Chapter Summaries

At the Dragon Elephant Martial Hall’s grand opening, Xu Mingwei challenged the Wang Clan’s Black Wind School Master to defend the new hall’s standing. Xu Mingwei revealed he had recently reached Xiantian and forced the veteran to concede, then invited another senior to test him.

• Xu Mingwei welcomed guests to the Dragon Elephant Martial Hall as rival clans watched the Xu Household’s attempt to enter Qingjiang County’s martial-hall business.
• The Black Wind School Master challenged the hall’s instructors, and Xu Mingwei stepped forward to fight him himself.
• Xu Mingwei revealed his Xiantian True Qi and matched the veteran school master’s Black Wind Palm in their opening clash.
• Xu Mingwei’s relentless attacks wore down the Black Wind School Master, who accepted Xu Mingwei’s offer to end the test and returned to the Wang Clan’s side.
• Xu Mingwei asked whether another senior would offer him pointers as the crowd watched him with unease.

At the Dragon Elephant Martial Hall’s founding, Xu Mingwei revealed his Xiantian strength and Gu Yiping defeated two school masters at once, forcing Qingjiang County’s powerful households to back down. Xu Chuan heard the news and expected a period of peace, then decided to make Shitou a stronger bow.

• The Wu Household Head and the Heavenly Dragon School Master discussed how to challenge the Dragon Elephant Martial Hall after Xu Mingwei defeated the Black Wind School Master.
• Gu Yiping accepted a challenge from the Heavenly Dragon Hall Master and the Black Tiger School Master, then revealed his Xiantian cultivation and fought them both.
• Gu Yiping blocked the two school masters’ strongest attacks and defeated them, leaving the crowd silent and the five great Aristocratic Clans to depart.
• News of Xu Mingwei and Gu Yiping’s victories spread through Qingjiang County, helped along by Xu Mingyuan.
• Xu Chuan heard the news at the Xu Household’s residence, judged that the county would remain peaceful for a while, and decided to make Shitou a more powerful bow.

Xu Chuan arranged for a powerful bow and arrows to be forged for Xu Mingwei, who named them the Frost Bow and Cloud-Piercing Arrows. Later, Yang Ronghua gave birth to a son, and the family named him Xu Dezhao.

• Xu Chuan learned that Li Zhi had joined the Dragon Elephant Martial Arts School and urged Xu Mingyuan to have Master Gu train him.
• Xu Chuan commissioned a secret, powerful bow for Xu Mingwei, expecting it to let him kill a late-stage Xiantian Martial Artist from long range.
• Xu Mingyuan presented Xu Mingwei with the newly forged bow and arrows, which Xu Mingwei named the Frost Bow and Cloud-Piercing Arrows.
• After Yang Ronghua went into labor, Xu Mingwei waited anxiously outside until a maid announced the birth of a boy.
• Xu Mingwei comforted Yang Ronghua, while Bai Jing held the newborn and Xu Chuan asked about his name.
• Xu Mingwei named his son Xu Dezhao, following the family generation sequence.

After Xu Dezhao’s birth, Xu Chuan assessed the seven fate talents revealed by the genealogy while Bai Jing arranged a meeting between Xu Mingyuan and a young woman from the Wu Household. Xu Mingyuan reluctantly agreed to meet her, insisting that the final marriage decision remain his.

• Xu Chuan celebrated Xu Dezhao’s birth by rewarding the household servants and guards.
• Bai Jing urged Xu Chuan to arrange Xu Mingyuan’s marriage to the Wu Household’s second daughter, and Xu Chuan agreed to let her speak with their son.
• Xu Chuan examined the seven fate talents associated with Xu Dezhao and considered which ones suited himself and the Xu Household.
• Bai Jing told Xu Mingyuan she would invite Madam Wu and Miss Wu to visit, and he went to Xu Chuan to protest.
• Xu Chuan persuaded Xu Mingyuan to meet Miss Wu, and Xu Mingyuan agreed on the condition that he would make the final decision.
• Xu Mingyuan told Xu Mingwei about the arrangement, and Xu Mingwei approved of the Wu Household as a match.

Xu Mingyuan met Wu Rushan during a visit arranged between the Xu and Wu Households, and their awkward introduction turned into a sparring match. After they bonded over the Xu family’s past and Wu Rushan’s martial talent, she asked him to marry her, leaving him stunned.

• Madam Wu and Wu Rushan arrived at the Xu Household, where Bai Jing welcomed them and introduced Xu Mingyuan to his prospective bride.
• Bai Jing took Madam Wu aside, leaving Xu Mingyuan to show Wu Rushan around.
• Wu Rushan challenged Xu Mingyuan to spar, and he discovered that she was a Third-Rate Martial Artist.
• After the spar, Xu Mingyuan praised Wu Rushan’s talent and told her about his father’s belief that men and women were equal in a household.
• Wu Rushan asked Xu Mingyuan to marry her, and he stood dumbstruck.

Xu Mingyuan agreed to marry Wu Rushan in a political alliance between the Xu and Wu Households, and the families publicly announced their engagement at the Xu grandson’s one-month celebration. The other aristocratic households met with the Wu Household afterward, while Qingjiang County remained peaceful.

• Xu Mingyuan accepted Wu Rushan’s proposal that they marry for their households’ mutual benefit, and Xu Chuan approved the match.
• The Wu Household agreed to the marriage alliance, and Wu Rushan’s mother told her the news and learned that she approved of Xu Mingyuan.
• A month later, the Wu Household attended the Xu grandson’s one-month celebration, where Xu Chuan announced Xu Mingyuan and Wu Rushan’s betrothal and wedding plans.
• The Fang, Wang, He, and Cao Households visited the Wu Household the next day, but Qingjiang County stayed calm.

Xu Chuan discovered that Xu Dezhao had a Ninth Rank False Fire Virtue Bloodline, and Xu Mingwei asked the Yang Household to test whether Dezhao had inherited its special bloodline. Yang Zhao borrowed a Bloodline Stone, and Yang Shichang arrived at the Xu Household to carry out the test.

• Xu Chuan told Xu Mingwei that Xu Dezhao possessed the False Fire Virtue Bloodline, and Xu Mingwei wondered whether it came from the Yang Household.
• Xu Mingwei asked Yang Ronghua about her family's bloodline, and she agreed to write to her family asking them to test Xu Dezhao.
• Yang Shichang received Yang Ronghua's letter and discussed the bloodline test with Madam Yang and Yang Zhao.
• Yang Zhao borrowed a Bloodline Stone and sent Yang Shichang to Qingjiang County to test Xu Dezhao.
• Yang Shichang reached Dongxi Village and was escorted to the South Mountain Courtyard to meet Xu Mingwei.

Yang Shichang visited the Xu Household, learned of Xu Dezhao’s pure Yang Household bloodline and Xu Mingwei’s Xiantian strength, then returned to the Commandery Seat. As a worsening drought drove villagers to sell their land, Xu Mingwei and Xu Mingyuan questioned Xu Chuan about the household’s growing purchases.

• Yang Shichang tested Xu Dezhao’s bloodline and found it exceptionally pure, making him eligible to seek Yang Household martial arts instruction.
• Yang Shichang sparred with Xu Mingwei, discovered that Xu Mingwei had reached Xiantian, and heard how he had defeated the Black Wind School Master.
• Yang Shichang visited Xu Chuan, then left for the Commandery Seat; Xu Mingwei comforted Yang Ronghua and promised they would visit her family.
• After three months without rain, crops withered, prices rose, and desperate Dongxi Village commoners sold land to the Xu Household for work.
• Xu Mingwei and Xu Mingyuan asked Xu Chuan whether the household should keep buying land during the drought, and Xu Mingyuan wondered if his father meant to win the people’s hearts.

Xu Chuan planned to use the drought to strengthen the Xu Household’s land holdings while limiting crop losses with irrigation designs and other inventions. As other families struggled with their losses, Bai Fu went to the Xu Household to visit his daughter, Bai Jing.

• Xu Chuan explained to Xu Mingyuan and Xu Mingwei why the household should buy land during the drought, then showed them designs for waterwheels, pipes, shade gauze, and other ways to protect crops and profit.
• Xu Chuan inspected the medicinal herb fields and reviewed his improved medicinal cuisine, which he supplied to Xu Mingyuan and a few others.
• Qingjiang’s aristocratic clans mocked the Xu Household for taking in people and buying land during the drought.
• Bai Fu, Bai Hua, and Bai Fang’s household argued over their drought-stricken farmland, and Bai Fu agreed to ask the Xu Household for help.
• Bai Fu reached the Xu Household’s mansion, where Bai Jing was surprised to see him and asked whether he had come to visit Zhao'er.

Bai Jing gave Bai Fu money to cover the Bai Household’s losses from the drought and urged Bai Hua to make the household a vassal of the Xu Household. Xu Chuan approved the proposal, and the Bai Household joined the Xu Household, with Bai Hua’s son entering the Dragon Elephant Martial Hall.

• Bai Jing gave Bai Fu two thousand taels and suggested that the Bai Household become a vassal of the Xu Household.
• Bai Fu told Bai Hua about Bai Jing’s proposal, and Bai Hua agreed to discuss joining the Xu Household.
• Bai Hua asked Xu Mingwei to accept the Bai Household as a vassal, and Xu Mingwei said he would consult Xu Chuan.
• Xu Mingwei explained the Bai Household’s drought losses to Xu Chuan, who approved accepting them.
• The Bai Household joined the Xu Household, and Bai Hua’s six-year-old son entered the Dragon Elephant Martial Hall.

As the drought devastated Qingjiang County, the Xu Household protected its crops and property while famine, violence, and the Xu Lineage’s destruction brought grief to the family. A band of armed looters planned an attack on the Xu Household, but their scarred leader grew suspicious of Xu Gan’s advice.

• The Xu Household irrigated its fields and shaded its orchards and medicine plots, allowing its harvests to survive while drought drove villagers to sell their land.
• As famine and attacks spread across Qingjiang County, the Xu Lineage’s residence burned down, and Bai Hua told Bai Jing that the Zeng Household and her second sister were gone.
• Xu Chuan ordered round-the-clock patrols of the Xu Household’s residence, fields, wooded hills, and businesses, with signal cannons to warn of attacks.
• A band of looters discussed striking the Xu Household by staging attacks on several properties and using refugees as cover to reach its main residence.
• The scarred leader asked Xu Gan whether he was deliberately goading him into attacking the Xu Household.

Xu Gan persuaded the bandit gang to target the Xu Household while secretly hoping both sides would be destroyed. After Xu Mingxuan sensed danger and Xu Chuan received an ominous divination, Xu Chuan assigned defenses across the household’s properties and prepared for the attack that night.

• Xu Gan encouraged the Scarred Middle-Aged Man and the gang to plunder the Xu Household, and they agreed to investigate it before attacking.
• Xu Mingxuan reported suspicious strangers and his lingering unease to Xu Chuan, who urged him to trust his instincts.
• Xu Chuan’s divination warned that a houtian peak expert would lead many refugees in an assault during the hour of the pig.
• Xu Chuan assigned guards and family members to defend the Orchard, Medicine Field, Farmland, main gate, and Watchtower, ordering them to kill intruders without mercy.
• Gu Yiping offered to help, and Xu Chuan arranged for them to watch the Orchard and Medicine Field in secret.

The Xu Household’s ambush catches the attackers at Dongxi Village, and Xu Mingwei protects the residence by shooting down the Scarred Middle-Aged Man and his entire force. The other Xu siblings and their guards defeat the raiders at the Orchard, Medicine Field, and Farmland.

• The Scarred Middle-Aged Man split his men into groups to raid the Orchard, Medicine Field, and Farmland while he led the rest toward the Xu Residence.
• Xu Mingyuan and Xu Mingxian fought the raiders at the Orchard, with Xu Mingxian displaying formidable swordsmanship.
• Xu Mingshu and the White Tiger ambushed the Medicine Field raiders, killed Third, and drove the rest into chaos.
• Xu Mingxuan’s guards overwhelmed the attackers at the Farmland with their superior martial strength.
• Xu Mingwei spotted the main force approaching, killed the Scarred Middle-Aged Man with an arrow, then shot down the remaining attackers with more than a hundred and fifty arrows.

Xu Chuan’s household defeated a bandit group and secured supplies while preparing for the worsening drought. The chapter ended with Qingjiang County officials deciding to seek aid from the Commandery Seat and threatening rebellion if ignored.

• Xu Chuan joined his sons at the bandits’ hideout, killed the two surviving bandits, and ordered their supplies taken back to the Xu Household.
• Xu Mingshu returned on White Tiger and borrowed Beast-Taming Wonders, while Xu Mingwei and Xu Mingyuan registered the bandits’ spoils.
• Xu Chuan estimated that the drought might end within a month or two and advised digging wells near Jade-Cold Pool and conserving water.
• Xu Chuan reflected that the Great Wei Dynasty prioritized its foundations and that the Xu Household could rely on its own strength rather than official positions.
• County Magistrate Wu and County Commandant Fang decided to ask neighboring officials to join them in seeking aid from the Commandery Seat, with Fang threatening rebellion if the crisis continued.

As drought-stricken Moon Lake Commandery received immortal officials and rain, Xu Chuan directed the Xu Household to buy distressed land, take in returning farmers, and build a lake to protect its fields. Xu Chuan also planned to pass household leadership to Xu Mingwei and financial management to Xu Mingyuan, while an immortal official was due to arrive in Dongxi Village to summon rain.

• Xu Mingwei visited the Wu Household and confirmed that Xu Yuan’s betrothal ceremony would be canceled.
• Yang Zhao proposed sending memorials for immortal officials to summon rain and oversee county officials, and Commandery Governor Chang ordered new conscription rules.
• Immortal officials brought some rain relief to the drought-stricken counties, and refugees returned to villages devastated by famine.
• Xu Chuan ordered Xu Mingyuan to spend a hundred thousand taels buying fields and wooded hills, and told him he would eventually manage the Xu Household’s finances while Xu Mingwei became household head.
• Xu Mingyuan gained County Magistrate Wu’s approval for the land purchases, while Xu Mingwei organized more than a thousand workers to dig a lake for the Xu Household’s fields.
• Xu Chuan’s divination revealed that an immortal official would arrive in Dongxi Village during the hour of the dragon to summon rain.

Immortal Official Xiao Changyuan visited the Xu Household and explained why cultivators served Great Wei despite their pursuit of the Great Dao. He then showed Xu Chuan his rain-calling spell by replenishing a dry pond in Dongxi Village.

• Xiao Changyuan questioned Sun Fugui about the Xu Household's lake excavation and learned that the household fed more than a thousand laborers during the drought.
• Sun Fugui brought Xiao Changyuan to meet Xu Chuan, who welcomed him and confirmed that he was an Immortal Official from Dragon River Commandery.
• Xiao Changyuan explained that cultivators generally obeyed Great Wei in exchange for its protection and resources, while rogue cultivators answered mainly to profit.
• Xu Chuan explained that he had ordered the lake dug as protection against future droughts, and Xiao Changyuan agreed that its size would provide a substantial reserve.
• Xu Chuan asked to watch Xiao Changyuan cast a spell, and Xiao Changyuan summoned rain that began filling a dry pond in Dongxi Village.

Xu Chuan bought a Testing Crystal from Xiao Changyuan and revealed to Xu Mingyuan that the Xu Household could enter immortal cultivation through martial training. When the county imposed compulsory military service amid the continuing drought, Xu Mingxuan and other Xu Household members enlisted, and the conscripts gathered to leave for the border with Great Liang.

• Xiao Changyuan explained cultivation aptitude and martial-to-immortal conversion, then sold Xu Chuan a Testing Crystal for a hundred thousand taels.
• Xu Chuan instructed Xu Mingwei to test the Xu Household’s members and revealed the crystal’s secret to him; Xu Mingwei then told Xu Mingyuan about their path into immortal cultivation.
• County officials issued a strict conscription decree, requiring households with two males over thirteen to send one to serve, and Xu Chuan ordered his family not to desert.
• Xu Mingxuan, Li Zhi, Chen Daniu, Bai Hui, and other Xu Household members enlisted after the recruitment officials arrived in Dongxi Village.
• After the Year Sacrifice, the conscripts assembled outside Qingjiang County’s southern gate as their families gathered to see them off on their journey to the border with Great Liang.

Xu Mingxuan left with the army as his family urged him to stay safe, while the Xu Household prepared to grow stronger in his absence. After ten days of rain ended the drought, Xu Chuan expanded the household’s farming and businesses, developed a powerful Xiantian medicinal cuisine, and looked ahead to Xu Mingyuan’s wedding and the family’s rising influence.

• Xu Mingxuan said farewell to the Xu Household and marched away with the army, leaving Xu Chuan to urge the family to become stronger before his return.
• The small lake in Dongxi Village was completed, and heavy rain began at the Wei Hour on the second day of the second month, continuing for ten days.
• Xu Chuan prepared drainage channels to protect the household’s farmland, then had Xu Mingwei gather white cloth for greenhouse cultivation as the Xu Household expanded its farming and hired workers selectively.
• Commerce in Qingjiang County recovered, the Xu Household’s shops thrived, and Xu Mingshu and Xu Mingxian trained at home in hopes of reaching Xiantian before Xu Mingxuan returned.
• Xu Chuan completed the Five Elements Returning to Origin medicinal cuisine, which could nearly triple cultivation speed when used with the Xiantian Five Elements Creation Art.
• Xu Chuan discussed the expensive medicinal cuisine and Xu Mingyuan’s upcoming wedding with Xu Mingwei, while saying he expected Qingjiang to belong to the Xu Household in five years.

Four years after the Xu Household’s wedding, Xu Mingshu defeated Wu Youdao when he challenged her, deepening the Wu Household’s fear of the Xu family’s growing strength. The Xu Household expanded across neighboring counties and developed powerful guards and medicinal cuisine that accelerated its members’ cultivation.

• Xu Mingyuan’s wedding to Wu Rushan went ahead, while Xu Mingshu beat a wealthy young man who tried to claim her and Bai Jing rejected Madam Zhu’s proposal to marry her son to Xu Mingshu.
• Wu Youdao challenged Xu Mingshu during a marriage proposal visit and was carried home injured, prompting the Wu Household Head to fear the Xu Household’s strength and seek an alliance against it.
• The Xu Household resisted the Five Great Aristocratic Clans’ attempts to damage its fields and businesses, then expanded into five neighboring county seats and amassed wealth rapidly.
• Xu Mingyuan and Wu Rushan had a daughter, Xu Dejing, and Xu Mingwei and Yang Ronghua had a son, Xu Dewen.
• By the fourth year, Xu Mingxian had reached the Houtian peak, while Xu Mingshu and Xu Mingyuan approached it through the Xu Household’s training resources.
• Xu Chuan developed three medicinal cuisines for different cultivation levels, enabling Xu Household descendants to advance faster through the Houtian stage.

Xu Chuan completed the Xiantian Five Elements Creation Art, forged his spiritual root, and discovered that he had mixed spiritual root aptitude. As he considered how to build the Xu Household’s future, he recognized the scarcity of spiritual energy in Qingjiang County and the potential of demon beasts.

• Xu Mingwei and Yang Ronghua accepted that the Yang Household would not pass its Inherited Martial Art to Xu Dezhao, and agreed he would cultivate the Little Dragon Elephant Art after building a foundation.
• Xu Chuan’s Black Iron Fruit-fed white tiger transformed into an early Qi Refining demon beast and grew more powerful and intelligent.
• Xu Chuan completed the Xiantian Five Elements Creation Art and tested his newly formed spiritual root, discovering mixed spiritual root aptitude.
• Xu Chuan sensed the scarcity of local spiritual energy and considered having Shitou capture variant beast cubs for Xueji to tame and raise into demon beasts.