Chapter Summaries

The Inspection Department surrounded the village and advanced on the Zhang Family, but the villagers had gathered and prepared to fight. Li Xingkong assessed the clash as the Department opened fire with anesthetic ammunition to suppress their charge.

• The Inspection Department seized the village entrances, captured people there, and set up a formation to prevent anyone from escaping.
• The squads advanced toward the village center, where they found sturdy young men guarding a building resembling an ancestral hall.
• A villager announced that the Zhang Family would show its strength, then caught an Inspection Department hypnotic grenade and threw it away.
• The villagers charged the squads after the grenade was stopped, while the Department formed a barricade and prepared to engage.
• Li Xingkong observed that the villagers' boosted magic power made them formidable despite their weaker cultivation techniques.
• The Inspection Department's snipers opened fire with anesthetic bullets, overwhelming the villagers' shields with sustained fire.

Tang Cheng’s Inspection Department squads fought off a wave of attackers who detonated their Magic Power, then confronted the village’s remaining leader. After a fierce duel, Tang Cheng arrested the man, who surrendered with unsettling ease.

• The attackers charged the Inspection Department with phosphorus-fire explosions, so Tang Cheng lifted the restrictions on live fire and ordered the squads and drones to attack at full power.
• The squads wiped out the attackers in a chain of Magic Power explosions and surrounded the man who had stopped the grenades.
• Tang Cheng demanded the man surrender, but the man revealed strength far beyond the failed test subjects and fought Tang Cheng to a draw.
• Tang Cheng questioned how the man had obtained the Original Qi Refining Method, but the man taunted him and continued fighting.
• The man proposed ending the fight, then unexpectedly held out his hands and let Tang Cheng bind him, claiming he had cultivated the principle of keeping his word.

Tang Cheng brought Zhang Ru to the Dragon City Inspection Department after capturing him in Zhang Family Village, but Zhang Ru’s evasive answers frustrated the interrogation. Before Tang Cheng left for a victory banquet, Zhang Ru warned him that powerful factions were influencing cultivation reviews, Inspection Department recruitment, and public opinion.

• Tang Cheng questioned Zhang Ru during the trip back, but Zhang Ru’s literal answers revealed little about the evil technique or how he obtained the Advanced Qi Refining Method.
• The team returned to the Dragon City branch, where Li Xingkong went home and Tang Cheng placed Zhang Ru in prison before attending a victory banquet.
• Zhang Ru urged Tang Cheng to investigate the backgrounds and surnames of cultivation technique reviewers, new Inspection Department recruits, and people controlling online public opinion.
• Tang Cheng said he would return to interrogate Zhang Ru after the meeting, while Zhang Ru laughed and agreed to wait.

Tang Cheng returned to the Inspection Department to question Zhang Ru, only to find that the prisoner had vanished from his locked cell. After the guards found no clear explanation and the surveillance camera proved badly damaged, Tang Cheng called Li Xingkong to inspect it.

• Tang Cheng arrived at the Inspection Department and learned that Zhang Ru had escaped.
• Tang Cheng examined Zhang Ru's empty cell and questioned the guard, who said Zhang Ru had disappeared without anyone approaching.
• Tang Cheng learned that the surveillance server was under maintenance and Zhang Ru had smashed the camera.
• Tang Cheng detained the guard and placed Earthly Capital Inspection Department personnel in charge of guarding him.
• Tang Cheng asked Li Xingkong to see whether he could recover anything from the broken camera, and Li Xingkong dismantled it.

Li Xingkong restored the broken camera and helped Tang Cheng uncover that a guard had released Zhang Ru, but Zhang Ru’s escape and the suspected infiltration of the Dragon City Inspection Department left the investigation stalled. Tang Cheng decided to interrogate the guard with a Truth-Telling Formation, and Li Xingkong offered to try another approach while they waited.

• Li Xingkong used the Hexagram and his Divine Sense to repair the camera so Tang Cheng could review its footage.
• Tang Cheng saw the guard open Zhang Ru’s cell, let him leave, and then smash the camera after Zhang Ru waved at it.
• Tang Cheng suspected the force behind Zhang Ru had deeply infiltrated the local authorities and chose to question the guard again.
• The guard tried to destroy the repaired camera, so Tang Cheng kicked him, sealed his Qi Sea, and demanded to know who had ordered him to help Zhang Ru.
• The guard refused to talk, claiming he would die if he revealed anything, and Tang Cheng ordered a request for the Truth-Telling Formation.
• Li Xingkong offered to try questioning the guard himself rather than wait for the formation.

Li Xingkong forcibly searched Xiao Chen’s memories and gave Tang Cheng the fragments that revealed who had arranged Zhang Ru’s release. The chapter left Tang Cheng pursuing the fat man in the memories while Zhang Ru’s warning about the Zhang Family’s ambitions came to light.

• Tang Cheng handed Xiao Chen to Li Xingkong, who used his Divine Sense to search Xiao Chen’s memories and rendered him unconscious.
• Li Xingkong transferred the relevant memory fragments to Tang Cheng’s computer, where the first video showed Xiao Chen pledging himself to a fat man.
• Tang Cheng watched a second fragment in which the fat man ordered Xiao Chen to release a prisoner and promised him a deputy position.
• Tang Cheng sent someone to identify the fat man after the memories exposed him as Xiao Chen’s superior.
• Tang Cheng watched Xiao Chen’s memory of releasing Zhang Ru and heard Zhang Ru warn that the Zhang Family might rise to power.

Tang Cheng learned that Zhang Ru’s schemes reached beyond Dragon City, while Li Xingkong watched how institutional obstruction hampered the investigation. After Zhang Ren was arrested and sent to the Imperial Capital, Tang Cheng set out to pursue the case there, and Li Xingkong prepared to put his own plan into action.

• Tang Cheng and Li Xingkong left Xiao Chen’s cell and waited at the local Inspection Department for confirmation of the man behind him.
• Tang Cheng learned that Zhang Ren, the head of Dragon City’s Security Bureau, had been arrested by people from Hedong Province and had named those involved.
• Tang Cheng recognized the list Zhang Ren provided as a convenient sacrifice of minor figures and decided to question him.
• Tang Cheng learned Zhang Ren had already been sent to the Imperial Capital, then asked Li Xingkong to hold the fort in Dragon City and hurried away.
• Li Xingkong reflected on the obstacles Tang Cheng faced within the system and decided it was time to begin his own plan.

Li Xingkong refined a book-shaped artifact to monitor whether officials abused their powers, while limiting its reach to work-related thoughts and actions. After a week, he finished the artifact and named it the Luo Shu, but had not yet tested it.

• Li Xingkong decided to create a cultivation-based oversight system for the Divine Land and used his observations of Tang Cheng to guide its design.
• Li Xingkong obtained refining materials from the Earthly Capital and began crafting an artifact at the Inspection Department.
• Li Xingkong designed the book-shaped artifact to record the work-related thoughts and actions of those who signed their names, with subsidiary books extending its reach.
• Li Xingkong spent a week refining the artifact while Tang Cheng remained away in the Imperial Capital.
• Li Xingkong finished the golden, book-shaped artifact, named it the Luo Shu, and did not test it yet.

Li Xingkong gave Tang Cheng the Luo Shu after Tang Cheng returned from the Imperial Capital discouraged by how major families had gained influence through legitimate examinations. Tang Cheng remained determined to investigate the Zhang Family and hurried to bring the artifact to his father.

• Li Xingkong finished refining the Luo Shu and decided to hand it to Old Tang for practical use.
• Tang Cheng returned from the Imperial Capital and told Li Xingkong that Zhang Ren had refused to provide useful answers.
• Tang Cheng reported that major families had placed many members in government departments through legitimate, compliant examinations.
• Tang Cheng explained that family dominance could eventually turn departments into private fiefdoms, while Li Xingkong argued that the feared outcome had not yet happened.
• Tang Cheng said the Zhang Family investigation had stalled but vowed to find every remaining member and associate.
• Li Xingkong gave Tang Cheng the Luo Shu, and Tang Cheng absorbed its instructions and decided to return to the Imperial Capital with it.

Li Xingkong and Tang Cheng discussed the Zhang Family’s secret magic-power absorption and the nearly completed Nation-Protecting Grand Formation. Old Tang then warned that Mount Fuji’s eruption could trigger nuclear bombs and a catastrophic tsunami, and Li Xingkong and Tang Cheng rushed to respond.

• Tang Cheng estimated that the Zhang Family had absorbed magic power from around 60 million people in Hedong without visibly harming them, and planned to stake out Zhang Ru’s house.
• Li Xingkong accepted that modern law prevented them from taking down the entire Zhang Family by association.
• Tang Cheng told Li Xingkong that the Nation-Protecting Grand Formation was almost complete and would soon protect the whole Divine Land.
• Old Tang sent them a video of Mount Fuji erupting and explained that nuclear bombs near the volcano could trigger a disaster threatening the mainland.
• Old Tang told Li Xingkong to stop the emergency by any means necessary and ordered Tang Cheng to go to the Yellow Sea coast.
• Li Xingkong set out immediately, and Tang Cheng agreed to help contain any natural disaster.

Li Xingkong rushed to Mount Fuji to assess the impending eruption and search for a way to stop it. After fighter jets attacked him, he disabled their engines with his Divine Sense and continued facing the volcanic crisis.

• Li Xingkong flew to Cherry Blossom Country at full speed after speaking with Old Tang.
• He circled Mount Fuji’s vast ash cloud and inspected the crater, sensing that the eruption could threaten the Divine Land continent.
• A formation of fighter jets arrived and fired autocannons at Li Xingkong without warning.
• Li Xingkong crushed small engine components with his Divine Sense, sending the fighter jets spiraling toward the mountains.
• The bullets that hit Li Xingkong bounced off without harming him.

Li Xingkong sought a way to stop Mount Fuji from erupting by plugging its crater with a severed mountain peak. After Old Tang directed him to the non-volcanic Mount Yatsugatake range, Li Xingkong cut through Mount Amida and began figuring out how to move its summit.

• Li Xingkong decided to plug Mount Fuji's crater with a mountain peak, but discovered that a nearby mountain was also volcanic when he cut its summit.
• Li Xingkong contacted Old Tang, who identified Mount Yatsugatake as a nearby range without volcanoes and sent him its location.
• Li Xingkong flew to Mount Yatsugatake, where frightened residents mistook him for a god and panicked when he left the area.
• Li Xingkong chose Mount Amida as a suitable peak and gathered his strength for a full-power Sword Control Technique strike.
• Li Xingkong's Lightning Chaser sliced through Mount Amida, severing its upper portion, and he considered how to transport it to Mount Fuji.

Li Xingkong carried Mount Amida to Mount Fuji and plugged the crater to stop the imminent eruption. Earthly Capital's geologist warned that sealing the crater would trap underground pressure, leaving the volcano at risk of a more dangerous blast.

• Li Xingkong used his Magic Power to lift Mount Amida and flew toward Mount Fuji as people watched in fear.
• Li Xingkong lodged Mount Amida upside down into Mount Fuji's crater, temporarily stopping the smoke.
• Li Xingkong reported to Old Tang that he had plugged the crater, while Earthly Capital's officials fell silent in shock.
• A geologist warned that the blocked crater would trap pressure underground, and the people in Earthly Capital realized Mount Fuji could burst under the pressure.

Li Xingkong realized that sealing Mount Fuji had redirected rising magma pressure toward nearby volcanoes, threatening a larger eruption. With the system’s hint, he calculated that the Sword Control Technique could solve the problem with one all-out strike, and prepared to use it.

• Li Xingkong confirmed that magma pressure was pushing nearby secondary volcanoes upward after he sealed Mount Fuji’s vent.
• Old Tang and Earthly Capital discussed ways to relieve the pressure, but the available methods were impractical at the scale of the disaster.
• Earthly Capital sent Li Xingkong a topographical map, and he considered diverting water from the Pacific Ocean before deciding it would not be enough.
• The system told Li Xingkong that the solution lay in the Sword Control Technique.
• Li Xingkong used his hexagram to run tens of thousands of calculations and found a solution requiring one sword strike that would leave him nearly drained.

Li Xingkong carved a fissure from Mount Fuji to the Pacific coast near Yoshiwara, allowing seawater to enter and relieve pressure beneath the volcano. He collapsed from exhaustion on a nearby beach as the fissure reduced the eruption’s force by at least eighty or ninety percent.

• Li Xingkong stopped the Hexagram and hurried to act as energy beneath the volcanoes neared the point of eruption.
• Li Xingkong enveloped himself and Lightning Chaser in a Mana Circuit and plunged into Mount Fuji’s crater.
• Li Xingkong used his Divine Sense to find his calculated route and spun his sword into a drill through the magma and underground rock.
• Li Xingkong cut a fissure from Mount Fuji toward Yoshiwara, releasing underground pressure as lava rose through it.
• Li Xingkong reached the sea, where seawater flooded the fissure, then collapsed on the beach from exhaustion.
• After Li Xingkong fell asleep, seawater and escaping gas reduced the volcanic pressure and weakened the eruption by at least eighty or ninety percent.

Li Xingkong weakened Mount Fuji’s eruption, but Cherry Blossom Country detonated nuclear bombs around the volcano, triggering further disasters and cutting off the island. As a tsunami approached the Divine Land, Earthly Capital prepared to rely on cultivators to hold it back while Old Tang sought authorization to send the Jianmu to rescue people.

• Li Xingkong’s efforts reduced the eruption’s force, but lava and ash still poured from Mount Fuji.
• A report revealed that Cherry Blossom Country had remotely detonated nuclear bombs around Mount Fuji, and the resulting EMP cut off communications at the scene.
• Old Tang ordered officials to keep trying to contact Li Xingkong and sought authorization to send the Jianmu to rescue Divine Land citizens and locate him.
• Earthquakes and coastal subsidence struck Cherry Blossom Country after the detonations, and a tsunami was forecast to reach the Divine Land coast in half an hour.
• Earthly Capital learned that more than ten thousand Late Qi Refining Stage cultivators and the formation’s designer were preparing to use themselves as the foundation of a temporary Nation-Protecting Grand Formation.

Xia Yuqing organized cultivators to use the Nation-Protecting Grand Formation to defend the Divine Land from an unusually large tsunami. Tang Cheng volunteered for the most dangerous task, and he prepared to take an outer node where he would face the tsunami’s full force.

• Xia Yuqing assigned cultivators to serve as formation cores and reinforce vulnerable nodes of the Nation-Protecting Grand Formation.
• Xia Yuqing proposed using cultivators’ magic power to construct Tesla valves at sea and weaken the tsunami.
• The cultivators hesitated at the danger of building the valves, but Tang Cheng stepped forward and took charge of arranging their nodes.
• Tang Cheng studied the deployment diagram and decided to take one of the most dangerous outermost positions himself.

Tang Cheng encountered Zhang Ru at the disaster response and learned that Zhang had brought a large Zhang Family force to claim and assign node positions. As they shaped the nodes, Zhang Ru explained how great families prepared their children for specific roles and invested in opposing sides to survive, leaving Tang Cheng reconsidering his view of them.

• Zhang Ru greeted Tang Cheng and offered to help with the node assignments, then signaled for his cultivators to gather.
• Around two thousand Late Qi Refining cultivators arrived behind Zhang Ru, and he assigned them to the nodes before returning the map to Tang Cheng.
• Zhang Ru claimed Tang Cheng's chosen position and took it himself, sending Tang Cheng to the final node.
• Tang Cheng asked Zhang Ru why he had returned, why he chose the dangerous position, and why he had fled before.
• Zhang Ru explained that great families assigned children future roles early and invested in both sides of conflicts so the family could endure whoever won.

Zhang Ru explained that his family had used evil cultivation to build strength and support another Zhang family member, accepting that he was a disposable piece who would die for the cause. As a tsunami approached the disaster-relief front, Tang Cheng and the others prepared to defend the shore.

• Zhang Ru told Tang Cheng that he cultivated through an evil art to give the Zhang Family an advantage, despite knowing it would ruin his chance of reaching Foundation Establishment.
• Zhang Ru admitted that his family had preyed on ordinary people and that he had come to earn merit for another Zhang, a righteous official who knew nothing of the operation.
• Zhang Ru explained that after the operation was exposed, he became a stepping stone for his family and chose to sacrifice himself rather than let his capture make that sacrifice meaningless.
• Zhang Ru said his group had come to face the disaster without expecting to return, then warned everyone as a huge wave appeared on the horizon.
• The formation activated, and a magic-powered Tesla valve formed before the Nation-Protecting Grand Formation as the defenders prepared to engage.

Tang Cheng, Zhang Ru, and the cultivators defended the coast from a tsunami using the Nation-Protecting Grand Formation and a Tesla valve. When the formation failed and cultivators were swept away, Zhang Ru’s group sacrificed themselves to blast a gap in the waves, which eventually weakened and passed.

• The cultivators braced the Tesla valve and Nation-Protecting Grand Formation against the first waves of the tsunami.
• Zhang Ru ordered the injured cultivators to rotate positions as the stronger waves battered the formation.
• A cultivator was swept away, opening a gap that allowed the waves to carry away several more people.
• Zhang Ru told Tang Cheng to retreat, then ordered the grand formation abandoned as it collapsed.
• Zhang Ru and the other cultivators charged into the waves and self-destructed, blasting a gap that helped the tsunami weaken until the sea grew calm.