Chapter Summaries

Chen Qing led the group through the Ten Thousand Jiaolong Grand Formation and explained the dangers and costs of Dragon Transformation. As they reached the Dragon Palace entrance, the sleeping failed transformers woke and fixed their eyes on the newcomers.

• Chen Qing explained that his stable wind passage would not disrupt the formation, but destroying the gathered water essence would unleash catastrophic floods.
• Chen Qing led the group to the compressed-water core and warned them that its release could crush them and devastate the world.
• Chen Qing revealed that the human-headed earthworm monsters above the Dragon Palace entrance were people who had turned into demons and failed at Dragon Transformation.
• Chen Qing explained that insect demons had higher transformation success rates but low status and short lifespans, while jiaolong offered the highest potential at the greatest risk.
• The Duke of Wei suggested killing the sleeping monsters, and they opened their eyes and stared at the group.

Chen Qing negotiated with the malicious, withered monsters guarding the hall and exposed their hidden spells, then led his companions safely inside. As the group prepared to face further dangers, the eldest princess unexpectedly hooked her arm through Chen Qing’s.

• Chen Qing offered the withered monsters water essence and negotiated permission to pass, but warned them to seal away their hidden spells.
• Shen Laoda silenced the monsters with his ancient aura, and they recognized him as the ancient insect they feared.
• Chen Qing used jade beads to reveal and test the spells, then led the group through after the monsters withdrew them.
• Chen Qing warned his companions not to attack the monsters, since they might have prepared contingencies and the flood dragons outside posed another threat.
• The eldest princess suddenly stepped beside Chen Qing and hooked her arm through his.

Chen Qing led the gathered powers into the ruined Dragon Palace and explained that its central hall served as an academy connecting the four seas. After the groups entered their assigned Dragon Palaces, Ziyue asked Chen Qing why he had kept her, Baiyu, and the others with him, leaving his real purpose unrevealed.

• The Eldest Princess flirted with Chen Qing and said she might not survive the expedition, but wanted to indulge herself if she did.
• The group entered the decaying Dragon Palace, where Chen Qing suspected its monsters had resumed biological-weapons experiments that might have caused a dangerous backlash.
• Chen Qing explained that the central hall had once been an academy where young dragon clans from the four seas exchanged secret arts, and that each sea’s Dragon Palace held different elemental inheritances.
• The Eldest Princess entered the South Sea dragon head, followed by her thralls, and the other groups proceeded through their assigned dragon heads.
• After the others vanished, Ziyue asked Chen Qing why he had kept her, Baiyu, and their companions with him; Chen Qing acknowledged that he had other plans.

Chen Qing persuaded Ziyue, Baiyu, and Murong Yunji to explore the Dragon Palace’s former testing ground in search of its weapon-making secrets and the origin of the Ancient Insects. As they followed him into a dark abyss, Chen Qing realized the place matched content that had been planned for an update but never implemented, leaving him to wonder whether the world was still changing.

• Chen Qing questioned Ziyue about her stance on the Ancient Insects, and Ziyue suggested that humanity’s survival had been arranged and that the Ancient Insects alone could not destroy it.
• Chen Qing explained that the Dragon Palace’s Dragon Gate had been a testing ground for creating weapons, and Ziyue inferred that he wanted its weapon-making method.
• Chen Qing pointed out that Baiyu, Murong Yunji, and Ziyue lacked the resources and followers to pose a major threat, then offered them the Ancient Insects’ origin as a reason to cooperate.
• Ziyue and Baiyu agreed to follow Chen Qing into the Dragon Palace’s depths, while Ziyue considered how the weapon-making knowledge could help them defend Liuzhou.
• As they crossed the abyss, Chen Qing recognized it as planned but never implemented game content and wondered whether the world was still being updated.

Chen Qing led Murong Yunji, Ziyue, and Baiyu through a lightless abyss filled with monstrous biological weapons sealed behind transparent walls. Ziyue realized Chen Qing had another reason for entering the core palace when her touch caused a purple light to spread across the barrier.

• Chen Qing and the others descended through the abyss, where their sight and spiritual perception were limited to a few meters.
• Ziyue briefly summoned starlight, revealing that countless horrifying creatures watched them from behind glasslike walls.
• Chen Qing called the creatures test subjects and said the Abyss Wall, a prism spell formation made from a special substance, kept them sealed inside.
• Ziyue questioned why Chen Qing sought biological weapons when his Divine Path faith could strengthen his military, and he replied that pursuing multiple paths was worthwhile.
• Ziyue stepped out of Chen Qing's wind corridor and pressed her hand against the transparent barrier despite the straw puppet's warning.
• Purple light spread from Ziyue's hand across the barrier, and she accused Chen Qing of having a hidden reason for staying in the core palace.

Ziyue, Baiyu, and Murong realized Chen Qing had come to claim the immense high-quality jade sealing the monsters, and they confronted him over hiding his goal. When they blocked his escape, Chen Qing tried to flee by charging toward the jade wall and the creatures sealed within it.

• Ziyue recognized that jade, not ice or glass, sealed the monsters, and Baiyu and Murong moved to block Chen Qing.
• Baiyu explained that the jadeite could store spell energy, and Murong understood that Chen Qing wanted the enormous deposit as a strategic resource.
• Ziyue confronted Chen Qing for concealing the treasure, and he admitted he had come seeking revenge because they had seized his territory and killed his subordinates.
• Chen Qing announced that he would run, then used lightning and swirling moisture to charge toward Baiyu.
• Murong intercepted Chen Qing with her wind techniques, but he abruptly changed course and rammed toward the jade and the sealed creatures.

Chen Qing entered the Dragon Palace’s jade wall and discovered that it contained a vast spatial formation imprisoning biological weapons. As he raced toward the dangerous Heavenly Ghost Octopus, the monster attacked him, while Ziyue, Murong, and Baiyu were caught in the same tentacle storm.

• Chen Qing passed through the jade wall, and Ziyue realized it was a spatial formation and led Murong and Baiyu inside after him.
• Chen Qing learned that the formation held biological weapons in jade cages and searched for the creature he needed.
• A jade wall identified the Heavenly Ghost Octopus, a monster Chen Qing had designed that could grow into a calamity-class threat.
• The octopus’s tentacles dragged Chen Qing into a violent seawater storm.
• Ziyue explained that the Dragon Palace’s spatial cage could contain a realm larger than the Central Plains, before tentacles emerged from the darkness and swept toward her group.

Ziyue, Murong, and Baiyu fled the seemingly endless tentacles of the Heavenly Ghost Octopus, discovering that fire could hurt it but would not last underwater. Chen Qing also struggled to evade the creature and resolved not to open another spatial gate, since the octopus could escape and grow powerful enough to destroy the world.

• Ziyue, Murong, and Baiyu retreated from the Heavenly Ghost Octopus as its tentacles surrounded and pursued them.
• Murong cut the tentacles apart with wind blades, but the pieces regenerated, attacked independently, and released poisonous black blood.
• Ziyue used purple flames to burn the tentacles, revealing the monster's fear of fire, but the flames quickly faded underwater.
• Chen Qing evaded the octopus and recalled that its severed tentacles carried potent neurotoxin and could overwhelm enemies through sheer numbers.
• Chen Qing decided not to cross into another space because the starving octopus would follow him and could escape the Abyss Jade Bi if it grew any larger.

Ziyue, Baiyu, and Murong Yunji escaped the tentacled monster by following Chen Qing through a passage into another space. There, the monster followed them and collided with the new space’s hair-strand creature, leaving the two monsters fighting.

• Ziyue reasoned that Chen Qing was still searching for the passage mechanism and persuaded Baiyu to reveal his location, forty thousand zhang below them.
• Baiyu said Chen Qing was circling near the likely mechanism, and Ziyue guessed he was delaying because he feared the monster would escape with him.
• A powerful disturbance shook the space, the tentacles withdrew, and Ziyue realized Chen Qing had opened the spatial barrier.
• Murong Yunji guided Ziyue and Baiyu through the spatial turbulence into a bright, colorful sea.
• Ziyue warned them that the drifting strands were dangerous, and Murong Yunji saw one pierce a fish and drag it into the seabed quicksand.
• The tentacled monster pursued them into the new space, where the strands turned into sharp spikes and attacked it as the two monsters began to clash.

Ziyue, Murong Yunji, and Baiyu watched the Heavenly Ghost Octopus defeat and consume the Earth Fiend Jellyfish, revealing its terrifying ability to convert prey into rapid growth. Chen Qing opened another passage to escape the strengthening monster, while Xiao Mingxue and her companions received his directions to Dragon Transformation sites and reconsidered what to seize first.

• The Heavenly Ghost Octopus used its siphoning force to tear open the seabed, pull out the Earth Fiend Jellyfish, and swallow it as Ziyue, Murong Yunji, and Baiyu fled.
• Ziyue saw the octopus rapidly convert the jellyfish’s energy into flesh and feared what it might become if it reached the ten thousand flood dragons outside.
• Chen Qing realized the Heavenly Ghost Octopus had countered the Earth Fiend Jellyfish and was growing stronger, so he opened a passage to another space and considered using the eldest princess’s single-use contact spell.
• Xiao Mingxue noticed Chen Qing’s mark and learned that he had sent directions to Dragon Transformation locations.
• Xiao Mingxue, Shen Laowu, and Prince Consort Fei weighed the dangers and benefits of the Dragon Palace’s treasures, inheritances, and Dragon Transformation species, deciding that the species were the most urgent targets.

Xiao Mingxue weighed the poor Dragon Transformation choices they had found against Chen Qing’s lead to a Fire Kun, whose potential and success rate made the risk worthwhile. Meanwhile, Ziyue and the others pursued Chen Qing through the Dragon Palace until he finally stopped beside a spatial rift, apparently ready to face the monster chasing them.

• Shen Laowu asked Xiao Mingxue whether Chen Qing’s intelligence was reliable, and she admitted she did not know for sure.
• Xiao Mingxue rejected the Fire Centipede and Dragon Whisker Octopus because she disliked their forms and doubted their potential, while the Dragon Palace’s original masters could revive within three days.
• After learning that Chen Qing had mentioned a Fire Kun, Xiao Mingxue chose to gamble on finding it, and Shen Laowu and Prince Consort Fei agreed.
• Prince Consort Fei secretly relished the prospect of combining Xiao Mingxue’s Golden Crow Flame, his son’s Vermilion Bird Technique, and the Fire Kun’s Dragon Transformation.
• Ziyue warned Murong that Chen Qing’s pursuer had grown immensely by devouring creatures, and she feared it could overwhelm the jiaolong if it escaped.
• After pursuing Chen Qing through dozens of spaces and exhausting much of their strength, Ziyue and the others saw him stop beside a spatial rift instead of continuing to flee.

Chen Qing fought the giant Heavenly Ghost Octopus to keep it away from a hidden creature, while Ziyue, Murong, and Baiyu discovered that the creature was a Heaven-Devouring Dragon Whale that could help transport the region’s jade. The chapter ended with Chen Qing racing toward them as the octopus’s tentacles pursued him, and Murong realized he was getting anxious.

• Chen Qing used the Divine Wind Spell to dodge the Heavenly Ghost Octopus, while Murong, Ziyue, and Baiyu discussed his growing strength and Murong theorized that he could use the abilities of people under his command.
• Chen Qing secretly checked the area behind him, and Ziyue detected his mental probe and realized he was protecting the monster hidden there from the octopus.
• Ziyue led Murong and Baiyu deeper into the space, where they struck the jade wall with spell energy and revealed the creature’s name: Heaven-Devouring Dragon Whale.
• Baiyu and Ziyue concluded that the Dragon Whale could swallow the jade and help Chen Qing transport the trove of resources.
• Chen Qing charged toward the group with the Heavenly Ghost Octopus’s tentacles close behind, and Murong recognized that Chen Qing was getting anxious.

Ziyue and Murong fled from Chen Qing while trying to lead him toward the Heaven-Devouring Dragon Whale, and Ziyue used the chase to force him into surrendering his secrets and forces. Chen Qing instead trapped Ziyue with an Anti-Magic Array and revealed that the Dragon Whale’s enormous maw was about to swallow them all.

• Ziyue and Murong escaped Chen Qing and searched for the Heaven-Devouring Dragon Whale, while Murong countered Chen Qing’s wind blades.
• Chen Qing proposed an alliance, but Ziyue refused and mocked him until he burned his blood essence to pursue them.
• Ziyue outran Chen Qing and offered to spare him if he revealed the Dragon Palace secrets, transferred his Jiangnan forces, and taught her the Divine Path Style.
• Chen Qing accepted Ziyue’s terms, seized her hands, and activated an Anti-Magic Array that briefly suppressed her spells.
• Murong warned Ziyue to look below, where the Heaven-Devouring Dragon Whale opened its gigantic maw around Ziyue, Chen Qing, and the pursuing Heavenly Ghost Octopus.

Chen Qing lured Ziyue into the Heaven-Devouring Dragon Whale’s attack, sacrificing a clone to trap her while the creature wounded the Heavenly Ghost Octopus. After Chen Qing reappeared, Murong questioned who he was, and he challenged Murong to ask who Murong herself was.

• Chen Qing used the Heaven-Devouring Dragon Whale as bait and lured Ziyue into its swallowing range, revealing that he had anticipated her ability to detect spiritual probes.
• Ziyue realized Chen Qing had used himself as bait and asked about his knowledge of her origins and the magic-sealing formation before the whale swallowed them both.
• Murong dragged Baiyu out of the whale’s attack, while the creature bit away more than half of the Heavenly Ghost Octopus and forced it to retreat.
• Baiyu demanded that Murong find Ziyue, then nearly attacked Murong when she questioned Baiyu’s reaction.
• Chen Qing appeared beside Murong and Baiyu unharmed, explained that the whale had bought them time, and told Murong to ask who Murong herself was.

Chen Qing tried to make Murong Yunji question her memories and her bond with Baiyu, arguing that the Thousand-Faced Fox had fabricated their sisterly attachment. Murong turned against Baiyu and prepared to fight, while Baiyu realized her suspicions had been exposed.

• Chen Qing questioned whether Murong Yunji had ever suspected that her memories were altered, while Baiyu accused him of using a psychological ploy to hide his exhaustion.
• Chen Qing reminded Murong of her closeness to Shen Qi and explained that the Thousand-Faced Fox had exploited her longing for family affection to fabricate her bond with Baiyu.
• Murong ordered Baiyu to let Chen Qing continue and began to doubt that two Ancient Insects could truly have become devoted sisters.
• Murong confronted Baiyu over her killing intent when Murong dismissed Ziyue as unworthy, then unleashed the Divine Wind Spell and demanded Baiyu explain herself.
• Baiyu recognized that Murong's anger came from the memory of her elder sister A Li's death, the very memory A Li had warned must never be touched.

Murong Yunji attacked Baiyu after realizing Baiyu had prepared a targeted defensive spell, then unleashed the Murong Family’s forbidden Azure Heaven technique to trap her. Chen Qing refused Baiyu’s offer to cooperate and waited for her trump card as the tornado closed in.

• Murong Yunji beheaded Baiyu, who re-formed from mist, and concluded that Baiyu had been guarding against her.
• Baiyu turned into mist and tried to flee, but Murong Yunji transformed into wind and trapped her in the Divine Wind Final Form: Azure Heaven.
• Chen Qing let the tornado pull him in, confident Murong Yunji was deliberately avoiding him and reflecting that he needed to conserve his Power of Faith.
• Baiyu realized Murong Yunji had used a forbidden technique that could prevent her from returning to human form, and lamented that she had provoked her.
• Baiyu urged Chen Qing to cooperate, but he refused, saying he preferred Senior Ziyue’s view that a stupid fish could not break a tattered net.
• Baiyu threatened that Chen Qing would regret his choice, while he smiled and waited for her trump card.

The Duke of Wei gambled on a dangerous Dragon Transformation rite as fresh water flowed into the Four Seas Dragon Palaces. Meanwhile, Baiyu unleashed her final trump card, a resurrected Yuchi Feihong, who nearly killed Murong Yunji, but Chen Qing remained unnervingly calm.

• The Duke of Wei rejected his youngest son's offer and chose to gamble on a Dragon Transformation other than the safer Baxia rite, ordering him to flee north if the attempt failed.
• Baiyu used Shen Laosan's Heavenly Water technique to pour fresh water into the Dragon Palace Mystic Realm despite its spatial formation.
• Baiyu opened one of her corpse-nurturing shells and revealed Yuchi Feihong, whose power shocked Murong Yunji.
• Baiyu ordered Yuchi Feihong to kill Murong and capture Chen Qing, and his punch shattered Murong's tornado and blasted away half her body.
• Chen Qing caught the wounded Murong Yunji with a technique, while Baiyu wondered why he still seemed to expect everything.

Chen Qing negotiated with Baiyu to secure Yuchi Feihong and the Blood Jade Shell Mother, then reunited with Yuchi and brought the gravely wounded Murong Yunji to the shell for treatment. He began explaining the shell and Baiyu’s origins as they prepared to use it.

• Chen Qing pointed out that Yuchi Feihong’s body could not withstand the Blood Jade Shell Mother’s power, forcing Baiyu to negotiate rather than risk a final battle.
• Chen Qing offered Baiyu a chance to leave the space in exchange for Yuchi Feihong and the shell nurturing him, and Baiyu demanded half the surrounding jade before accepting a contract.
• A thousand miles away, Yuchi Feihong thanked Chen Qing for fulfilling their agreement and pledged to serve him.
• Chen Qing explained that he had recognized Baiyu as the one who implanted an insect in Yuchi and had sought to use the shell to improve their chances with the Dragon Transformation Technique.
• Chen Qing carried the badly injured Murong Yunji toward the Blood Jade Shell Mother, and she objected to becoming a monster.
• Chen Qing began explaining Baiyu’s title and origins by asking what “white jade” meant.

Chen Qing explained Baiyu’s origins and revealed that the dragons had used her to raise a Blood Jade Shell Mother, which could produce precious jade and strengthen warriors. As the Heavenly Ghost Octopus neared its return and the formation collapsed, Chen Qing anticipated a coming struggle involving Baiyu and the Dragon Palace.

• Chen Qing explained that dragons used jade to store magical abilities and had forced island nations to supply it while concealing their history.
• Chen Qing revealed that the dragons had destroyed records and killed most people capable of reading and writing before the Dragon Palace closed.
• Chen Qing told Yuchi Feihong and Murong Yunji that Baiyu had been chosen to raise a Blood Jade Shell Mother for the dragons’ return.
• Chen Qing explained that Baiyu had kept two blood corpses in shells to preserve their strength and their chances of transforming into Corpse Dragons.
• Chen Qing noted that the Heavenly Ghost Octopus would return soon as the great formation collapsed, and anticipated a struggle involving two Corpse Dragons and the eldest princess’s Dragon Kun.

The Duke of Wei's youngest son and the northern spellcasters waited deep in the North Sea Dragon Palace while discussing the north's poor results in Jiangnan's entrance examination. Dugu Yifang revealed that the Lu Household had opened Ten Thousand Snakes Valley and that earth snakes were reviving as a mysterious force collected blood essence, leaving the north in grave danger.

• The Duke of Wei's youngest son waited anxiously underwater until spellcasters reminded him to conserve spiritual power.
• The spellcasters compared the northern families' weak Jiangnan examination results with those of the imperial court and the Kingdom of Beihuang, and considered reforming their family system.
• Dugu Yifang announced that the Lu Household had opened Ten Thousand Snakes Valley, which held the evil god Earth Mother and sleeping earth snakes.
• Dugu Yifang said earth snakes were beginning to revive and that a mysterious force was assassinating high-level martial warriors to collect blood essence.
• Dugu Yifang revealed that the heir had been attacked and badly injured, while Bai Sang feared the north was heading into chaos without another King of Qin.