Chapter Summaries

The Blood Sea Devil Master ambushed Ying Province Governor Xie Benqing’s inspection fleet by raising a projection of the Demon Realm Underworld. Xie Benqing and the East Sea King wounded him, but the Devil Master called for Fuyouzi to intervene as the clash continued.

• An immense shadow of the Demon Realm Underworld rose beneath Governor Xie’s fleet, and Xie Benqing summoned the Human Way Heavenly Court projection to suppress it.
• Demonic cultivators fed souls, blood, and corpses into the Underworld projection, allowing it to recover and spread against the fleet and the Heavenly Court.
• The Blood Sea Devil Master appeared and revealed that he had recovered by reuniting his Blood God Sons during the decades-long war in the East Sea.
• Xie Benqing fought the Blood Sea Devil Master while a concealed Nascent Soul True Lord struck from the warship, revealing himself as the East Sea King and gravely injuring the Devil Master.
• The Blood Sea Devil Master recognized the East Sea King as an imperial-clan True Lord and called on Fuyouzi to act, threatening to flee otherwise.

Liang Zhaohuang watched the aftermath of an ambush on Provincial Governor Xie and learned that Xie’s forces had won, though at great cost. After Xie’s inspection tour brought Ying Province back to calm, the province and the Xie Family had initially secured their positions.

• Liang Zhaohuang saw the Human Way Heavenly Court’s golden power destroy the Demon Realm Underworld and Cloud Firmament Heavenly Palace projections, and concluded that Governor Xie had won the battle.
• Liang Zhaohuang observed the damaged inspection fleet salvage bodies and treat the wounded before joining Golden Sand Commandery’s fleet and continuing the tour.
• Governor Xie ordered a province-wide investigation into demonic cultivators and Eight Directions Pavilion remnants, but the search produced few results as Ying Province returned to peace.
• Liang Zhaohuang and New Sea Commandery’s leaders received Governor Xie, who stayed for half a month without conducting inspections or summoning local officials.
• Liang Zhaohuang realized Governor Xie was likely recovering from serious injuries, then assessed that the inspection tour had stabilized Ying Province and strengthened the Xie Family’s position.

Eight years of peace and development strengthened Ying Province, New Sea Commandery, and the Liang Family, while Liang Zhaohuang watched his family’s descendants and cultivators advance. The chapter ended when he sensed a Golden Core breakthrough in Song City and realized the Cloud-Riding Wave Song Family had produced New Sea Commandery’s first Golden Core cultivator.

• Ying Province and New Sea Commandery prospered during eight years of stability, while Wenxiu traveled through counties to open Spirit Cauldron Secret Realms and assess local clans.
• Liang Zhaohuang oversaw the Liang Family’s rapid growth, including five new Foundation Establishment cultivators and the establishment of East Sea trade routes led by Liu of the Liang Family.
• Liang Zhaojun and Liang Zhaoyu reached Essence Gate Completion and prepared to pursue Golden Core, while Liang Ruiqin continued researching a high-grade Golden Core.
• Liang Ruijian advanced to Foundation Establishment Late Stage and Spirit Gate Completion, then turned toward artifact forging and cultivating his temperament.
• Liang Zhaohuang studied the Five Elements Heavenly Scripture to improve the Five Qi Lotus Scripture and incorporate the Five Spirit Heavenly Domain.
• Liang Zhaohuang sensed a water-element spiritual-qi vortex above Song City and recognized that someone from the Cloud-Riding Wave Song Family was breaking through to the Golden Core stage.

Liang Zhaohuang attended Song Weizhang’s Golden Core Banquet and discovered that Song Shihao had gathered influential clans and cultivators from across several provinces and the East Sea. Xin Ruyu warned him that her promise to help him join the Hundred Treasures Pavilion might change because of the Song Family, and Liang Zhaohuang resolved to defeat Song Shihao in the coming contest for the New Sea Pavilion Master position; the banquet then began.

• Song Weizhang’s Golden Core breakthrough prompted the Song Family to invite the Liang Family to a banquet three months later.
• Liang Zhaohuang brought Liang Zhaojun, Liang Ruiqin, and Liang Ruijian to the Song Family’s satellite city, where Song Shihao welcomed them among a large gathering of commandery governors and noble clans.
• Zhao Danyang pointed out that guests had come from several provinces and East Sea islands, while Liang Zhaohuang noticed Hundred Treasures Pavilion masters Xin Ruyu and Hong Shanyi among them.
• Xin Ruyu told Liang Zhaohuang that the Song Family’s ties to the Hundred Treasures Pavilion might affect her promise to help him join it, and she arranged to discuss the matter after the banquet.
• Liang Zhaohuang concluded that the Pavilion Master position was the Liang and Song families’ next contest and resolved to suppress Song Shihao’s family.
• Song Shihao welcomed Liu Xuanyu of the Changfeng Liu Clan and Xie Wenyun of the Orchid and Jade Xie Family, then declared the Golden Core Banquet open.

Liang Zhaohuang learned that the Hundred Treasures Pavilion Alliance would choose between him and Song Shihao to lead its New Sea Commandery pavilion, with each candidate needing an alliance-recognized treasure. He discovered that Song Shihao’s Three Lights Spirit Water had won broad support, leaving Liang to consider how his family could compete.

• Xin Ruyu told Liang Zhaohuang that the alliance had nominated Song Shihao and Liang for a trial to decide the New Sea Commandery pavilion master.
• Xin Ruyu explained that candidates needed a useful, renewable treasure recognized by most alliance members, and described her family’s Spirit Cloud Embroidery and Hong Shanyi’s fortune-divining service.
• Liang Zhaohuang learned that established clans had long mastered conventional crafts, making it difficult for the newly risen Liang Family to distinguish itself through pills, artifacts, formations, or talismans.
• Xin Ruyu revealed that Song Shihao had gained support with Three Lights Spirit Water, which nourished cultivators and could improve their aptitude.
• Liang Zhaohuang was astonished to hear that abundant Three Lights Spirit Water was rumored to cultivate an acquired Dao body.

Liang Zhaohuang learned that the Song Family’s Three Lights Spirit Water gave them an edge in the Hundred Treasures Pavilion contest, and he sought other ways for the Liang Family to qualify. Xin Ruyu and Hong Shanyi gave him the Thousand Treasures Record and proposed rebuilding East Sea trade routes; the chapter left him studying the alliance’s demanding procurement list.

• Liang Zhaohuang concluded that he could not expose the Liang Family’s spirit tree or secret realm, and he worried that the Song Family would win the contest.
• Xin Ruyu gave Liang Zhaohuang the Thousand Treasures Record, and Hong Shanyi explained the Hundred Treasures Pavilion alliance’s ambition to collect the treasures it listed.
• Hong Shanyi proposed that the Liang Family open East Sea trade routes to help replace those lost with Eight Directions Pavilion, offering a path toward joining the alliance.
• Liang Zhaohuang agreed to pursue both rare treasures and East Sea trade routes, then told Xin Ruyu and Hong Shanyi that his family had established routes to Five Elements Island and Seven Stars Island.
• Xin Ruyu and Hong Shanyi gave Liang Zhaohuang their East Sea procurement list, and he recognized that its first entries included difficult-to-obtain treasures such as Five Elements Essence.

Liang Zhaohuang studied the Hundred Treasures Pavilion’s Thousand Treasures Record to learn about East Sea trade goods and rare treasures. He found possible cultivation paths for the Liang Family’s Five Elements Creation Lotuses and identified the azure wood in the Medicine Garden Palace as an immature Azure Dragon Wood, leaving him considering how to obtain a method to cultivate it.

• Xin Ruyu and Hong Shanyi left procurement jade slips and departed to continue opening trade routes for the Hundred Treasures Pavilion Alliance.
• Liang Zhaohuang set aside the procurement list until Liu of the Liang Family returned, then examined the Thousand Treasures Record.
• He learned about East Sea specialties such as Water Dragon Pearls, Mountain Root Carvings, and Stellar Origin Gold, and saw how the loss of the Eight Directions Pavilion had disrupted their supply.
• Liang Zhaohuang found that the Five Elements Creation Lotus could advance into the Creation Green Lotus or Five Elements Heavenly Lotus and could produce valuable seeds and roots, so he noted a possible direction for the Liang Family’s Lotus Pond.
• He recognized the azure wood in the Medicine Garden Palace as an immature Azure Dragon Wood and considered seeking the Eight Directions Pavilion’s cultivation method.

Liang Zhaohuang and Liu of the Liang Family planned to use the Hundred Treasures Pavilion’s procurement needs to build an East Sea commercial alliance and help the Liang Family join the Pavilion. Six months later, Liu had secured four major islands and assembled trade terms for the Hundred Treasures Pavilion, while Liang Zhaohuang continued research into spirit-plant cultivation.

• Liang Zhaohuang told Liu of the Liang Family that the Liang Family needed to prove its value to join the Hundred Treasures Pavilion by supplying goods and controlling East Sea trade routes.
• Liu proposed forming an alliance among the East Sea islands to replace the destroyed Eight Directions Pavilion as a trade partner, and Liang Zhaohuang agreed that she should lead the effort.
• Three days later, Liu departed for Five Elements Island to enlist the Five Elements Sect and seek partners, while Liang Zhaohuang maintained contact with Xin Ruyu and organized research into the Five Elements Creation Lotus and Azure Dragon Wood.
• Over the following six months, Liu secured the support of Five Elements Island and brought Seven Stars Island, Two Dragon Island, and Nine Palaces Island into the commercial alliance.
• Liu sent Liang Zhaohuang a list of East Sea resources the alliance could supply and goods its members wanted from the Great Jin Immortal Dynasty, giving them grounds to negotiate with the Hundred Treasures Pavilion.

Liang Zhaohuang arranged the first trade between the Hundred Treasures Pavilion and Aunt Liu’s Commercial Alliance, with New Sea Commandery as the meeting place. The exchange succeeded, but learning that a Nascent Soul True Lord had secretly guarded the goods made Liang realize the Liang Family needed to join the Hundred Treasures Pavilion alliance before the traders could bypass them.

• Liang Zhaohuang connected the Hundred Treasures Pavilion with Aunt Liu’s Commercial Alliance and arranged their first transaction in New Sea Commandery half a year later.
• Liang Zhaohuang prepared New Sea Commandery for the trade, and Xin Ruyu, Hong Shanyi, and Huang Tingjiang arrived with ten ships of supplies from the Hundred Treasures Pavilion.
• Xin Ruyu and the other Hundred Treasures Pavilion members praised Liang Zhaohuang’s efforts and voiced support for the Liang Family joining their alliance.
• Three days later, Aunt Liu arrived with ten ships, and Liang Zhaohuang and Liu helped both sides inspect, value, and exchange their goods over several days.
• Aunt Liu told Liang Zhaohuang that Wu True Lord had personally escorted an important item and watched the transaction from nearby, alarming him about the power behind the trade route.
• At the celebratory banquet, Liang Zhaohuang watched Huang Tingjiang build rapport with the Commercial Alliance members and concluded that the Liang Family had to join the Hundred Treasures Pavilion alliance to avoid being excluded from future trades.

Liang Zhaohuang offered Ying Province's commercial taxes to Governor Xie, who waived them but directed him toward Xie Wenyun to discuss the trade profits. Liang Zhaohuang and Xie Wenyun agreed on the Xie Family's share, leaving Liang to focus on securing the trade routes.

• Liang Zhaohuang submitted tax records and offered a portion of New Sea Commandery's commercial taxes, but Governor Xie waived them under his thirty-year exemption order.
• Governor Xie told Xie Nineteen to handle the Song Family, while warning him that influential clans should serve the Xie Family rather than use it for their own purposes.
• Liang Zhaohuang invited Xie Wenyun to a banquet, recognizing that the Xie Family had to be included in the lucrative East Sea trade routes.
• Liang Zhaohuang and Xie Wenyun agreed that the Xie Family would receive a share of the trade profits and priority when purchasing spirit materials and supplies.
• After securing the Xie Family's support, Liang Zhaohuang turned his attention to the routes Aunt Liu might bring in and whether the Liang Family could retain control of them.

Liang Ruiqin used a grand formation he designed to complete the final transformation of the Five Elements Creation Body and cultivate a Five Elements Spirit Body. Liang Zhaohuang celebrated his success but recognized that the family’s secret art still had flaws.

• Liang Ruiqin spent nine days building a third-rank formation that combined the Five Spirits inheritance with the Five-Colored Lotus Formation.
• Liang Ruiqin activated the formation, manifesting five elemental lotuses and the Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, White Tiger, Black Tortoise, and qilin.
• Liang Ruiqin began the final transformation, as the five spirits and lotuses entered his body and a cocoon absorbed power from the Lotus Pond for three days.
• The cocoon shattered, and Liang Zhaohuang saw that Liang Ruiqin had successfully cultivated the Five Elements Spirit Body.
• Liang Ruiqin named his formation the Five Elements Creation Formation, while Liang Zhaohuang acknowledged flaws in the Five Elements Creation Body secret art.

Liang Zhaohuang learned that Liang Ruiqin’s Five Elements Spirit Body could help perfect the family’s cultivation method, though Ruiqin’s formation required rare resources and formation mastery. The family chose Ruiqin to use its remaining Golden Core destiny, and a month after he entered seclusion, he successfully formed his core as the Liang Family’s third Golden Core True Person.

• Liang Zhaohuang asked whether Liang Ruiqin’s Five Elements Creation Formation could help other descendants cultivate Five Elements Spirit Bodies, and Ruiqin explained its heavy resource and formation requirements.
• Liang Ruiqin said he would settle his foundation before attempting the Golden Core Realm, while Liang Zhaohuang realized that Ruiqin, Liang Zhaojun, and Liang Zhaoyu might all be yielding the family’s remaining Golden Core destiny to one another.
• Liang Zhaohuang told the three about one another’s choices, and after speaking together, Liang Zhaojun and Liang Zhaoyu agreed that Liang Ruiqin should attempt the breakthrough.
• Liang Zhaohuang gave Liang Ruiqin two third-rank Five Elements Essences and the family’s prepared core-forming resources, and Ruiqin entered seclusion after a spirit-cuisine meal.
• A month later, spiritual energy gathered above Liang Family Guard City and poured into Liang Ruiqin’s chamber, marking his successful breakthrough to the Golden Core Realm.

After Liang Ruiqin formed a superior-grade Golden Core, the Liang Family held a banquet that brought together influential families from across Ying Province. Liang Zhaohuang learned that the Yang Family wanted Water Dragon Pearls and joined a gathering of the commandery prefect families to discuss the disorderly competition among East Sea merchant associations.

• Liang Ruiqin successfully formed a superior-grade Golden Core, and Liang Zhaohuang arranged a Golden Core Banquet to celebrate.
• Yang Xiue and Yang Xiuwen arrived to congratulate the Liang Family, while Xie Wenyun and representatives from the other commanderies also attended.
• At the banquet, Liang Ruiqin lectured on the Dao of formations, and the guests stayed afterward to discuss other matters.
• Yang Xiue and Yang Xiuwen asked Liang Zhaohuang to help them obtain as many Water Dragon Pearls from Two Dragon Island as possible.
• Li Leshui of the Flowing Spring Brew Li Family explained that the prefect families had gathered, with Xie Wenyun as witness, to discuss the chaotic competition among East Sea merchant associations.

Li Leshui established an alliance of Ying Province’s eight commandery governor families to control the East Sea trade routes, while Liang Zhaohuang helped Yang Xiue and Yang Xiuwen seek Water Dragon Pearls. The Yang siblings arranged to buy the remaining pearls from the Xue Family, but the Xue Family’s ship was robbed by pirates.

• Li Leshui proposed an alliance of eight commandery governor families under the Xie Family’s supervision, and the families issued rules to control trade routes between Ying Province and the East Sea.
• The alliance’s rules stirred resistance across several commanderies, while the Liang Family and Liang Zhaohuang remained mostly undisturbed in New Sea Commandery.
• Liang Zhaohuang toured New Sea Commandery with Yang Xiue and Yang Xiuwen, and the three captured a rare third-rank Spearfish and shared its fish-oil cuisine.
• Liang Zhaohuang learned that Two Dragon Island had released ten Water Dragon Pearls, of which his family secured three and the Xue Family secured five.
• Yang Xiue and Yang Xiuwen arranged to buy the Xue Family’s five pearls and traveled to purchase the other two from the Sun and Wu Families.
• Liang Zhaohuang received word that pirates had robbed the Xue Family’s sea vessel.

Liang Zhaohuang and Liang Ruiqin rushed across the open sea to protect the Liang Family merchant caravan and found three pirate ships closing in on the Black Lotus Ship. After reuniting with Liu of the Liang Family, they chose to attack the nearest pirate ship first, but it struck from long range before they could close the distance.

• Liang Zhaohuang and Liang Ruiqin rode the Azure Roc into the open sea to find the Liang Family merchant caravan led by Liu of the Liang Family.
• Liang Zhaohuang spotted three pirate ships converging on the Black Lotus Ship and descended with Liang Ruiqin to warn Liu.
• Liu congratulated Liang Ruiqin on reaching the Golden Core realm and gave him a jade-box gift.
• Liang Zhaohuang, Liu, and Liang Ruiqin agreed to attack the nearest pirate ship before the three could join forces.
• Liu turned the Black Lotus Ship toward the northwest pirate ship, which launched a long-range attack of flames and lightning.

Liang Ruiqin took command of the Black Lotus Ship’s Five-Colored Lotus Formation as the Liang family faced pirates aboard a Dragon Turtle Ship. After Liang Zhaohuang breached the enemy ship’s defenses and Black Tiger drove off its Golden Core defender, Liang Ruiqin entered the battle and sealed the pirate cultivator inside his own Five-Colored Lotus Formation.

• Liang Ruiqin activated the Black Lotus Ship’s Five-Colored Lotus Formation and withstood two rounds of thunderfire bombardment.
• Liang Ruiqin’s water-based counterattack was suppressed by the Dragon Turtle phantom, so he accelerated the Black Lotus Ship and closed with the pirate vessel.
• Liang Zhaohuang used his Five Elements Restriction-Breaking Spiritual Light to tear open the Dragon Turtle Ship’s defenses, then sent Black Tiger aboard to attack the pirates.
• The pirate ship’s middle-stage Golden Core cultivator fought Black Tiger with wind and fire, then signaled the other pirate ships for reinforcements.
• Liang Ruiqin asked Liang Zhaohuang to let him fight the Golden Core cultivator, and Black Tiger knocked the man into the sea before returning to slaughter pirates.
• Liang Ruiqin trapped the fallen cultivator in his Five-Colored Lotus Formation and manifested the five directional spirit beasts within it.

Liang Zhaohuang watched Liang Ruiqin test his newly formed Five-Colored Lotus Formation against a Golden Core pirate while the Liang Family cleared the Dragon Turtle Ship and confronted two more pirate ships. Liang Zhaohuang trapped a late Golden Core pirate in his Five Elements Life-Extinction Sword Formation, and the battle continued.

• Liang Ruiqin used the Five-Colored Lotus Formation to manifest five spirits and battle a wind-and-fire Golden Core cultivator, while Liang Zhaohuang judged his new formation’s strength.
• Black Tiger slaughtered the Dragon Turtle Ship’s pirates, and the whale demons killed those who fled into the sea.
• Liu of the Liang Family took the Black Lotus Ship to confront one approaching pirate ship, while Liang Zhaohuang went to intercept the other.
• Liang Zhaohuang used Water Escape to reach the pirate ship, broke its wind-and-thunder protective formation, and sent Black Tiger to attack its crew.
• A late Golden Core pirate wielding wind-thunder bangles wounded Black Tiger, so Liang Zhaohuang deployed five Divine Light Swords and trapped the pirate in the Five Elements Life-Extinction Sword Formation.

Liang Ruiqin defeated a mid-Golden Core pirate, while Liang Zhaohuang’s battle with a late-Golden Core pirate ended when the pirates escaped. The Liang Family captured a Dragon Turtle Sea Ship and sailed toward New Sea Commandery, but three days later Liang Zhaohuang spotted four more pirate ships approaching.

• Liang Zhaohuang’s Five Elements Life-Extinction Sword Formation weakened the burly pirate, but the man used his Wind-Thunder Twin Bracelets to break the formation with heavenly lightning.
• Liang Ruiqin killed his mid-Golden Core opponent, and Liang Zhaohuang and his companions moved to attack the burly pirate.
• The burly pirate used another lightning strike to drive back the Azure Roc and Black Tiger, then escaped with his ship as the other pirate ship withdrew.
• The Liang Family protected Liang Ruiqin from the pirates’ parting attacks and captured the Dragon Turtle Sea Ship, finding valuable trade goods but no Water Dragon Pearls.
• Liu of the Liang Family and Liang Ruiqin sailed the Black Lotus Ship and Dragon Turtle Sea Ship toward New Sea Commandery while Liang Zhaohuang kept watch from the Azure Roc.
• Three days later, Liang Zhaohuang spotted four pirate ships approaching from behind.

Liang Zhaohuang delayed four pursuing pirate ships by luring their attention away and attacking one vessel with the Black Tiger Sword. The pirates regrouped and decided to pursue the Liang Family’s ships, hoping to force Liang Zhaohuang to intervene and reclaim the Dragon Turtle Ship.

• Liang Zhaohuang spotted four pirate ships pursuing the Liang Family’s two ships and warned Liu and Liang Ruiqin to prepare to abandon the Dragon Turtle Ship if necessary.
• Liang Zhaohuang used the Giant Whale Demon to draw the pirates’ fire, then slipped through a ship’s defenses and sent the Black Tiger Sword inside, killing or injuring nearly half its low-level cultivators.
• Liang Zhaohuang retrieved the Black Tiger Sword and escaped underwater with the Giant Whale Demon as the pirate ships stopped to deal with the damage.
• Pang True Person told the other Golden Core cultivators that the Cloud Firmament Heavenly Palace’s bounty made the pursuit worth continuing and proposed ambushing Liang Zhaohuang.
• Pang True Person persuaded the others to use Bai True Person’s white shark pack to attack the Dragon Turtle Ship and force Liang Zhaohuang to reveal himself.

Liang Ruiqin used the Black Lotus Ship’s Five-Colored Lotus Formation as the foundation for a powerful Five Elements Creation Formation to ambush four Golden Core pirates attacking the Liang Family’s ships. Pang True Person escaped after identifying and breaking through the formation’s weakness, but Liang Zhaohuang and the formation’s spirits killed the other three pirates.

• Liang Zhaohuang returned to the Liang Family ships and warned Liu of the Liang Family and Liang Ruiqin that four Golden Core pirates and a school of White Shark Demons were approaching.
• Liang Ruiqin proposed using the Black Lotus Ship’s formation and the pirates’ Spirit Stones to create a Five Elements Creation Formation, and Liang Zhaohuang ordered him to prepare it while Liu moved the disciples off the Dragon Turtle Ship.
• The pirates attacked the apparently vulnerable Dragon Turtle Ship, triggering the formation, which surrounded them with five lotuses and summoned five spirit manifestations.
• Pang True Person directed the pirates to attack the Vermilion Bird manifestation, broke through the resulting flaw, and escaped using Lightning Escape Art.
• Liang Zhaohuang joined the formation’s spirits in battle while the Giant Whale Demon’s pack overwhelmed the White Shark Demons.
• Liang Zhaohuang and the formation killed the remaining three Golden Core pirates after a battle lasting less than half an hour.