Chapter Summaries

After Town Lin City’s first victory, Zhou Ming planned to lure Red Star Mountain into another trap, while Hongyan Daozu learned that the expedition force had been wiped out and mobilized the sect for a full assault. Town Lin City’s cannons and firearms devastated the new force, leaving Hongyan Daozu and one elder as the only survivors to escape.

• Zhou Ming rejected an immediate attack on Red Star Mountain and decided to lure its forces into another battle near Town Lin City.
• A messenger told Hongyan Daozu that Town Lin City had hired thirty immortals with Spirit Coins and defeated the expedition force, prompting the elders to demand a full-scale attack.
• Hongyan Daozu led a force of sixty-eight immortals and more than thirteen hundred elite disciples aboard the Sky-Soaring Giant Boat toward Town Lin City.
• Town Lin City’s fifty Spiritual Essence Cannons destroyed the giant boat, killing or wounding most of the immortals and nearly all the disciples.
• Spiritual Essence Guns, Sniper Crossbows, and Repeating Crossbows killed the immortals who advanced, while Hongyan Daozu and one elder escaped back to Red Star Mountain.

After Red Star Mountain’s failed campaigns against Town Lin City, Hongyan Daozu arrested Shen Quan as a suspected spy and demanded intelligence about the city’s weapons. Shen Quan warned that Red Star Mountain would perish within three months unless it made peace, leaving Hongyan Daozu shaken and uncertain.

• Hongyan Daozu ordered disciples from Town Lin City arrested, but most had fled and Shen Quan was captured at the foot of the mountain.
• Hongyan Daozu accused Shen Quan of betraying Red Star Mountain and threatened to search and refine his soul for information about Town Lin City’s weapons.
• Shen Quan explained that he had stayed behind to cover the other disciples’ escape and warned that Guang Lei Mountain could seize Red Star Mountain’s Spirit Vein while its ancestors remained in Life and Death Seclusion.
• Shen Quan urged Hongyan Daozu to stabilize the sect and negotiate peace with Town Lin City, but Hongyan Daozu grabbed him by the throat and called him a traitor.
• Shen Quan warned that Red Star Mountain would perish within three months without peace, and Hongyan Daozu’s grip loosened as fear overtook his anger.

Zhou Ming pursued a ceasefire with Red Star Mountain to buy Town Lin City time to develop and avoid provoking the surrounding sects. After Shen Quan returned safely, Zhou Ming and a Red Star Mountain elder signed a three-year agreement that left both sides expecting the peace to eventually end.

• Zhou Ming decided that Town Lin City should make peace with Red Star Mountain, while preparing to destroy the sect if talks failed.
• Shen Quan returned to Town Lin City three days later, escorted by a Red Star Mountain elder, and Zhou Ming sent him to rest.
• Zhou Ming argued that Red Star Mountain needed Town Lin City's help to withstand the surrounding sects, despite the elder's hostility.
• Zhou Ming persuaded the elder to sign a three-year Ceasefire Agreement covering weapons sales, limited military support, and restrictions on Town Lin City's expansion.
• The elder expected Red Star Mountain to destroy Town Lin City after its ancestors emerged from seclusion, while Zhou Ming planned to use the three years to strengthen the city.

After Town Lin City’s victory over Red Star Mountain, Zhou Ming prepared to step down as city head and gave Yang Zheng a plan for a Cities Commercial Alliance. He urged Yang Zheng to build railways and expand trade among more than thirty cities, leaving Town Lin City poised to pursue influence through commerce rather than annexation.

• Families in Jin Rock City reacted to Town Lin City’s victory, with supporters celebrating and others regretting that they had not helped.
• Zhou Ming faced opposition from the city councilors and Yang Zheng when he announced that he intended to step down at the end of his term.
• Zhou Ming explained that he wanted to focus on education and cultivation while continuing to advise Town Lin City as a city councilor.
• Zhou Ming gave Yang Zheng a Cities Commercial Alliance proposal, arguing that commerce did not violate the ceasefire agreement with Red Star Mountain.
• Zhou Ming outlined plans for more than fifty railway lines connecting thirty-three cities and described industries each city could develop through cooperation with Town Lin City.
• Yang Zheng accepted the proposal and resolved to carry out its plans after becoming city head.

Two months after stepping down as head of Town Lin City, Zhou Ming devoted himself to building Da Xian Academy’s Spirit Gathering Tower, hoping it would accelerate cultivation and help the city surpass the sects. Gao Xiuzhen, newly advanced to Core Solidification, urged him to cultivate with her once the tower was finished, while Zhou Ming was left wondering why his talent seemed deliberately damaged.

• Zhou Ming stepped down as head of Town Lin City and reflected on his stalled cultivation and the cultivation knowledge gathered at Da Xian Academy.
• Zhou Ming oversaw construction of the Spirit Gathering Tower, which was designed to concentrate spiritual energy and support thousands of cultivators.
• Zhou Ming told Gao Xiuzhen that the tower could help Town Lin City produce cultivators faster than the sects and eventually challenge their power.
• Zhou Ming learned that Gao Xiuzhen had reached Core Solidification and that the system believed his own talent had likely been deliberately damaged.
• Gao Xiuzhen urged Zhou Ming to cultivate with her after the tower was completed, and he agreed.

Wu Gang’s Special Operations Team captured Yin Xianqi after he used a girl as a hostage, and former city chief Zhou Ming ordered that he be tried and executed for stealing women’s aptitudes and killing seven officers. Ying Shiyu and Mei Qianhong arrived demanding Yin Xianqi’s release, and Zhou Ming’s response left them shocked and uneasy.

• Yin Xianqi took a girl hostage during his flight, but Wu Gang persuaded him to surrender by claiming the city chief could grant him an exemption from execution.
• Wu Gang reported Yin Xianqi’s capture to Zhou Ming, who ordered a swift trial and execution despite Yin Xianqi’s ties to his family.
• Zhou Ming recalled that Yin Xianqi had used an Essence Extraction Technique to drain three female students’ aptitudes, then killed seven officers while resisting arrest.
• Ying Shiyu and Mei Qianhong demanded that Zhou Ming release Yin Xianqi, and Zhou Ming answered them with words that shocked and frightened them.

Zhou Ming confronted Ying Shiyu and Mei Qianhong about his lost aptitude, and Mei Qianhong explained that she had resumed an aptitude-stealing cultivation art to save their family from Flying Cloud Mountain. He refused to let family ties interfere with Town Lin City's laws and left after declaring that Yin Xianqi would be executed and further crimes by Yinghua Valley disciples would bring severe punishment.

• Zhou Ming deduced that his parents had taken his original aptitude and confronted them about being Heretical Cultivators.
• Mei Qianhong admitted that she had practiced the Yin Yang Plundering Transformation Art, then resumed it while pregnant with Zhou Ming to help the family escape Flying Cloud Mountain's attack.
• Ying Shiyu and Mei Qianhong begged Zhou Ming to spare Yin Xianqi, their senior disciple, after he killed someone.
• Zhou Ming insisted that Town Lin City's laws applied to Yinghua Valley and declared that Yin Xianqi would be executed.
• Zhou Ming warned that further widespread crimes by Yinghua Valley disciples would result in severe punishment and expulsion, then left the hall.

After Yin Xianqi was executed, Mei Qianhong persuaded Ying Shiyu to reform Yinghua Valley and abandon its heretical methods. Zhou Ming revealed that Flying Cloud Mountain planned to attack Red Star Mountain, and Ying Shiyu awaited a plan to exploit the conflict.

• Yin Xianqi was executed, and his death strengthened respect for Town Lin City's laws.
• Ying Shiyu resented Yin Xianqi's execution and threatened to leave, but Mei Qianhong argued that Yinghua Valley needed to abandon its heretical path and reform.
• Mei Qianhong explained that Yinghua Valley's aptitude-plundering methods were unsustainable, convincing Ying Shiyu that the sect had to change.
• Mei Qianhong told Ying Shiyu that Zhou Ming would support the reformed sect with cultivation methods, students, and a new home at Flying Cloud Mountain.
• Zhou Ming told Ying Shiyu that Flying Cloud Mountain planned to attack Red Star Mountain, and Ying Shiyu eagerly asked how they would respond.

Zhou Ming explained why Flying Cloud Mountain planned to attack Red Star Mountain, which had lost most of its immortals and weakened its control of the Spirit Vein. Town Lin City chose to pass Red Star Mountain a warning and wait for the battle to weaken Flying Cloud Mountain, leaving Zhou Ming’s mysterious Secret Weapon unrevealed.

• Zhou Ming explained that sects depended on Spirit Veins and that Red Star Mountain’s reduced strength had increased the spiritual energy reaching Flying Cloud Mountain.
• Flying Cloud Mountain concluded that Red Star Mountain had lost nearly eighty immortals and decided to attack with its full force in about three days.
• At a meeting, Ying Shiyu suggested letting both sects cripple each other, but Fang Yang and Shen Quan warned that Guang Lei Mountain could benefit instead.
• Zhou Ming said Town Lin City would send Shen Quan to warn Red Star Mountain while staying out of the battle.
• Zhou Ming planned to use a Secret Weapon against Flying Cloud Mountain’s fleeing remnants after the battle, leaving Ying Shiyu wondering what it was.

Red Star Mountain used Town Lin City's intelligence to prepare an ambush that crushed Flying Cloud Mountain's invasion. Three days later, Town Lin City launched a massive ship-shaped craft into the sky.

• Hongyan Daozu learned from Shen Quan that Flying Cloud Mountain was preparing to attack Red Star Mountain, and resolved to summon an ancestor from seclusion.
• Dao Ancestor Hua Yun considered attacking Town Lin City first, but Tian Pingzi persuaded him to keep his forces focused on Red Star Mountain.
• Red Star Mountain's forces ambushed Flying Cloud Mountain's army in a valley, where fire and crossbow volleys killed most of the invaders and weakened the survivors.
• Hongyan Daozu's main force attacked the retreating Flying Cloud Mountain forces, leaving only ten injured people to return; Dao Ancestor Hua Yun fainted after reaching home.
• Three days later, Town Lin City launched a huge ship-shaped craft from a forest, its engines and large tubular weapon visible.

Zhou Ming explained how the Initial Number’s Super Spiritual Essence Cannon could kill Spirit Manifestation Stage immortals by targeting them in their cave dwellings. At Flying Cloud Mountain, Tian Pingzi mistook a disciple’s attempt to direct sunlight at the Dao Ancestor’s cave for espionage, just before the world turned snow-white.

• Zhou Ming’s team completed the Initial Number, whose Super Spiritual Essence Cannon could fire shells fast enough to kill Spirit Manifestation Stage immortals.
• Zhou Ming argued that immortals could be targeted while sitting in their cave dwellings, which offered little protection from the cannon.
• Three days later, Tian Pingzi patrolled Flying Cloud Mountain while its leaders recovered and its missing elite disciples had yet to return.
• Tian Pingzi caught a disciple positioning a mirror at the Dao Ancestor’s cave entrance and accused him of being a spy.
• Tian Pingzi ordered two Direct Disciples to remove the mirror, and the entire world suddenly turned snow-white.

Zhou Ming and his allies destroyed Flying Cloud Mountain with the Initial Number, killed its leading immortals, and took control of the mountain. After learning that Xun Dingzi had fled west, Zhou Ming reassured Ying Shiyu about Guang Lei Mountain and saved the surrendered disciples from execution by claiming them for Town Lin City.

• A Shadowless Organization operative used a mirror to guide the Super Spiritual Essence Cannon through Flying Cloud Mountain's tunnels, killing the ancestor and gravely injuring Tian Pingzi.
• The Initial Number bombarded Flying Cloud Mountain while its crew killed the immortals who tried to attack, and Ying Shiyu and Mei Qianhong pursued and killed the last two of them.
• Zhou Ming's group confirmed the ancestor was dead, killed the delirious Dao Ancestor Hua Yun and unconscious Tian Pingzi, and learned that Xun Dingzi had fled west three days earlier.
• Zhou Ming concluded that Xun Dingzi had gone to Guang Lei Mountain for reinforcements and proposed blaming Red Star Mountain for Flying Cloud Mountain's destruction.
• Ying Shiyu ordered the surrendered disciples killed, but Zhou Ming stopped him and arranged to take more than three hundred captives back to Town Lin City.

After Flying Cloud Mountain fell, Zhou Ming planned to build a mortal nation that would govern the region independently of immortal sects and restrict their privileges. The messenger pressured Red Star Mountain to cooperate, while Hongyan Daozu recognized the threat but rejected the proposed alliance in his heart.

• Zhou Ming gave Ying Shiyu and Mei Qianhong control of Flying Cloud Mountain while keeping its forty-three mortal cities under his administration, intending to build a centralized nation for mortals.
• Hongyan Daozu learned that Flying Cloud Mountain had been destroyed and panicked at the prospect that Town Lin City could kill Spirit Manifestation Stage ancestors.
• The messenger warned Hongyan Daozu not to oppose Town Lin City and urged Red Star Mountain to cooperate in a convincing show with Guang Lei Mountain.
• The messenger offered reconciliation and a possible alliance, asking Red Star Mountain to respect mortal interests and accept separate governance of mortals and immortals.
• Hongyan Daozu inwardly rejected the terms, fearing that mortal control of resources and disciples would weaken Red Star Mountain and subordinate immortals to the new nation.

Zhou Ming expanded the Hundred Cities Commercial Alliance while Town Lin City built its economy and military strength, but Golden Sun Old Ancestor’s emergence from seclusion renewed Red Star Mountain’s confidence. Golden Sun Old Ancestor attacked Town Lin City and was gravely wounded by its cannon, then was killed by the Initial Number while recovering, leaving Red Star Mountain afraid to provoke the city.

• Zhou Ming focused on developing the Hundred Cities Commercial Alliance, whose GDP more than doubled in three years as railways, farms, and workshops spread.
• Golden Sun Old Ancestor emerged from seclusion at Spirit Manifestation Late Stage, restoring Red Star Mountain’s confidence.
• Old Ancestor Hongyan urged Golden Sun Old Ancestor to destroy Town Lin City, and Golden Sun Old Ancestor flew there to attack it.
• Town Lin City fired its Super Spiritual Essence Cannon and grievously wounded Golden Sun Old Ancestor when he tried to destroy the city from above.
• Golden Sun Old Ancestor hid in his cave to recover, but the Initial Number blasted through the stone door and killed him.
• Red Star Mountain stopped provoking Town Lin City for many years.

Twenty years after leaving Town Lin City, Jiang Ruonan returned as a powerful Spirit Manifestation Stage cultivator and surveyed the transformed city from above. She planned to sneak inside and kill Zhang Shanhe, the man she missed and credited with teaching her much of what she knew.

• Jiang Ruonan viewed Town Lin City from a dharma vessel and reflected on how its rapid development had erased the places she remembered.
• She recalled the five years she had spent in the city, her affection for Zhang Shanhe, and the lessons she had learned by watching him.
• Jiang Ruonan revealed that she had survived years of torment at a devil's side, killed him, and acquired his possessions before reaching her current strength.
• She decided to kill Zhang Shanhe because doing so would bring her pleasure, despite her longing for him.
• Jiang Ruonan planned to slip into Town Lin City in secret to avoid its Spiritual Essence Cannons.

Jiang Ruonan attacked Zhou Ming, whom she knew as Zhang Shanhe, and nearly killed him before demanding he explain why she wanted him dead. She revealed that she hated him because he had valued his own life over dying to protect her, then thrust her sword toward his wounded chest.

• Zhou Ming worried that immortals were continuing to infiltrate Town Lin City, steal its secrets, and kill or kidnap its people despite the city's countermeasures.
• Jiang Ruonan appeared in Zhou Ming's study, mistook him for Zhang Shanhe, and strangled him until he could barely breathe.
• After Zhou Ming asked why she was trying to kill him, Jiang Ruonan pierced his chest and threatened to crush his heart.
• Zhou Ming accepted that he might die and told Jiang Ruonan to finish him, but she stopped his bleeding and gave him a chance to guess her reason.
• Jiang Ruonan said she wanted him dead because he had not been willing to die to protect her, then thrust her sword toward his chest.

Jiang Ruonan spared Zhou Ming, bound him with a Heart-Devouring Gu, and ordered him to prepare a grand welcome for her arrival in Town Lin City in three days. Zhou Ming then brought Su Yuanlong into his plan to handle her demands while protecting the city.

• Jiang Ruonan declared that she would descend upon Town Lin City in three days and demanded a magnificent welcome.
• Jiang Ruonan implanted a Heart-Devouring Gu in Zhou Ming and warned him that his life belonged to her before vanishing.
• Zhou Ming concluded that Jiang Ruonan wanted to use him and the valuable resources of Town Lin City rather than kill him.
• The next day, Zhou Ming summoned Su Yuanlong and told him that Jiang Ruonan had returned with immense cultivation and had controlled him with a Gu.
• Zhou Ming stopped Su Yuanlong from confronting Jiang Ruonan and explained his plan to satisfy her demands while avoiding her anger.

Town Lin City prepared an elaborate welcome for Jiang Ruonan, whose arrival with eight immortal sedan bearers stunned the city’s hidden factions. Zhang Shanhe received her, while Su Yuanlong was left shocked by her refusal to acknowledge him, and the factions feared Town Lin City had gained powerful reinforcements.

• Town Lin City mobilized residents, factories, schools, soldiers, and cultivators for three days to prepare an extravagant welcome, alarming the factions hiding in the city.
• Jiang Ruonan arrived in a sedan chair carried by eight immortals, and Town Lin City greeted her with horns, falling petals, fighter-jet formations, and fireworks.
• Jiang Ruonan felt satisfied with Zhang Shanhe’s reception and remembered her resentment over what she believed he owed her.
• Su Yuanlong addressed Jiang Ruonan as Little Sister Ruonan, but her attendant Ning Shuang drew her sword before Jiang Ruonan ordered her to lower it and ignored him.
• The hidden factions concluded that Jiang Ruonan was likely at the Spirit Manifestation Stage and panicked over the arrival of eleven immortals allied with Zhang Shanhe.

Zhou Ming learned that Jiang Ruonan needed military aid because the nine great sects of Eastern Yuan Continent had besieged Free and Unfettered Palace after she armed a million cultivators and conquered mortal cities. He refused to send Town Lin City's forces and weapons until Jiang Ruonan first helped him resolve a danger threatening the city.

• Jiang Ruonan repeatedly tried to make Zhou Ming call her Master, but he resisted despite the pain of the Heart-Devouring Gu.
• Jiang Ruonan explained that Free and Unfettered Palace was under siege and needed outside assistance.
• She revealed that she had found a massive Soul Stone mine, formed a million-strong cultivator legion, conquered a thousand mortal cities, and killed thousands of immortals, provoking the nine great sects.
• Zhou Ming criticized Jiang Ruonan for acting before she had built up enough strength, then stopped when her murderous intent rose.
• Jiang Ruonan demanded Town Lin City's cultivators, weapons, and warships, but Zhou Ming refused until she helped remove a hidden danger in the city.

Zhou Ming negotiated cooperation with Jiang Ruonan, offering Town Lin City’s support for the crisis facing the Free and Unfettered Palace in exchange for her help removing hostile forces within the city. Jiang Ruonan agreed and rapidly subdued Town Lin City’s infiltrators, but remained baffled by Zhou Ming’s resistance to her Heart-Devouring Gu.

• Zhou Ming saw Jiang Ruonan’s return as a chance to clear hostile forces from Town Lin City and proposed cooperating with her to address the Free and Unfettered Palace’s crisis.
• Zhou Ming set out conditions, including time to gather his forces in Heavenly Sun City and deal with remaining enemies, and explained that Town Lin City’s telegraph made the schedule possible.
• Jiang Ruonan demanded access to the telegraph, then agreed to cooperate after considering the proposal for two cups of tea.
• Jiang Ruonan spent two days purging Town Lin City’s infiltrators, killing twenty-one of thirty-seven Core Solidification Stage immortals and controlling the remaining sixteen with her Heart-Devouring Gu.
• Jiang Ruonan subdued Old Ancestor Hu Luo and made him her slave, then questioned why Zhou Ming endured the same Gu’s torture more than forty times without breaking.