Chapter Summaries

After returning from the Migration Land, Ren Ye strengthened ties with Apu and reconciled with Yu Weifeng’s group before reporting his Sin Star Gate experience to Lin Xiang and Zhao Baicheng. As Vermilion Bird City shook again, Lin Xiang went to investigate the Rebirth Forest, and Ren Ye asked Zhao Baicheng what was inside it.

• Ren Ye gave Apu the Blazing Sun Palm manual and invited him to travel the Migration Land with the squad, and Apu accepted.
• Ren Ye urged Apu to use a safe Star Gate to reach the second tier’s maximum level, while Apu joked about seeking advancement funding.
• Ren Ye revealed to Yu Weifeng that he was a New Year's Watcher and the sixth God System player, and the two shook hands and settled their grievances.
• Ren Ye invited Mad Dog to join his squad, but Mad Dog chose to stay with Yu Weifeng while exchanging contact details with Ren Ye and Old Liu.
• Ren Ye told Lin Xiang and Zhao Baicheng about the Sin Star Gate, and they discussed the Demon Monk and a larger plan unfolding in the Migration Land.
• Vermilion Bird City shook as something struck the Star Gate barrier near the Rebirth Forest, so Lin Xiang went to investigate and Ren Ye asked Zhao Baicheng what was inside.

After returning from the Sin Star Gate, Ren Ye secured rewards from his masters, then rested at Qingliang Prefecture before questioning Wang Lili and Xu Bangzi about their hatred of Li Yan. The chapter ended with both prisoners cursing Li Yan while Ren Ye watched.

• Lin Xiang praised Ren Ye's performance and granted his request to transfer Tang Feng to Number Six Institute, promised reasonable help with a future mission, and let him postpone his third request.
• Zhao Baicheng promised to protect Ren Ye from the Central Plains Alliance, while Lin Xiang worried that Ren Ye's path toward the Ninety-Nine Human Emperor would be difficult.
• Ren Ye returned to Qingliang Prefecture, slept for more than twenty hours, and then met Brother Huang, who demanded to know what he had gained in the Star Gate.
• Ren Ye revealed that he had earned about 260,000 Star Source and acquired two Divine Artifacts, prompting Brother Huang to order a lavish meal.
• Ren Ye recognized Wang Lili, disguised himself as Li Yan, and provoked her into cursing him; Xu Bangzi also shouted curses against Li Yan from outside the hall.

Ren Ye recruited Xu Bangzi as his first attendant by demonstrating his power over the weather, then brought the Zhou Family’s strongest agent into his service as well. After settling the three outsiders, he asked Susu about his Second-to-Third Tier Advancement Task.

• Ren Ye and Brother Huang intimidated Wang Lili and sent her to a brothel, hoping hardship would make her join Qingliang Prefecture.
• Ren Ye told Xu Bangzi that he had brought him into his Divine Kingdom and offered him a place in the growing Empire, but Xu Bangzi initially refused.
• Ren Ye summoned wind, clouds, lightning, thunder, and rain over Qingliang Prefecture, convincing Xu Bangzi to become his attendant.
• Ren Ye recruited the Zhou Family’s strongest agent and assigned him to the Spy Battalion at Prince Huai’s Residence.
• Ren Ye found Susu and asked what his Second-to-Third Tier Advancement Task was.

Ren Ye learned that he had to expand Qingliang Prefecture into a commandery of at least eight counties and towns to advance, so he gathered his officials to consider how to gain territory. The group settled on diplomacy with the Southern Border, and Wu Pangzi rode to Qingliang Prefecture after receiving Ren Ye’s letter.

• Susu told Ren Ye that expanding Qingliang Prefecture into a commandery governing at least eight counties and towns would let him break through.
• Ren Ye met with Xu Qingzhao, Master Huang, Old Liu, and Tang Feng, who discussed the dangers of expanding into neighboring territories.
• Tang Feng and Ren Ye agreed that the Southern Border was their only possible direction for expansion, and Ren Ye proposed diplomacy.
• Ren Ye asked Lian'er for writing supplies and said he wanted to contact Wu Pangzi.
• Wu Pangzi received Ren Ye’s letter, canceled his plans for the night, and set out for Qingliang Prefecture with four men.

Ren Ye hosted Wu Pangzi at Joyful Music Palace and sought his help expanding Qingliang Prefecture southward through payments and political connections. Wu Pangzi devised a plan to secure the territory, but Ren Ye asked him to advance the money until after the autumn harvest.

• Ren Ye welcomed Wu Pangzi with music, dancers, wine, and an emotional reunion, while both men concealed their real intentions.
• Old Liu’s sighing gave Ren Ye an opening to tell Wu Pangzi that he wanted to expand Qingliang Prefecture southward without starting a war.
• Wu Pangzi calculated that the deal would require bribing Southern Border leaders and Golden Wolf General-Ba Wu, as well as cultivating support at Court.
• Wu Pangzi offered to pull strings, and Ren Ye proposed giving him one and a half million Star Source, counting five hundred thousand as compensation.
• Ren Ye admitted he did not have the money yet and asked Wu Pangzi to advance it until Qingliang Prefecture collected its autumn taxes, leaving Wu Pangzi stunned.

Ren Ye persuaded Wu Pangzi to fund negotiations for Southern Border territory, while Brother Huang arranged for Qingliang Prefecture to buy horses and sheep. After reporting to Lin Xiang, Ren Ye was thrown out for offering to rent his treasures, and Wu Pangzi's request for an audience in Lingnan Prefecture was refused.

• Ren Ye tearfully persuaded Wu Pangzi to front one million Star Source for efforts to acquire Southern Border territory, and Wu agreed to negotiate with Ba Wu.
• Wu Pangzi told his foster son he planned to profit from a national crisis by helping Prince Huai buy eight counties and towns' worth of territory.
• Brother Huang received more than forty breeding horses and over twenty bonus sheep for Qingliang Prefecture, then planned to expand the Imperial Stud and eventually buy thousands of horses.
• Ren Ye submitted his report to Lin Xiang, who kept the Nine-Curve Azure Cloud Bamboo and Dragon Cauldron; Ren Ye offered to rent them to his master and was hurled from Moon-Gazing Pavilion.
• An old general in Lingnan Prefecture refused to meet Wu Pangzi, whom an officer identified as coming from Jing Mountain's Thousand-Mile Green Battalion.

Ren Ye learned that Xu Qingzhao could potentially control the five Night Walkers, powerful Fourth- or Fifth-Grade Mystical Ability Treasures, and imagined using them to rob the Great Qian Dynasty. Meanwhile, Wu Pangzi waited near Lingnan Prefecture’s Prefectural Yamen and told his adopted sons that his plan would bring them lasting wealth and influence.

• Ren Ye visited Xu Qingzhao and found her practicing control over the five Night Walkers.
• Xu Qingzhao estimated that the Night Walkers were at least Fourth-Grade Peerless Treasures, possibly capable of Fifth-Grade combat strength, and explained how Star Gate rules suppressed them.
• Ren Ye realized the Night Walkers could be more useful than his Supreme Treasures in the near term and considered using them to raid the Great Qian Dynasty.
• Ren Ye grabbed Xu Qingzhao’s hand and asked her to become a real married couple with him, prompting her to demand that he let go.
• In Lingnan Prefecture, Wu Pangzi’s adopted sons questioned why they were helping Qingliang Prefecture expand its territory at their own expense.
• Wu Pangzi told them that success would bring lasting wealth and make them the Dragon Head’s Trusted Confidants within the Thousand-Mile Green Battalion.

Xu Qingzhao struggled with her feelings for Ren Ye as torrential rain flooded Qingliang Prefecture, and Ren Ye discovered that the Heavenly Dao no longer responded to Susu. The chapter left the cause of the disaster tied to Ren Ye’s defiance of the Heavenly Dao, while Ba Wu met Wu Pangzi in Lingnan Prefecture.

• Xu Qingzhao fled from Ren Ye after he held her hand, then sent Xue'er to give him a massage and tell him about her past.
• After two more days of rain, Brother Huang reported breached embankments and flooding, and Ren Ye tried to disperse the storm with the Human Emperor Seal.
• Lightning struck the Human Emperor Seal, the rain continued, and Susu told Ren Ye she could no longer sense or contact the Heavenly Dao’s rules.
• Ren Ye ordered disaster preparations and headed with officials to inspect the riverbanks, while floods destroyed Imperial Stud buildings and drowned a breeding ram.
• In the Southern Border, the Azure-Robed Young Master said the rain was Heavenly Punishment caused by Ren Ye’s defiance of the Heavenly Dao.
• Ba Wu left the Lingnan Prefectural Yamen, and Wu Pangzi prostrated himself to serve as Ba Wu’s footstool.

Wu Pangzi tried to win Ba Wu’s support for Qingliang Prefecture’s territorial expansion by presenting Buddhist Prayer Beads and warning that Qingliang’s fall would leave Lingnan exposed to Great Qian. After Ba Wu accepted the gift without rejecting the proposal, Wu Pangzi rode toward Thousand-Mile Green Battalion headquarters, determined to make the risky plan succeed; meanwhile, Ren Ye saw the rain finally stop in Qingliang Prefecture.

• Wu Pangzi knelt as a stepping stool for Ba Wu, then was invited into his sedan chair to talk.
• Wu Pangzi gave Ba Wu Buddhist Prayer Beads from Little Prince Huai and raised Qingliang Prefecture’s need to expand and strengthen itself.
• Ba Wu accepted the gift and left Wu Pangzi with a sign that they could discuss the matter further through his old servant.
• Wu Pangzi told his adopted sons he had to secure Ba Wu’s approval before approaching Thousand-Mile Green Battalion headquarters, and admitted the Prayer Beads had cost three hundred thousand Star Source.
• Two days later, Ren Ye stood in the muddy porridge shelter in Qingliang Prefecture and saw that the rain had stopped.

After the levee breach, Ren Ye and his companions funded relief in Qingliang Prefecture, but a vomiting-and-diarrhea epidemic began spreading near the Imperial Stud. Ren Ye went to seek medical help, while a wealthy visitor arrived in Shangyu County seeking the Azure Dragon Book Slip and claimed his name was Ren Ye.

• Ren Ye gave Brother Huang 250,000 Star Source for flood relief, and Old Liu and Xu Bangzi contributed another 150,000 between them.
• Brother Huang warned Ren Ye that people near the Imperial Stud were falling ill and that two grooms had died.
• Ren Ye ordered nearby garrisons sealed and the affected area cordoned off, then left to find medical help.
• Ren Ye asked Brother Yang for Light System medical specialists, and they went to seek help from Capital City's Light Medical Practitioners Research Institute.
• A wealthy middle-aged man met a Celestial Surveillance Bureau practitioner in Shangyu County, offered two million Star Source for the Azure Dragon Book Slip, and said his friends called him Ren Ye.

Ren Ye and Wu Yazi investigated a rapidly spreading illness in Qingliang Prefecture and discovered that it came from a deliberate Gu Poison attack. A Star Gate mission tasked Ren Ye with finding the poisoner, and he suspected the lame man who had delivered the horses.

• A white-robed sorcerer offered Ren Ye the Azure Dragon Book Slip in exchange for completing an errand in the Southern Border, and Ren Ye set out there.
• Brother Yang brought Wu Yazi to Qingliang Prefecture to treat the epidemic, but Old Liu soon developed severe symptoms as the illness spread.
• Wu Yazi examined the sick residents and sent his Spirit Source Rat to trace the illness to two dead breeding sheep downstream.
• Wu Yazi discovered that the sheep carried a vicious Gu Poison that could infect his medical light.
• Ren Ye received the Source of the Plague mission and asked Brother Huang about the lame man who had delivered the horses.

Ren Ye learned that the Gu Poison threatening Qingliang Prefecture could only be contained for about twenty days, so he arranged a curfew and set out to find its secret formula in the Southern Border. As his party prepared to leave with Little Bat as their guide, a mysterious old merchant watched the quiet city, while a blue-robed young man slaughtered pursuing players inside an Unknown Star Gate.

• Old Wu said he could not cure the Gu Poison and could only delay the plague’s spread for fifteen days, or about twenty days with Old Liu’s diluted Water of Life.
• Ren Ye concluded that the poisoned sheep, floods, and plague were parts of a deliberate plot against Qingliang Prefecture, and decided to travel to the Southern Border to find the coachman surnamed Zhang and the secret formula.
• Ren Ye assigned Brother Huang to enforce a curfew while Old Liu, Xu Qingzhao, and Xu Bangzi helped treat patients and prepare quarantine shelters; Lin Xiang arranged free medicinal ingredients.
• Ren Ye wrote to Wu Pangzi for help, and Little Bat arrived the next morning with a letter agreeing to guide Ren Ye’s group to the Southern Border.
• An old merchant watched Qingliang Prefecture from an inn, while a blue-robed young man killed fifteen or sixteen players pursuing him inside the Unknown Star Gate.

Ren Ye and his companions entered Lingnan Prefecture and enlisted Dali Tiger to investigate the missing coachman, Zhang Changshou. At a brothel, Little Bat forced the madam to reveal that they could find Zhang.

• Ren Ye asked Little Bat about the search for Coachman Zhang, and Little Bat brought Dali Tiger to confirm the coachman’s identity and report his disappearance six or seven days earlier.
• Dali Tiger learned that Zhang Changshou had been involved with a brothel madam, then led Ren Ye’s party there without drawing attention.
• Dali Tiger and Little Bat confronted the madam, while a Jing Mountain man identified the group as members of the Thousand-Mile Green Battalion and caused the brothel thugs to back down.
• The madam initially claimed she did not know where Zhang was and demanded two thousand source to think about it.
• Little Bat tortured the madam’s lover with a short club, then emerged saying they could find Coachman Zhang.

Ren Ye and the Thousand-Mile Green Battalion tracked Zhang Changshou to his remote village, but found him and his family burned to death. Little Bat discovered a black grub inside Zhang Changshou’s corpse that burst into a line of writing, and Ren Ye read it in shock.

• Little Bat learned from the madam that Zhang Changshou had recently returned to his hometown to hide, and gave Ren Ye the address.
• Ren Ye and the others rode through the night to Zhang Changshou’s village, where Little Bat explained the Southern Border’s history and the Dragon Head’s Witch Lord lineage.
• Dali Tiger, Little Bat, and the others entered Zhang Changshou’s home and called Ren Ye inside after discovering something had happened.
• Ren Ye found four chained, burned bodies in a cellar and identified the adult man as Zhang Changshou, concluding his family had been silenced.
• Little Bat cut open Zhang Changshou’s belly, revealing a black grub that exploded into a line of writing, which made Ren Ye’s pupils contract.

Ren Ye’s party followed Zhang Changshou’s final message to Ge Pao Township, where Little Bat reunited with Gang Leader Qin and asked him to find Song Yi. That night, Old Liu sensed an ambush, and Gang Leader Qin revealed he had betrayed them and ordered his men to capture the disguised Qingliang Prefecture party.

• Zhang Changshou’s final message identified corpse driver Song Yi as the man who had ordered him to add sick sheep to the breeding-stallion convoy, and Little Bat said Song Yi might be hiding in Ge Pao Township.
• Ren Ye’s party buried Zhang Changshou and his family, then traveled toward Ge Pao Township while Ren Ye worried the plague might be part of a conspiracy aimed at Qingliang Prefecture.
• Little Bat told Ren Ye and Old Liu how Ge Pao Township got its name and how Gang Leader Qin had once helped him, then reunited warmly with Qin at the Galloping Horse Gang’s headquarters.
• Gang Leader Qin promised to find Song Yi and welcomed Ren Ye’s party, but later revealed that his men were raiding a shipment that night and sent the guests to the Rear Courtyard.
• Old Liu noticed the Front Courtyard was dark and heard suspicious footsteps, while Little Stutterer warned Red-Faced Man of an ambush before dying from poisoned crossbow bolts.
• Gang Leader Qin roasted Skinny Monkey’s corpse and ordered his men to keep the two Qingliang Prefecture men alive while killing everyone else, explaining that he resented the Thousand-Mile Green Battalion for overlooking him.

Ren Ye and his companions were trapped in the Galloping Horse Gang’s ambush, while Little Bat sent a hidden message to Wu Pangzi in Lingnan. Wu Pangzi realized the attack pointed to a larger conspiracy and hurried to alert the Thousand-Mile Green Battalion’s headquarters.

• Little Bat and Red Face discovered Little Stutterer dead, and Little Bat warned Ren Ye that the Galloping Horse Gang had ambushed them.
• Xu Bangzi escaped through a window, while Ren Ye and the others prepared to defend themselves inside the guest room.
• Little Bat sent his concealed Green Bat toward Lingnan and urged Ren Ye to hold their position rather than attempt a dangerous breakout.
• Xu Bangzi returned after finding enemies and poisonous creatures blocking both sides of the inn, and Xu Qingzhao set up an Illusion Formation.
• Ren Ye drove the poisonous creatures back by unleashing Radiant Might through the floor.
• The Green Bat reached Wu Pangzi with news of the ambush, and Wu Pangzi ordered the Thousand-Mile Green Battalion’s White-Headed Eagle summoned to contact headquarters.

Ren Ye and his companions endured Gang Leader Qin’s poisoned-arrow and spirit ambush, then launched a counterattack as Qin led his forces toward them. After receiving Wu Pangzi’s urgent warning, Yan Bo mobilized the Thousand-Mile Green Battalion and rode toward Ge Pao Township with the Dragon Head’s token, leaving its forces advancing to rescue Prince Huai.

• Ren Ye ordered Ai Fei to conceal her Dao Body and sent Old Liu and Xu Bangzi to guard the entrance while Little Bat called Gang Leader Qin closer.
• Gang Leader Qin revealed his betrayal to Little Bat, then advanced with Song Yi, gang members, and experts and ordered an assault on the second floor.
• Ren Ye and Ai Fei attacked Gang Leader Qin, and Ren Ye charged at him with the Human Emperor Sword.
• Yan Bo received Wu Pangzi’s emergency letter, ordered the other Ge Pao Township outfits and two successors to rescue Prince Huai, and took the Dragon Head’s token.
• Yan Bo killed Fei Laosi for failing to respond to the White-Headed Eagle, ordered the other local leaders to mobilize, and led a hundred riders toward Ge Pao Township.

Ren Ye and his allies struggled against Gang Leader Qin’s poison-laden forces, but reinforcements arrived outside Ge Pao Township just as the battle reached a turning point. Gang Leader Qin recognized the approaching successors and turned deathly pale.

• Old Liu and Xu Bangzi weakened under the poison and attacks, while Ren Ye and the others retreated to the second floor to recover and prepare a surprise using a Night Walker.
• Song Yi animated three corpses and sent them into the building, where they exploded and filled the first floor with poisonous mist.
• Gang Leader Qin charged into the building, but Ren Ye released a terrifying aura that made him order his fighters to fall back.
• Xu Qingzhao sensed hundreds of riders approaching Ge Pao Township and realized reinforcements had arrived.
• Yan Bo and the bandits of Crane Mountain raised the Thousand-Mile Green Battalion’s banner and declared they had come to put down the rebellion.
• Fox Mei Zi and Yao Chi confronted Gang Leader Qin, who turned pale when he heard Yao Chi announce the successors’ arrival.

Yan Bo and the Main Headquarters defeated the Galloping Horse Gang, while Ren Ye uncovered that Guanfeng Young Master and Immortality Mountain Manor were behind the plague plot. Song Yi’s cursed soul vanished before revealing the full plan, leaving Ren Ye to question Gang Leader Qin and consider the lead in Funan County.

• Yan Bo led Main Headquarters forces into Ge Pao Township, where they crushed the Galloping Horse Gang’s resistance and Fox Mei Zi defeated Gang Leader Qin’s escape attempt.
• Yao Chi captured Song Yi after a fierce battle, and Ren Ye killed him before Xu Qingzhao summoned his soul; Song Yi revealed that he served Guanfeng Young Master through Immortality Mountain Manor before a shamanic curse destroyed his soul.
• Ren Ye and his companions returned to the courtyard, where Yan Bo forced Gang Leader Qin to answer questions by threatening his family.
• Gang Leader Qin said Guanfeng Young Master planned to turn Qingliang Prefecture into a ghost town and that the Immortality Mountain Manor had prepared the gu poison, but he knew little about the operation.
• Gang Leader Qin revealed that Song Xing had gone alone to Funan County, about six hundred li away, on a matter connected to Qingliang Prefecture.
• Yan Bo’s subordinate concealed the Galloping Horse Gang’s seized wealth by claiming it was nonexistent, and Yan Bo rewarded him by putting him in charge of Crane Mountain.

Ren Ye learned that Song Xing had gone to Funan to carry out a plot against Qingliang Prefecture for Immortality Mountain Manor, and arranged to pursue him. The chapter ended with Song Xing waiting in a Funan inn as Ren Ye and his allies prepared to arrive.

• Ren Ye persuaded Yan Bo to support him by promising treasures and asked him to speak with the Dragon Head about an unnamed matter.
• Ren Ye left Gang Leader Qin and the Galloping Horse Gang leaders to Little Bat, who severed his own hand to repay Qin for saving him long ago before killing him.
• Red Face and the others slaughtered the Galloping Horse Gang leaders involved in the ambush, while Little Bat and Red Face grieved for their dead brothers.
• Ren Ye learned that Song Xing had gone to Funan on behalf of Immortality Mountain Manor, so Yan Bo agreed to help him pursue Song Xing with support from Yao Chi and Old Liu.
• In a Funan inn, Song Xing sat wiping a silver saber and said they would be going back soon.