Recaps

Chu Bai uncovered Longwind County’s plan to siphon Anping County’s earth-vein energy and arranged to turn its Meridian-Severing Grand Array against it while notifying Great Wall Prefecture. Sun Bu’er mistook Chu Bai’s preparations for weakness and ordered the array activated, setting the trap in motion.

• Zhang Cheng urged Chu Bai to retaliate after Pang Song and Hu Hao reported Zhao Ting’s tunnel and Dragon-Seeking Geomantic Orb, but Chu Bai identified Sun Bu’er’s plan to drain Anping County’s earth vein.
• Chu Bai ordered Hu Hao to conceal a back door in the tunnel’s defenses so Longwind County could connect its array, then explained that he would reverse the flow and drain Longwind County’s accumulated foundation depth.
• Chu Bai informed Li Dean of the breach and his counterplan; Li Dean warned him to keep the covert conflict from becoming a public scandal and revealed that the county leading the earth-vein development race would receive Grade A merit.
• Lin Xuan installed Chu Bai’s Purple Pole Formation Flag inside the apparent defensive array, turning it into bait that would lock Longwind County’s array to Anping County’s earth vein.
• After a scout reported that Anping County had not destroyed the tunnel or complained to the Prefectural City, Sun Bu’er concluded Chu Bai wanted to avoid trouble and ordered Longwind County’s Meridian-Severing Grand Array fully activated.

Chu Bai turned the Gold-Devouring Rat corpses and Bloodfang Rice into equipment and provisions for a rapidly strengthened Demon-Suppression Office, then allowed Longwind County’s Meridian-Severing Grand Array to siphon baited geng metal qi. The chapter ended with Sun Bu'er ordering the array bound to Longwind County’s own earth vein so it could drain Anping County completely.

• Su Mu showed Chu Bai the Metal-Averting Soft Armor, Bone-Piercing Nails, and Qi-Breaking Crossbow Bolts forged from Gold-Devouring Rat remains, along with Blood-Qi Rice Porridge that accelerated workshop production.
• Chu Bai ordered Zhang Cheng to reequip the Demon-Suppression Office within ten days, while the soldiers’ intense training and resources helped a young soldier break through to Qi Refining Mid-Stage.
• Zhang Cheng equipped two hundred elite soldiers with soft armor, black heavy armor, crossbows, and Bone-Piercing Nails, forming them into a disciplined force.
• Hu Hao reported that Longwind County’s Meridian-Severing Grand Array had connected to the Purple Pole Formation Flag, and Chu Bai used the Origin-Opening Daoist Scripture to observe the array and feed it pure geng metal qi as bait.
• Sun Bu'er mistook the incoming geng metal qi for a successful theft of Anping County’s earth-vein energy and ordered the array maximized and bound to Longwind County’s own earth vein.

Chu Bai used Anping County’s earth-vein resources to feed and train its common people, while explaining that their growing strength would build the county’s foundation despite restrictions on ordination. As the people’s gratitude strengthened his fortune golden body, he welcomed a complaint from the Liu Household and turned his attention toward Longwind County.

• Chu Bai sensed Sun Bu'er and the formation masters enjoying their gains in Longwind County, then vowed to borrow Changfeng’s fortune once his forces and Dao foundation were ready.
• Su Mu distributed free Golden Jade Soup and Bloodfang Rice at the Anping Martial Hall, where Li Er rapidly strengthened his blood and qi and the crowd began training.
• Zhang Cheng questioned Chu Bai’s decision to spend resources on ordinary people, and Chu Bai defended it as returning the earth-vein’s gifts to Anping County’s residents.
• Shi Guanchao warned that ordination limits would prevent most people from advancing beyond the qi refining third layer, but Chu Bai believed the spiritual resurgence would change the rules and strengthen Anping’s foundation.
• Wang Tianyang warned that the Liu Household planned to complain to Great Wall Prefecture, but Chu Bai welcomed the threat as an opportunity to draw out powerful opponents.
• The people’s gratitude flowed into Chu Bai’s official seal and solidified his fortune golden body, and he vowed to sweep away those who preyed on commoners as he looked toward Longwind County.

Sun Bu'er drained Anping County’s earth-vein energy to empower himself, leaving Longwind County’s people in a devastating drought. Chu Bai prepared to redirect the stolen energy through the Locust Elder, binding the spirit to him and ordering its roots to spread through Anping County’s earth veins.

• Sun Bu'er and Zhao Ting celebrated the golden spiritual energy stolen from Anping County while Longwind County’s crops and wells dried up and people suffered; Sun Bu'er dismissed the deaths and began absorbing the energy to break through.
• Chu Bai secretly visited the Locust Elder, an ancient tree spirit trapped at qi refining perfection, and offered him the energy needed to establish his foundation in exchange for serving as its vessel and taking the blame.
• The Locust Elder accepted Chu Bai’s offer and swore to bear the consequences in return for a chance to advance.
• Chu Bai branded the Locust Elder’s soul with a drop of his blood, gaining control over his life and cultivation.
• Chu Bai ordered the Locust Elder to spread his roots through Anping County’s underground spirit-vein nodes and prepare to receive the energy from Longwind County.

Chu Bai turned Longwind County’s attempt to siphon Anping’s spiritual energy against Sun Bu’er, draining his private reserves and strengthening Locust Elder into a Foundation Establishment demon. After Anping’s guards subdued the baleful spirits unleashed by the earth-vein struggle, Chu Bai publicly legitimized Locust Elder as the county’s guardian deity, winning the people’s devotion.

• Sun Bu’er’s formation disturbed Anping’s buried baleful qi, unleashing wraiths and yin beasts across the town, and Chu Bai ordered Zhang Cheng to deploy the Black-Armored Guards.
• Pang Song and the Black-Armored Guards swept through Anping, destroying the monsters without casualties.
• Chu Bai reversed the Purple Pole Formation Flag, reclaimed the spiritual energy Sun Bu’er had stolen, and siphoned away his private spirit pool and associated spirit veins.
• Chu Bai sent Anping’s turbid baleful qi into the formation nexus, while the recovered spiritual energy surged into Locust Elder and pushed him into Foundation Establishment.
• Chu Bai calmed the townspeople, declared Locust Elder a legitimate guardian spirit, and invested him as Anping County’s deity.
• Locust Elder swore to protect Anping and serve Chu Bai, while the townspeople cheered and pledged their devotion to their magistrate and guardian deity.

Chu Bai turned Anping County into a prosperous, heavily guarded center by exploiting Longwind County’s stolen spiritual resources, defeating the Lu Household’s attempt to seize a mine, and forging a five-phase Divine Ability Prototype. Three months later, he welcomed fifty thousand starving refugees from Longwind County as work-relief laborers, leaving Sun Bu’er’s county near collapse and Anping poised to attract Qingzhou’s attention.

• The old locust tree’s breakthrough produced spirit rain that healed residents and helped cultivators advance, while powerful observers accepted Chu Bai’s cover story and Sun Bu’er’s stolen spiritual reserves were replaced by poisonous baleful qi.
• Chu Bai’s resources transformed Anping County, and the Lu Household’s elders attacked its mine; Zhang Cheng’s Black-Armored Guards defeated them and confiscated the caravan’s property.
• Chu Bai completed his Fortune Golden Body and condensed a five-phase Divine Ability Prototype that silently pierced a reinforced wall.
• Over three months, Anping prospered while drought and a locust plague devastated Longwind County, and Sun Bu’er’s oppressive taxes helped spark a mass uprising.
• Chu Bai ordered Anping’s gates opened to fifty thousand refugees, offering food and Golden Jade Soup in exchange for labor and further weakening Longwind County.

The Brook Water Earl discovered mystic origin breath soil beneath the Three-Bath River, whose fragrance drew thousands of wild water demons toward Anping County. Chu Bai trapped and slaughtered the demons, claimed the soil, and ordered it spread through the county’s fields to transform them into spirit fields.

• The Brook Water Earl found mystic origin breath soil beneath the earth-lung golden lotus and warned Chu Bai that thousands of water demons were attacking Anping County’s downstream formation.
• Chu Bai summoned four hundred Black-Armored Guards and ordered the Water Earl to withdraw the outer barrier and lure the demons into Backwater Bend.
• The Water Earl sealed Backwater Bend with the Draw the Ground into a Prison formation while the Black-Armored Guards fired crossbows and killed the trapped demons, including an Ironclad Giant Crocodile at Qi Refining Great Perfection.
• Chu Bai collected the mystic origin breath soil and gave it to Su Mu, ordering him to dilute it and spread it through Great Harvest Township and Anping County’s reclaimed fields.
• Su Mu and the Black-Armored Guards swore their loyalty as Chu Bai declared that every acre of Anping County would become supreme-grade spirit fields before the following spring.

Han Xingmo, Hu Hao, and Pang Song returned to Anping County after achieving Azure Ordination and Foundation Establishment, rejecting offers from Great Wall Prefecture's factions and pledging their loyalty to Chu Bai. After reorganizing Anping's leadership, Chu Bai learned that the Purple Register Heavenly Examination would begin in one year and resolved to prepare for it.

• Han Xingmo placed ninety-eighth on the Azure Ordination Ranking, while he, Hu Hao, and Pang Song were named Foundation Establishment cultivators, giving Anping County three major results from thirty candidates.
• Great Wall Prefecture's clans and officials offered the three men wealth, posts, and status, but they refused to abandon Anping County and rode home.
• The trio found Anping transformed by vast spirit fields, fortified walls, and powerful defenses, then knelt before Chu Bai and reported their success.
• Chu Bai rewarded the returning cultivators with key posts in the Water Office, Demon-Suppression Office, and Black-Armored Guards, and ordered the Military Academy reopened and the guards expanded.
• Chu Bai read Zhu Wuji's top-secret message, which revealed that the Purple Register Heavenly Examination would begin in one year and warned of its extreme danger.
• Chu Bai resolved to strengthen Anping and refine his abilities so he could compete for the Purple Abode in the coming examination.

After the Great Wall Prefecture rewarded Chu Bai for taking in Longwind County’s refugees, Zhu Wuji warned him that demons had massacred Pingling and that the Great Zhou could no longer protect its counties. Chu Bai turned Anping County into a wartime fortress and ordered its resources, defenses, and army mobilized for the coming demon calamity.

• Su Mu reported that Anping County had resettled fifty thousand refugees from Longwind County, and Chu Bai sensed their gratitude strengthening his fortune.
• Hu Hao delivered the Great Wall Prefecture’s verdict: Sun Bu'er would lose his Azure Ordination and cultivation, while Chu Bai received spirit stones, weapons, rune arrows, and a major merit for sheltering the refugees.
• Chu Bai explained to Hu Hao that the authorities punished Sun Bu'er for destroying the people’s livelihood but rewarded Chu Bai for preserving humanity’s fortune.
• Chu Bai read Zhu Wuji’s warning that a demon army had massacred Pingling and that the Prefectural City could not reinforce the counties.
• Chu Bai summoned Zhang Cheng, Hu Hao, Pang Song, Han Xingmo, and Su Mu, declared Anping County a fortress of war, and ordered emergency controls, stronger defenses, and an elite eight-hundred-man army.

A demon tide attacked Anping County’s harvest, and the Water Earl sacrificed himself to shield the commoners before their faith and Chu Bai’s Golden Edict helped him break through to Foundation Establishment. After the Water Earl defeated the demons, Chu Bai appointed him River-Quelling Great General and ordered the demon corpses collected as medicine.

• Han Xingmo sensed a demon tide emerging from the Three-Bath River and tried to close the water network as the Sea-Covering Black-Scaled Python led the demons toward the harvesters.
• The Mystic Guards formed a defensive line, but the python broke through and drove the commoners into danger.
• The Water Earl fought the demon tide, was badly wounded, then burned his divine origin to form an ice wall between the demons and the people.
• The commoners prayed for the Water Earl, and their humanity's willing force resonated with the mystic origin breath soil and Chu Bai’s Golden Edict, allowing the Water Earl to establish a Dao foundation and reach Foundation Establishment.
• The Water Earl killed the Sea-Covering Black-Scaled Python and the other demons with water blades, then knelt before Chu Bai and reported that he had protected Anping.
• Chu Bai appointed the Water Earl Anping County’s River-Quelling Great General and ordered Hu Hao and Pang Song to collect the demon corpses for medicine.

As demon tides devastated Great Zhou, Chu Bai opened Anping County’s gates to hundreds of thousands of refugees, imposing strict laws and putting them to work in exchange for food and protection. Their labor built a vast Outer City, and their devotion transformed Chu Bai’s fortune into a five-clawed golden dragon as he set his sights on the Purple Abode.

• Chu Bai ordered Anping County’s gates opened to the starving refugees and declared that residents must work, obey his laws, and rogue cultivators must serve in the Vanguard Camp.
• When rogue cultivators incited a riot, Pang Song killed them, and Su Mu organized the refugees into lines to register and receive spirit porridge.
• Chu Bai and Su Mu assigned the refugees to construction, farming, and logistics while Hu Hao’s men placed restrictions on rogue cultivators and put them to work.
• The refugees completed a fortified Outer City around Anping County, where they became devoted to Chu Bai and generated immense Humanity’s Willing Force.
• Chu Bai absorbed the gathered fortune, manifested a five-clawed golden dragon, and declared his ambition to attain the Purple Abode and safeguard the land.

Li He revealed that demons had devastated Lingchang Prefecture after its leaders tried to seize newly exposed spirit stone veins and herb gardens. Chu Bai rejected his generals’ proposal to exploit the crisis for territorial expansion and instead prepared Anping County to answer Great Wall Prefecture’s expected conscription order while protecting its people.

• Pang Song brought the exhausted rogue cultivator Li He to Chu Bai after Li claimed to know why demons had massacred Lingchang Prefecture.
• Li He told Chu Bai that greedy officials and Profound Fire Sect elders had tried to claim two spirit stone veins and ancient herb gardens, provoking demon kings to destroy Pingling County and surround Lingchang Prefecture’s capital.
• Chu Bai predicted that Great Wall Prefecture would send troops both to contain the demon threat and to seize Lingchang’s resources, and Hu Hao proposed using the resulting opening to take over neighboring counties.
• Chu Bai showed his generals the homes of Anping’s refugees and explained that he sought strength to protect them, not to conquer other territories; the generals swore to defend Anping.
• Chu Bai anticipated a harsh conscription order from Great Wall Prefecture and decided that Anping County would obey it and join the expedition to Lingchang Prefecture.

Chu Bai prepared Anping County for the coming war by gathering intelligence on Lingchang Prefecture’s demon forces and uncovering the Lu Household’s plan to sacrifice his troops. He devised a strategy to turn the Lu Household into the demons’ target while Anping seized Lingchang’s resources, then watched the conscription envoy arrive.

• Pang Song and Hu Hao screened refugees from Lingchang Prefecture for intelligence, while Su Mu and Locust Elder gathered reports on Great Wall Prefecture’s preparations.
• Chu Bai assessed the demon tide, including its half-step purple abode commander, the Azure-Eyed Golden-Pupiled Ape, and revealed poisoned arrows designed to exploit its vulnerabilities.
• Chu Bai learned that Grand Elder Lu intended to force Anping County’s troops into the vanguard and use their deaths to weaken the demons before the Lu Household claimed Lingchang’s resources.
• Chu Bai ordered Anping’s forces to feign defeat, draw the demon tide into the Lu Household’s formation, and bypass the battle to seize or destroy Lingchang’s resources.
• Three days later, the Lu Household’s flying boat arrived with Great Wall Prefecture’s conscription decree, and Chu Bai refused to kneel as he welcomed the envoy into his trap.

Chu Bai confronted Lu Mingyuan, who arrived with the Great Wall Prefecture governor’s conscription order, and asserted his rights as the Lord of Northern Peace while Anping County’s forces threatened the envoy. After learning the army was assigned to the vanguard under Grand Elder Lu, Chu Bai accepted the order, burned it, and led Anping’s troops toward Lingchang Prefecture to carry out his plan against the Lu Household and the demons.

• Lu Mingyuan arrived at Anping County with the governor’s decree and demanded that Chu Bai and the county’s officials kneel, but Chu Bai refused and invoked his title as Lord of Northern Peace.
• When Lu Mingyuan ordered Anping’s soldiers to kneel, Pang Song, Hu Hao, and the other commanders mobilized five Foundation Establishment fighters and eight hundred Black-Armored Guards against his flying vessel.
• Lu Mingyuan read the order requisitioning Anping’s eight hundred guards as the Vanguard Camp under Grand Elder Lu and requiring them to march to Soul-Severing Valley within three days.
• Chu Bai accepted the order and warned Lu Mingyuan that Anping’s army would charge ahead of the Lu Household’s elites when they met the demons.
• Lu Mingyuan fled for the Prefectural City, and Chu Bai burned the decree before ordering Anping County’s army to march toward Lingchang Prefecture.

Chu Bai led Anping County’s battle-hardened army into the Left Route Army’s luxurious, faction-ridden camp, where he quietly repelled the Lu Household’s probing and established camp at its isolated edge. After collecting gifts while evading rival factions’ offers, Chu Bai ordered his troops to remain armed and distrust everyone as the army prepared for the coming conflict.

• Chu Bai led eight hundred Black-Armored Guards into the Left Route Army’s lavish camp, shocking its residents with their discipline and murderous aura.
• Grand Elder Lu and other commanders probed Chu Bai’s chariot with divine sense, but Chu Bai absorbed their attack and chose the remote Northwind Pass for his camp.
• Pang Song and Hu Hao reported that the Lu Household sought the Spirit Stone Vein, other Aristocratic Clans planned to plunder Lingchang Prefecture, and the County Magistrates were competing for military merit ahead of the Purple Register Heavenly Examination.
• The Li Household, Wang Household, and neighboring County Magistrates visited with gifts and offers, but Chu Bai accepted their presents while refusing to commit to their alliances or schemes.
• Chu Bai ordered his commanders to keep every soldier armored and armed, and to ignore anyone who approached them.

Chu Bai accepted Lu Feng’s order for Anping County to lead the Central Route Vanguard, then used the army’s need for a well-supplied assault force to secure weapons, medicine, and spirit stones from the Aristocratic Clans. Anping County’s eight hundred Black-Armored Guards set out first for Soul-Severing Valley, while Chu Bai planned to use the vanguard’s position to pursue his own aims.

• Lu Feng showed the commanders the beast tide around Soul-Severing Valley and assigned Heavenly Might County to contain its wings and the Aristocratic Clans to provide rear fire support.
• Lu Feng ordered Chu Bai and Anping County’s eight hundred guards to serve as the Central Route Vanguard and spearhead the attack.
• Chu Bai accepted the order, then argued that his troops lacked essential supplies and persuaded Lu Feng to requisition arrows, pills, and spirit stones from the wealthy clans.
• Hu Hao and Zhang Cheng praised Chu Bai’s strategy, and Chu Bai ordered the supplies distributed to his soldiers before the army moved out.
• Anping County’s eight hundred Black-Armored Guards left camp ahead of the main force and marched toward Soul-Severing Valley.

Chu Bai uncovered a demon ambush at Soul-Severing Valley by tracing the earth veins and devised a plan to turn the Demon Ape and Lu Feng’s army against each other. After Lu Feng ordered Anping County’s vanguard to attack, Chu Bai crushed the communication Jade Slip and led his troops out to begin his scheme.

• Chu Bai hid the eight hundred Black-Armored Guards in an abandoned hematite pit near Soul-Severing Valley and sent Hu Hao’s scouts to reconnoiter the demons.
• Chu Bai used the Locust Elder’s life-bound root to probe the earth veins and discovered a disciplined demon formation of thirty thousand beasts, two Foundation Establishment Demon Kings, and a half-step Purple Abode Azure-Eyed Golden-Pupiled Ape waiting behind the Blood-Baleful Poison Miasma.
• Chu Bai learned that the demons had laid a trap for the vanguard and suspected the Lu Household intended to use Anping County as bait.
• Chu Bai ordered his troops to stop three li from the miasma, unleash poisoned crossbow volleys at the hidden Demon Ape, then feign a rout toward Lu Feng’s main army and escape along a concealed ridge toward Lingchang Prefecture’s resources.
• Lu Feng sent Chu Bai a final order to attack immediately and threatened to execute him for delay.
• Chu Bai crushed the Jade Slip, ordered the army to load its Armor-Piercing Poison Arrows, and led it out to deliver his planned surprise.

Chu Bai led the Anping Army toward Soul-Severing Valley, where he exposed the demons’ ambush and lured their forces into pursuit. He directed the retreating army toward the Great Wall Prefecture Left Route Army’s main camp, bringing the demon tide with them.

• Chu Bai halted the eight hundred Black-Armored Guards before they entered the demons’ pocket formation and ordered three volleys of poisoned armor-piercing bolts into the miasma.
• The bolts killed hundreds of demon generals and wounded the Azure-Eyed Golden-Pupiled Ape, driving the Demon King into a rage.
• Chu Bai taunted the ape with news of a hundred-thousand-strong coalition army, then ordered the Anping Army to stage a panicked retreat.
• The Black-Armored Guards abandoned prepared banners and supplies before escaping along a concealed ridge passage toward the Left Route Army’s main camp.
• The Azure-Eyed Golden-Pupiled Ape sent thirty thousand demon beasts after the Anping Army, and Chu Bai led the pursuing tide toward the camp of Lu Feng and the Li Household and Wang Household leaders.

Chu Bai waited as the demon tide devastated the Great Wall Prefecture Left Route Army, then led Anping County’s rested Black-Armored Guards into battle and killed the exhausted Demon King. With Lu Feng gravely wounded, Chu Bai seized the Commander’s Seal and claimed command of the battlefield.

• Lu Feng and the Li and Wang Household heads mocked Anping County, but a demon tide of thirty thousand beasts stormed their camp with the Azure-Eyed Golden-Pupiled Ape at its head.
• Chu Bai kept Anping County’s eight hundred Black-Armored Guards hidden on a snowy cliff while the demon tide and the coalition army exhausted each other.
• Lu Feng fought the Demon King with the Black-and-Yellow Formation-Breaking Seal, but the clash left him near death and the ape badly wounded and drained.
• Chu Bai ordered Hu Hao, Pang Song, Zhang Cheng, and the Black-Armored Guards to attack the demon tide’s flank, then slew the Demon King with one sword stroke.
• With the surviving beasts fleeing and Lu Feng helpless, Chu Bai took the Commander’s Seal and announced that command of the battlefield should pass to someone else.

Chu Bai seized the Left Route Army’s command seal after defeating the demon tide, imprisoned Lu Feng, and forced the surviving troops to submit. He reorganized them into the Anping Army and ordered them to rest before marching on Soul-Severing Valley to claim its resources.

• Chu Bai subdued Lu Feng, took the Commander's Seal, and used Anping County’s Black-Armored Guards to compel the surviving commanders and troops to accept his authority.
• Chu Bai appointed Zhang Cheng acting commander, assigned Hu Hao and Pang Song to enforce discipline, and ordered Han Xingmo and Water Earl to assess losses and restore the army.
• Han Xingmo reported that the Left Route Army had suffered devastating losses, but the demon tide had left valuable corpses and exposed a spirit stone vein and herb garden in Soul-Severing Valley.
• Chu Bai declared new rules placing demon spoils and Soul-Severing Valley’s resources under central control, dissolving the clan and county units, and making disobedience punishable by death.
• Chu Bai killed a Wang Household elder who challenged his orders, prompting the clan heads and magistrates to submit to the Anping Army’s rules.
• Chu Bai ordered the army to rest and recover for half a day, then march to Soul-Severing Valley and claim its spirit stones and herbs.

Chu Bai used the clan alliance as bait to draw the demon horde away while Anping County's troops bypassed the battle and stripped Soul-Severing Valley's spirit vein and herbs. He returned toward Great Wall Prefecture's camp with his forces and the spoils, preparing for the next stage of his plan.

• Chu Bai assigned the clan troops to the vanguard and gave them poison arrows, while secretly directing the eight hundred Black-Armored Guards to escape along a mountain route.
• The Li Household head fled when the demon beasts broke through the vanguard, opening the formation and drawing the Azure-Eyed Golden-Pupiled Ape toward the fleeing clansmen.
• Chu Bai activated the formation, and Pang Song led the Black-Armored Guards past the demon tiger and toward the heart of Soul-Severing Valley as the demon horde attacked the clan alliance.
• Chu Bai ordered Han Xingmo to conceal the valley and sent Water Earl, Hu Hao, and Pang Song to secure and harvest the spirit vein and century-old herbs.
• The Azure-Eyed Golden-Pupiled Ape found the valley emptied of its resources and collapsed in despair, while Chu Bai watched from a cliff and ordered his troops to return to the main camp.

After the Demon Beast tide retreated and Qingzhou's relief force advanced, Chu Bai stopped the Left Route Army from pursuing into a suspected Demon King trap and secured its loyalty with fair rewards. He fortified Soul-Severing Valley, sent a politically revised battle report to Great Wall Prefecture, and prepared for a larger conflict.

• Chu Bai arrived at the battered camp with Anping troops and displayed Spirit Stones and spirit herbs, while Han Xingmo reported that the other armies had routed the Demon Beasts and Qingzhou's main force was advancing.
• When the commanders urged a pursuit into the Hundred Thousand Mountains, Chu Bai warned that two Demon Kings were unaccounted for and forbade advances, ordering the army to build defenses around Soul-Severing Valley.
• Chu Bai won the commanders' obedience by promising to protect their soldiers, then distributed rewards to Heavenly Might County and the Li and Wang Households while reprimanding their failures.
• Chu Bai wrote a battle report that blamed Lu Feng's recklessness for the defeat and portrayed his own takeover and halt to the pursuit as necessary leadership, then ordered Su Mu to send it to Zhu Wuji.
• As the survivors built the defensive line and ate Demon King flesh, Chu Bai reflected that the Demon Kings' ambush and Qingzhou's arrival had made the conflict much larger.

Chu Bai strengthened his army and perfected his killing technique, then learned that two Demon Kings had prepared a blood array trap for Great Wall Prefecture’s Central and Right Route armies. He ordered the Left Route Army to hold its defenses and wait for the trap to weaken before intervening.

• Chu Bai fed the Black-Armored Guards Demon King flesh, bringing all eight hundred to qi refining late-stage and winning the surviving magistrates’ and clan leaders’ allegiance.
• Chu Bai absorbed the Mid-Grade Spirit Marrow, reached foundation establishment great perfection, and perfected the Great Five-Phase Annihilation Divine Light Needle.
• Hu Hao returned wounded with scouts and showed Chu Bai an image of the Ten-Thousand Spirits Blood-Transforming Grand Array in Seven-Star Gorge, guarded by the Nine-Headed Venomous Flood Dragon and the Six-Tailed Illusion Fox.
• Chu Bai and his officers saw that the Central and Right Route armies, numbering a hundred thousand, were rushing toward the array after following a trail of abandoned spoils.
• Chu Bai rejected calls to warn or rescue the armies, ordered the Left Route Army to fortify Soul-Severing Valley, and planned to attack after the blood array weakened.

Chu Bai’s decision to hold Soul-Severing Valley proved wise when survivors revealed that the Central and Right Route Armies had been annihilated in a demonic trap. The Southern Pacification General appointed Chu Bai Marshal of the newly reorganized Southern Route Army and gave him the Purple-Gold Tiger Tally, leaving Chu poised to consolidate power across Great Wall Prefecture’s Southern Border.

• Three wounded survivors from the Central Route Army reached Chu Bai’s camp and reported that the Central and Right Route Armies had been destroyed at Seven-Star Gorge.
• The survivors and the Left Route Army recognized that Chu Bai’s order to hold Soul-Severing Valley had saved their thirty thousand soldiers.
• The Southern Pacification General arrived aboard a warship, summoned Chu Bai, and examined his battle report and recordings.
• The Southern Pacification General praised Chu Bai for preserving the Left Route Army and killing a half-step Purple Abode Demon King.
• The Southern Pacification General reorganized the remaining forces into the Great Wall Prefecture Southern Route Army and appointed Chu Bai its marshal, granting him the Purple-Gold Tiger Tally and broad wartime authority.
• Chu Bai accepted the appointment and resolved to bring the Southern Border’s military resources and clan wealth under Anping County’s control.

Chu Bai rebuilt the shattered Southern Route Army, led it through a months-long counteroffensive that reclaimed seven county towns, and helped end the demonic tide in Lingchang Prefecture. Ordered to return to Great Wall Prefecture for rewards, he suspected the Prefect and defeated aristocratic clans would target his victorious army, but marched home regardless.

• Chu Bai learned that Great Zhou’s reinforcements and the Purple Abode Realm Pacification General had stabilized the front, while Great Wall Prefecture’s central and right armies had been destroyed and its Left Route Army had suffered catastrophic losses.
• Chu Bai ordered his troops to gather defeated soldiers and refugees, enforce Anping County’s military regulations, and reorganize; within half a month, the army grew to fifty thousand disciplined soldiers.
• Chu Bai led the Southern Route Army in a nearly six-month counteroffensive, using formations, talismans, and the Black-Armored Guards to defeat demons and reclaim seven county towns.
• Chu Bai killed a peak Foundation Establishment Two-Headed Windfire Demon Wolf with the Great Five-Phase Annihilation Divine Light Needle, earning the awe of his troops and securing its carcass for Anping County.
• The Southern Pacification General declared Lingchang Prefecture recovered and ordered Chu Bai to return to Great Wall Prefecture to report and receive rewards according to merit.
• Chu Bai warned Zhang Cheng and Hu Hao that Great Wall Prefecture’s rulers might try to seize the army’s spoils and strength, then ordered the fifty thousand troops to march back to the prefecture.