui directed the household to unload the grain, while Wang Luotong worked alongside the retainers and servants at Wang Shouzhe's signal.

Wang Shouzhe told Gongsun Hui how he had secured money and grain by exploiting advance information about an insect plague, then discussed reforms to the clan’s succession and resources. When Wang Zongwei’s mother, Madam Xu, arrived, Shouzhe went out to greet her warmly, leaving the dispute over her son unresolved.

• Wang Shouzhe left the grain transport route in Wang Luotong’s hands and brought Gongsun Hui to his courtyard for tea.
• Wang Shouzhe explained that he had obtained money and grain from the Qian Clan Trading Firm by acting on advance knowledge of an insect plague, and Gongsun Hui was shocked by the risk he had taken.
• Wang Shouzhe told Gongsun Hui that he planned to change the clan’s succession system and make Wang Zongwei earn back his share of resources through an unspecified process.
• Gongsun Hui warned Wang Shouzhe to consider the feelings of Wang Zongwei’s relatives, while Shouzhe insisted that neither his own word nor anyone else’s would be enough to restore the boy’s share.
• Madam Xu arrived to see Wang Shouzhe, and he went out to welcome her as his sister-in-law.

Wang Shouzhe welcomed Xu warmly when she came to plead for their son, Wang Zongwei, and kept the family dispute from escalating. As Wang Shouxin arrived and saw Xu suddenly behaving calmly, he wondered what sorcery Fourth Brother had used.

• Xu visited Wang Shouzhe with a basket of fresh ingredients and nervously sought his help over Wang Zongwei.
• Wang Shouzhe served Xu spirit tea, ordered an extravagant family meal, and said they would discuss Wang Zongwei’s situation together.
• Wang Shouzhe arranged thin slices of Spirit-Horn Yak meat and Red-Scaled Eel for an unfamiliar cooking method.
• Wang Shouxin arrived and angrily rebuked Xu, who retorted that she had to protect their son’s future.
• Wang Shouzhe stopped their quarrel and invited them to sit and eat, and Xu immediately became obedient, leaving Wang Shouxin astonished.

Wang Shouzhe hosted Wang Shouxin’s family, then proposed a clan sequence and merit system that would make younger members earn their resources, including giving Wang Zongwei a chance to improve. He won Wang Shouxin and Madam Xu’s support, and began asking Gongsun Hui to manage the system’s records.

• Wang Shouzhe toasted Wang Shouxin, Madam Xu, and Gongsun Hui, thanking them for their service and care for the clan.
• Madam Xu asked Wang Shouzhe to spare Wang Zongwei, and he proposed ranking clan members under thirty by character and achievement and awarding resources through merit points.
• Wang Shouzhe argued that Wang Zongwei’s spoiled upbringing had kept him from advancing, and suggested stripping his resources so he would have to earn them himself.
• Wang Shouxin agreed to give Wang Zongwei one last chance, while Wang Shouzhe promised to intervene if the young man still failed to improve.
• After Wang Shouxin and Madam Xu returned home, Wang Shouzhe asked Gongsun Hui to establish and manage the Clan Merit records.

Wang Shouzhe reviewed the Ping'an Wang Clan’s enormous expenses and the industries and grain reserves that could help it recover. He finished a handmade clan-management panel and began checking its industry details.

• Gongsun Qiang and Wang Dinghai completed the grain transport mission, and Gongsun Qiang paid Wang Shouzhe for three thousand dan of old grain.
• Wang Shouzhe continued cultivating and worked through the clan’s accounts, discovering the high costs of his own supplies and the clan’s personnel.
• Wang Shouzhe assessed the clan’s industries and anticipated that the insect plague and his preparations would bring the Wang Clan substantial profits.
• Wang Shouzhe built a crude system panel listing the clan’s members, industries, retainers, servants, and finances.
• Wang Shouzhe tapped the clan-industries entry and opened the details in his handmade notebook.