Chapter Summaries

Xiao Lin watched as his scheme set Grand Marshal Mo Ya and Ghost Spider against each other, while Mo Ya tried to convince Ghost Spider that they had both been framed. Their suspicions eased briefly, but a squad arrived and vowed to help Mo Ya kill Ghost Spider, reigniting the conflict.

• Ghost Spider attacked Mo Ya, who fought back with Gale Wind Palm, and their battle escalated while Xiao Lin watched from hiding.
• Xiao Lin recalled that the Intel Lineage vanished after the original story began, which had led him to suspect Mo Ya of treason.
• Mo Ya told Ghost Spider that a hidden schemer had planted the poison-master mark on him and lured them both to the site.
• Ghost Spider began to believe Mo Ya and paused his attack, but several dozen soldiers arrived and declared they would help Mo Ya kill him.

Mu Chen and his soldiers exposed Grand Marshal Mo Ya during his confrontation with Ghost Spider, leaving both men convinced the other had betrayed them. As Mo Ya and Ghost Spider fought to the death, Xiao Lin and Mu Chen’s group stayed hidden and watched.

• Xiao Lin used his Heavenly Realm Soul Power to conceal Mu Chen and thirty Da Dou Shi as they approached Mo Ya and Ghost Spider.
• Mu Chen called out, causing Ghost Spider to accuse Mo Ya of betrayal and Mo Ya to realize he could not defend himself.
• Ghost Spider cursed Mo Ya until Mo Ya vomited blood, then continued insulting his ancestors until Mo Ya snapped and attacked him.
• Ghost Spider swallowed a pill that raised his cultivation from Five-Star Battle King toward Seven-Star Battle King, despite its lasting side effect of lowering his cultivation by two stars afterward.
• Mo Ya and Ghost Spider fought fiercely, each determined to kill the other, while Xiao Lin joined Mu Chen’s group and they hid instead of intervening.

Xiao Lin explained how he had lured Grand Marshal Mo Ya and Ghost Spider into conflict, then watched as their battle left both men gravely wounded. Ghost Spider sacrificed himself in a final attack that engulfed Mo Ya, leaving Xiao Lin and the others stunned.

• Mu Chen praised Xiao Lin for exposing Mo Ya’s treason and saving the group, and Xiao Lin described how he had lured Mo Ya and Ghost Spider to the Black Rock Mountains.
• Xiao Lin and the others watched Mo Ya and Ghost Spider continue fighting, with Mo Ya poisoned and Ghost Spider badly wounded.
• Ghost Spider decided to kill Mo Ya even if it cost him his life and charged through Mo Ya’s wind blade.
• Ghost Spider self-destructed, unleashing an explosion that swallowed Mo Ya and stunned Xiao Lin and the others.

After Mo Ya and Ghost Spider killed each other, Xiao Lin rescued Nalan Jie and exposed Mo Ya’s treason, allowing the Gama Empire to defeat the Cloud Empire. The war ended in peace talks, and Xiao Lin, Nalan Jie, Mu Chen, and the other temporary generals returned to the Jia Ma Imperial Capital.

• Mo Ya and Ghost Spider perished together, and Xiao Lin led the group to rescue Nalan Jie and the other captives from the purple miasma.
• Nalan Jie embraced Xiao Lin and promised that his future granddaughter would marry Xiao Lin’s grandson, leaving Xiao Lin uneasy about the idea.
• Xiao Lin and the others brought Mo Ya’s corpse back to the camp and revealed his treason to the Gama Empire’s generals.
• The Gama Empire launched a surprise attack while the Cloud Empire was unaware that Ghost Spider had died, winning the battle and driving the enemy out of Gama Empire territory.
• The Jia Ma Royal House sent a Battle King to take command, and the Gama Empire gained Cloud Empire territory before the two nations agreed to peace amid threats from neighboring countries.
• Xiao Lin, Nalan Jie, Mu Chen, and the other temporary generals returned to the Jia Ma Imperial Capital after the war ended.

Xiao Lin returned home from war and reunited with his six-year-old son, Xiao Zhan, who asked him to stop going to battle. Xiao Zhan then chose to begin cultivating so he could help his father, and Xiao Lin agreed to teach him.

• Xiao Lin returned victorious to the Xiao Household and embraced Xiao Zhan, who had missed him during his months away.
• A clansman told Xiao Lin that Xiao Zhan had spent his days asking about his father and had stopped wanting to play.
• Xiao Zhan asked Xiao Lin not to go to war again, and Xiao Lin promised to resign as a general after going to the imperial palace the next day.
• Xiao Zhan told Xiao Lin that he wanted to cultivate so he could help his father and avoid bringing shame upon him.
• Xiao Lin accepted Xiao Zhan's decision and began teaching his six-year-old son to cultivate.

After the Gama Empire and Cloud Empire war ended, Xiao Lin retired from the military and helped strengthen the Xiao Household with royal rewards and assets from the fallen Intel Lineage. A year later, Xiao Lin revealed himself as a Battle King, establishing the Xiao Household as a new Battle King family in the Jia Ma Imperial Capital.

• The Gama Empire and Cloud Empire ended their war, and Xiao Lin resigned from his military post to cultivate and teach his son, Xiao Zhan.
• The royal house rewarded Xiao Lin, and the Xiao Household, Nalan Household, and Mu Household divided the Intel Lineage's assets with royal approval.
• The Jia Ma Royal House allowed the three families to rise, while Yun Shan focused on breaking through to the Nine-Star Dou Emperor stage.
• A year after the war ended, Xiao Lin released a powerful aura from the Xiao Household's ancestral grounds, revealing that the family had gained a Battle King.
• Xiao Lin displayed himself as a One-Star Battle King, though his true cultivation had advanced to Six-Star Dou Emperor, and rival forces reconsidered their relations with the Xiao Household.

Xiao Lin’s guidance helped Xiao Zhan build his Battle Qi foundation while the Xiao Household expanded its influence after Xiao Lin revealed his Battle King strength. With the Nalan and Mu Households also producing Battle Kings, the imperial capital’s powers reshuffled and the four leading families gained a new collective name.

• Xiao Zhan reached the first stage of Battle Qi at age seven under Xiao Lin’s guidance, and Xiao Lin estimated he could become a Fighter within ten years.
• After Xiao Lin revealed his Battle King strength, the Xiao Household expanded into Wutan City, raising its status and helping the city become a first-tier city.
• Xiao Lin stayed alert to possible hidden enemies, including the Hun Clan, while the Xiao Household gained resources and recognition in the imperial capital.
• Nearly another year later, the Nalan Household and Mu Household each produced a Battle King, and Nalan Jie resigned as a general while Mu Chen became Grand Marshal.
• People began calling the Mittel Family and the Xiao, Nalan, and Mu Households the Four Great Families of the Gama Empire, and the title spread across the empire and neighboring countries.

Xiao Dongcheng brought Xiao Lin a gilded invitation from the Mittel Family to a major auction, showing that the Xiao Household’s new status as a Battle King family had earned the powerful merchant family’s attention. Xiao Lin welcomed the invitation and considered the possibility of future business cooperation between the families.

• Xiao Dongcheng interrupted Xiao Lin and Xiao Zhan’s cultivation session to bring Xiao Lin some good news.
• Xiao Lin read the invitation and saw that the Mittel Family had sent it.
• Xiao Lin reflected on the Mittel Family’s wealth and influence, including its new Dou Emperor, Hai Bodong.
• Xiao Lin learned that the Mittel Family had invited the Xiao Household to its upcoming major auction.
• Xiao Lin decided to accept the invitation and welcomed the prospect of closer commercial ties.

Xiao Lin accepted the Xiao Household’s invitation to attend the Mittel Family’s grand auction, planning to use the family’s resources to buy items for his relatives and one for himself. He arrived at the auction house with four clansmen and was escorted to the family’s private VIP box.

• Xiao Lin agreed to represent the Xiao Household at the Mittel Family’s grand auction after reviewing its advance list of items, and Xiao Dongcheng gave him full authority to make purchases.
• Three days later, Xiao Lin traveled to the auction house with an elder and Xiao Ze, Xiao Zhen, and Xiao Yi, while crowds from across the empire gathered in the capital.
• Xiao Lin’s group drew attention when they arrived, and Xiao Lin calmly told his nervous clansmen to relax.
• Xiao Lin presented the Xiao Household’s VIP invitation at the reception desk, and a Mittel Family attendant escorted the group to their private box.

Xiao Lin brought the Xiao Household to the Mittel Family auction, where their VIP room and welcome showed how much the household’s status had risen. Before the auction began, he told three promising younger clansmen they could each bid on one cultivation aid, and urged them to help the household thrive without relying on him.

• Nalan Jie arrived with members of the Nalan Lineage and joined Xiao Lin and the Xiao Household on their way into the auction hall.
• The Mittel Family attendant led the Xiao Household to VIP Room Six, beside the Nalan Lineage’s Room Seven and the Mu Household’s Room Eight.
• Xiao Ze, Xiao Zhen, and Xiao Yi marveled at the Xiao Household’s VIP treatment, while Xiao Lin told them to grow accustomed to the household’s rising status.
• The Xiao Household elder explained that Xiao Ze, Xiao Zhen, and Xiao Yi could each bid on one item useful for their cultivation.
• Xiao Lin told the three clansmen he hoped they could eventually help the Xiao Household maintain or surpass its standing, then softened his expectations when they doubted they could reach the Dou Wang realm.

Xiao Lin watched the Gama Empire’s powerful figures gather at the Mittel Family’s auction, where Mittel Tengshan revealed his Battle King strength and opened the event. The auction began with a highly coveted Profound Rank mid-grade cultivation method, and the bidding was about to start.

• Xiao Lin sensed Yun Shan, Jia Xing Tian, and Fa Ma arriving at the auction, then saw Ice Emperor Hai Bodong enter VIP Room One.
• Mittel Tengshan appeared as the auctioneer, and Xiao Lin recognized that he had secretly become a Battle King.
• Mittel Tengshan announced the auction’s rules and officially began the event.
• The Mittel Family presented the Water-Transforming Spirit Art, a Profound Rank mid-grade cultivation method, with a starting price of one hundred thousand gold coins.
• Many attendees coveted the method, but most could not afford to bid.

Xiao Lin watched the auction and bought several medicinal pills and ingredients for the Xiao Household, while valuable cultivation methods and battle skills went to other bidders. The Foundation-Building Liquid he had been determined to obtain appeared, leaving Xiao Lin ready to compete for one of his two essential items.

• The guest in VIP Room No. 12 outbid VIP Room No. 10 and a bidder in the hall, buying the Water-Transforming Spirit Art for 450,000 gold coins.
• Xiao Lin used his Heavenly Realm Soul Power to discover that the buyer in Room No. 12 was a peak Nine-Star Battle Spirit with water-attributed battle qi who was preparing to break through to the Battle King realm.
• A bidder bought the Profound Rank mid-level battle skill Thunder Force for 150,000 gold coins.
• Xiao Lin bid on medicinal pills and precious ingredients, buying several items for the Xiao Household and a fourth-grade medicinal pill for Xiao Zhen.
• Foundation-Building Liquid appeared at auction, and Xiao Lin focused on obtaining it.

Xiao Lin won the first batch of Foundation-Building Liquid for 100,000 gold coins after his opening bid startled the auction hall into silence. As bidding began on the second batch, another buyer tried the same tactic, but the crowd was no longer so easily intimidated.

• Mittel Tengshan introduced three batches of Foundation-Building Liquid, and Xiao Lin decided to buy some for his son, Xiao Zhan.
• Xiao Lin bid 100,000 gold coins for the first batch, and the stunned bidders let him win it.
• Xiao Lin's clansmen praised him when the Mittel Family attendant delivered the ten bottles to his private room.
• Xiao Lin stored the Foundation-Building Liquid and continued watching the auction, hoping to obtain the remaining batches.
• A bidder opened the second batch's auction with a 100,000-gold-coin bid, but the crowd had learned from the first round.

Xiao Lin won the first batch of Foundation-Building Liquid and let the Jia Ma Royal House and Misty Cloud Sect take the next two batches, then decided the Xiao Household should train or recruit alchemists. At the auction’s end, he bought Xiao Ze a spear and won a body-tempering medicinal herb for Xiao Yi.

• Bidders raised the price of the second batch of Foundation-Building Liquid to 250,000 gold coins, and the Jia Ma Royal House won it after Xiao Lin stopped bidding.
• Xiao Lin bid on the third batch, but Yun Shan and the Misty Cloud Sect won it for 270,000 gold coins.
• After seeing the prices, Xiao Lin decided to consider training or recruiting alchemists for the Xiao Household.
• Xiao Lin spent 70,000 gold coins to win a long spear for Xiao Ze, who eagerly hugged it.
• Xiao Lin spent roughly 130,000 gold coins to win a body-tempering medicinal herb for Xiao Yi.

At the Mittel Family’s grand auction, Mittel Tengshan presented Basic Formation Annotations as a Secret Realm treasure, but the crowd dismissed it as useless. Xiao Lin was the only person interested in the item as the bidding began.

• The Mittel Family’s auction continued for hours, drawing strong interest and earning the family substantial commissions.
• Mittel Tengshan announced that the next item came from a Secret Realm and teased the crowd with claims about its potential.
• Mittel Tengshan revealed the item was Basic Formation Annotations and opened bidding at ten thousand gold coins.
• The crowd jeered and no one bid, while Xiao Lin remained interested in the annotations.

Xiao Lin bid 11,000 gold coins on the Basic Formation Annotations, saving it from being withdrawn and adding a possible new pursuit to his plans. He acquired everything he had come to the auction for and settled in to watch what happened next.

• Mittel Tengshan prepared to withdraw the Basic Formation Annotations after no one bid, while Xiao Lin considered studying formations as preparation for ascending to the Greater World.
• Xiao Lin bid 11,000 gold coins, drawing the auction hall's attention to VIP Room No. 6.
• Mittel Tengshan quickly sold the Basic Formation Annotations to Xiao Lin, relieved that the item had not gone unsold.
• Xiao Lin received the book and reflected that he had acquired everything he had planned to bid on.

At the auction’s finale, Mittel Tengshan presented a Seventh-Order Magical Beast magic core, drawing the interest of the empire’s strongest factions. Xiao Lin decided not to bid, while Yun Shan asked about the core’s origins before anyone committed to buying it.

• Xiao Lin casually looked through the Basic Formation Annotations he had bought and waited as the auction neared its end.
• Mittel Tengshan unveiled a Seventh-Order Magical Beast magic core and explained its potential uses before setting the starting price at two million gold coins.
• The Xiao, Nalan, and Mu Households declined to bid, leaving the Mittel Family, Misty Cloud Sect, Jia Ma Royal House, and Alchemist Guild as the likely contenders.
• Xiao Lin recognized that Yun Shan, Jia Xing Tian, and Fa Ma had attended because they knew the magic core would be auctioned, but chose not to compete for it.
• Yun Shan asked Mittel Tengshan how the Mittel Family had obtained the magic core and whether buying it might provoke trouble from the beast’s former kin; Jia Xing Tian and Fa Ma listened closely.

Mittel Tengshan promised that the Mittel Family would reveal news about the origin of the Seventh-Order Magical Beast core after the auction. Fa Ma won the core for the Alchemist Guild, and Xiao Lin waited to hear the promised announcement.

• Mittel Tengshan assured Yun Shan that the Mittel Family would protect whoever obtained the Seventh-Order Magical Beast core and said the family would reveal important news after the auction.
• Xiao Lin became interested in the Mittel Family’s promised announcement about the core’s origin.
• Fa Ma opened bidding at two and a half million gold coins, and Jia Xing Tian and Yun Shan joined the competition on behalf of their factions.
• The Alchemist Guild, Jia Ma Royal House, and Misty Cloud Sect drove the price upward as Fa Ma repeatedly outbid the other two factions.
• Fa Ma offered seven million gold coins, and Jia Xing Tian and Yun Shan stopped bidding.
• Mittel Tengshan’s third gavel awarded the core to the Alchemist Guild, and Xiao Lin waited for the Mittel Family’s announcement.

At the auction’s conclusion, Mittel Tengshan revealed that the Mittel Family had discovered a Secret Realm and explained why it could no longer keep it to itself. With the realm’s protective formations expected to collapse in three months and the Golden Goose Sect also seeking it, the Mittel Family called on the Jia Ma Empire to help compete for it.

• Mittel Tengshan announced that the Mittel Family had good news to share after the auction ended.
• Mittel Tengshan revealed that the Mittel Family’s Secret Realm had enabled Hai Bodong to become a Dou Emperor and was connected to the Seventh-Order Magical Beast core.
• Jia Xing Tian questioned why the Mittel Family would share a valuable Secret Realm instead of keeping control of it.
• Mittel Tengshan explained that a Seventh-Order Magical Beast had damaged the realm’s formations, exposing its aura to the Golden Goose Sect of the Falling Goose Empire.
• Mittel Tengshan said the formations would likely collapse within three months and asked the Jia Ma Empire to help the Mittel Family contend for the Secret Realm.

The Jia Ma Empire’s factions agreed to unite against the Falling Goose Empire in the coming Secret Realm expedition, accepting the Mittel Family’s plan to share the contest for its resources. After the auction, Xiao Lin chose a group from the Xiao Household to join him, then returned to studying the Basic Formation Annotations.

• Jia Xing Tian, Yun Shan, Fa Ma, and the other Jia Ma Empire factions agreed to unite against the Falling Goose Empire for the Secret Realm expedition.
• Mittel Tengshan set the gathering for three months later at the eastern gate of the Jia Ma Imperial Capital, bringing the auction to an end.
• Xiao Lin returned home, gave some auction items to Xiao Dongcheng, and told him about the Secret Realm.
• Xiao Lin selected ten Da Dou Shi, including Xiao Ze, Xiao Zhen, and Xiao Yi, and a newly advanced Dou Ling elder to accompany him.
• Xiao Lin began studying the Basic Formation Annotations.