Chapter Summaries

Zhu Jiu and Zhao Yin rose as rival rulers after being persuaded that they bore heaven’s mandate, while Jiang Sheng assessed the spreading Great Calamity and prepared to enter the conflict. He sent Golden Lion, Treasure Elephant, and Green Peng to build forces and eventually join the Allied Army against the Great Tang.

• A monk persuaded Zhu Jiu that the Great Tang was vulnerable to the Ten-Thousand-Year Tribulation and urged him to become the living King Ming.
• Zhu Jiu proclaimed himself King Ming, destroyed Zhang Cheng’s forces, and drew many people away from Yuchen Mountain.
• Jiang Sheng predicted the Great Tang would collapse and summoned Golden Lion, Treasure Elephant, and Green Peng to Yuchen Mountain.
• Zhang Qing used Emperor Yangyi Sichen’s promise and a vision to convince Zhao Yin that he bore heaven’s mandate, and Zhao Yin became King of Song.
• Jiang Sheng told the three demon kings to recruit demons and Nature Spirits, establish their own forces, and later join the Allied Army against the Great Tang.

Golden Lion, White Elephant, and Green Peng seized Sky Wolf Ridge and defeated the demons who returned to reclaim it, establishing Lion-Camel Ridge in Ghost King Mountain. After receiving their report, Jiang Sheng urged them to proceed cautiously while considering whether he might need to take action himself.

• Golden Lion, White Elephant, and Green Peng agreed to claim a territory in Ghost King Mountain and drove the Howling Moon Celestial Wolf and his clansmen from Sky Wolf Ridge.
• The Howling Moon Celestial Wolf returned with Blackfire Flood Dragon, Gold-Devouring Toad, Fierce Shadow Leopard, and Hundred-Eyed Spider to challenge the three newcomers.
• Golden Lion, White Elephant, and Green Peng killed the Howling Moon Celestial Wolf, Blackfire Flood Dragon, and Fierce Shadow Leopard, while Gold-Devouring Toad and Hundred-Eyed Spider fled.
• Golden Lion, White Elephant, and Green Peng renamed Sky Wolf Ridge Lion-Camel Ridge and sent a golden-furred mouse to deliver news to Jiang Sheng.
• Jiang Sheng told the three kings to proceed gradually and considered intervening if they failed to establish themselves.

Golden Lion, Four-Tusked Treasure Elephant, and Green Peng expanded Lion-Camel Ridge’s territory on Ghost King Mountain, provoking the nascent soul Green Ox King to attack them. After their defeat, they reported to Jiang Sheng, who agreed to intervene and ordered them to lure the Green Ox King away from Coiling Ox Ridge so he could capture him.

• Four-Tusked Treasure Elephant defeated Ghost-Faced Mandrill and persuaded him to join Lion-Camel Ridge, while Ironback Gray Bear and Golden-Eyed Tamarin joined later.
• The Mountain-Splitting Azure Bull King ordered his forces to attack Lion-Camel Ridge, and Mandrill, Gray Bear, and Tamarin warned Golden Lion that the nascent soul middle-stage demon king was too powerful to face.
• Three months later, Treasure Elephant, Golden Lion, and Green Peng fought the Green Ox King, were badly wounded, and fled with their forces as Coiling Ox Ridge pursued them for several thousand li.
• Golden Lion, Treasure Elephant, and Green Peng visited Jiang Sheng and explained their defeat, and Jiang Sheng agreed to go to Ghost King Mountain himself.
• Jiang Sheng ordered the three demons to lure the Green Ox King far from Coiling Ox Ridge so he could capture him.

Jiang Sheng fought the three Lion-Camel Ridge demons and then defeated Green Ox King at Ghost King Mountain. Green Ox King conceded and carried Jiang Sheng away, leaving the story with the Daoist taking the Nascent Soul great demon as his mount.

• Four-Tusked Treasure Elephant, Golden Lion, and Azure Roc returned to challenge Green Ox King and lured him into battle with Jiang Sheng.
• Jiang Sheng trapped Green Ox King in four-colored astral winds and struck him with a prolonged barrage of Ren Water True Thunder.
• Green Ox King revealed his enormous demonic body and charged Jiang Sheng, who shattered a mountain with his sword and wounded the ox.
• Jiang Sheng covered Green Ox King with sword scars, severed one horn, and warned that his next strike would hit the ox's neck.
• Green Ox King conceded, transformed into his green ox form, and carried Jiang Sheng away on his back.

Jiang Sheng sent an incarnation north to investigate Great Tang as its armies swept through the south. On the way, he met Ouyang Chun, who offered to take two orphaned siblings to Great Tang, and agreed to travel with him.

• Jiang Sheng considered Ghost King Mountain’s demon kings, shared information with Golden Lion and the other two demons, and sent a Golden Core incarnation north to learn about Great Tang.
• Disguised as Yuanchen, Jiang Sheng met Ling Shuangyu outside Deer City and declined to join the coalition, continuing north toward Tang-controlled territory.
• Jiang Sheng saw the devastation and displacement caused by the war and saved a sick girl and her brother in a ruined village.
• The boy asked Jiang Sheng to teach him and his sister immortal arts, but Jiang Sheng said he had none to offer.
• Ouyang Chun arrived and offered to take the siblings to Great Tang, then invited Yuanchen to travel with him; Jiang Sheng questioned him about the Tang army’s destruction of the village.

Jiang Sheng traveled with Ouyang Chun to Fang Prefecture City, where Great Tang’s prosperity contrasted with the refugees fleeing war. Ouyang Chun welcomed Jiang Sheng into his home, but later revealed to Su that he was courting the aging Golden Core True Person because he sensed something mysterious about him and wanted to keep him on good terms.

• Jiang Sheng and Ouyang Chun discussed how Great Tang sheltered refugees as they traveled north, and Jiang Sheng reflected on the dynasty’s strength and looming tribulation.
• Jiang Sheng and Ouyang Chun entered Fang Prefecture City, where Ouyang Chun invited Jiang Sheng and the two children to stay at his residence.
• Ouyang Chun hosted Jiang Sheng at a banquet and introduced his wife, Su, a daughter of the Su Family, while hinting at his connection to Luoyang.
• After Jiang Sheng was carried back to his courtyard, Su questioned Ouyang Chun’s interest in him, and Ouyang Chun said he sensed something mysterious about Fellow Daoist Yuanchen and wanted to maintain a good relationship.

Jiang Sheng attended Prefect Huang Zhen’s banquet in Fang Prefecture, where Huang recruited the Golden Core cultivators to defend the Southern New Circuit against a threatened attack. After six quiet months, shadowy attackers killed three True Persons, and Jiang Sheng and Ouyang Chun faced an approaching patrol.

• Ouyang Chun invited Jiang Sheng to a banquet hosted by Prefect Huang Zhen for Fang Prefecture’s Golden Core True Persons.
• Huang Zhen warned that enemies might attack the Southern New Circuit and asked the True Persons to help defend it; Jiang Sheng and the others agreed.
• Six months passed without incident before Lu Yuan was ambushed and killed while patrolling the border.
• Huang Zhen ordered the True Persons to patrol in groups, but Sun Jian'an and another southern True Person were killed within a week.
• Ouyang Chun worried that he and Jiang Sheng would soon have to patrol after three Golden Core cultivators had died in ten days.

Jiang Sheng, Ouyang Chun, and Gao Liqun were lured into an ambush at Jincheng Commandery, where Sha Mingrui and allied Golden Core cultivators trapped them with an Immortal-Binding Net. Huang Zhen arrived, but Xia Jing and another Nascent Soul True Person revealed themselves, leaving the battle between the two sides poised to escalate.

• Jiang Sheng, Ouyang Chun, and Gao Liqun went to investigate the bandit attack on Jincheng Commandery and found the city raid was a trap.
• Sha Mingrui and three other Golden Core cultivators trapped the trio with an Immortal-Binding Net and attacked them, while Gao Liqun told Ouyang Chun to hold back.
• Huang Zhen learned that the bandits had lured Gao Liqun out and left Fang Prefecture City to intervene.
• Huang Zhen broke the trap's balance, allowing Gao Liqun, Ouyang Chun, and Jiang Sheng to escape the net, then confronted Sha Mingrui.
• Xia Jing appeared and blocked Huang Zhen's attack, and the two Nascent Soul True Persons unleashed their domains and fought with powerful swords and magical treasures.
• A hidden Nascent Soul True Person attacked Huang Zhen from behind, but Mingxuzi stopped the sword and confronted the black-robed Daoist.

Jiang Sheng learned that Huang Zhen had sacrificed Lu Yuan and Sun Jian'an for political advantage, while Yuan Long recruited him as an informant. In Fang Prefecture City, Li Yan and Huang Yu murdered Xu Chengye and prepared a formation to sacrifice the city’s inhabitants as Huang Zhen realized the Nascent Soul battle had been a diversion.

• Mingxuzi, Shang Bin, Xia Jing, and Huang Zhen fought in the air while Gao Liqun revealed that he had used Jiang Sheng and the others as bait against Sha Mingrui and Mo Jian.
• Yuan Long told Jiang Sheng that Huang Zhen and Ouyang Chun had anticipated their rescue, and that Huang Zhen had let Lu Yuan and Sun Jian'an die to consolidate control of Fang Prefecture.
• Yuan Long offered Jiang Sheng his life in exchange for information and gave him a jade disc before sending him back toward Fang Prefecture City.
• Li Yan and Huang Yu exposed their plot by stabbing Xu Chengye, sealing his cultivation, and killing him to obtain his Golden Core.
• Li Yan and Huang Yu set up a formation in the Governor's Residence to sacrifice Fang Prefecture City's inhabitants, then left the residence.
• Huang Zhen realized that Shang Bin and Xia Jing had lured him away from Fang Prefecture City, while Jiang Sheng saw the city transformed into a ghostly realm.

After Fang Prefecture City was destroyed, Jiang Sheng used his new position as acting military administrator to contact Yuanlong and investigate the scheme behind the attack. His meeting with Li Yan and Huang Yu ended in a clash, and Li Yan invited him to follow her to learn what they were planning.

• Huang Xiwang sent Huang Zhen and five units of Huang Family Daoist Soldiers to serve under Cui Boping, who sent them to the front and withdrew five units of Cui Family soldiers.
• Gao Liqun became acting prefect of Fang Prefecture, while Ouyang Chun and Jiang Sheng became acting chief clerk and acting military administrator.
• Jiang Sheng contacted Yuanlong through the jade disc, offered information from Fang Prefecture, and was told to go to the Huang River in three days.
• At the Huang River, Huang Yu and Li Yan attacked Jiang Sheng, but his Waterlike Swords and Ren Water True Thunder kept them from subduing him.
• Jiang Sheng questioned Li Yan about the sacrifice of Fang Prefecture City and the allied army's plans, and suspected she belonged to the Great Tang imperial family.
• Li Yan invited Jiang Sheng to follow her if he wanted to learn what they were planning.

Jiang Sheng learned that the allied forces planned to target Huang Clan City and uncovered Li Yan’s identity and the Huang Family’s betrayal of Nanheng’s former powers. As he prepared to intervene, Fang Lan laid out a plan to exploit divisions between Cui Boping and the Huang Family, leaving the attack on Huang Clan City in preparation.

• Shang Bin urged the gathered Golden Core cultivators to join an attack on Huang Clan City, promising vast resources, while they hesitated over the city’s defenses and the Huang Family’s Daoist Soldiers.
• Jiang Sheng reviewed a century of records and discovered that Li Yan was the missing legitimate daughter of the executed Prince of Zhaoyuan Commandery.
• Jiang Sheng learned that the Huang Family had betrayed Nanheng’s Eight Sects and Fourteen Kingdoms to Great Tang, and he noticed reports of Star Saint Sect activity among the allied forces.
• Jiang Sheng sent Daoist Yuchen north after deciding to raise the stakes in response to the allied forces’ plan.
• Fang Lan told the Spirit Transformation cultivators in Deer City that their attacks had sacrificed three prefectures and explained how they could exploit Cui Boping’s troop deployments to target Huang Clan City.
• Fang Lan said Huang Clan City would soon be vulnerable because Cui Boping and the Huang Family were not united, prompting the gathered cultivators to understand her plan.

Penglai ordered its disciples to withdraw from outside affairs, while Jiang Sheng sent Daoist Yuchen into Huang Clan City to gather intelligence as the allied army prepared to strike Southern New Circuit. Yuanchen learned that Gao Liqun had been appointed governor of Fang Prefecture and concluded that the allied army was already diverting the region’s defenses toward the front lines, leaving Huang Clan City at risk.

• Tianshu True Person announced Penglai’s non-action decree, and Lin Fan, Lingwei, and Ling Yu received the message while pursuing their own affairs outside the sect.
• Jiang Sheng decided to settle his remaining matters before traveling to Great Tang with the Green Ox King, then shifted his attention to Daoist Yuchen in Southern New Circuit.
• Daoist Yuchen entered Huang Clan City posing as a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator, rented a courtyard, and joined the outer-city guard to study the city’s defenses.
• Gao Liqun hosted Yuanchen and Ouyang Chun after receiving appointment as governor of Fang Prefecture, offering Ouyang Chun the chief administrator post and Yuanchen a military administrator post.
• Yuanchen inferred that Southern New Circuit’s Nascent Soul cultivators had been sent to the front lines and that the allied army was preparing to divert the Huang Family’s attention before attacking Huang Clan City.

Yuchen recognized Li Yan and Huang Yu in Huang Clan City, uncovered Ru Yan’s ties to the ancient Plum Blossom Guards, and agreed to cooperate with Li Yan over the city. Twenty days later, Ru Yan led him toward the inner city.

• Lei Mingjie visited Ru Yan at Everlasting Spring Ward and returned with a faint plum blossom mark, while Yuchen suspected she had made him a medicine field.
• Yuchen recognized Li Yan and Huang Yu in a guarded carriage and later met Ru Yan, identifying her methods as those of the Plum Blossom Guards.
• Ru Yan contacted Li Yan, who gave Yuchen a talisman token; Yuchen then discussed cooperating with Li Yan to claim a share of Huang Clan City.
• Yuchen watched Lei Mingjie and other cultivators repeatedly visit the city’s pleasure wards, confirming that Plum Blossom Guards had infiltrated the outer city.
• Twenty days later, Yuchen met Ru Yan in her courtyard, and she prepared to take him into the inner city.

Yuchen joined Li Yan’s plan to steal the Huang Clan’s Sky-Clear Treasure Jade and Earth Womb Stone during an assault on Huang Clan City. He learned that the Star Sovereign Sacred Sect aimed to use the city’s fall to weaken Great Tang and force it to rely on Emperor Sichen.

• Ru Yan led Yuchen through a hidden passage and a reverse-activated teleportation array into the inner city, where he met Li Yan.
• Li Yan revealed that the Huang Clan possessed Sky-Clear Treasure Jade and Earth Womb Stone, and recruited Yuchen to help obtain them.
• Li Yan explained that Huang Yu would investigate the Huang Clan Treasury while the allied army launched a major assault in seven days and used teleportation arrays to bring in reinforcements.
• Yuchen questioned who had devised the allied army’s plan, while Fang Lan told a Nascent Soul Cultivator that the Star Sovereign Sacred Sect intended to shatter Great Tang’s reputation and foundations.
• Fang Lan anticipated that Great Tang would have to turn to Emperor Sichen and the Star Sovereign Sacred Sect for protection, and imagined securing a place in the Upper Three Realms.

The southern allied army launched a coordinated assault on Great Tang’s Southern New Circuit, drawing Huang Xiling away from Huang Clan City. The allies then surrounded and attacked the city, while Yuchen and Li Yan infiltrated its treasury as its defenses began to fail.

• Fang Lan ordered the allied forces to attack along the entire front, forcing Cui Boping to demand reinforcements from the Huang Family.
• Huang Xiling took two Nascent Soul and ten Golden Core cultivators to the front, while Huang Xiwang and Huang Xiping fortified Huang Clan City.
• Yanguang True Person, Sun-Moon True Person, and Yin Extremity True Person led an assault on Huang Clan City, shattering its outer defenses and laying siege to the inner city.
• The three allied Spirit Transformation cultivators attacked the inner formations as Huang Xiwang and Huang Xiping fought back, while allied cultivators infiltrated the city and attacked from within.
• Yuchen, Li Yan, and Ru Yan reached the Huang Clan treasury, where the defenders’ formation broke under the attackers’ assault.

Li Yan, Yuchen, Ru Yan, and Huang Yu fought their way into the Huang Clan Treasury during the raid, with Yuchen helping drive off Huang An. After reaching the fourth-floor entrance, they were confronted by four powerful Golden Core cultivators, and Yuchen and Li Yan began a battle against them.

• Huang An unleashed Wu Earth Divine Thunder against the allied raiders, but Yuchen, Li Yan, Ru Yan, and the others fought back as Huang An's clan cultivators joined the battle.
• Huang Yu ambushed Huang An while pretending to help him, and Yuchen struck Huang An with Ren Water True Thunder-enhanced swords, forcing his Nascent Soul to flee.
• Yuchen, Li Yan, Ru Yan, and Huang Yu entered the treasury and hurried through its first floors toward the fourth, using Huang An's token to open the way.
• Li Yan froze and killed the Huang Clan cultivators guarding the third floor while Huang Yu opened the fourth-floor entrance.
• A vermilion-robed boy, a masked scholar, a middle-aged swordsman, and Peach Lady challenged the group for a share of the fourth floor.
• Yuchen held off the three male cultivators while Li Yan fought Peach Lady, and Yuchen declared that he meant to see which of them would live or die.

Yuchen and Li Yan fought the three late-stage Golden Core cultivators guarding the Huang Clan Treasury’s third floor while Huang Yu and Ru Yan searched the fourth floor. Yuchen and Li Yan killed Red Refinement, Bai Chengjian, and Qi Yunfei, then prepared to continue their retreat with the treasury’s treasures.

• Yuchen evaded the combined attacks of Red Refinement, Bai Chengjian, and Qi Yunfei while stalling them from reaching the fourth floor.
• Yuchen trapped his opponents with four Waterlike Swords as Li Yan’s ice dragon killed Peach Lady.
• Red Refinement rushed to attack Yuchen, but Yuchen killed him with his Azure-White Twin Swords.
• Bai Chengjian challenged Yuchen with his Seven-Star Demon-Sealing Sword Formation, and Yuchen destroyed his Meteor Swords and killed him, promising to preserve his sword inheritance.
• Li Yan weakened Qi Yunfei with freezing energy, then beheaded him with the Ice-Soul Jade Sword.

Yu Chen and his companions escaped the fall of Huang Clan City after looting the Huang Clan Treasury, while the allied forces killed Huang Xiwang and Huang Xiping and destroyed the city. News of the Huang Clan’s destruction shook Great Tang, and Cui Boping was dismissed as military governor of Southern New Circuit and replaced by Su Xing'an.

• Yu Chen, Li Yan, Huang Yu, and Ru Yan divided treasures from the Huang Clan Treasury and fled as the allied forces and raiders attacked the city.
• Yanguang True Person shattered Huang Clan City's barrier, and Huang Xiwang and Huang Xiping charged into battle against him and the other Spirit Transformation cultivators.
• Yu Chen and his companions escaped to the outer city through a teleportation array, then separated; Yu Chen took the unconscious Lei Mingjie with him.
• Three raiders tried to rob Yu Chen on the road, but he killed them and continued toward Fang Prefecture City.
• Fang Lan kept Cui Boping from leaving Southern New City to aid the Huang Clan, while the Spirit Transformation battle ended with Huang Xiwang and Huang Xiping dead and the Huang Clan wiped out.
• Great Tang dismissed Cui Boping as military governor of Southern New Circuit and appointed Su Xing'an in his place after news of the Huang Clan's fall spread.

Yuanchen negotiated with Huang An for the Origin-Quelling One-Qi Scripture, then brought him to Yuchen Mountain, where Jiang Sheng studied its earth-element cultivation method. After Huang An departed and Green Ox King returned to Ghost King Mountain, Jiang Sheng experimented with using earth as the foundation for his wind, water, thunder, and fire cultivation.

• Yuanchen offered Huang An freedom in exchange for the Origin-Quelling One-Qi Scripture, and Huang An agreed to leave Southern New Circuit with him.
• Yuchen brought Huang An to Yuchen Mountain, where Jiang Sheng swore not to pass on the scripture and studied Huang An's cultivation for several months.
• Jiang Sheng learned the scripture's cultivation sections and discussed earth-element methods with Huang An for two years.
• Huang An left Yuchen Mountain, intending to conceal his identity and protect the Huang Family from the shadows.
• Jiang Sheng allowed Green Ox King to return to Ghost King Mountain and bring his family, while offering him the choice of joining Jiang Sheng in Penglai later.
• Jiang Sheng studied earth-element techniques and experimented with a cultivation method in which earth formed the foundation for wind, water, thunder, and fire.

Jiang Sheng developed a new cultivation technique while his allies prepared for breakthroughs and monitored threats across Southern New Circuit. As Heavenly Star investigated Fang Prefecture’s past and Li Yan and Huang Yu fled a Dao Palace search, Li Yan arranged to meet Yuanchen at Thorn Wilderness.

• Jiang Sheng used his avatars’ cultivation to begin deducing his envisioned technique, while Green Ox King reunited with Golden Lion, Treasure Elephant, and Azure Roc and agreed to help Golden Lion break through.
• Green Ox King learned that the Flood Dragon Demon King planned to attempt Spirit Transformation and reported the news to Jiang Sheng, who acknowledged it.
• Su Xing'an brought Dao Palace diviners into Southern New Circuit, and Heavenly Star pressured Gao Liqun while investigating Yuanchen’s past and connections.
• Gao Liqun and Ouyang Chun considered using rogue cultivators against Heavenly Star, while Yuanchen remained cautious about the Daoist’s inquiries.
• Li Yan and Huang Yu evaded Su Family Daoist Soldiers searching for them, and Li Yan sent Yuanchen a message arranging a meeting at Thorn Wilderness in three days.