Chapter Summaries

Plot and key events

• The Origin Sect’s rise has alarmed the Heavenly Martial Sect. Grand Elder Zhang Shengming abandons his plan to attack the sect and seize its Dao artifact after learning it now has more than a thousand Spirit God Realm cultivators.
• Elder Feng urges the Heavenly Martial Sect to join other factions in claiming the Liangshan Spirit Domain’s newly formed resources. Zhang agrees the opportunity may not last, but worries his sect could bear the risks if an alliance turns against it.
• The Origin Sect suppresses outside cultivators who had been causing trouble. Its Heaven and Earth Bow and Cloud-Piercing Arrow killed three Sky-Soaring Realm experts, frightening the remaining outsiders into caution.
• Qin Shujian begins populating the newly completed Liangshan City. Though it is not yet open to large-scale settlement or commerce, it has begun to thrive as a center for the Origin Sect’s members and trade.
• Golden Sun Sect elder Yang Zhongning visits. Xu Yuanming welcomes him on Qin’s behalf and shows him the city, its dense spiritual energy, shops, markets, and strict ban on unauthorized fighting. Yang is impressed and considers whether his sect might establish a presence there.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhang Shengming shifts from contemplating aggression to cautious observation, though Elder Feng’s argument rekindles his interest in acting before the Origin Sect consolidates its power.
• Elder Feng emerges as an advocate for bold action, arguing that the Heavenly Martial Sect must seize resources rather than wait.
• Yang Zhongning approaches Liangshan City with awe and growing respect for the Origin Sect. His exchange with Xu Yuanming is polite and exploratory; he does not openly commit to seeking a foothold, but clearly considers the possibility.
• Xu Yuanming acts as a courteous representative and promotes the city’s facilities, while keeping its true population—largely Origin Sect members and players—unmentioned.

Significant themes

• Power and deterrence: The Origin Sect’s numbers and Dao artifacts have made even major factions hesitate to challenge it.
• Opportunity versus caution: The Heavenly Martial Sect must weigh the rewards of claiming new resources against the danger of provoking a stronger rival.
• Institution-building and influence: Liangshan City supports the Origin Sect through trade, services, and potential alliances, extending its influence beyond military strength.

Plot points and events

• After the Liangshan region advances into a Spirit Domain, Qin Shujian gathers representatives from its major sects. Outside cultivators—some from Great Domains—are targeting the region’s newly abundant spiritual resources and sect-guarding weapons.
• Qin explains that the Origin Sect has been traveling throughout the domain to repel attackers and restore stability. He points out that the Ten Thousand Splendors Sect was destroyed, while many other sects have suffered attacks.
• Recognizing their weakness against Spirit Martial Realm cultivators, the sect leaders ask Qin for protection. He offers a twenty-year arrangement: each sect will pay the Origin Sect two million taels annually, and the Origin Sect will protect them from outside cultivators. The guarantee does not cover conflicts the sects provoke themselves.
• Though the tribute is steep, every sect agrees. The arrangement will bring the Origin Sect twenty-four million taels each year. Qin ends the meeting with a toast, privately concluding that collecting protection money is an effective way to sustain a sect.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Shujian presents himself as the domain’s protector, but also skillfully turns the sects’ desperation into a lucrative, binding arrangement. His sternness—and his suggestion that Shen Yue could “go back and think about it”—makes clear that refusal would be dangerous.
• Qingxu, leader of the Azure Cloud Sect, openly praises Qin and quickly agrees to the tribute. Their known behind-the-scenes connection makes his support appear both politically convenient and self-serving.
• Yang Zhongning and the other leaders understand that Qin holds overwhelming power, but initially follow Qingxu’s lead in praising him rather than challenge him.
• Qi Yunshu of the Water Moon Sect and Li Fei of the Nine Rivers Sect take the initiative in asking for protection, setting the tone for the others.
• Shen Yue briefly questions the price, then quickly backs down when Qin implies she could leave and reconsider.
• Guihai Chuan represents the Heavenly Blade Sect, which has resisted repeated attacks but suffered heavily, underscoring that even the strongest sects besides the Origin Sect are vulnerable.

Significant themes

• Protection and power: The Origin Sect’s genuine defense of the region is inseparable from its use of military dominance to demand tribute.
• Pragmatism under coercion: The sects accept an unfavorable deal because survival matters more than independence.
• Political hypocrisy: Public praise and gratitude mask private awareness of the unequal relationship.
• Institutional survival: The chapter reframes a sect’s finances and security as matters of power, with Qin treating protection payments as a practical model for sustaining the Origin Sect.

Key plot points and events

• Sect Master Li questions whether the Origin Sect can protect the twelve allied sects across the vast Liangshan Spirit Domain. Qin Shujian promises to station five Spirit God Realm cultivators at each sect, then withdraw them once he establishes Teleportation Gates linking them to Liangshan City within a year.
• Qin proposes that the sects open shops in Liangshan City, offering protection in exchange for rent and a five-percent annual tax on net profits. Xu Yuanming is assigned to negotiate the details.
• Three days later, all twelve sects pay their agreed two million taels of silver. The Chengyun Trading Company also delivers supplies, and its branch manager, Gu Feng, asks to open a branch in Liangshan City. Qin readily agrees.
• Xiao Hong arrives from the Marquis of Northcloud’s Manor with congratulations and a gift for Qin’s breakthrough and the domain’s advancement. He warns that neighboring domains may covet Liangshan’s new status and that the marquis cannot intervene freely in conflicts among cultivation forces.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Shujian displays confidence in his plans, using his knowledge of forging to anticipate creating Teleportation Gates himself. He also shows political and commercial ambition by seeking to make Liangshan City a prosperous hub, while remaining respectful toward the marquis.
• The other sect leaders are uneasy about Origin Sect cultivators being stationed in their territory, but accept the arrangement because reliable protection and rapid travel are valuable.
• Gu Feng reflects on his rise alongside the Origin Sect: from a minor branch manager to head of a spirit-domain branch. His company’s investment in Liangshan demonstrates the growing influence of Qin and the city.
• Xiao Hong treats Qin as an equal but delivers a sober warning about the dangers of rising prominence. Qin understands the risk yet rejects retreat as a general strategy.

Significant themes

• Power and security: Protection requires trust and may also imply outside influence over allied sects.
• Ambition and development: Qin aims to build Liangshan City into a commercial center, strengthening the domain through trade as well as force.
• Rising status and danger: The domain’s advancement brings prestige, investment, and opportunity—but also attracts envy and potential enemies.
• Pragmatism versus caution: Xiao advises restraint; Qin believes backing down can create greater harm than confronting threats.

Key plot points and events

• Xiao Hong relays the Marquis of Northcloud’s offer to support the Origin Sect if it faces trouble, while explaining that the imperial court cannot openly interfere in cultivation-world disputes. Qin Shujian accepts the goodwill and sees Xiao Hong off.
• Qin examines the three Soul-Stabilizing Pills the marquis sent. They are valuable Fifth-Tier pills, but useless to Qin at his current stage, so he stores them.
• Qin cultivates the Origin Return Ancestral Canon through the night. His Spirit God roams above Liangshan, drawing in spiritual energy and feeding it into his greatly expanded Dantian.
• Just before dawn, Qin senses danger and quickly recalls his Spirit God. He realizes that a newly formed Spirit God is vulnerable to sunlight and that he must grow stronger to protect himself and the sect.
• Reviewing Xiao Hong’s map, Qin notes that Zhang Ergou and Zhao Shanlin have helped clear many sealed Evil Fiends, leaving about thirty-eight locations. He plans to hunt the rest for Fortune Value, which he hopes to use to upgrade Thousand Mountain Blood into a Three-Mark Dao Artifact.
• Qin concludes that raising the Origin Sect’s level is too costly for now. He also keeps his unusual abilities—hunting Evil Fiends for fortune and absorbing other factions’ fortune—secret, knowing that revealing them could bring dangerous attention.

Character developments

• Qin Shujian displays resolve and caution. He accepts the marquis’s support without surrendering his independence, studies the limits of his new Spirit God, and develops a practical plan to increase his power through equipment upgrades.
• Xiao Hong acts as a respectful intermediary, conveying the marquis’s position and gifts, then leaves once his task is complete.
• Zhang Ergou and Zhao Shanlin are shown contributing to the sect’s efforts by clearing Evil Fiend seals, though they do not appear directly.

Significant themes

• Power and vulnerability: Qin’s Spirit Martial advancement grants him extraordinary spiritual reach and energy absorption, but also introduces new dangers.
• Strategic self-reliance: Qin values outside goodwill but plans to strengthen the Origin Sect through his own efforts.
• Secrecy and political risk: His unique ways of gaining fortune could provoke forces beyond his ability to manage if exposed.
• Limits of advancement: Cultivation, faction growth, and artifact upgrades all require scarce resources, forcing Qin to choose where to invest.

Character interactions

• Xiao Hong offers the marquis’s backing and explains its limits; Qin responds with thanks while maintaining a measured, independent stance.
• Qin’s interactions with Zhang Ergou and Zhao Shanlin are indirect: their work clearing Evil Fiends shapes his remaining options and plans.
• Qin leaves the osmanthus tree undisturbed, allowing the faint possibility of sentience to develop naturally.

Key plot points and events

• Qin Shujian travels by Teleportation Gate from the Liangshan Spirit Domain to Dingzhou City in the distant Dingbian True Domain, then heads toward a neighboring Mortal Domain to investigate an evil fiend sealed there.
• Players recognize him as the famous Liangshan Stronghold Chief, though most dismiss the resemblance because he is not carrying his renowned saber.
• Qin Shujian discovers that the True Domain’s restrictions severely limit his spiritual sense. He cannot fly by relying on it, so he uses a movement technique instead. The Mortal Domain’s restrictions prove even stronger.
• At a mist-covered valley, he finds an Eight-Pointed Star Array sealing the fiend. He recognizes the mist as part of a concealment formation and identifies the array as a powerful Demon-Sealing Grand Formation, sustained by the land’s energy and anchored by eight bronze pillars.

Character developments

• Qin Shujian’s reputation among players has shifted: once feared as a powerful boss, he is now viewed as an elusive, potentially benevolent NPC and a possible source of advancement for those who could join his sect.
• His interests are expanding beyond forging. Studying the seal gives him a new appreciation for the independent depth of array mastery, even though he remains close to the pinnacle of forging.

Significant themes

• Power and limits: Even a formidable cultivator must respect the restrictions of the region he enters; trying to overpower them could bring lethal heavenly retribution.
• Recognition and reputation: Qin’s fame precedes him, but distance, appearances, and his missing saber make players doubt what they see.
• Different paths of cultivation: The chapter questions whether arrays are merely a branch of forging or a discipline with its own expertise.
• Craftsmanship and complexity: The formation’s full celestial-cycle design shows how careful construction can make a seal stronger than brute force.

Character interactions

• Qin has brief, indirect contact with Dingzhou’s guards, who recognize his identity and treat him respectfully.
• Players spot and pursue him, then debate whether he really is the Liangshan Stronghold Chief.
• His main “interaction” is with the ancient formation: by examining its runes and structure, he learns about the skill and knowledge of its creators—and begins reconsidering the relationship between forging and arrays.

Summary

Qin Shujian studies the Eight-Pointed Demon-Sealing Grand Formation and recognizes how much more efficiently an Array Master can use runes than a Forging Grandmaster. Determined to learn from the formation rather than destroy it by force, he identifies a tiny flaw and inserts a series of carefully arranged runes. The formation collapses: its bronze pillars shatter, and the sealed Evil Fiend emerges.
The fiend, Evil Lord Wanchuan, is struck by twenty-one bolts of tribulation lightning as he escapes. He survives, releases a vast amount of demonic qi, and confronts Qin Shujian. Both boast of defeating the other: Wanchuan plans to turn Qin and the region into part of his demonic forces, while Qin calmly promises to kill him.
Their battle becomes a test of Qin’s recent breakthrough and fused cultivation method. He uses the Great Wilderness Demon-Suppressing Seal, then relies increasingly on his transformed body and overwhelming physical strength. With four cosmic heavenly locks and his newly developed Immortal Wisdom King Body, Qin steadily overwhelms Wanchuan. His relentless attacks break the fiend’s body markings, send him crashing into a crater, and leave him badly wounded. The chapter ends as Qin brings down another Demon-Suppressing Seal, apparently poised to finish him.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Shujian demonstrates both technical ingenuity and combat confidence. He evolves from studying the formation to exploiting its weakness, then treats Wanchuan as a test of his own strength and cultivation.
• Evil Lord Wanchuan begins the fight arrogantly, confident in his “supreme methods,” but becomes shocked and helpless as Qin’s attacks prevent him from retaliating.
• Their exchange is a direct contest of boasts and power: Wanchuan threatens conquest and conversion, while Qin answers with calm defiance and increasingly forceful attacks.
• Qin has sent Zhang Ergou and Zhao Shanlin elsewhere with his weapons to hunt other Evil Fiends, leaving him to fight Wanchuan alone.

Significant themes

• Knowledge versus force: Qin’s understanding of runes lets him dismantle a powerful formation through precision rather than brute strength.
• Growth through testing: He uses a dangerous opponent to discover the limits of his breakthrough and fused cultivation.
• Confidence and dominance: Qin’s controlled composure turns into fierce momentum as he takes command of the battle.

Key plot points and events

• Qin Shujian fights the Myriad Rivers Fiend Lord, whose body repeatedly heals by drawing on the valley’s demonic qi. Qin dismisses the fiend’s “undying” nature, explaining that it can recover only when its damage does not outpace its ability to regenerate.
• Qin overwhelms the fiend with relentless attacks, sustaining his own power through abundant true qi, rapid recovery, and immense blood and qi.
• He brings the Wisdom King Karmic Fire into the fight. The flame burns away the fiend’s black markings and prevents it from regenerating, even as demonic qi feeds the fire.
• Qin destroys the Myriad Rivers Fiend Lord. The fire then consumes the fiend’s remains and the valley’s demonic qi, forming a pale-red fire lotus.
• Absorbing the lotus strengthens Qin’s Wisdom King Karmic Fire, body, and suppressed divine sense. His spirit god advances from the threshold of the fifth level to the sixth, and he gains 50,000 Life Source points; the kill also grants 10 Fortune Value.
• Qin leaves for Dingzhou City and uses the Teleportation Gate to continue hunting other sealed evil fiends.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Shujian demonstrates confidence in his endurance and combat ability, then discovers a powerful new use for the Wisdom King Karmic Fire. He realizes killing evil fiends can now yield exceptional rewards and is eager to test the discovery further.
• The Myriad Rivers Fiend Lord begins arrogant, trusting in his race’s regenerative bodies. As the fire nullifies his recovery, he becomes frightened—not only of death, but of returning to the Demon Abyss and of what this flame could mean for his race.
• Their interaction is a one-sided battle: the fiend tries to boast and challenge Qin, but Qin’s repeated blows interrupt him until the karmic fire turns the fight decisively against him.

Significant themes

• Power has limits: The fiend’s “undying” body is not invulnerable; its healing can be overwhelmed or countered.
• Discovery through combat: Qin learns the Wisdom King Karmic Fire’s abilities by applying it against an evil fiend.
• Strength and reward: Defeating enemies both advances Qin’s power and provides substantial cultivation resources.
• Foreshadowing: Qin suspects the fused cultivation manual’s remaining trait, “the will of the gods,” also holds untapped potential, though its purpose remains unknown.

Chapter Summary: “Ambush”

Key plot points and events

• Over five days, Qin Shujian travels through Teleportation Gates and kills eleven evil fiends. Zhang Ergou and Zhao Shanlin handle weaker targets with their Dao Artifacts, while Qin takes on fiends sealed by eight- or nine-pointed formations, destroying them with Wisdom King Karmic Fire.
• Devouring the fiends’ red lotuses greatly strengthens Qin’s spirit god, pushing it beyond the sky-soaring realm despite his cultivation manual still limiting him to the fifth level of the Spirit Martial Volume. His fortune value rises to 310.
• With the major threats eliminated, Qin returns to the Liangshan Spirit Domain. The Origin Sect has restored and expanded its buildings, and its forces have imposed order while guarding other sects as promised.
• Qin rewrites the “Origin Sect” inscription at the entrance, infusing it with his fighting spirit, essence, energy, and spirit. The words appear ordinary at first but conceal a potential benefit for disciples who understand them.
• Zheng Fang reports that the great sects of other spirit domains remain suspiciously inactive. Qin orders close surveillance, especially around cities with Teleportation Gates, and recognizes that time to grow stronger would favor the Origin Sect.
• Near Ancient-Suppressing City, Zhao Shanlin senses danger and is ambushed by eight powerful spirit martial cultivators. They seek to steal his two-mark Dao Artifact, Thousand Mountain Blood, before the Origin Sect can respond.
• Zhao’s saber defeats their opening attacks and wounds several attackers, but the assailants escalate the fight. One brings out a Dao Artifact in the form of a mountain-like seal, setting up the next clash.

Character developments

• Qin Shujian becomes substantially stronger through the evil fiends’ red lotuses, though his manual prevents his cultivation from fully reflecting that strength. He also shows pride in the Origin Sect and leaves a subtle, spirit-infused inscription as a gift to its disciples.
• Zheng Fang demonstrates careful political judgment, recognizing that the other sects’ silence may signal a larger plan rather than fear or indifference.
• Zhao Shanlin faces overwhelming odds with composure. Though only at the first level of the spirit martial realm, he relies on the power of Thousand Mountain Blood and refuses to be intimidated.

Significant themes

• Power and foundations: The Origin Sect has grown rapidly but lacks the long history and high-level experts of established sects.
• Vigilance amid apparent peace: The other domains’ inactivity seems more threatening than open hostility, while the ambush reveals the danger gathering beyond the Liangshan Spirit Domain.
• Strength earned through struggle: Qin’s combat and devouring of the red lotuses drive his growth; Zhao survives the opening attack through the power of his Dao Artifact.
• Legacy and hidden potential: Qin’s inscription is both an expression of his fighting spirit and a concealed opportunity for future disciples.

Character interactions

• Qin and Zheng Fang discuss the other sects’ behavior and agree that surveillance is essential.
• Qin’s actions show his concern for the Origin Sect: he preserves his courtyard, oversees the sect’s security indirectly, and leaves its disciples a hidden gift.
• Zhao confronts the ambushers, who reveal that their target is Thousand Mountain Blood. Their greed and urgency reflect their fear that the Origin Sect will discover the attack.

Plot points

• Wang Quan and seven allies ambush Zhao Shanlin. With the support of three one-mark Dao artifacts, they try to overwhelm him and restrain his two-mark saber, Thousand Mountain Blood.
• Thousand Mountain Blood proves unusually powerful: it fights off the three artifacts while continuing to shield Zhao. Realizing the attack is failing, Wang Quan orders a retreat.
• Qin Shujian arrives and reveals his Spirit God manifestation, demonstrating power near the peak of the Spirit Martial Realm. His attack pierces the group’s defenses, gravely injuring five men and stopping the others.
• Wang Quan and the two surviving artifact-bearers flee with their Dao artifacts. Qin Shujian kills the three men with a single saber strike, but the artifacts escape in different directions.
• Qin and Thousand Mountain Blood pursue two artifacts, while the third outruns Qin. Elsewhere, the fleeing Seal and Thousand Mountain Blood clash, drawing a crowd of curious and tempted cultivators.

Character developments and interactions

• Zhao Shanlin withstands the ambush with Thousand Mountain Blood’s protection, then respectfully yields the situation to Qin.
• Wang Quan shifts from confidence to alarm as the ambush fails and Qin’s strength becomes clear. He chooses retreat, but cannot escape the consequences of the confrontation.
• Qin Shujian reveals that he is far stronger than the attackers expected. He acts decisively to protect Zhao and punish the assailants, though he cannot catch every artifact.
• The attackers’ Dao artifacts both aid their escape and expose the limits of their owners: their defenses delay Qin, but cannot stop his manifested Spirit God.

Significant themes

• Power and hierarchy: Qin’s manifestation shows the vast gap between ordinary Spirit Martial experts and a true peak-level cultivator.
• Loyalty and protection: Thousand Mountain Blood keeps defending Zhao even while fighting several artifacts at once.
• Greed versus caution: Bystanders covet the artifacts but hesitate, aware that trying to claim them could provoke powerful sects—or get them killed.
• Unintended consequences: The failed ambush scatters the artifacts across the region, turning a private conflict into a public scramble.

Key plot points

• Qin Shujian arrives during an ambush by eight sects seeking the Origin Sect’s Dao artifact. He interrupts the Mountain-Suppressing Seal’s escape, manifests a hundred-foot Spirit God, and subdues it with Thousand Mountain Blood’s help.
• Witnesses are astonished that Qin has reached the manifestation realm so soon after entering the spirit martial realm. News of his strength and capture of the Heavenly Martial Sect’s artifact spreads, causing rival sects to reconsider plans to enter the Liangshan Spirit Domain.
• Back at the Origin Sect, Qin monitors Zhang Ergou to prevent another ambush. He tries to make the Mountain-Suppressing Seal submit, but it remains defiant.
• Qin burns the Seal with Wisdom King Karmic Fire until its spirituality and Dao Seal vanish. A Fire Lotus appears, and absorbing it gives him a modest increase in strength.
• Qin then realizes something is wrong: the Seal should not have been able to contemplate betrayal if it was still bound to its original master. This raises questions about the circumstances of its capture and its former ownership.

Character developments

• Qin Shujian demonstrates formidable power and strategic resolve, decisively changing the balance of power in the region. He also discovers that destroying a Dao artifact’s spirituality can yield a Fire Lotus and strengthen him.
• The Mountain-Suppressing Seal is portrayed as fearful but unyielding. Its resistance—and the apparent contradiction surrounding its former master—leaves its nature and history uncertain.
• Other sects and cultivators become more cautious after witnessing Qin’s strength, while the Heavenly Martial Sect faces public humiliation and may seek retaliation.

Significant themes

• Power shifts and deterrence: Qin’s strength reshapes sect politics and discourages rivals from challenging the Origin Sect.
• Control versus submission: Qin offers the Seal advancement in exchange for loyalty, then resorts to force when it refuses.
• Power gained through destruction: Burning the artifact provides Qin with a new source of strength, though at the cost of the Seal’s spirituality.
• Unanswered mysteries: The Seal’s apparent capacity for betrayal suggests that the situation is more complicated than Qin first assumed.

Character interactions

• Qin and Thousand Mountain Blood work together to stop the Seal from escaping; Qin later orders the weapon to halt its assault.
• Qin confronts the Seal directly, first offering it a chance to submit and then threatening and burning it when it refuses.
• The assembled cultivators witness Qin’s display of power, then discuss his strength and spread the news, influencing the decisions of rival sects.

Chapter summary

Key plot points and events

• In seclusion, Zhao Zunji, Sect Master of the Heavenly Martial Sect, is violently interrupted while nearing the Divine Martial Realm. He discovers his connection to the Mountain-Suppressing Seal has been severed, and the backlash injures him and costs him a rare chance to advance.
• Zhao summons his elders and learns that Elder Liu was killed by Qin Shujian, Sect Master of the Origin Sect, while attempting an ambush. The Seal was taken, and its ownership mark has already been erased—meaning the Heavenly Martial Sect has likely lost the Dao Artifact permanently.
• The elders explain that the Origin Sect belongs to the newly formed Liangshan Spirit Domain, whose Domain Lord, Qin Shujian, broke through the True Domain Shackles. The sect has roughly 1,500 Spirit God Realm cultivators and two Dao Artifacts.
• Zhao is particularly alarmed by reports that Qin manifested a ten-zhang Spirit God and may already be at the ninth level of Spirit Martial. His rapid rise seems nearly impossible by ordinary standards.
• Zhao suspects Qin may be a reincarnated powerhouse, perhaps even a former Heavenly Being. He decides the Origin Sect must be destroyed before Qin can grow stronger.
• The Heavenly Martial Sect and its allies plan to attack the Liangshan Spirit Domain in five days. Zhao orders the other sects to be told that Qin is a reincarnated mighty expert and announces that he will personally join the campaign.

Character developments

• Zhao Zunji shifts from a cultivator focused on breaking through to an enraged and calculating leader. The loss of the Seal and his interrupted breakthrough drive him toward an all-out war. His awe of Heavenly Beings also reveals his ambition to reach the highest realms.
• Zhang Shengming, the Grand Elder, must admit that the earlier plan to seize the Domain’s resources has become much riskier. After hearing of Qin’s strength, he supports destroying the Origin Sect rather than merely forcing it to yield.
• Qin Shujian does not appear directly, but reports about his rapid advancement, strength, and seizure of the Seal make him the central threat in the chapter.

Significant themes

• Ambition and the cost of interruption: Zhao’s near-breakthrough is undone by the loss of the Seal, deepening his anger and urgency.
• Power and strategic fear: Qin’s strength turns a resource-grab into a potentially existential conflict.
• Reputation as a weapon: Zhao plans to present his speculation about Qin’s reincarnation as fact, using fear to unite rival sects.
• Escalation and irreconcilable conflict: The theft and refinement of the Seal, combined with Elder Liu’s death, leave little room for negotiation.

Character interactions

• Zhao confronts Zhang Shengming over the Seal’s loss, initially blaming him but listening as the Grand Elder explains the Origin Sect’s strength.
• The elders’ reports change Zhao’s assessment of Qin from a powerful opponent into a possible reincarnated Heavenly Being—and shape the decision to launch a coordinated attack.
• Zhao and Zhang agree that the five-day plan should become a campaign to destroy the Origin Sect, with Zhao’s personal participation intended to secure the outcome.

Key plot points and events

• Qin Shujian gives Shen Yuqing the Heavenly Martial Sect’s Mountain-Suppressing Seal. He explains that he destroyed its Dao Seal and sentience after it refused to submit, leaving it as exceptional forging material. Shen Yuqing, though initially shocked, recognizes the chance to study it and advance his forging skill.
• At a meeting in the Martial Inheritance Hall, Xu Yuanming reports that eight major sects from four spirit domains ambushed Zhao Shanlin and targeted the Origin Sect’s protective Dao Artifact. The Heavenly Martial Sect is the strongest among them, though losing its seal has weakened it.
• Zheng Fang proposes seeking allies among rival sects. Qin rejects this as a first resort, judging that the Origin Sect should not provoke further complications while it is under threat.
• Qin orders all available cultivators of Spirit Martial Realm and above to hunt demonic beasts in the Endless Mountains. He promises them Dao Artifacts for protection but keeps his real motive—gaining Life Source—secret.
• Zhang Ergou returns safely with the Heaven and Earth Bow and Cloud-Piercing Arrow. Qin upgrades the arrow to a One-Mark Dao Artifact, then uses his remaining Fortune Value to raise Thousand Mountain Blood to a Three-Mark Dao Artifact. Its upgrade creates an invisible field of deadly saber energy, while several stone statues across the sect appear to react.

Character developments and interactions

• Shen Yuqing moves from bewilderment and shock to eager fascination with the ruined seal, seeing it as an opportunity to become a High-Grade Forge Master. Qin shows trust in him by placing valuable material in the Forging Hall.
• Qin Shujian remains pragmatic and secretive. He prioritizes strengthening the Origin Sect and increasing his own power, withholding his Life Source strategy from the elders. His confidence in his ability to escape danger shapes his refusal to retreat.
• Zheng Fang takes a cautious, diplomatic position, advocating alliances and warning that hunting beasts could cost the sect lives. He ultimately yields to Qin’s firm decision.
• Xu Yuanming demonstrates the reach of the Origin Sect’s intelligence network, gathering information quickly through disciples and carefully screened player reports.
• Zhang Ergou returns unharmed, allowing Qin to strengthen the bow-and-arrow pair. Niu Dali, meanwhile, notices the saber-shaped statue stir but remains unconcerned, preferring his quiet life.

Significant themes

• Power and preparation: Qin responds to a broad coalition of enemies by strengthening weapons, exploiting resources, and mobilizing the sect.
• Secrecy and trust: Qin delegates dangerous tasks and valuable materials but conceals his true reasons for doing so.
• Pragmatism versus caution: Zheng Fang favors diplomacy and risk management, while Qin believes decisive action and growing strength are the better defense.
• Advancement through opportunity: Shen Yuqing’s chance to break through as a master craftsman mirrors the sect’s effort to turn setbacks and resources into greater power.

Chapter Summary: “Return to Bifeng City”

Key plot points and events

• Origin Sect experts prepare to hunt demonic beasts in the Endless Mountains. Players welcome the opportunity, since the beasts are too powerful for them to tackle safely alone.
• Player Xu Kai pays Outer Sect Elder Zhang Ergou 5,000 Contribution Points to secure a place on the expedition. Zhang initially refuses his offer, then readily agrees once Xu Kai meets his price.
• Qin Shujian flies to Bifeng City and asks Chengyun Trading Company steward Lin Wanyou for high-grade martial arts on formations.
• Lin obtains a crystal containing a single remaining use of a grandmaster-grade formation and its faint trace of the original grandmaster’s true intent. Qin buys it for one million taels.
• Qin asks Lin to keep the purchase confidential, then returns to the Origin Sect. He senses that the eight rival sects may soon act against his own, despite having no proof.

Character developments and interactions

• Xu Kai shows how far players will go for rare opportunities, sacrificing most of his savings to join a dangerous hunt. His familiarity with Zhang Ergou gives him an advantage over other players.
• Zhang Ergou appears more calculating and confident than before, bargaining firmly and naming a high price. His cheerful shift once Xu Kai agrees highlights his interest in the reward.
• Qin Shujian continues to advance his knowledge as well as his cultivation, paying heavily for a chance to study a grandmaster formation.
• Lin Wanyou treats Qin respectfully and provides the requested item promptly, while Qin’s request for secrecy underscores their business relationship and the sensitivity of his plans.

Significant themes

• Risk and opportunity: Players accept a costly, dangerous expedition because powerful monsters offer rare experience.
• Power and status: Qin’s cultivation has made him an imposing figure to Lin, while Zhang’s influence lets him control access to the hunt.
• Knowledge as an investment: Qin spends a fortune for access to a grandmaster’s insight, valuing knowledge that could accelerate his mastery.
• Gathering tension: The rivals’ silence and Qin’s unease suggest that a larger conflict is approaching.

Key plot points and events

• Qin Shujian reviews the growing life source gained from the Origin Sect’s campaign in the Endless Mountains. Though some sect members have died, the hunt is also reducing the threat of future beast tides.
• He uses his divine sense to unlock a crystal containing a top-tier offensive formation: the God-Slaying, Demon-Extinguishing Myriad Spirits Annihilation Grand Array.
• After a day and night of study, Qin derives a version he can master, naming it the Myriad Spirits Annihilation Array. He believes it can trap a Manifestation Realm cultivator and challenge someone in the Divine Martial Realm.
• His life source has climbed past ten million, apparently after more than a dozen Spirit God Realm cultivators died in the mountains. With enough life source available, he upgrades the Forging Ancestral Canon.
• The upgrade elevates him from Forging Grandmaster toward Forging Master—and, by extension, the level of an Array Dao Grandmaster. He undergoes a profound transformation, then casually disperses a lightning tribulation with a sweep of his sleeve.

Character development

• Qin moves from relying on his existing rune expertise to developing genuine formation skill, gaining confidence that he can defend against the eight sects.
• The upgrade changes his bearing: his former sharpness gives way to a more composed, refined presence, suggesting a deeper connection to the Dao.
• Despite the transformation, Qin remains pragmatic, naming his derived formation modestly rather than claiming mastery of the complete grand array.

Character interactions

• Lin Wanyou indirectly aids Qin by providing the crystal and instructions for unsealing it; the supplied formation proves far more useful than he expected.
• The Origin Sect’s expedition supplies Qin with life source, though its members suffer losses in the dangerous Endless Mountains.
• Qin’s growing power is framed against the anticipated attack by the eight sects, whom he now feels increasingly prepared to face.

Significant themes

• Knowledge and power: Qin turns rune expertise into formidable martial and defensive strength.
• Preparation through sacrifice: The beast-hunting campaign brings casualties but may prevent larger future threats.
• The limits of mastery: Qin can derive a powerful formation without fully comprehending the original, which approaches the Dao.
• Transformation and transcendence: The Forging Ancestral Canon’s upgrade marks a shift beyond ordinary cultivation, dramatized by the lightning tribulation.

Key plot points and events

• Qin Shujian’s cultivation breakthrough triggers a lightning tribulation, which quickly ends. He downplays it as an ordinary advance.
• He orders Niu Feng to deliver challenges to eight powerful Spirit Domain sects and publicize a battle on the Undying Plains in three days.
• Niu Feng worries that the Origin Sect is outmatched, but Qin insists he is certain of victory.
• Qin reveals the reason for his confidence: reaching Forging Master level has also made him an Array Dao Grandmaster. He now fully understands the God-Slaying Demon-Smiting Myriad Spirits Annihilation Grand Formation, a formation powerful enough to threaten even divine martial experts.
• The challenge spreads widely. Many believe the Origin Sect is badly outnumbered, especially after its recent losses and the Heavenly Martial Sect’s recovery of confidence.
• At the Heavenly Martial Sect, elders react angrily to the challenge. Sect Master Zhao Zunji dismisses Qin’s presumed reincarnated identity as irrelevant and accepts the battle. He announces that the sect’s Supreme Elder will join them.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Shujian becomes more formidable after his breakthrough, gaining mastery of both forging and formations. His confidence shifts from cautious planning to certainty that the eight sects can be defeated.
• Niu Feng is concerned for the Origin Sect but remains loyal and follows Qin’s orders; his loyalty reaches its maximum.
• Zhao Zunji remains composed and dismissive, believing Qin is only a manifestation-realm cultivator despite his possible past life.
• Zhang Shengming recognizes that Qin may have hidden methods and advises caution. He is shocked when Zhao reveals the Supreme Elder will participate.
• The Heavenly Martial Sect’s elders move from anger and uncertainty to reassurance under Zhao’s leadership, then react with astonishment at the Supreme Elder’s involvement.

Significant themes

• Power and mastery: Qin’s breakthrough shows how mastery in one discipline can unlock another; forging and formation arts converge at the grandmaster level.
• Overconfidence versus hidden strength: The eight sects underestimate what Qin’s new expertise may allow, while Qin’s allies struggle to understand his confidence.
• Reputation and spectacle: By publicizing the challenge, the Origin Sect turns an impending conflict into a widely watched test of strength.
• Loyalty and leadership: Niu Feng’s obedience contrasts with Qin’s bold authority, while Zhao’s confidence reassures his own sect.

Key plot points and events

• The Marquis of Northcloud learns that Qin Shujian has publicly challenged the eight great sects to a battle on the Undying Plains in two days. He orders steward Xiao Hong to attend and, if the Origin Sect loses, to save Qin’s life.
• A masked informant reports that the rebellious Marquis of Thousand Mountains has recruited two Array Dao Grandmasters. Their killing formation has devastated the imperial court’s army, killing over half its million troops and two Divine Martial cultivators. The Marquis of Northcloud wonders what powerful backing has emboldened the rebel.
• Qin continues cultivating rather than making visible preparations for the coming battle.
• The Origin Sect’s expedition returns from the Endless Mountains with a huge haul: hundreds of Spirit Martial Realm demonic beasts killed, along with thousands of lower-level beasts, Beast Cores, and rare herbs. The elders recognize that culling the beasts may have prevented a future catastrophe.
• Qin orders the resources stored and made available to the Alchemy and Forging Halls, emphasizing the need to keep pill production up as the sect grows.
• When asked about the battle, Qin says he will face the eight sects alone. He assures the elders that none of the enemy combatants will return, while keeping his newly attained Array Dao Grandmaster status secret.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Shujian is confident and decisive, but also cautious: he hides his mastery of formations so the eight sects will not learn what awaits them. He takes responsibility for the battle himself and insists the elders focus on maintaining the sect.
• The Marquis of Northcloud is wary of Qin’s challenge and intrigued by the Marquis of Thousand Mountains’ apparent support. His concern for Qin is practical but real, as shown by his order to preserve Qin’s life if the Origin Sect is defeated.
• Xiao Hong serves as the link between the marquis and the unfolding crisis, reporting the challenge and accepting the assignment to observe the battle.
• Zheng Fang shifts from earlier reservations about Qin’s decisions to recognizing the value of the beast hunt. He nevertheless worries that Qin is taking an unnecessary risk by facing the eight sects alone.
• Shen Yuhua reports the Alchemy Hall’s progress: it has two Low-Grade Alchemists and seven apprentices. Qin’s questions reveal his concern with building the sect’s long-term capacity.

Significant themes

• Confidence versus hidden preparation: Qin appears to rely on sheer strength, but his concealed formation mastery gives him an unseen advantage.
• Leadership and responsibility: Qin shields his followers from the coming confrontation, while the elders focus on safeguarding the sect.
• Preparation against future threats: The beast hunt demonstrates the importance of acting before danger grows into a devastating tide.
• Shifting power and political uncertainty: The Marquis of Thousand Mountains’ rebellion and the Human Emperor’s weakening condition unsettle the balance of power, leaving other rulers to wonder who is backing the revolt.

Key plot points and events

• Peng Qing arrives in the demon-scarred Undying Plains after Blade Servant tells him that eight sects will soon attack the Origin Sect there. He hopes to exploit the battle, killing weakened Spirit Martial cultivators to advance his inheritance task faster.
• Peng Qing has already killed roughly a thousand True Martial cultivators and reached the seventh layer of True Martial, or Outer Astral Realm. His Bloodweeping Blade has grown into a powerful middle-grade Spirit Weapon by consuming the blood of his victims.
• Players and native factions flock to the Undying Plains to witness the unprecedented confrontation. The area is crowded with cultivators, though the Spirit Domain’s restrictions limit the strongest present to the Spirit Martial Realm.
• At the Origin Sect, Qin Shujian turns away visitors and learns from Niu Feng that the coming battle has drawn customers and businesses to Liangshan City. Around 70–80% of its premises are occupied.
• Qin tells Niu Feng to maintain order and morale until the threat is resolved. He then cultivates the Origin Return Ancestral Canon and, through his own effort, brings it to perfection—an unexpected breakthrough that strengthens his Spirit God, true essence, and physical power.

Character developments

• Peng Qing has become far stronger and wealthier through his inheritance, increasing his determination to finish its killing task. He is also learning to take calculated risks, though Blade Servant cautions him not to expose his weapon carelessly.
• Qin Shujian shows confidence in the Origin Sect’s prospects and focuses on its long-term growth, while recognizing that it needs more members. His breakthrough also demonstrates that his mastery as an Array Dao Grandmaster has improved his ability to cultivate.

Significant themes

• Power gained through violence: Peng Qing’s weapon and inheritance advance by consuming the lives of cultivators.
• Opportunity amid conflict: The approaching battle attracts spectators, players seeking rewards, and commercial activity that benefits Liangshan City.
• Growth through patience and understanding: Qin’s diligent cultivation allows him to perfect a technique without spending life source.
• Risk and reputation: The Origin Sect’s ability to survive the coming attack will determine whether outsiders are willing to join or do business with it.

Character interactions

• Blade Servant explains why the Undying Plains is barren, directs Peng Qing toward the battle, and warns him to strike only at the right moment.
• Qin consults Niu Feng about Liangshan City’s business and tells him to keep the sect steady while refusing visitors.
• Qin’s breakthrough occurs in solitude, marking a personal advance as the sect prepares for its looming confrontation.

Key plot points and events

• At the Undying Plains, the Heavenly Martial Sect arrives in force, led by Sect Master Zhao Zunji and its long-presumed-dead Supreme Elder Qi Kun. His presence convinces observers that he has reached the Divine Martial Realm.
• The Rakshasa Sect’s alluring Sect Master, Li Bihua, arrives, followed by the Silver Moon and Flying Star Sects. Four of the eight great sects are now present, but the other four have yet to appear.
• Qin Shujian arrives alone on behalf of the Origin Sect. His calmness and unreadable aura leave spectators—especially Xiao Hong—wondering whether he has secretly reached the Divine Martial Realm.
• Zhao demands the return of the Heavenly Martial Sect’s Mountain-Suppressing Seal and threatens to destroy the Origin Sect. Qin first pretends not to know what he means, then produces the seal.
• Zhao discovers that the artifact’s Dao seals and spirituality have been destroyed. Qin jokes that he might trade the “battered old seal” for a few spirit weapons, intensifying Zhao’s fury. Zhao vows that no one will save Qin, while the other sects watch with interest at the Heavenly Martial Sect’s loss.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Shujian remains composed and provocative, openly displaying the damaged seal rather than appearing intimidated by the assembled sects. His unmeasurable strength deepens the mystery around him.
• Zhao Zunji shifts from confident hostility to rage when he realizes his sect’s treasured Dao artifact has been ruined.
• Qi Kun’s survival and apparent breakthrough make the Heavenly Martial Sect’s threat far greater than expected.
• Li Bihua exchanges polite remarks with Zhao and acknowledges Qi Kun, while Zhao responds to her with visible wariness and distaste.
• Xiao Hong becomes increasingly suspicious that Qin has made an extraordinary breakthrough, though he finds such rapid progress almost impossible to believe.
• The other sects’ representatives observe the confrontation as rivals: the Heavenly Martial Sect’s loss may benefit them.

Significant themes

• Power and uncertainty: Qin’s unreadable aura and Qi Kun’s unexpected survival unsettle assumptions about who holds the advantage.
• Provocation and pride: Qin’s teasing treatment of the damaged seal turns a tense dispute into a public humiliation for Zhao.
• Rivalry among sects: The gathering is not only about the Origin Sect; competing factions also see potential advantage in one another’s losses.
• Appearance versus reality: Qi Kun’s age and Li Bihua’s youthful appearance underline how cultivation can defy ordinary expectations.

Key plot points and events

• Qin Shujian mocks the eight sects gathered at the Undying Plains, declaring that if even one of them leaves alive, he will have lost. He waits confidently for the remaining four sects to arrive.
• Once all eight sects are present, Qin accuses them of attacking Origin Sect elders and threatening the Liangshan Spirit Domain, then pronounces their deaths.
• Several dozen cultivators attack him. Qin activates a vast killing array with a sweep of his sleeve, revealing himself to be an Array Dao Grandmaster.
• Five hidden Divine Martial Realm experts—including Heavenly Martial Sect elder Qi Kun—unleash their full power. Qin names the array God-Slaying; its thunderbolts destroy all five almost instantly.
• Qin then directs a storm of saber qi through the array, slaughtering the trapped sect cultivators. Zhao Zunji and the sect masters try to flee or defend themselves, but the array prevents escape.
• With their forces being cut down, sect leaders begin abandoning their plans and pleading for mercy and permission to withdraw.

Character developments

• Qin Shujian shifts from taunting confidence to overwhelming action, proving that his composure rests on a devastating advantage: his mastery of arrays.
• Zhao Zunji, initially convinced the eight sects’ combined strength would prevail, is shaken into disbelief and fear when Qi Kun is killed.
• Qi Kun, once a fearsome former sect master and hidden foundation of the Heavenly Martial Sect, reveals his Divine Martial Realm strength but is killed before he can turn the fight.
• The other sect leaders lose their confidence and dignity as survival replaces conquest as their priority.

Significant themes

• Hubris and miscalculation: The sects underestimate Qin and mistake numbers for certainty of victory.
• Power revealed through preparation: Qin’s hidden array mastery overturns the apparent balance of forces.
• The cost of aggression: The sects’ attack on Origin Sect brings them into a trap from which they cannot escape.
• Pride versus survival: The leaders’ grand ambitions collapse into desperate pleas for mercy.

Character interactions

• Qin openly insults Qi Kun and dismisses the gathered leaders, escalating their hostility.
• Zhao Zunji and the other sect experts respond to Qin’s accusations with attacks, while Qin answers through the array rather than direct combat.
• After the God-Slaying Array kills the five Divine Martial Realm cultivators, the remaining leaders shift from confronting Qin to begging him to spare them.

Plot points and events

• Qin Shujian uses the great array on the Undying Plains to annihilate the Eight Sects’ remaining forces. Wisdom King Karmic Fire, thunder, and falling stars overwhelm even powerful cultivators and destroy their defenses.
• Zhao Zunji and the other trapped experts disappear in the array’s devastation. Qin retrieves the fallen sect-guarding Dao artifacts, and the array vanishes as he leaves.
• Witnesses realize Qin is an Array Dao Grandmaster—a revelation far more consequential than his victory. News spreads throughout the region, prompting outside factions to withdraw from Liangshan and abandon plans to seize its resources.
• With the Eight Sects’ leaders and forces gone, rival sects move in to plunder their accumulated wealth and territory. Their foundations in Northcloud Prefecture are erased.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Shujian is revealed as a formidable Array Dao Grandmaster. His calm, commanding demeanor contrasts with the panic and pleas of the people he defeats. His victory establishes the Origin Sect as a regional power.
• The Eight Sects’ leaders and cultivators, including the Divine Extremity Sect’s master and Zhao Zunji, are overwhelmed and killed despite their strength and artifacts.
• Xiao Hong, a steward of the Marquis of Northcloud’s Manor, shifts from uncertainty about Qin’s confidence to alarmed understanding. He recognizes the political significance of Qin’s identity and leaves to report it.
• The gathered witnesses and outside factions react with fear, choosing retreat over risking Qin’s wrath.

Significant themes

• The power of specialized mastery: An Array Dao Grandmaster can overcome even elite cultivators by controlling the battlefield.
• Power and reputation: Qin’s revealed identity instantly changes how other factions assess the Origin Sect.
• The consequences of defeat: The Eight Sects’ destruction creates a scramble for their resources and ends their influence in Northcloud Prefecture.
• Fear as political force: The threat of Qin’s array alone is enough to drive potential challengers from Liangshan.