Chapter Summaries

Zhao Sheng and the Zhao Clan studied the Wilderness Domain map and debated where to establish a foothold, eventually keeping Rotten Peach Mountain among their candidate sites. After a month of military training, Ge Feng'er told Zhao Sheng that the Land Expansion War would begin on the eighth day of the ninth month.

• Zhao Sheng examined Jade Leaf Old Ancestor’s True Image Orb and the color-coded map as Ge Feng'er explained the Wilderness Domain’s dangers.
• The Zhao Clan considered several yellow-marked sites, but rejected Yellow Maple Valley, Five Dragon River, and other locations after reviewing their drawbacks.
• Zhao Sheng proposed Rotten Peach Mountain, citing the nearby Spiritual Lands and its peach trees, and the Zhao Clan kept it as a provisional candidate despite its poison miasma and demon apes.
• After three days of discussion, the Zhao Clan selected two or three possible sites and began preparations to open up the Wilderness Domain.
• Zhao Sheng organized twenty-three cultivators and twenty-one innate martial artists into three mixed squads and put them through rigorous training.
• A month later, Ge Feng'er told Zhao Sheng that the Land Expansion War would start on the eighth day of the ninth month.

Zhao Sheng and Zhao Jinjian prepared for the families’ expedition to the Wilderness Domain as rivals announced claims to key Spiritual Lands. Meanwhile, Huan Lady visited Pig Emperor Ridge, where Zhu Sanju’s actions triggered a lightning tribulation and forced her to flee.

• Zhao Jinjian returned to the Zhao Family cloud boat after learning that other families also sought Ten Arashi Mountain and Flame Ridge.
• Zhao Sheng told Zhao Jinjian that rival families’ claims might be a smokescreen and urged preparations in case another family had secretly targeted Rotten Peach Mountain.
• Huan Lady arrived at Pig Emperor Ridge and asked Zhu Sanju whether Pig Emperor had awakened.
• Zhu Sanju plunged into the ground to wake Pig Emperor, causing the ridge to quake and dark tribulation clouds to gather.
• Huan Lady recognized the lightning tribulation and vanished into the void to escape its danger.

Huan Niang persuaded the Pig Emperor to let her oppose the humans entering the Wilderness Domain, while Jade Leaf Old Ancestor secretly traded the other half of the Heavenly Demon Body Refining Art for the Pig Emperor’s promise not to interfere. The Land Expansion War began, and Zhao Sheng’s slow cloud boat reached the wilderness with the other forces before they split up.

• Huan Niang met the Pig Emperor and urged him to act against the approaching human cultivators, but he agreed only to let her act freely and warned her not to take his kin.
• Jade Leaf Old Ancestor gave Zhu Chongshan the other half of the Heavenly Demon Body Refining Art in exchange for the Pig Emperor’s oath to relinquish seven thousand li of the Wilderness Domain and stay out of the war.
• Jade Leaf asked the Pig Emperor to stage a few fights, and Zhu Sanju was summoned to fight him.
• The participating forces set out toward the Wilderness Domain after the floating palace signaled the start of the Land Expansion War.
• After a day’s travel, Zhao Sheng arrived at the wilderness, where the flying artifacts scattered across the domain.

The Zhao Family investigated potential Spiritual Lands while the Shen Family secretly followed them, leading the Zhao Family to abandon Flame Ridge and head for Rotten Peach Mountain. They established a temporary cave residence near Rotten Peach Mountain and secured it with a warning formation.

• Zhao Sheng chose to investigate Flame Ridge before Rotten Peach Mountain, and the Zhao Clan Cloud Boat broke away from the group.
• Shen Yang Ao told Shen ZhengHui that the Shen Family was following the Zhao Family to learn which Spiritual Land they would choose.
• Zhao Jinjian confronted Shen Yang Ao, while Zhao Ke Ru joined him; the Shen Family then flew ahead toward Flame Ridge.
• Zhao Sheng realized the Shen Family had deduced their destination and redirected the Zhao Clan Cloud Boat to Rotten Peach Mountain.
• Zhao Chongwei surveyed the surroundings, Zhao Xuanjing excavated a cave residence, and Zhao Sheng and Zhao Jinjian set up a warning formation.

Zhao Sheng’s family scouted Rotten Peach Mountain and learned that its two second-rank white apes were in their cave, with the female pregnant. Before the Zhao Family could act, another clan attacked the mountain, and Zhao Sheng’s group watched as the white apes overwhelmed the newcomers.

• Zhao Xuanjing used his earth-escape ability with Little Gold to scout Rotten Peach Mountain, while Zhao Sheng surveyed the mountain from the sky.
• Zhao Sheng counted more than a hundred mutant white apes and identified a cave likely sheltering the two second-rank apes.
• Zhao Xuanjing reported that the female second-rank ape was pregnant, and Zhao Sheng planned to seal the cave and attack the male when it left alone.
• A crimson cloud boat arrived, and Zhao Sheng decided to watch the newcomers rather than immediately attack the mountain.
• The red-robed cultivators attacked the white apes with fire and spells, but the apes dodged and countered them with thrown stones, forcing the cultivators to retreat.

The Zhao family watched a Foundation Establishment cultivator's assault on Rotten Peach Mountain turn into a fierce battle against the white apes. The White Ape King survived a talisman treasure's sword strike, another ape ambushed a second cultivator, and the human forces were left in disarray as someone shouted for them to run.

• Zhao Sheng, Zhao Ke Ru, and Zhao Jinjian watched the White Ape King ambush the Red Robed Old Man and smash his Spirit Fire Gourd with its club.
• The White Ape King battered the Red Robed Old Man's Tortoise Shell Shield until a sword strike from the cloud boat cut the ape, but did not kill it.
• Zhao Sheng and his companions recognized that the sword strike and shield were talisman treasures, while Zhao Ke Ru wondered whether they should attack.
• The White Ape King rallied its troops, and the white apes regrouped to overwhelm the cultivators.
• A second red-robed Foundation Establishment cultivator joined the fight, but a newly revealed pot-bellied white ape struck him with a bluestone and sent the humans into panic.

After the white apes defeated the cultivators at Rotten Peach Mountain, the Zhao Clan prepared a surprise attack at dawn. Zhao Xuanjing trapped the sleeping apes with talismans, but the Stone Prison quickly broke, leaving the clan fighting for their lives.

• The fleeing cultivators were hunted down by the white apes, while Zhao Sheng, Zhao Ke Ru, and Zhao Xuanjing laughed over Zhao Xuanjing’s accidental role in making them run.
• Zhao Sheng led the armed Zhao Clan from their cave toward Rotten Peach Mountain shortly before dawn, and Zhao Xuanjing secretly planted earth-element talismans around the sleeping apes.
• Zhao Xuanjing raised a Stone Prison around the white apes as the Zhao Clan attacked with crossbows, spells, and weapons.
• The white apes shattered the Stone Prison within moments and began a fierce battle against the Zhao Clan.
• Zhao Shuo struggled to defend himself against the white apes’ rapid, deceptive claws.

The Zhao Family defeated the white apes on Rotten Peach Mountain, but suffered heavy losses before claiming the mountain and capturing a Little White Ape. Two days later, Zhao Sheng discovered faint blue light in a sword scar on the White Ape King's great staff.

• Zhao Shuo swallowed a Qi Burst Pill, broke through to Great Perfection of Innate, and killed a white ape before rejoining the battle.
• Zhao Sheng and the others used coordinated attacks to stun and entangle the White Ape King, then killed it as the Zhao Family overcame the ape troop.
• Zhao Sheng found the Female Ape King barely alive, cut open her abdomen, and took the Little White Ape; Zhao Jinjian reported nineteen dead and six severely wounded.
• The Zhao Family spent two days clearing the battlefield and burying their dead, then Zhao Sheng noticed faint blue light in a scar on the White Ape King's great staff.

After the Zhao Family discovered Geng Metal among their spoils, Zhao Sheng concluded that a Geng Metal Mine lay near Rotten Peach Mountain and began developing the territory. Meanwhile, Huan Niang secretly prepared a Beast Tide for the day the White Feather Flowers bloomed, while Zhao Sheng deployed spirit banners that refined the mountain’s Peach Blossom Miasma into a deadly, mind-bewitching radiance.

• Zhao Sheng washed the blood from the great club and, with Zhao Jinjian and Zhao Ke Ru, identified the blue metal as Geng Metal, evidence of a nearby Geng Metal Mine.
• The Zhao Family inventoried the spoils, claimed several spirit artifacts and a Tortoise Shield Talisman Treasure, then distributed magical instruments, Spirit Stones, and pills to the clansmen.
• Huan Niang bewitched a Demon Wolf alpha and ordered it to attack humans when the White Feather Flowers bloomed, continuing her efforts to prepare demon beasts for a future Beast Tide.
• Zhao Sheng remained at Rotten Peach Mountain, sent Zhao Xuanjing to search for the Geng Metal Mine, and planted twelve spirit banners that absorbed the Peach Blossom Miasma and formed poisonous, illusion-inducing pink divine radiance.

After the Zhao Family developed Rotten Peach Mountain, Zhao Xuanjing discovered a Geng Metal Mine beneath a lake near Flame Ridge. Zhao Sheng revealed the mine’s location to Zhao Jinjian and Zhao Ke Ru, warning that the nearby Shen Family threatened their secrecy.

• Zhao Sheng spent two months organizing Rotten Peach Mountain’s development while Zhao Ke Ru handled alchemy and Zhao Jinjian piloted the cloud vessel.
• Zhao Xuanjing found Geng Metal grains in a lake more than four hundred li from Rotten Peach Mountain and led Zhao Sheng to the mine beneath it.
• Zhao Xuanjing estimated that he could mine up to two hundred Geng Metal grains a day, but had not yet found the Supreme White Metal Essence.
• Zhao Sheng learned that Flame Ridge was almost a hundred li from the mine and worried that the Shen Family was too close.
• Zhao Sheng gathered Zhao Jinjian, Zhao Xuanjing, and Zhao Ke Ru in a secret chamber and explained the mine’s location and the threat posed by the Shen Family.

Zhao Sheng and the Zhao Family decided to strike against the Shen Family before they could threaten the Geng Metal Mine. While the Shens struggled to subdue the Earth Fire Salamanders at Flame Ridge, Zhao Sheng and Zhao Xuanjing secretly mapped its tunnels, and the chapter ended with Zhao Family leaders gathered at Rotten Peach Mountain to hear Zhao Xuanjing’s report.

• Zhao Sheng persuaded Zhao Ke Ru, Zhao Jinjian, and Zhao Xuanjing that the Zhao Family should act first to protect the Geng Metal Mine from the Shen Family.
• Shen Yang Ao urged the Shen Family Great Elder to seize Rotten Peach Mountain, but the Great Elder refused to risk provoking the Ge Family and ordered him to wait half a year.
• Zhao Xuanjing and Zhao Sheng infiltrated Flame Ridge to map its underground maze and earth-vein nodes, planning to strike the Shen Family.
• Zhao Sheng used his Divine Sense to map dozens of tunnels while the Shen Family remained occupied fighting the Earth Fire Salamanders.
• A month later, Zhao Xuanjing addressed the assembled Zhao Family leaders at their settlement on Rotten Peach Mountain.

Zhao Sheng and Zhao Xuanjing set a trap to destroy the Shen Family by planting linked talismans and using the Red Cloud Banner to drive the Earth Fire Salamanders mad. As the Shen Family fought the enraged creatures, Zhao Sheng left the labyrinth, while Shen Yang Ao chose to press the attack despite the Great Elder’s suspicions.

• Zhao Xuanjing explained the plan to trigger a volcanic eruption, collapse most tunnels, and trap the Shen Family, while Zhao Jinjian and Zhao Ke Ru questioned how it could work.
• Zhao Sheng revealed that his Linked Mother-Child Talismans could destroy the Earth Vein nodes together and that the Red Cloud Banner could enrage the Earth Fire Salamanders.
• After a month of preparation, Zhao Sheng and Zhao Xuanjing returned to Flame Ridge and planted child talismans and Fire Thunder Pellets at the Earth Vein nodes.
• Zhao Sheng used the Red Cloud Banner at every salamander nest, causing the creatures to attack the Shen Family instead of fleeing into the lava.
• Shen Yang Ao wanted to seize the chance to wipe out the salamanders, while the suspicious Great Elder proposed withdrawing from the labyrinth.
• Zhao Sheng quietly left the underground labyrinth and flew into a forest west of Flame Ridge.

Zhao Sheng and Zhao Jinjian ambushed the Shen Family at Flame Ridge during a volcanic eruption, then unleashed seventy-two Water Thunder Talismans on the Shen Family Great Elder and Shen Bai'ao. The Great Elder survived and fled into the hills, and Zhao Sheng pursued him by cloud boat.

• Zhao Sheng and Zhao Jinjian killed the Shen Family guards at the passage entrance, and Zhao Sheng used a mother talisman to trigger Flame Ridge's eruption.
• Zhao Sheng set up twelve Red Cloud Banners and prepared seventy-two stacked Water Thunder Talismans while he and Zhao Jinjian waited for the Shen Family cultivators.
• The Shen Family Great Elder bluffed from inside the passage, then Shen Bai'ao burst out and identified the attackers as the Zhao Family before Zhao Sheng trapped him in the Red Cloud Array.
• Zhao Sheng sensed the Great Elder was stalling and activated all seventy-two Water Thunder Talismans, but the Great Elder escaped from underground on a crystal sword, badly injured.
• Zhao Sheng and Zhao Jinjian pursued the fleeing Great Elder aboard a cloud boat as he descended toward the wild forest.

Zhao Sheng and Zhao Jinjian pursued the wounded Shen Family Great Elder through the forest until he turned to fight, revealing his Foundation Establishment Late Stage cultivation and Heaven and Earth Spiritual Fire. Zhao Sheng repeatedly dodged the Great Elder’s invisible sword, while Zhao Jinjian fought the Flame Tiger, and the chapter ended with the Great Elder unleashing six flaming dragons at Zhao Sheng.

• Zhao Sheng tracked the fleeing Shen Family Great Elder by his sulfur scent, and Zhao Jinjian followed him through the forest.
• After pursuing the Great Elder for more than three hundred li, Zhao Sheng and Zhao Jinjian cornered him in a valley.
• The Great Elder revealed his Foundation Establishment Late Stage strength and summoned a Flame Tiger from his Heaven and Earth Spiritual Fire.
• The Great Elder attacked Zhao Sheng with his Crystal Invisible Sword, but Zhao Sheng evaded its strikes, while Zhao Jinjian battled the Flame Tiger.
• The Great Elder, weakened and increasingly panicked, sent six flaming dragons surging toward Zhao Sheng.

Zhao Sheng and Zhao Jinjian killed the Shen Family Great Elder and captured his spirit fire, then returned to Flame Ridge to reunite with the Zhao Family survivors. Their victory secured two Spiritual Lands, but Zhao Sheng noticed the casualties before Zhao Ke Ru offered to show him a treasure.

• Zhao Sheng used the Peach Blossom Barrier and a sword strike to kill the Shen Family Great Elder as he tried to escape.
• Zhao Jinjian retrieved the Great Elder's head, and he and Zhao Sheng collected his belongings and stored his spirit fire in the Spirit Fire Gourd.
• Zhao Sheng and Zhao Jinjian returned to the Zhao Family's gathering point near Flame Ridge, where Zhao Jinjian announced the Great Elder's death.
• The Zhao Family celebrated its victory and acquisition of two Spiritual Lands, while Zhao Sheng noticed that two clan members were missing and another was disabled.
• Zhao Ke Ru reassured Zhao Sheng and offered to show him a treasure, prompting Zhao Jinjian to ask what it was.

After the battle at Flame Ridge, the Zhao Family rebuilt Rotten Peach Mountain and strengthened its defenses as its fortunes grew. Zhao Sheng recognized Zhao Shuo’s martial potential and gave him cultivation manuals, intending to test whether an Innate martial artist could reach the Divine Realm.

• Zhao Ke Ru discovered a Fire in Stone, then angrily saw that the Spirit Fire Gourd had been damaged.
• The Zhao Family transformed Rotten Peach Mountain, building new halls, defenses, Spirit Fields, and equipping the clan with artifacts and Dragon Shooting Crossbows.
• Zhao Xuan Ang brought his father, Zhao Shuo, to meet Zhao Sheng after Zhao Shuo reached Great Perfection of Innate.
• Zhao Sheng gave Zhao Shuo revised versions of the Immeasurable Divine Skill, Law Breaking Nine Swords, and Cloud Dragon Nine Transformations, and invited him to return with questions.
• Zhao Sheng planned to help Zhao Shuo reach the Divine Realm so he could study its effects on lifespan and whether it could threaten Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Zhao Sheng oversaw the Zhao Clan’s work at the Geng Metal Mine and Flame Ridge before a massive flight of birds and panicked beasts signaled danger from the Wilderness Domain. He recalled the clan to Rotten Peach Mountain, fortified its defenses, and warned that a Beast Tide might be coming.

• Zhao Sheng forged a second Geng Metal Pearl and stored it with the first before leaving the mine.
• Zhao Sheng inspected the Flame Ridge excavation and learned that the tunnel could reach the Earth Fire Vein within half a month.
• Zhao Sheng watched enormous bird tides darken the sky and sent a message ordering Zhao Ke Ru, Zhao Xuanjing, Zhao Jinjian, and the other clan members back to Rotten Peach Mountain.
• Zhao Sheng and the clan killed a flock of Steel Claw Sparrows, activated the Lesser Four Symbols Formation, and readied the Dragon Shooting Crossbows.
• As wild beasts fled from the forest toward Rotten Peach Mountain, Zhao Sheng warned Zhao Jinjian and Zhao Ke Ru that a Beast Tide might be unavoidable.

Demon beasts and insects launched coordinated attacks across the Southern Border Wasteland as Huan Niang’s arrangements set powerful creatures in motion. At Rotten Peach Mountain, the Zhao Family fought through waves of attackers until Zhao Sheng strengthened the formation to block and burn the incoming insects.

• Demon Wolves drove herds toward Rotten Peach Mountain, and Zhao Jinjian and Zhao Ke Ru killed the wolf pack before a Black Scale Giant Python and attacking Steel Feather Eagles appeared.
• An Earth Shaking Demon Bear led its pack toward a human settlement, while the sixth-rank Giant Hammer Crocodile emerged from its marsh to fulfill its promise to Thousand Illusion Lady.
• Huan Niang watched Fire Centipedes swarm from their mountain and told the Fire Centipede Demon King he would have to wait another month or two for her promised reward.
• Zhao Shuo and Zhao Xuan Ang fought off wild birds and poisonous insects as the Zhao Family endured attacks throughout the day.
• Zhao Sheng activated the Main Array Plate, strengthening the Defensive Light Shield and igniting white flames that expanded into fireballs across its surface.

Zhao Sheng used the Red Cloud Banners to turn the beast and insect tide against itself, then helped the Zhao Clan survive the first three days of attacks. Just as the tide seemed to be weakening, a vast crimson anomaly spread across the sky toward Rotten Peach Mountain.

• Zhao Sheng concealed himself while the Peach Blossom Miasma drew insects and beasts into a deadly frenzy, but the red mist was nearly exhausted by dawn.
• Zhao Sheng killed wounded beasts with the Formless Sword, while a powerful Golden Armor Giant Python damaged the wall and escaped into the forest.
• Zhao Sheng and the clan members burned the corpses and salvaged useful parts, and the beast and insect attacks dwindled over the next two days.
• Zhao Sheng learned that Zhao Ke Ru's Life Creation Pills had helped keep the clan's losses to one member during three days of fighting.
• On the fourth day, Zhao Sheng saw a crimson expanse spread across the horizon and swallow the Dark Clouds as it advanced toward Rotten Peach Mountain.

A Fire Centipede Swarm descended on Rotten Peach Mountain while a High-Crowned Old Daoist fled toward it from a doomed cloudship. Zhao Sheng and Zhao Jinjian led him toward the stone cave as the swarm closed in.

• Zhao Jinjian recognized the crimson cloud as a Fire Centipede Swarm and ordered the Zhao Clan members into the stone cave.
• Zhao Sheng spotted people fleeing within the swarm, where fire centipedes overwhelmed the cloudship and killed Qian Gang and Shao Shangzi.
• The High-Crowned Old Daoist set Liu Donghai alight to distract the fire centipedes, then escaped toward Rotten Peach Mountain on an Emerald Bamboo Staff.
• Zhao Jinjian prepared to draw the swarm away, but Zhao Sheng warned that the bloodied mountain would attract it and told him to stall for time.
• Zhao Sheng invited the fleeing High-Crowned Old Daoist to follow them into the stone cave, and the Old Daoist followed.