Chapter Summaries

Lin Taichu led Zhao Family Guards in an ambush that stole forty sacks of grain from the Dantai Family’s convoy, then withdrew to Luofeng City rather than risk another attack. Back in the crowded city, he considered how the Dantai Family’s actions could threaten the city’s reputation for safety.

• Lin Taichu ordered the Guards to shoot the convoy’s horses and escorts while Zhao Feng’s men took forty sacks of grain.
• Dantai Lie assessed the damage, ordered more grain brought from Dantai Town, and continued toward Luofeng City.
• Lin Taichu rejected another ambush because Dantai Lie had strengthened the convoy’s defenses and the Guards were running low on arrows.
• Lin Taichu and the Guards returned to Luofeng City, where Zhao Feng reported that hundreds of cultivators had arrived for the Trading Holy Land.
• Lin Taichu warned Zhao Feng that if the Dantai Family harmed cultivators in the city, visitors would no longer consider Luofeng City safe.

Lin Taichu persuaded Zhao Huai to defend Luofeng City's credibility by stopping the Dantai Family outside the walls and keeping the city safe for traders. Three days later, Dantai Lie reached the city and ordered his force to attack.

• Lin Taichu explained that a battle inside Luofeng City would destroy the Zhao Family's credibility and drive away traders.
• Lin Taichu proposed confronting the Dantai Family outside the city and relying on the traders' interest in protecting their trade route.
• Zhao Huai agreed to divide the Guards among the walls, city patrols, and a reserve force, while reassuring the Cultivators that trade would continue.
• Three days later, Dantai Lie arrived north of Luofeng City with eighty-two people and found the gates shut and the Zhao Family Guards ready on the walls.
• Dantai Lie ordered Dantai Ming to attack the north gate while he led thirty men to climb over the east wall.

Dantai Lie led his men into an evacuated Luofeng City, then found Lin Taichu and more than five hundred people waiting outside the north gate. He withdrew rather than risk the trading cultivators turning against the Dantai Family, while Lin Taichu predicted he would return after regrouping.

• Dantai Lie and his men entered Luofeng City, found its streets and shops empty, and discovered a warning at the Zhao Family estate telling them to retreat because of an ambush outside.
• Dantai Lie led his men through the north gate and faced Lin Taichu, two hundred Zhao Family Guards, and more than three hundred outside Cultivators.
• Dantai Lie decided not to fight, explaining that victory would drive the outside Cultivators away from Luofeng City, and led his eighty-two men north.
• Lin Taichu told Zhao Feng that Dantai Lie had likely gone to regroup and would return, then ordered the Zhao Family Guards back into the city.
• Lin Taichu assured the outside Cultivators that the market would open as usual in ten days and offered them wine and food as an apology.

Dantai Lie waited outside Luofeng City for the Zhao Family to make a mistake, but withdrew to Dantai Town after the Trading Holy Land opened and he found no opportunity to attack. Lin Taichu focused on managing the city’s booming trade and growing crowds, while warning that the Zhao Family would be stronger when Dantai Lie returned.

• Dantai Lie kept eighty-two men camped north of Luofeng City, waiting for the Zhao Family to let its guard down.
• Dantai Lie learned that the Zhao Family’s young man had left south and that the Trading Holy Land had opened with enormous trade and valuable goods.
• Dantai Lie concluded that the Zhao Family had made no mistakes and ordered his men back to Dantai Town, telling the Patriarch to reconsider the matter of Luofeng City.
• Zhao Feng told Lin Taichu that Dantai Lie had withdrawn, and Lin Taichu said Luofeng City would not be the same when he returned.
• Lin Taichu instructed Zhao Feng to ensure the Trading Holy Land stayed orderly and to establish designated street-stall areas with a daily fee of ten Spirit Stones.

Lin Taichu and the Zhao Family worried that the Trading Holy Land’s rapid growth was turning Luofeng City into a target and leaving the Zhao Family responsible for valuable unsold goods. As trading continued to expand, Lin Taichu concluded they needed to invest in security and actively find buyers.

• Zhao Feng proposed charging ten Spirit Stones per stall so sellers of inexpensive goods could use the Trading Holy Land instead.
• Lin Taichu recognized that the consignment system exposed the Zhao Family to growing risks if goods did not sell or were damaged.
• Zhao Feng reported that Luofeng City had over eight hundred Cultivators and that an eighth-grade pill priced at four hundred thousand Spirit Stones had been consigned.
• Lin Taichu warned Zhao Huai that the city’s growing storehouse of valuable goods could attract the Dantai Family or other powers seeking to raid it.
• After trading volume and consignment fees surged, Lin Taichu said the Zhao Family needed to secure the goods and seek buyers, even though both efforts would cost money.

Lin Taichu persuaded Zhao Huai to reinvest the Trading Holy Land’s fees into security and growth, then set out for Dragon King Underground City to find buyers for its expensive goods. He arrived at the cave entrance with Zhao Feng and ten Guards, where armed cultivators had gathered.

• Lin Taichu convinced Zhao Huai to spend the Trading Holy Land’s earnings on stronger formations, more Half-Saint Guards, and expanding trade.
• Lin Taichu ordered Zhao Feng to advertise the costliest consigned goods through displays and printed booklets distributed around Luofeng City.
• Lin Taichu told Zhao Huai he would seek wealthy buyers at Dragon King Underground City and left him a note with instructions in case he did not return within ten days.
• Lin Taichu recruited Zhao Feng and ten Guards, then traveled by horseback for a day and a night to the underground city’s surface entrance.
• Lin Taichu and his companions arrived at dawn and saw a dozen armed cultivators outside the cave.

Lin Taichu entered Dragon King Underground City with Zhao Feng and ten Guards to learn about its dangers and find powerful cultivators. After exploring the first level, he led his party downward, where they discovered a tablet describing the city’s ancient origins.

• Lin Taichu questioned a middle-aged cultivator outside the cave and learned that an ancient ruin on the hundred-and-twentieth level had drawn major forces into a deadly conflict.
• Lin Taichu entered the underground city with Zhao Feng and the ten Guards, examined the first level’s stalls, and learned that Black Iron Ore from deeper levels sold at a premium.
• Lin Taichu assessed the city’s different types of cultivators and decided to descend to the fiftieth level to find stronger cultivators and better information.
• Lin Taichu and his party descended through the levels, finding fewer people and better goods as they went.
• On the tenth level, Lin Taichu read a stone tablet stating that Dragon King Underground City had been built thirty thousand years earlier as an ancient Dragon King’s lair.

Lin Taichu learned about three powerful Cultivators in the Underground City and discovered that Zhou Jin wanted a way to break through to the Saint Realm. He returned to Luofeng City and displayed an eighth-grade Breakthrough Pill for sale, hoping to draw Zhou Jin to him.

• Lin Taichu questioned a young cultivator on the thirtieth floor and paid him fifty Spirit Stones for information about Zhou Jin, Feng Tie, and Su Yao.
• The young cultivator said Zhou Jin was the easiest to approach and would be interested in pills or cultivation methods that could help him reach the Saint Realm.
• Lin Taichu decided to lure Zhou Jin upward with a Breakthrough Pill instead of searching for him in the dangerous lower floors.
• Three days after returning to Luofeng City, Lin Taichu had Zhao Feng place an eighth-grade Breakthrough Pill, priced at four hundred thousand Spirit Stones, in the center of the Trading Holy Land.

Lin Taichu sold Zhou Jin a Breakthrough Pill and pitched the Trading Holy Land as a way to trade the treasures he had accumulated in Dragon King Underground City. Zhou Jin verified the pill was genuine but remained wary of Lin Taichu’s offer.

• On the fifth day, Zhou Jin arrived at the Trading Holy Land and offered four hundred thousand Spirit Stones for the Breakthrough Pill.
• Lin Taichu asked Zhou Jin his name and invited him to the rear hall before handing over the pill.
• Lin Taichu told Zhou Jin the Trading Holy Land could help him sell his underground-city discoveries and buy what he needed in Luofeng City.
• Zhou Jin accepted the Breakthrough Pill and left to consider Lin Taichu’s proposal.
• At an inn, Zhou Jin verified the pill was genuine and worried about the Trading Holy Land’s undisclosed fees.

Zhou Jin returned toward Dragon King Underground City while Lin Taichu prepared another expedition to find Feng Tie. Lin Taichu led Zhao Feng and ten Guards into the dangerous natural caverns below the hundredth floor.

• Zhou Jin decided to postpone taking the Breakthrough Pill and rode away from Luofeng City toward Dragon King Underground City.
• Lin Taichu explained to Zhao Feng that Zhou Jin needed the Zhao Family’s trade channels, then decided to search for Feng Tie below the hundredth floor.
• Lin Taichu set out with Zhao Feng and ten Guards, equipped with lanterns, arrows, and leather armor.
• At the entrance to Dragon King Underground City, Lin Taichu learned that a bearded cultivator had told the new guard to watch for him.
• Lin Taichu led his group past the first ninety-nine floors and entered the natural caverns beginning at the hundredth floor.

Lin Taichu led Zhao Feng and the Guards deeper into Underground City to find Feng Tie, learning that the blacksmith was on the two-hundred-and-fortieth floor. On the one-hundred-and-twelfth floor, all their lanterns still burned but stopped giving off light, leaving the group in complete darkness.

• Lin Taichu met Zhou Jin on the hundredth floor and learned that Feng Tie was forging a Dharma Artifact in his smithy on the two-hundred-and-fortieth floor.
• Lin Taichu continued downward with Zhao Feng and the Guards despite Zhou Jin's warning about the powerful Monster Beasts below.
• On the hundred-and-tenth floor, Zhao Feng recognized deep Claw Marks as belonging to an Earth-Splitting Lizard that usually lived much deeper underground.
• Lin Taichu's group entered a vast, bone-strewn hall on the one-hundred-and-twelfth floor, where every lantern flame suddenly stopped giving off light.

When the Underground City's energy system was deliberately cut off, Lin Taichu and his group were attacked by Monster Beasts in the darkness. Lin Taichu led the survivors toward the stairs, and they reached the passage out of the hall.

• Lin Taichu heard something crawling through the dark hall and ordered Zhao Feng and the Guards to draw their weapons.
• A Cultivator screamed, and Monster Beasts attacked the people in the hall; Lin Taichu realized the blackout was sabotage that left the Cultivators vulnerable.
• Lin Taichu ordered his group to form a line and follow him toward the hall entrance while the Monster Beasts closed in.
• A Monster Beast pounced on the rear guard, but Lin Taichu urged the others onward without stopping.
• Lin Taichu found the hall entrance and led Zhao Feng and the remaining Guards into the passage toward the stairs.

Lin Taichu led his group through a dark passage while Monster Beasts pursued them, and he killed one at the cost of a deep wound. After Zhou Jin revealed that someone had driven the beasts upward and cut off the 112th floor’s energy, Lin Taichu reached the 111th floor with his surviving Guards, where Zhou Jin questioned whether he would continue downward.

• Lin Taichu went to the rear of the group and killed a charging Monster Beast with his dagger, suffering a deep gash to his left arm.
• Lin Taichu led the remaining Guards through the passage to a staircase, where Zhao Feng counted nine survivors and realized two Guards were missing.
• Zhou Jin arrived with a working lantern and identified the beast as an Earth-Splitting Lizard driven upward by someone who had also disrupted the 112th floor’s energy system.
• Zhou Jin warned Lin Taichu that the missing Guards were dead and urged him to leave before the blood attracted more beasts.
• Lin Taichu followed Zhou Jin up to the 111th floor, where Zhou Jin asked whether he still intended to continue downward despite the group’s injuries and exhaustion.

Lin Taichu and his companions sheltered after an Earth-Splitting Lizard attack, then followed Zhou Jin deeper into Dragon King Underground City to find Feng Tie. They learned that someone had deliberately released the monsters and reached levels bearing ancient carvings as they continued toward Feng Tie’s blacksmith shop on the two-hundred-and-fortieth floor.

• Zhou Jin led Lin Taichu and the others to a safe room, where Zhao Feng treated Lin Taichu’s arm wound.
• Zhou Jin explained that someone had likely used the energy-system malfunction to release an Earth-Splitting Lizard and prey on the victims.
• Zhou Jin agreed to guide the group to the two-hundredth floor because he owed Lin Taichu for the pills, while Lin Taichu accepted that they had no safer way down.
• After resting overnight, Zhou Jin led Lin Taichu, Zhao Feng, and the nine Guards down through the dark corridors.
• The group saw ancient dragon carvings and learned from Zhou Jin that Feng Tie’s blacksmith shop occupied a cleared level on the two-hundred-and-fortieth floor.

Zhou Jin led Lin Taichu, Zhao Feng, and the Guards through the lower floors of the Underground City, using his knowledge and weapon to overcome its dangers. They reached the entrance to the two-hundredth floor, where Zhou Jin prepared to face more complicated Restrictions.

• Zhou Jin killed more than forty Earth-Splitting Lizards with a Spirit Stone-powered short rod while Lin Taichu and Zhao Feng watched.
• Zhou Jin guided the group across a narrow, slippery Stone Bridge over a fast underground river, and a rock struck the bridge just after they crossed.
• Lin Taichu followed Zhou Jin through the lower floors despite his reopened arm wound, while Zhou Jin led them around dangerous passages and Monster Beasts.
• At the one hundred and ninetieth floor, Zhou Jin rested and replaced the depleted Spirit Stone in his weapon, explaining that it worked without spiritual power.
• Zhou Jin led the group to the enormous rune-covered stone gate marking the entrance to the two-hundredth floor.

Zhou Jin, Zhao Feng, and Lin Taichu descended through Dragon King Underground City in search of Feng Tie, discovering evidence that Qingyang Sect explorers had reached the lower floors. They found Feng Tie’s note directing them to the two-hundred-sixtieth floor, where a dragon skeleton and several people awaited them.

• Zhou Jin opened the Stone Gate and led Zhao Feng and Lin Taichu down through the lower floors of Dragon King Underground City.
• On the two-hundred-tenth floor, Zhou Jin found a dead Qingyang Sect member and took the Storage Bag containing the sect’s jade token.
• The group reached Dragon King Hall on the two-hundred-fortieth floor and found Feng Tie’s empty blacksmith shop and an unfinished sword.
• Zhou Jin found a fresh message saying Feng Tie had gone to the two-hundred-sixtieth floor, and Lin Taichu insisted they continue without waiting.
• The group reached the two-hundred-sixtieth floor, where Lin Taichu saw a giant dragon skeleton and Zhao Feng noticed several people in the cavern.

Lin Taichu met Feng Tie in Dragon King Underground City and offered him access to forging materials in Luofeng City, but Feng Tie postponed the trip until he claimed the Dragon Bone. On the way back, Zhou Jin warned Lin Taichu that Luofeng City relied too heavily on its Restriction and explained why suppression alone could not make every cultivator equally dangerous.

• Lin Taichu offered Feng Tie a booklet about the Trading Holy Land and promised access to meteorite iron, but Feng Tie said he would go to Luofeng City after taking the Dragon Bone in two days.
• Zhou Jin gave Feng Tie a Storage Bag recovered from the Qingyang Sect cultivators and warned him that Su Yao's people had gone below the two hundred and sixtieth floor.
• Zhou Jin led Lin Taichu, Zhao Feng, and the Guards back through the Underground City while Lin Taichu's injured arm worsened in the cold.
• Zhou Jin told Lin Taichu that Luofeng City's defenses depended too much on its Restriction and questioned how he would stop Dantai Hong if the man entered the city.
• Lin Taichu explained that Luofeng City's ancient Restriction suppressed cultivation, and Zhou Jin said his experience and instincts remained formidable despite his own cultivation being suppressed.

Lin Taichu, Zhao Feng, and their Guards escaped the Dragon King Underground City with Zhou Jin, who agreed to help protect Luofeng City in exchange for a hundred Spirit Stones and freedom to come and go. They returned to find the city busier than before, while Zhou Jin’s connection to the Qingyang Sect remained in the background.

• Zhou Jin advised Lin Taichu to hire a powerful expert to defend Luofeng City, and agreed to do so under terms that preserved his freedom while requiring him to act if the city was in danger.
• Lin Taichu gave Zhou Jin a hundred Spirit Stones as a deposit, and Zhou Jin led the group upward through the Dragon King Underground City.
• Zhou Jin encountered Su Yao and six other Qingyang Sect cultivators; Su Yao questioned him and learned that Lin Taichu had been hired by the Zhao Family.
• Lin Taichu learned that the Qingyang Sect was the Southern Region’s third-ranked sect and that Su Yao was an outer sect elder being considered for promotion.
• The group left the underground city, and Zhou Jin flew south on a sword while Lin Taichu, Zhao Feng, and the Guards rode toward Luofeng City.
• Lin Taichu and the others returned to Luofeng City at dawn and saw a longer queue at the gate and a bustling marketplace.

Lin Taichu brought Zhou Jin to the Zhao Family estate and hired him to defend the family for fifty thousand Spirit Stones a year. As trade in Luofeng City grew and a rare Dragon Blood Stone arrived from Dragon King Underground City, Zhou Jin came to Lin Taichu with something he needed to make clear.

• Lin Taichu introduced Zhou Jin, a ninth-level Half-Saint, to Zhao Huai and negotiated his terms: freedom to come and go, help in danger, and fifty thousand Spirit Stones per year.
• Zhao Huai accepted the arrangement and paid Zhou Jin twenty-five thousand Spirit Stones in advance.
• Lin Taichu checked on the Trading Holy Land, where trade had surged, then ordered a newly arrived Dragon Blood Stone listed for six hundred thousand Spirit Stones.
• Lin Taichu connected the growing flow of rare goods to the weakening Dragon Bone Restriction in Dragon King Underground City and recognized that the expanding trade brought greater risks.
• Zhou Jin settled into a room, noted that Luofeng City's Restriction suppressed his cultivation from the ninth to the first level of Half-Saint, and then went to tell Lin Taichu he needed to make something clear.

Lin Taichu and Zhao Huai learned that Luofeng City's Restrictions could not fully suppress powerful Half-Saints, and Zhou Jin advised them to recruit more experts and strengthen the Zhao Family's Guards. When Zhou Jin refused to guide Lin Taichu to the 260th floor of Dragon King Underground City to find Feng Tie, Lin Taichu asked Zhao Feng for the underground map, leaving the search unresolved.

• Zhou Jin explained that his suppressed cultivation did not weaken his ninth-level Half-Saint body and recommended hiring Underground City experts and training the Zhao Family's Guards.
• Lin Taichu assigned Zhou Jin to handle recruiting, while Zhao Huai would oversee training the Guards.
• After Zhou Jin spent three days resting in Luofeng City, Zhao Huai complained that he was not earning his fifty thousand Spirit Stones, and Lin Taichu defended his role as a protector who acted only in danger.
• Lin Taichu asked Zhou Jin to guide him to the 260th floor of Dragon King Underground City to find Feng Tie, but Zhou Jin refused.
• Lin Taichu rejected Zhao Feng's suggestion that they go alone and asked him to bring the map of Dragon King Underground City.