Chapter Summaries

After the allied forces defeated the Dark Race, Lin Taichu oversaw the aftermath at Black Wind Valley and returned to the capital with Rice Country’s army. He thanked Zhao Yuanhao in person and promised to help Rice Country if it ever needed him again.

• Lin Taichu supervised the treatment of the wounded, the burial of the dead, and the destruction of the puppet corpses, drugs, and experimental base.
• Lin Taichu arranged the return of Tang Xuan and the other sect leaders, then stayed with General Li and General Zhang to finish the handover and secure the ruins.
• Lin Taichu traveled back to the capital with General Li and General Zhang after the remaining work was complete.
• Lin Taichu met Zhao Yuanhao in the Imperial Study and thanked him for sending troops and supplies to help defeat the Dark Race.
• Lin Taichu promised Zhao Yuanhao that he would help Rice Country again if it was within his power.

Zhao Yuanhao asked Lin Taichu to propose diplomatic relations between Rice Country and the Tang Sect, but Lin Taichu could not agree because of the sect’s ancestral rules. He promised to bring the proposal to the elders and returned to the Tang Sect to discuss it.

• Zhao Yuanhao explained that diplomatic ties would let Rice Country and the Tang Sect support each other, offering provisions and protection in exchange for help during future dangers.
• Lin Taichu told Zhao Yuanhao that the Tang Sect’s ancestral precepts forbade diplomatic relations and that he lacked authority to change them.
• Zhao Yuanhao urged Lin Taichu to consult the Supreme Elder and other elders, assuring him their friendship would not suffer whatever they decided.
• Lin Taichu accepted Zhao Yuanhao’s travel supplies and specialties, then left the capital for the Tang Sect.
• Lin Taichu returned several days later and went straight to the Tang Sect’s council hall.

Lin Taichu reported Zhao Yuanhao’s proposal for diplomatic relations to the Tang Sect elders, but they rejected it to preserve the sect’s ancestral rule of staying out of national affairs. He returned to Rice Country and told Zhao Yuanhao of the refusal, and Zhao Yuanhao responded with a smile rather than anger.

• Lin Taichu told Tang Xuan and the elders that Zhao Yuanhao had proposed diplomatic relations between Rice Country and the Tang Sect.
• The elders opposed the proposal, arguing that relations would draw the Tang Sect into other nations’ conflicts and violate its ancestral teachings.
• Tang Xuan said the Tang Sect might aid Rice Country once if it faced a life-or-death crisis, but would not establish relations.
• Lin Taichu returned to Rice Country and explained the elders’ decision to Zhao Yuanhao.
• Zhao Yuanhao smiled and patted Lin Taichu on the shoulder after hearing the refusal.

Lin Taichu returned to the Tang Sect with Rice Country’s supplies and helped rebuild the sect while advancing his cultivation. Just as everyone believed the Dark Race had been eliminated, Supreme Elder Tang Xuan summoned Lin Taichu to entrust him with a confidential mission.

• Zhao Yuanhao accepted the Tang Sect’s refusal to establish diplomatic relations and gave Lin Taichu supplies for the sect.
• Lin Taichu delivered the supplies to Tang Xuan, and the Tang Sect repaired its buildings and cared for its injured disciples.
• Lin Taichu resumed cultivation and sect duties, unaware that the Dark Race had hidden Mutagen-injected animals near the borders as a contingency.
• Lin Taichu grew stronger and more respected within the Tang Sect as the animals’ effects began to threaten a future crisis.
• Tang Xuan summoned Lin Taichu to the council hall and told him the elders had a strictly confidential mission for him.

Lin Taichu led three elite Tang Sect Disciples to the Liang Kingdom to assassinate Tang Lie and recover the stolen secret manuals. Tang Ying ambushed Tang Lie’s two Guards, and Tang Lie recognized the attackers as Tang Sect members.

• Supreme Elder Tang Xuan told Lin Taichu that Tang Lie had betrayed the Tang Sect, stolen secret manuals, and planned to sell them, then ordered Lin to kill him and retrieve the manuals in secret.
• Lin Taichu gathered Tang Hu, Tang Bao, and Tang Ying, and the four traveled discreetly to the Liang Kingdom’s capital.
• After investigating the capital, Lin Taichu found Tang Lie at a small inn and assigned Tang Hu and Tang Bao to guard its entrances while Tang Ying ambushed the Guards and Lin prepared to attack Tang Lie.
• Tang Ying shot one Guard with an anesthetic-coated hidden weapon and killed the other when he raised the alarm.
• Tang Lie confronted Tang Ying and recognized him as a Tang Sect member.

Lin Taichu and Tang Ying cornered Tang Lie and nearly killed him, but he released a virus-carrying rat that poisoned them both. With the Tang Sect antidote unable to stop the toxin, Tang Lie stood up and prepared to escape while they were too weak to stop him.

• Lin Taichu joined Tang Ying in a fierce battle against Tang Lie, and the two gradually wore him down.
• Lin Taichu struck Tang Lie in the chest, leaving him severely injured, and prepared to kill him with a Short Blade.
• Tang Lie released a fast, virus-carrying rat that bit Lin Taichu and Tang Ying before escaping from the room.
• Lin Taichu and Tang Ying used the Tang Sect antidote and a Detoxification Pill, but the treatment only slowed the toxin.
• Tang Lie revealed that he had pretended to be incapacitated, then rose while the poisoned Lin Taichu and Tang Ying were too weak to stop him.

Tang Lie escaped after unleashing a Mutagen-infected rat that poisoned Lin Taichu and Tang Ying. The group sealed the capital and captured the rat, while Lin Taichu recognized the danger of the Dark Race’s surviving experiments and still needed to find a cure.

• Tang Lie fled the inn, leaving Lin Taichu and Tang Ying weakened by the rat’s poison.
• Tang Ying sent a signal for Tang Hu and Tang Bao as Lin Taichu recognized that the toxin resembled the Dark Race Mutagen from Black Wind Valley.
• Tang Hu and Tang Bao arrived, and Lin Taichu ordered them to search for the rat, seal the gates of Liang Kingdom’s capital, and track Tang Lie.
• Lin Taichu and Tang Ying took Detoxification Pills, which temporarily suppressed the poison but did not restore their strength.
• Tang Hu returned about two hours later with the captured rat, and Lin Taichu examined its enhanced size and strength.

Lin Taichu confirmed that a mutant rat carried an improved Dark Race Mutagen, then developed an antidote and recovered from the infection. Tang Lie eluded the search and appeared to have escaped the Liang Kingdom, leaving Lin Taichu and the others to decide what to do after failing their mission.

• Lin Taichu tested the rat's blood and confirmed that it carried a more potent, infectious version of the Dark Race Mutagen.
• Lin Taichu ordered Tang Hu and Tang Bao to search for Tang Lie throughout the capital, its surroundings, and the Liang Kingdom's border checkpoints.
• Tang Hu and Tang Bao searched the western forests and found an abandoned cave with traces of Tang Lie, but they could not catch him.
• Lin Taichu developed an antidote, and he and Tang Ying recovered; he kept the mutant rat caged to take back to the Tang Sect.
• Tang Hu and Tang Bao reported that they had found no sign of Tang Lie, and Lin Taichu concluded that he had likely escaped the Liang Kingdom and that the mission could not be completed.

Lin Taichu returned to the Tang Sect with his Disciples after failing to capture Tang Lie or recover the stolen secret manuals, but he exposed the danger of the Dark Race’s improved Mutagen. The elders tasked him with continuing the search and investigating mutant animals, while Lin Taichu sought Rice Country’s help and considered how to strengthen himself.

• Lin Taichu told Tang Hu that the Tang Sect would report Tang Lie’s escape to the elders and keep tracking him for the stolen secret manuals.
• Lin Taichu and the three Disciples returned to the Tang Sect with the mutant rat and reported that Tang Lie had escaped with the manuals.
• Lin Taichu explained that the rat carried an improved, highly infectious Dark Race Mutagen, and Tang Du Zi confirmed its danger after examining it.
• Tang Xuan excused Lin Taichu’s failure and ordered him to rest before arranging a new search for Tang Lie and gathering reports on mutant animals.
• Lin Taichu sent a letter asking Zhao Yuanhao and Rice Country to help locate Tang Lie, then reflected on his weakness compared with the former Core Disciple.

Lin Taichu found the Great Vajra Scripture and trained with it for four days, strengthening his body as he prepared to face Tang Lie. A messenger then reported that Tang Lie had been found dead in Rice Country, with the stolen manuals recovered but the Mutated Beasts that killed him nowhere to be found.

• Lin Taichu found the Great Vajra Scripture in the Tang Sect library and learned that its demanding training method could strengthen his body.
• Lin Taichu practiced the Great Vajra Scripture in a secluded valley for four days, improving his physical condition and fist energy.
• Lin Taichu shattered a thick tree trunk with one punch as he tempered his fist energy.
• A messenger told Lin Taichu that Tang Lie's corpse had been found in Rice Country and summoned him to the council hall.
• The messenger reported that Tang Lie's body bore bite marks attributed to Mutated Beasts injected with Mutagen by the Dark Race, and that the three stolen manuals had been recovered intact.
• The messenger said the Mutated Beasts that killed Tang Lie had left no trace.

Lin Taichu learned that mutated beasts had killed Tang Lie and begun attacking Rice Country's border towns, while the stolen Tang Sect manuals had been recovered. He was tasked with hunting down the beasts and traveled with Tang Bao to the Demon Continent, where they arrived at the black mist barrier.

• Lin Taichu joined the council meeting, where a Rice Country messenger reported that beasts had torn Tang Lie apart in the Black Wood Forest and that his stolen secret manuals had been recovered.
• Elder Tang Shi and Elder Tang Du Zi warned that the mutated beasts were spreading, and Supreme Elder Tang Xuan ordered antidotes prepared for the injured.
• Supreme Elder Tang Xuan assigned Lin Taichu to lead elite Disciples to find and eliminate the mutated beasts.
• Lin Taichu set out with the recovered Tang Bao toward the Demon Continent, while the other Disciples stayed behind and Elder Tang Du Zi sent antidotes to Rice Country.
• After traveling for three days, Lin Taichu and Tang Bao reached the black mist barrier separating the Jianghu from the Demon Continent.

Lin Taichu and Tang Bao crossed the barrier into the Demon Continent and entered a town to search for information about the Mutated Beasts. After Lin Taichu intimidated the locals who challenged them, they listened for clues at a tavern but heard nothing, leaving Tang Bao to suggest asking around directly.

• Lin Taichu used Profound Iron Strength and the Great Vajra Scripture to lead Tang Bao through the black fog barrier onto the Demon Continent.
• Lin Taichu and Tang Bao headed to a nearby town to find information about the escaped Mutated Beasts.
• A wolf clan cultivator tried to drive the humans away, but Lin Taichu knocked him back with Profound Iron Strength.
• A demon race cultivator threatened Lin Taichu, who unleashed a stronger aura that left the demon unable to attack.
• Lin Taichu and Tang Bao went to the town's tavern and listened for clues, but Tang Bao found that no one had mentioned the Mutated Beasts and suggested asking around.

Lin Taichu and Tang Bao learned that the Mutated Beasts from Black Wood Forest had settled in the Black Rock Mountain Range and were attacking foreign race Cultivators. After Lin Taichu defeated a group of wolf race Cultivators who tried to ambush them, the two set out for the mountain range to find the beasts’ nest.

• Lin Taichu and Tang Bao overheard Beast Race Cultivators describe violent, toxin-bearing demonic beasts near the Black Rock Mountain Range that had injured many hunters.
• Lin Taichu recognized the creatures as Mutated Beasts from Black Wood Forest, and he and Tang Bao decided to investigate and eliminate them.
• Outside the tavern, the wolf race cultivator Lin Taichu had previously beaten blocked the pair with more than a dozen companions and ordered them attacked.
• Lin Taichu knocked the wolf race cultivator unconscious with a punch and swiftly defeated the rest of his group while Tang Bao guarded against other attackers.
• Lin Taichu and Tang Bao left town and headed west toward the Black Rock Mountain Range to search for the Mutated Beasts’ nest.

Lin Taichu and Tang Bao tracked the Mutated Beasts through the Black Rock Mountain Range and found their nest in an abandoned cave. They reached the cave’s entrance, where the roars and whimpers of Young Beasts came from within.

• Lin Taichu sensed poisonous auras scattered across the Black Rock Mountain Range and led Tang Bao inside to track them.
• The two found and subdued a mutated wolf, and Lin Taichu searched its consciousness for the other Mutated Beasts’ nest.
• Lin Taichu learned that dozens of Mutated Beasts lived in an abandoned cave and that their Young Beasts had also been injected with Mutagen.
• Lin Taichu and Tang Bao traveled deeper into the range and arrived at the cave, hearing roars and Young Beasts whimpering inside.

Lin Taichu and Tang Bao attacked the Mutated Beasts’ nest and killed its leaders and ordinary beasts. They also slaughtered the Young Beasts, leaving the cave cleared of every Mutated Beast.

• Lin Taichu sensed dozens of Mutated Beasts inside the cave and told Tang Bao to fight the ordinary beasts while he targeted their leaders.
• Tang Bao fought off the ordinary Mutated Beasts as Lin Taichu reached the depths of the cave and confronted a Mutated Bear, a Mutated Tiger, and a Mutated Snake.
• Lin Taichu killed the three leaders and returned to help Tang Bao, who had been bitten and wounded during the battle.
• Lin Taichu and Tang Bao slaughtered the remaining ordinary Mutated Beasts in the cave.
• Lin Taichu ordered Tang Bao to kill the Young Beasts, and the two slaughtered them all.

Lin Taichu and Tang Bao drove off Lang Xiao’s wolf Cultivators and returned to town after clearing the Mutated Beasts from the cave. Lin Taichu left the wolf clan behind and continued seeking information about the Mutated Beasts.

• Lang Xiao arrived at the cave with Beast Cores and medicinal herbs to apologize, but Lin Taichu warned the wolf Cultivators to leave because Mutated Beasts might remain.
• Lin Taichu checked the cave for hidden threats, confirmed it was clear, and set off for town with Tang Bao.
• Lang Xiao and the wolf Cultivators followed at a distance as Tang Bao treated his wounds and Lin Taichu checked for danger along the way.
• The group returned to town, where Cultivators from other races watched the wolf clan treat Lin Taichu and Tang Bao with respect.
• Lin Taichu declined Lang Xiao’s offer of hospitality and told him not to provoke stronger Cultivators; Lang Xiao bowed and returned to the wolf clan’s residence.
• Lin Taichu continued his search for information about the Mutated Beasts.

Lin Taichu and Tang Bao investigated rumors of foreign Mutated Beasts and learned that the Stone People Race was raising them in the Stone Desert Wasteland. They stayed in town overnight to recover and gather more information before deciding how to approach the Stone People Race's territory.

• Lin Taichu and Tang Bao went to the tavern to question its owner and listen for news about foreign Mutated Beasts.
• The tavern owner told them that the Stone People Race was raising powerful Mutated Beasts in the Stone Desert Wasteland west of the Black Rock Mountain Range.
• Lin Taichu decided they needed to investigate the Stone People Race and whether other races were raising Mutated Beasts, but first wanted to gather details and avoid rushing into danger.
• Lin Taichu asked the tavern owner to investigate the Stone People Race's territory and its Mutated Beasts while Tang Bao rested and recovered.
• Lin Taichu and Tang Bao spent the night in the tavern, where Tang Bao healed and Lin Taichu gathered further information from the owner and foreign-race Cultivators.

Lin Taichu and Tang Bao learned that the Stone People Race had bred more than a hundred Mutated Beasts and set out to investigate their origins and purpose. They reached the guarded entrance to the Stone Desert Wasteland and hid to look for a way inside.

• Lin Taichu learned that the Stone People Race had bred more than a hundred Mutated Beasts, including over a dozen powerful leaders, to defend its territory.
• Lin Taichu and Tang Bao agreed to investigate the Stone People Race and left town for the Stone Desert Wasteland.
• Lin Taichu and Tang Bao traveled through dangerous terrain for a day and night, killing creatures and Cultivators who attacked them.
• Lin Taichu and Tang Bao reached the Stone Desert Wasteland and spotted Stone People Race guards near its entrance.
• Lin Taichu and Tang Bao concealed their auras behind a boulder and decided to observe the guards while searching for an opportunity to infiltrate.

Lin Taichu and Tang Bao infiltrated the Stone Desert Wasteland to investigate the Stone People Race’s Mutated Beasts, but the beasts detected them and alerted the guards. Lin Taichu chose to surrender rather than fight, and the guards surrounded the two Cultivators.

• Lin Taichu and Tang Bao slipped past the entrance guards during a shift change and cautiously made their way through the Stone Desert Wasteland.
• The pair found an enclosure holding more than a hundred Mutated Beasts, guarded by Stone People Race soldiers and experts.
• A Mutated Lion sensed Lin Taichu and Tang Bao, prompting the beasts to roar and charge the enclosure.
• The lead Stone People guard spotted the intruders and ordered the guards to surround them.
• Lin Taichu stopped Tang Bao from attacking, and both surrendered to the Stone People Race guards.

Lin Taichu and Tang Bao were captured by the Stone People Race after entering its Mutated Beast breeding grounds, and the clan chief ordered them imprisoned because he could not understand them or trust their intentions. They were left in a guarded stone cell, with their internal energy suppressed by rock ropes.

• Lin Taichu and Tang Bao let the Stone People guards bind them with rock ropes and escort them to the clan chief’s hall.
• The Stone People clan chief questioned the two, but neither side understood the other’s language.
• An elder urged the clan chief to punish the strangers, and the clan chief ordered the guards to take them away.
• The guards locked Lin Taichu and Tang Bao in a stone cell and left two guards watching outside.
• Lin Taichu examined the cell door’s Stone Power while Tang Bao sat down and tried to break free of the rock ropes.