Chapter Summaries

At a tavern, Zhao Zun blamed Xing Tiexin and Song Changming for his son Zhao Linxin’s death, attacked Song Changming, and was detained by city authorities. As Marshal Yan Lanjun and a Zhao family representative arrived to address the incident, Wang Tianshuang entered and challenged the idea that an apology would settle it.

• Yang Zhen warned Song Changming that he needed to build and train his new army carefully, while Xing Tiexin offered to help him.
• Zhao Zun burst into the private room and accused Xing Tiexin of responsibility for Zhao Linxin’s death; when he attacked Song Changming, Song countered with a kick that sent Zhao Zun outside.
• Hu Zhao arrived with city officials, stopped the confrontation, and had Zhao Zun detained along with Song Changming and the others.
• Yang Zhen reassured Song Changming that the Marshal would protect him, while Hu Zhao said Zhao Zun would bear primary responsibility for the disturbance.
• Marshal Yan Lanjun and Zhao Juchang arrived to handle the matter, and Yan apologized for Zhao Zun’s conduct.
• Wang Tianshuang entered and declared that Yan’s apology would not settle the matter.

Song Changming and the others settled Zhao Zun’s attack through an apology and compensation, while Zhao Boqi warned Zhao Zun not to pursue revenge. Song Changming then began building an elite recruit unit, and at year’s end received an A evaluation with two annual rewards to choose.

• Wang Tianshuang and Yan Lanjun oversaw Zhao Zun’s apology, and the authorities punished him for the attack and the damage he caused.
• Zhao Boqi reprimanded Zhao Zun, withheld family resources for two years, and warned him against harming Song Changming and the others.
• Zhao Zun sent apology gifts, and Song Changming accepted his compensation while Xing Tiexin accepted his after Yang Zhen persuaded him.
• Song Changming became commander of the Forty-First Banner Army’s twelfth new recruit unit and began selecting and training soldiers to meet his elite standards.
• Song Ping’an presented six wines he had developed, and Song Changming approved them before sharing a drink with his pets.
• Song Changming’s annual evaluation awarded him an A grade and offered four reward options, from which he had to choose two.

Song Changming chose the Demon Slayer trait as his annual reward, then visited the Emerald Banner Army’s recruitment examination in the Fifth District. He spotted potential in Li Wang and ordered him provisionally accepted, leaving Li Wang subject to further assessment before he could officially join the army.

• Song Changming reviewed his annual evaluation, chose the lifespan reward and the Demon Slayer trait, and wondered why the summary said he had participated in Heavenly Phoenix Nirvana.
• Song Changming left for the Fifth District with his personal guard Rong Jiang to oversee the Emerald Banner Army’s recruitment drive.
• Feng Xingzhuo, Song Changming’s deputy general and former Demon Slaying Pavilion disciple, organized the recruitment examination.
• Song Changming noticed Li Wang’s promising Bone Structure despite his poor weapon proficiency and told Feng Xingzhuo to keep him.
• Feng Xingzhuo informed Li Wang that he had provisionally passed but would need further assessment before officially becoming a soldier.

Song Changming discovered Natsume, an exceptionally strong Innate martial artist, during the new recruit assessment and accepted his challenge. Song Changming defeated him decisively, and Natsume was carried away for treatment as the assessment continued.

• Li Wang joyfully accepted Song Changming's offer to join the troop.
• Natsume lifted the heaviest Sea-Calming Stone and excelled in the remaining assessments, revealing his formidable strength and skill.
• Feng Xingzhuo offered to examine Natsume, but Natsume asked to fight Song Changming instead, and Song Changming agreed.
• Song Changming caught Natsume's saber barehanded and knocked him back with a punch, then agreed to demonstrate his saber technique.
• Song Changming used his Minor Witch Speed Seal and Great Thunder Fire Saber Art to break the rune barrier and knock Natsume unconscious, after which Feng Xingzhuo took him for treatment.

Song Changming received Su Qingqing’s letter from Yuanzhou, learned that she had reunited with her birth mother, and worried about her mother’s identity as a fox demon. After Nether Hound emerged from seclusion and learned Song Changming was in Cuibai Way, Song was summoned to an urgent military meeting where Wang Tianshuang revealed that someone was coveting the Su Family’s Longevity Blood.

• Song Changming finished recruiting for his unit, ordered Feng Xingzhuo to maintain recruitment standards, and decided to observe Natsume before promoting him.
• Song Changming received Su Qingqing’s letter and learned she was safe with her birth mother, a pure-blooded demon, but remained uneasy about her identity.
• Nether Hound emerged from seclusion at Bai Tian Temple, learned Day Heavenly Master had been injured by King Cui, and heard that Song Changming was now a human principal general in Cuibai Main City.
• Song Changming attempted to forge a higher-level Shaman Seal but stopped when the patterns threatened to damage his spine.
• Rong Jiang urgently summoned Song Changming to a meeting with the principal generals and minor Flag Lords, where Wang Tianshuang said someone was coveting the Su Family’s Longevity Blood.

Song Changming and the Emerald Banner Army pursued the abductors of several Longevity Su Clan descendants across Yunzhou. The trail led toward the dangerous Land of Nine Nether, where the kidnappers planned to evade pursuit, and Song Changming found its yin baleful energy suitable for cultivation.

• Song Changming learned that several Su Family descendants had vanished and that King Cui had ordered the military to help investigate their abduction.
• Song Changming gathered his officers and joined other Banner Armies in pursuing the kidnappers, guided by Su Jizi and a blood-tracking compass.
• Su Jizi's compass shifted direction, leading Wang Tianshuang's force far beyond Cuibai Way after two days of travel.
• Lu Ran and Lu Daoshen reached the edge of Yunzhou with the captive Su Family members and planned to enter the Land of Nine Nether to shake off their pursuers.
• Song Changming, Feng Xingzhuo, and Guan Yuntai recognized that the pursuit was approaching the Land of Nine Nether, and Song Changming found its yin baleful energy harmless and useful for cultivation.

Lu Ran and Lu Daoshen tried to abduct seven Longevity Family members, but Nether Hound and then the rescuers disrupted their plan at the Demon Slaying Pavilion ruins. The protective formation separated the fighters, and Song Changming came under threat from a powerful demonic aura.

• Lu Ran and Lu Daoshen escorted two carriages carrying Longevity Family descendants to the Demon Slaying Pavilion ruins to draw their blood.
• Nether Hound and a group of demons intercepted them, and Nether Hound demanded three of the seven captives before threatening to take them all.
• Su Jizi, Wang Tianshuang, and other rescuers arrived, forcing Lu Ran and Nether Hound to flee toward the ruins as the pursuers gave chase.
• Song Changming recognized the Demon Slaying Pavilion as Feng Xingzhuo's former home, then reached the ruins as fighting broke out between the pursuers and the kidnappers.
• The restored pavilion formation blasted the combatants away from the ruins, and a powerful demonic aura targeted Song Changming as Xing Tiexin warned him to watch out.

Song Changming was captured by Nether Hound, but broke free and found himself facing a host of powerful demons while Guan bird fought Nether Hound. As the battle continued, Song Changming killed two demons and entered a strange state of slaughter, his strength rising as his killing intent grew.

• Nether Hound seized Song Changming during the assault on the defensive formation, while Su Jizi ignored the capture and Wang Tianshuang sent Yang Zhen, Wang Shifu, and Xing Tiexin to pursue him.
• Song Changming activated his Shaman Seals and Blood Burst Secret Technique, escaped Nether Hound's claw, and struck at the demon, but the clash chipped Autumn Water and sent him crashing into a mountain.
• The little white bird appeared on Song Changming's shoulder, and Guan bird arrived to fight Nether Hound; after Nether Hound ordered his subordinates to capture Song Changming, the two great demons disappeared into the clouds.
• Nearly twenty demons surrounded Song Changming, who used a Divine Movement Talisman and his Shaman Seals to evade their attacks, kill a yellow-furred rat demon, and absorb its blood essence.
• Song Changming resisted the python demon's poisonous mist, killed it with his saber, and absorbed its vital blood as the other demons hesitated before his growing killing intent.

Song Changming’s Blood Boiling trait surged during the battle, letting him kill powerful demon generals and strengthen himself with their blood essence. As the surviving demons fled, he pursued them at a speed beyond his previous peak.

• Xing Tiexin, Wang Shifu, Yang Zhen, and the military officers arrived to reinforce Song Changming, who charged back into the demon horde.
• Song Changming killed the barbarian bear demon, while the human forces pressured the wavering demon generals and fought the Black Hound Clan.
• Song Changming’s saber technique advanced as he killed a black hound demon with a powerful slash and absorbed its blood essence.
• Song Changming killed two more black hound demons, startling Yang Zhen and driving the remaining demons toward retreat.
• When the last two black hound demons fled from Wang Shifu, Song Changming pursued them at a speed beyond his previous peak.

Song Changming defeated the black dog demons and drove off Nether Hound when it tried to capture him, then returned to the Demon Slaying Pavilion ruins to help guard the rescue effort. As the protective formation held against the attackers, Feng Ye arrived.

• Song Changming killed one black dog demon and was about to finish the last when Nether Hound attacked from the clouds to capture him.
• Song Changming blasted away half of Nether Hound's beast claw, and the wounded demon withdrew; Yang Zhen and the others identified it as the demon called Nether Hound.
• Song Changming returned to the Demon Slaying Pavilion ruins, where Wang Tianshuang, the Marshals, and Su Family experts were trying to break the protective formation.
• Song Changming led his officers in defeating the demons and Fierce Beasts around the formation, then refused Guan Yuntai's suggestion to join the assault.
• Feng Ye flew to the ruins, and the Su Family experts welcomed his arrival.

Su Fengye and the Su clan’s allies destroyed the Demon Slaying Pavilion’s protective formation, but the captors escaped with their hostages amid a devastating explosion. Elsewhere in the Land of Nine Nether, Lu Ran and Lu Daoshen were surrounded by the Golden Rat Demon and its lightning-wielding followers.

• Su Fengye led the experts in a combined attack that shattered the Demon Slaying Pavilion’s formation, then rushed inside as its sparks began to explode.
• The explosions erased the pavilion ruins, while the criminals escaped with Gu Xinyue and the other hostages; Song Changming’s search uncovered no clues.
• Days later, Lu Ran refused to return to the Southern Frontier, and he and Lu Daoshen argued over when to take the hostages’ Longevity Blood.
• A giant black-spined rat and its demon followers ambushed Lu Ran’s group, declaring that they had entered the Golden Rat Demon’s territory.
• The Golden Rat Demon unleashed its thunder power, trapping everything within several kilometers in a vast prison of lightning.

Heavenly Fiend Swallowing Sun plunged the human territories into darkness, disrupted spiritual energy, and forced King Cui to suspend the military review and prepare for famine and demon attacks. As Song Changming fortified his household and explained the crisis to Song Ping'an, a large mass of demonic energy approached Yunzhou.

• Wang Shifu explained that Heavenly Fiend Swallowing Sun brought prolonged cold, famine, and demon calamities, and recalled that its last appearance had lasted three months and cost hundreds of millions of lives.
• King Cui suspended the military review, mobilized the forty-eight Emerald Banner Army forces, and convened an emergency meeting as officials prepared food reserves and defenses.
• Song Changming warned Song Ping'an to remain in Cuibai Main City and stock supplies, then gave him storage bags for the household's important belongings.
• Song Changming learned that the residence's Spirit Gathering Formation had failed during Black Radiance, while its other talisman formations remained operational.
• Song Changming reflected on his mastery of talisman formations and his growing lifespan before sensing a sizeable mass of demonic energy approaching.

As Black Radiance returned, demon hordes invaded Yunzhou and Cuibai Way prepared for an all-out war. Song Changming’s Forty-First Army escorted supplies south, and he and Yang Zhen later led two squads to defeat a group of lesser demons.

• Song Changming watched human experts pursue and destroy giant demon beasts that flew past Cuibai Main City.
• Wang Tianshuang briefed the military on the spreading invasion, declared it an all-out war, and sent the Forty-First Army south with a supply convoy.
• Song Changming and Yang Zhen discussed Yang Zhen’s breakthrough to his second Heavenly Martial Meridian and Song Changming’s completion of all six Earthly Martial Meridians.
• Wang Tianshuang ordered Yang Zhen and Song Changming to take Xing Tiexin’s squad and the Twelfth Squad against demon beasts approaching the convoy.
• The two squads quickly killed the lesser demons, and Song Changming examined their corpses to consider how Black Radiance awakened demon bloodlines.

Song Changming and the army encountered Frost Souls during the Heavenly Fiend Swallowing Sun, and Wang Tianshuang led the soldiers in a desperate fight to keep them away from the supply convoy. Song Changming resisted their spiritual attacks and, as the Frost Souls converged on him, tried striking one with his bare fist.

• Song Changming refined the demon blood and burned the demon beast corpses before the army’s vanguard arrived.
• Wang Tianshuang identified the descending azure shadows as Frost Souls, and Song Changming warned the soldiers not to probe them with Spiritual Power.
• Wang Tianshuang and the soldiers attacked the Frost Souls with Innate Qi, but the creatures absorbed the energy of their shattered companions and grew stronger.
• Wang Tianshuang used his lightning-infused Eight Absolute Skill to destroy Frost Souls, allowing the officers to charge into the sky and defend the convoy.
• Song Changming used the Ice Heart Pure Thought Art to shield his spiritual body, then flew toward the Frost Souls and punched at one with his bare hand.

Song Changming helped Wang Tianshuang’s army defeat a swarm of Frost Souls, including several giant forms, though the battle left soldiers dead and others mentally damaged. The convoy continued toward Tainan City, where it encountered a vast sea of demon beasts.

• Song Changming used his fists and saber to destroy Frost Souls and burned away their scattered energy, while the giants’ freezing wind left many soldiers dazed and frozen.
• Song Changming killed three Frost Soul giants with his saber and Great Thunder Fire Saber as Wang Tianshuang, Yang Zhen, and the others defeated the remaining giants.
• Wang Tianshuang ordered the army to gather supplies and take the dead and wounded with them before continuing toward Tainan City.
• Song Changming reflected that Cosmic Bags could not hold enough supplies to replace the army’s escort mission, and the convoy traveled for several more days.
• The transport troops neared Tainan City and discovered a sea of demon beasts covering the mountains and plains.

Song Changming and the Forty-First Army joined the Fifth and Seventeenth Armies to break through the demon siege of Tainan City. After killing the Earth Core Fire Dragon Demons, Song Changming was surrounded by powerful demons led by the Nether Hound, who had come to capture him.

• Wang Tianshuang learned that the Fifth and Seventeenth Armies had arrived, agreed on a plan with their marshals, and ordered the Forty-First Army to advance on Tainan City.
• Song Changming and Wang Tianshuang attacked the Earth Core Fire Dragon Demons, and Song Changming pursued the survivors while the three armies charged the demon horde.
• The reinforcements and the Emerald Banner Army defending Tainan City launched a fierce counterattack against the demons.
• Song Changming killed the Earth Core Fire Dragon Demons he pursued and absorbed the essence of their blood, then refused to spare the last one.
• The Nether Hound and several powerful demons surrounded Song Changming and announced their intent to capture him.

Song Changming faced Nether Hound and several powerful demons who tried to capture him, but his years of cultivation let him defeat their attacks and overpower Nether Hound. He resolved to kill Nether Hound and recognized that he had reached the battle prowess of an Innate Perfected stage martial artist.

• Nether Hound enlisted several powerful demons to capture Song Changming before nearby human commanders could intervene.
• Song Changming endured the Green Elephant Demon's punch, then used his Strength Seal to defeat him and bury him beneath a collapsed hill.
• Song Changming burned away Shadow Spider's swarm and poison, broke free of his spider silk, and shattered the Green Scale Leopard Demon's jaws before the leopard escaped as green smoke.
• Nether Hound attacked Song Changming, but Song Changming's saber shattered his claw and blasted him away, breaking both of his claws.
• Song Changming pursued Nether Hound, overwhelmed his evasive fighting, and realized he had reached the strength of an Innate Perfected stage martial artist.

Song Changming defeated the Nether Hound after the other demons abandoned it, then hurried toward Tainan City, where the city-protecting formation had collapsed and demons were slaughtering residents. The chapter left Yang Zhen and civilian Martial Artists defending people inside the besieged city.

• Song Changming survived the Green Elephant Demon's crushing stomp and wounded the Green Elephant Demon as he emerged from the magma.
• Song Changming fought the Nether Hound until the Green Elephant Demon, Shadow Spider Demon, Green Scale Leopard Demon, and other demons fled.
• Song Changming killed the Nether Hound with Purple-Gold Flame and absorbed its demon blood essence before flying toward Tainan City.
• A human-faced green vine collected the Nether Hound's remains and vanished underground after Song Changming left.
• The collapsed city-protecting formation let demons invade Tainan City, and Yang Zhen killed Bat Demons while trying to protect its residents.
• Civilian Martial Artists gathered with soldiers and officers to defend more than ten thousand people in a city plaza.

Song Changming arrived at the plaza where Nan Wuji and Su Yaoguang were struggling against two powerful demons, and swiftly killed the insect demon before turning on the female demon. He left her badly wounded and begging for her life.

• Nan Wuji and Su Yaoguang defended the plaza and attacked a giant insect demon, but its hard shell and swarms of corrosive insects overwhelmed the defenders.
• A feather-wielding female demon defeated Nan Wuji and wounded Su Yaoguang, then fought the insect demon when it lunged for Su Yaoguang.
• Song Changming arrived and destroyed the insect demon with violet-gold saber qi, surprising Nan Wuji and Su Yaoguang, who recognized him.
• The female demon tried to retreat, but Song Changming attacked and shattered her feathers, then battered her to the ground with successive saber strikes.
• The wounded female demon begged Song Changming to spare her and offered to serve him as a slave or maid.

Song Changming reunited with Nan Wuji and Su Yaoguang after saving them from demons, then returned to Tainan City’s collapsing southern wall to aid the Forty-First Army. As he fought through the battlefield, demon blood essence poured into him, giving him an endless source of strength.

• Song Changming killed the demoness who had attacked Nan Wuji and Su Yaoguang, then caught up with the two old acquaintances and heard about their years at Spirit Sword Mountain.
• Ding Shengyu and Ding Fengqiu realized Song Changming was the young martial artist they had once judged unlikely to reach the Xiantian realm, and regretted that Spirit Sword Mountain had missed him.
• Song Changming hurried to the southern wall, where Feng Xingzhuo commanded the Twelfth Troop amid the collapsing defenses and fierce fighting.
• Song Changming destroyed most of a flock of bird demons with purple-gold fire lotuses, lifting the soldiers’ morale.
• A demon general charged Song Changming, but Song Changming shattered his hooked sickle and beheaded him with one strike.
• Song Changming absorbed demon blood essence from the battlefield’s corpses, continuously transforming it into strength.