Chapter Summaries

Song Changsheng learned how Mo Lin had killed Feng Xiao and why the City Lord's Mansion had struggled to catch him. Peng Siying warned Song Changsheng about Feng Wujin and gave him the use of a shop in Four Directions City as payment for his clues; Song Changsheng planned to return the next day to complete the paperwork.

• Peng Siying told Song Changsheng that Mo Lin and Moji had been captured after the City Lord's Mansion used the Soul-Seeking Art to find them in Pingyi Market.
• Peng Siying explained that Mo Lin had discarded his body, possessed cultivators to evade detection, and killed Feng Xiao after finding him alone and unprotected.
• Song Changsheng asked about the Ancient Wu who had sold the snakefolk, and Peng Siying said the City Lord's Mansion had not caught him and had no grounds to act against him.
• Peng Siying warned Song Changsheng that Feng Wujin had demanded the snakefolk and might retaliate against Song Changsheng for provoking him at the Trade Fair.
• Peng Siying gave Song Changsheng the personal right to use a shop in Four Directions City as payment for his clues, and Song Changsheng said he would return the next day to handle the procedures.

Song Changsheng checked on his family, learned that Feng Wujin was secretly following him, and decided to draw him out before leaving Four Directions City. After visiting his newly acquired shop, Song Changsheng left the city openly, expecting Feng Wujin to pursue him.

• Song Changsheng discussed possible uses for his shop with Peng Siying and learned that Mo Lin would likely be executed while Moji might survive.
• Song Changsheng spotted Feng Wujin following him but concealed that he had noticed.
• Song Changsheng reunited with Song Qingxi, Song Qingxing, and Song Qingyun, learned Song Qingxi had hidden her talent, and heard their plans for returning or staying in the city.
• Song Changsheng told the three that he planned to lure Feng Wujin out, then asked them to remain safely at the inn.
• Song Changsheng visited his shop with Qingluan and declined Peng Siying's offer to see him off personally.
• Song Changsheng left Four Directions City openly, expecting Feng Wujin to follow.

Feng Wujin and Zhang Chengzhou pursued Song Changsheng to avenge Feng Xiao, but Song Changsheng led them away from Four Directions City and fought back. The battle left Feng Wujin badly shaken and Zhang Chengzhou face-to-face with Song Changsheng’s transformed, armored form.

• Feng Wujin hired Zhang Chengzhou to help kill Song Changsheng, promising him all the spoils.
• Song Changsheng lured the two cultivators away from the city, then provoked Feng Wujin by blaming him for Feng Xiao’s death.
• Feng Wujin attacked Song Changsheng with Heavenlight Shaker, but Song Changsheng broke the soul-targeting art and fought both men.
• Song Changsheng used the Five Elements Creation Seal, Palm Thunder, and Five Beast Battle Body to withstand their attacks and sweep Feng Wujin away.
• Zhang Chengzhou’s spear shattered Song Changsheng’s Flood Dragon scales without piercing them, and Song Changsheng turned toward him with a savage grin.

Song Changsheng fought Feng Wujin and Zhang Chengzhou, surviving their traps and overpowering them with his speed, artifacts, and divine abilities. He killed Feng Wujin with a lightning talisman, let Zhang Chengzhou escape, and then faced a powerful newcomer arriving from Four Directions City.

• Zhang Chengzhou immobilized Song Changsheng with his Golden Light Immobilization Technique, and Feng Wujin joined him in launching a full-strength attack.
• Song Changsheng broke free, evaded their attacks with the Light Smoke Silk, and wounded Zhang Chengzhou in their ensuing fight.
• Zhang Chengzhou's Red Bead exploded and badly burned Song Changsheng, but Song Changsheng burned through Feng Wujin's net with Violet Void Divine Fire and struck at both men with his soul-attacking techniques.
• Feng Wujin used an ancestral jade slip to escape Song Changsheng's Yin-Yang Annihilation, and Song Changsheng summoned a Five Thunder Heavenly Fiend Talisman.
• Zhang Chengzhou fled, while Song Changsheng killed Feng Wujin with the talisman's lightning and collected Feng Wujin's artifacts and Storage Bag.
• A bald, black-robed cultivator arrived, and Song Changsheng recognized him with surprise.

Song Changsheng fought Wu Dian, the Wu Tribe’s Fifth Priest, who had been secretly watching him and sought revenge for Wu Xiao’s death. Song Changsheng killed Wu Dian with the Hundred Fiends Qiongqi Cauldron, then fled the scene, leaving a cultivator from Four Directions City to investigate.

• Song Changsheng realized Wu Dian had been the hidden watcher and admitted that he had killed Wu Xiao.
• Wu Dian attacked Song Changsheng with the Wu Script Forbidden Curse, badly wounding him with powerful runes.
• Song Changsheng summoned the Hundred Fiends Qiongqi Cauldron and unleashed its Qiongqi phantom against Wu Dian.
• Wu Dian awakened his Wu Tribe bloodline and reached Purple Mansion Great Perfection, but the Qiongqi phantom broke his arm and swallowed him.
• Song Changsheng collapsed from the cauldron’s strain, recovered briefly, erased traces of the battle, and left.
• A stern-faced middle-aged cultivator arrived from Four Directions City and wondered why the aura had vanished.

After surviving two battles, Song Changsheng recovered and examined the spoils taken from Feng Wujin and Wu Dian. He secured valuable resources for the Song Clan, discovered evidence of the Ancient Wu Tribe’s scarcity and dangerous secrets, and left himself wary of the powerful enemy he had made.

• A middle-aged cultivator sensed the blood baleful aura near the battlefield and followed the two departing auras in opposite directions.
• Song Changsheng recovered by a river, treated his wounds, and searched Feng Wujin’s Storage Bag for the Yin Yang Purple Tree sapling.
• Song Changsheng found Feng Wujin’s high-grade Dharma Artifacts and a supreme-grade Spirit Stone, which could provide the energy source for the Song Clan’s second Sky Battleship.
• Song Changsheng secured the Yin Yang Purple Tree sapling for the Song Clan and destroyed items that could reveal Feng Wujin’s identity.
• Song Changsheng found that Wu Dian’s Storage Bag held body-tempering supplies instead of Spirit Stones, suggesting the Ancient Wu Tribe lacked basic resources.
• Song Changsheng sealed five jars of Wu Poison and picked up beast hides covered in Ancient Wu Tribe writing.

Song Changsheng deciphered the Ancient Wu Tribe’s records and found a body-tempering method for the Song clan, then encountered a powerful Golden Core True Person who questioned him about Feng Wujin’s death. The True Person verified Song Changsheng’s identity with a drop of essence blood and, finding him uninvolved in the blood-soaked baleful aura, asked him to recount what had happened.

• Song Changsheng used Little Nine’s knowledge to learn Wu clan script and read the Beast Skin scrolls.
• Song Changsheng found the Blood Refining body-tempering method and planned to have Song clan cultivators test it.
• Song Changsheng considered the consequences of Feng Wujin’s death and planned to warn Song Qingyun to avoid Purple Cloud Pavilion.
• A Golden Core True Person appeared and confronted Song Changsheng about killing Feng Wujin.
• Song Changsheng gave the True Person a drop of essence blood, and the True Person determined that Song Changsheng was not the source of the blood-soaked baleful aura.
• The True Person asked Song Changsheng to recount what had happened.

Song Changsheng refused to be taken in for questioning over Feng Wujin’s death because the killing happened outside Four Directions City, and Hong Luan forced Law Enforcement Elder Chen Lang to withdraw. Peng Siying then asked when Song Changsheng wanted to return to the Great Qi Cultivation World, and he said he was ready to leave at any time.

• Song Changsheng gave a Golden Core cultivator a version of the battle that concealed Wu Dian, then returned to Four Directions City and warned Song Qingyun to hide his identity.
• Chen Lang arrived at the inn and ordered Song Changsheng to come to the City Lord’s Mansion, but Song Changsheng demanded a reason and challenged the City Lord’s authority over a death outside the city.
• Chen Lang accused Song Changsheng of involvement in Feng Wujin’s death, and Song Changsheng argued that Four Directions City had no jurisdiction over the case.
• Hong Luan arrived, rebuked Chen Lang for interfering in affairs outside the city, and ordered him to leave.
• Hong Luan brought Song Changsheng to Peng Siying, who apologized for Chen Lang’s conduct and asked when he planned to return to the Great Qi Cultivation World.
• Song Changsheng said he could leave at any time, and Peng Siying asked whether he had really killed Feng Wujin.

Song Changsheng learned that Chen Wenxuan had targeted him over Peng Siying and decided to leave Four Directions City early. Before the family departed, he revealed Song Qingyun’s origins and gave him the Ling Clan’s Tai Chi Diagram, leaving Qingyun to face the truth and emerge resolved.

• Peng Siying explained that Chen Wenxuan had sent Chen Lang to trouble Song Changsheng because he resented her closeness with him, and she ordered Hong Luan to teach the Chen family a lesson.
• Song Changsheng returned to the inn with supplies and told Song Qingxi and Song Qingxing that they would leave for the clan the next day.
• Song Changsheng advised Song Qingyun on surviving his training journey in the Gusu Cultivation World and then told him that he was the sole surviving heir of the Ling Clan, which Feng Wuming had destroyed.
• Song Qingyun wept over the deaths of his parents, and Song Changsheng gave him the Tai Chi Diagram that had belonged to the Ling Clan.
• Song Qingxi and Song Qingxing waited outside while Song Qingyun processed the revelation, and he emerged at noon with a resolute expression.

Song Changsheng saw Song Qingyun off before traveling with Song Qingxi and Song Qingxing from Four Directions City to Sunset City with the help of Xia Wuqie, a master of spatial arts. Meanwhile, Peng Zhenxiong questioned Peng Siying about her discovery of True Monarch Yusu's inheritance, but she kept her promise to Song Changsheng and withheld the truth.

• Song Qingyun accepted his family's encouragement and left alone to cultivate in Gusu.
• Song Changsheng met Qingluan and Xia Wuqie at the Black Market, then used Peng Siying's token to travel with Song Qingxi and Song Qingxing to Sunset City.
• Song Changsheng told Xia Wuqie the Song Clan lay more than a hundred thousand li away and concealed that the clan already possessed a Space Teleportation Array.
• Peng Zhenxiong explained that stopping Peng Siying from seeing Song Changsheng off had protected their friendship, then suggested she might marry him someday.
• Peng Zhenxiong asked how Peng Siying found True Monarch Yusu's inheritance, but she refused to reveal the truth because she had promised Song Changsheng.

Song Changsheng returned to Wangyue Market with Xia Wuqie, who was to arrange a Cross-Domain Space Teleportation Array connecting Ling Province to Four Directions City. At a welcoming banquet, Xia Wuqie tasted the Song Clan’s new third-tier rice wine, Cold Pond Dew, and praised it.

• Song Changsheng brought Xia Wuqie to the Garrison Manor, where Xia postponed discussing the array until the next day.
• Song Qingqian told Song Changsheng that Liu Hongye had died after failing to break through to the Purple Palace Stage and that Liu Hongyan had become the new sect master of the Liuyun Sect.
• Song Changsheng revealed that Xia Wuqie would arrange a Cross-Domain Space Teleportation Array to Four Directions City and warned the clan to treat him carefully.
• Song Qingxing chose to cultivate in the Wutong Secret Realm, and Song Changsheng gave her a mysterious Dao rune to aid her comprehension of the Power of Law.
• At the banquet, Song Changsheng served Xia Wuqie Cold Pond Dew, and Xia praised the wine before asking Song Changsheng to pour him another cup.

Song Changsheng completed the Song Clan’s Cross-Domain Space Teleportation Array and used Xia Wuqie’s work to deepen his own formation knowledge. After introducing his relatives to Four Directions City, he returned to plan the sale of his mother’s Cold Pond Dew there.

• Song Changsheng secretly used Xia Wuqie’s preparations for the Cross-Domain Space Teleportation Array to learn its crucial formation details, and Xia Wuqie completed and tested the array after five months.
• Song Changsheng and five Song Clan elders traveled through the new array to a satellite city of Four Directions City, then entered the city and obtained Identity Certificates for the visitors.
• Song Changsheng thanked Xia Wuqie with a gift, learned that Peng Siying had gone to the Great Qian Cultivation World, and returned with his relatives to Vast Peak.
• Song Changsheng visited Xia Yunxue at the Brewing Workshop, praised her improved Cold Pond Dew, and learned it could be produced more cheaply than Bamboo Leaf Green.
• Song Changsheng decided the Song Clan would sell Cold Pond Dew and other spirit wines through its Four Directions City shop, then indicated a price of four Spirit Stones per jar.

Song Changsheng visited Sunset City to collect the Yin Yang Purple Tree Heart promised by the Sunset Auction House thirty years earlier. After learning of Yin Shang’s breakthrough and Xing Zhao’s death, he received the promised treasure and heard that Yin Wenqing had acquired a pill that could restore Xu Yunhe’s lost arm.

• Song Changsheng reviewed the Song Clan’s progress, including new cultivators, Foundation Establishment Pills, the Blood Refining secret art, and the thriving Yin Yang Purple Tree sapling.
• Song Changsheng traveled to Sunset City and asked the Sunset Auction House to honor its Thirty-Year Pact with the Wangyue Song Clan.
• Song Changsheng visited Heavenly Sound Mountain, where Niu Dazhuang told him that Yin Shang had reached the Purple Palace Stage and Xing Zhao had died during his breakthrough.
• Song Changsheng and Niu Dazhuang drank together through the night to celebrate Yin Shang and mourn Xing Zhao.
• Yin Wenqing welcomed Song Changsheng and Niu Dazhuang, confirmed the Yin Yang Purple Tree Heart was ready, and offered a pill that could reconstruct Xu Yunhe’s lost arm.

Song Changsheng discovered that the Sunset Auction House was secretly searching for Xu Yunhe, and he suspected the search was connected to Xia Wanyun. After leaving with Amethyst Jade Marrow, he chose not to search for Xu Yunhe so he would not expose him, while Mu Guibai promised to protect the Song Clan.

• Song Changsheng questioned Yin Wenqing’s claim that he had reserved a body-reconstructing treasure for Xu Yunhe and tested him by mentioning Xia Wanyun.
• Yin Wenqing reacted strongly to Song Changsheng’s remarks about Xia Wanyun, confirming Song Changsheng’s suspicion that the auction house’s interest in Xu Yunhe was connected to her.
• Yin Wenqing gave Song Changsheng Amethyst Jade Marrow in place of the Yin Yang Purple Tree Heart, and Song Changsheng left with Niu Dazhuang.
• After Song Changsheng departed, Yin Wenqing told a young man that Song Changsheng did not know Xu Yunhe’s whereabouts, and the young man ordered him to find Xu Yunhe without alerting the lineage.
• Niu Dazhuang offered to investigate Xu Yunhe, but Song Changsheng refused because finding him could put him in greater danger.
• Mu Guibai assured Song Changsheng that he would protect the Song Clan, while admitting he could do nothing to help Xu Yunhe.

Mu Guibai revealed that the Great Qi Cultivation World and neighboring realms formed a frontier against the Demon Race, while powerful rear forces treated them as expendable defenses. After returning to the Song Clan, Song Changsheng struggled to decide which of two elders should receive the Amethyst Jade Marrow.

• Mu Guibai showed Song Changsheng and Niu Dazhuang a map of the Cultivation Worlds and explained that the Li Clan ruled Great Xiao and stood behind the Sunset Auction House.
• Mu Guibai explained that an ancient contract restricted major Human and Demon forces from fighting directly, leaving the border realms to serve as a buffer against invasion.
• Mu Guibai revealed that the Sunset Auction House and other outside forces maintained spies in Great Qi, while the rear powers regarded the frontier realms as replaceable shields.
• Mu Guibai urged Song Changsheng and Niu Dazhuang to become strong enough to rise above the forces manipulating them, and Song Changsheng returned to the clan troubled by what he had learned.
• Song Changsheng asked Song Xianming how to distribute the Amethyst Jade Marrow between Song Qingxing, whose breakthrough prospects were excellent, and aging Song Luzhou, whose advancement could greatly benefit the clan.

Song Changsheng convened a clan meeting to decide who should receive the Amethyst Jade Marrow, while the elders discussed the Song Clan’s growing businesses, staffing shortages, and expenses. Song Qingxing and Song Luzhou both declined the breakthrough opportunity, leaving Song Changsheng to determine who would receive it.

• Song Changsheng took Song Xianming’s advice and convened a clan meeting to let the lineage decide who should receive the Amethyst Jade Marrow.
• Song Yushi reported that spirit charcoal and spirit wine contracts had boosted the Song Clan’s projected annual income to five hundred thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones, while Song Luyun described the clan’s expanding network of shops.
• Song Changsheng arranged for Song Yushi to transfer idle workers to the Brewing Workshop after Xia Yunxue reported a shortage of spirit wine production staff.
• Song Qingshi requested two hundred thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones to expand the Wind Whisper Hall’s Intelligence Network, and Song Changsheng approved the funding from his own withdrawn funds.
• Song Changsheng revealed the Amethyst Jade Marrow and opened a discussion about whether Song Qingxing or Song Luzhou should receive it.
• Song Qingxing declined the Amethyst Jade Marrow and left, and Song Luzhou also declined, urging Song Changsheng to leave the opportunity to younger clan members.

After Song Qingxing and Song Luzhou both declined the Amethyst Jade Marrow, Song Changsheng tried to persuade Song Luzhou to accept it but ultimately brought it back, thinking of his mother’s future. Song Qingxing remained confident he could break through without it, while Song Qingxi supported him beside their Spirit Fields.

• Song Changsheng reported Song Qingxing and Song Luzhou’s withdrawals to Song Xianming, who recalled how difficult his own breakthrough had been without a spiritual item.
• Song Changsheng brought the Amethyst Jade Marrow to Song Luzhou, but Song Luzhou refused it and urged him to consider his family, especially Xia Yunxue.
• Song Changsheng accepted Song Luzhou’s reasoning and took the Amethyst Jade Marrow back, thinking he did not want to lose his mother too soon.
• Song Qingxi asked Song Qingxing to seek the Jade Marrow from Song Changsheng, but Song Qingxing said his conviction mattered more than the item.
• Song Qingxi leaned against Song Qingxing as they watched the sun set beside the Spirit Fields.

Song Changsheng mobilized the Song Clan’s intelligence network to trace Zhang Sheng’s disappearance and learned that Zhang’s group had left the clan’s territory before vanishing in the Heavenly Sword Sect’s sphere of influence. When Feng Lan arrived and accused the Song Clan of taking Zhang, Song Changsheng confronted him directly.

• Song Changsheng ordered Song Luyun and Song Qingshi to search for Zhang Sheng and investigate his group’s movements after they left Vast Peak.
• Song Qingshi gathered verified reports showing that Zhang Sheng’s group had passed through Ling and Yang Provinces and appeared in Xiangzhou, placing their disappearance outside the Song Clan’s territory.
• Song Changsheng sent the information to the Heavenly Firmament Sect and redirected the search toward Xiangzhou, while noting that Zhang Sheng may have disappeared in territory controlled by the Heavenly Sword Sect.
• Feng Lan arrived with four Heavenly Firmament Sect cultivators and accused the Song Clan of taking Zhang Sheng when Song Luzhou met them outside the mountain.
• Song Changsheng appeared and challenged Feng Lan as Feng Lan threatened the Song Clan.

Song Changsheng dealt with the Heavenly Firmament Sect’s visit and suspected its members were probing Feng Lan over Zhang Sheng’s disappearance. Three days later, Song Qingshi reported that Zhang Sheng had been found dead in Xuzhou, allegedly killed by the Heavenly Sword Sect, threatening a conflict between the two Golden Core sects.

• Chen Tianxing rebuked Feng Lan’s provocation, then asked Song Changsheng to help search for Zhang Sheng; Song Changsheng directed the Heavenly Firmament Sect to Xiangzhou and dismissed the group.
• Song Changsheng and Song Luzhou discussed Feng Lan’s rivalry with Zhang Sheng and considered whether Feng Lan had a hand in Zhang Sheng’s disappearance.
• Song Luyun said Zhang Sheng had advanced with spirit wine sold by the Song Clan, and the family speculated that the Heavenly Firmament Sect’s visit was meant to probe Feng Lan.
• Song Changsheng ordered the Song Clan to keep searching and ensure Zhang Sheng’s corpse did not appear in its territory.
• Song Qingshi reported that Zhang Sheng had been found dead in Xuzhou, where witnesses saw members of the Heavenly Sword Sect kill him.

Song Changsheng urged the Song Clan to avoid Xiangzhou and prepare for a possible wider war after learning that Jian Xu had killed Zhang Sheng. As the Heavenly Firmament Sect and Heavenly Sword Sect braced for conflict, Zhao Jiuming requested talks, and True Lord Zhaoming agreed to meet.

• Song Qingshi reported that Jian Xu had admitted killing Zhang Sheng, making war between the Heavenly Firmament Sect and Heavenly Sword Sect likely.
• Song Qingdian proposed taking Xiangzhou while the Heavenly Sword Sect was distracted, but Song Chang'an and Song Luzhou rejected the plan and ordered the clan to avoid new enemies.
• Song Changsheng warned that the conflict could expand into war between the Great Qi and Great Yu Cultivation Worlds, so the Song Clan withdrew personnel from Xiangzhou.
• Song Changsheng visited Shen Qingxiu and learned that Mu Guibai had gone to meet Golden Core Cultivators from the Golden Crow Sect and Heavenly Meridian Sect to discuss the conflict.
• At Ten Thousand Swords Mountain, Zhao Jiuming refused to punish Jian Xu, asked about the Heavenly Meridian Sect's position, and ordered Jian Ming to arrange talks with the Heavenly Firmament Sect.
• True Lord Zhaoming accepted the Heavenly Sword Sect's request for a meeting despite his elders' calls to invade Xuzhou.