Chapter Summaries

Li Chen confronted Ao Jiao’s furious dragon-horned brother after he accused him of the Dragon Palace treasury theft. Li Chen easily defeated him with a single palm strike, leaving the Sea Clan stunned and the general’s contempt replaced by respect.

• The dragon-horned general accused Li Chen of the treasury theft and charged at him, while Ao Jiao tried to shield Li Chen and urge him to flee.
• Li Chen stepped in front of Ao Jiao and challenged her brother to fight; the general trapped Ao Jiao in a bubble and ordered the soldiers back.
• The dragon-horned general unleashed his dragon power and swung his weapon at Li Chen.
• Li Chen struck the general across the face with one palm, sending him hundreds of meters into the seabed and stunning the onlookers.
• Ao Jiao freed her injured brother, who looked at Li Chen without his earlier contempt, while Wu Nanzhi explained that she had known Li Chen’s strength from their first meeting.

Li Chen helped Ao Jiao reconcile with her brother, then accompanied her through the Dragon Palace to visit her mother, who had been banished to the Cold Palace. Ao Jiao reunited with the Dragon Mother, who asked why she had returned.

• The Dragon-Horned General entrusted Ao Jiao to Li Chen while insisting he did not approve of him, then left with his soldiers.
• Ao Jiao apologized for her brother mistaking Li Chen for Jun Zhantian and began comparing Li Chen's considerate behavior favorably with Jun Zhantian's.
• Ao Jiao guided Li Chen and the others through hidden paths and traps into the Dragon Palace.
• Ao Jiao learned that the Dragon King had banished her mother to the Cold Palace and had left to meet Human Race guests in the Outer Sea.
• Ao Jiao reached the Cold Palace and reunited with the Dragon Mother, who asked why she had come back.

Ao Jiao reunited with the Dragon Mother, who learned how Li Chen had cared for her and began to see him as a better match for her daughter than Jun Zhantian. Ao Jiao planned to leave again, while the Dragon Mother looked ready to encourage a relationship between her and Li Chen.

• Ao Jiao apologized to the Dragon Mother, and the two embraced and caught up after their separation.
• Ao Jiao introduced Li Chen and the other women, explaining that Li Chen had looked after her on the continent.
• Ao Jiao recounted how Li Chen had defeated her brother with one slap and described the fun they had shared together.
• The Dragon Mother noticed Ao Jiao's genuine happiness when she spoke about Li Chen and her forced smiles when she mentioned Jun Zhantian.
• The Dragon Mother asked Ao Jiao whether she would return to the Dragon Palace, but Ao Jiao said she intended to leave again.
• The Dragon Mother decided Li Chen seemed a better match for Ao Jiao than Jun Zhantian and considered bringing them together.

Li Chen broke the Dragon King's restriction on the Dragon Mother, allowing her to leave the Cold Palace with his group. In the Dragon Race's Forbidden Land, Ao Kuang mistook Li Chen for Jun Zhantian and approved of him caring for Ao Jiao and their mother.

• Ao Jiao invited the Dragon Mother to leave with her, and Li Chen offered to remove the restriction keeping her in the Cold Palace.
• Li Chen shattered the Dragon King's Ancient True Word Secret Art restriction, freeing the Dragon Mother and astonishing her and Ao Jiao.
• After Dragon Palace guards searched the area, the Dragon Mother staged the appearance of secluded cultivation, left a letter, and slipped out with Li Chen's group.
• The Dragon Mother led the group into the Dragon Race's Forbidden Land, where they encountered Ao Kuang.
• Ao Kuang told Li Chen to take care of his sister and mother, mistook him for Jun Zhantian, and left without hearing an explanation.

Li Chen escorted Ao Jiao and the Sea Clan beauties safely home, while their reluctance to return to Jun Zhantian’s side became clear. At the Piaomiao Immortal Alliance, Jun Zhantian received praise for his negotiations as the Jade-Washing Fairy hurried back, unaware that she had just passed Li Chen.

• Ao Jiao and the Sea Clan beauties thanked Li Chen for protecting them, but they felt reluctant when Ao Jiao said they should return to the Guixu Boundless Sect.
• Po Xi explained their hesitation as attachment to the deep sea, while the Dragon Mother noticed the women’s unspoken feelings about Li Chen.
• The Guixu Boundless Sect’s master and other alliance leaders praised Jun Zhantian for winning back the Sea Clan’s Clan-Safeguarding Treasures during negotiations.
• The Jade-Washing Fairy worried that Fairy Yunya might reveal her private interest in Jun Zhantian’s mysterious friend, Li Chen, and decided to return early.
• The Jade-Washing Fairy hurried past Li Chen on her way back, and neither of them noticed the other.

Li Chen and the Sea Clan beauties stopped at the Heavenly Sound Retreat, where the Dragon Mother privately urged him to pursue Ao Jiao and learned he was the emperor of the Heavenly Strategy Dynasty. She gave him a special potion to help him win Ao Jiao over, while Ao Jiao remained unaware of her mother’s scheme.

• Po Xi suggested that the group visit the Heavenly Sound Retreat, and Li Chen booked the entire Heavenly Sound Pavilion.
• After dinner, the Dragon Mother visited Li Chen alone and asked whether he liked Ao Jiao.
• The Dragon Mother explained that she preferred Li Chen to Jun Zhantian because she feared her daughter would be left a widow.
• Li Chen revealed that he was the emperor of the Heavenly Strategy Dynasty, convincing the Dragon Mother that Ao Jiao would be secure with him.
• The Dragon Mother gave Li Chen her specially made Special Vintage and said Jun Zhantian had not chosen Ao Jiao, leaving Li Chen to claim her first.
• Ao Jiao soaked in the hot springs unaware of the plan, while Li Chen considered pursuing all the Sea Clan beauties.

At the Hot Spring, Po Xi urged Ao Jiao to abandon Jun Zhantian and pursue Li Chen instead. Ao Jiao admitted she wanted to stay with Li Chen but worried about her mother, so Po Xi proposed a plan for the Evening Banquet.

• Ao Jiao fretted about returning to Jun Zhantian and leaving the comfortable company of Li Chen and her mother.
• Po Xi questioned Ao Jiao about Li Chen and argued that he was a better choice than Jun Zhantian, who had left his women waiting like widows.
• Ao Jiao struggled with guilt over changing her choice, but recalled that she had already repaid Jun Zhantian by freeing him from danger.
• Po Xi announced that she planned to confess her feelings to Li Chen, and Ao Jiao explained that her mother's presence made her afraid to act.
• Po Xi showed Ao Jiao a potion that could put people below the Saint Realm to sleep and described a plan to drug the others at the Evening Banquet.

Po Xi, Ao Jiao, and Dragon Mother conspired to get the Sea Clan beauties drunk and bring them to Li Chen, while Jun Zhantian stayed nearby without discovering what was happening. After several days with the women, Li Chen left to visit the Guixu Boundless Sect, where Jade-Washing Fairy had just returned.

• Po Xi persuaded Ao Jiao to help involve the other Sea Clan beauties so they would not blame her for getting close to Li Chen.
• Qin Meng brought Jun Zhantian to the Mountain Villa, where he stayed unaware that the Sea Clan beauties were nearby.
• Dragon Mother and Ao Jiao secretly drugged each other's wine, and Li Chen found that every woman but Xuan Ji had passed out.
• Li Chen and Xuan Ji carried the women to his room, where Dragon Mother woke first and Li Chen persuaded her to stay with him.
• Jun Zhantian sensed a fierce battle next door, waited nearby the next morning without seeing anyone leave, and returned to his sect.
• After spending several days with the women, Li Chen went to the Guixu Boundless Sect to look for Jade-Washing Fairy, who had already returned.

Fairy Yunya tried to leave the Guixu Boundless Sect before Li Chen returned, but her Dao companion, Daoist Qingyu, arrived and stayed to attend the Jade-Washing Fairy. After the pills were successfully refined, Li Chen returned and pulled Yunya away, leaving her to reappear in the alchemy room hours later.

• Fairy Yunya told the Jade-Washing Fairy she wanted to leave, but the Jade-Washing Fairy asked her to stay until they opened the Alchemy Furnace.
• Daoist Qingyu arrived, praised the Jade-Washing Fairy, and said he had come with the Sea Clan's Dragon King.
• Daoist Qingyu repeatedly visited the Jade-Washing Fairy over the following days, while Fairy Yunya remained at the sect.
• Fairy Yunya and the Jade-Washing Fairy opened the Alchemy Furnace and found that more than half of the forty-nine pills were high-grade.
• Li Chen appeared while Fairy Yunya was alone and carried her into the room, where they remained for several hours despite the Jade-Washing Fairy and Daoist Qingyu returning nearby.

Li Chen returned to the Jade-Washing Fairy’s residence and joined her, Fairy Yunya, and Daoist Qingyu for dinner. Fairy Yunya left with Li Chen to provoke Daoist Qingyu, who remained convinced that nothing was happening between them.

• The Jade-Washing Fairy gave Fairy Yunya half the pills they had refined together.
• Li Chen arrived, impressed Daoist Qingyu with his presence, and reunited with the Jade-Washing Fairy and Fairy Yunya.
• The Jade-Washing Fairy and Fairy Yunya chatted warmly with Li Chen while Daoist Qingyu struggled to join their conversation.
• At dinner, Fairy Yunya showed Li Chen unusual attention, and Daoist Qingyu assumed she was only trying to make him jealous.
• Fairy Yunya linked arms with Li Chen and asked the Jade-Washing Fairy if she could borrow him, then left with him.
• The Jade-Washing Fairy asked Daoist Qingyu why he did not react, and he insisted cultivators should not be narrow-minded.

Li Chen spent his days courting the Jade-Washing Fairy while secretly continuing his affair with Fairy Yunya at night. Jun Zhantian returned to the Guixu Boundless Sect and wondered where the Sea Clan beauties had gone, while Li Chen left before Li Xian returned.

• After Daoist Qingyu left Fairy Yunya's lodging, Li Chen continued with her for three hours before she agreed to return to the Imperial Palace.
• Li Chen reunited with the Jade-Washing Fairy, told her he had come especially for her, and began spending time with her.
• Over the next few days, Li Chen watched the sunrise and sunset with the Jade-Washing Fairy by day and secretly visited Fairy Yunya at night.
• Jun Zhantian learned that Xuan Ji had taken away the Sea Clan beauties and assumed she wanted to protect his cultivation.
• The Jade-Washing Fairy and Li Chen grew closer, but she remained conservative, while Fairy Yunya continued to meet Li Chen in secret.
• Li Chen left the Guixu Boundless Sect before Li Xian returned.

Li Xian and Li Yu prepared to strengthen their rebellion by seeking support from the Eternal Day Empire, while Li Xian also tried to gain favor with the man the Jade-Washing Fairy admired. In the Imperial Capital, Wei Manying built ties with Imperial Consort Jiang through a business deal as her plan to assassinate Li Chen began.

• Li Xian contacted the Eternal Day Empire, hoping it would use him as a pretext to challenge Li Chen’s rule, while Li Yu raised money and built up his private force in Anxin City.
• Li Xian returned to the Guixu Boundless Sect and noticed the Jade-Washing Fairy seemed lovestruck, so he discreetly tried to learn who had caught her attention.
• Li Chen remained away from the Imperial Capital as Wei Manying, with Lin Mo’s help, met Imperial Consort Jiang, owner of the Nine Heavens Boiling Pavilion.
• Wei Manying and Jiang Rong agreed on a hotpot restaurant franchise, grew closer, and Wei Manying began her plan to assassinate Li Chen.

Wei Manying plotted to draw Li Chen to Shanghe City while he returned to the Imperial Capital with his new consorts. At court, Li Chen heard reports of Li Ji’s victory and a sweeping investigation into corrupt officials.

• Wei Manying suggested that Jiang Rong invite Li Chen to dine at the hotpot restaurant in Shanghe City, then left for the city to prepare her scheme.
• Li Chen returned to the Imperial Capital and arranged a lavish deep-sea palace for his Sea Clan consorts and Fairy Yunya.
• The Minister of War reported that Li Ji and Xu Su had defeated the Sea Clan, and Li Chen deferred deciding Li Ji’s reward until he returned.
• Luo Hui presented a list of more than three thousand incompetent or corrupt officials, and Li Chen ordered the guilty punished without mercy.
• Luo Hui told Li Chen that he had already dealt with more than seven hundred lower-ranking officials and submitted the serious cases for judgment.

Li Chen addressed court business, ordering officials punished, praising railway progress, and deciding to counter the Eternal Day Empire’s trade restrictions. He enlisted Jiang Rong to help develop trade with the Southern Kingdoms and agreed to visit Shanghe City with her.

• Li Chen ordered Luo Hui to punish the implicated officials according to the law.
• The Minister of Works reported the railway network’s progress, and Li Chen rewarded Lin Mo with a residence and a promotion.
• Zhao Wenyuan informed Li Chen that the Eternal Day Empire had raised trade taxes and blockaded shipping routes to the southern vassal kingdoms, and Li Chen vowed to fight back.
• Li Chen explained the trade war to Jiang Rong and discussed using her merchant family’s influence to trade with the Southern Kingdoms.
• Jiang Rong revealed she had hoped to invite Li Chen to a new Hotpot Restaurant branch in Shanghe City, and Li Chen decided to go with her.

Wei Manying prepared the Wei Family’s gathering as a trap for Emperor Li Chen, planning to use beautiful women to lure him into an assassination scheme. When Wei Manping suggested killing him outright, Wei Manying struck her and warned that their family lacked the strength to challenge him.

• The Wei Family hosted an extravagant gathering in Shanghe City to make the Imperial Clan believe they were merely wealthy merchants.
• Wei Manying met privately with her younger sister, Wei Manping, and revealed that the Wei Family’s core members were Former Dynasty Remnants whose true surname was Yuan.
• Wei Manying explained that clues from Imperial Consort Jiang suggested Li Chen would visit a local hotpot restaurant with officials and Purple Firmament Heavenly Palace cultivators.
• Wei Manying said she had gathered beautiful women to attract Li Chen and begin the family’s regicide plan, while keeping herself out of danger.
• Wei Manping asked why they would not simply assassinate Li Chen, and Wei Manying slapped her and pointed out that their strongest cultivator was far weaker than him.

Wei Manying ordered Wei Manping to help lure Li Chen, while privately resenting the plan, and Li Chen prepared to travel to Luo Water Manor for a system mission. The chapter left Li Chen and Jun Zhantian both heading toward Luo Water Manor, where the mission’s mysterious Dragon's Roar Waterfall awaited.

• Wei Manying slapped Wei Manping for suggesting they assassinate Li Chen and told her to follow the plan to use beauty as bait.
• After Wei Manying left, Wei Manping privately resented her sister and the danger the plan posed, but went to attend the Wei Family gathering.
• Li Chen prepared to leave the Imperial Capital after considering Lin Yue'e's and Li Sining's cultivation progress and receiving rewards for completing the Ancient Tomb Exploration mission.
• The system gave Li Chen a 300-day mission to reach the middle stage of the Void-Insight Realm, find clues at Luo Water Manor, and open the gates of Dragon's Roar Waterfall.
• Luo Qimeng and Luo Zixi told Li Chen they did not remember any waterfalls near Luo Water Manor, while he suspected the site might be a secret realm.
• Jun Zhantian set out for Luo Water Manor with his father, who had recently returned to the Jun Family and wanted him to gain experience.

Jun Wuhui took his son Jun Zhantian by train to Luo Water Manor to search for an Immortal Race relic and pursue a way to bring their entire lineage into the Immortal Realm. At the same time, Luo Zixi and Luo Qimeng told Li Chen about the manor’s decline and the Wang Family’s scheme, while Jun Wuhui sensed something familiar nearby.

• Jun Zhantian recalled how he had grown up without meeting Jun Wuhui and how awkward their first reunion had been.
• Jun Wuhui told Jun Zhantian that they were traveling to Luo Water Manor to search for an Immortal Race relic, and explained his plan to find a way to ascend with their lineage.
• Jun Zhantian admired his father’s ambition as Jun Wuhui rode the train toward the Western Region.
• Jun Wuhui sensed something familiar after the train reached the Imperial Capital but could not identify it.
• Luo Zixi told Li Chen about Luo Water Manor’s spirit spring and decline, and Luo Qimeng recounted how the Wang Family’s scheme had destroyed her family.

Jun Zhantian and Jun Wuhui arrived in Shanghe City and were astonished by how prosperous and well-guarded it had become. On the road to Luo Water Manor, Jun Zhantian rescued Qiu Qingxia, whose resemblance to someone from Jun Wuhui’s past left him wondering about her identity.

• Jun Zhantian and Jun Wuhui saw Shanghe City’s spirit-stone streets, thriving shops, and well-equipped City Patrol Guards.
• Jun Zhantian and Jun Wuhui ate in the city and continued toward Luo Water Manor.
• Jun Zhantian intervened when masked attackers threatened a wounded woman and killed three of their fighters, forcing the rest to flee.
• Qiu Qingxia thanked Jun Zhantian and invited him to Autumn Moon Manor, and he accepted after Jun Wuhui nodded.
• Jun Wuhui recognized Qiu Qingxia’s sword technique as one he had taught someone and noticed that she resembled that person.

Li Chen arrived incognito in Shanghe City with his companions and visited the lavishly expanded Jiang Family Estate. News of his arrival reached High Person Clear Void, who seized Li Chen’s invitation as a way to escape his angry Dao companion.

• Li Chen and his group traveled to the Jiang Family Estate, while Luo Zixi regretted her family’s fate and compared her marriage to Jun Wuhui with Jiang Rong’s fortune.
• Jiang Mo ate spiritual fruits at the estate, and Luo Zixi marveled at the Jiang Family’s wealth and cultivation resources.
• High Person Clear Void’s Dao companion scolded him for being away for over half a year and dismissed his account of helping Li Chen fight the Sea Clan.
• High Person Clear Void’s personal disciple announced that Li Chen had arrived in Shanghe City and invited him to meet, prompting High Person Clear Void to eagerly accept the chance to leave.

Li Chen hosted a hot pot banquet in Shanghe City that drew sect leaders, officials, and merchant families eager for his attention. After the meal sparked a rush for hot pot and inspired a food-delivery idea, Wei Manping set out to reach Li Chen through Jiang Rong.

• High Person Clear Void’s Dao companion ordered his disciple Xiao Chuan to draw a thousand talismans in three days, while True Person Red Kite hurried to Shanghe City for Li Chen’s dinner.
• Wei Manping arrived at the Nine Heavens Boiling Pavilion hoping to impress Li Chen, but found herself seated far from him among many glamorous women and ambitious guests.
• High Person Clear Void and True Person Red Kite enjoyed hot pot beside Li Chen, and Clear Void later carried three sets home to appease his Dao companion.
• After his Dao companion ate the food and asked for more, High Person Clear Void returned to the pavilion, queued for hot pot, and overheard two cultivators propose delivering meals by mount.
• Wei Manping followed Wei Manying’s plan to visit Jiang Rong, hoping the visit would give her a chance to see Li Chen.