Chapter Summaries

Lu Yuan was reborn as a high school student in a world where cultivators could fly and cultists threatened Ningcheng. After learning that ordinary knowledge of the future might not help him survive, he sought advice from his novel-obsessed deskmate Ma Jin.

• Lu Yuan woke in his senior-year classroom, realized he had returned twenty years, and heard that students could apply to cultivator universities.
• Ma Jin guessed Lu Yuan had been reborn from familiar novel tropes and joked about what he should do next.
• Cultivator Ji Yin warned Ningcheng No. 1 High School about nearby cultists, then greeted his former teacher Wu Jishan before flying off on patrol.
• Lu Yuan saw Ji Yin fly and realized he was no longer on the Earth he remembered.
• Lu Yuan asked Ma Jin how to survive in a world with powerful beings, and Ma Jin advised him to get a system.

Lu Yuan learned that he had returned to the eve of his college entrance exam in a strange future world, where his mother was gravely ill and needed costly treatment. At home, he discovered Xiao Bing, a sister he had never known in his previous life, and realized she was the child his parents had once been forced to give up.

• Lu Yuan researched the world and learned that humanity had left Earth for the Divine Land, where cultivators held power and restricted information remained secret.
• Lu Yuan returned home, reunited with his father Lu Wenkai, and met Xiao Bing, who called him her brother.
• Lu Wenkai told Lu Yuan that their mother was in the hospital and that her treatment would cost one and a half million.
• Lu Yuan recalled that his mother had died before his exam in his previous life and resolved to find money for the treatment.
• Lu Yuan remembered his mother’s pregnancy and his childhood dream of a falling girl, then concluded Xiao Bing was his biological sister.

Xiao Bing urged Lu Yuan to apply to cultivator university and gave him her savings, explaining that becoming a cultivator might be the only way to save their mother from Twilight Syndrome. After researching the disease, Lu Yuan resolved to find a way to afford treatment while pursuing a path to cure her.

• Xiao Bing confronted Lu Yuan for not waiting for her after school, then asked to see his cultivator university registration form.
• Lu Yuan said he might not apply because the twenty-thousand-yuan fee was too much for the family, and Xiao Bing gave him 8,455 yuan from her weekend job.
• Xiao Bing insisted that Lu Yuan apply, explaining that ordinary hospital treatment only delayed Twilight Syndrome and that cultivators could cure it.
• Lu Yuan searched for Twilight Syndrome and learned that it was terminal, that Xikangnuo injections cost around 1.5 million yuan, and that information about cultivator cures was kept secret.
• Lu Yuan worried that he had only thirty-five days before the college entrance exam and decided he needed to find money for his mother's first Xikangnuo injection.

Lu Yuan made egg-stuffed flatbreads for his family before leaving for school, where he tried to identify a wealthy classmate who might help pay for his mother’s hospital care. After learning about Cultivation University’s True Essence test, he remembered that class monitor Jia Xuanxuan was a suspected rich second generation.

• Lu Yuan cooked egg-stuffed flatbreads for Xiao Bing and packed some for Lu Wenkai to take to Xu Yongmei at the hospital.
• Lu Yuan learned from Xiao Bing’s exercise book that her full name was Lu Youbing.
• At school, Lu Yuan asked Ma Jin if he was rich, and Ma Jin jokingly claimed to be the hidden richest man in the world.
• Chen Shihe and Zhou Xiyun discussed Cultivation University’s application fee, True Essence tests, and last year’s admissions cutoff.
• Lu Yuan realized he had not been tested for True Essence and recalled that class monitor Jia Xuanxuan was a suspected rich second generation.

Lu Yuan tried to learn about Jia Xuanxuan’s wealth and True Essence, then followed her after school and claimed he wanted advice about entering a cultivator university. Jia Xuanxuan brought him to her family’s villa to borrow True Essence testing materials, leaving him waiting upstairs while her father discussed expanding the Food Flavor Pavilion into new cities.

• Lu Yuan learned from Zhou Xiyun that Jia Xuanxuan had over 120 True Essence, aimed for the Four Greats, and came from a wealthy family that owned the Food Flavor Pavilion chain.
• Lu Yuan followed Jia Xuanxuan after school, but she caught him and assumed he was still pursuing her.
• Lu Yuan lied that he wanted advice about applying to a cultivator university and claimed his True Essence was 108.
• Jia Xuanxuan invited Lu Yuan to her family’s villa to borrow True Essence testing materials.
• Jia Xuanxuan introduced Lu Yuan to her father, Jia Shengnan, then led him upstairs and told him to wait.

Lu Yuan visited Jia Xuanxuan and received materials on preparing for the True Essence test, then looked for a way to earn money by offering recipes to her father’s restaurant. He went to check on his sister Xiao Bing at Food Flavor Pavilion and found her dancing outside in a stage outfit with safety shorts beneath her skirt.

• Jia Xuanxuan gave Lu Yuan study materials and explained how diet, sleep, exercise, and mindset could raise his True Essence test result by a few points.
• Jia Xuanxuan said her own chances of getting into one of the four great universities were uncertain and mentioned an additional entrance test.
• Lu Yuan learned that Jia Shengnan’s restaurant chain lacked dishes to help it expand, and he decided to offer recipes from his past restaurant experience.
• Lu Yuan went to Food Flavor Pavilion to check on Xiao Bing, who was working there, and found her dancing on a stage outside the restaurant.
• Lu Yuan noticed Xiao Bing’s short skirt lifted to reveal safety shorts and was relieved she was wearing them.

Lu Yuan visited Xiao Bing at Food Flavor Pavilion and saw how her sales and people skills made her popular with the staff. After learning that the restaurant was struggling to sell its Dragon Boat Festival flatbreads, Lu Yuan searched online for zongzi.

• Xiao Bing promoted Food Flavor Pavilion's flatbreads and sold them to a crowd of passersby.
• Xiao Bing brought Lu Yuan into the kitchen for a meal and asked Chef Wang to make him fried rice.
• Xiao Bing calmed an angry customer who had found a hair in her food, ending the dispute.
• The manager and staff discussed the flatbreads' poor sales and the pressure to meet the boss's targets.
• Lu Yuan searched the web for zongzi and found a result describing it as an ancient Earth food.

Lu Yuan demonstrated his cooking skills at the Food Flavor Pavilion, where his sweet and sour spare ribs became an instant hit. He persuaded the restaurant to try selling a traditional snack the next day, then ended the night wishing he could become a cultivator instead of a chef.

• Lu Yuan cooked sweet and sour spare ribs for Chef Wang, who recognized his skill, while the kitchen staff were startled by his wok technique.
• Customers followed the dish’s aroma into the kitchen, demanded to try it, and bought more than two hundred portions that evening.
• Auntie Zhang offered Lu Yuan five hundred yuan, but he declined and proposed that the restaurant sell a traditional snack during the Dragon Boat Festival.
• Lu Yuan arranged for the ingredients to be bought and agreed to return the next day before leaving with Xiao Bing.
• Lu Yuan imagined building a culinary empire, then watched a cultivator fly overhead and lamented that he wanted to cultivate instead.

Lu Yuan’s zongzi became an unexpected hit at the Food Flavor Pavilion, drawing a huge crowd that overwhelmed the staff and supplies. Jia Shengnan arrived and organized extra workers, ingredients, equipment, and police to keep the sales rush under control.

• Xiao Bing introduced zongzi to customers, who tried them, praised their taste, and began buying them in large quantities.
• Lu Yuan and Auntie Zhang watched the first batch sell rapidly, while Chef Wang wondered how Lu Yuan had known the unfamiliar food would succeed.
• Customers and foodies flooded the street after videos spread online, and the growing queue began chanting for zongzi as resellers bought up stock.
• Jia Shengnan arrived, ordered staff from other stores to help, arranged more ingredients and pots, and brought in police officers to manage the crowd.
• Jia Shengnan noticed Lu Yuan in the store but, not knowing what had happened, only nodded to him.

Lu Yuan and Xiao Bing promoted zongzi at the Food Flavor Pavilion, and Lu Yuan discovered a cultivation system after they returned home. He examined its attributes and prepared to test whether Merit Points could increase his True Essence.

• Xiao Bing appeared on local television holding zongzi and welcomed customers to buy them at the Food Flavor Pavilion.
• Young people gathered to take pictures with Xiao Bing while Lu Yuan watched, unaware that several people in black were observing her.
• Lu Yuan told Xiao Bing they could go home and said someone would bring him money the next day; on their walk, he noticed glowing numbers in the alley.
• After Xiao Bing fell asleep, Lu Yuan examined his system, which displayed 2,000 Merit Points, True Essence, Spiritual Pressure, Divine Sense, and Return Progress.
• Lu Yuan reasoned that teaching people to make zongzi might have earned his Merit Points and decided to spend one point to raise his True Essence.

Lu Yuan tested how merit points could raise and replenish his True Essence, then prepared breakfast for Xiao Bing and received a request to meet Jia Xuanxuan’s father about the zongzi business. He left for the meeting in his father’s old suit, hoping to secure money for their mother’s medical bills.

• Lu Yuan learned that merit points could increase his True Essence limit or restore depleted True Essence, and he spent points raising the limit to 120.
• After a night’s sleep, Lu Yuan found his True Essence had recovered from 111/120 to 114/120 and made century egg and pork congee for Xiao Bing.
• When Jia Xuanxuan called, Xiao Bing answered and teased her before telling her Lu Yuan was busy; Jia Xuanxuan called again and invited Lu Yuan to meet her father.
• Lu Yuan told Xiao Bing that Jia Shengnan likely wanted to buy exclusive rights to sell the zongzi and that he expected the deal to cover their mother’s medical expenses.
• Xiao Bing dressed Lu Yuan in their father’s wedding suit and tied his tie, and Lu Yuan left to meet Jia Xuanxuan’s father.

Lu Yuan visited Jia Shengnan, who wanted to negotiate exclusive rights to sell zongzi, but their polite conversation stalled as they watched a TV report about the food’s sudden popularity. The visit ended with Lu Yuan banging his head against the wall after Jia Shengnan mistakenly recited a famous poem as Qu Yuan’s work.

• Jia Shengnan invited Lu Yuan to his home and asked Jia Xuanxuan to serve him tea while they exchanged formal pleasantries.
• Jia Shengnan privately realized Lu Yuan was difficult to sway with flattery and prepared to discuss exclusive rights to sell the zongzi.
• Jia Shengnan changed the channel to a report in which Ding Lin interviewed Director Fang about zongzi and its possible ancient origins.
• Jia Shengnan asked how Lu Yuan had recreated zongzi, and Lu Yuan claimed he had researched old books and added his own ideas.
• Jia Shengnan praised Qu Yuan, then recited “Thoughts on a Quiet Night” as one of his poems, prompting Lu Yuan to bang his head against the wall before calmly returning to his seat.

Lu Yuan negotiated with Jia Shengnan over the zongzi recipe and received 1.57 million yuan, which he planned to use for his mother's medicine and his Cultivator University application. Jia Shengnan also learned that Lu Yuan's younger sister had become popular online and decided to watch Lu Yuan's university entrance prospects.

• Jia Shengnan offered Lu Yuan 50,000 yuan for the zongzi recipe, but Lu Yuan demanded 1.52 million and explained that zongzi could become a series of sixty-two fillings.
• Lu Yuan said 1.5 million would buy Xikangnuo for his mother, who had Twilight Syndrome, and 20,000 would cover his Cultivator University application fee.
• Jia Shengnan transferred 1.57 million yuan to Lu Yuan's bank card, adding 50,000 as a gift.
• Jia Shengnan asked whether Lu Yuan would apply to Azure Nascent Soul Cultivation University and suggested signing Lu Youbing as the Food Flavor Pavilion's spokesperson after learning she was popular as Dragon Boat Festival Little Sister.
• After Lu Yuan left, Jia Shengnan told Jia Xuanxuan to monitor Lu Yuan's Cultivation University exam because he wanted the company to invest in him early.

After finding Xiao Bing missing, Lu Yuan traced signs of an abduction and concluded that the cult had taken her. He left to act while Xiao Bing remained bound in an abandoned factory, where her kidnappers insisted the Divine Lord would save her.

• Lu Yuan returned home with the money for his mother's treatment and found Xiao Bing missing, with her phone and shoes left behind.
• Lu Yuan examined the kitchen and found fresh dirt and faint mop marks, which convinced him someone had entered wearing shoes and abducted Xiao Bing.
• Lu Yuan considered several possible kidnappers before deciding the cult had targeted Xiao Bing after her sudden popularity, then left home.
• Xiao Bing lay bound in an abandoned factory while six kidnappers ate the century egg and lean pork congee they had taken from Lu Yuan's home.
• Xiao Bing defied the kidnappers and trusted that her brother would rescue her, while the gray-haired old woman claimed the Divine Lord would save her.

After Xiao Bing disappeared, Lu Yuan went to the Internal Affairs Bureau for help, but staff dismissed his claim until Ji Yin arrived. Ji Yin secretly struck Lu Yuan with hidden force while laughing, and Lu Yuan realized the cultivator was trying to give him a hint.

• Lu Yuan reported Xiao Bing's suspected kidnapping to the Internal Affairs Bureau, but Xiao Zhou dismissed his claim and told him to go home.
• Zhang Baocheng apologized for Xiao Zhou's attitude and offered to ask the police to check surveillance footage.
• Ji Yin arrived at the bureau, and Lu Yuan rushed to tell him that the cult had taken Xiao Bing.
• Xiao Zhou accused Lu Yuan of making up the kidnapping, but Ji Yin stopped her and questioned how Lu Yuan could be certain cultists were responsible.
• Ji Yin patted Lu Yuan's shoulder and secretly sent hidden force into his body, prompting Lu Yuan to realize that the cultivator was trying to alert him to something.

Lu Yuan tried to get the Internal Affairs Bureau to rescue his sister, but Ji Yin threw him out. Zhang Baocheng revealed himself as a traitor who served the cult, abducted Lu Yuan, and brought him to a stronghold where Xiao Bing was being held.

• Lu Yuan told Ji Yin that his sister had something that could reveal her location, but Ji Yin dismissed him and threw him out of the bureau.
• Zhang Baocheng followed Lu Yuan and offered to help rescue his sister, then knocked him unconscious when Lu Yuan refused to reveal how to find her.
• Zhang Baocheng drove Lu Yuan to an abandoned factory and brought him into a cult stronghold on the outskirts of Ning City.
• Zhang Baocheng found Xiao Bing bound and learned that the cultists had not checked her for the item that could reveal her location.
• Zhang Baocheng struck the middle-aged cultist and warned that Lu Yuan had already gone to the Internal Affairs Bureau, putting the stronghold at risk.

Zhang Baocheng interrogated Lu Yuan about what he had hidden on Xiao Bing, but Ji Yin and the Internal Affairs Bureau stormed the cult’s factory before he could harm him. Ji Yin revealed that he had used Lu Yuan’s case to set a trap for the cultists and their suspected mole.

• The cultists searched Xiao Bing, while Zhang Baocheng noticed the congee they had brought from her home and ate a bowl of it.
• The cultists brought Lu Yuan into the factory, and Zhang Baocheng threatened to cut off his fingers unless he revealed what he had hidden on Xiao Bing.
• Lu Yuan refused to cooperate, and Zhang Baocheng raised his dagger against him as Xiao Bing struggled to intervene.
• Ji Yin’s fist smashed through the wall, killing Ji Yin’s target and breaking Zhang Baocheng’s arms as Internal Affairs Bureau personnel surrounded the hideout.
• Lu Yuan freed Xiao Bing, and Ji Yin explained that he had suspected a mole in the Ning City Internal Affairs Bureau and had devised the operation with Lu Yuan’s cooperation.

Ji Yin and Lu Yuan exposed Zhang Baocheng as a cultist mole, but Zhang Baocheng killed himself before Ji Yin could capture him. Ji Yin left Lu Yuan and Xiao Bing to make their way home, and Lu Yuan noticed his True Essence had increased.

• Ji Yin and Lu Yuan's improvised plan led Zhang Baocheng to abduct Lu Yuan, allowing Ji Yin to follow and expose him as the cultist mole.
• Ji Yin tried to make Zhang Baocheng reveal his protector, but Zhang Baocheng killed himself before Ji Yin could reach him.
• The Internal Affairs Bureau subdued the remaining cultists and collected documents from the hideout.
• Ji Yin drove Lu Yuan and Xiao Bing back to the bureau, then refused Lu Yuan's request for a ride home because he had lost the chance to catch a cult protector.
• Lu Yuan carried barefoot Xiao Bing toward home and noticed his True Essence had risen to 110/120 ling+.

After surviving the cult’s attack, Lu Yuan discovered his True Essence could restore stamina and received money for his mother’s treatment. Ji Yin promised to return Lu Yuan’s stolen pot and secured him ten bonus points on his college entrance exam; Xiao Bing, shaken by her kidnapping, asked to sleep in Lu Yuan’s room.

• Lu Yuan noticed his True Essence had fallen during the day and realized that using it replenished his stamina; he also found his Merit Value had risen by 500 after the cult operation.
• Lu Yuan and Xiao Bing walked home holding hands, and he promised himself he would hold on to her and their parents.
• Lu Yuan checked his phone and confirmed Jia Shengnan had transferred the money for his mother’s treatment.
• Ji Yin called Lu Yuan, who demanded the return of his stolen cooking pot; Ji Yin agreed and told him he had requested ten bonus points for the college entrance exam.
• After bathing, Lu Yuan went to bed, and Xiao Bing asked to sleep with him because she was frightened; he let her take the bed and made himself a bed on the floor.

Lu Yuan prepared to take Xiao Bing to Jiangzhou City First Hospital with the money Jia Xuanxuan’s father had given him for their mother’s treatment. At school, he applied to Cultivation University, revealed his ambition to attend one of the Four Greats, and learned that their additional exam was confidential.

• Lu Yuan made egg drop soup for Xiao Bing, then showed her their 1.57 million yuan and explained that they would take the high-speed train to visit their mother.
• Lu Yuan and Xiao Bing walked to school together, where students recognized Xiao Bing as the Dragon Boat Festival Little Sister.
• Lu Yuan gave Wu Jishan his application to Cultivation University and said his True Essence fluctuated around 112 ling.
• Lu Yuan told Wu Jishan he hoped to attend one of the Four Greats, and Wu explained that their additional exam was restricted by cultivator confidentiality rules.
• Lu Yuan asked for the day off to visit his mother, and Wu Jishan granted it.