Chapter Summaries

Zhao Yuling visited Chu He at the Book Repository and lamented that none of her many disciples had met her standards. Chu He asked why she was not joining Lin Xueling, who had been summoned to the Xia Clan’s Sacred Land, and explained the clan’s hidden history and the danger of provoking the Tiger Clan.

• Zhao Yuling rushed into the Book Repository, asked after Little Green, and discussed how much the growing turtle had changed.
• Zhao Yuling complained that her dozens of disciples had advanced too slowly and asked Chu He for teaching advice, but he told her his methods could not be copied.
• Chu He asked why Zhao Yuling was not going with Lin Xueling to the Xia Clan’s Sacred Land after a senior had come to escort her.
• Chu He explained that the Xia Clan had hidden its strongest talents in a Secret Realm to avoid provoking the Tiger Clan, which watched for signs that the Xia Clan might rise again.
• The Xia Clan had invited Lin Xueling to the Sacred Land because she sensed a major event was approaching, despite the danger that her sudden rise could draw the Tiger Clan’s attention.

Chu He discovered that the Great Turtle had been tricked by a Black Snake and delivered to a colossal beast as Blood Food. The beast failed to kill or refine the turtle, leaving it trapped but still struggling.

• Chu He found the Great Turtle swimming with a Black Snake, which promised to lead it to a great opportunity.
• The Black Snake betrayed the Great Turtle by hurling it into an underwater cave, where a colossal beast caught it with its tongue.
• The Black Snake presented the Great Turtle to the beast as Innate Ninth Level Blood Food.
• The Great Turtle struggled against the beast's tongue and venom, but neither could harm it nor pull its head free.
• The beast grew frustrated by the Great Turtle's unnatural toughness and questioned the Black Snake about its prey.

Chu He watched the giant beast fail to harm the Great Turtle, then revealed himself when the beast tried to eat him. He subdued the beast with a golden palm and learned that it had realized the Great Turtle belonged to him.

• The giant beast exhausted its venom and acid against the Great Turtle, then turned its hunger toward the Black Snake.
• The giant beast asked the Black Snake to find a way to cook the turtle, and Chu He suggested using an alchemy furnace.
• The giant beast noticed Chu He, assumed he was prey, and lunged at him.
• Chu He seized the giant beast's mouth with a golden palm, terrifying it with his overwhelming power.
• The Great Turtle recognized Chu He, rushed toward him, and pointed at the giant beast in an aggrieved accusation.
• The giant beast realized that the Great Turtle knew Chu He and belonged to him.

Chu He refined the giant beast and Black Snake into food for Great Turtle, then guided Little Green through a breakthrough that transformed it into Little Gold. Back at the Book Repository, the golden turtle eagerly resumed cleaning, but Zhao Yuling rejected its attempt to get petted.

• Chu He seized the giant beast and Black Snake in his golden hand and refined them into essence for Great Turtle.
• Chu He used Golden Body Sculpting Pills and guided Great Turtle through its breakthrough, transforming it into Little Gold.
• Little Gold returned to the Book Repository and enthusiastically cleaned the building with its treasured rag.
• Little Gold offered its head for Zhao Yuling to pet, but she brushed it aside and said she preferred Little Green.
• Chu He told Zhao Yuling that Little Green had changed color after breaking through and should now be called Little Gold.

An Old Man visited Chu He at the Book Repository and offered the Map of Mountains and Rivers in exchange for three hundred years of protection for the Xia Clan. Chu He was unimpressed by the treasure, leaving the Old Man to explain its value.

• The Old Man approached Chu He, whose perception revealed the visitor's severe injuries and his plan to preserve enough strength for one decisive strike.
• The Old Man and Chu He chatted and praised each other before the Old Man asked whether Chu He was Lin Xueling's senior brother and whether his master was present.
• Chu He clarified that he wanted to hear the proposed deal, and the Old Man revealed the Map of Mountains and Rivers.
• The Old Man offered the map in exchange for Chu He's master guarding the Xia Clan for three hundred years, but Chu He shook his head at the offer.
• The Old Man assumed Chu He did not understand the map's value and prepared to explain its significance.

The Old Man explained the powers and limitations of the Map of Mountains and Rivers, hoping Chu He would help pass his request to a senior. After receiving a life-extending pot of tea from Chu He and failing to impress Little Turtle with a pill, the Old Man departed, still awaiting an answer.

• The Old Man showed Chu He that the Map of Mountains and Rivers contained a world and described its abilities and steep costs.
• Chu He told the Old Man to let the younger generation shoulder the burden, then agreed to pass along his request despite knowing the message was meant for himself.
• The Old Man drank Chu He's tea, felt it restore his vitality, and accepted the teapot as a gift.
• Chu He told Little Turtle to see the Old Man off, but Little Turtle rejected the Old Man's offered pill with a contemptuous look.
• The Old Man ate the rejected pill himself and hurried away, asking Little Snow Spirit to inform him if Senior agreed.

Chu He used the Map of Mountains and Rivers to merge his fortune dragon with it, spreading protective fortune across Lin Commandery and making himself its Child of fortune. Meanwhile, the Old Man and his disciple abruptly disappeared through a mysterious gate, leaving their carriage behind.

• Chu He guessed that the Xia Clan faced a grave threat and examined the Map of Mountains and Rivers the Old Man had left behind.
• Chu He fed Little Turtle golden dog food and decided to use the map to suppress fortune.
• Chu He summoned a golden fortune dragon and fused it with the Map of Mountains and Rivers, spreading fortune across Lin Commandery.
• The Old Man explained to his disciple that he had left the map with the senior to keep it from falling into foreign hands.
• The Old Man and his disciple sensed something was wrong, but a mysterious gate appeared and swallowed the disciple as he tried to flee with the Old Man.

Chu He signed in for the Demon Suppressing Pagoda and discovered its overwhelming power. Three days later, Zhao Yuling proudly told him her disciples’ breakthroughs had taught her how to be a good master, while Chu He suspected the Map of Mountains and Rivers’ fortune was responsible.

• At midnight, Chu He signed in and received the Demon Suppressing Pagoda, whose aura shattered a King-level defensive technique and frightened Little Turtle.
• Chu He studied the pagoda’s abilities to attack, defend, and imprison enemies, and decided it would be his exclusive weapon.
• Zhao Yuling visited Chu He and said her disciples had repeatedly gained enlightenment and broken through after she lectured them, making her feel she had mastered teaching.
• Chu He suspected the disciples’ progress came from the fortune he had suppressed in Lin Commandery, but he let Zhao Yuling leave feeling proud.
• Little Turtle watched Zhao Yuling leave without petting it, then sadly resumed cleaning the bookshelves.

The Tiger Clan debated whether to attack the Xia Clan after reports that a Secret Realm had appeared in its territory. The First Tiger declared that it would break through within twenty years and lead the Tiger Clan to conquer the Barbarian Domain.

• The Tiger Clan learned from the captive Star Gazing Clan that a Secret Realm might have emerged in the Xia Clan's territory.
• Heavenly Tiger Mountain's tigers argued over whether to attack immediately or wait until the Xia Clan's supreme combatant died.
• The First Tiger arrived at Heavenly Tiger Mountain and said it had sensed the Secret Realm's appearance.
• The First Tiger predicted it would advance beyond King Ninth Level Peak within twenty years and ordered the Tiger Clan to wait before destroying the Xia Clan and other major clans.
• The Tiger Clan's members roared in excitement at the prospect of the First Tiger's breakthrough and their eventual conquest of the Barbarian Domain.

After Xia Yuan and Meng Yi vanished, the Xia Clan opened its Sacred Land and unleashed its returning geniuses against hostile clans as it prepared for war. Lin Xueling told Chu He that the Xia Clan faced a crisis, and he reassured her that Xia Yuan might have found an opportunity in a Secret Realm.

• Xia Clan members speculated that Xia Yuan had gone to strike at the Tiger Clan or Charm Clan, and an Old Ancestor ordered the Sacred Land opened.
• The Xia Clan's returning geniuses left to take revenge on hostile clans, with the Old Ancestors permitting them to kill freely.
• A Charm Clan powerhouse announced plans to open a passage to the Xia Clan and lead the clan's elites there in ten years.
• Lin Xueling returned to the Book Repository in armor and told Chu He that Xia Yuan had vanished and the Xia Clan faced a crisis.
• Chu He reassured Lin Xueling and said Xia Yuan and Meng Yi might have entered a Secret Realm that offered them an opportunity.

After Lin Xueling left to pursue vengeance against the Canine Fang Clan, Chu He prepared to strengthen his cultivation and create a place of greater fortune using the Demon Suppressing Pagoda. While searching the river for a suitable target, he hooked a great snake, and the Little Turtle tried to attack it before Chu He stopped the blow.

• Lin Xueling visited Chu He, then set out to destroy the remaining experts of the Canine Fang Clan.
• Chu He planned to keep building his foundation until he could use his hundred-year sign-in reward to support his breakthrough.
• Chu He took the Demon Suppressing Pagoda and the Little Turtle into the great river to capture beings steeped in Killing Intent and refine fortune from them.
• Chu He hooked an Innate Ninth Level great snake, and the Little Turtle grew large and rushed to strike it.
• Chu He restrained the Little Turtle and blocked its claw, while the bewildered great snake realized Chu He had both hooked it and saved it.

Chu He captured powerful nonhumans from Blue River and prepared them for cultivation while Little Turtle watched over them. He placed the Demon Suppressing Pagoda outside the Book Repository and bound two Half-step King-level beasts inside, discovering that its Blood River drained their Blood Fiend Qi and fed mysterious power into the pillars.

• Chu He swept through Blue River's tributaries, capturing every suitable Innate Ninth Level creature and two Half-step King-level beasts.
• Chu He sealed off a stretch of river, force-fed pills and a rapid cultivation method to the captured creatures, and ordered Little Turtle to watch them.
• Chu He checked in at the Book Repository and received a bottle of Wuhou Pills.
• Chu He placed the Demon Suppressing Pagoda beneath a Willow Tree and brought the Giant Crocodile and Mountain-Coiling Giant Beast inside.
• The Blood River bound and tortured the two beasts, draining their Blood Fiend Qi and transferring mysterious power into the bronze pillars.

Three years after Chu He finished fishing through the Xia Clan's rivers, he continued collecting foreign races at his fishing ground while Zhao Yuling learned that a Great Contention Era was approaching. The captured races remained trapped under the Golden Great Turtle's supervision, and Chu He left them with no hope of escape.

• Chu He spent three years fishing through the Xia Clan's territory and captured foreign races who fled there.
• Zhao Yuling told Chu He that unusually talented children had been born in Lin City, and Chu He attributed the change to a spiritual energy resurgence and the coming Great Contention Era.
• Zhao Yuling returned to the White-robed Emperor Palace, while Chu He went to his fishing ground.
• Chu He found the Golden Great Turtle overseeing the captured races and feeding on Royal Dog Food.
• Chu He criticized the foreign races' cultivation, while they secretly refused to improve after seeing how easily he subdued powerful opponents.

Chu He forced the foreign races in his fishery to cultivate by threatening them and giving the strongest one a Death Exemption Token, then went hunting in the wild. In Northern Territory Commandery, a Demon Frog Commander ambushed young Xia Clan warriors, but its attempt to roar was interrupted by something stuffed in its mouth.

• Chu He killed the weakest Canine Fang Clan member and warned the foreign races that he would return every half month to kill whoever had the lowest cultivation.
• Chu He ordered Little Turtle to punish anyone who bullied the weak and gave the strongest foreign race, a giant goldfish, a Death Exemption Token as an incentive to keep cultivating.
• Chu He left the fishery and set out to hunt foreign races across the land.
• A group of young Xia Clan warriors arrived in a ruined Northern Territory Commandery town and were surrounded by Demon Frog Clan members led by an Innate Ninth Level commander.
• The Demon Frog Commander prepared to attack the young warriors, but something suddenly stuffed its mouth and muffled its roar.

Chu He used his fishing line to capture the Demon Frog Commander and several Frog Generals, leaving the Xia Clan youths free to fight the remaining Demon Frogs. He put the Commander in his Universe Pouch and killed the Generals, while the Frog Commander realized how terrifyingly powerful the Xia Clan was.

• Chu He’s fishing line hooked the Demon Frog Commander and dragged it skyward, while several Frog Generals grabbed on and were pulled away with it.
• The Xia Clan youths learned that a mysterious fishing line had reportedly been catching foreign races, then seized the chance to attack the confused Demon Frog underlings.
• As the Commander neared Chu He, it recognized him as a Xia Clan expert and despaired at how much the Xia Clan had concealed its strength.
• Chu He put the Demon Frog Commander into his Universe Pouch and pinched the Frog Generals to death, leaving their bodies to fertilize the land.

Chu He returned to the Demon Suppressing Pagoda with new captives and rotated the foreign races resting from the blood river’s torment. After discovering their extracted power had weakened, he tested whether killing other foreign races could restore their Blood Fiend Qi, and found that it worked.

• Chu He checked in twice at the Book Repository, then returned with over thirty Innate Ninth Level experts and a Half-step King captured across five commanderies.
• Chu He exchanged the twenty foreign races who had been resting with twenty from the blood river, and gave the resting group food and pills.
• Chu He sensed that the twenty newly bound foreign races produced less mysterious power together than the Half-step King, and concluded that their Blood Fiend Qi had diminished.
• Chu He ordered a giant beast to slowly kill ten Innate Ninth Level foreign races and saw its Blood Fiend Qi increase as it did so.
• Chu He bound the giant beast in the river of blood and confirmed that the extracted mysterious power had increased, then produced a golden fishing net.

The Xia Clan’s Old Ancestors met to discuss their unexplained rise and the strange inaction of their enemies and other mysterious forces. They ordered the clan to halt its campaigns, consolidate its gains, and avoid provoking the hidden expert and the Giant Net.

• A Xia Clan Old Ancestor reported that the Tiger Clan had ignored the clan’s expansion and the destruction of its subordinate clans.
• Another Old Ancestor said that the Charm Clan had vanished, leaving the Xia Clan unable to locate it.
• The Old Ancestors agreed to stop conquering nearby territories and focus on absorbing their gains and nurturing the younger generation.
• The Xia Clan elders discussed the Giant Net, which had repeatedly caught foreign clans but never harmed Xia Clan members, and the improving cultivation conditions in Lin Commandery.
• The Old Ancestor in the main seat ordered the clan to keep investigating the Tiger Clan and Charm Clan, move its main sect residence to Lin Commandery, and avoid probing the hidden expert or Giant Net.

After Lin Xueling returned from the Xia Clan’s expansion campaign, she rested and cultivated at the Book Repository while Chu He continued to deepen his foundation. A sudden ancient aura erupted beyond Lin City, and Chu He looked toward it in alarm.

• Chu He resumed his quiet life beneath the Willow Tree, where Zhao Yuling joined him to read and Lin Xueling returned from the front.
• Lin Xueling told Chu He that the Xia Clan had ended its expansion and would keep a low profile, then agreed to rest and clear the Blood Fiend Qi from her body.
• Lin Xueling spent three months at the Book Repository playing Go with Chu He as he helped wear away her Blood Fiend Qi.
• Over the next year, Lin Xueling reached the third level of the King Realm, while Zhao Yuling advanced to the fourth and asked Chu He about his cultivation.
• A thunderous explosion and an ancient, desolate aura erupted beyond Lin City, and Chu He stared toward the disturbance.

The Secret Realm fully opened, and Chu He discovered a living Giant Dragon sleeping beneath a Golden Giant Tower. After sensing the dragon’s immense Killing Intent, he decided to suppress it and sent out his Golden Fishing Net.

• Chu He dismissed the Secret Realm’s opening as unworthy of his intervention, while Zhao Yuling described the Great Contention Era to Lin Xueling.
• Lin Xueling and Zhao Yuling left to explore the Secret Realm, believing that the greatest experts would wait for a larger opportunity.
• Chu He surveyed the stabilized Secret Realm and found a Nether Spring beneath the Golden Giant Tower.
• Chu He discovered a sleeping Giant Dragon in the spring and sensed that it had only just entered the Emperor Realm.
• Chu He recognized the dragon as a Sinful Dragon with overwhelming Killing Intent and launched his Golden Fishing Net at it.

Xia Yuan and Meng Yi emerged from the Golden Giant Tower after Meng Yi received its inheritance, agreeing to return once he reached the Emperor Realm to reinforce a seal. Just as they escaped, the tower was lifted and black water surged from beneath it.

• Xia Yuan waited six years outside the golden doors while Meng Yi received the inheritance inside.
• The skeleton complained that Xia Yuan and Meng Yi had lost their good fortune, then asked Meng Yi to return as an Emperor within a hundred years and help reinforce the seal on a great demon beneath the Sacred Tower.
• Xia Yuan accepted the obligation, and the skeleton announced it would return to silence as the golden doors began to close.
• The skeleton suddenly sprang up, cursed someone for trying to lift its lid, and rushed out of the hall.
• Xia Yuan stopped Meng Yi from speaking and urged him to escape with him as the ground shook.
• Xia Yuan and Meng Yi emerged to see the Golden Giant Tower lifted into the air and black water surging skyward.