Recaps

Duan Tian forced the factions to obey the Heavenly Dipper Sect’s ban on attacking court officials and aristocratic clans, while explaining that Li Xuancang had compelled the sect to enforce it. As Peace Prefecture City braced for the approaching Cloud Prefecture Army, Colonel Wang Fang’s crimes against civilians sparked a new crisis, and Li Xuancang went to deal with him.

• Duan Tian suppressed the furious factions and said the Heavenly Dipper Sect had been forced to restrain them after Li Xuancang defeated the sect and threatened it over the Pei Residence.
• The factions reluctantly held back, and over the next half month many fled Peace Prefecture City while the common people remained trapped there.
• Several hundred Battle Soldiers returned to the city, and Du Tianfeng reported that the defeated Peace Prefecture Army could not defend against the approaching Cloud Prefecture Army.
• Li Xuancang worried that Du Tianhao had not returned, while Du Tianfeng believed he was holding back the enemy’s Profound Connection Realm expert.
• Nangong Zhan reported that Colonel Wang Fang and his guards had assaulted women and murdered civilians’ families, prompting Du Tianfeng to authorize Li Xuancang to handle the case.
• Li Xuancang left to deal with Wang Fang as civilians gathered in the eastern city and feared further abuses by the army.

Li Xuancang intervened when Wang Fang and his Battle Soldiers abducted women and attacked civilians in Peace Prefecture City. He ordered their arrest, killed those who resisted, and left Wang Fang and his guards captured.

• Wang Fang and his Battle Soldiers tried to take several women away after their families had been slaughtered.
• Li Xuancang arrived, overpowered the soldiers with his presence, and ordered Bai Meng to arrest them for abducting women and murdering civilians.
• Wang Fang's guards resisted, so Bai Meng and the other soldiers killed those who fought back.
• Wang Fang attacked Li Xuancang to save his guards, but Li Xuancang shattered his Astral Qi defense with one punch and left him gravely injured.
• The soldiers bound Wang Fang, and his remaining guards surrendered before Li Xuancang departed.

Li Xuancang punished Wang Fang and his guards, then took command of Peace Prefecture City’s defenses as the Cloud Prefecture Army approached. The chapter ended with Han Tianlong urging his troops toward the city and promising them half a month of plunder if they broke through.

• Li Xuancang ordered Wang Fang’s guards beheaded, and Du Tianfeng ordered Wang Fang’s cultivation crippled until the garrison commander returned.
• The punished men frightened the defeated soldiers into abandoning plans to prey on the people, though many privately cursed Li Xuancang.
• Du Tianfeng put Li Xuancang in command of the defense against the approaching Cloud Prefecture Army, and Li Xuancang assigned officers to defend the city walls.
• The authorities conscripted civilians and assembled tens of thousands of able-bodied young men while gang factions fled the city.
• Ye Wuchen warned the Cloud Prefecture Army that Li Xuancang was their main obstacle, and Han Tianlong planned to challenge him with support from the other cultivators.
• Han Tianlong ordered the Cloud Prefecture Army to march at full speed and promised its soldiers half a month of plunder after they breached Peace Prefecture City.

The Cloud Prefecture army attacked Peace Prefecture City, and the Evil Cultivators’ poisonous smoke helped them breach the walls. Li Xuancang fought Han Tianlong, badly wounded him, then escaped when more than thirty Astral Qi Realm cultivators joined the battle.

• Li Xuancang watched the Cloud Prefecture army arrive and saw the defenders’ morale falter as Han Tianlong ordered the attack.
• Ye Wuchen led the Evil Cultivators in releasing corrosive smoke, forcing the defenders to retreat and allowing the enemy to climb the walls.
• Li Xuancang and Han Tianlong fought on the city wall, and Li Xuancang seized Han Tianlong’s saber before striking him in the spine and breaking his bones.
• More than thirty Astral Qi Realm cultivators attacked Li Xuancang together, but he unleashed his fist force and escaped their encirclement.

Li Xuancang fought off Cloud Prefecture’s forces while seeking a way to escape, but Peace Prefecture City fell as its army collapsed. With the city overrun and its civilians in danger, Li Xuancang fled, pursued by Ye Wuchen and the others.

• Han Tianlong was severely injured by Li Xuancang, leaving Cloud Prefecture without one of its strongest fighters.
• Li Xuancang broke through the encirclement, then doubled back and nearly reached Han Tianlong before dozens of Astral Qi Realm cultivators forced him to turn away.
• The Peace Prefecture Army collapsed, the city walls were lost, and Cloud Prefecture’s soldiers breached the gates and surged into Peace Prefecture City.
• Li Xuancang recognized that he could no longer save the city and rushed out, prompting Ye Wuchen and the others to pursue him.

Li Xuancang returned to the besieged Peace Prefecture City, helped Du Tianfeng and the officials escape, then stayed behind to draw off the Cloud Prefecture Army and lead civilians to safety. He slaughtered thousands of soldiers, but the army and its commanders continued trying to overwhelm him.

• Li Xuancang returned to Peace Prefecture City through a secret passage and urged Du Tianfeng to evacuate with the officials and their families.
• Li Xuancang arranged for his family and allies to escape through the secret passage, then left to draw the enemy’s experts away.
• After Ye Wuchen ordered the army to capture Li Xuancang’s family, Li Xuancang charged through the Cloud Prefecture Army and led fleeing civilians toward the city gate.
• Li Xuancang smashed open the city gate for the civilians, then turned back to draw the soldiers away from them.
• Ye Wuchen and the others ordered the Cloud Prefecture Army to wear Li Xuancang down, but he killed more than ten thousand soldiers and remained unfazed as the front lines stopped advancing.

Li Xuancang fought alone against the Cloud Prefecture Army and Ye Wuchen’s experts to buy time for his family and Du Tianfeng’s group to escape Peace Prefecture City. After gravely wounding his pursuers, he was stabbed through the heart but still struck back at his attacker.

• Li Xuancang held off the soldiers while the Li Family, the Pei Family, and Du Tianfeng’s group fled through a secret passage and hurried away on foot.
• Li Xuancang killed more than fifteen thousand soldiers and broke through the Cloud Prefecture Army, but Ye Wuchen and the other Astral Qi Realm experts surrounded him.
• Li Xuancang unleashed a powerful attack against Yao Guangxing and the others, grievously injuring both sides and escaping toward the city.
• An unseen attacker pierced Li Xuancang’s heart and used Sword Qi to attack it, but Li Xuancang punched the attacker and smashed apart his cheek.

After escaping a fatal ambush and evading his pursuers, Li Xuancang reunited with his family in Flowing Cloud Commandery and learned that the Liu Family fleet would evacuate them to Yang Prefecture. He left alone to distract Cloud Prefecture's forces while the fleet was still weeks away.

• A Misty Rain Pavilion assassin stabbed Li Xuancang, but Li Xuancang struck him away and escaped Peace Prefecture City through a secret passage.
• Ye Wuchen and the others chased Li Xuancang, but he laid false trails through mountains and forests to delay them until he recovered from his wounds.
• Li Xuancang reached Flowing Cloud Commandery, reunited with his parents and elder sister, and told Du Tianfeng about the assassination attempt.
• Du Tianfeng identified the attacker as a likely Misty Rain Pavilion assassin and explained that the Liu Family fleet would take them by river to Yang Prefecture once it arrived.
• Du Tianfeng revealed that Du Tianhao was holding back Cloud Prefecture's Profound Connection Realm expert, while the group waited in hiding for the fleet.
• Li Xuancang left Flowing Cloud Commandery alone to mislead Cloud Prefecture's pursuit and buy time for the fleet to arrive.

Li Xuancang warned Huang Huayuan and the others about Prince Fu’s invasion, then returned to occupied Peace Prefecture City and found Han Tianlong alone in the Cloud Prefecture Army camp. He attacked Han Tianlong and plunged toward the ground with him, leaving his fate unresolved.

• Li Xuancang told Huang Huayuan and the other two that Prince Fu’s army had invaded Peace Prefecture, but they refused to abandon their duty to stop the Demons.
• Li Xuancang returned to Peace Prefecture City and saw the devastation caused by the Cloud Prefecture Army.
• Ye Wuchen and the others ordered a wider search for Li Xuancang, Du Tianfeng, and Liu Qingyuan, believing Li Xuancang was still badly injured.
• Li Xuancang infiltrated the military camp and found Han Tianlong recovering alone in his command tent.
• Li Xuancang defeated Han Tianlong in a clash of fists, seized him, and dove toward the ground with Han Tianlong’s head pointed down.

Li Xuancang killed Han Tianlong and more than five thousand Cloud Prefecture Army soldiers in Peace Prefecture City before warning Zhou Xingzhan that the city had fallen. He escorted Zhou Xingzhan and his family to Flowing Cloud Commandery, then set out with Du Tianfeng to await the Liu Family fleet at the Canglan River.

• Li Xuancang tore Han Tianlong apart and slaughtered more than five thousand Cloud Prefecture Army soldiers before leaving Peace Prefecture City.
• Ye Wuchen and the other commanders returned to the city, confirmed Han Tianlong's death, and ordered their forces to stay together rather than pursue Li Xuancang.
• Li Xuancang reached Mystic Sun City and warned Zhou Xingzhan that Peace Prefecture City had fallen and Lord Du's group planned to leave by the Canglan River.
• Zhou Xingzhan gathered his family and guards and traveled with Li Xuancang to Flowing Cloud Commandery, where he reunited with the Zhou Family.
• Li Xuancang and Du Tianfeng left for the Canglan River to await the Liu Family fleet, and Li Xuancang told Du Tianfeng that he had killed Han Tianlong.

After Peace Prefecture fell, Li Xuancang and the survivors waited for an evacuation fleet, only to learn that most of its ships had been sunk by the Giant Whale Gang. The three surviving ships carried away only a select few, leaving many behind as the refugees sailed toward Yang Prefecture.

• Du Tianfeng praised Li Xuancang for killing Han Tianlong and promised to report his achievements to the garrison commander.
• Li Xuancang and the others reached the Cambrian River, waited eight days, and finally saw a fleet of only three damaged ships arrive.
• The sailors told Liu Qingyuan that the Giant Whale Gang had sunk twelve of the fifteen ships sent to evacuate them.
• Li Xuancang, Du Tianfeng, and Liu Qingyuan assigned limited places by faction, and their families and other favored groups boarded while many people were left behind.
• The three ships departed for Yang Prefecture, where Pei Hongwen worried about his future and Old Master Pei reflected that martial strength was the Pei Family's true foundation.

Li Xuancang and the others survived a Giant Whale Gang attack on the Canglan River and reached Yang Prefecture aboard captured ships. They settled at the Liu Family residence while waiting for the Imperial Court’s decision, and the chapter ended with the Liu Family discussing Li Xuancang.

• As Liu Qingyuan and the others traveled toward Yang Prefecture, seven Giant Whale Gang ships appeared and pursued their vessels.
• Li Xuancang blasted the attackers’ ships aside, then boarded one and forced the Giant Whale Gang disciples to surrender ships for the passengers.
• The group reached Yang Prefecture after seven more days and was admitted through the docks.
• Liu Qingyuan invited everyone to stay with the Liu Family, where Li Xuancang’s family, soldiers, and their dependents were given a large courtyard.
• Liu Qingyun, Du Tianfeng, and the others reported Peace Prefecture’s fall to the Imperial Court, while Li Xuancang explored Yang Prefecture and awaited the decree.
• Liu Qingyuan, Liu Wenyuan, and several Liu Family elders gathered to discuss Li Xuancang.

The Liu Family rejected Liu Qingyuan’s proposal to betroth Peiyu to Li Xuancang, despite his extraordinary potential. The court appointed Li Xuancang Guardian Commissioner of Sweet Spring Commandery with command of five thousand soldiers, while Liu Qingyuan was demoted and Du Tianfeng received no new posting.

• Liu Qingyuan proposed betrothing his daughter Peiyu to Li Xuancang, but Liu Wenyuan and the elders rejected the match to protect the Liu Family’s pride.
• More than a month later, Nangong Zhan told Li Xuancang that a court envoy had summoned him to the Commandery Governor’s Residence.
• Eunuch Wang read the decree praising Li Xuancang’s battlefield service and appointing him Guardian Commissioner of Sweet Spring Commandery, with five thousand elite soldiers under his command.
• Li Xuancang accepted the appointment and the court’s generous rewards.
• The court demoted Liu Qingyuan to chief clerk of Willow Prefecture for his failures in defending his territory.
• Du Tianfeng remained a Colonel without a specific posting while he recovered from his injuries.

Pei Hongwen was exiled to Origin Forest Commandery, while Li Xuancang learned why his appointment as Regional Commander of Sweet Spring Commandery carried immense power and responsibility. Du Tianfeng explained that Li Xuancang would profit from the commandery’s lucrative frontier trade but had to prevent the grassland people from breaking through.

• Chief Eunuch Wang announced Pei Hongwen’s appointment as Governor of Origin Forest Commandery, and Pei Hongwen accepted the decree after nearly collapsing.
• Chief Eunuch Wang revealed that the Peace Prefecture Marquis Estate had helped secure Pei Hongwen’s appointment, leaving the officials surprised.
• At the banquet, Li Xuancang and the others gave Chief Eunuch Wang gifts and questioned him about affairs in the Imperial City.
• Du Tianfeng explained to Li Xuancang that Sweet Spring Commandery’s trade with the grasslands made its Regional Commander exceptionally powerful and wealthy.
• Du Tianfeng warned Li Xuancang that he had to keep the grassland people from breaking out of Sweet Spring Commandery.

Li Xuancang decided to take his parents with him to Sweet Spring Commandery, while the Pei Family faced ruin and learned the Peace Prefecture Marquis Estate had engineered its downfall over Pei Qingyuan’s engagement. After Fu Zhong demanded that the Pei Family dissolve the engagement and offered Pei Qingyuan the lesser status of a concubine, Pei Hongwen and Pei Qingyuan rejected the arrangement, leaving the family devastated.

• Li Xuancang agreed to bring his parents with him to his post in Sweet Spring Commandery.
• Officials in Yang Prefecture learned that Li Xuancang had been promoted while Pei Hongwen had been sent to dangerous Origin Forest Commandery.
• The Pei Family concluded that the Peace Prefecture Marquis had turned against them because of Pei Qingyuan’s engagement, and Pei Hongwen agreed to dissolve it.
• Fu Zhong arrived on Lin Jingtan’s behalf, boasting of his prospects and demanding that the Pei Family end the engagement, while offering Pei Qingyuan the status of a concubine.
• Pei Hongwen rejected Fu Zhong’s demands and annulled the engagement, and Pei Qingyuan declared that she would sever ties with Lin Jingtan.
• Fu Zhong threatened the Pei Family and left, while Pei Qingyuan collapsed in tears, Old Master Pei fell backward, and Pei Hongwen spat blood.

Li Xuancang traveled toward Sweet Spring Commandery and found the Cool Prefecture Army slaughtering villagers. After Wang Xiaoniu and Bai Meng defeated the soldiers, Li Xuancang learned that they killed commoners to claim imperial resources and merits.

• Li Xuancang left Clear River Commandery City with his guards and family, bound for Sweet Spring Commandery in Cool Prefecture.
• After ten days of travel, Li Xuancang's party came upon soldiers killing villagers in a burning village, and he ordered Bai Meng and Wang Xiaoniu to intervene.
• The soldiers abandoned the villagers and surrounded Li Xuancang's carriages and Flame Horses, hoping to seize them.
• Bai Meng and Wang Xiaoniu fought through the soldiers, and Bai Meng wounded the Battalion Commander and brought him before Li Xuancang.
• Li Xuancang asked why the soldiers were slaughtering villagers, and the Battalion Commander admitted they killed commoners to trade them for imperial resources and merits.

Li Xuancang punished Cool Prefecture soldiers for slaughtering villagers, then confronted more soldiers who had tried to rob his carriage. After he ordered their commander to seek an explanation from Colonel Yang Yunhui, Yang recognized the danger of offending the newly appointed Garrison Commander.

• Li Xuancang ordered his men to kill several hundred Cool Prefecture soldiers after witnessing them claim merit by killing villagers, and the terrified villagers fled.
• More than a thousand soldiers arrived at the village, found their comrades dead, and pursued Li Xuancang’s carriage.
• Wang Xiaoniu identified Li Xuancang as the Garrison Commander of Sweet Spring Commandery, and Thousand-Man Commander Lu Batian and his soldiers kowtowed in fear.
• Li Xuancang told Lu Batian to have Colonel Yang Yunhui explain the incident, then continued toward Sweet Spring Commandery.
• Lu Batian reported what happened to Yang Yunhui, who angrily warned him that Li Xuancang could kill Astral Qi Realm experts and had slaughtered tens of thousands of rebels.

Yang Yunhui arranged compensation for Li Xuancang and warned the Cool Prefecture Army that his arrival threatened their profits. Li Xuancang reached Sweet Spring Commandery, where officials welcomed him and he took up residence, but he distrusted the household servants waiting there.

• Yang Yunhui ordered Lu Batian to gather silver and treasures as an apology to Li Xuancang, promising to cover the shortfall.
• Yang Yunhui reported Li Xuancang's arrival to Shen Chongyuan, while officials, merchants, and powerful clans prepared gifts and sought information about the new Governor.
• After traveling for more than a month, Li Xuancang arrived in Sweet Spring Commandery and was welcomed by Prefect Kong Ronghua, Wang Tianlin, and the local officials and commanders.
• Onlookers doubted Li Xuancang because of his youth, but others praised his battlefield record and claimed he could easily kill Astral Qi Realm cultivators.
• After a welcoming banquet, Li Xuancang entered the Governor's residence, frowned at the assembled servants, and went to rest with his parents.

Li Xuancang prepared to take control of Sweet Spring Commandery and practiced flying while the local factions worried about his arrival. After Wang Xiaoniu and the others broke through, Li Xuancang led his followers toward the military camp.

• Li Xuancang considered the court's orders, the danger posed by the plainsfolk, and his plans to seize control of the army and Sweet Spring Commandery.
• Wang Tianlin urged the military officers to surrender more than half their profits to Li Xuancang and the garrison commander to protect themselves from punishment.
• Kong Ronghua decided that the Commandery Governor's Residence should stay neutral and leave Li Xuancang and the Cool Prefecture Army to contend with each other.
• Li Xuancang spent several days practicing flight, then learned that Wang Xiaoniu, Nangong Zhan, Yang Tiangang, Zhang Yuanxiong, and Bai Meng had reached the Blood Condensation Realm.
• Li Xuancang left Bai Meng and twenty men to guard his residence and took the rest of his followers to the military camp as observers reported his departure.

Li Xuancang assembled the troops at Sweet Spring Camp and discovered that most of its soldiers were absent or undisciplined. He executed the deserters and commanders responsible for the camp’s missing manpower, leaving the remaining soldiers terrified.

• Li Xuancang ordered the assembly drums sounded, but only a little over a thousand of the camp’s authorized five thousand soldiers appeared.
• Li Xuancang ordered Wang Tianlin to seize the soldiers who had ignored the drums and executed more than seven hundred of them after killing a commander who objected.
• Li Xuancang questioned Wang Tianlin and learned that Sweet Spring Camp had only two thousand men despite receiving pay and supplies for five thousand.
• Li Xuancang had the commanders form up with their troops, then killed all five Thousand-Man Commanders and ten Battalion Commanders when their units proved severely understaffed.

Li Xuancang seized control of Sweet Spring Commandery by purging its military leadership, accepting gifts, and organizing recruitment and warhorse procurement. As he strengthened his position, the Cool Prefecture Army grew furious, but Shen Chongyuan held back after learning the imperial court was dissatisfied with him.

• Li Xuancang executed more than seven hundred Battle Soldiers, five Thousand-Man Commanders, and ten Battalion Commanders, then spared Colonel Wang Tianlin and ordered the camp rebuilt.
• Wang Xiaoniu and the others took charge of the camp as factions offered Li Xuancang gifts, and he accepted Yang Yunhui's payment while declaring their dispute settled.
• Li Xuancang praised Kong Ronghua's civil administration, delegated governance to him, and ordered merchants to obtain warhorses.
• Recruitment filled all five thousand Battle Soldier positions within three days, while merchant caravans prepared to acquire warhorses.
• Cool Prefecture Army officers demanded action against Li Xuancang, but Shen Chongyuan chose restraint after receiving word that the imperial court was displeased with him.

Li Xuancang established the Martial Champion Camp and announced a commandery-wide recruitment drive with ranks and rewards based on martial skill. The notice inspired people across the city to consider enlisting, and a youth in the southern slums told his mother he wanted to join.

• Li Xuancang ordered notices posted to recruit skilled soldiers for the newly established Martial Champion Camp.
• The generous pay, appointments, and rewards drew crowds to the commandery yamen, where Sun Tietou resolved to enlist and avenge his family.
• Rogue Cultivators debated the military’s strict rules, then decided to go to the Drill Ground together and seek a more secure future.
• A skeletal youth in the southern slums heard the notice read aloud, returned home, and told his mother he wanted to enlist.

Li Xuancang began recruiting cultivators into his army and discovered that two Astral Qi Realm brothers seeking enlistment had steppe blood and were fleeing persecution. After hearing their story, he was left to decide how to receive the powerful brothers.

• A young cultivator enlisted to support his mother and sister, despite his mother's fears for his safety.
• More than two thousand cultivators gathered at the military camp, and Li Xuancang ordered them sorted by cultivation realm for assessment.
• Ouyang De and his towering younger brother Ouyang Meng remained behind because they had reached the Astral Qi Realm, so Li Xuancang summoned them to his command tent.
• Ouyang De told Li Xuancang that their mother had been violated by steppe people and that the brothers had been ostracized after their heritage was exposed.
• Ouyang De explained that the brothers had offended the Cool Prefecture Army and had come to seek refuge with Li Xuancang.

Li Xuancang tested and recruited the Ouyang brothers, then established the Martial Champion Camp from thousands of selection survivors. As the Cool Prefecture Army moved to undermine him, Shen Chongyuan secretly ordered the grassland tribes to attack.

• Li Xuancang tested the Ouyang brothers, defeated them easily, and appointed them Thousand-Man Commanders under his command.
• Li Xuancang offered to let the brothers bring their mother to the Garrison Protector's Office for safety, and they left to settle their affairs.
• After the selection ended, Wang Xiaoniu reported that 3,500 people had passed, and Li Xuancang established the Martial Champion Camp for those without army posts.
• Generals in the Cool Prefecture Army condemned Li Xuancang's new force and called for him to be impeached.
• Shen Chongyuan dismissed concerns that Li Xuancang posed a serious threat, then ordered his subordinates to contact the grassland tribes and attack him.
• Shen Chongyuan's subordinates accepted the order, as the Cool Prefecture Army had secretly colluded with the grassland tribes for decades.

Li Xuancang investigated the Demons killing people in Sweet Spring Commandery and discovered Wood Flood Dragon emerging from a well. He killed it, but an ordinary-looking old man vowed to test Li Xuancang’s strength himself.

• Yang Tiangang reported that Demons had killed more than a hundred people in Sweet Spring Commandery, leaving only their skins behind.
• Li Xuancang waited through the night, spotted Wood Flood Dragon crawling out of a well, and followed it to a household.
• Wood Flood Dragon attacked a man keeping watch, but Li Xuancang intervened and pursued the Demon through the city.
• Li Xuancang trapped Wood Flood Dragon in a Blood Qi Force cage and crushed it, then ordered patrols to check for victims.
• After five days without further attacks, the commoners celebrated Li Xuancang, while an old man vowed to challenge him.