Chapter Summaries

After capturing Zhamuer City, Zhao Feng secured the submission of the grassland tribes and began organizing Great Yan’s administration there. An imperial edict then ordered him to march into the Northern Desert, and he planned a cautious route to join Military Supervisor Sun’s attack on the Royal Court’s forces.

• Zhao Feng confirmed Na Hachu’s death, ordered him buried according to grassland customs, and learned that Zhamuer City had been taken with no escapees.
• At a banquet, Taha and other tribal chiefs offered their registers, and Zhao Feng promised fair pasture allocations and continued local leadership under Great Yan.
• Zhao Feng sent a victory memorial to the capital, offered Jingxuan spirit herbs, and learned that Qingwan had been punished but was not seriously harmed.
• Over the following month, Zhao Feng organized supplies, resettled prisoners, recorded tribal populations and pastures, and appointed Grassland Inspectors as the tribes began rebuilding.
• After receiving the emperor’s order to march west, Zhao Feng, Qin Zhongwu, and Helan Tie planned a Northern Desert route with water supplies and scouts, choosing a longer northern road to preserve the element of surprise.

Zhao Feng led his army west into the Northern Desert, overcoming sabotage and harsh conditions as they secured a damaged oasis and continued their advance. The chapter left him investigating signs that someone had recently been active northwest of the army.

• Zhao Feng left ten thousand troops and his rear staff behind before marching west with Qin Zhongwu, Helan Tie, and Ba Tu's scouts.
• Ba Tu reported that riders were shadowing the army, and Zhao Feng refused Helan Tie's offer to pursue them.
• Yue Lang's sentries caught a spy trying to poison the army's water carts, prompting Zhao Feng to strengthen the night watch and speed up the march.
• Zhao Feng secured the depleted oasis, had Abbess Jingxuan test its contaminated water, and ordered the army to rest while scouts guarded the area.
• Xie Qiu's squad repelled a night attack, and Yue Lang later captured three raiders whose mission was to sabotage water sources and supplies.
• Helan Tie reported a recently used cooking pit and bloodstained stones northwest of the army, which Zhao Feng began investigating.

Zhao Feng’s army repelled a horde of savage beasts by killing their giant leader, then entered Rust Valley, where assassins attacked them in an ambush. Zhao Feng moved toward a protruding rock above the gorge, apparently targeting another threat.

• Zhao Feng identified signs that the army was being watched and ordered heightened camp security.
• Savage beasts attacked the camp, and Zhao Feng killed their giant, dark-gold-eyed leader, causing the horde to scatter.
• Ba Tu warned Zhao Feng that Rust Valley’s rock hollows could conceal an ambush, so Zhao Feng ordered scouts to inspect the route and the army to proceed cautiously.
• Assassins dropped from the gorge walls after boulders fell, while Yue Lang and Jiang Chen led guards to intercept them.
• Zhao Feng saw a protruding rock above the bend and strode through the air toward it.

Zhao Feng led the Eastern Route Army out of the Gobi and joined forces with Sun Chenzong’s army. At the command tent, they discussed how to break Wutai’s stalemate on Solitary Stone Plain, and Zhao Feng proposed a concealed cavalry attack through an old river channel.

• Zhao Feng captured a masked attacker after the ambush in Rust Valley, then ordered the army onward.
• Ba Tu spotted an oasis on the Gobi’s edge, where Zhao Feng’s troops replenished their water and received word from a nearby outpost.
• Zhao Feng’s army reached Sun Chenzong’s camp on the twentieth day and joined Sun Chenzong, Yu Zhiyong, Xu Shan, and General Lu Kun.
• Sun Chenzong described Wutai’s fortified position and the Northern Barbarians’ cavalry deployment on Solitary Stone Plain.
• Zhao Feng proposed sending cavalry through an old dry river channel to strike Wutai’s flank and rear, and Helan Tie and Qin Zhongwu discussed how to move the force at night.

Zhao Feng coordinated a surprise attack on Wutai’s Northern Barbarian army, drawing its forces toward the main front while Helan Tie moved to burn its supplies. After the attack began and the supply camp went up in flames, Zhao Feng led the Martial Suppression Guard toward Wutai’s Commander's Tent.

• Zhao Feng proposed attacking the barbarians from the flank at night while Sun Chenzong pinned down their main force.
• Ba Tu’s scouts gathered intelligence on Wutai’s camp, and Helan Tie reported that the barbarians were building a witchcraft altar.
• Zhao Feng led the Martial Suppression Guard around the left, while Helan Tie moved cavalry through a dry riverbed toward the enemy’s rear.
• Sun Chenzong began the frontal assault, and Zhao Feng’s Martial Suppression Guard struck the barbarian right-wing cavalry as it turned to respond.
• Helan Tie set fire to the livestock pens and supplies, throwing the barbarian camp into confusion as the Eastern Route Army attacked from the east.
• Zhao Feng led the Martial Suppression Guard into the fractured eastern lines toward Wutai’s black tiger-head banner and Commander's Tent.

Zhao Feng led the Martial Suppression Guard through the Northern Barbarian lines and reached Wutai’s command tent, while Abbess Jingxuan stopped the shamans’ fire attack. Zhao Feng’s attempt to strike Wutai was deflected by a gray-clad Profound Master, leaving the two men facing off.

• Zhao Feng led the Martial Suppression Guard through the battlefield and broke through the Royal Court Guards’ outer defenses.
• Zhao Feng charged toward the command tent alone as the Royal Court shamans unleashed a wave of fire, which Abbess Jingxuan extinguished with the Pure Moon Heavenly Light Mirror.
• Zhao Feng cut through the guards and entered the command tent, where Wutai declared that the war was not over and refused to submit.
• A gray-clad Profound Master emerged from behind the curtain and stood beside Wutai.
• Zhao Feng attacked Wutai with Nine Suns Return to One, but the gray-clad man deflected the sword strike with his round shield.

Zhao Feng and the Yan army defeated the Northern Barbarians, captured the Royal Court and returned to Upper Capital for a victory ceremony. Emperor Jing enfeoffed Zhao Feng as Prince of Northern Pacification, and Zhao Feng returned home to reunite with his family.

• Zhao Feng took the Royal Court's tiger-head banner after Wutai escaped with a mysterious man, and the remaining Northern Barbarian forces were defeated by dawn on the third day.
• Jingxuan told Zhao Feng she had dealt with all six shamans, explained that men could not enter her sect's Mountain Gate unless they became Martial Saints, and left without promising when Su Qingwan would return.
• Zhao Feng and Sun Chenzong returned to Upper Capital with the captives and spoils after leaving thirty thousand soldiers to garrison the desert.
• Emperor Jing held the victory ceremony at the Imperial Ancestral Temple, appointed Ba Tu Deputy Protector-General of the Western Regions, and awarded Sun Chenzong the title Duke of State Protection.
• Emperor Jing enfeoffed Zhao Feng as Prince of Northern Pacification, making him the seventh man outside the imperial clan to receive a princely title.
• Zhao Feng returned home to his family, where he learned Zhao Shuo had become Qin Yan's student, passed the examinations, and become Ministry of Rites Secretary.

Over six months, Zhao Feng mastered the Seven Heaven-Cleaving Forms and advanced the Primordial Unity Innate True Canon while waiting for news of Su Qingwan. He attended the Wind and Cloud Grand Gathering hoping to see her, but her junior sister Gu Yanran told him Su Qingwan had stayed behind to pursue a breakthrough; the gathering was about to begin.

• Zhao Feng reached major mastery in the Seven Heaven-Cleaving Forms and the Primordial Unity Innate True Canon during six months in the Upper Capital.
• Shen Ci invited Zhao Feng to the Wind and Cloud Grand Gathering, and Zhao Feng asked whether the Pure Moon Convent would attend.
• Zhao Feng traveled to Swallow Lake for the gathering and found that Su Qingwan was not among the first arrivals.
• Gu Yanran introduced herself as Su Qingwan's junior sister and said Su Qingwan had stayed away to focus on breaking through to the Profound Mastery Realm.
• Zhao Feng spotted Murong Fu, Ye Wuya, and Lu Changhe among the arriving participants as the gathering prepared to begin.

At the Wind and Cloud Grand Gathering, Zhao Feng met renowned experts Xiao Wuchen, Chen Ran, and Nangong Wanwan, who tested him with her charm arts and was checked by his Blood Soul Secret Art. Shen Ci then defended inviting Nangong Wanwan by arguing that Great Yan’s rankings could include talents from its claimed territories, and Zhao Feng agreed.

• Murong Fu welcomed Xiao Wuchen of the Great Void Sword Sect and Chen Ran of the Mysterious Truth Sect, who showed Zhao Feng contempt after learning of his connection to Su Qingwan.
• Gu Yanran identified Nangong Wanwan of the Heavenly Demon Cult, a Southern Border rival of Su Qingwan, as she arrived and drew wary attention from the gathering.
• Nangong Wanwan questioned Gu Yanran about Su Qingwan, then used her charm arts on Zhao Feng, but his perfected Blood Soul Secret Art automatically counterattacked and left her shocked.
• Shen Ci invited the guests to take their seats, and Murong Fu questioned why a demoness had been invited to Great Yan’s gathering.
• Shen Ci said Great Yan’s future rankings could include talents from the Southern Border and other regions, and Zhao Feng affirmed that Great Yan still claimed the Southern Border.

At the Wind and Cloud Gathering, Zhao Feng demonstrated his strength by defeating Ye Wuya in two moves and Murong Fu in three. The sparring continued, with the gathered experts now taking the Prince of Northern Pacification seriously.

• Duan Mingrui lost to Zheng Xiuyuan after Zheng struck his wrist and knocked away his sword, while Gu Xuetang defeated Changsun Lin by touching her sword to his neck.
• Ye Wuya challenged Zhao Feng, who defeated him in two moves and sent him off the platform.
• Gu Yanran defeated Han Jingqiu with precise swordwork, stopping her hand at Han's collar after six exchanges.
• Murong Fu challenged Zhao Feng, who broke through his defenses and knocked him off the platform in three moves.
• Xiao Wuchen, Chen Ran, and Nangong Wanwan watched Zhao Feng with renewed attention after his victories.

Zhao Feng defeated Chen Ran before Xiao Wuchen challenged Nangong Wanwan and lost. Nangong Wanwan then challenged Zhao Feng, and their sword fight began with her sword song failing to affect his consciousness and her strike grazing his waist without breaking his golden body.

• Nangong Wanwan reconsidered Zhao Feng after he defeated Murong Fu and Ye Wuya, then watched him face Chen Ran.
• Zhao Feng defeated Chen Ran with a series of Nine Yang Divine Fist strikes, sending him off the platform.
• Xiao Wuchen challenged Nangong Wanwan over their clash at Cangwu Ferry, and she defeated him with a sword strike stopped at his chest.
• After two more matches, Nangong Wanwan challenged Zhao Feng, who accepted and drew the Nine Yang Divine Sword.
• Nangong Wanwan and Zhao Feng exchanged layered sword attacks; her sword song could not affect Zhao Feng’s sea of consciousness, and her strike only left a fading mark on his golden body.

Zhao Feng defeated Nangong Wanwan at the Wind and Cloud Assembly, then met with her the next morning to discuss the coming upheaval foretold by the shifting stars. Nangong Wanwan proposed cooperation against the Nine Nether Demon Sect and asked Zhao Feng to mediate with Great Yan’s orthodox sects, while he offered only limited assurances.

• Zhao Feng exploited a brief opening in Nangong Wanwan’s sword technique, struck her with his Blood Soul Return to Origin, and knocked her off the platform with Iron Mountain Lean.
• Shen Ci awarded each participant a spirit weapon and announced that the stars had shifted in a pattern resembling one recorded five hundred years earlier; Murong Fu confirmed the Heavenly Pivot Pavilion had observed the same change.
• Zhao Feng chose a superior-grade spirit weapon and left the island, while Nangong Wanwan arranged to meet him the next morning at the Martial Suppression Bureau.
• Nangong Wanwan told Zhao Feng that the earlier stellar shift coincided with chaos, the rise of evil gods, and the Nine Nether Demon Sect’s expansion, and warned that those forces might become active again.
• Nangong Wanwan proposed an alliance against the Nine Nether Demon Sect, but Zhao Feng refused to ally the Imperial Court with a martial sect and offered only not to target the Heavenly Demon Cult if it committed no crimes in Great Yan.
• Nangong Wanwan asked Zhao Feng to mediate with the orthodox sects, especially the Pure Moon Convent, and Zhao Feng remained wary of her intentions.

Zhao Feng investigated strange supernatural signs along the Northern Borderlands and Southern Border, then obtained Emperor Jing’s permission to surveil the Empress Dowager after they discussed suspicions about her identity and the late emperor’s death. A message from Nangong Wanwan revealed a possible lead on the Nine Nether Demon Sect in the Southern Border, and Zhao Feng considered going there to investigate.

• Zhao Feng reviewed reports of dark lights near the Far Northern Icefield and livestock deaths in the Southern Border, finding that the abnormalities overlapped with historical areas of Evil God activity.
• Zhao Feng learned that the Empress Dowager frequently visited the ancestral shrine and told Emperor Jing that she might not be the real Empress Dowager.
• Emperor Jing admitted that he had long suspected the Empress Dowager was different and believed she might have been connected to the late emperor’s death, citing altered handwriting in the medical records.
• Zhao Feng asked Emperor Jing to authorize unrestricted surveillance of the Empress Dowager and her associates, and Emperor Jing granted permission.
• Zhao Feng found evidence linking the Nine Nether Demon Sect to the Barbarian God Hall and received an unsigned Heavenly Demon Cult message reporting the sect’s young master in Greenwood Marsh.
• Zhao Feng recognized the message as Nangong Wanwan’s invitation to meet near Soul-Severing Ridge and considered traveling to the Southern Border.

Zhao Feng traveled to the Southern Border to investigate the links between strange disturbances, the Empress Dowager’s agents, and the Nine Nether Demon Sect. He and Nangong Wanwan traced a supply route through Greenwood Marsh and found a hidden camp, where burned scraps hinted at a record involving divine fragments and a deadline within three days.

• Zhao Feng connected reports of unusual phenomena, the Empress Dowager’s agents, and the Nine Nether Demon Sect, then left Upper Capital for the Southern Border.
• On the journey south, Zhao Feng heard hunters report livestock found drained of life and marked the location for later investigation.
• Zhao Feng saw Xiao Wuchen in a village near Soul-Severing Ridge, then met Nangong Wanwan in another village and learned of suspected Nine Nether Demon Sect activity at Greenwood Marsh.
• Zhao Feng and Nangong Wanwan disguised themselves in local clothes and followed traces of fires and narrow cart tracks into the marsh.
• Zhao Feng and Nangong Wanwan passed a small outpost and found burned paper scraps at a larger camp, with the words “fragments” and “within three days” still legible.

Zhao Feng and Nangong Wanwan traced the Nine Nether Demon Sect’s search for fragments to Cangwu Mountain and identified the shrine’s central recess as the place for the Nine Netherworld Divine Lantern. They were confronted there by the Blood Lotus Dharma King and the Corpse Yin Dharma King, who revealed that the shrine was a trap.

• Zhao Feng and Nangong Wanwan followed fresh tracks to a hunter’s hut, killed its guards, and found a paper slip pointing to Cangwu Mountain.
• Nangong Wanwan identified Cangwu Mountain as an old Nine Nether Demon Sect sacrificial site, and Zhao Feng connected it to the Empress Dowager’s fragment hunt.
• Nangong Wanwan found an archive record stating that fragments of the sacrificial vessel had been scattered among seven places, while new reports linked stellar shifts and earth-vein pulses along an arc ending in the Southern Border.
• Zhao Feng sent his findings to Yue Lang, and he and Nangong Wanwan arranged supplies and communications before riding to Cangwu Mountain.
• Inside the shrine, Zhao Feng recognized a recess shaped for the Nine Netherworld Divine Lantern and deduced that the sought fragments belonged to it.
• The Blood Lotus Dharma King and the Corpse Yin Dharma King entered the shrine, and the Blood Lotus Dharma King confirmed that he had lured Zhao Feng and Nangong Wanwan into a trap.

Zhao Feng and Nangong Wanwan faced the Nine Nether Demon Sect in the shrine, where hidden allies and rival sects turned the confrontation into a multi-sided battle. Zhao Feng pierced the Corpse Yin Dharma King with his Nine Yang Divine Sword, leaving the battle’s outcome unresolved.

• The Blood Lotus Dharma King revealed that the Demon Sect had lured Zhao Feng to the Southern Border to seize the Thousand Mechanisms Casket and its fragment of the Nine Netherworld Divine Lantern.
• Nangong Wanwan killed one of the Demon Sect’s Innate Realm experts and admitted she had lured both sides into a trap for the Heavenly Demon Cult, but the Demon Sect’s young master’s arrival undermined her plan.
• Zhao Feng revealed that Xiao Wuchen and Murong Fu had been hiding nearby, and the two joined Zhao Feng and Nangong Wanwan against the Demon Sect.
• The six fighters clashed across the shrine as Zhao Feng countered the Corpse Yin Dharma King, Nangong Wanwan fought the Blood Lotus Dharma King, and Xiao Wuchen and Murong Fu engaged the other Demon Sect experts.
• Zhao Feng used Nine Suns Return to One to break through the Corpse Yin Dharma King’s defenses and pierce his left chest, causing his body to dissolve into streams of sinister baleful energy.

Zhao Feng defeated the Blood Lotus Dharma King and seized the Mustard Seed Pouches of Xiao Wuchen and Murong Fu, finding two fragments of the Nine Netherworld Divine Lantern before discovering Nangong Wanwan had swapped Murong Fu’s pouch. After returning north, he received reports on the Heavenly Demon Cult, while Nangong Wanwan met with the cult’s wounded Deputy Cult Master and Grand Elder and revealed her trick.

• Zhao Feng and Nangong Wanwan killed the Blood Lotus Dharma King, while Xiao Wuchen and Murong Fu defeated their opponents and Zhao Feng claimed their Mustard Seed Pouches.
• Zhao Feng let Xiao Wuchen and Murong Fu leave after taking their pouches, then accused Nangong Wanwan of setting a trap before they parted at the stockade.
• Zhao Feng rode north to Oka City and used the Blood Lotus Dharma King’s jade key to open the Thousand Mechanisms Casket, finding a fragment of the Nine Netherworld Divine Lantern.
• Zhao Feng found a second fragment in Xiao Wuchen’s pouch but discovered that Murong Fu’s pouch contained only ordinary stones, realizing Nangong Wanwan had switched it.
• Zhao Feng recovered at a secret outpost and reviewed reports about the Heavenly Demon Cult, then Nangong Wanwan visited its injured Deputy Cult Master and Grand Elder and admitted to playing a trick on Zhao Feng.

Nangong Wanwan and the Heavenly Demon Cult assessed the danger posed by the Nine Nether Demon Sect’s young master, while Zhao Feng investigated the Empress Dowager’s palace in disguise. He discovered she possessed a fragment of the Nine Netherworld Divine Lantern, and the late Emperor Xianzong’s portrait seemed to watch him.

• Nangong Wanwan found a fragment of the Nine Netherworld Divine Lantern in her pouch, giving the Heavenly Demon Cult two fragments in total.
• The Deputy Cult Master and Grand Elder described how the Nine Nether Demon Sect’s young master had outmatched them, and they worried he might reach the Celestial Realm.
• Zhao Feng reviewed reports showing the Empress Dowager’s household had gone quiet, then decided to investigate the Palace of Compassionate Tranquility.
• Zhao Feng entered the ancestral shrine in disguise and hid when the Empress Dowager arrived to pray.
• The Empress Dowager retrieved and examined a fragment of the Nine Netherworld Divine Lantern from a compartment beneath the altar.
• After she left, Zhao Feng noticed the late Emperor Xianzong’s portrait still seemed to watch him, then examined the compartment’s keyhole and slipped out.

Zhao Feng investigated the late emperor’s tomb and discovered a formation producing baleful yin energy, then faced two secluded-sect elders demanding the return of sacred fragments. Li Cheng'en and Lu Bing intervened on Zhao Feng’s behalf, and the tense confrontation remained unresolved.

• Zhao Feng reported his suspicions about the Empress Dowager to Emperor Jing and asked to investigate Mao Mausoleum, so Emperor Jing arranged a secret visit during repairs to the underground palace.
• Zhao Feng entered Mao Mausoleum disguised as a laborer, detected a formation beneath the stone platform that generated baleful yin energy, and recorded its patterns before leaving unnoticed.
• Zhao Feng later sealed away his notes on the formation, then received Zhou Hui and Fu Yuan, who offered treasures in exchange for fragments held by the Martial Suppression Bureau.
• Zhao Feng refused to return the fragments, and Fu Yuan warned him to proceed with caution while Zhao Feng insisted the secluded sects remained subjects of Great Yan.
• Li Cheng'en and Lu Bing arrived, invoked the agreement requiring the sects to deal with the Imperial Court through the inner court, and declared that they served under Zhao Feng's command.

Zhao Feng prepared for the Hidden Sect Grand Assembly by exchanging a genuine Nine Netherworld Divine Lantern Shard for a convincing substitute and advancing his cultivation. After Emperor Jing sent him to represent Great Yan, Zhao Feng sparred with Lu Bing and learned how profoundly an expert’s control of heaven and earth could overwhelm him.

• Zhou Hui and Fu Yuan departed after warning Zhao Feng that they would meet him at the Hidden Sect Grand Assembly, where the Heavenly Mechanism Tower would open, and Li Cheng'en and Lu Bing explained that the Imperial Court had chosen him to attend.
• Zhao Feng agreed to go, then secretly replaced the shard in the Ancestral Shrine with a replica and took the genuine shard, noticing a suspicious layer of powder beneath the parcel.
• Zhao Feng compared the shard with the two he already possessed, concluded that seven existed in total, and spent the next twenty days cultivating until he reached the late stage of the innate realm.
• Emperor Jing confirmed that Zhao Feng would represent Great Yan at the assembly and told him to keep the seized shards as bargaining chips against the hidden sects.
• Zhao Feng asked Li Cheng'en for pointers and sparred with Lu Bing, whose control of the power of heaven and earth repeatedly deflected his attacks and pushed him back.
• Li Cheng'en judged Zhao Feng roughly equal to an ordinary expert newly entered into the profound mastery realm, while Zhao Feng recognized that wielding heaven and earth was its greatest threat.