Chapter Summaries

After the Jia Ma Empire defeated the Cloud Empire, Xiao Lin hurried home from the victorious army, anxious to see his pregnant wife, Wen Lingyun. He found mourning cloth and her coffin at the Xiao Household and fainted.

• Xiao Lin returned from the war with the Jia Ma Empire's army and fretted about his pregnant wife, Wen Lingyun.
• Nalan Jie teased Xiao Lin and hoped Wen Lingyun would give birth to a daughter so their children could marry.
• Xiao Lin skipped the Victory Banquet and rushed to the Xiao Household as soon as the army reached the capital.
• Xiao Lin saw mourning cloth throughout the household and hurried to his courtyard, calling for Wen Lingyun.
• Xiao Lin found Wen Lingyun's coffin and fainted.

After his wife's death, Xiao Lin awakened his memories from Blue Star and released soul power that shook the Jia Ma Empire's capital. He later regained consciousness and learned that he had reached the Heavenly Soul Realm, while the capital's factions responded with fear and plans of their own.

• Xiao Lin awakened his past-life memories after fainting from grief and unconsciously released soul power across the capital.
• Jia Xing Tian and Yun Shan realized the power came from neither the Jia Ma Royal House nor the Misty Cloud Sect, then agreed to cooperate in case the unknown expert posed a threat.
• Hai Bodong decided to enter seclusion to break through to the Dou Emperor Realm, and Mittel Tengshan took charge of the family.
• Mo Ya raged after the emperor refused his request for a High-Grade Black-Tier Cultivation Technique and considered seeking one from another country.
• Xiao Lin regained consciousness and learned that his awakening had granted him a Heavenly Soul Realm soul.

After recovering from his wife's death, Xiao Lin learned that his newborn son Xiao Zhan would eventually father Xiao Yan, the future Flame Emperor, and resolved to survive long enough to reach that future. Finding his Starlight Formula too weak for his ambitions, he decided to use his Heavenly Realm Soul Power to create a stronger cultivation technique.

• Xiao Dongcheng brought Xiao Zhan to Xiao Lin, and seeing his son prompted Xiao Lin to pull himself out of despair and care for him.
• Xiao Lin arranged Wen Lingyun's funeral, kept their black jade token, and spent two or three months recovering at home.
• Xiao Lin recognized himself as the background character destined to die before the story began and realized Xiao Yan would be his grandson.
• Xiao Lin assessed his Heavenly Realm Soul Power and combat strength, then concluded that the Starlight Formula would limit his growth.
• Xiao Lin decided to develop a cultivation technique suited to himself, using the Starlight Formula as a foundation and his Heavenly Realm Soul Power as his main advantage.

After five years of researching cultivation methods, Xiao Lin created the mid Earth-tier Star Codex and successfully cultivated Astral Dou Qi. He had transformed his old Starlight Formula into a method that let practitioners absorb Astral Power and infuse their Dou Qi with it.

• Xiao Lin spent five years researching cultivation methods while Xiao Dongcheng managed the Xiao Household and Xiao Lin occasionally guided his son, Xiao Zhan.
• Nalan Jie visited Xiao Lin during his seclusion, and Xiao Lin reflected on their friendship and eventually let go of his lingering resentment over the original story.
• Xiao Lin finally achieved a breakthrough, causing Astral Power to descend from the heavens as he emerged from secluded cultivation.
• Xiao Lin formed Astral Dou Qi in his hand and realized that it held immense power.
• Xiao Lin revealed that he had upgraded the low Xuan-tier Starlight Formula into the mid Earth-tier Star Codex, which allowed practitioners to absorb Astral Power and transform ordinary Dou Qi into Astral Dou Qi.

Xiao Lin set aside further work on the Star Codex and decided to focus on raising his Dou Qi cultivation so he could survive the upheavals ahead. Unable to pursue either known path to becoming a Dou Emperor, he planned to rely on his grandson Xiao Yan’s future success and began training in earnest.

• Xiao Lin judged that improving the Mid-Tier Earth Rank Star Codex would take too long for the benefit, so he postponed upgrading it until his cultivation was higher.
• After five years of developing and testing the Star Codex, Xiao Lin had reached the peak of Nine-Star Dou Spirit and could break through to Dou Wang.
• Xiao Lin concluded that his lack of Fire Attribute Dou Qi ruled out cultivating the Flame Mantra, while he had no way to make an Emperor-Grade Embryonic Pill into a finished pill.
• Xiao Lin resolved to survive until his grandson Xiao Yan rose to glory, and he planned to resign as a general of the Jia Ma Empire so he could focus on cultivation.
• Xiao Lin began training and vowed to cultivate as hard as he could unless circumstances made it necessary to stop.

After a year of uninterrupted cultivation, Xiao Lin reached Four-Star Dou Emperor and was surprised when Mu Chen came to visit despite their lack of connection. Xiao Lin agreed to meet him, confident he could handle whatever Mu Chen wanted.

• A clansman told Xiao Lin that Mu Chen of the Mu Household had come looking for him, and Xiao Lin wondered why they would have business together.
• Xiao Lin recalled Mu Chen's standing and the relative power of the Jia Ma Empire's major families, including the Mittel Family's rise after Hai Bodong became a Dou Huang.
• Xiao Lin reflected on his extraordinary progress from Nine-Star Dou Ling to Four-Star Dou Emperor in one year and suspected his awakened Past-Life Wisdom had enhanced his talent.
• Xiao Lin decided to meet Mu Chen rather than return to cultivating, confident in his strength and Heavenly Realm Soul Power.

Xiao Lin concealed his Four-Star Dou Emperor cultivation as he left his courtyard, wary that the Hun Clan might target him if it learned his true strength. At the Xiao Household reception hall, he met Mu Chen, who believed Xiao Lin had reached Nine-Star Battle Spirit.

• Xiao Lin hid his Four-Star Dou Emperor cultivation and presented himself as a Nine-Star Battle Spirit to avoid drawing the Hun Clan’s attention.
• Xiao Lin reasoned that the Hun Clan was behind the Xiao Household’s decline and might send a stronger opponent if it discovered his real power.
• Xiao Lin entered the reception hall, greeted Xiao Dongcheng, and was left alone with Mu Chen, a guest from the Mu Household.
• Mu Chen congratulated Xiao Lin on emerging from mourning for his wife and guessed that Xiao Lin had advanced to Nine-Star Battle Spirit.
• Xiao Lin claimed he was ready to begin a new life while Mu Chen remained unaware that he had already become a Dou Emperor.

Mu Chen told Xiao Lin that the Jia Ma Empire’s army was suffering heavy losses against the Cloud Empire and ordered him to join the war. Xiao Lin agreed to leave for the front with Mu Chen the next day, hoping to help secure victory before resigning as a general.

• Mu Chen relayed Grand Marshal Intal Mo Ya’s order for Xiao Lin to gather his troops and go to the front lines.
• Xiao Lin learned that the Cloud Empire had seized twelve cities and inflicted nearly one hundred and fifty thousand casualties on the Jia Ma Empire’s army.
• Xiao Lin agreed to obey the deployment order and asked when they would leave.
• Mu Chen and Xiao Lin agreed to meet at the military camp at noon the next day before departing together.
• After Mu Chen left, Xiao Lin informed Xiao Dongcheng that he would soon go to war and began making preparations.

Xiao Lin and Mu Chen led sixty thousand soldiers to the Gama Empire’s front lines, where more than seven hundred thousand troops were struggling to hold back the Cloud Empire. As the war threatened to draw in neighboring nations and royal forces, they met Grand Marshal Mo Ya at the command camp.

• Xiao Lin and Mu Chen gathered their troops and set out for the front lines with sixty thousand soldiers.
• Xiao Lin reclaimed command of his army, whose deputy generals still recognized him as their leader.
• After a three-day march, Xiao Lin and Mu Chen reached the border garrison, where Gama forces faced the Cloud Empire’s reinforcements.
• The Gama Empire prepared royal experts and discussed possible Misty Cloud Sect involvement if the front collapsed.
• Mo Ya’s deputy brought Xiao Lin and Mu Chen to the grand marshal, whose lingering Battle King rank contrasted with the Dou Emperor status of his peers.

Xiao Lin and Mu Chen joined Imperial Marshal Intal Mo Ya’s command meeting, where they learned that Nalan Jie’s elite squad had been trapped by the Cloud Empire. The Jia Ma Empire had to attempt a rescue despite recognizing the trap, and Xiao Lin was the only general besides Mo Ya strong enough to lead it.

• Xiao Lin and Mu Chen entered the command tent and greeted Marshal Mo Ya and the other generals.
• Xiao Lin noticed Mo Ya’s odd expression toward him and Mu Chen and resolved to watch the marshal closely.
• Mo Ya asked the generals to discuss Nalan Jie’s distress signal, and Xiao Lin learned that Nalan’s squad had been ambushed and trapped.
• The generals recognized that the Cloud Empire had deliberately left the squad’s distress signal as bait, but the Jia Ma Empire could not abandon its elite fighters and their powerful families.
• The command tent concluded that Mo Ya had to remain with the central army and that Xiao Lin, the only other general stronger than Nalan Jie, was the clear choice to lead the rescue.

Xiao Lin and Mu Chen were ordered to rescue Nalan Jie and his trapped soldiers, despite recognizing the mission as a likely trap. They set out together, while Grand Marshal Mo Ya watched and sent a shadow toward the Cloud Empire’s camp.

• Xiao Lin realized that Mo Ya’s order put him in a position where he could not refuse rescuing his friend Nalan Jie.
• Mo Ya assigned Mu Chen and thirty Da Dou Shi to accompany Xiao Lin, and Mu Chen suspected they had both been drawn into a scheme.
• Mu Chen considered objecting but remained silent under Mo Ya’s pressure, and Mo Ya ordered the rescue party to depart quickly.
• Mu Chen privately told Xiao Lin he had known nothing about the plot, and Xiao Lin believed him and agreed they should cooperate.
• Xiao Lin and Mu Chen led the thirty Da Dou Shi toward Nalan Jie’s location, while Mo Ya watched them leave and declared their sacrifices necessary for his rise to Dou Emperor.
• A shadow left the camp and headed toward the Cloud Empire’s army.

Xiao Lin suspected Grand Marshal Mo Ya’s actions concealed more than a struggle to protect the Intel Lineage’s interests, and he asked Mu Chen to help him investigate. The chapter ended with Mu Chen rejecting Xiao Lin’s plan as too unbelievable because he could not imagine Mo Ya betraying the Gama Empire.

• Xiao Lin stopped the group of thirty Great Dou Masters and took Mu Chen aside to discuss the rescue mission.
• Xiao Lin asked Mu Chen whether he thought Grand Marshal Mo Ya was suspicious.
• Mu Chen explained that he saw Mo Ya’s behavior as an effort to suppress the Xiao, Nalan, and Mu Households and protect the Intel Lineage.
• Xiao Lin said he suspected a deeper scheme and asked Mu Chen to cover for him while he left the group to investigate.
• Mu Chen reacted with disbelief when Xiao Lin explained his speculation and plan, insisting that Mo Ya could not have betrayed the Empire.

Xiao Lin suspected Grand Marshal Mo Ya had betrayed the Gama Empire and persuaded Mu Chen to help investigate. After leaving Mu Chen to advance slowly toward Nalan Jie's trapped group, Xiao Lin waited near the Gama camp and followed a suspicious figure toward the Cloud Empire's camp.

• Xiao Lin told Mu Chen that Mo Ya might be the traitor and planned to look for evidence.
• Mu Chen reluctantly agreed to cooperate, and Xiao Lin explained his arrangements.
• Xiao Lin left the group while Mu Chen led the thirty Great Dou Masters onward at a slower pace.
• Xiao Lin hid near the Gama Empire's military camp and watched a mysterious figure in Gama uniform slip out.
• Xiao Lin followed the figure and blocked his path near the Cloud Empire's military camp.

Xiao Lin confronted a mysterious Five-Star Dou Spirit leaving the Jia Ma Empire camp and suspected he was carrying intelligence to the Cloud Empire. When the man tried to flee using poison, Xiao Lin killed him with the Stellar Hand Seal.

• Xiao Lin questioned the mysterious man about leaving camp and mocked his claim that he was delivering a challenge letter.
• The mysterious man denied betraying the Grand Marshal and tried to avoid handing over the supposed letter.
• The man threw a purple poison pill at Xiao Lin and fled toward the Cloud Empire camp.
• Xiao Lin shattered the poison with the Stellar Hand Seal and killed the mysterious man in one strike.

Xiao Lin defeated a poison master from the Ten Thousand Scorpion Sect and learned the man had been working with Mo Ya. He discovered Astral Dou Qi countered Poison Dou Qi, then split the corpse in two as part of his plan.

• Xiao Lin approached the mysterious man after his Stellar Hand Seal left him near death.
• The man named Xie Shan, the Ten Thousand Scorpion Sect's master, as he died.
• Xiao Lin deduced the man was a Cloud Empire poison master who had been contacting Mo Ya, and his confidence in his plan rose.
• Xiao Lin realized Astral Dou Qi had destroyed the man's poisonous mist and countered Poison Dou Qi.
• Xiao Lin split the corpse vertically to carry out his plan.

Mo Ya received proof that his contact with the Cloud Empire had been killed and was summoned to the Black Rock Mountains by someone who knew of his treason. He decided to attend the midnight meeting, while Xiao Lin set up a separate meeting with the Cloud Empire half an hour later.

• Mo Ya learned that a contact he had sent to inform the Cloud Empire about Xiao Lin and Mu Chen's rescue plan had been cut in half and left at the camp entrance.
• Mo Ya ordered General Wu to dispose of the body and patrol for suspicious people, then read a letter threatening to expose his collusion unless he went to the Black Rock Mountains at midnight.
• Mo Ya recalled that he had allied with the Cloud Empire to obtain a cultivation technique and eliminate the younger generation of three powerful Gama families, and he decided to meet the mysterious blackmailer.
• Xiao Lin sent the other half of the Cloud Empire poison master's corpse back to the Cloud Empire with a letter arranging a meeting half an hour later than Mo Ya's.

Xiao Lin infiltrated the Black Rock Mountains and used his Dou Emperor strength to destroy the Cloud Empire’s hidden elite squad, sparing its leader. He left the surviving Eight-Star Dou Spirit alive to serve the next step of his plan to make the Cloud Empire’s commanding general and Mo Ya fight.

• Xiao Lin set off alone for the Black Rock Mountains after delivering the poison master's corpse and a letter to the Cloud Empire camp.
• Xiao Lin found the Cloud Empire squad that had trapped Nalan Jie and his team, then walked openly into its encampment in disguise.
• The Cloud Empire’s Eight-Star Dou Spirit leader ordered his forces to surround and attack Xiao Lin.
• Xiao Lin withstood the squad’s combined attacks without injury and revealed his overwhelming strength.
• Xiao Lin used the Stellar Hand Seal to annihilate the Cloud Empire forces, deliberately sparing their Eight-Star Dou Spirit leader.

Xiao Lin wiped out the Cloud Empire force and let its surviving poison master attempt to mark him, then contained the resulting purple mist. His plan was more than halfway complete, and he awaited the final piece.

• Xiao Lin killed more than a dozen Dou Lings and over a hundred Da Dou Shis with a single strike, sparing one Eight-Star Dou Ling poison master.
• The surviving poison master swallowed a pill that would mark his killer with a scent detectable by stronger poison masters.
• Xiao Lin revealed that he knew about the marking method and provoked the poison master, knowing their conflict could not be reconciled.
• The poison master cursed Xiao Lin and self-destructed, releasing a blood-scented purple mist.
• Xiao Lin used Astral Dou Qi to block the mist and captured it in a starlit sphere with a giant palm, declaring that only the final piece of his plan remained.

Xiao Lin waited near the miasma while Grand Marshal Mo Ya secretly entered the Black Rock Mountains to meet the person who knew his secret. After finding the Cloud Empire squad slaughtered, Mo Ya remained on guard, and Xiao Lin marked him as Ghost Spider arrived.

• Xiao Lin found man-made miasma blocking the exit of the Black Rock Mountains and chose not to disperse it, leaving Nalan Jie and the others trapped longer.
• Grand Marshal Mo Ya snuck out of the Gama Empire military camp and entered the Black Rock Mountains to meet the mysterious person threatening him.
• Mo Ya discovered the Cloud Empire's elite squad crushed around a massive palm-shaped pit and angrily demanded to know who had killed them.
• Xiao Lin watched Mo Ya from the shadows as Mo Ya assumed a powerful Battle King had destroyed the squad and stayed to investigate.
• When Ghost Spider arrived at the mountains, Xiao Lin used the marking gas from the Cloud Empire's self-destructing eight-star Battle Spirit on Mo Ya.

Xiao Lin’s plan led Mo Ya and Ghost Spider to mistake each other for traitors in the Black Rock Mountains. Ghost Spider attacked Mo Ya, and their battle as Dou Wangs began.

• Mo Ya struck apart an incoming object, which released purple mist that marked him with a poison master’s scent.
• Ghost Spider arrived, saw the marked Mo Ya among the bodies of his Cloud Empire subordinates, and attacked him before recognizing him.
• Mo Ya and Ghost Spider recognized each other, but Mo Ya suspected the Cloud Empire was betraying him while Ghost Spider blamed him for his men’s deaths.
• Ghost Spider called Mo Ya a traitor and launched an attack, beginning a battle between the two Dou Wangs.