Chapter Summaries

The Iron Clothes Department interrogated Wang Hang over his ties to the Immortal God Cult and the Sifang Inn case, while the fifth prince feared the scandal would damage his standing. Wang Hang offered to confess, but Li Zhong suspected a trick and ordered Wei Xing to torture him, leaving Yang Ling convinced the accusation was mistaken.

• Li Zhong questioned Wang Hang before Zhao Zheng, Zhao Yuan, Zhao Qi, and the Iron Clothes Department directors, while Wu Xiaoshuai testified that Wang Hang had discussed the Immortal God Cult with him.
• Wang Hang denied being a cult heretic and accused Yang Ling and Wu Xiaoshuai of framing him, but Li Zhong challenged his claim and offered him a chance to atone by confessing.
• Wang Hang pleaded with Zhao Yuan for help, then his godfather urged him to tell the truth; Wang Hang retaliated by claiming Yang Ling was a player from outside Zhao State.
• Li Zhong dismissed Wang Hang's claim and ordered Wei Xing to torture him with bamboo skewers beneath his fingernails.
• Wang Hang said he would talk, but Li Zhong treated his offer as a trick and Wei Xing began pushing in a skewer; Yang Ling believed Wang Hang had genuinely intended to confess.

Li Zhong interrogated Wang Hang, who exposed Immortal God Cult accomplices while denying that Luo Kai knew his secret. As Yang Ling considered Luo Kai’s hidden role aboard the fleet, a system announcement replaced the White Bone Cave instance with Fire Flood Dragon Island.

• Li Zhong questioned Eunuch You about Wang Hang, who had entered the palace through his service to Luo Kai at Star Gazing Academy.
• Li Zhong ordered Wang Hang awakened and interrogated; Wang Hang named Immortal God Cult accomplices and said he had contacted Wu Xiaoshuai to bomb the Sifang Inn.
• Wang Hang claimed Luo Kai had unknowingly helped him make connections, and Yang Ling sensed that he was telling the truth.
• Li Zhong concluded that Star Gazing Academy was not implicated, then ordered Ji Kongliu to arrest Wang Hang’s named accomplices in the Capital.
• Yang Ling returned to the Giant Ship and considered whether Luo Kai was hiding among the fleet, while players prepared to enter White Bone Cave.
• The Divine Realm Chat Channel announced that White Bone Cave was undergoing emergency repairs and that the Intermediate Fire Flood Dragon Island instance had temporarily gone live.

After Divine Domain replaced the White Bone Cave Instance with an intermediate Fire Flood Dragon Island Instance, Yang Ling and Zhao State’s players weighed the risks and possible rewards. The instance automatically matched five players from different regions, and Zhang Wei asked Yang Ling what that meant.

• Yang Ling speculated that Fire Flood Dragon Island might reveal clues about entering Water Qilin Cave, and considered using the month-long instance to scout the island.
• At the Blazing Gold Ore mine, Zhang Shendao relayed Yang Ling’s warnings about the island’s possible First-rate Sect, Fire Spirit Pearl, extreme heat, and high difficulty.
• Divine Domain announced that parties were forbidden, Spirit Pets were allowed, and five players from different regions would be matched in an instance with no difficulty setting.
• Players across Zhao State argued over whether the unfamiliar instance was an opportunity or a deadly trap.
• Zhang Wei, Lu Xiangdi, and others asked Yang Ling about entering the instance, and Zhang Wei questioned what players from different regions meant.

Yang Ling warned his companions that the Fire Flood Dragon Island instance would include players from five other regions, then prepared to enter with Little White. The instance opened and assigned Yang Ling and Zhang Wei three possible identities each, leaving their choices unresolved.

• Yang Ling explained that players from five other regions would be matched into the instance and advised everyone to prioritize survival.
• Zhang Wei introduced his background and became the Grand Elder of Lu Xiangdi, Sun Jiayi, and Wang Baozhu’s four gangs, advising them to stay loyal to Yang Ling.
• Yang Ling checked his supplies, equipped the Fire Crocodile Set, and chose to bring Little White into the instance.
• The Fire Flood Dragon Island instance opened, and Yang Ling received options to become a sect inner disciple, a mine steward, or an instructor.
• Zhang Wei arrived in the instance and received options to become a mine slave, a woodcutting menial, or an outer disciple’s sparring partner.

Yang Ling entered the Fire Flood Dragon Island Instance as the Red Fire Iron Ore Steward and assessed the mine, his equipment, and the danger of the new setting. After discovering that Zhang Daochu was the Outer Disciple Chief Instructor, Yang Ling went into a mine shaft to mine ore himself.

• Yang Ling chose the Red Fire Iron Ore Steward identity and arrived at a vast mine with Little White, where mining slaves extracted ore under harsh conditions.
• Yang Ling confirmed that his equipment bonuses worked and judged that his defenses made him reasonably safe unless he provoked a Fourth-Rank Grandmaster.
• Shi Jiu brought a thousand new mining slaves for Yang Ling to inspect, but Yang Ling found no players among them and ordered them sent to work.
• Yang Ling asked Shi Jiu about recent inner disciples and the Outer Disciple Chief Instructor, learning that Zhang Daochu held that position.
• Yang Ling ate Shi Jiu's chilled fruit, then entered a mine shaft with his hoe to chip at the ore while Shi Jiu stayed behind.

Yang Ling mined red fire iron in the mine instance to push toward level 100, then learned that the Star Gazing Academy wanted to buy the ore and Fire Spirit Pearls. The chapter ended with news that White Bone Cave and dozens of allied sects were approaching Fire Flood Dragon Island, raising the possibility that the two instances had linked up.

• Yang Ling dug for red fire iron deep in the mine and discovered it granted experience comparable to blazing gold.
• Yang Ling spent seven days mining roughly a hundred jin of red fire iron, reaching level 99, but his level did not increase over the following days.
• Shi Jiu informed Yang Ling that a sect elder had arrived with distinguished guests to inspect the mine.
• The Star Gazing Academy’s scholar agreed to buy at least five hundred jin of red fire iron and requested one or two Fire Spirit Pearls.
• A disciple warned that White Bone Cave and dozens of allied sects were approaching Fire Flood Dragon Island to slaughter everyone there.

Yang Ling learned that White Bone Cave, a higher-ranked first-rate sect, had come to Fire Flood Dragon Island and watched the Crimson-Refined Fire Flood Dragon Sect prepare a sparring match. After returning to the mine, he heard a violent blast and felt heat surge from a shaft, suggesting the Fire Spirit Pearl might be emerging.

• Shi Jiu told Yang Ling that White Bone Cave ranked among the Martial Alliance’s top three powers, and the sect assembled after a bell sounded.
• The Crimson-Refined Fire Flood Dragon Sect’s Sect Master assured the crowd that their forebear would protect the island, then called for Sixth Rank disciples to spar with White Bone Cave.
• Yang Ling rejected the side quest to participate, and Zhang Daochu and the other four players also declined before ten disciples volunteered.
• Shi Jiu explained that the Martial Alliance had over a hundred sects, that White Bone Cave ranked third while their sect ranked sixth, and that their Sect Master might not expect to win the sparring match.
• A blast shook the mine, and intense heat poured from a shaft as the mining slaves fled; Yang Ling suspected the Fire Spirit Pearl was emerging.

Yang Ling learned that the newly emerged Fire Spirit Pearl could badly harm high-ranked cultivators and suspected it was a radiation source. After the sect sent more than three hundred sixth-rank experts to retrieve it, Yang Ling followed a talkative martial artist into a mine shaft.

• The Crimson-Refined Fire Flood Dragon Sect evacuated the mine slaves as the heat rose, while its grandmasters discussed the Fire Spirit Pearl and kept their distance from the mine.
• Grandmaster Gu Ming told the stewards that the Fire Spirit Pearl mainly threatened fifth-rank and higher cultivators, then waited for sixth-rank experts to arrive.
• Gu Ming ordered the sixth-rank experts to find a route into the collapsed mine shaft and promised a Fire Spirit Pill to whoever retrieved the Fire Spirit Pearl safely.
• A Middle Sixth Rank expert told Yang Ling that newly emerged Fire Spirit Pearls could cause severe, lasting illness, and that the sect usually waited thirty days before sending sixth-rank experts near one.
• Yang Ling suspected the Fire Spirit Pearl was a radiation source and followed the Middle Sixth Rank expert into a mine shaft.

Director Xia and the Divine Guard Office confronted the Crimson-Refined Fire Flood Dragon Sect’s Fourth-Rank Grandmasters and declared the sect doomed, while Yang Ling learned about the dangers of Fire Spirit Pearls and fled the mine as his skin began to react. He returned to the surface to find Shi Jiu fleeing pursuers and asked what had happened on Fire Flood Dragon Island.

• Director Xia told Gu Ming and the other Fourth-Rank Grandmasters that their Old Ancestor was dead, their Second-Rank expert was unlikely to break through, and they could surrender or die.
• A Crimson-Refined Fire Flood Dragon Sect Grandmaster considered fighting, but the group agreed to go to the Sect Master Hall and discuss terms with the Divine Guard Office’s Department Master.
• Zhuang Xu explained that Fire Spirit Pearls were dangerous to consume directly and that the sect’s master refined them into Fire Spirit Pills.
• Yang Ling and the other Sixth-Rank Experts entered a hotter passage, where their skin reddened and ulcerated as they neared the Fire Spirit Pearl.
• Yang Ling refused to continue searching and ran out of the mine, while Zhuang Xu and the others continued deeper.
• Shi Jiu fled toward Yang Ling with several martial artists pursuing him, hid behind Yang Ling, and prompted him to ask what had happened above.

Yang Ling learned that the Crimson-Refined Fire Flood Dragon Sect was being annihilated after its First Rank Land Immortal died, and he fought off a group of attackers at the red fire iron ore mine. He stayed on Fire Flood Dragon Island to wait out the instance, while Elder Wang arrived at the mine with his skin rapidly rotting.

• A Divine Guard Office martial artist announced that the Crimson-Refined Fire Flood Dragon Sect had been struck from the Martial Alliance's rolls and offered mercy only to those of the fifth rank and above.
• Yang Ling killed the attacking sixth-rank and seventh-rank martial artists, then told Shi Jiu to escape while he stayed behind.
• Yang Ling filled the Green Dragon Ring with red fire iron and watched White Bone Cave experts kill the sect's airborne escapees with flying swords.
• Yang Ling hid in the Mine Shaft with Little White and waited for the instance to end as Elder Wang arrived at the mine with his skin rapidly rotting.

Yang Ling killed the Divine Guard Office leader and Zhang Daochu after they tried to turn the hidden martial artists against him. He then killed Elder Wang, while four other players watched in terror from the tunnels.

• Zhang Daochu identified Yang Ling as the killer of their people and urged the Divine Guard Office to force him out of hiding.
• Elder Wang revealed that the Crimson-Refined Fire Flood Dragon Sect had fallen and its fifth-rank members had joined the Divine Guard Office.
• The Divine Guard Office leader declared that martial artists below the fifth rank would be killed unless they brought him Yang Ling's head.
• Yang Ling launched Quenching Gold Armor Piercing Flying Daggers, killing the Divine Guard Office leader and more than a hundred subordinates, while also mortally wounding Zhang Daochu.
• Yang Ling learned that Zhang Daochu had been an undercover agent, then beheaded him with the Heaven Swallowing Golden Sword.
• Elder Wang tried to capture Yang Ling, but Yang Ling kicked him to death as the Fire Spirit Pearl suppressed his regenerative abilities; four hidden players watched in fear.

Yang Ling looted the defeated experts in the Mine Shaft and used their Spirit Nurturing Pills to advance two martial skills. When a Fourth-Rank Grandmaster from the Crimson-Refined Fire Flood Dragon Sect pursued him, one punch left Yang Ling at one health point, but his abilities restored him and he pretended to be dead.

• Yang Ling had Little White move the bodies into the Mine Shaft while the surviving Sixth Ranks fled, and he questioned Liu Yu about his region and plans.
• Yang Ling looted pills from the bodies and consumed Spirit Nurturing Pills to advance Candle Dragon Seven-Star Sword Technique and Dragon Catching Saber Technique to entering the hall and room.
• A Fourth-Rank Grandmaster from the Crimson-Refined Fire Flood Dragon Sect arrived, saying the Department Master of the Divine Guard Office wanted Yang Ling to come see him.
• The Grandmaster chased Yang Ling through the tunnels, ignored Little White, and struck Yang Ling with a punch that shattered his Fire Crocodile Set and left him at one health point.
• Yang Ling's health and injuries recovered, and he pretended to be dead as the Grandmaster examined him and spoke of preserving the Crimson-Refined Fire Flood Dragon Sect's legacy.

Yang Ling survived Ji Tianming’s attack and learned that the Divine Guard Office had betrayed the Crimson-Refined Fire Flood Dragon Sect while its Old Ancestor slept. Ji Tianming made Yang Ling his grandfather’s godgrandson and gave him a map leading to the Old Ancestor, leaving Yang Ling to survive until he could claim the sect’s legacy.

• Yang Ling pretended to be dead until Ji Tianming confronted him and revealed that he was the grandson of the sect’s First Rank Land Immortal, Ji Wusuan.
• Ji Tianming explained that the Old Ancestor produced the Fire Spirit Pearls and that its mysterious power weakened Grandmasters while it slept, giving the Divine Guard Office an opening to attack the sect.
• Ji Tianming revealed that the sect had been infiltrated by spies and that its Sect Master had pledged allegiance to the Great Dream Dynasty.
• Ji Tianming chose Yang Ling as his grandfather’s godgrandson and gave him a human-skin map to the Old Ancestor, instructing him to survive and report the sect’s betrayal.
• Yang Ling called Ji Tianming his sworn brother, then put on his Sixth-Rank Iron Clothes and inspected the map, which was identified as a main-quest item.

Yang Ling waited out the rising radiation in the mine while searching for red fire iron, then stumbled upon Zhuang Xu and a group of Sixth-Rank Experts fighting over the Fire Spirit Pearl. Little White swallowed the pearl, and red light surrounded it as Yang Ling wondered whether it was about to evolve.

• Yang Ling left the Mine Shaft’s radiation zone with Little White and continued mining red fire iron while killing Sixth-Rank men who came after him.
• Yang Ling found a radiation-scarred corpse with its heart missing, then kept mining as the radiation grew stronger and his level remained below 100.
• Yang Ling broke through a wall into a cavern where Sixth-Rank Experts had cornered Zhuang Xu and demanded the Fire Spirit Pearl.
• Zhuang Xu threw the Fire Spirit Pearl toward Yang Ling, but Little White swallowed it before Yang Ling could catch it.
• Little White collapsed as red veins spread beneath its shell, then glowed red, leading Yang Ling to wonder whether it was undergoing a bloodline mutation and evolving.

Yang Ling’s group learned that Cui Xian of the Divine Guard Office had come to kill the sect’s Sixth-Rank experts, confirming Yang Ling’s warning that the Crimson-Refined Fire Flood Dragon Sect had fallen. After Yang Ling freed Cui Xian’s ghost monkey from his control, the group captured him and demanded answers.

• Little White ate the Fire Spirit Pearl, and Yang Ling warned the Sixth-Rank experts that the sect had been taken over.
• Cui Xian arrived with his ghost monkey, which killed a Sixth-Rank expert, and confirmed that the sect no longer existed.
• When the ghost monkey attacked another Sixth-Rank expert, Yang Ling used Object Control to pull out the silver needles near its ears and stop it.
• Yang Ling exposed Cui Xian’s loss of control over the monkey, and the Sixth-Rank experts attacked him.
• Yang Ling struck Cui Xian with a flying dagger, and Zhuang Xu and the others beat him and demanded an explanation.

Yang Ling killed Cui Xian after learning that the Great Dream Dynasty had absorbed the Crimson-Refined Fire Flood Dragon Sect and that its lower-ranked survivors were likely to be slaughtered. He advised the Sixth Ranks to hide in the mines, then stayed beside Little White as Divine Guard Office forces surrounded him and demanded he meet their Department Master.

• Cui Xian confirmed the Crimson-Refined Fire Flood Dragon Sect had been absorbed after its First Rank Land Immortal died, and Yang Ling learned Cui Xian came from a prominent beast-taming family.
• Yang Ling questioned Cui Xian about his family branches and killed him when he could not answer.
• Yang Ling told the Sixth Ranks that only Fifth-Rank Minor Grandmasters were likely to be spared and advised the others to hide in the mining tunnels.
• Zhuang Xu and the other Sixth Ranks left the cavern, while Yang Ling stayed to watch Little White and worried about its evolution ending with the instance.
• Divine Guard Office experts surrounded Yang Ling, and their leader ordered him to come meet the Department Master.

Yang Ling fought off the Divine Guard Office after an Upper Fifth Rank tried to force him to leave, then waited for Little White’s bloodline mutation to finish. Little White emerged as a Level 100 Netherfire Mantis King, and the chapter left Yang Ling facing the next stage of the conflict with a vastly stronger Spirit Pet.

• Yang Ling refused to accompany the Divine Guard Office and endured a volley from over a hundred Sixth Rank Powerful Crossbows using Vajra Mingwang Body and Bronze Wall Iron Barrier.
• An Upper Fifth Rank attacked Yang Ling with his Official Saber, but Vajra Mingwang Body reflected the blow and killed him.
• The remaining Divine Guard Office elites attacked Yang Ling with Hand Crossbows, then tried to retreat before Yang Ling killed them with Quenching Gold Armor Piercing Flying Daggers.
• Yang Ling collected the crossbow bolts and looted the dead, swallowing hundreds of Spirit Nurturing Pills and raising his Candle Dragon Seven-Star Sword Technique proficiency.
• After about three hours, Little White completed its bloodline mutation and became a Level 100 Netherfire Mantis King with 600 Strength, 600 Agility, and the Netherfire Explosion skill.

Yang Ling completed the Fire Flood Dragon Island instance with a poor evaluation, but Little White evolved into a level 100 king-class spirit pet and unlocked Spirit Pet Space. Back in Xiangfeng Prefecture, Yang Ling discovered that his class had changed to Spirit Pet Venerable, while the instance had erased nearly everything in his Green Dragon Ring.

• Little White’s evolved strength startled Yang Ling, and it sensed more Fire Spirit Pearls before the instance timer expired.
• Yang Ling received a C evaluation and five Spirit Nurturing Pills, then speculated that the instance judged him on how many powerful enemies he had challenged.
• Little White appeared in Xiangfeng Prefecture as an Upper Fifth-Rank beast, drawing the submission of nearby insect beasts.
• The Divine Domain announced that Yang Ling had raised the first king-class spirit pet, Netherfire Mantis King, and unlocked Spirit Pet Space; players flooded him with messages while he checked that Lin Caiyi and the others had survived.
• Yang Ling found that his Red Fire Iron Ore, Peiyuan Pills, silver pieces, and crossbow bolts had vanished from the Green Dragon Ring, then noticed his class had become Spirit Pet Venerable and his skill had changed to Spirit Pet Space.

Yang Ling weighed the dangers surrounding Fire Flood Dragon Island, exchanged suspicious intelligence with Li Fengxian, and considered how to reach fifth rank before landing. As the fleet neared the island, a foreign fleet bearing purple-and-gold wolf flags appeared.

• Yang Ling speculated that the Martial Alliance and overseas sects might still be in contact with Zhao State’s upper ranks.
• Li Fengxian proposed an intelligence exchange, claiming the Rong Tribe planned to attack Li Zhong during the landing and had cooperated with a Martial Alliance force; Yang Ling doubted him.
• Yang Ling decided to delay using his chance to enter Tun Tian Dao Palace, keeping it as a possible emergency escape while he pursued a fifth-rank breakthrough.
• Several days later, scorching winds and unnaturally still seas accompanied the fleet’s approach to Fire Flood Dragon Island.
• An unfamiliar fleet carrying purple-and-gold wolf flags appeared near the twelve ships.

Yang Ling watched Zhao State and the Rong Tribe’s fleets arrive at Fire Flood Dragon Island and learned that powerful officials were overseeing the Sixth Rank Top Hundred Battle. The two sides reaffirmed the battle’s deadly rules and prepared to send their fighters ashore in small boats, while Xie Jinjia explained the Star Sea Fishing Alliance to Yang Ling.

• Yang Ling spotted Zhang Shuzhou, Ji Nian, and other Rong Tribe Players across the water, then sensed an expert watching him.
• Xie Jinjia arrived with Zhao State’s officials and experts, and Chen Quan congratulated him on becoming Left Vice Minister of War.
• Xie Jinjia and Chen Quan agreed that Sixth Ranks could fight to the death on Fire Flood Dragon Island but could not attack each other after leaving it.
• Both fleets began lowering small boats to carry their Sixth Ranks to the island, where Fire Spirit Pearls had appeared and the Star Sea Fishing Alliance might be present.
• Yang Ling asked about the Star Sea Fishing Alliance, and Xie Jinjia explained that it was an alliance of island-dwelling sea hunters familiar with Fire Flood Dragon Island.