Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• Chen Fan interrogates Yu Ning’er about her infiltration of the North River Chen Family. She reveals that Nameless Mountain contains a Heaven-Imprisoning Formation and valuable treasures, including a century-ripening Snow Lotus, a Mountain Embryo, and possibly earth gold at the bottom of a sinkhole.
• Recognizing Yu Ning’er’s attempt to spread the secret and manipulate events, Chen Fan kills her. He then executes Chen Quan and the family members who had abused him or posed a threat, while ordering Crippled Monkey to take revenge on his own former tormentors.
• Chen Fan spares several elders who had not mistreated him; they disclose a hidden cache of eerie stones and treasures. He sends Zhou Mo to seize the Chen Family’s holdings and collect the cache.
• A captive named Shao Qiu reveals he is not a member of the Slaying Immortal Holy Land but its prisoner. His soul is bound to a Soul Token, and he offers expertise in stealth, assassination, intelligence, and knowledge of other regions. Chen Fan accepts him into the Mortal Domain. He orders the execution of a genuine Holy Land agent responsible for directing a wraith tide toward Nameless Mountain.
• As Chen Fan’s party leaves Northbank City, grateful residents crowd the streets with gifts. They believe he saved them by stopping the Chen Family’s sacrificial array, and hail him as a righteous hero. Chen Fan jokes that he would rather have food than eerie stones and accepts their provisions.
• At the city gates, Jiangbei Old Devil asks Gongyang Yiyue whether he heard what happened at Nameless Mountain. He did not, and says he will report matters to his clan after the rainy season, though he expects its leader not to provoke the Mortal Domain.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan acts decisively and ruthlessly, eliminating threats and potential leverage against his family, but shows selective mercy toward elders who did not harm him. His interest in Shao Qiu’s skills reveals a strategic focus on building the Mortal Domain’s intelligence capabilities.
• Yu Ning’er tries to bargain and engineer an escape by exposing Nameless Mountain’s secrets, but Chen Fan sees through her scheme and kills her.
• Crippled Monkey gets the chance to confront and kill a former bully, while Chen Fan explicitly authorizes him to settle old scores.
• Shao Qiu shifts from pleading for his life to offering valuable service and intelligence; Chen Fan welcomes him after verifying his Soul Token.
• The commoners respond to Chen Fan with gratitude and generosity, while the elders’ discussion shows that nearby factions are weighing the risks of opposing the Mortal Domain.

Significant themes

• Power and retribution: Chen Fan’s victory lets him exact revenge and remove future threats, but his selective restraint distinguishes vengeance from indiscriminate killing.
• Pragmatic loyalty and faction-building: He values useful expertise and resources, recruiting Shao Qiu and reclaiming hidden wealth to strengthen the Mortal Domain.
• Reputation and public perception: The people view Chen Fan as a savior, despite the severity of his actions against the Chen Family.
• Secrecy and political risk: Nameless Mountain’s treasures and the Slaying Immortal Holy Land’s involvement hint at larger conflicts, while rival factions carefully consider whether to spread sensitive information.

Key plot points and events

• Nameless Mountain is crowded with newly arrived survivors. Chen Fan upgrades the Life Workshop to Level 7, unlocking the ability to make Cloud Cloth robes with protection equivalent to a Level-1 City Wall.
• Chen Fan brings Shao Qiu into Cave No. 1. Shao is stunned by the Spirit-Nurturing Pavilion, which accelerates cultivation and Martial Technique comprehension tenfold. He explains that even the powerful Slaying Immortal Holy Land has one but has been unable to upgrade it.
• Chen Fan offers Shao a role in building a Mortal Domain assassin and intelligence network. Shao reveals he once founded Godslayer Hall and attempted to assassinate the Holy Land’s Third Elder at seventeen. Captured, he spent seven years as a prisoner, with a fragment of his soul held to suppress his cultivation.
• Shao describes his rare Living Dead abilities, including stealth techniques that can evade structures and formations, though they consume Lifespan. He admits he is now weaker after losing his soul fragment, but once reached Level 7 and had assassinated a Level-11 Martial King.
• Chen Fan returns Shao’s Soul Token and appoints him to establish the Shadow Pavilion. Shao is to recruit ten members when the Wild Wolf Gang arrives and produce results before the Mortal Domain’s auction in a month.
• Moved by Chen Fan’s trust, Shao chooses not to attack him, crushes the Soul Token, and regains his soul fragment. His cultivation surges to the peak of Level 9, just short of Martial King.
• Afterward, Chen Fan reflects on the Living Dead’s unusual innate powers and realizes Shao’s timeline seems nearly impossible: he awakened at sixteen, founded an organization at seventeen, and apparently reached Level 7 in a year.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan demonstrates strategic ambition by turning the Spirit-Nurturing Pavilion into a tool for building the Mortal Domain’s capabilities. His willingness to give Shao back the means of controlling him shows confidence and trust—qualities that deeply affect Shao.
• Shao Qiu shifts from a wary, captive outsider to a committed ally. His dream of creating a renowned assassin organization is revived, and he chooses that purpose over immediate escape or revenge. His restored soul also releases the cultivation he had lost.
• Their exchange establishes a foundation of mutual respect: Chen Fan offers Shao freedom and resources, while Shao pledges his skills and loyalty to the Mortal Domain. Chen Fan also directs him to Crippled Monkey for an introduction to the community.

Significant themes

• Trust versus coercion: Chen Fan relinquishes control over Shao, and genuine trust proves more compelling than the threat of death.
• Ambition and second chances: Shao’s long-suppressed dream becomes attainable again through the Mortal Domain’s resources.
• Talent, fate, and power: The chapter emphasizes that rare abilities such as being a Living Dead are innate, while also raising questions about how Shao achieved such rapid advancement.
• Building power through specialization: Rather than relying only on force, Chen Fan develops the Mortal Domain by assigning Shao a focused role in assassination, stealth, and intelligence.

Key plot points and events

• With Northbank City’s major powers destroyed or absorbed, the neutral North River Market unexpectedly becomes the city’s strongest faction. Its Market Master is stunned by the sudden rise.
• Chen Fan begins organizing the Mortal Domain after the Rainy Season, assigning departments, leaders, and staff. He plans to build out the Camp, open trade routes, and prepare for an Auction in a month.
• The Mortal Domain establishes several pavilions:
  • Logistics Pavilion: Little Qiu, overseeing workshops and supplies.
  • Hundred Grains Pavilion: Qi Chong, with A Le as deputy, handling farming, animal husbandry, and medicinal plants.
  • Heavenly Storehouse Pavilion: Wang Kui, responsible for safeguarding the Domain’s resources.
  • Commerce Pavilion: Wang Mazi, tasked with caravans, trade connections, and the Auction.
  • War Pavilion: Zhou Mo, with Big Fish as deputy, responsible for defense and external operations.
  • Punishment Pavilion: Crippled Monkey, overseeing rules and discipline.
  • Shadow Pavilion: Shao Qiu, responsible for intelligence and assassinations.
• Little Qiu takes the Nine-Five Dragon Chariot to bring the Wild Wolf Gang and recruit workers. Their younger members prove more suitable for Shao Qiu’s Shadow Pavilion than the older candidates.
• Chen Fan, exhausted after the Rainy Season, leaves the new organization in others’ hands and finally gets some much-needed sleep.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan demonstrates strategic leadership by formalizing the Mortal Domain’s structure and matching people to roles. He rewards loyalty and ability, while trusting Crippled Monkey with oversight of even the other pavilion masters.
• Little Qiu is promoted from workshop worker to Logistics Pavilion Master, recognized for his practical skill, loyalty, and bravery.
• Qi Chong and A Le rise from humble farming and animal-husbandry roles to leadership positions. They are delighted by their new status and enjoy choosing staff.
• Wang Kui takes charge of the Domain’s valuable resources and takes pride in his official scarlet robe and title.
• Shao Qiu is eager to prove himself by building an intelligence and assassination network; he rejects older applicants and spots promising recruits among the Wild Wolf Gang.
• Crippled Monkey is energized by Chen Fan’s trust and begins drafting the Mortal Domain’s rules.
• The newly recruited and absorbed groups await assignments, while Weiwei joins the lively activity outside the Camp.

Significant themes

• Institution-building and growth: The Mortal Domain evolves from a survival camp into an organized power with specialized departments.
• Merit, loyalty, and opportunity: Promotions reflect skill, service, and trust, giving former low-ranking members a path upward.
• Collective advancement: Characters understand that the Domain’s rise will bring their own fortunes and status with it.
• Order and responsibility: New titles bring serious duties, especially safeguarding resources, enforcing rules, and protecting the community.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Fan chooses an open area beside Nameless Mountain for a new city, close to the Canyon and coast. He uses 40,000 Eerie Stones to build its four walls, a terrain card to level the ground, and 2,000 more to add a thousand basic wooden huts. He also reserves space for markets, inns, and other facilities, then places a level-five Eerie Fire at the center. Workers are tasked with completing the infrastructure within a month.
• The new city will serve as the Mortal Domain’s economic center, while the Canyon remains its core area. Chen Fan plans to attract factions to an upcoming auction, then use their trade associations and established routes to distribute his goods.
• He names this commercial strategy “Silk Road.” His example is selling Skeleton Horses to other factions for 1,500 Eerie Stones each—still far below the prevailing South Jiangnan price—while earning 1,400 per horse. He believes large-scale trade could bring enough wealth to strengthen Jiangbei.
• Chen Fan gives a brief welcome speech to hundreds of newly assigned Mortal Domain members, promising the faction will grow and reward diligent service.
• He asks Weiwei to dig for earth gold beneath the Sinkhole, suspecting that the material may have formed from compressed rock. Weiwei quickly breaks through the unusually hard ground and begins excavating.
• Shao Qiu begins training the first seventeen recruits of the Mortal Domain’s new Shadow Pavilion. He introduces the powerful Yellow-Grade Shadow-Killing Seven Apertures Formula, explains its demanding discipline, and says only ten recruits will remain after a month.

Character developments

• Chen Fan shows himself to be both an ambitious builder and a strategic merchant. He thinks beyond local growth, aiming to use other factions’ trade networks to expand the Mortal Domain’s influence and wealth. He also pursues valuable resources pragmatically, ordering the earth-gold excavation.
• Shao Qiu takes on a stern leadership role. He is determined to justify the Shadow Pavilion’s creation and to turn its carefully selected recruits into elite assassins.
• Weiwei responds confidently to Chen Fan’s request, demonstrating unusual strength and usefulness.
• Crippled Monkey tries to comfort Chen Fan by saying they are now all orphans together, but his remark is so tactless that Chen Fan rebukes him.

Character interactions

• Chen Fan gives workers clear instructions for building the city and delegates the new members’ duties to their pavilion masters.
• He and Weiwei communicate through gestures, and Weiwei eagerly follows his request to dig.
• Crippled Monkey speaks to Chen Fan with familiar, almost familial concern; Chen Fan responds dryly to his awkward attempt at consolation.
• Shao Qiu addresses the recruits with strict expectations, explaining their selection, training, and the reasons for their unusual, fully nude practice.

Significant themes

• Infrastructure and expansion: The Mortal Domain is transforming from a faction into a larger political and economic power.
• Trade as influence: Chen Fan’s “Silk Road” plan relies on affordable goods and other factions’ networks to spread his reach while sharing profits.
• Leadership and merit: New recruits and officials are given roles and opportunities, while the Shadow Pavilion imposes a harsh selection process.
• Ambition and resourcefulness: Chen Fan turns even remote land, a possible underground treasure, and logistical advantages into opportunities for growth.

Key plot points and events

• Shao Qiu trains the Shadow Pavilion in the Shadow-Killing Seven Apertures Formula, teaching them to hide killing intent, sharpen their hearing, control their breathing, and avoid exposing themselves. Chen Fan observes approvingly.
• At the Sinkhole, one of the Sky-Swallowing Crocodiles brings up a large cache of earth gold, a rare Green-grade material. Shao Qiu explains it can be made into stealth-enhancing Night Garments and weapons that pierce protective defenses.
• Chen Fan allocates some earth gold for equipment for the Shadow Pavilion, but they lack the level-7 Artifact Refiner needed to work it. Shao Qiu also needs Clearheart Pills to counter the emotional dulling caused by his cultivation technique; making them requires a level-4 Alchemist. Chen Fan recognizes the difficulty of recruiting either specialist.
• Weiwei leads Chen Fan down a deep tunnel to an unowned level-10 Jade House, apparently buried by the mysterious figure known as “That One.” The house is nearly empty, but Chen finds diary slips in a cabinet.
• The slips retain potent sword qi even after roughly 180 years. Touching one cuts Chen’s finger and cracks his Jadeite Staff, underscoring the writer’s extraordinary power. Chen reads the first entry, dated the fifth year of his posting in Jiangbei; it describes boredom and the crocodiles’ apparent lack of intimacy.

Character developments and interactions

• Shao Qiu shows himself to be a devoted, capable instructor with ambitions for the Shadow Pavilion. His emotional reaction to the earth gold reveals its importance to him: a similar piece once nearly cost him his life to retrieve, and he believes such equipment might have helped him survive a past mission.
• Chen Fan supports Shao Qiu’s plans but remains practical, weighing the risks of valuable materials and the shortage of trustworthy specialists. His pride in the Mortal Domain’s progress is tempered by frustration at how difficult faction-building is.
• Weiwei responds to Chen Fan’s mood and guides him to the buried house, revealing a useful connection between the crocodile and the underground discovery.
• Chen’s curiosity about That One grows as the buried house and dangerous diary reveal traces of an immensely powerful, enigmatic former resident.

Significant themes

• Building a faction takes more than ambition: training, rare resources, skilled recruits, and security all matter.
• Power leaves lasting traces: the diary’s residual sword qi demonstrates how far That One’s strength surpasses Chen’s expectations.
• Stealth and survival depend on discipline: Shao Qiu’s lessons stress that even a breath or emotional reaction can expose an Assassin.
• The Mortal Domain’s good fortune comes with challenges: it has discovered valuable resources, but lacks the expertise and infrastructure to use them safely.

Chapter 66 Summary

Key plot points

• Chen Fan reads fragments of an old diary revealing that a powerful guardian—“That One”—once defended a breach along Jiangbei’s coast. After twenty-seven years there, he left an aura that would deter undersea strange tides for 185 years. He has been gone for about 180 years, so the protection will end in four years.
• Chen Fan concludes that a massive undersea tide may then pour through Jiangbei and threaten the region. With nowhere clearly safer to flee, he decides to prepare rather than abandon his base.
• Sealing the roughly 170-kilometer coastline would require a Level-4 wall and supporting defenses, costing an estimated 300 million eerie stones. Chen Fan commits to raising that sum in four years, beginning with the Silk Road trade plan and its upcoming auction. He keeps the threat secret to avoid panic and preserve his trade network.
• Qi Yue arrives to teach the Mortal Domain’s people swordsmanship before leaving in two months to confront someone he expects may kill him. He asks Chen Fan to support the Gongyang Clan in return.
• Chen Fan offers to have the Mortal Domain deal with Qi Yue’s target, but Qi Yue insists that only he can face the person. Chen Fan understands that Qi Yue’s real struggle is with his own past: the person he wants to “kill” is his former, cowardly self.
• Shao Qiu, hidden nearby, boasts of being able to kill Qi Yue’s target. Chen Fan corrects Shao Qiu’s literal interpretation and sends them back to training instead.
• Qi Yue notices Zhou Mo’s unusually rapid cultivation and suspects demonic cultivation. Zhou Mo nearly reveals the Mortal Domain’s Training Room and its generous cultivation resources.

Character developments

• Chen Fan shifts from alarm and thoughts of escape to a determined, strategic commitment to defend Jiangbei. He balances the immense danger against the value of preserving his domain and trade network.
• Qi Yue reveals vulnerability beneath his stern demeanor: he is preparing for a potentially fatal confrontation rooted in shame and self-reckoning. He also shows affection for Gongyang Yue, even while denying romantic feelings.
• Shao Qiu remains eager to prove their killing prowess, treating challenges as opportunities to demonstrate their skill. Their confidence contrasts with Chen Fan’s more perceptive reading of Qi Yue’s motives.
• Zhou Mo is progressing rapidly thanks to the Mortal Domain’s training resources, but is unsure how much he can safely disclose.

Significant themes

• Preparation versus flight: Chen Fan chooses to confront a future catastrophe rather than abandon what he has built.
• Leadership and responsibility: Protecting Jiangbei means planning on a vast scale and keeping dangerous information controlled.
• Self-confrontation: Qi Yue’s intended “killing” is symbolic—he wants to overcome the cowardly person he believes he once was.
• Power, resources, and ambition: The looming 300-million-stone project turns the Silk Road from a business opportunity into a means of regional survival.

Character interactions

• Chen Fan gently probes Qi Yue’s feelings for Gongyang Yue, then respects his independence while offering practical support.
• Qi Yue asks Chen Fan to care for the Gongyang Clan; Chen Fan instead offers the Mortal Domain’s help against Qi Yue’s enemy.
• Chen Fan restrains Shao Qiu’s eagerness to intervene, explaining that Qi Yue’s conflict cannot be solved by simply killing someone else.
• Qi Yue questions Zhou Mo’s rapid progress, while Zhou Mo struggles to hide the Mortal Domain’s training advantages.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Qi Yue teaches Zhou Mo that a weapon reflects its wielder’s emotions: a sword—or saber—can express qualities such as detachment, adaptability, freedom, or obsession. Zhou listens attentively and trains under him over the course of a month.
• With the rainy season ending, Chen Fan prepares the Mortal Domain’s first market and auction. The auction offers goods in three tiers, culminating in the chance to have the Mortal Domain build a Level-3 City Wall at a low price, with matching patterns.
• The major factions arrive for the market’s opening in the newly built Mortal City. Medicine King Valley plans to save its funds for a yellow-grade pill furnace at auction.
• As Valley Master Qi and his son Qi Feng walk through the city, they encounter unusually cheap goods: Eerie Fires, Ground Spikes, Skeleton Horses, Wraith Camels, and carriages. The transport animals in particular promise enormous resale profits in Jiangnan.
• Elder Chen, now serving the Mortal Domain, explains why it is selling to visiting factions instead of taking the goods to market itself: the Mortal Domain lacks established trade routes, wants to avoid antagonizing existing sellers, and hopes to build a shared Silk Road extending as far as the West Pass Plains.
• Valley Master Qi realizes that buying Skeleton Horses could bring Medicine King Valley a huge profit, but would leave it unable to bid for the pill furnace. He struggles with the choice while Elder Chen waits.

Character developments

• Zhou Mo shows patience and eagerness to learn, while Qi Yue takes on the role of a thoughtful instructor.
• Chen Fan demonstrates confidence in his products and a broader commercial strategy: he aims not merely to sell goods, but to make other factions partners in the Mortal Domain’s expanding trade network.
• Valley Master Qi is revealed as a shrewd merchant, but his competing priorities—strengthening his alchemy through the pill furnace or pursuing immediate trading profits—leave him deeply conflicted.
• Elder Chen has embraced his new position in the Mortal Domain. He admires Chen Fan’s ethical, collaborative approach, contrasting it with the burdens of serving his former master.

Significant themes

• Trade as influence: Chen Fan uses attractive prices and shared profits to turn other factions into partners and extensions of the Mortal Domain’s reach.
• Short-term gain versus long-term investment: Valley Master Qi must choose between a potentially transformative furnace and highly lucrative resale opportunities.
• Power expressed through character: Qi Yue’s weapon lesson presents martial skill as an extension of the wielder’s inner nature.
• Ethical leadership: Elder Chen values working for a leader whose ambitions are pursued openly rather than through actions that trouble his conscience.

Character interactions

• Qi Yue patiently explains his martial philosophy to Zhou Mo.
• Chen Fan welcomes Medicine King Valley’s leaders, while Valley Master Qi openly states his intention to focus on the auction.
• Qi Feng urges his father to buy the profitable transport goods; Valley Master Qi questions the vendor before committing.
• Elder Chen answers the Valley Master’s concerns and presents the Mortal Domain’s cooperative trade vision, while quietly enjoying his newfound role.

Plot points and events

• Elder Chen grants Medicine King Valley Level One Trusted Faction status, giving it a credit limit of 100,000 Eerie Stones and upgraded inn rooms. Valley Master Qi uses nearly all of it to reserve 66 Skeleton Horses.
• Other factions quickly follow suit, buying Skeleton Horses and related goods on credit. The Mortal Domain’s staff record purchases and arrange Tokens for newly approved factions, including the One Sword Sect.
• Chen Fan observes the market’s rapid growth and explains his strategy to Crippled Monkey: generous credit and shared profits will build loyalty, expand trade routes, and make the Mortal Domain influential through its allies. If anyone defaults, he will make an example of them with the Nine-Five Dragon Chariot.
• A trader from East River, eager to claim one of the limited Trusted Faction spots, sells his goods to the Mortal Domain so he can buy horses. Chen Fan identifies a valuable Green-Grade Builder Token among the goods, which may become the Auction’s grand finale.

Character developments and interactions

• Valley Master Qi shifts from disbelief to delight as he discovers the privileges of Trusted Faction status, enthusiastically accepting the credit and lodging benefits.
• Chen Fan shows himself to be a strategic, confident businessman. He understands that the cost of producing Skeleton Horses is low, making the credit program manageable, and views short-term profit-sharing as an investment in reputation and influence.
• Crippled Monkey worries that the credit scheme is too generous and risky. Chen Fan reassures him with the larger plan, though the potential consequences of failure remain clear.
• The East River trader acts in haste to secure a Trusted Faction place. His eagerness lets the Mortal Domain purchase his goods for less than Chen Fan had been prepared to offer. The former Chen Family Second Grand Elder reflects with gratitude that he survived earlier conflicts and now has a role in Mortal City’s prosperity.

Significant themes

• Trust as an economic tool: Credit and privileges encourage factions to invest in the Mortal Domain and build loyalty.
• Influence through mutual benefit: Chen Fan aims to create a network of partners who profit alongside him and may defend his interests.
• Risk and ambition: The plan could reshape trade, but depends on factions repaying their debts and on Chen Fan’s confidence in the economics.
• A new era of commerce: Mortal City’s organized market, logistics, and growing faction network contrast with ordinary trading practices.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Mortal City is swept up in excitement after the Mortal Domain announces an auction whose centerpiece is a Builder Token, which can turn an ordinary person into a Builder. Factions across Jiangnan and neighboring regions rush to gather money and travel to Jiangbei.
• At a Mortal Domain station in the Jiangbei Wasteland, a representative of the King Clan confirms that Level One Trusted Factions can lodge for free, provided they follow the eternal-night safety rule of carrying an eerie stone. He reports that the clan’s first Skeleton Horse shipment has sold well and that the auction could offer a chance to secure a Builder of their own.
• The news threatens the West Lake Tower, a long-established vehicle seller. Its Level 7 Builder, Old Qiu, can make a Skeleton Horse for 1,278 eerie stones, but the Mortal Domain sells them for only 1,500 and appears able to produce far more. The Pavilion Master decides that competing in a price war would be futile. Instead, he plans to buy horses from the Mortal Domain and use West Lake Tower’s trusted trade routes to sell them in the distant West Pass Plains.
• The Mortal Domain’s first day of sales is a major success: it sells 1,509 Skeleton Horses, 129 Wraith Camels, and seven horse-drawn carriages. Upfront payments bring in 500,000 eerie stones, with more than 2.2 million still owed by trusted factions.
• Chen Fan explains that the business model will bring in wealth from many regions without the Mortal Domain needing to conquer them. He expects demand eventually to saturate and plans to explore new opportunities at sea.
• Chen rewards his workers and leaders with bonuses, despite their concern that the faction needs to save money for its plan to defend Jiangbei. He reiterates the long-term goal—“Four years, three hundred million, defend Jiangbei”—but says the Mortal Domain can withdraw if it lacks the strength when the time comes.

Character developments and interactions

• The King Clan’s representative recognizes the Builder Token’s strategic value and relays the news to his family head. The family head reacts urgently, determined to buy the token and cultivate a Builder from within the clan.
• The West Lake Tower Pavilion Master shifts from despair to pragmatic adaptation. His daughter worries about the Mortal Domain’s rise, and he reassures her by proposing cooperation rather than confrontation.
• Chen Fan shows both commercial insight and concern for morale: he explains how the faction’s trade network will generate wealth, then insists on rewarding his people. His lighthearted reminder about Wang Kui’s dream of finding a wife helps soften the serious discussion.
• Wang Kui, formerly a poorly paid worker for the Qiuhe Wang Family, is stunned by the scale of the Mortal Domain’s earnings and the value of his bonus. His reaction highlights how radically his circumstances have changed. The group ends the night energized and ready to distribute the rewards.

Significant themes

• Adaptation over resistance: West Lake Tower accepts that it cannot defeat the Mortal Domain’s scale and seeks a new role in its supply chain.
• Trade as power: The Mortal Domain’s influence grows through pricing, bulk sales, and trusted-faction networks, allowing it to draw in regional wealth without conquest.
• Ambition balanced by flexibility: Chen Fan pursues a vast long-term goal but leaves open the possibility of retreat if the faction cannot meet the challenge.
• Opportunity and inequality: The Builder Token could transform a faction’s future, while Wang Kui’s contrast between past wages and present rewards underscores the unevenness of life in this world.

Chapter summary

• Chen Fan’s ambitions: After receiving 500,000 Eerie Stones—with over two million more expected—Chen reflects that wealth is only a means to larger goals: extending his life and making Jiangbei an impregnable fortress, strong enough to withstand even the powerful guardian known as “That One.” He also hopes his friends will live longer, so he will not outlast them all.
• Camp progress and resource needs: A month of training in the Spirit-Nurturing Pavilion has brought all thirteen remaining trainees to level three; four of the original seventeen were eliminated. Shao Qiu continues instructing them in the Shadow-Killing Seven Apertures Formula. Meanwhile, Chen’s Camp is short of upgrade materials, Cultivation Pills, and strange entity bones.
• Vehicle Workshop upgrade: Chen upgrades the Workshop to level five and chooses faster manufacturing. It unlocks the Giant Turtle, a huge, slow but high-capacity vehicle, which he builds to test whether it will sell. He sees his Silk Road Plan—drawing many factions into searching for materials—as a way to accelerate future upgrades.
• Weiwei finds an ancient inheritance: When Wang Kui reports that the Warehouse is nearly out of strange entity bones, Weiwei leads Chen to the rocky Seaside and digs into an underground cavern. There they discover a message from a deceased cultivator called the Undying Celestial Master, who once guarded Jiangbei. The Celestial Master says the city fell to strange tides and announces that an inheritance trial, focused mainly on the builder path, will begin in three days.
• The trial is accidentally disrupted: The message’s light pillar seems intended to rise into the sky and announce the trial, but Weiwei knocks it down, swallows the message curtain, and smashes the entrance barrier. Chen realizes Weiwei may be able to break formations, turning what should have been a public inheritance trial into a private exploration. He takes Weiwei back into the cavern, wondering why Weiwei’s parents—or “That One”—had not claimed the ruins already.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan shifts from celebrating new wealth to thinking strategically about long-term survival, Camp defenses, and the people he cares about. He remains cautious around unknown dangers, but Weiwei’s discoveries draw him into the cavern.
• Weiwei proves both indispensable and unpredictable: it excavates efficiently, locates the bone-filled ruins, disrupts the trial’s announcement, and breaks the barrier with a single blow. Its playful tail-wagging contrasts with the seriousness of the discovery.
• Shao Qiu maintains a strict training role, while the trainees’ rapid advancement shows the Camp’s growing capabilities.
• Wang Kui acts as the practical quartermaster, alerting Chen to shortages and prompting the expedition that leads to the ruins.

Significant themes

• Security and mortality: Chen’s wealth cannot erase his vulnerability; he wants both a longer life and a defensible home.
• Growth through cooperation: The Silk Road Plan shows how a network of factions can find resources faster than one Camp alone.
• Unexpected opportunity: Weiwei’s mundane digging uncovers a major inheritance, while its impulsive actions reshape the trial’s intended course.
• Legacy and collapse: The Celestial Master’s message links the present-day Camp to Jiangbei’s earlier fall and the devastation caused by strange tides.

Plot points and events

• Chen Fan enters an ancient inheritance site left by the Undying Celestial Master, a builder who lived about 8,000 years earlier. The small cave is more tomb than ruin, and its trials are designed to test builders.
• Chen Fan cannot answer the first trial’s question about a universal construction material. Weiwei solves the problem by smashing the light screens rather than completing the trials properly, letting Chen Fan claim the rewards.
• Weiwei continues breaking the protections around the rewards: valuable Level-4 Eerie Stones, builder-related white-grade exotic treasures, and blueprints for an Air-Defense Cannon Tower and a Godslayer Cannon.
• The final trial requires constructing a building until it yields a qualitative transformation upgrade path. Weiwei again bypasses the barrier, and Chen Fan collects the inheritance’s final items: a Jade Slip, a yellow-grade blueprint, and a ring.
• The Jade Slip contains a recording of Jiangbei’s defeat during a massive battle against hundreds of thousands of strange entities. Chen Fan studies the old defenses and concludes that better, consistent wall patterns and systems for automated resupply and repairs could have prevented the loss.
• The Undying Celestial Master’s message reveals his two regrets: losing Jiangbei and failing to understand the yellow-grade blueprint. He also recounts having built a blue-grade structure, which earned him his title.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan shifts from uncertainty about the future Undersea Strange Tide to confidence that his Northbank Defense Line can withstand it. The historical recording gives him a clearer sense of the enemy and of how to improve his defenses.
• His practical, non-builder approach is emphasized: he relies on the Lord Panel rather than memorizing construction theory, and sees the blueprints mainly for their strategic value.
• Weiwei acts as Chen Fan’s effortless shortcut through the inheritance, smashing every barrier and gathering the rewards. Chen Fan is amused by the “cheating,” though he recognizes that the rewards could benefit others.
• Chen Fan reacts to the Celestial Master’s unresolved regret with mild irony: the complicated blueprint seems difficult, but the Panel lets him understand it immediately. He regrets only that the deceased master did not leave behind the blue-grade blueprint as well.

Significant themes

• Lost knowledge and history: The trials expose how much builder knowledge disappeared after the previous Eternal Night, while the recording preserves a vivid account of Jiangbei’s fall.
• Preparation and learning from failure: Chen Fan uses the past defeat to identify defensive weaknesses and strengthen his resolve for the coming battle.
• Talent, tools, and conventional expertise: Traditional builders depend on specialized knowledge, while Chen Fan’s Panel and Weiwei let him bypass both the usual process and its restrictions.
• Legacy and regret: The Celestial Master’s inheritance is an attempt to leave something behind, but it also preserves the grief of a failed defense and an unsolved blueprint.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Fan obtains the Mortal Domain’s second true yellow-grade Building Blueprint: the Sky-Piercing Pillar. He builds it on Nameless Mountain for 5,000 Eerie Stones.
• The enormous, rune-covered pillar has an internal lift leading to an exposed summit platform. Chen Fan discovers it can attract and store lightning during the Rainy Season, then release it for defense or other uses. Its attack range can reach beyond the Camp, but its storage is currently empty. He plans to let it charge over future rainy seasons, potentially aiding the great battle four years away.
• Zhou Mo reports that seven or eight unidentified men were caught trying to build Eerie Fire and Arrow Towers in Mortal City. Their structures vanished because Chen Fan’s Eternal Night Land Deed gives him exclusive building rights within the Camp.
• The captives claim they were merely demonstrating their faction’s Builder. Chen Fan doubts their story and orders Crippled Monkey to interrogate them, publicly implying they will be taken to the Camp headquarters.
• Privately, Chen Fan redirects the carriage to the rear of Nameless Mountain and sends Shao Qiu to observe. He suspects the captives are unwitting pawns—and that their real purpose may be to deliver something or trigger a hidden scheme.
• Two observers in the market report that “the fish has taken the bait.” Their ability to communicate mentally comes from the Meat Strange Parent-Child Fruit. Crippled Monkey verifies Shao Qiu’s identity using their Pavilion tokens, then keeps his men clear while Shao Qiu watches the prisoners.

Character developments

• Chen Fan continues planning for the Mortal Domain’s long-term growth. He is cautious and analytical, using the recent destruction of the Rainbow Pill Sect as a deterrent and as a way to assess the motives of potential enemies.
• Crippled Monkey follows orders while remaining alert to possible deception, confirming Shao Qiu’s identity before withdrawing his men.
• Shao Qiu is eager to put the Shadow Pavilion into real combat, though he does not know what makes the prisoners suspicious.
• The unidentified captives appear frightened and may not know who is directing them; the true adversaries remain hidden.

Significant themes

• Suspicion and strategic misdirection: Chen Fan treats an apparently foolish provocation as evidence of a deeper plan and stages events to draw out its real authors.
• Power and deterrence: The Mortal Domain’s reputation, especially after defeating the Rainbow Pill Sect, affects how rivals choose to act.
• Preparation and long-term planning: The Sky-Piercing Pillar represents an investment in future defense, fitting Chen Fan’s four-year development plan.
• Appearances versus reality: The supposed “demonstration” and the prisoners’ role may conceal a larger operation.

Character interactions

• Chen Fan receives Zhou Mo’s report, questions the captives’ explanation, and assigns Crippled Monkey to interrogate them.
• He reassures the gathered onlookers, then secretly changes the prisoners’ route and asks Shao Qiu to monitor them.
• Shao Qiu warns Crippled Monkey to keep his distance; Crippled Monkey verifies him and positions his men around the carriage.
• Two hidden observers watch Chen Fan’s apparent response and signal that their plan has succeeded.

Key plot points and events

• Qi Yue arrives at the Mortal Domain after Chen Fan warns that something is wrong with a carriage. He and Shao Qiu inspect it; its unconscious passengers are covered in the ancient Nine-Heavens God-Devil Pattern.
• Shao Qiu recognizes the pattern and orders everyone to retreat. The passengers explode, leaving a crater powerful enough to destroy a Level-2 City Wall. Chen Fan then reports that the real enemy has infiltrated the canyon, and orders the intruders captured if possible.
• In the canyon, Wind and Rain Tower assassins lie in ambush, expecting Chen Fan to return alone. Their plan relies on drawing him away from the Mortal Domain, disabling its defenses by destroying its Eerie Fire, and striking him in the canyon.
• Chen Fan enters in the Nine-Five Dragon Chariot, escorted by Qi Yue in disguise as the driver. The assassins spring their trap with steel tripwires, poisoned bolts, and a rush into the carriage.
• The attack fails: Qi Yue deflects the assault with his sword, while four Arrow Towers inside the carriage kill the attackers who get in. Chen Fan remains calm and unharmed.
• Shao Qiu finds the hidden operation’s leader, having detected him when his breathing faltered. He holds a dagger to the man’s throat and offers him a pill in exchange for information.

Character developments and interactions

• Qi Yue demonstrates exceptional strength and quick judgment, destroying the suspicious carriage and later protecting Chen Fan during the canyon ambush. His skill surprises the assassins, who were not told he was a level-9 Cultivator.
• Shao Qiu continues to bristle at Qi Yue’s confidence and dismissive attitude toward Assassins. Despite their banter, both respond instantly to danger and work toward protecting Chen Fan. Shao Qiu’s sharp observation and stealth let him capture the ambush leader.
• Chen Fan remains composed throughout, treating the attacks as a chance to trace the threat to its source. He anticipates the need for protection and equips the carriage with hidden Arrow Towers.
• The ambush leader shifts from confidence in a carefully planned killing to despair when his team is defeated and Shao Qiu discovers him.

Significant themes

• Preparation versus intelligence failure: The assassins’ elaborate plan collapses because they underestimate Qi Yue and overlook the carriage’s defenses.
• Concealment and perception: The canyon’s camouflage and the assassins’ stealth are countered by Qi Yue’s readiness and Shao Qiu’s ability to detect a tiny change in breathing.
• Trust and rivalry: Shao Qiu questions Qi Yue’s trustworthiness as an Assassin, yet their cooperation proves effective when the danger becomes real.
• Ambition and loyalty: Shao Qiu’s dream of building a renowned Shadow Pavilion is tied to his determination to keep Chen Fan safe.

Key plot points and events

• Chen Fan’s party captures several assassins after an attack on his carriage. Their leader reveals that they belong to the Wind and Rain Tower, an assassination organization whose members infiltrate other factions and coordinate through coded signals. The Tower’s master ordered the attack, and the assassins learned Chen Fan had left Mortal City through members near the Mortal Domain.
• The captured assassins suddenly die from a Heart-Devouring Gu, apparently to silence them. Shao Qiu offers to investigate and urges Chen Fan to let the Shadow Pavilion gain real combat experience. Chen Fan agrees, ordering it to raid the Tower’s city shops and search for its hidden headquarters.
• Shao Qiu accidentally reveals that Zhou Mo has been training in Chen Fan’s Spirit-Nurturing Pavilion. Chen Fan reassures him and brings Qi Yue to see the pavilion, where he offers him a chance to study a mysterious sword-inscribed bamboo slip.
• Qi Yue touches the slip before Chen Fan can finish warning him. Its power blasts him apart, but he survives because he lands in an altar and is healed by Holy Water. The experience gives him a glimpse of insight, and he asks to join the Mortal Domain so he can pursue a breakthrough to Martial King.
• As a member, Qi Yue repeatedly touches the slip and endures devastating injuries to accelerate his comprehension, consuming large quantities of Eerie Stones and Holy Water. He then develops an original sword technique and demonstrates it by carving Chen Fan’s name into a rock face with extraordinary force.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan balances caution with trust: he lets the Shadow Pavilion act despite the risks, welcomes Qi Yue into the Mortal Domain, and provides him access to the sword slip. His dry humor punctuates otherwise dangerous events.
• Shao Qiu shows growing confidence in the Shadow Pavilion and argues that it must face danger to mature. After accidentally revealing the pavilion’s existence, he apologizes, but Chen Fan forgives him and gives him the mission.
• Qi Yue moves from guarded outsider to committed member of the Mortal Domain. His painful pursuit of sword insight reflects his determination to sever ties with his past and become stronger. He also expresses gratitude to Chen Fan and mentions his intention to marry Gongyang Yue.
• Chen Fan and Qi Yue develop a warmer, teasing rapport: Chen Fan worries over the cost and pain of Qi Yue’s training, while Qi Yue insists it is worthwhile and shares his new technique with him.

Significant themes

• Growth through experience and risk: Shao Qiu argues that cultivation without combat is inadequate; Qi Yue’s breakthrough likewise comes through arduous practice.
• Loyalty and gratitude: Qi Yue’s decision to join is tied to the support he has received from Chen Fan, whom he says is the first person ever to help him.
• The cost of ambition: The bamboo slip offers powerful insight but inflicts extreme physical harm and consumes scarce healing resources.
• Secrecy and hidden threats: The Wind and Rain Tower’s infiltrators, concealed headquarters, and witness-killing gu reveal the danger beneath the apparent defeat of the assassination attempt.

Key plot points and events

• Qi Yue studies a bamboo strip carved with “Diary” and decides to name his new technique Qi Yue Swordsmanship, First Form: Diary. Chen Fan finds the name odd but lets him continue.
• Chen Fan asks Qi Yue to use the move to replace the “Mortal Sect” lettering at the Canyon entrance with “Mortal Domain,” then leaves for Mortal City.
• At the Camp, Shao Qiu collects specially made Tokens and leads the Shadow Pavilion’s first mission, rallying his recruits to make the Pavilion’s name known.
• Back at the Mortal Domain Market, Chen Fan checks in with Wang Kui, who is still handling the accounts. Wang Kui suggests Gongyang Yue as a possible bookkeeper, but Chen Fan rejects the idea because she is focused on Qi Yue.
• Chen Fan browses the market for useful specialists or Tokens, especially hoping to find an Alchemist or Artifact Refiner to process the Camp’s large supply of earth gold.
• At a stall, Chen Fan publicly buys a supposedly promising “blind box” couplet for 1,600 eerie stones. Its appraisal reveals only that writing on it will never fade—an effect worth far less than he paid.
• Chen Fan accepts the loss publicly, partly to demonstrate that he follows market rules and cannot identify unopened treasures by sight. This also conceals his interest in another treasure.
• An elderly man offers 10,000 eerie stones for the couplet, then asks Chen Fan to inscribe one for his family—effectively using it as a means of gaining the Mortal Domain’s protection.

Character developments and interactions

• Qi Yue is earnest and imaginative, but misunderstands the significance of the carved word “Diary,” treating it as inspiration for a sword technique. He remains awed by the original sword cultivator’s extraordinary control.
• Chen Fan is practical and strategically minded. He tolerates Qi Yue’s eccentric naming, delegates the sign replacement, and uses the public purchase to shape others’ perceptions.
• Shao Qiu takes command of the Shadow Pavilion’s recruits with confidence, marking the group’s transition from preparation to action.
• Wang Kui proves capable and loyal but is still searching for someone trustworthy to take over bookkeeping. His suggestion of Gongyang Yue prompts Chen Fan’s blunt refusal.
• The vendor and Chen Fan negotiate over the couplet; the vendor sincerely believes it may be valuable, while Chen Fan treats the purchase as a calculated public performance.
• The elderly buyer turns the couplet purchase into a request for a personal inscription, revealing that the true value lies not in its permanence but in the protection associated with Chen Fan’s name.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus reality: The couplet looks like a potentially powerful treasure but has a modest effect; its perceived value changes dramatically when linked to Chen Fan.
• Reputation as power: The elderly man seeks the Mortal Domain’s protection through a public association with Chen Fan, showing how authority can become a commodity.
• Chance, knowledge, and performance: Blind-box opening is framed as luck, while Chen Fan’s apparent gamble also serves a deliberate political and commercial purpose.
• Ambition and identity: Qi Yue’s swordsmanship and Shao Qiu’s mission both reflect characters trying to establish names and legacies of their own.

• Chen Fan’s shopping trip: Chen Fan buys a Green Grade Exotic Treasure called the Fortune Whistle for 3,800 Eerie Stones. Its one-use effect slightly improves luck for three breaths. He considers using it during an upgrade to improve the odds of obtaining a desirable path for the City Wall—especially Thorn Counterarmor, which reflects a portion of incoming attacks. He hopes to connect this effect across Jiangbei’s planned 170-kilometer defense line, making it stronger ahead of the battle expected in four years.
• Life in the Mortal Domain: Chen Fan checks in with a former Qiuhe Wang Family Station Master, now a Mortal Domain member. The man explains that his new wages, generous bonus, respect, and safety far exceed what he had before. Chen Fan encourages him to share suggestions with Little Qiu, and the member becomes even more loyal. Chen Fan reflects that people can be won over through security and fair treatment, and that the Mortal Domain’s prosperity inspires hard work and devotion.
• The unexpected visitor: Crippled Monkey reports that a ragged old man is waiting outside Mortal City, drawing a crowd. His flag declares that he is seeking a worthy patron and will trade his forging skill for a place to stay. Chen Fan recognizes the man’s title as the Jiangdong Furnace Master, a renowned former faction leader whose Spirit Treasures are said to be exceptional. The old man says he came to assess Chen Fan and might serve the Mortal Domain, but Chen gets only one chance to make an offer.
• A major recruitment prospect: Chen Fan invites the old man inside to discuss terms privately. Asked about his skill, the man says he is a Level-9 Artifact Refiner, among the highest-ranked in the region. This could solve the Mortal Domain’s pressing shortage of skilled refiners, leaving valuable materials—including Earth Gold—unused.
  Character developments and interactions: Chen Fan shows both strategic ambition and attentiveness to his members, while the former Station Master’s account highlights how the Domain’s benefits foster loyalty. The Furnace Master is introduced as eccentric, shameless, and fiercely independent, but also practical: he is willing to serve if the compensation meets his worth. Chen Fan and the Furnace Master begin a cautious negotiation, each testing the other.
  Significant themes: The chapter contrasts exploitative insecurity with a faction built on pay, safety, and respect; explores loyalty as something earned through good leadership; and emphasizes strategic preparation, especially the value of rare expertise and defensive planning.

Chapter Summary: “Western Pass Braised-Food Master”

Key plot points and events

• Chen Fan confronts the ragged “Jiangdong Furnace Master,” a Level-9 Artifact Refiner, and gives him an ultimatum: join the Mortal Domain or die. The old man kneels just before the deadline.
• Chen Fan’s subordinates bring in the man’s disciples, who had been posing as admirers to promote their master. Once alone, the man admits that he staged the act to seem more valuable and negotiate better terms.
• The old man identifies himself as Zhao Shengping. He explains that he wants to join because the Mortal Domain is rising quickly, lacks artifact refiners, and suits his taste for decisive leadership. He asks for modest pay, a place for his artifact-refining disciples, and a Braised-Food Room; Chen Fan accepts.
• Chen Fan investigates Zhao’s past by contacting Shao Qiu. He learns Zhao was once a talented disciple of an artifact-refining sect but neglected his craft for cooking braised food, especially Beggar’s Chicken. After years of service, he was expelled by the sect’s new leader, despite having treated the sect as home.
• Convinced Zhao has no hostile agenda, Chen Fan returns to camp and uses a Fortune Whistle while upgrading a workshop. It creates a Level-4 Heavenly Artifact Pavilion, which improves spirit-treasure crafting and may occasionally raise an item’s grade.
• Chen Fan prepares homes for Zhao and his apprentices, as well as a Braised-Food Room, then officially assigns Zhao the Pavilion.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan shows his usual ruthless pragmatism in recruiting Zhao, but also recognizes the value of checking a newcomer’s background. He invests in the Mortal Domain’s infrastructure once satisfied.
• Zhao Shengping shifts from a theatrical, shabby “reclusive master” persona to a serious and respectful recruit. He is talented, but his true passion is cooking; his requests reveal both his practical needs and personal priorities.
• Shao Qiu provides the context behind Zhao’s reputation, remembering him less for artifact refining than for his celebrated braised food.
• Zhao’s disciples are exposed as planted supporters. They appear embarrassed, while Zhao scolds them and then admits the scheme to Chen Fan.

Significant themes

• Talent versus personal passion: Zhao possesses exceptional refining skill but has devoted himself to cooking, and that choice cost him his place in his former sect.
• Trust and scrutiny: Chen Fan welcomes Zhao’s abilities but investigates his motives before fully integrating him.
• Belonging and rejection: Zhao’s expulsion is painful because he considered his former sect home and had served it for most of his life.
• Building a faction: Recruiting skilled people and creating specialized facilities—alongside housing for their followers—strengthens the Mortal Domain’s foundations.
• Image versus reality: Zhao’s staged mystique contrasts with his genuine character and his identity as the famed “Western Pass Braised-Food Master.”

Key plot points and events

• Chen Fan welcomes Level-9 Artifact Refiner Zhao Shengping and his disciples into the Mortal Domain, appointing Zhao provisional Pavilion Master of its new Artifact Pavilion. He explains that the Heavenly Artifact Pavilion improves crafting success and may raise an item’s grade.
• Chen assigns Zhao thirteen sets of earth-gold daggers and night garments for the Shadow Pavilion. Zhao worries there cannot be enough material, but Wang Kui reveals an enormous reserve of earth gold in the Warehouse—enough, with Zhao’s skill, for roughly thirty sets.
• Zhao is also asked to make Chen a Beggar’s Chicken. His confidence shifts markedly: artifact refining is his profession, but braised delicacies are his true passion.
• Chen leaves the Artifact Pavilion’s deputy position open, intending to select one of Zhao’s disciples based on performance. At night, Crippled Monkey introduces Zhao to the Mortal Domain’s core members and facilities.
• Zhao learns that Qi Yue, known as the Jiangbei Old Devil, was a notorious killer once close to becoming a Martial King. As the group watches, Qi Yue begins a dangerous breakthrough technique: Ten Thousand Swords Tempering the Heart. Sword projections pierce his body and draw out black mist, causing intense pain. Zhao recognizes the method and warns that it can drive a cultivator mad or kill them.

Character developments and interactions

• Chen Fan is welcoming and pragmatic, but also delegates work and uses organizational structure—such as a deputy appointment—to keep the Artifact Pavilion from becoming a tightly unified faction independent of him. His casual joke about Zhao’s remaining years contrasts with his direct, businesslike instructions.
• Zhao Shengping is grateful to join, yet initially doubts Chen’s understanding of refining and assumes the earth-gold order is unrealistic. Seeing the Warehouse’s stock changes his view: he realizes the Mortal Domain’s true strength far exceeds its reputation. He also reveals a joyful, deeply personal identity as a master of braised foods.
• Wang Kui warmly welcomes Zhao and showcases the Mortal Domain’s resources, taking quiet satisfaction in how circumstances have changed for once-unapproachable experts.
• Crippled Monkey guides Zhao through camp and provides context on the leadership and Qi Yue’s reputation. Their tour is interrupted by Qi Yue’s breakthrough.
• Qi Yue appears to be pursuing a perilous shortcut to Martial King. His past as a feared killer gives way to a moment of extreme vulnerability, as he endures the technique’s agony before the gathered members.

Significant themes

• The Mortal Domain’s rise: Its facilities, materials, and organization reveal a power far greater than outsiders expect; it is portrayed as a faction waiting to expand beyond Jiangbei.
• Belonging and hierarchy: Zhao and his disciples are welcomed into a new community, while Chen carefully structures authority to maintain control and cohesion.
• Risk versus steady growth: Qi Yue’s dangerous breakthrough embodies the temptation of rapid advancement, while Zhao points out that the Mortal Domain’s resources should make such desperate methods unnecessary.
• Identity beyond one’s profession: Zhao’s pride in artifact refining is eclipsed by his deeper love of cooking, showing a more personal side beneath his professional role.

Key plot points and events

• Qi Yue undergoes the demonic technique Ten Thousand Swords Tempering the Heart, which purges impurities from the body through relentless, excruciating sword-energy attacks. Unlike most practitioners, who stop after one incense stick, he continues past the usual ninety-percent threshold and the two-hour mark for ninety-nine percent.
• Zhao Shengping explains that complete purification may create an exceptionally powerful Martial King, but the six-hour process is dangerously painful. Survivors can suffer permanent phantom pain or mental damage; some have died by suicide.
• As Qi Yue’s ordeal continues, a battered carriage from the Gongyang Clan arrives at the Mortal Domain. Gongyang Yiyue explains that Gongyang Yue insisted on coming because she sensed Qi Yue’s suffering. Chen Fan lets them enter, while warning that the nighttime incursion was a serious breach of trust.
• Gongyang Yiyue explains why Qi Yue is pushing for perfect body tempering: ordinary Martial Kings are vastly outmatched by Wraith Kings, but a perfectly tempered Martial King could face one without being easily killed. The attempt still carries a high risk of death and lasting consequences.
• After six hours, the sword energy finally subsides. Qi Yue has achieved perfect body tempering. Gongyang Yue rushes to embrace him, and he thanks Chen Fan, vowing to serve him after completing his revenge.

Character developments and interactions

• Qi Yue proves his extraordinary endurance and single-minded determination. His pursuit of perfection is driven not only by ambition but by an enduring thirst for revenge. After surviving, he acknowledges Chen Fan’s role in giving him this opportunity.
• Chen Fan remains composed but is increasingly concerned for Qi Yue’s safety and the value of losing a capable subordinate. He also enforces the Mortal Domain’s boundaries while showing compassion by allowing the Gongyang Clan’s visitors to stay.
• Gongyang Yue displays deep affection and worry, coming solely to be there when Qi Yue finishes. Her emotional embrace contrasts with Qi Yue’s restrained focus on revenge.
• Gongyang Yiyue acts as an informed guide, explaining the technique’s risks and the strategic importance of perfect tempering. He warns Gongyang Yue that Qi Yue’s revenge may prevent him from becoming a devoted husband until it is fulfilled.
• Zhao Shengping provides the cultivation knowledge that helps Chen Fan understand the stakes.

Significant themes

• Power at a cost: Demonic cultivation offers an accessible route to exceptional strength, but demands extreme suffering and may leave permanent damage or death.
• Revenge and obsession: Qi Yue’s resolve has not faded with time; it sustains him through agony but may also prevent him from building a future with others.
• Endurance and adaptation: Repeated exposure to pain can increase tolerance, yet pushing beyond human limits remains perilous.
• Ambition versus survival: Qi Yue rejects an already impressive breakthrough in pursuit of perfection, testing whether the added power is worth the risk.

Key plot points and events

• Qi Yue survives his ordeal, completes perfect body tempering, and breaks through to level 10 Martial King—the first such cultivator in the Mortal Domain. He credits the Domain Lord’s Bamboo Slip for helping him endure the process and gain insight, and pledges his life to the Mortal Domain.
• Qi Yue reunites with Gongyang Yue, who is relieved he is alive. Their relationship is complicated by his new allegiance: Gongyang Yiyue had expected Qi Yue to join and eventually lead the Gongyang Clan, but now fears that marriage could bring the clan under the Mortal Domain’s influence.
• In Jiangnan, Shao Qiu’s Shadow Pavilion raids a Wind and Rain Tower outpost, killing its guards in a swift, coordinated operation. Shao Qiu criticizes his recruits’ sloppy execution, then interrogates survivors, takes valuables, and leaves the Pavilion’s insignia and death warrant to publicize the group’s name.
• Shao Qiu discovers that the Tower is transporting a Sea Embryo, a treasure Chen Fan needs. Unable to contact the Mortal Domain, he must decide how to act independently.
• Back in Mortal City, Chen Fan hears that the market is thriving: seven factions have exhausted their credit, trade has brought in 730,000 eerie stones, and the Domain’s communications network has expanded. He remains confident Shao Qiu has not defected, arguing that the Mortal Domain lets specialists focus on their talents while he handles organizational burdens.
• The chapter ends with a mishap: Zhao Shengping is badly injured after trying to obtain scales from the Sky-Swallowing Crocodile for a Night Garment. Though the beast seemed to agree, it struck him with its tail. Its contradictory gestures leave Chen Fan unsure what it understood.

Character developments and interactions

• Qi Yue emerges stronger and more committed to the Mortal Domain, while his bond with Gongyang Yue deepens. Gongyang Yiyue is caught between concern for her and anxiety over the political consequences of the match.
• Shao Qiu proves both an effective assassin and a demanding leader. He wants the Shadow Pavilion to be recognized, not merely to kill anonymously, and pursues the Wind and Rain Tower’s headquarters despite operating beyond the Domain’s communications range.
• Chen Fan shows concern for his people and confidence in his ability to retain talented leaders. His joking, incredulous response to Zhao Shengping’s injury contrasts with the danger of the incident.
• Zhao Shengping’s eagerness to improve his craft overwhelms his caution; the crocodile’s apparent consent and sudden attack create a comic but hazardous misunderstanding.

Significant themes

• Loyalty and belonging: Qi Yue’s pledge and Shao Qiu’s independence test how the Mortal Domain holds its members.
• Power and organizational support: Chen Fan believes specialists thrive when relieved of the work of running an organization.
• Ambition and reputation: Shao Qiu wants the Shadow Pavilion’s name known, making assassination an act of identity as well as service.
• Communication and uncertainty: Shao Qiu’s isolation and the crocodile’s ambiguous gestures show how limited information can complicate decisions.
• Progress through risk: Qi Yue’s painful training and Zhao’s reckless experiment both demonstrate the costs—and potential rewards—of pursuing greater strength or better tools.