Chapter Summaries

Liang Qu returned to the Southern Border after secretly investigating the underworld and desert, where he discovered new clues and learned that Long E Ying had awakened Heartfire. As the River Conservancy Office's party traveled west toward the front, Liang Qu sent Awei to infiltrate the enemy.

• Liang Qu told his colleagues he had touched the Heavenly Pass and planned to challenge it, astonishing them with his progress toward becoming a Young Dragon Martial Saint.
• Liang Qu explained to Xu Zishuai and Lu Gang that his underworld work had reached a temporary stopping point and that the Heavenly Fire Sect might give him assignments.
• Liang Qu told Long E Ying that he had found Long Qi and clues in Loulan, then learned she had reached Unity of Heaven and Man with 1,500 Qi Seas and Heartfire.
• Liang Qu resolved to raise the Water Monkey Great Sage's fusion before spring and prepare for the coming confrontation involving the Flood Dragon, Western Turtle King, and Whale Emperor.
• Liang Qu and Ling Xuan wrote reports to the Imperial Capital, and the next day Red Mountain flew north while the River Conservancy Office party traveled west.
• Liang Qu tossed Blue Centipede skyward and sent Awei to infiltrate the enemy's ranks.

Shen Zhongliang discovered that the River God Sect’s tax accounts were short, while Lao Yingtian weighed how to use a Supreme Grade Blood Treasure. Liang Qu’s delegation reached South Sea Prefecture, where he assessed the Southern Border’s advance and learned the names of its elite fighters.

• Shen Zhongliang found that the River God Sect was seventy-five Second Grade Blood Treasures short and traced the gap to the Sect Master’s banquet expenses.
• Shen Zhongliang proposed cutting wages and delaying housing costs to cover the shortage before welcoming Heavenly Fire Sect envoy Fu Ruo'an.
• Lao Yingtian considered how to use his Supreme Grade Blood Treasure and learned that Bao Jiaxiang had backed out of introducing him to young men.
• Liang Qu and the River Conservancy Office team arrived at the King of South Sea’s residence and reviewed a map showing Qin Prefecture and Linjiang under Southern Border control.
• Liang Qu asked about Southern Border defenses and learned that Ha Long Bay had no Martial Saint and that its elite were called the Five Poisons, Nine Gu, Twenty-Four Fiends.
• Liang Qu explained that rival factions’ fearsome titles helped them resist Central Plains influence and strengthen their unity.

Liang Qu’s argument against Southern Border’s and Northern Court’s intimidating epithets became a public proclamation that lifted South Sea Prefecture’s morale and enraged Southern Border. He then traveled into the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains with the Old Toad and Fat Catfish to seek Long Qi, where the Ze Cauldron found Tiger Amber Qi.

• Liang Qu proposed portraying Southern Border’s and Northern Court’s fearsome titles as signs of weakness, and the True Image masters agreed to publish an argument based on his ideas.
• Xu Yuelong revealed that Qin Prefecture had fallen after its Prefect defected and that the King of South Sea remained injured from the fighting.
• Awei watched the Saintess and her attendant search for an ownerless Eight-Winged Golden-Patterned Centipede, while Fat Catfish persuaded Old Toad to come to Southern Border by promising a Five-Poison Toad.
• Bat spread Liang Qu’s proclamation and announced that he had come as reinforcements, prompting South Sea Prefecture’s people to celebrate and Southern Border spies to call for the text’s destruction.
• Liang Qu used a water clone to bring Old Toad and Fat Catfish to Southern Border, then led them toward a mountain stronghold to collect Long Qi.
• The Ze Cauldron obtained one wisp of Tiger Amber Qi, which granted the strength of one tiger after daily absorption of mountain mist at the hour of the Tiger.

Liang Qu and Old Toad raced through the Southern Border, stealing Long Qi from stockades while the locals kept the thefts secret to avoid giving rival tribes an advantage. After rejoining the army at Ha Long Bay, Liang Qu counted his seven strands of Long Qi and discovered that Silkworm Cocoon could preserve him from fatal injury and potentially help him break through to the next realm.

• Liang Qu stole Tiger Amber Long Qi from an ancient stockade and escaped the Black Cicadas’ pursuit with Old Toad, learning that it granted the strength of one tiger each day.
• Liang Qu considered selling access to Tiger Amber Long Qi through the imperial court and Huaiyin Martial Hall, then continued collecting Long Qi across the Southern Border with Old Toad.
• The elders of Tiger Amber Stockade concealed the theft from neighboring tribes, fearing that warning them would leave their own tribe at a disadvantage.
• At Ha Long Bay, Liang Qu rejoined Xu Yuelong’s group as they prepared for a night raid, then counted his harvest of seven strands of Long Qi.
• Liang Qu discovered that Silkworm Cocoon could cocoon him through otherwise fatal injuries, restore him, and possibly raise his strength, and he wondered whether it could be combined with Dead Wood Meeting Spring.

Liang Qu used Blood Rain and Tian Wu Mist Control to eradicate mosquitoes and insects across a vast area of Ha Long Bay, then joined Changhe Marquis and the other Grandmasters to discuss the campaign. In the Imperial Capital, the Sacred Emperor assigned Ling Xuan to investigate Qin Prefecture’s fall and the Prefect’s defection.

• Liang Qu moved frost-white Long Qi into the Silkworm Cocoon’s functional area and told Little Mirage Dragon to find amber and a tiger pelt.
• Liang Qu recognized that the swarms of mosquitoes were overwhelming the camp and warned the soldiers that rain was coming.
• Liang Qu unleashed blood rain and spreading red mist that killed mosquitoes and other insects across a radius of fifty li, creating a clean zone around Ha Long Bay.
• Liang Qu met Changhe Marquis Xu Haitao and told him to leave the hardest places in the campaign to him.
• The Sacred Emperor reminded Ling Xuan of Liang Qu’s role in securing the Drought Demon Fruit and tasked him with investigating Qin Prefecture’s fall and its Prefect’s defection.

Liang Qu rejected the plan to attack only two enemy strongholds and set out alone to strike the twelve-man camp while the other teams targeted the remaining locations. He ambushed the Southern Border force with overwhelming power, leaving its defenders dead or fleeing and asking Long E Ying whether she needed help.

• Xu Haitao explained that Southern Border reconnaissance and guerrilla tactics had pushed the Northern Court toward the Red River, and the gathered commanders reviewed reports on three enemy strongholds.
• Liang Qu insisted on dividing into three paths and took the twelve-man stronghold for himself, bringing the Little Mirage Dragon and Dragon Sturgeon while Long E Ying and the others attacked another target.
• Liang Qu prepared the Mirage Tiger, gave Long E Ying Awei's detoxifying Dewdrop, and rode the Fat Catfish toward his assigned camp.
• At the enemy camp, Ren Ze refined a corpse puppet while Yi Zhi wondered about strange rain, until Liang Qu's cicada cry alerted them to an attack.
• Liang Qu split the mountain with Fubo, then pursued the fleeing enemies with seven Water Dragon Spears; Ren Ze and the other marked targets died, while Yi Zhi fell into the abyss.
• Liang Qu asked whether Long E Ying needed help, and she replied that she did not after smashing her ice-bound opponent.

Liang Qu and the other teams returned from attacking three Southern Border strongholds with overwhelming victories, though Liang Qu had not realized he had killed two of the Twenty-Four Fiends. The chapter ended with the camp discovering the captured Curse Fiend Yi Zhi and learning that Liang Qu’s sixteen enemies had not all been accounted for.

• Long E Ying and her team defeated the Southern Border True Images at their stronghold and returned without losing anyone.
• Xu Haitao welcomed Team One and Team Three, whose combined victories accounted for more than twenty Southern Border True Images.
• Liang Qu returned with a living Grandmaster and the remains of the stronghold he had attacked alone, reporting that he had killed sixteen enemies.
• The guard identified Liang Qu’s captive as Curse Fiend Yi Zhi and recognized a severed head as Corpse Fiend, whose attack had killed his younger brother.
• Liang Qu said the stronghold’s remaining enemies could not be found, leaving the camp to question what had happened to them.

Zang Yunzhou and Ren Ye concluded that Liang Qu had annihilated the Southern Border force and ordered the front contracted while warning their commanders to guard against him. At Ha Long Bay, Liang Qu’s victory lifted Da Shun’s morale, but he grew concerned when he learned the Southern Border was gathering its True Images and asked whether the bay had a Martial Saint.

• Zang Yunzhou analyzed the destruction of the Southern Border force, and Ren Ye argued that one Da Shun fighter had killed them all before identifying Liang Qu as the threat.
• Ren Ye ordered the soldier to report the losses to the Tusi and instructed the Southern Border forces to contract the front and conceal their True Images’ trails.
• Ling Xuan reached South Sea Prefecture, heard a victory dispatch announcing Liang Qu’s defeat of thirty-five Grandmasters, and decided to visit him.
• At Ha Long Bay, Little Mirage Dragon entertained the soldiers with exaggerated stories about Liang Qu while Liang Qu and the generals discussed their next move.
• A scout reported that the Southern Border was contracting its front and gathering True Image Grandmasters at Ha Long Bay; Liang Qu then asked Xu Haitao whether the bay had a Martial Saint.

Liang Qu weighed a counteroffensive against the Southern Border while Da Shun’s forces and the enemy remained locked in a standoff. As he prepared to take an outside post at Suyu Pavilion, Ling Xuan returned with news that he had clarified the Qin Prefecture treason case.

• Xu Haitao urged the guards to prepare for a counteroffensive and ordered them to monitor the unconscious Curse Fiend.
• Liang Qu studied the South Bank’s defenses and considered using his abilities to break its rituals, but Long E Ying advised him to wait for his Qi Sea to recover and for the Purple-Gold Tiqi to arrive.
• Ling Xuan reached the military camp as the Southern Border concentrated its forces, and Plague Fiend told E Qi Rui that the Southern Border planned to avoid Liang Qu until its mayflies tracked him.
• Liang Qu learned from Ling Xuan that Qin Prefecture’s governor had defected after a concealed murder case and the deaths of twenty stationed True Image cultivators, and asked Ling Xuan to investigate.
• Liang Qu received an outside assignment to guard Peach Garden at Suyu Pavilion and began preparing to leave Heavenly Fire Sect with his disciples.
• By mid-December, Ling Xuan returned to the camp and told Liang Qu that he had basically clarified the Qin Prefecture treason case.

Ling Xuan reported that Qin Prefecture’s rebellion had been triggered by Gong Qianqing’s investigation and Lingnan Province’s political maneuvering, while the Southern Border’s military arts had enabled its rapid expansion. Liang Qu decided to frame the crisis as a Southern Border conspiracy to stabilize the King of South Sea and the front lines, but the chapter ended with him thinking of the absent Southern Border Saintess and Awei.

• Liang Qu gathered Xu Yuelong and the others to hear Ling Xuan’s account of his investigation into Qin Prefecture’s rebellion.
• Ling Xuan explained that Lai Jiazhang had found the original accusations against Qin Prefecture unsubstantiated, while Gong Qianqing later spent two months in Qin Prefecture and charged his expenses to its Prefect.
• Xu Yuelong and Liang Qu concluded that Lingnan officials had used Gong Qianqing to manufacture grounds to dismiss the Qin Prefecture Prefect, whose rebellion then worsened the crisis after the Southern Border’s military arts enabled its advance.
• Ling Xuan revealed that Gong Qianqing was the King of South Sea’s nephew and sent his testimony and evidence to the court on Red Mountain.
• Liang Qu resolved to blame the Southern Border for the bandits’ original crimes and use that account to ease the court’s conflict with the King of South Sea.
• Liang Qu thought of the Southern Border Saintess and noticed that Come to the Southern Border and Awei had both been gone for half a month.

Liang Qu devised a scheme to keep the King of South Sea loyal to Da Shun while preserving the court’s ability to hold Gong Qianqing accountable. After learning more about Yuan Yuwen’s past with a Southern Border Saintess, Liang Qu asked Ling Xuan to travel with him to Qin Prefecture.

• Li Xianghan fed Awei a Water-element Great Pill, then took the centipede with her to meet her grandmother and listened as her grandmother admired it.
• Liang Qu received Awei’s report about a former Southern Border Saintess secretly pledging herself to Yuan Yuwen.
• Liang Qu explained that he could make the King of South Sea believe the Southern Border had framed him, channeling his anxiety into anger and keeping him committed to Da Shun.
• Liang Qu asked Xu Haitao about Yuan Yuwen’s relationship with the Southern Border Saintess and learned that Yuan had died after a Love Gu attack in a brothel.
• Liang Qu sought out Ling Xuan and asked him to risk a journey to Qin Prefecture.

Liang Qu recruited Ling Xuan to help forge evidence that would make the King of South Sea blame Yuan Yuwen’s death on Southern Border, and Awei stole a Desire Gu from Green Pattern Valley. After they recreated evidence on the corpses of executed bandits in Qin Prefecture, Ling Xuan said they also needed the coroner’s records from the Prefectural Office, where a Southern Border Martial Saint was stationed.

• Liang Qu persuaded Ling Xuan to join a covert mission to Qin Prefecture and promised to split the credit for fabricating evidence.
• Awei searched Li Xianghan’s grandmother’s insect palace, stole a Desire Gu, and returned it to Liang Qu.
• Liang Qu and Ling Xuan confirmed the Gu could support their plan, then traveled to Qin Prefecture with Long E Ying.
• The group found the bandits’ corpses in a mass grave, and Ling Xuan and Liang Qu altered them to show signs of Desire Gu use.
• Ling Xuan determined they needed the coroner’s records from the Prefectural Office, and Liang Qu agreed to steal them despite the Martial Saint’s presence.

Liang Qu infiltrated Qin Prefecture’s Records Room to retrieve evidence for Ling Xuan, narrowly escaping Pan Tong Da Xi after discovering two strands of Long Qi. The evidence was delivered, and news arrived that the King of South Sea had recovered and would visit the frontline camp.

• Liang Qu used Frog Duke and the Fat Catfish’s help to sneak into Qin Prefecture’s Records Room and find the coroner’s records.
• Pan Tong Da Xi sensed something amiss and entered the Records Room, forcing Liang Qu to remain hidden until he could escape.
• Liang Qu absorbed two strands of Sweet Dew Condensing Qi, prompting Pan Tong Da Xi to attack, but Liang Qu fled through the underground river.
• Liang Qu reunited with Ling Xuan and gave him the coroner’s records, which Ling Xuan confirmed as the evidence they needed.
• Liang Qu and Ling Xuan returned with the records and corpses, and Ling Xuan took responsibility for misleading the King of South Sea.
• News reached the camp that the King of South Sea had recovered and planned to visit the frontline soldiers, as Liang Qu took up Fubo.

Liang Qu’s forces used King of South Sea’s recovery and the resulting lull to prepare a surprise attack, while Southern Border leaders discovered their blood-collecting mayflies could not track Liang Qu. A vast, magically induced downpour then disrupted the Southern Border camp, and it continued for three days without stopping.

• King of South Sea arrived at the Da Shun camp with supplies and prefects, while the Hundred-Legged Da Xi’s arrival put both banks of the Red River on alert.
• Liang Qu deliberately rebuffed Gong Qianqing at a banquet, then let him leave after Gong bowed and apologized for a possible misunderstanding.
• After King of South Sea and the Hundred-Legged Da Xi departed, Liang Qu told Xu Haitao he planned a night raid and asked him to coordinate support.
• Southern Border grandmasters found that their Mayfly Blood Collection could not collect Liang Qu’s Qi, and Ren Ye suggested tracking people close to him instead.
• A man-made rainstorm triggered the Black Cicada’s warning and threw the Southern Border camp into chaos; scouts reported that the rain covered more than 150 li south of the Red River.
• The torrential rain continued for three days, flooding the camp into a swamp while the Black Cicada kept shrieking.

Liang Qu ambushed the Southern Border camp during the torrential rain, killing Ren Ye and Zang Yunzhou’s defenses and devastating the enemy force with Slaying the Flood Dragon. As the Martial Saints converged on Ha Long Bay and the battle escalated, the Sacred Emperor turned his attention south and ordered an edict drafted.

• A prolonged downpour eroded the Red River’s banks and exhausted the Southern Border army while Ren Ye and Zang Yunzhou guarded the camp.
• Liang Qu concealed himself in the rain, trapped Ren Ye and Zang Yunzhou in a Water Membrane, and struck them with a crushing fist; he pierced Zang Yunzhou and sent him flying toward the North Bank.
• Liang Qu unleashed Slaying the Flood Dragon on the Southern Border camp, killing dozens of True Images and carving a gorge as the Red River surged into it.
• Ren Ye attacked Liang Qu, but Long E Ying and other Da Shun masters joined the fighting, and their forces routed the disorganized Southern Border troops.
• Hundred-Legged Da Xi and the King of South Sea clashed above the Red River as Martial Saints and Da Xi from across the realm moved toward Ha Long Bay.
• The Sacred Emperor abandoned his plan to taste Brain Meat, looked south, and ordered an edict drafted.

Liang Qu’s pursuit after retaking Ha Long Bay inflicted devastating losses on the Southern Border, and he halted at Linjiang rather than risk advancing into Lao Ai Mountain. As Da Shun’s forces celebrated, the Southern Border tribes learned the scale of the defeat and feared the political consequences.

• Min Yan fled for three days after his brothers were killed, then panicked when he saw the Azure Dragon driving the storm overhead.
• Liang Qu rejected advice to stop pursuing the retreating forces, then turned back before entering Lao Ai Mountain and returned with the surviving Grandmasters to Linjiang.
• Liang Qu explained to Little Mirage Dragon how casualties weakened the Southern Border’s ability to unite and continue the war.
• Liang Qu’s forces celebrated at Linjiang as he prepared to bathe and wondered how Western Tortoise and Frog King were faring.
• A messenger reported to the Southern Border tribes that Ha Long Bay had fallen, more than seventy True Images had died, and Liang Qu was still pursuing the fleeing army.

Liang Qu learned of the upheaval his victories had caused in Southern Border and uncovered a strange connection between Li Xianghan and Yuan Yuwen’s former lover. After consulting with the court, he brought King Chong an unnamed Imperial Decree and urged him to stake everything on a decisive strike against the Southern Border.

• Li Xianghan told Awei that Liang Qu had killed nearly sixty True Images, captured Red Water Poison, and thrown Southern Border’s forces into chaos, then explained that her adoptive grandmother was her grandfather’s younger sister and had once loved Yuan Yuwen.
• Liang Qu ate Blood Treasures in Suyu Pavilion, worried about how to move people out of the underworld after resurrection, and returned to his body beside Long E Ying.
• At the front, Liang Qu discussed the war and the Southern Border Saintess with his companions, realized Awei’s account of Yuan Yuwen’s family contained an age discrepancy, and left without explaining why he would not return to the Imperial Capital.
• Ling Xuan delivered an Imperial Decree authorizing a South Sea appointment, and Liang Qu immediately took her to meet King Chong.
• Liang Qu presented King Chong with the decree and urged him to join a one-time, all-or-nothing plan to strike the Southern Border before its reinforcements arrived.

Liang Qu learned more about the thirteen steps of Martial Saint cultivation and planned how to prepare for the coming battle in the Southern Border. He gathered resources and learned that combining his Vortex Escape Path divine power with Profound Yellow Energy could let his waterways transport Martial Saints, leaving him to arrange the costly plan.

• King Chong explained the thirteen steps to immortality and compared the cultivation levels of the border Martial Saints and Demon Kings.
• Liang Qu considered advancing Vortex Palace into Marshland Kingdom but worried about gathering Dominance Level and bringing distant allies to the battlefield.
• Liang Qu wrote requests for Long Qi and one thousand Great Merit, then sent Red Mountain to deliver the booklets to the Imperial Capital.
• Old Toad demanded profits and weaving materials from General Yuan, while Little Mirage Dragon asked Quan Linghan for Mermaid Tears.
• Liang Qu asked the Dragon King whether the Demon Kings could reach the Southern Border through his waterways, and learned that Profound Yellow Energy could let the waterways transport Martial Saints.
• The Dragon King told Liang Qu that bringing the Demon Kings over would give them a chance of winning.

Liang Qu prepared for his battle with the Flood Dragon, gained confidence from the Dragon King, and absorbed Mermaid Tears and other resources to strengthen his abilities. After his sixth River Master Emperor’s Favor sublimation and Red Mountain’s delivery of pills and treasures, he planned to construct Vortex Escape Path and seek out Turtle King and Frog King.

• Liang Qu explained why he believed his odds against the Flood Dragon were certain, and the Dragon King praised his caution and declared that he had thirteen chances of victory.
• Liang Qu absorbed Mermaid Tears, gained Marsh Essence, and used it to sublimate his River Master Emperor’s Favor, increasing his martial talent and damage against water-element Demon Beasts.
• Liang Qu learned that King Chong had agreed to act and would need half a month to prepare, while he considered whether Dead Wood Meeting Spring would awaken on a later solar term.
• Red Mountain returned with Grand Pills, Treasure Plants, Treasure Fish, and Profound Yellow Long Qi, which Liang Qu absorbed to raise his Marsh Essence to 2.14 million.
• After the Beginning of Spring passed without incident, Liang Qu stopped absorbing resources because their conflicting medicinal properties were making him dangerously uncomfortable, and he decided to construct Vortex Escape Path before seeking Turtle King and Frog King.

Liang Qu completed a vast Vortex Waterway linking the Eastern Sea, Jiang Huai Great Marsh, and Southern Border, then tested how quickly allies could travel through it. Meanwhile, Southern Border discovered that mayflies had collected Liang Qu’s qi, giving Meng Yi hope of tracking him in two months, while Liang Qu ended the chapter exhausted and examining the Time Insect’s empty bottle.

• Ta Ta Kai gathered eels in the rain as Da Shun and Southern Border soldiers traded arrows across Linjiang, while Meng Yi considered the stalled battlefield and the missing Black Water Poison and Bone Fiend.
• Hundred-Legged Da Xi showed Meng Yi a basin containing mayflies that had collected Liang Qu’s qi, and Meng Yi sent a secret letter to the Tusi before summoning the Five Poisons, Nine Gu, and Twenty-Four Fiends.
• Liang Qu linked River Dolphins across distant routes and used two strands of Profound Yellow Long Qi to form a Vortex Waterway from Jiang Huai Great Marsh to Southern Border and the Eastern Sea.
• Liang Qu tested the waterway with Little Mirage Dragon and the Frog King’s weapon, finding that the trip took about six minutes for Little Mirage Dragon and sixty-five breaths for the weapon.
• Liang Qu finished contacting the Great Demon Kings, returned home, and rested while Long E Ying read and Ta Ta Kai cooked Treasure Fish.
• Liang Qu examined the tiny bottle that had held Awei’s Dewdrop and noted that the Time Insect’s adhesive had been used up.