Chapter Summaries

Zhang Kaida delivered the Zhang Family’s ransom, and Zhou Mingde released Zhang Shi'an before the Zhou Family claimed his confiscated treasures. As the Zhou Family prepared for a likely mobilization against the beast tide, Nascent Soul leaders confronted the three Flood Dragon Demon Kings and received the Golden Horn Dragon King’s agreement to limit the war’s scope.

• Zhou Daoyi mocked Zhang Kaida and led him to Zhang Shi'an, who eagerly accepted the ransom of medicines, tools, a talisman, Iron Essence, pill formulas, and Spirit Coins.
• Zhou Mingde accepted the ransom and released Zhang Shi'an, who left Nine Peaks Ridge with Zhang Kaida.
• Zhou Mingde erased Zhang Shi'an’s imprint from his confiscated Storage Bag, inspected its contents, and distributed selected treasures to Zhou Daoyi, Zhou Chun, and others.
• Zhou Mingde warned Zhou Daoyi and Zhou Chun that an order to mobilize against the beast tide was likely to arrive soon.
• True Person Silver Moon and True Person Qingxiao confronted the Dragon Transformation Sect and the Red Fire, Black, and Azure Flood Dragons at Dragon Abyss Marsh, and Silver Moon deduced that the other Demon Kings would not join the war.
• The Golden Horn Dragon King agreed that humanity could expand its territory by only a thousand li and receive no reinforcements beyond Shen Kingdom, Cheng Country, and Feng Kingdom; Silver Moon then withdrew with the other human cultivators.

After Jing Kingdom gathered reinforcements against the beast tide, the Zhou Family received orders to send cultivators to the Misty Smoke Marsh. Zhou Chun led the family juniors into battle to gain experience, but their first encounter with Blackwater Crocodiles exposed their lack of coordination and combat experience.

• True Person Silver Moon and the other Nascent Soul cultivators called in reinforcements, raising Jing Kingdom’s publicly known Fifth Rank strength to sixteen.
• Green Lotus Temple ordered the Zhou Family to send at least thirty people, including three third rank and six second rank combatants, to the Misty Smoke Marsh.
• Zhou Daoyi volunteered to lead the expedition, while Zhou Mingde stayed behind to guard the family mountain gate.
• At the Misty Smoke Marsh stronghold, Qing Lingzi assigned Zhou Chun and Zhou Daoquan to lead their groups in clearing Demonic Beasts.
• Zhou Chun took twelve Qi Refining cultivators to a river, where he used Bai Bai to drive fourteen Blackwater Crocodiles ashore for the juniors to fight.
• The Zhou Family juniors’ attacks were poorly coordinated, and several panicked when the crocodiles fired water arrows, prompting Zhou Chun to judge that they lacked experience.

Zhou Chun led Zhou Family cultivators in patrols and helped them gain battlefield experience as Qing Lingzi reorganized the defenders against the approaching beast tide. Zhou Daoyi worried that meeting a fourth-tier Flood Dragon could influence Qingqing, while the Zhou Family established a defensive camp at Golden Rooster Mountain just as the beast tide entered Jing Kingdom and Lin Hongyu was summoned from seclusion.

• Zhou Chun led twelve Zhou Family cultivators in killing Blackwater Crocodiles and other first-tier Demonic Beasts, then returned them to the stronghold.
• Zhou Daoyi told Zhou Chun that Qing Lingzi planned to use Qingqing and feared a meeting with a fourth-tier Flood Dragon could alter the Azure Flood Dragon's loyalty and temperament.
• Qing Lingzi organized Rogue Cultivators into teams and assigned Zhou Daoyi and seven other Violet Palace cultivators to defend strategic passes against smaller beast hordes.
• Zhou Daoyi led the Zhou Family team to Golden Rooster Mountain, where they built a camp and formations to protect the nearby mortal population.
• Zhou Chun arranged for Zhou Zhenglan and Pang Chong to recruit Rogue Cultivators and trained the new team as the beast tide entered Jing Kingdom.
• Lin Hongyu was summoned from seclusion at the Blood Dragon Branch Altar of the Dragon Transformation Sect.

Zhou Daoyi lured a beast tide to the Golden Rooster Mountain stronghold, where Zhou Chun and the defenders weakened it before Azure Flood Dragon routed the beasts. Zhou Chun and the others hunted down the fleeing beasts, then returned to treat the wounded while Zhou Daoyi and Fire God Jackal were still pursuing the two leading Demonic Beasts.

• Zhou Daoyi discovered a beast tide approaching the great plains and lured it toward the Golden Rooster Mountain stronghold by provoking the Unicorn Fire Wolf and Blue-Black Giant Eagle.
• Zhou Daoyi escaped into the stronghold as the Unicorn Fire Wolf and Blue-Black Giant Eagle led the beast tide in an assault on its formation.
• Zhou Chun and the cultivators attacked the beasts from behind the formation, killing many before Zhou Daoyi released Azure Flood Dragon and charged the leaders.
• The beast tide scattered under Azure Flood Dragon’s pressure, and Zhou Chun, Zhou Daoquan, and the Rogue Cultivators pursued and killed fleeing beasts.
• Zhou Chun and Zhou Daoquan returned to treat the wounded and organize the cleanup, while Zhou Daoyi and Fire God Jackal remained in pursuit of the two third-rank Demonic Beasts.

Zhou Chun and the Zhou Family helped repel the beast tide attacking the Wang Family stronghold, but the fox demon escaped and scattered beasts into the inland regions. Qing Lingzi ordered the survivors to send a team to hunt the escaped beasts and then reinforce the Song Family, and Zhou Daoyi recommended Zhou Chun to lead the cleanup team.

• After the Zhou Family buried the Demonic Beast corpses from their battle at Golden Rooster Mountain in an ice cellar, Qing Lingzi summoned them to reinforce the endangered Wang Family stronghold.
• Zhou Daoyi discovered that a third-rank upper-grade fox demon and a third-rank lower-grade cat demon were attacking the stronghold, but the fox demon scattered the beast tide into fleeing groups when it saw the reinforcements arrive.
• Zhou Chun and Zhou Daoquan pursued the fleeing Demonic Beasts through the night, killing two second-rank beasts and more than two hundred first-tier beasts between them.
• Zhou Daoyi, Wang Guangping, and Yang Zhenxiong killed the Jade-Eyed Raccoon Cat, while the fox demon escaped and some Demonic Beasts scattered into the inland regions.
• Qing Lingzi ordered the group to send one Foundation Establishment cultivator and twenty qi refining cultivators to clear out the escaped beasts before the rest moved on to reinforce the Song Family.
• Zhou Daoyi recommended Zhou Chun to lead the cleanup team, citing his strength and abilities.

After the Misty Smoke Marsh stronghold fell, Zhou Chun returned to Nine Peaks Ridge and learned that Zhou Daoquan and many Zhou Family cultivators were missing. As the beast tide advanced toward Lotus Prefecture, the Zhou Family prepared to evacuate its mortals and brace for Green Lotus Temple’s response.

• Zhou Chun learned that the Zhou Family had been ordered to supply fifteen more cultivators, so he returned to Nine Peaks Ridge and arranged for Zhou Jiahe, Jia Peng, and Zheng Yuan to recruit Rogue Cultivators.
• Zhou Chun heard that the Misty Smoke Marsh stronghold had fallen after an Earth-turning Earth Dragon disrupted its Spirit Vein and the Red Dragon Hall Master and a Crimson Fire Flood Dragon shattered the defenders’ breakout formation.
• Zhou Chun returned to Nine Peaks Ridge, where Zhou Daoyi told him that Zhou Daoquan was missing and most of the Zhou Family’s qi refining cultivators were likely in grave danger.
• Zhou Daoyi said the family might have to abandon Nine Peaks Ridge if the beast tide approached, while Zhou Chun learned that Green Lotus Temple’s forces had arrived to contain the powerful Demonic Beasts.
• Zhou Chun and Zhou Mingde agreed to move the family’s mortal clansmen several hundred li away as the beast tide neared, and Zhou Jiahe arrived with an important report.

Zhou Jiahe warned the Zhou Family that a powerful beast tide was approaching Nine Peaks Ridge, and Zhou Daoyi confirmed it was being guided toward them. The family prepared its defenses, and the chapter ended as the beasts launched a fierce assault on the Five Directions Myriad Net Formation.

• Zhou Jiahe returned and reported an elite beast tide less than two hundred li from the Zhou Family, with several third rank and dozens of second rank Demonic Beasts.
• Zhou Mingde confirmed that the beast tide was targeting Nine Peaks Ridge and ordered warnings, preparations, and a request for reinforcements from Red Cliff Market.
• Zhou Chun opened the mountain gate for Rogue Cultivators who wished to leave, offered compensation and spell talismans to those who stayed, and then closed the formation entrance.
• Zhou Daoyi activated the Five Directions Myriad Net Formation as the Zhou Family cultivators and hired Rogue Cultivators took their positions.
• Five third rank Demonic Beasts led the beast tide's attack, and Zhou Daoyi, Zhou Chun, and the other formation controllers struggled to maintain the formation shield under the assault.

The Zhou Family’s formation endured the Demonic Beast tide but was badly weakened after the Green Giant Eagle detonated its core. As the shield began to crack and Zhou Chun feared the family’s defeat, a Golden Core stage cultivator arrived, sending the Blood Dragon Hall enforcer fleeing underground.

• Zhou Daoyi blasted the Green Giant Eagle with the formation, and the purple-black giant tiger and Black-furred Giant Ox nearly fought over the wounded beast.
• A Blood Dragon Hall enforcer stopped the beasts from fighting and helped the Green Giant Eagle detonate its Demonic Core against the formation, damaging it severely.
• Zhou Mingde sent the Fire God Jackal and Qing Jiao Qingqing to attack the Unicorn Fire Wolf, then used their harassment to kill Demonic Beasts and weaken the enemy assault.
• As cracks appeared in the formation, Zhou Chun calmed the panicking Rogue Cultivators while anxiously waiting for reinforcements from Red Cliff Market.
• A cyan streak arrived, and the Blood Dragon Hall enforcer recognized a Golden Core stage cultivator and fled into the ground.

Qing Lingzi saved the Zhou Family from a beast attack, and Zhou Mingde and Zhou Daoyi finished off the remaining Demonic Beasts without casualties. After Green Lotus Temple ordered the Zhou cultivators to help clear Misty Prefecture, Lin Hongyu warned that a Fourth Rank Earth-turning Earth Dragon might be hunting Zhou Daoyi, who left for Cloud Prefecture to seek safety.

• Qing Lingzi killed the Blood Dragon Hall protector and four third rank Demonic Beasts, then left the remaining battle to the Zhou Family.
• Zhou Mingde and Zhou Daoyi pursued the fleeing Demonic Beasts and wiped out the attackers without losing anyone, while Zhou Chun organized the cleanup and evacuation of nearby mortals.
• Zhou Mingde went to Red Cliff Market for formation-repair materials, and Zhou Chongshan began repairing the damaged Five Directions Myriad Net Formation.
• Green Lotus Temple ordered Zhou Mingde, Zhou Daoyi, Zhou Chun, Zhou Jiapeng, and Zhou Jiahe to clear Demonic Beasts in Misty Prefecture after the Human Alliance Army defeated the beast tide on the Yunzhou front.
• Lin Hongyu warned Zhou Mingde that the Red Dragon Hall master might have sent an Earth-turning Earth Dragon after Zhou Daoyi and urged them to go to Cloud Prefecture.
• Zhou Chun and Zhou Mingde urged Zhou Daoyi to leave at once, and Zhou Daoyi flew toward Cloud Prefecture on his Flood Dragon.

Zhou Chun helped clear the Demonic Beasts in Misty Prefecture while waiting for news, then learned that Zhou Daoquan had returned but lost his Earth Armored Bear saving him. Zhou Mingde joined Zhou Daoyi at Fulong Stronghold, where the alliance launched a decisive counterattack against the beast tide.

• Zhou Chun rescued the physician Mo Renyi from poison after the physician’s apprentice begged for help, then left without seeking repayment.
• Zhou Daoquan returned to the Nine Peaks Ridge and told Zhou Chun that his Earth Armored Bear, Bear Mountain, had died protecting him.
• Green Lotus Temple ordered Zhou Mingde and other Violet Palace cultivators to reinforce the Yunzhou front, and Zhou Mingde fought his way into besieged Fulong Stronghold.
• Zhou Mingde met Zhou Daoyi at Fulong Stronghold and learned that a major operation was imminent; the two prepared for battle.
• Liu Yiping ordered a counterattack, and more than thirty Golden Core cultivators and nearly two hundred Violet Palace cultivators charged out to fight alongside Feng Kingdom’s reinforcements.

The Corpse Demon Sect’s Death Legion ravaged the beast tide before the Jing Country Allied Forces gained the advantage and routed the Dragon Transformation Sect protectors and Demonic Beasts. Zhou Mingde and Zhou Daoyi met Lin Hongyu in secret after pursuing her, reaffirmed their promise to help her escape her restraints, and accepted a Blood Flame Dragon Python egg from her.

• The Corpse Demon Sect deployed a massive Corpse Army that formed the Death Legion and tore through the beast tide, then used a formation to drive off the Red Fire Flood Dragon.
• Zhou Mingde and Zhou Daoyi fought alongside the Jing Country Allied Forces while keeping their strength in check, and they spotted Lin Hongyu on the battlefield without contacting her.
• The Dragon Transformation Sect protectors weakened and suffered mounting casualties until one fled, triggering a wider rout among the protectors and Demonic Beasts.
• Zhou Mingde and Zhou Daoyi pursued Lin Hongyu, who led them to a secluded mountain valley and explained that the Dragon Transformation Sect’s defeat threatened her plans.
• Zhou Mingde promised that he and Zhou Daoyi would help Lin Hongyu escape her restraints if an opportunity arose, and Lin Hongyu gave him a Blood Flame Dragon Python egg before departing.

While gathering demonic beast corpses to provision the Zhou Family’s Spirit Beasts, Zhou Chun met Mo Renyi and his disciple Xu Fu, whom he had once saved. Zhou Chun discovered that Xu Fu had an Upper-grade Wind Spiritual Root, but the two learned that removing the Turbid Fiendish Energy in Xu Fu’s body would require rare, costly treasures.

• Zhou Chun organized the recovery and storage of demonic beast corpses to secure the Zhou Family’s Spirit Beast rations for the next ten years.
• Mo Renyi and Xu Fu visited the Zhou Family to thank Zhou Chun for saving Mo Renyi’s life.
• Mo Renyi explained that he had taught Xu Fu cultivation to help cure the boy’s strange illness, and Zhou Chun realized Xu Fu had never had his Spiritual Root aptitude tested.
• Zhou Chun tested Xu Fu and found that he possessed an Upper-grade Wind Spiritual Root.
• Mo Renyi regretted that Xu Fu had absorbed Turbid Fiendish Energy, and Zhou Chun explained that the Zhou Family’s cleansing treasures were too valuable for Mo Renyi to afford.

Zhou Chun recruited Xu Fu into the Zhou Family as a household servant, purged the Turbid Fiendish Energy from him, and gave him a suitable cultivation method. News then reached the family that the Jing Country Allied Forces had won a decisive victory at Fulong Stronghold.

• Zhou Chun refused to take Xu Fu as a disciple but offered to help him in exchange for serving as a Zhou Family household servant, and Xu Fu accepted despite the dangers.
• Zhou Chun helped Xu Fu drink Purifying Spirit Water to purge the Turbid Fiendish Energy from his body, then gave him the Spirit Wind Art and sent him to train with the household servants.
• Mo Renyi declined Zhou Chun's offer to stay near the Zhou Family and left after entrusting Xu Fu to Zhou Chun.
• News from Red Cliff Market reported that the Jing Country Allied Forces had defeated the beast tide at Fulong Stronghold, killing five Fourth Rank Demonic Beasts, six Golden Core cultivators, and many other enemies while suffering comparatively few losses.

After the victory at Fulong Stronghold, Zhou Chun began planning the Zhou Family’s recovery while Zhou Mingde and Zhou Daoyi joined the Jing Country Allied Forces’ campaign against the Dragon Transformation Sect. As the Nascent Soul battle turned against the enemy, Lin Hongyu helped the allied forces trap the Dragon Transformation Sect’s survivors at the Golden Dragon Sub-altar.

• Zhou Chun sent Zhou Jiapeng to Cloud Prefecture for news, but Zhou Mingde and Zhou Daoyi had already joined the allied forces’ pursuit into the Wilderness Expanse.
• True Person Silver Moon defeated and wounded True Person Black Dragon in a clash between the Holy Moon Wheel and the Black Emperor Bell.
• Zhou Mingde and Zhou Daoyi pursued the Dragon Transformation Sect’s retreating cultivators to the Golden Dragon Sub-altar, where its defenders argued over whether to stand their ground or flee to the Main Altar.
• Lin Hongyu secretly informed the allies of the division among the defenders, and Zhou Daoyi passed her message to a Golden Core cultivator, who reported it to Liu Yiping.
• Liu Yiping’s forces eased their assault, encouraging the defenders to remain at the sub-altar while Zhou Mingde and the other attackers rested and restored their magic power with Spirit Crystals.

The Jing Kingdom Allied Forces used Spirit Crystals to restore their magic power and broke through the Golden Dragon Sub-altar, forcing the Dragon Transformation Sect cultivators to flee. Zhou Mingde and Zhou Daoyi killed a fleeing protector while anxiously awaiting news of Lin Hongyu and Jin Chixuan’s pursuit of the wounded Crimson Fire Flood Dragon.

• The Dragon Transformation Sect elders realized the allied cultivators were replenishing their magic power with Spirit Crystals, but knew they could no longer escape the encirclement.
• Liu Yiping questioned Zhou Mingde and Zhou Daoyi about their timely discoveries, then asked for their advice; Zhou Mingde urged the allies to target the fourth-tier Flood Dragons.
• Liu Yiping, Jin Chixuan, and Daoist Nun Qingsu dismissed suspicions about the Zhou Family and prepared for the final assault.
• The allied forces shattered the Golden Dragon Sub-altar’s formation, and Liu Yiping’s group pursued the Flood Dragons while Zhou Mingde and Zhou Daoyi pursued a mid Violet Palace protector.
• Zhou Daoyi killed the protector, and the Zhou duo later returned to find that many lower-ranked cultivators had surrendered while Lin Hongyu’s pursuer had failed to catch her.
• Zhou Mingde and Zhou Daoyi waited anxiously for news of Jin Chixuan’s attempt to kill the wounded Crimson Fire Flood Dragon.

After the Jing Country Allied Forces won a major victory against the Dragon Transformation Sect, the Golden Horn Dragon King forced them to withdraw before they could destroy its Main Altar. The war ended, Zhou Chun celebrated with the Zhou Family, and the family began settling its losses and counting its spoils.

• Jin Chixuan returned after killing the Crimson Fire Flood Dragon and the master of Red Dragon Hall, though his group suffered heavy casualties, including Yu Jinghua's severe injuries.
• Liu Yiping, Daoist Nun Qingsu, and Jin Chixuan agreed to destroy the abandoned Blood Dragon Branch Altar, then withdrew after True Person Silver Moon reported the Golden Horn Dragon King's decree protecting the Dragon Transformation Sect.
• Zhou Mingde and Zhou Daoyi returned to the Zhou Family with Zhou Zhengyong and the other unharmed cultivators from Fulong Stronghold, bringing news that the war had ended.
• Zhou Chun celebrated the war's end, Lin Hongyu's freedom, and Yu Jinghua's injuries by holding a seven-day celebration and rewarding Zhou Family cultivators.
• Zhou Chun ordered the family to process Demonic Beast corpses into Spirit Beast rations while he, Zhou Mingde, and other leaders settled pensions and inventoried the family's war spoils.
• After checking several dozen Storage Bags, Zhou Chun joked that the family's loot was valuable enough to tempt even Golden Core stage cultivators.

Zhou Mingde appointed Zhou Chun as the Zhou Family’s clan leader, and Zhou Chun reported the family’s enormous wartime gains and heavy losses. After the elders approved a distribution plan, Zhou Chun outlined the family’s current population and argued that it would need to hire outsiders to address its labor shortage.

• Zhou Mingde announced that Zhou Chun would become clan leader and that Zhou Daoyi would become Grand Elder, and the elders unanimously supported the decision.
• Zhou Chun listed the family’s wartime spoils, including magic tools, medicines, beasts, texts, and more than 37,500 Spirit Coins, then reported the deaths and material losses the family had suffered.
• Zhou Mingde proposed allocating seventy percent of battlefield gains to the cultivators who earned them, ten percent to those who guarded the family, and twenty percent to the family treasury; the elders agreed.
• Zhou Chun reported that the family had 177 clan cultivators, twenty-one relatives by marriage, and twenty-six servant death warriors.
• Zhou Mingde asked Zhou Chun how to address the family’s shortage of cultivators, and Zhou Chun said the family would need to hire outsiders because new generations would take decades to become useful.

Zhou Chun proposed hiring Rogue Cultivators and small-family cultivators for suitable work so Zhou Family members could pursue other cultivation arts and gain experience, and the Elders agreed to proceed carefully. Lin Wan'er then delivered Lin Hongyu's message: she planned to recuperate in Cheng Country and leave Lin Wan'er with the Zhou Family, where she could cultivate using Qing Jiao Qingqing's Flood Dragon Spirit Blood.

• Zhou Chun explained how the Zhou Family could assess Rogue Cultivators' ties and character before hiring them for different tasks, and the Elders praised his proposal.
• Zhou Chun proposed delegating routine beast-raising and medicinal-field work to hired cultivators while developing the family's skills in formations, alchemy, artifact refining, and talisman crafting; Zhou Daoyi and Zhou Mingde supported gradual reforms, and Zhou Chongshan accepted their judgment.
• Zhou Chun reviewed the family's income, expenditures, and plans, then let the Elders choose from the Second-tier magic tools recovered after the battle.
• Lin Wan'er arrived at the Zhou Family with a jade-slip message from Lin Hongyu for Zhou Mingde.
• Zhou Mingde had Lin Wan'er read the message, which said Lin Hongyu would go to Cheng Country to recover and leave Lin Wan'er with the Zhou Family to cultivate using Qing Jiao Qingqing's Flood Dragon Spirit Blood.
• Lin Wan'er accepted her godmother's arrangement but wondered why Lin Hongyu had not taken her to Cheng Country.

Lin Wan'er joined the Zhou Family as an Honorary Elder, bringing her intelligence network and taking on the training of its adopted servants and death warriors. After repairing the family’s protective formation, Zhou Chongshan warned Zhou Chun to lead more cautiously, focus on cultivation, and consider finding a Dao companion before withdrawing to prepare for his death.

• Zhou Mingde and Zhou Chun established the Honorary Elder position for Lin Wan'er, and Zhou Mingde and Zhou Daoyi conferred it on her after she mastered the basics of the Dragon Transformation Secret Manual.
• Zhou Chun assigned Lin Wan'er to oversee the training of Xu Fu and the Zhou Family’s adopted servants and death warriors.
• Zhou Chongshan repaired the Five Directions Myriad Net Formation and told the family leaders that he sensed his death was near and would spend his remaining time recording his formation insights.
• Zhou Chongshan advised Zhou Chun to consult others before reforms, devote more time to cultivation, and consider taking a Dao companion; Zhou Chun said he would consider his words.
• The Three Great Sects finished tallying the families’ war merits and announced rewards and compensation standards for those who had died in battle.

After the war merit tally was released, the Zhou Family received substantial merits, compensation, and Dragon Coin exchange funds, while learning it had five years to establish a Wilderness Expanse stronghold. Zhou Chun succeeded Zhou Daoyi as patriarch, but friendly families refused to join the frontier project, leaving Zhou Chun to seek other partners.

• The Zhou Family learned its members’ war merit totals, received compensation for fallen cultivators, and secured a Unicorn Fire Wolf Inner Core for Fire God Jackal in exchange for another Inner Core and two thousand war merit points.
• The Three Great Sects announced that Dragon Coins could be exchanged at a low rate and required the Top 30 families to establish protected Wilderness Expanse strongholds within five years.
• Zhou Daoyi stepped down and passed the patriarch’s seal to Zhou Chun, who accepted the position before Zhou Family clansmen and visiting cultivators.
• After the succession feast, Zhou Chun invited Wang Zhixiong and other friendly family representatives to discuss building a frontier stronghold together.
• Wang Zhixiong and the other representatives refused, citing severe losses in the war, so Zhou Chun discussed seeking other families or Foundation Establishment Rogue Cultivators with Zhou Mingde and Zhou Daoyi.