Chapter Summaries

Jiang Liu entered Eternal Joy City and watched a challenge between the Black Tiger Society and the White Tiger Society take place inside a protected space. He discovered that four Enforcement Squad members used a joint-strike formation to suppress Divine Realm experts, then noticed a Second-Order Divine Realm figure flying toward the arena.

• Jiang Liu learned that only Divine Realm warriors and the Enforcement Squad could fly inside Eternal Joy City, then entered the city with the crowd.
• Jiang Liu followed onlookers to a challenge between the Black Tiger Society and the White Tiger Society, where two First-Order Divine Realm experts fought inside a transparent sphere.
• Jiang Liu realized the sphere was an independent combat space likely created by Long Wave Sword God and admired the skill needed to make it.
• Jiang Liu recognized that four armored Enforcement Squad members formed a joint-strike formation that could suppress a Divine Realm expert, and considered acquiring the formation for his subordinates.
• A fully armored figure at the Second-Order Divine Realm flew toward the challenge arena.

Feng Changtian halted the duel in Eternal Joy City after the Supervision Squad learned that sea beasts were stirring in the Crimson Reef Sea, and the city suspended all duels. Jiang Liu wondered whether a mirage he had seen there was connected, while Tong Chuchu and Xiao Yue prepared intelligence for him and discussed the anomaly.

• Feng Changtian entered the light sphere and separated the fighters unharmed, then ordered them to stop the duel.
• News spread that duels were suspended because of activity in the Crimson Reef Sea, with grievances to be settled by counting slain sea beasts.
• Jiang Liu heard the announcement at an inn and wondered whether the mirage he had seen in the Crimson Reef Sea was related.
• Tong Chuchu and Xiao Yue sorted intelligence at the Soaring Sky Commerce Guild, with Xiao Yue keeping the Nether River Commerce Shadow Guards' reports separate from the Control Guards' reports.
• Xiao Yue told Tong Chuchu that the Supervision Squad knew of the Crimson Flare Anomaly, and Tong Chuchu wondered whether Nether River Commerce would get involved.

Jiang Liu secretly visited the Soaring Sky Commerce Guild headquarters, where Tong Chuchu and Xiao Yue offered him access to their secret manual vault. He reached the vault’s divine-grade manuals and saw that the collection held fewer than twenty.

• Jiang Liu traveled through Eternal Joy City at night and noted the contrast between the busy Nether River Commerce street and the quiet avenue where the Soaring Sky Commerce Guild stood.
• Jiang Liu concealed himself with the Shadowveil Robe and entered the guild’s ninth-floor secret chamber without alerting the Nether River Commerce.
• Tong Chuchu instructed Xiao Yue to take Jiang Liu to the secret manual vault.
• Xiao Yue opened the vault’s guarded doors using vital energy and an identity token.
• Jiang Liu passed over the Saint Grade manuals and discovered that fewer than twenty divine-grade manuals occupied the back shelves.

Jiang Liu recorded divine-grade manuals, chose three to take from Soaring Sky Commerce Guild, and received intelligence on the Shang Clan's Control Guard. He then asked Tong Chuchu about the disturbance in the Crimson Reef Sea.

• Jiang Liu used the Data Panel to record divine-grade manuals as he browsed the guild's collection.
• Jiang Liu selected three offensive manuals, including a music score, and stored them in his Space Pouch.
• Tong Chuchu told Jiang Liu that Xiao Yue would hand over the Shang Clan's Control Guard intelligence directly to him.
• Xiao Yue gave Jiang Liu the organized intelligence letters, and he stored them without reading them.
• Jiang Liu asked Tong Chuchu whether she knew anything about the disturbance in the Crimson Reef Sea.

Jiang Liu learned from Tong Chuchu that the Crimson Radiance, a Third-Tier Divine Realm Ferocious Beast, was stirring again and threatening Neutral Continent. When Jiang Liu prepared to leave without offering to help, Tong Chuchu urged him to involve the Commerce's Control Guard in the campaign against the sea beasts.

• Jiang Liu asked Tong Chuchu about the unusual activity in the Crimson Reef Sea, and she identified the Crimson Radiance as its cause.
• Tong Chuchu explained that the Crimson Radiance had rallied the sea beasts to attack islands, while three other seas had also produced Third-Tier Divine Realm Ferocious Beasts.
• Tong Chuchu said Long Wave Sword God's forces had contained the first attacks, but Neutral Continent remained vulnerable as the sea beasts fell quiet and the Crimson Radiance stirred again.
• Jiang Liu showed little interest in the crisis and stood to leave after hearing Tong Chuchu's account.
• Tong Chuchu stopped Jiang Liu and said the Commerce's Control Guard should join the encirclement and extermination of the sea beasts.

Jiang Liu left the Soaring Sky Commerce Guild to test his newly learned god-grade techniques and discovered that God Fills the World could target a victim’s consciousness with a private illusion. He killed a black ape using the flute score, then concluded that anyone who could not break free would die in comfort.

• Tong Chuchu explained why she had not told Jiang Liu about the Long Wave Sword God's call, while Jiang Liu showed no interest in joining the sea-beast purge.
• Jiang Liu used the Shadowveil Robe to evade the watchers outside the Soaring Sky Commerce Guild and left Eternal Joy City to test his techniques.
• Jiang Liu entered the nearby mountains and found that the strongest strange beast was a Saint Realm First-Tier holy beast.
• Jiang Liu played God Fills the World into the black ape's consciousness, making it see beautiful female apes until it died in the illusion.
• Jiang Liu realized that anyone unable to escape the flute's attack would die comfortably.

Jiang Liu left Eternal Joy City under the Shadowveil Robe, but the city's hidden defense array detected his departure and alerted Long Wave Sword God. After realizing he had avoided leaving an elemental energy imprint, Jiang Liu pursued the familiar figure who had left the city earlier.

• Jiang Liu recognized a familiar aura near the city gates and let its owner pass without reacting.
• Jiang Liu concealed himself with the Shadowveil Robe and flew out of Eternal Joy City, triggering its City Defense Array.
• The array's watchers reported the incident to Feng Changtian, who relayed it to Long Wave Sword God.
• Long Wave Sword God suspected an unfamiliar Second-Order Divine Realm expert might be targeting the Three-City Alliance Oath Seal.
• Jiang Liu realized the array had exposed him, but felt relieved that he had not left an elemental energy imprint on it.
• Jiang Liu identified the direction the earlier figure had gone and flew after him.

Jiang Liu followed Chen Yun to a hidden village and discovered that Chen Fang and Chen He were guarding a secret group with possible ambitions against the Nether River Commerce. He chose to aid the force, attacked the village, and ended up surrounded by its members.

• Jiang Liu secretly followed Chen Yun from Eternal Joy City to a remote village.
• Chen Fang and Chen He sensed that Chen Yun might have been followed and went to meet him after he returned with important information.
• Jiang Liu concluded that the hidden group might be a family within the Nether River Commerce plotting against the Shang Family and the Soaring Sky Commerce Guild.
• Jiang Liu concealed his face, flew back to the village, and destroyed its thatched huts with his aura.
• Chen Fang, Chen He, and a dozen others emerged from an underground chamber and surrounded Jiang Liu, and Chen Fang asked why he had come.

Jiang Liu confronted the Chen Family and used his overwhelming strength to establish his prestige before future cooperation. After he destroyed three of their weapons, Chen He persuaded him to stop fighting, leaving both sides wary but willing to talk.

• Jiang Liu questioned the gathered Chen Family members, and Chen Yun angrily demanded that he reveal his identity.
• Jiang Liu slapped Chen Yun out of the air, then told Chen He he wanted to test his skills in a spar.
• Jiang Liu's aura clashed with the combined auras of five Second-Order Divine Realm Chen Family cultivators, sending all six flying backward.
• Jiang Liu attacked Chen He with his Godslayer Blade, and the clash broke the weapons of Chen Feng, Chen Liu, and Chen Ji.
• Chen He asked Jiang Liu to stop and talk, and Jiang Liu sheathed his blade after making his strength clear.

Jiang Liu fought the Chen Family before learning that they were secretly preparing to resist the Merchant Family, and Chen He sought to recruit him as an ally. Their discussion turned tense when Chen He asked why Jiang Liu had visited the Soaring Sky Commerce Guild.

• Chen He identified himself as a member of the Chen Family and asked Jiang Liu what brought him to them.
• Jiang Liu agreed to speak with the Chen Family, and Chen He led him and the others into their vast underground base.
• Jiang Liu explained that he had followed Chen Yun out of curiosity after leaving the Soaring Sky Commerce Guild, clearing up the misunderstanding behind their fight.
• Chen He asked Jiang Liu why he had gone to the Soaring Sky Commerce Guild, and Jiang Liu's aura rose as he glared at him.
• Chen He hurriedly insisted that the Chen Family only wanted to cooperate with Jiang Liu.

Jiang Liu heard the Chen Family’s plan to target the Soaring Sky Commerce Guild and learned of a rumored treasure that could help someone reach the Third-Tier Divine Realm. After hearing the Chen Family’s account of the Shang Family’s split from the Guild, he asked what the name Nether River Commerce meant.

• Jiang Liu calmed Chen He and the other Chen Family experts, who proposed that he cooperate with them against the Soaring Sky Commerce Guild.
• Chen He offered Jiang Liu ten percent of the Chen Family’s gains, but Jiang Liu said origin stones could not persuade him to join their conflict with the Shang Family.
• Chen Fang revealed that the Chen Family believed the Soaring Sky Commerce Guild held a treasure capable of helping someone break through to the Third-Tier Divine Realm.
• Chen Fang told Jiang Liu that the Shang Family had left the Soaring Sky Commerce Guild after the Tong Family refused to share the rumored treasure, and that the Shang Family had entered the Nether Realm to seek it.
• Jiang Liu asked Chen He and the others what the Shang Family had meant by naming their enterprise the Nether River Commerce.

Jiang Liu urged the Chen Family to question its plan to attack the Soaring Sky Commerce Guild and suggested that the Shang Family’s secret mission in the Nether Realm was connected to the Nether River. He left the Chen Family suspicious of the Shang Family and asked Chen He what he would say if Jiang Liu also wanted to learn what the Shang Family sought.

• Jiang Liu said the Shang Family was likely searching for the Nether River, which he claimed had given birth to the Nether Realm, but admitted he did not know what they sought there.
• The Chen Family considered attacking the Shang Family’s headquarters on the Supreme Continent instead of targeting the Soaring Sky Commerce Guild and the Nether River Commerce’s Neutral Continent branch.
• Jiang Liu pointed out that no one from the Tong Family had reached the Third-Tier Divine Realm, making the Chen Family doubt the claim that the Soaring Sky Commerce Guild possessed a breakthrough treasure.
• The Chen Family suspected the Shang Family had leaked the claim to provoke a fight between them and the Tong Family, and they concluded that they needed to act quickly against the Shang Family.
• Jiang Liu privately hoped to use the Chen Family to draw the Nether River Commerce’s conflict away from the Neutral Continent, then told Chen He that he was also interested in the Shang Family’s objective.

Jiang Liu persuaded Chen He and the Chen Family to cooperate in attacking the Shang family, while secretly recognizing that the Shang family’s supposed breakthrough treasure was likely bait. The group agreed to attack in two days, and Jiang Liu left with information about the Shang family as the Chen Family prepared their forces.

• Jiang Liu agreed to cooperate with Chen He and asked to inspect anything they found and receive the Chen Family’s information on the Shang family.
• Chen He accepted Jiang Liu’s terms, and Jiang Liu secretly concluded that the Shang family’s treasure story was probably bait meant for the Chen Family.
• Chen He proposed that they travel to the Supreme Continent and attack the Shang family in two days, and Jiang Liu agreed.
• A Chen Family member gave Jiang Liu a stack of papers and a Transmission Stone, and Jiang Liu left the hall without revealing his aura to their Divine Senses.
• Chen He reassured the Chen Family that Jiang Liu’s participation benefited them, and they began preparing to attack the Shang family.

Jiang Liu left the Chen Family after agreeing to a wary alliance, then approached Eternal Joy City and triggered its defenses. He introduced himself to the Long Wave Sword God and Feng Changtian, who cautiously asked why he had come.

• Jiang Liu concealed himself and left the Chen Family's underground palace, while the Chen Family members who had followed him lost his trail.
• Chen Fang dismissed the report about Jiang Liu, warned everyone to stay alert around him, and urged the Chen Family to advance its plan against the Shang Family before Shang Yan returned.
• Jiang Liu approached Eternal Joy City, triggering the City Defense Array and drawing the city's guards and powerful leaders to meet him.
• The Long Wave Sword God and Feng Changtian arrived and examined Jiang Liu, while he identified himself and greeted them.
• The Long Wave Sword God sensed that Jiang Liu was a Second-Order Divine Realm martial artist and asked through voice transmission why he had come.

Jiang Liu negotiated a wager with the Long Wave Sword God after seeking entry to Eternal Joy City, and the two flew off to fight. Feng Changtian hoped Jiang Liu could match the Long Wave Sword God and eventually take over as city lord.

• Jiang Liu challenged Feng Changtian's demand to explain his visit and raised his aura as if prepared to fight.
• The Long Wave Sword God offered to spar with Jiang Liu, promising him free passage through the city if he remained undefeated.
• Jiang Liu refused the city lord's token and proposed that the wager instead be the removal of his aura from the City Defense Array.
• The Long Wave Sword God agreed that Jiang Liu would accept the token if he lost, then flew off with him to fight.
• Feng Changtian realized the two had taken a liking to each other and hoped Jiang Liu could succeed the Long Wave Sword God as city lord.

Jiang Liu battled the Long Wave Sword God in his cultivation space, where both unleashed their full strength. Their weapons clashed in a single strike, leaving both swords dimmed and the duel unresolved.

• The Long Wave Sword God brought Jiang Liu to his private cultivation space and warned him that he would attack with full strength.
• The Long Wave Sword God drew his sword, filling the space with sword cries and sealing Jiang Liu in a storm of Sword Qi and sword shadows.
• Jiang Liu summoned the Godslayer Blade, whose spirit awakened and released blade aura to protect him.
• Jiang Liu entered a new understanding of Divine Strike and stepped into the Long Wave Sword God's attack with a powerful slash.
• Jiang Liu's Godslayer Blade clashed with the Long Wave Sword God's sword, extinguishing their attacks and leaving both weapons dimmed.
• Jiang Liu and the Long Wave Sword God stopped fighting, with neither side victorious.

Long Wave Sword God asked Jiang Liu to become the next city lord of Eternal Joy City, but Jiang Liu refused to take the position now because he wanted to avoid its burdens and cultivate in hiding. Long Wave Sword God offered to wait, and Jiang Liu agreed to reconsider in thirty years.

• Long Wave Sword God praised Jiang Liu after their fight and joked about Crimson Haze’s wounded sword spirit.
• Long Wave Sword God asked Jiang Liu to take over Eternal Joy City, but Jiang Liu refused.
• Jiang Liu considered the trouble the position would bring and focused on completing his deal with the Soaring Sky Commerce Guild before cultivating in seclusion.
• Long Wave Sword God offered to wait ten, twenty, or thirty years for Jiang Liu to become his successor.
• Jiang Liu agreed to consider taking over Eternal Joy City thirty years later.

Jiang Liu agreed to become the lord of Eternal Joy City in thirty years, and Long Wave Sword God introduced him to the city’s Divine Realm martial artists. The chapter ended with Jiang Liu’s position established and his identity ordered kept secret.

• Long Wave Sword God brought Jiang Liu to a plaza where Feng Changtian and Eternal Joy City’s Divine Realm martial artists had gathered.
• Long Wave Sword God announced that his bout with Jiang Liu had ended in a draw, impressing Feng Changtian and the assembled martial artists.
• Feng Changtian and the others congratulated Long Wave Sword God, assuming Jiang Liu had already accepted the city lord position.
• Long Wave Sword God clarified that Jiang Liu would take over in thirty years, but that his status already equaled the current city lord’s.
• Long Wave Sword God ordered the martial artists to keep Jiang Liu’s information secret and told Feng Changtian to erase Jiang Liu’s elemental aura from the City Defense Array.

Jiang Liu attended a banquet at Eternal Joy City, where Long Wave Sword God introduced him to the city's powerful musicians and their formation. The feast turned toward dancing, and Long Wave Sword God looked to Feng Changtian before deciding how to respond.

• Jiang Liu reflected on the challenge of earning the same loyalty and prestige as Long Wave Sword God when he eventually became City Lord.
• Long Wave Sword God brought Jiang Liu to the central hall and ordered a banquet where his subordinates gathered to drink.
• The Musicians of Eternal Joy arrived, and Long Wave Sword God explained that their formation could kill Divine Realm warriors and strengthen listeners' spiritual power.
• Jiang Liu recognized the danger of the musicians' performance and resolved to stay alert.
• A Second-Order Divine Realm warrior asked Long Wave Sword God to include dancing, and Long Wave Sword God looked to Feng Changtian for a decision.

At Feng Changtian’s banquet in Eternal Joy City, the Musicians of Eternal Joy and Rainbow Skirt performed a ballad and dance that drew in the hall’s Heaven and Earth Essence and trapped the guests in an illusion. Jiang Liu resisted the music’s influence, while Feng Changtian and nearly everyone else fell under its spell.

• Feng Changtian ordered Rainbow Skirt to be invited, then Long Wave Sword God raised a toast and Jiang Liu praised the wine.
• The Musicians of Eternal Joy played a ballad that gathered Heaven and Earth Essence and strengthened the wine’s refining effects, prompting Jiang Liu to study the changes for insight into musical law.
• Rainbow Skirt entered through the hall’s haze of essence and danced, while Jiang Liu noticed that her presence subtly changed the essence around them.
• The music shifted into a cacophony that made the guests rise, drink, and dance wildly, and Jiang Liu nearly succumbed before a chill in his Divine Sea cleared his mind.
• Long Wave Sword God was astonished that Jiang Liu remained conscious as Feng Changtian and the other guests stared or danced under the illusion.