Chapter Summaries

Meng Zhao assessed Zhou Jiankang before seeking an alliance with Sifang City, then met the City Lord at the City Lord's Mansion. Zhou Jiankang arrived and showed sincere respect and fear toward Lord Bei.

• Lord Bei explained that Zhou Jiankang was a Grandmaster who had served two terms as City Lord and described him as devoted to Sifang City's development.
• Zhao Rulíng asked Lord Bei about the likelihood of an alliance, and Lord Bei said he was uncertain but believed success was possible.
• Meng Zhao, Zhao Rulíng, and Lord Bei secretly entered the City Lord's Mansion and waited in its reception hall.
• Zhou Jiankang arrived after about a quarter of an hour and apologized to Lord Bei for being late.
• Meng Zhao observed that Zhou Jiankang sincerely respected and feared Lord Bei, Sifang City's Celestial guardian.

Zhou Jiankang welcomed Meng Zhao and Zhao Rulíng to Sifang City, recognizing Meng Zhao’s immense standing and the possibility that he could help the city return to the Land within the Passes. As Zhou Jiankang questioned him about the Great Yong Dynasty, the visitors revealed how little Sifang City knew about the turmoil there.

• Lord Bei introduced Zhou Jiankang to Meng Zhao and Zhao Rulíng, and Zhou greeted them with careful respect.
• Zhou Jiankang considered Meng Zhao’s power and reputation, along with his conflict with Beitang Sheng and the Great Yong Dynasty.
• Zhou Jiankang reflected that Sifang City could not risk war with the Hundred Clans and hoped Meng Zhao might provide a path back to the Land within the Passes.
• Zhou Jiankang asked about the rebellions and the Great Yong Dynasty’s prospects, revealing that Sifang City had only fragmentary knowledge of events beyond the Arctic Ice Plains.

Meng Zhao argued that the Great Yong Dynasty’s rebellions were signs of a fragile regime whose destruction could be triggered by one of the Nine Surnames and Thirteen Families openly rebelling. Zhou Jiankang and Lord Bei considered the possibility that Sifang City could return to the Northern Lands, while Meng Zhao withheld details about his plans and forces.

• Meng Zhao compared the Great Yong Dynasty to the Great Sui Dynasty and explained how both had been weakened by divided power and influential aristocratic families.
• Meng Zhao said the Guandong Aristocracy had delivered the fatal blow to the Great Sui Dynasty and argued that the Nine Surnames and Thirteen Families were enabling the Great Yong Dynasty’s rebellions.
• Meng Zhao revealed that the southern rebellion was led by the Imperial Tang Li Family with support from allies, making the apparent balance in the Divine Continent fragile.
• Zhou Jiankang and Lord Bei were stirred by the prospect of the Great Yong Dynasty collapsing and asked about conditions in the Northern Lands.
• Meng Zhao withheld information about his forces and plans, wary that someone in Sifang City might betray them to Beitang Sheng.

Meng Zhao cautiously discussed the future of the Northern Lands with Lord Bei and Zhou Jiankang, warning that Beitang Sheng might have infiltrated Sifang City. Lord Bei and Zhou Jiankang recognized the danger of betrayal and understood why Meng Zhao had kept his plans guarded.

• Lord Bei asked Meng Zhao to connect Sifang City with the person likely to rule the Northern Lands if the Beitang Imperial Clan fell.
• Meng Zhao said Prince Yanping Beitang Ang, lord of Lingwu City, was close to him, but he would not predict who would ultimately possess the Northern Lands.
• Zhou Jiankang questioned why Meng Zhao was speaking so indirectly, and Zhao Rulíng explained that Beitang Sheng's agents might have infiltrated Sifang City.
• Lord Bei recalled traitors in the Zhang Family accepting Beitang benefits, while Zhou Jiankang considered how ambition could make people change sides.
• Lord Bei and Zhou Jiankang understood that Meng Zhao feared Sifang City's people might leak his secrets to Beitang Sheng.

Meng Zhao and Zhou Jiankang discussed an alliance between Sifang City and Meng Zhao’s forces, focusing on whether Sifang City’s martial artists would be suppressed if they returned to the Divine Continent. The chapter left Sifang City facing a possible path back into the Human Clan, though it could not realistically contend for the throne.

• Zhou Jiankang agreed that Meng Zhao had good reason to keep some matters secret and asked whether he wanted to cooperate with Sifang City.
• Meng Zhao praised Sifang City’s strength but asked whether its martial artists would be suppressed in the Land within the Passes.
• Zhou Jiankang explained that Acquired and Innate martial artists faced little suppression, while Grandmasters and stronger experts could scarcely fight there.
• Zhao Rulíng linked the suppression to the Human Clan’s great fortune, and Lord Bei explained that Great Yong’s National Destiny rejected Sifang City’s people and that their years in the Arctic Ice Plains had marked them with its Heavenly Dao.
• Lord Bei suggested that the weakening Beitang Imperial Clan might mean Sifang City’s suppression was fading, while Zhou Jiankang recognized that the city could reintegrate but could not compete for the supreme Mandate of Heaven.

Zhou Jiankang proposed sending Sifang City people back to the Divine Continent with Meng Zhao’s help, and they agreed to begin with a group of five hundred fighters. Zhou Jiankang planned to use the trial to advance Sifang City’s return and strengthen his own standing and the Zhou Family’s influence.

• Zhou Jiankang asked Meng Zhao to arrange for some Sifang City people to return to the Northern Lands as a test and signaled his desire to cooperate.
• Meng Zhao said he could not open a supply route through Heaven Pass, indirectly indicating that he could still take in returning fighters.
• Zhou Jiankang offered to deploy fewer than a thousand people with his authority, or ten thousand with wider approval, and asked what Meng Zhao wanted.
• Meng Zhao requested five hundred fighters, preferably Acquired or Innate Realm martial artists skilled in reconnaissance and assassination, with one or two Grandmasters possible to test the Imperial Dynasty's National Destiny.
• Zhou Jiankang agreed to assemble the group and privately resolved to favor Zhou Family members, hoping the effort would help Sifang City return and secure his family’s future influence.

Meng Zhao invited Lord Bei to return to the Divine Continent, but Lord Bei refused because Sifang City needed his protection. Meng Zhao then warned that Beitang Sheng might have agents or collaborators inside the city, leaving Lord Bei and Zhou Jiankang alarmed by how deeply it could have been infiltrated.

• Meng Zhao invited Lord Bei to visit the Land within Divine Continent Passes, hoping to gain a powerful ally, but Lord Bei refused to leave Sifang City.
• Meng Zhao questioned whether Beitang Sheng had made arrangements inside Sifang City and considered how imperial authority could undermine his own plans for the city.
• Meng Zhao, Lord Bei, and Zhou Jiankang discussed whether Beitang Sheng's agents sought intelligence, the city's destruction, or control of its people as a force of surprise troops.
• Zhou Jiankang struck the table and warned that Sifang City's transient population could include spies, leaving the city vulnerable to extensive infiltration.

Zhou Jiankang worried that Beitang Sheng had infiltrated Sifang City and that exposing traitors could damage the city’s strength, morale, and families. Zhao Rulíng proposed using Heavenly Being powers to examine everyone, but Lord Bei rejected the humiliating approach, leaving them to seek a more suitable way to find traitors.

• Zhou Jiankang considered how Beitang Sheng’s schemes could harm Sifang City’s faith, strength, and family ties.
• Meng Zhao urged Zhou Jiankang to stay calm and seek a solution with trusted allies.
• Zhou Jiankang agreed but worried that consulting the wrong people could reveal their plans to Beitang Sheng.
• Zhao Rulíng proposed that Lord Bei, Meng Zhao, and he use their Primordial Spirits to test everyone in Sifang City for treachery.
• Lord Bei refused to search the Zhou, Fu, and Zhang Families by force because doing so would humiliate their people and breed resentment.

Meng Zhao advised Lord Bei and Zhou Jiankang on how to identify possible traitors within Sifang City, prompting them to realize the city might be deeply infiltrated. Concerned about accepting unvetted recruits into his own territory, Meng Zhao decided to keep them separate from his subordinates and use them as an airborne force.

• Meng Zhao explained that Sifang City should prioritize screening influential officials and outlined signs that might indicate disloyalty.
• Lord Bei ordered Zhou Jiankang to investigate suspicious people, secretly replace them if necessary, and leave their interrogation to him.
• Zhou Jiankang recognized that many prominent people might fit Meng Zhao's warning signs, while Lord Bei also reconsidered details he had overlooked.
• Meng Zhao worried that traitors among the five hundred people he might accept could expose his arrangements, but avoided using Primordial Spirit Power to search their memories.
• Meng Zhao decided to deploy the recruits as an airborne force so they would not come into contact with his own subordinates.

Zhou Jiankang summoned the heads of the Zhou, Fu, and Zhang families and told them that Meng Zhao had warned Sifang City might be infiltrated by Beitang Sheng’s traitors. The three agreed the threat needed investigation but worried that a broad search could expose their efforts and harm innocent families.

• Zhou Jiankang summoned Zhou Yuanming, Fu Yanqing, and Zhang Baiyu to the City Lord’s Mansion, apologizing for interrupting their secluded cultivation.
• Zhou Jiankang recounted his meeting with Meng Zhao and Zhao Rulíng, including Lord Bei’s involvement and Meng Zhao’s warning about traitors in Sifang City.
• The three family heads focused on finding the traitors, recognizing that they needed to protect Sifang City from infiltration by Beitang Sheng and the Hundred Clans.
• Zhou Yuanming questioned how Zhou Jiankang planned to investigate a city of roughly 270,000 people without alerting the suspects.
• Zhang Baiyu cautioned that Meng Zhao’s described traits could not serve as proof, since many people in the Zhang Family matched them and a harsh purge could destroy innocent family ties.

Zhou Jiankang and the three family heads debated how to punish traitors without alienating their own clans, while recognizing that Sifang City remained essential to their survival. They agreed to discipline their families and strengthen the city’s security, then Zhou Yuanbai urged Jiankang to work with Meng Zhao while staying wary of the Meng Family.

• Zhou Jiankang acknowledged that he would struggle to punish his own relatives impartially, and the family heads admitted they would prioritize their clans over Sifang City.
• Zhou Jiankang warned that Sifang City was indispensable until they could return to the Divine Continent and urged a thorough investigation into the Hundred Clans’ and Beitang Sheng’s spies.
• Zhang Baiyu proposed warning the clans, punishing several offenders as examples, and having the three families supervise one another.
• Fu Yanqing, Zhou Yuanming, and Zhou Jiankang approved the proposal, with Jiankang suggesting each family identify three people to punish if possible.
• Zhou Yuanbai advised Jiankang to cultivate ties with Meng Zhao while remaining wary of the Meng Family’s schemes.

The Zhou, Fu, and Zhang family heads uncovered Dragon Clan involvement in Sifang City after exposing three traitors who served Long Feng. Unable to confront Long Feng, they decided they needed Lord Bei to handle the matter.

• Zhou Yuanming, Fu Yanqing, and Zhang Baiyu investigated and exposed three traitors, discovering that Long Feng of the Dragon Clan had bribed them with Flood Dragon Blood.
• The traitors revealed that they had passed information to Long Feng, supplied him with women, and planted agents in Sifang City's government, especially its military, finance, and personnel departments.
• The three family heads learned Long Feng had cultivated the Heavenly Being Martial Dao and feared that opposing him could bring the Dragon Clan's wrath upon Sifang City.
• Zhou Yuanming, Fu Yanqing, and Zhang Baiyu executed the traitors and confiscated their households and remaining Flood Dragon Blood.
• Zhang Baiyu urged the others to consult Lord Bei, since they could not decide how to deal with Long Feng on their own.

The heads of Sifang City debated whether Dragon King Meng could help them deal with Long Feng, then reported the threat to Lord Bei. Lord Bei brought the matter to Meng Zhao and the Zhaoren Order, leaving them considering a possible opening to contact the Dragon Clan.

• Fu Yanqing, Zhang Baiyu, and Zhou Yuanming judged Long Feng to be a greater threat than Beitang Sheng because the Dragon Clan could attack Sifang City directly.
• Zhang Baiyu suggested asking Dragon King Meng for help, but Zhou Yuanming argued they had no leverage to make him intervene.
• The three family heads reported Long Feng's activities to Lord Bei and continued screening their people, prompting most suspects to confess while outsiders were dealt with ruthlessly.
• Lord Bei discussed Long Feng's motives and possible ambition to seize Sifang City with Meng Zhao and the Zhaoren Order.
• Meng Zhao and the Zhaoren Order saw a possible chance to approach the Dragon Clan, but Meng Zhao doubted that his True Dragon Physique alone would earn their trust.

Lord Bei explained the Dragon Clan’s factions and asked Meng Zhao to help stop Long Feng from scheming against Sifang City. Meng Zhao showed little interest until Lord Bei offered the Heavenly Spring Pearl, leaving his decision unresolved.

• Lord Bei described the Dragon Clan’s pure-blood Ying, Zhao, and Long clans, its later branches, and Long Feng’s likely personal hostility toward Sifang City.
• Zhao Rulíng warned that Long Feng and the Dragon Clan posed too great a risk, and Meng Zhao gave no sign that he would intervene.
• Lord Bei proposed helping Meng Zhao build ties with the Dragon Clan and promised Sifang City’s future support in exchange for his aid.
• Lord Bei offered the Heavenly Spring Pearl, explaining that its heavenly spring and traces of the Heavenly Dao could aid cultivation and refine bodies.
• Meng Zhao and Zhao Rulíng sensed the pearl’s hidden world and recognized its value, though Meng Zhao considered it useful but not essential.

Meng Zhao and Zhao Rulíng joined Lord Bei to meet Long Feng at the Crystal Palace, hoping to ease relations between Sifang City and the Dragon Clan. Long Feng greeted them with a display of force, and the chapter ended with Meng Zhao’s Flood Dragon Little Nine confronting a Fire Flood Dragon while Zhao Rulíng held back his attack.

• Meng Zhao agreed to meet Long Feng, seeking both Sifang City’s support and a chance to connect with the Dragon Clan, and Zhao Rulíng went along with the plan.
• Lord Bei arranged the meeting and revealed that Sifang City could retreat to the Northern Territory if matters turned dangerous, with Meng Zhao and Zhao Rulíng’s help.
• After several days, Lord Bei summoned Meng Zhao and Zhao Rulíng, and they flew to the Crystal Palace in a misty valley.
• Long Feng unleashed a fierce, blade-filled gale at the visitors, and Meng Zhao dispersed it with his purple true dragon manifestation.
• A Fire Flood Dragon burst from the lake, prompting Meng Zhao to send Flood Dragon Little Nine to face it while Zhao Rulíng let his prepared Annihilation Needle dissipate.

Meng Zhao and Zhao Rulíng faced Long Feng and Lord Bei outside the Crystal Palace after Long Feng’s hostile challenge. Long Feng recognized Meng Zhao’s bloodline as vastly superior to his own and grew jealous and covetous of its power.

• A voice from the Crystal Palace called Meng Zhao the Northern Meng Dragon King and a True Dragon walking the world, and Meng Zhao said he had not yet earned that title.
• Long Feng and Lord Bei emerged from the Crystal Palace to face Meng Zhao and Zhao Rulíng, while Lord Bei looked guilty about Long Feng’s hostile attitude.
• Meng Zhao sensed that Long Feng had exceptionally pure dragon blood, though it was still far beneath Meng Zhao’s True Dragon Physique.
• Long Feng felt his own bloodline react to Meng Zhao and understood why he was called the Northern Meng Dragon King.
• Long Feng’s admiration turned into jealousy and greed as he wondered how he could transfer Meng Zhao’s bloodline into himself.

Long Feng’s attempt to probe Meng Zhao revealed that Meng Zhao’s True Dragon bloodline vastly surpassed his own and could overpower the Dragon Clan. Long Feng recognized Meng Zhao as both a threat and someone he could not safely challenge.

• The chapter explained that the Dragon Clan prized bloodline and that no flood dragon had ever broken through its bloodline limits to attain a True Dragon Physique.
• Long Feng acknowledged that even as a pure-blooded prodigy, he saw no realistic path to the Divine Demon Realm or a True Dragon Physique.
• When Meng Zhao manifested his Purple True Dragon Dharma Form, Long Feng’s bloodline surged and his instincts urged him to submit.
• Long Feng regained his clarity and realized Meng Zhao’s superior bloodline would suppress him in a fight, turning an even match into a certain defeat.
• Long Feng recognized Meng Zhao as a danger to himself and the Dragon Clan, and knew he could not safely try to seize Meng Zhao’s bloodline or physique.

Long Feng welcomed Meng Zhao, Zhao Rulíng, and Lord Bei into the Crystal Palace after agreeing to separate their flood dragons. Over dinner, Lord Bei pressed Long Feng for a clear answer about Sifang City, while suspecting that Long Feng’s attention had shifted to Meng Zhao’s Dragon Body and bloodline.

• Long Feng set aside his hostile manner and invited Meng Zhao and the others into the Crystal Palace.
• Meng Zhao recalled Black Flood Dragon Little Nine, and Long Feng sent the Fire Flood Dragon back into the lake.
• Meng Zhao, Zhao Rulíng, Lord Bei, and Long Feng entered the lavish Crystal Palace and sat down in a side chamber.
• Long Feng offered to serve fresh fish, and Lord Bei used the opening to ask for a definite answer about Sifang City.
• Lord Bei recalled Long Feng’s evasive dealings and suspected that Meng Zhao’s arrival had made Long Feng focus on his Dragon Body and bloodline.

Long Feng admitted that he had tried to seize influence in Sifang City, first to aid a younger relative and later to claim the city’s resources. He offered to leave in exchange for some of its foundations, then invited Meng Zhao to visit the Dragon Clan’s ancestral lands and learn its cultivation arts.

• Lord Bei confronted Long Feng and asked what it would take for him to abandon his designs on Sifang City.
• Meng Zhao asked Long Feng to state his intentions openly and left unclear whether he would defend Sifang City if conflict arose.
• Long Feng confessed that he had once sought Human Clan women for a younger relative’s cultivation, then became interested in taking control of Sifang City.
• Long Feng offered to stop targeting Sifang City if it surrendered some of its foundations, and Lord Bei silently accepted the proposal.
• Long Feng praised Meng Zhao’s bloodline and invited him to the Dragon Clan’s ancestral lands to study its foundational divine abilities and cultivation arts.

Long Feng tried to persuade Meng Zhao to visit the Dragon Clan Ancestral Land, but Meng Zhao refused and hinted that Long Feng could teach him directly. Long Feng then considered ways to exploit Meng Zhao’s bloodline and began weighing poison, dragon-restraining weapons, and a group ambush, with the chapter ending on the cost of gathering enough Celestials.

• Long Feng hoped to lure Meng Zhao to the Dragon Clan Ancestral Land, where the clan’s elders could exploit his bloodline and cultivation.
• Meng Zhao declined the invitation, citing urgent matters in the Divine Continent Passes, and suggested Long Feng could show him the Dragon Clan’s arts himself.
• Long Feng accepted the refusal politely and resolved to seek another way to take Meng Zhao’s bloodline and physique for himself.
• Long Feng considered using Venom Dragon venom but saw no reliable way to poison Meng Zhao without alerting him.
• Long Feng considered the Dragon Slaying Ground and dragon-slaying weapons, but recognized that they could also restrain him as a member of the Dragon Clan.
• Long Feng favored recruiting other Celestials to ambush Meng Zhao, but weighed whether to target him alone or include Lord Bei and Zhao Rulíng.