Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• After defeating Grandmasters Jasa and Kuroda, Jiang Jingnian and Qian Youcai collect their spoils in the mineral-vein forest. Xue Xiuxiu, now without the Lotus Candlestick’s protection, stays with them for safety and helps gather ore.
• Jiang sends Qian Youcai to guard him while he spends an hour in a sealed cave. He sorts the loot, studies the gestating Xiejin Forge Lord core, and discovers its link to the other Huan Mountain Stone Demon offspring, the Qian family, Little Qian Island, and the ancient Ju Wu bloodline.
• Jiang returns the Lotus Candlestick to Xue and uses it to send the Lotus Intent Sect a warning: the Stockade has betrayed the Demon Sects and allied with the Dongjiang Governor-General’s Office. The message prompts the Lotus Intent Sect to prepare a response.
• At the Sea-Eroded Cave exit, Stockade leaders Li Shengyu and Director Fu expect Jasa and Kuroda to emerge victorious. Instead, Xue, Qian, and Jiang appear. Qian’s Grandmaster Momentum disables the Stockade forces, and Jiang kills Li, Director Fu, and their elite guards.
• Jiang tells Qian that Little Qian Island will be returned to the Qian family if they seize it, while proposing an eighty-twenty profit split in his own favor. Qian is stunned that Jiang knows the island’s secret significance.
• News of the Stockade’s treachery spreads among the Demon Sects. The Five Poisons Sect, Illusory Water Sect, and Harmonious Joy Sect decide to retaliate.
• The Five Poisons Sect leads a large force against the Stockade. Fang Mo’s Gu-insect swarm destroys the outer wall and consumes parts of the settlement, including homes and their occupants. He demands that the Four Ancestors answer for the Stockade’s actions. Silver and Copper Ancestors appear, but negotiations collapse: Ruan Zhi attacks, Fang Mo strikes Silver Ancestor, and the other Demon Sects join the fight.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Jingnian remains practical and opportunistic, gathering treasure even while focused on the larger conflict. His investigation of the core deepens his understanding of the region’s ancient bloodlines and his own apparent conflict with fate. He also directs Xue’s message and leads the attack on the Stockade’s ambush force.
• Qian Youcai is repeatedly treated as Jiang’s subordinate despite his seniority and Grandmaster status. He is exasperated by Jiang’s orders and greedy proposal, but proves decisive when he uses his power to subdue the Stockade fighters.
• Xue Xiuxiu shifts from vulnerable follower to useful intermediary. She carries Jiang’s warning to her sect and helps expose the Stockade’s betrayal.
• Li Shengyu and Director Fu are revealed to have staged the earlier events, expecting the Grandmasters to eliminate the Demon Sect factions. Their confidence turns to shock when Jiang and Qian emerge instead, and both are killed.
• Fang Mo, Ruan Zhi, and the Illusory Water Sect’s Left Guardian unite in retaliation, though their response quickly becomes a violent assault rather than an investigation. Silver Ancestor’s pleas for explanation fail to halt the battle.

Significant themes

• Betrayal and shifting alliances: The Stockade’s secret cooperation with the Governor-General’s Office turns former partners into enemies and triggers a wider war.
• Fate, ancestry, and political power: Jiang connects the region’s major families and sects to ancient Ju Wu bloodlines and wonders whether inherited destiny helps explain his own hardships.
• Power and leverage: Jiang treats combat victories, artifacts, and territory as assets to be traded or exploited.
• Escalation and collateral damage: The Demon Sects’ revenge destroys the Stockade’s defenses and harms civilians, showing how political schemes and factional retaliation devastate those caught between them.

Chapter Summary: “Unexpected Windfall, the Xiang Family Mobilizes Troops”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Jingnian, Qian Youcai, and Xue Xiuxiu secretly approach a Stockade warehouse on Little Qian Island. The warehouse is guarded by dozens of soldiers, four overseers, and a Stockade Attendant at the Perfected Inner Qi Realm.
• Using [Mist Gu Illusion Garment], Jiang becomes almost completely undetectable. He infiltrates the warehouse compound and launches a sudden attack.
• Jiang instantly kills the one-armed Attendant, slices the three Inner Qi Realm hall masters apart with a golden Metal Virtue divine ability, and eliminates the remaining guards with a tiny black-flame sword. The entire assault takes less than two breaths.
• The group opens the warehouse with four bronze keys and loots its contents. Jiang discovers a seemingly worthless lump of mud that is actually Sky-Attracting Primordial Gold, a rare Metal Virtue treasure.
• Jiang predicts that the Demon Sect will soon attack the Stockade, allowing him to profit from the conflict after both sides are weakened. He and his companions retreat to a seaside cave, where Jiang begins refining the Sky-Attracting Primordial Gold, the Stone Demon Heart, and other treasures.
• Elsewhere, Stockade’s Gold Ancestor and Xiang Hua are using a Golden Contract to control or protect the Sky-Attracting Primordial Gold. They suddenly realize that its aura has vanished entirely.
• At the same time, the Demon Sect launches a major assault on the Stockade. Silver Ancestor and Copper Ancestor are injured, while the defensive formation begins to fail.
• The Stockade leaders convene with Xiang Hua and Hase Hirohiko. Xiang Hua proposes mobilizing ten thousand troops from the Governor-General’s Office to repel the Demon Sect. Though the Stockade fears Xiang Family interference, it accepts because the crisis is worsening.
• Hase offers help from the Eastern Wu Kingdom Chamber of Commerce, but Xiang Hua politely refuses direct involvement and instead leaves him and the other foreign Grandmasters on Little Qian Island.

Character Developments

• Jiang Jingnian is shown to be exceptionally powerful, stealthy, and ruthless. Despite remaining at the Half-Step Grandmaster realm, he possesses a True Astral Divine Ability and can effortlessly assassinate opponents above his apparent level.
• Jiang also demonstrates strategic patience. Rather than confronting the Stockade’s Grandmasters directly, he plans to let the Demon Sect and Stockade exhaust each other before profiting from the aftermath.
• His discovery of the Sky-Attracting Primordial Gold gives him a major cultivation opportunity. His decision to immediately enter secluded cultivation reveals his confidence and rapid ability to gain insight.
• Qian Youcai becomes increasingly impressed—and alarmed—by Jiang. He recognizes Jiang’s talent, murderous efficiency, and political cunning, and begins considering the benefits of repairing the Qian Household’s relationship with him.
• Xue Xiuxiu, despite being a Demon Sect saintess familiar with many secret arts, is shocked by Jiang’s concealment and brutality. Her fear causes her to become especially obedient and diligent while helping loot the warehouse.
• Gold Ancestor and the Stockade leadership are forced into a defensive position. Their carefully arranged plans begin collapsing as the Demon Sect attacks and their treasure unexpectedly disappears.
• Xiang Hua emerges as a calm and decisive political strategist. He uses the crisis to justify deploying Xiang Family troops into the Stockade, even though the Stockade fears that allowing them in may be difficult to reverse.
• Hase Hirohiko remains outwardly cooperative but observant and calculating, offering assistance while accepting Xiang Hua’s arrangement to stay on Little Qian Island.

Significant Themes

• Concealment and misdirection: Jiang’s invisibility, the treasure’s disguised appearance as mud, and the hidden schemes among the Stockade, Xiang Family, Demon Sect, and foreign forces all emphasize deception.
• Strategic patience versus direct confrontation: Jiang’s greatest strength is not merely martial power but his willingness to hide, wait, and exploit conflicts rather than fight powerful enemies head-on.
• Power hidden beneath appearances: Jiang’s Half-Step Grandmaster status conceals extraordinary strength, while the Sky-Attracting Primordial Gold looks like worthless mud despite being a supreme treasure.
• Political opportunism: Every faction attempts to use the current turmoil for its own advantage. Xiang Hua uses the Demon Sect invasion to place Xiang troops inside the Stockade, while Jiang intends to profit from the Stockade’s weakening.
• The instability of alliances: The Stockade has secretly manipulated multiple factions, but its double-dealing has left it isolated and vulnerable. Its alliances with outsiders and schemes against the Demon Sect are beginning to collapse.
• The consequences of overreaching: The Stockade’s attempt to play every side has placed it between the Demon Sect, Xiang Family, foreign powers, warlords, and other major factions.

Character Interactions

• Jiang teases and pressures Qian Youcai about his fear of the Stockade’s Four Ancestors, while Qian worries that Jiang is recklessly powerful and politically dangerous.
• Qian and Xue witness Jiang’s massacre and react with shock, reinforcing Jiang’s dominance within the group.
• Jiang orders Qian and Xue to help loot the warehouse, humorously claiming that everything belongs to him while promising Qian a share later.
• Qian gradually shifts from merely cooperating with Jiang to considering him a valuable future ally for the Qian Household.
• Gold Ancestor and Xiang Hua discuss the disappearance of the Sky-Attracting Primordial Gold, then confront the sudden Demon Sect assault alongside Iron Ancestor.
• Xiang Hua persuades the Stockade leaders to accept a large Xiang Family military deployment despite their distrust.
• Hase offers assistance, but Xiang Hua carefully limits foreign involvement, demonstrating the political tension beneath their polite exchange.

Chapter Summary: “Blood Flowed into Rivers”

Key Plot Points and Events

Jiang Jingnian completes his preparations inside the cave.

He remains wary of Qian Youcai’s ability to detect his secrets and uses the aura of his Samadhi True Fire as an additional shield against Grandmaster Momentum.

• He devours the Sky-Attracting Primordial Gold, discovering that it is a Metal Virtue treasure connected to the Gou Wu Golden Contract and the bloodline of the Ju Wu Royal House. Its real purpose appears to involve refining descendants of Gouwu and cultivating the Sky Crow Golden Canon. Jiang suspects that Stockade’s supposed plan to nurture the Stone Demon Heart was a deception intended to reverse-devour it.

Jiang gains the trait [Threefold Gold].

It allows him to store three Metal Virtue powers and release them simultaneously with additional amplification, giving him a powerful burst-damage technique that may exceed Greater Yin Form-Shifting in instantaneous destructive force.

His other traits are upgraded

• [Moon Lotus Treasure-Rebirth Body] becomes [Moon Lotus Treasure-Rebirth Body (Silk)], allowing resurrection through moon lotuses at two separate locations, though each use costs eight years of lifespan.
• [Turbid Night Black True Swordflame] becomes [Ebon Turbid Extreme Swordflame], increasing its range, number of targets, and daily uses while retaining its armor-piercing and healing-prevention effects.

Jiang notices that Stockade’s defensive momentum has weakened dramatically.

He concludes that many of Stockade’s Grandmasters have left, creating an opportunity to attack the Eastern Wu Kingdom’s warships at the harbor.

• Qian Youcai initially hesitates, warning that the warships possess powerful enchanted cannons and could be a trap. Jiang criticizes his excessive caution, arguing that martial advancement requires decisiveness. Qian ultimately agrees to join him, while Xue Xiuxiu follows as well.

Jiang and his allies attack the harbor.

Jiang boards one warship and kills much of its crew with the Ebon Turbid Extreme Swordflame. He then transforms into a gigantic black beast using his body-tempering power and massacres the remaining sailors, including the deputy captain Kuro Hase.

Qian Youcai assists in destroying the three docked warships.

Survivors from the docked vessels call for support. Two patrolling warships respond by bombarding the harbor with nearly two hundred shells per minute, including powerful enchanted ammunition. The docks and crippled ships are reduced to ruins.

Jiang survives the bombardment and counterattacks from beneath the water.

He tears through the hull of one warship, boards it from below, and kills Captain Kuroda and the crew. His actions demonstrate that, without a Grandmaster present to restrain him, even heavily armed dreadnoughts are vulnerable to a Grandmaster.

At Stockade, the defensive battle reaches a turning point.

Stockade’s Four Ancestors activate their shared Momentum, [Life-Passing Pawnshop], which converts incoming attacks and demonic qi into blood-red banknotes and rebounds the force upon the attackers. This injures several weaker Demon Sect fighters and temporarily repairs Stockade’s protective formation.

Fang Mo confronts the Four Ancestors.

He accuses them of betraying the Five Poisons Sect, harming its Saint Son, and colluding with the Xiang Family. Stockade’s offer of reconciliation is rejected. Fang declares that Stockade will be sacrificed as part of the Five Poisons Sect’s rise and orders the attack to continue.

The Golden Iron Corps arrives.

More than a dozen military warships from the Dongjiang Prefecture Governor-General’s Office move toward Stockade, carrying the Xiang Family’s ten thousand elite troops. Their arrival threatens to alter the balance of the battle.

The Xu Family learns of the crisis.

During Xu Ji’s memorial ceremony, the family receives news that Demon Sect forces are attacking Stockade and that the Xiang Family has forced ten thousand soldiers into Peace City despite foreign opposition.

The Xu Family reassesses its strategy.

Xu Hongxiang remains calm, explaining that unexpected changes were inevitable after the Gou Wu Ruins. Since Xuan Chong has not intervened, he believes the situation may still be manageable. Xu Zhao concludes that the family should intensify the chaos and “add more fuel to the fire.”

Character Developments

• Jiang Jingnian grows more confident and aggressive. His newly upgraded traits greatly expand his survivability, resurrection options, and burst damage. He also demonstrates increasing willingness to act decisively, even when the situation may be a trap.
• Qian Youcai is forced to confront his overly cautious and calculating nature. Jiang’s criticism makes him recognize that excessive risk assessment has weakened his martial resolve. He chooses to fight alongside Jiang despite his fears.
• Xue Xiuxiu remains inexperienced compared with the Grandmasters and is visibly terrified by the warships’ firepower. Nevertheless, she contributes by releasing slow-acting poisonous smoke and continues following Jiang and Qian.
• Fang Mo reveals his determination to transform the conflict into a larger campaign for the Five Poisons Sect. He no longer seeks compensation or reconciliation and instead intends to destroy Stockade as a political and symbolic sacrifice.
• The Four Ancestors of Stockade reveal the defensive power of their shared Momentum and attempt to negotiate only after suffering severe pressure. Their desperation suggests that Stockade’s position is deteriorating despite its temporary defensive recovery.
• The Xu Family leadership remains pragmatic and calculating. Xu Hongxiang treats Xu Ji’s death as part of a completed long-term scheme, while Xu Zhao prepares to exploit the turmoil rather than retreat from it.

Significant Themes

Decisiveness versus excessive caution

Jiang argues that martial progress requires acting when the moment demands it, while Qian Youcai represents the dangers of endless calculation and hesitation.

The overwhelming gap between Grandmasters and ordinary warriors

Jiang’s destruction of entire warships emphasizes that powerful military technology is still helpless when an enemy Grandmaster can board the vessel without opposition.

Violence escalating into larger political conflict

The battle is no longer a local dispute. Demon Sects, Stockade, the Xiang Family, foreign powers, the Governor-General’s Office, and the Xu Family are all using the crisis to pursue broader ambitions.

Hidden agendas and strategic deception

The true purpose of the Stone Demon Heart plot, the Stockade’s alliances, the Xu Family’s ritual, and the Xiang Family’s troop movement all reveal a world where apparent actions conceal deeper schemes.

Sacrifice and revenge

Fang Mo intends to sacrifice Stockade to announce the Five Poisons Sect’s rise, while the Xu Family uses Xu Ji’s death to advance its campaign against the Xiang Family.

Modern warfare versus individual martial power

The warships’ artillery can devastate entire areas, but Jiang’s ability to infiltrate and destroy them demonstrates the continuing importance of elite martial strength.

Important Character Interactions

• Jiang Jingnian and Qian Youcai: Jiang challenges Qian’s cautious worldview, compelling him to commit to the harbor assault. Their relationship shifts toward reluctant cooperation and mutual reliance.
• Jiang Jingnian and Xue Xiuxiu: Jiang reassures Xue during the attack and assigns her a supporting role using poison. His confidence contrasts with her fear and inexperience.
• Jiang Jingnian and the Eastern Wu sailors: The warship crews initially underestimate him, but their firearms and enchanted bombs prove ineffective. Jiang’s transformation into a giant black beast turns the encounter into a one-sided massacre.
• Fang Mo and Stockade’s Four Ancestors: Fang rejects their attempt at reconciliation, condemning them for their betrayal and declaring that Stockade must fall.
• Xiang Hua and the Four Ancestors: Xiang Hua remains calm behind Stockade’s defenses and assures the Four Ancestors that reinforcements will arrive, revealing the Xiang Family’s confidence in its military intervention.
• Xu Zhao and Xu Hongxiang: Xu Zhao seeks guidance after learning of the changing situation, while Xu Hongxiang advises flexibility. Together, they decide to exploit the chaos rather than abandon their plans.

Chapter Summary: “Sneak Attack! Blast Them Apart!”

Key Plot Points and Events

• Jiang Jingnian and Qian Youcai complete their assault on the Japanese pirate forces occupying Little Qian Island. Jiang destroys numerous pirates in the sea, while Qian Youcai helps sink the enemy fleet and survives an enchanted-bomb injury.
• Qian Youcai regenerates his missing hand through the power of his undying Essence Flower. The two then sweep the shoreline to eliminate any surviving enemies.
• Xue Xiuxiu reports that she has killed additional escapees and dealt with enemies near a pavilion on the island.
• Inside the Vein Secret Realm, Hase Hirohiko discovers the remains of Kuroda Masaharu and Grandmaster Jasa. Both have been killed, and their deaths were concealed by Lunar Phase power.
• Hase explains that Chen State’s recent rise in Lunar Phase strength may be connected to the collapse of the Greater Yin Furnace. He and Kuroda Hirashige decide to investigate, but explosions from the harbor force them to return and protect the warships.
• At the central pavilion, the remaining Japanese samurai and Stockade experts prepare a defensive formation centered on the Hase Family’s Grandmaster Momentum, Shuten-doji.
• Jiang Jingnian and Qian Youcai launch a surprise attack. Jiang kills Hase Hayai and massacres most of the defenders, while Qian Youcai’s Falling Gold Coins Momentum destroys the Shuten-doji phantom.
• Hase Hirohiko arrives in fury and restores the Shuten-doji Momentum. He identifies Jiang Jingnian and confronts him, joined by Kuroda Hirashige.
• Jiang and Qian initially fight both Grandmasters together. Hase uses the powerful Water Virtue Divine Ability, Shuten Magatama One-Sword Style, creating a black-and-white killing domain filled with blade-infused rain.
• Kuroda Hirashige launches a stealth attack, severely injuring Qian Youcai and damaging her Essence Flower. The enemy duo temporarily gains the advantage.
• Jiang uses invisibility and repeated ambushes to counterattack. By combining Phantom Image Evasion, Purifying Golden Haze, and the enhanced Threefold Gold technique, he critically wounds Kuroda Hirashige.
• Jiang pins Kuroda down and continues beating him despite Hase’s devastating sword attack. Qian uses the last of her strength to block Hase’s attack with Ten Thousand Treasures Golden Radiance.
• Kuroda Hirashige’s Essence Flower is destroyed, killing him. Jiang’s great vow registers progress toward destroying four regional factions and changing the fate of a domain.

Character Developments

• Jiang Jingnian demonstrates overwhelming combat ability, tactical intelligence, and confidence. He excels at surprise attacks, concealment, close combat, and combining multiple traits and divine abilities. His willingness to ignore his own injuries in order to eliminate Kuroda shows his ruthlessness and determination.
• Qian Youcai remains a powerful and reliable ally despite her age and injuries. She regenerates a lost hand, supports Jiang throughout the battle, and sacrifices part of her Essence Flower to protect him. Her willingness to stay and fight, despite being badly wounded, highlights her loyalty and courage.
• Hase Hirohiko shifts from grief to fury and then to cautious respect for Jiang’s strength. He initially underestimates Jiang as a non-Grandmaster, but soon recognizes that Jiang’s battle power is far beyond ordinary expectations.
• Kuroda Hirashige is driven by vengeance for his brother, Kuroda Masaharu. His confidence in his own ambush tactics proves misplaced when Jiang turns the same strategy against him and kills him.
• Hase Hayai attempts to defend the pavilion but is killed instantly by Jiang before he can activate his trump card.
• Xue Xiuxiu contributes by eliminating fleeing enemies, though she suffers minor injuries from the bombardment.

Significant Themes

• The power of ambush and preparation: Jiang’s concealment abilities and carefully timed attacks allow him to challenge opponents with superior conventional status.
• Underestimation and reversed expectations: Hase assumes Jiang is merely a subordinate supporting Qian Youcai, but Jiang becomes the decisive force in the battle.
• Vengeance and its consequences: Hase and Kuroda are motivated by revenge, yet their anger causes them to underestimate their enemies and suffer further losses.
• The cost of great power: Grandmaster abilities cause immense destruction, damage the surrounding environment, and consume the fighters’ Essence Flowers and vitality.
• Momentum, lineage, and fate: The deaths of powerful figures weaken their factions, while Chen State’s growing strength appears linked to the Greater Yin Furnace and broader changes in destiny.
• Loyalty and sacrifice: Qian Youcai repeatedly supports Jiang even after suffering serious damage, showing the strength of their partnership.

Character Interactions

• Jiang and Qian fight as a coordinated pair, combining Jiang’s mobility and assassination techniques with Qian’s defensive and offensive golden-money Momentum.
• Jiang casually teases and dismisses Qian after the battle, while Qian complains about his stinginess and fighting underwater, giving their partnership a familiar, humorous tone.
• Hase Hirohiko and Kuroda Hirashige cooperate closely after arriving, using their combined Grandmaster Momentums to reverse the battle’s momentum.
• Jiang openly provokes Hase by calling him another member of the Hase Family “coming to die,” intensifying the confrontation.
• Qian warns Jiang about Hase’s superior swordsmanship, but Jiang remains confident and takes responsibility for the counterattack.
• Hase attempts to save Kuroda from Jiang’s ambushes, but Jiang’s layered techniques ultimately overwhelm them, ending with Kuroda’s death.

Summary

Key plot points and events

• Jiang Jingnian confirms the Kuroda Family’s collapse. The system’s notice that a Regional Domain-level Faction had been wiped out makes sense to him: he killed all three of the Kuroda Family’s Swordsmanship Masters and more than a thousand Eastern Wu elites on the island. He sees this as a major step toward fulfilling his Grandmaster’s vow.
• Jiang defeats Hase Hirohiko, but Hase escapes. Mistaking Jiang’s monstrous transformation and laughter for signs of cultivation deviation, Hase attacks. Jiang had been baiting him: he catches Hase, disrupts his awareness with [Moon-Reflecting Lotus Eye], and drives him into the ground in a devastating, moonflame-wreathed impact. Gravely injured, Hase uses an escape technique to flee beyond Qian Youcai’s reach. Jiang decides not to pursue, reasoning that Hase is too badly wounded to pose an immediate threat and that the moonlight tied to him will help track him.
• Jiang, Qian Youcai, and Xue Xiuxiu recover. Xue reports killing some fleeing warriors but abandoning the rest rather than risk a trap.
• The Stockade’s battle turns into a catastrophic siege. Demon Sect forces and the Xiang Family’s Golden Iron Corps fight across several fronts. The Xiang soldiers’ resistance to pain, poison, and mental attacks makes them difficult opponents, but the Demon Sects initially gain ground.
• Xiang Yingjie reveals his true strength. The governor-general arrives as an End-of-the-Road Grandmaster and unleashes [Golden Wu Severing Sword], wiping out a vast area of the battlefield. The Demon Sects’ assault is broken, though at enormous cost to both sides.
• The aftermath devastates the region. The Xiang Family loses most of its 10,000 elite troops and nearly all its warships; the Demon Sects suffer deaths and serious injuries, with several leaders fleeing. Tens of thousands of Stockade refugees die or flee into Peace City, where the influx, looting, and overwhelmed police create widespread chaos.
• Jiang follows Hase’s trail and meets the Halfway Pavilion’s old fisherman. The old man warns that another upheaval is coming in the Stockade’s core and invites Jiang to wait by fishing. Jiang accepts, though he warns the man not to deceive him.
• The next crisis arrives. In the Stockade’s core, the injured Four Ancestors take shelter with Hase. Before Hase can explain what happened on Little Qian Island, flares announce a new attack: the Xu Family has arrived.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Jingnian shows growing confidence and tactical restraint. He uses Hase’s arrogance against him, then chooses recovery over a risky pursuit. He also remains wary of the fisherman’s intentions but is willing to wait for more information.
• Hase Hirohiko shifts from opportunistic confidence to desperation. His attack on Jiang fails, and he escapes badly wounded before seeking refuge with the Four Ancestors.
• Qian Youcai is too injured to intervene effectively during Jiang’s fight, but remains alert and asks whether Hase should be pursued. He and Jiang agree to recover first.
• Xue Xiuxiu has fought independently, killing some escaping enemies while exercising caution.
• Xiang Yingjie is revealed to have concealed his progression to the peak of the Grandmaster path. He decisively saves the Xiang forces, but emerges injured and exhausted.
• The Four Ancestors are left badly weakened and face the prospect of losing control of the Stockade. Their meeting with Hase is interrupted by the Xu Family’s attack.
• The fisherman behaves like a cryptic guide, hinting that events in the Stockade are not over and persuading Jiang to wait rather than rush into the core.

Significant themes

• Victory at a terrible price: Neither the Xiang Family nor the Demon Sects emerge as clear winners; both suffer devastating losses, while civilians bear the heaviest toll.
• Concealed strength and mistaken judgment: Hase misreads Jiang’s apparent instability, while the Demon Sects misjudge Xiang Yingjie’s true level.
• Patience, traps, and timing: Jiang wins by baiting Hase, and the fisherman suggests that knowing when to act matters as much as force.
• Power reshapes political order: The Kuroda Family’s destruction, the Stockade’s weakness, and the Xu Family’s arrival all signal a shifting balance of power.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• The Xu Family launches an all-out assault on the battered Xiang Family forces at the Stockade, committing three thousand deathsworn and four Grandmasters. Xu Zhao frames the attack as revenge for the killing of Xu Ji and a bid to end the Xiang Family’s dominance.
• Xiang Yingjie, already weakened from an earlier battle, prepares to face the Xu elders alone. Xu Xuanchong—believed lost in the Gou Wu Ruins—then emerges as a third-heaven Grandmaster, revealing that he has returned with the Sky Crow’s power and a secret arrangement with foreign forces.
• Xu Xuanchong uses a ritual enabled by Xu Ji’s death to alter Xiang Yingjie’s fate, afflicting him and the Xiang Family with tribulation. He then triggers a hidden contingency in Xiang Yingjie’s son Xiang Tianyun, transforming the governor’s Metal-Virtue Martial Path into the Solar Martial Path.
• The transformation draws down the Celestial Gate and the Great Sun Origin Mountain. The mountain destroys the gate and kills Xiang Yingjie, ending the Xiang Family’s ability to dominate Dongjiang Prefecture. Xu Zhao declares the Gouwu Mandate belongs to the Xu Family.
• Xu Xuanchong reveals that the Stockade’s Four Ancestors were his adopted children and had ties to the Xu Family. He kills Gold Ancestor, using her as a sacrifice to strengthen the Sky Crow’s transformation into the Gou Wu Golden Sword.
• At the coast, Jiang Jingnian realizes the battle was far more dangerous than he knew. The goateed old fisherman warns him to beware the Xu Family; Jiang vanishes into mist, apparently heading toward the aftermath.
• Elsewhere, Jiang—now in the form of a huge, frost-covered black beast—ambushes and kills the gravely wounded Hase Hirohiko, then catches and kills Copper Ancestor. A vow counter updates to 2/4 regional factions destroyed or otherwise changed.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Xuanchong emerges as the mastermind behind the Xu Family’s rise. He combines the Sky Crow’s fate-altering power, foreign assistance, and the deaths of others to secure power, showing little regard for former dependents such as Gold Ancestor.
• Xiang Yingjie remains defiant despite his injuries and the fate curse, but his attempt to resist ends in his death when the transformed Solar power draws the Great Sun Origin Mountain.
• Xu Zhao openly breaks from the Xiang regime, presenting the assault as both revenge and a struggle for control of the prefecture.
• Gold Ancestor tries to plead for her life by offering continued service, but Xu Xuanchong kills her and exploits her martial momentum for his own advancement.
• Jiang Jingnian shows caution at the shore, thanks the fisherman for keeping him away from the battle, then responds decisively once warned about the Xu Family. In beast form, he displays overwhelming, brutal force against Hase and Copper.
• Hase Hirohiko and Copper Ancestor flee together, briefly discussing the Xu Family’s connections and their danger. Jiang’s sudden attack ends their flight; Hase is killed first, and Copper dies without learning who attacked him.
• Xiang Hua witnesses Xiang Yingjie’s death and collapses in grief, while the Xu Family’s victory leaves the Xiang forces broken and scattered.

Significant themes

• Power built through sacrifice and manipulation: The Xu Family’s victory depends on rituals, betrayal, foreign bargains, and the deaths of allies and kin.
• Fate, legitimacy, and political authority: The Gouwu Mandate and control of a prefecture’s momentum are treated as forces that can determine who rules—and who is condemned.
• The cost of ambition: Xiang Yingjie’s push toward greater power becomes a death sentence, while Xu Xuanchong’s rise demands sacrifices from those under his care.
• Violence as spectacle: The chapter contrasts strategic, supernatural conflict with Jiang’s immediate physical brutality, underscoring the title’s emphasis on the aesthetics of violence.

Plot points and events

• After destroying the Copper Ancestor’s stronghold, Jiang Jingnian notices that the Stockade’s killing intent is gathering around a huge, scaled egg containing a golden sword projection. He concludes that the Stockade’s Four Ancestors have not all died and suspects the egg is connected to the Xu Family.
• Jiang collects the wreckage’s treasures, including Water and Metal Virtue energies and a more complete essence of the Shuten Magatama One-Sword Style.
• Meanwhile, the wounded Silver and Iron Ancestors flee by river, debating the Xu Family’s role in Xiang Yingjie’s downfall and planning to escape south. Their boat encounters Xu Mingyuan, Xu Yuanhong, and Zhu Yulin of the Lin Mingxin Sect, who openly discuss using the Xu Family’s new influence to pressure rivals, including the Liu Family and Mountain Cloud School.
• The Iron Ancestor attacks the ship, but Xu Xuanchong arrives and overwhelms the Ancestors’ assault with the damaged Gou Wu Treasure Sword. He defeats both, then kills the Iron Ancestor. As he moves to finish the Silver Ancestor, Jiang intervenes—but Xu Xuanchong’s counterstrike kills her.
• Jiang confronts Xu Xuanchong. The Xu Family and Lin Mingxin Sect members mock Jiang as an untested, overhyped prodigy. Jiang laughs, receives an update that his great vow is now 3/4 complete, and announces that calamity is about to befall Xu Xuanchong.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Jingnian remains cautious when investigating the Stockade’s ruins, but becomes boldly confrontational when facing Xu Xuanchong. His intervention comes too late to save the Silver Ancestor.
• The Silver and Iron Ancestors, despite serious injuries, choose to fight rather than surrender. Their final stand exposes lingering resentment toward their foster father, Xu Xuanchong, and regret that they allowed him to divide them.
• Xu Xuanchong displays formidable power and a calm, fatalistic outlook. He offers to spare the Ancestors’ families if they surrender, but kills them when they refuse. His apparent regret over the Silver Ancestor contrasts with his ruthless ambition to gather momentum and dominate the Two-East Region.
• Xu Mingyuan and Zhu Yulin treat the Xu Family’s victory as a chance to manipulate other factions. Their confidence turns into scorn when Jiang appears, while the upper-sect elders recognize that the Xu Family is displaying its strength to secure future cooperation.

Significant themes

• Power and political opportunism: Factions exploit the Xiang Family’s fall to strengthen their own positions and target rivals.
• Fate, ambition, and betrayal: Xu Xuanchong invokes Heaven’s mandate, while the Ancestors’ history shows how division and misplaced trust helped bring about their defeat.
• Arrogance before calamity: The Xu Family and its allies dismiss Jiang as powerless, setting up the chapter’s final reversal.
• Inheritance and accumulation of power: Xu Xuanchong draws in the defeated Grandmaster’s momentum, while Jiang gathers spiritual remnants from the Stockade.

Plot and key events

• Jiang Jingnian warns Xu Xuanchong’s group that death is at their doorstep, but the Xu Family and Lin Mingxin Sect mock him, dismissing his threat as empty bravado.
• Jiang uses his Life-Shortening Age-Stealing trait to immobilize Xu Xuanchong, whose remaining lifespan has fallen within its execution threshold, then kills the Third-Heaven Grandmaster with a single punch.
• He attacks the merchant ship and rapidly slaughters its Xu Family and Lin Mingxin Sect passengers. Among the dead are Xu Mingyuan, Elder Chen, the mocking young disciples, and other elders. Zhu Yulin escapes using a safeguard, but Jiang tracks him down. Zhu begs forgiveness and offers Dao Armaments; Jiang kills him, declaring that he hates apologies made after the fact.
• In the void, Jiang purifies much of the Metal Virtue Killing Intent left by the destroyed golden egg, absorbing some as Sword Qi and converting the remainder into nearly twenty strands of Astral Baleful Intent. He also gains three manifestations of Metal Virtue Divine Ability True Intent and collects spoils, including the Xiang Family’s broken Gou Wu Treasure Sword.
• Qian Youcai arrives and learns that Xu Xuanchong is dead. Jiang proposes that the Qian and Liu Families divide up the Xu Family’s holdings, ending the era of a single “foremost family” in Peace City.
• Meanwhile, Xu Family head Xu Zhao and three elders confidently plan to dominate Dongjiang Prefecture. Their ambitions are interrupted when the mortally wounded Xu Ling arrives with news that the Qian Household attacked the Xu residence. He dies before explaining more, leaving the Xu leaders stunned.

Character developments and interactions

• Jiang Jingnian reveals the terrifying extent of his power, shifting from a mocked “Peerless Prodigy” to an executioner capable of killing a Grandmaster and wiping out a ship’s worth of powerful opponents. His disdain for arrogance—and especially belated apologies—is absolute. He also acts decisively in shaping Peace City’s political future.
• Zhu Yulin changes from smug mockery to desperate submission, then dies when his apology fails to move Jiang.
• Qian Youcai is shaken by Jiang’s revelations and initially doubts that his merchant family is suited to rule. Jiang pushes him toward a new political order built with the Liu Family.
• Xu Zhao and the Xu elders move from triumph and sweeping plans for conquest to disbelief and alarm when the Qian Household strikes at their home.

Significant themes

• Power and arrogance: The Xu and Lin Mingxin factions mistake Jiang’s restraint and youth for weakness; their confidence collapses almost instantly.
• Consequences and hollow apologies: Jiang refuses to accept Zhu’s repentance once the danger becomes personal and irreversible.
• Shifting political fortunes: The Xu Family assumes its rise is inevitable, but Jiang’s intervention and the Qian Household’s attack abruptly destabilize the balance of power.
• Ambition and its risks: The Xu Family’s grand designs depend on Xu Xuanchong’s anticipated ascension, making their confidence vulnerable to events they failed to foresee.

Concise Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Jiang Jingnian recovers after fighting Xu Xuanchong. He expels the lingering Sword Qi and reflects that, despite his strength, he is still far weaker than a third-heaven Grandmaster in a direct clash.
• He claims the broken Gou Wu divine sword. The weapon is cursed and cannot be used safely as it is, but contains half of a peerless metal-essence martial art that Jiang can eventually refine into his cultivation art. The sword’s extraordinary history also raises questions about the world’s past.
• The Qian Household attacks the Xu Family estate. With the Xu Family’s Grandmasters absent, Qian forces break through its defenses. The Xu kinsmen realize that their allies, Severing Blade Dock and Famous Beauty Pavilion, are not coming to help.
• The Liu Family hesitates over joining the conflict. Patriarch Liu Zhenshan receives a letter from Qian Youcai claiming that the Xu and Xiang Families have suffered heavy losses and urging cooperation against them. Unsure whether the information is reliable, Liu sends a discreet observer to assess the situation.
• Severing Blade Dock refuses to commit its Grandmasters. Deputy Master Li Yuhai sees through the Xu envoy’s evasive account and sends only the Cloud Blade Lineage, reserving a larger response until the situation is clearer.
• The Xu estate falls. Qian Duoyin breaks its protective barrier, and the Qian forces overwhelm the defenders. Qian Kai recognizes that the Qian Household has now committed itself to destroying the Xu Family.
• Xu Zhao remains confident at the Stockade. Believing Xu Xuanchong has killed Xiang Yingjie and taken control of Gou Wu’s power, he assumes the Xu Family can recover even if its estate has been lost.
• Jiang ambushes Xu forces in the ruins. A black-flame flying sword slaughters most of a detachment sent toward Little Qian Island. Jiang then confronts Xu Zhao and attacks through his protective armor, declaring that Xu Zhao’s treasure belongs to him.

Character developments

• Jiang Jingnian recognizes the limits of his current strength but grows more ambitious after acquiring a path toward a complete peerless martial art. He remains ruthless and opportunistic, targeting both Xu troops and valuable equipment.
• Liu Zhenshan weighs vengeance and opportunity against the risk of destroying his family. His uncertainty about Jiang—and his daughter Qingzhi’s judgment—continues to trouble him.
• Li Yuhai proves cautious and politically astute, refusing to let the Xu Family’s incomplete explanation draw Severing Blade Dock into a potentially disastrous fight.
• Qian Kai begins as a cautious leader but is persuaded by Qian Wanli and Qian Duoyin to seize the opportunity. The fall of the Xu estate leaves him aware that retreat is no longer possible.
• Xu Zhao remains overconfident in Xu Xuanchong’s strength and in the Xu Family’s prospects, even as the family’s estate has fallen and Jiang launches a surprise attack.

Significant themes

• Opportunity versus risk: The Qian and Liu Families must decide whether to exploit the Xu Family’s weakness or avoid a potentially fatal miscalculation.
• The cost of commitment: Once the Qian Household attacks, it must pursue the Xu Family’s destruction or face retaliation.
• Misjudgment and incomplete knowledge: Several factions act on uncertain reports, while Xu Zhao’s confidence rests on assumptions about Xu Xuanchong.
• Power and ambition: Jiang’s new weapon and martial-art prospect sharpen his pursuit of strength, while his enemies’ treasures and territories are treated as spoils.

Character interactions

• Liu Zhenshan and Qian Youcai: Qian’s letter urges Liu to join the anti-Xu opportunity, but Liu chooses to verify the situation first.
• Li Yuhai and the Xu envoy: Li challenges the envoy’s evasive explanation and limits his aid, prioritizing the dock’s safety.
• Qian Kai and Qian Wanli: Wanli pushes his cautious elder brother to embrace the chance to elevate the Qian Household; Kai eventually agrees.
• Xu Zhao and his aides: Xu Zhao dismisses their concerns and reassures them that Xu Xuanchong is powerful enough to reverse the family’s losses.
• Jiang Jingnian and Xu Zhao: The chapter ends with Jiang attacking Xu Zhao and openly coveting his Thorn Armor, setting up their confrontation.

Chapter Summary: “Martial Arts Perfected, the Last One”

Key plot points and events

• Jiang Jingnian confronts Xu Zhao, patriarch of the Xu Family, amid the Stockade’s ruins. Despite being only a Half-Step Grandmaster, Jiang overwhelms Xu with powerful body-tempering, relentless attacks, poison, and the martial soul Samadhi True Fire.
• Xu Zhao’s Grandmaster momentum, Metal-Suppressing Mountain, is steadily shattered. His decisive Annihilating Gold Blade is countered by Jiang’s Metal Virtue Sword Qi.
• Xu Zhao escapes using the Thorn Armor and Metal Virtue Escape Method, but Qian Youcai traps him with Falling Gold Coins, which partially turns Xu’s leg to gold.
• Jiang arrives and reveals that the Qian Household is acting for the Mountain Cloud School, not the Xiang Family or another outside faction. He explains that the conflict is a struggle for power: strong factions survive while weak ones are overtaken.
• Jiang exploits Xu Zhao’s shock when Qian reveals that Xu Xuanchong is dead and the Gou Wu Treasure Sword has been lost. He transforms into a huge, black, moonflame-covered beast and brutally kills Xu Zhao.
• Jiang predicts that the Xu Family’s failed rise—and its role in killing Xiang Yingjie—will bring a backlash of “karma,” making the family’s eventual destruction likely.
• In White Mountain County, Zeng Qiuqing tells her brother, Zeng Shukong, that Dongjiang Prefecture is collapsing into factional warfare. The Xu Family has been routed, the Qian and Liu Families are pursuing its survivors, and vast numbers of refugees are fleeing.
• Zeng Shukong decides to seize control of the Mountain Cloud School and urges Zeng Qiuqing to join him there. He dismisses reports of Jiang Jingnian’s strength as exaggerated rumors.
• Back in Peace City, Jiang finally completes the fifth chapter of his martial art, the Five-Chapter True Scripture of the Sky-Gold Yin Ultimate Mystic Record. A vision reveals a divine golden sword being forged and then partly devoured by an abyssal maw.
• Jiang senses that his power has changed dramatically, though he still has not advanced to Grandmaster. Qian Youcai arrives and reports that the Xu Family’s last elder has been located.

Character developments

• Jiang Jingnian proves himself a terrifying combatant capable of defeating a Grandmaster through superior technique, physical durability, strategy, and timing. He is pragmatic and unsentimental, using Xu Zhao’s shock to finish him rather than allowing a fair recovery.
• Completing his peerless martial art marks a major advancement in Jiang’s development, though his decision to delay his Grandmaster breakthrough remains unexplained.
• Xu Zhao moves from confidence to fear and disbelief as his momentum and defenses fail. News of Xu Xuanchong’s death breaks his concentration, allowing Jiang to kill him.
• Qian Youcai commits the Qian Household to Jiang and the Mountain Cloud School. He is impressed by Jiang’s philosophy and power, but also wary of how dangerous the young Dao Lord is.
• Zeng Shukong sees the regional chaos as an opportunity to reclaim the Mountain Cloud School. His confidence leads him to underestimate Jiang, whom he regards as the only Dao Lord currently showing himself.
• Zeng Qiuqing provides a clear-eyed account of the political upheaval but remains cautious about her brother’s plan.

Significant themes

• The struggle for power: Jiang frames political and martial conflict as a natural contest in which the strong endure and the weak perish.
• Ambition and miscalculation: The Xu Family’s bid to dominate Dongjiang Prefecture collapses just as its fortunes seem to peak.
• Deception and strategy: Factions conceal their intentions, manipulate timing, and exploit opponents’ assumptions; Jiang’s victory depends as much on tactics as force.
• Power beyond rank: Jiang’s defeat of a Grandmaster challenges the assumed limits between martial realms.
• Instability and opportunity: The collapse of established powers creates both danger for ordinary people and openings for ambitious leaders.

Character interactions

• Jiang and Xu Zhao’s duel is both physical and ideological: Xu is baffled by Jiang’s strength, while Jiang treats the fight as part of the larger contest for influence.
• Qian Youcai first restrains Xu Zhao, then helps expose the Xu Family’s losses; his cooperation with Jiang reflects a calculated alliance rather than simple loyalty to the Xiang Family.
• Zeng Qiuqing informs Zeng Shukong of the crisis, while Xu Baijing—briefly hopeful that the Xu Family will rise—learns that its defeat has already begun.
• Qian Youcai’s final meeting with Jiang underscores their unequal positions: he is startled by Jiang’s newly intensified presence and reports that the last Xu elder is still being pursued.

Chapter Summary: “The Assault Arrived”

Key plot points and events

• With the Xu Family crushed by the Qian and Liu Families, only clan elder Xu Lin and a few survivors escape. They take refuge with the Lu Family of Eastwater Prefecture.
• Jiang Jingnian learns their location and decides to pursue them anyway. Though the Xu Family is unlikely to regain its former power, he wants to eliminate every remaining threat as he nears completion of his Great Vow. He orders Qian Youcai to set an ambush near Mount Pinglin, saying he will join the fight at the crucial moment.
• Before leaving, Jiang strengthens his [Turbid Extreme Swordflame], giving it greater range and capacity. He also questions Xue Xiuxiu about the battered Demon Sects, then gives her two divine-ability beads as compensation for taking her Lotus Candlestick.
• At Xinshan County, the Lu Family welcomes Xu Lin and plans to use the turmoil in Dongjiang Prefecture to expand its influence. Lu Ming, however, understands that the family’s true aim is to claim the Two-East Governor-General’s position—not recklessly destroy every rival clan.
• The county magistrate’s residence is suddenly engulfed in corrosive golden mist. Lu Ming stays behind to confront the attackers while Xu Lin, Lu Zhishan, and Lu An head for Mount Xin Pass.
• Qian Youcai and Liu Yuanzhou ambush the group on the road. Xu Lin battles both Grandmasters while Lu Zhishan and Lu An escape using a talisman. Lu Family troops arrive with firearms and artillery, surrounding the attackers and relieving pressure on Xu Lin.
• Meanwhile, Lu Ming follows a false trail to a lake, realizing the diversion has drawn him away from the real battle. He encounters Jiang Jingnian, who kills him instantly with [Life-Shortening Age-Stealing (Fleeting Splendor)], exploiting the old Grandmaster’s extreme age.

Character developments

• Jiang Jingnian becomes more openly relentless, choosing to pursue the Xu remnants despite the strategic costs. His upgraded swordflame and instant-kill trait underscore his growing battlefield power.
• Xu Lin is reduced from a powerful clan elder to a wounded fugitive, but remains determined to avenge the Xu Family. He fights fiercely despite being outnumbered.
• Qian Youcai follows Jiang’s orders and leads the pursuit, while Liu Yuanzhou supports him in the ambush.
• Lu Ming is shown as experienced and proud of his Water Virtue skills, but his confidence proves fatal when Jiang exploits his age.
• Lu Zhishan and Lu An prioritize survival and successfully escape the ambush to summon reinforcements.
• Xue Xiuxiu remains deferential to Jiang and accepts his gifts, while reporting that the Demon Sects have suffered heavy losses.

Character interactions

• Qian Youcai warns Jiang that pursuing Xu Lin could provoke the Lu Family, but accepts Jiang’s decision.
• Jiang questions Xue Xiuxiu about the Demon Sects and gives her two beads to compensate for the Lotus Candlestick.
• The Lu Family offers Xu Lin protection and discusses plans for military expansion, though Xu Lin cares chiefly about revenge against the Qian and Liu Families.
• Lu Ming separates from the others to confront the apparent attackers, while Xu Lin and the Lu relatives flee toward Mount Xin Pass.
• Xu Lin clashes with Qian Youcai and Liu Yuanzhou until Lu Family forces arrive; elsewhere, Jiang ambushes and kills Lu Ming.

Significant themes

• Power shifts and political opportunism: The collapse of the Xiang and Xu Families creates openings for the Lu Family, but its leaders understand that conquest requires patience and legitimacy.
• The fragility of status: Once-mighty clans and Grandmasters can be brought low by changing circumstances, warfare, and age.
• Revenge versus survival: Xu Lin dreams of vengeance, while the Lu Family treats the conflict as part of a broader strategic expansion.
• Overconfidence and misdirection: Lu Ming’s confidence in his expertise—and his mistaken pursuit of a decoy—leaves him vulnerable to Jiang’s lethal ability.

Jiang Jingnian arrived at the besieged valley, killed Xu Lin, and broke through to the Grandmaster Path, then annihilated the Lu Family forces before escaping. He recovered at an inn and discovered that his peerless martial art was steadily eroding his humanity while tying his fate to three powerful sources.

• Jiang Jingnian watched the battle from hiding as the Lu Family Army trapped Qian Youcai, Liu Yuanzhou, and their fighters with its Water Dragon Chant.
• More Lu Family reinforcements arrived, intensifying the siege, and Qian Youcai and Liu Yuanzhou prepared to break out before they were overwhelmed.
• Jiang Jingnian appeared, relentlessly battered Xu Lin, and fulfilled his vow to destroy four Regional Domain-level Factions, advancing to Grandmaster as Xu Lin fell.
• Jiang Jingnian reached the First Heaven's limit, unleashed Frost Palace Gold, killed Lu Zhishan and Lu An, and transformed into a six-armed beast that destroyed the Lu Army's momentum and slaughtered its forces.
• Lu Zhen arrived with the Lu Family's main force and found the valley devastated but devoid of bodies; Jiang Jingnian had escaped to an inn outside Dongjiang Prefecture.
• Jiang Jingnian examined his cultivation method's status and learned that its sources were isolated for now, but the art was eroding his humanity and could make him the contested vessel of three supernatural powers.

After becoming a Grandmaster, Jiang Jingnian discovered that his peerless martial arts had greatly extended his lifespan but required him to devour a world to perfect his spirit. Meanwhile, Zeng Shukong allied with the Lu Family and attacked Cloudpool Cliff, where he killed Cao Yilin and demanded that Song Susu choose between accepting his claim to the sect master's seat or opposing him.

• Jiang Jingnian examined his Archetype field and found that he needed to devour a world to complete his spirituality.
• Zeng Shukong agreed to ally with the Lu Family, promising to kill people at the Mountain Cloud School while the Lu Family pursued its expansion.
• After emerging from seclusion, Song Susu learned that Jiang Jingnian had rapidly strengthened the Mountain Cloud School and taken charge of its affairs.
• Zeng Shukong infiltrated Cloudpool Cliff, found Cao Yilin recovering from his injuries, and attacked him in the Radiant Wind Dao Palace.
• Zeng Shukong's demonic worm destroyed the Radiant Wind Dao Palace and devoured Cao Yilin as Song Susu arrived.
• Zeng Shukong told Song Susu he intended to take the sect master's seat and establish new rules, then asked whether she would oppose him.

On his return to Peace City, Jiang Jingnian rejected Qian Youcai’s proposal that he seize control of Eastwater Prefecture, choosing to focus on cultivating his martial arts. At Cloudpool Cliff, he found the Mountain Cloud School under Zeng Shukong’s control and answered the old Dao Lord’s threat by arriving in person.

• Jiang Jingnian reviewed his improved traits and Grandmaster abilities as he and Qian Youcai discussed the Lu Family’s advance and the prospect of ruling Eastwater Prefecture.
• Jiang Jingnian told Qian Youcai he had practiced martial arts for less than a year and refused to build a realm like the great families’ dominions, saying he would prioritize becoming stronger.
• Lin Lou'er met Jiang Jingnian near Qingtian County and reported that an old devil had attacked Cloudpool Cliff, killing people and driving survivors to flee.
• Jiang Jingnian sensed demonic corruption in the Mysterious Mountain Momentum, suppressed his fading humanity, and killed the Outer Disciples who had pursued Lin Lou'er.
• At Cloudpool Cliff, Zeng Shukong forced the Mountain Cloud School to appoint him acting sect master, punished those who objected, and planned to capture Jiang Jingnian.
• Jiang Jingnian’s voice echoed up the mountain as he announced that he had come in person.

Jiang Jingnian returned to Cloudpool Cliff, revealed himself as a Grandmaster, and fought Zeng Shukong after killing Dong Heng and crushing Zeng Zhihong and Xu Baijing. Jiang Jingnian slew Zeng Shukong, and Song Susu declared the Zeng Family’s old fiend dead as the Mountain Cloud School celebrated its survival.

• Jiang Jingnian purified the wounded, learned that Zeng Shukong had seized the sect master’s seat, and killed Dong Heng despite Zeng Shukong’s attempt to stop him.
• Zeng Shukong recognized Jiang Jingnian as a Grandmaster, and Jiang Jingnian attacked him, crushing Zeng Zhihong and Xu Baijing before battling Zeng Shukong in his worm form.
• Song Susu entered the fight to help Jiang Jingnian, but his black flames forced her back as he overwhelmed Zeng Shukong with a relentless assault.
• Zeng Shukong unleashed his [Yin Demon Mountain] and Blood Moon killing move, but Jiang Jingnian survived and devoured the move’s demonic true intent.
• Jiang Jingnian used Greater Yin Form-Shifting to transfer calamity onto Zeng Shukong, then attacked him with the Moonlight Humanoid and killed him.
• Jiang Jingnian and Song Susu returned to the mountain’s foot, where Song Susu announced Zeng Shukong’s death and the disciples celebrated.

After Zeng Shukong’s attack devastated Cloudpool Cliff and Qingtian County, Jiang Jingnian purged sect members who had defected and punished Song Susu before treating her injuries. The Zeng Family celebrated its supposed victory, unaware that Jiang Jingnian had arrived at their banquet to kill them.

• Jiang Jingnian mourned Dao Lord Cao Yilin, reviewed the casualties, and agreed to summon those who had fled while arranging compensation and repairs.
• Jiang Jingnian stripped Song Susu of her Dao Lord position for six months and killed elders and other sect members who had defected to Old Devil Zeng.
• Song Susu accepted her punishment, and Jiang Jingnian later treated her lunar-phase injuries in the Wood-Nurturing Dao Palace.
• At the Zeng Family banquet, Zeng Qiuqing and her guests celebrated their belief that Old Devil Zeng had taken control of the Mountain Cloud School and that Jiang Jingnian was dead.
• As the Zeng Family banquet continued, a phantom Moon Palace crashed down, and Jiang Jingnian announced that everyone present should die.

Jiang Jingnian used his Greater Yin Divine Ability to transfer calamity onto the Zeng Family, killing its direct-line juniors and two elders before leading the Mountain Cloud School in an assault that destroyed the clan. After the battle, he gave the Qian Household ten percent of the spoils; meanwhile, Qian Ningning and Duan Xiaodie waited anxiously in Peace City for news of him.

• A phantom Moon Palace attacked the Zeng Family estate, and Zeng Qiuqing joined forces with Zeng Sheng and Zeng Huan to form the fused momentum [Jade-Blazing Prairie].
• Jiang Jingnian's concealed calamity transfer killed Zeng Feng, Zeng Mingyu, and other Zeng Family juniors, while his Moonlight Humanoid ambushed Zeng Qiuqing and fought the four Zeng Family Grandmasters.
• Jiang Jingnian used [Life-Shortening Age-Stealing (Fleeting Splendor)] to incapacitate Zeng Sheng and Zeng Huan, then destroyed [Jade-Blazing Prairie] and opened the estate to the Mountain Cloud School's fighters.
• The Mountain Cloud School defeated the Zeng Family, and Jiang Jingnian awarded the Qian Household ten percent of the Zeng Family's businesses after Qian Youcai pressed him for a larger share.
• Qian Ningning and Duan Xiaodie waited at the Qian Household in Peace City, where Qian Xinyu taunted Qian Ningning for still trusting that Jiang Jingnian would resolve the school's crisis.

Jiang Jingnian secured the Qian Household’s alliance by revealing his Grandmaster status and winning their deference, while the Southern Martial Gathering continued in Lin'an. Hong Yufang defeated Zhuge Xin, but an elder arrived with urgent news of disaster at Cloudpool Cliff.

• Jiang Jingnian told Song Susu to recover so she could guard the Mountain Cloud School against the Lu Family and other potential enemies, then urged Song Qianqian to prepare for advancement and promised opportunities for young martial artists.
• At the Qian Household banquet, Qian Youcai elevated Qian Ningning’s status and declared the household allied with Jiang Jingnian and the Mountain Cloud School; he crippled Qian Xinyu and assigned Qian Ling'er to serve Jiang Jingnian.
• Qian Youcai and Qian Duoyin explained that Jiang Jingnian could wield the Gou Wu Treasure Sword without backlash, leading Qian Kai to accept that Jiang Jingnian had a noble bloodline.
• At the Southern Martial Gathering, Hong Yufang used her spear technique to defeat Zhuge Xin, while spectators debated Jiang Jingnian’s reputation as a prodigy.
• An elder of Burning Cloud rushed to Liu Qingzhi and reported that disaster had struck at Cloudpool Cliff and that an elder had come to Lin'an seeking help.

Jiang Jingnian recovered and strengthened his Grandmaster abilities with a medicinal bath, then learned possible ways to obtain Dragon Vein Fragments after his simplification required them. At the Southern Martial Gathering, Cui Lin defeated Hong Yufang and challenged Liu Qingzhi, only for Liu Qingzhi to suggest the draw had been rigged.

• Jiang Jingnian told Liu Qingzhi that the crisis at Cloudpool Cliff had ended and invited the scattered sect members to return.
• Jiang Jingnian used Song Susu's medicinal pool to recover from his battles and strengthen his [Frost Palace Gold] momentum and Essence Flower.
• Jiang Jingnian consumed his collected trait-bearing items, and his archetype required Dragon Vein Fragments to complete his spirituality and gather the flower of qi.
• Jiang Jingnian asked Song Susu how to obtain Dragon Vein Fragments, and she described gaining them through a Celestial Person Martial Saint's authority, a bargain with a hegemonic power, or intact ancient kingdom ruins.
• Cui Lin defeated Hong Yufang at Venue C and declared Liu Qingzhi her next opponent.
• Liu Qingzhi questioned how Cui Lin knew they would face each other and suggested the Lin Mingxin Sect had rigged the draw, provoking Cui Lin to angrily deny it.

Jiang Jingnian strengthened his traits, assessed the growing threat of the Joyous Blood Moon’s Four Holy Spirits, and prepared to travel to Lin'an for a Dragon Vein Fragment. There, Liu Qingzhi defeated Pei Min amid signs that the Lin Mingxin Sect was targeting the Mountain Cloud School, while Lin Ruohe and Cui Lin discussed Jiang Jingnian’s reputation and absence.

• Jiang Jingnian inspected the Joyous Blood Moon’s Four Holy Spirits, recognized Ren Wuqing as the most immediate threat, and upgraded his Water-Shadow Illusion Garment and Gold-Washed Sharp Armor traits.
• Jiang Jingnian decided to go to Lin'an to pursue a Dragon Vein Fragment and warned Song Susu to abandon Cloudpool Cliff if the Mountain Cloud School faced an overwhelming attack.
• Liu Qingzhi defeated Pei Min with her Merciless Water and Fire sword intent, but a Lin Mingxin Sect overseer stopped her from killing him.
• Liu Qingzhi realized the Lin Mingxin Sect was deliberately targeting the Mountain Cloud School as she left the arena after winning her second match.
• Lin Ruohe watched Liu Qingzhi’s great momentum, and Cui Lin told her that Liu Qingzhi had broken with her family over Jiang Jingnian and that Jiang was supposedly too afraid to attend the gathering.