Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• Bu Ersun accuses Lu Chengwen of treason, but cannot explain why he is so sure. He is furious that Ugly Slave’s disciple has tortured him while Ugly Slave treats Lu respectfully.
• Ugly Slave reveals that Bu Ersun and Rat Head lured Lu to the outskirts and pressured him to cooperate with Sky Net. With two senior elders witnessing, Ugly Slave warns that the evidence could ruin Bu Ersun’s standing and leave him facing severe punishment. Bu Ersun’s story shifts as he panics, then he collapses into tears and falls silent.
• Lu emerges with lipstick marks on his face and mockingly comments on Bu Ersun’s condition. He cautions Ugly Slave that mistreating the Dean’s grandson could create political trouble.
• Ugly Slave warns Lu that his money and powerful connections will not protect him if he has secretly dealt with Sky Net; he threatens to make Lu suffer. He then tells Lu that his secretary is waiting with news.
• Lu learns that something urgent has happened involving the Elder Council’s money. Ugly Slave initially refuses to let him leave, but finally permits him one call to the Dean.

Character developments

• Ugly Slave demonstrates quiet authority and political influence. He uses evidence and the threat of future consequences to break Bu Ersun’s bravado, while remaining deeply suspicious of Lu.
• Bu Ersun shifts from angry certainty to fear and helplessness. His changing account makes him appear unreliable, and he is reduced to sobbing silence.
• Lu Chengwen remains shrewd and irreverent, using humor and appeals to the Elder Council’s interests to negotiate his way toward action. But Ugly Slave’s warning shows Lu cannot assume his usual alliances will protect him.

Character interactions

• Ugly Slave dominates his confrontation with Bu Ersun, exposing his alleged collusion and framing while warning that even his grandfather may not save him.
• Lu needles Bu Ersun, then diplomatically challenges Ugly Slave’s handling of him. Ugly Slave responds with a direct threat, making clear that his courtesy toward Lu has limits.
• Lu presses Ugly Slave for permission to leave, arguing that resolving the financial crisis would help the Elder Council. Ugly Slave grants only a call to the Dean.

Significant themes

• Power and political influence: Status, family ties, and alliances shape the characters’ prospects, but Ugly Slave’s own influence may outweigh them.
• Truth, accusation, and interrogation: Bu Ersun’s shifting story undermines his accusations, while the threat of repeated scrutiny becomes a weapon.
• Loyalty and betrayal: The alleged dealings with Sky Net put both Bu Ersun and Lu under suspicion.
• Control and leverage: Each character tries to steer events through fear, money, connections, or appeals to institutional interests.

Plot and key events

• Lu Chengwen returns to the Seaside Villa and embraces Leng Qingqiu. Her concern about his gray hairs and workload breaks through his composure, and they reassure each other of their love and trust.
• Huo Wenting watches their reunion and experiences unexpected jealousy. Although her marriage to Lu is meant to be a practical alliance, she envies the affection and close bonds he has with Qingqiu, his friends, and his family.
• Qingqiu updates Lu on the Cheng Wen District: construction is ahead of schedule, commercial spaces are being leased, and a hospital and hotel are underway. She credits Lu with bringing the companies together and inspiring investors.
• They discuss the rapidly appreciating amusement-park site. Foreign investors propose an American-style theme park, but Lu decides they should build their own, drawing on Chinese historical and legendary figures. Qingqiu praises his idea; Huo Wenting rolls her eyes.

Character developments and interactions

• Lu Chengwen reveals how exhausted he is beneath his confident manner, though he reassures Qingqiu. His attention is focused on her, leaving him unaware of Huo’s inner conflict. He also shows renewed ambition in proposing a distinctly Chinese amusement city.
• Leng Qingqiu expresses deep care for Lu and pride in their shared achievement. She remains both his emotional support and a capable leader overseeing the district’s progress.
• Huo Wenting begins to recognize that her envy is about more than Lu and Qingqiu’s romance: she longs for the trust, care, and warmth that Lu takes for granted. She restrains herself from interrupting their reunion.
• Qingqiu and Lu share tenderness and mutual confidence; Huo remains an outsider to their intimacy, despite her formal alliance with Lu.

Significant themes

• Affection amid pressure: A small act of concern exposes the emotional cost of Lu’s struggle.
• Loneliness and envy: Huo’s powerful position cannot provide the genuine care and loyalty she sees around Lu.
• Shared ambition and achievement: The district’s success grows from cooperation, trust, and investment.
• Cultural identity: Lu favors a Chinese-themed attraction over imported characters and concepts.

Key plot points and events

• Huo Wenting grows increasingly irritated as Lu Chengwen and Leng Qingqiu display their closeness in front of her.
• Leng Qingqiu raises several business projects, focusing on a new-energy vehicle components company she has developed over five years.
• Huo Wenting wants to acquire the company to secure supplies for the Huo Group’s expanding automotive business, especially as foreign suppliers raise prices and pressure domestic automakers.
• Leng Qingqiu refuses to sell. She argues that her company’s technology, production lines, and prior work to meet Huo’s specifications make it an ideal partner—and that cooperation would protect both sides from foreign suppliers.
• Huo threatens to crush Leng’s small factory, while Leng counters that Huo is already facing international and internal challenges and should avoid making an enemy at home.
• The confrontation ends with Leng asserting her higher standing in their family hierarchy, telling Huo that Huo is “Old Eighteen” and should be calling her “big sister.”

Character developments

• Leng Qingqiu reveals herself as a patient, strategic businesswoman who invested in new-energy components years before the market became urgent. She is confident enough to resist Huo’s pressure and insist on partnership rather than a sale.
• Huo Wenting is shown as powerful and commercially experienced, but her composure cracks when Leng challenges her leverage and status. She resents being pressured during a vulnerable moment.
• Lu Chengwen understands Leng’s long-term strategy but struggles to mediate between the women, whose business dispute is tangled with personal and family tensions.

Significant themes

• Strategic patience and timing: Leng’s years of preparation give her leverage just as Huo urgently needs reliable suppliers.
• Cooperation versus domination: Leng seeks a mutually beneficial partnership; Huo initially wants control through acquisition.
• Domestic solidarity and rivalry: Both women recognize the threat from foreign suppliers, yet their personal competition makes cooperation difficult.
• Status and power: The negotiation becomes a contest not only over business assets but also over who has authority within the family.

Character interactions

• Lu’s affection toward Leng frustrates Huo before negotiations even begin.
• Leng and Huo exchange increasingly sharp arguments: Huo emphasizes her company’s superior resources, while Leng stresses the strategic value of her specialized supplier.
• Lu tries to calm them and find common ground, but Huo accuses him of pretending not to understand the threat Leng poses.
• Leng’s final reminder of Huo’s junior family rank turns the business dispute into an explicit personal and hierarchical clash.

Key plot points

• Huo Wenting accuses Lu Chengwen of letting Leng Qingqiu use his resources to rebuild Qianfeng Group, while Lu remained unaware of the scale of her gains.
• Lu asks Leng directly, and she admits it. But he is more upset that she has been neglecting food and sleep than that she grew her company with his assets.
• Lu explains that they had agreed to strengthen Qianfeng Group and keep Leng’s father content and politically manageable.
• When Huo insults Lu and threatens Leng’s business, Leng fiercely defends him and refuses to back down.
• Leng proposes an acquisition deal: Huo gets her company’s assets and operations, while she receives a stake in Huo New Energy—and Lu must become a shareholder in Huo Motors.
• After bargaining from five percent to three percent, Huo agrees. Lu is delighted, and Leng relaxes; their playful affection irritates Huo.

Character developments and interactions

• Lu Chengwen initially appears shocked, but reveals he already knew about the business arrangement. His genuine concern for Leng’s health outweighs any resentment over the money, and he is moved that she secured a stake for him.
• Leng Qingqiu shows both strategic skill and deep loyalty. She stands up to Huo to protect Lu, then negotiates an alliance that benefits him as well as herself.
• Huo Wenting tries to shame and pressure the couple, but Leng’s resolve and the practical benefits of the deal force her to compromise.
• The couple’s teasing, affectionate exchange contrasts with the tense business confrontation, while Huo serves as an exasperated onlooker.

Significant themes

• Trust and partnership: Lu and Leng treat their assets and business decisions as shared concerns.
• Love beyond profit: Leng frames giving Lu a stake as meaningful because he is her husband, not merely as a financial move.
• Power through negotiation: Leng turns Huo’s pressure into an opportunity to secure influence and an ally for Lu.
• Care amid ambition: Lu’s anger centers on Leng’s exhaustion, highlighting concern for one another beneath their high-stakes business dealings.

Plot points and events

• Lu Chengwen and Huo Wenting formalize a business partnership: Huo New Energy takes over a parts factory through Qianfeng Group. Lu is its principal owner, while Huo gives up three percent of her shares in exchange for control of the factory and a secure supply chain.
• Huo recognizes the deal is worthwhile, but resents feeling outmaneuvered by Lu and Leng Qingqiu.
• Leng reports that a major bank scandal has led to frozen funds, threatening the financing of Cheng Wen District. Mayor Zhao is trying to resolve the investigation, but alternative lenders are demanding punishing terms.
• Lu accepts responsibility for the risky financing strategy and reassures Leng, then begins considering asset sales and restructuring to keep construction going.
• Under mounting pressure, Lu lashes out at staff over business failures and payment requests, though he ultimately approves some urgent payments. When Leng tells him she has dealt with this kind of strain for two years, he embraces her, visibly moved.

Character developments

• Lu Chengwen remains outwardly confident, but the crisis exposes his stress and guilt. He tries to protect Leng from blame and recognizes how much pressure she has carried.
• Leng Qingqiu continues to manage the company’s financial and operational burdens. Her calm admission that this has been routine for her reveals her endurance and the extent of her sacrifices.
• Huo Wenting accepts a strategically valuable arrangement while remaining irritated by Lu and Leng’s indirect, coordinated maneuvering.
• Lu’s employees appear overwhelmed and fearful as the company struggles with losses and unpaid obligations.

Themes

• Business as risk and compromise: Even profitable deals and large projects can be undermined by sudden financial shocks.
• Responsibility and loyalty: Lu refuses to place the funding crisis on Leng, since he proposed the strategy that created the exposure.
• The hidden cost of competence: Leng’s success has required sustained, largely unseen labor.
• Power and mistrust: Huo benefits from the factory deal but still feels excluded and manipulated.

Character interactions

• Lu and Huo argue over the factory transaction; Lu stresses its long-term value, while Huo objects to how it was arranged.
• Leng delivers the funding news and faces Lu’s reassurance rather than blame.
• Lu berates several staff members over losses, a foreign employee’s performance, and mounting payment requests, revealing how pressure is affecting him.
• Leng intervenes to calm Lu. His emotional reaction to learning how long she has borne similar burdens brings the chapter to a tender close.

Key plot points and events

• Lu Chengwen rejects using new funds to cover the company’s immediate crisis: selling the factory would yield only equity, while billions from the Huo Group for a stake in Huo New Energy would be a better deal. He believes any cash would be swallowed up too quickly.
• He reassures Leng Qingqiu that he is fine, then rallies employees working in temporary conditions abroad. He orders better food, upgraded hotel accommodations, daily transport, and at least a day of rest and sightseeing once the crunch passes.
• In private, Lu explains to Little Transparent why he is stern with business associates but considerate toward employees: tough authority keeps dealmakers from taking advantage of him, while mistreating workers risks losing them when the company needs them most.
• Lu gives Little Transparent a gold Buddha for his Buddhist mother. When Little Transparent questions Lu’s continued luxury spending despite the cash shortage, Lu says personal savings would make little difference beside the enormous amount the company needs.
• Fourth Sister Feng watches Lu with growing interest. Bu Ersun, meanwhile, becomes infatuated with her and boasts that the Elder Council profits easily, then makes a suggestive remark about her interrogating him.

Character developments and interactions

• Lu Chengwen shows both the strain of the company’s crisis and his ability to motivate people. He balances forcefulness with business partners against generosity toward employees, and his gift to Little Transparent reveals personal warmth.
• Leng Qingqiu remains calm and practical, encouraging Lu to accept financial difficulties as part of business.
• Little Transparent is impressed by Lu’s management instincts and touched by the gift, but also challenges him over his extravagant habits.
• Fourth Sister Feng observes Lu closely, finding him compelling; she responds coolly to Bu Ersun’s claims about the Elder Council.
• Bu Ersun openly reveals his attraction to Fourth Sister Feng and uses his confidence in the Council’s wealth to belittle Lu.

Significant themes

• Leadership and morale: Lu sees employee care as essential to keeping people committed during a crisis.
• Authority and pragmatism: He adjusts his manner to the people he is dealing with, using firmness with self-interested associates and kindness with workers.
• Scale of financial hardship: Small personal economies cannot solve a crisis measured in billions.
• Appearance versus substance: Bu Ersun dismisses Lu’s lifestyle as show, while Lu’s visible generosity complicates that judgment.

Plot points and events

• While Lu Chengwen takes another leave from the interrogation center to attend a business meeting, Bu Ersun complains about being stuck with plain food and demands the same treatment Lu receives. Little Transparent dismisses him and reminds him that Lu pays for his own meals.
• At the meeting, Vice President Lewis asks Lu and Eric to support his presidential campaign. Eric argues that Lu lacks influence and business experience, mocking his wealth and a costly deal with Tianzhu.
• Lu confirms that he controls a fund worth over $100 billion for Huaxia’s ancient martial-arts organizations. When Eric points out that Lu shipped 300,000 electric cars after taking only a 30% advance, Lu admits the shipment has arrived but remains confident.
• Eric insists Lu take a call from Tianzhu’s trade representative, Roger, on speakerphone. Roger reveals that the cars arrived without batteries. Lu explains that he deliberately withheld them and will send the batteries and installation team only after Roger pays the outstanding balance. Roger objects, but Lu ends the call, leaving Lewis and Eric stunned.

Character developments and interactions

• Lu Chengwen remains calm under Eric’s taunts and reveals that the apparent flaw in his deal is leverage: he has withheld the essential batteries to secure payment.
• Eric tries to discredit Lu and win Lewis’s confidence, but his confidence collapses when Lu turns the Tianzhu deal to his advantage.
• Lewis seeks powerful allies for his campaign and initially questions Lu’s judgment; the phone call gives him an unexpected demonstration of Lu’s business tactics.
• Bu Ersun envies Lu’s freedom and privileges, while Little Transparent harshly reinforces the unequal treatment between an ordinary suspect and Lu.

Significant themes

• Power and privilege: Lu’s wealth and connections let him move freely and enjoy comforts unavailable to those under interrogation.
• Appearances versus strategy: A deal Eric sees as reckless is revealed to be a calculated way to ensure payment.
• Leverage and negotiation: Lu uses control of a crucial part of the product—the batteries—to force the buyer to settle the balance.

Key plot points

• Lu Chengwen reveals that he delivered 300,000 cars to Roger’s government-backed buyers without batteries, betting that they would pay more rather than be left with useless vehicles. When Roger calls, Lu refuses to send the batteries until he receives another payment.
• Roger gives in and pays an additional 30%, bringing the amount paid to 60%. Lu is pleased, though Eric argues that this still leaves him losing money.
• Five days later, Eric accuses Lu of being cheated: Roger has received the cars and batteries, but allegedly still hasn’t paid the profitable balance. Their argument grows heated, while Lewis—caught between the two would-be campaign backers—can’t get a word in.
• Roger calls again with a new problem: Lu’s company has remotely locked the cars, so they cannot be driven. Lu demands the remaining balance to unlock them, pointing out that Roger has already paid over 60% and that the contract does not require Lu to enable the vehicles earlier.
• Lu offers a choice: pay the balance with a 10% discount, or keep the unusable cars and face the political and legal consequences. The chapter ends with Lu insulting Eric again.

Character developments and interactions

• Lu Chengwen is shown as a calculating, shameless negotiator. He uses the contract’s omissions, staged concessions, and control of the cars’ software to pressure Roger into paying.
• Roger shifts from outrage and threats to pleading. He is desperate to avoid political fallout, but Lu repeatedly turns that desperation into leverage.
• Eric sees Lu’s tactics as reckless and financially disastrous, and challenges him openly. Their dispute becomes a recurring, near-physical quarrel.
• Lewis is frustrated and politically vulnerable: his two potential campaign backers are fighting over who will support him, yet neither has contributed money.
• Lu’s interactions with Roger are marked by alternating friendliness and abuse; with Eric, they are openly hostile and profane.

Significant themes

• Leverage and power: Lu controls the batteries and vehicle software, using each as leverage for payment.
• Contracts versus fairness: Lu insists he has not broken the contract, while Roger sees the repeated withholding of essential functions as a scam.
• Political and financial risk: Roger’s government purchase makes failure costly to his career, while Lewis’s campaign is hampered by his backers’ rivalry.
• Trust and manipulation: The deal is driven less by goodwill than by each side trying to anticipate and exploit the other.

Lu Chengwen secured payment from Roger, arranged major funding and asset transfers, and remained under interrogation while his team left. Xia Ying arrived to investigate the suspected mole, then privately demanded that Lu Chengwen sleep with her.

• Lu Chengwen pressured Roger to pay the remaining balance for the cars before lifting their speed restrictions.
• Lu Chengwen provided Lewis with campaign funding and arranged for twenty billion dollars in assets to flow into Huo New Energy.
• Ugly Slave released Lin Jiangxian and Po Zhenzi from the interrogation room after obtaining the information he needed.
• Xia Ying arrived to help Ugly Slave investigate the mole and met Lu Chengwen at the office.
• Xia Ying told Lu Chengwen she did not believe he was a Sky Net plant, then asked him to sleep with her.

Xia Ying flirted with Lu Chengwen during his interrogation, then questioned Bu Ersun and advised Ugly Slave to leave Lu Chengwen alone. Ugly Slave revealed that he wanted to cut down the weeds and tear out the roots, leaving his intentions unclear.

• Xia Ying pressured Lu Chengwen to call her darling and asked whether he had made love to Jiang Xiaohou, while he urged her to conduct the interrogation.
• Xia Ying ended Lu Chengwen's interrogation and took Bu Ersun to be questioned, where her special technique made him confess everything.
• Xia Ying told Ugly Slave that Bu Ersun had acted strategically and described Lu Chengwen as kind, greedy, powerful, and dependable to those on the side of justice.
• Ugly Slave asked Xia Ying about the rumors linking her and Lu Chengwen to the Dragon Statue Secret Realm, but she suggested Sky Net might be spreading them as a smokescreen.
• Xia Ying advised Ugly Slave to leave Lu Chengwen alone and let the Dean handle matters, while Ugly Slave said he wanted to cut down the weeds and tear out the roots.

Ugly Slave revealed that he had been questioning Lu Chengwen to learn about a secret realm and a divine artifact, then exposed himself as Sky Net's hook and ordered his experts to capture or kill Lu Chengwen. Lu Chengwen faced a room full of Sky Net fighters as Ugly Slave left, unconvinced by his offers of money or claims of loyalty.

• Ugly Slave suddenly questioned Lu Chengwen about secret realms and divine artifacts, and Lu Chengwen realized the interrogation had targeted him all along.
• Ugly Slave said the other people had left and demanded every detail about Lu Chengwen's secret realm experience, threatening him with death if he refused.
• Lu Chengwen tried to leave, but Ugly Slave used Mount Tai Pressing Down to force him to his knees.
• A Sky Net expert entered, more than a dozen Sky Net fighters surrounded Lu Chengwen, and Lu Chengwen accused Ugly Slave of being Sky Net's hook.
• Lu Chengwen claimed he was allied with Sky Net and offered the promised money, but the fighters attacked and Ugly Slave walked away, leaving him surrounded.

Lu Chengwen was overwhelmed by the Sky Net Leader’s men until Long Aotian and Zhao Ritian arrived to help him. The three Yan Zhao Sect brothers fought back, and the Sky Net Leader prepared to face them himself.

• Lu Chengwen fought the Sky Net Leader’s dozen experts, surrendered briefly, then provoked the leader and was pinned against a wall again.
• Long Aotian and Zhao Ritian entered, giving Lu Chengwen a chance to break free and join them.
• The three brothers split up to fight the Sky Net Leader’s men, with Long Aotian wielding Gentleman’s Snow and Zhao Ritian unleashing the Boar God Tyrant Body.
• Zhao Ritian defeated an opponent, while Long Aotian killed another and challenged the Sky Net Leader.
• The Sky Net Leader rose and declared that he would handle the Yan Zhao Sect brothers himself.

Lu Chengwen, Long Aotian, and Zhao Ritian fought the Sky Net Experts after a cloaked man arrived to confront them. The man’s attempt at a dramatic introduction collapsed into combat, and Long Aotian realized Zhao Ritian had outdone him at showing off.

• A cloaked man stepped forward to stop the fighting, but Zhao Ritian ignored him and kept beating the Sky Net Experts.
• The man tried to introduce himself, and Zhao Ritian attacked him before he could finish, prompting Lu Chengwen to charge back into the battle.
• The man forced Zhao Ritian back and confronted Long Aotian, but Zhao Ritian repeatedly interrupted their exchange and mocked Long Aotian’s weapon and rank.
• Lu Chengwen struck the man with his staff, and the man blocked the blow with his Steel Whip before acknowledging Lu Chengwen’s strength.
• Zhao Ritian kicked Long Aotian out of the way, then attacked the man and declared that he had to win before he earned the right to talk.
• Long Aotian admitted to himself that Zhao Ritian was better at showing off than he was.

Zhao Ritian fought a Sky Net Expert whose special steel whip shattered iron weapons, but he stopped the whip with the Red Emperor Flame Shield. The man was knocked back and left unable to break the shield, while Zhao Ritian demanded he honor their bet.

• Zhao Ritian fought the man with an iron staff, and the man's steel whip shattered it and crushed Zhao Ritian's shoulder.
• Lu Chengwen and Long Aotian rescued Zhao Ritian, but Zhao Ritian insisted on fighting the man despite his broken arm.
• The man broke another iron staff, so Zhao Ritian summoned the Red Emperor Flame Shield and wagered that the whip could not smash it.
• The Three Brothers taunted the man into striking the shield with all his strength.
• The shield absorbed the blow and barely cracked, while the recoil sent the man flying and left him stunned.
• Zhao Ritian's true qi repaired the shield's small mark, and he demanded that the man call him Grandpa.

Lu Chengwen, Long Aotian, and Zhao Ritian mocked a man after he failed to break their shields, and Long Aotian’s shield sent him crashing into Ugly Slave’s desk. The man challenged Lu Chengwen next, and as he unleashed a fearsome technique, Lu Chengwen activated the Yellow Emperor Shield.

• Lu Chengwen and Long Aotian taunted the man after his strike failed to break Zhao Ritian’s shield.
• The man bet that he could break Long Aotian’s shield, but Long Aotian activated the Xuanyuan Shield and blasted him into Ugly Slave’s desk.
• Zhao Ritian, Lu Chengwen, and Long Aotian mocked the injured man and claimed him as their grandson.
• The man recovered, challenged Lu Chengwen, and promised to make all three men his grandsons if he won.
• The man unleashed a powerful technique, and Lu Chengwen activated the Yellow Emperor Shield.

Lu Chengwen, Zhao Ritian, and Long Aotian fought the Sky Net Leader, Crimson, after Zhao Ritian took Shieldbreaker’s Steel Whip and Crimson killed him. Crimson activated a formation that let him absorb the vital essence of the dead, then impaled another companion as he sought more power.

• Lu Chengwen survived Shieldbreaker’s attack with his shield, and Zhao Ritian took Shieldbreaker’s Steel Whip.
• Zhao Ritian and Lu Chengwen bickered and clashed weapons with Long Aotian until Shieldbreaker charged them for his whip.
• Crimson killed Shieldbreaker with an iron staff, then absorbed vital essence from the corpses in the hall.
• Crimson introduced himself and activated the Crimson Harvest Fear Formation as the Three Brothers took defensive positions.
• Crimson rushed past Long Aotian and impaled another companion, then declared, “Power, return to me!”

Crimson forced his Sky Net followers to die for him, then proved too fast and powerful for Lu Chengwen, Long Aotian, and Zhao Ritian to defeat. With all three brothers injured, he absorbed green energy from the corpses.

• A Sky Net follower tried to flee, but Crimson killed him and executed other kneeling followers for their supposed vows.
• Lu Chengwen urged the followers to leave and live, but Long Aotian pulled him away and told him they could not be saved.
• Long Aotian attacked Crimson, who countered with Dustfall Point and targeted Lu Chengwen when he came to help.
• Crimson beat back Lu Chengwen, Zhao Ritian, and Long Aotian, leaving all three injured and unable to continue fighting.
• Green energy streamed from the corpses toward Crimson as he raised his head and drew a deep breath.

Crimson used the life essence of the dead to overpower Lu Chengwen, Zhao Ritian, and Long Aotian, but Long Aotian’s unusual true qi let him turn the fight around. The chapter ended with Long Aotian challenging Crimson’s assumption that his true qi was ordinary.

• Crimson revealed that he absorbed vital essence from the dead and dismissed his fallen warriors as willing sacrifices.
• Crimson overwhelmed Lu Chengwen, Zhao Ritian, and Long Aotian, wounding Zhao Ritian and piercing Lu Chengwen’s chest with his Iron Staff.
• Long Aotian mocked Crimson’s claims of godhood and challenged him to a direct fight.
• Long Aotian matched Crimson’s attacks as his true qi surged, then slashed a deep wound across Crimson’s chest with Proud Dragon Haoyougen.
• Crimson accused Long Aotian of cheating, and Long Aotian replied that his true qi was not ordinary.