Chapter Summaries

After Zhou Guangxiang and Liu Xuanxuan’s son Zhou Tongxuan was born with a Mid-grade wind spiritual root, Zhou Yang returned to Rhino Horn Continent and secluded himself for fifteen years. He emerged at Violet Palace Stage 7, then inspected Spirit Rhinoceros Peak as preparations for the continent’s connection and the Zhou Lineage’s reforms awaited him.

• Zhou Yang used his Li Fire Golden Eyes to discover that Zhou Tongxuan had a Mid-grade wind spiritual root, relieving Zhou Guangxiang and Liu Xuanxuan.
• Zhou Yang returned to Rhino Horn Continent, where the Zhou Lineage continued preparing artificial oases for the migration of mortals.
• Zhou Yang secluded himself for fifteen years and broke through to Violet Palace Stage 7, but realized that reaching the Ninth Layer would take decades without more spirit pills.
• Zhou Yang learned that Xiao Ying had entered seclusion to advance to Foundation Establishment Stage 4 and watched Lu Xuewei cultivate at the cold spring.
• Zhou Yang left his cave abode and saw that Zhou cultivators had built structures and planted herbs and spirit trees across Spirit Rhinoceros Peak.

After emerging from seclusion, Zhou Yang learned about the Zhou lineage’s growth and rewarded Zhou Guangxiang by promising to seek Violet Heart Jade Marrow for her. He then heard Lu Xuewei’s request to help her birth family find a place to settle, agreed, and warned her to make it their last request.

• Zhou Guangxiang told Zhou Yang about the oasis corridor, the migration to Rhino Horn Continent, and other changes during his seclusion.
• Zhou Yang offered Zhou Guangxiang a choice between help obtaining Violet Heart Jade Marrow and support for her future child, and she chose the jade marrow.
• Zhou Yang inspected the spirit mountains and returned to Spirit Rhinoceros Peak, where Lu Xuewei reported her cultivation progress and received his advice about spiritual pills.
• Lu Xuewei asked Zhou Yang for permission to search for an oasis for the overcrowded Lu Family, and Zhou Yang agreed while warning her to make this her last favor to them.

Zhou Yang advanced to a Tier 4 High-grade Artifact Forger and created a defensive shield and a fox-pelt robe with the Three-tailed Demonic Fox’s clone-and-escape ability. After discovering that the robe could use the ability only three times, he set out for Red Tiger Mountain Oasis to preside over the upcoming Family Assembly.

• Zhou Yang ordered Zhou Guangxiang to summon clan members to Red Tiger Mountain Oasis for a Family Assembly three months later.
• Zhou Yang forged a Tier 4 high-grade defensive shield from the shell of a Gen Mountain Turtle, advancing his Artifact Forging Art.
• Zhou Yang refined a fox-pelt robe that inherited the Three-tailed Demonic Fox’s clone-and-escape ability, then used the Soul Washing Art to turn its beast soul into an Artifact Soul.
• Zhou Yang discovered that the robe could use its clone-and-escape ability only three times before the robe and its Artifact Soul were destroyed.
• Zhou Yang summoned Zhou Guangxiang to guard Spirit Rhinoceros Peak, then flew toward Red Tiger Mountain Oasis along the oasis passageway to inspect it.

Zhou Yang arrived at Red Tiger Mountain for the Zhou Family Assembly and explained why he planned to establish main and collateral branches: he believed the change could prevent future civil war as the family grew. The assembly began with a report on the Zhou Family’s population, cultivators, and affiliated families, while the details of the new system remained undecided.

• Zhou Yang passed the artificial oases and saw cultivators resupplying and mortals migrating toward Rhino Horn Continent.
• Zhou Yang arrived at Red Tiger Mountain, where Zhou Guangxiang, Liu Xuanxuan, and the Zhou Family elders welcomed him.
• Zhou Yang visited the ancestral hall and graveyard, then asked Zhou Guangxiang about the Spirit-Suppressing Stone mine and his progress with the Bloodline Divine Restriction.
• Zhou Yang told Zhou Guangxiang that he intended to divide the Zhou Family into main and collateral branches to reduce the risk of future division and civil war.
• The Zhou Family Assembly convened with 821 native Zhou Family cultivators, and Zhou Guangxiang reported the family’s populations, cultivation ranks, and affiliated families.

The Zhou Lineage reviewed its growing strength and detailed finances, prompting Zhou Yang to recommend expanding spirit-beast breeding. Zhou Guangxiang ordered a plan for the expansion and asked Zhou Yang to announce the Lineage’s new administrative reforms.

• The Zhou Lineage’s Transmission of Skills Elder reported that the Lineage commanded more than two thousand cultivators, including nearly twenty Foundation Establishment Cultivators, and Zhou Yang felt proud of its growth.
• The Finance Elder detailed the Lineage’s many assets and industries, reporting that annual net income was about 70,000 low-grade spirit stones while issued Contribution Points exceeded recovered points.
• Zhou Yang proposed turning spare spirit mountains or entire oases into large-scale beast gardens to increase sustainable income.
• Zhou Guangxiang ordered Tongrui and others to draft regulations for expanding spirit-beast breeding as a priority for the coming year.
• Zhou Guangxiang asked Zhou Yang to announce the Lineage’s new internal administrative reform plan.

Zhou Yang announced a reform dividing the Zhou Family into a main branch and collateral branches, with new rules governing territory, authority, duties, and assets. He explained why he believed the division would strengthen the Lineage and clarified how existing residents and treasures would be handled.

• Zhou Guangxiang formally introduced Zhou Yang, who announced plans to divide the Zhou Family into a main branch and collateral branches.
• Zhou Yang outlined the branches’ rights to territory, governance, income, and inheritance, along with rules for advancement, service, and obligations to the Lineage.
• Zhou Guangqing questioned why the Zhou Family should divide while prosperous, and Zhou Yang argued that division would help the family grow stronger while preserving every member’s Zhou Family identity.
• A Zhou Family cultivator asked about existing spirit mountains, residents, and treasuries, and Zhou Yang explained transition rules for property, residence, and cave dwellings.
• Zhou Yang stated that treasures of Tier 4 and above would enter the Lineage inheritance treasury, while lower-tier treasures would remain in ordinary treasuries under Finance Hall management.

Zhou Yang finalized rules for dividing the Zhou family into main lines, branch lines, and ordinary cultivators, defining their privileges, responsibilities, and paths to advancement. Several Foundation Establishment Cultivators chose to establish branch lines, and Zhou Yang assigned them their foundations.

• Zhou Yang heard the cultivators’ concerns and settled the rules for allocating family resources, privileges, and responsibilities after the division.
• The rules gave main lines and branch lines priority in family positions and Foundation Establishment Pills, while allowing ordinary cultivators to gain privileged status through exceptional descendants or Foundation Establishment.
• Zhou Yang set conditions for retaining branch-line status and explained that the division would help govern the family’s territory and prepare for leaving the Boundless Sea of Sand.
• Zhou Yang offered current Foundation Establishment Cultivators free permission to establish branch lines, and Zhou Yuanyao requested the Jade Spring Lake Oasis.
• Zhou Yang entrusted the Jade Spring Lake Oasis to Zhou Yuanyao, assigned Haoyang Mountain to Zhou Guangqing, and established three new Tier 3 Low-grade oasis foundations for Zhou Tongyao, Zhou Tonghua, and Zhou Tongmin.
• Zhou Fuyun declined to establish a branch line, while the other Foundation Establishment Cultivators accepted the offer.

Zhou Yang finalized the Zhou Lineage’s branch separation and announced a Treasure Snatching Competition offering Foundation Establishment Pills and artifacts, drawing excitement from young cultivators and interest from outsiders. He later inspected the Condensing Yuan Fruit tree and learned that its flowers had fully bloomed the previous night.

• Zhou Yang established secondary branches to reduce conflicts among clansmen and encourage each household to support its cultivators.
• Zhou Yang announced a Treasure Snatching Competition for the lineage’s four-hundredth anniversary, with separate divisions for Zhou Lineage cultivators and outside participants.
• Young Zhou Lineage cultivators cheered at the chance to win Foundation Establishment Pills, while those over the age limit lamented missing the opportunity.
• News of the competition spread across the Boundless Sea of Sand, attracting cultivators eager to compete for its rewards.
• Zhou Yang visited the Condensing Yuan Fruit tree and learned from a guard that its flowers had fully bloomed the previous night.

Zhou Yang prepared to test the far end of the long-distance teleportation array with a protected demon soul before risking a person’s life. The demon soul arrived in a dark underground cave and survived long enough to claim a deathly-energy-rich lakebed as its new dwelling.

• Zhou Yang brought Zhou Guangxiang back to Red Tiger Mountain to tend the newly flowering Condensing Yuan Fruit Tree.
• Zhou Yang asked Xu Song to send a demon soul through the teleportation array to test the other side, and Xu Song agreed.
• Zhou Yang gave Xu Song a Teleportation Talisman to protect the fourth-rank wolf demon soul from the spatial forces of teleportation.
• Xu Song activated the array, and the wolf demon soul vanished as Zhou Yang watched and listened to Xu Song explain how teleportation crossed folded space.
• The wolf demon soul appeared in a dark underground cave, found a deathly-energy-rich lake, and tore apart a humanoid rotting corpse to claim the area.

After returning to Rhino Horn Continent, Zhou Yang inspected the Zhou Lineage’s spirit-beast and fish-breeding operations, then spent three years studying the Great Evolution Sword Art. Just as he prepared to seek materials for his sword formation, his disciple Lu Xuewei called for help after discovering the remains of an Earth Dragon Earthworm that died during a failed ascension.

• Zhou Yang left the underground ruins and inspected the Zhou Lineage’s spirit-beast ranches and Wolf-Mouth Fish lake on Rhino Horn Continent.
• Zhou Yang returned to Spirit Rhinoceros Peak and focused on improving his combat strength, especially by cultivating the Great Evolution Sword Art.
• After three years, Zhou Yang neared mastery of the Eight Desolations and Six Directions Demon-Slaying Sword Formation, which required four additional Great Evolution Divine Light Swords.
• Zhou Yang received a plea for help from Lu Xuewei and hurried to find her in the sea of sand.
• Lu Xuewei told Zhou Yang that she had witnessed an Earth Dragon Earthworm die during a failed attempt to ascend to Tier 5, then fled after demon beasts attacked her while she tried to retrieve its remains.

Zhou Yang and Lu Xuewei traced the failed Tier 5 tribulation of an Earth Dragon Earthworm to its underground lair and discovered a spirit stone mine. They began exploring the mine, leaving its size and the fate of the escaped demonic beasts unresolved.

• Zhou Yang arrived at the Earth Dragon Earthworm’s tribulation site with Lu Xuewei and found a burrow that he believed led to the beast’s nest or the place where it found its opportunity.
• Zhou Yang ordered the Golden Winged Thunder Eagle to follow the escaped demonic beasts’ tracks and hunt them while he and Lu Xuewei descended underground.
• Zhou Yang and Lu Xuewei followed the passage as its spiritual energy grew denser, eventually discovering a spirit stone mine.
• Zhou Yang speculated that the Earth Dragon Earthworm had found and consumed a rare spirit object in the mine, then focused on assessing the mine’s reserves and depth.

Zhou Yang discovered that the mine near Rhino Horn Continent was a medium-sized spirit stone mine containing at least ten million low-grade spirit stones, and resolved to explore the undeveloped region for more resources. He rewarded Lu Xuewei by promising the Lu Family a small oasis with a third-tier spirit vein, then praised the Golden Winged Thunder Eagle for bringing back valuable prey.

• Zhou Yang spent three or four days surveying the mine and determined that it was a medium-sized spirit stone mine with at least ten million low-grade spirit stones and dozens of High-grade Spirit Stones.
• Zhou Yang decided that the Zhou Family should encourage its cultivators to explore the undeveloped sea of sand and claim rare resources before others found them.
• Zhou Yang asked Lu Xuewei to choose a reward, and she requested a nearby oasis for the Lu Family instead of personal treasures.
• Zhou Yang promised to arrange a small oasis near Rhino Horn Continent for the Lu Family and raise its spirit vein to the third tier.
• Zhou Yang returned to the surface with Lu Xuewei and sealed the tunnel to stop spiritual energy from leaking out of the mine.
• The Golden Winged Thunder Eagle returned with Earth Dragon Earthworm remains and a giant snake corpse, and Zhou Yang rewarded it with fifth-tier demon wolf meat.

Zhou Yang kept the newly discovered spirit stone mine secret, collected Leaving Fire Essence Gold, and reunited with Xiao Ying after her breakthrough. The Zhou Lineage then celebrated its four-hundredth anniversary with a grand ancestor-worship ceremony, praying for the clan’s continued prosperity.

• Zhou Yang ordered Lu Xuewei to keep the spirit stone mine secret and showed Zhou Guangxiang how to reach it.
• Zhou Yang mined Leaving Fire Essence Gold but postponed refining a sword because he lacked enough Taiyi Essence Gold.
• Xiao Ying emerged from six years of seclusion after reaching the fourth layer of the Violet Palace, and she and Zhou Yang inspected the blooming Condensing Yuan Fruit tree.
• Xiao Ying stayed at Red Tiger Mountain to tend the fruit tree and refine spirit pills, while Zhou Yang joined her and studied sword arts.
• The Zhou Lineage gathered more than twenty thousand cultivators at Red Tiger Mountain for its four-hundredth anniversary celebration and Treasure Snatching Competition.
• Zhou Yang offered sacrifices and prayed with the Zhou Lineage cultivators for their ancestors to bless the clan’s lasting prosperity.

At the Zhou Clan’s celebration, Chen Pingan publicly apologized to Zhou Yang for past conflicts, hoping to ease relations and seek the clan’s help. Zhang Yunpeng tried to provoke discord, but Zhou Yang’s response rebuked him and the gathering moved on to the Treasure Snatching Competition.

• After the heaven-sacrificing ritual, Zhou Yang welcomed the visiting cultivators while Zhou Guangxiang attended to the Purple Mansion Stage Cultivators.
• Chen Pingan publicly apologized to Zhou Yang and the Zhou Clan for the Chen Clan’s past actions, intending to restore relations and ask for help.
• Zhou Yang accepted the apology and said he held no grudge, but Zhang Yunpeng intervened with remarks that seemed designed to stir up old resentment.
• Zhou Yang praised Chen Pingan’s sacrifices in the Rhino Horn Continent campaign and reminded the guests of the Yellow Sand Sect’s role, turning their attention against Zhang Yunpeng.
• Nie Qiufeng changed the subject to the Treasure Snatching Competition, and Chen Pingan thanked Zhou Yang for welcoming the Chen Clan’s younger generation.
• Zhou Yang invited the visiting cultivators to the arena at the foot of the mountain to watch the competition.

Zhou Yang oversaw the Zhou Family’s Treasure Snatching Competition, where cultivators under sixty fought through successive rounds until twenty finalists remained. He wagered that Rogue Cultivator Li Hong would win and, seeing promising outsiders among the contestants, arranged for the Zhou Family to hold a husband-recruitment gathering after the competition.

• Zhou Tongming announced the competition rules, including age checks for the winners and severe punishment for anyone who lied about their age.
• Yang Fei defeated Zhang Meng in the opening duel, and the competition continued through several rounds until the top twenty were selected.
• Zhou Yang asked Chen Pingan, Nie Qiufeng, and Yan Nantian who they favored to win; they backed their own family juniors, while Zhou Yang chose Rogue Cultivator Li Hong.
• Chen Pingan, Yan Nantian, and Nie Qiufeng each agreed to wager a third-tier treasure on their chosen finalist against Zhou Yang’s pick.
• Zhou Yang considered recruiting capable young Rogue Cultivators as Zhou Family sons-in-law and instructed Zhou Guangxiang to arrange a husband-recruitment gathering.

The final round of the Treasure Snatching Competition began, and Li Hong defeated Nie HanSha despite the Nie heir’s talismans and lightning attack. Li Hong advanced as a formidable contender for first place, leaving the Violet Palace spectators uncertain whether their own juniors could beat him.

• The twenty contestants returned after resting, and Chen Yunsheng, Yan Shuanghua, and Li Hong easily advanced into the top ten.
• Li Hong drew Nie HanSha in the next round, and Nie HanSha engulfed half the arena in yellow sand before attacking with five Tier 2 High-grade Talismans.
• Li Hong dodged most of the attacks, countered with his silver curved blade, and survived a Tier 2 High-grade lightning talisman by relying on his exceptional physique.
• Li Hong used Earth Thorn Technique to launch Nie HanSha into the air, then nearly struck him down before Zhou Guangqing intervened with the arena formation and ended the match.
• Yan Nantian and Chen Pingan praised Li Hong’s cultivation and abilities, while Nie Qiufeng acknowledged that the unknown Rogue Cultivator could take first place.

After Li Hong won the Treasure Snatching Competition, the Zhou family offered him extra treasures and a chance to marry into the family. The Zhou family’s War Hall then impressed the watching patriarchs, while Zhou Yang reaffirmed his determination to build a cultivator army for the family’s future expansion.

• Li Hong defeated Yan Shuanghua and Chen Yunsheng to take first place, with Yan Shuanghua second and Chen Yunsheng third.
• Zhou Guangxiang awarded Li Hong four additional Third-tier treasures from Zhou Yang’s wager and privately offered another Foundation Establishment Pill if Li Hong married into the Zhou family and swore loyalty.
• Zhou Guangxiang began the Zhou family’s internal Treasure Snatching Competition, where War Hall cultivators displayed exceptional combat strength.
• Chen Pingan and Yan Nantian admired the War Hall’s effectiveness but judged its equipment and upkeep too costly to imitate.
• Zhou Yang reflected that the War Hall would prepare the Zhou family to contend with other powers beyond the Boundless Sea of Sand and resolved to expand it.

Zhou Yang agreed to have Xiao Ying refine Foundation Establishment Pills for the Chen family in exchange for a copy of Chen Yaohui’s alchemy notes, then began preparing to take Zhou family cultivators to the region of Great Bright Immortal Palace. The chapter ended with the Zhou Lineage securing its important treasures in a guarded inheritance treasury while Zhou Yang’s travel plans remained underway.

• Zhou Yang agreed to Xiao Ying refining five Foundation Establishment Pills for Chen Pingan in exchange for Chen Yaohui’s alchemy notes, and Chen Pingan returned to his family with the pills.
• Zhou Yang and Zhou Guangxiang began planning to bring forty-nine Zhou family cultivators through the long-distance teleportation array to the region of Great Bright Immortal Palace.
• Zhou Tongyue and Zhou Fuxing succeeded at Foundation Establishment, while Zhou Tongkui and Li Hong initially failed; Li Hong later married Zhou Fuxiang, received another pill, and achieved Foundation Establishment.
• Zhou Yang tentatively selected Xu Song, Xiao Ying, Zhou Guangxiang, Zhou Tongyue, Zhou Fuyun, and Li Hong to travel with him, while delaying the final selection of Qi Refining Cultivators.
• Zhou Yang and Zhou Guangxiang built an inheritance treasury inside Spirit Rhinoceros Peak and moved the Zhou Lineage’s fourth-tier spirit objects and important originals into it.

After Zhang Yunpeng died, Yang Wenxiong took over as Yellow Sand Sect Master and made peace with Zhou Yang, who then led Xiao Ying and more than forty Zhou Lineage cultivators to teleport toward the region of the Great Bright Immortal Palace. The group vanished from the underground ruins, leaving the Zhou Lineage’s future in the Boundless Sea of Sand to Zhou Guangxiang and the others.

• Yang Wenxiong recalled Zhang Yunpeng’s warning to befriend Zhou Yang and decided to repair relations with him after becoming sect master.
• Yang Wenxiong invited Zhou Yang to his succession ceremony, and Zhou Yang attended and agreed to continue honoring his protection contract with the Yellow Sand Sect.
• After preparing his people and strengthening his position in Rhino Horn Continent, Zhou Yang departed the Boundless Sea of Sand with Xiao Ying and more than forty Zhou Lineage cultivators.
• Xu Song activated the teleportation array and used the Great Teleportation Token to envelop the group in silver light.
• The teleportation ended, and Zhou Yang’s group disappeared from the underground ruins.

Zhou Yang and the Zhou cultivators arrived in a dangerous, yin-filled lake after a teleportation that killed seven Qi Refining Cultivators and left the rest badly injured. He agreed to let Xu Song explore and raise ghosts and corpse fiends under the condition that no living people were harmed, then returned to shelter the survivors while they awaited a safe route out.

• The teleportation’s spatial compression injured every Qi Refining Cultivator in the group, knocked them unconscious, and killed seven older cultivators, so Zhou Yang tasked Xiao Ying with treating them and ordered Zhou Guangxiang and the other Foundation Establishment Cultivators to guard her.
• Zhou Yang and Xu Song emerged into a lake thick with yin and Baleful Intent, where Xu Song sent demon souls to scout and learned that one had been destroyed by a formation.
• Xu Song told Zhou Yang that a demon soul teleported here years earlier had grown powerful and nearly broken free of his enslavement restriction.
• Xu Song offered to find a safe route using ghosts and Refined Corpses, and Zhou Yang agreed as long as he did not kill living people to make them.
• Zhou Yang returned to the cavern, set up a portable formation to protect the cultivators, and had them wait while Xu Song explored.
• Zhou Yang reflected on his growing reliance on Xu Song and hoped to reach the Golden Core Stage so he could rely less on ghostly methods.