Chapter Summaries

After Mu Feiyan was abducted by a Heretical Cultivator, Zhou Ming sent his companions to join the rescue while he waited at the airport. There he discovered Mu Feiyan aboard a plane with the Serpent Coffer Old Ancestor, but secretly recovered from the captain’s snake venom as the villains prepared to take off.

• Mu Zhenquan promised that whoever rescued Mu Feiyan could marry her, sending tens of thousands of pursuers after the Heretical Cultivator.
• Zhou Ming told Chen En, Lei Zuo, Zhang Yu, and Lei You to search for Mu Feiyan while he went to the airport to rest.
• Zhou Ming found an old public passenger plane and arranged to charter it to Xuan Qing City.
• Zhou Ming discovered the unconscious Mu Feiyan hidden in the plane, then the middle-aged captain’s gray snake bit him.
• The middle-aged captain revealed that Mu Feiyan and Zhou Ming were the Serpent Coffer Old Ancestor’s intended prey, and the Old Ancestor began lifting the plane.
• Zhou Ming secretly expelled the venom and opened his eyes as the Serpent Coffer Old Ancestor and the captain prepared to leave.

Zhou Ming awakened Mu Feiyan aboard the aircraft and confronted Serpent Coffer Old Ancestor, who had abducted her. After a fierce battle in the sky, Zhou Ming killed the Heretical Cultivator with his Spiritual Essence Handgun, leaving Mu Feiyan astonished by his strength.

• Zhou Ming realized Serpent Coffer Old Ancestor had lured the pursuers away before doubling back toward the airport with Mu Feiyan.
• Zhou Ming purged the toxins from Mu Feiyan and warned her that Serpent Coffer Old Ancestor was about to attack.
• Serpent Coffer Old Ancestor entered the cabin, and Zhou Ming's punch split the aircraft in two while injuring the Heretical Cultivator.
• Zhou Ming caught Mu Feiyan as she fell from the aircraft, then fought Serpent Coffer Old Ancestor in the air for two hours.
• Zhou Ming shot and killed Serpent Coffer Old Ancestor with his Spiritual Essence Handgun, and Mu Feiyan exclaimed at his strength.

After killing the Serpent Coffer Old Ancestor, Zhou Ming persuaded Mu Feiyan to claim credit for the fight while keeping his true strength secret. On the way back to Star Tangerine City, they discussed her family’s financial troubles and cultivation, and Mu Feiyan asked Zhou Ming to guide her.

• Zhou Ming collected manuals and pills from the Serpent Coffer Old Ancestor, then convinced Mu Feiyan to say she had killed the two Heretical Cultivators with his help.
• Mu Feiyan explained that her father held the Marriage Martial Arts Competition to raise money for the struggling Mu family's furniture business and repay debts incurred while supporting her cultivation.
• Mu Feiyan said she would marry the competition champion if he met her standards, though her father demanded a one-billion-Spirit-Coin bride price.
• Zhou Ming warned Mu Feiyan that her pills had caused toxins to build up and advised her to stop taking them and focus on stabilizing her realm.
• Mu Feiyan agreed to stop taking pills and asked Zhou Ming to guide her cultivation, and he agreed they could learn from each other.

Zhou Ming returned Mu Feiyan safely to Star Tangerine City, rejected Mu Zhenquan’s attempt to arrange a marriage, and agreed to stay in touch with her about cultivation. After he gave the National Special Operations Bureau evidence about the Heretical Cultivators, he set off for home with Chen En and his classmates, while Mu Feiyan suspected he had lied to her.

• Mu Feiyan reunited with her parents and explained how Zhou Ming had helped her escape and defeat the Heretical Cultivators.
• Mu Zhenquan tried to arrange for Zhou Ming to marry Mu Feiyan, but Zhou Ming refused because he loved Xiao Wei and left the City Lord’s Mansion.
• Mu Feiyan caught up with Zhou Ming, apologized for her father’s behavior, and exchanged addresses with him so they could discuss cultivation.
• Chen En and the others met Zhou Ming at a tavern, where Mu Feiyan arrived with National Special Operations Bureau investigators seeking details about the Heretical Cultivators.
• Zhou Ming told Team Leader Fang what had happened, led the investigators to the battlefield, and handed over the evidence and Spiritual Essence Handgun.
• Zhou Ming departed for home with Chen En and his classmates, and Mu Feiyan watched them leave while muttering that he had lied to her.

After returning to Xuan Qing City, Zhou Ming learned how the Bai family’s Xuan Qing Fruit and Guo Guo Rabbit businesses had grown into major sources of wealth. Bai Xu Tang argued that land near the Miasma Forest would become valuable as the nation’s population increased, leaving Zhou Ming to suspect that the growing alarm over land shortages had another cause.

• Lan Zhixi complained that Zhou Ming had rejected marriage proposals from several prominent families, and he insisted he wanted to focus on school.
• Zhou Ming toured the family’s fruit-processing plant with Bai Xu Tang and learned that Xuan Qing Fruit and rabbit feed brought Xuan Qing City hundreds of millions of Spirit Coins each year.
• Bai Xu Tang explained that the Rabbit Queen trained obedient Guo Guo Rabbits for sale to humans, while the less suitable rabbits stayed with the colony to plant trees.
• Bai Xu Tang said the Bai family’s greatest future asset would be the land beside the Miasma Forest and described how growing populations were driving cities to seek land.
• Zhou Ming questioned the claimed population limit and the sudden concern over land, then began to suspect the issue was being deliberately exaggerated.

After solving the Yongshui Village Ancient Temple Murders, Zhou Ming returned to Da Xian Academy and continued helping Mu Feiyan through letters, inventing a Spiritual Energy Typewriter and lending her money. He proposed reclaiming the Miasma Forest as a more promising business for the struggling Mu family, which decided to pursue the plan.

• Zhou Ming submitted his report on the Yongshui Village Ancient Temple Murders, and Da Xian Academy approved it, awarded his group ten thousand Contribution Points, and announced that the case was solved.
• Zhou Ming invented a Spiritual Energy Typewriter to answer Mu Feiyan's cultivation questions more efficiently and sold its patent to a state department for 500 million Spirit Coins.
• Zhou Ming lent Mu Feiyan fifty million Spirit Coins to help her family and explained that her letters had inspired the invention.
• When Mu Feiyan asked how the Mu family could escape its financial troubles, Zhou Ming sent her plans for reclaiming land in the Miasma Forest and urged the family to pursue land development.
• The Mu family studied Zhou Ming's plans and, encouraged by national discussion about population growth and limited land, decided to invest in reclaiming the Miasma Forest.

The Ten Thousand Chariots Nation used reports of crimes by Southern Yuan Heretical Cultivators to build support for invading the Southern Yuan Continent. Its leaders and the Four Great Sects agreed on how to divide the conquered territory, and the nation began preparing for war as Zhou Ming watched from the shadows.

• The National Special Operations Bureau blamed Southern Yuan Heretical Cultivators for Mu Feiyan’s abduction and other murders, and Mu Feiyan urged the public to support stronger action against them.
• Zhou Ming warned Mu Feiyan that her paid appearance at the press conference had made her a pawn, while she said an official had paid her five million Spirit Coins.
• Wu Xinyu and the nation’s upper ranks met with the leaders of Azure Cloud, Guang Lei, Red Star, and Flying Cloud Mountains to plan an invasion and divide its spoils.
• Ying Shiyu and Mei Qianhong had proposed the conquest to secure more Spirit Veins, while the nation’s leaders also sought new territory, resources, and markets.
• After several days of arguing, the nation and the Four Great Sects agreed on troop contributions and shares of the Southern Yuan Continent’s cities, resources, and Spirit Veins.
• Public support for the invasion rose above ninety percent, the Ten Thousand Chariots Nation began mobilizing for war, and Zhou Ming watched from the shadows.

Zhou Ming considered the Ten Thousand Chariots Nation’s impending invasion of Southern Yuan Continent and advised the Mu family and his family in Xuan Qing City on how to benefit without chasing the spoils of conquest. The Mu family chose to join the land grab, while the Bai family followed Zhou Ming’s advice and stayed independent to profit from trade.

• Zhou Ming recognized that the Ten Thousand Chariots Nation’s shortage of Spirit Vein energy and military superiority had driven it toward conquering Southern Yuan Continent, and he worried the nation might expand too recklessly.
• Mu Feiyan told Zhou Ming that the Mu family was abandoning land reclamation to raise money for the invasion, but Zhou Ming urged them to keep reclaiming Miasma Forest because land within the Ten Thousand Chariots Nation would keep appreciating.
• Despite Zhou Ming’s advice, the Mu family scraped together twenty million to join the campaign for Southern Yuan Continent.
• Bai Xu Tang told Zhou Ming that Xuan Qing City had become the expeditionary army’s frontline base and asked whether the Bai family should join the Ten Thousand Chariots Nation to share in the conquest.
• Zhou Ming advised the Bai family to remain independent and build a low-tax free trade port to benefit from future commerce between the two continents.
• After discussing Zhou Ming’s reasoning, the Bai family abandoned its plan to join the Ten Thousand Chariots Nation.

Ten Thousand Chariots Nation organized civilian legions to help conquer Southern Yuan Continent, and Zhou Ming discussed the war’s prospects with General Fan Yangzhi. The chapter ended with Fan Yangzhi privately hoping the war would continue, while Zhou Ming warned that an easy victory could lead to endless militarism.

• Ten Thousand Chariots Nation announced five requirements for civilian legions, prompting thousands of cities to form and equip one-thousand-man forces.
• Zhou Ming predicted that Ten Thousand Chariots Nation would defeat Southern Yuan Continent quickly and with few casualties.
• Two months later, Zhou Ming returned to Xuan Qing City and found it crowded with troops, civilian legions, and preparations for the expedition.
• At a banquet, the Bai family’s old master introduced Zhou Ming’s achievements to General Fan Yangzhi, who recognized him as the inventor Zhou Yuan.
• Zhou Ming told Fan Yangzhi that an easy victory might encourage endless wars, but Fan Yangzhi privately welcomed the prospect of more military campaigns.

Mu Zhenquan brought the Mu Family Legion to Xuan Qing City, where Zhou Ming judged it too weak to earn an expedition quota. The Bai and Mu Families agreed to build a stronger legion together, and Zhou Ming prepared to train it.

• Mu Zhenquan arrived in Xuan Qing City with the thousand-member Mu Family Legion and was welcomed into Bai Mansion by Zhou Ming and the Bai family.
• Zhou Ming inspected the Mu Family Legion and pointed out its weak cultivator ratio, inferior equipment, and poor unity, warning that it would not qualify for an expedition.
• Zhou Ming offered Bai family cultivators, equipment, supplies, and funds in exchange for the Bai and Mu Families sharing the benefits equally.
• Mu Zhenquan accepted the cooperation, and Zhou Ming decided to oversee the legion's training to make it elite enough to qualify.

Zhou Ming trained the Mu Family Legion while Mu Feiyan's efforts to protect Guo Guo Rabbits endeared her to the Bai family, who privately agreed with the Mu family on a marriage alliance. As the Ten Thousand Chariots Nation's expeditionary fleet departed for the Southern Yuan Continent, Zhou Ming declared that a new era had begun.

• Zhou Ming trained the Mu Family Legion for seven days and left its commanders to continue his methods.
• Mu Feiyan helped catch poachers and rescue royal Guo Guo Rabbits, and Fan Yangzhi ordered strict penalties for theft and damage to local property.
• Lan Zhixi and the Bai family women teased Mu Feiyan about Bai Feiyang, while the family came to regard her as his future wife.
• Bai Xu Tang and Mu Zhenquan privately agreed to a marriage alliance between the Bai and Mu families.
• On February 3rd, the Ten Thousand Chariots Nation's fleet carrying troops and supplies departed south from Xuan Qing City, and Zhou Ming said a new era had begun.

Zhou Ming won Da Xian Academy’s tournament and grew much stronger after facing its most talented students. He then invented movie-making equipment and led a group of classmates in filming the Ten Thousand Chariots Nation’s first movie, “Seven Swords Descend the Mountain to Fight Demons.”

• Zhou Ming reluctantly entered the Academy Tournament after his classmates urged him to represent Metal Wood Department Class One.
• Zhou Ming defeated the fourth-year champion on April 30 and claimed the Academy Champion title after a difficult tournament against several students with powerful killing moves.
• Zhou Ming used the tournament to analyze and learn his opponents’ ultimate sword techniques, increasing his strength by an estimated 2.2 times.
• Zhou Ming invented a camera, a soundstone recorder, and a film projector in the artifact-refining laboratory.
• Zhou Ming gathered more than thirty classmates and acquaintances and invested twenty million Spirit Coins to film “Seven Swords Descend the Mountain to Fight Demons” in the academy’s back mountain.

Zhou Ming’s film Seven Swords Descend the Mountain to Fight Demons became a sensation at Da Xian Academy and launched a profitable movie industry. He partnered with the academy to develop film technology and rewarded his classmates, while the film’s box-office success was poised to grow far beyond its first month.

• Zhou Ming screened Seven Swords Descend the Mountain to Fight Demons at the Metal Wood Department, where students praised the film and crowded around its actors for autographs and friendship.
• Zhou Ming expanded screenings to Da Xian Academy’s auditorium, drawing packed audiences and winning praise from academy leaders, who awarded him fifty thousand Contribution Points.
• Merchants offered as much as five billion Spirit Coins for Zhou Ming’s film-equipment patents, but he refused to sell them.
• Zhou Ming earned forty-five million Spirit Coins in one month from his cinema and partnered with Da Xian Academy to develop the film industry, splitting ownership equally.
• Zhou Ming gave the classmates who acted in the film one million Spirit Coins each as acting fees.

Zhou Ming learned that the Ten Thousand Chariots Nation’s invasion had devastated Southern Yuan Continent and turned its cities and treasures into spoils. Back in Xuan Qing City, he helped Bai Xu Tang arrange cheaper transport for the plunder, while resistance led by Zhang Zhe continued to fight the occupation.

• The Ten Thousand Chariots Nation’s fleets and civilian legions conquered Southern Yuan Continent’s sects and cities, while committing massacres, looting, and other atrocities.
• Zhou Ming learned that Zhang Zhe had formed the Black Flag Army and destroyed a civilian legion, prompting the Expeditionary Fleet to focus on suppressing the resistance.
• After returning to Xuan Qing City in early July, Zhou Ming saw vast quantities of Southern Yuan Continent’s wealth being unloaded at the northern airport.
• Bai Xu Tang told Zhou Ming that the Bai family had earned at least one billion Spirit Coins by charging to transport treasures from the airport.
• When Bai Xu Tang asked how the Mu Family Legion could transport its plunder more cheaply, Zhou Ming proposed using the nation’s Spiritual Essence Warships.
• Bai Xu Tang contacted the National Defense Army, which assigned two Spiritual Essence Fleets to haul treasures and undercut the cargo merchant ships’ transport prices.

After the Ten Thousand Chariots Nation conquered the Southern Yuan Continent, pressure from families and powerful factions pushed national leader Wu Xinyu toward another war. The chapter ended with a completed plan to invade the Western Yuan Continent.

• Bai Xu Tang told Zhou Ming that his family had arranged his marriage to Mu Fairy, and Zhou Ming reluctantly agreed to the alliance while postponing marriage until after graduation.
• Two years later, the Ten Thousand Chariots Nation had assimilated the Southern Yuan Continent and killed Black Flag Army leader Zhang Zhe.
• Wu Xinyu faced unrest from families and legislators who demanded a share of future conquest benefits.
• A legislator urged Wu Xinyu to target the Western Yuan Continent or Northern Yuan Continent, while the Four Great Sects and fleet commanders also demanded further gains.
• Wu Xinyu ordered a new war plan, and a month later the plan named the Western Yuan Continent as its target.

As the Ten Thousand Chariots Nation prepared to expand its military, Zhou Ming persuaded Chen En and his friends not to enlist and planned to return home to marry Mu Feiyan. At the wedding arena, Bai Feiyang defeated one hundred challengers in three days, establishing a new standard for genius.

• The National Defense Army recruited fifth-year students with generous salaries as the Ten Thousand Chariots Nation prepared to add two fleets for a campaign against the Western Yuan Continent.
• Zhou Ming warned Chen En, Lei Zuo, Lei You, and Zhang Yu about the dangers of war, and they gave up their plans to enlist; Luo Xiao Pang and Jin Songming had already joined.
• Zhou Ming decided to return home for his wedding to Mu Fairy, then declared he would face one hundred challengers over three days and give up marrying her if anyone defeated him.
• Bai Feiyang defeated thirty-three challengers on the first day and thirty-four on the second, while Mu Feiyan worried that the challenge was too dangerous.
• On the third day, Bai Feiyang defeated the remaining challengers, including five immortals, while Liu Changguan conceded after three hundred exchanges.
• Bai Feiyang completed one hundred battles with one hundred victories, and people began judging genius by whether someone could last a hundred exchanges against him.

Ten years after marrying Mu Feiyan, Zhou Ming left cultivation seclusion to travel with his friends, while Ten Thousand Chariots Nation grew increasingly fanatical as it expanded abroad. After seven years of adventures, he returned with his pregnant wife and discovered that the nation had undergone a dramatic upheaval.

• Zhou Ming and Mu Feiyan spent more than three years cultivating on Flying Cloud Mountain, advancing to the peak of Core Solidification Late Stage.
• Zhou Ming saw that the Four Great Sects were gaining most from Ten Thousand Chariots Nation’s conquest of Western Yuan Continent, but chose to focus on cultivating rather than trying to regain control of the nation.
• Zhou Ming commissioned the Sky-Soaring Law Boat Flying Glory, then invited Chen En, Zhang Lan, Lei Zuo, and their other friends to travel with him.
• Zhou Ming and his companions spent seven years exploring more than thirty continents, battling enemies, finding treasures, and improving their cultivation.
• After discovering Mu Feiyan was pregnant, Zhou Ming returned with his companions to Ten Thousand Chariots Nation and found that its situation had changed drastically during their absence.

Eastern Yuan Continent invaded Ten Thousand Chariots Nation’s homeland while its forces were fighting in Northern Yuan Continent, devastating over a hundred cities and escaping with immense spoils. Zhou Ming realized that open war between the two powers was now inevitable.

• Ten Thousand Chariots Nation invaded Northern Yuan Continent, but Eastern Yuan Continent intervened and helped its ally resist.
• After more than two years of heavy fighting, Ten Thousand Chariots Nation’s stronger forces pushed the Eastern and Northern Yuan alliance toward defeat.
• Eastern Yuan Continent sent a fleet to attack Ten Thousand Chariots Nation’s homeland, devastating over a hundred cities and plundering resources and technology.
• Ten Thousand Chariots Nation’s remaining fleet was caught in ambushes and nearly destroyed, while its other fleets returned too late to stop the invasion.
• Ten Thousand Chariots Nation’s newspapers demanded revenge, and Zhou Ming concluded that war with Eastern Yuan Continent was inevitable.

After Eastern Yuan Continent’s victory over Ten Thousand Chariots Nation, Jiang Ruyue assigned captured technical workers and ordered the borders strengthened. Old Ancestor Hu Luo reflected on how she had unified and modernized the continent, and she arranged to visit her mother in Demon Suppression Tower the next day.

• At a victory celebration, the Nine Great Leaders praised Jiang Ruyue’s strategy and requested technical workers captured from Ten Thousand Chariots Nation.
• Jiang Ruyue distributed the technical personnel among the mountains, ordered that they be treated well, and called for stronger border defenses and intelligence gathering.
• Old Ancestor Hu Luo recalled supporting Jiang Ruyue’s rise because he cared for her and believed Eastern Yuan Continent needed to unite.
• Jiang Ruyue asked Old Ancestor Hu Luo to arrange her visit to her mother in Demon Suppression Tower on Darkness Day.

Jiang Ruyue visited her imprisoned mother during the Demon Extermination Festival, then reaffirmed her vow to free her and revealed the three wishes driving her life. She intended to reclaim her mother’s power, punish the Nine Great Leaders, and destroy the Ten Thousand Chariots Nation.

• Jiang Ruyue visited her mother in the Demon Suppression Tower, and they shared a meal while watching fireworks outside.
• Jiang Ruyue condemned the festival and swore she would free her mother, while her mother urged her not to hate others.
• Jiang Ruyue left the tower after spending the night with her mother and silently renewed her promise to save her.
• Jiang Ruyue recalled how her mother raised her in the tower and persuaded Old Ancestor Hu Luo to take her outside when she was five.
• Jiang Ruyue resolved to reclaim everything that belonged to her mother and punish the Nine Great Leaders, whom she regarded as traitors.
• Jiang Ruyue vowed to destroy the Ten Thousand Chariots Nation to surpass her father and punish him for abandoning her mother.