Chapter Summaries

Niu Shan arrived wearing the Dragon Might Battle Body, and the human generals realized he was the powerful reinforcement Fang Yun had promised. After the Life-Bestowing Fruit restored Zhang Poyue, Lang Yuan invoked stellar power and challenged Niu Shan, while Fang Yun told him to fight.

• Niu Shan left the barbarians stunned when he knelt before Fang Yun and identified himself as a Moon Guard wearing the Dragon Might Battle Body.
• Zhang He recognized Niu Shan's armor as the legendary Dragon Might Battle Body, and the generals wondered how Niu Shan had obtained it and become Fang Yun's subordinate.
• Fang Yun gave Niu Shan a Life-Bestowing Fruit, and Zhang Poyue regrew his severed limbs and healed his wounds before dressing in Fang Yun's clothes.
• Fang Yun told the exhausted Zhang Poyue that his mission was complete and ordered him to rest while the others prepared to retreat.
• Lang Yuan invoked the power of Accumulated Water Star, declared he would take the Dragon Might Battle Body and kill Fang Yun, then challenged Niu Shan.
• Fang Yun told Niu Shan to test the Barbarian Emperor.

Fang Yun’s forces began retreating from the Three-Linked War Fortresses while Niu Shan, wearing the Dragon Might Battle Body, held Lang Yuan at bay. Lang Yuan called more than ten million Barbarian Soldiers to attack, leaving Fang Yun alone on the wall to face the threat.

• Niu Shan fought Lang Yuan in the Dragon Might Battle Body, matching the Barbarian Emperor through his armor’s immense strength and protection.
• The battle’s shock waves forced Liu Hong to clear ordinary soldiers and later Provincial Graduates from the walls, while Fang Yun studied the Imperial Rank combat.
• Fang Yun confirmed that the retreat preparations were complete and ordered everyone to leave, promising to cover the rear.
• Zhang Poyue and the others departed, and Zhang He handed Fang Yun something before leaving.
• The southern walls opened into gates, and more than a million human soldiers and officers began running toward Ning'an City.
• Lang Yuan summoned more than ten million Barbarian Soldiers and ordered them to kill all the humans.

Fang Yun and Niu Shan tested Niu Shan’s Dragon Might Battle Body against Barbarian Emperor Lang Yuan, and their clash destroyed the Three-Linked War Fortresses and killed a million Demon Barbarians. Fang Yun then summoned the Demon Ancestor phantom, which Mist Butterfly swallowed, and began writing a poem as he faced Lang Yuan.

• Niu Shan unleashed his Sage Aspect Strike against Lang Yuan, and their collision shattered the Three-Linked War Fortresses and killed a million Demon Barbarians nearby.
• Lang Yuan threatened to retaliate against the Human Race, while Niu Shan returned to Fang Yun and said the Dragon Might Battle Body had made their strengths evenly matched.
• Fang Yun summoned the Demon Ancestor phantom, and Mist Butterfly swallowed it before freezing a corner of his Sage Page.
• Fang Yun began writing a poem describing northern snow and bidding farewell to a departing guest.

Fang Yun used a vast snowstorm and poison to halt and weaken Lang Yuan’s pursuing barbarian army while the Human Race forces advanced toward Ning'an City. Lang Yuan regrouped the unaffected commanders to continue the chase, but an unidentified ally arrived promising to counter the snow.

• Fang Yun completed “Snow Song Sending Off the Barbarian Emperor,” and its icy power covered ten thousand miles, stopping the barbarian army while the Human Race advanced unhindered.
• Lang Yuan summoned the Heaven-Burning Furnace, but Fang Yun used the Starfire Armillary Mirror to absorb its flames and deployed poison across the grassland.
• Lang Yuan destroyed the Enemy-Blocking Heavenly Mountain with a Celestial Aspect Strike, while Fang Yun released poisonous mist around the Three-Linked War Fortresses.
• After learning that the poison would incapacitate barbarians below Barbarian Commander for ten days, Lang Yuan ordered them to remain behind and led a hundred thousand commanders onward.
• As Lang Yuan prepared to rush ahead, an unidentified voice offered to help him overcome the snow and ice.

Ao Xuan used the Northern Sea Dragon Sage’s Edict of Sages to sweep away the snow and moisture, clearing the way for Lang Yuan’s forces to pursue Fang Yun’s group. As the humans prepared to flee, Lang Yuan and Ao Xuan discussed their plans and the limits on Ao Xuan’s ability to attack Fang Yun directly.

• Ao Xuan invoked the Western Sea Dragon Sage’s Edict of Sages to draw water away, but Fang Yun reversed it with a Dragon Race Edict.
• Ao Xuan invoked the Northern Sea Dragon Sage’s Edict of Sages, which overpowered the other commands and removed the snow, ice, and moisture from the surrounding area.
• Fang Yun confronted Ao Xuan over Lei Zhongmo’s death, while Lang Yuan ordered the barbarian army to charge.
• Chen Youdao, Liu Hong, Hu Li, and the others gathered beside Fang Yun and discussed the threats posed by the Dragon Palaces and barbarian forces.
• Lang Yuan asked Ao Xuan to weaken Niu Shan’s Dragon Might Battle Body, then planned to handle Niu Shan himself and have the other Great Barbarian Kings target Fang Yun.
• Ao Xuan told Lang Yuan that Dragon Race law prevented her from attacking Fang Yun directly unless they fought a supervised duel.

Lang Yuan sought the Southern Sea Dragon Palace’s help in using the Heaven-Burning Furnace against Fang Yun, but Dragon Emperor Ao Huan arrived to demand the Starfire Armillary Mirror instead. Fang Yun refused to surrender the treasure, and Ao Huan sealed it with a Dragon Sage Scale before departing.

• Lang Yuan asked Ao Xuan to contact the Southern Sea Dragon Palace so the barbarians could use the Heaven-Burning Furnace against the humans.
• Ao Huan arrived with a group of red dragons and asked Fang Yun whether he possessed the Southern Sea Dragon Palace’s Starfire Armillary Mirror.
• Fang Yun admitted he had the mirror as spoils of war, refused to trade it, and warned that sealing it would obstruct his Saint Enfeoffment.
• Ao Huan insisted that Fang Yun return the treasure, while Fang Yun accused the Southern Sea Dragon Palace of helping the Flood Dragon Sage and siding with the barbarians.
• Ao Huan used a Dragon Sage Scale to seal the area around Fang Yun, then departed after Fang Yun vowed to remember the Southern Sea Dragon Palace’s actions.

Fang Yun led the Human Race army toward Ning'an while the Dragon Palaces’ seal kept him from using the Starfire Armillary Mirror. Lang Yuan trapped the army in a sea of fire, but as Zhang Poyue and the soldiers prepared to hold the barbarians back, Fang Yun revealed six Literary Platforms and summoned the Eastern Sea Dragon Sage Ao Yu’s power before Lang Yuan ordered an attack.

• Fang Yun told Liu Hong that the Southern Sea Dragon Palace had sealed the Starfire Armillary Mirror and explained that he would not use the Heaven-Viewing Mirror Projection unless necessary.
• Zhao Jingkong offered to hold off the pursuers, but Fang Yun refused and continued leading the army toward Ning'an.
• Lang Yuan enlarged the Heaven-Burning Furnace, setting the land ablaze and trapping the Human Race army between the flames and a hundred thousand barbarians.
• Zhang Poyue, Liu Hong, Zhang He, and the soldiers turned to face the barbarians so Fang Yun could continue south with the army.
• Fang Yun summoned six Literary Platforms and the dragon sage star position, manifesting the power of Ao Yu as the barbarians reacted with fear.
• Lang Yuan raised his golden axe and ordered the barbarians to attack.

Fang Yun used a powerful Enemy-Blocking Poem to bind the demon barbarians and open a safe path through the flames. The human army withdrew toward Ning'an City while Lang Yuan and Ao Xuan worked to rescue the trapped barbarians, and Fang Yun followed at the rear, drained of literary qi.

• Fang Yun completed “Grass on the Ancient Plain: A Second Farewell to the Barbarian Emperor,” and its transformed poem spread grass across the battlefield, binding the barbarians with poisonous ropes.
• The grass restrained most of Lang Yuan’s forces, while the Great Barbarian Kings and Lang Yuan could break free; the raging fire made it dangerous for them to use overwhelming force.
• Fang Yun’s poem opened a verdant road through the flames, and Zhang Poyue ordered the human army to advance along it.
• Lang Yuan led the Great Barbarian Kings in rescuing their trapped fighters, and Ao Xuan helped them with her precise control of power.
• The human army withdrew calmly as Fang Yun followed at the rear, exhausted; scholars began using a recovery poem to help him but were soon told to stop.

The Sacred Academy debated whether to aid Fang Yun as he retreated with the Jing Kingdom army under barbarian pursuit, but Zong Ganyu opposed intervention and invoked the old laws. He revealed that he had used a blank Eastern Sage Edict to arrest Niu Shan, leaving the Great Scholars furious and Fang Yun's return in greater danger.

• Ye Hongyu urged the Sacred Academy to help Fang Yun and the Jing Kingdom army escape the pursuing barbarians.
• Zong Ganyu argued that the Ten Kingdoms' old agreement forbade intervention against the Barbarian Race, while Gao Mo and Wu Jiu insisted that Fang Yun and the Jing Kingdom needed aid.
• Gao Mo warned that barbarian forces might attack Ning'an and kill Fang Yun, but Zong Ganyu accused Niu Shan of illegally leading troops and threatened to arrest Fang Yun as a suspected rebel.
• Zong Ganyu disclosed that he had sent Eastern Sage Pavilion Grand Academicians with a blank Eastern Sage Edict to apprehend Niu Shan.
• Gao Mo condemned Zong Ganyu and urged him to withdraw the Sage Edict, but Zong Ganyu remained unconcerned.

As the Human Race army retreated, Fang Yun’s Moon God Cult allies from the Nu Zhi Tribe joined its ranks. The cult’s influence had taken over the tribe and was now being used to weaken the Blood Demon Barbarians, while Fang Yun focused on the retreat.

• The barbarians struggled to clear the Enemy-Blocking Poem’s wild grass, Weak Water, and Strange Wind as the Human Race army widened its lead.
• Demon King Quan Xi led one hundred thousand Nu Zhi Tribe barbarians to join Fang Yun’s army and proclaim their allegiance to the Moon Emperor.
• Fang Yun reflected on how Niu Shan and Quan Xi had built the Moon God Cult into the Nu Zhi Tribe’s dominant faith and political force.
• The Western Sage ordered the Sacred Academy to stop obstructing the cult, prevent its spread among humans, and work with Fang Yun to plan its expansion into the Demon Realm.
• Fang Yun sensed that the cult’s believers released a strange force, some of which the Blood Radiance Literary Platform absorbed, then focused on the retreat.
• A force of one thousand barbarians led by twenty Great Barbarian Kings arrived from the west.

Fang Yun’s war-poem grass briefly trapped the barbarians, but the Sand Barbarians arrived with a way to counter it and joined forces with Lang Yuan’s army. As Fang Yun’s forces continued toward Ning'an City, Lang Yuan and Ao Xuan discussed the cost of killing him and agreed to seek an opportunity to do so.

• A thousand Sand Barbarians arrived to reinforce the Grass Barbarians, and Fang Yun sent Zhao Jingkong and five Great Scholars to hold them back with a Sage Page and sacred blood.
• The wild grass withered and then reappeared, but Lang Yuan’s army joined the Sand Barbarians, whose sandstorms destroyed the grass and allowed the armies to reunite.
• Zhao Jingkong and the five Great Scholars returned to Fang Yun, who continued toward Ning'an City as the combined barbarian forces pursued at a slower pace.
• Ao Xuan urged Lang Yuan to send troops to attack Fang Yun, but Lang Yuan insisted on protecting his army and prioritizing the destruction of Jing Kingdom.
• Ao Xuan and Lang Yuan agreed that the dragon palaces, Sand Barbarians, Forest Barbarians, and Great Demon Kings would support a plan to find an opportunity to kill Fang Yun.

Fang Yun held back the barbarian forces as the human army neared Ning'an City, but five Grand Academicians arrived to seize Niu Shan under a purported Sacred Academy order. Fang Yun killed them before they could present their Sage Edict, leaving the armies facing one another and the truth of the order in dispute.

• Fang Yun held the barbarians back for six hours while the human soldiers raced toward Ning'an City, and Ao Huang led ten Raging Waves Battle Platforms out to meet him.
• Zong He and four Grand Academicians from the Zong and Lei Families arrived and ordered Niu Shan to return to the Sacred Academy for trial.
• Zhang Poyue challenged Zong He's order, while Fang Yun questioned the Eastern Sage Pavilion's motives and demanded to know what it was relying on.
• Zong He announced that Niu Shan must receive a Sage Edict, but Fang Yun killed him and the four other Grand Academicians as Zong He opened the River-Drinking Shell.
• Fang Yun declared the five men traitors who had forged an order and colluded with the demon barbarians, and the human ranks solemnly obeyed him.

Fang Yun killed Zong He and destroyed his River-Drinking Shell, then defended his actions as executing a traitor. Zong Ganyu failed to rally the Sacred Academy against Fang Yun, and the Eastern Sage began but abandoned issuing a Sage Edict for his arrest.

• Fang Yun killed Zong He, destroyed the River-Drinking Shell, and told Liu Hong that he had executed a member of the rebel species who betrayed his people.
• Zong Ganyu told the Sacred Academy elders that Fang Yun should be executed, but Gao Mo, Ye Hongyu, and Wu Jiu said the academy could not act without a Sage Edict and that battlefield commanders could execute traitors.
• Zong Ganyu petitioned the Eastern Sage for a Sage Edict to arrest Fang Yun, and a golden pillar rose from the Sacred Academy.
• The golden pillar stopped and dissipated before the Sage Edict was issued, leaving Zong Ganyu furious and the other elders unable to explain what had happened.
• Gao Mo withdrew the Hall of Punishment from the matter, Ye Hongyu questioned why the Sage Edict had not been issued, and Zong Ganyu left the meeting.

Liu Shan tried to impeach Fang Yun after the Sage Edict was interrupted, but Jing Kingdom officials split over whether to punish or defend him. Meanwhile, Lang Yuan joined forces with demon and barbarian reinforcements and considered a plan to pursue Fang Yun as the armies neared Ning'an.

• Liu Shan demanded that the Queen Dowager strip Fang Yun of his title and office and hand him over to the Sacred Academy, while Jiang Hechuan and other officials opposed him.
• Gu Mingzhou argued that Jing Kingdom should punish Fang Yun to avoid retaliation from the Zong Family, and Zhou Junhu challenged his reasoning.
• Liu Shan revealed an Eastern Sage Pavilion document demanding an explanation from Jing Kingdom and threatening sanctions, intensifying the court's debate.
• Lang Yuan joined forces with reinforcements from the Five Demon Mountains and the Forest Barbarians, bringing their combined Great Barbarian Kings and Great Demon Kings to more than one hundred and fifty.
• Ao Xuan proposed that twenty Great Barbarian Kings guard the troops while Lang Yuan and the remaining kings pursued Fang Yun.

Fang Yun’s army faced an overwhelming assault by demon barbarian kings while Niu Shan fought Lang Yuan in the sky. Nearly thirty Great Scholars arrived from Ning'an City, but Ao Xuan ordered the demon barbarians to attack before they could reach the army, and Fang Yun commanded the ordinary soldiers to retreat.

• Fang Yun ordered Niu Shan to intercept Lang Yuan, and Niu Shan unleashed his Dragon Might Battle Body to meet the Barbarian Emperor in combat.
• Niu Shan and Lang Yuan’s clash created a vast blood-red storm that killed more than ten Barbarian Kings and injured nearby demon barbarian kings.
• The demon barbarian kings split into two forces and swept toward the human army, whose soldiers held their ground behind Fang Yun.
• Nearly thirty Great Scholars left Ning'an City to aid the army, while Ao Xuan insisted Fang Yun surrender and then ordered the demon barbarians to kill the humans and capture Zhang Poyue.
• Fang Yun ordered the Grand Academicians and Great Scholars to remain while the rest of the officers and soldiers retreated, threatening execution to anyone who disobeyed.

Fang Yun confronted the advancing Demon Barbarians and revealed a Phantom Demon Fruit, which created a powerful black-and-white double of himself. Ao Xuan explained how to defeat the double and offered a reward for wounding it, leaving the Demon Barbarian Kings charging into battle.

• Fang Yun ordered most of the Human forces to retreat while six Great Scholars from the Six Second Saint Families stayed to support him.
• The Demon Barbarian Kings hesitated at the Second Saint Families’ show of support, but Ao Xuan urged them on and their bloodlust grew.
• Fang Yun revealed a strange fruit from the Bloodmang Realm and transformed it into a black-and-white Phantom Demon resembling him.
• Ao Xuan recognized the Phantom Demon Fruit, demanded Fang Yun surrender it, and threatened his family and kingdom.
• Ao Xuan explained that the Phantom Demon had Great Scholar-level strength and promised Half-Sage dragon blood to the first Demon Barbarian to wound it.
• The Demon Barbarian Kings charged at Phantom Demon Fang Yun.

Fang Yun wrote a new war poem about the Kunwu Sword while the Demon Barbarians attacked, risking the judgment of Firmament Righteous Qi because he was only a Grand Academician. When his poem seemed unable to become Great-Scholar War Poetry, Phantom Demon Fang Yun began writing and unleashed a vast surge of Vast Righteous Qi, leaving the Demon Barbarian Kings frozen.

• More than two thousand Demon Kings and the Great Barbarian Kings charged the humans, while the Great Scholars warned Fang Yun that the attack might conceal a killing formation aimed at him.
• The Great Scholars tried to block the Demon Barbarians with Enemy-Blocking Poems, but the attackers overwhelmed their defenses.
• Fang Yun summoned Firmament Righteous Qi and wrote the war poem Kunwu Sword, depicting King Mu of Zhou and his legendary blade.
• The poem appeared flawless but failed to ignite, prompting Ao Ming to mock Fang Yun and urge the Demon Barbarians to attack.
• Phantom Demon Fang Yun began writing and sent a vast surge of Vast Righteous Qi into the heavens, freezing the Demon Barbarian Kings.

Fang Yun created a new form of war poetry, Righteous-Qi Poetry, and used it to empower the Kunwu Sword against the demon barbarians. The chapter ended with hundreds of millions of flaming swords raining down on the enemy forces while Fang Yun stood untouched within his circle.

• Fang Yun finished “Crossing Lingding Ocean,” whose final line created eternal-transmission and poem-ancestor radiance and revealed Righteous-Qi Poetry as a new form of war poetry.
• The demon barbarians charged Fang Yun, but eleven Great Scholars used Sage Pages to shield him as their attacks shattered most of the protective poems.
• Fang Yun burned his lifespan to draw on Heaven-and-Earth Righteous Qi, then infused the Sage Page bearing “Kunwu Sword,” raising it to Great-Scholar War Poetry.
• The Kunwu Sword descended from the sky and split the ground, killing fourteen Barbarian Kings and striking two Great Barbarian Kings with corrosive righteous qi.
• Fang Yun pointed toward the demon barbarians, and hundreds of millions of blazing Kunwu Swords fell at Ten Resonances, killing Barbarian Kings and Demon Kings and wounding Great Demon Kings and Great Barbarian Kings.

Fang Yun unleashed the Phantom Demon’s overwhelming Heaven-and-Earth Righteous Qi against the Demon Barbarians and killed Ao Xuan with the True Dragon Ancient Sword. He escaped toward Ning'an City with the Great Scholars, leaving the enemy forces devastated and unable to pursue.

• Fang Yun’s Kunwu Swords devastated the Demon Barbarian kings, killing hundreds as Lang Yuan ordered a retreat.
• A Wolf Race Great Barbarian King charged Fang Yun but was struck down by the falling swords and forced to flee.
• The fleeing Demon Barbarian kings accused Ao Xuan of conspiring with Fang Yun, while Ao Xuan denied the charge.
• Phantom Demon Fang Yun launched the True Dragon Ancient Sword at Ao Xuan and destroyed her with Sorrowful Burial of Swords.
• Fang Yun used a Dragon Race Edict to prevent Ao Xuan’s spirit from returning to the Dragon Soul Tree, killing her utterly.
• Fang Yun flew toward Ning'an City with the eleven Great Scholars as the sword rain ended, leaving the Demon Barbarians unable to pursue.

Fang Yun led the Great Scholars and Grand Academicians in a counterattack against the demon barbarians, but they halted when the Wolf Sage Army arrived. On the way back, the scholars discussed the looming threat to Ning'an and learned that Fang Yun’s poem could replace Jade-Blooded Loyalty, though creating it had aged and weakened him.

• Fang Yun rallied the scholars to pursue the wounded demon barbarians, sending the human army and Ning'an City into a surge of patriotic cheers.
• Lang Yuan ordered a retreat after Niu Shan struck him, but Fang Yun called off the pursuit when the Wolf Sage Army and the Emperor Realm Lang Chi appeared.
• Fang Yun returned with his companions while Lang Yuan vowed to take his head beneath Ning'an City’s walls.
• The scholars warned that Lang Lu might come in person and discussed how the Battle of Ning'an could affect the Second Battle of Two Worlds Mountain.
• Tian Songshi and Jiang Hechuan asked whether Fang Yun’s “Crossing Lingding Ocean” could be used as War Poetry, and Fang Yun confirmed that anyone with Literary Qi could use it in place of Jade-Blooded Loyalty.
• The scholars noticed silver in Fang Yun’s hair and urged him to eat a Longevity Fruit after the fighting because composing his poems had drained his strength and spirit.