Chapter Summaries

Cui Ling Shuang's mother asked Chen Changsheng to protect her daughter and employ her elder sister, brother-in-law, and younger brother. Chen Changsheng welcomed the request as a way to gain loyal insiders in the Cui Family, while Cui Tian Rui resisted his mother's plan to send him to help Chen.

• Cui Ling Shuang's mother rejected her daughter's marriage and asked Chen Changsheng to protect her and help Cui Yao, Huang Wen Shu, and Cui Tian Rui.
• Chen Changsheng agreed and explained to Shui Yue that mediocre, loyal allies would be easier to control and more useful in the Cui Family's tangled affairs.
• Chen Changsheng cited Lu Mingyu, Chen Feng, and Xiong Er to explain why clever subordinates could be harder to manage than dependable ones.
• Chen Changsheng praised Cui Ling Shuang's mother for her courage and credited her with keeping her branch neutral and safe.
• Cui Ling Shuang's mother told Cui Tian Rui to help his second sister's husband, but Cui Tian Rui said he wanted to seek his fortune instead.

Li Fengyi sent Cui Tian Rui to support his brother-in-law and explained why she had involved Cui Yao as well. In the Pill Domain, Guan Ping rejected the Tower Master's offer to become his true disciple, choosing to remain loyal to Chen Changsheng's side.

• Cui Tian Rui agreed to help his brother-in-law after Li Fengyi promised he could later make his own way in the world.
• Li Fengyi told Cui Xingxue she had involved both Tian Rui and Yao'er so neither child would be favored.
• Guan Ping delivered pills to Xiong Da, declined his celebration invitation, and returned to the courtyard.
• The Tower Master offered to take Guan Ping as his true disciple, but she immediately refused because she disliked him and Pill Tower.
• Guan Ping criticized the Tower Master's compromise during the Trial Assembly and praised Chen Changsheng for never treating his companions as expendable pieces.
• The Tower Master acknowledged Chen Changsheng's kindness and accepted Guan Ping's choice to follow him.

After the Tower Master ended his bond with his former disciples, Flying Dust Supreme urged Nine-Headed Xiang Liu to accept a Dragon Essence Pill, but the Silver Moon Wolf’s insults left Xiang Liu furious and humiliated. At the Cui Family, Chen Changsheng won over Cui Tian Rui with a spear technique and a coveted weapon, then required him to defeat Shui Yue before claiming the spear.

• The Tower Master declared that his master-disciple bond with those who refused him had ended and left them to face their hardships alone.
• Flying Dust Supreme offered Nine-Headed Xiang Liu a chance to accept the Dragon Essence Pill, but Xiang Liu remembered the Silver Moon Wolf’s insults and smashed his water scoop in anger.
• Cui Xingye entrusted Chen Changsheng with responsibilities at the Cui Family and then left him alone with Cui Tian Rui.
• Cui Tian Rui rejected rumors about Chen Changsheng and accepted a spear technique as a first-meeting gift.
• Chen Changsheng showed Cui Tian Rui a Dragon Gallant Silver Spear and promised it to him if he first defeated Shui Yue.

Chen Changsheng arranged a fight between Cui Tian Rui and Shui Yue, promising him the Dragon Gallant Silver Spear and a chance to see the world beyond the aristocratic families if he proved himself. Shui Yue used her Dragon's Roar to stun Cui Tian Rui and pierced his chest before he could react.

• Chen Changsheng promised Cui Tian Rui the Dragon Gallant Silver Spear and a Top-Tier Armor Set if he defeated Shui Yue.
• Cui Tian Rui told Chen Changsheng he wanted to experience the world for himself, even if he suffered a real defeat.
• Chen Changsheng said he might take Cui Tian Rui beyond the aristocratic families if he could defeat Shui Yue.
• At the mountaintop, Chen Changsheng told Shui Yue and Cui Tian Rui to fight without restrictions, and Shui Yue warned that she only knew Life and Death Battle.
• Cui Tian Rui challenged Shui Yue, who stunned him with her Dragon's Roar and pierced his chest with her trident.

Chen Changsheng had Shui Yue and Cui Tian Rui continue their dangerous spar so Cui Tian Rui could experience real combat and Shui Yue could stimulate the conflicting bloodlines in her body. Cui Tian Rui survived another near-fatal clash, then left to recover while Chen Changsheng explained that in the Cultivation World, the outcome mattered more than technique.

• After Shui Yue nearly killed Cui Tian Rui, Chen Changsheng made them continue sparring, and Cui Tian Rui eagerly agreed after experiencing the threat of death.
• Chen Changsheng told Shui Yue not to use Dragon's Roar, and Cui Tian Rui opened with a rapid spear attack that Shui Yue's golden scales blocked.
• Shui Yue struck Cui Tian Rui repeatedly with her trident, breaking his spear and cleaving open his chest before Chen Changsheng stopped the final blow.
• Shui Yue worried that her emotions were becoming uncontrollable, and Chen Changsheng explained that her Dragon Race and Beast Race bloodlines were clashing after the Dragon Essence Pill.
• Chen Changsheng healed Cui Tian Rui, who said he had enjoyed the fight but needed to recover, and Chen Changsheng warned him that superior technique did not guarantee victory in the Cultivation World.

Chen Changsheng taught Cui Tian Rui and Shui Yue through their battle, then demonstrated the Dragon Gallant Silver Spear to Li Fengyi. Li Fengyi recognized the weapon as Zhao Yun's and left alarmed, telling Cui Xingxue what she had seen.

• Chen Changsheng warned Cui Tian Rui that Shui Yue could kill him if he failed to seize the right moment, and Cui Tian Rui promised to remember his advice.
• Chen Changsheng told Shui Yue to treat Cui Tian Rui as motivation to improve or risk being sent back to the Endless Sea.
• Li Fengyi discovered that Cui Tian Rui had nearly been cleaved in half and questioned Chen Changsheng about training him, but agreed not to interfere.
• Chen Changsheng claimed he could teach Cui Tian Rui spear technique and showed Li Fengyi the Dragon Gallant Silver Spear.
• Li Fengyi told Cui Xingxue that the spear belonged to Zhao Yun, the Marquis Shunping, the First General of the Four Brahma Three Realms.

Li Fengyi recognized the Dragon Gallant Silver Spear and concluded that Chen Changsheng was the supposedly dead Epoch Butcher, also known as the Imperial Tutor. She persuaded Cui Xingxue not to report his identity so their children could benefit from learning under him, and the two planned to leave the Qinghe Realm.

• Li Fengyi told Cui Xingxue she had once planned to marry his Thirteenth Brother, the Spear King, before explaining that her ancestor had praised Marquis Shunping Zhao Yun's spear skills.
• Li Fengyi connected Chen Changsheng's Dragon Gallant Silver Spear to the Four Brahma Three Realms, which had been destroyed by the Epoch Butcher.
• Cui Xingxue realized Li Fengyi believed Chen Changsheng was the legendary Epoch Butcher, but she said the Pill Tower and the Cui and Lu families likely did not know.
• Cui Xingxue prepared to inform the Cui Family ancestor, but Li Fengyi stopped him and argued that Chen Changsheng's guidance could give Ling Shuang and Tian Rui a rare opportunity.
• Li Fengyi persuaded Cui Xingxue to keep Chen Changsheng's identity secret and leave the Qinghe Realm with her to avoid revealing their knowledge.

Li Fengyi warned Cui Xingxue that Chen Changsheng was Undertaker and explained how Undertaker’s war-torn epoch forged powerful fighters before he destroyed the force that killed his disciples. She left Cui Xingxue understanding that discovering Undertaker’s identity could put the Cui Family in grave danger.

• Li Fengyi told Cui Xingxue they could not hide the truth from Undertaker, so they needed to delay him while Tian Rui learned his skills.
• Li Fengyi explained that Undertaker’s distant epoch had endured constant war for a million years, making even Immortal Kings and Heavenly Emperors little more than cannon fodder.
• Cui Xingxue recalled the terrifying encounters his family and others had with Desolate Heaven Emperor Wu Li, the Supreme Sage, the White-Haired Sword God, and the Tiger Brave Army.
• Li Fengyi revealed that many of those powerful figures belonged to Undertaker’s lineage and fell as the war continued.
• Li Fengyi said that after the Supreme Sage fell, Undertaker drove away his allies and used the Four Calamities to destroy the force responsible, warning that he could ignite a World Extinction War alone.

Li Fengyi persuaded Cui Xingxue that Tian Rui’s chance to join the Undertaker’s lineage was worth pursuing and that the Cui Family could not avoid the consequences if Lu Mingyu had joined it. Cui Xingxue agreed to fight for their children and settle old scores, with Li Fengyi promising to stand beside him.

• Li Fengyi explained that the Undertaker had once been aided by the Blade Emperor and was now teaching Chen Feng, Guan Ping, and Shui Yue.
• Li Fengyi argued that Tian Rui deserved a chance to follow the Undertaker, while Cui Xingxue worried that intervening could drag the Cui Family into danger.
• Li Fengyi threatened to leave Cui Xingxue and take Ling Shuang and Tian Rui back to her family if he refused to fight for their futures.
• Li Fengyi reasoned that Lu Mingyu had entered the Undertaker’s lineage and received the God of Wealth as his Dao Protector, making the Cui Family’s involvement unavoidable.
• Cui Xingxue decided to fight for his family and settle old accounts, and Li Fengyi vowed to face the danger with him.

Chen Changsheng investigated Li Fengyi’s sudden departure, then arrived in Jubao City and took charge of the Cui Family’s Qinghe Realm business. He ordered the district managers to submit their account books and dismissed two absentees, leaving the gathered staff confused and resentful.

• Li Fengyi told Chen Changsheng that she and his uncle would return to the Li Family, admitting they were avoiding him because of the Dragon Gallant Silver Spear’s power.
• Chen Changsheng considered why Li Fengyi seemed uneasy, then set the matter aside and traveled to Jubao City with Cui Tian Rui and Shui Yue.
• Chen Changsheng ordered every shopkeeper, steward, and butler in Qinghe Realm to report to the General Chamber of Commerce with their account books.
• Chen Changsheng dismissed the two managers who failed to attend and ordered the others to leave their account books before he returned to his room.
• Cui Tian Rui brought Chen Changsheng the account books and warned him that the staff had objections to his conduct.

Chen Changsheng explained that his main obstacle as Head Manager of the Qinghe Realm was not finding the entrenched managers’ weaknesses, but lacking enough trusted people to replace them without disrupting operations. He revealed how the Cui Family’s influence and wealth were spread across the realm, leaving Cui Tian Rui to study the account books and understand the tangled loyalties.

• Chen Changsheng asked Shui Yue and Cui Tian Rui to explain his earlier actions, and they recognized that he was establishing authority and creating vacant positions for his own people.
• Chen Changsheng explained that he had to increase profits and weaken rival forces, but could not remove more than two hundred managers without replacements.
• Shui Yue suggested winning managers over with benefits, but Chen Changsheng argued that their loyalties and profits made that impractical.
• Chen Changsheng revealed that the Eighth Sage King controlled twenty-six districts, Second Uncle controlled eighteen, and his father-in-law’s branch controlled nine.
• Cui Tian Rui examined his branch’s account books and learned that its planted personnel and rival spies were scattered throughout all sixty-eight districts.
• Chen Changsheng warned that without mapping the factions and finding replacements, he would remain an empty puppet as Head Manager.

Chen Changsheng warned Shui Yue and Cui Tian Rui to learn how to handle family affairs, then assigned them to find irregularities in a box of account books within three days. He sent two men to the Beast Race and asked them to tell his mother-in-law that she need not be nervous or formal with him.

• Chen Changsheng told Cui Tian Rui that he needed both cultivation and political skill, then jokingly suggested killing everyone involved as the fastest solution.
• Chen Changsheng gave Shui Yue and Cui Tian Rui three days to uncover problems in the account books, threatening to lock them in a latrine if they failed.
• Shui Yue began studying the Jade Slip and warned Cui Tian Rui that Chen Changsheng always kept his word and that he should master the Spear Technique.
• Shui Yue told Cui Tian Rui that Guan Ping and Chen Feng were stronger than her, despite her recent improvement.
• Outside Jubao City, Chen Changsheng gave two men a Jade Slip directing them to the Beast Race and explained that he had made room for Cui Yao while promising them greater benefits.
• Chen Changsheng asked the two men to tell his mother-in-law that he was a crude man and that she need not observe so many formalities.

Chen Changsheng learned that Li Fengyi and Cui Xingxue had recognized his identity, while Li Fengyi decided to delay their departure to avoid drawing attention to him. He then appointed his brother-in-law Huang Wen Shu and sister Cui Yao to vacant posts in the Sixty-Eighth District, leaving Huang Wen Shu overwhelmed with gratitude.

• Two men reported Chen Changsheng's orders to Cui Xingxue, who told them to follow his authority.
• Li Fengyi realized her respectful bow had revealed that she had guessed Chen Changsheng's identity and wanted to join his plans.
• Li Fengyi and Cui Xingxue decided to delay their departure by three days so they would not attract attention to Chen Changsheng.
• Chen Changsheng welcomed Huang Wen Shu and Cui Yao outside Jubao City and offered them the vacant Steward and butler positions in the Sixty-Eighth District.
• Huang Wen Shu accepted the appointments gratefully, and Chen Changsheng promised to support him and Cui Yao.

Chen Changsheng assigned Huang Wen Shu and Cui Yao positions, while Huang Wen Shu defended his ambition and reassured his wife about her father’s intentions. Back at Jubao City Headquarters, Chen Changsheng imposed a strict two-day deadline on Cui Tian Rui and warned him that failure could cost him his life.

• Chen Changsheng dismissed Cui Yao’s concerns and welcomed her and Huang Wen Shu’s help, then privately praised them as useful for getting things done.
• On the road, Huang Wen Shu told Cui Yao he wanted to shoulder responsibility and rejected the idea that he was incapable, while Cui Yao said her father would not harm her.
• Huang Wen Shu comforted Cui Yao and said they could return to their former life if her father opposed Chen Changsheng’s arrangements.
• At Jubao City Headquarters, Cui Tian Rui asked for more time to review two hundred years of accounts, but Chen Changsheng shortened the original three-day deadline to two days.
• Chen Changsheng told Cui Tian Rui that military orders allowed no leniency and warned that the struggle could bring bloodshed, then threatened to kill him if he failed.

Chen Changsheng made Shui Yue and Cui Tian Rui analyze Qinghe Realm’s accounts and explain how its factions controlled resources and Enforcement Teams. He rejected their proposed crackdowns and explained that resource redistribution could not resolve the conflict without risking his own position.

• Cui Tian Rui and Shui Yue finished checking the accounts for all sixty-eight districts and found resources flowing covertly to their Enforcement Teams.
• Chen Changsheng explained that the factional division of district leadership kept any one branch from taking control of a district.
• Shui Yue proposed gathering evidence to eliminate opponents, but Chen Changsheng warned that the plan would leave them vulnerable to retaliation and the Cui Family’s upper ranks.
• Cui Tian Rui proposed a swift crackdown, but Chen Changsheng pointed out that targeting other factions while sparing their own—or punishing their own too—would create serious risks.
• Chen Changsheng identified uneven resource distribution as the root of the conflict and said restructuring was too risky while a power struggle would make him the sacrifice.

Chen Changsheng explained why the Cui Family’s internal power struggle could not be settled without outside pressure, and why Cui Xingye’s branch had reason to challenge the ancestors. Cui Tian Rui began to grasp that ambition and the chance to rise could outweigh fear of failure.

• Cui Tian Rui and Shui Yue concluded that the Cui Family’s sharp internal conflict would require shifting it outward, and Chen Changsheng explained that the Clan Leader wanted him to cripple the Eighth Sage King’s branch.
• Chen Changsheng said the Cui Family’s upper ranks wanted balance and had chosen Cui Xingye as Clan Leader to prevent the powerful Eighth Sage King’s branch from taking control.
• When Cui Tian Rui questioned why Cui Xingye would oppose the ancestors, Chen Changsheng explained that defeating them could allow him to become an ancestor himself.
• Chen Changsheng used the ancestral tomb’s forty-eight openings to argue that the Cui Family’s ancestors were not invincible and that each generation could challenge those above it.
• Chen Changsheng compared the struggle to cultivation, and Cui Tian Rui realized he would challenge Chen Feng despite fearing defeat; his heart began to pound as he understood his brother-in-law’s explanation.

Chen Changsheng explained the Cui parents’ plans for their children and set Cui Tian Rui and Shui Yue to investigate illegal communications among the Qinghe Realm’s sixty-eight regions. Cui Tian Rui accepted the task and prepared to handle resistance by force.

• Cui Tian Rui asked Chen Changsheng about his parents’ plans, and Chen Changsheng said they had intended to temper him gradually within the Cui Family.
• Chen Changsheng explained the paths prepared for Cui Tian Rui and his sisters, then said he would give Cui Tian Rui a larger stage rather than teach him restraint.
• Chen Changsheng ordered Cui Tian Rui and Shui Yue to cut off the regions’ hidden communication channels, gather evidence, and punish anyone who violated the Clan Rules.
• Chen Changsheng granted the pair authority to supervise the Qinghe Realm and warned Cui Tian Rui to treat his own family especially harshly if they broke the Rules.
• Cui Tian Rui told Shui Yue he had no clever plan for dealing with resistance, but would beat anyone who tried to stop them; Shui Yue agreed.

Chen Changsheng spent time with Cui Ling Shuang and recognized in her a resemblance to Wanyan Yue, prompting him to reflect on how Shui Yue and Cui Ling Shuang echoed figures from his past. He wondered whether their similar paths were arranged by fate or heaven.

• Chen Changsheng watched Shui Yue and Cui Tian Rui depart, then contacted Qian Ya and Bai Ze before heading to the Cui Family.
• Chen Changsheng persuaded Cui Ling Shuang to go on an outing with him, and they stood together atop a mountain.
• Cui Ling Shuang explained that she wanted little from life, then left after telling Chen Changsheng that some things could not be settled like accounts.
• The system compared Cui Ling Shuang to Wanyan Yue and reminded Chen Changsheng that Wanyan Yue and A Man had long remained pains in his heart.
• Chen Changsheng reflected that Cui Ling Shuang and Shui Yue had followed paths resembling those of old acquaintances and wondered whether fate or heaven had arranged it.

Chen Changsheng rejected fate as an excuse and promised to answer for his own actions when he met the system again. In the Beast Realm, Qian Ya planned to slow the campaign against the Beast Taming Lineage and eliminate internal opponents, while Cui Tian Rui began investigating a profitable area of the Cui Family.

• The system told Chen Changsheng that neither fortune nor the Heavenly Dao could determine or bind his actions, and Chen Changsheng said he would rely on himself and give himself a satisfactory answer.
• Qian Ya told Ying Shan that the Beast Race’s unification was forty-seven percent complete and ordered him to slow the offensive against the Beast Taming Lineage despite resource shortages.
• Qian Ya revealed that powerful factions, including the Cui Family and the Pill Domain, were preparing a purge, and said the Cui Family would soon help relieve the Beast Race’s resource shortage.
• Qian Ya ordered Ying Shan to slaughter those causing trouble, and he learned that the Silver Moon Wolf had high status among the Beast Race’s higher-ups.
• Cui Tian Rui forced his way into a room to investigate a lucrative area of the Qinghe Realm, overruling a man who tried to stop him.

Cui Tian Rui and Shui Yue's crackdown across the Qinghe Realm provoked fierce resistance, while Chen Changsheng stood firm against Cui Zhenguo's demand to release the arrested officials. By evening, Shui Yue and Cui Tian Rui faced a deadlock: their remaining targets were cautious, and their prisoners would not provide evidence.

• Cui Tian Rui searched Uncle Zhao's room and took an account book and a box of evidence before the Enforcement Team escorted him away.
• Cui Tian Rui and Shui Yue arrested officials across the Qinghe Realm, including many connected to the Cui family, triggering a fierce counterattack.
• Cui Zhenguo demanded that Chen Changsheng release the prisoners, but Chen Changsheng insisted on seeing a Transfer Order and refused to back down.
• An Enforcement Elder stopped Cui Zhenguo from attacking Chen Changsheng and warned him to obey the Cui Family's Rules.
• The Enforcement Elder found a Paper figure Chen Changsheng had used to monitor the Cui Family, but said it did not violate the Clan Rules.
• Shui Yue and Cui Tian Rui met at evening and admitted they could not make further arrests or obtain testimony without conclusive evidence.