Chapter Summaries

Chen Mu met with Wei Shuang and arranged for her to gather intelligence and allies before he traveled to the Haotian Empire. They later toured Ten Thousand Mountains City, where Chen Mu saw how Rune Technology and the Spirit Network had improved life in the Chen Kingdom.

• Chen Mu reunited with the Sword Guardian Battalion veterans and spoke with Wei Shuang, who asked whether his Netherworld marriage proposal had succeeded.
• Chen Mu confirmed he planned to answer the Haotian Emperor’s summons and asked Wei Shuang to find trusted contacts and gather intelligence in the Haotian Empire.
• Wei Shuang admitted she had baked the mung bean cake Chen Mu praised, then explained that her father, Wei Shan, remained troubled by the Wei Clan’s defection and was stationed at the border.
• Chen Mu reassured Wei Shuang that Senior Wei would find peace as the Chen Kingdom prospered.
• Wei Shuang took Chen Mu through Ten Thousand Mountains City, where he observed how Rune Technology and the Spirit Network were driving prosperity and improving administration.

Chen Mu observed how Rune Technology and artificial intelligence had transformed daily life and public administration in the Chen Kingdom. When he and Wei Shuang witnessed a powerful man attacking a woman in Ten Thousand Mountains City, the patrol’s response faltered after Liang Yinghuan accused her of theft.

• Chen Mu relied on artificial intelligence and nationwide Rune Cores to manage the Chen Kingdom’s administration and reduce public-order problems.
• A young man bought a White-Stripe Tiger and revealed that Rune Modification let him wield strength far beyond his cultivation level.
• Chen Mu and Wei Shuang discussed how Rune Modification and intelligent armor were spreading among ordinary people and wealthy families.
• After Chen Mu and Wei Shuang sensed a fight, they watched combat puppets capture a middle-aged man who had pursued a woman through the city.
• Liang Yinghuan arrived and claimed the woman had stolen his property, prompting a patrol soldier to question her despite his concern about Liang’s influence.

Chen Mu intervened indirectly when the Eye of the Heavenly Talisman stopped Liang Yinghuan from abducting Ye Qing'er, then arranged for Xiaozhi to monitor the case and the officials involved. He reunited with Ye Qing'er at the Eight Directions Chamber of Commerce and stayed there to observe the city and assess the monitoring system.

• Liang Yinghuan abandoned his attempt to take Ye Qing'er after a patrol soldier warned that the Eye of the Heavenly Talisman had recorded the incident, while the soldier escorted Liang's saber-wielding companion to the government office.
• Chen Mu told Wei Shuang that his monitoring system had prevented a tragedy and ordered Xiaozhi to track the case and any changes to the responsible official.
• Chen Mu recognized Ye Qing'er from the patrol report, appeared before her with Wei Shuang, and reminded her that he was Hou Sailei's good friend.
• Ye Qing'er invited Chen Mu and Wei Shuang to the Eight Directions Chamber of Commerce branch, where she explained that Hou Gu was delayed on the road.
• Chen Mu stayed at the branch to observe local affairs and review the artificial intelligence, while Wei Shuang returned to the King of Mountains' Residence to prepare for Chen Mu's trip to Central Province.

Chen Mu tested the artificial intelligence’s handling of a local corruption case, then left Ten Thousand Mountains City for Central Province. Near the border, Little White Fox awakened with a breakthrough, and Holy Son Lan Gu’s heavenly soldiers stopped Chen Mu’s battleship.

• The artificial intelligence alerted the central government after Liang Jiachi interfered in Liang Yinghuan’s case, and Liang Yinghuan was convicted as an accomplice.
• Chen Mu reviewed the case himself, warned Liang Jiachi, and changed Liang Yinghuan’s sentence to a hundred years in prison.
• After completing his arrangements in Ten Thousand Mountains City, Chen Mu left for Central Province aboard his space battleship.
• Little White Fox awakened after refining the Golden Rope, revealed a Heavenly Fox phantom, and announced she had reached peak emperor level.
• At Central Province’s border, Holy Son Lan Gu and his heavenly soldiers blocked Chen Mu’s battleship and demanded to know why he had entered without reporting.

Chen Mu entered Central Province and changed course to Xihe City to visit Hou Sailei and gather information about Heavenly Emperor City. He remained determined not to let anyone else seize the Heart of Pan Emperor.

• Lan Gu and his heavenly soldiers confronted Chen Mu, but Lan Gu yielded when Chen Mu revealed his superior Saint-level pressure.
• After Chen Mu left, Lan Gu resented Long Bo for sending him to defend the border against the Abyss Devil Race.
• Chen Mu entered Central Province and reflected on its rich Spiritual Qi and the continent’s gradual recovery.
• Chen Mu decided to visit Hou Sailei in Xihe City before traveling to Heavenly Emperor City.
• Chen Mu arrived above Xihe City, left his warship because of the city’s protective formation, and entered on foot with Little White Fox.

Chen Mu reached Xihe City and reunited with Hou Sailei, who asked him to protect the Eight Directions Chamber of Commerce from aggressive otherworldly Sages. Chen Mu agreed to help for a fee and planned to study the opponents’ information before setting out the next morning.

• Chen Mu copied a passerby’s passage jade token and entered Xihe City, then visited the Eight Directions Chamber of Commerce.
• Hou Sailei welcomed Chen Mu and explained that otherworldly Sages were threatening and plundering the chamber’s mineral veins.
• Chen Mu agreed to drive off the chamber’s enemies for ten World Crystals per Sage, and Hou Sailei offered him twenty.
• Hou Sailei asked Chen Mu to stay the night and review information about the opponents before leaving in the morning.
• Chen Mu agreed to explore Xihe City and study its ancient buildings and intricate Ancient Runes.

Chen Mu reclaimed two mineral veins for the Eight Directions Chamber of Commerce, using Little White to fight their occupiers and driving off a stubborn Treant Sage himself. At the third mine, he discovered that its supposed Sage was a dead cultivator whose body had been taken over by a Saint Level Sala Insect.

• Chen Mu and Little White drove Daoist Huosang from the Heavenly Crimson Copper vein, and Chen Mu arranged for the Eight Directions Chamber of Commerce to secure it.
• Little White struggled against a Treant Sage, so Chen Mu struck him hard enough to make him leave, then protected the reclaimed vein with an array.
• At the third mine, Chen Mu scanned the occupant and discovered that a Saint Level Sala Insect had taken over the body of a dead cultivator.
• Chen Mu questioned whether the Heavenly Court had failed to detect the insect or had not inspected those entering the Pan Emperor Continent.

Chen Mu destroyed a Sala insect Sage that had occupied a Spirit Stone vein, collected valuable Spirit Stones, and arranged for the remaining escaped insects to be hunted. After returning to Xihe City, he asked Hou Sailei to give him the locations of the remaining Sage troubles so he could deal with them quickly.

• Chen Mu entered the Spirit Stone vein and fought the Sala insect Sage, then pursued and killed it after it fled underground.
• The dying insect Sage marked Chen Mu, and Chen Mu found eight Ninth-Grade Spirit Stones in its body and froze the corpse for Chen Xuejun to study.
• Chen Mu destroyed the insect eggs in the cave, while Little White killed the insects that had escaped; five eggs got away and Chen Mu planned to have Hou Sailei alert the Haotian Empire's soldiers.
• Chen Mu handed the vein over to the Eight Directions Chamber of Commerce and returned to Xihe City.
• Hou Sailei praised Chen Mu for resolving three Sage problems in one day and said only two places remained.

Chen Mu went to Five Splendors Mountain to confront an Immortal Martial Continent Sage who had occupied the Eight Directions Trading Company's Dao Comprehension Tea Tree. The Sage proposed a one-punch wager and put his self-created martial technique at stake, leaving Chen Mu to decide whether to accept the terms.

• Hou Sailei told Chen Mu about an old man occupying the Dao Comprehension Tea Tree on Five Splendors Mountain and a powerful woman who had taken over a medicinal garden near the World Tree.
• Chen Mu agreed to handle the intruders and arranged to meet Hou Sailei in Heavenly Emperor City, hoping to investigate the World Tree and its possible connection to the Primordial Heavenly Realm.
• Chen Mu arrived at Five Splendors Mountain and found the old man meditating beneath the Dao Comprehension Tea Tree.
• The old man said he came from the Immortal Martial Continent and offered to leave if Chen Mu could withstand one punch without stepping back.
• The old man wagered a martial technique he had created against the Dao Comprehension Tea Tree and asked Chen Mu whether he objected.

Chen Mu explored the World Tree and the Eight Directions Trading Company’s secluded medicinal valley, where he found a woman tending ancient tombs. The chapter ended with her identifying the buried people as the Ancient Chen Clan Tribe.

• Chen Mu withstood an old man’s Sun-Chasing Sage-Exterminating Fist, took the secret manual, and departed for his next destination.
• Chen Mu examined the World Tree, sensed that its summit was sealed, and found no clues about the Primordial Heavenly Realm.
• Chen Mu entered the medicinal valley and searched its abandoned ancient buildings for the missing woman.
• Chen Mu spotted the woman beside a tomb and found her cleaning and repainting thousands of tombstones.
• The woman asked for one more day to finish tending the graves and told Chen Mu that the dead belonged to the Ancient Chen Clan Tribe.

Chen Mu discovered that the overgrown courtyard was the ancient Chen Clan Tribe’s place of origin and met Gu Ningbi, a Soul Clan woman paying respects to her ancestors. He left without revealing his connection to the clan, then decided to keep the discovery from Chen Hongjie for now and remotely control a satellite.

• Gu Ningbi told Chen Mu that the courtyard was where the ancient Chen Clan Tribe, also called the God-Slaying God Clan, had originated and lived for generations.
• Gu Ningbi introduced herself as a member of the Soul Clan, and Chen Mu said he was from the Chen Kingdom and had learned about the clan from his master’s notes.
• Chen Mu admitted he was the Chen Kingdom’s runemaster and named the Rune Ancestor as his master, prompting Gu Ningbi to greet the Rune Ancestor’s successor respectfully.
• Chen Mu left Gu Ningbi and hid in a secluded cave, weighing whether to tell Chen Hongjie about the clan’s place of origin.
• Chen Mu decided to ask Hou Sailei to protect the site and postpone telling the Chen Village clansmen, then used a formation to control the satellite remotely.

Chen Mu returned to the ancient Chen Clan’s abandoned settlement after Gu Ningbi left, hoping to find traces of his ancestors. When he revealed the soul imprint in his hand, the ancestral hall shook and uncovered a rockery made of divine blood scarlet gold.

• Chen Mu watched Gu Ningbi through a rune satellite, waited until she left the valley, and then returned with Little White.
• Chen Mu explored the abandoned Chen Clan settlement and wondered why the tribe had been wiped out.
• Chen Mu searched the ancestral hall but found only decayed tablets, weeds, and debris.
• Chen Mu revealed the eight-trigram soul imprint in his left hand, triggering a quake and an ancient war song.
• A rockery rose in the ancestral hall, and Chen Mu recognized it as precious divine blood scarlet gold.

Chen Mu uncovered his ancestor’s legacy, including essence blood and the God-Slaying Art, but rejected the idea that the Chen Kingdom should risk itself protecting the Pan Emperor Continent. He left the valley for Heavenly Emperor City, unaware that Gu Ningbi had discovered his connection to the Chen clan.

• Chen Mu found a message from his ancestor, three drops of essence blood, the God-Slaying Art, and a rockery of Divine Blood Scarlet Gold ore.
• Chen Mu stored the legacy and ore, deciding that the Chen Kingdom had to prioritize survival over his ancestor’s pact to protect the Pan Emperor Continent.
• Gu Ningbi returned to the valley, identified traces of Chen Mu’s use of the mechanism, and concluded he might be a surviving member of the Chen clan.
• Chen Mu sent Hou Sailei a message to meet him in Heavenly Emperor City and entered using the more reliable identity token Hou Sailei had provided.
• Chen Mu headed toward the Haotian Empire’s imperial palace, located beneath a pillar of light at the center of the vast city.

Chen Mu and Hou Sailei explored Heavenly Emperor City and visited the lavish Flower Moon Palace, where Hou Sailei showed off his growing wealth and status. They settled into a private room overlooking the palace’s performance stage as they waited for their meal.

• Chen Mu enjoyed noodles at a street stall while Hou Sailei urged him to try Heavenly Emperor City’s finer pleasures.
• Hou Sailei led Chen Mu to the Flower Moon Palace and ordered a top-floor private room with fresh signature dishes.
• Chen Mu remarked on Hou Sailei’s generous spending, and Hou Sailei credited Chen Mu’s help for his prospects of becoming president of the Eight Directions Chamber of Commerce.
• An attendant escorted Chen Mu and Hou Sailei to their suspended private room, where Chen Mu dismissed the maids and sampled the tea.

Chen Mu and Hou Sailei watched Su Miaoyin perform at the Flower Moon Palace and discussed her past and the northern rebels. After learning that Su Miaoyin had been reserved for the powerful guests in Heaven Room One, Chen Mu used his Eye of Runes to look inside.

• Little White drank from the teapot, and Chen Mu scolded him for being rude to Hou Sailei.
• Chen Mu recognized Su Miaoyin performing and learned from Hou Sailei that she had joined the Flower Moon Palace after her workshop was shut down and she was imprisoned.
• Chen Mu asked Hou Sailei about the northern rebels and considered contacting them because he saw the Heavenly Court as a potential enemy.
• Hou Sailei asked an attendant to invite Su Miaoyin, but the attendant said she was reserved for the guests in Heaven Room One.
• Chen Mu noticed Su Miaoyin fly toward Heaven Room One and activated his Eye of Runes to peer inside.

Chen Mu secretly watched Su Miaoyin attempt to poison and kill Long Xiang in Heaven Room Number One. When Long Xiang's Celestial Person bloodline thwarted her attack, Chen Mu intervened and killed him, leaving Su Miaoyin wary of her rescuer.

• Chen Mu used his calculations to bypass the Flower Moon Palace's isolation formation and discovered that Long Xiang was in Heaven Room Number One.
• Su Miaoyin poisoned Long Xiang's wine and used music to weaken him, but his Celestial Person bloodline restored his life force and revealed his Peak Emperor Level cultivation.
• Long Xiang seized Su Miaoyin and demanded to know who had sent her, but she used a Dharma treasure to escape his grasp.
• Long Xiang's gourd trapped Su Miaoyin, so Chen Mu teleported into the room and killed Long Xiang with a single strike.
• Su Miaoyin recognized Chen Mu and asked who had sent him, and he explained that he had wanted to kill Long Xiang himself.

Chen Mu killed Long Xiang after Su Miaoyin’s poison failed, then escaped the Flower Moon Palace with Hou Sailei. As Dowager Consort Zhuang investigated her son’s death, she and Zhan Fengxiu suspected a second assassin and considered whether Emperor Long Bo had helped Su Miaoyin.

• Su Miaoyin left the Flower Moon Palace after warning Chen Mu that the authorities would investigate Long Xiang’s death.
• Chen Mu told Hou Sailei that he had killed Long Xiang after Su Miaoyin’s poison failed, and Hou Sailei continued eating while they waited for the commotion to begin.
• Chen Mu and Hou Sailei left the Flower Moon Palace during the chaos and checked into a luxurious inn in Heavenly Emperor City.
• Dowager Consort Zhuang grieved over Long Xiang’s corpse and learned that Su Miaoyin had been identified as the poisoner.
• Zhan Fengxiu concluded that Long Xiang’s fatal head wound pointed to another expert, since his Imperial Heaven Hegemon Body made him immune to poison.
• Dowager Consort Zhuang and Zhan Fengxiu suspected the rebels or Emperor Long Bo might have aided Su Miaoyin, and Zhan Fengxiu began investigating.

Chen Mu followed Su Miaoyin and watched Duan Tianlong rescue her from the Imperial City Bureau, learning that someone in the imperial court had manipulated her into killing Long Xiang. As Duan Tianlong prepared to take Su Miaoyin to You Province, Chen Mu revealed himself and invited him to drink.

• Dowager Consort Zhuang ordered Zhan Fengxiu to capture Su Miaoyin and vowed to make Long Bo pay if he was responsible.
• Chen Mu used the Rune Heavenly Eye to track Su Miaoyin, then hurried into the wilderness with Little White.
• The Imperial City Bureau squad trapped Su Miaoyin, but she fought back with sound-wave blades while Chen Mu waited to see who would come for her.
• Duan Tianlong arrived and killed the Imperial City Bureau squad, then told Su Miaoyin that someone from the imperial court had manipulated her into killing Long Xiang.
• Duan Tianlong prepared to take the injured Su Miaoyin to You Province, but Chen Mu stopped them and invited him to drink.

Chen Mu met Duan Tianlong and Su Miaoyin, healed Su Miaoyin with a potion, and began discussing cooperation against the Haotian Empire. At Duan Tianlong’s residence, Chen Mu explained why he had to answer Long Bo’s summons before the group settled in to drink and eat.

• Chen Mu revealed that he had followed Su Miaoyin to investigate Long Xiang, then introduced himself to Duan Tianlong and proposed an alliance against the Haotian Empire.
• Duan Tianlong invited Chen Mu and Su Miaoyin to his nearby residence, and Chen Mu gave Su Miaoyin a Cell Repair Potion that healed her injuries.
• Duan Tianlong asked about the Chen Kingdom’s Talisman Medicine, and Chen Mu offered to provide a batch for the Heavenly Dragon Society.
• At the residence, Duan Tianlong warned Chen Mu that Long Bo’s palace summons might be a trap, but Chen Mu said he had to go and was confident he could protect himself.
• Su Miaoyin brought wine, and Chen Mu served beggar’s chicken and Teng Snake soup as they began their meal.

Chen Mu and Duan Tianlong discussed cooperation between the Chen Kingdom and the Dragon-Toppling Society, sharing Teng Snake soup as they negotiated. Chen Mu proposed high-altitude transport ships and revealed that the Chen Kingdom could supply fast transport vessels, while keeping its combat ships exclusive.

• Duan Tianlong shared roasted demon beast meat, and Chen Mu served him and Su Miaoyin rare Teng Snake soup.
• Duan Tianlong identified transportation as the main obstacle to cooperation because their territories lay far apart and between hostile lands.
• Chen Mu showed Duan Tianlong a map and proposed teleportation arrays for emergencies and high-altitude transport ships for regular trade.
• Duan Tianlong raised concerns about the expense and slow travel time of high-altitude ships.
• Chen Mu explained that the Chen Kingdom specialized in building large flying vessels and would sell outsiders transport ships, but not combat ships.