Chapter Summaries

Lin Xiye used the Three Talents Formation Flags and spirit poison to devastate the Zhao Household forces. As the Zhao Household ancestor fled behind the Earth River Shield, Lin Xiye launched five more flame talismans at him.

• The Three Talents Formation Flags slaughtered nine Zhao Household cultivators and gravely wounded the first and second elders.
• The Zhao Household ancestor raised the Earth River Shield and told the two elders to hold it while he recovered.
• The Zhao Household ancestor swallowed a living pill refined from cultivators' Essence Blood and resolved to slaughter nearby forces for ingredients to make another.
• Lin Xiye strengthened the formation and released three spirit poison bottles, which incapacitated the two elders and threatened the ancestor.
• The Zhao Household ancestor abandoned the elders and tried to flee under the Earth River Shield, but Lin Xiye launched five flame talismans at him.

Lin Xiye trapped the wounded Zhao Household patriarch inside the Three Talents Formation Flags while the Zhao Household’s siege of Qiao Town faltered. Lin Changge ordered a giant crossbow prepared to help Lin Xiye kill the patriarch, as the Lin Household fought to replace the Zhao Household.

• The Zhao Household patriarch stabbed his thigh to stay conscious, then used the Earth River Shield to endure a Flame Talisman while Lin Xiye kept him trapped in the formation.
• The Zhao Household’s affiliated forces fled with their troops, leaving the Zhao Household’s armored guards and heavy cavalry to continue attacking Qiao Town.
• The Zhao Household patriarch ordered his guards to abandon the siege and surround Lin Xiye, but the formation killed the guards who approached and turned arrows back on their attackers.
• Lin Changge refused an elder’s offer to lead guards out to help Lin Xiye and said the battle depended on defeating the Zhao Household patriarch.
• Lin Changge ordered the Lin Household guards to load and draw Qiao Town’s heavy crossbow, preparing to shoot the patriarch.

Lin Xiye defeated and killed the Zhao Household ancestor, then took control of the surviving Zhao Household troops. He defended the need for ruthless action against enemies, leaving the Lin Household preparing to advance on Zichuan City.

• A heavy crossbow arrow struck the Zhao Household ancestor’s Earth River Shield, but the impact gravely injured him and left him unable to resist Lin Xiye.
• The Zhao Household ancestor urged his guards to flee and preserve the clan’s bloodline, but Lin Xiye seized the shield and killed him with a punch.
• Lin Xiye stopped several guards from fleeing and ordered the remaining Zhao Household troops to surrender and be bound.
• Lin Changge called for the prisoners and every Zhao Household member to be killed, while a young Lin woman objected that they were innocent.
• Lin Xiye told the younger Lin descendants about the Zhao Household’s past massacres and insisted that survival required blood and iron.

After the Lin Household defeated the Zhao Household, Lin Xiye and Lin Changge used the aftermath to remind the younger generation of the cost of conflict and reward the guards who had fought. Lin Xiye examined the Zhao Household’s treasures and planned future cultivation purchases as the Lin Household prepared to establish itself in Zichuan City.

• Lin Xiye ordered Lin Changge to show the younger members the villages that depended on the Lin Household, while the Zhao Household’s captured guards begged for mercy.
• The Lin Household executed the Zhao guards, and Lin Changge and the elders urged the younger generation to witness the slaughter and remember the Zhao Household’s crimes.
• After the battle, Lin Changge rewarded the dead, wounded, and surviving guards, then ordered the spoils returned to Qiao Town and the Zhao dead burned.
• Lin Xiye examined the captured Earth River Shield and the first half of the Insect Rearing Scripture, considering how he might use the scripture to raise poisonous insects.
• Lin Xiye decided to wait until the Lin Household had stabilized in Zichuan City before visiting the immortal cultivators’ market to seek insect eggs and materials for a Life-Bound Law Treasure.

After Lin Xiye entered secluded cultivation to recover, Lin Changge organized the Lin Household’s forces and prepared to occupy Zichuan City. He left the timing undecided until Lin Xiye recovered and the household had gathered supplies, while imposing strict rules against harming innocent people.

• Lin Xiye began cultivating in a secret chamber to recover the Qi and Blood he had spent fighting the Zhao Household patriarch.
• Lin Changge assembled three thousand infantry armored guards, the most Qiao Town could provide after the Zhao Household’s forces had devastated nearby villages.
• A Lin Household elder called for slaughtering Zichuan City’s inhabitants, and Lin Changge rebuked him, declaring that the Lin Household needed the population to develop the city.
• Lin Changge issued laws prohibiting looting and indiscriminate killing, with execution by a thousand cuts as punishment, even for household elders.
• Lin Changge delayed the march on Zichuan City until Lin Xiye recovered and the Lin Household prepared provisions, then went to visit him.

After its defeat at Qiao Town, the Zhao Household lost control of Zichuan City and faced a likely attack by the Lin Household. The patriarch ordered the household to hold the city and sent for help from the Song Household, hoping to save its lineage.

• News of the Zhao Household's defeat reached Zichuan City, where panic, looting, and flight spread among the residents.
• Zhao Household elders urged the patriarch to abandon the city and scatter their people, but he explained that rival forces had surrounded it and would block their escape.
• An elder blamed the patriarch for provoking the Lin Household by trying to annex Qiao Town, and the patriarch accepted responsibility.
• The Zhao Household patriarch ordered everyone to defend Zichuan City and said he would ask the Song Household for mediation.
• The elders welcomed the plan, hoping the powerful Song Household would prevent the Lin Household from destroying them.

The Zhao Household patriarch sent a plea for help to the Song Household and ordered Zichuan City’s residents to defend the city for five days. Lin Xiye agreed to lead the Lin Household into Zichuan City, leaving the Zhao Household’s rule on the verge of collapse.

• The Zhao Household patriarch sent a letter by peregrine falcon to the Song Household patriarch, hoping to secure aid.
• The Zhao Household patriarch ordered the elders to stabilize Zichuan City and mobilize its residents to resist the Lin Household for five days.
• Lin Changge visited Lin Xiye and asked him to help the Lin Household enter Zichuan City and deter nearby forces.
• Lin Xiye revealed that he had advanced to the Middle Stage of the Organ Refining Realm and ordered the Lin Household to set out for Zichuan City.

Lin Changge led the Lin Household’s forces toward Zichuan City to fight the Zhao Household and use the battle to unite and strengthen his lineage, while Lin Xiye waited nearby and cultivated. Meanwhile, the Song Household gathered its senior members to decide whether to aid the Zhao Household in exchange for its resources and territory.

• Lin Changge rallied three thousand armored guards and Lin Household members, then led them toward Zichuan City to destroy the Zhao Household’s remaining forces.
• Lin Xiye left the giant vicious tiger in charge of guarding Qiao Town, rewarded it with a Spirit Stone fragment, and instructed it to protect the town.
• Lin Xiye reached the mountains near Zichuan City, carved out a temporary cave abode, and cultivated while waiting for the Lin Household’s forces to arrive.
• The Song Household patriarch summoned the senior members to discuss the Zhao Household’s plea for help and its offer of resources and territory.

The Song Household patriarch tried to send forces to Zichuan City to claim the Zhao Household’s legacy, but three rival factions opposed him and left the council chamber. He remained determined to take the city, believing its resources would strengthen his faction ahead of the patriarchal election.

• Song Shanhe and his faction opposed intervening in the Zhao Household’s conflict, citing the Lin Household, the Su Household, and the risks of expansion.
• Song Huaixin also rejected the plan, warning that the Song Household had not investigated the Lin Household and could invite disaster.
• The first elder’s faction stayed neutral as the patriarch asserted his authority and ordered the Song Household to take Zichuan City, declaring dissenters traitors to the Lineage.
• Song Huaixin and Song Shanhe left with their factions, and the first elder departed after warning that the patriarch’s seat was difficult to hold.
• The patriarch remained in the nearly empty chamber and resolved that taking Zichuan City would greatly increase his faction’s strength.

The Lin Household launched a siege on Zichuan City to replace the Zhao Household as its hegemon, while the Song Household sent elders to deter the Lin Household. As the battle raged and both sides suffered losses, Lin Changge kept Lin Xiye from joining the fight so the Lin Household’s younger generation would face the struggle themselves.

• The Song Household patriarch sent the Fifth Elder and Seventh Elder to Zichuan City to deter the Lin Household.
• Lin Changge led the Lin Household’s forces in an assault on Zichuan City, while Lin Xiye stayed back with the Three Talents Formation Flags.
• The Zhao Household’s hastily conscripted defenders panicked under the bombardment, and Zhao Household guards used violence and threats to force them to hold the walls.
• A Lin Household elder led two martial artists up a scaling ladder as the Lin Household pressed its attack and suffered heavy casualties.
• A dying Lin Household elder taught the younger clansmen that sacrifice was necessary for the lineage to survive.
• Lin Xiye repeatedly tried to join the battle, but Lin Changge stopped him and insisted the clan’s people fight without relying on their ancestor.

The Lin Household broke through Zichuan City's defenses and entered the city, while Bai Youfu recognized that its rise threatened the independence of the surrounding households. As the Zhao Household's resistance collapsed, its head invoked the Song Household of Thousand Rocks City to try to deter Lin Changge, still wary of Lin Xiye.

• Bai Youfu told a Skin Refining Realm cultivator that the Lin Household was using the battle to strengthen its clan and worried that its rise could not be stopped.
• The Lin Household suffered heavy losses, but its armored guards seized positions on Zichuan City's walls as the Zhao Household defenders began to rout.
• The Lin Household smashed open the city gates, and Lin Changge ordered his forces to kill those fighting for the Zhao Household while sparing ordinary residents unaffiliated with it.
• The Zhao Household head emerged from his estate, threatened the Lin Household with the Song Household's intervention, and searched for Lin Xiye.

Lin Xiye led the Lin Household to destroy the Zhao Household and take control of Zichuan City, then explained why enemies had to be eliminated while reassuring the city’s people. As other households entered the city, Lin Changge surveyed the Zhao Household’s immense wealth and saw the means to greatly strengthen the Lin Household.

• Lin Xiye killed the Zhao Household patriarch and ordered the Lin Household to leave no one alive.
• The Lin Household attacked the Zhao Household, while Lin Xiye taught a young clansman why the lineage had to eliminate its enemies and promised not to abuse women, children, or innocents.
• The Xu Household ancestor ordered his people to enter Zichuan City without plundering or disrupting order, and the Zhou, Bai, and smaller households followed.
• Lin Changge inventoried the Zhao Household’s treasury, whose accumulated wealth could fund a force of at least fifty thousand armored guards and greatly increase the Lin Household’s strength.

Lin Xiye rejected the other forces’ attempt to share authority over the territory around Zichuan City and launched an attack on their leaders. He trapped the Zhou and Xu Household ancestors with a Spirit-Nurturing Grade formation flag, leaving them unable to threaten him with their Five Thunder Talismans.

• Lin Xiye claimed half of the Zhao Household’s wealth and left Lin Changge to arrange the remainder as he saw fit.
• Bai Youfu and the leaders of the Zhou, Xu, and other forces congratulated the Lin Household while demanding that they jointly maintain order around Zichuan City.
• Lin Xiye killed Bai Youfu with a single sword strike and took his Five Thunder Talisman.
• The Zhou and Xu Household ancestors confronted Lin Xiye with their own Five Thunder Talismans, but he activated the Three Talents Formation Flags and trapped them.
• Lin Xiye protected himself with the Earth River Shield as the Xu Household ancestor’s Five Thunder Talisman failed to damage the formation.

Lin Xiye killed the Zhou Household ancestor and slaughtered the forces of the three major households, while the minor powers surrendered to the Lin Household. As Lin Xiye left the cleanup to Lin Changge and headed to cultivate, two powerful presences arrived outside Zichuan City.

• The Xu Household ancestor died inside the Three Talents Formation Flags, and the Zhou Household ancestor begged Lin Xiye for mercy and offered his Low-Level Five Thunder Talisman.
• Lin Xiye took the talisman, entered the formation, and killed the Zhou Household ancestor with a single palm strike.
• The three households' leaders tried to attack the Lin Household and flee, but Lin Xiye trapped and slaughtered their forces.
• The leaders of the minor powers knelt before Lin Xiye and pledged to serve the Lin Household, and Lin Xiye told Lin Changge to handle them.
• As Lin Xiye turned toward the Zhao Household residence to recover, two powerful presences appeared outside Zichuan City.

The Song Household's fifth and seventh elders confronted Lin Xiye and demanded that the Lin Household leave Zichuan City. Lin Xiye struck back against the seventh elder to establish the Lin Household's resolve before negotiating over the city.

• The Song Household's fifth and seventh elders entered Zichuan City and declared that the Zhao Household's destruction had crossed the Song Household's bottom line.
• The seventh elder demanded that Lin Xiye withdraw the Lin Household's forces within half a shichen so the Song Household could claim the city.
• A Lin Household elder protested that the Lin Household had fought and sacrificed to take Zichuan City, while Lin Changge and the others waited for Lin Xiye's decision.
• The seventh elder attacked the protesting elder to test Lin Xiye's limits, while the fifth elder stayed back to mediate if needed.
• Lin Xiye used the Three Talents Formation Flags to counter the seventh elder, intending to resist before making concessions and secure better terms for the Lin Household.

Lin Xiye trapped the Song Household's Fifth and Seventh Elders in the Three Talents Formation Flags and used Low-Level Five Thunder Talismans to force them into negotiations. The Song Household accepted that the Lin Household would control Zichuan City, but its Fifth Elder demanded a larger share of the surrounding territory before returning to the patriarch.

• Lin Xiye's Three Talents Formation Flags bound and attacked the Song Household's Fifth and Seventh Elders, while he threatened them with two Low-Level Five Thunder Talismans.
• The Song Household's elders yielded, and the Fifth Elder apologized and asked Lin Xiye to negotiate.
• The Fifth Elder said the Song Household wanted the Zhao Household's accumulated resources and a share of Zichuan City's jurisdiction.
• Lin Xiye refused to surrender the Zhao Household's resources and offered the Song Household the outermost three hundred li of Zichuan City's sphere of influence.
• The Fifth Elder countered that the Song Household needed the outermost seven hundred li to satisfy its patriarch, while warning that the Song Household would not let the matter rest if it received too little.

Lin Xiye forced the Song Household to accept a settlement taking five hundred li of territory, then urged the Lin clansmen to turn their humiliation into resolve. He retreated to the former Zhao Household residence to recover and used the seized resources to strengthen his preparations.

• Lin Xiye negotiated with the Song Household's fifth elder and ceded five hundred li of territory to avert another conflict.
• The Song Household's fifth and seventh elders left Zichuan City after securing the territory without paying a price.
• Lin Xiye told the angry Lin clansmen that their weakness had forced them to endure the loss and urged them to draw courage from their shame.
• Lin Xiye entered the former Zhao Household residence, set up an illusion formation, and prepared to cultivate and recover.
• Lin Xiye had half of the Zhao Household's resources brought to his courtyard and planned to improve his aptitude, upgrade his two Low-Level Five Thunder Talismans, and repair the Foundation Establishment Grade Spirit Gathering Formation.

Lin Xiye used the Immortal-Appraising Treasure Mirror to turn two Low-Level Five Thunder Talismans into powerful Five Thunder Talisman Treasures and restore a damaged Foundation Establishment Grade Spirit Gathering Formation. After an attempt to improve his Profound-grade Spirit Root failed, he conserved his remaining Spirit Stone fragments and began cultivating toward Organ Refining Realm Perfection.

• Lin Xiye spent much of the Zhao Household's accumulated reserves to enhance two Low-Level Five Thunder Talismans into Five Thunder Talisman Treasures.
• Lin Xiye used his remaining Cultivation Resources to repair the Foundation Establishment Grade Spirit Gathering Formation enough to create a threefold Spiritual Qi vortex.
• Lin Xiye spent twenty Spirit Stone fragments trying to upgrade his Profound-grade Spirit Root, but it remained Profound-grade despite his improved aptitude.
• Lin Xiye reserved his remaining Spirit Stone fragments to maintain the formation and support his cultivation, planning to reach Organ Refining Realm Perfection before preparing for the Spirit Nourishing Realm.
• Lin Xiye sat cross-legged within the Spirit Gathering Formation and began cultivating.

Lin Changge spent six months consolidating the Lin Household’s territory and expanding its forces, but the costs left its finances nearly exhausted. A silver mine promised a huge windfall, and Lin Mo reported that its reserves were twenty times greater than first estimated.

• Lin Changge transformed the former Zhao Household residence into the Lin Household’s ancestral grounds and established a Hall of Meritorious Deeds.
• Lin Changge built roads linking Zichuan City with the four towns under Lin Household control and organized a ten-thousand-strong legion and five hundred heavy cavalry.
• Lin Changge found that the Lin Household had only five thousand taels of silver left and that its industries were spending more than they earned.
• A young man reported that Lin Mo had discovered a silver mine near Clear Spring Town, initially estimated to contain at least ten billion taels of silver.
• Lin Changge traveled with armored guards to inspect the mine, where Lin Mo told him its reserves were estimated at two hundred billion taels of silver.

Lin Changge reported that a vast silver vein near Clear Spring Town could attract powerful households and the Blood Wolf Hall, leaving the Lin Household unable to claim it alone. After returning to Zichuan City, he reached Lin Xiye just as the ancestor prepared to leave for Qiao Town and a cultivation marketplace.

• Elder Lin Mo told Lin Changge that the silver vein held an immense amount of silver and that news of it had likely spread among nearby villages.
• Lin Changge ordered the guards to delay any surveying parties and hurried back to Zichuan City to consult the ancestor.
• Lin Xiye reached Organ Refining Realm Perfection and decided to take his hundred-year-old Spirit Tempering Grass to a larger marketplace for cultivation resources.
• Lin Xiye gathered his possessions, including two Spirit Stone fragments he planned to give the giant tiger, and prepared to leave for Qiao Town.
• Lin Changge arrived exhausted and covered in snow, and Lin Xiye used Qi and Blood to warm him and restore his color.