Chapter Summaries

Feng Ling told Meng Zhao and Zhao Rulíng that the Supreme Scepter had once belonged to the Tiantian Clan and might be a master-harming object. He explained that the scepter could only recognize someone who united the destiny of the Hundred Clans, leaving Meng Zhao and Zhao Rulíng questioning how anyone could accomplish that.

• Feng Ling revealed that Huai Queen's Supreme Scepter had passed to the Tiantian Clan's chieftain before disappearing after the chieftain was assassinated.
• Meng Zhao questioned why the scepter's past holders had been unable to defend themselves despite its immense power.
• Feng Ling said the Supreme Scepter had not resisted their enemies and that his ancestors suspected it harmed its holders.
• Zhao Rulíng objected that destiny-based divine objects usually protected their owners, but Feng Ling suggested the dead may never have been the scepter's true masters.
• Feng Ling explained that only someone who united the destiny of the Hundred Clans could gain the Supreme Scepter's recognition, and Meng Zhao and Zhao Rulíng doubted such unity was possible.

Meng Zhao and Feng Ling discussed why the Supreme Scepter was difficult to wield and considered whether human fortune or the Heavenly Demon Palace Lord could overcome its dangers. Feng Ling recounted the artifact’s deadly history, and Meng Zhao suggested it might never have been completed because too few clans had contributed to its forging.

• Meng Zhao reasoned that the fortunes of the Hundred Clans suppressed anyone who carried the fortune of only one clan, making it difficult to claim the Supreme Scepter.
• Meng Zhao speculated that a person with dragon blood and bloodlines from the Hundred Clans might wield the scepter, and that human fortune could also suppress its power.
• Feng Ling agreed that the Heavenly Demon Palace Lord might claim the scepter because he carried the fortune of the demonic path.
• Feng Ling told Meng Zhao that the scepter had appeared among more than a dozen clans, whose chieftains usually died, before vanishing among the Three-Eyed Divine Clan after its chieftain survived with grave injuries.
• Meng Zhao said the scepter had originally been short of contributions from thirty-four clans, then explained that the Hundred Clans had once numbered only ninety-nine until the Dragon Clan appeared.

Meng Zhao proposed that the Supreme Scepter had been used to siphon and stabilize the fortune of clans that had opposed its creation. Feng Ling feared the Tiantian Clan’s fortune was under the scepter’s control and realized it might be nearing completion as a Supreme Divine Artifact.

• Feng Ling confirmed that the Tiantian Clan had opposed forging the Supreme Scepter after its divine ability revealed opposition among powerful clan figures.
• Meng Zhao asked whether the White Bone Clan, Siming Clan, Feather Clan, and Three-Eyed Divine Clan had also opposed forging it, prompting Feng Ling and Zhao Rulíng to understand his suspicion of a conspiracy.
• Feng Ling’s aura shattered a stone table as he considered that the Tiantian Clan’s blood essence and fortune might have been stolen through the Supreme Scepter.
• Feng Ling argued that the Tiantian Clan’s present prosperity seemed inconsistent with its fortune being damaged, and Meng Zhao explained that the scepter might have split and stabilized its fortune instead.
• Feng Ling considered that the scepter could both protect the Tiantian Clan and place its fortune under outside control, and he wondered whether Huai Queen’s death had been part of the scheme.
• Feng Ling realized that the Supreme Scepter had passed through many clans and was gradually approaching its complete form as a true Supreme Divine Artifact.

Feng Ling and Meng Zhao discussed the Three-Eyed Divine Clan’s surviving chief, the last known person to encounter the Supreme Scepter, and the danger of the clan’s unusual powers. They ended by considering whether the chief had hidden the Scepter and faked his survival to avoid scrutiny.

• Meng Zhao warned Feng Ling that the Three-Eyed Divine Clan’s chief might have learned more about the Supreme Scepter than outsiders knew.
• Meng Zhao and Zhao Rulíng considered the Three-Eyed Divine Clan’s ancient strength, golden blood, and varied third-eye divine abilities.
• Feng Ling explained that the Hundred Clans knew the chief had survived, but feared the powerful Three-Eyed Divine Clan too much to demand answers.
• Meng Zhao argued that the clans should pressure the Three-Eyed Divine Clan because it might use the Supreme Scepter to unify the Hundred Clans.
• Feng Ling considered that the chief might have staged his apparent survival and hidden the Scepter, since it vanished after passing through the clan’s hands.

Meng Zhao and Zhao Rulíng discussed the Three-Eyed Divine Clan’s power with Feng Ling, who rejected provoking it into war because the Hundred Clans could suffer catastrophic losses. After trading information and martial knowledge, Feng Ling explained the Tiantian Clan’s inherited arts, including the origin of his Heavenly Wind Divine Art.

• Feng Ling rejected Meng Zhao’s suggestion to use the Supreme Scepter to pressure the Three-Eyed Divine Clan, warning that war could devastate the Hundred Clans.
• Zhao Rulíng recognized that Meng Zhao wanted to stir conflict among the Hundred Clans to weaken a potential threat to his forces.
• Meng Zhao asked Feng Ling to compare the Three-Eyed Divine Clan with the Dragon Clan left by Ancestor Dragon Ying Zheng, and Feng Ling said the Three-Eyed Divine Clan vastly surpassed that branch of dragons.
• Meng Zhao and Zhao Rulíng agreed to stay temporarily among the Tiantian Clan, and Feng Ling gained confidence from their offer to help if trouble arose.
• Meng Zhao and Zhao Rulíng explained their martial paths to Feng Ling, who demonstrated how Zhao Rulíng’s Dao of Yin Yang involved transforming between male and female.
• Feng Ling described the Tiantian Clan’s three inherited Divine Demon Martial Arts and explained that his Heavenly Wind Divine Art had evolved from one of them.

Feng Ling explained how the Tiantian Clan’s wind arts and the Arctic Ice Plains’ Heavenly Dao worked, giving Meng Zhao and Zhao Rulíng a clearer understanding of their surroundings. He also shared the Heavenly Heart Sensing Chapter, which they deciphered as a Buddhist heart- and spirit-cultivation method but found of little use to them.

• Feng Ling used his knowledge of the Heavenly Wind Divine Art to explain how he had detected Meng Zhao and Zhao Rulíng’s presence despite their concealment.
• Meng Zhao, Zhao Rulíng, and Dark Night concluded that the Arctic Ice Plains’ Heavenly Dao was part of the same whole as Divine Land’s, but carried more Deathly Qi and could distort cultivation.
• Meng Zhao and Zhao Rulíng gained a deeper understanding of the region’s Heavenly Dao and the origins of Dragon Lord Sky Burial’s name.
• Feng Ling taught Meng Zhao the essential principles of the Listening Heaven Probing Earth Secret Art’s Heavenly Heart Sensing Chapter.
• Meng Zhao and Zhao Rulíng recognized the chapter as a Buddhist method for cultivating the heart and spirit, but judged it to be of little practical value to them.

Meng Zhao used his Primordial Spirit to imitate the Heavenly Wind Divine Art and overheard Feng Ling discussing the Tiantian Clan’s coming trouble. He learned that Feng Ling planned to enlist Meng Zhao and Zhao Rulíng to disrupt an opponent at a crucial moment, though the clan elders might object.

• Meng Zhao judged the Heavenly Heart Sensing Chapter of limited use to him and Zhao Rulíng because they followed the original Heavenly Dao rather than Buddhism’s Buddha Heaven.
• Meng Zhao dispersed his Primordial Spirit through the wind and air currents, extending his perception across the Tiantian Clan settlement.
• Meng Zhao overheard a Great Grandmaster Heaven Listener question Feng Ling’s plan to cooperate with the two powerful human guests over the Supreme Scepter.
• Feng Ling said he needed Meng Zhao and Zhao Rulíng’s strength to resolve an impending problem within the clan.
• Feng Ling revealed that he wanted the two humans to use their heavenly-human divine abilities to disrupt his opponent at a crucial moment, not to fight directly.

Meng Zhao learned that Feng Ling's tribe faced a Clan War challenge from the Lan Clan Lineage, with the Divine Connection Post at stake. Feng Ling hoped Meng Zhao and Zhao Rulíng would use their auras to help him defeat the Lan Clan patriarch.

• Meng Zhao pieced together the Divine Connection Post's origins, its value to Tiantian Clan cultivators, and why it could not be replaced.
• The Tiantian Clan had established Clan Wars to decide which tribe would keep the Divine Connection Post, with victory determined by contests between experts.
• Feng Ling learned that the Lan Clan patriarch had made a breakthrough and challenged his tribe to a Clan War.
• Feng Ling worried about his tribe's chances and considered how to counter the Lan Clan patriarch.
• Feng Ling invited Meng Zhao and Zhao Rulíng to help by disrupting the challenger or bolstering Feng Ling with their auras during the Celestial Being battle.

Meng Zhao learned that Dragon Tree Monk, a former Great Compassion Temple leader and Heavenly Being, planned to pass down the Peacock King Sutra. Feng Ling and Great Grandmaster Heaven Listener warned that Buddhist teachings could sever clan ties and that the Buddhist sect had used the evil Art of Salvation to turn people into puppets.

• Zhao Rulíng told Meng Zhao that Dragon Tree Monk had once led Great Compassion Temple's Disciplinary Hall before leaving amid imperial disputes and settling in the Arctic Ice Plains.
• Meng Zhao considered Dragon Tree Monk's influence at Little Cold Mountain Temple and learned that most students returned to their clans after studying there.
• Feng Ling explained that Dragon Tree Monk intended to transmit the Peacock King Sutra and voiced concerns about its effects on Hundred Clans martial artists.
• Great Grandmaster Heaven Listener confirmed that the Buddhist sect's Art of Salvation could change a person's nature and turn them into an Echoing Insect and protector of the sect.

Feng Ling weighed the Tiantian Clan’s desire for the Peacock King Sutra against the danger that Dragon Tree Monk might use it to manipulate an heir. Meng Zhao also concluded that Dragon Tree Monk’s sudden offer was suspicious, though neither of them could determine his purpose.

• The Hundred Clans had once united against the Buddhist sect over its Art of Salvation, but influential monks had mediated and helped purge corrupt members.
• Feng Ling coveted the Peacock King Sutra for the Tiantian Clan, yet feared Dragon Tree Monk might use it to salvage and control a clan genius.
• Feng Ling told Great Grandmaster Heaven Listener that Dragon Tree Monk had kept the sutra from spreading for decades and had never selected an heir before.
• Meng Zhao listened unseen through the winds and concluded that Dragon Tree Monk’s sudden decision to pass down the sutra was inexplicable, since he seemed neither old nor injured.
• Meng Zhao recognized that the Peacock King Sutra was an open lure: anyone seeking its supreme Buddhist martial arts would eventually have to risk accepting it.

Meng Zhao reflected on a new way to cultivate by merging his Primordial Spirit with the wind, then learned that a young Tiantian girl wanted his help preparing for the coming Clan War. He wondered why she hoped to fight despite being only in the Houtian realm.

• Feng Ling decided to abandon Dragon Tree Monk's inheritance and focus on protecting the Divine Connection Post and preparing for the Clan War.
• Meng Zhao's Primordial Spirit wandered through the wind overnight, giving him a fresh perspective on Heavenly Dao and Martial Dao.
• Meng Zhao finished his morning cultivation and received breakfast from a young Tiantian girl.
• Meng Zhao asked the girl what she wanted, and she pleaded for guidance so she could become the strongest in the Houtian realm and fight for her clan.
• Meng Zhao realized the girl meant to face the Lan Clan's challengers, but questioned how she could take part in a contest reserved for high-realm martial artists.

Feng Susu asked Meng Zhao to help her become strong enough to fight in the Tiantian Clan’s Clan War and protect her tribe. Meng Zhao agreed to assess her martial foundation, leaving her hopeful that she might rise to the challenge.

• Feng Susu introduced herself to Meng Zhao and asked for his guidance so she could take part in the Clan War.
• Meng Zhao questioned her wish to become the strongest in the Houtian Realm and told her to trust her elders with protecting the tribe.
• Meng Zhao decided Feng Susu was worth cultivating as a potential influence within the Tiantian Clan, though he could not decide whether she would enter the Clan War.
• Meng Zhao led Feng Susu onto the ice-and-snow plain and asked her to demonstrate her fist techniques.
• Feng Susu eagerly imagined that Meng Zhao’s instruction might help her become the next Dragon Lord Sky Burial.

Feng Susu demonstrated the Drunken Dream Fist, and Meng Zhao praised her solid foundation while pointing out her lack of combat experience and the limits of her strength. He then began teaching her his profound interpretation of the technique, leaving her transfixed by its seemingly endless changes.

• Feng Susu performed the Drunken Dream Fist, and Meng Zhao quickly understood most of its principles and subtleties.
• Meng Zhao praised Feng Susu's foundation and Houtian Realm combat strength, then warned that she lacked battle-tested methods and robust power.
• Meng Zhao told Feng Susu that her solid foundation made her well suited for rapid improvement under his guidance.
• Meng Zhao demonstrated the Drunken Dream Fist, transforming its sixteen forms and thirty-nine moves into a dreamlike, seemingly inexhaustible martial art.
• Feng Susu watched Meng Zhao intently, determined not to miss a single movement.

Meng Zhao taught Feng Susu the Drunken Dream Fist and discovered that she had grasped its divine intent with remarkable promise. As Feng Susu rapidly improved under his guidance, Zhao Rulíng arrived and questioned why he was spending time instructing her.

• Feng Susu admitted that she had understood thirty to forty percent of Meng Zhao's demonstration but had learned less than ten percent, then attempted to imitate the fist technique.
• Meng Zhao recognized that Feng Susu had grasped genuine traces of the Drunken Dream Fist's divine essence and explained how it could strengthen her and support future breakthroughs.
• Meng Zhao guided Feng Susu through repeated practice, helping her refine her fist technique and improve her qi, blood, internal force, mind, and spirit.
• Zhao Rulíng appeared and sent Meng Zhao a voice transmission asking why he was teaching Feng Susu and whether there was something special about her.

Meng Zhao and Zhao Rulíng helped Feng Susu improve her cultivation, and Meng Zhao told her to keep practicing on her own. After she left, Meng Zhao concluded that she was likely closely connected to Feng Ling and held an important position in the Tiantian Tribe.

• Meng Zhao explained that he had guided Feng Susu because she had sought his instruction and showed good aptitude.
• Zhao Rulíng used his yin and yang energies to strengthen Feng Susu, causing her inner force to surge.
• Meng Zhao told Feng Susu to carefully temper the new inner force and continue studying the fist techniques he had taught her.
• Feng Susu thanked Meng Zhao and Zhao Rulíng, then left disappointed that Meng Zhao had not taken her as a disciple.
• After Zhao Rulíng returned to his male form, Meng Zhao said Feng Susu was probably an important descendant of the Tiantian Tribe and might be related to Feng Ling.

Meng Zhao and Zhao Rulíng discussed their interest in the Tiantian Tribe’s Clan War and theorized that Six-Eared Listener of Heaven’s bloodline explained the power of his Divine Connection Post. They also considered Dragon Tree Monk’s plan to pass on the Peacock King Sutra, which left Zhao Rulíng wondering why he would violate its strict inheritance rules.

• Meng Zhao told Zhao Rulíng he hoped to cultivate ties with the Tiantian Tribe and saw Feng Susu as a potential future ally.
• Meng Zhao recounted discovering the Divine Connection Post and learning that Feng Ling wanted their help influencing the Clan War’s decisive contest.
• Meng Zhao and Zhao Rulíng theorized that Six-Eared Listener of Heaven’s bloodline gave the Divine Connection Post its unique effects.
• Zhao Rulíng agreed to help Feng Ling during the Clan War, and Meng Zhao said they could repay Feng Ling for his help and disclosures.
• Meng Zhao raised Dragon Tree Monk’s intention to choose an inheritor for the Peacock King Sutra, and Zhao Rulíng questioned why he would break its inheritance restrictions.

Zhao Rulíng warned Meng Zhao that Dragon Tree Monk’s ties to the Beitang Imperial Clan could make him a threat to Meng Zhao’s plans in the Northern Lands. He cautioned that the Beitang Imperial Clan might use its imperial legitimacy and national destiny to shield the Hundred Clans from the Human Clan’s suppression, leaving Meng Zhao wary of Dragon Tree Monk’s changing intentions.

• Meng Zhao used his true qi to prevent Feng Ling from overhearing his private conversation with Zhao Rulíng.
• Zhao Rulíng explained that Dragon Tree Monk’s Peacock King Sutra and Beitang Imperial Clan heritage could make him more loyal to the imperial clan than to Buddhism.
• Meng Zhao feared Dragon Tree Monk might help the Arctic Ice Plains clans break through his control of the three northern provinces.
• Zhao Rulíng warned that the Beitang Imperial Clan could use its orthodox status and national destiny to lift the Human Clan’s suppression of the Hundred Clans.
• Zhao Rulíng said Dragon Tree Monk had not left the capital with such hostile intentions, but his views might have changed, and he urged Meng Zhao not to underestimate the Beitang Imperial Clan.

Meng Zhao and Zhao Rulíng agreed to investigate Dragon Tree Monk and seek the Peacock King Sutra after helping the Wind Spirit Clan in the Clan War. They became more cautious about pursuing the Supreme Scepter and accepted Feng Ling’s invitation to discuss matters.

• Meng Zhao suspected Zhao Rulíng might be a spy, while Zhao Rulíng avoided discussing sensitive affairs and probed Meng Zhao about Dragon Tree Monk.
• Meng Zhao reasoned that Dragon Tree Monk might use the Peacock King Sutra to control an influential clan heir, and revealed that he was subtly influencing Feng Susu through the Drunken Dream Fist.
• Meng Zhao and Zhao Rulíng agreed to visit Dragon Tree Monk and try to obtain the Peacock King Sutra, which both men wanted for its Five Elements cultivation.
• Meng Zhao and Zhao Rulíng decided to rest in the Tiantian Tribe, help the Wind Spirit Clan win the Clan War, and then visit Dragon Tree Monk.
• Meng Zhao and Zhao Rulíng reconsidered their pursuit of the Supreme Scepter because of its dangers and the Hundred Clans’ interests, then accepted Feng Ling’s invitation to discuss matters.

Feng Ling asked Meng Zhao and Zhao Rulíng to help restrain the Lan Clan’s chief during the Clan War, then shared the history of the Supreme Scepter. He revealed that Wu Zhiqi proposed its creation after losing to Emperor Yu, and the chapter ended with Wu Zhiqi’s defeat and wounded pride presented as the true roots of his obsession.

• Feng Ling asked Meng Zhao and Zhao Rulíng to use their qi auras to restrain the Lan Clan’s chief during the Clan War, and they agreed.
• Feng Ling told Meng Zhao and Zhao Rulíng that a Demon Divine Clan expert had proposed forging the Supreme Scepter to rival Emperor Yu’s Nine Tripods.
• Feng Ling identified that expert as Wu Zhiqi, the Huai River Demon God, whose command over water grew powerful during the great flood.
• Emperor Yu regulated the waterways and quelled the flood, defeating Wu Zhiqi and driving him to flee.
• Wu Zhiqi blamed his defeat on lacking a Human Dao heavy artifact and proposed the Supreme Scepter, disguising his personal grievance as a cause for the Hundred Clans.
• Meng Zhao concluded that Wu Zhiqi and Emperor Yu were enemies because their aims conflicted and Wu Zhiqi could not accept his defeat.

Feng Ling explained that Wu Zhiqi’s Supreme Scepter may have carried the power to unleash calamities and revealed a possible connection between Wu Zhiqi and an ancient Heavenly Demon Palace inheritor. The chapter left Meng Zhao and Zhao Rulíng considering whether the scepter’s forging methods came from the Heavenly Demon lineage.

• Feng Ling said Wu Zhiqi had inscribed his divine essence, including his Dao of water calamities and disasters, into the Supreme Scepter.
• Meng Zhao and Zhao Rulíng connected the scepter’s possible calamity power to the disasters once stirred up by Beitang Sheng and the Heavenly Demon Palace Lord.
• Feng Ling revealed that Wu Zhiqi had been connected to a Heavenly Demon Palace inheritor of his era.
• Meng Zhao suggested that the Heavenly Demon inheritor might have instructed Wu Zhiqi to forge the Supreme Scepter.
• Feng Ling explained that Wu Zhiqi may have obtained Supreme Divine Artifact forging methods from the Heavenly Demon lineage, whose inheritance traced back to Chiyou.