Chapter Summaries

After Mo Hua captured Bai Zisheng, he helped prevent True Person Hua from taking sole custody by persuading True Person Zhuge to escort the prisoner to the Imperial Observatory. Bai Zisheng was temporarily safe, but Mo Hua still worried about the Hua Family’s plans and hoped to speak with his senior martial brother alone.

• Bai Zisheng woke in the military camp, recognized Mo Hua, and realized the Hua Family had bound and treated him while keeping him alive.
• Mo Hua boasted that he had defeated Bai Zisheng, provoking the gathered prodigies, who questioned how his seemingly weak spear strike had worked.
• True Person Hua tried to postpone Bai Zisheng’s interrogation, but True Person Zhuge insisted on taking him into the Imperial Observatory’s custody.
• As Bai Zisheng was escorted away, he threatened Mo Hua, who answered with more boasts.
• The Slaughter Mo Alliance added Mo Hua’s Flying Dragon in the Sky to its canon as a powerful but unknown killing move.
• Mo Hua worried that Bai Zisheng remained in danger from the Hua Family and hoped to meet with him privately.

Mo Hua visited Bai Zisheng in the Imperial Observatory prison, learned how he was confined, and worried that the Hua Family would try to seize or kill him. That night, a Great Wilderness Monster Cavalry force appeared on a distant mountain, led by a powerful Feather Transformation cultivator.

• Mo Hua persuaded True Person Zhuge to let him see Bai Zisheng and memorized the prison route and the method for undoing its Seven Star Array.
• Mo Hua concealed his connection to Bai Zisheng, confirmed that the Nine Trapped Dragon Heavy Locks supposedly required the Hua Family's key, and left without revealing his plans.
• True Person Hua arrived to see Bai Zisheng, but True Person Zhuge warned that his visit could endanger Bai Zisheng and Mo Hua, so True Person Hua turned back.
• True Person Zhuge warned Mo Hua that the Hua Family might secretly act against Bai Zisheng, while Mo Hua privately considered how to rescue and protect his Senior Martial Brother.
• Mo Hua sensed a sudden sinister cold and saw True Person Zhuge watching a Great Wilderness Monster Cavalry force led by a massive Feather Transformation cultivator.

The Great Wilderness Royal Court raided the camp as True Person Zhuge and True Person Hua withdrew to fight a Feather Transformation, leaving Mo Hua to rescue Bai Zisheng from prison. Hua Ping freed Bai Zisheng, and the brothers escaped through the battle while Hua Ping left carrying embroidered shark silk bearing a White Gold Phoenix.

• The Great Wilderness Feather Transformation led the Royal Court Monster Cavalry in a camp raid, and True Person Zhuge and True Person Hua retreated to the Fourth-Grade Mountain Realm to confront him.
• Mo Hua entered the Imperial Observatory prison, disabled its guards and arrays, and opened Bai Zisheng’s cell before black-clad assassins arrived.
• Hua Ping and her men killed four of the assassins, and Hua Ping dismantled Bai Zisheng’s Nine Trapped Dragon Heavy Locks and freed him.
• Mo Hua guided Bai Zisheng out of the prison and through the camp, helping him fight off Monster Cavalry and Dao Court prodigies as the raid spread.
• Mo Hua and Bai Zisheng turned away from the distant battle between Feather Transformations and fought their way through the barbarian troops toward safety.
• Hua Ping escaped the battlefield in a guarded carriage and murmured that the person represented by the White Gold Phoenix on her shark silk should remember her kindness for saving his elder brother.

After escaping the Royal Court’s forces, Mo Hua and Bai Zisheng reunited in the desert and shared a quiet meal while catching up on family, Master, and the lies that had been used to hunt Bai Zisheng. Bai Zisheng explained the Dragon Pool Refinement, and Mo Hua realized it might let him use his Twelve-Meridian Taotie Spirit Bone Array to raise his Golden Core’s grade.

• Mo Hua treated Bai Zisheng’s injuries and shared roasted meat and fruit wine with him after Bai Zisheng woke in the desert.
• Bai Zisheng told Mo Hua that breaking his Longevity Talisman had made him an outsider in the Bai Family, and said he did not know where Zi Xi or Master were.
• Bai Zisheng explained that True Person Hua had gained his trust before targeting his bloodline, and Mo Hua learned that the rumors about Bai Zisheng and the Royal Court’s beauty were fabricated.
• Bai Zisheng said he had come to the Great Wilderness to seek Golden Core Formation through the Dragon Pool Refinement, an inheritance meant to preserve a cultivator’s Golden Core grade.
• Mo Hua realized that the Dragon Pool could help him convert the spiritual energy gained from his Twelve-Meridian Taotie Spirit Bone Array into circulation cycles and potentially raise his Golden Core grade.

Mo Hua reunited with Situ Fang and Situ Xiu in the Great Wilderness, accepted their invitation to the Situ Clan encampment, and learned that the clan’s famed sword prodigy Situ Jian might be his former junior brother. The chapter left Mo Hua hoping to meet Situ Jian and confirm whether they were the same person.

• Mo Hua rescued Situ Fang and Situ Xiu from barbarian soldiers, and they recognized him and Bai Zisheng from their past investigations.
• Mo Hua maintained the ruse that Bai Zisheng was his prisoner and learned that Situ Fang had come to the Great Wilderness with her clan to help suppress the rebellion.
• Situ Fang invited Mo Hua and Bai Zisheng to the Situ Clan’s forward encampment, where they arrived at a bustling camp and shared food.
• Mo Hua explained that he wanted to assess the situation and find a secure place before moving toward the Royal Court or pursuing Golden Core Formation.
• Mo Hua asked Situ Fang about Situ Jian and learned that the clan’s celebrated sword prodigy was in the Great Wilderness, though she had never met him.
• Mo Hua asked Situ Fang to help arrange a meeting so he could find out whether Situ Jian was the junior brother he had known at Void Gate.

Mo Hua learned that Dragon Pool Refinement might let him use the Twelve-Meridian Taotie Spirit Bone Array to raise his Golden Core grade, and he set out with Bai Zisheng toward the Royal Court. After reuniting with Situ Fang and reaching the Situ Clan’s encampment, Mo Hua sought a meeting with the clan prodigy Situ Jian, wondering whether he was the same Situ Jian he knew from Void Gate.

• Bai Zisheng explained that Dragon Pool Refinement could preserve spiritual energy cycles for Golden Core Formation, prompting Mo Hua to suspect the Great Shaman had linked the Dragon Pool to his Spirit Bone Array.
• Mo Hua and Bai Zisheng traveled toward the Royal Court, with Mo Hua disguising Bai Zisheng as his chained prisoner to conceal their alliance.
• Mo Hua rescued Situ Fang and Situ Xiu from barbarian soldiers, and Situ Fang invited the two martial brothers to stay at the Situ Clan’s frontline encampment.
• Mo Hua learned that the Situ Clan’s prodigy Situ Jian was serving in the Great Wilderness and asked Situ Fang to arrange a meeting, suspecting he might be his junior brother from Void Gate.

Mo Hua stayed at the Situ Clan encampment while Elder Situ Jin arranged a chance for him to meet Situ Jian. When Situ Jian arrived, he recognized Mo Hua and threw aside his dignified public image to embrace him as his Senior Martial Brother, stunning the gathered retainers and elders.

• Situ Jin recognized Mo Hua's Foundation Establishment Peak Stage cultivation and learned that Mo Hua had joined the Void Gate in Ganxue Prefecture.
• Situ Jin privately asked Mo Hua to speak well of Situ Fang to Situ Jian, and Mo Hua agreed if Situ Jian was his fellow disciple.
• Mo Hua and Bai Zisheng settled in the Situ Clan encampment, where Mo Hua planned their next steps while Bai Zisheng recovered.
• Seven days later, Situ Jin brought Mo Hua to the reception hall to see Situ Jian, who was due to receive retainers.
• Situ Jian spotted Mo Hua, rushed over, and clung to him while calling him his Senior Martial Brother, shocking the gathered crowd.

Mo Hua reunited with Situ Jian at the Situ Family encampment and learned that Situ Jian was uncertain whether he could pursue Dragon Pool Refinement. The next day, Situ Jian showed Mo Hua a nearby settlement where the Situ Clan traded Barbarian slaves, leaving Mo Hua to confront him about the family’s business.

• Situ Jian excitedly embraced Mo Hua and introduced him to Situ Wei, who welcomed Mo Hua as an honored guest and recognized Cautious Si as his friend.
• Mo Hua and Situ Jian reminisced privately, discussed Golden Core formation and the dangers of the Royal Court’s Dragon Pool, and agreed that Mo Hua would stay at the Situ main residence.
• Mo Hua introduced Situ Fang and Bai Zisheng to Situ Jian, then settled in with Bai Zisheng and said they would have to wait for the war to advance before making plans for the Dragon Pool.
• Situ Jian took Mo Hua around the encampment the next day and then led him to a nearby settlement occupied by the Situ Clan.
• Mo Hua saw enslaved Barbarian Cultivators being displayed and sold, then asked Situ Jian whether slave trading was the Situ Clan’s business; Situ Jian lowered his head in shame.

Mo Hua confronted Situ Jian about his role in the Situ Clan’s trade in Barbarian Slaves, and Situ Jian explained how clan hierarchy and the Great Wilderness war had trapped him in compromises he despised. Mo Hua urged him to hold fast to his Dao Heart, then chose an inconspicuous young Barbarian Slave to buy as they prepared to leave.

• Mo Hua and Situ Jian spoke atop a tower overlooking enslaved tribespeople, where Situ Jian confessed that he had helped the Situ Clan trade Barbarian Slaves despite his disgust.
• Situ Jian described how the Void Gate’s egalitarian customs had shaped him, while the Situ Clan’s hierarchy marginalized kindhearted members such as Situ Fang.
• Situ Jian explained that he had volunteered for the Great Wilderness to escape clan politics, only to find the war enabled even worse exploitation and left him unable to refuse his clan.
• Mo Hua comforted Situ Jian and advised him to preserve his Dao Heart, and the Karma on Situ Jian’s face shifted toward the upright young disciple he had once been.
• Situ Jian asked what should be done about the Barbarian Slaves, and Mo Hua said they needed a long-term plan because good intentions alone might not help.
• As they left the tower, Mo Hua told Situ Jian to buy an inconspicuous, frail young Barbarian Slave and bring him back.

Mo Hua investigated the Royal Domain’s oppression of Barbarian Cultivators and decided to seek a way to protect them before the Royal Court fell. He gathered a host of prodigies for a banquet, leaving Great Elder Situ Wei stunned by the influence Mo Hua commanded.

• Mo Hua bought a young Barbarian Slave to guide him through the Royal Domain, while Situ Wei ordered elders to watch Mo Hua and resented his influence over Situ Jian.
• Mo Hua traveled through the Royal Domain and saw how war and aristocratic clans had left Barbarian Cultivators enslaved and abused, prompting him to resolve to find them a path to survival.
• Mo Hua told Situ Jian his plan, learned that Situ Wei held power over the Situ Clan, and asked Situ Jian to summon a list of prodigies to a banquet.
• The Slaughter Mo Alliance mocked Mo Hua’s invitation, but Mo Hua and Situ Wei waited at the banquet until Shi Tiangang, Feng Zichen, and many other prodigies arrived.
• Mo Hua seated the prodigies with casual authority, leaving Situ Wei astonished as none of them challenged him.

Mo Hua gathered the Ganxue Prodigies at the Situ Clan and urged them to help free the Great Wilderness’s barbarian slaves, challenging their assumptions about cultivation and the Dao. When they demanded a practical reason, he used his authority to secure their agreement, and the banquet continued as Situ Wei watched in disbelief.

• Mo Hua hosted the Ganxue Prodigies at the Situ Clan and raised the plight of barbarian slaves in the Great Wilderness.
• Ao Zheng, Feng Zichen, and others questioned Mo Hua’s motives, prompting him to challenge their beliefs about selfishness, the Dao, and immortality.
• Shen Cangfeng and other prodigies remained unconvinced, so Mo Hua demanded to know whether they would help save the slaves.
• Feng Zichen, Ao Zheng, Xiao Ruohan, Shi Tiangang, and the other prodigies agreed to act against slave trafficking and the abuse of barbarian cultivators.
• Mo Hua toasted the group and let them eat, while Situ Wei marveled at how completely Mo Hua commanded the gathered prodigies.

After the prodigies debated Mo Hua’s claims about the Dao and immortality, he led them through the Great Wilderness to witness the suffering of its poorest people. The experience shook their convictions, and they returned to the Situ Clan with their understanding of the Dao unsettled.

• Situ Wei reconsidered his assumptions about Mo Hua after seeing the prodigies defer to him at the banquet.
• Feng Zichen and the other prodigies discussed whether Mo Hua had truly acted out of kindness and whether his claims about the Dao and immortality were credible.
• Feng Zichen argued that the Great Clans’ selfish, resource-driven cultivation might explain why higher realms and immortality had become so rare.
• Mo Hua gathered the prodigies the next morning and led them through devastated tribes in the Great Wilderness, showing them the misery of ordinary Barbarian Cultivators.
• The prodigies returned to the Situ Clan shaken by what they had witnessed, while Mo Hua judged that the experience had begun to unsettle their understanding of the Dao.

Mo Hua established the Wangnu Mountain Realm as a refuge for Barbarian Slaves and displaced people, then uncovered that Huainu was a God-Favored youth carrying his tribe’s Barbarian God. After easily suppressing the god, Mo Hua spared Huainu and offered to teach him Sacred Patterns.

• Mo Hua and the other prodigies won support for protecting Barbarian Slaves, while powerful Great Clan Elders stopped investigating after learning of Mo Hua’s formidable connections.
• Mo Hua designated several mountain realms near Little Black Tortoise Mountain as the Wangnu Mountain Realm, a refuge with rules against trafficking and killing Barbarian Cultivators.
• On the sacrificial tower, Mo Hua questioned the young Barbarian Slave and learned his name was Huainu, then deduced that the Huai God dwelled in his Sea of Consciousness.
• Huainu transformed and attacked Mo Hua, but Mo Hua restrained him and cowed the Barbarian God with a glance.
• Mo Hua promised not to kill Huainu or reveal his secret, then offered to teach him Sacred Patterns.

Mo Hua freed a Barbarian Tribe youth named Rangnu, gave him an Array Manual, and urged him to lead his people in saving themselves. At a banquet in the Situ Clan, Mo Hua’s guests were startled when Bai Zisheng appeared in chains, but Mo Hua assured them he had him under control.

• Mo Hua explained to Rangnu that no ruler or god would save the Great Wilderness, gave him an Array Manual, and charged him with learning Array Techniques and uniting his people.
• Mo Hua warned the Oak God to protect Rangnu, then released the youth and told him to call Mo Hua “Teacher.”
• Mo Hua reflected on the Great Wilderness’s worsening calamity and later hosted the Ganxue prodigies at a banquet paid for by Situ Wei.
• Feng Zichen and the other guests struggled to enjoy the extravagant meal after seeing the Barbarian Slaves’ suffering, and they reconsidered Mo Hua’s criticism of the Great Clans.
• The guests recognized Bai Zisheng at the banquet and reached for their weapons, but Mo Hua said he had recaptured and restrained him with the Void Five Elements Universe Lock.
• Mo Hua explained that Bai Zisheng had been confined at the Situ Clan and was now out only to eat, and the prodigies cautiously sat back down.

At the banquet, Mo Hua learned that the other prodigies had mistaken him for someone who already knew the Great Wilderness Dragon Pool’s secrets. Feng Zichen explained that the Dao Court’s campaign against the Royal Court would require a careful advance through dangerous terrain and could end in the extermination of the Great Wilderness royal clans, leaving Mo Hua uneasy about the many powerful players involved.

• Feng Zichen asked Mo Hua to question Bai Zisheng about the Great Wilderness Demoness and the Dragon Pool, but Bai Zisheng refused to answer.
• Mo Hua discovered that Feng Zichen, Xiao Ruohan, Shi Tiangang, and the others had assumed he already knew about the Dragon Pool and Refining Grade.
• The prodigies considered torturing Bai Zisheng for information, but they backed down when Mo Hua warned that he might break free and enter his Dragon Blood state.
• Mo Hua asked about the Dao Court’s battle arrangements, and Feng Zichen said conquering the Royal Court could take at least half a year because its Fourth-Grade territory was protected by a dangerous Second-Grade mountain realm.
• Feng Zichen described a plan to pacify the Royal Domain, escort Feather Transformation cultivators into the Royal Court, and then destroy the Great Wilderness forces and royal clans.
• Mo Hua grew uneasy at the prospect of a war of extermination, knowing the conflict involved powerful figures whose plans were not so straightforward.

Mo Hua prepared for the coming war by making Life-Art Straw Dogs, sheltering displaced Barbarian Slaves, and secretly studying the Seven Star Array Techniques used to build a route through the Royal Domain. After the Seven Stars Road was completed, Feather Transformation cultivators entered the land, bringing the decisive battle for the Royal Court close.

• Mo Hua dreamed of the Demon Sect's Second Elder pleading with him to save the bloodline of the Great Wilderness, then woke to Bai Zisheng watching over him.
• Mo Hua told Bai Zisheng that people were no different from ordinary grass in the eyes of the Heavenly Dao and gathered grass to weave Life-Art Straw Dogs.
• Mo Hua gathered displaced Barbarian Slaves into the Wangnu Mountain Realm and secretly watched Rangnu learn Array Techniques and help unite the Barbarian Slaves.
• The Dao Court pacified the Royal Domain, and Imperial Observatory Array Masters constructed the Seven Stars Road while Mo Hua secretly deduced its Array Techniques from afar.
• After the Seven Stars Road was completed, Dao Court troops and seven Feather Transformation cultivators, including True Person Zhuge and True Person Hua, entered the Royal Domain.

Mo Hua brought Bai Zisheng to the Dao Court army’s headquarters, where True Person Hua tried to claim the prisoner and Mo Hua refused. After True Person Zhuge took Mo Hua aside, Mo Hua warned him that the slaughter at the Royal Court could breed Sin, and realized Zhuge already knew what the massacre would unleash.

• A Hua Family flesh monster ambushed Mo Hua and Bai Zisheng, but Bai Zisheng destroyed it; Mo Hua recognized the attack as True Person Hua’s warning.
• Mo Hua disguised his relationship with Bai Zisheng and presented him as a captured criminal to seven Dao Court Feather Transformations, refusing to hand him over to True Person Hua.
• General Yang recognized Mo Hua through Yang Qianjun, Yang Jishan, and Yang Jiyong, and welcomed him as a junior of the Yang Family.
• True Person Zhuge took Mo Hua and Bai Zisheng away from the main tent, then urged Mo Hua to leave the Great Wilderness and avoid the Royal Court war.
• Mo Hua wrote “Sin” on the table to warn Zhuge about the slaughter, and realized Zhuge already knew what the deaths would unleash.

Mo Hua learned that the Dao Court had allowed the aristocratic prodigies to compete for access to the Dragon Pool, while he resolved to enter the Royal Court despite the dangers. As the Royal Court War began with a clash between Feather Transformation cultivators, he had warned his companions and given Situ Fang protective items and secret messages.

• True Person Zhuge tried to send Mo Hua back to Void Gate, but Mo Hua insisted on going to the Royal Court and Dragon Pool, and Zhuge warned him to keep dangerous secrets unspoken.
• Mo Hua questioned the Ganxue Prodigies and learned that the first prodigies to breach the Royal Court would be permitted to form Golden Cores in the Dragon Pool.
• Mo Hua warned the prodigies to follow his signals if circumstances turned dire, then spoke with Situ Jian and urged him to protect himself.
• Mo Hua gave Situ Fang protective Jade Pendants, soft armor, and two secret Jade Slips before the war, and she accepted them solemnly.
• Seven days later, a Dao Court True Person and a Great Wilderness Dragon Lord exchanged attacks, beginning the final battle of the Great Wilderness War.

Mo Hua witnessed the Dao Court and Great Wilderness Feather Transformation cultivators battle, then joined the army’s assault on the Royal Court while struggling under the battlefield’s overwhelming karmic pressure. He and Bai Zisheng entered the breached city on the day the Great Wilderness Royal Court fell.

• Mo Hua watched seven Dao Court Feather Transformations fight six Great Wilderness Dragon Lords and considered the Royal Court’s defenses and the mysteries of the Ancestral Court and Endless Abyss.
• General Yang told Mo Hua that the Dao Court had ordered all resistance in the Royal Court killed, and explained that Yang Qianjun had been left behind.
• After more than half a month of repeated battles, the Dao Court Feather Transformations gained a slight advantage, the Great Wilderness’s Four Symbols Array was destroyed, and True Person Zhuge placed the wounded Dragon Lords under a Seven Star Array.
• General Yang ordered the Dao Court’s millions of soldiers to attack, and Mo Hua entered the battlefield with Bai Zisheng, avoiding kills because he had only six Straw Dogs to offset their karmic consequences.
• Mo Hua struggled against the life-and-death karma of the slaughter but guided Bai Zisheng through the fighting until they reached the Royal Court’s breached wall.
• Mo Hua and Bai Zisheng followed the Dao soldiers through the breach into the Great Wilderness Royal Court as it fell.

Mo Hua and Bai Zisheng crossed the chaotic Great Wilderness Royal Court, where Dao Soldiers, Royal Court fighters, and Demonic Path cultivators slaughtered one another, while they searched for Dragon Pool so Mo Hua could form his Golden Core. After escaping a late Golden Core demon, they decided to find the Royal Court Divine Maiden Dan Ling for clues, and Bai Zisheng denied Mo Hua’s teasing that he had a relationship with her.

• Mo Hua glimpsed the Royal Court at its height and its collapse, then followed Bai Zisheng toward the inner court to find Dragon Pool and form his Golden Core.
• Mo Hua and Bai Zisheng fought their way past ambushing Long-Armed Insect Corpses and Joyous Union Demonic Cultivators in the palace corridors.
• Mo Hua restrained a hall of Demon Cultivators with Water Prison Techniques while Bai Zisheng killed them, then Bai Zisheng took a powerful Blood Claw from a late Golden Core Ferocious Tiger Demon Cultivator.
• Mo Hua used his pale-gold gaze to stop the Ferocious Tiger Demon Cultivator long enough for him and Bai Zisheng to escape onto the hall beams.
• Mo Hua gave Bai Zisheng an Invisibility Robe and proposed seeking Dan Ling, the Royal Court Divine Maiden, for information about Dragon Pool.
• Bai Zisheng denied Mo Hua’s suggestion that he had a relationship with Dan Ling and accused Mo Hua of being involved with her instead.