Chapter Summaries

Taiyuan Qing tried to settle the tribes’ anger with Soul Crystals, but Yun Zhongfei and the other four Chiefs of Fangs demanded half of Taiyuan City instead. Ling’er brought in eight other chiefs, yet the dispute erupted into a mass battle, and the Dharma Lotus Trading Company joined the fighting; Taiyuan Qing fled as Yuan Lang’s Soul Crystal Cannons opened fire.

• Taiyuan Qing offered one billion Soul Crystals to the five great tribes and proposed finding the person who had poisoned their people.
• Yun Zhongfei and the other four Chiefs of Fangs rejected the offer and demanded half ownership of Taiyuan City, forcing Taiyuan Qing to prepare to sign their Divine Soul Contract.
• Ling’er arrived with the Chiefs of Fangs of eight other tribes, and Taiyuan Qing offered them the Soul Crystals to fight Yun Zhongfei’s group.
• The thirteen chiefs and hundreds of thousands of tribespeople fought, while Taiyuan Qing and Ling’er watched from a flying Flower Boat.
• Yuan Lang sent Dharma Lotus Trading Company cultivators and Soul Crystal Cannons into the battle, and Taiyuan Qing fled east as the cannons fired at his boat.

Yuan Lang and Taiyuan Qing’s forces continued their battle while Ling'er returned to Ximu City and received Mu Bai’s letter asking to reunite with Hai Ling. Ling'er hid her identity and feelings, and Mu Bai remained unaware that she was nearby as he worried over her safety.

• Ling'er steered Taiyuan Qing’s Flower Boat toward Ximu City, where Peony Pavilion reinforcements forced Yuan Lang to retreat before the two trading giants resumed fighting.
• Taiyuan Qing sent Ling'er away and took personal command, while Ling'er returned to the Peony Pavilion and learned Mu Bai had left a letter for him.
• Ling'er read Mu Bai’s request to reunite with Hai Ling and wept, believing she could not face her Brother Xiao Bai or be a worthy companion to him.
• Mu Bai worried that Ling'er might be in danger at Taiyuan Qing’s hands, then welcomed Wang Feng and Caiwei, who brought him food and wine.
• Caiwei joined the Mu Lan Pavilion and concealed that she had delivered Mu Bai’s letter to Ling'er rather than Taiyuan Qing, while Mu Bai mistakenly believed it had reached the guild master.

Mu Bai learned that Elder Jiahui was Ling'er, the woman he had loved, and broke down when Caiwei explained why Ling'er would not meet him. After seeing Ling'er watch him leave from the Peony Pavilion, Mu Bai wandered toward the city gate, while Caiwei tried to keep him from giving up.

• Mu Bai refused Caiwei’s advances but later let her wash his feet as he questioned her about the Peony Pavilion’s Elder.
• Caiwei painted Elder Jiahui’s portrait, and Mu Bai recognized Ling'er and shattered the room in grief.
• Caiwei told Mu Bai that Ling'er had a new life and painful reasons for not seeing him, and urged him not to make her situation harder.
• Mu Bai stood outside the Peony Pavilion in the rain, and Ling'er watched him from an upstairs window before collapsing in tears after he left.
• Caiwei followed Mu Bai through the rain as he wandered toward the city gate, then clung to him and urged him to defeat Taiyuan Qing and the Dharma Lotus Trading Company if he wanted Ling'er back.

Ling'er nearly took her life after seeing Mu Bai again, but Madam Seven Emotions persuaded her to keep living and leave Ximu City with Peony Pavilion. Mu Bai watched her caravan depart, then returned to Caiwei and Wang Feng as they managed Mu Lan Pavilion and prepared to continue the work in the Shuhuan Mountain Range.

• After Caiwei fainted in the street, Mu Bai carried her away while Ling'er returned to Peony Pavilion and prepared to kill herself.
• Madam Seven Emotions appeared and told Ling'er about her past-life ties to Mu Bai, persuading her to live and promising to help him if he married Wan'er.
• Two days later, Ling'er left Ximu City with Peony Pavilion's caravan, and Mu Bai watched it disappear before vowing to visit her after avenging his tribe.
• Caiwei greeted Mu Bai at Mu Lan Pavilion's main store, where he learned she was still feverish and had taken charge of the store.
• Wang Feng brought herbs for Caiwei, and Mu Bai left them to manage the city's shops and went to the Shuhuan Mountain Range excavation site.

Mu Bai continued the Shuhuan Mountain Range excavation while training with lightning, but a rain-triggered landslide killed more than twenty cultivators and reignited conflict between the Zhimu and Xishui tribes. He stopped the melee by reminding both sides of their people’s hopes, and the cultivators put down their weapons to comfort their loved ones.

• Mu Bai oversaw the steadily advancing excavation as the tribes’ cultivators and local people worked through the rainy season.
• Mu Bai trained on the mountain summit by enduring lightning, strengthening his body and nourishing his Thunder Seed.
• A landslide at the worksite killed more than twenty Zhimu cultivators, and the tribes’ elders blamed each other for the deaths.
• Zhi Cun attacked the Xishui elder, Xi Hong intervened, and the two Chiefs of Fangs fought as their tribesmen resumed their melee.
• Mu Bai addressed the cultivators and pointed out their grieving families watching in the rain.
• The cultivators of both tribes dropped their weapons and embraced their loved ones, leaving Mu Bai moved by their affection.

Mu Bai and the two tribes completed their alliance and advanced the Shuhuan Mountain excavation, drawing wealth and attention to Ximu City. When the Shuhuan Northern Sect tried to seize the city, Mu Bai struck first, and Ye Wan revealed her overwhelming power as she confronted the sect’s Hall Master Yan Yan.

• After the tribes mourned their dead and built the Ximu monument, Mu Bai and both tribes resumed cutting through the Shuhuan Mountain Range and rejected other powers’ bids to join.
• The Lianhuan Great Tribe agreed to excavate from the opposite side, and the project’s progress drew merchants, outsiders, and predatory sects to Ximu City.
• Five members of the Shuhuan Northern Sect’s War Hall arrived, and their spokesman demanded that Mu Bai and the tribes abandon the mountain range and Ximu City in exchange for two million Soul Crystals.
• Mu Bai pretended to accept the demand, then killed the spokesman as the five sect members turned to leave.
• Yan Yan attacked Mu Bai, who called on Ye Wan; she killed three Xiu Zun with one sword stroke and cut Yan Yan’s Fire Qilin.
• Yan Yan fled, but Ye Wan reversed time to expose his escape and dragged him back to face her.

Mu Bai subdued Yan Yan and made him lead a new force for the Mu Lan Pavilion, then returned to Ximu City as its swelling population strained its resources. When migrants rioted and surrounded the City Lord’s Manor, Chen Qi confronted them and urged them to offer suggestions instead of resorting to violence.

• Ye Wan trapped Yan Yan with moonlight while Mu Bai branded him with a Divine Seal and ordered him to raise an army of three hundred thousand cultivators for the Mu Lan Pavilion’s War Hall.
• Ye Wan gave Yan Yan a strand of Madam Seven Emotions’ divided soul to protect the Divine Seal, and she placed a gray strand around Mu Bai’s wrist.
• Mu Bai left Ye Wan to guard the mountain-excavation site and returned to Ximu City, where population growth had overwhelmed housing, services, and administration.
• Chen Qi arrived in Ximu City and took charge of managing relations and advancing the city’s expansion as migrants and locals struggled with shortages and unequal benefits.
• Led by Qian Feng, more than ten thousand migrants rioted and surrounded the City Lord’s Manor, but Chen Qi and the city’s leaders faced them with cultivators, including two Xiu Zun managing Elders.
• Chen Qi addressed the crowd, asked them to give Ximu City time to develop, and invited them to share suggestions for the city’s future.

Chen Qi defused a citywide dispute by proposing that outsiders build Ximu New City and earn dividends and future seats in city governance. The two great tribes accepted her plan, construction began, and Mu Bai and Chen Qi ended the chapter discussing their family and little Mu Fei.

• Chen Qi invited the angry cultivators and citizens to propose demands, and Qian Feng asked for equal dividends, administrative seats, and free housing.
• Chen Qi agreed to the demands on Mu Lan Pavilion’s behalf, and Mu Bai arrived to support her publicly.
• Chen Qi proposed that the outsiders build Ximu New City, receive ten percent of its tax revenue as dividends, and gain six seats on a citywide council once the new city reached the old city’s scale.
• The Xishui Great Tribe and Zhimu Great Tribe accepted Chen Qi’s proposals, and outsiders and original residents welcomed the plan as construction began.
• Mu Bai praised Chen Qi in private, and they discussed their wives, little Mu Fei, and how well he was being cared for.

Mu Bai arrived as the Shuhuan Northern Sect joined forces with the Dharma Lotus Sect and Taiyuan Sect to attack Mu Lan Pavilion, but Yan Yan turned against the Dharma Lotus Sect and destroyed its fleet. Ximu City celebrated Mu Lan Pavilion’s victory, and the Dharma Lotus Sect was later wiped out.

• Yan Yan arrived at the excavation site with three hundred thousand cultivators, accompanied by the Dharma Lotus Sect and Taiyuan Sect fleets, and ordered their Soul Crystal Cannons to target Mu Lan Pavilion.
• Ye Wan and the two tribes’ Chiefs of Fangs prepared to resist, and Mu Bai broke through the Soul Boat formation to join them.
• Yan Yan ordered Taiyuan Qing to withdraw and killed Yuan Lang, then turned the Shuhuan Northern Sect’s cannons on the Dharma Lotus Sect fleet.
• Yan Yan and his forces destroyed the Dharma Lotus Sect warships, while Taiyuan Qing and the Taiyuan Sect fled.
• Yan Yan paid respects to Mu Bai, and Ximu City celebrated as the Shuhuan Northern Sect’s army became its defenders.
• The Shuhuan Northern Sect later defeated the Dharma Lotus Sect’s reinforcements, and Ye Wan fought its Grand Elders as the sect was annihilated.

After the Mu Lan Pavilion’s victories over the Shuhuan Northern Sect, Mu Bai sought to reunite Chen Qi and Ye Wan and resolve their relationship. Mu Lan arranged a lavish wedding procession to bring both women to the pavilion, and Chen Qi learned that Mu Bai was waiting there for them.

• Ye Wan used Madam Seven Emotions' Divine Sense Hair to defeat the Shuhuan Northern Sect’s Yuan Zun patriarch and other senior cultivators, helping Yan Yan’s army destroy the sect.
• The Mu Lan Pavilion moved its headquarters to the Shuhuan Northern Sect’s former grounds and expanded its influence across the northern Eastern Ridge.
• Mu Bai asked Mu Lan how to bring Chen Qi and Ye Wan together, and she proposed sending separate dragon carriages to invite them both.
• Mu Lan and Zeng Yuan arranged a grand wedding display, with red silk paths stretching from the pavilion toward Chen Qi in Ximu City and Ye Wan at the mountain excavation site.
• Mu Lan arrived in Ximu City and told Chen Qi that Mu Bai was waiting for her and Ye Wan at the pavilion, while Chen Qi wondered why he had not come himself.

Mu Lan coaxed Chen Qi into returning to the Mu Lan Pavilion while Mu Bai exposed a War Hall rebellion and fought its leader. Ye Wan killed the enemy’s avatar and saved Yan Yan by reversing time, but the effort weakened her and left Mu Bai carrying her to rest.

• Mu Lan persuaded Chen Qi to enter her jade carriage and return to the pavilion, while Mu Bai ordered Yan Yan to let the War Hall rebels make their move.
• Elder Sun led a hundred thousand War Hall disciples in an attack on Mu Bai, but Yan Yan refused to join the rebellion and his direct-lineage troops confronted the rebels.
• Ye Wan received word of the uprising, arrived through the void, and killed Elder Sun’s avatar before the rebels could defeat Mu Bai.
• Yan Yan and his troops begged Mu Bai to spare the rebels, and the rebels eventually knelt; Yan Yan then tried to kill himself to save them.
• Ye Wan reversed time to stop Yan Yan’s death, suffering backlash that lowered her cultivation, and Mu Bai carried her away to rest.

After Ye Wan suffered a backlash from reversing time, Mu Bai and Mu Lan secured the War Hall’s loyalty and rebuilt Mu Lan Pavilion. As the Human-Beast War spread toward the Eastern Ridge, Mu Bai returned to the Spirit Taming Sect in response to an urgent summons and found the Elder Hall’s members in grim silence.

• Mu Lan and Chen Qi found Ye Wan gravely weakened while Mu Bai stayed by her side, and Chen Qi offered to care for her.
• Yan Yan swore loyalty to Mu Bai and Mu Lan Pavilion, prompting all three hundred thousand War Hall members to follow suit.
• Mu Lan Pavilion recruited cultivators, established its headquarters at the Shuhuan Northern Sect’s grounds, and resumed major construction projects near Ximu City.
• Mu Bai received an urgent summons from the Spirit Taming Sect and departed with Mu Lan, Ye Wan, and Chen Qi before returning alone.
• As the Human-Beast War spread into the Eastern Ridge, Mu Bai reached the Spirit Taming Sect and went directly to the Elder Hall, where the council members greeted him in silence with grim expressions.

Mu Bai proposed how the Spirit Taming Sect should assign its three Sect Heirs during the beast tide campaign, while secretly setting Zhou Dechen up to fail. After the plan was approved, Mu Bai learned the sect was hiding the reason everyone treated him differently and prepared to leave for the front lines.

• Mu Bai noticed the Elders acting wary around him and resolved to deal with Zhou Dechen, who had repeatedly provoked him.
• Zhou Qichang convened the Elders and Sect Heirs to discuss sending fifty thousand cultivators against the beast tide in the Southern Region.
• Mu Bai recommended Zhou Detai to command the army, Zhou Deqi to oversee supplies, and Zhou Dechen to manage the Treasury Hall; Zhou Qichang approved the plan without objections.
• Mu Bai returned to Hundred Flowers Peak, ordered Zuo Lin to prepare for the front, and privately told Zhou Dekai that he intended to kill Zhou Dechen through praise.
• Zhou Dekai revealed that the Grand Elder had forbidden anyone from mentioning the red-haired woman who had come demanding Mu Bai, and Mu Bai warned him to guard the military supplies from Zhou Dechen.

Mu Bai returned to the Qing Mao Residence and found First Madam dying; despite restoring her briefly, he could not prevent her death. After making her a Crystal Coffin, he fought Zhou Dechen on his way back, then attended First Madam’s funeral and resolved to seek immortality for everyone.

• Mu Bai visited the Qing Mao Residence, where First Madam was near death, and used his vitality to revive her briefly.
• First Madam spoke with Mu Bai and the other women before she died, while Qing Ping and Qing Dai sobbed.
• Mu Bai traveled to Fuhu Mountain, made a Crystal Coffin, and carried it back through the Spirit Taming Sect.
• Zhou Dechen blocked Mu Bai and attacked him, and Mu Bai fought back until Xiong Ji intervened and Zhou Wu rebuked Zhou Dechen.
• The women of the Qing Mao Residence held First Madam’s funeral, and Mu Bai vowed to find the Great Way of Immortality for everyone.

Mu Bai left the advancing army to enter the corrupted tunnel at Zhu Bei Peak, where he began tempering his body against turbid qi, demon souls, and scorching heat while collecting fire-attribute crystal stones. Nearly a month later, he had made progress toward the Heavenly Son Nine-Demon Art as the sect armies reached Jialan City to defend the Southern Marsh Territory’s second barrier wall.

• Mu Bai left Zhou Deqi’s Soul Boat and traveled alone to Zhu Bei Peak, where he used Chang Feng’s Jade Talisman to withstand the turbid qi and descended into the tunnel.
• Mu Bai found demon souls and Demon Thread Worms in the tunnel, then opened the God-Devouring Insects’ bottle and watched the insects consume turbid qi and grow.
• Mu Bai cut several hundred fire-attribute crystal stones from the vein, then endured ten days of turbid qi corrosion and demon-soul bites to temper his body.
• Mu Bai withdrew the Nethercold Pearl and spent nearly half a month adapting to the tunnel’s scorching heat, while demonic qi began to swirl around him when transformed.
• The northern Eastern Ridge cultivator armies reached Jialan City, where they prepared to defend the second barrier wall against the unprecedented beast tide.

As the Jialan Defense Line endured repeated beast tides, Mu Bai directed Mu Lan to prepare Mu Lan Pavilion to supply the war. By buying materials with its ample soul crystals and expanding its production and forces, Mu Lan Pavilion became Eastern Ridge’s leading trading power, while Ling’er watched its rise from the weakened Taiyuan Merchant Guild.

• Yuan Zun Rao Xing organized the armies across the Jialan Defense Line, and northern Eastern Ridge’s forces under Elder Dao Zun Lu Ling fought successive beast tides in the western theater.
• Zuo Lin sent Mu Bai reports from the front, and Mu Bai instructed Mu Lan to gather soul crystals and prepare to buy beast cores and materials for production.
• Mu Lan Pavilion bought the returning supplies from Zhou Deqi and other sects, while rival trading powers struggled to obtain materials because they lacked soul crystals.
• Mu Lan and Zeng Yuan recruited thousands of artificers and expanded Mu Lan Pavilion’s production and supply network as the war continued.
• Chen Qi established branches across northern Eastern Ridge, and Mu Lan Pavilion recruited Xiu Zun experts and grew into a commercial and military power on par with major sects.
• Ling’er returned to Taiyuan City and, despite the Taiyuan Merchant Guild’s decline and her own poor treatment, remained there while wishing Mu Lan Pavilion greater success.

After forming a Five Elements Inner Core, Mu Bai left Zhu Bei Peak and joined Ling Jinyu’s reinforcements bound for the collapsing Jialan Frontline. At Jiayu Fortress, he reunited with Zhou Detai and rewarded Zuo Lin before joining the defenders as the beast tide surged over the dike wall.

• Mu Bai formed a Five Elements Inner Core that entered his Divine Palace, where it joined his Mind-Spirit Miniature and Soul Miniature.
• Mu Bai left the God-Devouring Insects behind and traveled south, then boarded Ling Jinyu’s Soul Boat as she carried reinforcements toward the front.
• Mu Bai and Ling Jinyu saw Southern Marsh refugees fleeing north and reached the damaged Jialan Dike Wall, where True Person Chihuo ordered reinforcements to Jiayu Fortress.
• Mu Bai reunited with Zhou Detai and Xiong Youde, and Zuo Lin reported his battlefield service; Mu Bai gave him a Bone-Shattering Rebirth Pill to restore his arm and advance his cultivation.
• Dao Zun Lu Ling and the arriving armies reached Jiayu Fortress, where Mu Bai’s allies joined the battle against the overwhelming beast tide.

Mu Bai and Zhou Detai helped repel the beast tide at Jiayu Fort, where Mu Bai saved Ling Jinyu and gave her a subdued Pearl-Starred Finch. After the battle, Mu Bai and Ling Jinyu ventured beyond the battlefield and discovered a woman in red dancing before an altar piled with cultivators’ heads, apparently performing a ritual.

• Mu Bai charged into the beast tide, killed Fierce Beasts, and joined Zhou Detai to slay six giant fourth-tier vultures.
• Mu Bai rescued Ling Jinyu from a Pearl-Starred Finch, subdued the bird, and gave it to her.
• Reinforcements led by Dao Zun Lu Ling helped Jiayu Fort hold the embankment wall, though the defenders suffered devastating losses.
• Mu Bai and Ling Jinyu shared wine and agreed to investigate what drove the beasts to fight without fear of death.
• After flying south for nearly two hours, Mu Bai and Ling Jinyu found a red-clad woman dancing with a sword before an altar of cultivators’ heads; she turned and stared directly at Mu Bai.

Mu Bai and Ling Jinyu were trapped by powerful Beast Race enemies until Madam Seven Emotions appeared and drove off the Red-Clothed Woman, then warned Mu Bai to preserve himself rather than kill beasts. As Mu Bai and Ling Jinyu flew back toward Jialan City, an Earth-Eating Lizard ambushed them, and they fled with the wounded Mu Bai as it pursued.

• Mu Bai and Ling Jinyu tried to escape the Red-Clothed Woman and a half-demon Black Flood Dragon, but both were trapped by Spatial Binding until Dao Zun Lu Ling attacked the dragon.
• The Red-Clothed Woman cornered Mu Bai and Ling Jinyu, but Madam Seven Emotions appeared from the strand of hair on Mu Bai's wrist and forced the demon to leave.
• Madam Seven Emotions asked Mu Bai to take Ye Wan back to Moon Sea, but Mu Bai said he could not abandon the human war; she granted him time and cautioned him against killing beasts.
• After Madam Seven Emotions vanished, Mu Bai and Ling Jinyu flew toward Jialan City, and Ling Jinyu helped him despite her growing feelings for him.
• An Earth-Eating Lizard ambushed Mu Bai and Ling Jinyu, and Mu Bai took a heavy blow while shielding her; Ling Jinyu and the Pearl-Starred Finch wounded the creature, but it chased them as they fled.

Ling Jinyu and Mu Bai survived an Earth-Eating Lizard, but after returning to Jiayu Fort the Mysterious Maiden Sect elders separated them and left the unconscious Mu Bai outside. Once Mu Bai recovered, True Person Chihuo questioned him and Ling Jinyu about the altar and Hong Luo, then abruptly left in anger; the western ramparts subsequently faced nearly half a month without beast attacks.

• Ling Jinyu and the Pearl-Starred Finch wounded the Earth-Eating Lizard, and Mu Bai’s azure light destroyed it after the creature trapped them in sand.
• Mu Bai used his healing power on Ling Jinyu while she was unconscious, and she woke at dawn to find her chest wound healed.
• Ling Jinyu brought Mu Bai to Jiayu Fort, but Granny Jigu refused to treat him and ordered cultivators to leave him on a hillside.
• Mu Bai woke among the vultures, returned to his tent, and later recovered enough to answer Dao Zun Lu Ling’s summons.
• True Person Chihuo recognized Hong Luo in Mu Bai’s image of the altar, questioned the pair about their journey, then stormed out before Lu Ling dismissed them.
• The western Jialan ramparts went nearly half a month without a beast tide, giving the stationed cultivators time to rest.