Chapter Summaries

Island Master He recognized Lu Ran and Jiang Ruyi as Great Xia Heavenly Prides and decided to welcome them to Thousand Boat Island. As a Bihe believer approached, she greeted Lu Ran as her junior brother, leaving him stunned.

• A scout reported that six armed strangers were watching the island, and Island Master He went to investigate.
• Island Master He recognized Lu Ran and Jiang Ruyi among the visitors and ordered the other Bihe islands to be notified of their arrival.
• Lu Ran spotted Island Master He watching from the island and exchanged a brief, awkward remark with Jiang Ruyi about her eyes.
• Island Master He flew over the lake on a lotus leaf and greeted Lu Ran as her junior brother, surprising him.

Lu Ran and Jiang Ruyi met He Yingcai, a Sea Realm island master, and learned about the Thousand Boat Alliance and its conflict with Jingting Mountain. After introducing Ran Sect and explaining that the group was exploring Holy Spirit Mountain and seeking partners, Lu Ran left He Yingcai considering whether she might join them.

• Lu Ran and Jiang Ruyi met He Yingcai, who explained that the Bihe Faction shared Yanyu Lake’s Thousand Boat Islands with three other sects in the Thousand Boat Alliance.
• He Yingcai told Lu Ran that Jingting Mountain had demanded people from the alliance and that its previous island master had died fighting the Dong Ting Faction.
• Lu Ran introduced Ran Sect’s Sea Realm members and Xue Fengchen, astonishing He Yingcai with the strength of his team.
• Lu Ran explained that Ran Sect had come south to explore Holy Spirit Mountain and find partners, and He Yingcai began to consider his invitation.

Lu Ran and Jiang Ruyi accepted He Yingcai’s invitation to Qinghe Island, where they learned more about the Thousand Boat Alliance and met Huihe Island Master. As a banquet began, a flute tune called “Evening Song of the Fishing Boat” stirred memories of Great Xia and revealed how the alliance preserved its members’ sense of humanity.

• He Yingcai invited Lu Ran and Jiang Ruyi to Qinghe Island, and Lu Ran agreed after weighing the risks of entering alliance territory.
• On Qinghe Island, He Yingcai explained that the Thousand Boat Alliance sheltered some disciples from outside factions and described the Bihe disciples on the Bihuo Seven Islands.
• Lu Ran and Jiang Ruyi met Huihe Island Master, who sensed a hidden guard accompanying Lu Ran.
• He Yingcai hosted Lu Ran, Jiang Ruyi, and Huihe Island Master with Yan Yu Tea and Flower and Fruit Cake, then asked Lu Ran to share his travels.
• A man in white played “Evening Song of the Fishing Boat,” and He Yingcai explained that Alliance Master Yun Qianzhou used tea, pastries, and music to remind members of their human origins in Great Xia.

At a banquet on the Thousand Boat Alliance’s island, Lu Ran learned about the Tian Realm and the threat Jingting Mountain posed while Alliance Master Yun Qianzhou remained in seclusion. As He Yingcai sought his help, Lu Ran hinted that he was willing to support the alliance, leaving the identity of his friend surnamed He unrevealed.

• He Yingcai recounted the Thousand Boat Alliance’s bloody clash with Jingting Mountain and explained that Yun Qianzhou had secluded himself to pursue the Tian Realm.
• The Huihe Island Master told Lu Ran and Jiang Ruyi that a Jian Yi Believer had once surpassed the Sea Realm and vanished beyond the clouds, which Yun Qianzhou called the path to the Heavenly Realm.
• Yu Changsheng warned that Jingting Mountain was testing whether Yun Qianzhou would emerge and would likely attack the Thousand Boat Alliance soon.
• He Yingcai admitted she had invited Lu Ran partly to ask for his help, while Jiang Ruyi questioned her intentions.
• Lu Ran considered supporting the Thousand Boat Alliance and asked He Yingcai whether she would try harder to win him over, then mentioned a friend whose surname was also He.

Lu Ran agreed to help the Thousand Boat Alliance against Jingting Mountain and contacted He Qifeng, who agreed to come assess the situation. Before departing to meet her, he assigned Yu Changsheng to investigate the alliance and planned to destroy Jingting Mountain and free its enslaved believers.

• He Yingcai and Pang Yuan learned about Lu Ran's ties to He Qifeng, and Lu Ran offered to contact her for help against Jingting Mountain.
• Lu Ran contacted He Qifeng through Silent Night Blade, and she agreed to come assess the Thousand Boat Alliance's situation.
• Lu Ran planned to leave the next morning to meet He Qifeng and declined Pang Yuan's offer of an escort.
• Lu Ran assigned Yu Changsheng to investigate the Thousand Boat Alliance and left him the Xiaguang Saber for communication.
• Lu Ran told Jiang Ruyi he wanted to destroy Jingting Mountain and rescue the Weak God believers it had enslaved.

Lu Ran and his companions encountered a battle between the Dong Ting Faction and the Sword Lotus Believers while traveling toward Zijin City. Gao Yunyan and Deng Yuxiang intervened against Fang Lingfeng, leaving the confrontation on the brink of a larger fight.

• Lu Ran sensed fighting to the south and led his companions toward the battlefield, warning Yan Shuangzi to stay back after learning Dong Ting Believers were there.
• Fang Lingfeng cornered Island Master Pei and eighteen Sword Lotus Disciples, demanding their surrender while her forces surrounded them.
• Several Sword Lotus Disciples knelt in fear as Fang Lingfeng advanced, and Island Master Pei looked toward an approaching voice for help.
• Gao Yunyan arrived and asked who the combatants were, but Fang Lingfeng ordered her to leave as an irrelevant outsider.
• Deng Yuxiang emerged from the forest after killing a Dong Ting Believer and challenged Fang Lingfeng's dismissal of them as irrelevant outsiders.

Deng Yuxiang and the Ran Sect’s allies attacked the Dong Ting Disciples at the Thousand Boat Alliance, using sandstorms and quicksand to turn the battlefield against them. Fang Lingfeng escaped Lu Ran’s hammer and fled, while the remaining Dong Ting Disciples were slaughtered or buried.

• Fang Lingfeng challenged the Coir Raincoat People, and Deng Yuxiang declared that the Sword Lotus Believers were hers.
• Fang Lingfeng activated Astonishing Thunder Phase as Deng Yuxiang raised a sandstorm, while Jiang Ruyi’s Quicksand Talisman swept across the forest.
• Yan Shuangzi used Evil Moon to cut down a Dong Ting Disciple, and Island Master Pei sheltered the Sword Lotus Believers inside a lotus.
• Gao Yunyan drove the West Wasteland Sand Sea through the battlefield as Lu Ran struck at Fang Lingfeng with his Lietian Hammer.
• Fang Lingfeng escaped the hammer and fled despite Deng Yuxiang’s attempt to stop her, leaving the Ran Sect’s allies to finish off the remaining Dong Ting Disciples.

Lu Ran’s Ran Sect defeated the Dong Ting Disciples and rescued the Sword Lotus Disciples, then left to continue its mission. As Lu Ran and his companions refined their battle tactics, he began interrogating a captured soul about Jingting Mountain’s Sea realm cultivators.

• Fang Lingfeng’s squad fled as the Ran Sect swiftly defeated the Dong Ting Disciples, and Lu Ran’s group recovered the lotus bud and gathered the battlefield’s lingering souls.
• Lu Ran opened the lotus bud, revealed that he was a guest and reinforcement of the Thousand Boat Alliance, and told Pei Hong to return with the spoils to Qinghe Island.
• Lu Ran urged Xue Fengchen to advance to the Sea realm, and Xue Fengchen answered that he would do so soon.
• Lu Ran captured a soul for interrogation while discussing how the Ran Sect could improve its tactics, and Jiang Ruyi suggested taking enemies into the air.
• Lu Ran asked the captive how many Sea realm cultivators Jingting Mountain had.

Fang Lingfeng escaped an attack, killed a subordinate, and began preparing a false account of her hall’s defeat. Meanwhile, Lu Ran’s group learned of Jingting Mountain’s strength and treasures before spotting a distant fight and heading toward it.

• Fang Lingfeng suspected that the coir-raincoat attacker was the Vicious Dog Believer responsible for Tiantu Mountain’s destruction.
• Fang Lingfeng killed a subordinate who had fled the battle and took his Divine Power Bead Necklace.
• Two more hall members arrived and found Fang Lingfeng beside the corpse, whereupon she turned toward them with icy killing intent.
• Lu Ran’s group learned that Jingting Mountain had many fighters and slaves, and that Sect Leader Lu and his wives possessed several divine weapons and magic tools.
• Lu Ran spotted a drifting soul to the west and led the group toward a fight roughly twenty or thirty kilometers away.

Fang Lingfeng murdered witnesses from Lingfeng Hall, but Lu Ran and his allies caught her with a coordinated Quicksand Talisman attack. Lu Ran killed Fang Lingfeng and wondered whether the Eight Desolates Destruction Saber was finally becoming a divine weapon.

• Fang Lingfeng chased down Xiao Tao after he discovered she had killed hall members, then killed him and prepared to claim the hall had died fighting enemies.
• Lu Ran and Jiang Ruyi combined four Quicksand Talismans to trap Fang Lingfeng, while Phantom and Deng Yuxiang helped prevent her escape.
• Lu Ran used Qiansi Pupil, flaming warhammers, and the Celestial Python to attack Fang Lingfeng as she pleaded for her life and threatened Jingting Mountain.
• Lu Ran killed Fang Lingfeng with the Eight Desolates Destruction Saber and noted that Jingting Mountain had eighteen Sea Realm fighters remaining.
• The Eight Desolates Destruction Saber trembled with surging Divine Power, and Lu Ran suspected it was nearing godhood.

Lu Ran protected the Eight Desolates Saber as it completed its advancement and awakened as a divine weapon. After leaving the cave with Jiang Ruyi and the Ran Sect, he learned that He Qifeng had permission to come provide support.

• Jiang Ruyi organized the Ran Sect’s defenses while Lu Ran stayed in the cave and guided the Eight Desolates Saber’s advancement.
• The Eight Desolates Saber awakened its weapon spirit, which knelt before Lu Ran and pledged its loyalty.
• Lu Ran merged the spirit with the saber, declared that their road of destruction would begin at Jingting Mountain, and sheathed the weapon.
• Lu Ran and Jiang Ruyi left with the Ran Sect after the group recovered Divine Power Beads and dealt with the battlefield.
• Silent Night Blade told Lu Ran that He Qifeng had obtained the peak master's permission to provide support, and Lu Ran asked how many people she could bring.

Lu Ran and the Ran Sect met He Qifeng and Great Wind Hall’s reinforcements on a cliff, including four Sea Realm warrior monks led by Wine and Meat True Person. As the group prepared to set out for the Thousand Boat Alliance, He Qifeng firmly rejected Lu Ran’s suggestion to attack Jingting Mountain directly.

• Lu Ran’s group waited on a cliff, where two crows scouted them before more crows arrived carrying He Qifeng and the Great Wind Hall party.
• He Qifeng reunited with Lu Ran, Jiang Ruyi, and Xue Fengchen, congratulated Lu Ran and Jiang Ruyi, and teased Lu Ran about recruiting Xue Fengchen and helping Gao Yunyan advance to the Sea Realm.
• He Qifeng introduced the two Elders Zhang and Wine and Meat True Person, who eagerly asked about the Thousand Boat Alliance’s tea and pastries.
• Lu Ran proposed that the four Sea Realm warrior monks could help save the Thousand Boat Alliance and perhaps attack Jingting Mountain directly.
• He Qifeng solemnly refused Lu Ran’s proposal to attack Jingting Mountain.

Great Xia Heavenly Prides He Qifeng and Lu Ran arrived at Yanyu Lake with their allies and were welcomed by the Bihuo Seven Islands. As the Thousand Boat Alliance prepared to host them, Lu Ran learned that its leaders preferred a defensive strategy and ended by asking He Yingcai whether she had a boyfriend.

• Huihe Island Master and the other island masters welcomed He Qifeng, Lu Ran, and their companions to Yanyu Lake.
• He Qifeng greeted the island masters courteously, easing the Bihe disciples’ concerns about the visitors.
• Huihe Island Master invited the arrivals to a banquet, and the group crossed the lake on lotus leaves.
• Yu Changsheng told Lu Ran that the Thousand Boat Alliance favored defending its territory and waiting for Yun Qianzhou rather than attacking first.
• Lu Ran explained that Great Wind Hall would defend its allies but would not launch an offensive, and He Yingcai apologized for the alliance’s reluctance to act.
• Lu Ran noticed He Yingcai’s interest in Yu Changsheng and asked her if she had a boyfriend.

At a Thousand Boat Alliance banquet, Lu Ran learned of Jingting Mountain’s attacks and stunned the island masters by revealing detailed intelligence about its forces. He then admitted that he had personally killed a Sea Realm Hall Master and ten Jiang Realm disciples, leaving the hall speechless.

• Lu Ran teased He Yingcai about finding someone to support her and quietly told Jiang Ruyi that he hoped to draw her toward Mr. Conglong and Ran Sect.
• Lu Ran and the others arrived at the central island, where the Thousand Boat Alliance’s island masters hosted them at a banquet.
• Tianyá Island Master described Jingting Mountain’s attacks, the Thousand Boat Alliance’s losses, and asked Lu Ran and He Qifeng to remain and help.
• Lu Ran recited Jingting Mountain’s strength, including its Sea Realm and Jiang Realm cultivators, surprising the assembled island masters.
• Lu Ran corrected his figures and revealed that he had killed Fang Lingfeng and ten Jiang Realm Hall Members while rescuing Sword Lotus Sect members.
• Jiang Ruyi poured Lu Ran more fruit wine as the banquet hall fell silent.

After the banquet, Lu Ran and the Ran Sect met on Qinghe Island to assess Jingting Mountain’s movements and the threat to Yun Qianzhou’s advancement. Yu Changsheng proposed striking Jingting Mountain’s scouting squads to force a larger confrontation, and Lu Ran approved the plan.

• Lu Ran left the banquet for Qinghe Island with He Yingcai and Jiang Ruyi, frustrated by the Thousand Boat Alliance’s passive defensive strategy.
• At the meeting, Yu Changsheng argued that Jingting Mountain’s scouts were monitoring the alliance and waiting to disrupt Yun Qianzhou’s advancement.
• He Yingcai and Deng Yuxiang warned that the alliance might not be able to protect Yun Qianzhou from Jingting Mountain’s powerful techniques.
• Yu Changsheng proposed destroying every Jingting Mountain scouting squad to weaken the enemy and force it into open war.
• Lu Ran praised Yu Changsheng’s strategy, and Yu Changsheng urged him to put Great Wind Hall to use by making it the target of an invasion.

Lu Ran prepared the Ran Sect to hunt the Dong Ting Squad and arranged for two Wuya Believers to scout the mountains near Yanyu Lake. By dawn, the scouts returned as crows, and Lu Ran led the Ran Sect out from Qinghe Island to attack.

• Lu Ran ordered the Ran Sect to rest and prepare to hunt the Dong Ting Squad the next morning, and He Yingcai privately agreed with his strategy.
• He Yingcai asked Lu Ran about his ambitions, and he promised to explain after they survived the coming crisis.
• Lu Ran sent Yan Shuangzi to He Qifeng to borrow two Wuya Believers, then ordered them to search near Yanyu Lake for Jingting Faction teams.
• Lu Ran carried Jiang Ruyi to bed and discussed why Wuya Believers were rare and how weak-god disciples were often enslaved.
• At dawn, the two scouts returned disguised as crows, and Lu Ran led the Ran Sect out of Qinghe Island.

Lu Ran and the Ran Sect ambushed the Tiger Whisker Hall Master and his Dong Ting Faction guards at a lake near Yanyu Lake. They killed the Hall Master before he could unleash his Jingting Divine Halberd, while the battle against the remaining disciples continued.

• Lu Ran spotted the naked Tiger Whisker Hall Master sleeping on the lake and ordered the Ran Sect team to prepare an ambush.
• Lu Ran launched the attack by hurling the Hall Master into the air, and the Ran Sect members engaged the Dong Ting Faction disciples in a sandstorm.
• Lu Ran struck the Hall Master with a phantom hammer and pinned him in midair with a Celestial Python as the Hall Master began casting Jingting Divine Halberd.
• Lu Ran disrupted the Hall Master's casting with a mermaid's song while Deng Yuxiang's Night Beguiler Sabers pierced his armor and heart.
• Lu Ran beheaded the Hall Master, and Deng Yuxiang sent her sabers back into the sandstorm as the battle continued.

Lu Ran’s Ran Sect defeated Tiger Whisker Hall near Yanyu Lake, and he tortured its captured leader into revealing his identity before returning to the lake. The Thousand Boat Alliance learned that Jingting Mountain had lost another Sea Realm expert, while Xue Fengchen returned from battle with new thoughts.

• He Qifeng realized Lu Ran had used the conflict to clear out enemies and provoke Jingting Mountain, then sent the Wuya Believers back toward Qinghe Island.
• Lu Ran absorbed the battlefield’s dead souls, tortured the captured Tiger Whisker Hall Master, and learned he was a Jingting Mountain leader.
• Xue Fengchen watched Lu Ran intently, said he had some thoughts, and turned toward the distant mountains while Gao Yunyan and Lu Ran speculated about his insight.
• The Ran Sect returned to Yanyu Lake, where the Thousand Boat Alliance gathered to meet them.
• Lu Ran told the Tianyá Island Master that Tiger Whisker Hall had been defeated and that Jingting Mountain now had only seventeen Sea Realm experts left.

Lu Ran and Deng Yuxiang interrogated the captured Tiger Whisker Hall Master while Xue Fengchen reflected on Lu Ran’s ruthless strength and began advancing to the Sea Realm. Yu Changsheng warned that the breakthrough would create a Mist Tornado and give Jingting Mountain time to respond, so Lu Ran prepared for battle before a woman arrived at the door.

• Lu Ran sent Da Hei and Si Hei to gather intelligence near Yanyu Lake and ordered the Burning Sect members to rest.
• Lu Ran and Deng Yuxiang resumed interrogating the Tiger Whisker Hall Master while Gao Yunyan watched Xue Fengchen think over the day’s battle.
• Xue Fengchen drew inspiration from Lu Ran’s defeat of the Sea Realm enemy and began breaking through to the Sea Realm.
• Yu Changsheng explained that the breakthrough would create a Mist Tornado and take five to ten days, giving Jingting Mountain time to react.
• Deng Yuxiang sensed someone approaching, and Lu Ran dispersed the Black Mist Orb and put the captive away before a woman knocked and apologized for disturbing him.

Tianyá Island’s leaders debated whether to move Ran Sect away while Xue Fengchen advanced, fearing Jingting Mountain might attack. After arguments over loyalty, strategy, and the danger of angering Lu Ran, Tianyá Island Master ordered the alliance to protect Ran Sect and prepare for war.

• Wuhua Island Master urged Ran Sect to relocate for its advancement, while Pei Hong objected that the alliance should not abandon its benefactors.
• Lanlian Island Master stopped Pei Hong from escalating the argument, and San Hua Island Master challenged Wuhua’s reasoning and praised Ran Sect’s aid against Jingting Mountain.
• Kuhe Island Master warned that Lu Ran was dangerous to antagonize, and Huihe Island Master argued that moving Xue Fengchen during his advancement could cause a disaster.
• Tianyá Island Master ordered the islands to follow their defense plan and protect Ran Sect as they would Yun Qianzhou.
• Tianyá Island Master ordered representatives to remain, everyone else to return to their islands on alert, and Head Hall Master He and Lu Ran to be invited for a discussion.