Chapter Summaries

Su Yunjin visited Luyou Island incognito with Zhou Ning and saw how the Su Household’s high market fees drove merchants to charge inflated prices. Her eldest brother, Su Yuanye, brought her home and dismissed her concerns, insisting the Su Household could make its own rules.

• Su Yunjin disguised herself and lowered her apparent cultivation before taking Zhou Ning to Luyou Island.
• Zhou Ning bargained for ingredients to make Stasis-Clearing Pills, while Su Yunjin struggled to haggle for white-heart fruit.
• Su Yuanye arrived to take Su Yunjin home, and Zhou Ning learned that he was a powerful Foundation Establishment cultivator.
• Zhou Ning continued buying medicinal ingredients and planned to refine pills to explain his future cultivation progress.
• Su Yunjin told Su Yuanye that high market fees were driving people to Forget-Return Market, but he defended the Su Household’s profits and authority.

Zhou Ning obtained a Pill Furnace and hired Su Youyou to install a Fire-Gathering Array in his courtyard so he could begin refining pills. He paid for the array partly by persuading her to accept a dish of water chestnuts, leaving him with a forty percent discount.

• Zhou Ning returned to Bamboo Creek Island with a Pill Furnace and told Xu Qinghou and Old Jia that Su Yunjin had lent it to him.
• Old Jia directed Zhou Ning to Su Youyou, an array master living on an island thirty li to the north.
• Su Youyou agreed to install a Fire-Gathering Array for sixty jin of spirit rice, and Zhou Ning took her to his courtyard.
• Su Youyou installed the array using seven array stones, and Zhou Ning paid her the agreed fee.
• Su Youyou noticed Zhou Ning's water chestnuts, and Zhou Ning offered to prepare them with osmanthus and rock sugar.
• Su Youyou left with the prepared dish and one jin of water chestnuts, giving Zhou Ning a forty percent discount on the array.

Zhou Ning practiced pill refining for half a month, producing a defective pill, then left Cuiwei Lake under a concealed identity to visit the Forget-Return Market. He entered the bustling market with a new identity token and was approached by a girl offering to guide him.

• Zhou Ning's first attempt to refine a Stasis-Clearing Pill failed, so he used the Divine Cauldron Inner Landscape Scripture to simulate the process and practice.
• After half a month, Zhou Ning made a defective pill and realized he still needed to improve his pill-condensation technique.
• Xu Qinghou told Zhou Ning that Jiang Xi had fallen into debt from pill refining and was now involved with Steward Su, whose remarriage banquet would require a gift.
• Zhou Ning disguised his appearance and cultivation, flew away from Cuiwei Lake on the Flowing Plainness Boat, and headed for the Forget-Return Market.
• Zhou Ning paid the entry fee, registered as He Zhuoran, and entered the market, where a girl offered to act as his guide.

Zhou Ning stocked up on pill ingredients and supplies in Forget-Return Market, while Jia Tingwan earned a commission guiding him and faced her family’s disapproval. He finished by buying Thunder Plasma Liquid from Thunder Crystal Pavilion, leaving with the supplies he needed for his alchemy plans.

• Jia Tingwan directed Zhou Ning to Hundred Herbs Hall, where he bought ingredients for several pills, storage containers, and additional herbs from other shops.
• Jia Tingwan returned home late, where Jia Xingwang scolded her for neglecting talisman-making until she showed him the defensive talismans she had earned as a guide.
• Zhou Ning bought more Ginseng-Nurturing Pill ingredients and other herbs from medicine shops, then purchased blood-sealing jars for transporting eel blood.
• At Thunder Crystal Pavilion, Zhou Ning learned that Thunder Explosion Pearls were restricted to buyers with major sect or clan identity tokens.
• Zhou Ning bought thirty-six portions of first-tier Thunder Plasma Liquid from Thunder Crystal Pavilion.

Han Ziyue sent Daoist Mu to ambush Zhou Ning and make the attack look like the work of the Lei Household, but Zhou Ning escaped using his faster flying boat. He decided to return to Bamboo Creek Island and focus on cultivation before investigating the conspiracy.

• Han Ziyue used a Spirit-Sniffing Weasel to trace Zhou Ning's visit to the Hundred Herbs Hall, then arranged for Daoist Mu to attack him and leave evidence implicating the Lei Household.
• Zhou Ning left the Forget-Return Market, but Daoist Mu pursued him on a gray shuttle and called for him to stop and make a deal.
• Daoist Mu attacked Zhou Ning with multiple Law Artifacts, but Zhou Ning powered the Flowing Plainness Boat with a Spirit Stone and sped out of reach.
• Daoist Mu set off a Thunder Explosion Pearl in the mountain forest and claimed that Lei Batian had killed a Jade Countenance Alchemist, then killed the Spirit-Sniffing Weasel.
• After fleeing three hundred li and hiding, Zhou Ning concluded that he would cultivate on Bamboo Creek Island and investigate once he reached the Qi Refining Middle Stage.

Zhou Ning became a first-tier Alchemist by refining mid-grade Spirit Essence Pills, then attended Steward Su and Jiang Xi’s lavish wedding on Bamboo Creek Island. Jiang Xi regretted her lost chance to pursue pill refining and noticed Zhou Ning’s Pill Furnace, leaving her thoughts on what might have been.

• Zhou Ning refined four mid-grade Spirit Essence Pills and decided to attempt Ginseng-Nurturing Pills only after he could make five pills in one batch.
• Old Jia’s granddaughter Jia Tingwan settled on Bamboo Creek Island after the Beast-Taming Han Household asked about Zhou Ning, while Jiang Xi prepared to marry Steward Su.
• Zhou Ning, Old Jia, and Xu Qinghou went to Steward Su’s wedding and saw Su Junsong preside over the ceremony.
• The Su Household presented Jiang Xi with a flying Law Artifact, a Storage Bag, and a Three Flowers Pill as her bride price.
• Jiang Xi reflected that her debts had been paid and she had received the treasures she once wanted, then glanced at Su Junsong and noticed Zhou Ning’s Pill Furnace.

Zhou Ning reached the Second Layer of Qi Refining and asked Steward Su for leave to travel to Yongyang Commandery with Xu Qinghou and meet old friends from the Azure Mystic Sect. Steward Su approved, while Jiang Xi learned he would buy her a Pill Furnace instead of letting her use Zhou Ning’s.

• Zhou Ning broke through to the Second Layer of Qi Refining and decided to seek leave for the trip to Yongyang Commandery, despite uncertainty over whether his old friends’ appointment still stood.
• Zhou Ning declined to attend Yuan Dahu’s banquet and worried that the Su Household’s conflict with the Duan Household might eventually reach Bamboo Creek Island.
• Zhou Ning visited Steward Su and requested three months’ leave to travel with Xu Qinghou and meet friends from the Azure Mystic Sect.
• Steward Su approved Zhou Ning’s leave after Zhou Ning tactfully answered his complaint about Yuan Dahu’s bony spirit fish.
• Steward Su warned Jiang Xi not to get involved with Zhou Ning’s temporarily lent Pill Furnace and promised to buy her a new one.

Zhou Ning persuaded Su Youyou to set up a Bewildering Tracks Array around his courtyard, hiding his activities from probing cultivators. Su Youyou hinted that the Su Household needed Alchemists, then left before explaining further.

• Su Youyou arrived at Zhou Ning’s courtyard with two multicolored pheasants and asked him to cook them for her.
• Zhou Ning cooked the pheasants, then asked Su Youyou to rent him an Illusion Array in exchange for spirit rice and help dealing with intruders.
• Su Youyou agreed and quickly set up a first-tier Bewildering Tracks Array around the courtyard.
• Su Youyou gave Zhou Ning a warning flag that would light if someone forced their way into the array.
• Su Youyou mentioned that the Su Household was short of Alchemists and began to ask whether Zhou Ning could refine Spirit Essence Pills, but flew away before finishing.

Zhou Ning continued concealing his growing alchemy ability while benefiting from Su Youyou’s array, and prepared to travel to Yongyang Commandery for the meeting with Gu Xiangning. As he and Xu Qinghou set out, Jia Tingwan met Zhou Ning and mistook him for an unremarkable spendthrift.

• Old Jia discovered that Zhou Ning’s courtyard was protected by a Bewildering Tracks Array, and Zhou Ning admitted Fairy Su had rented it to him for fifty jin of spirit rice.
• Zhou Ning refined five excellent Spirit Essence Pills and decided to attend the meeting in Yongyang Commandery before revealing his alchemy skills the following year.
• Xu Qinghou, now at the Qi Refining Middle Stage, prepared to travel with Zhou Ning on green leaf flying Law Artifacts.
• Old Jia tried to teach Xu Qinghou how to recognize helpful friends, but Jia Tingwan answered that a pillow could give someone a hundred Spirit Stones, angering her grandfather.
• Jia Tingwan saw Zhou Ning and judged him handsome but poorly cultivated, unintelligent, and wasteful before Xu Qinghou announced their departure.

Zhou Ning and Xu Qinghou reunited with Gu Xiangning in Yongyang, where she delivered Jiang Xiaohua’s request to end their ties and offered Zhou Ning cultivation advice and a valuable Vermilion Fruit. Gu Xiangning left with Ye Menglong after proposing that they meet again in seven years, leaving Zhou Ning unsure why she treated him so generously.

• Zhou Ning and Xu Qinghou met Gu Xiangning in Yongyang, where Xu Qinghou learned she had reached the Sixth Layer of Qi Refining.
• Gu Xiangning gave Zhou Ning a Three Flowers Pill from Jiang Xiaohua, who asked him to stop using her name, and Zhou Ning rejected the gift and ended their connection.
• Gu Xiangning advised Zhou Ning and Xu Qinghou on cultivation and gave Zhou Ning books about pill refinement.
• Gu Xiangning proposed that the three meet again in seven years, then departed with Ye Menglong.
• Zhou Ning recognized Gu Xiangning’s gift as a hundred-year-old Vermilion Fruit, and Xu Qinghou joked that Zhou Ning’s looks explained her generosity.

After returning to Bamboo Creek Island, Zhou Ning spent a year cultivating and practicing pill refining while the Su Household changed the fish hunters’ compensation. Once he reached the Third Layer of Qi Refinement, he went to Luyou Island and revealed three pills for sale, leaving the market stunned.

• Xu Qinghou and Zhou Ning returned to Bamboo Creek Island after avoiding a battle between cultivators, and Xu Qinghou gave Zhou Ning talismans to support his pill refining.
• Zhou Ning resolved to spend one more year trying to refine a Stasis-Clearing Pill and planned to reach the Third Layer of Qi Refinement before showing his progress.
• Steward Su doubled the fish hunters’ guaranteed compensation, while Zhou Ning questioned the Su Household’s motives and wondered whether Fuluo Eel scales could be used to refine artifacts.
• A year later, Zhou Ning reached the Third Layer of Qi Refinement and successfully refined three Ginseng-Nurturing Pills.
• Zhou Ning carried his Pill Furnace to Luyou Island and placed three pinkish pills on a plate, shocking the merchants at the market.

Su Junsong investigated Zhou Ning after hearing that a former retainer had become an Alchemist, and Zhou Ning proved his skill by refining Stasis-Clearing Pills in the market. When the Su Household offered him a poorly paid guest-elder position, Zhou Ning revealed his connection to Gu Xiangning and True Person Yaoxian.

• Su Wen complained that her Spirit Gathering Formation had been tampered with, then a messenger told Su Junsong that Zhou Ning had become an Alchemist.
• Su Junsong and Su Wen went to the market, where Zhou Ning demonstrated his ability by refining three Stasis-Clearing Pills before a crowd.
• Su Junsong invited Zhou Ning to the residence and learned that his Qi-Benefiting Pill success rate had reached twenty-five percent.
• Su Wen offered Zhou Ning a position as the Su Household's Alchemist guest elder, with one Spirit Stone a year and a free Pill Furnace.
• Zhou Ning revealed an Azure Mystic Sect letter and said his friend Gu Xiangning had become True Person Yaoxian's disciple.

Zhou Ning used his connections and alchemy skills to secure a favorable contract as a Su Household guest elder. He returned to Bamboo Creek Island with the household’s backing and won deference from Steward Su, while quietly remembering past grievances.

• Zhou Ning showed Su Junsong tokens from Gu Xiangning and the Ye Household, then negotiated a spiritual contract that hired him as a Su Household Alchemist with a guaranteed stipend and provisions.
• Su Junsong investigated Zhou Ning’s background, confirmed his path to alchemy, and arranged for him to return to Bamboo Creek Island under the household’s protection.
• Su Junsong and Su Wen escorted Zhou Ning to Bamboo Creek Island aboard a Foundation Establishment Azure Feather Eagle.
• Su Wen confronted Su Changhe and announced that Zhou Ning was now a first-tier Alchemist of the Su Household who would reside on the island.
• Su Changhe, alarmed by Zhou Ning’s new status, gave him two Spirit Stones and offered exaggerated congratulations, while Zhou Ning accepted and recalled the steward’s earlier mistreatment.

Zhou Ning returned to Bamboo Creek Island as an Alchemist and was formally named a Su Household guest elder. He began refining pills for the household, while Xu Qinghou and Old Jia struggled to adjust to his sudden rise.

• Jiang Xi persuaded Su Changhe to fund her attempt to become an Alchemist after Zhou Ning's success, and he agreed.
• Su Junsong and Su Wen escorted Zhou Ning back to Bamboo Creek Island and assured him that an array master would protect his home.
• Su Household shadow guards hung a plaque naming Zhou Ning an Alchemist and guest elder, shocking the island's retainers.
• Zhou Ning thanked Xu Qinghou with a Spirit Stone and invited Su Junsong and Su Wen into his home.
• Su Junsong supplied Zhou Ning with medicinal herbs and said the household would collect the pills in a month.
• Old Jia encouraged Xu Qinghou not to feel diminished by Zhou Ning's success, then privately lamented that Zhou Ning had really become an Alchemist.

Zhou Ning profited from pill refining, advanced to the Qi Refining Middle Stage, and prepared for another journey to the Land of Wei. As news arrived that the Su Household had suffered a rout after the Guo Household defected to the Lei Household, he wondered whether the Su Household was close to collapse.

• Zhou Ning refined Qi-Benefiting Pills at a seventy percent success rate and resolved to reach the Qi Refining Middle Stage before returning to the Land of Wei.
• Su Youyou installed a Four Symbols Spirit-Locking Array at Zhou Ning's home and warned him that Cuiwei Lake had become dangerous.
• Su Wen confronted Steward Su after Zhou Ning implied Jiang Xi's interference was hurting his pill-refining work, prompting Steward Su to urge Jiang Xi to keep refining.
• Zhou Ning gathered more True Yang Metal Qi, fully charged his jade stone nearly to completion, and used a Primordial Origin Pill to break through to the Qi Refining Middle Stage.
• Zhou Ning sold pills to Li Ji and Yuan Dahu, who warned him that the Guo Household had defected to the Lei Household and Su Household cultivators had been routed.

Zhou Ning heard news of the Su Household’s losses, considered the two Secret Methods in his cultivation scripture, and decided to practice the Jade-Casting True Gold Talisman. The chapter ended as Su Wen arrived, giving him a chance to ask for a better Pill Furnace and second-tier jade.

• Yuan Dahu told Zhou Ning that the Su Household had lost several Late Qi Refining fighters in an ambush by the Lei Household, but Yuanye had arrived in time to bring them back.
• Zhou Ning reflected that selling Clear Eyes Powder cheaply earned him useful goodwill and promised Old Jia that Jia Tingwan could watch him refine pills in about a month.
• Zhou Ning inspected his damaged Pill Furnace and decided to ask Su Wen for a higher-grade replacement.
• Zhou Ning studied the Xinsi Golden Scripture’s two Secret Methods and rejected Fiery Eyes and Golden Pupils because it required risking his eye.
• Zhou Ning chose to pursue the Jade-Casting True Gold Talisman, which required second-tier jade, and noticed Su Wen arriving.

Zhou Ning asked Su Wen for a new Pill Furnace and second-tier spirit jade, then met two rogue cultivators who came to Bamboo Creek Island. After hearing that a fish hunter had found a flower resembling a Foundation Establishment Pill ingredient, Zhou Ning went to investigate a commotion on the island.

• Su Wen visited Zhou Ning, praised his work for the Su Household, and agreed to bring him a new Pill Furnace and second-tier spirit jade.
• Zhou Ning gave Su Wen two Spirit Stones for the purchases, and she left Bamboo Creek Island.
• Two Qi Refining Ninth Layer rogue cultivators arrived, and Su Wen warned them not to cause trouble before departing.
• Old Jia introduced the two men to Zhou Ning, who sold them pills at a discount.
• Zhou Ning recalled Scholar Xu's account of a fish hunter finding a silvery purple flower that might be a Purple Monkey Flower, then flew toward a crowd on the island to investigate.
• Old Jia warned the two rogue cultivators not to target Zhou Ning because the Su Household would retaliate and Zhou Ning likely had life-saving protection.

Zhou Ning went to Steward Su’s residence while worrying that the Su Household might be hiding a higher-tier Spirit Vein. On Luyou Island, Su Wen confronted Lin Qing over the Pill Furnace he had kept from the Lineage, and forced him to yield by revealing an Azure Nether Guard.

• Zhou Ning reasoned that the Purple Monkey Flower might indicate a hidden higher-tier Spirit Vein at Cuiwei Lake, then arrived at Steward Su’s residence as someone rebuked cultivators who rejected the Su Household’s conditions.
• Su Wen demanded that Lin Qing return the Lineage’s Pill Furnace, and Lin Qing used grief over his deceased wives to resist giving it up.
• Su Wen accused Lin Qing of taking the inheritances of Madam Yin and Alchemist Zhang, and Pharmacist Lan overheard the accusations before leaving.
• Lin Qing summoned his two puppets and challenged Su Wen, but Su Wen brought out an Azure Nether Guard from the Azure Mystic Sect.
• Su Wen activated the Azure Nether Guard, and Lin Qing offered to hand over the Pill Furnace.

Su Wen forced Lin Qing to surrender Madam Yin’s second-tier treasures, while Lin Qing secretly sent information about the Su Household to the Han Household. At Bamboo Creek Island, Zhou Ning recognized that Steward Su had arranged an enemy attack and tried to warn the gathered retainers, but Steward Su moved to hold him in place.

• Su Wen took Lin Qing’s Pill Furnace, second-tier talisman brush, and second-tier spirit jade after intimidating him with the Azure Nether Guard.
• Lin Qing sent a message by Black-Scaled Rat, reporting details about the Su Household and Zhou Ning’s alchemy to an unknown recipient.
• Steward Su raised the retainers’ fishing quota and offered them a new job as enemy cultivators approached Bamboo Creek Island.
• Zhou Ning realized Steward Su was using the approaching Guo Household cultivators to eliminate witnesses and warned the retainers to flee.
• Steward Su expanded a dark iron ring Law Artifact around Zhou Ning and ordered the retainers to help capture him.

Zhou Ning fought off Steward Su and escaped into Old Jia’s courtyard with Jia Tingwan as Guo Changying attacked the retainers at Cuiwei Lake. Guo Changying confronted Zhou Ning outside the protected courtyard and prepared a Restriction-Breaking Talisman.

• Zhou Ning used talismans to force Steward Su to defend himself, while Yuan Dahu recognized Guo Changying and fled into the lake.
• Guo Changying ordered her forces to leave no survivors and swept the retainers away with a massive blade-like wave of water.
• Zhou Ning rescued Jia Tingwan, drove off pursuing Guo Household cultivators with a Chaotic Wind Blade Dance Talisman, and escaped Guo Changying’s charge when a willow’s branches interrupted her attack.
• Zhou Ning and Jia Tingwan entered Old Jia’s courtyard and activated its formation, keeping Guo Changying outside as she challenged him.
• Old Jia warned Zhou Ning that Guo Changying was a formidable fighter with a top-grade Canglang Spear, and Guo Changying revealed a Restriction-Breaking Talisman.