Chapter Summaries

Yang Zhengshan turned away visitors seeking to join his crossing of the Storm Sea Region, while Li Shangyuan investigated his party and then visited him with a gift. Li Shangyuan recognized Yang Zhengshan as the North Sea Thunder Lord and knew he had Entered the Dao, leaving their meeting on friendly terms.

• Li Shangyuan asked Tang An to watch Yang Zhengshan's party and judge whether they were worth befriending.
• Yang Zhengshan received several days of visitors who wanted to travel with him, but he refused to change his plan to set out in six days.
• Duan Chaohai of Blue Sea Pavilion proposed crossing the Storm Sea Region together, and Yang Zhengshan declined because he planned to leave sooner.
• Yang Zhengshan learned that Li Shangyuan had sent a visiting card, then chose to spend the evening playing chess with Xuan Zhen.
• Li Shangyuan visited Yang Zhengshan with a gift and addressed him as the North Sea Thunder Lord, revealing that he knew of Yang Zhengshan's reputation and Daoist advancement.

Yang Zhengshan and his companions set sail with Li Shangyuan across the dangerous Storm Sea Region. After surviving towering waves and days of violent weather, they emerged into calmer waters and celebrated making it through.

• Li Shangyuan asked Yang Zhengshan to take him and his disciple Tang An aboard, trusting Yang Zhengshan to cross the Storm Sea Region safely.
• Yang Zhengshan's group departed Linfeng Island and entered the Storm Sea Region, where worsening winds and waves battered their ship.
• Xuan Zhen used his Wind Attribute Dao Intent to lift the ship while Yang Zhengshan split a towering wave with his spear, allowing them to pass over it.
• The group endured severe storms for days before the waves diminished and clear skies appeared.
• After the ship reached calmer waters, Li Shangyuan celebrated their survival, and Yang Zhengshan tripled the sailors' and guards' cultivation salaries.

Yang Zhengshan and his companions reached the Great Zhao Dynasty, crossed a remote mountain range, and learned that the dynasty had fractured into territories ruled by martial sects. They settled in hiding while weighing whether to investigate the nearby Hanyue Sect or find a safer place first.

• Yang Zhengshan spotted the Great Zhao coastline, landed with his companions, and stored their ship in the Spirit Source Land before they trekked inland.
• Yang Zhengshan scouted several impoverished villages and then recognized a prosperous village as a Martial Dao clan, so he avoided revealing the group.
• Yang Zhengshan sent ten guards to gather information, and they returned with news that the region belonged to Guan County in Lushan Prefecture, ruled by the Hanyue Sect rather than the Great Zhao court.
• Yang Zhengshan learned that martial sects had divided Great Zhao among themselves and asked his companions how they should proceed.
• Xuan Zhen urged them to investigate the Hanyue Sect's Martial God Realm inheritance, while Li Shangyuan advised them to settle safely before acting.

Yang Zhengshan and his group traveled east through desolate Lushan Prefecture, learning that the Hanshan Sect oppressed the people and that the Lingxiu Sea held the Martial God inheritances they sought. As they camped in an abandoned village, a man fleeing more than a hundred mounted pursuers tried to draw them into the fight by claiming they were his allies.

• Yang Zhengshan advised Xuan Zhen to gather information in Lushan Prefecture City before seeking a Martial God Realm inheritance, since such inheritances and Rune Dao knowledge were difficult to obtain.
• Yang Zhengshan's group disguised themselves as a merchant caravan and traveled toward Lushan Prefecture City, passing abandoned villages and learning that the Hanshan Sect and its subordinate forces preyed on the common people.
• Yang Zhengshan told Xuan Zhen that the Lingxiu Sea was their best destination for finding a Martial God inheritance and that they first needed to adapt to a world ruled by strength.
• Yang Zhengshan sensed more than a hundred mounted martial artists approaching while his group camped in an abandoned village.
• A man carrying a child rode toward Yang Zhengshan's group and called out to a supposed Brother Li, claiming he had lured the pursuers there; Yang Zhengshan ordered his men to capture him.

Yang Zhengshan’s group captured Tian Hu and a young heir while slaughtering the Hanshan Sect pursuers, then learned that the Great Zhao Dynasty had fallen and uncovered new information about Martial God cultivation. Yang Zhengshan spared Tian Hu and the heir, leaving them under his protection as he pursued knowledge of the Martial God Realm inheritance.

• Li Chang captured Tian Hu and the child, while Yang Zhengshan ordered the guards to kill the pursuing Hanshan Sect martial artists and Wang Lei tortured Ning Tongyuan for information.
• Ning Tongyuan revealed that the Lingxiu Sea’s Three Sects and Twelve Families possessed Martial God inheritances, and Tian Hu explained that Martial God cultivation involved refining the body and true qi rather than requiring Dao Intent at the Innate stage.
• Tian Hu identified himself as a guard of Prince Ji and revealed that the Great Zhao capital had fallen to Lu Fusheng and the Lu Clan, while Prince Ji’s estate had been attacked by the Hanshan Sect.
• Tian Hu said the imperial inheritance might have involved drawing Earthly Baleful Qi and Heavenly Stellar Qi into the body, but he knew no further details.
• Yang Zhengshan had Wang Lei kill Ning Tongyuan, then spared Tian Hu and the unconscious heir and told everyone to return to their meal.

Yang Zhengshan agreed to shelter Prince Ji’s young heir after Tian Hu offered him a Storage Bag filled with rare cultivation resources. Examining its contents revealed spirit pills, spirit stones, and methods unavailable in the lands west of the Storm Sea Region, leaving Yang Zhengshan with new clues about cultivation and Great Zhao’s fire-based martial heritage.

• Tian Hu fed the frightened child rice soup and asked Yang Zhengshan to shelter him, offering all his wealth in exchange.
• Tian Hu gave Yang Zhengshan a Storage Bag, and Yang Zhengshan used inner sight to discover its spirit fruits, herbs, pills, cultivation methods, and Spirit Stones.
• Tian Hu explained that spirit pills required the Runic Secret Technique and that spirit stones were scarce in Great Zhao and controlled by powerful sects elsewhere.
• Yang Zhengshan accepted the resources and promised to raise the child while keeping Tian Hu by his side.
• Yang Zhengshan studied the cultivation methods, learned they relied heavily on spirit pills, and recognized that Great Zhao’s Martial God Realm method was likely fire-attribute.

Yang Zhengshan and his companions traveled to Shanggu Prefecture, where he began planning how to settle in the Lingxiu Sea and obtain a Martial God Realm cultivation method. After learning that the Tianque Lu Clan likely held the prefecture with Huanyue Sect backing, he saw the rivalries among the region’s powers as an opportunity to advance.

• Yang Zhengshan discussed cultivation methods with Xuan Zhen, who decided to seek a place at Xuanqing Sect, while Li Shangyuan set out to temper himself with his disciples.
• Yang Zhengshan’s group traveled northeast for nearly three months and reached prosperous Shanggu Prefecture, where they parted from Xuan Zhen and Li Shangyuan.
• Yang Zhengshan surveyed the crowded city and resolved to settle in the Lingxiu Sea, gather resources, and wait for a chance to obtain a Martial God Realm technique.
• Li Chang brought Yang Zhengshan a map of the territories held by the Three Sects and Twelve Families.
• Yang Zhengshan reasoned that Huanyue Sect likely backed the Tianque Lu Clan’s hold on Shanggu Prefecture, leaving the Sun Family unwilling to challenge it.

Yang Zhengshan explored Shanggu Commandery’s martial cultivators’ market, learned about the local cultivation stages and trade, and recognized the resources his Spirit Source Land could provide. He began buying spirit-plant seeds and examining cultivation arts, leaving the chapter in the Myriad Arts Pavilion as he browsed Earthly Baleful methods.

• Yang Zhengshan sent Lü Hua to investigate the distribution of powers in northeastern Shanggu Commandery and decided to visit the martial cultivators’ market.
• Yang Zhengshan learned that the Innate Realm had Qi Sea, Earthly Baleful, and Heavenly Stellar stages, and considered how his Self-Only Spear Intent differed from local spirituality.
• Yang Zhengshan exchanged a Spirit Stone for Spirit Crystal Coins and identified spirit fruits, liquor, and tea as potential sources of income.
• Yang Zhengshan reasoned that the Lingxiu Sea might contain diluted Spirit Spring Water and compared it with his own Spirit Source Land.
• Yang Zhengshan bought spirit-fruit samples, Spirit Rice Paddy seeds, and other Spirit Plant seeds, then learned planting advice from Zhang Congye.
• Yang Zhengshan entered the Myriad Arts Pavilion and browsed several Earthly Balefal qi-guiding methods.

Yang Zhengshan bought the Azure Wood Longevity Art and two inexpensive spells while exploring the Lingxiu market, learning more about the region’s cultivation methods and spirit weapons. As he left, Sun Qingrui challenged Lu Fusheng, whose appearance and bearing reminded Yang Zhengshan of himself.

• Yang Zhengshan bought the Earthly Fiend Stage Azure Wood Longevity Art from Liu Yue for eighteen Spirit Stones and confirmed that it resembled the Yang Family’s Yi Wood Everlasting Technique.
• Yang Zhengshan inspected dubious curios at the stalls, rejected a supposed ancient relic, and bought copies of the Rain-Calling Technique and Growth Technique.
• Yang Zhengshan and Li Chang left the market after he had spent nearly all his Spirit Stones.
• Sun Qingrui rode a Cloud Tiger Colt above the market and challenged Lu Fusheng, prompting onlookers to identify him as the Sun Family head and an Innate Realm Tiangang Stage expert.
• Lu Fusheng arrived in dark-blue armor with a spear, and Yang Zhengshan was startled by how closely Lu’s appearance and aura resembled his own.

Yang Zhengshan witnessed the overwhelming power of Heavenly Stellar Realm fighters in Shanggu Prefecture and renewed his passion for martial cultivation. He and Yu Qingyi chose the Azure Wood Longevity Art, quickly transformed their true qi, and began advancing toward the Earthly Fiend Stage.

• Yang Zhengshan and Li Chang watched Sun Qingrui and Lu Fusheng clash, and the force of their battle drove nearby martial artists into hiding.
• After the fight, Yang Zhengshan encouraged Li Chang and realized that seeing a higher realm had restored his enthusiasm for the Martial Dao.
• Yang Zhengshan returned to the Drunken Immortal Restaurant, visited Yu Qingyi in the Spirit Source Land, and decided that they would cultivate the Azure Wood Longevity Art.
• Yang Zhengshan and Yu Qingyi studied the qi-guiding method and concluded that its wood attribute suited the Yang Family and the Spirit Source Land.
• The pair cultivated for just over two hours and transformed their Yi Wood True Qi into Azure Wood True Qi.
• Yang Zhengshan judged that they could soon reach the peak of the Earthly Fiend Stage by accumulating true essence.

Yang Zhengshan searched for a foothold in northeastern Shanggu Prefecture and chose the declining Lingxi Mountain Yang Family. He claimed kinship with Yang Xiangheng and Yang Zhenghe, then demanded Lingxi Mountain as his new home, leaving the family to decide whether to accept his protection or be displaced.

• Yang Zhengshan reviewed Lü Hua’s reports and selected the impoverished Lingxi Mountain Yang Family as a suitable target.
• Yang Zhengshan and his party traveled from Shanggu Prefecture City to Lingxi Mountain and reached the Yang Family’s ancestral village.
• Yang Zhengshan confronted a wary clansman and asked to meet family head Yang Xiangheng.
• Yang Zhengshan claimed to be Yang Xiangheng’s great-uncle, and Yang Xiangheng summoned Yang Zhenghe to verify the claim.
• Yang Zhengshan admitted his origins were not important, declared himself Yang Zhenghai’s blood brother, and demanded that the family either accept him or surrender Lingxi Mountain.

Yang Zhengshan secured control of the impoverished Lingxi Yang Family after Yang Zhenghe and Yang Xiangheng accepted him as their great-uncle and leader. He learned how the family had fallen and began assessing its remaining resources, including its cultivation arts, while identifying the Nanqing Xiang Family as the force behind its decline.

• Yang Zhenghe told Yang Xiangheng to pay respects to Yang Zhengshan, and both accepted Yang Zhengshan's command over Lingxi Mountain.
• Yang Xiangheng gave Yang Zhengshan his main courtyard and served him breakfast, then reported that the family had fewer than thirty jin of Spirit Rice and 121 Spirit Crystals left.
• Yang Xiangheng explained that the family had lost most of its spirit fields and its shop in Nanxia Market, leaving only a small barren field as a source of income.
• Yang Xiangheng told Yang Zhengshan that the Nanqing Xiang Family had persecuted the Lingxi Yang Family and that its old ancestor was an Earthly Fiend Stage martial artist.
• Yang Zhengshan paid respects to Yang Feng, inspected the empty Storage Room, and examined the cultivation arts guarded by Yang Zhenghe in the Library Pavilion.

Yang Zhengshan took control of the Lingxi Yang Family and began planning which cultivation methods, pills, and equipment to obtain for the Spirit Source Land. The Xiang Family learned that Yang Zhengshan’s group had settled on Lingxi Mountain and hesitated to proceed with its secret plan to destroy the Yang family.

• Yang Zhengshan learned that the Lingxi Yang Family lacked Heavenly Dipper Stage methods and examined its incomplete alchemy runic scroll before taking its cultivation methods to study.
• Yang Zhengshan introduced himself as the new family head, ordered Wang Lei to train the family’s younger members, and demanded that everyone obey his rules.
• Yang Zhengshan compared Lingxiu Sea cultivation methods with Great An’s methods and planned to acquire Earthly Fiend Stage methods, Spirit Pills, weapons, and Spirit Stones for the Spirit Source Land.
• Xiang Feihong told Xiang Feiying that Yang Zhengshan’s group had settled on Lingxi Mountain and that the Xiang Family could not investigate their origins.
• Xiang Feiying recognized that the Xiang Family’s secret plan to eliminate the Lingxi Yang Family was now complicated by Yang Zhengshan’s arrival.

The Nanqing Xiang Family prioritized helping Xiang Lin break through at Xuanqing Sect while sending someone to scout Lingxi Mountain. A mysterious shadow-based martial artist tested the Lingxi Yang Family, and Yang Zhengshan later assembled Zhou Tianci, An Yuxing, and Liang Shengze to begin seeking more cultivation methods.

• Xiang Feiying sent Feiye to scout Lingxi Mountain and ordered Xiang Feihong to take pills to Xuanqing Sect to help Xiang Lin break through.
• Li Chang detected a silent intruder in the courtyard, and he and Wang Lei fought the ghostly figure without landing a blow before it escaped.
• Yang Zhengshan concluded that the intruder was a Qi Sea Stage martial artist using a shadow-related cultivation method, and he suspected the Nanqing Xiang Family had sent the scout.
• Yang Zhengshan told Lü Hua and the others to remain cautious but not let the intruder constrain them, then decided to handle the Nanqing Xiang Family slowly.
• The next morning, Yang Zhengshan met Chen Zhongshu in the forest north of Lingxi Mountain and summoned Zhou Tianci, An Yuxing, and Liang Shengze to help obtain more cultivation methods.

Yang Zhengshan sent Zhou Tianci, An Yuxing, and Liang Shengze to buy cultivation methods and Storage Bags, then advanced to condense his first wisp of Azure Wood True Essence. He began practicing a flying spell and went to Nanxia County, where he arranged to have a wood-spirit long spear made.

• Yang Zhengshan sent Zhou Tianci, An Yuxing, and Liang Shengze to sell Spirit Fruits and purchase Earthly Fiend Stage cultivation methods and Storage Bags; they returned with six methods, three Storage Bags, and over a hundred Spirit Stones.
• Yang Zhengshan observed the poor villages around Lingxi Mountain and concluded that the Nanqing Xiang Family treated the commoners there as Servants.
• After more than a month of cultivation, Yang Zhengshan transformed his True Qi into Azure Wood True Qi and condensed his first wisp of Azure Wood True Essence.
• Yang Zhengshan studied the Crimson Flame Rainbow Transformation Art and practiced flying, finding that it offered a sudden burst of speed but little agility.
• Yang Zhengshan traveled with Li Chang to Nanxia County and asked the elder at Lingyan Casting Workshop to custom-make a wood-spirit long spear from Jade Wood Bronze.

Yang Zhengshan commissioned a wood-attribute Spirit Weapon, bought several cultivation methods and supplies, and returned to Lingxi Mountain to learn of the Lu Family’s new rule over Shanggu Prefecture. The proclamation preserved the old tribute rates but barred Martial Dao families from annexing Spirit Fields for five years, leaving Yang Zhengshan to consider what the restriction meant for his family.

• Yang Zhengshan asked Qiu Jin to forge a wood-attribute Long Spear in his weapon’s style and paid a ten-Spirit-Stone deposit.
• Yang Zhengshan bought the Jiamu Cloud-Piercing Spear, Leaf Fall Root-Seeking Method, Azure Wood Spirit Pupil, and Wood Transformation Body-Nurturing Method, along with Wood Spirit Pills and several kinds of spirit fruits.
• Yang Zhengshan spent most of his Spirit Stones and noted that he now had nine kinds of attribute spirit fruits.
• Yang Zhengshan and Li Chang returned to Lingxi Mountain through heavy snowfall, where Yang Xiangheng told Yang Zhengshan that yamen runners had delivered a notice.
• Yang Zhengshan read that the Lu Family ruled Shanggu Prefecture, kept tribute rates unchanged, and prohibited Martial Dao families from annexing Spirit Fields for five years.

Yang Zhengshan learned that the Lu Family’s ban on annexing Spirit Fields would give the Lingxi Yang Family time to recover, though the Nanqing Xiang Family could still attack covertly. Back at Spiritual Spring Mountain Plateau, he and Yu Qingyi studied their new techniques and found that the Wood Transformation Body-Nurturing Method suited them and the Yang Family especially well.

• Yang Zhengshan concluded that the Lu Family’s ban prevented families from seizing one another’s Spirit Fields, and warned Yang Xiangheng to stay alert for secret attacks by the Nanqing Xiang Family.
• Yang Zhengshan returned to Spiritual Spring Mountain Plateau and surveyed the expanding Spirit Source Land, where spirit fruits, herbs, and tea were being cultivated across new planting areas.
• Yang Zhengshan and Yu Qingyi studied the Jiamu Cloud-Piercing Spear, and Yu Qingyi asked him to bring back a sword technique next time.
• Yang Zhengshan and Yu Qingyi examined the Falling Leaf Root-Seeking Method and the Wood Transformation Body-Nurturing Method, discovering that the latter could greatly improve healing and might eventually restore the dead.
• Yang Zhengshan realized that his planned grove of Wood Spirit Fruit trees would let him and Yu Qingyi cultivate the body-nurturing method’s most demanding stages, and that other members of the Yang Family could also learn it if they practiced wood-spirit methods.

Yang Zhengshan and Yu Qingyi studied Lingxiu Sea techniques while Yang Zhengshan planned cultivation for his descendants and sought craft inheritances for the Yang Family. After a peaceful New Year, the Yu Clan attacked the Qingyu Lin Family, leaving the neighboring clans facing renewed danger.

• Yang Zhengshan and Yu Qingyi found Azure Wood Spirit Pupil too difficult to cultivate, so they focused on movement, spear, and body-nurturing methods.
• During New Year greetings, Yang Zhengshan arranged for Yang Qinting to learn Lingxiu Sea cultivation methods and encouraged Yang Chengan to pursue weapon forging.
• Yang Zhengshan returned to the Lingxi Yang Family, whose members had gained confidence after Wang Lei's training and the Lu Family's warning against taking spirit fields.
• On the twelfth night of the first lunar month, Yu Xiaoning led more than a hundred attackers in a massacre of the Qingyu Lin Family on Qingyu Mountain.
• Yu Xiaoning killed the Lin family head and ordered his men to keep the spirit fields at the mountain's foot from burning.

The Longxi Yu Family exterminated the Qingyu Lin Family and began conquering northern Shanggu Prefecture, while Yang Zhengshan watched the shifting alliances and arranged to sell spirit fruits for cultivation resources. Lu Jianghua planned to use the Yu Family’s invasion as an excuse to strike back into its territory, leaving the conflict poised to widen.

• Xiang Tengjiao told Xiang Feiying that the Yu Family had attacked the Qingyu Lin Family to curry favor with the Sun Family, and advised waiting to see how the Lu Family responded.
• Yang Zhengshan learned of the Lin Family’s destruction, ordered Lü Hua to monitor the Yu Family, and sent Zhou Tianci, An Yuxing, and Liang Shengze to sell spirit fruits and acquire cultivation methods.
• The Yu Family continued its advance, destroying four more Martial Dao families and alarming northern Shanggu Prefecture.
• Lu Jianghua learned that General Lan Peng and two thousand Crimson Flame Army troops were coming, and decided to use the campaign to invade the Sun Family’s territory and destroy the Yu Family while taking personal responsibility for the move.
• Zhou Tianci, An Yuxing, and Liang Shengze returned with more than twenty cultivation manuals, over three hundred spirit stones, and seven unfamiliar spirit fruits, which Yang Zhengshan planned to add to the Library of Merit.

Yang Zhengshan investigated two missing children and found a giant, ice-breathing Strange Beast python on East Mountain. He fought it with his Jiamu Dust-Returning Spear to practice his techniques, while the children’s whereabouts remained unknown.

• Yang Xiangheng told Yang Zhengshan that two children were missing and that the family had found huge python tracks on East Mountain.
• Yang Zhengshan summoned Tianyun, Yang Wanqi’s Flying Slave Eagle, and sent it to locate the snake while the family members gathered.
• Tianyun found the giant python, and Yang Zhengshan reached it before the others and faced its freezing breath and attacks.
• Yang Zhengshan drew the Jiamu Dust-Returning Spear and exchanged blows with the python, discovering that its scales resisted his spear strikes.
• Yang Zhengshan continued fighting the python as practice, while the missing children’s fate remained unresolved.