Recaps

Qing Yuanjia recounted how he had joined forces with Ding Buxing to escape Zhu Ritian and follow the Black Jade Ancient Lamp’s secret route to the Reincarnation Dead Sea. After passing through a perilous reverse-flowing cloud waterfall, they reached the forbidden zone’s true outer region, with Zhu Ritian still pursuing them.

• Qing Yuanjia recalled meeting Ding Buxing in a sealed rift valley and helping him escape after the Black Jade Ancient Lamp and Bronze Compass reacted to each other.
• After teleporting to Great Jin’s Southern Borderlands, Qing Yuanjia tried to search Ding Buxing’s soul, but the lamp repelled his divine sense and Ding Buxing offered the Reincarnation Dead Sea route instead.
• Zhu Ritian pursued Qing Yuanjia and Ding Buxing for months as they fled toward the Gouwu Sea, and his Devouring Domain drew close behind them.
• Ding Buxing guided Qing Yuanjia through a reverse-flowing cloud waterfall and warned him not to trust what he saw or examine it with divine sense.
• The Black Jade Ancient Lamp lit a safe path through the waterfall, and Qing Yuanjia and Ding Buxing emerged at the true outer region of the Reincarnation Dead Sea.

Qing Chen launched a million Dao Soldiers from Yanmen Pass on a northern expedition against the Black Fox King Tribe. He revealed that Tie Hengjiang and the Iron Household’s army had secretly advanced into position, then left Pei Xuance in command of Yanmen Pass as the expedition marched north.

• The Thundering Army, Bloodedge Army, and Cangming Army assembled at Yanmen Pass as Qing Chen prepared to lead them north.
• Pei Xuance warned Qing Chen that the army could be exposed to the Black Fox King and Canglang King without support from the Iron Household.
• Qing Chen revealed hidden map markers showing Tie Hengjiang and the Iron Household’s million Dao Soldiers already positioned near the Azure Wolf King Tribe’s territory.
• Qing Chen entrusted Pei Xuance with the auxiliary formation seal and command of the armies remaining at Yanmen Pass.
• Qing Chen ordered the million Dao Soldiers to advance north, laying formation platforms and fortune nodes along their route.

At the Black Fox Royal Court, the Black Fox King’s advisers debated whether Qing Chen’s advance from Yanmen Pass was a genuine attack or a diversion. Yue Ting judged that Qing Chen meant to pin down the Black Fox King while Tie Hengjiang struck the Azure Wolf Royal Court, and revealed that the Kui Spirit Race was preparing to attack the Scarlet Eagle King Tribe.

• A Barbarian Infant priest reported that Qing Chen had led 1.2 million Dao Soldiers north from Yanmen Pass toward Yin River City.
• Wu Lieshan urged the Black Fox King to summon Azure Wolf and Dayuan cavalry to surround Qing Chen, but Wu Yanshuo warned that the advance could be a feint and that those reinforcements were unavailable.
• Wu Yanshuo revealed intelligence that Tie Hengjiang and elite Iron Dao Soldiers had entered the Wolf Fang Mountains, likely targeting the Azure Wolf Royal Court.
• The Black Fox King asked Yue Ting to assess Qing Chen’s advance, and Yue Ting said Qing Chen could pin down the king but could not defeat him outright.
• Yue Ting reported a secret agreement between Great Jin’s Capital Region and the Kui Spirit Race, whose totem warriors were planning to attack the Scarlet Eagle King Tribe.

The Black Fox King considered Qing Chen’s northward advance part of a larger plan targeting the Canglang royal court and asked the Golden Tent ancestral court whether to send reinforcements. As Qing Chen’s million Dao Soldiers marched north, he dismissed his new ranking and reflected on the immense cost of his campaign and rapid rise in strength.

• Yue Ting connected the attacks on the Dayuan Kingdom, the Scarlet Eagle King’s entanglement, Tie Hengjiang’s advance, and Qing Chen’s march, warning that the Canglang royal court might be in danger.
• The Black Fox King reviewed Qing Chen’s Heavenly Gang ranking, which placed him thirty-sixth, and considered whether Qing Chen was meant to distract his forces rather than defeat him.
• Yue Ting advised the Black Fox King to seek guidance from the Golden Tent ancestral court, and the king ordered the Yin River Altar activated to send a message asking whether to reinforce the Canglang royal court.
• Hua Tieshou congratulated Qing Chen on his rise in the rankings while Qing Chen dismissed rankings as meaningless and recalled the prohibitive cost of testing himself in the Trial Space.
• Qing Chen reflected on the billions of spirit stones and resources he had spent to arrange the campaign and accelerate his cultivation, concluding that the investment had been worthwhile.

Qing Chen prepared his campaign against the Black Fox King Tribe, relying on strategic alliances and Xin Bairen's command of the Dao Soldiers. He ordered the army to devastate the tribe's territory and provoke the Black Fox King as it advanced toward Yin River City.

• Qing Chen told Hua Tieshou not to mention his rank on the Heavenly Gang Ranking and recalled his negotiations and private dealings with Yuchi Mingzhao in Loulan.
• Qing Chen learned that Luan-yang Princess had become Venerable Kongming's disciple and called in Xie Xuanwei's debt, sending him to support Tie Hengjiang against the Azure Wolf King Tribe.
• Qing Chen asked Xin Bairen whether he could command more than a million Dao Soldiers, and Xin Bairen said strict orders and capable generals would let him control even ten million.
• Xin Bairen reported that the armies had advanced over two million four hundred thousand li from Yanmen Pass and remained more than three million three hundred thousand li from Yin River City.
• Qing Chen ordered the armies to plunder and slaughter the Black Fox King Tribe's clans, spread a humiliating proclamation, and erect blood steles along the route.

The Black Fox King learned that the Ancestral Court had sent reinforcements to the Azure Wolf Royal Court, but Qing Chen’s insulting proclamation and the Black Fox King’s lingering Dao wound made him wary of rushing into battle. He chose to weaken Qing Chen’s million Dao Soldiers by disrupting their fortune nodes and ordered a strike against Yanmen Pass.

• A phantom from the Golden Tent told the Black Fox King that three hundred thousand Peacock Garrison Guards and a Peacock High Priest were marching to reinforce the Azure Wolf Royal Court, then demanded that he kill Qing Chen over the Blood Stele’s insults.
• The Black Fox King destroyed the Blood Stele and felt the old Dao wound from the Northern Border Furnace battle flare, realizing he remained far from fully recovered.
• Wu Yanshuo showed that the Northwestern Circuit’s Spirit Venerables had accounted-for whereabouts, while the Black Fox King suspected Qing Chen might be drawing him into a trap.
• The Black Fox King rejected a head-on fight and ordered defenses and ambushes at Moon-Cutting Gorge, Blackbone Marsh, Fallen Star Plain, and Three-Yin Returning Wind Ridge to wear down Qing Chen’s army.
• The Black Fox King sent Wu Yanshuo and Wu Lieshan with three hundred thousand Black Fox Blood Guards to strike Yanmen Pass and uproot the fortune nodes behind Qing Chen’s forces.

The Black Fox King revealed his plan to wear down Qing Chen’s forces and trap him outside Yanmen Pass, then launched a surprise assault on the Northwestern army at Fallen Star Plain. Qing Chen activated his Dao Seal but concealed his strongest trump cards, intending to make the Black Fox King believe he could be killed.

• The Black Fox King ordered Wu Yanshuo to harass Qing Chen’s army, destroy Fortune Nodes, and force Qing Chen to pay a price whether he sent troops to defend them or not.
• Three days after the Northwestern Circuit Dao Soldiers entered Fallen Star Plain, the Black Fox King appeared through the Yin River domain and attacked the army.
• Xin Bairen ordered the Cangming Army to protect the central force, the Thundering Army to seal the flanks, and the Bloodedge Army to guard against underground and valley attacks.
• The Cangming Army linked the War Treasure Ships’ defenses with its Black Lotus Formation, while Wei Ting led the Thundering Army in a lightning strike that briefly disrupted the Black Fox King’s domain.
• Qing Chen activated his First-Tribulation Fortune Domain Prototype and used his Nascent Soul Peak magic power and Immortality True Blood to strengthen it.
• Qing Chen kept the Primordial Magnetism Cauldron and Eight White Bone Demon Mara Banners hidden so the Black Fox King would believe he had a chance to kill him.

Qing Chen and the Northwestern armies fought the Black Fox King as his hidden forces used underground roads to strike their perimeter. The Black Fox King then attacked Xin Bairen’s command platform, but Qing Chen intercepted his fox-shaped domain with the Blood River God-Slaying Spear.

• Qing Chen’s blood-magnetism pseudo-domain clashed with the Black Fox King’s Yin River Domain, while Qing Chen recognized that the king was injured.
• The Golden Tent Ancient Road opened, and Black Fox Blood Guards attacked the Bloodedge Army’s flanks, the Thundering Army’s perimeter, and the rear.
• Xin Bairen ordered the armies to contract their lines, disrupt the Blood Guards’ coordination, and seal the ancient road exits; Ye Wushang and Wei Ting struck back.
• The surprise assault inflicted heavy losses on the Northwestern forces, including Dao Soldiers at a Fortune Node and in a valley.
• The Black Fox King formed a giant fox from his Yin River Domain and lunged at Xin Bairen’s command platform.
• Qing Chen insulted the Black Fox King, moved to intercept the attack, and pierced the domain’s black fox through the lower jaw with the Blood River God-Slaying Spear.

Qing Chen repelled the Black Fox King’s attack on Fallen Star Plain, but the enemy’s coordinated strikes threatened Yanmen Pass and the fortune nodes behind the army. Qing Chen refused to split his forces, recognizing that the Black Fox King wanted to draw him away from the million-strong army and its formation.

• Qing Chen struck the Black Fox King with the Blood River God-Slaying Spear and Primordial Magnetism Divine Thunder, while Xin Bairen held the army formations steady.
• The Black Fox King withdrew his Blood Guards and Yin River Domain after declaring that he would wear down Qing Chen’s forces through repeated attacks.
• Xin Bairen reported 5,764 casualties and severe damage to the army’s warships, while the soldiers rallied around Qing Chen for stopping the Black Fox King.
• Wei Ting reported that Wu Yanshuo had attacked Yanmen Pass and Wu Lieshan had struck four fortune nodes in the rear.
• Qing Chen denied Wei Ting’s request to take two hundred thousand Dao Soldiers south, explaining that splitting the army would leave Wei vulnerable to the Black Fox King.

Qing Chen halted the advance on Yin River City and turned the campaign into a protracted war of scattered formations, repeated raids, and resource destruction. Months later, the Northwestern armies had suffered heavy casualties but remained steady, while the Black Fox King was furious that Qing Chen had kept him tied down near Fallen Star Plain.

• Qing Chen ordered the armies to hold the region around Yanmen Pass, avoid pursuing the enemy into the Black Fox Ancient Road, and establish scattered fortune nodes behind Fallen Star Plain.
• Xin Bairen and the armies resisted Black Fox Blood Guard raids without pursuit, while Qing Chen repeatedly confronted the Black Fox King and protected the Northwestern forces.
• The Black Fox King and Wu Lieshan inflicted heavy losses, destroying banners, camps, and War Treasure Ships through attacks launched from ancient underground roads.
• Qing Chen responded by sending out more banners, stripping and destroying the Black Fox vassal tribes' resources, and paying the three armies generous military wages and merit.
• Qing Chen arranged for fallen Northwestern Dao soldiers to be identified and buried with honors, while the Black Fox Blood Guards' bodies were set aside for the Withered Skeleton Treachery-Illuminating Tower.
• After months of fighting and nearly a hundred thousand Northwestern casualties, the Black Fox King grew enraged that Qing Chen had kept him occupied near Fallen Star Plain.

Yue Ting persuaded the Black Fox King to target the Bloodedge Army, exploiting its heavy losses and growing discontent. The Black Fox King accepted the plan, not realizing Yue Ting had deliberately baited him, and the attack now depended on Qing Chen’s response.

• Yue Ting explained that the Bloodedge Army was the weakest of Qing Chen’s three armies because it had suffered the most casualties, received the fewest supplies, and lacked strong leadership.
• Yue Ting proposed that the Black Fox King use his Yin River Domain to isolate the Bloodedge Army while Wu Lieshan led the main force against the central army.
• The Black Fox King tested Yue Ting by ordering him to lead the vanguard, but Yue Ting refused and claimed he was better suited to alchemy and analysis.
• The Black Fox King accepted Yue Ting’s plan and ordered his generals to destroy the Bloodedge Army or face execution.
• Yue Ting left the tent relieved, revealing that he had baited the Black Fox King and hoped Qing Chen could counter the coming attack.

Qing Chen summoned Hua Tieshou and entrusted him with the Sky-Patrolling Dao Seal to stop the Black Fox King from breaking through the Bloodedge Army. Hua Tieshou accepted the dangerous mission, knowing that success would earn him immense rewards and failure would mean death.

• Qing Chen asked Hua Tieshou whether he feared death and warned him that the task could kill him.
• Hua Tieshou recalled how Qing Chen had rescued his cultivation path and declared that he owed his life to his master.
• Qing Chen gave Hua Tieshou the Sky-Patrolling Dao Seal and revealed that the Black Fox King planned to attack the Bloodedge Army.
• Qing Chen ordered Hua Tieshou to trap the Black Fox King regardless of the army’s losses, promising great rewards for success and death for failure.
• Hua Tieshou accepted the order and vowed to shatter his Nascent Soul if he failed.

Qing Chen sent Hua Tieshou to carry out a near-suicidal task while he completed his plan to trap the Black Fox King. Days later, the Cangming Army entered level one combat readiness as a vast Yin River attacked, and Qing Chen used the combined armies’ formations to shield them.

• Qing Chen told Hua Tieshou to conceal the blue-black great seal and survive, even if the Bloodedge Army was destroyed.
• Wang Shisan and Tie Erleng received a year’s military pay and returned to their battalions when Xin Bairen declared level one combat readiness.
• Wang Shisan ordered his soldiers to activate their formations after the sky split open and a vast Yin River appeared.
• Qing Chen summoned the blue-black great seal and combined the power of the three armies’ formations to repel the descending Yin River.

The Black Fox King launched a decisive assault with more than four hundred thousand Blood Guards and used his Yin River Domain’s rule traits to divide the Three Talents Military Formation. Qing Chen struggled to hold him back as the armies fought to maintain their formations, and the Bloodedge Army began to panic after being cut off from the Central Army.

• The Black Fox King unleashed a massive cavalry force and fought Qing Chen with Yin River tributaries that redirected attacks and eroded his Rule Domain.
• Xin Bairen ordered the Thundering Army to shield the Central Army, the Cangming Army to protect its command positions, and the Bloodedge Army to block the Black Fox cavalry on the left.
• Wang Shisan and Tie Erleng led their battalions against the charging Black Fox Blood Guards while the armies’ formations held.
• The Black Fox King split the Yin River into shifting branches that separated the Bloodedge Army from the Central Army and thwarted attempts to reconnect them.
• The Bloodedge Army’s formations wavered as soldiers questioned why they had been left behind, and Hua Tieshou threatened to execute anyone who retreated without orders.

The Black Fox King detonated the Black Fox Tribe’s ancient roads beneath Fallen Star Plain, disrupting the Cangming formations and isolating the Bloodedge Army. He overwhelmed Ye Wushang and advanced on Hua Tieshou, who began a final life-burning technique as the Black Fox King declared himself the victor.

• Wu Yanshuo and Wu Lieshan detonated the Black Fox ancient roads, unleashing spatial turbulence that tore through the Cangming formations and severed connections between the armies.
• Wu Lieshan led the Black Fox Blood Guards against the Central Army while Wu Yanshuo directed the spatial blades toward the Thundering Army, forcing Wei Ting to abandon his support of the Bloodedge Army.
• The Black Fox King crossed the battlefield and appeared above the Bloodedge Army, whose soldiers faltered under his Spirit Transformation pressure and the Blood Guards’ calls to surrender.
• Ye Wushang united the Bloodedge battalions and struck at the Black Fox King, who shattered the attack with one palm and grievously wounded him.
• The Black Fox King advanced on Hua Tieshou, intending to break the Bloodedge Army’s last formation connection, while Hua Tieshou activated multiple life-burning techniques.

Hua Tieshou sacrificed himself to activate the Blue-Black Dao Seal, unleashing Tie Hengjiang’s stored grotto-heaven power and trapping Black Fox King beneath the Thirteen Golden Palaces. Black Fox King transformed into his Yin River Moon-Swallowing True Body and struggled against the descending golden palaces.

• Hua Tieshou sent his final divine soul power into the Blue-Black Dao Seal and exploded his essence blood as Black Fox King’s palm closed in.
• The seal revealed the character [North] and unleashed Tie Hengjiang’s grotto-heaven power, locking down the space around Black Fox King.
• Thirteen golden palaces formed and suppressed Black Fox King’s connection to the Yin River Domain, while Hua Tieshou’s legs were crushed by the residual power.
• Black Fox King transformed into his Yin River Moon-Swallowing True Body and drew the Yin River tributaries into himself to resist the golden palaces.
• The thirteen layers descended as Black Fox King braced against them, his black fur and Yin River Rules Armor collapsing under the pressure.

Qing Chen unleashed his full strength and trapped the wounded Black Fox King inside Tie Hengjiang’s Golden Tower seal, then battered him with the Blood River God-Slaying Spear. The Black Fox King remained alive and fighting as the seal began to weaken, leaving Qing Chen with only a few breaths to finish him.

• Tie Hengjiang’s Golden Tower technique sealed the wounded Black Fox King in place, and the Black Fox King cursed Qing Chen and threatened his family.
• Qing Chen released his Late Immortality blood, Blood Path and Magnetic Origin rules, demon banners, and Northwestern Circuit-Surveying Seal to attack the Black Fox King.
• Qing Chen pierced the Yin River and crossed the battlefield, using the Golden Tower barrier and shifting magnetic force to land successive spear strikes.
• The Black Fox King counterattacked with Yin River claws and divine-soul assaults, wounding Qing Chen and cracking the Mystic Womb Demon Lotus.
• Qing Chen kept pressing his attack as the Black Fox King sensed Tie Hengjiang’s seal would fail within five breaths.

Qing Chen revealed that he had prepared a trap for the Black Fox King, then used the Primordial Magnetism Cauldron and Annihilation Divine Thunder to devastate him. The Black Fox King was left trapped and weakening as he pleaded for his life.

• Qing Chen revealed that he had planted blood-magnetic qi mechanisms on the Black Fox King while learning his rule traits.
• Qing Chen burned the essence blood in his Four Brahma Apertures and activated the Primordial Magnetism Cauldron’s complete domain.
• Qing Chen struck the Black Fox King internally with Primordial Magnetism Annihilation Divine Thunder, while the Northern Border Lock Seals and Star-Burying Immortal-Seizing Blood Hand stopped his escape.
• The Black Fox King’s Primordial Spirit struggled against the seals, but Qing Chen ordered the cauldron to strike again and battered him with repeated spear blows.
• The Golden Palace Barrier remained intact as the Black Fox King weakened, and he offered Qing Chen wealth and political power in exchange for his life.

Qing Chen killed the Black Fox King and captured his intact Primordial Spirit, securing a rare ingredient for the [Purple Mansion Spirit Transformation Pill]. The Black Fox Blood Guards fled Fallen Star Plain, while Qing Chen ordered Great Jin’s armies to hold formation instead of pursuing.

• Qing Chen used the Eight Banners God-Sealing formation and the Immortal-Burying Demon Coffin to capture the Black Fox King's Primordial Spirit alive.
• Qing Chen realized the intact Primordial Spirit could replace the two missing primary ingredients for the [Purple Mansion Spirit Transformation Pill].
• Xin Bairen, Wei Ting, and Ye Wushang reacted to Qing Chen's victory as Great Jin's soldiers shouted that the Governor-General had slain a god.
• Wu Yanshuo ordered the Black Fox Blood Guards to retreat, and Wu Lieshan fled as their forces broke into a rout.
• Qing Chen forbade True Lord-level battle generals from pursuing, and Xin Bairen ordered the armies to regroup, tend the wounded, and secure the remaining Yin River nodes.

Qing Chen saved Hua Tieshou after he destroyed his Nascent Soul foundation to defeat the Black Fox King, then offered him a dangerous chance to rebuild his cultivation. Hua Tieshou agreed to gamble on washing away his ruined Nascent Soul and forming a new one.

• Qing Chen left the surviving Black Fox forces alive and declared Hua Tieshou the foremost contributor to the battle.
• Qing Chen used precious pills, a Supreme-Grade Spirit Stone, and his Blood Path abilities to stabilize Hua Tieshou's injuries and save his life.
• Qing Chen told Hua Tieshou that his ruined Nascent Soul left him unable to cultivate and gave him fewer than six hundred years to live.
• Hua Tieshou rejected a life without cultivation and agreed to take one more gamble.
• Qing Chen proposed washing Hua Tieshou's Nascent Soul back to the Pseudo-Nascent Soul state, then using Blood Cultivation to form a new one, warning that failure would scatter his soul.

After Hua Tieshou agreed to gamble on rebuilding his shattered Nascent Soul, Qing Chen prepared to test his new Brahma Demon Art on him and withdrew from the Black Fox King Tribe rather than risk a fight with the Golden Tent Khanate. Qing Chen raced back to Yanmen Pass with Hua Tieshou, where the defensive formation detected his approach and sounded an alarm.

• Hua Tieshou accepted Qing Chen's plan to recondense his Nascent Soul using the Immortal Demon Nascent Soul Chapter, risking total destruction if he failed.
• Qing Chen decided the Golden Tent Great Khan might retaliate and ordered Xin Bairen to gather the armies and leave without pursuing enemies or advancing on Yin River City.
• Qing Chen collected the Black Fox King's scattered remains and sealed the king's bone ring inside the Nine-Luminaries Glazed Vidyaraja Pagoda.
• Qing Chen placed Hua Tieshou in a blood jade spirit coffin, entrusted the armies to Xin Bairen and Wei Ting, and flew toward Yanmen Pass.
• As Qing Chen approached Yanmen Pass, the Nine Profound Suppression of the North Formation detected his fast-moving escape light and raised an alarm.

Qing Chen returned triumphantly to Yanmen Pass after killing the Black Fox King, a Spirit Transformation Barbarian King, and the news spread throughout Great Jin. In his sealed underground Blood Hall, he examined the Black Fox King’s remains with greedy interest.

• Qing Chen presented his command token at Yanmen Pass, passed the formation checks, and received a triumphal welcome from Pei Xuance and the others.
• Qing Chen entrusted Hua Tieshou’s failing nascent soul to Su Zixuan and ordered Xu Jiuling to find Nascent-Replenishing Heavenly Fluid before retreating to seclusion.
• The people at the pass marveled that Qing Chen had slain a Spirit Transformation cultivator, and a guard called him a living legend.
• Recording Jade Slips confirmed that Qing Chen had personally destroyed the Black Fox King, and the Fallen Star God-Slaying battle became famous across Great Jin and the Nanhua Realm.
• Qing Chen sealed his underground Blood Halls against prying divine sense, opened the caskets containing the Black Fox King’s remains, and admired the Spirit Transformation corpse.

Qing Chen decided to feed the Black Fox King’s flesh and bones to the Di Jiang Demon Banner to help it become a half-spirit treasure, then broke into the king’s storage ring and inventoried his spoils. He found rare materials and the Nine Netherworlds Soul-Returning Marrow, but was disappointed by the Black Fox King’s modest fortune and ordered Di Jiang to eat.

• Qing Chen chose to use the Black Fox King’s flesh and bones to advance the Di Jiang Demon Banner rather than strengthen his body or condense the fourth Brahma-Blood Demon Wheel.
• Qing Chen spent ten days grinding away the Black Fox King’s divine sense imprint until the Black Fox Sky-Swallowing Ring opened.
• Qing Chen found the Nine Netherworlds Soul-Returning Marrow, which could give Xie Yu’s Blood Jiangshi body a chance to reverse life and death, and noted that Yue Ting’s help made the treasure useful for keeping him loyal.
• Qing Chen found Great White Void-Splitting Divine Iron, two supreme-grade fourth-tier magic treasures, and other supplies, but judged the Black Fox King’s overall fortune poor.
• Qing Chen pointed at the Di Jiang Demon Banner and told it that it was time to eat.

The Imperial Court reviewed Qing Chen’s victory over the Black Fox King and debated whether to reward him with the state dukedom of Duke of Yan. The debate remained unresolved as Xiao Canglan joined the opposition, driven by his hostility toward Qing Chen.

• The Di Jiang Demon Banner absorbed the Spirit Transformation remains in the underground blood hall, and the formation gates sealed it off from outside Divine Sense.
• A dispatch from Yanmen Pass reached Jade Capital Mountain, where officials watched a recording of Qing Chen defeating the Black Fox King and capturing his Primordial Spirit.
• Hu Yong proposed elevating Qing Chen to first-rank Duke of Yan, and several officials backed the motion.
• Ji Huaiyue argued that Qing Chen’s victory depended on others and that the Black Fox King’s stronghold and unrest in the Western Regions remained unresolved.
• Officials opposing the dukedom rallied around Ji Huaiyue and challenged the scale of Qing Chen’s proposed reward.
• Xiao Canglan agreed that Ji Huaiyue had a point, revealing his opposition amid his growing hatred of Qing Chen.

The Eighth Prince defended Qing Chen's achievements as the court debated his reward for slaying the Black Fox King. Emperor Jingtai named Qing Chen First-Rank Cangming Duke but reserved the title Duke of Yan and a Spirit Transformation Spirit Item for the recovery of the Black Fox Royal Court; a year later, a tall figure emerged from the Underground Blood Hall at Yanmen Pass.

• Xiao Canglan opposed granting Qing Chen a founding dukedom and argued that he first needed to conquer the Black Fox Royal Court.
• The Eighth Prince defended Qing Chen and revealed his rise from thirty-sixth to tenth on the Heavenly Gang Ranking.
• The Eighth Prince supported making Qing Chen Duke of Yan, while Zhang Taiyue remained silent during the debate.
• Emperor Jingtai named Qing Chen First-Rank Cangming Duke, raised his official grade to Subordinate First Rank, and granted him the honorary title of Grand Academician of the Inner Cabinet.
• Emperor Jingtai made the title Duke of Yan and a Spirit Transformation Spirit Item conditional on Qing Chen recovering the Black Fox Royal Court.
• A year later, a tall figure emerged laughing from the blood mist in the Underground Blood Hall beneath the Governor-General's Office at Yanmen Pass.