Recaps

Qing Chen used a staged mining disaster at the Qian Household's Golden Radiance Mine to seize the mine, expose the household's abuses, and win public support. He left the Qian Household facing full responsibility as his reputation across Qiongzhou rose.

• Chan Master Xuanshan accused the Qian Household of endangering miners and seized control of the Golden Radiance Mine in the name of rescue.
• Undercover agents posed as rescued miners, accused the Qian Household of abuse, and presented a command jade slip as evidence.
• News of the disaster spread across the prefectures, turning public opinion against the Qian Household and costing it control of the mine.
• Qing Chen addressed the crowd, promised spirit-stone compensation to victims' families and treatment for the injured, and ordered the Qiongzhou Army to take over the mine.
• Qing Chen declared that the Qian Household would bear the losses and face punishment for treason if it resisted, while recordings of his actions spread across Qiongzhou.

Qing Chen secured support across Qiongzhou, then ordered raids on hostile lineages’ shipments while entering seclusion to advance the Brahma Demon-Refining Art. Qian Baoshan appealed to the imperial capital and plotted to undermine Qing Chen as his cultivation pushed toward the Brahma Blood Sea Demon Foundation.

• Qian Baoshan stopped an elder from accusing Qing Chen without evidence and decided to report Qing Chen’s actions to the household’s ancestor in the imperial capital.
• Qian Baoshan ordered the Qian Household to double compensation for bereaved families, treat the injured, and blame and publicly execute the mine overseers.
• Qing Chen instructed Qing Jie to raid cargo shipments belonging to outspoken Qiongzhou Chamber of Commerce lineages, using the Eighteen Strongholds of Southern Yue as a cover.
• Qing Chen mobilized powerful cultivators and a thousand body cultivators to support the raids, then entered seclusion in the Blood River Grotto.
• Qing Chen used the Five Demon Banners to channel vast quantities of refined qi and blood into his Three Great Brahma Apertures, strengthening the blood path rules as he endured the strain.

Qing Chen refined vast amounts of qi and blood with his demon banners, accelerated his cultivation, and gained an initial insight into the fourth devil aspect, the Lawless Devil Aspect. He left the Blood River Grotto still unable to fully master it, believing he needed to condense Blood Path Rules or unlock the Bodhi Spirit Body’s second layer.

• Qing Chen used the Di Jiang Demon Banner and Pojun Demon Banner to purify qi and blood and extract rule power, rapidly advancing his Nascent Soul cultivation.
• Qing Chen resolved to open a Fourth Brahma Aperture and realized he needed more corpses and the Brahma Demon-Refining Art’s twelfth and thirteenth layers.
• As vast essence blood nearly tore apart his divine soul, Qing Chen deepened his understanding of the first three devil aspects and glimpsed the Lawless Devil Aspect.
• After two and a half jiazi, Qing Chen touched the fourth aspect’s threshold, and his five demon banners submitted as purified power flowed into him.
• A black pillar and demon god phantom appeared over Digu Pass Peak, forcing Xu Jiuling, Lin Changsheng, and the armored soldiers to prostrate themselves.
• Qing Chen concluded that fully mastering the Lawless Devil Aspect required condensing Blood Path Rules or unlocking the Bodhi Spirit Body’s second layer.

Qing Chen began cultivating the Minor Five Elements One-Origin Evasion Art in the Blood River Grotto, enduring the clashing elemental forces as they started to circulate within him. Meanwhile, a Nangong Household caravan was ambushed in Ghost-Sees-Sorrow Gorge by nearly a thousand death warriors and powerful golden figures.

• Qing Chen studied the four realms of the Minor Five Elements One-Origin Evasion Art and began drawing five elemental qi into his body.
• Qing Chen endured the pain of refining the clashing elemental forces and guided them through the art’s pathways until his elemental lights began to stabilize.
• The Nangong Household’s caravan entered Ghost-Sees-Sorrow Gorge while transporting valuable goods toward Southern Yue.
• Steel spirit-artifact spears rained down on the caravan, killing guards and throwing its formation into chaos.
• Nearly a thousand death warriors charged the Nangong Household guards, and more than a dozen gold-like figures burst from the woods.

Qing Jie’s forces massacred a Nangong Household convoy and uncovered evidence of secret dealings with the Bone-Eroding Tribe, which he sent to Qing Chen. After Qing Chen received the evidence, the Nangong and Qian Households and other great households began demanding redress.

• Qing Jie’s Diamond Body Cultivators slaughtered the Nangong Household convoy after its guards failed to summon help through the blocked Communication Arrays.
• Qing Jie found a Bone-Eroding Tribe legacy token and Jade Slip fragments in the wrecked carriage, revealing a suspected alliance between the Nangong and Qian Households and the tribe.
• Qing Jie ordered Lie Feng to deliver the evidence personally to Su Zixuan in Miaochong Prefecture and had the massacre disguised as a bandit raid.
• Months later, Su Zixuan presented the Jade Box to Qing Chen in the Blood River Grotto, and Qing Chen read the evidence inside.
• A report arrived that the Nangong Household, the Qian Household, and other great households of Qiongzhou were beating the drum to demand redress.

Nangong Wang and Qian Baoshan urged Qing Chen to send troops against the Eighteen Strongholds of Southern Yue after a caravan was supposedly destroyed. Qing Chen ordered border security measures while the two household heads believed he had accepted their story, then offered to fund the campaign.

• Nangong Wang and Qian Baoshan told Qing Chen that bandits from the Eighteen Strongholds had wiped out a Nangong caravan in Ghosts-Fear Gorge and asked him to dispatch troops.
• Nangong Wang presented damaged Spirit Artifacts and Gu Arts marks as evidence, while a Qian Household elder claimed the attackers were veteran bandits.
• Qing Chen questioned their account, then ordered Sun Wudi and Xu Jiuling to impose martial law, increase patrols, and watch the Million Mountains' exits and passes.
• Nangong Wang and Qian Baoshan privately believed Qing Chen had been distracted from their alleged dealings with Southern Yue.
• Qing Chen asked the two household heads to help cover military costs, and Nangong Wang offered supplies and rewards for the campaign.

Qing Chen secured twenty million low-grade spirit stones from Nangong Wang and Qian Baoshan to fund a campaign against the Eighteen Strongholds of Southern Yue while concealing his suspicions about the Nangong Household. The clan heads left believing they had fooled him, then learned the Central Authority was sending someone to Qiongzhou.

• Nangong Wang and Qian Baoshan offered funds to show their support and test whether Qing Chen knew about the deadly incident.
• Qing Chen ordered wanted notices for the bandit chiefs and demanded the two clan heads contribute twenty million low-grade spirit stones to the campaign.
• Nangong Wang and Qian Baoshan assured Qing Chen of their support, while privately deciding he lacked evidence against them.
• Qing Chen let the clan heads leave and reflected on Qiongzhou’s strained finances as he waited for an opportunity to act.
• Outside the manor, Nangong Wang and Qian Baoshan mocked Qing Chen and discussed recovering their losses and profiting from the campaign.
• Nangong Wang told Qian Baoshan that the Central Authority was sending someone over.

Qian Baoshan and Nangong Wang celebrated the prospect of a harsh imperial investigation weakening Qing Chen, while plotting to bribe the envoy’s delegation. Months later, Qing Jie faced furious criticism from the Southern Yue stronghold lords after his attack on a Nangong Household convoy brought military restrictions upon them.

• Qian Baoshan told Nangong Wang that officials and members of the Qing Household had criticized Qing Chen at court.
• Qian Baoshan revealed that Li Wenbi would lead the imperial inspection, accompanied by an imperial kinsman and a Junior Envoy from the Directorate of Ceremonial.
• Nangong Wang and Qian Baoshan discussed bribing the Junior Envoy and anticipated Qing Chen losing authority.
• Months later, the seventh-ranked Blood Wolf Stronghold Lord berated Qing Jie for attacking and wiping out the Nangong Household convoy.
• The Blood Wolf Stronghold Lord blamed Qing Jie for the Azure Abyss Marquis's troops sealing the border and disrupting the strongholds' supplies.

Qing Jie clashed with the Blood Wolf Stronghold Lord at a gathering of Cave Lords and revealed his formidable strength. The Firepit Great Cave Lord ordered the bandits to leave the Nangong Household’s and Qian Household’s caravans alone and announced preparations for a major operation in Yuxi Prefecture.

• Several Cave Lords accused Qing Jie of provoking the Nangong Household and the Qian Household, but Qing Jie insisted the strong had the right to take what they could.
• The Blood Wolf Stronghold Lord attacked Qing Jie, who used the Great Five-Element Annihilation Divine Needle and [Nether Baleful Intent] to wound him.
• The Firepit Great Cave Lord intervened and sent the injured Blood Wolf Stronghold Lord away.
• The Firepit Great Cave Lord ordered all Cave Lords to leave the Nangong Household’s and Qian Household’s goods alone for now, and they agreed.
• The Firepit Great Cave Lord announced that the Bone-Eroding and Soul-Devouring tribes would soon target Yuxi Prefecture’s border and ordered the Cave Lords to prepare to assist.

Qing Chen learned that Qian and Nangong factions had persuaded the court to send Heaven-Patrolling Imperial Envoys to investigate him, so he ordered his forces to maintain strict discipline. He then resolved to reopen Qiongzhou’s imperial examinations, using ten million spirit stones and setting rules for fair county-level tests.

• Tie Qingniu told Qing Chen that the Qian and Nangong Households had impeached him and that Li Wenbi and Ji Jin would arrive as Heaven-Patrolling Imperial Envoys.
• Qing Chen ordered Tie Qingniu to keep Anman Prefecture’s troops disciplined so the envoys could find no fault with them.
• Qing Chen summoned Su Zixuan and Xu Jiuling and announced that he would reopen Qiongzhou’s imperial examinations.
• Su Zixuan and Xu Jiuling warned that the examinations would be costly and difficult to organize, but Qing Chen allocated ten million spirit stones from the Qian and Nangong donation.
• Qing Chen ordered fair county examinations for eligible Qi Refining cultivators under fifty and specified their subjects and initial privileges for successful candidates.

Qing Chen reopened imperial examinations across Qiongzhou and promised successful candidates a path to official posts, boosting his reputation and drawing applicants. At a heavily guarded county examination, Censor Li Wenbi, Ji Jin, and Eunuch Ding secretly observed the proceedings, and Li Wenbi questioned a candidate who had just finished.

• Qing Chen laid out the County, Prefecture, and Prefectural Examinations and promised Provincial Graduates who skipped the Palace Examination a substantive official post of at least Subordinate Ninth Rank.
• Qing Chen threatened severe punishment for officials who committed examination fraud, favoritism, or bribery.
• News of the examinations spread through Qiongzhou, inspiring cultivators and even young people from powerful lineages to prepare or travel to Qing Chen's territory.
• Thousands of candidates sat the final Wind-Splitting Gorge County Examination session under watch from the Prefectural Army, instructors, and Demon Lotus Sect cultivators.
• Li Wenbi, Ji Jin, and Eunuch Ding concealed their identities and inspected the examination ground, where Li Wenbi asked the departing Dongfang Ming how he felt about the examination.

Li Wenbi and Ji Jin investigated Qing Chen’s rule in Qiongzhou, where firsthand accounts of fair examinations and effective governance complicated their suspicions. A month later, as Qing Chen inspected an examination in Miaochong Prefecture, he received urgent reports that enemy armies were besieging counties in Qiong and Anman Prefectures.

• Dongfang Ming and other examination-goers praised Qing Chen’s reopened examinations, public schools, and strict enforcement of the law.
• Li Wenbi listened to the people’s accounts and reconsidered his view of Qing Chen, though he resolved to investigate more cautiously.
• Li Wenbi and Ji Jin headed for Yuxi Prefecture to examine the weakest part of Qing Chen’s control.
• A month later, Qing Chen inspected the prefectural examination in Miaochong Prefecture while Su Zixuan reported that the Black Miasma Division was attacking Linyuan and Chishui counties.
• Su Zixuan reported that the Wolf Saliva Division was besieging Shiling County, whose defenses were close to failing despite Tie Qingniu’s raid.

As Qiongzhou faced attacks on its borders, sabotage at Qing Chen’s imperial examination, and the impending arrival of an imperial envoy, Qing Chen refused to suspend the examination and ordered reinforcements from men who held grudges against him. His advisers warned that the plan could invite betrayal, and the chapter ended before Qing Chen replied.

• Lin Changsheng reported that his men had executed thirty-nine spies, while Duan Tianya warned that powerful clans and insiders in the provincial administration were secretly undermining Qing Chen.
• Gao Yuliang reported that the imperial envoy’s party, including Li Wenbi and Heir Apparent Ji Jin, had likely reached Yuxi Prefecture and would investigate for over a month.
• Su Zixuan urged Qing Chen to suspend the examination and send Sword Fool and Hanging Mountain to reinforce the threatened border, but Qing Chen refused and ordered the examination made grander.
• Qing Chen ordered Gao Yuliang to request that Xiao Canglan and Wei Ting send Chongxu and Jia Daoyi to defend the borders near Southern Yue, and to secretly report the move to Tie Zhan.
• Su Zixuan and Lin Changsheng warned Qing Chen that Chongxu and Jia Daoyi bore grudges against him and might betray him.

Qing Chen exposed a network of cheating at the prefectural examination and violently punished the officials and lineages involved. He ordered Lin Changsheng and Duan Tianya to mobilize troops against the implicated households, then turned his gaze toward Nangong Wang and Qian Baoshan.

• Qing Chen intimidated Su Zixuan, Lin Changsheng, Duan Tianya, and Gao Yuliang, then seized three cheating candidates from their examination cubicles.
• Qing Chen searched one candidate's soul and uncovered bribed officials, lineages that had passed along answers, and evidence connected to the Nangong and Qian households.
• Qing Chen executed the implicated academic officials and ordered the Zhao Household, the Sun Household, and the Liu Household punished for undermining the state.
• Qing Chen gave Lin Changsheng and Duan Tianya his Command Token and ordered them to lead three thousand Qiongzhou Army troops to execute the offenders and enslave their implicated relatives.
• Qing Chen looked toward Nangong Wang and Qian Baoshan on the viewing platform.

Qing Chen exposed the powerful threat behind his warning to those interfering with the prefectural examination, then left to attack the Black Miasma and Wolf Saliva tribes in Qiong Prefecture. His enforcers began arresting the cheating lineages, while Nangong Wang and Qian Baoshan feared he had uncovered their secrets.

• Qing Chen unleashed his Demon God Dharma Form and warned Nangong Wang and Qian Baoshan against interfering with the examination.
• Qing Chen vowed to crush the Black Miasma and Wolf Saliva tribes, then shattered a distant mountain with the Sentient Beings Annihilation Seal as a warning.
• Qing Chen departed for Qiong Prefecture, leaving Lin Changsheng to carry out his orders.
• Lin Changsheng and Duan Tianya led the Black Armor Army to raid the compounds of lineages involved in cheating.
• Nangong Wang and Qian Baoshan watched the raids begin and feared Qing Chen knew their secrets.

Qian Baoshan and Nangong Wang feared Qing Chen’s growing power while Su Zixuan and Gao Yuliang sent urgent orders to reinforce Qiongzhou. In Linyuan County Town, the Guanyin Tower Master struggled to hold the defenses against Black Miasma True Lord’s poisonous assault as the town awaited Qing Chen’s arrival.

• Qian Baoshan warned Nangong Wang that Qing Chen might target them after dealing with Wu Gui’s armies, then urged him to pursue their dealings with Southern Yue while attention was elsewhere.
• Nangong Wang and Qian Baoshan fled with their Golden Core Elders, while Su Zixuan and Gao Yuliang dispatched military orders to Xiao Canglan, Wei Ting, Chan Master Xuanshan, and Sword Fool.
• Half a day later, the Guanyin Tower Master and sixty thousand Qiongzhou Army cultivators struggled to maintain Linyuan County Town’s formation against Black Miasma True Lord and his eighty-thousand-strong division.
• Black Miasma True Lord unleashed poisonous flames from his poison dragon, killing hundreds of defenders as the Guanyin Tower Master used the four formation flags and her Pure Glazed Pearl to resist.

Qing Chen arrived at the battlefield and unleashed a sudden, powerful attack on Black Miasma True Lord while Guanyin Tower Master’s forces struggled to defend the city. The chapter ended as Black Miasma True Lord faced Qing Chen’s threatening strike.

• Black Miasma True Lord drove his poison dragon drill into Guanyin Tower Master’s defenses, forcing her and the Qiongzhou Army to burn their fortune to hold it back.
• The drill cracked the glazed barrier and killed dozens of defenders with its transmitted force.
• Qing Chen arrived through the poison miasma using Five Elements Transmute Qi, stopping the poison dragon drill and confronting Black Miasma True Lord.
• Qing Chen summoned the Third Demonic Aspect and the Pojun Battle Halberd, then invoked the First Terror—Yang Spirit.
• Black Miasma True Lord recognized the life-threatening power of Qing Chen’s attack and shouted at him.

Qing Chen used the Yang Spirit state to empower his blood path rules and grievously wounded Black Miasma True Lord, whose defenses could not withstand the halberd strike. As Qing Chen and the Guanyin Tower Master moved to finish him, a mysterious pale hand emerged from the poison miasma and erased Qing Chen’s attack.

• Black Miasma True Lord activated his poison miasma rules and Heavenly Miasma Bone Shield to defend against Qing Chen’s ambush.
• Qing Chen used Yang Spirit to channel his blood path rules through the Pojun Battle Halberd, shattering the shield and badly wounding Black Miasma True Lord.
• Qing Chen charged to strike again as the Guanyin Tower Master sent a Buddhist palm at Black Miasma True Lord with the army’s formation power.
• Black Miasma True Lord called for Yinshi Marquis as the two attacks closed in on him.
• A pale hand reached from the poison miasma and dissolved Qing Chen’s blood-red halberd radiance.

Yinshi Lord appeared to stop Qing Chen after Qing Chen nearly killed Black Miasma True Lord, forcing the battle into a desperate clash between the two powerful cultivators. Qing Chen rejected Yinshi Lord’s demand to surrender and charged him, while Yinshi Lord prepared to cripple him.

• Yinshi Lord emerged from the poison miasma and struck Qing Chen back with an overwhelming force.
• Yinshi Lord revealed his power and offered Qing Chen the choice of surrendering or being captured by force.
• Black Miasma True Lord recovered enough to fend off Guanyin Tower Master as the battlefield turned against Qing Chen’s side.
• Qing Chen defied Yinshi Lord, vowed to make Southern Yue pay, and charged at him.
• Yinshi Lord unleashed a deadly attack and vowed to cripple Qing Chen.

Qing Chen charged Yinshi Lord but was overwhelmed by the erosion rules unleashed through the Soul-Seizing Yinshi Cauldron and hurled into a vast trench. He emerged unharmed behind five White Bone Demon Banners, blocking the attack and shocking Yinshi Lord as Linyuan City's defenders regained hope.

• Qing Chen charged Yinshi Lord, whose Soul-Seizing Yinshi Cauldron unleashed the Heaven Grade Spell Erode Heaven and Cover Earth.
• Yinshi Lord’s erosion sea shattered Qing Chen’s halberd light, damaged his Black Demon Blood Armor, and blasted him into a trench.
• Black Miasma True Lord celebrated Qing Chen’s apparent defeat, deepening the despair among Linyuan City’s defenders.
• Qing Chen rose from the trench unharmed, with five White Bone Demon Banners holding the erosion sea back.
• Linyuan City’s defenders erupted in relief, while Yinshi Lord’s composure broke in shock.

Qing Chen used five White Bone Demon Banners to withstand Yinshi Lord’s rule-powered attacks, shocking the other combatants. Yinshi Lord recognized the banners’ immense significance and warned that they tied Qing Chen to powerful factions, but Qing Chen prepared to continue fighting.

• Yinshi Lord was shocked that Qing Chen had emerged unscathed from Erode Heaven and Cover Earth, then recognized the five White Bone Demon Banners and the Di Jiang Banner among them.
• Yinshi Lord warned Qing Chen that the banners drew the attention of major powers across the nine heavens and ten lands, while greed and suspicion grew in his heart.
• Qing Chen recalled Commander Tie Zhan’s message that no Great Cultivators had mobilized and realized Southern Yue had sent Yinshi Lord despite his preparations.
• Yinshi Lord attacked with erosion rules and the Soul-Seizing Yinshi Cauldron, but Qing Chen’s five banners formed a Demon Gourd that blocked every soul-eroding pillar.
• Black Miasma True Lord and Guanyin Tower Master were astonished as Qing Chen stood unharmed, and Guanyin Tower Master anticipated that his fame would spread beyond Qiongzhou.

After Qing Chen forced Yinshi Lord and Black Miasma to retreat, the Qiongzhou Army celebrated his victory. Nine days later, Hua Tieshou received Dharma Nascent Soul Chongxu at the border camp, where Chongxu’s contempt for the demonic cultivators around Qing Chen was tempered by fear of Qing Chen’s growing reputation.

• Yinshi Lord ordered a retreat after realizing Qing Chen could control the five savage banners, and Black Miasma withdrew his eighty thousand soldiers.
• Yinshi Lord warned Qing Chen that Qiongzhou was beyond his grasp, then left to carry out a plan to pin down Qing Chen’s other armies.
• The surviving Qiongzhou Army cultivators cheered Qing Chen’s victory from the walls.
• Nine days later, Hua Tieshou welcomed Dharma Nascent Soul Chongxu at the Blackstone County teleportation formation and escorted him to the temporary military camp.
• Hua Tieshou departed after introducing Chongxu to the waiting commanders, while Chongxu resented his treatment and worried about Qing Chen’s power and reputation.

Jia Daoyi and Chongxu arrived to join Qing Chen’s forces, where Chan Master Xuanshan handed command authority to Xin Bairen before departing for Anman Prefecture. A message then revealed that the Fist Alliance was sending disciples to assist in the fighting, an unexpected development that concerned Xin Bairen.

• Jia Daoyi arrived before Chongxu and defended his haste, while Chongxu accused him of currying favor with Qing Chen.
• Chan Master Xuanshan urged Chongxu and Jia Daoyi to cooperate, then gave Xin Bairen the command token for the forty thousand troops and left to support Tie Qingniu in Anman Prefecture.
• Jia Daoyi courteously offered to follow Xin Bairen’s guidance, while Chongxu grudgingly accepted the general’s authority.
• Xin Bairen received a message from Su Zixuan reporting that Chen Yan, Qian Dafu, and thirty thousand Prefectural Army troops had been assigned to Qing Chen’s forces.
• Su Zixuan also reported that core disciples of the Fist Alliance would assist in Yuxi Prefecture, prompting Xin Bairen to wonder why the powerful alliance had entered the conflict.

Wuhun True Lord and Black Miasma True Lord planned to exploit Qing Chen’s apparent absence from Yuxi Prefecture and use allied spies to break its defenses, while framing Qing Chen for the loss. Outside Blackstone County, Nangong Wen passed the stolen military intelligence to a jade slip as Qian Ming worried their treason would be discovered.

• Black Miasma True Lord confirmed that Qing Chen remained in Qiong Prefecture after fighting Yinshi Marquis, and Wuhun True Lord ordered him to keep Qing Chen pinned there.
• Wuhun True Lord planned to use maps and inside intelligence from the Nangong Household and Qian Household to attack Yuxi Prefecture and expose Qing Chen to political blame.
• Black Miasma True Lord agreed to delay Qing Chen despite his injuries, while fearing the setbacks caused by Qing Chen and Xiao Canglan’s rise to Spirit Transformation.
• Wuhun True Lord began deploying troops and preparing to join the Eighteen Strongholds of Southern Yue once he received updated defense maps and confirmation of Qing Chen’s location.
• Outside Blackstone County, Nangong Wen copied frontline diagrams and military targets into a jade slip, while Qian Ming warned him to be cautious after Adviser Su’s purge.

Lin Changsheng and Su Zixuan helped Qing Chen deceive enemy collaborators into believing they had obtained Blackstone City's defenses, while Qing Chen prepared a trap for them. The collaborators continued their covert operations, unaware that Qing Chen's forces were guiding them toward a deadly ambush.

• Nangong Wen pressured Qian Ming to hand over a hidden sliver of the Defense Deployment Map, while Lin Changsheng watched them in secret and held back from attacking.
• Qing Yuan used a concealment talisman to record Blackstone City's defenses, and Su Zixuan observed him through a formation mirror.
• Lin Changsheng publicly announced the execution of more than three hundred collaborators, while larger conspirators secretly sent letters beyond the city.
• Su Zixuan reported to Qing Chen that Nangong Wen and Qian Ming had obtained Blackstone City's defense deployments, and Duan Tianya revealed that Jia Daoyi and Li Chenjiang were investigating suspicious activity.
• Qing Chen instructed Su Zixuan to provide convincing intelligence and Duan Tianya to make the defenses appear impregnable as they prepared to draw the conspirators into a trap.