Chapter Summaries

The Beast Tide repeatedly attacked the Lingze Defense Line, while its defenders endured heavy fighting and dwindling supplies. At the Spirit Taming Sect, Zhou Dechen ordered the inner treasury opened to supply the front, despite Nangong Yan’s warning that its contents were strictly controlled.

• As cultivators searched Beast Tide corpses for cores, wounded beasts detonated their Beast Cores and killed many of them; Dao Zun Chang Feng suspected the Beast Race had grown more intelligent.
• Mu Bai recalled the Red-Clothed Woman’s altar ritual and suspected outside Immortal Cultivators were stirring conflict between the Human Race and the Beast Race.
• The Beast Race sent logs down the river and attacked the Lingze Defense Line, but repaired arrays and the cultivators held the wall until the Beast Tide withdrew.
• Over the next ten-odd days, repeated attacks depleted the defenders’ supplies, while Zhou Deqi and Zhou Dekai transported Soul Crystals, Soul Soldiers, and medicinal pills to the front.
• Zhou Dechen told Nangong Yan that the Spirit Taming Sect’s Treasury Hall was empty and ordered her to open the inner treasury despite her warning that the Elders’ council had to approve its use.
• Zhou Dechen and Nangong Yan opened the inner treasury and found vast stocks of High-Grade Soul Crystals, supreme-grade medicinal pills, and Top-Tier Soul Soldiers.

Zhou Dechen coveted a soul treasure in the Inner Treasury Hall and secretly took treasury supplies, falling into the trap Mu Bai had planned. Zhou Deqi and Zhou Detai’s forces rushed back to the Spirit Taming Sect to arrest him, while Nangong Yan was captured after Zhou Dechen blamed and threatened her.

• Zhou Dechen decided to take the short-sword soul treasure, hoping it would help him secure the Heir to the Sect position and defeat his rivals.
• Mu Bai recognized from Zhou Deqi’s changed deliveries that Zhou Dechen had opened the Inner Treasury Hall without authorization and told Zhou Deqi the time had come to act.
• Zhou Deqi and Xiong Ji led Enforcement Hall disciples back to the Spirit Taming Sect, while Zhou Detai sent a War Hall elder and ten thousand cultivators to seize the opportunity against Zhou Dechen.
• Zhou Dechen demanded that Nangong Yan replace the stolen supplies, but she said she could not cover the loss and left after he angrily refused to consider her safety.
• Enforcement Hall disciples intercepted Nangong Yan and shackled her as Zhou Dechen raged inside his manor.

Zhou Deqi and the Enforcement Hall exposed Zhou Dechen’s theft of sect supplies and the Spirit Command Sword, while Xiong Ji arrested him and brought the matter before the Elder Council. The chapter ended with Zhou Dechen and Nangong Yan kneeling in the Elder Hall as Zhou Qichang and the elders prepared to deliberate.

• Zhou Dechen’s followers resisted the Enforcement Hall until Xiong Youde arrived with ten thousand War Hall soldiers, and they surrendered.
• Xiong Ji executed Zhou Dechen’s followers, arrested Zhou Dechen, and ordered a search of his manor, where the Enforcement Hall found stolen treasures and killed the manor’s servants.
• Zhou Deqi, Xiong Ji, and Xiong Youde inspected the Treasury Hall and found missing supplies and fifteen Top-Tier Soul Soldiers matching those in Zhou Dechen’s manor.
• Zhou Deqi found the Spirit Command Sword in Zhou Dechen’s Soul Bag and handed it to Xiong Ji for safekeeping as evidence.
• Zhou Detai hurried back to the sect with another ten thousand War Hall soldiers, while Xiong Ji summoned Zhou Qichang and the elders to deliberate over Zhou Dechen’s crimes.
• Zhou Qichang and twenty-seven elders assembled in the Elder Hall, where Zhou Dechen and Nangong Yan knelt in cangues.

Zhou Dechen and Nangong Yan were executed after Zhou Qichang accepted the Sect Heirs’ accusations, and Mu Bai reunited with Mu Lan Pavilion members before learning of Chen Shichong’s situation. He rushed to the Sword Sect in the Northern Plains, where a powerful cultivator confronted him at the gate.

• Zhou Detai and Zhou Deqi urged Zhou Qichang to sentence Zhou Dechen and Nangong Yan to death, and Zhou Qichang ordered their execution.
• Mu Bai visited the Blue Flower Pavilion, where Mu Lan and the others celebrated Zhou Dechen’s death and shared news of the Mu Lan Pavilion’s growth.
• Xi Bazì reported on the Pavilion’s Northern Plains operations and Chen Shichong’s situation, prompting Mu Bai to race toward the Northern Plains.
• Mu Bai reached the Sword Sect and scattered the guards who tried to stop him.
• A Sword Sect Xiu Zun confronted Mu Bai and swung a steel whip at his head.

Mu Bai rushed to the Sword Sect and found Chen Shichong grieving because his father, Chen Jianli, had given up his cultivation for him. Mu Bai helped Chen Shichong recover his resolve, and after Mu Bai departed, Chen Shichong used a Blood Pill made from his father’s power to break through to mid Xiu Zun.

• Mu Bai reached Third Peak despite the Sword Sect Xiu Zun’s pursuit and reunited with Chen Shichong.
• Chen Jianli appeared frail, and Chen Shichong broke down, regretting that his father had passed his cultivation to him.
• Mu Bai comforted Chen Shichong and urged him to honor his father by growing stronger and facing the future.
• Chen Shichong regained his fighting spirit and promised to stay with Chen Jianli before joining Mu Bai after the Beast Tide receded.
• After Mu Bai left, Chen Shichong swallowed the Blood Pill Chen Jianli had made from his own physical power and advanced to mid Xiu Zun.

Mu Bai learned that Zhou Dekai had been imprisoned after bandits and fierce beasts ambushed his military-supply convoy, and he rushed to investigate before the Elder Council judged him. At the attack site, Mu Bai found wounds linking the massacre to Zhou Detai’s faction and identified Zuo Lin as one of its hidden agents.

• Mu Bai received word that Zhou Dekai’s convoy had been ambushed by nearly ten thousand humans and beasts, leaving him imprisoned for losing military supplies.
• Mu Bai returned to the Spirit Taming Sect, learned the elders had not yet gathered, and hurried to the Eastern Ridge attack site to search for evidence.
• Mu Bai found only the mangled remains of Enforcement Hall disciples and suspected the attack had been staged to implicate Zhou Dekai and Zhou Deqi.
• Mu Bai recognized wounds inflicted by the True Method of Controlling Thunder and concluded that a third-level peak Body Cultivator had taken part in the massacre.
• Mu Bai identified a penetrating wound consistent with Zuo Lin’s Cloud-Heaven Battle Halberd and realized that Zuo Lin had secretly served Zhou Detai.

Mu Bai tried to secure Zhou Dekai’s survival by asking Zhou Deqi to share the blame, then seized Zhou Detai’s camp officers to investigate the stolen supplies. He began a brutal interrogation on a hill outside the Spirit Taming Sect, executing anyone who denied involvement.

• Mu Bai asked Zhou Deqi to share Zhou Dekai’s guilt, but Zhou Deqi refused.
• Mu Bai recruited eight Xiu Zun from Mu Lan Pavilion and led them to Zhou Detai’s garrison camp.
• Mu Bai overpowered the camp’s leaders, bound Mai Cheng, Zuo Lin, and the other Mighty Realm cultivators, and took them away.
• On a hill near the Spirit Taming Sect, Mu Bai demanded that the captives confess to robbing Zhou Dekai’s supply convoy.
• Mu Bai silenced Mai Cheng and ordered the execution of two cultivators who denied taking part in the robbery.

Mu Bai exposed Zuo Lin as Zhou Detai’s agent, learned the Crane Feather Tribe had been coerced, and spared Zuo Lin before confronting Zhou Detai. He accused Zhou Detai of orchestrating the supply robbery and revealed that Cloud House Mountain was under his control.

• Mu Bai forced Zuo Lin to reveal that the stolen supplies were hidden at Cloud House Mountain, then killed him in front of the others before secretly saving his life with a medicinal pill.
• Zuo Lin admitted Zhou Detai had coerced him by holding the Crane Feather Tribe hostage and confessed his hatred of Mu Bai for the tribe’s losses, but refused to kill his former master.
• Mu Bai gave Zuo Lin his Soul Crystals and medicinal pills and told him to take the tribe away, then flew to the Spirit Taming Sect to negotiate with Zhou Detai.
• Mu Bai confronted Zhou Detai, produced the corpse of a disciple whose wound bore the mark of the sect’s secret technique, and persuaded him to speak privately.
• Mu Bai accused Zhou Detai of using Zhou Dekai and Zuo Lin in a scheme involving the stolen supplies and declared that he had taken control of Cloud House Mountain.

Mu Bai confronted Zhou Detai over his plot against Zhou Dekai, then saved Zhou Dekai from execution at the elders’ meeting by offering a billion soul crystals. After helping deliver supplies to the Lingze Defense Line, Mu Bai returned to find the war stalled and tensions among humans resurfacing.

• Mu Bai forced Zhou Detai to promise not to target Zuo Lin and to pay five hundred million soul crystals within five days, in exchange for Mu Bai keeping Zhou Dekai alive.
• At the elders’ meeting, Zhou Dekai admitted responsibility for the lost military supplies, while Zhou Deqi argued that he deserved death and Zhou Detai offered to recover the supplies.
• Mu Bai offered one billion soul crystals to repay the losses, compensate the Enforcement Hall disciples’ families, and support the war, and Zhou Qichang pardoned Zhou Dekai.
• Mu Bai combined five hundred million soul crystals from the Mu Lan Pavilion with Zhou Detai’s payment and escorted the supplies with Zhou Deqi to the Lingze Defense Line.
• Zhou Dekai left the Spirit Taming Sect and wandered freely, while the fighting at the Lingze Defense Line reached a stalemate and human conflicts began to reappear.

As tensions among the Jialan Sect, Kunling Sect, and Primordial Soul Sect weakened Mu Bai’s authority, Du Xiang accused him of collaborating with the Beast Race. Dao Zun Lu Ling ordered Mu Bai taken into custody while the allegations were investigated, and Du Xiang secretly resolved to kill him in prison.

• The Discipline Enforcement Army disbanded after its members’ sects recalled them, leaving Mu Bai without the authority of his Discipline token.
• Du Xiang accused Mu Bai of colluding with the Beast Race, and Bai An pressured the Primordial Soul Sect to investigate him.
• Du Xiang presented evidence of Mu Bai entering Beast Race territory, while Ling Jinyu and other supporters defended Mu Bai’s record of service.
• Dao Zun Lu Ling ordered Mu Bai taken into custody until the truth could be established.
• Du Xiang watched Mu Bai being escorted away and vowed not to let him leave the cell alive.

Mu Bai was imprisoned after Du Xiang falsely accused him, but Ling Jinyu arranged for him to be treated leniently, giving him time to cultivate and reach the third-level peak in soul power. Xing Yun came to visit him, learned from Ling Jinyu why Du Xiang had framed him, and the two women went to seek Dao Zun Lu Ling as Du Xiang prepared to kill Mu Bai in prison.

• Ling Jinyu secretly paid the prison elder to keep the jailers from torturing Mu Bai.
• Mu Bai merged his consciousness with the Silver-Backed Ape soul mark and reached the third-level peak in soul power.
• Xing Yun tried to enter the prison, but the head jailer blocked her until she shot his hat to a rafter.
• Ling Jinyu brought Xing Yun to her tent, where Xing Yun explained that Du Xiang's Eastern Nether Great Tribe had destroyed the Haibei Tribe and framed Mu Bai to eliminate him.
• Ling Jinyu and Xing Yun went to see Dao Zun Lu Ling, while Du Xiang decided to kill Mu Bai in prison.

Du Xiang attempted to kill Mu Bai in prison, but Mu Bai broke free and nearly beat him to death before Lu Ling intervened. After Lu Ling stopped him and urged him to grow stronger, Mu Bai flew south toward the Beast Territory to temper himself.

• Du Xiang bribed Long Jingde to leave the prison understaffed, then broke into Mu Bai’s cell and attacked him.
• Mu Bai shattered the Dao Zun’s cangue, struck Du Xiang down, and beat him while demanding vengeance for his tribe.
• Lu Ling restrained Mu Bai and ordered Long Jingde to take Du Xiang away, then let Mu Bai strike her once to repay his unjust imprisonment.
• Xing Yun embraced Mu Bai and urged him to regain his composure, while Ling Jinyu held her back from following him.
• Mu Bai resolved to grow stronger, left the prison, and flew south toward the Beast Territory.

Mu Bai crossed the devastated battlefield at the Jialan Defense Line and found evidence that the Beast Race had harvested human cultivators’ Divine Palaces and essence. He entered the Beast Territory and discovered peaceful herb fields worked by mutilated, nameless humans under General Yinba’s rule.

• Mu Bai hid underground from a Beast Tide, then continued south toward the Jialan Embankment Wall.
• Mu Bai found tunnels beneath the wall and chose not to warn Lingze’s defenders, then emerged onto a battlefield covered in rotting human and beast corpses.
• Mu Bai discovered that beast cores had been removed and that human cultivators’ Divine Palaces, minds, souls, and physical essence had been taken.
• Mu Bai traveled farther south and found orderly herb fields where an old farmer could not hear or speak and had no ears.
• A mortal overseer carrying a whip challenged Mu Bai and identified himself as Number 258, saying the fields belonged to General Yinba.

Mu Bai discovered that humans in the Southern Marsh Beast Territory were kept in pens and slaughtered as livestock, and he tried to free them. His attempt drew the attention of General Yinba’s cultivators, including a powerful Xiu Zun, and Mu Bai attacked rather than escape.

• Mu Bai left the Herb Fields and found a walled town protected by Fierce Beasts and a powerful formation.
• He entered the town underground and discovered humans penned like livestock, fed medicinal dregs and killed for the blood and meat used to feed young beasts.
• Mu Bai knocked out the servants and opened a pen, but the people cried out and rushed back inside instead of fleeing.
• Servants and cultivators surrounded Mu Bai, and he denounced their treatment of fellow humans.
• A powerful Xiu Zun arrived with five cultivators; Mu Bai activated his golden-armored transformation and attacked the old man with a punch as the Xiu Zun met him with a curved saber.

Mu Bai escaped the city with Zhou Qilong’s help, and together they killed the giant gray eagle pursuing them. Zhou Qilong revealed that he was a Spirit Taming Sect cultivator who had been enslaved in the Beast Territory for more than two hundred years, and he warned Mu Bai about its dangers.

• Mu Bai and Zhou Qilong fought their way toward the city gate while Fierce Beasts watched.
• Mu Bai wounded Zhou Qilong with a mental attack and escaped through the gate, with Zhou Qilong and a giant gray eagle pursuing him.
• Mu Bai and Zhou Qilong coordinated their attacks and killed the giant gray eagle.
• Zhou Qilong recognized the Spirit Taming Sect’s inherited techniques and tearfully learned that Mu Bai was from Eastern Ridge.
• Zhou Qilong told Mu Bai he had been captured and enslaved by the Beast Race for more than two hundred years, and explained that Yinba could kill him through a Jade Slip containing a wisp of his soul.
• Zhou Qilong warned Mu Bai that the Beast Territory was dangerous and that the beasts’ innate abilities made escape difficult.

Zhou Qilong gave Mu Bai a map of the Beast Territory and explained where humans could find refuge and how they survived there. Before Mu Bai left, Zhou Qilong asked him to taste his homemade noodles, and Mu Bai shared in the old man's homesickness.

• Zhou Qilong extracted the Gray Eagle's Beast Core for Mu Bai and explained how Beast Cores and medicinal pills were traded in the Beast Territory.
• Zhou Qilong told Mu Bai about human tribal cities and suspected the war between humans and beasts was a game for powerful figures.
• Zhou Qilong gave Mu Bai a map of the Beast Territory and described its major cities, rulers, and the status of human cultivators and Alchemists.
• Mu Bai thought of Wu Meng and his wives, then felt warmed by Zhou Qilong's concern and reminders to stay cautious.
• Zhou Qilong cooked his secret buckwheat noodles and asked Mu Bai to taste them; Mu Bai took a bite despite the bitterness.

Mu Bai shared a meal with Zhou Qilong, gave him precious supplies, and set out deeper into the Beast Territory. He reached Ten Thousand Beast Valley, where its depleted defenses and abundant resources made it a promising place to explore.

• Zhou Qilong served Mu Bai buckwheat noodles, and Mu Bai suggested making sesame-and-chili sauce to improve them.
• Zhou Qilong warned Mu Bai to return to the Eastern Ridge if he could, while Mu Bai acknowledged that Zhou could no longer go home.
• Mu Bai gave Zhou Qilong heavy water and medicinal pills before bidding him farewell and continuing through the Beast Territory.
• Using Zhou Qilong's map to avoid dangerous estates and cities, Mu Bai chose Ten Thousand Beast Valley as his first destination.
• After traveling for more than a dozen days, Mu Bai arrived at Ten Thousand Beast Valley and surveyed its mountains, rivers, waterfalls, and dense forests.

Mu Bai reflected on visions of past lives and a mysterious woman in white, then trained in Ten Thousand Beast Valley to strengthen his Soul Power and body. After searching the valley’s outskirts, he suspected that Ascending Dragon Grass and a place rich in Dragon God lay deeper within.

• Mu Bai recalled seeing a woman in white across countless lifetimes and wondered whether she was connected to his Pear Blossom Mark and past-life memories.
• Mu Bai left his cave to search Ten Thousand Beast Valley for Ascending Dragon Grass and herbs that could increase his Soul Power.
• Mu Bai refined more than thirty Soul Power medicinal pills and spent over a month combining them with Beast Core liquid to strengthen his body.
• Mu Bai found that his Soul Power had increased but was still insufficient to inscribe a fourth Soul Mark.
• Mu Bai searched the valley’s outskirts for ten more days, found additional Soul Power-enhancing herbs, and concluded that Dragon God must flourish somewhere deeper in the valley.

Mu Bai entered Ten Thousand Beast Valley underground and gathered Ascending Dragon Grass, Soul Moss, Soul Jade, and Jade Soul Marrow Milk before refining Supreme Venerable Pills. After consuming one, he broke through to the Xiu Zun Realm, and his Soul Power continued to surge.

• Mu Bai traveled underground into Ten Thousand Beast Valley, gathering valuables while searching for Ascending Dragon Grass.
• Mu Bai found three stalks of Ascending Dragon Grass in a cave with a Soul Jade deposit, Soul Moss, and Jade Soul Marrow Milk, and took them along with the other treasures.
• Mu Bai left the cave and refined three Supreme Venerable Pills, planning to save the other two for Xing Yun, Chen Qi, Hai Zhan, or Hai Dong.
• Mu Bai swallowed one Supreme Venerable Pill, and his Soul Miniature stirred as his Soul Power broke through one million shi.
• Mu Bai felt his Soul Power continue to grow like a flood after he reached the Xiu Zun Realm.

After strengthening his soul with jade soul marrow milk, Mu Bai wandered the mountains seeking a suitable fourth soul mark and a place to belong. He entered a misty valley where a voice tempted him to burn his mind-spirit for power, but his Soul Miniature and Inner Core Miniature broke the illusion, and he retaliated against the beasts trapped there.

• Mu Bai absorbed the jade soul marrow milk for nearly a month, stabilizing his Xiu Zun Realm soul and raising his soul power to nearly two million stone.
• Mu Bai considered what to engrave in his last right-arm spirit slot, then wandered the mountains around Ten Thousand Beast Valley instead of choosing in haste.
• Mu Bai recalled a vision of Ancestor Hai Ze fighting three Immortal Kings and resolved to one day reach such heights.
• Mu Bai entered a mist-filled valley where countless beasts knelt as bluish smoke rose from their Divine Palaces, and a voice offered him power if he surrendered his faith and burned his mind-spirit.
• Mu Bai began to burn his Mind-Spirit Miniature, but his Soul Miniature and Inner Core Miniature shattered the heart flame and woke him from the illusion.
• Mu Bai recognized the deception, seized a nearby fierce beast, and inhaled the bluish smoke from its Divine Palace into his Divine Sea.