Chapter Summaries

Li Dingguo oversaw the reorganization of Lingshan City and prioritized selecting Martial Artist Combat Soldiers to build the Revival Army. After ordering the Treasure Ships guarded, he returned to the grand dock to mass-refine pills for the new recruits.

• Li Dingguo surveyed Lingshan City and praised Liang Liping and Wei Ying for reorganizing the city and winning over its refugees.
• Liang Liping reported that Lingshan City held more than 186,800 civilians, including over 100,000 able-bodied young people, and that its Artisan Camp had nearly 11,000 craftsmen and about 1,000 shipwrights.
• Liang Liping outlined plans for a 50,000-soldier camp, farming, and a future navy, while Li Dingguo stressed that selecting Martial Artist Combat Soldiers was the priority and urged her and Wei Ying to become Martial Artists.
• Li Dingguo ordered an elite unit to guard the Treasure Ships at the grand dock and kill anyone who approached them against orders.
• Li Dingguo returned to the grand dock, prepared the Human Emperor Cauldron, and began mass-refining pills to support the Revival Army's cultivation program.

Li Dingguo oversaw the new army’s training on Lingshan Island as Little Stone and Liang Liping broke through to become Martial Artists. He then traveled to Lingshan Guard City to contact the Military Intelligence Department and saw the devastation across Qi-Lu Land, resolving to use Jiaozhou’s resources to strengthen the Revival Army.

• Little Stone and Liang Liping awakened their Qi and Blood Power and achieved Qi and Blood Limit Breaks during training.
• Li Dingguo planned to send the trained recruits to New Recruit Camps and decided to report the operation’s outcome to the military headquarters Beyond the Pass.
• Li Dingguo left Liang Liping, Little Stone, and Wei Ying in charge of Lingshan Island’s affairs and rode the Great Golden Eagle toward Lingshan Guard City.
• Li Dingguo reached Lingshan Guard City and found widespread filth, poverty, and starvation among its military households and refugees.
• Li Dingguo considered how to seize Jiaozhou’s population and resources and strengthen the Revival Army while holding the powerful gentry responsible for the people’s suffering.

Li Dingguo rewarded intelligence chief Mo Xiaoyong for the information that enabled the victory at Lingshan Island, then gave him orders to expand the coastal intelligence network and reassure Revival Army leaders. Meanwhile, Geng Jingzhong and Geng Zhongming joined forces with Jia Huiqin and Jia Huizhi and fled north to establish a pirate base on Tianheng Island, hoping to return for revenge.

• Li Dingguo met Mo Xiaoyong at a general store and awarded him five peak-grade third-level Spirit Nourishing Pills and a Marrow Cleansing Pill for his intelligence squad’s service.
• Li Dingguo told Mo Xiaoyong about the victory at Lingshan Island and ordered him to report the news, deliver letters to Wan'er and Red Plum, and expand the intelligence department along the coast.
• Li Dingguo took two spirit pigeons and flew back to Lingshan Island on the Great Golden Eagle, while considering the enemy remnants who had escaped.
• Jia Huiqin and Jia Huizhi encountered Geng Jingzhong and Geng Zhongming after crossing Lingshan Bay and proposed traveling with them.
• The four agreed to establish a pirate force on Tianheng Island and headed north toward Laoshan Bay, with the Jia sisters hoping to return to Lingshan Island for revenge.

Li Dingguo completed a vast concealment and guardian array around Lingshan Island after discovering a dangerous school of Long-tailed Tiger-headed Black Sharks nearby. He returned to Lingshan City, where nearly two hundred newly trained Martial Artists were helping ordinary people begin cultivation and his standing among them had risen sharply.

• Li Dingguo activated the enlarged Minor Five Elements Heaven Concealing Array, concealing Lingshan Island and its surrounding waters while drawing in spiritual energy.
• After spotting powerful Long-tailed Tiger-headed Black Sharks near Lingshan Bay, Li Dingguo had surveyed the island and built the array to protect its harbor and base.
• Li Dingguo planned to retrieve the Earth Spirit Pearl from the Lake Heart Island headquarters and place it in the island's Array Core to strengthen its defenses.
• Li Dingguo rode the Great Golden Eagle back to the City Lord's Mansion and declared the Guardian Array Formation complete.
• Nearly two hundred trainees had awakened Qi and Blood Power and were assigned to teach the Revival Army, while Lingshan Island's residents eagerly began martial training and Li Dingguo's prestige soared.

Huang Taiji confronted Yuetuo over the destruction of the Later Jin fleet at Lingshan Island, but Yuetuo explained how a mysterious man and a powerful Great Golden Eagle had routed the allied forces. Fan Wencheng revealed that the same pair had massacred his family’s ancestral residence, and the Later Jin leaders were left without knowing the attackers’ identities.

• Huang Taiji slapped Yuetuo and berated him for returning after the Later Jin fleet and its wealth were lost.
• Ao Bai challenged Yuetuo’s account of one Great Golden Eagle defeating the allied forces, and Yuetuo described the night raid and the ensuing rout.
• Huang Taiji questioned Fan Wencheng about whether any Great Ming force possessed a Fifth-Tier Late Stage Great Golden Eagle.
• Fan Wencheng reported that a Great Golden Eagle and a mysterious man had massacred the Fan Family’s Jiexiu ancestral residence two months earlier.
• Fan Wencheng said his surviving clansmen were investigating the attackers, while the hall erupted in surprise and offered condolences.

Huang Taiji ordered Ao Bai and Manggūltai to raid Lingshan Island and kill Li Dingguo and his Great Golden Eagle, hoping to seize the island’s ships and supplies. Meanwhile, Li Dingguo prepared the Revival Army by training artillery crews and organizing the dismantling of captured ships to mass-produce standardized equipment.

• Huang Taiji punished Yuetuo by transferring ten nirus to Hooge’s Plain Yellow Banner, then approved a raid on Lingshan Island.
• Ao Bai and Manggūltai accepted Huang Taiji’s order to attack with two Sea Eastern Greens and destroy Li Dingguo and his Great Golden Eagle.
• Li Dingguo oversaw artillery training as Little Stone directed soldiers in firing Spirit Energy Cannons and rotating crews.
• Li Dingguo visited the shipyard, where craftsmen dismantled two captured Mid-Grade Treasure Ships for shipbuilding knowledge and materials.
• Li Dingguo planned to use the salvaged materials and the Human Emperor Cauldron to mass-refine standardized artifact sets for the Revival Army.

Manggūltai and Ao Bai reached Lingshan Island but saw only a barren illusion and realized an ancient formation concealed it. Believing its defender was a Fifth-Tier Early Stage enemy, they and their Sea Eastern Greens began attacking the Island Protection Array.

• Manggūltai and Ao Bai found Lingshan Bay empty and Lingshan Island appearing barren, with no sign of the treasure ships or their enemies.
• Manggūltai struck at the island in frustration, but his attack vanished against the formation surrounding it.
• Manggūltai recognized the illusion as an ancient formation and concluded that the mysterious enemy had inherited ancient formations rather than reached Spirit Refining Realm.
• Manggūltai warned Ao Bai that the enemy threatened the Later Jin clan and urged them to destroy the formation before he grew stronger.
• Ao Bai agreed that the enemy was likely only at Fifth-Tier Early Stage, and the two men prepared to break the Island Protection Array with their Sea Eastern Greens.
• Manggūltai and Ao Bai summoned their Martial Dao Avatars and launched repeated attacks against the formation’s protective barrier.

Li Dingguo equipped Little Stone with a pair of hammers and ordered him to lead the Artillery Battalion against an incoming Later Jin attack. The cannons badly wounded Ao Bai, Manggūltai, and their two Sea Eastern Greens, and Li Dingguo and the Great Golden Eagle charged out to finish them off.

• Li Dingguo gave Little Stone a pair of bright silver hammers and warned him that enemies were attacking Lingshan Island.
• Little Stone assembled three hundred Artillery Battalion soldiers at the fortress gun emplacements and ordered them to aim at the two approaching Sea Eastern Greens and their riders.
• The Artillery Battalion fired all ninety spirit energy cannons in unison, shattering the birds' Protective Gang Qi and severely injuring the four attackers.
• Li Dingguo mounted the Great Golden Eagle and sent it after Ao Bai, Manggūltai, and the two wounded birds as they fell toward the sea.

Li Dingguo and the Great Golden Eagle killed the two Sea Eastern Greens, but the two wounded Later Jin experts escaped underwater. Back on Lingshan Island, Li Dingguo ordered the Revival Army to expand its artillery force and establish a navy, shifting from defense to offense.

• The Great Golden Eagle and Li Dingguo killed the first Sea Eastern Green, then teamed up to defeat its mate after it burned its Natal Essence Blood and unleashed an Innate Divine Ability.
• Li Dingguo searched the sea for the two missing Later Jin experts, but he and the Great Golden Eagle found no trace of them and eventually gave up.
• The Great Golden Eagle carried the Sea Eastern Green corpses back to Lingshan Island, where Little Stone praised the Spirit Energy Cannons’ devastating barrage.
• Li Dingguo ordered Little Stone to expand the Artillery Battalion to three thousand gunners and tell Liang Liping to organize a ten-thousand-strong navy.

Liang Liping reported that Lingshan Island’s population, craftspeople, agriculture, and infrastructure had developed rapidly, while many residents became Martial Artists. Li Dingguo shifted the Revival Army’s priorities to building its army and navy, then ordered a campaign to bring three million refugees to the island this year.

• Liang Liping told Li Dingguo that nearly thirty thousand residents had become Martial Artists, including more than two hundred veteran craftsmen and nine shipwrights.
• Liang Liping reported that four monstrous geniuses, including herself and her brother, were advancing quickly in cultivation and helping manage the force.
• Liang Liping described the island’s surveys, farming preparations, waterworks, and revived spirit plants, supported by Li Dingguo’s protective and spirit-gathering arrays.
• Li Dingguo told Liang Liping to redirect military and logistics work toward building the army and navy and standardizing troop training.
• Li Dingguo ordered the navy and Military Intelligence Department to gather at least three million coastal refugees and settle them on Lingshan Island this year.
• Liang Liping agreed to have the Staff Department draw up a detailed plan and left to deliver Li Dingguo’s orders to the commanders.

After receiving Li Dingguo’s letter about his victories at Jiaozhou Bay and his new base on Lingshan Island, Wan'er decided to help him once the Revival Army secured the Eastern Loop Great Plain. Red Plum’s army resumed its westward advance at night to destroy the remaining Chahar Remnants tribes.

• Wei Jinfan delivered Li Dingguo’s letter to Wan'er while she was taming a captured Dragon Scale Horse.
• Wan'er learned that Li Dingguo had defeated much of his enemy at Jiaozhou Bay, seized their supplies and Great Treasure Ships, and planned to build a Revival Army base on Lingshan Island.
• Wan'er decided to consult Red Plum about accelerating the conquest of the Eastern Loop Great Plain before riding south to help Li Dingguo.
• Wei Jinfan reported that intelligence agents had found the two remaining Chahar Remnants tribes weakened and unprepared after losing elite troops.
• Zhao Hong’s logistics soldiers took over the battlefield cleanup, and Red Plum sent the forty-thousand-strong army westward through the night.

Macau Governor Moyes learned that a mysterious enemy and a Fifth-Tier Peak Spirit Bird had destroyed one of his fleets, so he offered the Ye Family two thousand Arabian Demonic Dragon Horse foals to help recover it. Back at the Fuqing ancestral home, Ye Xianggao blamed his grandson Ye Guodong for the Ye Family’s losses, while Ye Guodong argued that the surprise attack had overwhelmed all three forces.

• Minos reported that the attackers had destroyed Macau’s fleet and killed its commander, while the Ye Family had also lost its pirate force and island base.
• Moyes raged over the lost ships and cargo, then ordered Minos to offer the Ye Family two thousand Demonic Dragon Horse foals in exchange for help defeating the enemy and recovering the fleet.
• Minos left the Governor’s Mansion and hurried to the Ye Family’s office in Macau to deliver Moyes’s offer.
• Ye Xianggao struck Ye Guodong and scolded him for failing to organize the Ye Family’s guards and defend their base.
• Ye Guodong protested that the surprise attack had also routed the Later Jin troops and Macau’s fleet, leaving no force prepared to resist.

Ye Guodong received one last chance to secure the Ye family's trade with Macau Governor Moyes by helping attack Lingshan Island, and he mobilized a major force to carry it out. Meanwhile, Li Dingguo's newly formed Revival Army navy completed a month of training with upgraded ships and weapons, preparing to fight with long-range firepower rather than boarding tactics.

• Zhou Leyue delivered Ye Xianggao an urgent letter from Haojing, which revealed that Macau Governor Moyes would provide two thousand Arabian Demonic Dragon Horse foals if the Ye family helped recover his fleet and three million Demon Cores from Lingshan Island.
• Ye Xianggao entrusted Ye Guodong with negotiating and carrying out the operation, promising him the position of next family head if he succeeded and threatening to send him away if he failed.
• Ye Guodong mobilized three thousand elite deathsworn, Second Elder Ye Liangcai, a pair of White Crane Spirit Birds, and the Ye family's main fleet, then sailed from Fuqing toward the eastern sea.
• After a month of training, Li Dingguo's navy practiced formations in Lingshan Bay, where former Dengzhou-Laizhou Navy families supplied experienced recruits and emerging commanders.
• Li Dingguo upgraded the Treasure Ships' formations, Spirit Energy Cannons, and Spirit Crossbow Carts, and established regulations that emphasized long-range attacks to reduce casualties and build an elite navy.

Li Dingguo learned that a powerful Ye family fleet was likely heading for Lingshan Island and gathered his commanders to plan its defense. They settled on using the Island Protection Array and concealed artillery to lure the enemy close before unleashing a concentrated barrage.

• A spirit pigeon delivered intelligence from Mo Xiaoyong reporting that a fleet of nearly twenty thousand Ye family Martial Soldiers, accompanied by powerful experts and spirit birds, had assembled at Haojing.
• Li Dingguo concluded that Ye Guodong's fleet would probably attack Lingshan Island within one or two months and decided to defend the island rather than risk a naval interception.
• Li Dingguo briefed Liang Liping, Wei Ying, He Lijing, He Liping, and Little Stone, who agreed that the island's defenses and cannons offered their best chance against the stronger enemy.
• Wei Ying proposed concealing the Island Protection Array and waiting until the enemy approached within five li before opening concentrated fire on its Treasure Ships.
• Li Dingguo and his commanders approved the plan, then dispersed to begin preparations for the coming battle.

Mo Xiaoyong learned that the Ye family and White Barbarians had assembled fleets in Haojing and planned to sail north against Lingshan Island. The allied fleets departed, while Mo Xiaoyong waited for their movement to provide intelligence and begin his next move.

• Deng Shiquan told Mo Xiaoyong that the Ye family's fleet had not left Haojing and that a White Barbarian fleet had arrived to join it.
• Mo Xiaoyong supplied Deng Shiquan's agents with pills and military provisions, then concealed his Treasure Ship near Haojing.
• Ye Guodong and governor Moyes signed an agreement tying their transaction to defeating the enemy on Lingshan Island and recovering Moyes's fleet and supplies.
• Moyes ordered adjutant Reddis to prepare the White Barbarian fleet and accompany Ye Guodong north, while Moyes stayed in Haojing.
• Ye Guodong and Reddis led the allied fleets out of Haojing toward the Lingding Ocean's northern outlet.

Li Dingguo revived the Thousand-Year Blood Ginseng and learned that the Revival Army was close to unifying the Eastern Loop Great Plain. He received word that the Ye Family and Macau fleets were sailing toward Lingshan Island, and prepared to destroy them with overwhelming artillery before striking back at Macau and possibly the Ye Family.

• Li Dingguo revived the Thousand-Year Blood Ginseng and protected it so he could cultivate it for a future Blood Spirit Pill.
• Li Dingguo recalled Wan'er's report that Red Plum's forces were advancing on the last major barbarian tribe, while Wan'er planned to bring an Earth Spirit Pearl to Lingshan Island.
• Liang Liping told Li Dingguo that the Ye Family fleet and the remaining Macau fleet had sailed north and would reach Lingshan Island within forty days.
• Li Dingguo planned to dismantle a High-Grade Treasure Ship and use its materials to make enough Spirit Energy Cannons and Spirit Crossbow Carts to arm his forces.
• Li Dingguo vowed to defeat the incoming fleet, then attack Macau and possibly the Fuqing Ye Family if Ye Xianggao continued threatening the Revival Army.

Li Dingguo completed a month of mass-producing Spirit Energy Cannons and Repeating Crossbow Carts, strengthening Lingshan Island’s preparations for war. Wan'er arrived with an Earth Spirit Pearl and spirit fruit saplings, then told him about the Revival Army’s victory over the Zhunggar tribe.

• Li Dingguo finished refining weapons, advancing his artifact-forging and formation-master skills to the Grandmaster realm and producing longer-range Spirit Energy Cannons.
• Li Dingguo inspected construction of small Treasure Ship speedboats intended for patrols, scouting, and coastal transport.
• Big Gold returned to Lingshan Island with Wan'er and Big Fierce, who had carried her safely through the island’s defensive formation.
• Wan'er gave Li Dingguo the Earth Spirit Pearl and spirit fruit saplings, and explained that Big Fierce had found Lingshan Island through a bloodline connection to Big Gold.
• Wan'er told Li Dingguo that Sister Red Plum and the Revival Army had defeated the Zhunggar tribe, and that Brother Xiangzi had advanced to the Late Fourth Layer of Martial Dao.
• Li Dingguo and Wan'er reunited and flew with the two eagles toward the City Lord's Mansion.

Li Dingguo reorganized the Revival Army on Lingshan Island for an impending invasion, putting Wan’er in command of the navy and creating an Internal Affairs Department. As the allied fleet of the Ye Family and the White Barbarians approached, Wan’er began intensive naval drills while Li Dingguo strengthened the island’s protection array.

• Li Dingguo appointed Wan’er navy commander and Little Stone her deputy, ordering them to distribute new Spirit Energy Cannons and Spirit Crossbow Carts before the enemy fleet arrived.
• Li Dingguo ordered He Lijing to establish a six-hundred-person Internal Affairs Department to secure the army and identify spies.
• Wan’er took command of the naval soldiers, distributed the new weapons among the fortress batteries and treasure ships, and prepared the fleet for battle.
• Li Dingguo buried Wan’er’s Earth Spirit Pearl in the Island Protection Array’s core, strengthening the array and gradually improving Lingshan Island’s spiritual energy and soil.
• After sharing lunch, Li Dingguo and Wan’er went to the main dock, where the navy began repeated formation and concentrated-fire drills against target ships.

Ye Guodong and Peng Hua led the Ye family fleet toward Lingshan Island alongside the Portuguese fleet, planning to use the White Barbarians as a vanguard and shield. Both fleets prepared for battle as they approached the island’s port fortress.

• Peng Hua advised Ye Guodong to let the Portuguese fleet lead while the Ye family fleet covered the rear, so the White Barbarians would absorb any surprise attack.
• Peng Hua secured Colonel Reynolds’s agreement by promising the Portuguese one-tenth of the spoils, and the Ye fleet fell behind the Portuguese fleet.
• Ye Guodong and Peng Hua discussed the riches awaiting them on Lingshan Island and prepared their forces for the assault.
• Ye Guodong ordered the Ye ships to raise their battle flags, activate their protective formations, and ready their artillery and crossbowmen.
• The Ye and Portuguese fleets formed battle lines, raised their protective barriers, sounded their horns, and advanced toward Lingshan Island’s port fortress.

After Big Golden reported the enemy fleet approaching Lingshan Island, Li Dingguo and Wan'er mobilized the island’s navy and coastal artillery for a concentrated ambush. The enemy fleet entered cannon range, and Wan'er held fire as it advanced closer.

• Big Golden returned from patrol and told Li Dingguo that the enemy’s main fleet was approaching, so Li ordered the eagle to stay nearby and prepare to attack if the enemy retreated.
• Li Dingguo rang the island’s alarm bell, summoning the naval soldiers and coastal artillery battalion to the great dock.
• Wan'er directed the assembled troops to board their ships and man the cannons, while the soldiers took their assigned positions.
• Wan'er ordered the fleet to form staggered rows at the edge of the Island Protection Array and anchor for accurate firing.
• The enemy fleet appeared beyond the array and entered cannon range, but Wan'er ordered her troops to wait until it came closer.