Chapter Summaries

Cao Bangning sought help from Liu Tianming to ease the Zuoqiu Clan’s anger at the Cao Clan, while Wang Shouzhe launched an immense effort to open the Outer Domain. As Shouzhe Road advanced, Wang Shihai encountered a mysterious woman in green who left him transfixed.

• Cao Bangning entertained Liu Tianming and asked him to have his daughter seek a meeting between the Zuoqiu and Cao Clan ancestors; Liu Tianming accepted a Purple Gold Note and promised to try.
• Cao Bangning worried that the Zuoqiu Clan would retaliate against the Cao Clan and decided to prepare more than one countermeasure.
• Wang Shouzhe began the Wang Clan’s Outer Domain expansion, planning Shouzhe Road and the massive Shouzhe Pass with support from the Marriage Alliance clans.
• Wang Shouye procured and refined pills, while Wang Zongyao, Wang Luotong, and other clan members prepared tools, mounts, livestock, and supplies for the undertaking.
• By early October, Shouzhe Road had advanced fifty li, and Wang Shihai returned from a clearing patrol with his team.
• A veiled woman in a pale green dress appeared on Shouzhe Road, and Wang Shihai was instantly captivated by her.

Wang Shihai mistook Wang Luojing for a stranger and fought her, only to discover she was his clan elder and his Fifth Grandaunt. After she confirmed his identity and treated his injuries, Wang Luojing wrongly suspected he was an illegitimate grandson of Wang Shouxin and offered to protect him from future grievances.

• Wang Shihai stopped Wang Luojing on patrol and challenged her after she accused him of impersonating a Wang Clan descendant.
• Wang Luojing used her Phantom Butterfly Divine Art to get behind Wang Shihai, then tortured him with Sawtooth Poison Ants and spiders.
• Wang Shihai named Wang Shouzhe as his Fourth Grandpa, but Wang Luojing accused him of lying until a household general presented a Wang Clan identity token.
• Wang Luojing verified the patrol squad, recalled her insects, treated Wang Shihai, and ordered him to call her Fifth Grandaunt.
• Wang Luojing wondered whether Wang Shihai was Wang Shouxin's illegitimate grandson and promised to support him if he suffered grievances.

Wang Luojing cleared Xin'an Town's Blood Bat infestation, allowing the Wang Clan's frontier development to flourish. Ten years later, Wang Shouzhe advanced to the Celestial Realm in secret and met the newly appointed Xin'an Town Guardian, Wang Shoulian.

• Wang Luojing used her bells to draw the Blood Bats into crashing against cave walls, clearing the colony in ten days and letting the Wang Clan finish Shouzhe Road ahead of schedule.
• Over the next ten years, Wang Shouzhe rose from the seventh level of the Spirit Platform Realm to its peak while Xin'an Town's reclamation and settlement progressed.
• Wang Shouzhe secluded himself at a wood-type spirit vein and completed marrow replacement, blood cleansing, and Celestial Body transformation, advancing to the Celestial Realm and awakening a Dao Body.
• Wang Shouzhe concealed his new cultivation with a Heaven-Deceiving Jade Talisman and kept his advancement secret as the Wang Clan continued developing Xin'an Town.
• Wei Wenxun escorted the new Town Guardian to Xin'an Town, where Wang Shouzhe met Wang Shoulian and realized the appointment effectively gave the Wang Clan control over the town's local administration.

Wang Shouzhe discussed Xin'an Town’s development and the Wang Clan’s military preparations with Wang Shoulian, then met Shoulian’s children and began testing their progress. The visit ended with Wang Zongtai revealing that Wang Zongping liked a Rogue Cultivator, provoking Shoulian’s anger.

• Wei Wenxun attended Wang Shoulian’s inauguration as Town Guardian and left, while the chapter described how the Wang Clan’s prosperity had strengthened its allied clans and diminished the City Governor’s influence.
• Wang Shoulian told Wang Shouzhe he planned to bring about a hundred trusted soldiers to Xin'an Town, and Wang Shouzhe approved extra annual funds for military connections and resources.
• Wang Shouzhe advised Wang Shoulian to preserve his ties with Wei Wenxun and seek pill resources, especially Marrow Cleansing Pills and Wuji Treasure Pills.
• Wang Lixuan, Wang Zongping, and Wang Zongtai arrived, and Wang Shouzhe praised Zongping’s cultivation before preparing to test Zongtai.
• Wang Zongtai blurted out that Wang Zongping liked a pretty Rogue Cultivator, and Wang Shoulian angrily scolded his son.

Wang Liyao received a fragment of seventy-thousand-year purple ganoderma from True Person Tianhe and raised her bloodline aptitude to top-grade Yi. She learned that the War of the Holy Sons would decide who could use Lingyun Sacred Land’s secret art to pursue the Void Ascension Realm, and resolved to compete for it.

• Wang Shoulian beat Wang Zongping for flirting with a rogue cultivator girl, then beat Wang Zongtai after Wang Shouzhe tested his studies.
• Fu Haobo told Master Yuanshui and Wang Liyao that True Person Tianhe had returned to the Academy.
• True Person Tianhe gave Wang Liyao a fragment of seventy-thousand-year purple ganoderma, and Wang Liyao recognized the rare medicine and asked where he had obtained it.
• True Person Tianhe helped Wang Liyao refine the purple ganoderma’s medicinal power over a month, raising her bloodline from the middle stage of the fourth level to the high stage.
• Master Yuanshui explained that the War of the Holy Sons offered the winner a chance to use Lingyun Sacred Land’s secret art to improve their prospects of reaching the Void Ascension Realm.
• Wang Liyao decided she had to compete for the chance, for the sake of both the Changning Wang Clan and Longzuo Academy.

Ouyang Junyan celebrated his fiftieth birthday and was visited by Wang Luoqiu, who gave him a Longevity Extension Pill and praised his granddaughter Ouyang Muqiu’s potential. Back at the Wang Clan Main Residence, Wang Shouzhe confronted Wang Luojing and Wang Luoqiu for secretly fighting on the Outer Realm Battlefield, and Liu Ruolan suggested he beat them instead of scolding them.

• Ouyang Junyan reminded Ouyang Botao that the Ouyang Clan owed its prosperity to the Wang Clan and urged Ouyang Muqiu to study and cultivate so she could repay that kindness.
• Wang Luoqiu arrived at Ouyang Junyan’s birthday celebration, gave him a Longevity Extension Pill and cultivation pills, and told him to nurture Ouyang Muqiu’s potential.
• Ouyang Junyan dismissed the guests’ suggestion that Ouyang Muqiu become Wang Luoqiu’s maidservant, saying she was not qualified for the position.
• Wang Shouzhe scolded Wang Luojing and Wang Luoqiu for secretly spending years on the Outer Realm Battlefield, while Wang Luoqiu defended their choice and mentioned their gains.
• Liu Ruolan advised Wang Shouzhe to beat Wang Luojing and Wang Luoqiu rather than merely scold them, leaving the two women dismayed.

Wang Shouzhe punished Wang Luoqiu and Wang Luojing for risking themselves in the Outer Realm Battlefield, then helped them use Blood Gu Kings to improve their bloodlines. After Wang Dingchuan died, Ancestor Longyan mourned the family members she had outlived, while Wang Lici continued hunting Fierce Beasts with Master Yunyang, who planned to take her to the Cold Moon Immortal Dynasty.

• Wang Shouzhe beat Wang Luoqiu and Wang Luojing, warned them not to take risks before reaching the Celestial Realm, and healed them while lecturing them.
• Wang Luoqiu and Wang Luojing revealed they had secretly bought two Blood Gu Kings and three ordinary blood gu from a prodigy of the Cold Moon Immortal Dynasty, and Wang Shouzhe helped them use the kings to raise their bloodlines to upper-grade B.
• Wang Dingchuan died at ninety-nine, and Ancestor Longyan grieved for the generations of family members she had watched pass away before her.
• Wang Shouzhe comforted Ancestor Longyan with Wang Lijue, then explained that Wang Lici was training with Master Yunyang far from home.
• Wang Lici lured a fifth-tier Black-Toothed Giant Bear out of its den, and Master Yunyang killed it while she prepared to roast the meat.
• Master Yunyang told Wang Lici that her bloodline gave her a chance to contend for the future Holy Son position and said he would take her to the Cold Moon Immortal Dynasty; Wang Lici eagerly agreed after hearing about its food.

Gongyang Ce cleared Cao Youqing of responsibility for Zuoqiu Qingyun’s death and urged the Zuoqiu Clan to join the Cao Clan in pressuring the Qian and Wang Clans, while secretly pursuing his ambitions in Longzuo Prefecture. Fifteen years later, the Wang Clan’s young masters returned from a mission and were stunned when a mysterious woman resembling their Artifact Spirit Xiao Xue emerged from the Treasure Pavilion.

• Gongyang Ce presented evidence linking Wang Shouzhe and the Longzuo Qian Clan to Zuoqiu Qingyun’s death, then proposed that the Zuoqiu and Cao Clans act together against the Qian and Wang Clans.
• Zuoqiu De'ye and Zuoqiu Zhenghua agreed to follow Gongyang Ce’s plan, reasoning that it would pressure the Qian Clan without seriously harming their business ties.
• Gongyang Ce departed for the Cold Moon Immortal Dynasty and told Xiaoyue and Cao Youqing to oversee his plans, while identifying Qian Xuehan and Wang Shouzhe as the main people to watch.
• Fifteen years after Wang Shouzhe reclaimed the wilderness, his grandchildren gathered around him as he told them the story of the Three Strikes Against the White Bone Demon.
• Wang Zongrui, Wang Zongming, and Wang Zongping returned from a mission and collected their clan contribution points at the Treasure Pavilion.
• A mysterious woman resembling Xiao Xue emerged from a secret chamber, and the young masters panicked when Xiao Xue revealed that only Wang Shouzhe could learn the woman’s identity.

Wang Shouzhe learned that Wang Mei had built a secret intelligence group called the Hall of Immortals and ordered preparations for the Zuoqiu Clan’s likely retaliation. Meanwhile, Cao Bangyan and the Red-Haired Dragon King Nie Long launched an ambush on a Wang Clan trading fleet carrying Wang Luomiao and Fang Jinghui.

• Wang Mei reported that the Hall of Immortals had traced the investigation into Zuoqiu Qingyun’s death to Gongyang Ce’s Daybreak, and Wang Shouzhe reasoned that the Zuoqiu Clan would rely on ordinary sanctions rather than openly violate the law.
• Wang Shouzhe gave Wang Mei further orders, while Wang Zongrui mistook her for Xiao Xue and sparked a misunderstanding that brought Liu Ruolan into the affair.
• The chapter recounted Princess Qingluo’s history and the naming of Qingluo Sea before introducing the Red Dragon Raiders waiting at Reef Port.
• Cao Bangyan agreed to let Nie Long keep the cargo from Shouda Trading Firm’s fleet while claiming Wang Luomiao for himself.
• After Wen Da reported that the fleet had entered the target waters, Nie Long ordered the pirates to raise sail and intercept it.

Wang Luomiao led a Wang Clan merchant fleet through the Qingluo Sea aboard the steam-powered Luomiao, only to face an ambush by sea bandits and Cao Bangyan. With Chen Ruhong engaging Nie Long and a veiled woman recording Cao Bangyan’s confession, the ambush was exposed, and the woman struck Cao Bangyan into the sea.

• Wang Luomiao and Fang Jinghui sailed with a fleet of ten ships, led by the steam-powered Luomiao, carrying valuable goods and protected by Divine Might Cannons.
• When sea bandits attacked, Wang Luomiao ordered the fleet into a defensive formation, and Chen Ruhong emerged to fight their leader, Nie Long.
• Wang Luomiao told Fang Jinghui that the ambush had been deliberately baited, and Cao Bangyan appeared, claiming the Wang Clan had offended someone powerful and demanding that Wang Luomiao submit to him.
• Wang Luomiao revealed that a veiled woman had recorded Cao Bangyan’s confession with a Heavenly Secret Image-Recording Disk.
• The veiled woman struck Cao Bangyan through the air and sent him flying into the sea, while Wang Luomiao mocked his boastfulness.

Liu Ruolan and the allied forces defeated the sea bandits at Qingluo Sea, while Wang Shouzhe secured Cao Bangyan’s confession and pushed the case against the Liaoyuan Cao Clan toward the Capital Inspectorate. The chapter left Taishi Ankang irritated after Wang Shouzhe urged him to wipe out the remaining sea bandits.

• Liu Ruolan easily defeated Cao Bangyan, while Chen Ruhong and Xu Beichen fought and killed Nie Long after he refused to surrender.
• Wang Luomiao’s forces captured the surrendered sea bandits, and Chen Ruhong and Xu Beichen raided Nie Long’s lair for prisoners and spoils.
• Wang Shouzhe visited the prison with Wei Wenxun and helped officials obtain Cao Bangyan’s confession.
• Wang Shouzhe admitted to Taishi Ankang that he had arranged Zuoqiu Qingyun’s death and argued that Cao Bangyan’s case should be sent to the Capital Inspectorate.
• Taishi Ankang agreed to report the case and grew angry when Wang Shouzhe urged him to wipe out the Qingluo Sea bandits.

Wang Shouzhe persuaded Taishi Ankang to reclaim Qingluo Sea and establish a guard outpost that would benefit both Longzuo Prefecture and the Wang Clan. Meanwhile, the Cao Clan learned that Cao Bangyan had confessed and an Inspectorate investigation was imminent, while the Zuoqiu Clan prepared to target the Qian and Wang Clans.

• Wang Shouzhe convinced Taishi Ankang that suppressing the Liaoyuan Cao Clan and developing Qingluo Sea could win imperial favor and benefit the Wang Clan; Taishi Ankang agreed to support the plan.
• Cao Bangning learned from a carrier-pigeon message that Cao Bangyan had confessed and Taishi Ankang had urgently sent a memorial to the capital, prompting an Inspectorate investigation.
• Cao Bangning asked Cao Youqing to use her connections to stop the investigation, but she said her lord was away and could not interfere with the Inspectorate.
• Xiaoyue informed Zuoqiu De'ye of the Cao Clan's setback and said the promised resources were on their way.
• Zuoqiu De'ye dismissed the Cao Clan as an unreliable ally and declared that the Zuoqiu Clan would move against the Longzuo Qian Clan and Changning Wang Clan.

Wang Shounuo and Qian Zhong reported the Qing'an Zuoqiu Clan’s campaign against the Wang and Qian Clans as Shouda Trading Firm faced fierce competition and Qian Clan caravans were blocked. Wang Shouzhe reassured Qian Xuehan and Taishi Ankang, then revealed a long-prepared plan against the Zuoqiu Clan that left them alarmed.

• Wang Shounuo learned that the Zuoqiu Clan-backed Qingfeng Trading Firm had opened in Longzuo Prefecture City with prices far below Shouda Trading Firm’s, and he sent news to Wang Shouzhe.
• Qian Zhong’s caravan was stopped by Qing'an Prefecture soldiers repairing the Qingbei Corridor, and Zhao Zhibang told him the obstruction had been arranged by people above.
• Qian Zhong sent word to the Qian Clan as similar disruptions struck its other convoys and threatened its transport business.
• Qian Xuehan told Wang Shouzhe that the Zuoqiu Clan was suppressing the Qian Clan, but Wang Shouzhe urged him to remain calm and visit Taishi Ankang.
• Wang Shouzhe persuaded Taishi Ankang to visit Qing'an Prefecture and suffer a public humiliation before Wang Shouzhe carried out a more severe plan against the Zuoqiu Clan.
• Wang Shouzhe disclosed his plan to Taishi Ankang and Qian Xuehan, who realized he had been preparing it for fifteen years and feared its consequences for the Zuoqiu Clan.

Wang Shouzhe’s preparations undermined the Zuoqiu Clan’s dominance in Qing’an by introducing Wang Clan grain seeds that outperformed its varieties. The chapter left Zuoqiu Guanyu realizing that the mysterious new wheat seeds had familiar names, as his clan’s strategy began to collapse.

• Wang Shouzhe’s allies watched Taishi Ankang return humiliated from Qing’an while Qingfeng Trading Firm and Shouda Trading Firm fought over the Flying Carriage market.
• Sun Chuanxue showed Liu Qinghao that Wang Clan rice seeds had raised his harvest, then took him to buy Wang Clan wheat seeds.
• Wang Xiaohu explained the advantages of wheat seeds No. 27, No. 43, and No. 59, and Sun Chuanxue and Liu Qinghao ordered two varieties.
• Wang Clan wheat seeds spread through Qing’an, and nearly half the local noble clans replaced the seeds they bought with Wang Clan varieties.
• Zuoqiu Guanyu ordered a twenty-percent price increase for Jade-Finger Wheat seed and planned to expand production, expecting clans to keep buying from him.
• Old An reported that clans were rejecting Zuoqiu wheat seeds for Wang Clan varieties said to yield at least thirty percent more, and Zuoqiu Guanyu recognized the seed names.

The Zuoqiu Clan’s attempt to crush the Wang Clan’s grain-seed business failed, first through a price war and then through a blockade that provoked Qing’an Prefecture’s other clans and drew the capital’s attention. Taishi Ankang arranged negotiations between the Zuoqiu, Wang, and Qian Clans, where Wang Shouzhe ended the polite exchanges by angrily challenging Zuoqiu Guanyu.

• Zuoqiu Guanyu cut the Zuoqiu Clan’s grain-seed prices by half, but Wang Clan rebates and discounts left the seeds unsold and forced the Zuoqiu Clan to take a heavy loss.
• Taishi Ankang told Wang Shouzhe and Qian Xuehan that the Cao Clan had sacrificed several elders and paid six million Qian Gold to redeem Cao Bangyan, with half the ransom earmarked for developing Qingluo Sea.
• Zuoqiu Zhenghua, Zuoqiu Guanyu, and Wu Dinghai visited Taishi Ankang, waited six hours without an audience, then returned to Qing’an Prefecture and imposed checkpoints to block Wang Clan rice seeds.
• Wang Shouzhe arranged for the Qian Clan to stockpile rice seeds near Qing’an Prefecture, while Rogue Cultivators smuggled in some seeds and local clans grew angry at the Zuoqiu Clan’s blockade.
• Sixth-Rank clans and Academy seniors brought the unrest to the capital, forcing the Zuoqiu Clan to abandon its blockade and seek mediation through Taishi Ankang.
• At negotiations in the Longzuo Wang Clan’s Purple Mansion Palace, Wang Shouzhe rejected Zuoqiu Guanyu’s complaint about selling seeds in Qing’an Prefecture and told him to leave if he did not want to talk.

Wang Shouzhe forced the Zuoqiu Clan into a grain-seed and Flying Carriage agreement after the clan’s trade war backfired. The settlement ended the immediate conflict, but Xiaoyue and Cao Youqing began making plans that kept Wang Shouzhe in danger.

• Wang Shouzhe rejected Zuoqiu Guanyu’s threats and used the clan’s financial troubles and political vulnerabilities to press him into negotiations.
• Wang Shouzhe demanded that the Zuoqiu Clan withdraw from the Flying Carriage market and open Qing’an Prefecture to Shouda Trading Firm before discussing grain seeds.
• Wang Shouzhe and Zuoqiu Guanyu haggled for half a month, then agreed that the Zuoqiu Clan would pay twenty million Qian Gold for grain-seed cultivation rights and ten percent of annual sales for a hundred years.
• Zuoqiu Guanyu told Xiaoyue that the Zuoqiu Clan would withdraw from the plans against the Qian Clan and Wang Clan, and Xiaoyue sent messages to her master.
• Cao Youqing told Ancestor Kunhao that Wang Shouzhe had to be eliminated, and he agreed that the Cao Clan should act cautiously.

Wang Shouzhe inspected Qingluo Guard’s construction and secured a large sea territory for the Wang Clan, intending to establish a seafood-farming and transport hub there. Cao Youqing then lured Ancestor Kunhao into an attack on Wang Shouzhe, but the Seven-Tailed Fire Fox intervened, and the battle began.

• Wang Shouzhe and Wei Wenxun surveyed Qingluo Guard, and Wei Wenxun doubled the harbor territory assigned to the Wang Clan.
• Wang Shouzhe planned to establish a Shouda Trading Firm station and develop seafood farming and transport from Qingluo Guard.
• Cao Youqing disguised herself as a fisherman and asked Ancestor Kunhao to kill Wang Shouzhe.
• Ancestor Kunhao unleashed his Purple Mansion Realm power against Wang Shouzhe, while Wei Wenxun stepped in front of him.
• The Seven-Tailed Fire Fox transformed, shielded Wang Shouzhe’s group, and clashed with Ancestor Kunhao’s water-element attack.

Wang Shouzhe’s preparations thwarted Ancestor Kunhao’s attempt to kill him, but the confrontation revealed that Cao Youqing had been plotting against the Wang Clan. After the Purple Mansion experts pursued Kunhao, Wang Shouzhe used the encounter to instruct Wang Zongan, then jokingly reduced his son’s grand ambitions to producing more descendants.

• Ancestor Fire Fox blocked Ancestor Kunhao’s attack on Wang Shouzhe and fought him in the sky, but struggled against the veteran Purple Mansion Master.
• Wang Shouzhe called on Taishi Ankang and Ancestor Shaoyuan, who joined Ancestor Fire Fox in pursuing Kunhao after he tried to flee.
• Wang Shouzhe exposed Cao Youqing’s disguise and explained that her vindictive nature had made her easy to predict and had harmed the Cao Clan.
• Wang Zongan concluded that a clan’s leaders must guard against rashness and set a good example, but Wang Shouzhe told him to avoid troublesome women and focus on giving the Wang Clan more descendants.

Wang Shouzhe stalled Cao Youqing while Fairy Tianyan revealed that the Heavenly Palace had tracked her through the Cao Clan and stepped in to protect him. As Cao Youqing overwhelmed Tianyan’s defense, Wang Zongan’s mother arrived as Wang Shouzhe’s next contingency.

• Wang Shouzhe told Wang Zongan to study carefully because he would soon be stationed in Qingluo Guard under Wei Wenxun’s guidance.
• Fairy Tianyan appeared over the sea, greeted Wang Shouzhe, and revealed that the Heavenly Palace had learned Cao Youqing’s whereabouts by infiltrating the Cao Clan.
• Cao Youqing threatened to kill Wang Shouzhe and Tianyan, then unleashed her Heavenly Thunder Spirit Body and attacked with the Purple Firmament Heavenly Thunder Sword.
• Tianyan used her Heavenly Sound Shield to block Cao Youqing’s strike, but the shield cracked under the attack.
• Wang Zongan reassured Tianyan that his father had further contingencies, and Wang Shouzhe’s wife arrived through the air.

Liu Ruolan defeated and killed Cao Youqing, helping the Wang Clan emerge victorious as the Cao Clan fell into decline. Meanwhile, Wang Lici continued her adventures in the Northern Desert and set off with Master Yunyang and a pack of wolf pups for the Cold Moon Immortal Dynasty.

• Liu Ruolan overwhelmed Cao Youqing with her Primordial Water Dao Body and Weak Water Treasure Sword, then chased her down and killed her despite her attempt to flee.
• Fairy Tianyan ingratiated herself with Liu Ruolan, who warmed to her and invited her to visit the Wang Clan.
• Cao Youqing and Ancestor Kunhao died, and the Cao Clan faced mounting pressure while the Wang Clan and Qian Clan gained prestige.
• Wang Lici hunted with Northern Desert youths while the barbarian queen beat Master Yunyang during their sparring.
• Wang Lici and Master Yunyang left the Northern Desert Royal Court with a pack of wolf pups and headed toward the Cold Moon Immortal Dynasty.