Chapter Summaries

Qing Jie turned on the bandits after their raid and ordered their slaughter, killing more than seven hundred with the help of Lie Feng, Bu Jingyun, and the body cultivators. The valley fell silent, and Qing Jie’s forces began collecting the spoils, corpses, and remnant souls.

• Qing Jie sealed the valley’s communications and told the gathered bandits that he was sending them on their way.
• Qing Jie killed the scar-faced bandit with the Nether Baleful Intent Saber, triggering panic and resistance among the others.
• Lie Feng, Bu Jingyun, Qing Jie, and the body cultivators attacked the unprepared bandits and killed them in a one-sided battle.
• Qing Jie killed the Golden Core deputy, who revealed that he served the Firepit Great Cave Lord.
• After the slaughter, Lie Feng, Bu Jingyun, and the others gathered the bandits’ wealth, spirit artifacts, remnant souls, and corpses.

After Commander Wu Hun fled and the Firepit Great Cave Lord died, the Southern Yue army collapsed at Fallen Soul Slope. Qing Chen’s forces crushed the retreat, with Ye Wushang’s swordsmanship blocking the escape route, and fewer than one in ten Southern Yue soldiers survived.

• Lin Changsheng rallied the allied army and used the Black Yin Thousand-Soul Banner to kill Southern Yue Golden Core cultivators as Xin Bairen directed the battle formations.
• Nangong Wang and Qian Baoshan hunted Southern Yue leaders for military merit while the routed troops scattered across the mountains.
• Ye Wushang appeared before the fleeing army and annihilated hundreds with a single strike from his azure sword light.
• Ye Wushang unleashed a rain of sword threads that killed Southern Yue cultivators across a hundred li and sealed off their main escape route.
• The allied forces pursued and massacred the routed army through the night and into dawn, leaving widespread devastation and killing intent across the region.

After rescuing the Imperial envoys at Fallen Soul Slope, Qing Chen eased their embarrassment by praising them as heroes who had risked their lives to defend the people. The envoys accepted his flattering account, and Qing Chen promised to report their supposed achievements to the Imperial Court.

• Li Wenbi, Ji Jin, and Ding Buxing sat recovering in embarrassed silence after Qing Chen rescued them from the Southern Yue cultivators.
• Qing Chen approached the envoys and thanked them for supposedly shielding Yuxi Prefecture and its people at the cost of their own lives.
• Li Wenbi and Ji Jin relaxed as Qing Chen reframed their defeat as a courageous sacrifice, while Ding Buxing felt relieved.
• Qing Chen promised to submit a memorial crediting the three envoys with the foremost merit in reclaiming Blackstone County Seat.
• Li Wenbi, Ji Jin, and Ding Buxing grew more favorably disposed toward Qing Chen and considered how to strengthen their ties with him.

After Blackstone County was secured, Qing Chen gathered with Li Wenbi and the other leaders, who hinted that the county's fall involved traitors. As Qing Chen prepared to escort the Imperial Envoys to Miaochong Prefecture City, Lin Changsheng arrived with a Million-Li Urgent Dispatch from Xu Jiuling.

• Qing Chen asked Li Wenbi about the suspected traitors behind Blackstone County's fall, but Li Wenbi said the matter was too dangerous to discuss openly.
• Ye Wushang returned after pursuing the routed army, and Li Wenbi praised his newly revealed mastery of the Sword Path.
• Nangong Wang and Qian Baoshan offered Qing Chen congratulations, but Qing Chen and the others treated them coldly because Li Wenbi's investigation implicated them in treason.
• Qing Chen proposed escorting Li Wenbi and the other Imperial Envoys to Miaochong Prefecture City to discuss matters away from the battlefield.
• Lin Changsheng and Xin Bairen rushed to Qing Chen with an urgent message from Xu Jiuling, prompting Qing Chen to rebuke them for approaching without permission.

After learning that Southern Yue marauders had nearly wiped out White River County, Qing Chen and Li Wenbi suspected Nangong Wang and Qian Baoshan of colluding with the enemy and trying to silence witnesses. Qing Chen declared that he would take responsibility for Qiongzhou’s ruin and make purging internal traitors the first priority.

• Lin Changsheng reported that Southern Yue marauders had attacked White River County, killed its Golden Core County Magistrate, and nearly slaughtered the county seat.
• Li Wenbi, Ji Jin, and Qing Chen reacted with fury, while Nangong Wang and Qian Baoshan secretly feared their involvement would be exposed.
• Nangong Wang and Qian Baoshan offered to muster their forces and rush to the Southeastern Circuit, intending to eliminate witnesses and cover up their role.
• Li Wenbi told Qing Chen that the two Households were suspected of treasonous collaboration and urged him to prevent them from escaping.
• Qing Chen declared that he bore responsibility for Qiongzhou’s calamities and named purging traitors and restoring order as the foremost priorities.

Qing Chen accused Nangong Wang and Qian Baoshan of betraying Qiongzhou and moved to arrest them, with Imperial Envoy Li Wenbi confirming he had evidence of their dealings with Southern Yue. The two fled, but Qing Chen used his magnetic origin power to trap them, while Qing Tingxue reflected on the powerful factions that might take an interest in his abilities.

• Qing Chen invoked his command flag and Prefecture Vice-Governor seal to arrest Nangong Wang and Qian Baoshan for suspected treason.
• Nangong Wang and Qian Baoshan denied the charges and appealed to Qing Tingxue, but she remained silent.
• Li Wenbi backed Qing Chen and revealed evidence that the two had delayed reinforcements and dealt with Southern Yue.
• Nangong Wang and Qian Baoshan fled in opposite directions, using treasures and talismans to cover their escape.
• Qing Chen used Primordial magnetism, Heaven and Earth Prohibition to slow and bind the fleeing pair with an overwhelming force field.
• Qing Tingxue sensed Qing Chen's magnetic origin power and worried that powerful devil sects might pursue his secret.

Qing Chen used his magnetic origin and blood path laws to capture Nangong Wang and Qian Baoshan, then ordered an immediate investigation into their crimes. Months later, Ye Wushang led the seizure of the Nangong Household estate and announced the clan’s detention and confiscation.

• Qing Chen trapped Nangong Wang and Qian Baoshan in Primordial Magnetism Five-Finger Mountains, suppressed them, and seized their treasures.
• Qing Chen told Li Wenbi and Ji Jin to return to Miaochong Prefecture, investigate the massacre, and root out the traitors and their accomplices.
• Several months later, Ye Wushang led Qiong Expedition Army soldiers to surround the Nangong Household’s ancestral grounds in Pingyin Prefecture.
• Ye Wushang broke through the estate’s gate and declared Nangong Wang a traitor, ordering the clan’s property confiscated and everyone on the grounds detained.

Ye Wushang broke the Nangong Household's resistance while Qing Chen's forces confiscated its ancestral grounds and uncovered evidence of treason. As similar raids shook Qiongzhou, the story shifted to a major court deliberation in Imperial Pole Hall on Jade Capital Mountain.

• Nangong Lie denounced the accusations, but Ye Wushang killed him and cut down dozens of the Nangong Household's leading defenders with sword qi.
• The Nangong disciples fled, while Lin Changsheng captured them and Xin Bairen led the Qiong Expedition Army through the ancestral grounds to seize their assets.
• Lei Bao's soldiers found vast stores of spirit stones, medicinal pills, cultivation techniques, and other valuables.
• Lin Changsheng uncovered planted records linking the Nangong Household to Southern Yue's Bone-Eroding Tribe and a map of Blackstone County Seat's defenses.
• Qing Chen's forces also surrounded the Qian Household, the Qiongzhou Merchant Alliance, and the Qing Household's Qiongzhou branch as traitors were arrested.
• A court deliberation was underway in Imperial Pole Hall atop Jade Capital Mountain.

Emperor Jingtai’s court heard reports on the new Spirit Treasury policy in the Southeastern Circuit and a major victory against the Golden Tent Khanate on the northern frontier. The court session continued with the dynasty’s power concentrated around the unseen emperor and his senior ministers.

• The Minister of Revenue reported that Xiao Canglan and his subordinates had abolished 173 kinds of disorderly private and local notes in the Southeastern Circuit, improving trade efficiency and tax revenue.
• The Minister of Revenue said the policy strengthened the dynasty’s control over resources and fortune, and Emperor Jingtai’s dragon aura appeared to approve.
• The Left Vice Minister of War reported that Tie Hengjiang had led a million Black Armor Iron Guards against the Golden Tent Khanate’s Azure Wolf King Tribe for a hundred days.
• The Left Vice Minister of War said Tie Hengjiang had killed three Nascent Soul generals and driven more than 70,000 enemy troops beyond Blood Wolf Plain.

At court, Liu Jian impeached Qing Chen for slaughter, factionalism, and demonic origins, while Lei Xiao defended Qing Chen’s wartime actions and urged his promotion to Qiongzhou Provincial Governor. The officials’ debate grew fierce until Hu Yong silenced the hall.

• The court granted Lord Tie’s request for Spirit Stones, healing pills, Spirit Rice, and compensation for fallen cultivators’ families.
• Liu Jian impeached Qing Chen, accusing him of massacring households, filling Qiongzhou’s offices with allies, and practicing demonic cultivation.
• Several censors and officials from Lingnan supported Liu Jian’s charges.
• Lei Xiao defended Qing Chen, citing evidence of the households’ treason and Qing Chen’s military victories, and called for his promotion to Provincial Governor.
• Officials split into opposing camps over Qing Chen until Hu Yong ordered the hall to be silent.

Hu Yong proposed that Qing Chen temporarily govern Qiongzhou while receiving a noble promotion and keeping his current official rank, and Emperor Jingtai approved the court nomination. Far away in Qiong Prefecture, Qing Chen remained unaware of the decision and began secluded cultivation to pursue a breakthrough.

• Hu Yong argued that Qing Chen’s achievements deserved rewards but proposed an acting governorship because his cultivation and seniority were still limited.
• The ministers voted overwhelmingly to approve Hu Yong’s proposal, and Emperor Jingtai confirmed Qing Chen as acting Provincial Governor of Qiongzhou with a second-class noble rank and Principal Fourth Rank.
• After court dismissed, Qing Chen continued directing the campaign against the Fist Alliance and assigned his subordinates to pursue internal traitors.
• Qing Chen entered seclusion beneath the Azure Abyss Marquis’s Manor, intent on breaking through and advancing his cultivation.

Qing Chen began a dangerous cultivation breakthrough using rare pills, Blood Dragon Marrow Herbs, Fortune Spirit Crystals, and the Immortal-Locking Mara Blood-Refining Bone-Transmuting Grand Array. The array’s power rose as two demon banners transformed, and Qing Chen started refining three Infant Transformation Pills despite the agony.

• Qing Chen activated the grand array using the remains and cores of hundreds of thousands of cultivators, a Dharma Nascent Soul, and a Transformed Great Demon.
• The Xuanming Banner and Greedy Wolf Banner absorbed white bone essence and advanced to high-grade demon treasures.
• Qing Chen gathered Fortune Spirit Crystals around himself and used his fortune to draw on Great Jin’s fortune rules.
• Qing Chen swallowed three Infant Transformation Pills, and their violent medicinal power surged through his meridians toward his Nascent Soul.
• Qing Chen endured the tearing pain and rapidly refined the pills with the help of his fortune power and immortal body.

Qing Chen used the Dragon Marrow Grass, demon banners, and a Nascent Soul Nurturing Pill to endure a dangerous breakthrough and strengthen his Nascent Soul. Thirty years later, Lin Changsheng reached the Pseudo-Nascent Soul Realm in Qiong Prefecture.

• Qing Chen swallowed Dragon Marrow Grass and activated his three Brahma apertures to absorb power and traces of laws from the demon banners.
• Qing Chen endured the violent forces tearing through his body and Nascent Soul, then swallowed a Nascent Soul Nurturing Pill to stabilize and nourish his foundation.
• Qing Chen refined the gathered qi, blood, spiritual power, and traces of rules, steadily growing his Nascent Soul.
• Thirty years passed, and Qiong Prefecture's city walls and the Azure Abyss Marquis's Manor had been rebuilt and expanded.
• Lin Changsheng examined his cultivation in seclusion and confirmed that he had formed a Pseudo-Nascent Soul.

Nearly thirty years after Qing Chen’s victory, Qiongzhou’s six recovered prefectures prospered under his rule while Lotus Prefecture remained the last holdout. Xu Jiuling surveyed the growing revenues and Lin Changsheng and other former allies wielded high office; the chapter ended with Hua Tieshou and Gu Jianchun sparring at the Provincial Governor’s Residence.

• Xu Jiuling reviewed Qiongzhou’s tax and resource reports as registrar and learned that the spirit stone quota sent to Heavenly Abyss Pass had risen again.
• The chapter recounted how Qing Chen’s Seven Orders and purges consolidated his control over six prefectures, whose annual revenues left a large surplus after taxes, military costs, and official stipends.
• Hua Tieshou trained on the drill grounds, displaying his late Golden Core cultivation and two opened Brahma apertures.
• Gu Jianchun sparred with Hua Tieshou, and the two exchanged attacks with their sword and spear while discussing the limits of their techniques.

Over thirty years, Qing Chen consolidated control of Qiongzhou and transformed it into a prosperous military stronghold, while his officials failed to curb his authority. With Qing Chen still in seclusion and poised to break through, Yan Ming and Qing Xuansu feared his growing power, and Yue Ting had left to seek a cure for his gravely wounded master, Xie Yu.

• Ye Wushang and Li Chenjiang guarded Yuxi Prefecture as Qiongzhou's army held the six prefectures against Wu Gui and Southern Yue.
• Jia Daoyi accused Chongxu of abandoning the retreat at Blackstone County Seat, and Chongxu was stripped of office, wounded in battle, and taken back to Penglai Spirit Island to recover.
• Yan Ming and Qing Xuansu discussed Qing Chen's impending breakthrough and their failure to weaken his control over Qiongzhou.
• Qing Chen's forces and Demon Lotus Sect expanded their influence as Qiongzhou grew prosperous under the Seven Orders of Qiongzhou.
• Yue Ting placed the unconscious Xie Yu in a coffin, resigned his official post, and left Qiongzhou to search for a way to save his master.

As Qing Chen’s power grew across Qiongzhou, Wu Gui’s allies confronted Southern Yue over their failing cooperation. Golden Toad Granny began considering abandoning Wu Gui and enticing Qing Chen to become a new partner.

• Ye Wushang, Li Chenjiang, and Xin Bairen took eleven Southern Yue strongholds in twenty years, strengthening Qing Chen’s reputation.
• Mad Shark True Lord accused White Snake True Lord of failing to restrain Qing Chen and protect Wu Gui’s forces, and White Snake blamed Southern Yue for their losses.
• Golden Toad Granny silenced Mad Shark and White Snake, then told Wu Gui that Qing Chen had become a major power and that the Miao Toad Clan had nearly exhausted its strength.
• Golden Toad Granny questioned Wu Gui’s promise to share Great Jin’s Southern Borderlands fortune and considered switching the Miao tribes’ support to Qing Chen.

The Tiger-Walking Demon General argued that Great Jin was beset by enemies on every front and urged Wu Gui’s forces to seize the advantage. White Snake True Lord and Mad Shark True Lord volunteered to attack Qiongzhou, but Wu Gui rejected their plans and announced he would send an envoy to negotiate peace with Xiao Canglan.

• The Tiger-Walking Demon General described Great Jin’s military crises across its borders and claimed Wu Gui’s side held the advantage.
• White Snake True Lord offered to lead two hundred thousand warriors against Qing Chen in Qiongzhou.
• Mad Shark True Lord volunteered to attack with a hundred and fifty thousand cultivators and avenge Purple Spider and Hundred Poisons.
• Wu Gui rejected both proposed attacks and said he intended to send an envoy to Heavenly Abyss Pass to negotiate peace with Xiao Canglan.
• The Tiger-Walking Demon General, White Snake True Lord, and Golden Toad Granny expressed shock or objections to Wu Gui’s decision.

Jinshi Dongfang Ming returned to Qiongzhou in a lavish procession, grateful to Qing Chen for the imperial examinations that had changed his life. As he approached Qiong Prefecture with a secret Inner Cabinet decree to proclaim, Su Zixuan prepared to monitor his arrival, but Vice-Governor Qing Xuansu and Inspector Yan Ming confronted her.

• Dongfang Ming returned to Qiongzhou with a grand escort after placing seventeenth in the second tier of the Myriad Immortals Palace Examination and receiving jinshi status.
• Dongfang Ming reflected on how Qing Chen's reopened imperial examinations had let him awaken his haoran literary heart and advance to the Hanlin Academy.
• Dongfang Ming worried that the Inner Cabinet's order to proclaim an imperial edict in Qiong Prefecture made his homecoming a test that could stir political turmoil.
• Su Zixuan learned that Dongfang Ming would reach Qiong Prefecture in three days and ordered Duan Tianya, Jueqing, and Han Shi to monitor his route and report suspicious activity to three True Lords.
• Qing Xuansu and Yan Ming arrived at the Political Affairs Hall, and Yan Ming angrily accused Su Zixuan of having incredible nerve.

Su Zixuan faced accusations of embezzlement and obstructing the spirit-note reform, then used Qing Chen’s Provincial Governor’s Command Token to defend her actions and repel her accusers. She remained in control of Qiongzhou’s affairs as she awaited Qing Chen’s emergence from seclusion.

• Yan Ming and Qing Xuansu accused Su Zixuan of misappropriating treasury resources and delaying the spirit-note reform, threatening to arrest her.
• Su Zixuan explained that the expenditures were authorized and had supported Qiongzhou’s defenses, border protections, and officials.
• Yan Ming presented records and testimony to accuse Su Zixuan’s faction of profiting from the exchange of old notes, while Qing Xuansu added charges of dereliction and disobedience.
• Su Zixuan revealed Qing Chen’s Provincial Governor’s Command Token and said he had authorized her to oversee finances and implement the reform in stages.
• Su Zixuan used the token’s power to dispel Yan Ming and Qing Xuansu’s Nascent Soul pressure, then dismissed them as she prepared to welcome Compiler Dongfang and await Qing Chen.

Qing Chen’s seclusion ended, and Gao Yuliang announced a province-wide assembly that restored order in Qiongzhou. Inside the pagoda, Qing Chen faced Pure Water Venerable’s final trial and broke through to the Immortal Realm middle stage peak by invoking three Devil Aspects.

• Gao Yuliang arrived with over five hundred Black Armor Guards and announced that Qing Chen had emerged from seclusion.
• Gao Yuliang ordered officials and generals from across Qiongzhou to attend a military review and deliberation in one month.
• In the pagoda’s sixth-layer trial, Pure Water Venerable overwhelmed Qing Chen with his Weak Water Wave-Subduing Spear.
• Qing Chen invoked three Devil Aspects to empower himself and broke through from the Immortal Realm early stage peak to the middle stage peak.