Chapter Summaries

Chapter Summary: “A Lightning Battle of Life and Death”

Key plot points and events

• Sky Beast Kunpeng charges into the vast bird army, killing many but becoming overwhelmed and badly wounded.
• More than twenty loose immortals launch a surprise attack, inflicting heavy casualties and demolishing much of the enemy’s stone wall. Jian Shang shifts through several powerful beast forms—Kunpeng, Mountain-Shaking Demon Elephant, and Rift-Splitting Mad Lion—to break through the enemy and ultimately relocate the group to safety.
• The raid kills over a hundred thousand enemies, but the retreat reveals that several fighters failed to escape: Hua Qiandai and Di Wushuang are still battling, while Elders Pu, Ji, Dongfang Yun, and Nangong Yu are missing.
• Jian Shang rushes back to the wall. Hua Qiandai and Di Wushuang manage to break through, but Elder Ji is killed and Dongfang Yun detonates himself rather than be captured, destroying many birds and blasting away the Red Dragon.
• Nangong Yu escapes in a fiery transformation. The defenders on the wall fire a massive volley, bringing down at least a hundred thousand birds and forcing the rest to pull back.
• Elder Pu, lagging behind, is targeted by the Red Dragon and several giant birds. With the others unable to intervene, Zhi Ji suddenly attacks with her Heaven-Destroying Finger.

Character developments

• Jian Shang displays formidable strength and tactical resolve, but the losses among his allies leave him shaken and forceful in his efforts to return for them.
• Hua Qiandai and Di Wushuang prove fast and capable enough to escape the aerial encirclement.
• Elder Dongfang Yun chooses self-destruction when escape becomes impossible, turning his death into a devastating counterattack.
• Elder Ji is killed during the retreat; Nangong Yu escapes through a fiery transformation.
• Zhi Ji, previously still and detached, intervenes decisively when Elder Pu faces imminent danger.

Significant themes

• The cost of overwhelming odds: Even powerful loose immortals are vulnerable when surrounded by an enormous, coordinated force.
• Sacrifice and duty: Dongfang Yun’s final act saves others from further danger and inflicts serious damage on the enemy.
• Morale as a weapon: The raid’s value lies not only in casualties but in boosting the defenders’ confidence and damaging the enemy’s resolve.
• Power and its limits: Individual strength can create dramatic breakthroughs, but numbers and coordination can still overwhelm it.

Character interactions

• Jian Shang commands the raid and uses his transformations and spatial ability to extract the group.
• Lan Ge and Ximen Tian celebrate the raid’s results before the missing fighters turn their excitement to alarm.
• Zhangsun Yu, Ximen Tian, and Li Tong report the missing comrades to Zhao Ji and Jian Shang.
• Rong Ji recognizes Elder Ji’s death and warns Elder Pu of the Red Dragon’s attack.
• Zhi Ji steps in to protect Elder Pu as the chapter ends on an unresolved cliffhanger.

Key plot points and events

• Zhi Ji saves the gravely wounded Elder Pu by killing the thousand-meter Red Dragon with a single use of Heaven-Destroying Finger. The dragon’s death throws the invading bird army into confusion.
• Jian Shang orders four elite cavalry forces to attack the enemy camp while Yu Ji directs healing toward the more seriously injured allies.
• Jian Shang apologizes to Zhi Ji and Dongfang Shi for the losses. Dongfang Shi says her great-grandfather, Dongfang Yu, died after disregarding Jian Shang’s orders, though the loss still leaves tension and grief.
• Zhao Ji joins the assault from a distance, using Enchant All Living Beings to drive much of the bird army into frenzied mutual attacks, greatly worsening the enemy’s disorder.
• Jian Shang kills birds near the dragon’s corpse and extracts the dragon’s soul, fusing it into his Heaven-Splitting Silver Dragon Halberd. The weapon becomes the Heaven-Setting Dragon Halberd, an Earth Grade Spirit Artifact with enhanced power and dragon might.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhi Ji displays overwhelming strength and lethal poison, establishing herself as a fearsome force. Her warning that the dragon’s corpse is poisoned silences Yang Qingxuan and the Demon Queen.
• Jian Shang feels responsible for the casualties and for the death of Dongfang Shi’s great-grandfather, but quickly resumes command and turns the enemy’s disarray into a counterattack. He also seizes the opportunity to strengthen his weapon.
• Dongfang Shi remains composed but speaks coldly about her great-grandfather’s death, revealing a personal connection and an undercurrent of resentment.
• Zhao Ji demonstrates her ability to disrupt entire armies, complementing the cavalry’s direct assault.
• Yu Ji responds to Jian Shang’s emotional state and prioritizes the most wounded allies in her healing.

Significant themes

• Individual power and battlefield impact: Zhi Ji and Zhao Ji’s extraordinary abilities rival the efforts of large armies.
• Seizing opportunity: Jian Shang exploits the enemy’s confusion with a timely cavalry charge and turns the dragon’s death into a strategic and personal advantage.
• Duty, loss, and responsibility: Dongfang Yu’s death and Jian Shang’s apology highlight the human cost of command.
• Power as both threat and resource: The Red Dragon is first a devastating enemy, then a valuable source of materials and spiritual power—though Zhi Ji’s lingering poison makes even its corpse dangerous.

Chapter Summary: “An Unexpected Caution”

Key Plot Points and Events

• After receiving a system notification, Jian Shang examines the newly obtained Heaven-Setting Dragon Halberd. Before he can fully process it, dozens of Beast Generals and hundreds of transformed avian soldiers attack him.
• Jian Shang uses “Nine Dragons Seize Souls,” unleashing blood-red halberd shadows shaped like dragons. The attack instantly kills the diving birds and frightens the survivors into retreating. The transformed beasts, possessing human-level intelligence but animalistic bloodlust, recognize that Jian Shang is even more dangerous than they are.
• In the Dafu Mountain Range, the allied armies from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia gather in enormous numbers. Their forces include dense aerial bird troops and massive ground beasts, all larger and more violent than ordinary animals.
• King Luolong Chi Gui and several regional rulers are informed that their vanguard attacking Fanyu Royal City has been catastrophically defeated:
  • More than 185,000 troops were killed by a surprise attack from over twenty Chinese Loose Immortals.
  • Another 213,000 were slain during the pursuit.
  • Roughly 165,000 more died when the Huan Kingdom’s elite cavalry and guards counterattacked.
• The vanguard’s key commanders—including Elder Li, the Gengjin Falcon General, and the Purple-Winged Peng General—were killed. All Grade Three and higher Beast Generals reportedly died, causing the entire vanguard to collapse.
• The commanders initially doubt the report, since Elder Li was a powerful late-stage Beast King and the vanguard contained more than a thousand Beast Generals. The surviving scout explains that the senior commanders were mysteriously killed, the army began fighting among itself, and the Huan King displayed seemingly impossible transformations.
• The allied leaders debate whether the Huan Kingdom truly possesses more than twenty Loose Immortals. Ruan Dan of the China-Destroying Society clarifies that the experts gathered at Fanyu Royal City include not only the Huan Kingdom’s forces but also the Penglai Commerce Association and Spring-Autumn Trading House, which together account for many of the Loose Immortals.
• This explanation reassures the invaders that they are not facing the Huan Kingdom alone, but effectively the concentrated peak strength of China’s Divine Land.
• Despite growing fear and hesitation—especially from the Chenla Witch King and Devouring Heaven Tiger King—the leaders conclude that retreat is no longer possible.
• King Luolong orders the main army to slow down while the Heaven-Shaking King and Mountain-Moving King hurry forward, intending for all forces to arrive together and launch a simultaneous, overwhelming assault on China.

Character Developments

• Jian Shang demonstrates the devastating power of the Heaven-Setting Dragon Halberd and establishes himself as a terrifying battlefield force. His attack is strong enough to rout hundreds of intelligent beast soldiers instantly.
• King Luolong Chi Gui shifts from confidence and revelry to fury, shock, and strategic caution after learning of the vanguard’s destruction. Although enraged at the commanders’ failure, he ultimately recognizes the seriousness of the Huan Kingdom’s resistance.
• The Howling Moon King emerges as a highly influential and comparatively composed leader. He questions the scout carefully, evaluates the strange reports, and pushes the commanders toward a coordinated response.
• The Chenla Witch King becomes visibly shaken and considers withdrawing, revealing that Laos joined largely under Vietnam’s pressure rather than from genuine enthusiasm.
• The Devouring Heaven Tiger King also grows uneasy, recognizing that the combined forces of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia may be badly outmatched by China’s elite experts.
• Ruan Dan acts as the political and intelligence authority of the invading coalition. His explanation reframes the defeat and prevents the alliance from collapsing through fear.
• The surviving scout is terrified but provides crucial information, including the inexplicable deaths, transformations, and internal slaughter that contributed to the vanguard’s defeat.

Significant Themes

• The danger of underestimating an opponent: The invaders assumed the Huan Kingdom was isolated and weak, but its ability to gather China’s strongest experts makes it far more formidable than expected.
• Fear beneath military confidence: The enormous allied army appears powerful, yet news of a single disastrous defeat exposes the insecurity and uncertainty among its leaders.
• Mystery and supernatural power: The Huan King’s unexplained transformations, Elder Li’s sudden death, and the vanguard’s inexplicable infighting suggest hidden abilities or schemes that the invaders do not understand.
• Political manipulation and reluctant alliances: Laos and Cambodia are not fully committed to the war, while Vietnam appears to be driving the invasion. The coalition is united more by pressure and ambition than by trust.
• The risks of escalation: Although several leaders now fear China’s strength, they believe the conflict has progressed too far to stop. The decision to attack together reflects both strategic planning and desperation.
• China’s hidden depth and unity: The battle reveals that China’s apparent internal disorder conceals immense reserves of power. Threatening one faction may provoke the combined strength of the entire Divine Land.

Character Interactions

• Jian Shang interacts violently with the transformed avian soldiers, using his halberd to repel their assault and force them to retreat.
• King Luolong reacts angrily to the scout’s report, smashing his wine cup and demanding the presence of the dead commanders before learning that they were already killed.
• The Howling Moon King and Dragon-Tiger King challenge the scout’s account, demanding an explanation for how so many powerful Beast Generals could have died.
• The scout’s testimony causes the assembled leaders to move from disbelief to uneasy contemplation.
• The Chenla Witch King warns that the Huan King must not be underestimated and hints that Laos would prefer to avoid the war.
• The Devouring Heaven Tiger King subtly cautions King Luolong and the Howling Moon King about the overwhelming number of Chinese Loose Immortals.
• Ruan Dan reassures the coalition by explaining the true composition of the Chinese forces, changing their interpretation of the battle.
• The Howling Moon King asks for the leaders’ opinions, while King Luolong ultimately gives the order for a coordinated, all-out assault.

Key plot points and events

• After the first clash with the enemy vanguard, the defenders of Fanyu Royal City wonder why the main force has not arrived. Jian Shang reasons that the enemy has slowed down to prepare for the city’s powerful Loose Immortals—not because it has been frightened off.
• Jian Shang fairly divides the spoils from the previous battle among the Huan Kingdom, Penglai Commerce Association, and Spring-Autumn Trading House. The Otherworlder Faction receives nothing, having taken no part in the fighting.
• Scouts report an additional force of roughly twenty million beasts approaching from the northwest. Tian Dan identifies it as the armies of the Heaven-Shaking King and Mountain-Moving King, whose supposed invasion of Nan Commandery had been a misleading intelligence report.
• A vast aerial and ground army appears around Fanyu. Jian Shang orders a citywide lockdown and prepares the defenders, but refuses to activate the Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend Formation. He concludes that the enemy intends to overwhelm the city through sheer numbers.
• Jian Shang orders the Loose Immortals to target enemy Beast Kings and senior fighters, then withdraw rather than pursue individual glory. As the beast and bird armies charge, the defenders meet them with volleys of arrows and other attacks. The chapter ends as full-scale, brutal combat engulfs the city walls.

Character developments and interactions

• Jian Shang demonstrates composure and strategic judgment, explaining the enemy’s delay and issuing disciplined orders under pressure. He also recognizes that this battle cannot be won through individual heroics.
• Zhao Ji detects the approaching army before anyone else, prompting Dongfang Shi to praise her keen senses and strength. Her identity as the Queen of Yue surprises Jian Shang.
• Tian Dan correctly identifies the newly reported forces and later works out that they had delayed their advance to coordinate with the other armies.
• The Loose Immortals show greater respect for coordinated warfare after earlier fighters were killed or badly wounded. They accept Jian Shang’s order to strike selectively and retreat.
• Jian Shang and Dongfang Shi interact over the division of the spoils; she accepts his allocation without dispute, reflecting the allies’ recognition of one another’s contributions.

Significant themes

• War’s scale and brutality: The chapter shifts from uncertainty to a massive battle in which numbers, weapons, and coordinated defense dominate.
• Discipline over individual glory: Jian Shang emphasizes that reckless heroics will get powerful fighters surrounded and killed.
• Pragmatic alliance: The spoils are divided according to contribution, while the Otherworlder Faction’s lack of participation means it has no claim.
• Deception and uncertainty: Misleading intelligence and the enemy’s concealed coordination complicate the defenders’ understanding of events.

Summary of “The Final Roar”

Key events

The author urges readers to vote during the final six or seven hours of a double monthly-vote period. After updating three chapters, the author hopes to preserve the story’s ranking and avoid losing the support gained earlier. Several readers—Xiao Ya, Mouse, Jie Chen, Tianya, and The Gods—have already given strong support, but the author complains humorously about receiving several last-minute “attacks” on their ranking. The chapter ends with a dramatic call for one final push of votes, comments, and encouragement.

Character developments

There is little narrative character development. The author presents “Shadow” as hardworking and determined, emphasizing a daily output of at least ten thousand characters. The readers are portrayed as an important source of motivation, while the author adopts a playful, embattled persona struggling to survive the ranking competition.

Significant themes

The main themes are perseverance, reader support, competitive pressure, and the relationship between creator and audience. The language of battle—“iron blood,” “crimson heart,” “halberd,” and “blood”—mirrors the intensity of the ongoing National War arc and turns the voting campaign into a symbolic final battle.

Character interactions

The central interaction is between the author and the readership. The author directly appeals to readers to cast votes or at least leave comments, presenting any form of encouragement as valuable. The named supporters are specifically thanked, while the broader audience is challenged to join the “final roar.”

Key plot points and events

• Fanyu Royal City is besieged by overwhelming forces of flying and ground-based beasts. Huan soldiers defend the walls and the city’s many elevated strongpoints, including 108 massive Heaven-Sacrificing Altars.
• At one altar, General Bu Heng’s troops initially inflict heavy losses on a Bloodthirsty Bee Legion with coordinated volleys. Two more legions arrive while the defenders are engaged, killing tens of thousands and overwhelming their formation. Similar battles unfold across the other altars.
• Below the walls, ironhead rhinos and enormous beasts batter the masonry while burrowing creatures gnaw deep into its foundations. Sections of the South City Wall begin to crack and threaten to collapse.
• A Dark Demon Falcon repeatedly evades attacks and kills roughly a hundred Innate Realm defenders, including several Huan generals. Zhangsun Yu’s sword strikes prove ineffective.
• Jian Shang learns that the enemy has sent no Beast Kings, apparently wary of the Huan side’s Loose Immortals. He decides to use the Sun-Shooting Divine Bow, a Huaxia National Artifact, against the falcon.
• When the falcon reappears, Jian Shang fires. The bow’s ordinary power alone blasts a vast passage through the airborne enemy ranks, killing at least ten thousand birds. The chapter ends before revealing whether the falcon was hit.

Character developments and interactions

• Bu Heng demonstrates discipline under pressure, ordering his altar’s troops to fire despite their fear of the giant bees. His defenders initially fight effectively but are undone by reinforcements and the enemy’s numbers.
• Zhangsun Yu grows furious and frustrated after repeated failures to hit the Dark Demon Falcon.
• Jian Shang shifts from restrained observation to decisive action, revealing the Sun-Shooting Divine Bow and its extraordinary power.
• Dongfang Shi explains the Dark Demon Falcon’s speed and defenses; Hua Qiandai confirms that the enemy appears to be holding back its Beast Kings because of the Huan side’s Loose Immortals.
• Jian Shang’s exchange with Hua Qiandai and Dongfang Shi highlights the defenders’ uncertainty about the enemy’s strategy, while his use of the bow inspires shock and renewed anticipation among those nearby.

Significant themes

• Attrition and overwhelming numbers: The Huan Army can win individual exchanges, but the enemy’s vast forces make the overall battle increasingly unfavorable.
• Courage and military discipline: Soldiers continue fighting despite terror, casualties, and seemingly unstoppable attackers.
• The limits of conventional strength: Even powerful generals struggle against exceptional beasts, while the city’s massive defenses are vulnerable to sustained assault.
• Decisive power and escalation: Jian Shang’s artifact changes the scale of the conflict, suggesting that extraordinary weapons may counter threats ordinary troops cannot.

Plot points and events

• Prime Minister Tian Dan activates Burn the Boats, Smash the Cauldrons, an Earth Grade talent that continuously burns its recipients’ lifespan and vitality. Because he cannot yet control it, everyone affected is doomed to die.
• King Jian Shang accepts the cost and declares that he and the entire Huan Kingdom will fight to the death rather than yield. He then leads the army into battle, coordinating the recruits with his Military God’s Power while Yu Ji uses her Healing Art to sustain them.
• Waves of poorly equipped recruits charge in formations such as the Arrow and Crescent Moon, turning themselves into devastating attacks that carve through the Vietnamese Allied Army. The assaults continue day and night, with each wave dying in combat.
• The Vietnamese commanders grow alarmed as the Huan Kingdom fields millions of elite fighters—far more than their intelligence suggested it could possess. They debate intervening themselves but hesitate, wary of the powerful defenders in the city and the mysterious death of the Dark Demon Falcon.
• After three days and two nights, about fourteen million Huan soldiers and thirty million enemy beast troops have died. The battle has become a catastrophic war of attrition, and even a Vietnamese victory would likely leave the region too weakened to advance farther.
• As the city’s protective formation nears collapse, the Mountain-Moving King smashes it with one blow. The Bird Army then dives toward the exposed royal city.

Character developments and interactions

• Jian Shang reveals the full extent of his resolve: he is willing to die alongside his soldiers and offers the whole kingdom’s sacrifice as an oath. His decision shocks the people around him and earns the wary respect of the allied leaders.
• Tian Dan demonstrates the terrible power—and cost—of his ultimate technique. His inability to stop it makes the army’s sacrifice irreversible.
• Dongfang Shi questions whether the price is worthwhile, expressing concern for the recruits. Jian Shang answers with a stark belief in survival, strength, and accepting fate.
• Yu Ji supports the relentless campaign by sustaining the soldiers’ mental and physical condition.
• The enemy leaders, particularly the Dragon-Tiger King and Chenla Witch King, shift from confidence to suspicion and hesitation as the scale of Huan’s forces becomes impossible to explain.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice and national loyalty: Soldiers embrace death to defend their country, even though their names may go unremembered.
• Leadership through shared risk: Jian Shang asks no one to bear a cost he would not accept himself.
• The human cost of victory: The Huan Kingdom’s strategy inflicts staggering casualties on both sides, making success potentially indistinguishable from ruin.
• Uncertainty and fear in war: The enemy’s inability to understand Huan’s forces—and its fear of the city’s defenders—undermines its confidence just as the city’s defenses finally fail.

Key plot points and events

• After Jian Shang kills the Dark Demon Falcon with the Sun-Shooting Divine Bow, he explains that it is a National Artifact: its power comes from an entire nation and can exceed what ordinary Heaven Artifacts allow a Mortal Realm user to unleash.
• As Fanyu Royal City’s defenses falter, Jian Shang orders the Heavenly Dipper and Earthly Fiend Formation activated. The 108 Heaven-Sacrificing Altars consume enormous quantities of spirit stones and form a barrier around the city.
• The enemy commanders recognize the formation’s strength but expect its power supply to run down. They order a full assault, while defenders fire upon attackers trapped against the barrier.
• Jian Shang then opens the southern gates and gathers a vast force of hastily trained recruits. He explains that the city cannot simply wait behind the formation: the battle is a fight to the death, and the enemy must be weakened before the barrier fails.
• Prime Minister Tian Dan unleashes his secret technique, “Burn the Boats, Smash the Cauldrons.” A blood mist empowers the first hundred thousand recruits, dramatically raising their strength—but at the cost of their vitality and lifespan.

Character developments

• Jian Shang reveals both the scale of his resources and his willingness to make devastating choices. He remains composed under pressure, but his bleak words show he understands the likely cost.
• Tian Dan emerges as the holder of a horrifying battlefield trump card, capable of turning raw recruits into powerful fighters through self-sacrifice.
• Dongfang Shi learns how National Artifacts draw power from a nation, while her earlier support for Jian Shang earns his respect.
• Zhi Ji and the other observers are shaken by the recruits’ transformation and its price. Even the usually ruthless Zhi Ji reacts with disbelief.
• The enemy leaders reveal their greed and confidence: King Luolong covets the Sun-Shooting Divine Bow, while the Chenla Witch King eyes Luolong’s own National Artifact.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice and survival: The city’s defense demands lives, vitality, and resources; there is no painless path to survival.
• Collective power: National Artifacts and the city formation embody strength drawn from a whole people, not merely an individual.
• Desperation and resolve: Jian Shang’s strategy reflects the chapter’s central idea that retreat is impossible and both sides must risk everything.
• The cost of power: The formation burns spirit stones, while Tian Dan’s technique consumes the recruits’ lifespans.

Character interactions

• Jian Shang patiently answers Dongfang Shi’s questions and explains the National Artifact’s nature.
• He consults Long Ju and Tian Dan about the worsening battle, then assigns Hua Qiandai to assist Tian Dan.
• Ying Ying challenges Jian Shang for delaying the formation; he explains that activating it too early would waste its power.
• Zhao Ji and Yan Wuji question Jian Shang’s decision to send recruits outside, but he gives no direct explanation before Tian Dan’s technique reveals the plan.
• The enemy kings discuss the formation’s limits and coordinate an assault, while privately eyeing one another’s powerful artifacts.

Plot points and events

• Jian Shang explains that “Burn the Boats, Smash the Cauldrons” consumes lifespan and vitality until its users die. Tian Dan can activate the technique but cannot control or stop it.
• Jian Shang insists that death is preferable to defeat or surrender—and declares that he and everyone in Huan will accept the same fate if necessary.
• He leads the first of many suicidal assaults. Using his Military God’s Power to link the soldiers’ auras, he turns them into formations that strike the enemy like giant arrows and blades.
• Tian Dan repeatedly activates the lethal technique, while Yu Ji uses healing arts to sustain the troops. Fresh waves arrive through teleportation platforms and charge until they are wiped out.
• After three days and two nights, Huan has lost about fourteen million soldiers, while the Vietnamese Allied Army has lost about thirty million beasts. The enemy leaders are baffled by Huan’s apparent supply of elite troops and hesitate to intervene personally.
• The battle has become a catastrophic war of attrition. Though the Vietnamese force is badly diminished, a victory would likely leave it too weakened to advance north.
• At last, the Mountain-Moving King—a giant Mountain-Moving Demon Eagle—strikes the city’s defensive formation and shatters it. The largely unscathed Bird Army descends toward Fanyu Royal City.

Character developments and interactions

• Jian Shang reveals the full extent of his resolve: he is willing to die alongside his soldiers rather than surrender. His stance shocks Dongfang Shi and the Otherworlder faction leaders, who see him as a relentless, almost reckless ruler.
• Dongfang Shi questions whether the soldiers’ sacrifice is worth the cost, recognizing that the technique makes their deaths unavoidable.
• Tian Dan proves essential to Huan’s strategy by repeatedly invoking the technique, despite being unable to control its fatal effects. Yu Ji supports the assaults with healing.
• The Dragon-Tiger King urges the Vietnamese leaders to attack personally, but hesitates when challenged to lead the assault himself. His fear reflects the danger posed by Huan’s defenders and the unexplained death of the Dark Demon Falcon.
• The enemy commanders’ confusion turns to shock, anguish, and numbness as Huan’s forces continue appearing and their own army is steadily depleted.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice and national loyalty: The soldiers knowingly give their lives for the Huan Kingdom and the “Great Huan Era.”
• Victory at any cost: Jian Shang accepts mass death as preferable to defeat or surrender.
• The human cost of war: Both sides suffer immense losses, transforming the battle into a “vortex of death.”
• Fear and uncertainty: Huan’s endless-seeming reinforcements and the threat of its powerful defenders unsettle the enemy, even as the city’s defenses finally collapse.

Key plot points and events

• Di Wushuang, the Sacred Eagle Feather Emperor, and the Huan Kingdom’s three Dharma Kings ambush the Mountain-Moving King after he breaks the city’s defensive formation. He escapes into the Bird Army but is badly wounded; Di Wushuang catches and kills him.
• The Bird Army nevertheless pours into Fanyu Royal City, destroying buildings and killing soldiers and civilians. After three days and two nights of fighting, the attackers are pushed back from the gates, but the city remains under overwhelming pressure.
• Chancellor Jian Shang orders Flower Consort Qi Ji to activate the previously dormant Investiture of the Gods Hall. He also sends Hua Qiandai to bring him to key positions so he can cast a spell strengthening the soldiers there.
• Demon Empress Ying Ying offers to undergo the dangerous strengthening ritual, even if it means a death equivalent to “one and a half times,” provided her possessions are returned after her death. Jian Shang reassures her that the situation has not yet reached that point.
• The Investiture of the Gods Hall descends into the Bird Army. Its Yellow Turban Strongmen fight the birds amid protective clouds and mist, but the hall’s initial impact seems insufficient to change the battle.
• The hall then unleashes the Heaven-Encompassing Star Tribulation. A massive burst of light fills the sky, apparently killing at least three million birds and carving a huge gap in their ranks. The defenders are left stunned.

Character developments and interactions

• Di Wushuang proves swift and ruthless, dismissing the Mountain-Moving King’s complaint about being outnumbered by pointing out the vast enemy force he led against the city.
• Jian Shang reveals his willingness to use extreme measures to defend the city, keeping the hall’s true purpose secret until the decisive moment. He also explains that the ritual’s limits depend more on vitality and lifespan than a person’s existing cultivation.
• Ying Ying shows self-sacrificing resolve, offering her remaining life for the defense despite the risk of losing her treasured possessions.
• Song Zutian is briefly tempted by the prospect of gaining immense power, but falls silent when the cost is explained.
• Yan Wuji and the others question why the Investiture of the Gods Hall had not acted earlier; Jian Shang and Qi Ji do not disclose the plan.
• Rong Ji initially doubts the hall’s value, only for its devastating power to become clear.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice for the collective: Ying Ying’s offer and Jian Shang’s willingness to risk lives underscore the personal cost of resisting invasion.
• Power versus numbers: Individual champions cannot counter an army of tens of millions, but a powerful national artifact can alter the balance dramatically.
• Strategy and concealed strength: The dormant hall’s apparent inactivity masks a carefully timed weapon, turning the enemy’s confidence into a sudden disaster.
• The brutality of war: Even with the Mountain-Moving King dead, the Bird Army’s assault devastates the city and threatens soldiers and civilians alike.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Jian Shang activates the Investiture of the Gods Hall, unleashing a devastating blast that kills more than three million birds instantly. The dead show no visible wounds, suggesting the attack destroys their souls rather than their bodies.
• Dongfang Shi challenges Jian Shang for not using the weapon sooner. He explains that it is prohibitively expensive: the initial strike cost 100,000 Diamond Coins, and repeating it could cost a million or more. Dongfang Shi provides a million Diamond Coins and authorizes him to spend it on the battle.
• The Hall later captures and controls around 100,000 birds, turning them against the Bird Army. Though less spectacular than the first attack, this feat is also costly and frightens the enemy into caution.
• The Beast Army breaks through the South City Wall and floods into Fanyu Royal City, destroying everything in its path.
• Zhi Ji argues that allowing the enemy into the city may be advantageous. Jian Shang gives her command of the battlefield, including authority over himself, and orders everyone to obey her.
• Zhi Ji orders troops to hold elevated positions while soldiers and civilians retreat to the City Lord’s Manor. She also directs that the gates be opened and the enemy allowed inside, planning for a decisive battle within the city.
• Long Ju objects, but Jian Shang orders his guards to seize him for disobedience. Long Ju ultimately accepts Zhi Ji’s command, and she warns him not to resist again.

Character developments

• Jian Shang proves both resource-conscious and decisive. Despite trusting Zhi Ji enough to surrender command to her, he recognizes the value of her judgment and backs her even when her strategy alarms his officers.
• Dongfang Shi moves from indignation at Jian Shang’s apparent reluctance to use the weapon to financially supporting its continued use. Her wealth and concern for lives are evident.
• Zhi Ji steps forward as a composed, forceful commander. Her ability to set aside a deep personal vendetta convinces Jian Shang that she can prioritize military duty over private grievances.
• Long Ju is shaken and humiliated by being overruled. Though he objects on practical and moral grounds, he ultimately submits.
• The other officers are stunned by the sudden transfer of authority and struggle to accept Zhi Ji’s orders.

Significant themes

• The cost of survival: Powerful weapons can save lives, but their immense expense forces commanders to weigh money against casualties.
• Trust and command: Jian Shang’s public transfer of authority to Zhi Ji demonstrates that confidence in a leader may require backing their decisions even under pressure.
• Duty over personal vengeance: Zhi Ji’s restraint toward the faction tied to her father’s murder is presented as evidence of her ability to separate private feelings from public responsibility.
• Military sacrifice and strategy: The chapter questions whether holding ground is always wise. Zhi Ji is willing to surrender the city’s outer defenses and risk losses in order to shape the coming battle.

Character interactions

• Dongfang Shi confronts Jian Shang over the weapon’s delayed use, then supplies the funds he says are needed.
• Jian Shang explains the Hall’s costs to Dongfang Shi and later openly entrusts Zhi Ji with command.
• Zhi Ji issues orders to Long Ju and the other leaders; Long Ju resists, prompting Jian Shang to enforce her authority.
• Dongfang Shi attempts to ease the confrontation, while Jian Shang frames Zhi Ji’s restraint and composure as reasons she deserves command.

Chapter summary

Key plot points and events

• After the South City Wall collapses, the Huan Army withdraws toward strongpoints and the city’s remaining walls, while China’s Otherworlders and Jianghu fighters continue guerrilla attacks through the streets.
• The allied invasion grows overwhelming: about twenty million beast troops enter the city, while roughly fifteen million bird troops continue attacking from above. After four days and three nights of fighting, the enemy commits its elite forces, including troops from Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.
• The allied leaders debate whether the Huan Army’s stubborn defense might be a trap. The Howling Moon King urges caution, but the Dragon-Tiger King dismisses the concern; King Luolong instead warns that China’s Loose Immortals may be targeting enemy leaders. The coalition ultimately orders a full assault into the city.
• A Huan formation commanded by General Dong Li uses shields, spears, bows, crossbows, and nearby defensive structures to resist a combined land-and-air attack. Its disciplined tactics inflict heavy losses, but the beast troops break through by sheer numbers and the bird troops ravage the defenders from above. The formation is almost annihilated.
• At the City Lord’s Manor, Jian Shang and Zhi Ji receive repeated reports of collapsing defenses, fallen generals, and heavy casualties. The enemy elites are advancing rapidly, but King Luolong remains unlocated—an especially troubling mystery.
• Zhi Ji offers Jian Shang a choice: lead elite guards against the enemy commanders himself, or let the chancellor sacrifice a full formation to blunt their advance. Jian Shang argues that elite troops should face elite troops, and Zhi Ji accepts while warning him not to underestimate the danger.

Character developments and interactions

• The Howling Moon King remains wary and tries to restrain the coalition’s confidence, but his concerns are undercut by the Dragon-Tiger King’s impatience and the enemy’s superior mobility.
• The Dragon-Tiger King is openly dismissive of caution, though he moderates his disrespect out of deference to the Howling Moon King.
• King Luolong acts as a mediator and strategist: he smooths over the leaders’ disagreement, emphasizes the threat posed by China’s Loose Immortals, and then orders the assault. His unexplained absence from the battlefield raises suspicions.
• Zhi Ji maintains command despite the mounting setbacks. She recognizes Jian Shang’s distress and gives him a direct role in countering the enemy elites, balancing compassion with strategic necessity.
• Jian Shang struggles to accept the cost to his soldiers and civilians, even though he understands that casualties are inevitable. He tries to remain composed and agrees to act, revealing both his responsibility as ruler and his emotional investment in the defenders.
• Dong Li demonstrates the Huan Army’s discipline and coordination, but his force’s destruction shows how even sound tactics can be overwhelmed by the attackers’ numbers and aerial advantage.

Significant themes

• Discipline versus overwhelming force: The Huan Army’s formations and coordinated defenses inflict serious losses, yet cannot withstand the vast enemy tide.
• The limits of borrowed strategy: The Howling Moon King recognizes that Chinese military doctrines cannot be applied mechanically when the opposing forces have radically different abilities.
• Leadership under pressure: Zhi Ji and Jian Shang must make choices amid uncertainty, severe losses, and the risk that sacrifice may not secure victory.
• Hidden threats and uncertainty: The enemy’s missing leader and China’s concealed plans leave both sides wary, while battlefield reports offer little certainty about the outcome.
• Duty and human cost: Jian Shang’s struggle highlights the emotional burden of commanding a war in which civilians and soldiers alike are suffering.

Key plot points and events

• The fifty thousand Vietnamese Guards—beast warriors divided among lions, tigers, wolves, apes, and eagles—continue crushing Huan forces through the royal city.
• Their advance stops when Huan King Jian Shang appears with twenty thousand Ravenous Wolf Guards and ten thousand Wei Martial Guards, blocking the main street. The opposing armies pause as both sides gather momentum.
• King Luolong, fighting in human form, recognizes the encounter as the opening of the decisive battle. He orders a messenger to alert the allied kings and commanders, then commands the Vietnamese Guards to attack.
• Jian Shang forms the Ravenous Wolf Guards into the Sky Wind Torrential Rain Formation and leads the charge. The battle begins with volleys of arrows and clashes between armored soldiers and the airborne demon eagles.
• Shi Hong, commander of the Mad Lion Guards, uses the lions’ roar to disrupt the wolf cavalry. Jian Shang is unaffected and wounds Shi Hong severely with a single halberd strike.
• The Ravenous Wolf Guards push through the lion and ape formations. Though they suffer significant wounds, their armor, weapons, discipline, and Yu Ji’s healing help them endure; the Vietnamese Guards take heavy losses.

Character developments

• Jian Shang demonstrates exceptional personal strength and battlefield leadership, personally leading the charge and overpowering Shi Hong. His immunity to the lions’ roar gives him a crucial advantage.
• King Luolong acts as a strategist, identifying the clash as decisive and directing the Vietnamese side’s response. His human guise conceals his identity and much of his true strength.
• Shi Hong shows discipline by stopping his troops before Jian Shang’s force, but is badly wounded when the battle turns to direct combat.

Character interactions

• Hu Zhen voices the commanders’ apprehension about facing Jian Shang, prompting Shi Hong to look to Luolong for guidance.
• Luolong gives Shi Hong instructions; Shi Hong responds respectfully and arranges for the warning to be sent to allied leaders.
• Jian Shang and Shi Hong meet directly in battle, with Jian Shang’s halberd strike establishing the Huan King’s superiority in personal combat.
• The Ravenous Wolf Guards and Vietnamese beast troops engage in successive clashes, their contrasting strengths—human formations and armor against the beasts’ size and natural weapons—shaping the fight.

Significant themes

• Discipline versus brute force: The passage contrasts organized human formations and tactics with the beasts’ physical power.
• The limits of apparent invincibility: The Vietnamese Guards’ armor-like bodies are formidable, but sharp weapons and coordinated attacks can defeat them.
• Leadership and morale: Jian Shang’s presence strengthens the Huan forces, while his enemies’ fear of his reputation weighs on their commanders.
• The battle’s scale and cost: Both armies suffer heavily, underscoring that this confrontation is only the beginning of a larger decisive struggle.

Jian Shang slaughtered four of the five Vietnamese Beast Generals and fought off the remaining Hu Qian’s pursuit before the Howling Moon King, Dragon-Tiger King, and Heaven-Shaking King intervened. He matched their attacks, then killed Hu Qian as the Beast Kings unleashed their strongest techniques.

• Jian Shang killed Diao Yu with the Scarlet Sky Sword and severed the limbs and head of Yin Ren while fending off the other Beast Generals.
• Jian Shang slew Shi Hong with a sword strike and killed Yuan Tong by hurling the Heaven-Setting Dragon Halberd through him.
• Jian Shang pursued Hu Qian, but the Howling Moon King appeared and knocked him back before the Dragon-Tiger King and Heaven-Shaking King joined them.
• Jian Shang destroyed the Dragon-Tiger King’s wind-and-cloud attack and countered the Heaven-Shaking King’s earth technique, then taunted the three Beast Kings.
• The Howling Moon King and the other Beast Kings unleashed their strongest techniques, but Jian Shang’s afterimage cut Hu Qian’s body in two.

Jian Shang and the Ravenous Wolf Guards faced mounting attacks as enemy reinforcements joined the battle, while Zhi Ji refused to send help. The chapter left Jian Shang besieged by four powerful foes as the Heaven-Shaking King trapped him with Earthly Bindings.

• Jian Shang killed Hu Qian, then fought the Howling Moon King, the Heaven-Shaking King, and the Dragon-Tiger King with sound-wave techniques and the God of Slaughter's Power.
• Ten thousand Chenla Warriors joined the Vietnamese forces, and the Chenla Witch King attacked Jian Shang with an insect swarm.
• Zhi Ji refused to reinforce Jian Shang or the Ravenous Wolf Guards, and Demon Empress Ying Ying led over a hundred thousand Otherworlders toward the elite battle.
• The Fanatic Heavenly Soldiers joined the assault, while the Ravenous Wolf Guards and Wei Martial Guards struggled to hold their formations against the growing enemy forces.
• The Howling Moon King transformed into a Moon-Howling Divine Wolf and joined the other kings and the Chenla Witch King in attacking Jian Shang.
• The Heaven-Shaking King used Earthly Bindings to encircle Jian Shang in tightening spatial shackles and immense gravity.

Jian Shang used the enemy’s attacks to kill the Heaven-Shaking King, but the surviving Beast Kings and their forces continued to overwhelm his troops. As Chinese otherworlders rushed to help, Beast Generals intercepted them, leaving Jian Shang surrounded and the battle unresolved.

• Jian Shang transformed his true qi into a dragon and used the Art of Conservation to deflect attacks, then wounded the Heaven-Shaking King with a claw strike.
• Jian Shang killed Han Yuan, the Heaven-Shaking King, with the sixth form of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors Sword and received the system’s rewards.
• The Crimson Dragon Elders attacked Jian Shang, and the three surviving elders joined the battle while he demanded to know why King Luolong had not appeared.
• The Moon-Howling Divine Wolf ordered an all-out assault, and enemy troops inflicted heavy casualties on the Ravenous Wolf Guards and Wei Martial Guards.
• Hu Fei, Yang Qingxuan, Blade, Xiong Ba, and other Chinese otherworlders rushed to aid Jian Shang, but Beast Generals intercepted them and caused heavy casualties.

Jian Shang and the Otherworlders fought the Vietnamese forces until a blood-powered secret technique strengthened both armies and left Jian Shang badly wounded. As he risked his life against the Beast Kings, Hua Qiandai moved to save him, while Zhi Ji’s refusal to intervene drove the Huan Kingdom’s generals to rush to the battlefield without her.

• Jian Shang ordered the Otherworlders to focus on ordinary Yue troops, then used the Scarlet Sky Sword to hold off the Beast Kings while the Otherworlders disrupted enemy formations.
• Blood across the battlefield empowered the Vietnamese and their allies, and the Dragon-Tiger King shattered Jian Shang’s Yin-Yang Lotus Platform before a Red Dragon wounded him again.
• Jian Shang used the Great Wilderness Imperishable Body to absorb blood, then unleashed Kill All Who Defy Me and killed a Red Dragon while launching desperate attacks at the Moon-Howling Divine Wolf.
• Hua Qiandai emerged and used Three Thousand Silken Tresses, Soft Around the Fingers as another Red Dragon attacked Jian Shang.
• At Fanyu Royal City, Zhi Ji refused to intervene despite reports that Jian Shang was near death, and Rong Ji argued that his death would not ruin the plan.
• Tian Dan led Long Ju, Yang Ning, and Ji Bu toward the battlefield without Zhi Ji’s permission, while Zhao Ji and Dongfang Shi condemned the decision to treat Jian Shang as a sacrifice.

Zhi Ji revealed that she had engineered the Huan King's entry into battle to strengthen the troops’ resolve, then identified King Luolong’s likely blood-control art and ordered Zhao Ji to act. On the battlefield, Ying Ying revealed her ability to transform and Jian Shang took command of successive waves of recruits, whose desperate assault left him furious at the devastation.

• Zhi Ji explained that she had provoked the Huan King’s entry into battle and delayed her response to intensify the troops’ determination to fight.
• Zhi Ji identified King Luolong as the likely user of the Blood-Controlling Grand Art and warned the others to watch him and the Devouring Heaven Tiger King.
• Zhao Ji used Enchant All Living Beings as China’s forces prepared to target the enemy’s aerial threat.
• Ying Ying transformed into a Six-Tailed Demon Fox and then a Silvermoon Divine Wolf, killing enemy forces and relieving pressure on the Princess Residence troops.
• China’s Loose Immortals surrounded the enemy commanders while successive waves of recruits charged under Burn the Boats, Smash the Cauldrons.
• Jian Shang used the Horizontal Alliance Grand Art and Military God’s Power to command the recruits, then watched their near-total annihilation and raged at the invasion.

The Huan Kingdom’s armies and special legions were thrown into a desperate battle against overwhelming Vietnamese forces, with each sacrifice killing hundreds of thousands of enemies but failing to stem their advance. As the Ravenous Wolf Guards prepared to enter the fight, Jian Shang personally led them while demanding that Tian Dan commit to the final gamble.

• The Southern Yue Beast Army, the Fire Ox Berserk Cavalry, and the Righteous Tiger Cavalry joined the battle and were wiped out after inflicting heavy enemy casualties.
• The Huan Kingdom’s remaining special legions entered the battlefield, but the enemy’s numbers continued to overwhelm its reinforcements.
• Jian Shang ordered the Ravenous Wolf Guards forward and declared how the kingdom’s affairs should be managed if he died.
• Jian Shang rode to the front of the Ravenous Wolf Guards, raised the Heavenly Wolf Battle Banner, and formed the Moonlight Heavenly Wolf Formation.
• Tian Dan hesitated to stake the Ravenous Wolf Guards and Jian Shang, so Jian Shang rebuked him and insisted they risk everything to win.

Demon Empress Ying Ying and Song Zutian rallied tens of thousands of Chinese Otherworlders to fight beside Jian Shang and the Ravenous Wolf Guards, turning the Huan Kingdom’s desperate defense into a full-scale counterattack. Jian Shang swore to annihilate Vietnam as the volunteers unleashed life-burning techniques and charged into battle.

• Demon Empress Ying Ying urged Jian Shang to preserve the Huan Kingdom’s strength to counterattack Vietnam, then called on members of the Princess Residence to step forward.
• Song Zutian and more than fifty thousand Advanced Otherworlders joined the Princess Residence fighters before the Ravenous Wolf Guards, despite knowing the charge would likely kill them.
• Jian Shang answered the volunteers by swearing to annihilate Vietnam, while Tian Dan used Burn the Boats, Smash the Cauldrons to raise the fighters’ strength at the cost of their vitality and lifespan.
• Demon Empress Ying Ying transformed into a Six-Tailed Demon Fox and advanced toward the Beast King realm as she devastated the enemy ranks with elemental attacks.
• Blade led the Blade Legion, the Princess Residence, the Heaven and Earth Society, and other factions in a fierce charge against the allied armies.