Chapter Summaries

Li Qiang and his companions camped at the Great Gorge Mouth, where a night of violent rain and mysterious white streaks tested their defensive formation and gave Li Qiang an opportunity to cultivate. By morning, Li Qiang decided to remain there, organize the group for training, and prepare for a future trip to Fengnan City while learning that the Banshou Trading House was searching for them.

• Li Qiang noticed the unusually tough ground vines and, after Tange returned with supplies, ordered everyone to wait while he set up a defensive formation for the night.
• A storm swept through the gorge, and Li Qiang and Zhao Hao activated the Great Return to Origin Formation before repeated white streaks raced along the channels and shook the protected camp.
• Li Qiang went outside in his Billowing Essence Battle Armor, cultivated through the night as the streaks passed, and discovered in the morning that the channel surface had become scorching hot.
• Li Qiang chose to keep the camp at the Great Gorge Mouth, assigned nine teams to train under their leaders, and told Paben to teach everyone the local language.
• Tange told Li Qiang that the Bangqining Kingdom was recruiting soldiers and that a grand auction would begin in about fifty days; Li Qiang planned to seek weapons and armor in Fengnan City without joining the war.
• Tange warned that the Banshou Trading House was investigating them, and Li Qiang said he would visit them soon.

Li Qiang oversaw the warriors’ rapid training, then left for Fengnan City with a small group to obtain merchant identities and supplies. When Heavenly Strike Soldiers pursued their flying board, Li Qiang drew them away into the high-wind zone, leaving the soldiers low on power and ordering them to shoot.

• Li Qiang used Lesser Origin-Nurturing Pills and Zhao Hao’s training to help the warriors build their foundations, while Paben advanced into the initial stage of cultivation.
• Li Qiang concluded that the Primordial Beginning Sect’s cultivation methods required combat and told Zhao Hao to prepare the warriors to train outside the defensive formation at night.
• Li Qiang agreed to take Nashan along with Tange, Paben, Zhao Zhi, and Kankanqi to Fengnan City, where Tange planned to obtain merchant identities at the Grand Unification United Chamber of Commerce.
• Paben offered to arrange identities through the Grand Alliance, and Nashan noticed how much more confident he had become.
• Kankanqi steered the flying board into a high-wind zone to escape the pursuing Heavenly Strike Soldiers, but Li Qiang left the board to lure them away.
• Li Qiang taunted the Heavenly Strike Soldiers as he flew higher, and their commanding officer ordered them to fire when their wing crystals were nearly depleted.

Li Qiang reached Fengnan City disguised as a Western merchant, where Old Man Kabaji helped him evade soldiers and treated him with unexpected kindness. At the Grand Unification United Chamber of Commerce, Li Qiang found Tange and his companions facing a group of armed pursuers and secretly let Nashan know he was there.

• Li Qiang robbed a squad of Heavenly Strike Soldiers, then disguised himself in Western merchant clothes and met Old Man Kabaji’s caravan on the road to Fengnan City.
• Old Man Kabaji vouched for Li Qiang at the city gate, and Li Qiang scattered stolen money cards to distract the soldiers so the merchants could enter without paying the extortion fee.
• The merchants pooled money for Li Qiang, who thanked them and confessed to Old Man Kabaji that he came from somewhere far away; Kabaji accepted his explanation and accompanied him to the Grand Alliance.
• Li Qiang and Old Man Kabaji searched the Grand Unification United Chamber of Commerce for Tange’s group, then heard a commotion at the entrance.
• Tange, Kankanqi, Nashan, Zhao Zhi, and Paben backed into the hall while armed groups pursued them, and Li Qiang secretly told Nashan he was nearby.

Li Qiang watched Boboran confront the Ladu Kingdom, Fan Kingdom, and Banshou Trading House factions inside the Grand Alliance, then secretly helped Paben’s group challenge the trading house’s men. After Lin Jing’er defeated Kuzhi and Li Qiang’s hidden voice pressured Boboran to allow one-on-one matches, Zhao Zhi stepped forward to begin the contest.

• Boboran arrived with Lin Jing’er, identified herself as the Grand Alliance’s fourth chief, and stopped Lanqiu’s delegation from being immediately confronted.
• Huzhi challenged Boboran on behalf of the Fan Kingdom, and Boboran sealed the hall with Spine-Piercing Spears before calling Lin Jing’er to fight Kuzhi.
• Lin Jing’er crippled Kuzhi with his golden staff, and Kuzhi died when the black worm on his arm devoured him; Huzhi then led the Fan Kingdom warriors away.
• Boboran restricted Nashan’s group to ordinary weapons against the Banshou Trading House, but Li Qiang used a hidden voice to criticize her and demanded one-on-one matches.
• Li Qiang told Zhao Zhi to fight first, and Zhao Zhi required each match to continue until one fighter could no longer fight; the Banshou Trading House accepted.

Li Qiang and his companions defeated Banshou Trading House’s saber wielders in the Grand Alliance and forced Boboran to negotiate with them. When Elder Kubo and his young companion arrived, Li Qiang revealed the Soul-Releasing Dragon Ring, leaving his sect affiliation to be answered.

• Zhao Zhi crippled a saber wielder and wounded two others, but Banshou Trading House’s fighters regrouped into a formation as Boboran withdrew the Grand Alliance’s support.
• Kankanqi and the others fired their Black Prison Spears, and Li Qiang broke through the formation so the six companions could beat and strip the saber wielders.
• Li Qiang intimidated Boboran when she objected, then accepted her invitation to the inner hall after Princess Lanqiu intervened.
• In the inner hall, Li Qiang heard Kankanqi explain how the group had helped Princess Lanqiu, then stopped the joking when two visitors arrived.
• Li Qiang and the two armored visitors tested each other’s power, and Li Qiang displayed the Soul-Releasing Dragon Ring when asked which sect he belonged to.

Li Qiang’s Soul-Releasing Dragon Ring revealed his ties to the Chongxuan Sect, and Hong Qian and Kubo welcomed him as their senior while he urged them to treat him as a friend. As the group prepared to travel to the Western Continent in search of Sea Soul Agate, Li Qiang kept the Grand Alliance out of his dispute with the Banshou Trading House and offered perfume for the grand auction.

• Hong Qian recognized Li Qiang’s Soul-Releasing Dragon Ring, knelt with Kubo, and introduced Kubo as his disciple; Li Qiang asked them to set aside formalities and call him Boss.
• Li Qiang and Kubo discussed the Banshou Trading House’s powerful cultivators, while Li Qiang insisted the feud would continue unless the trading house handed over Bu Jigong.
• Princess Lanqiu said she knew a friend in the Sea of Wronged Souls who might know where to find Sea Soul Agate, and invited Li Qiang’s group to travel with her delegation to the Western Continent after the Wind of Fear ended.
• Li Qiang agreed to protect the delegation on the journey, saying the meal they had shared at the eatery was already payment.
• When the Banshou Trading House demanded the culprits, Li Qiang ordered the Grand Alliance to conceal its connection to him and tell the trading house that the group had already left.
• Li Qiang appointed Kankanqi and Boboran to handle communications, then offered perfume for the auction and gave bottles to Princess Lanqiu, Kankanqi, and Boboran.

Li Qiang visited the Zhenhou Spear Workshop to study the Tanbang Continent’s equipment-making and met its owner, Nanzi Dong. After Nashan picked out an exceptional suit of armor, Li Qiang ordered equipment for his stranded brothers and offered two weapons he had refined as payment, leaving Nanzi Dong overwhelmed with excitement.

• Li Qiang gave Kubo four bottles of perfume named Dreamy Night to auction, and Princess Lanqiu set off with Boboran while Kankanqi was assigned to protect them.
• Li Qiang and the others agreed to postpone confronting the Banshou Trading House until after the grand auction, then went with Kubo to visit the Zhenhou Spear Workshop.
• Nanzi Dong welcomed Li Qiang and showed the group his underground workshop and collection of equipment; Nashan selected the special armor Nanzi Dong had intended to auction.
• Li Qiang ordered a hundred suits of armor, a hundred arm shields, and assorted weapons for his stranded brothers, offering two weapons he had refined in trade.
• Kubo shamelessly asked Li Qiang to give the two weapons to him and Hong Qian, and Nanzi Dong reacted with ecstatic excitement.

Li Qiang promised to refine treasures for Kubo and Hong Qian and let Nanzi Dong watch, then modified Nanzi Dong’s Azure Shadow Binding with Brilliant Swift Heavenly Fire. After testing Kubo’s mysterious Linked Beads, Li Qiang began to understand how they worked.

• Nanzi Dong traded armor, wings, and weapons for a chance to watch Li Qiang refine treasures, while Li Qiang promised to make Law Treasures for Kubo and Hong Qian.
• Nashan accidentally shocked Tange with the Azure Shadow Binding, and Li Qiang examined the weapon and improved it with Brilliant Swift Heavenly Fire.
• Li Qiang demonstrated that his modified Azure Shadow Binding could create a net of electrical arcs, but its discharge spread across the floor and shocked Nashan and Tange.
• Li Qiang offered Nanzi Dong three Law Treasures to choose from and examined Kubo’s Linked Beads, which contained interconnected formations.
• At Nanzi Dong’s testing ground, Li Qiang memorized the Linked Beads’ formations and reproduced two of their attacks with True Essence Power before beginning to grasp their secrets.

Li Qiang tested the Linked Beads’ formations, learned to activate their attacks and defenses, and discovered the beads could produce powerful effects. After meeting Divine Envoy Kaben, Li Qiang was asked to help the Bangqining Kingdom in its war, and he proposed confronting the Banshou Trading House to demand the release of captives.

• Li Qiang overlaid three attack formations and destroyed all five layers of the testing chamber’s defenses, then showed Kubo, Hong Qian, and Nanzi Dong how to activate formations.
• Li Qiang found that the Linked Beads formed a connected string, and Paben learned to cast a formation by copying Li Qiang’s hand movements.
• Li Qiang layered six defensive formations on Nashan, creating light armor strong enough to withstand Kubo’s punches and attacks from the Hundred-Blade Spear.
• Li Qiang examined Nanzi Dong’s strange seven-tined Law Treasure, gave the Hundred-Blade Spear to Kubo, and agreed to travel with Kubo and Hong Qian to the Western Continent’s ruins.
• Divine Envoy Kaben arrived and asked the group to serve the Bangqining Kingdom in its war against the Tante Kingdom; Li Qiang resisted, then challenged Kaben to join him in confronting the Banshou Trading House.

Li Qiang took his companions around Fengnan City, bought a rare blue Sea Demon, and discussed plans for promoting perfume before attackers trapped them in a Flag Gate Formation. Paben was struck while protecting Li Qiang, and his dying request was for Li Qiang to find his daughter.

• Li Qiang left Divine Envoy Kaben and Old Beetle Nanzi Dong, then arranged for Tange and Zhao Zhi to bring his people into the city quietly.
• Li Qiang toured Fengnan City's commercial district with Kubo, Hong Qian, Nashan, and Paben, and told Kubo to introduce perfume directly to likely buyers.
• Li Qiang bought a sapphire-blue Sea Demon, caught it after it escaped its cage, and took it along with dried Black Zi.
• Li Qiang and his companions discussed monsters from the Western Continent before five flags dropped at an intersection and trapped them in a Flag Gate Formation.
• Li Qiang broke the attackers' sword-light strike, while Hong Qian warned that they were plunderers and Nashan and Paben struggled to put on their armor.
• Paben blocked a spike aimed at Li Qiang, was wounded in the chest, and asked Li Qiang to find his daughter before Li Qiang went berserk.

Li Qiang fought off raiders from the Sea of Wronged Souls, but Paben was gravely wounded and begged him to spare their enemies. After Li Qiang captured the Banshou Trading House leaders and returned to the Grand Alliance, Divine Envoy Kaben arrived with a Death-Averting Pill as Paben’s condition worsened.

• Li Qiang broke free of the Formless Binding, killed the attacker who had stabbed him, and drove off the raiders with Hong Qian and Kubo.
• Bi Xuan, Ji Qiguo, and Deqing Lingshi trapped Li Qiang, but the Supreme Radiance Shuttle reflected their attack and left them badly wounded.
• Paben asked Li Qiang to spare the Banshou Trading House men and worried about his daughter before losing consciousness; Li Qiang ordered Hong Qian and Nashan to take him for treatment.
• Li Qiang beat and stripped the raiders, while Kubo and the soldiers joined in looting; Li Qiang and Kubo then took the three Banshou Trading House leaders back to the Grand Alliance.
• As Paben's condition deteriorated, Divine Envoy Kaben arrived with President Sitingdan and announced that he had brought a Death-Averting Pill.

Li Qiang saved Paben with Kaben’s Death-Averting Pill and learned that he must escort Princess Lanqiu’s delegation across the dangerous Wild Plains to Heavenly Halberd Peak. As the group planned its next move, Bazhong Dekong arrived to accuse the Grand Alliance of abducting Banshou Trading House’s great venerables, and Li Qiang claimed responsibility himself.

• Li Qiang cleaned Paben’s poisoned wound, used half the Death-Averting Pill to heal it, and gave him the rest; Paben recovered enough to fall asleep.
• In the Radiant Court, Kaben asked Li Qiang to deliver a shipment and an envoy delegation to Heavenly Halberd Peak, explaining that the route crossed the perilous Wild Plains.
• Li Qiang learned the delegation included Princess Lanqiu, whom he had already promised to protect, and recognized her as Seal Maiden Lu Runyu.
• Li Qiang told Zhao Hao to invite the brothers to join the journey or settle with the Grand Alliance, while Kubo offered to help those who stayed.
• Sitingdan reported that Bazhong Dekong had come to accuse the Grand Alliance of abducting Banshou Trading House’s great venerables, and Li Qiang said he had captured three of them alone.

Li Qiang welcomed his men, received armor from Nanzi Dong, and watched the little sea demon transform after eating a jade tide stone. The creature showed remarkable speed and strength, while Divine Emissary Kaben and the Banshou Trading House leaders arrived to negotiate over the captives.

• Li Qiang visited his men, ordered Kubo to fetch the Banshou Trading House's three great venerables and Paben, and told Zhao Hao to recount who wanted to travel west.
• Nanzi Dong brought 120 sets of armor, arm shields, flying wings, and weapons from the Zhenhou Spear Workshop, and Li Qiang arranged for the men to try them on.
• Nanzi Dong recognized the captive Bi Xuan and asked Li Qiang to treat him kindly; Li Qiang agreed to keep the captives safe until negotiations.
• Li Qiang fed the little sea demon a jade tide stone, which triggered its transformation into a blue-feathered bird with new wings and extraordinary speed.
• The little sea demon escaped its bag, knocked Han Jin down, and was finally coaxed back into Li Qiang's arms.
• Kubo warned Li Qiang that Divine Emissary Kaben, Chairman Siting, Bazhong Dekong, and Kong Hou were approaching, so Li Qiang ordered his men to arm themselves and form ranks.

Li Qiang and Kong Hou fought in the Green Hidden Abode, and their clash destroyed much of the courtyard before the warriors contained the falling rubble. During negotiations, Li Qiang confronted Bazhong Dekong over the Banshou Trading House’s abuses and revealed that he and his companions had escaped from the Tante Kingdom’s Black Prison, leaving the visitors stunned.

• Zhao Hao assembled the warriors to welcome Divine Envoy Kaben, Chairman Siting, Bazhong Dekong, and Kong Hou, whose arrival sent the formation’s killing aura surging.
• Kong Hou challenged Li Qiang, and their Thousand Homage Lotus and Purple Flame Giant Palm clash ended with Li Qiang triggering the Supreme Radiance Shuttle.
• The little sea demon stole Kong Hou’s beads, and Li Qiang’s Eighteen Demon-Extinguishing Hands struck past Kong Hou and blasted open the courtyard gate and ceiling.
• Li Qiang and the others protected the courtyard’s occupants when the ceiling collapsed, while Nashan stumbled over the rubble after waking and rushing outside.
• Bazhong Dekong denied knowing Bu Jigong and demanded the release of the Banshou Trading House’s three great venerables, but Li Qiang rejected his claims and threatened to investigate.
• Li Qiang revealed that he and his companions had escaped from the Tante Kingdom’s Black Prison, shocking Bazhong Dekong, Divine Envoy Kaben, and Kong Hou.

Li Qiang secured Bazhong Dekong’s promise to hand over Bu Jigong, welcomed Paben as his disciple, and prepared his companions for the journey to the Western Continent. As the group divided over who would leave and who would stay, Li Qiang began arranging supplies, auction plans, and equipment refining.

• Bazhong Dekong promised Divine Envoy Kaben that he would find Bu Jigong within three days, while secretly planning to kill him and destroy the evidence.
• Kong Hou told Li Qiang that he belonged to a secluded branch of the Buddha Sect, then left disappointed when Li Qiang could not explain the sect’s history.
• Paben woke, abandoned his pursuit of Bu Jigong, and accepted Li Qiang as his master; Nashan also asked to become Li Qiang’s disciple.
• Kankanqi reported that the Wind of Fear would stop in eight to ten days and that noblewomen wanted more Dreamy Night, then revealed that he planned to stay behind with Boboran.
• Li Qiang arranged supplies and places for the brothers who would remain, assigned guards to watch the three Great Venerables, and sent Kankanqi to spread word of Banshou Trading House’s dealings with the Tante Kingdom.
• Li Qiang brought Hong Qian, Kubo, Nanzi Dong, and Zhao Hao to an underground room to begin refining equipment.

Li Qiang refined flying swords for Hong Qian, Nanzi Dong, and Kubo, then exchanged the three Great Venerables for Bu Jigong, who had been tortured to death. At Fengnan City's grand auction, Li Qiang's party joined the VIP guests, where Nashan was mobbed by noblewomen seeking Dreamy Night.

• Li Qiang used Nanzi Dong's heavenly gold essence to refine Unnamed for him and combined Dusty Firmament with a new sword to create Shattered Gold for Hong Qian.
• Li Qiang made a violet fire-aspect flying sword for Kubo, whom Hong Qian named Purple Rosy Clouds.
• Kong Hou brought Bu Jigong's corpse to Li Qiang, and Paben stopped Li Qiang from pursuing the matter before the three Great Venerables were handed over.
• Kong Hou discovered that Bi Xuan's Nascent Soul had been sealed and left with the three Great Venerables, fearing Li Qiang's group had a powerful cultivator among them.
• Li Qiang attended Fengnan City's grand auction with his companions and avoided Princess Lanqiu's group by tossing Nashan to the women seeking Dreamy Night.
• The noblewomen crowded around Nashan and began trying to strip him, while Li Qiang's party laughed at his cries for help.

Li Qiang sold Dreamy Night for enormous sums at the grand auction, won a mysterious bow, and learned that the Tante Kingdom’s army was advancing on Fengnan City. He organized an urgent departure for Desperation Cape and went searching for a friend before leaving.

• Nashan staged a raucous striptease that drew the noblewomen’s attention to Dreamy Night, and Li Qiang used his power to keep them at bay while promoting the perfume.
• Li Qiang watched the auction, saw his Black Prison Spear sell for over three hundred thousand monetary units, and won six Yinyin Fruits before provoking Bazhong Dekong into bidding over seven million for an unknown talisman.
• Dreamy Night sold for millions per bottle, and Li Qiang gave Divine Envoy Kaben one; Li Qiang then outbid another buyer to win a strange bow and three arrows for six million monetary units.
• Divine Envoy Kaben warned Li Qiang that the Tante Kingdom’s army was approaching Fengnan City, gave him a box for Princess Lanqiu and the Great God’s token, and urged him to leave for Desperation Cape.
• Li Qiang ordered most of his party and Princess Lanqiu’s people to prepare to depart, then hurried through Fengnan City with Hong Qian to find a friend and finally located the place he sought.

Li Qiang set out to find Old Man Kabaji’s caravan while leading his companions toward Desperation Cape as Tante Kingdom’s invasion drove Bangqining Kingdom’s forces into retreat. At South Mouth Pass, Li Qiang and Hong Qian fought through Tante Kingdom’s aerial troops to reach Zhao Hao, but a divine beast approached as Hong Qian went to fetch the others.

• Li Qiang learned that Old Man Kabaji’s caravan had left Fengnan City on foot two days earlier, then arranged for Zhao Hao to lead most of the group toward Desperation Cape while he searched for the caravan.
• Li Qiang, Hong Qian, Paben, and Nashan left on Kankanqi’s flying board, encountered routed Bangqining Kingdom soldiers, and learned that South Mouth Pass might have fallen.
• Li Qiang and Hong Qian flew ahead after hearing that a group outside the army was resisting Tante Kingdom, and Li Qiang recognized Zhao Hao’s Cold Sparrow Flying Sword among the fighting.
• Li Qiang and Hong Qian fought through Tante Kingdom’s aerial assault troops with their flying swords, killing many soldiers as they pushed toward Zhao Hao.
• After Li Qiang heard Zhao Hao answer his call, he sent Hong Qian back to bring Kankanqi and the others; Hong Qian spotted a charging divine beast and warned Li Qiang.

Li Qiang and his companions defeated the Tante Kingdom’s army after his Fire Essence evolved and routed their Earthfire Beast, but the battle left several of his warriors dead. At Desperation Cape, Li Qiang grieved over a pit of slain civilians and ordered their families to be notified; the chapter ended when Kankanqi struck an officer who challenged their arrival.

• Li Qiang fought the Tante Kingdom’s forces and survived the Earthfire Beast’s flames as his Fire Essence evolved, while the little sea demon killed the four Beast-Splitting Tribe controllers.
• The Fire Essence destroyed three cultivators’ flying swords, frightened the Earthfire Beast into a rampage, and helped drive the Tante Kingdom’s army into retreat.
• Li Qiang learned that seven of his warriors had died and that Princess Lanqiu had healed the wounded; he also discovered her Soul-Pacifying Seal could soothe and influence minds.
• Li Qiang found a pit filled with civilians killed near Fengnan City, and Princess Lanqiu calmed the gathered warriors as they mourned; he ordered the bodies left for their families to claim.
• Li Qiang’s group reached Desperation Cape, where Kankanqi slapped an officer who questioned how they had crossed the Tante Kingdom’s blockade.

Li Qiang and his companions reached Desperation Cape after disarming the soldiers and exposing the Tante Kingdom’s massacre at South Mouth Pass. As they waited for the Wind of Fear to die down, Li Qiang watched the little sea demon return toward its home and accompanied Nashan to shop, where an unusual black object caught his attention.

• Li Qiang ordered his companions to disarm the soldiers without killing them, and Princess Lanqiu showed the officer an object that made him recognize their group.
• Kankanqi announced that they had driven back the Tante Kingdom’s soldiers at South Mouth Pass and found many civilians dead, spreading news that stirred outrage across the continent.
• The group traveled through the passage to Desperation Cape, where Paben explained the local sea craft and Kubo arranged for them to rest at the Grand Alliance’s lodging.
• Li Qiang told Hong Qian he would leave the planet after escorting Princess Lanqiu to Heavenly Halberd Peak, and he let the little sea demon fly away toward the sea.
• Li Qiang and Nashan bought toys, then flew to a jewelry shop, where Nashan crashed into the shelves and paid for the damaged goods.
• Paben described the ornaments in the shop, and Li Qiang noticed a strange black, flame-shaped object hanging on the wall.