Chapter Summaries

Lu Yuan and the Dongfang family recovered from the aftermath of a disturbing incident, while the Yang Family held Yang Yan’s wedding to her chosen live-in son-in-law. As the ceremony was about to continue, disorderly footsteps interrupted it.

• Lu Yuan reassured Yuan Mao that the brutal outcome showed why people had to adapt to the victor’s rules, then watched Dongfang Huaizhu and Dongfang Qinlan leave.
• Yuan Mao teased Lu Yuan about his feelings for Dongfang Huaizhu, and Lu Yuan knocked her on the head before returning home.
• Xiao Wancheng arrived at the Yang Family wedding intending to cause trouble, while Yang Yifang fretted over Yang Yan’s sudden marriage and Dongfang Guyue teased him.
• Yang Yan and her groom completed the public introduction, and the ceremony was set to proceed with only two bows before the guests.
• Disorderly footsteps broke the quiet just as the first wedding step ended.

At Yang Yan and her husband’s wedding, Xiao Wancheng led the Black Radiance Inspectors into Yang Mansion and accused the groom of colluding with demons. The groom denied the charge, but Xiao cited his deputy captain as a witness, and Lu Yuan intervened just as the groom began to answer.

• Xiao Wancheng arrived at the wedding with armed Black Radiance Inspectors and claimed he had come to congratulate the Yang Family.
• The Li Family head defended Yang Yifang, giving Xiao a chance to frame his accusation as a defense of Yang Yifang’s good name.
• Xiao accused Yang Yan’s bewildered groom of betraying his race and colluding with demons, stirring the observing disciples while the invited elders watched in silence.
• Yang Yan believed her husband’s denial, while Yang Yifang regarded his son-in-law with distrust.
• Xiao claimed the groom’s deputy captain had seen him release a demon and accept its gifts; Lu Yuan sent a voice transmission that stopped the groom from admitting anything.

At the Yang Family wedding, Lu Yuan secretly warned the Yang Family Son-in-Law to deny Xiao Wancheng’s accusations and promised to handle the witness himself. He recruited Li Muchen to help with a jade teapot as Xiao Wancheng called for his witness.

• Lu Yuan warned the Yang Family Son-in-Law that his wife and child were in danger if he admitted the accusations, and the son-in-law denied Xiao Wancheng’s claims.
• Xiao Wancheng accused the son-in-law of colluding with Monstrous Beings and called for a witness, alarming Yang Yifang and Yang Yan.
• Lu Yuan advised the son-in-law to deny everything and said he would handle the witness, including silencing the witness and counterattacking.
• Lu Yuan asked Li Muchen to help operate a jade teapot, explaining that she would open it and later draw its contents back in response to his signal.
• Li Muchen agreed to help and asked to visit Godly Fire Mountain Manor, where Lu Yuan offered to teach her cultivation and introduce her to friends.

Li Muchen reflected on being overshadowed by her brothers and secretly dismissed their understanding of the secret transmission as incomplete. At the Yang Family wedding banquet, Xiao Wancheng used a deputy captain’s accusation to justify arresting the Yang Family Son-in-Law.

• Li Muchen recalled how Li Zizai and Li Quzhuo had surpassed her and privately called them frogs at the bottom of a well.
• Lu Yuan reassured Dongfang Huaizhu before turning his attention to the deputy captain being brought before the gathering.
• Xiao Wancheng pressured the uninjured deputy captain to testify against the Yang Family Son-in-Law.
• The deputy captain accused the Son-in-Law of releasing a Mountain Demon, meeting it at night, and accepting its gift, then fell silent after mentioning Yang Yifang’s daughter.
• Xiao Wancheng ordered the Yang Family Son-in-Law arrested.

Lu Yuan intervened when Xiao Wancheng tried to arrest Yang Yan’s husband, challenged the Xiao Family’s evidence and authority, then broke the sword of Xiao Wancheng’s daughter and struck her down. As the wedding descended into chaos, Li Muchen concealed Black Fox in a teapot, while Dongfang Huaizhu approached her and offered help.

• Yang Yan stepped in front of her husband as Xiao Wancheng’s Black Radiance Inspectors prepared to arrest him.
• A golden Pure Yang Flame wall forced the inspectors back, and Lu Yuan appeared and rebuked Xiao Wancheng for acting without verifying the evidence or allowing a defense.
• Xiao Wancheng’s daughter attacked Lu Yuan, who caught and broke her sword before striking her with a powerful counterattack.
• Li Muchen used the dust and confusion to hide Black Fox inside a teapot, while Lu Yuan called Xiao Wancheng’s side monstrous beings and summoned Golden Flame and Black Flame.
• Dongfang Huaizhu suspected that Lu Yuan had captured the strange fox, moved beside Li Muchen, and quietly asked whether she needed help.

At the Xiao Family’s wedding, Lu Yuan exposed the Black Fox as a monstrous being that had infiltrated the proceedings and controlled its supposed witness. After the Black Fox tried to recruit him and escape, Dongfang Guyue and others attacked while Li Muchen secretly captured it, leaving Lu Yuan to maintain his human loyalty as the Dao Alliance realized how valuable he was.

• Li Muchen declined Dongfang Huaizhu’s offer, while Dongfang Guyue trusted that Lu Yuan was not bluffing about having seen a monstrous being.
• The Black Fox emerged from the dust, survived Xiao Wancheng’s sword strike, and revealed that it had controlled the witness, undermining the Xiao Family’s evidence against the Yang Family.
• Lu Yuan recognized the Black Fox and questioned it about its disguise, prompting it to boast about its race and invite him to join them.
• The Black Fox denounced humanity, claimed it had nearly escaped Dongfang Guyue before, and announced that it would leave after urging Lu Yuan to accept its offer.
• Dongfang Guyue, Wang Quan Fei Lao, and others attacked the Black Fox as Lu Yuan shouted that he remained loyal to humanity; Li Muchen secretly trapped the escaping Black Fox in a container.
• Xiao Wancheng realized that Lu Yuan had become a valuable detector of hidden monstrous beings, making an attack on him dangerous for the Xiao Family.

Lu Yuan drove off Xiao Wancheng’s party after destroying the witness who threatened Mu Mie’s family, and the wedding resumed. He ended the celebration still sober after outdrinking the elders, while Dongfang Huaizhu shared his secret.

• Lu Yuan turned the witness into ash, then told Xiao Wancheng to leave unless he had more convincing witnesses.
• Yang Yifang challenged Xiao Wancheng, who departed with the Black Radiance Inspectors and the injured woman.
• Lu Yuan returned to the Viewing Platform and whispered “Secret” to Dongfang Huaizhu after noticing her movements.
• The Yang Family repaired the crater and red carpet, and the wedding quickly continued toward its final ceremony.
• Lu Yuan drank cup after cup without getting drunk and eventually drank the Wen Family patriarch under the table.

Lu Yuan gave Li Muchen a cultivation scroll while keeping its dangerous potential and his own plans secret. He learned that his trainees had reached the Pawn realm and ordered Chen An to begin an assessment tied to the Dragon Shadow Bookstore.

• Dongfang Qinlan complained about the smell of alcohol, and Dongfang Huaizhu warned her to watch what she said about Lu Yuan.
• Lu Yuan gave Li Muchen the Heaven and Earth Scroll and told her to read it fully before cultivating; she promised to keep it secret.
• Lu Yuan reflected on the scroll's power and the danger of letting its methods spread before humanity could protect him.
• Yuan Mao reported that Lu Yuan's trainees had entered the path, with most reaching the Pawn realm, and confirmed Dongfang Guyue had given no instructions.
• Lu Yuan ordered Yuan Mao to bring Chen An over and made the Dragon Shadow Bookstore's plan to disrupt the world with literature their future assessment task.

Ten years after Dragon Shadow Bookstore opened, its willful publishing practices had helped transform the surrounding town into a thriving hub. As July approached, a snake demon entering the border to buy a book was mistaken for a wanted person, shaved bald, and then abandoned when the search party realized he was not their target.

• Dragon Shadow Bookstore’s books became bestsellers, and their limited print runs encouraged merchants and demons to make copies and learn human writing.
• The bookstore’s success drew merchants to the remote town, which grew rapidly and brought its original residents greater prosperity.
• A princess of the Southern Kingdom once tried to move Dragon Shadow Bookstore, its people, and its building to the Southern Kingdom, but the attempt failed.
• A low-cultivation snake demon entered the border to buy a book and was shaved bald by a streak of black light.
• The search party checked the snake demon against wanted posters, found he was not their target, and left to go home and eat.
• The snake demon was left weeping in the sand as he realized July was approaching.

Lu Yuan reviewed Hidden Star’s increased revenue and considered how Dragon Shadow’s hierarchy and reputation protected its affiliated forces. He gave Yuan Mao a notebook and asked her to summon Mu Chen, leaving the purpose of the meeting unstated.

• Lu Yuan praised Yuan Mao after she reported that total revenue had risen by 12.2 percent from the previous month.
• Lu Yuan reflected on the different paths of Six Stars and Hidden Star, and on how Hidden Star’s intelligence operatives were not meant to fight on the front lines.
• Lu Yuan considered Dragon Shadow’s clothing ranks, its deceptive intelligence network, and the Great Demon King-level strength protecting its affiliated forces.
• Lu Yuan took out his jade dragon-head thumb ring, a little-seen token of his identity, and thought that Yuan Mao could use more ambition.
• Lu Yuan handed Yuan Mao a black notebook and told her to ask whether Mu Chen was available and, if so, to have him come find Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan told Li Muchen that she had already seen the world’s truth and invited her to travel to the Southern Kingdom to learn what the Extraterrestrial Being wanted. As Yuan Mao prepared the group for the journey, Li Muchen realized Lu Yuan was likely planning to confront the four Demon Emperors.

• Yuan Mao accepted Lu Yuan’s decision, while Dongfang Huaizhu and Dongfang Qinlan discussed Li Muchen’s return and Huaizhu resolved not to make a scene.
• Lu Yuan told Li Muchen he would fulfill his old promise to take her to see the world, then explained that the truth she sought was the world beyond and that the Extraterrestrial Being was in the teapot she had once received.
• Li Muchen realized she had encountered and controlled the Extraterrestrial Being long ago, and laughed at how far she had surpassed the other gifted young cultivators who still sought the truth.
• Lu Yuan said he and Li Muchen would visit the Southern Kingdom and ask the Extraterrestrial Being what it wanted, while Yuan Mao reported that the preparations were ready and the manor lord had withdrawn to his room.
• Li Muchen inferred that Lu Yuan intended to face the four Demon Emperors and concluded that he had reached the King Rank.

Lu Yuan prepared to challenge the Southern Kingdom’s Poison Emperor, hoping to raise humanity’s standing, and organized a forty-five-person operation. The chapter ended with Yuan Mao reading the operation’s codename: “Conquer the South!!!”

• Lu Yuan declared that humanity’s broken spine had to stand tall again, revealing his plan to use the Poison Emperor as a stepping stone to build his reputation.
• Dongfang Qinlan arrived, sparred verbally with Li Muchen, and agreed to tell Dongfang Huaizhu that Lu Yuan wanted to say goodbye to her.
• Lu Yuan accompanied Dongfang Qinlan to Dongfang Huaizhu, who later visited Dongfang Guyue and learned that even he could not gauge Lu Yuan’s strength.
• Yuan Mao confirmed that forty-five people, including Lu Yuan, were ready for the operation.
• Lu Yuan named the first proactive human strike against demons “Conquer the South!!!”

Lu Yuan revealed the purpose and stakes behind the “Conquer the South” operation, which Yuan Mao agreed to lead despite the likelihood of heavy losses. The chapter ended with Lu Yuan accepting that sacrifice was unavoidable while resolving to use his strength to prevent needless deaths.

• Lu Yuan reflected on his ambition to unify the world and the confidence behind the operation’s codename, “Conquer the South.”
• Yuan Mao considered the suffering humans had endured under demons and affirmed that she could take the first step in the plan.
• Lu Yuan warned Yuan Mao that the elite fighters could be broken or killed, and she handed him their wills.
• Lu Yuan accepted the possibility of sacrifice but resolved to prevent unnecessary losses with sufficient strength.

Lu Yuan prepared his team for a dangerous expedition into the Southern Kingdom, where they would challenge the powers threatening humanity. After assigning the formation, he departed with Yuan Mao and Li Muchen, leaving the others to watch him go.

• Lu Yuan ate a lavish breakfast with Yuan Mao before setting out, knowing the group would face scarce food and water on the journey.
• Lu Yuan told the assembled fighters that humanity would take the fight to the Southern Kingdom and announced their battle formation.
• Lu Yuan led Yuan Mao and Li Muchen into the sky as the team departed to begin its campaign.
• Dongfang Guyue watched Lu Yuan leave and held back what he wanted to say to his eldest daughter.

Lu Yuan’s group continued toward the Southern Kingdom after rescuing refugees, killing demons, and mapping a safe route through hostile territory. As they entered the forest, Lu Yuan halted at the sight of a donkey carrying a human.

• Lu Yuan impaled a Demon King’s head with the Conquer the South banner and arranged for the rescued refugees to settle nearby.
• Yuan Mao reported their location was about 1,730 li from the Southern Kingdom, while Tian Xuan returned with six others after executing 136 demons.
• Lu Yuan praised the team, kept watch through the night, and led them onward at dawn, warning them to stay alert in the forest.
• An elderly refugee organized the survivors to build shelters and gather food around the demon’s head and banner.
• Lu Yuan stopped his group atop a treetop when he saw a donkey carrying a human approaching.

Lu Yuan’s group encountered Black Donkey A Zhu, a Great Demon King, and Li Muchen challenged him when he demanded they make way. Lu Yuan sent her down to face him as a lesson in the gap between their strengths, while he stayed ready to intervene.

• Lu Yuan recognized the seemingly ordinary donkey as a Great Demon King, and Yuan Mao and the others readied their weapons.
• Li Muchen read A Zhu’s sign demanding that they make way and arrogantly refused.
• Lu Yuan anticipated that A Zhu would retaliate against the group’s hostility and offered to let Li Muchen try fighting him.
• Lu Yuan coaxed Li Muchen into going down to confront A Zhu while he restrained Yuan Mao and signaled the others to hold back.

Hu Weisheng fled as Lu Yuan and the others confronted Black Donkey A Zhu, and Lu Yuan decisively overpowered the Great Demon King in a barehanded fight. A Zhu surrendered, but Xiao Xia’s voice called for it from nearby, leaving its fate unresolved.

• Hu Weisheng ran away while Lu Yuan’s group faced Black Donkey A Zhu.
• Lu Yuan let A Zhu choose whether to fight him, and Li Muchen stepped aside when Lu Yuan took over.
• A Zhu attacked Lu Yuan with a powerful hoof strike, but Lu Yuan caught its hooves and threw it into the ground.
• A Zhu stopped resisting and wondered whether Lu Yuan was human or demon.
• Xiao Xia called out for A Zhu as it lay in the pit, and Lu Yuan watched with amusement.

Lu Yuan defeated Black Donkey A Zhu and forced him to become his mount, using Yue Ti Xia’s safety as leverage. He sent Yue Ti Xia home while she stared in disbelief at A Zhu following Lu Yuan.

• A Zhu realized Lu Yuan had noticed his reaction and feared the human might discover his connection to Yue Ti Xia.
• Yue Ti Xia tried to reach A Zhu, but Lu Yuan’s Spatial Barrier blocked her attacks and stopped her from crossing.
• Lu Yuan identified A Zhu and ordered him to become his mount, then threatened Yue Ti Xia’s safety when A Zhu tried to negotiate.
• A Zhu agreed to let Yue Ti Xia leave, but Lu Yuan punched him and declared that A Zhu had no right to set terms.
• A Zhu lowered himself onto all four hooves and followed Lu Yuan, who told Yue Ti Xia that her donkey belonged to him and urged her to go home.

Lu Yuan refused Yue Ti Xia’s offer to exchange any conditions for A Zhu’s release and proposed that the Moon Crying Clan cooperate with Dragon Shadow businesses in return for pledging loyalty to him. Li Muchen immediately warned him against making such a dangerous deal.

• Lu Yuan made A Zhu keep walking as Yue Ti Xia followed and asked him to return the donkey.
• Yue Ti Xia offered to apologize and compensate Lu Yuan on behalf of the Moon Crying Clan, but he stopped her from revealing her clan ties to his subordinates.
• Yue Ti Xia promised to accept any conditions if Lu Yuan released A Zhu, while he clarified that he had not threatened to kill it.
• Lu Yuan proposed that the Moon Crying Clan cooperate with Dragon Shadow Bookstore and its affiliated shops in exchange for pledging personal loyalty to him.
• Li Muchen arrived and urged Lu Yuan to reconsider, warning that cooperation with demons would bring a monstrous accusation.

Lu Yuan let Yue Ti Xia and Black Donkey A Zhu go, but Yue Ti Xia caught up with him and confessed that she liked him. After confirming that she could represent the Moon Crying Clan in the cooperation he had proposed, Lu Yuan took her hand, while Li Muchen returned to the group in tears.

• Lu Yuan released Yue Ti Xia and A Zhu, telling them to pretend they had never met, and Li Muchen followed him without taunting Yue Ti Xia.
• A Zhu persuaded Yue Ti Xia that she liked Lu Yuan and urged her to pursue him, then rode with her after Lu Yuan's group.
• Lu Yuan's party rested near the Southern Kingdom border, and he took Li Muchen aside, where they found Yue Ti Xia and A Zhu waiting.
• Yue Ti Xia bowed and confessed that she liked Lu Yuan, while A Zhu offered her as a representative of the Moon Crying Clan for Lu Yuan's proposed cooperation.
• Lu Yuan asked Yue Ti Xia whether those were truly her thoughts; she nodded, and he took her hand after asking Li Muchen whether she liked him too.
• Li Muchen returned to the resting group, leaned against a tree, and struggled to hold back her tears.