Chapter Summaries

After Li Qiang discovered that Zeng Weiguang had defrauded his company and betrayed him with his girlfriend, he stabbed Zeng and fled, then agreed to leave Earth with the mysterious Fu Shan. Fu Shan brought him to an ancient battlefield, fused him with the Purple Flame Heart, and prepared to take him away to begin cultivation.

• Li Qiang learned that Ansheng Company's president had fled with a large sum of money, leaving Li Qiang's company exposed as a guarantor.
• Li Qiang returned to the Hilton Hotel and discovered Zeng Weiguang and his girlfriend together, then stabbed Zeng and left without looking back.
• After Li Qiang drove to Se Lake, Fu Shan appeared and offered to help him; Li Qiang agreed to go with him as police closed in.
• Fu Shan transported Li Qiang to an ancient battlefield and used the Purple Flame Heart to transform his body and lay the foundation for cultivation.
• Fu Shan explained that he was a cultivator from Earth who had come from Sealed Fate Planet, and gave Li Qiang new clothes and a storage bracelet.
• Fu Shan and Li Qiang set off together, vanishing in a flash of white light.

After Fu Shan took Li Qiang from Earth to Mars, Li Qiang accidentally activated the Purple Flame Heart and discovered his rapid cultivation came with uncontrollable flames and strength. As Fu Shan prepared to teleport them to Sealed Fate Planet, a newcomer arrived whom Fu Shan recognized as his sworn enemy.

• Li Qiang spent nineteen days buying supplies with nearly all the cash in his storage bracelet before Fu Shan took him to Mars.
• While Fu Shan meditated inside the Five-Colored Flame Veil, Li Qiang activated the Purple Flame Heart, blasted through the shield, and crashed into a cliff and then the ground.
• Fu Shan woke and gave Li Qiang the Stars Filling the Sky inner armor, which absorbed the flames, and a Jade Pupil Slip containing cultivation and crafting information.
• Fu Shan and Li Qiang reached an abandoned teleportation array, where Fu Shan began restoring it to send them to Sealed Fate Planet.
• Whistles sounded as the array prepared to activate, and Fu Shan called for the newcomer, whom he identified as his sworn enemy.

Hua Meiniang attacked Fu Shan and sent Li Qiang through the teleportation array to Heavenly Court Star, where he discovered the writings of earlier arrivals from ancient China. After studying a jade eye slip for seven months, Li Qiang reached the Nascent Soul early stage and set out to explore the planet.

• Hua Meiniang challenged Fu Shan, but he overcame her Myriad Flowers Tribulation with the Golden Butterfly Blade and ruined her peach-blossom treasures.
• Hua Meiniang activated the teleportation array and sent Li Qiang away before escaping Fu Shan with her Myriad Flowers Cover.
• Li Qiang arrived on Heavenly Court Star, found inscriptions describing 756 ancient Chinese arrivals, and carved his own message into a rock.
• Li Qiang studied the jade eye slip in meditation for seven months and advanced to the Nascent Soul early stage.
• Li Qiang packed his supplies and began exploring Heavenly Court Star.

Li Qiang entered Hanlin City, where his Hangzhou dialect and Sky-Full-of-Stars Inner Armor led officials to mistake him for a member of the imperial clan. After settling at the prefectural yamen, he went shopping with Cheng Zizhong and four maids, but realized he did not know how to pay for his purchases.

• Li Qiang emerged from the Forest of Sighs, reached Hanlin City, and learned from soldier Hua about the Gusong Kingdom and the Green Basin.
• Prefect Feng Kaiyun confronted Li Qiang over his lack of official documents, but Li Qiang's Sky-Full-of-Stars Inner Armor appeared and Feng Kaiyun knelt, believing him to be imperial royalty.
• Feng Kaiyun consulted Cheng Zizhong and then allowed Li Qiang to tour the city with Cheng Zizhong and the maids Chunxiang, Qiuxiang, Juxiang, and Lanxiang.
• Li Qiang bought the four maids eight outfits and a Biqi Beast cloak, then asked Cheng Zizhong where to find a jewelry shop after discovering he did not know the local currency.

Li Qiang visited Zhao's jewelry shop to sell gems, where Zhao Hao recognized his cultivation and became his first Registered Disciple. At the shop, Li Qiang refined a powerful arm shield and tested it against Zhao Hao, nearly injuring him before naming it the Crimson Flame Dragon Shield.

• Cheng Zizhong took Li Qiang to Zhao's Treasure Silver and Gold Jewelry Shop, where Li Qiang showed Zhao Degui his jadeite, rain splendor stone, and diamonds.
• Zhao Hao recognized Li Qiang's Nascent Soul cultivation, knelt to request guidance, and became Li Qiang's first Registered Disciple after Li Qiang agreed to accept him as a Registered Disciple.
• Li Qiang gave the gems to Zhao Hao's family, then moved into the jewelry shop and began refining a protective arm shield while Zhao Hao watched.
• Li Qiang completed the silver shield with a dragon design and defensive and offensive formations after seven days and nights of work.
• Zhao Hao tested the shield with his Giant Wind Saber, which shattered as the shield's formations retaliated; Li Qiang stopped the attack and rescued Zhao Hao.
• Li Qiang offered to make Zhao Hao a replacement weapon, and Zhao Hao suggested naming the shield the Crimson Flame Dragon Shield, which Li Qiang approved.

Li Qiang helped Zhao Hao restart his cultivation, then joined him in defending the household as the Black Banner Army besieged Hanlin City. After Zhao Hao and Li Qiang drove back the attackers at one street entrance, they encountered the army’s slaughter and looting, and Li Qiang stormed Fatty Qi’s clothing shop in fury.

• Li Qiang taught Zhao Hao to restart at the revolving illumination stage, refined weapons for himself and a treasured saber for Zhao Hao, and used a Crimson Flame Stone to help Zhao Hao begin transforming into a younger man.
• Zhao Hao and Li Qiang learned that Hanlin City was under siege by En Gang’s Black Banner Army, and Zhao Hao organized his family and household guards to flee through the east gate.
• When Thunder Banner General Yuan Ba and Snow Banner General Han Jingtian attacked Zhao Hao’s rear guard, Zhao Hao knocked Yuan Ba from his horse with his treasured saber, and Li Qiang killed the surrounding soldiers with his Eagle Strike Crossbow.
• Yuan Ba and Han Jingtian ordered a retreat, while Zhao Hao proudly named himself Mad Saber Zhao Hao and Li Qiang caught up with the group as the Black Banner Army continued killing and looting the city.
• Li Qiang heard soldiers attacking people inside Fatty Qi’s clothing shop, rushed in with Zhao Hao behind him, and slaughtered the soldiers as Fatty Qi sobbed while holding a young boy.

Li Qiang fought through Hanlin City to help civilians escape, then battled the Black Banner Army’s leader En Gang and was badly wounded. After recovering at Zhao Hao’s estate in Wind Chime Town, he learned that war with the Litang Kingdom might be coming, and an imperial decree arrived summoning him.

• Fatty Qi gave his son to Li Qiang, then killed himself, and Li Qiang burned the shop before fighting his way toward the eastern gate with Zhao Hao and a growing crowd of civilians.
• Li Qiang routed the Black Banner Army at the eastern gate, allowing civilians and officials to flee, before confronting En Gang as Zhao Hao led the others away.
• Li Qiang and En Gang traded devastating attacks; both were grievously wounded, and Zhao Hao carried Li Qiang from the battlefield to Wind Chime Town.
• After five days of recovery at Zhao Hao’s estate, Li Qiang met with Zhao Hao, Cheng Zizhong, and other survivors, and they discussed the Black Banner Army’s retreat and rumors of war with the Litang Kingdom.
• A servant announced that an imperial decree had arrived for Li Qiang, who suspected Feng Kaiyun had arranged it.

Li Qiang agreed to travel to the capital for an imperial audience and joined Ling Hongxuan’s caravan, which had to cross bandit-infested Seven Forks Ridge. There he helped defeat Zheng Peng, who lost a wager and agreed to follow him, just as a formidable female bandit chief appeared.

• Feng Kaiyun reported Li Qiang’s deeds to the emperor, who summoned Li Qiang to the capital; Li Qiang accepted the decree and arranged to travel with Zhao Hao, Cheng Zizhong, and Ling Hongxuan’s caravan.
• Li Qiang reflected on his fight in Hanlin City and resolved to avoid killing ordinary people, then learned that the journey to the capital would pass through several dangerous places.
• At Seven Forks Ridge, Li Qiang and Zhao Hao scouted ahead and encountered Zheng Peng and his bandits demanding the caravan’s goods.
• Li Qiang wagered that Zhao Hao could defeat Zheng Peng, and Zhao Hao disarmed him; Zheng Peng accepted his loss and offered to follow Li Qiang.
• Li Qiang agreed to take Zheng Peng with him, but a young woman identified as the bandits’ head chief appeared and demanded to know who had struck him.

Li Qiang, Zhao Hao, and Zheng Peng pursued a thief who stole their Wuliangchun from Panshi Town and ran into the dangerous Soul-Startling Slope with Mei Jingjing. After they fought off three Shadow-Shooting Insects, a vast swarm approached as Li Qiang began setting up a defensive formation.

• Li Qiang broke Mei Jingjing’s whip restraints, then agreed to take her along after she pretended to cry; the caravan later reached Panshi Town.
• At the Hundred Flavors Tower, Li Qiang shared Wuliangchun, but a strange lean man stole the bottle and fled, so Zhao Hao, Li Qiang, Mei Jingjing, and Zheng Peng chased him.
• The four pursuers reached Soul-Startling Slope at dawn, where three Shadow-Shooting Insects attacked and Mei Jingjing bound them with her whip while Li Qiang and Zhao Hao helped kill them.
• Zheng Peng found a blue bead inside an insect, and Li Qiang gave Mei Jingjing two beads while she and Zheng Peng argued over them.
• When a huge swarm of insects approached, Li Qiang began laying out a defensive formation and told the others to hold the line.

Li Qiang and his companions survived a swarm of Shadow-Shooting Insects at Soul-Startling Slope, where Li Qiang formed a Purple Mansion Nascent Soul and discovered that the insects’ beads could explode into ice. After the group encountered the liquor-loving expert who had stolen Zhao Hao’s liquor, the man provoked a Gold Crystal Horn Beast and left it to pursue them.

• Li Qiang protected Zhao Hao, Mei Jingjing, and Zheng Peng inside a defensive formation while they fought off Shadow-Shooting Insects, then went out to battle the swarm himself.
• Mei Jingjing, Zhao Hao, and Zheng Peng rushed from the formation to help Li Qiang, forcing him to rescue them and return with them to safety.
• A fire ignited by Li Qiang’s golden eagles drove off the insects, and Li Qiang replenished his true essence by discovering the Purple Mansion Nascent Soul within himself.
• The group found that a Shadow-Shooting Insect’s bead exploded into freezing ice when Li Qiang activated it with true essence, and they continued onward after collecting beads.
• The companions found the liquor thief in a tree, and Li Qiang lured him down by opening a bottle of Maotai.
• The expert vanished, then returned with a Gold Crystal Horn Beast pursuing him and fled back to the tree, leaving Li Qiang and his companions facing the beast.

Li Qiang and his companions encountered Hou Pijing, who freed the Gold Crystal Horn Beast and revealed his connection to Fu Shan. After Li Qiang’s strong alcohol broke Hou Pijing’s Heartless Knot, Hou Pijing taught the group cultivation skills and agreed to accompany Li Qiang to the Gusong Kingdom capital, as two Poison Incantation Sect elders tracked them down.

• Li Qiang led his companions to evade the Gold Crystal Horn Beast, while Hou Pijing subdued it, snapped off its horn, and demanded liquor in exchange for driving it away.
• Hou Pijing introduced himself and explained that he and Fu Shan were longtime friends and rivals, then described Fu Shan’s place in the Profound Mystery sect.
• Li Qiang gave Hou Pijing ninety-percent alcohol, which dissolved the Heartless Knot sealing his Nascent Soul, and Hou Pijing promised to support him.
• Hou Pijing taught Li Qiang, Zhao Hao, Mei Jingjing, and Zheng Peng to fly and cultivate; Zhao Hao received the Cold Sparrow sword after Li Qiang traded Hou Pijing bottles of liquor.
• Hou Pijing agreed to accompany Li Qiang to the Gusong Kingdom capital, then spotted the two Poison Incantation Sect elders who had tracked them there.

Hou Pijing defeated the Poison Incantation Sect elders, then returned to the Gusong Kingdom capital with Li Qiang and revealed his identity as the Great Wisdom Prince of Majestic Sainthood. The emperor appointed Li Qiang a first-rank Attendant and Tiger Might General, then considered using him to negotiate with the Litang Kingdom.

• Hou Pijing broke the Heartless Knot, defeated Feng Biqing and Tong Kong, and took their belongings after beating them.
• Hou Pijing teleported Li Qiang, Zhao Hao, Mei Jingjing, and Zheng Peng to the capital, where Zhao Hao welcomed them to his home.
• At the palace gates, Hou Pijing revealed his token and was recognized as the Great Wisdom Prince of Majestic Sainthood; the emperor greeted him warmly.
• The emperor appointed Li Qiang a first-rank Attendant and Tiger Might General, granted him lavish rewards, and gave him Hou Pijing’s princely residence as his official residence.
• After a Litang Kingdom envoy sought an audience, Hou Pijing signaled that Li Qiang could help negotiate, and the emperor realized he might use him as an envoy.

Li Qiang was appointed Gusong’s envoy to negotiate with Litang and learned that Litang’s envoy, An Lang, had persecuted Mei Jingjing’s family. After Hou Pijing identified a possible refuge for Mei Jingjing’s parents and warned Zhao Hao against worldly attachment, Li Qiang began preparing for the negotiations; a special envoy from Great Han then requested an audience.

• The emperor appointed Li Qiang Gusong’s imperial envoy extraordinary and plenipotentiary, giving him three days to prepare for talks with Litang’s An Lang.
• Li Qiang moved into the Sacred King’s Residence, reunited with Zhao Hao, Mei Jingjing, and Zheng Peng, and heard the rumors surrounding his appointment.
• Mei Jingjing explained that An Lang had demanded her father Mei Ao’s pills, framed the family, and sent assassins after them, separating her from her parents.
• Li Qiang promised to help Mei Jingjing find her parents, and Hou Pijing identified their likely destination as the Spirit Coil Sect in Rejuvenation Valley on the Frozen Plain.
• Hou Pijing warned Zhao Hao not to cling to worldly power and told Li Qiang that An Lang had ties to Old Man Baihuang of Qianjie Star.
• Li Qiang asked Hou Pijing to find him an adviser and a strategist, then learned that Great Han’s resident special envoy had requested an audience.

Li Qiang analyzed the Litang Kingdom’s political maneuvering, promised to help Hou Pijing protect the Gusong Kingdom, and received a Primordial Beginning Sect cultivation text. While exploring the capital with his companions, he saw Mei Jingjing intervene when two men beat a debtor being sold into servitude, and stepped forward after one man cursed her.

• The Great Han envoy offered Li Qiang a marquis title and help, and Li Qiang asked him to assist with an errand in the Gusong Kingdom.
• Li Qiang examined commercial and political intelligence with Tan Chigong and Cheng Zizhong, concluding that the Litang Kingdom lacked the strength to wage war and was using the crisis for internal political aims.
• Li Qiang promised Hou Pijing he would look after the Gusong Kingdom, and Hou Pijing explained the dangers of tribulation and gave him a Jade Pupil Slip containing the Primordial Beginning Sect’s cultivation methods.
• Li Qiang went shopping in the capital with Mei Jingjing and his companions, learned about the Attendant Hall and its academies, and visited the busy Temple Street Junction.
• Mei Jingjing whipped a man who was beating a debtor being sold on the street, and Li Qiang stepped forward after the man insulted her.

Li Qiang took his companions to Baolai Gambling House, where he defeated its gambling expert Du Dingguang at dice and attracted the attention of Peng Yongnian, commander of the imperial guards. After Peng Yongnian tried to seize them over the luminous pearls, the Attendants recognized Li Qiang as the Tiger Might General and Sage King's brother, leaving Peng Yongnian in dread.

• Mei Jingjing whipped one of the men who had attacked Qi Lao'er, and Li Qiang subdued both men before learning they came from Baolai Gambling House.
• Li Qiang and his companions went to the gambling house, where he mocked its guards and Zheng Peng and Zhao Hao knocked them down.
• Du Dingguang challenged Li Qiang to dice; Li Qiang won with an extra pip and staked four luminous pearls worth at least one hundred thousand taels.
• Peng Yongnian arrived, accused Li Qiang's party of stealing the pearls, and ordered soldiers to arrest them, but Li Qiang's force drove most of the crowd back.
• Peng Yongnian summoned Attendants from the Attendant Hall, and Cheng Zizhong discreetly warned them of Li Qiang's identity.
• The four Attendants bowed to Li Qiang as the Tiger Might General, and Peng Yongnian realized he had provoked the Sage King's brother.

Li Qiang exposed Litang spies, helped secure a diplomatic victory, and left his new post to travel with Mei Jingjing toward the Frozen Plain. As five black-armored attackers appeared around the group, Li Qiang realized his unease had been a warning of an ambush.

• Zhao Hao and Mei Jingjing restrained Du Dingguang, but a cultivation expert broke through the roof and escaped with him after Li Qiang discovered a jade eye slip pendant on Du Dingguang.
• Li Qiang advised the emperor to delay negotiations with Litang, pressure it through recruitment and trade restrictions, and use intelligence from the pendant to expose spies.
• Li Qiang declined a reward, requested leave to cultivate, and mastered martial arts before advancing his cultivation and forming the Primordial Beginning Sect’s little universe and Shadow Dream Armor.
• After more than fifty days in seclusion, Li Qiang learned that the Gusong Kingdom had won without battle and that the emperor had made him a third-rank duke.
• Li Qiang left a memorial, arranged for Zheng Peng, and departed with Mei Jingjing and Zhao Hao to find Mei Jingjing’s parents in the Frozen Plain.
• As the three traveled near the Bewilderment Forest, five black-armored people appeared in a mountain hollow and threatened to kill them.

Li Qiang fought off the Five Heaven-Burning Envoys, then fled from Lei Tianxiao, who pursued him with a monstrous bat. He ran into Hua Meiniang in a valley, where she killed Lei Tianxiao’s bat and faced his attack as Li Qiang quietly recovered his strength.

• Mei Jingjing injured Li Zifeng with Ice Explosion Bombs, and Li Qiang used the Eagle Strike Crossbow to destroy the Five Heaven-Burning Envoys’ Heaven-Burning Lord’s Fall Net.
• Li Qiang escaped into a stone forest, where the Five Heaven-Burning Envoys destroyed their own Law Treasure through conflicting commands; Lei Tianxiao then killed the five men and captured their Nascent Souls.
• Lei Tianxiao intercepted Li Qiang and attacked him, but Li Qiang resisted with the Cold Spirit Giant Palm, recovered his strength, and fled toward the Bewilderment Forest.
• Lei Tianxiao released Flying Bat Rong to chase Li Qiang, who hid in Hua Meiniang’s pink mist and encountered her in a valley.
• Hua Meiniang drained Flying Bat Rong to death, and Lei Tianxiao attacked her as peach blossoms filled the sky.

Li Qiang escaped the battle between Hua Meiniang and Lei Tianxiao, only to become trapped in the Bewilderment Forest and enter a mysterious complex. After absorbing purple flame that strengthened his cultivation and evolved his Shadow Dream Armor, he reached a hall where a Nascent Soul warned him about the Star-Extinction Grand Formation.

• Hua Meiniang fought Lei Tianxiao, who unleashed six Nascent Soul monsters with the forbidden Nine-Aperture Soul-Seizing Orb.
• Li Qiang struck Lei Tianxiao with the Cold Spirit Giant Palm, then slipped away while Hua Meiniang attacked the monsters with her Love Flowers.
• Li Qiang became trapped in the Bewilderment Forest and used the Shadow Dream Armor to travel underground, finding a hidden passage and hall.
• Purple flame consumed Li Qiang's Hundred-Blade Spear and burned into him, but his Purple Flame Heart absorbed it, greatly advancing his cultivation and evolving the Shadow Dream Armor.
• Li Qiang caught a golden spindle-shaped object released from a red block, then survived a whirlpool passage whose bursting bubbles subjected him to crushing pressure.
• Li Qiang reached a blue hall containing a jade eye slip, where a Nascent Soul warned him not to enter and asked how he had crossed the Star-Density Grand Formation into the Star-Extinction Grand Formation.

Li Qiang met Mo Huaiyuan, a Nascent Soul trapped in the Star Palace, who promised to help him leave and gave him treasures while asking him to search for sea agate. After reaching Panshi Town, Li Qiang joined Feng Renjian’s caravan toward Crushed Stone City, where the Black Banner Army blocked their route and demanded goods and people.

• Li Qiang spoke with Mo Huaiyuan, who explained that an ancient immortal’s Star Palace had trapped him for thousands of years and that sea agate could help him become a Loose Immortal.
• Mo Huaiyuan agreed to take Li Qiang out of the Star Palace and gave him Law Treasures, including the Radiant Sun Ring, while asking him to return and keep him company.
• Li Qiang left the formation, reached Panshi Town, and paid to join Feng Renjian’s caravan bound for Crushed Stone City.
• During the journey, Li Qiang studied Mo Huaiyuan’s jade eye slip and learned methods for refining jade talismans.
• After the caravan entered the Qingfeng Kingdom, the Black Banner Army stopped it and demanded half its goods and people.
• Li Qiang suggested wagered combat, and Ma Jingning supported the idea; Li Qiang secretly gave Ma Jingning a protective jade talisman for emergencies.

Li Qiang helped Hua Meiniang and Qin Xiaohuan fight Lei Tianxiao and Shentu Yu, using jade talismans and his Billowing Essence Battle Armor to destroy three Nascent Souls. After the danger passed, the three reached Crushed Stone City, where Li Qiang began to feel nervous.

• Yuan Ba arrived with Black Banner soldiers, defeated Feng Renjian in a wagered duel, then recognized Li Qiang and fled with his troops.
• Hua Meiniang and Qin Xiaohuan met Li Qiang and warned him that cultivation experts were gathering because Baihuang's subordinates were stealing cultivators' Nascent Souls.
• Li Qiang agreed to travel with Hua Meiniang and Qin Xiaohuan toward Crushed Stone City, and gave Ma Jingning and the caravan members jade talismans for protection.
• Lei Tianxiao and Shentu Yu intercepted the group, and Qin Xiaohuan used Hong Jingyu's White Cloud Barrier to shield them from the Nine-Aperture Soul-Seizing Orb's Nascent Souls.
• Li Qiang donned the Billowing Essence Battle Armor and used jade talismans to destroy three Nascent Souls while Hua Meiniang attacked Lei Tianxiao; Shentu Yu then withdrew with Lei Tianxiao.
• Li Qiang, Hua Meiniang, and Qin Xiaohuan reached Crushed Stone City, where Li Qiang inexplicably began to feel nervous.