Chapter Summaries

Plot points

• At the ruined Desolate Void City, the Marquis of Northcloud steps forward and uses Ascension Nine Steps to extinguish the skeletons’ soul flames, disperse the dense demonic qi, and collapse the city walls—crushing many of the demon hordes.
• Three powerful evil fiends emerge: the six-armed Fallen Evil Lord, the snake-headed Gui Water Evil Lord, and the massive Nine Mountain Evil Lord. The Nine Mountain Evil Lord recognizes the Marquis’s technique and asks after Xiao Yutian.
• The Marquis assigns his retainers Zang Hailong and Li Guang’an to fight the Fallen Evil Lord, while Chen Daishan and Su Mingyang engage the Gui Water Evil Lord. He takes on the Nine Mountain Evil Lord himself.
• Using successive steps, the Marquis pins the Nine Mountain Evil Lord down and shatters his scales, but the strain leaves him unable to deliver the decisive eighth step.
• Qin Shujian seizes the opening. Empowered by his qi-blood dragon, Wisdom King Karmic Fire, and the Spirit Weapon Thousand Mountain Blood, he decapitates the wounded evil fiend with Wisdom King Shatters Hell. The body dissolves into essence-eroding bone powder, and Qin gains ten fortune points.
• The surviving evil fiends retaliate. The Gui Water Evil Lord becomes a gigantic venomous snake, while the Fallen Evil Lord unfurls bone wings and attacks with all six arms. The Marquis takes over the fight against the Fallen Evil Lord as the others continue battling the Gui Water Evil Lord.
• Watching the battles, Qin steadies himself and uses his remaining life source to advance the Five Elements Eight Trigrams Step beyond Heaven-Man Unity.

Character developments and interactions

• The Marquis displays composure and overwhelming authority, but Ascension Nine Steps exacts a serious physical toll under Mortal Domain restrictions. His restraint and strength earn the evil fiends’ wary recognition.
• Qin shifts from observer to decisive combatant, taking advantage of the Marquis’s work to kill a formidable enemy. The Marquis is surprised, then understands that Qin’s Spirit Weapon and the fiend’s injuries made the strike possible.
• The retainers follow the Marquis’s orders and confront enemies far stronger than ordinary cultivators in the domain. The remaining evil fiends’ shock at their leader’s death quickly turns into fury.

Significant themes

• Teamwork and timing: The Marquis creates the opening, and Qin delivers the finishing blow.
• Strength under constraint: The Mortal Domain suppresses everyone, making powerful techniques costly and turning battlefield conditions into a decisive factor.
• Adaptation and advancement: Qin uses the battle to pursue another breakthrough, while the enemies respond to loss with more dangerous forms and attacks.

Chapter Summary: “Pawns”

Key plot points and events

• The Gui Water Evil Lord transforms into a gigantic serpent, whose immense strength and tough scales overwhelm the four divine martial realm retainers. He injures Zang Hailong by shattering both his arms and hurling him aside.
• After the Nine Mountain Evil Lord’s defeat, the demon-calamity creatures surge forward. The remaining fighters must contain both the evil fiends and the growing monster horde.
• Qin Shujian awakens with a breakthrough: his Five Elements Eight Trigrams Step has reached Dao Entry, letting him sense hidden nodes in the air and move through space in an instant. He uses this ability to evade the serpent’s venom and attack it. His first strike fails, but a follow-up cut—strengthened by Thousand Mountain Blood—pierces its scales.
• The Marquis of Northcloud, Xiao Chengfeng, battles the Fallen Evil Lord and appears to have the upper hand despite his injuries and the Mortal Domain’s restrictions.
• The demon calamity steadily wears down the assembled sect forces. The Cloudmist Sect Master and many others are killed, then revived as stronger undead through demonic influence. Several sects’ disciples are wiped out.
• Players repeatedly die and respawn, but use the enormous number of enemies to rapidly improve their cultivation and complete a lucrative mission. Unlike the players, ordinary sect disciples face permanent death.
• Lin Daozhen realizes his sect sent junior disciples to a near-certain death while protecting its legacy and direct disciples. As his companions fall, he resolves to survive and confront the elders.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Shujian moves beyond a simple martial technique breakthrough: Dao Entry gives him a new understanding of the Dao and remarkable mobility. He joins the fight against the Gui Water Evil Lord, coordinating with the surviving retainers and Chen Daishan, whose spear also displays formidable power.
• Zang Hailong is badly injured after trying to block the serpent’s tail, forcing him out of the fight.
• Xiao Chengfeng demonstrates his exceptional power against the Fallen Evil Lord, reinforcing his reputation as the Marquis of Northcloud.
• Lin Daozhen shifts from trying to encourage his fellow disciples to recognizing their abandonment. Grief and resentment harden into determination: he will not let others decide whether he lives or dies.
• The players treat repeated deaths as a worthwhile cost because respawning lets them keep fighting for experience and rewards. This sharply contrasts with the sect disciples, for whom each death is final.
• The sect disciples’ conflict with their own leaders becomes as significant as the battle itself: Lin Daozhen sees the sect’s decision as proof that they were expendable pawns.

Significant themes

• The expendability of the powerless: The title reflects how sect leaders sacrifice junior disciples while preserving their own chosen heirs.
• Survival and agency: Lin Daozhen’s resolve to choose his own fate marks a turning point in his sense of identity.
• Attrition and unequal stakes: The demon calamity wins through endless numbers and exhaustion, while players’ ability to respawn gives them an enormous advantage over everyone else.
• Growth amid crisis: Qin’s Dao Entry breakthrough and the players’ rapid advancement show how extreme danger can also create opportunities for transformation.

Plot points and events

• Chen Daishan, Li Guang’an, Su Mingyang, and Qin Shujian fight the Gui Water Evil Lord, whose injuries from Qin’s fortune-infused saber have left him enraged but still overwhelmingly powerful.
• Chen draws the Evil Lord’s attention while Li fires an incomplete Dao Artifact arrow. The arrow strikes the Evil Lord’s forehead but does not kill him. Qin then drives it deeper with his saber, piercing a vital spot in the skull, and follows with repeated blows until he decapitates the Evil Lord. He receives ten fortune points.
• With two Evil Fiends dead, the Fallen Evil Lord absorbs all the Demon Calamity’s power in the Desolate Void Mortal Domain, revealing a terrifying increase in strength. The Marquis of Northcloud orders everyone else to withdraw and confronts him alone.
• Qin and the others retreat. Lin Daozhen, who had been fighting among the dead, realizes he is the sole survivor of his group.
• Elsewhere, survivors flee toward the Lingxi True Domain. Players decide not to investigate the immense new aura, judging the threat far beyond their abilities.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Shujian proves decisive and opportunistic: he accepts Chen’s plan, exploits Li’s arrow, and finishes the Gui Water Evil Lord despite exhausting nearly all his blood qi.
• Chen Daishan takes the front line and acts as a deliberate distraction, while Li Guang’an sacrifices his remaining strength to fire the arrow that creates Qin’s opening.
• The Marquis of Northcloud remains composed as the Fallen Evil Lord transforms, taking responsibility for the final confrontation and ensuring the others withdraw.
• Lin Daozhen shifts from desperate endurance to stunned relief at surviving, even as he mourns his fallen companions.
• Liu Dazhong suggests approaching the apparent “boss,” but the other players dismiss the idea; their caution contrasts with his impulsiveness.

Significant themes

• Cooperation and sacrifice: The Evil Lord’s defeat depends on coordinated roles—distraction, a costly ranged attack, and Qin’s finishing strike.
• Limits of individual strength: Even powerful fighters must retreat when faced with an enemy beyond their level.
• Survival amid catastrophe: Lin’s relief at living underscores the human cost of the Demon Calamity.
• A victory that escalates the danger: Killing two Evil Fiends seems to turn the tide, but it enables the last one to claim the entire Demon Domain’s power, setting up an even greater threat.

Key plot points and events

• The Fallen Evil Lord absorbs the demon domain’s power, breaks through the martial realms, and boasts that even Xiao Yutian could not defeat him.
• Marquis Xiao Chengfeng meets his attack with powerful techniques, including Great Nether Profound Heaven, and proves far stronger than the fiend expects.
• While the battle rages, Qin Shujian spends life source to advance his cultivation. His Origin Canon reaches the True Domain’s limit, his body gains diamond indestructibility, and his All-Encompassing Origin-Returning Art expands his true essence capacity.
• Chengfeng overwhelms the Fallen Evil Lord with seven steps of Ascension Nine Steps. He then summons an ancestral stone spear, which destroys the fiend beyond its usual ability to revive in the Demon Abyss.
• The demon domain collapses, and observers learn that the Marquis has won.

Character developments

• Xiao Chengfeng is revealed as a formidable successor to the previous Marquis, Xiao Yutian. He defeats the fiend without the extraordinary sacrifice once required to use the technique’s ninth step.
• Qin Shujian uses the crisis as an opportunity to strengthen his body and cultivation, while recognizing the True Domain’s restrictions and choosing not to challenge them yet.
• The Fallen Evil Lord shifts from triumphant confidence to panic when Chengfeng’s strength and the ancestral weapon make his final death unavoidable.

Significant themes

• Power and restraint: Qin Shujian advances rapidly but understands that reaching a domain’s limit does not mean its restrictions are easy to break.
• Legacy and succession: Chengfeng honors his predecessor’s legacy while demonstrating his own strength.
• The limits of immortality: Evil fiends can normally return from death, but exceptional weapons can overcome even that protection.
• Relief after catastrophe: The observers’ fear gives way to collective relief once the demonic aura disappears.

Character interactions

• Chengfeng answers the Fallen Evil Lord’s threats with calm defiance, confronting him as Northcloud Prefecture’s protector.
• The fiend compares Chengfeng unfavorably to Xiao Yutian, then panics when Chengfeng surpasses his expectations.
• Qin Shujian watches the distant battle, draws inspiration from the Marquis’s power, and quietly improves his own cultivation.
• The waiting observers share in the tension and relief as the demon domain falls and the Marquis’s victory becomes clear.

Chapter summary: “An Unexpected Reward”

Key plot points and events

• At a banquet celebrating the defeat of the Demon Calamity, the Marquis of Northcloud promises compensation to sects that suffered casualties, including three Astral Qi Pills for any sect that lost an Outer Astral Realm cultivator. The surviving guests consider the compensation inadequate, but the hardest-hit sects are absent.
• The marquis announces that each sect that helped will receive one place in the newly formed Ringpeak Mortal Domain. The Teleportation Gate will open in Ancient-Suppressing City in seven days.
• He publicly praises Qin Shujian for killing two Evil Fiends and rewards him with a spirit-tier cultivation manual, a divine-tier martial art, and ten high-grade true-rank martial arts.
• After the banquet, the marquis privately gives Qin a storage ring containing the promised works. Qin binds it to himself with a drop of blood and discovers it holds a small storage space.
• Once Qin leaves, the marquis tells Li Guang’an that he believes Qin has exceptional potential and could eventually become a Divine Martial Realm expert. He warns that attempting to steal another person’s fortune can bring retribution.
• The marquis reflects on growing unrest across Great Zhao, suggesting an approaching age of upheaval and competition.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Shujian is pleased by his gains from the expedition, especially the twenty fortune points and the resources he can use to strengthen the Origin Sect. In public, he remains modest and credits the marquis and his retainers for weakening the fiends. Though wary of accepting such valuable gifts, he ultimately accepts them gratefully.
• The Marquis of Northcloud shows strong confidence in Qin, treating him as a promising ally rather than merely rewarding his service. His warnings to Li Guang’an suggest he is alert to the danger of covetousness and intends to protect the relationship he is cultivating with Qin.
• Li Guang’an questions the scale of Qin’s reward and speculates that Qin may possess a supreme treasure. The marquis’s pointed warning unsettles him, and he responds cautiously, recognizing that discussing powerful figures and political turmoil can be dangerous.
• The banquet guests respond with envy and surprise to Qin’s exceptional reward, which could give the newly founded Origin Sect the resources to grow into a major sect.

Significant themes

• Merit, reward, and political alliance: The marquis uses generous rewards to recognize Qin’s contribution and invest in his future.
• Fortune and ambition: Qin’s gains are tied to luck as well as strength; the marquis cautions that trying to seize another’s opportunities may invite disaster.
• Rising political instability: Rebellion and the ambitions of powerful lords hint that broader conflict may be approaching.
• Building institutional power: The manuals and martial arts give the Origin Sect the means to develop its members and expand its influence.

Key plot points and events

• After returning from the Demon Calamity, players turn in their quests. Qin Shujian rewards them with five Contribution Points per enemy killed, while the quest experience pushes many close to major breakthroughs. Some players advance to Elite Disciple, and others seek manuals to reach the true martial realm.
• Qin examines two manuals received from the Marquis of Northcloud: the high-grade spirit-tier Great Dream Spirit-Binding Art and the mid-grade divine-tier Great Wilderness Demon-Suppressing Seal. He learns both and realizes the spirit martial realm cultivates “spirit” after the body and true essence are perfected. He considers upgrading his arts but preserves his scarce life source.
• Qin invests fortune points in his saber, Thousand Mountain Blood. It becomes a high-grade spirit weapon, then receives enough additional fortune to trigger the Origin Sect’s advancement from tier three to tier four.
• The promotion dramatically boosts the cultivation of the sect’s members, raising many disciples and elders several levels. The upheaval is felt across the Liangshan True Domain, alarming Zhang Baicheng and Hong Bin. The nearby Bull Demon Lord recognizes the Origin Sect’s power and is content to let it grow.
• Qin counts 1,573 inner-astral experts and ten outer-astral experts among the sect’s ranks. He then discovers that Thousand Mountain Blood has advanced to a half-step Dao artifact.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Shujian shifts his attention from rewarding players to strengthening the sect and understanding higher cultivation realms. He uses fortune points cautiously, but ultimately invests in his saber and gains 20,000 life source when his own cultivation cannot increase further.
• The players benefit enormously from the Demon Calamity rewards: Liu Dazhong and Miao Yuqing discuss obtaining true-martial manuals, while Wang Jiu and Liu Bi become Elite Disciples.
• Zheng Fang and the sect’s members receive sudden cultivation boosts from the faction promotion. Zheng Fang’s aura surges while he is teaching, astonishing the players in his class.
• Zhang Baicheng and Hong Bin are bewildered by the spreading pressure and order an investigation. The Bull Demon Lord, by contrast, understands its source and welcomes the Origin Sect’s growing strength.

Significant themes

• Institutional power can outpace individual cultivation: the sect’s promotion transforms its members far more quickly than personal training could.
• Growth brings both opportunity and awe: players gain status and resources, while the sect’s sudden rise unsettles outsiders.
• Power has costs and trade-offs: Qin weighs preserving life source against improving his weapon, yet the sect’s advancement rewards him unexpectedly.
• The path to transcendence: the cultivation manuals frame progress as the development of essence, qi, and ultimately spirit.

Plot points and events

• Qin Shujian studies a crystalline blade and discovers it is a Half-Step Dao Artifact. Its incomplete dao seal strengthens his understanding of multiple arts and techniques, including advancing his Great Dream Spirit-Binding Art and improving his Seven Leaves Piercing Flowers Palm.
• He spends 10,000 life source to raise the Great Wilderness Demon-Suppressing Seal to proficiency, then writes down several techniques and cultivation arts. His focused inscription turns ordinary paper into spirit paper.
• Qin adds the new manuals to the Library Pavilion: ten high-grade True-rank techniques and the completed True Martial chapter of the Origin Canon on the third floor, and the Great Wilderness Demon-Suppressing Seal and Great Dream Spirit-Binding Art on the fourth. He then posts a permanent mission offering contribution points for new manuals, hoping to expand the collection.
• In a separate storyline, player Peng Qing completes a hidden legacy mission by drawing his saber five million times. The repetition allows him to comprehend Wild Blade, Chaotic Edge Slash, and earns him a large amount of experience.
• Peng Qing reaches Martial Entry tenth level, but the Mortal Domain’s restrictions prevent him from advancing normally. To continue the legacy, he must become a Domain Lord. Seeing the world’s black “shackles” in the sky, he attacks them with his newly mastered technique.

Character development and interactions

• Qin Shujian recognizes the Dao Artifact’s immense value and acts on his growing understanding by developing and sharing the sect’s resources. His exchanges with Library Pavilion visitors are brief and authoritative, while the players react with excitement to the new manuals.
• Peng Qing evolves from someone who abandoned his childhood dream of becoming a martial hero into a disciplined swordsman. Five million repetitions shape both his skill and temperament, leaving him unexpectedly calm after his breakthrough.
• Blade Servant, the spirit inhabiting Peng Qing’s ring, explains the legacy’s next challenge and the choice between leaving the Mortal Domain or breaking its limits. The mission system effectively makes becoming a Domain Lord mandatory for continuing the legacy.

Significant themes

• Comprehension and inheritance: Studying a Dao Artifact can improve many arts at once, while Qin’s library and collection mission make knowledge a resource for the whole sect.
• Discipline and transformation: Peng Qing’s repetitive practice develops not only a technique but also patience and composure.
• Limits and ambition: The Mortal Domain’s restrictions stand between Peng Qing and greater power, setting up his attempt to challenge the world itself.

Key plot points and events

• A player becomes the first known Domain Lord, reigniting players’ hopes of breaking through the Mortal Domain.
• Cao Hong and Liu Qinghong, both defeated repeatedly by the Liangshan Stronghold Chief, learn that the Origin Sect has gained more than a thousand inner astral realm experts. Their plan to use Cao Hong’s sect against it is abandoned. The two belong to a covert “Qin-Destroying Alliance” formed by players seeking revenge on Qin Shujian.
• Qin Shujian considers how to make better use of the Origin Sect’s growing strength and its faction benefits. He orders most elders to establish branches in the Rubble Forest and Xining Plains, each taking one hundred inner astral realm cultivators. He also announces that the sect will reopen recruitment, allowing the branch elders to build their own lineages.
• Qin travels to Ancient-Suppressing City for a meeting about the journey to the Northern River Grand Domain. Xiao Hong, the Marquis of Northcloud’s representative, asks the gathered sect experts to surrender their Passage Tokens.

Character developments and interactions

• Cao Hong and Liu Qinghong remain consumed by resentment toward Qin Shujian. Their shared grievance has drawn them together and into a wider alliance, though the Origin Sect’s rapid growth makes revenge increasingly difficult.
• Qin Shujian acts as a more strategic leader, expanding the sect beyond its core territory and delegating authority while relying on loyalty to prevent betrayal.
• The elders initially hesitate at being sent away from Liangshan’s superior cultivation environment. They accept once Qin offers them the opportunity to recruit disciples and establish branch lineages.
• Zheng Fang stands out for his exceptional loyalty, while Zheng Fang and Wang Tiezhu are the only elders at the true martial peak.

Significant themes

• Ambition and rivalry: The new Domain Lord achievement inspires players, while Cao Hong and Liu Qinghong’s revenge plot shows how personal humiliation can shape their choices.
• Institutional growth and control: Qin Shujian expands the Origin Sect through delegation, recruitment, and territorial branches, balancing greater influence against the risk of fragmentation.
• Power and loyalty: The sect’s strength depends not only on its formidable cultivators but also on Qin’s ability to monitor loyalty and maintain authority.

Key plot points and events

• Xiao Hong briefs the sect leaders on a newly formed Mortal Domain in the Northern River Grand Domain. Though its Evil Fiend has been suppressed, outsiders from multiple prefectures will compete for its treasures, making conflict likely.
• He leads the group through a heavily guarded inner city in Ancient-Suppressing City to its Teleportation Gate. Six spirit stones power the altar, transporting them to Yang City in the Chuan Yang True Domain.
• Qin Shujian withstands the spatial forces of teleportation unusually well. Xiao Hong notices that his blood and qi remain steady, suggesting Qin’s body is exceptionally powerful.
• The group settles at the Marquis of Northcloud’s secondary residence and plans to travel to the Mortal Domain the following day.
• That night, Guihai Chuan visits Qin and confirms that Qin has reached the True Martial Tenth Layer. Guihai then reveals his own ambition: to break the shackles of a True Domain and advance it into a Spirit Domain.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Shujian learns that the coming expedition will be a contest among many factions. He shows curiosity about the Teleportation Gate and spirit stones, and his physical resilience draws Xiao Hong’s attention. He is surprised by Guihai Chuan’s ambition and suspects Guihai may want his help.
• Xiao Hong acts as the group’s guide and representative of the Marquis of Northcloud. He carefully observes Qin, following the Marquis’s instructions.
• Guihai Chuan shifts from an earlier, seemingly joking challenge to a serious proposal. He respects Qin’s rapid advancement and believes Qin, as a Domain Lord nearing Spirit Martial, is unlikely to seek a breakthrough in a Spirit Domain.

Significant themes

• Competition and danger: Valuable treasures attract outsiders, making violence and rivalry inevitable.
• Ambition and breakthrough: Advancing a True Domain into a Spirit Domain is presented as an extraordinarily rare feat, reflecting Guihai Chuan’s exceptional pride and aspiration.
• Power and perception: Qin’s strength is evident not only in his cultivation but also in his physical resilience, which others recognize and assess.
• Trust and directness: Qin appreciates Guihai Chuan’s straightforward character, even as he questions the risk behind Guihai’s intentions.

Plot points and events

• Guihai Chuan reveals why he challenged Qin Shujian: he hopes that testing their martial paths against each other might help him break through the limits of the True Martial Realm. Qin agrees to spar after their trip to the Mortal Domain.
• Qin cultivates the Great Dream Spirit-Binding Art and considers fusing it with his other techniques, but decides that cultivating them further first should produce stronger results. He spends 4,000 Life Source to raise his Blazing Flame Art’s True Martial Chapter by one level, leaving himself with very little Life Source.
• The next day, Qin and the Northcloud group travel to the Mortal Domain’s boundary. There they encounter powerful cultivators from several prefectures and four Golden-Armored Divine Generals, each apparently representing a prefecture.
• The generals announce the entry rules: no more than fifty people per prefecture, and no one above the True Martial Realm may enter. Entrants have three days before Xiao Hong returns to collect whoever has made it back.
• Inside, Qin finds the Mortal Domain rich in spiritual energy but not yet fully stabilized: the usual cultivation restrictions are absent, and he remains at the tenth level of the True Martial Realm. He realizes an entrant might be able to break through beyond the allowed realm after entering.
• Yang Zhongning offers to explore together, but Qin declines and sets out alone. Using his Spirit Eye to find unusually concentrated spiritual energy, he discovers a Green Lotus growing in a valley pool, seemingly close to blooming.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Shujian remains independent and confident, preferring to rely on his own strength rather than travel with others. He also manages his limited Life Source cautiously, balancing immediate power gains against the benefits of developing his techniques.
• Guihai Chuan is driven by ambition to transcend the limits of the True Martial Realm. His eagerness to fight Qin stems from the hope that a worthy opponent can help him find a breakthrough.
• Yang Zhongning approaches Qin respectfully and accepts his refusal without pressing the matter.
• Xiao Hong leads the Northcloud group to the boundary and makes clear that the Marquis’s Manor is not responsible for anyone who misses the three-day return deadline.
• The Golden-Armored Divine Generals establish the Mortal Domain’s rules and demonstrate the scale of authority overseeing the expedition.

Significant themes

• Breaking through limits: Guihai Chuan’s ambition and the Mortal Domain’s unusually permissive conditions both raise the possibility of transcending established cultivation boundaries.
• Preparation and restraint: Qin weighs the long-term value of cultivating his techniques against the temptation to spend scarce Life Source for immediate gains.
• Independence amid danger: With many powerful cultivators entering the domain, Qin chooses to explore alone rather than prioritize safety in numbers.
• Opportunity and risk: The Mortal Domain’s unstable restrictions may offer exceptional chances for advancement, but entrants face a strict deadline and unknown dangers.

Plot points and events

• Qin Shujian discovers an almost-blooming Green Lotus, which is nurturing a rare Xiantian Spirit Object. Such treasures can stabilize and advance a sect’s fortune.
• Li Huaijin of the Mount-Shaking Sect proposes that he and Qin share the treasure. Qin refuses, claims it outright, and warns Li to leave.
• Li retreats, but Qin kills him with Thousand Mountain Blood, a newly empowered Half-Step Dao Artifact, then takes Li’s Golden Body Art manual.
• Qin waits beside the lotus, cultivating in the unusually dense spiritual energy. When Chen Wenji arrives and focuses on the treasure, the saber kills him too. From then on, it automatically slays anyone who approaches.
• During a day of cultivation, Qin advances the Great Dream Spirit-Binding Art to its first True Martial layer and uses his increased life source to raise the Blazing Flame Art to its thirteenth layer.
• As the lotus nears blooming and its spiritual energy becomes visible, more cultivators arrive. Qin’s saber kills an outer astral realm expert, frightening the others. Qi Yunshu recognizes Qin but refrains from approaching amid the tense standoff.

Character developments

• Qin is decisive and ruthless: he refuses to share the treasure and eliminates potential rivals before they can threaten his claim. He also discovers the formidable power and awareness of Thousand Mountain Blood.
• Li Huaijin’s ambition to secure a treasure for his sect gives way to caution when he senses Qin’s strength, but his attempt to withdraw does not save him.
• Qi Yunshu recognizes Qin but acts cautiously, aware that approaching could make her a target.

Significant themes

• Power and ambition: A treasure capable of elevating a sect draws cultivators into dangerous competition.
• Caution versus betrayal: Qin’s apparent willingness to let Li leave conceals his intention to remove a future threat.
• Strength as deterrence: Qin’s blade and its reputation keep other cultivators at bay, at least temporarily.
• Cultivation through opportunity: The rich spiritual energy and Qin’s gains show how extraordinary places can accelerate advancement.

Character interactions

• Li tries to negotiate an alliance with Qin; Qin rejects the offer and forces him to retreat before killing him.
• Qin’s weapon acts in close coordination with him, striking Chen and later other intruders without needing him to intervene directly.
• Qi Yunshu identifies Qin but chooses not to approach while other cultivators watch the lotus and Qin’s territory.

Plot points

• As the Green Lotus nears full bloom, the Xiantian Spirit Object’s power draws attention from outside the valley. The golden-armored divine generals monitor events but cannot enter or claim treasures.
• A crowd of True Martial cultivators decides to attack Qin Shujian together, hoping to remove him and seize the lotus. Qi Yunshu hesitates, while the Heavenly Blade Sect’s Guihai Chuan watches.
• Qin fights off dozens of attackers, killing more than a dozen with his saber and techniques. When the battle turns costly, he orders Thousand Mountain Blood to attack independently and uses the Great Wilderness Demon-Suppressing Seals to crush and scatter the remaining cultivators.
• Qin spends life-source points to advance his cultivation art, replenishing his depleted true essence and enabling a second powerful seal. The survivors flee; the saber kills one final attacker before returning to its sheath.
• With the pool dried and spiritual energy at its peak, the Green Lotus finally begins to open, filling the valley with divine radiance.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Shujian demonstrates overwhelming strength, combining a Half-Step Dao Artifact, exceptional defense, and powerful martial techniques. He remains focused on the lotus rather than the crowd’s provocation.
• Qi Yunshu is shaken by the massacre. Her desire for the treasure vanishes, and she retreats from the valley.
• Guihai Chuan abandons his earlier wish to challenge Qin. Witnessing the battle makes him recognize the gulf between their abilities; he realizes Qin had never regarded him as a serious opponent and feels relieved to have avoided a fight.
• The attackers initially unite against Qin but lose their nerve and flee once his full power becomes clear. The divine generals remain observers, constrained by their duty and rules.

Significant themes

• Power and hierarchy: The battle reveals how far Qin stands above even elite True Martial experts.
• Greed and fear: The treasure incites collective violence, but its defenders’ defeat turns desire into terror.
• Humility through confrontation: Guihai Chuan’s confidence is replaced by a clearer understanding of his own limits.
• Restraint and duty: The divine generals’ interest in the lotus is checked by the rules governing their post.

Key events

• An azure lotus blooms and produces a spear, which withstands nearly an hour of devastating lightning. Qin Shujian catches it when it tries to flee.
• The spear attacks his mind with an overwhelming will of slaughter, but the blade intent of Thousand Mountain Blood suppresses it. The system identifies it as the Tribulation-Slaying Spear, a Xiantian Spirit Object.
• Because Thousand Mountain Blood is more familiar and compatible with him, Qin chooses to fuse the spear into it. The fusion completes its Dao Seal and raises the saber from a Half-Step Dao Artifact to a One-Seal Dao Artifact, imbued with thunder and slaughter.
• After leaving the ruined valley, Qin finds three Vermilion Fruits and takes them, reasoning that they are valuable even though he does not need them for cultivation.
• Sensing unusually concentrated spiritual energy nearby, he digs beneath a mountain and uncovers a spirit stone. He then begins cutting into the surrounding crystalline rock, suspecting more may be hidden there.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin shows patience and judgment by letting the spear endure its tempering before intervening. He also remains decisive, choosing to fuse a powerful weapon he does not favor into the saber he already trusts.
• His practical, money-conscious side appears when he collects the Vermilion Fruits despite having no personal use for them.
• The two cultivators fighting over the fruits flee as soon as Qin arrives. Survivors of the earlier battle help spread his reputation: he is known as a formidable expert who defeated Outer Astral Realm cultivators and now wields a true Dao Artifact.

Significant themes

• Trial and transformation: The lightning tests and strengthens the spear, while fusion transforms Thousand Mountain Blood into a greater weapon.
• Power and reputation: Qin’s strength quickly makes others fear and avoid him.
• Practical ambition: He treats rare treasures as both opportunities for growth and valuable assets, continually searching for more.

Key plot points and events

• Qin Shujian leaves the Mortal Domain with seven spirit stones, having already gained a great deal from his visit. He decides to place one stone beneath each future branch-lineage mountain and the rest beneath Liangshan.
• On returning, he reunites with Xiao Hong and waits for the other travelers. Several cultivators react nervously to Qin, having heard that he defeated numerous Outer Astral Realm experts in the valley.
• Yang Zhongning praises Qin’s strength and invites him to visit the Golden Sun Sect. Yu Jianghai and other cultivators who had joined the earlier attempt to seize the azure lotus apologize. Qin accepts their apologies for now, but intends to settle matters later.
• Once the group returns, Qin leaves for the Origin Sect. He gives a spirit stone to each elder preparing to establish a branch lineage, explaining that the stones will enrich the surrounding spiritual energy and must not be used for personal cultivation.
• Qin places two stones beneath Liangshan Summit. Their power draws spiritual energy across Liangshan, abruptly stirring everyone who is meditating.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Shujian remains confident and controlled. He uses the spirit stones to strengthen the Origin Sect’s foundations, while making clear that valuable resources must serve the sect rather than individuals. He does not publicly punish those who opposed him, but does not forget the incident.
• Xiao Hong continues to treat Qin with respect and does not pry into what he found, reflecting his regard for personal boundaries and rules.
• Yang Zhongning shifts from hearing rumors about Qin to openly admiring him and seeking a closer relationship.
• Yu Jianghai and the other attackers show fear and remorse, approaching Qin to apologize. His calm response eases their immediate anxiety, though the conflict is not necessarily resolved.

Significant themes

• Power and deterrence: Qin’s reputation alone makes other cultivators wary, and his strength gives him control over when and how conflicts are addressed.
• Rules and order: Xiao Hong values restraint and orderly conduct, while Qin insists that sect resources be protected from personal appropriation.
• Institution-building: The spirit stones are used not merely as personal treasures but to create lasting cultivation grounds for the Origin Sect and its branches.
• Pragmatism and delayed justice: Qin accepts apologies without escalating matters in the moment, while leaving open the possibility of settling accounts later.

Plot points

• Qin Shujian buries two of his seven spirit stones at Liangshan Summit for safekeeping and to aid his cultivation, then studies a map of Great Zhao. He identifies the nearby Cloudmist Sect and Rock Sect as targets.
• Both sects had been involved in the earlier attempt to seize his azure lotus. Their leaders died during the Demon Calamity, leaving the sects weakened.
• Qin decides the Origin Sect is now powerful enough to abandon its cautious approach. After depositing the Golden Body Art in the Library Pavilion, he gathers the disciples and declares war on both sects.
• A large-scale faction mission appears for players: destroy the Cloudmist Sect and Rock Sect. Qin divides the force, sending five elders and half the disciples against Cloudmist while leading the rest against Rock. He orders them to seize the sects’ spirit objects.
• The Origin Sect mobilizes roughly 1,550 Inner Astral Realm cultivators, five Outer Astral elders, and its lower-ranked disciples. Their passage frightens the people of Flying Leaf City, though the army does not stop there.
• Players post footage of the march online. The unprecedented show of force sparks widespread excitement and speculation.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Shujian shifts from patient institution-building to decisive retaliation. He sees the campaign as justified revenge for the sects’ attempt to kill him and believes the Origin Sect can now overwhelm them.
• The Origin Sect’s disciples and elders respond with unified enthusiasm, pledging to carry out Qin’s orders.
• Players are thrilled by the large-scale mission and view the campaign as a dramatic opportunity, while forum users marvel at the Origin Sect’s strength.
• Zhang Baicheng, lord of Flying Leaf City, panics when the army approaches, then angrily orders a report sent once it passes—trying to hide his embarrassment.

Significant themes

• Revenge and consequences: Qin insists those who tried to kill him must face retaliation.
• Power changing strategy: The Origin Sect’s sudden rise in strength makes restraint seem unnecessary.
• Faction loyalty and collective force: Elders and disciples mobilize together to defend the sect’s reputation.
• Spectacle and public perception: The march becomes both a military threat and a major event for the player community.

Plot points and events

• News that the Origin Sect is marching with over a thousand Inner Astral Realm cultivators alarms players across the Northern Cangxi True Domain.
• The Cloudmist Sect’s players try to warn their leaders, but a senior disciple dismisses their report as impossible. Learning that the sect once had only ten Inner Astral Realm cultivators convinces them it cannot withstand the invasion.
• Cloudmist players begin abandoning the sect to avoid defeat and the penalties that might follow its destruction. Their mass departure eventually alerts the leadership.
• Rock Sect players Cao Hong and Liu Qinghong reach the same conclusion: their sect’s few likely Outer Astral Realm elders cannot oppose the Origin Sect. They choose to withdraw rather than risk being wiped out.
• The Origin Sect crosses the Cangxi True Domain without resistance. Azure Cloud Sect Master Qingxu avoids confronting Qin Shujian, even dismissing and sealing an elder who urges him to object.
• On entering the Northern Cangxi True Domain, Qin Shujian divides his forces: five elders lead an army toward the Cloudmist Sect, while he takes the rest toward the Rock Sect. Both sects eventually verify the astonishing reports of the invasion.

Character developments and interactions

• Cloudmist and Rock Sect players prioritize survival over loyalty, deciding that retreat now will cost less than defeat later.
• Cao Hong and Liu Qinghong abandon their hopes of secretly growing strong enough to challenge Qin Shujian; they agree to withdraw and rebuild elsewhere.
• Qingxu shows cautious pragmatism, suppressing an outspoken elder to prevent the Azure Cloud Sect from provoking a vastly stronger force. The other elders accept his decision.
• Qin Shujian presses forward with confidence, treating opposition as an enemy to be crushed, though no Cangxi faction dares challenge him.

Significant themes

• Survival over allegiance: Players readily desert sects when the odds become hopeless.
• Power and deterrence: The Origin Sect’s overwhelming strength makes neighboring factions choose silence and retreat rather than resistance.
• Pragmatism versus pride: Qingxu and the players act cautiously, while the elder’s indignation nearly endangers his sect.
• Escalating momentum: The Origin Sect’s uninterrupted march intensifies the fear surrounding its campaign.

Plot points

• After the Rock Sect’s former master dies during the demon calamity, Yan Zongping takes over just as the Origin Sect launches an invasion. He realizes Qin Shujian’s attack stems from their earlier conflict over the Green Lotus.
• Qin arrives with more than five hundred inner astral realm cultivators and orders an immediate assault. The Rock Sect’s mountain gate is destroyed, and Yan’s offer to negotiate fails: Qin demands the sect’s supreme treasure and the Rock Sect’s absorption into the Origin Sect.
• The Rock Sect fires its Cloud-Piercing Arrow, a powerful treasure capable of killing even a spirit martial expert. Qin’s Dao artifact, Thousand Mountain Blood, cuts it in half. Qin then kills Yan with a single strike, and the Origin Sect’s forces eliminate the Rock Sect’s remaining powerful cultivators.
• Lin Daozhen offers to reveal the locations of the Rock Sect’s Heaven and Earth Bow and treasury in exchange for joining the Origin Sect. Qin accepts, noting Lin’s exceptionally high loyalty.
• Qin halts the slaughter and gives the surviving Rock Sect members a chance to surrender, warning that anyone who resists—or hides—will be killed.

Character developments and interactions

• Yan Zongping moves from confidence in the Rock Sect’s hidden weapon to terror when it proves useless against Qin’s Dao artifact. He tries to bargain and then threatens mutual destruction, but is killed.
• Qin Shujian is calm, uncompromising, and focused on consolidating power. He rejects negotiation, demonstrates his overwhelming advantage, and selectively spares survivors when they may be useful or loyal.
• Lin Daozhen betrays his former sect to survive, offering valuable information. His loyalty score suggests he may become a genuinely devoted member of the Origin Sect.
• The Origin Sect’s cultivators follow Qin’s orders closely; the surviving Rock Sect members are forced to choose between surrender and death.

Significant themes

• Overwhelming power and deterrence: The Rock Sect’s prized weapon cannot compete with a genuine Dao artifact.
• Loyalty and pragmatism: Qin values devotion to the Origin Sect over a recruit’s past, while Lin’s desire to live drives his defection.
• Conquest and survival: The invasion offers the Rock Sect no real chance of victory; its remnants must submit or be destroyed.

Plot points and events

• After defeating the Rock Sect, Qin Shujian gives its 500–600 surviving disciples ten breaths to choose: join the Origin Sect or remain loyal to the Rock Sect. Most surrender; those who refuse are executed.
• He reclassifies the survivors as Origin Sect menial disciples, then uses his Spirit Eye and Thousand Mountain Blood to identify and kill those harboring hostile intentions.
• Qin assigns the remaining disciples to Lin Daozhen’s command, authorizing him to deal with plots against the sect. He sends other Origin Sect disciples to collect Rock Sect manuals and martial arts, and asks Lin to lead him to the Heaven and Earth Bow.
• Qin retrieves the broken Cloud-Piercing Arrow and confronts the intelligent Heaven and Earth Bow. Its resistance is suppressed by Thousand Mountain Blood, and Qin stores the bow away.
• Lin reveals that the bow also guards the Rock Sect treasury. Unable to break the hidden entrance with ordinary attacks, Qin destroys the side hall and its reinforced wall with the Mountain-Moving Seal, exposing the stairs below.
• In the treasury, Qin takes the weapons, ores, spiritual treasures, silver, and even the glowing jade stones embedded in the walls. A system notice reports 135,000 taels of silver. He leaves with Lin as the Origin Sect disciples finish gathering the sect’s remaining valuables, including its texts.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin displays ruthless pragmatism: he spares surrendering disciples only after screening them for disloyalty, and eliminates anyone he sees as a future threat.
• Lin Daozhen’s satisfaction at the Rock Sect’s destruction reflects his earlier covert opposition to it. Now entrusted with its former disciples, he responds with loyalty and respect, while carefully avoiding any claim to the treasure.
• The Heaven and Earth Bow recognizes Qin as the owner of a Dao Artifact and senses the danger it poses, but cannot withstand his control.

Significant themes

• Power and security: Qin treats potential threats as dangers to be removed before they can grow.
• Loyalty and hierarchy: Surrender earns a place in the new order, but trust is conditional and authority remains firmly with Qin.
• Conquest and appropriation: The Rock Sect’s defeat is followed by the systematic absorption of its people, weapons, wealth, and knowledge.

Key plot points and events

• A video of the Origin Sect’s campaign spreads among players. It shows the sect crushing the Cloudmist and Rock Sects, with Qin Shujian killing the Rock Sect Master in one strike. Most players abandon any thought of challenging him.
• The Origin Sect takes the Cloudmist Sect’s supreme treasure and other spoils. Qin sends Fu Gang back with the surrendered Rock Sect members and supplies, while he leads the remaining force toward the Listening Sea Sect in the Abundant Sea True Domain.
• Qin intends to make the Origin Sect feared across the True Domains and use the campaign to give his less battle-tested disciples real combat experience.
• News of both sects’ destruction spreads rapidly, alarming neighboring powers. The Origin Sect’s continued advance toward the Abundant Sea True Domain heightens fears that it will strike again.
• Listening Sea Sect leader Yu Jianghai recognizes that the sect may be next: he previously clashed with Qin and believes Qin is seeking revenge. He urges the elders to unite other sects against the Origin Sect before it reaches them.
• Listening Sea Sect players, seeing the Origin Sect’s next quest, decide to flee. Many desert the sect, as players from the other defeated sects had done.

Character developments and interactions

• Qin Shujian shows both overwhelming martial strength and strategic ambition. He pursues vengeance while treating the campaign as a way to train his forces and demonstrate the Origin Sect’s power.
• Yu Jianghai shifts from anxious uncertainty to a plan for collective resistance. He explains his past conflict with Qin to the Listening Sea Sect elders, who are shaken by the revelation.
• Fu Gang is entrusted with escorting the spoils and Rock Sect surrenderers back to the Origin Sect.
• Players respond pragmatically to the power imbalance: rather than fight alongside doomed sects, they choose survival through desertion.

Significant themes

• Power and intimidation: The Origin Sect’s strength makes resistance appear futile and its reputation spreads faster than its forces.
• Fear and self-preservation: Sect elders scramble to organize, while players flee rather than face near-certain defeat.
• Retaliation and escalation: Qin’s campaign suggests that past conflicts can have devastating consequences.
• Unity versus division: Yu Jianghai argues that the sects must unite or be defeated individually.

Plot points

• The Listening Sea Sect sends Grand Elder Ding Zhongyuan to persuade the Azure City Sect to join a coalition against the advancing Origin Sect.
• Ding warns that the Origin Sect, with more than 1,500 Inner Astral cultivators, has already destroyed the Cloudmist and Rock Sects and could easily overwhelm the smaller True Domain sects. The Azure City elders resent his blunt comparison, but Sect Master Fu Qinghong recognizes the danger.
• Ding says the Listening Sea Sect is also seeking support from other factions and argues that killing Qin Shujian could weaken the Origin Sect. Fu delays a decision rather than committing immediately.
• As the Origin Sect enters the Abundant Sea True Domain, other factions retreat rather than confront its army. Zeng Hong cautions Qin Shujian that the Listening Sea Sect may be preparing an alliance; Qin dismisses the threat, confident that no local coalition can stop his sect.
• The Listening Sea Sect gathers assistance from neighboring factions. Its defenders now include about twenty Outer Astral and sixty or seventy Inner Astral cultivators—still far fewer than the Origin Sect’s forces.
• Fu Qinghong clarifies that his faction came seeking a peaceful settlement, not a fight to the death. Listening Sea Sect Master Yu Jianghai agrees that peace would be preferable.

Character developments and interactions

• Fu Qinghong moves from caution and reluctance toward recognizing that neutrality may not protect his sect. He is wary of being drawn into battle but understands the Origin Sect’s advance threatens everyone.
• Ding Zhongyuan is direct and composed, even when his warning insults the Azure City Sect’s pride. He presses for unity by emphasizing the stark imbalance in strength.
• Qin Shujian displays absolute confidence in the Origin Sect’s power, treating resistance by the Listening Sea Sect or even a broader alliance as futile.
• Zeng Hong takes a more cautious, strategic view, warning that the Listening Sea Sect may organize resistance.
• Yu Jianghai is anxious but reassured by the arrival of allied experts. His supporters, including Fu Qinghong, make clear that their help is driven as much by fear of the Origin Sect as by loyalty to his sect.

Significant themes

• Power and intimidation: The Origin Sect’s overwhelming strength shapes every faction’s choices before battle even begins.
• Alliance and self-preservation: Smaller sects consider cooperation, but their motives are defensive and their trust is limited.
• Pride versus pragmatism: The Azure City elders bristle at Ding’s blunt words, while Fu focuses on the practical threat.
• Confidence and vulnerability: Qin’s certainty contrasts with the smaller sects’ fear, while the gathered coalition offers only a thin hope of resistance.