Chapter Summaries

Li Ling traveled toward the Sea Clan region with Li Yang, while Li Ji struggled to establish himself as the emperor’s representative with the Prince of the South. In the palace, Li Chen planned to visit Qizhou City, where Shi Yingying offered to show him a mysterious grand gathering.

• Li Ling questioned Li Yang about the princess of the Former Dynasty Remnants and privately blamed the woman for her family’s ruin.
• Li Yang guided Li Ling and her companions around the Restricted Zone, sharing advice he had learned from a Sea Clan guidebook.
• Li Ji delivered Li Chen’s Imperial Edict to the Prince of the South, then admitted he did not know the proper procedure and had coasted through the Western Expedition.
• The Prince of the South tested Li Ji’s military knowledge, found his battle advice unreliable, and kept him close because he represented the emperor.
• Li Chen planned an inspection visit to Qizhou City, and Shi Yingying volunteered to accompany him, promising a special grand gathering.

Li Chen and Shi Yingying arrived in Qizhou City, where he learned about the Heavenly Immortal Ranking and its influence-based competition. Shi Yingying led him to the Purple Cloud Pavilion to see two women from the Purple Cloud Immortal Abode who were entering, where a group of beautiful women had gathered.

• Li Chen recognized the dense demon-beast population outside Qizhou City as a warning of an impending beast tide, while Mu Qingrou returned to attend to her duties and Shi Yingying stayed with him.
• Li Chen and Shi Yingying entered bustling Qizhou City and noticed that the Railway Train had brought large quantities of goods from the Eastern Region's Coastal Region.
• Li Chen overheard cultivators discussing the Heavenly Immortal Ranking, and Shi Yingying explained that candidates' influence was measured by the strength of their suitors.
• Li Chen offered to boost Shi Yingying's ranking, but she declined because she would be embarrassed to compete.
• Shi Yingying told Li Chen that two women from the Purple Cloud Immortal Abode were entering the ranking and led him to the Purple Cloud Pavilion, where a group of beautiful women had gathered.

Li Chen agreed to help Liu Tang and Yue Li improve their Heavenly Immortal Ranking results, while concealing his identity as he prepared to enter the suitor competition. The next day, the Heavenly Immortal Hall was packed with people.

• Liu Tang and Yue Li told Li Chen that their low-ranked suitors hurt their chances in the Heavenly Immortal Ranking.
• Li Chen learned that suitors would compete for strength and gather cultivation resources, and decided to help the two women.
• Li Chen said he had one condition but postponed explaining it, intending to ask them to help resist the coming beast tide.
• Shi Yingying and the others disguised Li Chen and arranged for him to compete under the alias Cheng Li.
• The next day, the Heavenly Immortal Hall filled with a roaring hubbub.

Li Chen accompanied Liu Tang and Yue Li to the Heavenly Immortal Ranking, but his new appearance drew more attention than the two candidates. Liu Tang and Yue Li won their showcase matches, and their standings in the Leaderboard Challenge depended on Li Chen’s help.

• Li Chen arrived at the Heavenly Immortal Hall with Shi Yingying, Liu Tang, and Yue Li, where cultivators flocked to admire his handsome new appearance.
• Liu Tang and Yue Li brought Li Chen to register for the Leaderboard Challenge, planning for him to help Liu Tang in combat and provide financial backing to Yue Li.
• Several female cultivators tried to win Li Chen over, prompting Liu Tang and Yue Li to challenge them before an elder warned them to settle any fights onstage or risk disqualification.
• Liu Tang and Yue Li each defeated their opponents in the morning showcase and earned praise from the judges and spectators.
• Liu Tang and Yue Li’s future rankings depended on the help Li Chen would give them in the Leaderboard Challenge.

Li Chen, posing as Liu Tang’s suitor under the alias Cheng Li, effortlessly defeated Gao Qiu in the suitors’ arena and drew the admiration of Zhen Yanqing and many other cultivators. The competition continued with Li Chen the center of attention, while Liu Tang and Zhen Yanqing traded barbs over whether he was truly her suitor.

• Gao Qiu challenged the other suitors on behalf of Zhen Yanqing, but no one volunteered to fight him.
• The referee selected Cheng Li, Li Chen’s alias, and the crowd erupted when Li Chen stepped onto the stage.
• Gao Qiu attacked Li Chen with his Phantom Shadow Sword Art, but Li Chen caught his sword with two fingers and defeated him without drawing a weapon.
• Gao Qiu conceded, and Li Chen’s victory earned loud cheers and Zhen Yanqing’s open admiration.
• Zhen Yanqing questioned Liu Tang about how she had gained such a powerful suitor, while Liu Tang insisted Li Chen was hers.

Li Chen, disguised as Cheng Li, effortlessly defeated a Jade Sword Immortal Sect elder and several other challengers at the Heavenly Immortal Ranking. When Mu Qingrou arrived to test the mysterious sword cultivator, Liu Tang revealed his identity, and Mu Qingrou realized she was no match for her husband.

• The challengers forfeited rather than face Li Chen, so an elder from the Jade Sword Immortal Sect's Sword Arts Hall challenged him instead.
• Li Chen caught the elder's sword and tossed it aside, defeating her instantly and stunning the crowd.
• Li Chen casually defeated several more opponents while the female cultivators praised him and teased Liu Tang about their relationship.
• An elder reported Li Chen's feats to Mu Qingrou, who went to the Heavenly Immortal Hall to challenge Cheng Li.
• Liu Tang explained Cheng Li's identity to Mu Qingrou, who recognized Li Chen and realized she could not match him.

After Mu Qingrou stopped the Leaderboard Challenge from continuing, she reprimanded Liu Tang and Yue Li for making Li Chen compete, then forgave them at his request. Li Chen approved expanding the Purple Cloud Immortal Abode and revealed his plans involving the World-Suppressing Bronze Coffin and the Myriad Races, leaving Mu Qingrou ready to help strengthen the sect and dynasty.

• Mu Qingrou declared Cheng Li the Leaderboard Challenge champion, and the crowd agreed that everyone else would compete for second place.
• At the Purple Cloud Pavilion, Mu Qingrou scolded Liu Tang and Yue Li for involving Li Chen in the challenge, but Li Chen calmed her and she forgave them.
• Mu Qingrou admired Li Chen's new appearance, and he held her hand before they discussed the Purple Cloud Immortal Abode's development.
• Mu Qingrou asked to recruit more disciples, and Li Chen approved expanding the sect without concern for its growing strength.
• Li Chen told Mu Qingrou about the World-Suppressing Bronze Coffin and the Myriad Races, and she pledged to develop the Purple Cloud Immortal Abode to support the Heavenly Strategy Dynasty's future.

Li Chen proposed that Mu Qingrou borrow resources from the Imperial Court to rapidly expand the Purple Cloud Immortal Abode and prepare for the Myriad Races of the Heavens. As rumors about Li Chen spread, he arrived at the Heavenly Immortal Hall assessment area surrounded by attention.

• Li Chen asked Mu Qingrou about her expansion plans, and she said she could manage fifteen thousand disciples with current resources and perhaps thirty or forty thousand with more.
• Li Chen suggested that sects take resource loans from the Imperial Court, arguing that larger sects could complete more missions and prepare to compete against the Myriad Races.
• Mu Qingrou accepted that the loan model was worth trying, while Li Chen considered credit checks, collateral, interest, and how obedience to the Imperial Court could determine a sect's creditworthiness.
• Zhen Yanqing confronted Liu Tang outside the Purple Cloud Pavilion after being denied entry, and rumors spread that Young Master Cheng was a Divine Son of a Hidden Sect or an Ancient Freak.
• Mu Qingrou left to oversee recruitment, and the next day Li Chen entered the Heavenly Immortal Hall assessment area with Liu Tang and Yue Li guiding him through the crowd.

Li Chen helped Yue Li with the Heavenly Immortal Ranking’s financial-strength contest, then waited in Qizhou City for the Beast Tide he expected the other contestants’ hunting to provoke. When the beasts attacked and Gao Qiu’s group fled back, Li Chen headed for the city gate, declaring that the contest was only beginning.

• Yue Li gave Li Chen her list of Demon Beast materials, and he agreed to help her while Gao Qiu challenged him to another competition.
• When the contest began, Gao Qiu sent more than a hundred disciples out to gather the listed items, while Li Chen stayed in a teahouse with Yue Li.
• Li Chen explained that he was waiting for the Beast Tide likely to follow the mass hunting of Demon Beasts.
• A Beast Tide struck Qizhou City, forcing the fleeing cultivators, including Gao Qiu and his disciples, back inside.
• Gao Qiu said the competition would have to be suspended, but Li Chen replied that it was only beginning and walked toward the city gate.

Li Chen saw that Zhou Jing’s untrained City Guard Army was unprepared for the Beast Tide and chose to summon cultivators by advertising the Demon Beasts as a source of resources. After revealing himself as emperor and striking Zhou Jing, Li Chen told him help would arrive soon and warned him not to interfere.

• Li Chen and Yue Li arrived at Qizhou City and watched Zhou Jing’s chaotic efforts to prepare the City Guard Army for the Beast Tide.
• Li Chen decided to draw cultivators to the city by promising them cultivation resources from the attacking Demon Beasts, and Yue Li went to spread the news.
• Zhou Jing ordered Li Chen off the wall without recognizing him, so Li Chen slapped him and declared himself emperor.
• The officers and soldiers knelt when Li Chen revealed his identity, and Zhou Jing apologized and asked what to do about the Beast Tide.
• Li Chen told Zhou Jing that help would arrive soon and ordered him not to get in the way.

Li Chen’s plan drew more than a hundred thousand cultivators to Qizhou City, where they organized under the Nine Abyss Sacred Domain steward to meet the beast tide. The cultivators overwhelmed the attack while competing for resources, and the chapter ended as they rushed to confront a high-level Black-Scaled Tyrant Tiger.

• Li Chen’s arrangements brought cultivators streaming into Qizhou City, eager to claim resources from the beast tide.
• When the beasts arrived, Zhou Jing let the Nine Abyss Sacred Domain steward coordinate the cultivators while he commanded the City Guard Army.
• Li Chen joined the Purple Cloud Immortal Abode’s ranks, and cultivators formed sword arrays and prepared talismans to defend the city.
• The cultivators repelled the beast tide with attacks from the walls, while Li Chen mostly stayed out of the fighting and Yue Li watched from behind the crowd.
• A Black-Scaled Tyrant Tiger charged toward the walls, and the cultivators rushed to claim it after learning its inner core could refine Heaven Grade Pills.
• Gao Qiu charged at the Black-Scaled Tyrant Tiger despite being weaker than it, while the beast stared in apparent disbelief at the cultivators’ reaction.

Li Chen joined the battle outside Qizhou City, kicked the pseudo-saint Black-Scaled Tyrant Tiger away, and completed his mission by killing the required Void-Insight Realm Demon Beasts. He left the tiger’s valuable remains to Yue Li, who eagerly chose some materials.

• Cultivators charged out from Qizhou City to attack the Black-Scaled Tyrant Tiger, while Li Chen followed them to hunt Demon Beasts for his mission.
• The Black-Scaled Tyrant Tiger overwhelmed the front ranks, injured Gao Qiu, and forced the cultivators to retreat after the steward identified it as pseudo-saint tier.
• The tiger cut off the retreat and attacked Li Chen, who kicked it away with one blow and left it lying motionless in a crater.
• Li Chen continued hunting Void-Insight Realm Demon Beasts and completed his mission as the surrounding cultivators stared in disbelief.
• The steward offered Li Chen first choice of the tiger’s spoils, and Li Chen told Yue Li to take whatever she wanted.
• Yue Li followed the steward to the tiger’s corpse and took several precious materials.

Li Chen completed Yue Li’s leaderboard challenge tasks and inspected Qi Province City, where he questioned the negligent city defense commander, Zhou Jing. He accepted Shi Yingying’s invitation to the Purple Cloud Immortal Abode for a banquet, where its elders planned to keep him from leaving soon.

• Li Chen searched the beast tide for Yue Li’s requested materials, while nearby cultivators and female finalists helped him gather them.
• After Yue Li returned and saw the women surrounding Li Chen, she planted herself beside him, and Li Chen finished the tasks he had come to Qi Province City to complete.
• Li Chen decided to have officials across the Heavenly Strategy Dynasty assessed and questioned Zhou Jing about spending four years in secluded cultivation instead of doing his job.
• At the Purple Moon Pavilion, Yue Li and Liu Tang teased each other about their feelings for Li Chen, while Shi Yingying judged that her plan to win him over would succeed.
• Shi Yingying invited Li Chen to a celebratory banquet at the Purple Cloud Immortal Abode, where she had begun a plan to make him linger.

Li Chen stayed at the Purple Cloud Immortal Abode for ten days, where Shi Yingying arranged for female cultivators to seek his swordsmanship guidance. After returning to the Imperial Capital, he found the city thriving as trade and transport expanded.

• Shi Yingying led the elders in arranging suitable accommodations for Li Chen and agreeing that the cultivators could seek his swordsmanship guidance.
• Shi Yingying took Li Chen to Mu Qingrou's palace, where Liu Tang and Yue Li helped prepare his stay.
• An Rushuang asked Li Chen to assess her sword technique, and he modified it after taking measurements in his room.
• Li Chen instructed Liu Tang, Yue Li, and many other female cultivators while staying at the Purple Cloud Immortal Abode for ten days.
• Li Chen returned to the Imperial Capital and saw that its prosperity had grown, with storefronts in busy districts becoming extremely expensive.

At morning court, Li Chen ordered annual assessments for officials, proposed resource loans for sects, and approved tighter management of land and commerce in the capital. After learning of turmoil in the Southern Kingdoms and a hidden force behind it, he decided to travel there, then asked Zhu Zhuying for insight into the region.

• Li Chen ordered the Ministry of Personnel to assess officials and coordinate annual reviews with other departments after Zhao Wenyuan warned against concentrating assessment power in one ministry.
• Li Chen proposed loans to the sects, and Liu Minghan recommended interest rates and mission records to manage the policy and judge creditworthiness.
• Li Chen approved a Ministry of Works agency to manage land and commerce in the Imperial Capital, with the Ministry of Revenue assisting.
• The Minister of War and the Vice Minister of War reported unrest and a hidden force in the Southern Kingdoms, and Li Chen said he would go there himself.
• Li Chen visited Firefly Moon Palace, where he saw Li Sining and the others practicing their Sword Formation, and Zhu Zhuying told him that newly risen leaders in the Southern Kingdoms had sided with another faction.

Li Chen learned that Zhu Zhuying’s country was shifting toward the Eternal Day Empire and dismissed the threat as an opportunity to deal with it. Meanwhile, Xu Zifeng hoped to be sent to war, and his mother and aunt went to the palace, leaving him unaware of their real intentions.

• Zhu Zhuying explained that several southern countries were turning toward the Eternal Day Empire, and Li Chen said he was ready to confront them.
• Fang Qian and Luo Yong began assessing local officials, while Lin Mo remained busy and Xiao Ming continued his work in Shanghe City.
• Xu Zifeng told the Princess of the South and Ji Lingyu that he wanted to fight the Southern Kingdoms and described possible conflicts involving Tuoba Zhen and the Heavenly Luo Dynasty.
• The Princess of the South promised Xu Zifeng that she and Ji Lingyu would seek an opportunity for him, then the women escorted him to the palace under the pretext of visiting the Empress Dowager.
• Xu Zifeng headed home from the palace and encountered Li Ling, who was on her way to enter it.

Li Ling sought Li Xueying’s help to gain access to the Imperial Palace’s Treasure Pavilion, while Li Chen distributed powerful cultivation rewards and encouraged his consorts to train. In Shanghe City, Fang Qian began assessing Lin Yue’e, unaware of her ties to the emperor, after officials maneuvered him into the role.

• Li Ling visited Li Xueying and asked her to speak to Li Chen about obtaining items to improve her cultivation, hoping to gain legitimate access to the Treasure Pavilion.
• Li Chen gave Li Sining ten Heaven Grade Spirit-Breaking Pills and the Wild Heaven Thunder God Sword, and advised her not to rush her cultivation.
• Wu Nanzhi sought beast-taming instruction from Elissa, who taught her a method of channeling the Saint Tiger’s power after the tiger agreed to cooperate out of fear of Li Chen.
• Lin Yue’e underwent a Ministry of Personnel assessment in Shanghe City, where Fang Qian assessed her after officials who knew her background had arranged for him to take the role.

Fang Qian investigated Lin Yue'e's governance in Shanghe City and repeatedly clashed with Xiao Ming, who was pursuing both Wei Manying and Lin Yue'e. After Lin Yue'e stopped the two officials from fighting, a mysterious woman arrived at the Wei Family residence and made Wei Manying bow her head.

• Fang Qian interviewed Shanghe City's residents and Wei Manying, hearing praise for Lin Yue'e's administration while Wei Manying concealed her ties to the Former Dynasty Remnants.
• Xiao Ming tried to drive Fang Qian away from the Wei Family residence, but Fang Qian repelled him and revealed his own official credentials.
• Fang Qian began assessing Lin Yue'e's case files, and Xiao Ming accused him of using official business to pursue her.
• Fang Qian and Xiao Ming prepared to fight until Lin Yue'e stepped between them and halted the confrontation.
• After Fang Qian and Xiao Ming left, a mysterious woman appeared at the Wei Family residence, where Wei Manying bowed to her.

Yuan Qianyu submitted to Qiu Xianyu’s demands to speed up the Dragon Emperor’s resurrection while secretly planning to use Lin Mo, a rising official tied to the Yuan clan. After Lin Mo delivered a key to her and fell for her flirtation, Yuan Qianyu realized she had ensnared him quickly but knew she still had to keep up her act.

• Qiu Xianyu reprimanded Yuan Qianyu for delaying the Dragon Emperor’s resurrection, and Yuan Qianyu promised to work harder while cursing her in private.
• Lin Mo traveled to Shanghe City to deliver a key entrusted to him by a Yuan clan cultivator, using a secret signal to enter the Wei residence.
• Yuan Qianyu welcomed Lin Mo and flirted with him, while Lin Mo quickly became infatuated with her.
• Over dinner, Lin Mo revealed his identity and handed Yuan Qianyu the key, which she accepted with concealed emotion.
• Yuan Qianyu privately noted that Lin Mo had fallen for her even faster than Xiao Ming and resolved to continue acting fond of him.

Lin Mo grew infatuated with Yuan Qianyu and met Xiao Ming for drinks, unaware that they were pursuing the same woman. The next day, Lin Mo found Xiao Ming and Fang Qian fighting over their visits to Lin Yue'e, and the chapter ended with all three unexpectedly meeting at the Wei Family residence.

• Yuan Qianyu made Lin Mo promise to protect her and the Yuan clan, deepening his infatuation with her.
• Lin Mo ran into Xiao Ming, and they went drinking; Xiao Ming complained that Fang Qian had interfered with his courtship, while Lin Mo kept his own romance with Yuan Qianyu secret.
• Lin Mo returned to his lodging thinking about Yuan Qianyu, while Xiao Ming vowed to get back at Fang Qian and regarded Wei Manying as his own.
• Lin Mo arrived at Lin Yue'e's office and found Xiao Ming and Fang Qian clashing with drawn swords over Fang Qian's visits to review case files.
• Lin Mo and Lin Yue'e helped stop the fight, but a little later Lin Mo, Xiao Ming, and Fang Qian all met at the entrance to the Wei Family residence.