Chapter Summaries

Red Plum met Li Dingguo and Wan'er in Mayi City, where they discussed new divine artifacts, New Year preparations, and the Revival Army’s campaign against the Great Ming Dynasty. Meanwhile, Cao Bianjiao and You Shilù continued their joint conquest of the Tumed tribes, destroying a major settlement and capturing hundreds of thousands of warhorses.

• Red Plum declined to pursue Cao Wenzhao after his escape, noting that the Revival Army’s current campaign plan did not include the lands east of the Sanggan and Fen Rivers.
• Li Dingguo and Wan'er arrived in Mayi City and told Red Plum they would return to Lake Heart Island for the New Year, where she could refine a set of Innate Divine Artifact pearls as her second Natal Divine Artifact.
• Red Plum, Li Dingguo, and Wan'er discussed the Revival Army’s expansion and its plans to sever the Grand Canal, then issued military orders for New Year defenses before heading back to the main base.
• Cao Bianjiao and You Shilù led their legions in a surprise assault that destroyed the Baiyinha tribe, the largest Tumed settlement, and seized more than three hundred thousand Spirit Beast Warhorses.
• Cao Bianjiao celebrated the joint campaign’s success and the territory his Taotie Legion had helped conquer across the northern grasslands.

Cao Bianjiao and Cao Yongxiang received orders to return to Lake Heart Island for New Year after their legions secured major victories and prepared to pause their campaigns. At the main camp, Li Dingguo, Wan'er, and Red Plum celebrated their breakthroughs and tested Red Plum’s new divine artifact while gathering food for the feast.

• Cao Bianjiao left Liu Zhiqing in charge of the Taotie Legion through the Lantern Festival and set off for the main camp.
• Cao Yongxiang ordered Hou Dewen to clear and secure Chaoyi City after the Azure Dragon Legion captured it, leaving the Revival Army in control of Qin Territory east of the Luo River.
• Chang Liyun invited Cao Yongxiang back to Lake Heart Island and reported that Li Dingguo, Wan'er, and Red Plum had advanced to the Sixth-Tier Middle Stage.
• Cao Yongxiang handed military affairs to Hou Dewen and returned north with Chang Liyun for the New Year.
• Red Plum used her Sea Stabilizing Divine Pearls to trap and kill a Fourth-Tier Peak giant black fish while Wan'er and Li Dingguo watched.
• Li Dingguo, Wan'er, and Red Plum flew off to hunt more Demon Beasts for their New Year's Eve feast.

After escaping the government army’s encirclement, Gao Yingxiang and the other Rebel Army leaders debated where to lead their remaining forces as soldiers and civilians flocked to Li Dingguo’s Revival Army. They chose to march south into Huguang, beginning a major upheaval whose outcome remained uncertain.

• Li Zicheng reported that Gao Yingxiang’s alliance had crossed the Dalu Marsh and reached the Central Plains, while the alliance’s forces had dwindled to about three hundred thousand soldiers.
• Gao Yingxiang invited Luo Rucai, Zhang Xianzhong, and other leaders aboard to discuss their next move as Lu Xiangcheng’s forces pursued them.
• Luo Rucai warned that the Revival Army’s expansion made the Central Plains and eastern regions dangerous, and recommended heading south into Huguang or Hanzhong.
• Zhang Xianzhong warned that Hong Chengchou and Qin Liangyu could trap the alliance in Hanzhong, while Li Zicheng argued that Huguang offered resources and room to grow.
• Gao Yingxiang decided to lead the alliance south into Huguang, and the three hundred thousand soldiers began advancing by land and water.

Cao Bianjiao and Cao Yongxiang broke through to the Sixth-Tier Realm, and the Revival Army’s leaders celebrated their growing strength while refining plans for the year. After learning that Huang Taiji was preparing to establish a state and might possess a hidden trump card, Li Dingguo and his allies remained confident and prepared to meet a Later Jin invasion.

• Cao Bianjiao broke through to the Sixth-Tier Middle Stage, and Cao Yongxiang advanced to the Sixth-Tier Early Stage, becoming the Revival Army’s fifth Sixth-Tier expert.
• Li Dingguo celebrated the breakthroughs with his allies using acquired mid-grade spirit peach wine, while the group discussed the benefits of the Five-Colored Divine Tree and Three Light Divine Water.
• Red Plum said the Revival Army should limit its expansion to the Qin Territory and Qi-Lu Land, while Wei Jinfan warned that Huang Taiji might attack with a force of five million and a powerful hidden trump card.
• Li Dingguo dismissed the threat, confident in the Revival Army’s strength and the sleeping Little Gold Dragon’s power.
• Wan'er vowed to crush Huang Taiji if he invaded again, and Cao Bianjiao volunteered to lead the vanguard.

Li Dingguo finalized the Revival Army’s plans for a swift campaign in Shandong while preparing to face the Tartars later in the year. In Shengjing, Huang Taiji prepared to found the Great Qing without a true Nation-Suppressing Artifact, then resolved to invade Goguryeo after it refused to attend the ceremony.

• Li Dingguo decided that he and Wan'er would go to Qi-Lu Land after the New Year to secure the campaign, while the Taotie and Pixiu Legions continued fighting across the northern grasslands.
• Huang Taiji announced that he would use the Mysterious Primordial Water Control Banner to bear the Great Qing’s national fortune until he found a genuine Destiny Artifact.
• Ao Bai reported that the Black Flood Dragon King would attend the founding ceremony and guard Hidden Dragon Pool, while Yanguli reported that Wukeshan would attend but Hasan and Hailanzhu would not.
• Sunahai reported that Goguryeo had refused to send envoys to the ceremony, and Huang Taiji ordered an invasion after the Great Qing was founded to seize supplies for a future war against Li Dingguo.
• Manggūltai and other banner lords competed to lead the campaign against Goguryeo.

Huang Taiji founded the Great Qing Dynasty after its destiny black dragon survived the heavenly tribulation, then prepared to invade Goguryeo while planning a war against Li Dingguo. After learning that nine Sixth-Tier black flood dragons had joined Great Qing, Li Dingguo remained confident that the Revival Army could defeat them with its hidden countermeasure.

• Huang Taiji founded the Great Qing Dynasty after the Mysterious Primordial Water Control Banner helped the destiny black dragon endure all nine waves of heavenly tribulation.
• Huang Taiji bestowed titles on his court and the nine black flood dragons, whose appearance subdued the invited Mongol tribal leaders.
• The Black Flood Dragon King promised to help Huang Taiji defeat Li Dingguo in exchange for spirit wine and hoped to seize Li Dingguo's Divine Artifacts.
• Huang Taiji assigned Hooge, Amin, and Manggūltai to raid Goguryeo while declaring that defeating Li Dingguo and the Revival Army was the priority.
• Li Dingguo and Wan'er learned that Great Qing had allied with nine Sixth-Tier black flood dragons, and Li Dingguo declared that the Revival Army could still overcome them.

Hong Chengchou decided to evacuate Chang'an and preserve his army as the Revival Army swept through southern Qin Territory. In Jin Province, Sun Chuanting and Lu Xiangcheng planned to strengthen their forces by raiding Tatar tribes and forcibly requisitioning supplies.

• Hong Chengchou learned that Huang Taiji had founded a nation and that the Revival Army was advancing through southern Qin Territory with six powerful legions.
• Hong Yuanfeng urged Hong Chengchou to abandon southern Qin Territory, and Hong Chengchou ordered the Hong family and soldiers’ dependents to withdraw secretly to Hanzhong while the army prepared to follow.
• Hong Chengchou instructed Hong Yuanfeng to preserve the personal guard army and extract money and supplies from local clans and merchants before leaving.
• Lu Xiangcheng learned that Huang Taiji had founded a nation and raged, while Sun Chuanting urged him to focus on strengthening their forces and holding their territory.
• Sun Chuanting assigned Lu Xiangcheng to lead the Heavenly Might Army beyond the pass to seize Spirit Beast Warhorses, while he prepared to requisition money, grain, and Treasure Ships from the wealthy.
• Lu Xiangcheng agreed to Sun Chuanting’s plan to raid the Tatar tribes and compel the wealthy of Jin Province and the Xuan-Da region to support their armies.

Li Dingguo and Wan'er led the Revival Army in capturing Qingzhou Prefecture City and attacking Prince of Heng's Mansion. After Li Dingguo killed Prince of Heng and his forces with the Mysterious Yellow Chaos Bell, he absorbed the prince's True Dragon Fortune and saw his own fortune rise to flood-dragon rank.

• Li Dingguo ordered the Revival Army to kill Prince of Heng's family, while Wan'er prepared to lead the assault on Qingzhou Prefecture City.
• Wan'er directed the fleet's Spirit Energy Cannons to shatter the city's City Protection Array, then led two hundred thousand soldiers in a Military Killing Formation that routed the defenders.
• Li Dingguo flew to Prince of Heng's Mansion on Big Gold as Zhu Youyou and Li Shiyuan tried to flee the city.
• Li Dingguo used the Mysterious Yellow Chaos Bell to kill the mansion's Martial Artists after overcoming Zhu Youlang's True Dragon Fortune.
• A vortex devoured Zhu Youlang's shattered fortune, and Li Dingguo's Army Breaker Star Destiny rose in rank and took the form of a flood dragon.

More than a year after the Revival Army’s campaigns began, Li Dingguo examined his upgraded Cheat System panel and assessed the fall of Qingzhou Prefecture City. He ordered the Eastern Army to advance quickly and prepare a surprise long-distance raid on the Qufu Kong Family before the enemy could escape or prepare.

• Li Dingguo checked his panel, saw his Star Destiny had become Latent Dragon Emerging from the Abyss, and decided to conserve Fortune Value rather than force his skills into divine abilities.
• Wan'er and the Revival Army defeated Qingzhou Prefecture City’s defenders, after which the soldiers purged criminal forces and the administration began rebuilding and renovating the city.
• Little Stone praised Prince of Heng's Mansion, and Li Dingguo ordered its historic buildings preserved as cultural treasures.
• Big Green delivered a report from Liang Liping’s Southern Route Army, which had captured Mengyin City and was advancing toward Zijin Pass.
• Worried the Southern Army’s progress might warn Yanzhou, Li Dingguo ordered the Eastern Army to march toward Linqu City and prepare a rapid river-supported raid on Qufu City.

Qin Liangyu broke through to the Sixth-Tier Realm at Dafeng Fortress, but an emergency letter from Hong Chengchou revealed that Li Dingguo’s Revival Army had seized Chang’an and was rapidly expanding across Qin Territory and beyond. Qin Liangyu was left alarmed by the threat to the Great Ming Dynasty and warned that rebel forces might enter Shu through Kuizhou.

• Qin Liangyu’s Qiankun Ring stabilized her cultivation, allowing her to absorb enough spiritual energy to break through to the Sixth-Tier Realm.
• Ma Xianglin and Qin Yiming congratulated Qin Liangyu after she stabilized her new cultivation, and she advised them to seek a large Spirit Land if they ever attempted the same breakthrough.
• Zhang Fengyi arrived with an urgent secret letter from Hong Chengchou and delivered it to Qin Liangyu.
• Qin Liangyu read that Red Plum’s forces had captured Chang’an after defeating Hong Chengchou, leaving Qin Territory close to falling to the Revival Army.
• Qin Liangyu learned that rebel forces led by Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng, Luo Rucai, and Zhang Xianzhong might enter Shu through Kuizhou, and she lamented the Great Ming Dynasty’s peril.

After capturing Chang'an, Red Plum ordered the city secured while Hong Chengchou escaped toward Hanzhong under the Revival Army’s surveillance. He allied with Qin Liangyu, whose breakthrough to the Sixth Tier complicated his plans, but remained determined to build his power in Hanzhong and challenge the Revival Army later.

• Red Plum refused Tang Guangqiang’s request to pursue Hong Chengchou, sent Little Gold to track him, ordered Chang’an cleared, and assigned troops to capture towns across Xi’an Prefecture.
• Red Plum reflected on Li Dingguo’s campaign against the Kong family in Qufu before returning to oversee Chang’an’s occupation and reconstruction.
• Hong Chengchou told Hong Yuanfeng that the Great Golden Eagle’s surveillance suited his plan to retreat into Hanzhong and gain time to develop his army.
• Hong Chengchou received Qin Liangyu’s letter agreeing to an alliance and learned she had become a Sixth-Tier Expert, then resolved to reach the same realm and seize Prince Rui Zhu Changhao’s wealth.
• Hong Chengchou ordered Hong Yuanfeng to lead the fleet toward Hanzhong, where Hong Chengchou planned to establish his base and expand his power.

The Kong family discovered that Li Dingguo might be the fated master of Confucius’s unresting Divine Pen and prepared to assassinate him. Li Dingguo and Wan'er instead stormed Qufu, trapping the family leaders behind their clan array as the Mysterious Yellow Chaos Bell slaughtered the Kong family’s forces.

• Kong Yinzhi suppressed the Divine Pen’s latest riot and feared that its fated master was approaching the Kong family.
• Kong Shangjin suspected that Li Dingguo was the Divine Pen’s fated master, and Kong Yinzhi ordered the Blood-clothed Guards to prepare an assassination.
• Kong Zhenyun reported that Li Dingguo and Wan'er had breached Qufu’s City Protection Array with two hundred thousand Revival Army troops.
• Li Dingguo and Wan'er attacked the Kong family’s stone forest, and Kong Yinzhi activated the Clan Suppressing Grand Array to protect its leaders.
• Wan'er struck the array with the Overturning Heaven Seal while Li Dingguo unleashed the Mysterious Yellow Chaos Bell, killing Kong family fighters across the mansion.

Li Dingguo and Wan'er broke the Kong Lineage's Clan Suppressing Grand Array, killed its remaining defenders, and seized two inherited Divine Artifacts. After discovering the Divine Pen was the Human Emperor Brush and finding a Small World Bead, they prepared to add it to Wan'er's Hundred Herbs Chart.

• Wan'er and the two Great Golden Eagles attacked the Kong Lineage's Guardian Great Array while Li Dingguo slaughtered the clansmen outside it.
• The Human Emperor Cauldron awakened, shattered the array, and drew in the Human Emperor Brush and Scripture of Vast Righteousness.
• Wan'er used the Overturning Heaven Seal to kill the Kong Lineage's remaining experts and burned away their remains.
• Li Dingguo purified the two Divine Artifacts and learned that the brush belonged to the same set as the Human Emperor Cauldron.
• Li Dingguo and Wan'er found a Small World Bead in the stone forest, and Wan'er began trying to fuse it with the Hundred Herbs Chart.

Wan'er absorbed the Small World Bead into the Hundred Herbs Chart, upgrading it into an Innate Supreme Divine Artifact and revealing the Kong Family's vast inner world and treasures. After surveying its spirit roots and wealth, Li Dingguo and Wan'er returned to Qufu to deal with the aftermath and check on the fighting.

• Wan'er used the Hundred Herbs Chart to absorb the damaged Small World Bead, and the artifact upgraded after discovering an Innate Supreme Spirit Root inside.
• Wan'er brought Li Dingguo into the chart's newly formed small world, where she showed him the Innate Supreme Wind-Thunder Ginkgo Tree and explained its fruit could grant perfected Innate Divine Abilities.
• Li Dingguo and Wan'er explored the small world, learned it spanned three thousand six hundred li, and found the Kong Family had stored immense wealth and rare spiritual plants there.
• Wan'er decided to water the Emerald Jade Litchi Tree with Three Light Divine Water so its fruit would ripen in half a year.
• Li Dingguo warned that the Kong Family's destruction would provoke scholars and retaliation, then he and Wan'er returned to the Kong Family residence.
• Li Dingguo ordered the two Great Golden Eagles to carry them toward the remaining fighting so they could patrol for formidable enemies.

Yan Jizu and Prince De Zhu Youshu learned that the Kong family had been exterminated and that the Revival Army was advancing toward Jinan, forcing the Yan family to organize a defense. Li Dingguo and Wan'er joined Liang Liping’s fleet and prepared to attack Jinan, where the Yan family had gathered a vast force and strengthened the city’s defenses.

• Zhu Citai reported that Li Dingguo had exterminated the Kong family in Qufu, terrifying Zhu Youshu and Yan Jizu.
• Zhu Citai urged Yan Jizu to mobilize Jinan’s aristocratic clans and families to resist the approaching Revival Army, while Zhu Youshu promised his son would assist with the defenses.
• Yan Jizu agreed to organize the defense and demanded that Prince De’s Estate contribute to the alliance before leaving to mobilize the Yan family.
• Li Dingguo and Wan'er arrived aboard Liang Liping’s fleet after leaving the campaign in Yanzhou to Little Stone and He Lijing.
• Liang Liping reported that the Yan family had gathered roughly 1.5 million Martial Artists, summoned nine Fifth Level Qi Refining Realm experts, and fortified Jinan with a mysterious Guardian Great Array.
• Wan'er and Li Dingguo dismissed the defenders’ advantage and prepared to break through Jinan’s defenses with the fleet and their armies.

As Jinan prepared for the Revival Army, the Yan Family revealed its powerful Primordial Chaos Golden Cauldron and relied on its guardian array to defend the city. Yan Jingzhi feared Li Dingguo could overcome the array, so the family prepared escape routes for its descendants while awaiting the attack.

• Ni Chong praised the Yan Family's guardian array, and Yan Jizu warned Zhu Citai that Prince De's Estate needed to send its remaining soldiers and supplies to defend Jinan.
• Yan Jingzhi's clan head, Yan Changsheng, explained that the Primordial Chaos Golden Cauldron powered the Nine Bends Yellow River Array, but Yan Jingzhi cautioned that Li Dingguo's Mysterious Yellow Chaos Bell might rival it.
• Yan Jingzhi worried that Li Dingguo could break the array and destroy the Yan Family, while lamenting that his declining vitality prevented him from advancing to the Sixth Tier.
• Yan Changsheng told Yan Jingzhi that core descendants had already been moved to safety outside the city and into the Li Mountain secret realm.
• Yan Jingzhi ordered Yan Changsheng to summon Yan Jizu so he could give him instructions for the coming defense.

Li Dingguo led the Revival Army fleet to attack Jinan Prefecture City, whose defenses were strengthened by the Yan Lineage’s mysterious Innate Great Array. As the fleet battered the outer City Protection Array, Yan Jizu revealed that the Yan Lineage planned to lure Li Dingguo and the army inside and trap them.

• Li Dingguo positioned the fleet beyond the range of Jinan Prefecture City’s cannons and ordered a concentrated bombardment of its City Protection Array.
• Li Dingguo and Wan'er recognized that the array surrounding the city carried the aura of an Innate Great Array and discussed taking its divine artifact for Red Plum.
• The Revival Army fleet fired repeated barrages, but the Yan Lineage’s Grand Array supplied the City Protection Array with enough energy to withstand the attacks.
• Ni Chong warned Yan Jizu that the enemy’s fire was dimming the city’s defenses, and Yan Jizu told him not to panic.
• Yan Jizu explained that the Yan Lineage planned to disguise its Grand Array as broken and lure Li Dingguo and the Revival Army inside to trap and kill them.

Li Dingguo and Wan'er recognized that the Yan family was weakening its Guardian Great Array to lure the Revival Army into Jinan Prefecture City, so they chose to attack from outside instead. When the Yan family withdrew the array, the Revival Army kept firing and unleashed long-range Killing Formation attacks, devastating the defenders.

• After the Revival Army's Spirit Energy Cannons broke the city's outer array, Wan'er ordered continued bombardment of the Yan family's Clan Suppressing Grand Array.
• Li Dingguo suspected the Yan family was feigning weakness to trap an invading army, and Wan'er agreed that they should attack from outside the city.
• Yan Changsheng and Yan Jingzhi ordered the nine formation masters to withdraw their power from the Primordial Chaos Golden Cauldron while remaining ready to reactivate its array.
• The Yan family's Guardian Great Array collapsed, but the Revival Army continued firing its cannons at the city-wall defenders.
• Li Dingguo and Wan'er formed a Mysterious Yellow Great Bell and a white tiger with their forces and launched long-range attacks that killed tens of thousands of defenders.
• Ni Chong ordered the defenders to activate their military formations, but the bombardment and Killing Formation attacks threw them into chaos and caused them to flee.

After Qingzhou Prefecture City’s Guardian Great Array fell, Li Dingguo’s forces kept their distance and prevented the Yan family from redeploying its Clan Suppressing Grand Array. Yan Jingzhi led the family in a desperate flight, but Li Dingguo caught up near the southern gate, seized the Primordial Chaos Golden Cauldron, and shattered the Yan family’s military formation.

• Great Gold and Big Fierce ambushed the Yan family’s Fifth-Tier Masters, killing Yan Jingzhi’s sons Shan'er and Chuan'er before the family formed a military formation around the Primordial Chaos Golden Cauldron.
• Yan Jizu warned Yan Jingzhi that Li Dingguo had seen through their trap and was attacking from outside the city, leaving the Yan family unable to redeploy its Clan Suppressing Grand Array.
• Yan Jingzhi ordered the Yan family to flee toward the southern gate in an azure-bird military formation, while Great Gold and Big Fierce pursued them.
• After Big Fierce reported that the array could not be activated, Li Dingguo led his troops into Jinan Prefecture City and chased the Yan family with the Mysterious Yellow Chaos Bell.
• Near the southern gate, Li Dingguo knocked away the Primordial Chaos Golden Cauldron and captured it inside the Human Emperor Cauldron, then destroyed the Yan family’s military formation, killing most of its soldiers.

Li Dingguo annihilated the Yan family’s forces and Prince De Zhu Youshu’s faction in Jinan, absorbing Zhu Youshu’s True Dragon Fortune as the Revival Army finished its cleanup of the city. In Yuegang, Zheng Zhilong and his brothers received appointments to govern Shandong and debated the court’s plan to send the Zheng Family Army north against Li Dingguo.

• Li Dingguo used the Mysterious Yellow Chaos Bell to kill the surviving Yan family masters and ordered his troops to sweep Jinan Prefecture City.
• Li Dingguo slaughtered Prince De Zhu Youshu’s guards and family, then killed Zhu Youshu and absorbed his True Dragon Fortune.
• Wan’er and Liang Liping’s forces pursued the defeated defenders while two Great Golden Eagles hunted enemy cultivators; the Revival Army completed its cleanup of Jinan after a day and night.
• Zheng Zhilong, Zheng Zhihu, and Zheng Zhibao received imperial appointments as Shandong General Soldier, Denglai General Soldier, and Denglai Naval Commander, respectively.
• Zheng Zhilong warned that the court intended the Zheng Family Army to confront Li Dingguo’s forces, while his brothers argued that their army and Jiangnan support could secure Shandong.