Recaps

After the Qian Family rejected the Li Family’s demand to submit, Li Xinge ordered a cavalry strike against them, while Qian Yong trusted that the Fu Family would protect his clan. The Azure Wolf Cavalry rode toward Nanping Prefecture, and the Qian Family elders gathered uneasily that night.

• The injured Li Family deacon accused the Qian Family of insulting and beating him, and Li Xinge ordered Li Xuanzong and Li Yanxiao to handle the matter.
• Li Yanxiao led three hundred elite Azure Wolf Cavalry south toward the Qian Family under orders to leave no survivors.
• Villagers and townspeople recognized the Li Family cavalry as they thundered toward Nanping Prefecture.
• Qian Yong dismissed his elders’ fears and said he had asked his mother to summon Fu Family experts for protection.
• The Qian Family First Elder and several core elders gathered together that night.

The Li Family's Azure Wolf Cavalry reached Nanping Prefecture to destroy the Qian Family for defying the Li Family and injuring its envoy. As Li Yanxiao confronted Qian Shouwu, Li Xuanzong arrived and revealed himself as another Innate expert from the Li Family.

• The Qian Family's First Elder ordered the Second Elder to carry out the Lineage's Kindling Plan as the clan prepared for the Li Family's retaliation.
• The Azure Wolf Cavalry entered Nanping Prefecture, and the Shen Family and the other two great families gathered their forces to join the Li Family's attack.
• Qian Yong waited anxiously for the Fu Family's help, while Qian Shouwu arrived and told the clan to await the Li Family.
• Li Yanxiao led the Azure Wolf Cavalry and the three allied families to the Qian Family's open gates and rejected Qian Shouwu's offer to surrender.
• Li Xuanzong descended from the sky, and Qian Shouwu recognized him as an Innate expert from the Li Family.

Li Xuanzong led the Baihe Li Clan and Nanping Prefecture’s three great families in annihilating the Qian Family. With the southern nine commanderies under Li control, the Baihe Li Clan now held a quarter of Yang Province.

• Li Xuanzong ordered Li Yanxiao and the allied forces to kill everyone in the Qian Family, and the Azure Wolf Cavalry charged into battle.
• Li Yanxiao killed Qian Yong after severing his arm, while Li Xuanzong overpowered Qian Shouwu.
• Li Xuanzong shattered Qian Shouwu’s shield with a punch, then killed him as the Qian Family ancestor lay dying.
• The Li forces slaughtered the remaining Qian Family members, and an Azure Wolf Cavalryman killed Qian Yong’s mother despite her claiming Fu Family ties.
• The Baihe Li Clan destroyed the Qian Family and brought the southern nine commanderies under its control.

Fu Nanzhu warned Fu Tiansheng that the Fu Family must avoid a war with the Li Family, while Li Xinge consolidated the Li Family’s gains and ordered its forces and influence expanded. The Fu Family remained divided, and Fu Tiansheng was left to prepare for a decisive purge of anyone who threatened the clan.

• Fu Hongfeng demanded that Fu Tiansheng destroy the Li Family, but Fu Tiansheng refused and reminded him that Fu Hongfeng’s daughter had severed ties with the clan.
• Fu Nanzhu told Fu Tiansheng that Li Xinge was too difficult to kill and warned that provoking the Li Family could bring ruin upon the Fu Family.
• Fu Nanzhu ordered Fu Tiansheng to act decisively against clan members who might drag the family into danger, and Fu Tiansheng asked whether the Fu Family could claim a certain position.
• Li Yanjing reported that the Qian Family had been wiped out, its industries absorbed, and the southern commanderies had submitted, while the Fu Family remained unsettled and Fu Tiansheng had begun a purge.
• Li Xinge ordered Li Xuanyong to organize the newly acquired lands and instructed Li Yanxiao to expand the Azure Wolf Cavalry to five thousand, including heirs from the submitted powers.
• Li Xinge ordered the Ninth Elder to spread Night Owl Hall’s intelligence network throughout Yang Province and beyond within three years.

Li Xinge learned that Li Wuyou was descended from the Li Family and restored her to the Direct Lineage, while the Great Zhou court appointed Venerable Jingkong Governor of Yang Province over the emperor’s objections. The decree ended the dispute, leaving the emperor isolated and resentful of the ministers who had defeated his bid to expand imperial control.

• Li Yanjing reported that Li Wuyou descended from Li Degao’s line and had been orphaned after her father disappeared in the mountains.
• Li Xinge ordered Li Wuyou restored to the Direct Lineage, entered into the family genealogy, and placed on the core cultivation list with status equal to an elder.
• Li Yanjing told Li Xinge that Li Wuyou had been secluded for days and appeared to be attempting a breakthrough into the Innate Realm.
• At the Great Zhou court assembly, Wen Zhong, Li Taiming, and other officials opposed the emperor’s plan to appoint Prince Cheng Jiang Yuren Governor of Yang Province and urged him to appoint Venerable Jingkong instead.
• The emperor yielded to the court’s pressure and ordered Venerable Jingkong appointed Governor of Yang Province with command over its military and political affairs.
• After the assembly, the imperial decree naming Venerable Jingkong Governor of Yang Province was proclaimed throughout the realm.

Venerable Jingkong became Governor of Yang Province and visited Green Maple Valley, where he confronted Li Xinge about his rift with Cui Haoran. The chapter ended as the Li Family’s senior members feared Jingkong had come to settle scores.

• Venerable Jingkong warned his disciples that becoming Governor of Yang Province made him a pawn for powerful families and a burden on the declining Lingxu Sect.
• Half a month later, Venerable Jingkong arrived at Green Maple Valley with Cui Haoran, startling the Li Family’s guards.
• Li Xinge welcomed Jingkong and Cui Haoran, then showed them the thriving valley and introduced them to the Li Family’s senior members.
• Venerable Jingkong told Li Xinge that he had put him in a difficult position and said he had heard Li Xinge and Cui Haoran had fallen out.
• The Li Family’s senior members grew tense as they wondered whether Jingkong had come to settle scores.

Venerable Jingkong offered Li Xinge control over the nine southern commanderies and Eastern Continent Prefecture in exchange for protecting the Lingxu Sect after his death, and Li Xinge accepted. The Li Family then assigned two prefect positions and considered the dangers and history of Eastern Continent Prefecture.

• Venerable Jingkong offered to recommend Li Xinge as Yang Province Chief Clerk, but Li Xinge declined to avoid antagonizing Fu Tiansheng.
• Venerable Jingkong entrusted Li Xinge with governing the nine southern commanderies and Eastern Continent Prefecture, asking him to protect the Lingxu Sect after his death.
• Cui Haoran knelt and apologized to Venerable Jingkong, who comforted his disciple and praised Li Xinge's potential.
• Li Xinge promised the Lingxu Sect would endure as long as the Baihe Li Clan did, provided the sect did not betray the clan.
• The Li Family appointed Dou Changgeng as Prefect of Nanping Prefecture and Xiao Baishan as Prefect of Jiangyang Prefecture.
• Li Xinge reflected on Eastern Continent Prefecture's history of conflict with the Eastern Ridge Barbarians and recalled finding the Blood Demon True Technique there.

As the Eastern Ridge Royal Court prepared to invade Eastern Continent Prefecture, Li Xinge learned of the threat and mobilized the Baihe Li Clan to defend its territory. After issuing his orders, he sent Elder Jiang to invite Mr. Zhao.

• Xiong Li and the Eastern Ridge chiefs learned that Yang Province was unsettled, and the Great Priest advised them to seize Eastern Continent Prefecture rather than risk invading all of Yang Province.
• Xiong Li ordered the tribes to muster warriors and provisions for an attack on Eastern Continent Prefecture.
• Li Yanjing reported the Eastern Ridge’s troop and supply movements to Li Xinge, who summoned the elders to discuss the threat.
• The elders debated whether to seek help from the provincial administration, but Li Xinge decided the Li Family would fight without backing down.
• Li Xinge assigned the elders and the Azure Wolf Cavalry to reinforce and defend Eastern Continent Prefecture, muster experts, and prepare supplies.
• After the meeting, Li Xinge asked Elder Jiang to invite Mr. Zhao.

Li Xinge sent Zhao Wujiu, an innately great perfection cultivator, to oversee Eastern Continent Prefecture against the coming Eastern Ridge Barbarian invasion. Meanwhile, Jiang Dao welcomed a son with sixth-grade talent and decided to ask the Grand Elder to let the boy take the Li surname.

• Zhao Wujiu recalled how he had pledged himself to Li Xinge in hopes that Li Xinge might one day help him reach the Divine Mansion Realm.
• Li Xinge asked Zhao Wujiu to oversee Eastern Continent Prefecture ahead of the Eastern Ridge Barbarian invasion, and Zhao Wujiu agreed.
• Jiang Dao anxiously waited as Li Xiuniang gave birth to their son, then celebrated when the midwife announced that mother and child were safe.
• Jiang Dao examined his newborn son and discovered that he had sixth-grade talent, far surpassing Jiang Dao's own eighth-grade talent.
• Jiang Dao told Li Xiuniang that he would ask the Grand Elder to let their son take the Li surname so he could benefit from the family's standing.

Jiang Dao volunteered to join the Li Family’s campaign as the Eastern Ridge Barbarians invaded the Eastern Continent Prefecture. After Panshi City fell in a devastating battle, Wang Tianming concentrated the remaining forces to defend the prefectural capital while awaiting Li Family reinforcements.

• Li Yanzhao summoned the Hall of Reverence attendants and announced that the Li Family would march against the Eastern Ridge invasion, and Jiang Dao volunteered for the vanguard despite his newborn son.
• Li Family envoys mobilized forces across the nine commanderies as the Eastern Ridge army advanced toward the Eastern Continent Prefecture.
• Shi Jian ordered Panshi City’s defenders to retreat to the inner city, then fought to the death as the city fell and its thirty thousand defenders were killed.
• The Eastern Ridge Barbarians captured Panshi City, massacred its inhabitants, and caused hundreds of thousands of civilian casualties.
• Zhao Wujiu told Wang Tianming that Li Family reinforcements were coming, and Wang ordered his forces to concentrate on defending the prefectural capital.

The Li Family held its annual direct-lineage talent test, where Li Qiyun and Li Zaiwu emerged as Sixth-grade talents and astonished the gathered elders and families. The test continued after the two boys were brought onto the platform, with the crowd’s expectations lowered.

• Third Elder Li Xuanyong opened the talent test, and Li Qiming tested at Ninth-grade low while Li Qingxuan tested at Seventh-grade middle.
• Li Qiyun’s test revealed Sixth-grade high talent, and Li Xuanyong praised him and brought him to stand beside him on the platform.
• Li Qiyun introduced his family background, and his mother, a Zheng Family Legitimate Daughter, greeted Li Xuanyong as the elders gathered around the boy.
• Li Zaiwu tested at Sixth-grade middle, and Li Xuanyong led him onto the platform beside Li Qiyun.
• The tests continued as the crowd doubted that another child would match the two Sixth-grade talents.

Li Qizheng revealed fifth-grade superior talent, bringing acclaim to the Li Family, while Li Xinge ordered the Clan Martial Pavilion to provide Guardians for the clan’s gifted children. Several experts volunteered after Li Yanfu offered increased cultivation resources and priority access to clan treasures.

• Li Qizheng tested as fifth-grade superior, astonishing the plaza and prompting Li Xuanyong to announce him, Li Qiyun, and Li Zaiwu as the Li Family’s three Kirin Children.
• Li Xuanyong promised to petition for doubled clan allowances and later presented the test results to Li Xinge, who recognized Li Qizheng’s talent as a natural blessing beyond the system’s rewards.
• Li Xinge told Li Xuanyong to ensure the gifted children were raised well, then sent him to handle work in the Internal Affairs Hall.
• Li Yanfu relayed Li Xinge’s order to recruit Clan Martial Pavilion experts as Guardians for the Li Family’s geniuses until they came of age.
• Li Yanfu offered Guardians thirty percent more cultivation resources and priority access to precious resources, techniques, and martial skills, persuading Li Yanfeng and other experts to volunteer.

The Eastern Ridge Barbarians launched a costly assault on Eastern Continent Prefecture City, whose defenders held behind the city’s defensive formation. After the army withdrew, Wutu Jie revealed his plan to follow a mysterious black-robed figure’s advice and ambush the Li Family’s reinforcements.

• The million-strong Eastern Ridge army attacked Eastern Continent Prefecture City with formation-breaking catapult stones, siege carts, and scaling ladders while the defenders activated the city’s defensive formation and fired their ballistae.
• The Eastern Ridge army withdrew at nightfall after suffering heavy casualties and leaving tens of thousands of dead beneath the walls.
• Eastern Ridge tribal chiefs questioned Wutu Jie’s tactics, but he invoked the authority of the king and the Great Priest and ordered them to keep attacking.
• A mysterious black-robed figure appeared in Wutu Jie’s command tent and told him to continue the assault until the Li Family’s reinforcements arrived.
• The mysterious figure urged Wutu Jie to ambush the Li Family’s powerful fighters and cripple the family.

After fifteen days of siege, the Li Family’s Azure Wolf Cavalry arrived and routed the Eastern Ridge army, saving Eastern Continent Prefecture. Wutu Jie withdrew for reasons he kept hidden, while reinforcements continued gathering in the city.

• Wang Tianming worried that the city’s spirit stones and defensive formation would fail before the Li Family’s reinforcements arrived, and Zhao Wujiu assured him the Azure Wolf Cavalry was near.
• Wutu Jie learned that Li Yanxiao’s five thousand Azure Wolf Cavalry had reached Heavenly Dragon Gorge and ordered the tribal chiefs to attack for five more days.
• As Eastern Ridge’s assault pushed the city’s defenses to the brink, Li Yanxiao led the Azure Wolf Cavalry into the enemy ranks and routed the soldiers.
• Wutu Jie stopped his Innate Realm experts from intervening and ordered the Eastern Ridge army to withdraw, while Li Yanxiao refrained from pursuing them.
• Li Yanxiao entered Eastern Continent Prefecture and met Wang Tianming, who warned that the enemy’s retreat seemed suspicious.
• Eastern Ridge made no further attacks over the next few days as Li Family experts and reinforcements from the nine southern commanderies arrived.

Eastern Ridge forces surrounded Eastern Continent Prefecture City and attacked its weakening defensive formation. Zhao Wujiu stopped the Red Hair Tribe Leader’s decisive strike, then revealed that he served Li Xinge, leaving Wutu Jie and the Eastern Ridge leaders stunned and hostile.

• Wutu Jie ordered the Eastern Ridge army to surround Eastern Continent Prefecture City and prepare to destroy the Li Family’s forces.
• Li Xuanzhong, Li Xuanzong, Wang Tianming, and Li Yanxiao prepared the city’s defenses and formations for the coming assault.
• Wutu Jie revealed the Eastern Ridge’s hidden strength, including nearly sixty Innate Realm cultivators and two experts at innately great perfection, then ordered an attack.
• The Eastern Ridge army battered the city’s defensive formation, and the Red Hair Tribe Leader’s immense staff strike threatened to break it.
• Zhao Wujiu intercepted the Red Hair Tribe Leader’s strike and said he served his lord, Li Xinge.
• Wutu Jie and the Red Hair Tribe Leader mocked Zhao Wujiu for submitting to an Innate Realm cultivator, then agreed to attack him together.

Zhao Wujiu struggled to hold off Wutu Jie and the Red Hair Tribe Leader until the Li Family activated a Teleportation Array. Li Xinge, the Clan Head, arrived in the Eastern Continent Prefecture and faced the invading Eastern Ridge army.

• The Red Hair Tribe Leader and Wutu Jie joined forces against Zhao Wujiu, who blocked their attacks but rapidly exhausted his spiritual power.
• Wang Tianming warned Li Xuanzhong that Zhao Wujiu could not hold out, and Li Xuanzhong ordered a Li Family cultivator to activate the array.
• A vast Teleportation Array appeared overhead, and a figure began to materialize in its spatial vortex.
• Zhao Wujiu retreated and bowed to the arriving figure, addressing him as his Lord.
• Li Xinge stepped from the vortex and challenged the Eastern Ridge invaders as Li Family cultivators welcomed their Clan Head.

Li Xinge fought the Red Hair Tribe Leader, overpowering him despite his Decoy Totem’s extra lives, while Zhao Wujiu kept Wutu Jie occupied. After the Red Hair Tribe Leader tried to flee and his allies refused to help, Li Xinge drew the Void Cutter Sword and unleashed a decisive sword strike.

• The Red Hair Tribe Leader attacked Li Xinge, who caught his Mystic Gold Staff and smashed his head, forcing the Decoy Totem to restore him at the cost of one life.
• The Red Hair Tribe Leader renewed his attack, and Zhao Wujiu intercepted Wutu Jie to keep him from joining the fight.
• After ten exchanges, Li Xinge took another of the Red Hair Tribe Leader’s lives, and the leader burned his blood essence before attempting to escape.
• Li Xinge blocked the Red Hair Tribe Leader’s escape, while the Eastern Ridge Innate Realm cultivators refused to intervene.
• Li Xinge drew the Void Cutter Sword, gathered sword intent, and charged at the Red Hair Tribe Leader in a brilliant sword strike.

Li Xinge killed the Red Hair Tribe Leader despite the Eastern Ridge Great Priest Wu Huo intervening, and Venerable Jingkong protected him from Wu Huo’s attack. Wu Huo withdrew after Jingkong confronted him with Great Zhou’s Governor’s Seal, while the Eastern Ridge army fled.

• Wu Huo attacked Li Xinge with a giant palm as Li Xinge struck at the Red Hair Tribe Leader.
• Li Xinge’s sword pierced the Red Hair Tribe Leader’s brow and destroyed his body and soul, overcoming the Decoy Totem.
• Venerable Jingkong appeared and shattered Wu Huo’s palm, then warned him against intervening in the conflict.
• Wu Huo tried to bargain for Li Xinge’s life and invoked the Soul-Seizing Bell, but Jingkong countered it with the Governor’s Seal.
• Wu Huo retreated after Jingkong refused to yield, and Wutu Jie led the demoralized Eastern Ridge army in flight.

Li Xinge returned to Green Maple Valley after defending Eastern Continent Prefecture, and the Azure Wolf King advanced to the Innate Realm and evolved into an Azure Moon Wolf King. Meanwhile, Moon Offering arrived in Sui County to recruit promising women for her division and tasked Night Owl Hall with finding suitable candidates.

• Li Xinge thanked Venerable Jingkong, praised Wang Tianming for defending Eastern Continent Prefecture, and warned him that the war was not over.
• Li Xinge left Fourth Elder Li Xuanzong to oversee Eastern Continent Prefecture and returned to Green Maple Valley as news of his victory spread across Yang Province.
• The Azure Wolf King advanced to the Innate Realm, mutated into an Azure Moon Wolf King, and spoke to Li Yanxiao for the first time.
• Moon Offering's convoy reached Sui County, where her guards secured the largest inn as the party settled in for the night.
• Moon Offering instructed the local Night Owl Hall steward to identify women with suitable looks, bearing, dispositions, backgrounds, and cultivation talent for her women's division.

Yue Niang struggled to find suitable women for Li Xinge, while Sui County Chief Constable Hu Biao learned of a group of beautiful outsiders at Tianxiang Inn and decided to target them. Hu Biao led a squad of constables toward the inn under the pretext of questioning the travelers.

• Yue Niang reflected on the Li Family's pressure for Li Xinge to take concubines and resolved to do her best to find candidates.
• Hu Biao fondled a woman in his residence when his deputy Gou Er reported that veiled beauties had arrived at Tianxiang Inn.
• Gou Er described the women and their fierce-looking guards, and Hu Biao weighed the risk of provoking outsiders.
• Hu Biao decided that the beauties could help him strengthen his standing with his powerful patron.
• Hu Biao ordered Gou Er to gather the constables and claimed they needed to investigate the travelers as suspected bandits or spies.
• Hu Biao and his squad headed for Tianxiang Inn.

Hu Biao raided Tianxiang Inn, claiming its guests were Eastern Ridge spies while seeking the young women staying there. Scarface stopped his men and exposed Hu Biao’s abuse of power, but Hu Biao invoked his Li Clan connections; a voice from the courtyard ordered him to bring his backer in.

• Hu Biao arrived at Tianxiang Inn with constables and ordered the inn surrounded so he could search the Heavenly Character Courtyard.
• The innkeeper objected, but Hu Biao beat the guard captain and defeated the inn’s guards before sending constables toward the courtyard.
• Scarface and his armed men blocked the constables, killing two who charged them.
• Hu Biao demanded the young women be handed over, and Scarface revealed his Qi and Blood Realm strength.
• Hu Biao begged for mercy and claimed his brother-in-law belonged to the Baihe Li Clan and was valued by Li Xinge.
• Scarface hesitated at the claim, then a voice ordered Hu Biao to bring his backer to the courtyard.

Scarface spared Hu Biao and waited at the inn while Hu Biao sent Gou Er to summon County Lieutenant Li Qing. Li Qing extorted half the Luo Family’s gold-mine output, then Gou Er arrived with news of trouble at the inn.

• Yue Niang ordered Scarface to spare Hu Biao for the moment, and Scarface gave him a quarter of an hour to summon his brother-in-law.
• Hu Biao secretly told Gou Er to accuse the visitors of killing an officer and plotting rebellion, and Gou Er ran to the county yamen.
• The innkeeper warned Scarface that County Lieutenant Li Qing was backed by the powerful Li Family, but Scarface said they knew what they were doing.
• Li Qing demanded half the output from Luo Wanshan’s newly discovered gold mine, and Luo Wanshan accepted after Li Qing threatened his family.
• Li Qing summoned his twenty-seventh, twenty-eighth, and twenty-ninth concubines, while the Old Butler’s obsequious expression vanished as he left.
• Gou Er rushed into Li Qing’s residence and shouted that something terrible had happened.

Li Qing brought Zhang Kuang and county soldiers to Tianxiang Inn to confront Scarface, but Scarface killed Zhang Kuang with one stroke. Yue Niang exposed Li Qing’s abuse of his family’s name and ordered him taken to Green Maple Valley for punishment, leaving him in despair when his trusted Old Butler revealed himself as a Night Owl Hall agent.

• Li Qing assembled Zhang Kuang and county soldiers and marched to Tianxiang Inn after learning Hu Biao had been detained and constables killed.
• Li Qing confronted Scarface and claimed the protection of the Baihe Li Clan, while Yue Niang challenged his standing in the family.
• Zhang Kuang attacked Scarface, who killed him with a single stroke.
• Yue Niang exposed Li Qing as an insignificant collateral relative who had used the Li Family’s name to commit crimes, then ordered his cultivation crippled and his return to Green Maple Valley.
• Hu Biao accepted blame to protect his household, but Yue Niang summoned Li Qing’s Old Butler, who identified himself as Night Owl Hall covert agent Human designation 1741.

Yue Niang heard of a peerlessly beautiful young woman in Huanxi Village and went to see her. After the washerwoman briefly affected Yue Niang with her gaze, Yue Niang suspected she was no ordinary woman.

• Yue Niang left Sui County with her convoy and stopped at a roadside teahouse to rest.
• Yue Niang overheard merchants say a beautiful young woman in Huanxi Village was to become the Shen Family head’s concubine.
• Scarface questioned Fatty Zhang, paid him in gold to guide them, and led Yue Niang toward Huanxi Village.
• Yue Niang left Scarface to guard the carriages and continued to the village with several guards and Fatty Zhang.
• Yue Niang saw the young washerwoman by the stream and was struck by her beauty.
• The washerwoman’s gaze briefly left Yue Niang spellbound, making Yue Niang suspect she was not an ordinary woman.

Yue Niang discovered that Yunxi possessed the rare Mysterious Yin Charm Body and decided to bring her to the Baihe Li Clan’s family head rather than exploit her herself. Yunxi feared that resisting the Shen Family would endanger Huanxi Village, so Yue Niang revealed her clan’s power and promised to protect them.

• Yue Niang examined Yunxi’s constitution and recognized her as the possessor of the Mysterious Yin Charm Body.
• Yue Niang considered taking Yunxi for herself, but remembered the man she feared and chose to present Yunxi to the family head instead.
• Yunxi told Yue Niang that the Shen Family planned to take her as Master Shen’s concubine and had threatened her family and village.
• Yue Niang offered to stop the Shen Family, but Yunxi refused because she did not trust a stranger with the villagers’ lives.
• Yue Niang told Yunxi she belonged to the Baihe Li Clan and promised she could protect Yunxi and Huanxi Village.