Chapter Summaries

Liu Qian, a slave aboard Gerion Lannister’s ship, discovered a dragon-themed system and learned that a strange fish from Valyria’s waters could yield dragon spirit. He realized the ruins of Valyria might offer a way to strengthen himself, and hope replaced his resignation.

• Liu Qian recalled how Dothraki raiders enslaved him and Gerion Lannister bought him for the voyage toward Valyria.
• Gerion rebuffed Lennard’s demand to see the chart leading to Valyria’s ruins and warned that the ship could do without him.
• Liu Qian discovered a system with dragon powers but found his magic power and dragon spirit were nearly nonexistent.
• A strange fish thrashed in Liu Qian’s net, and a sailor killed it after the crew hauled it aboard.
• Liu Qian saw a light emerge from the fish’s corpse and enter him, increasing his dragon spirit by one.
• Liu Qian concluded that Valyria might contain more magical creatures and resolved to see it as a path to grow stronger.

Gerion led the surviving crew along Valyria’s Dragon Road, where human-faced maggots killed Lennard and several guards. Liu Qian gained dragon spirit from the creatures, while Gerion’s ruthless decisions left the party under his control as they continued into the ruins.

• Gerion revealed the Dragon Road and persuaded Lennard to continue toward Valyria despite the dangers.
• A Lhazareen slave disappeared, and Lennard warned Gerion that creatures were shadowing the party through the dead forest.
• A sailor burst into yellow flames, and human-faced maggots crawled from his corpse.
• Lennard attacked the maggots, which spat fire and burned him; Gerion ordered his guards to shoot them and Lennard.
• Liu Qian absorbed dragon spirit from the dead maggots, increasing his bloodline purity and maximum mana.
• Gerion had Lennard’s guards killed to prevent them from escaping with the ship.

Liu Qian and Gerion’s party were surrounded by armored monsters in the Valyrian ruins, and a savage battle began. Liu Qian seized a sword and fought back with his newly enhanced strength as Gerion noticed his unusual prowess.

• Liu Qian decided he would flee before reaching Valyria if he could not unlock his ultimate skill, then the party heard a shriek from the dead forest.
• A monster attacked a guard, and more creatures emerged from the fog until they had surrounded the party.
• The monsters charged and slaughtered sailors and slaves while Gerion and his guards formed a defensive circle and fought back.
• Liu Qian took Lennard’s spare longsword from a distracted guard and used his true dragon physique to drive off a monster.
• Gerion saw Liu Qian fighting with extraordinary strength and wondered where the Yi Ti man had learned such prowess.

Liu Qian discovered that the monsters’ eyes were vulnerable and helped the guards defeat several of them before a shriek summoned the survivors back into the forest. Gerion then turned on the remaining slaves and sailors, ordering the guards who had given them weapons to kill them.

• Liu Qian killed a monster by stabbing its eye, and Gerion rallied the guards to target the creatures’ eyes.
• Gerion refused to arm the slaves, but several guards secretly gave weapons to nearby slaves and sailors, who joined the fight.
• Liu Qian realized that killing the monsters increased his bloodline purity and maximum magic power.
• A shriek from the forest made the remaining monsters flee, leaving Liu Qian and four other survivors alive.
• Gerion ordered his guards to surround the survivors and made the four guards who had given away weapons step inside the ring.
• Gerion ordered the four guards to kill the slaves and sailors who had accepted their weapons.

Gerion Lannister ordered his guards to kill the slaves and then execute the guards who had carried out the order, leaving Liu Qian surrounded. As Liu Qian invoked the Lannister motto and unsettled Gerion, a terrifying shriek sounded from the red clouds.

• Gerion killed a guard who hesitated, then ordered the others to slaughter four slave-sailors.
• Gerion ordered the eight remaining guards to kill the three guards who had carried out the slaughter, and they obeyed.
• Gerion warned the eight guards against disobedience and ordered them to attack Liu Qian.
• Liu Qian spoke with Gerion to stall for time, then challenged his cruelty and recited the Lannister motto, making Gerion freeze in shock.
• A terrifying shriek erupted from the distant red clouds.

Liu Qian escaped the Purple-Winged Beast’s attack and found a strange, half-scaled girl bathing in a boiling pool. As he tried to understand what she was, a yellow-scaled monster poised to attack him from above.

• A three-headed Purple-Winged Beast descended on Liu Qian and the Lannister guards, and Liu Qian fled into the withered woods while the creature attacked behind him.
• After escaping, Liu Qian blamed Gerion for the guards’ deaths and vowed to kill him if they met again.
• Liu Qian heard water in the mist and discovered a silver-gold-haired girl with one beautiful face and one scaled, slit-eyed face bathing in a steaming pool.
• Liu Qian considered whether the girl was a survivor of Valyria’s Doom and compared her condition to greyscale and the mutations of the monsters.
• A yellow-scaled monster clung to a branch above Liu Qian and prepared to pounce on him.

Liu Qian used Dragonfire Breath to kill the monsters and rescue a silver-gold-haired girl, gaining dragon spirit from three of them. Unable to understand each other’s speech, the girl touched his hand to her chest and revealed through their connection that her name was Janice and she could communicate by touch and thought.

• Liu Qian killed a yellow-scaled monster with Dragonfire Breath, but its corpse yielded no dragon spirit.
• Three dark-green monsters cornered the girl by the spring, and Liu Qian stepped in to confront them.
• Liu Qian burned all three monsters, absorbed their dragon spirit, and increased his bloodline purity to 0.17% and maximum magic power to 1,740.
• Liu Qian tried to speak with the girl, but neither of them understood the other’s language.
• The girl touched Liu Qian’s hand to her chest and communicated that she was Janice and could speak to him through touch and thought.

Liu Qian met Janice, a young Valyrian survivor who could communicate with him telepathically, and learned about the curse afflicting her people. When they reached a vast field of ghost grass, he discovered that touching it let him absorb its magic power and caused the plant to wither.

• Liu Qian introduced himself to Janice telepathically and described his dragon-like fire as “False Dragonfire.”
• Janice explained that she and her sister had come from Tyria to find ghost grass, but Scaleclaws had separated them.
• Janice told Liu Qian that blood magic caused Valyrians to develop scales and eventually become monsters.
• Janice led Liu Qian to a vast field of ghost grass in the ruins of Valyria.
• Liu Qian touched a stalk and absorbed one point of magic power as the ghost grass withered into powder.

Liu Qian harvested Ghost Grass to replenish his magic power, then fled with Janice from the pursuing three-headed Monster Bird. He absorbed dragon spirit from a valley full of slain monsters, but the bird cornered them and prepared to unleash dragonfire.

• Liu Qian drained magic power from Ghost Grass while Janice watched for danger.
• After hearing the Monster Bird's shriek, Liu Qian grabbed Ghost Grass and fled with Janice toward the dead forest.
• The Monster Bird pursued Liu Qian and Janice as they ran into a valley littered with slain scale-skinned monsters.
• Liu Qian absorbed dragon spirit from the corpses while the Ghost Grass replenished his magic power.
• The Monster Bird landed nearby, trapped Liu Qian and Janice, and began gathering dragonfire in its three beaks.

Jelena arrived and rescued Janice, but the wounded Monster Bird rose again and pursued them. Liu Qian used his increased power to provoke the beast into attacking him, and its flames swallowed him.

• Liu Qian and Janice saw a flaming arrow pierce the Monster Bird's eye and set its plumage ablaze.
• Jelena charged from the smoke, mistook Liu Qian for a threat, and lowered her suspicions after Janice explained he had saved her.
• The Monster Bird tore off its burning neck, and Jelena grabbed Janice and fled into the forest.
• Liu Qian revealed his increased Dragon bloodline purity and magic reserves, then struck the Monster Bird with Dragonfire Breath and a thrown sword.
• The enraged Monster Bird abandoned the fleeing sisters and engulfed Liu Qian in a torrent of crimson flame.

Liu Qian transformed into a Golden Dragon and fought the Purple-feathered Monster Bird, overcoming its fire with his natural resistance and finishing it with dragonfire. The Monster Bird died, leaving Liu Qian victorious at the battlefield.

• Liu Qian emerged from the flames in his Golden Dragon form, while Jelena heard his roar from afar and continued fleeing with Janice.
• Liu Qian lunged at the Purple-feathered Monster Bird and clamped his jaws around its wounded neck.
• The Monster Bird blasted Liu Qian with fire, but [Fire Wielder] weakened the flames as Liu Qian crushed the bird’s neck vertebrae.
• Liu Qian dodged the Monster Bird’s attacks from the air and waited as its strength and fire dwindled.
• Liu Qian unleashed Dragonfire Breath on the Monster Bird’s final head, killing it and bringing its body crashing to the ground.

After defeating the Purple-feathered Monster Bird, Liu Qian grew stronger but exhausted his magic power and had to return to human form, leaving him naked. He replenished his magic, found Jelena and Janice defending a group of soldiers and ghost-grass carts, then helped defeat the attacking Scaleclaws Monsters and absorbed the battlefield’s dragon spirit.

• Liu Qian absorbed the Purple-feathered Monster Bird’s dragon spirit, raising his bloodline purity to 2.03% and growing his dragon body to six meters.
• Liu Qian ran out of magic power, deactivated True Dragon Descent, and fashioned a makeshift feather skirt after discovering his transformation had destroyed his clothes.
• Liu Qian replenished his magic power in the Ghost Grass Sea and followed the sisters toward the dead forest.
• Liu Qian found Jelena protecting Janice and dozens of ghost-grass carts with Red Copper Armored Soldiers as Scaleclaws Monsters attacked them.
• Liu Qian used [Wildfire] and dragonfire to kill the monsters, helping the soldiers turn the battle in their favor.
• After the last monster fell, Liu Qian absorbed the dragon spirit released across the battlefield.

After surviving a chimera, Liu Qian learned from Jelena that Valyria’s ruins were filled with creatures created by blood magic and decided to travel with her group to Tyria. He remained wary of Tyria’s blood warlock as the group set out for the city.

• Liu Qian discovered his feather skirt had burned away, accepted a robe from Jelena, and told Janice he had escaped the chimera.
• Jelena explained that chimeras were creations of Valyrian blood magic and that Tyria’s warriors had come to gather ghost grass for a potion.
• Liu Qian weighed staying in the Withered Woods against seeking opportunities in Tyria, then chose to join Jelena’s group.
• Jelena warned Liu Qian that Tyria’s blood warlock ruled the city and that outsiders brought there were expected to work and often died.
• After Jelena’s soldiers cleared the battlefield and carried away their fallen, the group set off for Tyria.

Liu Qian and Jelena reached the ruined city of Tyria, where the Blood Mage summoned Liu Qian to the sorcerer’s tower. While he waited inside, he studied murals depicting Valyria’s history and learned that the missing scene between two murals had shown the Long Night.

• Liu Qian and Jelena entered Tyria and traveled along its avenue past rebuilt buildings and ruined temples.
• Jelena told Teres about a chimera and unusual Scaleclaw activity, then brought Liu Qian to the sorcerer’s tower to meet the Blood Mage.
• A tower attendant summoned Liu Qian alone, while Teres stopped Jelena from following him inside.
• Liu Qian examined four murals showing worshippers, fleeing people, Valyrian ancestors, and the civilization’s rise beneath volcanoes.
• An elderly voice behind Liu Qian identified the blank space between the murals as a depiction of the Long Night.

Osarion revealed Valyria’s origins and tried to take Liu Qian’s body, unleashing Scaleclaws and a Chimera against him. As Liu Qian faced the Chimera inside the tower, Jelena and Teres rushed to the Blackstone Walls after a vast Scaleclaws army appeared through the fog.

• Osarion told Liu Qian that the Valyrians descended from the Great Empire of the Dawn and explained their connection to Blood Magic and House Targaryen.
• Osarion revealed his monstrous form and said he planned to take Liu Qian’s body so he could be reborn.
• Osarion sent his Scaleclaws after Liu Qian, who burned them with Wildfire and Dragonfire Breath.
• Osarion opened a pit and released a huge Chimera, which gathered crimson fire in its three heads as it faced Liu Qian.
• Jelena and Teres left for the Blackstone Walls after hearing the horns, where a vast army of Scaleclaws advanced through the fog toward Tyria.

Liu Qian escaped the Blood Warlock Osarion’s tower trap and used his Golden Dragon form to ambush and badly wound the Chimera. He returned to the circular hall, where Osarion saw the dragon and could only stare in disbelief.

• Liu Qian dodged the Chimera’s fire and fled through the archway, only to find the corridor sealed by a massive black stone door.
• Liu Qian ran up the tower’s spiral staircase and leaped through a window into the fog, drawing the Chimera to the opening.
• Liu Qian transformed into a Golden Dragon outside the tower and seized the Chimera’s lion head, tearing it from the beast’s neck.
• Liu Qian blasted the Chimera with Dragonfire as it fled down the staircase, leaving it gravely wounded.
• Liu Qian entered the circular hall through a breach and confronted Osarion, who recognized him as a dragon and declared it impossible.

Liu Qian pursued the wounded Chimera into an underground chamber, where it began evolving with power from a mysterious black stone. He interrupted its transformation and killed it atop the wizard tower, leaving the black stone’s threat unresolved.

• The Chimera swallowed Osarion, then leapt into the pit, and Liu Qian followed it into the abyss.
• Liu Qian found the Chimera healing and evolving beside a blood-eye pattern forming on a black stone, and attacked it with Dragonfire and [Wildfire].
• The Chimera fought back with dark red fire, but Liu Qian wounded it and drove it into flight.
• Liu Qian pursued the Chimera out of the tower and tore open its belly, forcing it to flee to the roof.
• Liu Qian pinned the weakened Chimera on the tower roof and killed it with point-blank Dragonfire.

After defeating the Chimera, Liu Qian returned to Tyria and found the city overrun by Scaleclaw Monsters. He rescued Jelena and Janice from the steps of the tower, then carried them above the avenue and unleashed dragonfire on the monsters.

• Liu Qian absorbed fifteen thousand points of Dragon Spirit from the Chimera and flew down toward Tyria.
• Liu Qian found Scaleclaw Monsters slaughtering the city’s inhabitants and saw Jelena defending Janice on the tower steps.
• As Jelena weakened and the sisters faced the monsters’ next charge, Liu Qian descended and burned the attackers with dragonfire.
• Liu Qian told Jelena and Janice to get on, and the sisters climbed onto his back.
• Liu Qian flew low over Tyria’s central avenue with the sisters and engulfed the Scaleclaws below in golden fire.

Liu Qian defeated a heavily armored Scaleclaw commander who wielded the Dragonbone Bow, while Jelena identified him as Aurion, the lost Emperor of Valyria. The attack’s sudden timing left Liu Qian suspecting that a powerful presence was watching him.

• Liu Qian dodged two Blood Magic arrows fired by a towering Scaleclaw commander wielding the Dragonbone Bow.
• Liu Qian’s Dragonfire failed to penetrate the commander’s Valyrian Steel Armor, so he crushed the monster beneath his claws and burned it to ash.
• Jelena found a sword among the remains and identified its owner as Aurion, the dragonlord who had proclaimed himself Emperor of Valyria and led an army into the Smoking Sea.
• Jelena explained that Aurion and his army had vanished on the road to Valyria after Tyria refused to swear allegiance.
• Liu Qian wondered why Aurion’s lost army had attacked Tyria now and feared that someone was watching him.

Liu Qian absorbed magic power from Aurion’s damaged equipment, then destroyed Tyria’s Scaleclaws Army and grew dramatically stronger. After revealing that he could transform into a dragon, he learned Jelena was turning into a monster from overusing blood magic, and he offered a possible cure with a harsh condition.

• Liu Qian drained five thousand points of magic power from Aurion’s sword and armor, but kept the undamaged Dragonbone Bow as loot.
• Liu Qian burned the Scaleclaws Army in Tyria, gaining 120,000 dragon spirit and growing to nearly fifty meters long, though the chance of gaining dragon spirit from Scaleclaws had fallen below fifty percent.
• Liu Qian landed on Tyria’s Blackstone Walls and transformed back into a naked human, startling Jelena and Janice before Jelena questioned how he could become a dragon.
• Liu Qian told the sisters that Osarion had created the Chimera and been devoured by it, while Jelena reflected on the destruction of her city and the collapse of Valyria’s hopes.
• Jelena began coughing blood as scales spread across her skin, and she begged Janice to kill her before she became a mindless monster.
• Janice pleaded with Liu Qian to save Jelena, and he said he had a way but that it came with a harsh condition.