Chapter Summaries

Li Dingguo showed Red Plum and Cao Yongxiang the True Dragon Egg and discovered that the Five-Colored Divine Tree’s life energy was rapidly bringing it to hatching. He formed a Blood Contract with the Young Dragon and restored his strength, then waited for it to emerge.

• Li Dingguo explained that his great cauldron could change size and revealed the enormous golden egg stored inside it.
• The True Dragon Egg absorbed the spiritual and life energy around the Five-Colored Divine Tree, prompting Red Plum to warn that it might hatch before they could bind it.
• Li Dingguo confirmed the egg was a True Dragon Egg and used a drop of Natal Essence Blood to form a Blood Contract with the Young Dragon.
• Li Dingguo restored his depleted Natal Essence Blood with pills, cultivation, and the Divine Tree’s life energy.
• Li Dingguo put away the Human Emperor Cauldron and waited for the Young Dragon to break out of its shell.

Li Dingguo witnessed the birth of a powerful Seven-Clawed Golden Dragon, named her Little Gold Dragon, and settled her on the Five-Colored Divine Tree. The chapter left the Revival Army preparing to send two legions west to seize the Wuding River basin and expand its salt trade.

• The golden dragon egg absorbed vast amounts of spiritual energy before Little Gold Dragon hatched, ate her shell, and used Size as One Wishes to coil around Li Dingguo.
• Li Dingguo named the newborn dragon Little Gold Dragon, celebrated her birth with Cao Yongxiang and Red Plum, and discovered that she had seven claws.
• Li Dingguo instructed Little Gold Dragon to live on the Five-Colored Divine Tree, avoid harming or hunting island creatures, and cultivate; she settled on the tree and fell asleep.
• Red Plum told Li Dingguo that the Revival Army planned to send two main force legions west to clear the Tatar Tribes along the Wuding River and seize control of its basin within a year.
• Red Plum explained that controlling the Wuding River would let the Revival Army distribute refined salt from the Great Salt Lake and develop commerce across the regions within the Pass.

Red Plum reported the Revival Army’s rapid growth Beyond the Pass, and Li Dingguo ordered a major expansion of efforts to bring displaced civilians in from the Northwest Three Provinces. He then flew to clear a Malevolent Spirit-infested Ghost Domain near the Wuding River so it could be opened as a new immigration route.

• Red Plum reported that the Revival Army Beyond the Pass had more than three million people, abundant harvests, and six well-equipped legions with thirty thousand Martial Soldiers each.
• Li Dingguo ordered Red Plum and other officers to triple their recruitment and disguised merchant operations and bring in more than ten million displaced people over the next year.
• Cao Yongxiang and Red Plum hurried to the military headquarters to organize the expanded immigration effort.
• Li Dingguo flew on Great Golden Eagle to a Ghost Domain near the Wuding River after Wei Jinfan reported that it was obstructing immigration.
• Li Dingguo passed over the increasingly prosperous Deshengbao Fort and continued toward the ancient battlefield to clear its Malevolent Spirits.

Li Dingguo discovered that the Ghost Domain contained Minotaur Spirits and was concealed by a powerful ancient Western Magic Formation. After analyzing the formation, he entered it with the Great Golden Eagle and prepared to ambush the three Ghost Kings.

• Li Dingguo used his divine sense to discover that fewer than a thousand Minotaur Spirits, including three Level 5 Ghost Kings, inhabited the Ghost Domain.
• Li Dingguo identified the Ghost Domain's concealment as a top-grade Level 3 Western Magic Formation and analyzed its workings.
• Li Dingguo gave the Great Golden Eagle a safe route through the formation and ordered it to attack the Ghost Kings, beginning with the Fifth-Tier Peak Ghost King.
• The Great Golden Eagle memorized the route and carried Li Dingguo into the Ghost Domain.
• Li Dingguo considered that his Natal Divine Artifact could not yet purify the dense Yin Qi and that the Revival Army needed more time to grow before advancing through the passes.

Li Dingguo and Dajin entered a yin-attribute formation, where they discovered Minotaur Spirits that retained memories from an ancient war. After killing their leader, they faced the remaining spirits’ powerful military killing formation, which blocked Li Dingguo’s bell attacks and nearly struck them down.

• Dajin spotted the Minotaur Ghost King, and Li Dingguo learned from its speech that it remembered an ancient war between the Huaxia Tribe and the Beastmen Tribe, as well as the Light Angel Tribe’s interference.
• Li Dingguo fought the Minotaur Ghost King with his spear, then summoned the Mysterious Yellow Chaos Bell Avatar to attack its soul while Dajin shattered its head and Li Dingguo finished it off.
• Li Dingguo collected the Ghost King’s Soul Bead and elementary Postnatal Divine Artifact club, then rode Dajin to attack the other Minotaur Spirits with the bell’s soundwaves.
• The remaining Minotaur Spirits formed a military killing formation that blocked Li Dingguo’s bell attacks and combined into a giant figure whose strike Li Dingguo stopped with the Human Emperor Cauldron.
• Li Dingguo told Dajin to avoid confronting the formation head-on and to circle it until its members depleted their souls and had to dissolve it.

Li Dingguo and Great Golden Eagle wore down the Minotaur Spirits’ Military Killing Formation from the air, then attacked once it collapsed. As they slaughtered the spirits, Li Dingguo learned from their reactions that the Human Emperor Cauldron and Mysterious Yellow Chaos Bell belonged to ancient emperors who might have fallen.

• Li Dingguo ordered Great Golden Eagle to circle above the Minotaur Spirits while his Mysterious Yellow Chaos Bell avatar drained their soul power with repeated sonic attacks.
• The Minotaur Spirits tried to lure Li Dingguo down by taunting him and threatening to reveal that he possessed the Mysterious Yellow Chaos Bell, but he waited for their formation to weaken.
• After nearly two hours, the Minotaur Spirits’ Military Killing Formation shattered, and Li Dingguo restored his strength and raised the Human Emperor Cauldron to protect himself and Great Golden Eagle.
• Li Dingguo and Great Golden Eagle attacked, with the bell chimes destroying the divine souls of the third-tier Minotaur Spirits and leaving Soul Beads behind.
• The remaining Minotaur Spirits recognized the Human Emperor Cauldron and concluded that the Human Emperor and Heavenly Emperor had fallen, while Li Dingguo continued killing them.

Li Dingguo and the Great Golden Eagle wiped out the remaining Minotaur Spirits, collecting their Soul Beads. After locating the Ghost Domain’s ancient formation core, Li Dingguo left the mysterious black boulder intact, suspecting it held a hidden danger or secret.

• Li Dingguo and the Great Golden Eagle killed all the Body Tempering Realm Minotaur Spirits, and Li Dingguo stored their Soul Beads in his cauldron.
• The two Fifth-Tier Minotaur Spirits unleashed their Innate Divine Abilities, but Li Dingguo blocked the attacks with the Human Emperor Cauldron while Big Gold killed them.
• Big Gold killed the remaining Fourth-Tier Minotaur Spirits, and Li Dingguo collected their Soul Beads.
• Li Dingguo located the Array Core of the ancient Yin-attributed Magic Formation and had Big Gold carry him to the glossy-black boulder.
• Li Dingguo examined the boulder but refrained from dismantling the formation, suspecting the stone or formation concealed something dangerous.

Li Dingguo discovered that a black boulder contained vast resentment, and his Twelve-Grade Karmic Fire Red Lotus burned it away, breaking two seals and growing immensely stronger. Once purified, the boulder released countless human souls that entered a Reincarnation Passage, and Li Dingguo received a great amount of merit for freeing them.

• Li Dingguo sent his divine sense into the black boulder, and its resentment surged into his Spirit Sea until the Twelve-Grade Karmic Fire Red Lotus devoured it.
• The Twelve-Grade Karmic Fire Red Lotus wrapped around the boulder and burned its resentment, breaking one Heaven and Earth Seal before breaking a second after several shichen.
• The lotus platform finished purifying the boulder, then returned to Li Dingguo's Spirit Sea with three seals released and far greater power.
• The boulder turned lustrous white and released over a hundred million human-shaped phantoms, which bowed to Li Dingguo before entering a Reincarnation Passage.
• A stream of mysterious yellow light entered Li Dingguo's Spirit Sea, and he learned that heaven and earth had bestowed merit on him for freeing the resentful human souls to reincarnate.

Li Dingguo purified and collected the mysterious soul-storing stone, destroying the Ghost Domain before leaving for Beyond the Pass. Meanwhile, Wei Jinfan explained the Revival Army’s plans to develop the Wuding River basin and replace the dwindling merchant traffic with its own fleets and caravans.

• Li Dingguo decided the purified great stone would suit Red Plum, then collected it in the Human Emperor Cauldron.
• The Magic Formation collapsed, the Ghost Domain’s Yin Qi dispersed, and Li Dingguo collected Profound Nether Cold Iron Beads from its formation nodes.
• Li Dingguo left on the Great Golden Eagle, hoping to avoid cultivators drawn by the Ghost Domain’s disappearance.
• Wei Jinfan told He Guang that merchants had reduced trade along the Jialu River and Wuding River, so the Revival Army planned to send its navy and merchant caravans there.
• Wei Jinfan explained that Red Plum had ordered the Wuding River basin developed to expand settlement and secure the Revival Army’s grain supply.

Li Dingguo investigated unusual movements among the Wuding River’s aquatic Demon Beasts after Wei Jinfan and He Guang reported their northward migration. He suspected the disturbance originated upstream and rode Big Gold north at speed to find its source.

• Wei Jinfan and He Guang told Li Dingguo that aquatic Demon Beasts were unusually numerous and migrating north, including a large clan of pythons.
• Li Dingguo agreed that Wei Jinfan and He Guang should finish their survey and report the anomaly to Red Plum while he investigated upstream.
• Li Dingguo flew north above the Wuding River and observed aquatic Demon Beasts moving toward the river’s source, including a powerful school of giant black fish.
• Li Dingguo concluded that a change upstream was likely causing the migration and recognized the danger it posed to the Revival Army’s planned deployment.
• Li Dingguo told Big Gold to speed up and search for the source of the disturbance.

Li Dingguo discovered a black-clad cultivator using a Black Lotus to lure aquatic Demon Beasts into a deadly vortex and decided to ambush him. He trapped the enemy inside the Human Emperor Cauldron, but the enemy's Black Lotus remained active and threatening.

• Li Dingguo arrived at the source of the Wuding River and saw a vast vortex destroying Demon Beasts while a black-clad person cultivated on a nearby island.
• The Great Golden Eagle sensed that the black-clad person was a Fifth-Tier Late Stage expert, and Li Dingguo concluded that he was using a Natal Divine Artifact to devour Demon Beasts and remove its seals.
• Li Dingguo ordered the Great Golden Eagle to ambush the black-clad person while he attacked with the Human Emperor Cauldron and the Chaos Bell.
• The black-clad person blocked the cauldron twice and summoned his Black Lotus, which clashed with Li Dingguo's Twelve-Grade Karmic Fire Red Lotus and sent it flying.
• Li Dingguo's Human Emperor Cauldron captured the black-clad person, and he ordered the Great Golden Eagle to stop the Black Lotus from attacking or escaping.

Li Dingguo killed Prince Dai’s heir in his divine artifact cauldron, then subdued and purified the heir’s black lotus platform. After the Demon Beasts withdrew, Li Dingguo began establishing protected formations on the three Lake Heart Islands as a future Revival Army base at the source of the Wuding River.

• Li Dingguo ignored Prince Dai’s heir’s threats and refined him to nothing in the Human Emperor Cauldron.
• The black lotus platform fell when its master died, and Li Dingguo collected it in the cauldron and burned away its negative auras.
• Li Dingguo decided to give the black lotus platform to Xiangzi and assign two other artifacts to Red Plum and Little Stone.
• The Demon Beasts at the Wuding River’s source returned to normal and withdrew under the Great Golden Eagle’s intimidation.
• Li Dingguo chose the three Lake Heart Islands as a Revival Army base and began surveying them and setting up protective formations.

Li Dingguo heard that preparations for the Wuding River campaign were underway, then gave Cao Yongxiang and Red Plum divine artifacts to refine as their Natal Divine Artifacts. Their new artifacts greatly strengthened their prospects, though each remained limited by their current cultivation.

• Red Plum reported that troops, craftsmen, and military departments were being sent to develop and secure the three Lake Heart Islands near the Wuding River's source.
• Li Dingguo told Cao Yongxiang and Red Plum that he had defeated two groups of enemies and obtained two divine artifacts.
• Li Dingguo gave Cao Yongxiang the purified Twelve-Grade Destructive Black Lotus, which Cao Yongxiang refined as his Natal Divine Artifact.
• Cao Yongxiang learned that the black lotus offered powerful defenses and spiritual abilities, and that it could unseal by absorbing Heaven and Earth Killing Intent or cultivators' Essence, Qi, and Spirit.
• Li Dingguo gave Red Plum the mysterious stone, and she refined it as her Natal Divine Artifact, the Earth Emperor Stone.
• Red Plum learned that the Earth Emperor Stone was an extremely yin spatial artifact that could store space and strike enemies, but its use drained her divine sense.

Li Dingguo rewarded Revival Army leaders, inspected Lake Heart Island’s growth, and refined rare pills while preparations continued for the campaign beyond the Wuding River. The chapter ended with Wei Jinfan receiving urgent news that tens of thousands of green wolf Demon Beasts were moving toward the Great Salt Lake.

• Red Plum and Cao Yongxiang departed with the campaign plan, with Red Plum assigned to secure the Wuding River’s source and Cao Yongxiang appointed an expeditionary commander.
• Li Dingguo found that Little Gold Dragon and his Dragon Scale Horses had grown stronger amid Lake Heart Island’s miraculous transformation.
• Li Dingguo harvested mature medicinal herbs, refined Marrow Cleansing Pills and Level 3 Peak Grade Spirit Nourishing Pills, and sent them to Red Plum as rewards for Revival Army leaders.
• Wei Jinfan learned from He Guang that Green Wolf Mountain’s green wolf Demon Beasts had suddenly begun racing west toward the Great Salt Lake.
• Wei Jinfan and He Guang hurried to inform Red Plum and arrange preparations to protect the saltworks.

Red Plum learned of the powerful Green Wolf tribe threatening the Great Salt Lake and ordered the Revival Army to prepare a northern expedition. Meanwhile, Huang Chengyong revealed that the Wang Family had planted Demon Luring Grass to draw demon beasts against the Revival Army’s salt fields, leaving the sabotage plot close to unfolding.

• Wei Jinfan and He Guang received rare pills from Red Plum, then reported Lu Yanni’s intelligence about the Green Wolf tribe and its Fifth-Tier Peak king.
• Red Plum dismissed their fears, citing the Revival Army’s strength, and ordered troops to prepare for a northern expedition while Cao Yongxiang’s forces secured the Great Salt Lake.
• Red Plum summoned Little Gold and flew toward Lake Heart Island as the Great Golden Eagle neared a breakthrough.
• A disguised merchant caravan rested east of the Great Salt Lake, where its shopkeeper warned Huang Chengyong not to neglect their plan to destroy the Revival Army’s salt fields.
• Huang Chengyong revealed that he had secretly planted five Demon Luring Grass plants near the salt fields to attract demon beasts and crush the Revival Army’s operations.

Li Dingguo discovered that someone had triggered a Beast Tide by using Demon Luring Grass to target the Revival Army’s salt fields and the tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians at the Great Salt Lake. After killing a suspicious merchant caravan and learning who was responsible, he set out to remove the plants before the demon beasts arrived.

• Li Dingguo flew to the Great Salt Lake on the Great Golden Eagle and found that Qi Refining Realm demon beasts within thirty thousand li were rushing toward it while Body Tempering Realm beasts remained unaffected.
• Li Dingguo spotted a suspicious merchant caravan of thirty-seven Martial Artists and ordered the Great Golden Eagle to attack, leaving two prisoners alive.
• Li Dingguo killed the caravan members with his bell chimes, the Great Golden Eagle, and the Human Emperor Cauldron, then captured and tortured two survivors for information.
• Li Dingguo learned that Great Jin Merchants had planted five Demon Luring Grass plants to trigger a Beast Tide against the Revival Army’s five salt fields and its people.
• Li Dingguo headed to the five salt fields to remove the Demon Luring Grass and stop the approaching Beast Tide.

Li Dingguo collected five century-old Demon Luring Grass plants and used their aura to lure the eastern Mongolian Demon Beast groups toward a chosen battlefield. After four days, he reunited with the Revival Army’s northbound force and prepared to report the danger pursuing him.

• Li Dingguo sent Big Gold to locate five Demon Luring Grass plants, then carefully excavated them and stored them in his Human Emperor Cauldron.
• Li Dingguo flew three thousand li south from the Great Salt Lake and exposed the Demon Luring Grass’s aura to draw the Demon Beast groups toward the planned battlefield.
• Li Dingguo planned to use the Revival Army’s artillery and a top-grade Tier Three defensive formation to face the Demon Beasts near his troops.
• Four days later, Big Gold found the Revival Army’s northbound force, where Li Dingguo reunited with Red Plum and the generals.
• Li Dingguo revealed that more than thirty Level Five Demon Beasts, including powerful demon birds, were pursuing Big Gold.

Li Dingguo prepared the Revival Army to face the Beast Tide by choosing a broad battlefield and protecting the troops with a grand array. As enemy groups approached, the army readied its artillery for a defensive battle against the incoming Qi Refining Realm Demon Beasts.

• Li Dingguo told the commanders that they should focus on killing attacking Qi Refining Realm and some Third-Level Demon Beasts while sparing low-level beasts where possible.
• Li Dingguo ordered the army to march to a nearby plain and went ahead with the Great Golden Eagle to build a protective array.
• Li Dingguo completed the Minor Five Elements Heaven Concealing Array, and nearly one hundred thousand soldiers arrived and formed their battle lines within it.
• Li Dingguo activated the array’s protection, which allowed the Revival Army to attack outward while blocking attacks from outside.
• He Guang reported that three Demon Beast groups totaling more than thirty thousand beasts, including over a hundred Qi Refining Realm beasts, would arrive within fifteen minutes.
• The Revival Army’s four land-based Firearm Battalions loaded their Spirit Energy Cannons and Spirit Crossbow Carts as the battle approached.

The Revival Army’s Firearm Battalions used a coordinated cannon and crossbow barrage to crush the first wave of attacking Demon Beasts. The survivors fled, and He Guang and Wei Jinfan went to scout the next wave as Li Dingguo’s growing influence continued to alter established history.

• Three-Colored Striped Ground Thrushes, Ironclad Ants, and Blue-tailed Scorpions advanced on the Revival Army, led by powerful Demon Beasts.
• The Firearm Battalion commanders ordered their troops to focus fire on the Qi Refining Realm enemies as the swarms entered range.
• The Spirit Energy Cannons and Spirit Crossbow Carts killed nearly one hundred Fourth-Level Demon Beasts and battered nearly ten Level Five Demon Kings; the remaining beasts fled.
• The commanders ordered logistics soldiers to recover Demon Beast corpses and artifact crossbow bolts from the battlefield.
• He Guang and Wei Jinfan rode Big Black Eagles north to scout the next attacking wave.
• Li Dingguo’s actions had already caused major historical divergences, including Geng Zhongming and Geng Jingzhong’s defection and Huang Taiji’s formation of the Han Army Eight Banners Firearm Battalion.

Li Dingguo prepared the Revival Army for what he intended to be the final battle of its campaign against the Demon Beasts, but the Green Wolf King revealed a powerful inherited military killing formation. The chapter left the Revival Army scrambling to form its own formations as the Green Wolves struck their defensive array.

• Wei Jinfan and He Guang reported that four Demon Beast groups totaling more than fifty thousand beasts were approaching, and Li Dingguo ordered the army to make this its final battle before ending the campaign.
• The incoming Winged Snakes, Brocade Rats, Five-Colored Deer, and Green Wolves arrived, with all four groups led by Fifth-Tier Peak Demon Kings.
• The Green Wolf King retained enough reason to form the Howling Moon Heavenly Wolf Formation, which summoned a colossal Heavenly Wolf and threatened to overwhelm the Revival Army's defenses.
• Li Dingguo ordered the four main combat legions to form three Seven Star Eight Trigram Formations and directed the Firearm Battalions to target the Qi Refining Realm Demon Beasts in the other three groups.
• The Green Wolf formation struck the Guardian Array Formation, making its barrier flicker as Li Dingguo's troops prepared to counterattack.