Chapter Summaries

Zhang Chen and his family traveled south through the devastated northern lands, where a Ninth Order Yanluo Banner was harvesting the dead souls. As three Ninth Order Yellow Heaven Dao experts, including Gu Mingyue, approached the banner, Zhang Shi warned Zhang Chen that a group of men had been following their cart.

• Zhang Chen explained to Cheng Yu that refugees traveling in large groups had a better chance of surviving demon beasts as they fled the flooded north.
• Zhang Tuowei wanted to eat the dead souls, but Zhang Chen forbade it and saw black karma gathering around the Pacifying Border King's ancestral vein.
• A Yanluo Banner appeared in the north and drew countless unjust souls into its Ghost Domain, swallowing the divine light of several Sixth Order gods without a trace.
• Zhang Chen suspected the banner was an ancient treasure being repaired, then resumed absorbing Great Sun Essence and wondered what had happened to Chen Xu.
• Three Ninth Order Yellow Heaven Dao experts, including Gu Mingyue, rose toward the banner, while Zhang Shi told Zhang Chen that more than a dozen men had been following their cart.

Zhang Chen’s family faced repeated attacks from cannibals and desperate refugees on their journey south, with Zhang Tuowei and Zhang Chen’s creatures driving off their attackers. After a day of constant ambushes, Zhang Chen decided they needed to join a wealthy household’s merchant caravan to travel safely.

• Zhang Chen let Zhang Tuowei practice controlling the souls of a group of bandits who surrounded their camp, and Tuowei made them attack one another.
• Zhang Chen trapped the remaining bandits in the earth and sent his hornets and Sparrowhawk to devour them, alarming his family.
• The family encountered more than ten robbery attempts the next day and traveled fewer than fifty li.
• Zhang Chen concluded that they should find a merchant caravan to travel with and made plans to seek one the following day.

Zhang Chen planned to spread the Blood God Scripture across the Northern Lands and sent Fox Immortal NanNan to distribute the jade tablets while investigating Zhang Xiaohua’s Life Lamp. As his family prepared to travel on, Zhang Chen considered how to shrink their oversized beehive and learned that Old Osmanthus’s aura could awaken it.

• Zhang Chen searched the Northern Lands for a caravan, then returned to find Cheng Yu keeping watch beside the carriage.
• Zhang Chen carved hundreds of jade tablets with the Blood God Scripture and Blood Dao methods, intending to strengthen the Blood Dao and gather Experience Points.
• Fox Immortal NanNan told Zhang Chen that Zhang Xiaohua had become a Ninth Order Star God and revealed that destroying a Star God’s hidden Life Lamp would kill them.
• Zhang Chen ordered Fox Immortal NanNan to investigate Zhang Xiaohua’s Life Lamp and distribute the jade tablets to cultivators, including members of the Demon Race.
• Zhang Chen considered awakening the oversized beehive so it could shrink, and the Great Sovereign Demon King said Old Osmanthus’s aura could transform it into a demon beast.

Zhang Chen transformed Earthly Yuan Magnetism Iron into Magnetic Plates that could teach the Blood God Scripture, then left his donkey cart and joined a merchant caravan with his family. The family caught up with the caravan, whose large armed escort suggested it belonged to a powerful group.

• Zhang Chen awakened the beehive with Taiyin Star aura and Sun Dew Nectar, turning it into a fist-sized spatial treasure for his hornets.
• Zhang Chen split the Earthly Yuan Magnetism Iron into Magnetic Plates inscribed with the Blood God Scripture and scattered them along the road to spread his Blood Dao cultivation method.
• Zhang Chen and Zhang Shi agreed to abandon the conspicuous donkey cart, and Zhang Chen sent the Great Wild Donkey away before the family followed a merchant caravan on foot.
• Cheng Yu taught Zhang Tuowei and Zhang Fei the Dragon Walking Stance as they walked with the family.
• Zhang Chen reached the caravan and saw three thousand armored soldiers, wealthy or noble travelers, and several hundred armed escorts.

Zhang Chen’s group followed the Dragon Tiger Escort Agency’s convoy south as he learned that northern great families had allied with the Demon Race and sealed the routes. After Zhang Shi rebuffed Wang Yan’s proposal to join their family, the convoy stopped for the night and forbade the refugees from lighting fires.

• Zhang Chen recognized the Dragon Tiger Escort Agency and learned from Cheng Yu about its ties to Dragon Tiger Mountain.
• Zhang Chen noticed a saber-wielding man and eight young men eyeing his group’s belongings, then heard that great families had allied with the Demon Race and trapped northern refugees.
• Wang Yan explained that the Demon Race relied on human collaborators and offered to become Zhang Chen’s stepfather, but Zhang Chen mocked him and Zhang Shi drove him away.
• The convoy stopped at dusk, and an escort master ordered the refugees not to light cooking fires.

Zhang Chen traveled south with his family in the Dragon Tiger Escort Agency’s refugee convoy, secretly killing men who threatened them and keeping them fed and safe. As the convoy swelled to tens of thousands, he sensed predators gathering around them and suspected the Demon Race was targeting the refugees.

• Zhang Chen exchanged firewood and millet for supplies in the escort camp, then used Earth Escape to fetch roasted pheasants and hot water for his family.
• Zhang Chen secretly suffocated eight men who had threatened his family, and Second Master Chen investigated their strange deaths before leaving their bodies for scavengers.
• Zhang Chen’s family traveled onward safely as he killed further would-be attackers, while the children trained and Zhang Tuowei grew slimmer.
• Zhang Chen spotted a gray wolf watching him from the grass, then noticed fierce beasts appearing more often around the convoy.
• Zhang Chen used Beast Control Technique to sense wolves, tigers, bears, and weasels surrounding the growing convoy and resolved to investigate that night.

Zhang Chen discovered that a demon beast was gathering tens of thousands of wild beasts around the Dragon Tiger Escort Agency and prepared to protect his family as they traveled. The next day, bloodied refugees fled into the group as wolves and other beasts began hunting people nearby.

• Zhang Chen detected countless wild beasts gathering in the forests but could not find the demon beast directing them.
• Zhang Chen warned Zhang Shi that he would take the family underground if danger arose, and Zhang Shi asked to learn martial arts.
• Zhang Chen agreed to have Cheng Yu teach Zhang Shi the True Dragon Great Stance and reassured her that she was family.
• Zhang Chen considered devouring Yellow Springs Water for points, but the Great Sovereign Demon King warned that it could erase his memories, so he abandoned the idea.
• The night passed peacefully, but the next day more than thirty bloodied refugees fled from wolves, followed by over a dozen groups driven into the camp by wild beasts.

Chen Ping, the Dragon Tiger Escort Agency’s young escort chief, organized the refugees against nearby beasts and showed kindness to Zhang Chen’s family. After Chen Ping gave Zhang Chen a bowl of rice and venison, two men tried to take it by force.

• Chen Ping led armored riders to hunt wild beasts, then arranged traps, defenses, and night watches for the refugees in exchange for meat.
• Zhang Chen’s family struggled to eat coarse wild vegetable cakes, and Chen Ping gave them white flour cakes after learning Zhang Chen’s father had died.
• The next day, Chen Ping served food to the refugees and added venison to Zhang Chen’s bowl as a reward.
• Zhang Shi warned that the meat might attract trouble, and two burly men approached Zhang Chen and demanded his meal.
• Zhang Chen refused to hand over the food, and the two men reached for him threateningly.

Zhang Chen and the Dragon Tiger Escort Agency helped the refugees repel a beast tide, while Zhang Chen searched for the demon beast controlling it. The battle turned as thunder and the sound of approaching cavalry startled the beasts, leaving Zhang Chen shocked that cavalry had appeared.

• Chen Ping stopped two men from robbing Zhang Chen and returned silver that Zhang Fei had hidden in the rice.
• Zhang Chen sensed a beast tide gathering around the camp after his falcon warned him of danger.
• Second Master Chen ordered Chen Ping to lead five hundred armored soldiers to help defend the refugees.
• Chen Ping and the refugees used arrows, bonfires, and torches to fight off the beasts while Zhang Chen searched for the hidden demon beast.
• After hours of fighting, thunder sounded and the ground trembled, and Zhang Chen realized cavalry was approaching.

Zhang Chen used the Sand Uniting Mystic Art to turn the Demon Race cavalry’s assault into chaos, giving the humans a chance to fight back. As the battle continued, underground beasts began attacking the refugees, and Zhang Chen hesitated to help for fear of drawing the hidden great demon’s attention to his family.

• Zhang Chen realized that Demon Race cavalry and underground beasts threatened the refugee camp, while Cheng Yu and the escort agency forces prepared to defend themselves.
• Zhang Chen unleashed the Sand Uniting Mystic Art, blinding and disorienting the beasts and Human Demons and breaking their control over the cavalry and beast horde.
• Chen Ping rallied the armored soldiers to attack the disoriented enemies, while Zhang Chen shielded his group with the Wind Stabilizing Pearl.
• Zhang Chen crushed nearby underground snakes and rats with his earth power, but other venomous snakes emerged and bit people across the camp.
• Zhang Chen considered whether to intervene further, fearing that the hidden great demon might target his family.

Zhang Chen upgraded his blood-path skill after the Blood God Sons gathered vast Experience Points from the northern lands’ slaughter, gaining the power to become a Blood River and expanding his influence over blood. As the beast tide surrounded the group, he sent all six Blood God Sons into the battle to help keep the escort agency and refugees from being overwhelmed.

• The Blood God Sons’ blood formations and the Demon Race’s slaughter filled Zhang Chen’s skill interface with enough Experience Points to upgrade Blood Influence into Body Transformation Blood River, creating a seventh Blood God Son.
• Zhang Chen sensed the devastation in the northern lands and learned that the Blood God Sons had absorbed battlefield blood while secretly attacking the Demon Race.
• The upgrade strengthened Zhang Chen’s blood-path abilities, and Cheng Yu noticed his transformed appearance as he reassured her about cultivation.
• Zhang Chen refused to flee because the beast tide surrounded the group and the escort agency and refugees were needed to protect his family.
• Zhang Chen sent a Blood God Son into the beast tide, then dispatched five more when its slaughter proved too slow.

Zhang Chen used his sea of blood and Beast Control Technique to turn the tide against the beast horde and protect the Dragon Tiger Escort Agency and refugees. As Chen Ping sent reinforcements to other parts of the camp, Chai Chuanxin watched from afar and revealed that he had caused the beast tide to obtain human blood and vital essence.

• Zhang Chen spread a subterranean sea of blood that devoured underground creatures, strengthened the Blood God Sons, and allowed them to teleport along its network.
• When hundreds of giant elephants threatened the convoy, Chen Ping refused to abandon the refugees and ordered his men to use fire.
• Zhang Chen sent the Blood God Sons against the elephants, then used his Beast Control Technique to make beasts within two thousand meters attack one another.
• With the beasts fighting among themselves, Chen Ping sent four hundred cavalrymen to support the camp's other defenses while he stayed behind with the remaining guards.
• Chai Chuanxin watched the slaughter from a mountain and admitted that he had instigated the beast tide to obtain human blood and vital essence; a young man in green robes demanded proof of his secret technique.

Chai Chuanxin and Zhuge Cheng prepared a bloodline-refining ritual while thousands of beasts fought near the human refugees. Zhang Chen recognized the Gambling Fox behind the beast tide as Chai Chuanxin approached his force field with Zhuge Cheng.

• Chai Chuanxin explained how the slaughter of beasts and humans, combined with moonlight essence, would create a Flesh Creation Pool to refine Zhuge Cheng’s bloodline.
• Zhuge Cheng described his fear that Zhuge Chengfeng’s Time Reversal could strengthen rather than weaken his bloodline, and Chai Chuanxin secretly coveted that power.
• When the beasts continued fighting despite Chai Chuanxin’s flute, he sensed a bloodline wielder disrupting his Beast Control Technique and went to investigate.
• Chai Chuanxin sensed danger at the edge of Zhang Chen’s force field, retreated, and persuaded Zhuge Cheng to accompany him.
• Zhang Chen struggled to protect the refugees from the ongoing beast tide, then spotted the Gambling Fox at its rear and realized he was behind the attack.

Zhang Chen confronted Chai Chuanxin, the Gambling Fox, and Zhuge Cheng after identifying them as the source of the beast tide. He overpowered their abilities with the Buzhou Seal, but they escaped, and he prepared to pursue them.

• Zhang Chen left Zhang Shi and his little sister behind, then used Earth Escape to confront Chai Chuanxin outside the storm.
• Zhang Chen controlled Chai Chuanxin with his Beast Control Technique, but Zhuge Cheng intervened with Mystic Ice Divine Light and froze Zhang Chen’s earthen defenses.
• Zhang Chen struck Zhuge Cheng and Chai Chuanxin with the Buzhou Seal, which erased Mystic Ice Divine Light and severely injured Chai Chuanxin.
• Zhuge Cheng activated Time Stop to suspend the Buzhou Seal, while Chai Chuanxin used Void Transformation to escape Zhang Chen’s restraints.
• Zhuge Cheng and Chai Chuanxin fled the falling seal, and Zhang Chen declared that they would not get away.

Zhang Chen abandoned his pursuit of Chai Chuanxin and Zhuge Cheng to rescue Chen Ping and help the camp survive a beast tide. Chai Chuanxin persuaded Zhuge Cheng to retreat and strengthen his bloodline before challenging Zhang Chen again, while Chen Ping organized the camp for the journey south.

• Zhuge Cheng sent the Mystic Ice Divine Light back at Zhang Chen, and he and Chai Chuanxin escaped before Zhang Chen could strike again.
• Zhang Chen returned to the camp, used torches to reach Chen Ping in the beast tide, and protected him until the guards gathered around them.
• The beasts suddenly fled into the mountains, and Chai Chuanxin convinced Zhuge Cheng not to return to fight Zhang Chen until they had strengthened his bloodline or found a way to counter the Buzhou Seal.
• Zhuge Cheng revealed that he had mastered Time Stop and was approaching Light Escape, then ordered Chai Chuanxin to send human traitors to investigate Zhang Chen.
• Chen Ping ordered the guards to count losses, maintain order, process the beast carcasses, and prepare the camp to continue toward Jiangnan.

After the beast tide, Zhang Chen returned to his family and secretly absorbed a small amount of blood to strengthen his skill. Chen Ping, grateful that Zhang Chen had saved his life, offered him a place in the Dragon Tiger Escort Agency, but Zhang Chen declined and accepted the agency’s protection for the journey to Jinling instead.

• Zhang Chen reunited with Cheng Yu, Zhang Shi, and the Three Little Ones as they roasted meat and prepared jerky with the refugees.
• Zhang Chen absorbed a drop of blood from beneath the ground and saw that his Body Transformation Blood River skill had gained three million points.
• An escort summoned Zhang Chen to meet Chen Ping, who had recovered enough to receive him at the Dragon Tiger Escort Agency’s camp.
• Chen Ping offered Zhang Chen martial training, a home, and land in Jinling in repayment for saving his life, but Zhang Chen refused the rewards.
• Chen Ping persuaded Zhang Chen to accept the agency’s protection and provisions on the journey south, and Zhang Chen agreed to call him Big Brother.

A month after joining the Dragon Tiger Escort Agency’s southbound convoy, Zhang Chen grew close to Chen Ping as they traveled through the northern lands and fought off repeated attacks. The journey still had months to go, and Chen Ping promised to bring Zhang Chen and his family safely to Jinling.

• Chen Ping offered to cover Zhang Chen’s travel expenses, and Zhang Chen accepted before his family joined the escort agency’s camp.
• Zhang Chen remained wary after Gambling Fox and a mysterious man briefly immobilized his Buzhou Seal, and he continued cultivating during the journey.
• Chai Chuanxin discovered that every trace of blood from the previous battle had vanished and warned Zhuge Cheng not to confront Zhang Chen recklessly.
• Over the following month, the Dragon Tiger Escort Agency repelled several attacks by people and demons from Outside the Pass, while Zhang Fei began martial arts cultivation.
• Chen Daxue invited Zhang Chen to share a drink with Chen Ping, who estimated that the convoy needed four more months to leave the Pacifying Border King’s territory and promised to get Zhang Chen safely to Jinling.

Zhang Chen and Chen Ping discussed the northern lands’ dangers and the loss of Dragon Tiger Escort Agency’s men before a supernatural wind swept away the convoy and refugees. Zhang Chen awoke in a desert with his family safe, but the escort agency and their belongings missing; he recovered Han Su Zhen’s statue from the sand.

• Chen Ping told Zhang Chen that he planned to recruit refugees and train an army, then lamented the seven thousand escort members lost and condemned the Pacifying Border King for abandoning the north.
• Chen Ping explained that Zhang Chen and his family were near the border between the Pacifying Border King’s territory and the Demon Race’s territory, where humans were being kept as food for beasts.
• A Strange Wind engulfed Dragon Tiger Escort Agency’s convoy and the refugees while Zhang Chen slept, but the Wind Immobilization Pill protected his cart.
• Zhang Chen awoke to find his family safe in a vast desert, while the escort agency, refugees, and the cart carrying his treasures had vanished.
• Zhang Chen used Earth Authority to search the sand and recovered Han Su Zhen’s statue, though his gold, silver, and other treasures were gone.

After losing his accumulated valuables in the desert, Zhang Chen continued toward the Second Heaven of the Spiritual World and reached the sea near Buzhou Mountain. Wu Changming used Dragon Saliva Incense to force his way into the Second Heaven, where the sea began corroding his Yin Spirit, and Zhang Chen recognized his cries.

• Zhang Chen continued through the sandy northern lands with his family, using Blood God Sons and a falcon to guard them and find food.
• After three months of travel, Zhang Chen saw Buzhou Mountain in the Second Heaven of the Spiritual World and flew toward it as a Vampire Bat.
• Wu Changming burned Dragon Saliva Incense and used its dragon-shaped aura to break through the World Barrier into the Second Heaven.
• The pressure of the Second Heaven severed Wu Changming's connection to his body and forced his Yin Spirit into the sea, whose water began corroding him.
• Zhang Chen heard Wu Changming screaming across the sea, returned to human form, and cautiously prepared to investigate.

Zhang Chen found Wu Changming trapped in the Second Heaven of the Spiritual World and learned the third-realm Qi Refining Technique from him. After they questioned whether the other was real, Zhang Chen explained the sea and the method of returning, while Wu Changming asked how to dispel the Divine Might.

• Zhang Chen found Wu Changming struggling in the seawater and brought him aboard his ice boat.
• Wu Changming claimed he had obtained the third-realm Qi Refining Technique verses from the Yellow Heaven Dao and recited them to Zhang Chen.
• Zhang Chen studied the verses and considered how the Primordial Spirit cultivation method compared with the Divine Soul Path.
• Zhang Chen told Wu Changming that the sea was made of a Heaven-Opening Water Spirit’s tears and that the nearby Heavenly Pillar suppressed all methods.
• Wu Changming revealed he had been trapped for half a month and asked whether Zhang Chen knew how to dispel the Divine Might so he could return.