Chapter Summaries

Yue Yang completed Feng Wu’s blood-quenched medicine cauldron, whose arrays and dragon patterns reached half-step Rank 8 after Feng Wu’s heart’s blood awakened it. Yue Yang presented the finished cauldron to Feng Wu, recognizing that Feng Wu’s blood had raised it beyond his own forging skill.

• Yue Yang used Feng Wu’s heart’s blood to activate the cauldron’s thirty-six dragon-eye array nodes, raising its aura to half-step Rank 8.
• Yue Yang coated the cauldron with crystalline white powder, heated it, and quenched it in the prepared pool at noon.
• Feng Wu opened the forging-room door to release the steam, and Dong Wen and Dong Wu found that the quenching pool had evaporated and cracked.
• Dong Wen and Dong Wu carried out the unusually heavy cauldron while Yue Yang stroked its Wandering Dragon patterns, making them roar.
• Yue Yang sent the finished cauldron to Feng Wu and declared that it belonged to him.

Feng Wu received the Blood Dragon Cauldron from Yue Yang and set out for Black Mountain Fortress to seek a general’s post and replenish his Killing Intent. He arrived to find the fortress under threat from a Chu Yun Empire army, while Mu Chen secretly prepared to defend it.

• Feng Wu thanked Yue Yang for forging him a cauldron, and Yue Yang encouraged him to become a Rank 9 Alchemist.
• Feng Wu named the cauldron the Blood Dragon Cauldron and departed after beginning to recover from coughing up heart’s blood.
• Feng Wu practiced Mu Bin’s Blood Blade technique as he traveled toward the border, planning to gain experience and Killing Intent through battle.
• Feng Wu reached Black Mountain Fortress after a week and spotted tens of thousands of Chu Yun Empire soldiers preparing to attack.
• Feng Wu realized Mu Chen was not visible on the walls and suspected he was secretly lying in wait inside the fortress.
• Mu Chen, disguised as an ordinary soldier among the city guards, watched the enemy forces from within Black Mountain Fortress.

Feng Wu approached Black Mountain Fortress as the Chu Yun Empire launched a deathsworn assault to plant weapons in its walls and create footholds. The surviving attackers began to retreat, but the Gamma Empire’s generals ordered another volley just as a barrage of black objects flew toward the wall.

• Feng Wu burrowed underground and headed toward Black Mountain Fortress, intending to help Mu Chen and gain experience.
• The Chu Yun Empire sent two thousand deathsworn soldiers to storm the fortress while its archers fired down from the walls.
• The deathsworn planted weapons in the wall as footholds, losing nearly two thousand lives to climb about ninety meters.
• A horn sounded, and the surviving three hundred or so deathsworn retreated as the Gamma Empire’s deputy general ordered the archers to fire again.
• Countless black objects flew toward the top of the fortress wall.

Chu Yun launched a siege of Black Mountain Fortress after its giant ballistas and catapults covered the Deathsworn Camp's retreat. The battle escalated as both sides deployed troops and powerful fighters, while Feng Wu dug beneath the moat.

• Chu Yun's giant ballistas and catapults bombarded the walls, helping roughly 270 or 280 surviving Deathsworn Camp warriors retreat.
• The bombardment left ironwood bolts embedded in the walls, creating footholds and obstructing the defenders' archers.
• Chu Yun sounded the horns and began its assault, sending ground troops and nearly a hundred flying Magical Beasts against the fortress.
• Black Mountain Fortress used its Magic Core Cannons to destroy the moat's drawbridges, while Chu Yun's three Dou Wangs confronted the Gamma Empire's half-step Dou Wang deputy general.
• The three Dou Wangs held back and waited for the siege to weaken the fortress's defenses and the deputy general's military formation.
• Feng Wu dug beneath the moat.

Feng Wu hid beneath Black Mountain Fortress and waited while the Chu Yun Empire launched a costly siege against the Gamma Empire. As the defenders came under growing pressure, Chu Yun commanders revealed a coordinated attack that brought down more than a dozen sections of the walls.

• Feng Wu dug a concealed tunnel to the moat, observed the siege, and waited for Mu Chen to act before making his own move.
• The Chu Yun Empire’s soldiers used bridges, sandbags, and corpses to cross the moat while Gamma Empire defenders struck them with cannons and other weapons.
• The Chu Yun Empire committed thousands more soldiers, including Poison Masters who spread poison powder on the walls and forced the defenders to stretch their defenses.
• More than a dozen Dou Ling commanders led concealed thousand-man units in a simultaneous assault, bringing down more than a dozen sections of the Gamma Empire’s walls.
• Feng Wu recognized the coordinated attack as his opportunity to strike.

Chu Yun’s assault pushed Black Mountain Fortress’s defenses toward collapse, forcing the First Deputy General to intervene. Mu Chen revealed himself with a lethal ambush, killing a Chu Yun Dou King and the peak Dou Spirit attacking him, leaving the battlefield momentarily stunned.

• Nearly twenty Chu Yun Dou Spirits and their forces broke through the wall, inflicted heavy casualties, and threatened Gamma’s defenses as another five thousand soldiers charged.
• The First Deputy General attacked a peak Dou Spirit Poison Master with Fire Dance Azure Rainbow, but Chu Yun’s three Dou Kings used the opening to destroy Magic Core Cannons and move against him.
• Mu Chen, concealed among Gamma’s soldiers, kept a Chu Yun Dou Spirit occupied while waiting for a Dou King to pass within striking distance.
• The Chu Yun Dou King cast poison to help break the deadlock, then realized Mu Chen was ambushing him and called for help.
• Mu Chen thrust with the God Slaying Spear, pierced the Dou King’s head, and killed the peak Dou Spirit behind him, bringing the battlefield to a brief silence.

Mu Chen turned the battle at Black Mountain Fortress by killing a Chu Yun Dou Wang and rallying the defenders, forcing the attackers to retreat. As the armies settled into a standoff, Feng Wu spotted an opportunity beneath the Chu Yun force and prepared to act.

• Mu Chen killed a Chu Yun Dou Wang, shifting the battlefield’s morale and allowing the First Deputy General to sever the arm of an eight-star Dou Wang.
• Mu Chen announced that he had taken command of Black Mountain Fortress and ordered the defenders to counterattack, prompting the two surviving Chu Yun Dou Wangs to flee.
• Mu Chen sent Mu Yu to clear the remaining enemies from the walls and pursued the retreating Dou Wangs until a two-star Dou Emperor appeared behind the Chu Yun army.
• The Chu Yun forces halted beyond the moat while both sides restored order and maintained a standoff.
• Feng Wu realized that his hidden tunnel passed beneath the Chu Yun army and formed a bold plan to exploit the opportunity.

Feng Wu detonated his newly upgraded Amethyst Winged Lion Flame beneath the Chu Yun formation, annihilating tens of thousands of enemy troops and badly injuring Mu Chen and some Gamma Empire soldiers. Mu Chen calmed the shaken defenders and promised compensation, then worried whether Feng Wu had survived.

• Feng Wu upgraded the Amethyst Winged Lion Flame into a Strange Fire and unleashed it beneath the Chu Yun army while its commanders were distracted.
• The Strange Fire explosion engulfed the formation, killing the Chu Yun Dou Emperor, three Dou Wangs, and tens of thousands of soldiers; Mu Chen fled the blast but was severely injured.
• The shockwave reached Black Mountain Fortress and killed or injured some Gamma Empire soldiers despite the first deputy general's efforts to shelter them.
• Mu Chen assured the defenders that the blast had come from an ally, announced doubled military merit and compensation for friendly-fire casualties, and credited the victory with wiping out over fifty thousand enemies.
• Mu Chen looked at the purple fire clouds covering the fortress and wondered whether Feng Wu had blown himself up.

Feng Wu survived the Heavenly Flame explosion with Mu Bin’s help and discovered that the blast and the experience he gained had transformed his cultivation. While recovering underground, he identified Starfire in his planetary dantian as the key sign of advancement, though only one planet had ignited it so far.

• Mu Chen judged that Feng Wu might have died in the explosion and stayed inside Black Mountain Fortress because his injuries made it too dangerous to investigate.
• Feng Wu and Mu Bin survived by digging deep underground together, where Feng Wu was left severely injured but exhilarated by his increased power.
• Feng Wu examined his dantian and found one Main Star and nine satellites that had grown to a scale he compared to a star system.
• Feng Wu recalled harvesting enormous experience from the Chu Yun Empire’s forces and spending it to improve his skills and raise the Starfire Skill to Heaven Rank instead of rushing to Dou Wang.
• Feng Wu discovered that his advancement depended on planets igniting Starfire, and found that his nine planets consisted of one with a Heavenly Flame core, two with ordinary natal flames, and six without flames.

After annihilating an army, Feng Wu examined his breakthrough and spent nearly three hundred thousand experience points strengthening his abilities and two Strange Fires. He emerged vastly more powerful, with the Spirit Realm within reach, and considered whether he could challenge a Dou Zong despite his Great Dou Shi cultivation.

• Feng Wu examined his nine Dou Crystal planets and concluded that three active starfire cores corresponded to his strength as a Three-Star Dou King.
• Feng Wu calculated that his recent kills had earned nearly three hundred thousand experience points and wondered whether the system could upgrade abilities beyond the limits known in the Doupo Plane.
• Feng Wu spent experience upgrading his cultivation methods, techniques, skills, and pill formulas, then raised the Peach Blossom Fire and Amethyst Winged Lion Flame to the top ranks of the Heavenly Flame Ranking.
• Feng Wu realized that his experience gains had massively improved his Dou Qi, soul, physical strength, and Killing Intent, bringing his Soul Power to roughly the level of a Half-Step Dou Zong.
• Feng Wu concluded that he was far stronger than his Great Dou Shi cultivation suggested and considered trying to fight a Dou Zong.

Feng Wu recovered from his injuries, advanced to Dou Ling, and revealed that he could conceal his overwhelming strength behind a much weaker aura. He escaped underground and displayed Dou Wang abilities above Black Mountain Fortress, prompting the fortress to prepare for another attack as Mu Chen hurried to the walls.

• Feng Wu took a Fifth Grade Foundation Establishment Pill and smoothly advanced to One Star Dou Ling, strengthening his already formidable foundation.
• Feng Wu revealed an aura at the Dou Wang level, then used a Turtle Breath Pill to conceal it until Mu Bin sensed only a Three-Star Great Dou Shi.
• Feng Wu broke through the sealed underground ceiling, summoned Mu Bin into his rib bone, and flew out with two pairs of wings while gathering the power of heaven and earth.
• Black Mountain Fortress detected Feng Wu's conspicuous display, raised the alarm, and reinforced its defenses.
• Mu Chen suspected another attack despite knowing Feng Wu had destroyed the previous army, then went with his deputy generals to the walls and saw something that caught his eye.

Feng Wu returned to Black Mountain Fortress after a devastating victory, reunited with Ya Fei, and received Mu Chen’s support for a high military post. Mu Chen also recommended Ya Fei for authority over the fortress’s military supplies and surrounding territories.

• Mu Chen recognized Feng Wu as the survivor and hero who had created the enormous crater outside Black Mountain Fortress.
• Feng Wu showed Mu Chen’s token, claimed the promised general’s post, and gave the wounded Mu Chen two bottles of Fifth Grade healing pills.
• Feng Wu hurried to Ya Fei, who was at Black Mountain Fortress, and kissed her in front of the soldiers.
• Mu Chen returned to the General’s Residence and ordered memorials recommending Feng Wu as General Who Conquers the West and Mittel Ya Fei as General of Military Supplies and General Affairs.
• Mu Chen ordered separate copies of the recommendations sent to the imperial family and Mittel Tengshan.

Mu Chen sent Mittel Tengshan news about Ya Fei, hoping to earn a favor from the Mittel Family while continuing to invest in Feng Wu. Feng Wu reunited with Ya Fei at Black Mountain Fortress, and after their passionate reunion he worried that his growing strength would make it difficult for his partners to keep up.

• Mu Chen arranged for a letter to reach Mittel Tengshan, judging that Ya Fei’s connection to Feng Wu could benefit the Mittel Family and earn Mu Chen a discount on the Mu Yang Flower.
• Feng Wu reunited with Ya Fei at Black Mountain Fortress and teased her about her more restrained style and their mutual longing.
• Feng Wu carried Ya Fei to a tavern, where they spent the night together after he sealed their room.
• Ya Fei regretted the intensity of Feng Wu’s attentions and struggled to keep up with his strengthened body, so they turned to dual cultivation and other ways to satisfy him.
• As Ya Fei slept, Feng Wu worried that even Ya Fei and Xiao Yu together might not be enough for him in the future, and wondered how he would handle his other romantic interests.

Feng Wu recovered his composure with Ya Fei, then visited Mu Chen at Black Mountain Fortress and learned of the honors planned for him. He decided to travel with Ya Fei to the Gamma Empire’s capital so he could establish his reputation, support the Xiao Clan, and help Ya Fei return to the Mittel Family headquarters.

• Feng Wu stayed with Ya Fei as she slept, easing the hostility and remnants of obsession from his Slaughter Dao cultivation.
• Ya Fei woke sore and exhausted, so Feng Wu agreed they would remain at the inn for two more days before visiting Mu Chen.
• Mu Chen complained to his officers that Feng Wu had neglected him, then angrily drove them away when they joked about his frustration.
• On Feng Wu’s fourth day at Black Mountain Fortress, he visited Mu Chen with Ya Fei and heard about the planned reward of a General of the Four Campaigns rank.
• Feng Wu decided to take Ya Fei to the Gamma Empire’s capital, where he could make his strength and identity known and help her return to the Mittel Family headquarters.

Feng Wu agreed to remain at Black Mountain Fortress for twenty days while Mu Chen recovered and reinforcements returned, then became eager to visit the Gamma Imperial Family’s treasury and use his merits for rare medicinal ingredients. He tried to persuade Mu Chen to transfer his merits in exchange for pills and began refining them at the General’s Residence.

• Feng Wu prepared to leave for the Gamma Imperial Capital, but Mu Chen asked him to stay and help protect the damaged Black Mountain Fortress while he recovered.
• Mu Chen explained that Yan Shi was expected back in about twenty days and proposed that Feng Wu remain until then, when Feng Li and Mu Yu could help defend the fortress.
• Mu Chen considered the merits he and Feng Wu had earned from the victory and calculated that Feng Wu could claim many selections from the Gamma Imperial Family’s private treasury.
• Feng Wu decided he wanted to exchange merits for rare medicinal ingredients and asked Mu Chen to transfer his merits, offering to trade pills in return.
• Feng Wu placed a cauldron and piles of medicinal herbs in the General’s Residence and began heating the cauldron to refine pills.

Feng Wu began refining a Dou Ling Pill before the assembled generals, astonishing them with his Blood Dragon Cauldron and its effortless response to him. Mu Chen recognized the ingredients and, believing Feng Wu intended to trade the pill for his imperial treasury selections, silently agreed, though he worried that Feng Wu had brought only two portions.

• Feng Wu brought out the Blood Dragon Cauldron and calmed its fierce pressure with a touch, leaving the officers eager to see his alchemy.
• Feng Wu began heating the cauldron, and Mu Chen recognized the ingredients as those for a Dou Ling Pill.
• Mu Chen recalled how President Fa Ma had once failed to refine a second Dou Ling Pill for him after making one for his father.
• Mu Chen remembered that the Mu Family had been unable to afford the ingredients and fee for another attempt, so he had abandoned the idea of requesting a pill.
• Mu Chen assumed Feng Wu would exchange the Dou Ling Pill for his chances to choose treasures from the imperial treasury and silently accepted the deal.
• Mu Chen noticed Feng Wu had only two portions of ingredients and feared he might fail, but Feng Wu's confident smile reassured him somewhat.

Feng Wu began refining two Fifth Grade Dou Ling Pills at Black Mountain Fortress, using his Blood Dragon Cauldron and powerful Soul Power to extract many ingredients at once. He completed the extractions without error, but the resulting medicinal liquid exceeded three liters and still needed to be condensed into pills.

• Feng Wu began refining the Dou Ling Pills despite this being his first attempt at the recipe.
• Feng Wu used the Blood Dragon Cauldron and his Heavenly Flames to extract more than ten kinds of ingredients simultaneously.
• Feng Wu successfully repeated the extraction process four times, while Mu Chen watched anxiously because he expected a pill for himself.
• Feng Wu fused the medicinal essences and a magic core into a mass of liquid exceeding three liters.
• Feng Wu began reducing and compressing the medicinal liquid before the final pill-condensing step.

Feng Wu completed a Dou Ling Pill for Mu Chen at the General's Residence, while the Blood Dragon Cauldron sealed the pill's aura and enhanced its quality. The generals wondered whether Feng Wu was a Rank 6 Alchemist, and Mu Chen received the unusually potent pill.

• Feng Wu continued refining the Dou Ling Pill as Mu Chen, the generals, and two Rank 3 Alchemists watched silently through lunch.
• Feng Wu condensed the pill, releasing a brilliant pillar of pill aura that broke through the roof and spread its fragrance across the camp.
• The Blood Dragon Cauldron's dragon spirit sealed the pill aura and fragrance inside the pill, compressing them and branding it with a dark-blue and blood-red dragon pattern.
• Feng Wu explained that the cauldron's upgraded spirit slowed the pill's loss of fragrance, aura, and medicinal power, then inspected the finished pill.
• Feng Wu tossed the exceptionally high-quality Dou Ling Pill to Mu Chen, who caught it and quickly stored it in a jade bottle.

Feng Wu refined more pills and revealed that he was connected to the Xiao Clan, prompting Mu Chen to arrange protection for them. Mu Chen agreed to accompany Feng Wu to Gamma Imperial City and sent support to Wu Tan City.

• Feng Wu successfully refined a second Dou Ling Pill and a Fifth Grade Foundation Establishment Pill, giving both to Mu Chen for General Mu Yu.
• Feng Wu explained that the pills could help Mu Yu break through to Dou Wang, then asked Mu Chen to accompany him to Gamma Imperial City and help protect the Xiao Clan.
• Mu Chen realized Feng Wu was tied to the Xiao Clan, and Feng Wu confirmed the connection.
• Mu Chen ordered two Dou Spirit elders and a Rank 3 Alchemist retainer to go to Wu Tan City and support the Xiao Clan.
• Mu Chen agreed to travel with Feng Wu, while Mu Yu prepared to attempt his breakthrough the next day.

Feng Wu discussed Black Mountain Fortress’s defenses with Mu Chen and agreed to return to the Gamma Imperial Capital after Mu Yu advanced to Dou Wang. Mu Chen reconsidered Feng Wu’s age and power, chose not to spread news about him, and watched Mu Yu endure a painful breakthrough while Feng Wu prepared pills.

• Feng Wu explained how the fused stone and metal beneath Black Mountain Fortress could reinforce its walls and how the excavation pit could become a defensive lake; Mu Chen judged that Chu Yun was unlikely to attack soon.
• Feng Wu agreed to leave for the Gamma Imperial Capital with Mu Chen after Mu Yu consumed the pills and advanced, while he refused the generals’ attempts to gain pills or favors without contributing.
• After Feng Wu left, Mu Chen assessed the generals’ loyalties, warned Mu Yu about several of them, and planned to remove those who tried to recruit Feng Wu away from the Empire.
• Mu Chen realized Feng Wu was still a teenager despite having Dou Emperor-level combat power and exceptional alchemy skills, then abandoned plans to publicize his power or send forces to the Xiao Clan.
• Feng Wu cultivated and prepared pills as Mu Yu took the Foundation Establishment Pill; over the next two days, Mu Yu’s screams filled the City Lord’s Manor while bursts of pill qi repeatedly damaged Feng Wu’s guesthouse roof.