Chapter Summaries

Luo Li and Lu Yuan joined forces against Ji Xuan’s group, but an outside warning alerted Ji Xuan to Lu Yuan’s ambush, and Ji Xuan stabbed him through the chest. Lu Yuan survived and revealed a sudden surge of power, leaving Luo Li stunned.

• Lu Yuan supported Luo Li but slipped away while she prepared to face Ji Xuan’s pursuing group.
• Ji Xuan caught up with Luo Li and sent his followers to wear her down while they sealed off her escape routes.
• Luo Li fought through the encirclement and forced Ji Xuan toward the ground to create an opening for Lu Yuan’s attack.
• An unexplained warning alerted Ji Xuan to Lu Yuan’s earthen disguise, and Ji Xuan abandoned his defense against Luo Li to stab Lu Yuan through the chest.
• Luo Li carried Lu Yuan away and vowed revenge, but Lu Yuan sat up, blasted the sword from his chest, healed instantly, and released a powerful aura.

Lu Yuan revealed his power and overwhelmed Ji Xuan, while Mu Chen and his reinforcements arrived. As the academy deans intervened, Lu Yuan used the Red Thread against the Mirror of Judgment, then vanished after giving Luo Li and Mu Chen threads as trump cards.

• Lu Yuan put on a coat retrieved through Spatial Power and told Luo Li he had never claimed to have no cultivation.
• Lu Yuan offered Ji Xuan’s followers a chance to flee, then repelled Ji Xuan’s attack by redirecting it through a spatial rift.
• Mu Chen arrived with reinforcements, and Ji Xuan wrongly accused him and Luo Li of plotting together.
• Lu Yuan asked whether Mu Chen was Mu Feng’s son and whether his mother was Qing Yan Jing, then moved to kill Ji Xuan.
• A Supreme intervened with the Mirror of Judgment, but Tai Cang disrupted the deans and Lu Yuan’s Red Thread seized the mirror and drained the Holy Spirit Academy Dean’s cultivation.
• Lu Yuan gave Luo Li and Mu Chen Red Dust Threads, reminded Luo Li she owed him a farewell kiss, and disappeared.

Luo Li explained that the Red Dust Threads fused into her and Mu Chen were Lu Yuan’s legendary Spiritual Art, then left him to consider Lu Yuan’s connection to time. Outside the Mirror of Judgment, Tai Cang defended his intervention and arranged for the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy to recruit Luo Li.

• Luo Li told Mu Chen that Red Dust Threads was Lu Yuan’s personal offensive Spiritual Art, famed for killing dozens of Earth Supremes, and that only Lu Yuan could wield it.
• Luo Li suggested that Lu Yuan could use Red Dust Threads because he had touched upon time, then left Mu Chen alone to think it through.
• Tai Cang told the gathered academies that the Holy Spirit Academy’s Dean had deserved his death and warned them against challenging the Endless Fire Territory over it.
• Tai Cang instructed a female elder to meet Luo Li at the exit and invite her to apply to the Northern Heavens Spiritual Academy.

After returning to Demon Saint Valley, Hu Jiu Jiu learned that Lu Yuan had been in seclusion and that the valley’s defenders had suffered no casualties. Lu Yuan then broke through to the Supreme Realm, revealing power so immense that he believed he could face even an Earth Supreme without fear.

• Hu Jiu Jiu returned to Demon Saint Valley with the Nine-tailed Fox Clan and cautiously confirmed that the valley had not been attacked and its defenders were safe.
• The Third Elder told Hu Jiu Jiu that Lu Yuan had entered seclusion after displaying the aura of the Heavenly Realm Late Stage, and that guards had been assigned to protect him.
• The Third Elder and Hu Jiu Jiu’s clansmen discussed protecting Lu Yuan and the other races’ attempts to win him over through marriage alliances.
• A world-like projection appeared above Demon Saint Valley as Lu Yuan’s breakthrough shook the area and overwhelmed the cultivators with his aura.
• Lu Yuan realized his Inner World and power had transformed, and judged that he could defeat weaker Earth Supremes and would probably not lose to Dean Tai Cang.

Lu Yuan and the Nine-tailed Fox Clan discussed their next steps after his rise to Supreme, but a visitor seeking help for her mother interrupted them. The visitor’s plea exposed how little she could offer as grounds for intervention, leaving the clan without a clear way to challenge the Lin Family.

• Hu Jiu Jiu brought Lu Yuan to a meeting with the Nine-tailed Fox Clan’s elders to discuss the clan’s plans after their victory.
• A hooded young woman arrived with a jade pendant and revealed that Hu Qi Qi was her biological mother.
• Hu Qi Qi’s daughter explained that Luo Clan had cut her mother’s allowances, spread rumors about her, and confined her in the Lin Family ancestral hall.
• Lu Yuan pointed out the weaknesses in the girl’s account and asked how she expected the Nine-tailed Fox Clan to help.
• Hu Qi Qi’s daughter realized she had no plan or suitable grounds for the clan to intervene, while Hu Jiu Jiu and the elders saw they had no clear basis to confront the Lin Family.

Lu Yuan questioned Lin Yi about the Lin Clan’s strength to assess the danger of rescuing Hu Qi Qi, and she revealed that the clan could field dozens of Supremes and at least one Earth Supreme. The Nine-tailed Fox Clan realized that an assault on the Lin Clan Ancestral Hall would be overwhelmingly dangerous.

• Lu Yuan calmed Hu Jiu Jiu and the elders, then helped Lin Yi recover her composure by asking her name.
• Lu Yuan introduced himself as Yao Chen’s disciple, and Hu Jiu Jiu and the elders learned that Yao Chen had become a Half-Step Ninth Grade Alchemist.
• Lu Yuan asked Lin Yi to describe the Lin Clan’s forces in case the clans went to war.
• Lin Yi listed one Earth Supreme, numerous Supremes, and possible additional elders in the Lin Clan Ancestral Hall, then said she no longer considered herself part of the Lin Clan.
• Lu Yuan concluded that the Lin Clan’s strength and defensive arrays made rescuing Hu Qi Qi from the Ancestral Hall extremely dangerous.

Lu Yuan rejected a direct assault or a costly plea to the Lin Family and proposed using marriage ties with the Nine-tailed Fox Clan’s subsidiary races to build a united show of strength. The plan depended on Lu Yuan holding off the Lin Family’s Earth Supreme while the allied clans gained enough leverage to force negotiations over the Seventh Princess.

• Hu Jiu Jiu, the elders, and Lin Yi concluded that the Nine-tailed Fox Clan lacked the strength to rescue the Seventh Princess by attacking the Lin Family directly.
• Lu Yuan ruled out pleading with the Lin Family and a rapid buildup of the clan’s own experts, then proposed gathering powerful cultivators from the subsidiary races for a show of strength.
• Lu Yuan explained that marriage ties could make the subsidiary races appear united with the Nine-tailed Fox Clan, discouraging the Lin Family from risking a costly war.
• Lu Yuan ordered the subsidiary families to offer their best women as brides for Nine-tailed Fox Clan men and promised to deal with families that resisted.
• Hu Jiu Jiu and the elders accepted the plan, and Lu Yuan said he would contend with the Lin Family’s Earth Supreme.

Hu Jiu Jiu and Lu Yuan discussed the Nine-tailed Fox Clan’s preparations to rescue Hu Qi Qi from the Lin Family through alliances with subordinate clans. Hu Jiu Jiu remained torn between wanting Lu Yuan to save her sister and fearing the danger he would face.

• Lu Yuan rejected a plan to force the Nine-tailed Fox Clan’s young generation to advance quickly because it would cripple the clan’s future for centuries.
• Over three days, the Nine-tailed Fox Clan’s elders negotiated marriage alliances with subordinate families, including deeper partnerships intended to bind them to the clan’s coming conflict with the Lin Family.
• The Nine-tailed Fox Clan offered eligible unmarried women as potential Maids to Lu Yuan, but he chose none, while Lin Yi continued to volunteer to serve him.
• Lu Yuan told Hu Jiu Jiu that their deep-alliance partners needed to provide at least one hundred and fifty Supreme Realm experts who had passed the Three Small Tribulations, or they might defect under pressure.
• Hu Jiu Jiu worried that Lu Yuan, a Supreme facing the Lin Family’s Earth Supreme and numerous other experts, might not be able to save Hu Qi Qi, though she still wanted him to try.

Lu Yuan reassured Hu Jiu Jiu that he would keep fighting the Lin Family Old Ancestor even if he were gravely injured, then recounted the brutal childhood that shaped his resolve. Hu Jiu Jiu accepted his commitment and pledged the Nine-tailed Fox Clan’s full support for the coming war.

• Lu Yuan told Hu Jiu Jiu he needed her to remain steadfast if the war began, even if he were seriously injured or died before they achieved their goal.
• Hu Jiu Jiu agreed to hear about Lu Yuan’s past so she could understand his resolve and steady her own.
• Lu Yuan recounted how, as a child, he fled his village after a Titled Douluo threatened him and survived for six years in a forest by hunting Soul Beasts and tending his own wounds.
• Lu Yuan explained that revenge and past mistakes had made him ruthless, but his teachers and Dao Companions helped him regain balance and learn to trust others.
• Lu Yuan asked Hu Jiu Jiu to fight on without fearing his death, and she pledged to support him in every way.

The Nine-tailed Fox Clan prepared for possible war with the Lin Family while rebuilding Demon Saint Valley and reorganizing its resources and forces. The First Elder remained too occupied to resume his breakthrough, while Hu Jiu Jiu studied how to use the terrain in a worst-case battle.

• The First Elder continued managing clan affairs instead of taking the two or three months needed to return to the Supreme Realm.
• The Seventh Elder oversaw repairs to Demon Saint Valley, restored its spirit arrays, and worked to revive damaged resource areas.
• The Sixth Elder organized clan and Giant Spirit Eagle Clan resources, coordinated specialized workers, and prepared supplies for emergencies.
• The Second Elder arranged marriage contracts between the Nine-tailed Fox Clan and affiliated families, while the Fifth, Fourth, and Third Elders handled casualties, military organization, and training.
• The Third Elder and the other military elders reorganized surviving soldiers into coordinated forces that could challenge Supreme Realm cultivators.
• Hu Jiu Jiu analyzed the continent’s terrain and planned how the clan might use it if war broke out.

Hu Jiu Jiu took Lu Yuan and Lin Yi to the Lin family to negotiate for Hu Qi Qi’s release, balancing military preparations against the hope of resolving the dispute peacefully. The chapter leaves them setting out after the Nine-tailed Fox Clan prepared its forces and clarified its ties with subordinate clans.

• Hu Jiu Jiu waited for Lu Yuan to stabilize his realm while the Nine-tailed Fox Clan rebuilt its troops and prepared for possible conflict.
• The Nine-tailed Fox Clan arranged agreements with subordinate clans, ranking their relationships and setting limits on their cultivation in exchange for resources and protection.
• Hu Jiu Jiu chose to visit the Lin family with Lu Yuan and Lin Yi, hoping to assess its strength and negotiate before resorting to force.
• Hu Jiu Jiu and Lu Yuan considered offering compensation and supporting Hu Qi Qi if the Lin family agreed to let her return home.

Lu Yuan and Hu Jiu Jiu traveled with Lin Yi to the Lin Family’s main city, where Lin Yi explained the city’s defenses and the rules for entering its Inner City. After bringing them inside, she asked whether they should announce their visit or first gather information about the Lin Clan.

• Lu Yuan, Hu Jiu Jiu, and Lin Yi spent three days traveling to the Eastern Continent Lin Family and another half day reaching its territory.
• Lin Yi guided Lu Yuan and Hu Jiu Jiu through Lin City and described its seventeen subordinate cities, five Outer City districts, and heavily fortified Inner City.
• Lin Yi explained that her status as a member of one of the Lin Clan’s seven branches allowed her to bring five outsiders into the Inner City.
• Lin Yi used her identity token to bring Lu Yuan and Hu Jiu Jiu through the Gold Domain gate.
• Lin Yi asked whether they should submit a visiting card or gather information first, since her knowledge of the Lin Clan’s affairs might be outdated.

Hu Jiu Jiu decided to gather information before approaching the Lin Family, weighing Hu Qi Qi’s safety and ransom value against the danger of fighting on Lin territory. At Lin Yi and Hu Qi Qi’s courtyard, Lin Yi explained how Luo Clan had removed the household servants, and Hu Jiu Jiu revealed that gossip on the way had already disclosed Hu Qi Qi’s current situation.

• Hu Jiu Jiu argued that she and Lu Yuan needed to learn whether Hu Qi Qi was alive and how the Lin Family regarded her before deciding how to negotiate or fight.
• Lu Yuan agreed that investigating first was necessary because he sensed an aura in the Inner City that could threaten him.
• Lin Yi led Lu Yuan and Hu Jiu Jiu to the courtyard she shared with Hu Qi Qi, where residents’ discriminatory stares were directed at Lin Yi.
• Lin Yi explained that Luo Clan had gradually removed the servants from the household, allowing Luo Clan’s maids to discover Hu Qi Qi’s Medicated Cuisine.
• Lu Yuan criticized Luo Clan for betraying Lin Yi’s father’s trust, and Hu Jiu Jiu told Lin Yi not to ask around because they had already heard news of Hu Qi Qi from people gossiping about Lin Yi.

Hu Jiu Jiu delivered a visiting card to the Lin Family Reception Hall and waited to meet the Family Head, while the guards hesitated over how to treat her and Lu Yuan. As the full account of Hu Qi Qi’s case emerged, Hu Jiu Jiu’s respect remained for Lin Yi’s father, not the Lin Family that had made Hu Qi Qi the scapegoat.

• Hu Jiu Jiu released her Supreme aura and sent her visiting card to the Lin Family guards at the Reception Hall.
• One guard read that Hu Jiu Jiu, Clan Leader of the Nine-tailed Fox Clan, had come to visit the Lin Family Head and carried the card inside.
• The remaining guard lowered his spear, apologized to Hu Jiu Jiu, and kept her group outside while he followed Lin Family rules.
• The Lin Family had blamed Hu Qi Qi for seducing Lin Yi’s father and causing him to misuse Medicine Repository ingredients, shielding more powerful figures from responsibility.
• Hu Jiu Jiu and Lu Yuan understood that the Lin Family had scapegoated Hu Qi Qi, while Lin Yi’s father had continued providing Medicated Cuisine for her despite the risks.

Hu Jiu Jiu and Lin Yi met Lin Qi and the Lin Clan elders to negotiate for Hu Qi Qi, while the elders’ insults tested the guests’ resolve. After Lin Qi smoothed over the confrontation and the group exchanged introductions, he asked Hu Jiu Jiu why she had come.

• The Lin Clan leader and several Supreme Realm elders arrived, and some elders insulted Lin Yi and the Nine-tailed Fox Clan to establish dominance.
• Lin Yi stayed composed, while Hu Jiu Jiu challenged Lin Qi over whether he agreed with the elders’ remarks.
• Lin Qi denied agreeing, rebuked the elders, and invited Hu Jiu Jiu, Lu Yuan, and Lin Yi into the Reception Hall.
• The two sides observed formal reception etiquette and introduced themselves, while Lin Qi considered how the Nine-tailed Fox Clan’s rise affected the Lin Clan’s interests.
• Lin Qi asked Hu Jiu Jiu what had brought her to the Lin Family.

Hu Jiu Jiu offered the Lin Clan double compensation to free Hu Qi Qi, but Lin Qi’s elders demanded influence over the Nine-tailed Fox Clan instead. Lu Yuan rejected Lin Qi’s request for a day to deliberate and forced the dispute toward an immediate settlement or a fight.

• Hu Jiu Jiu offered to compensate the Lin Clan for its losses in exchange for Hu Qi Qi’s return.
• An elder objected to releasing Hu Qi Qi, claiming it would damage the Lin Clan’s rules and reputation.
• Hu Jiu Jiu raised the offer to double compensation, but the elder proposed sending Lin Clan disciples to help manage the Nine-tailed Fox Clan’s territory.
• Seven of the ten elders supported the proposal, and Lin Qi asked Hu Jiu Jiu to wait a day while the Lin Clan discussed her request.
• Lu Yuan accused the Lin Clan of seeking greater benefits and demanded that it either accept the double compensation and release Hu Qi Qi or fight.

Lin Qi considered trading cooperation and access to resources with the Nine-tailed Fox Clan, but Lu Yuan and Hu Jiu Jiu distrusted the Lin Family’s assurances. After revealing his Supreme Realm power, Lu Yuan seized a woman resembling Lin Yi, broke through the family’s defenses, and led the escape.

• Lin Qi explained that he wanted to discuss long-term cooperation with the Nine-tailed Fox Clan rather than control its internal affairs.
• Lu Yuan and Hu Jiu Jiu remained wary because they were inside the Lin Family and could not risk trusting Lin Qi’s promise.
• Lu Yuan revealed his Supreme Realm aura, startling the Lin Family elders with his apparent youth and talent.
• The Lin Family grew more suspicious of Hu Jiu Jiu’s urgency and became even less willing to let Hu Qi Qi leave.
• Lu Yuan used spatial power to seize a woman resembling Lin Yi, tore through the Lin Family’s defensive formation, traded a palm strike with the Lin Clan Ancestral Hall’s massive hand, and shouted for the others to go.

Hu Jiu Jiu tried to escape the Lin Clan with Hu Qi Qi and Lin Yi while Lu Yuan held off their pursuers, but the clan’s Supremes surrounded them. Lu Yuan revealed a devastating technique that killed multiple Supremes and threatened the Lin Clan’s plan to capture him alive.

• Hu Jiu Jiu tore open space and tried to take Hu Qi Qi and Lin Yi away, but Lin Qi and other Supremes disrupted their escape.
• Lu Yuan restrained nearly ten Lin Clan Supremes with his Spatial Power as more Supremes arrived and besieged Hu Jiu Jiu’s group.
• Lin Qi ordered one-third of the Supremes to capture the three women alive and the rest to surround Lu Yuan.
• Lu Yuan used the Years Blade to kill two Supremes, forcing everyone’s perspective upward and revealing that they could not defend against the attack.
• The Lin Family Old Ancestor realized Lu Yuan’s technique was a threat but continued trying to capture him alive, while Lu Yuan used the Years Blade again and challenged the Supremes to wear him down.

Lu Yuan killed more Lin Family Supremes while protecting Hu Jiu Jiu and the others, forcing the surrounding Supremes to abandon their attack on them. After they escaped, Lu Yuan stayed to draw out the Lin Family Old Ancestor and struck at Lin Qi.

• Lu Yuan's two strikes killed three Supremes, leaving the Lin Family fighters and onlookers stunned.
• Lin Qi refused to make peace and ordered the Supremes to wear Lu Yuan down while he conserved his strength.
• Lu Yuan killed another Supreme who tried to stop Hu Jiu Jiu and the other two from teleporting away, then warned the remaining Supremes that he would treat them as targets.
• The Supremes withdrew from Hu Jiu Jiu and the others rather than risk their lives, allowing them to escape.
• Lu Yuan stayed behind and slashed at Lin Qi, declaring that only one of them would survive.

Lu Yuan continued cutting down the Lin family Supremes after killing Lin Qi, while the Lin Family Old Ancestor waited for him to weaken. When the Old Ancestor finally attacked, Lu Yuan revealed Red Dust Threads and turned the fight toward their long-awaited confrontation.

• Lu Yuan killed Lin Qi with the Years Blade, leaving the Lin family's remaining Supremes shaken and without their commander.
• Lu Yuan kept killing Supremes instead of confronting the Lin Family Old Ancestor, while the Old Ancestor waited for Lu Yuan to grow weaker.
• The Lin Family Old Ancestor considered the Lin family's losses worthwhile if he could kill Lu Yuan and obtain his inheritance, but he remained wary of the Years Blade.
• Lu Yuan's repeated use of the Years Blade depleted his powers of time, space, and destiny as the remaining Supremes dwindled.
• The Lin Family Old Ancestor finally lost patience, tore through the void, and attacked Lu Yuan.
• Lu Yuan raised his hand and sent a strand of Red Thread toward the Old Ancestor, declaring, "Red Dust Threads!"