Chapter Summaries

Qing Chen endured the destruction of his Golden Core and used a Nascent Soul Formation Pill and a Three Souls Seven Apertures Spirit Embryo Fruit to form a nascent soul over fifteen years. The chapter ended as a vast golden celestial phenomenon erupted above the Hidden Dragon Mountain Range, startling Qian Dafu.

• Qing Chen took the Nascent Soul Formation Pill as the Immortal-Locking Demon Lotus Platform restrained the essence released from his cracking Golden Core.
• Qing Chen consumed the Three Souls Seven Apertures Spirit Embryo Fruit, which stabilized the core liquid and helped it take shape.
• Qing Chen spent fifteen years nurturing the nascent embryo until a golden infant fully formed within his sea of qi.
• A tremor and deep thunder shook the Hidden Dragon Mountain Range as immense spiritual pressure erupted from Qing Chen's cave abode.
• Qian Dafu rushed outside and saw a vast spiritual-energy vortex and golden beams in the sky, which he recognized as a Nascent Soul Formation Celestial Phenomenon.

Qing Chen broke through to the Nascent Soul stage in Hidden Dragon Number Nine, triggering a vast phenomenon that shocked cultivators and authorities across Minjiang Province. As his newborn Nascent Soul formed, an Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon dragged his perception into a dangerous Divine Soul Battlefield.

• Qian Dafu realized that Qing Chen was attempting to form a Nascent Soul in Hidden Dragon Number Nine and feared Qing Chen would remember his past extortion.
• Cultivators across the Hidden Dragon Mountain Range gathered to witness the phenomenon, while officials and Nascent Soul cultivators investigated the breakthrough.
• Qing Chen formed a golden Nascent Soul that drew in the power of heaven and earth.
• An Extraterrestrial Heavenly Demon invaded Qing Chen's breakthrough and pulled his perception into a distorted Divine Soul Battlefield.

Qing Chen survived the extraterrestrial heavenly demon trial after the Nine-Luminaries Glazed Vidyaraja Pagoda weakened the demon and his Immortal-Locking Demon Lotus Platform destroyed it. As the three-colored thundercloud formed for the final trial, Qing Chen sensed that its lightning was far more powerful than it should have been.

• The extraterrestrial heavenly demon battered Qing Chen's divine soul, forcing him to defend himself with the Immortal-Locking Demon Lotus Platform.
• The Nine-Luminaries Glazed Vidyaraja Pagoda released nine-colored light that weakened the heavenly demon and made it recognize the pagoda's aura.
• Qing Chen used Demon Lotus Soul Suppression to crush the demon, and the Treasure Pagoda absorbed its remaining soul power.
• Qing Chen recovered, recalled the dangers of the three-colored thunder pool tribulation, and brought out the Mountain-Calming Shield.
• The three-colored thundercloud formed above Qing Chen's Cave Abode, and he sensed its lightning was far stronger than expected.

Qing Chen faced an unexpectedly powerful heavenly tribulation, exhausting his treasures and blood qi to withstand its escalating strikes. After surviving eight bolts, he attacked the final humanoid lightning figure with the Pojun Battle Halberd, but it crushed his strike and knocked the weapon away.

• Qing Chen used the Mountain-Calming Shield to block the first thunderbolts, then burned the essence blood in his first brahma aperture to reinforce it.
• Qing Chen sent the Purple Spider Banner and its spider phantom against the seventh thunderbolt, which badly damaged the banner.
• Qing Chen burned essence blood from his second brahma aperture and endured the eighth thunderbolt, which destroyed the Purple Spider Banner, damaged the Mountain-Calming Shield, and charred his arms.
• Qing Chen hurled the Pojun Battle Halberd at the lightning humanoid formed from the tribulation's power.
• The lightning humanoid crushed Qing Chen's blood-red attack and knocked the Pojun Battle Halberd away, greatly depleting its spirituality.

Qing Chen used a series of powerful treasures and defenses to withstand the devastating Three-Colored Thunder Pool Tribulation. Though he was gravely injured and his magic treasures were ruined, his Nascent Soul remained unharmed, and he survived the third trial.

• Qing Chen's Primal Magnetism Divine Light failed to stop the humanoid thunderbolt, so he summoned the White Bone Demon Mara Banners to form the Immortal-Locking Gourd's protective force field.
• The lightning hammer shattered the gourd phantom and exhausted the demon banners, forcing Qing Chen to spend five thousand high-grade spirit stones to summon the Thunderclap Arhat with the Nine-Luminaries Glazed Vidyaraja Pagoda.
• The lightning broke through the Arhat's barrier, and Qing Chen burned his essence blood to make the Black Demon Blood Armor resist the hammer's remaining force.
• The Black Demon Blood Armor shattered, and the remaining lightning blasted Qing Chen into a charred pit, leaving him badly wounded.
• Qing Chen checked his sea of qi and found his Nascent Soul unharmed as it absorbed the remaining lightning essence.
• The three-colored thunderclouds dispersed, and Qing Chen realized he had passed the Three-Colored Thunder Pool Tribulation.

Qing Chen completed his Nascent Soul formation, producing extraordinary spiritual-energy and blood-law phenomena that drew the attention of Minjiang Province’s officials. He declared himself a True Lord, while Provincial Governor Wang Yan and the prefects considered his concealed origins and immense power.

• Qing Chen formed his Nascent Soul as a spiritual city condensed above the Hidden Dragon Mountain Range and poured power into his cave abode.
• Watching cultivators saw blood-path law runes in the spiritual light and marveled that Qing Chen could manifest laws upon forming his Nascent Soul.
• Wang Yan, Min Shuangjiang, and Chen Yan arrived, and Wang Yan questioned Qian Dafu about the cave’s tenant.
• Qian Dafu identified the tenant as Li Muyun, an alleged peak Golden Core rogue cultivator, and admitted he had accepted favors and mocked him.
• Qing Chen absorbed the spiritual power and blood-path rules, healed his body, and reflected on the trials and killings that had shaped his cultivation.
• Qing Chen proclaimed that he had become a True Lord, completing his advancement after nearly two and a half jiazi of cultivation.

Qing Chen broke through to the Nascent Soul Realm and condensed a wisp of Blood Path power of laws, leaving his path to the middle stage unobstructed. After surviving the Three Lives Killing Tribulation, he received a thread of fortune qi and had to choose whether to use it to improve his spiritual root or give it to the Nine-Luminaries Glazed Vidyaraja Pagoda.

• Qing Chen formed his Nascent Soul, expanded his divine sense across the Hidden Dragon Mountain Range, and deepened his understanding of the Blood Path and Magnetic Origin Rules.
• Qing Chen condensed a wisp of Blood Path power of laws in his third Brahma aperture, making his future advancement to the Nascent Soul middle stage much easier.
• Qing Chen laughed in triumph as he felt his increased power and surveyed the damaged magic treasures and drained spirit stones around him.
• The lingering aura of the Three Lives Killing Tribulation produced a thread of life-bearing fortune qi that entered Qing Chen's sea of qi.
• Qing Chen considered using the fortune qi to raise his spiritual root aptitude or giving it to the Nine-Luminaries Glazed Vidyaraja Pagoda, recalling how the pagoda had once helped his Dao Path.

Qing Chen diverted the creation energy from improving his spiritual root to the Nine-Luminaries Glazed Vidyaraja Pagoda and used the authority it revealed to witness a battle in Immortal-Burying Valley. He saw a wounded Nine-Headed Demon Venerable flee into ancient palace ruins with a mysterious treasure, which Qing Chen believed could help him attain the Bodhi Spirit Body Second Layer.

• Qing Chen chose to send the creation energy to the Nine-Luminaries Glazed Vidyaraja Pagoda instead of improving his spiritual root.
• The pagoda granted Qing Chen one use of the incomplete grand void heavenly secrets permission, and he used it to view a distant battlefield.
• Qing Chen witnessed several Void Refinement Profound Venerables and Demon Venerables fighting in a vast gorge.
• After a hidden attacker wounded one of its heads, the Nine-Headed Demon Venerable sacrificed part of its demon soul and fled with a rune-marked object into ancient palace ruins.
• Qing Chen recognized the gorge as Immortal-Burying Valley and suspected the object could help him attain the Bodhi Spirit Body Second Layer.

After five years in seclusion, Qing Chen broke through to Nascent Soul and revealed his identity and rise to power to the gathered cultivators and provincial officials. With military duties delaying his Dharma lecture, he asked the witnesses to present congratulatory offerings and assigned Chen Yan and Qian Dafu to record them.

• Qing Chen emerged from his cave after forming his Nascent Soul, and his spiritual pressure subdued the gathered cultivators.
• Wang Yan, Min Shuangjiang, and Chen Yan arrived to congratulate Qing Chen, and Qing Chen reminded Chen Yan of their meeting fifty years earlier.
• Min Shuangjiang recognized Qing Chen as the general who had conquered three prefectures and slain the Violet Centipede True Lord, prompting an uproar among the crowd.
• Qing Chen told the cultivators that military affairs and Old Devil Wu Gui delayed his planned Dharma lecture.
• Qing Chen asked the witnesses to offer congratulatory gifts and appointed Chen Yan and Manager Qian Dafu to register them.

After ascending to Nascent Soul, Qing Chen invented a Gouwu Sea custom to demand congratulatory gifts from the cultivators gathered in the Hidden Dragon Mountain Range. He left Prefect Chen Yan and Manager Qian Dafu to collect the gifts while he returned to the front, already planning to extort other sects.

• Qing Chen demanded ceremonial gifts from the gathered cultivators, claiming they were following a Gouwu Sea custom.
• Provincial Governor Wang Yan tacitly approved, and Prefect Chen Yan agreed to organize the collection to gain favor with Qing Chen and the governor.
• Qian Dafu was terrified when Qing Chen ordered him to record the gifts, but he reluctantly accepted the assignment.
• A wealthy elder from the Zhang Household of Lingbei offered spirit stones and herbs, prompting some cultivators to follow while others resented the forced collection.
• Qing Chen said he would remember Wang Yan and the prefects' kindness, then flew away toward the front as Chen Yan and Qian Dafu began collecting gifts with the prefectural soldiers.

After learning that Qing Chen had become a Nascent Soul True Lord with formidable combat potential, Tie Ming and Tie Zhan discussed how his return could change the war in Qiongzhou. Qing Chen arrived at Coiled Snake County in just two days and urged Tie Ming to act immediately to retake Miaochong Prefecture.

• Tie Zhan told Tie Ming that Qing Chen had formed his Nascent Soul, mastered blood path rules, and could threaten even stronger cultivators when supported by troops.
• Tie Zhan said Qing Chen could become a decisive weapon against Wu Gui and the Miao Border Gu Clans, and asked Tie Ming to coordinate with him and maintain their relationship.
• Qing Chen's powerful presence swept over Coiled Snake County, and he arrived at the bunker after crossing more than two million li in two days.
• Qing Chen told Tie Ming that speed was essential and urged him to retake all of Miaochong Prefecture before Old Monster Hundred Poisons could react.

After attaining Nascent Soul, Qing Chen joined Tie Ming and led a sixty-thousand-strong fleet toward Miaochong Prefecture. The Hundred Poisons True Lord recognized Qing Chen’s return and ordered full defenses while urgently requesting reinforcements from King Wu Gui.

• Qing Chen and Tie Ming agreed to launch a surprise attack on the enemy strongholds in Miaochong Prefecture.
• Tie Ming assembled the generals and troops, and Qing Chen ordered the army aboard the Giant Whale Treasure Ships.
• Qing Chen and Tie Ming led the fleet toward Miaochong Prefecture to attack the Hundred Poisons True Lord’s forces.
• A scout reported the fleet’s advance and a fast dark-red escape light to the Hundred Poisons True Lord and the Centipede-Insect Daoist.
• The Hundred Poisons True Lord identified Qing Chen, ordered the army to full battle readiness, and requested immediate reinforcements from King Wu Gui.

Qing Chen led the Giant Whale Fleet to Miaochong Prefecture City and revealed Primordial Magnetism Formation-Breaking Ballistas prepared to breach its defenses. The defenders fired first, but their attacks failed to penetrate the fleet’s barriers as the ballistas charged.

• True Lord Tie Ming warned Qing Chen that Miaochong Prefecture City’s poison formations, Gu insects, and defenses would make a frontal assault costly.
• Qing Chen revealed the Primordial Magnetism Formation-Breaking Ballistas mounted on the Giant Whale Fleet and ordered them to charge.
• The Centipede-Insect Daoist ordered the city’s cannons and Poisonflame Ballistas to fire before the new weapons finished charging.
• The fleet’s barriers and secondary cannons deflected the defenders’ attacks, and Qing Chen mocked them for losing their composure.

Qing Chen ordered the Giant Whale Treasure Ships to unleash their Primordial Magnetism Formation-Breaking Ballistas against Miaochong Prefecture. His attack tore a vast opening through the city's poison-miasma defenses, revealing his mastery of two laws and leaving Hundred Poisons True Lord stunned.

• Hundred Poisons True Lord blamed Centipede-Insect Daoist for the failed probing volley and its damage to the defenders' morale.
• Qing Chen ordered Sun Wudi and Xue Qingxia to arrange a combined Nascent Soul and victory celebration, send invitations across the Moon Sea Region, and collect substantial gifts.
• Qing Chen assigned Sun Wudi and Xue Qingxia a Giant Whale Treasure Ship, three thousand soldiers, and a conscription mission, with Xu Jiuling to provide details.
• Qing Chen channelled magnetic origin rule power into the fleet's Primordial Magnetism Formation-Breaking Ballistas and ordered them to fire.
• The ballistas blasted through the city's protective screens and poison miasma, destroying Gu Insects and opening a breach more than a hundred zhang wide.
• Hundred Poisons True Lord recognized Qing Chen's attack as the power of laws and wondered how a newly ascended Nascent Soul True Lord had mastered two laws.

While the Primordial Magnetism Formation-Breaking Ballistae battered Miaochong Prefecture City, Tie Ming tried to arrange a marriage between Qing Chen and his sister, Tie Qingyao. Qing Chen postponed his answer until after the battle, as the city’s defenses began to fail.

• Tie Ming confirmed that Qing Chen was not part of the Qing Household and asked whether he was married.
• Tie Ming praised his sister Tie Qingyao’s cultivation, jade marrow spirit body, and formation skills, and proposed that she marry Qing Chen.
• Qing Chen remembered Su Zixuan and her years of service, then agreed to discuss Tie Qingyao’s marriage after the fighting and mentioned preparing a suitable betrothal gift.
• Qing Chen’s Primordial Magnetism Formation-Breaking Ballistae fired three volleys, opening several holes in Miaochong Prefecture City’s barrier.
• Hundred Poisons True Lord ordered the defenders to leave the city and engage the enemy.

Qing Chen’s fleet and Hundred Poisons True Lord’s forces traded long-range bombardments, with the Primordial Magnetism weapons devastating Miaochong Prefecture’s defenses and both sides suffering heavy losses. As the cannon fire waned, Qing Chen ordered his fleet to prepare for boarding combat.

• Qing Chen ordered three volleys at the poison miasma node while Hundred Poisons True Lord commanded his cannons to fire on the treasure ships.
• The two sides exchanged attacks, and Qing Chen’s Primordial Magnetism beams destroyed poison miasma and poison towers while Hundred Poisons True Lord and Centipede-Insect Daoist blocked some of the beams.
• Repeated bombardments damaged ships, shattered defenses, and killed cultivators as both sides rapidly spent their spirit stones.
• After twenty rounds, the Giant Whale fleet had two ships retreat and two badly weakened, while five of Miaochong Prefecture’s treasure ships had been destroyed and its defenses lay in ruins.
• Qing Chen ordered his ships to replenish spirit stones, inspect their Dharma Artifacts, and prepare for boarding combat.

After the prolonged bombardment failed to destroy Miaochong Prefecture City, Hundred Poisons True Lord launched a counterattack with his Gu Armor Army, poison-fire ballistae, and Myriad Serpent Grand Formation. Qing Chen ordered his fleet’s troops to strike back, leaving both sides poised for a costly close-quarters battle.

• Hundred Poisons True Lord assessed the damage and ordered the Gu Armor Army to advance, the Third-Tier Poison-Fire Ballistae to prepare, and the Myriad Serpent Grand Formation to press the fleet’s left flank.
• Twenty thousand Gu Armored Soldiers emerged from the city and formed defensive circles while crews positioned poison-fire ballistae and venomous creatures gathered into the Myriad Serpent Grand Formation.
• Hundred Poisons True Lord ordered an attack to exploit the fleet’s need to repair and recharge its cannons.
• Tie Ming True Lord warned Qing Chen that the enemy intended to pin down the fleet and close in for close combat.
• Qing Chen ordered his vanguard to assault the Gu Armor Army’s formations, his right flank to bombard the poison-fire ballista positions, and his left flank to burn the poisonous creatures with the Li Fire Heaven-Burning Formation.

Qing Chen’s forces launched a coordinated assault on Hundred Poisons True Lord’s army, trading heavy losses as they pressed the Gu Armor Army. Faced with the costly stalemate, Hundred Poisons True Lord ordered the unfinished Ten Thousand Poisons Immortal-Burning Formation into action.

• Qing Chen’s artillery struck the advancing Poisonfire Ballistae while his left-wing troops used fire formations to slow the Sea of Poison Insects.
• Tie Qingniu, Sun Wudi, Ye Wushang, and other commanders led the vanguard’s Cone Formations into the Gu Armor Army’s circular formations.
• The Miao-Conquest Army and Gu Armor Army fought fiercely in a costly melee, with formation coordination and fortune enhancements giving Qing Chen’s side a slight advantage.
• Hundred Poisons True Lord judged that continued attrition would deplete his elite troops and ordered the Blood Gu Army to prepare the Ten Thousand Poisons Immortal-Burning Formation.
• Centipede-Insect Daoist warned that the formation was incomplete, but Hundred Poisons True Lord ordered him to activate it anyway.

Hundred Poisons True Lord unleashed the forty thousand Blood Gu Army and its Myriad Poisons Blood Baleful Intent Formation against Qing Chen’s exhausted Miao-Conquest Army. Qing Chen reorganized his forces and, with True Lord Tie Ming, checked the formation’s first attacks, but the armies then collided in a brutal battle that left Miao-Conquest casualties mounting rapidly.

• Hundred Poisons True Lord sent forty thousand Blood Gu Army soldiers from Miaochong Prefecture and ordered them to form the Myriad Poisons Blood Baleful Intent Formation.
• True Lord Tie Ming warned Qing Chen that the formation could corrode treasures and souls, while Qing Chen ordered the Miao-Conquest Army into the Eight Gates Golden Lock and directed its main force and wings to regroup.
• Hundred Poisons True Lord and Centipede-Insect Daoist sent the blood cloud and a rain of poisonous arrows against the Miao-Conquest Army, killing or wounding hundreds and disrupting its ranks.
• Hundred Poisons True Lord released blood-cloud tentacles that attacked the army’s formation, and Qing Chen and True Lord Tie Ming cut down or drove back many of them.
• The Blood Gu Army and Gu Armor Army charged the Miao-Conquest Army’s defensive line, and their armored soldiers and poisonous attacks inflicted mounting casualties.

The Miao-Conquest Army and the Blood Gu Army fought across the battlefield as Qing Chen and Tie Ming were pinned down by Hundred Poisons True Lord and Centipede Daoist. Qing Chen unleashed his blood path rules and the Vajra Mound, leaving both enemies and Tie Ming stunned by his power.

• The Miao-Conquest Army used battle formations to resist the Blood Gu Army, while Ye Wushang and Tie Qingniu fought Miao generals.
• Hundred Poisons True Lord and Centipede Daoist trapped Qing Chen and Tie Ming beneath a blood cloud, and Tie Ming asked why Qing Chen was not using his captured treasures.
• Qing Chen explained that the Pojun Battle Halberd, Black Demon Blood Armor, and Purple Spider Banner were damaged, then prepared to reveal his trump card.
• Qing Chen combined his Nascent Soul true essence, Third Demonic Aspect, and blood path rules to raise his physical power nearly to the Immortal Realm Middle Stage.
• Qing Chen summoned the Vajra Mound, which expanded into a nine-tier pagoda and unleashed Buddhist power that suppressed the blood cloud and shocked his enemies.