Chapter Summaries

Li Xuancang chose Twin Dragon Mountain as his first target and led a thousand soldiers to attack the bandits. After the Wang brothers recalled their men and prepared to fight, Li Xuancang’s army entered the mountain range.

• Li Xuancang ordered Wang Xiaoniu to gather intelligence on Twin Dragon Mountain and decided to strike at its bandits.
• Li Xuancang kept the army in camp for several days while martial factions and government officials assumed he was afraid to act.
• Li Xuancang sounded the Assembly Drum and ordered the First Battalion to march out with him to suppress the bandits.
• The martial factions learned the army was heading for Twin Dragon Mountain and sent warnings to the Wang brothers.
• Wang Dalong and Wang Erlong recalled their bandits and vowed to kill Li Xuancang and his soldiers.
• Li Xuancang arrived at Twin Dragon Mountain and ordered Nangong Zhan and Bai Meng to lead the nervous, eager soldiers into the range.

Li Xuancang led his army into Twin Dragon Mountain, where the bandits planned to ambush them from their stronghold. He shrugged off a rain of arrows and struck the stronghold wall with enough force to shake it, leaving the bandits and watching factions stunned.

• The bandits of Twin Dragon Mountain withdrew to their stronghold and prepared to kill Li Xuancang and his soldiers.
• Li Xuancang’s army reached the stronghold, where Wang Dalong and Wang Erlong underestimated him because of his youth.
• Li Xuancang ordered the army to form ranks and led the attack himself.
• Li Xuancang charged through a barrage of arrows, which shattered against his Blood Astral Force barrier.
• Li Xuancang punched the stronghold wall and shook it, terrifying the bandits and shocking the spectators.

Li Xuancang smashed through Twin Dragon Mountain’s wall and slaughtered the bandits as Nangong Zhan led the Battle Soldiers through the breach. He defeated the Wang brothers, leaving both of them down as the assault continued.

• Li Xuancang broke down one-fifth of the city wall and killed nearly a hundred bandits with a single punch.
• Nangong Zhan led more than a thousand Battle Soldiers into the stronghold while Li Xuancang rampaged through the bandits.
• Wang Dalong ordered the bandits to charge and killed those who tried to flee, but they still broke into a rout.
• Li Xuancang ignored Wang Erlong’s sword, crushed Wang Dalong’s saber, and smashed Wang Dalong’s head with a punch.
• Li Xuancang pulled Wang Erlong’s sword from his body and kicked Wang Erlong down beside his brother.

Li Xuancang crushed the Twin Dragon Mountain bandits, crippled the Wang Dalong brothers despite their ties to Xu Zinian, and ordered the stronghold burned. He led his army back to the city with rescued women and plunder, leaving the brothers alive for now.

• Li Xuancang subdued the Wang Dalong brothers, slaughtered the bandits, and left the remaining fighters for his Battle Soldiers to defeat.
• Li Xuancang crippled the brothers and broke their legs after they invoked the Northern Liang King's heir, Xu Zinian.
• Nangong Zhan reported that the army had found silver, treasures, spirit stones, grain, more than a thousand rescued women, and the remains of several thousand women.
• Li Xuancang ordered the army to take the people and spoils and burn Twin Dragon Mountain to ashes.
• Li Xuancang returned to the city with the army and kept the Wang Dalong brothers alive because they might still be useful.

Li Xuancang returned to Flowing Cloud Commandery after destroying Twin Dragon Mountain, earning the gratitude of the people and officials while alarming the martial world factions. His declaration that he would enforce imperial law left the factions furious and the people hopeful that he would bring order.

• The martial world factions secretly began joining forces against Li Xuancang after learning he had annihilated Twin Dragon Mountain.
• The people and imperial court celebrated the victory, and crowds gathered to welcome Li Xuancang and his army home.
• The rescued women returned with the army, drawing the crowd’s sympathy as they followed with numb expressions.
• Sun Shouyi and the officials welcomed Li Xuancang and thanked him for ending the bandit threat.
• Li Xuancang accepted their thanks and declared that he would not allow anyone to defy imperial law, provoking the martial world factions and exciting the people.

Li Xuancang returned to the commandery city with the captured Wang Dalong brothers and arranged for the rescued women to be cared for. The martial world factions, fearing the brothers would expose their collusion, agreed to try to kill them in the military camp while Li Xuancang was away, as the brothers began confessing under torture.

• Li Xuancang brought Wang Dalong and Wang Erlong into the city, then asked Sun Shouyi to arrange shelter for the more than a thousand women rescued from Twin Dragon Mountain.
• Li Xuancang ordered the army and authorities to spread news that the Wang brothers had confessed their crimes and named their accomplices.
• The faction leaders gathered at Heavenly Fragrance Tower and agreed that the Wang brothers had to be killed before they could implicate them.
• Yang Yunhai proposed luring Li Xuancang away from the military camp so an Astral Qi Realm expert could assassinate the brothers, and the leaders agreed to risk the plan.
• Li Xuancang tortured the Wang brothers until they confessed their crimes and collusion with the various factions.

Li Xuancang foiled a night raid on the military camp and fought off the martial world attackers, who used Heaven Soul Incense and decoys to escape. After one fleeing man killed himself rather than be captured, Li Xuancang returned to the camp while the others regrouped in a small courtyard.

• Four masked men infiltrated the camp to kill Wang Dalong and his brother, but Li Xuancang revealed himself and repelled their first attacker.
• Three men in black attacked Li Xuancang together, while the wounded Zheng Gang abandoned them and fled.
• Wang Xiaoniu stopped Bai Meng and the others from joining the fight, and Li Xuancang wounded one attacker as the three struggled to hold him off.
• One attacker threw Heaven Soul Incense to cover their retreat, but Li Xuancang pursued them despite the smoke.
• Dozens of identically dressed men appeared and split up, and a death warrior killed himself when Li Xuancang nearly caught him.
• Li Xuancang returned to the camp, while the fleeing men regrouped in a small courtyard.

After Li Xuancang returned to camp, Wang Xiaoniu led troops into Flowing Cloud Commandery City, where they confronted the Mad Blade Sect for extorting and brutalizing commoners. Wang Xiaoniu ordered the sect members to surrender, then had them killed when they attacked the soldiers.

• Li Xuancang ordered an additional thirty taels of silver delivered to each family of the seven soldiers killed in the previous night's attack.
• Wang Xiaoniu led the army through Flowing Cloud Commandery City and encountered Mad Blade Sect disciples demanding protection fees from vendors.
• Zhu Yuan beat and crushed Old Zhang for questioning the repeated fee, then threatened the gathered commoners.
• Wang Xiaoniu's troops surrounded the Mad Blade Sect disciples, and Wang Xiaoniu demanded that they surrender for their crimes.
• The disciples charged the Battle Soldiers, so Wang Xiaoniu ordered the crossbows fired and the Mad Blade Sect members fell dead.

Wang Xiaoniu and the army cracked down on sect abuses before Nangong Zhan led troops to arrest the Four Seasons Gambling House. When the gambling house resisted, Li Xuancang arrived and overwhelmed its thugs, leaving the confrontation unresolved.

• Wang Xiaoniu told the commoners that only the imperial court could levy taxes, then led the army to the next street as the people took Old Zhang for treatment.
• Nangong Zhan brought two hundred Battle Soldiers to the Four Seasons Gambling House and ordered its people arrested for their crimes.
• Lu Xuanfeng restrained his men at Zheng Gang's command, but the gambling house thugs attacked the soldiers and Lu Xuanfeng fought Bai Meng.
• Li Xuancang burst into the gambling house and killed dozens of thugs with a single punch.
• Nangong Zhan and the soldiers bowed to Li Xuancang as their Colonel.

Li Xuancang destroyed the Four Seasons Gambling House and led an iron-blooded purge of martial world forces throughout Flowing Cloud Commandery. As the crackdown filled the prisons and terrified the gangs, their leaders gathered in secret and realized their old order was being dismantled.

• Li Xuancang killed Lu Xuanfeng and slaughtered the Four Seasons Gambling House after ordering his soldiers to seal it off.
• Zheng Gang ordered the gambling house men to hold Li Xuancang back and escaped through a secret passage.
• Li Xuancang’s soldiers searched the gambling house, seized its wealth and records, and failed to find Zheng Gang.
• Li Xuancang directed a citywide crackdown, arresting martial world thugs and executing those who resisted.
• Yang Yunhai and the other force leaders gathered at the Heavenly Fragrance Tower and worried that Li Xuancang intended to eradicate them.

Li Xuancang surrounded Heavenly Fragrance Tower and confronted the gathered faction leaders, who had planned to flee Flowing Cloud Commandery. He cut through their attempt to resist, pursued Yang Yunhai, and crushed Yang Yunhai’s Astral Qi with a fatal punch.

• The faction leaders argued over whether to fight Li Xuancang or abandon the commandery city, then chose to retreat and wait for him to leave.
• Li Xuancang arrived with over a thousand Battle Soldiers and surrounded Heavenly Fragrance Tower, trapping the gathered leaders.
• Yang Yunhai and Zheng Gang threatened Li Xuancang, but he rejected their warnings and charged into the group.
• Yang Yunhai and the others fled while the remaining leaders tried to slow Li Xuancang; the escapees split up, and Li Xuancang pursued Yang Yunhai.
• Yang Yunhai threw a bead that released thick pink smoke, but Li Xuancang burst through it and blocked his escape.
• Yang Yunhai charged Li Xuancang, who shattered his Astral Qi with one punch and sent him flying with a crushed chest.

Li Xuancang wiped out the martial world forces in Flowing Cloud Commandery, provoking retaliation plans from Peace Prefecture City’s factions and concern from Du Tianfeng. Meanwhile, Bai Meng proved strong enough to contend with an early-stage Blood Condensation Realm cultivator, and Li Xuancang urged him to keep training.

• Li Xuancang killed Yang Yunhai and Feng Kaishan, then massacred the martial world fighters at Heavenly Fragrance Tower, while Bai Yidao escaped.
• Li Xuancang’s army seized the martial world forces’ wealth and supplies, and he distributed silver to the soldiers and to families of the dead and severely wounded.
• After half a month, the martial world forces had fled or gone into hiding, and their forced fees on the common people were abolished.
• Peace Prefecture City’s martial world forces blamed Li Xuancang for destroying their Flowing Cloud Commandery network and sought to hire Misty Rain Pavilion to kill him.
• Du Tianfeng sent Li Xuancang a warning and strengthened the defenses around the Li Residence against retaliation.
• Bai Meng attacked Li Xuancang during a strength test, and Li Xuancang confirmed that Bai Meng could contend with an early-stage Blood Condensation Realm cultivator.

Li Xuancang investigated the mysterious disappearances of pregnant women in Flowing Cloud Commandery and learned that the culprit was the Evil Cultivator Sky-Crippled Old Man. He joined forces with three members of the Prison Tiger Bureau to hunt him down.

• Du Tianfeng warned Li Xuancang to guard against retaliation and promised to look after matters at home.
• Nangong Zhan reported that pregnant women had been vanishing across Flowing Cloud Commandery, and Li Xuancang ordered a full investigation.
• More pregnant women disappeared without a trace, spreading fear through the city, so Li Xuancang imposed a curfew and deployed soldiers to search and patrol.
• Li Xuancang led searches for seven days, during which no further women vanished, but his troops found no clues to the culprit.
• Huang Huayuan, Liu Qingyao, and Zhang Tianxuan of the Prison Tiger Bureau asked Li Xuancang to help capture the Sky-Crippled Old Man, who preyed on pregnant women.
• Li Xuancang told the three about the disappearances and agreed to work with them to find the Sky-Crippled Old Man.

Li Xuancang joined the Prison Tiger Bureau in searching for Sky-Crippled Old Man, whose trail led Huang Huayuan and Liu Qingyao to a ruined temple. They fought the Evil Cultivator, but his forbidden art turned the battle against them, forcing them to escape badly injured.

• Li Xuancang agreed to cooperate with the Prison Tiger Bureau and learned that Shen Qingshan was recovering.
• Three thousand Battle Soldiers and more than a thousand government constables began searching the prefectural city for Sky-Crippled Old Man.
• Liu Qingyao and Huang Huayuan tracked Sky-Crippled Old Man to a ruined temple and discovered the bodies of ten pregnant women.
• Huang Huayuan and Liu Qingyao fought Sky-Crippled Old Man, using Prison Tiger Bureau techniques to suppress his evil arts.
• Sky-Crippled Old Man unleashed the forbidden art Hundred Infants Devour Life, severely injuring Liu Qingyao and Huang Huayuan.
• Huang Huayuan crushed an escape talisman and fled with Liu Qingyao.

Li Xuancang arrived in time to save Huang Huayuan and Liu Qingyao from Sky-Crippled Old Man, then confronted the injured Evil Cultivator alone. Sky-Crippled Old Man raised his strength to the Late Astral Qi Realm with his ghostfire trump card, but Li Xuancang overwhelmed him with his fists.

• Huang Huayuan shielded Liu Qingyao and hurled her out of danger as Sky-Crippled Old Man struck, but Li Xuancang arrived in time to block the fatal blow.
• Zhang Tianxuan gave medicinal pills to the injured Huang Huayuan and Liu Qingyao, while Li Xuancang told him to protect them and faced Sky-Crippled Old Man.
• Sky-Crippled Old Man pleaded for Li Xuancang to spare him, then swallowed his ghostfire and surged from the Mid Astral Qi Realm to the Late Astral Qi Realm.
• Li Xuancang ignored the warnings and broke Sky-Crippled Old Man’s bones with a flurry of punches, leaving Huang Huayuan, Liu Qingyao, and Zhang Tianxuan stunned by his strength.

Li Xuancang overwhelmed the Sky-Crippled Old Man, but the old man escaped after unleashing two evil artifacts. The group returned to the commandery city, where Li Xuancang arranged for Wang Dalong and his brother to be publicly executed while Huang Huayuan recovered so he could track their enemy.

• Li Xuancang broke the Sky-Crippled Old Man's spine, but the old man sacrificed much of his cultivation to escape his grasp and repair his body.
• The Sky-Crippled Old Man unleashed the compass and Hundred-Infant Banner to trap and attack Li Xuancang, but Li Xuancang broke through the barrier and battered the artifacts until they cracked.
• The Sky-Crippled Old Man fled into the dark forest and detonated the two artifacts to cover his escape, leaving Li Xuancang with only flesh wounds.
• Huang Huayuan told Li Xuancang he had planted a tracking method on the Sky-Crippled Old Man, but needed to recover before using it.
• Li Xuancang and the others returned to the commandery city, where Huang Huayuan and Liu Qingyao recovered with Zhang Tianxuan's help.
• Li Xuancang ordered Wang Dalong and his brother to be executed by slow slicing at noon the next day.

Li Xuancang had the Wang Dalong brothers publicly executed by death of a thousand cuts, avenging their victims and frightening the jianghu forces. After the crowd dispersed, the surviving jianghu figures decided to lie low while Li Xuancang remained in Flowing Cloud Commandery.

• Citizens gathered to watch as Wang Xiaoniu brought the crippled Wang Dalong brothers to the execution platform and forced them to kneel.
• Wang Xiaoniu broke the brothers’ legs after they refused to kneel and invoked the Northern Liang King's Heir.
• At the third quarter of noon, executioners began cutting the brothers apart while Li Xuancang watched them curse him.
• The executioners continued until sunset, and Li Xuancang ordered the brothers’ remains thrown outside the city to feed wild beasts.
• Citizens thanked Li Xuancang for avenging their murdered loved ones, while jianghu figures withdrew and resolved to stay hidden.

After escaping the Wang Dalong brothers, the gravely wounded Sky-Crippled Old Man fled to the Black Miasma Abyss and begged the Devil Master for help. Seven days later, Huang Huayuan and his companions tracked him there, where Huang Huayuan chose to investigate the Demon’s lair alone.

• The Sky-Crippled Old Man reached the Black Miasma Abyss and was carried into its depths to meet the Devil Master.
• The Sky-Crippled Old Man confessed his failure to collect Origin-Nurturing Fetal Breath, and the Devil Master spared him and used demonic qi to heal his damaged foundation.
• Seven days later, Huang Huayuan, Liu Qingyao, and Zhang Tianxuan tracked the Sky-Crippled Old Man north and reached the Demon Abyss ten days afterward.
• Huang Huayuan recognized the aura of Demons, while Liu Qingyao and Zhang Tianxuan urged him to report the danger to their sect.
• Huang Huayuan refused to turn back and insisted on investigating the abyss alone as a member of the Prison Tiger Bureau.

Huang Huayuan, Zhang Tianxuan, and Liu Qingyao discovered a terrifying Demon sealed in the Black Miasma Abyss and rushed to warn Li Xuancang. As the authorities sealed off the area and sought help, Evil Cultivators continued feeding the Demon until its chains began to crack.

• Huang Huayuan, Zhang Tianxuan, and Liu Qingyao entered the Black Miasma Abyss and were badly injured by a wisp of the Demon’s power.
• Huang Huayuan ordered the group to retreat, then told Li Xuancang that a catastrophic Demon lay beneath the abyss.
• Huang Huayuan and his companions asked Li Xuancang to seek aid and returned to guard the abyss while they awaited their sect’s experts.
• Li Xuancang sent Nangong Zhan with a letter for Du Tianhao and ordered the authorities to keep civilians away from the abyss.
• Evil Cultivators delivered large amounts of flesh and blood to the Demon, whose chains cracked as it struggled against its seal.

Li Xuancang ignored Du Tianfeng's order to abandon Flowing Cloud Commandery and went to the Demon Abyss to rescue Huang Huayuan, Zhang Tianxuan, and Liu Qingyao from Evil Cultivators. He faced Black Plains Old Man, Life-Taking Scholar, and their allies, while the Prison Tiger Bureau fighters prepared to stand with him.

• Du Tianfeng ordered Li Xuancang to withdraw from Flowing Cloud Commandery after learning that terrifying Demons threatened the region.
• Li Xuancang chose to remain, sent Yang Tiangang back to Peace Prefecture City with a letter, and went toward the Demon Abyss with several guards.
• Huang Huayuan, Zhang Tianxuan, and Liu Qingyao were overwhelmed by dozens of Evil Cultivators, and Zhang Tianxuan was gravely wounded while saving Huang Huayuan.
• Li Xuancang arrived in time to block the burly man's fatal strike against Zhang Tianxuan and knocked the attacker back.
• Black Plains Old Man and Life-Taking Scholar joined the burly man, and the Evil Cultivators surrounded Li Xuancang as Huang Huayuan, Zhang Tianxuan, and Liu Qingyao rallied beside him.