Chapter Summaries

Xu Hu and Tian Heng responded to a northern invasion by giant pythons and venomous snakes, tracing it to the Lu Household and the seal at Ten Thousand Snakes Valley. Chen Qing concluded that Madam Lu was connected to the Heavenly Python Palace as its gatekeeper, leaving the ancient realm’s awakening as the looming threat.

• A Fighter commandant reported that giant snakes had destroyed ships in the north and venomous snakes had killed soldiers, so Xu Hu raised the alarm and activated the Blazing Yang Grand Formation.
• The young spellcaster warned Xu Hu that the formation could stop monsters below second grade but would last only three days, and Xu Hu ordered it maintained while they sought a solution.
• Tian Heng arrived and told Xu Hu that the Lu Household was involved, explaining that the King of Qin had sealed the Earth Mother in Ten Thousand Snakes Valley with a secret technique entrusted to the Lu Household.
• Tian Heng relayed that Chen Qing believed Madam Lu was connected to the crisis, and Chen Qing told Yuchi Feihong that she came from Earth Dragon Cave and was likely a gatekeeper.
• Chen Qing identified Madam Lu as the gatekeeper of the ancient realm called Heavenly Python Palace.

Chen Qing explained that Heavenly Python Palace offered snakes a destructive path toward immortality and that the Lu Household had once been tasked with guarding its seal. He suspected the emperor had deliberately sent the Lu Household north, leaving the reason unclear as he feared what awaited the capital.

• Chen Qing told Yuchi Feihong that snake priests served the Earth Mothers and that Heavenly Python Palace offered snakes endless growth through shedding.
• Chen Qing explained that ancient snake warlocks had sealed Heavenly Python Palace to prevent its pythons from devouring the world, and that Madam Lu had been chosen to watch over the seal.
• Chen Qing suspected Earth Dragon Cave had originally monitored Southern Barbarian snake spirits before the Lu Household turned it into an assassination organization.
• Yuchi Feihong wondered whether Chen Qing was descended from the King of Qin, but turned his attention to the danger of Heavenly Python Palace.
• Chen Qing argued that the emperor likely remained in control and had arranged for the Lu Household to go north, then feared the capital might become inaccessible if his suspicion was right.

The emperor learned that the Lu Household had opened Ten Thousand Snakes Valley and discussed his plans to exploit the ancient powers while protecting only the Duke of Wei’s descendants. In Cloud City, the awakened heir ordered his forces to reclaim North Sea City and contact Jiangnan, declaring it the Northern Frontier’s only way out.

• The purple-robed sorcerer told the emperor that the Lu Household had opened Ten Thousand Snakes Valley and that the Earth Serpent had awakened, while the Earth Mother remained dormant.
• The emperor explained that the Duke of Wei would oppose his dealings with ancient powers, then ordered his covert agents to preserve the Duke’s eldest grandson and a trace of the family bloodline.
• The empress told the emperor that Heavenly Pythons could grow large enough to encircle the world and said they would become delicacies.
• The awakened heir learned that the Seven Cities of Youyun had fallen and North Sea City was surrounded by giant serpents.
• The heir ordered his men to contact Jiangnan and retake North Sea City as the only way to save the Northern Frontier.

Xu Hu urged Jiangnan’s leaders to rescue the besieged north, but they feared the cost to their own people and forces. The debate stalled when Shen San revealed that Chen Qing could not be contacted amid turmoil at the Dragon Palace.

• At the North Sea checkpoint, wounded northern envoys asked to see Xu Hu, while Jiangnan’s soldiers delayed them and medical spellcasters treated their snake venom.
• On a warship, Xu Hu and Jiangnan’s leaders gathered to discuss the worsening northern crisis; Master Shen San said Wei Gongcheng and Seventh Brother could not attend because of a serious incident in Liuzhou.
• Xu Hu reported that seven cities of Youyun had fallen and only three northern cities remained, with food running short and over a billion refugees facing danger.
• Xu Hu said the north wanted Jiangnan to open a route through North Sea City so its soldiers and refugees could withdraw, but Second Master Shen and Shen San opposed risking Jiangnan’s forces and resources.
• Xu Hu and Second Master Shen argued over whether Jiangnan should help, until Shen Shiyi asked why they did not consult Chen Qing.
• Master Shen San revealed that Chen Qing had not replied since the flood dragons at the Dragon Palace grew restless that morning.

Xu Hu argued for rescuing the northerners, but Chen Qing ordered everyone to wait until he returned and judged the rescue plan too risky. As Chen Qing and Yuchi Feihong escaped the collapsing jade wall, he hinted that saving the north might depend on the Duke of Wei, while monsters began awakening in the Dragon Palace.

• Xu Hu proposed flying ships with wind jade to rescue the northerners, but Shen Laosan and Second Master Shen opposed the costly, dangerous plan.
• Tian Heng received Chen Qing's order to postpone all decisions about the north until he returned, and Xu Hu was left troubled by the order.
• Chen Qing told Yuchi Feihong that the north was nearly impossible to save and questioned whether the Duke of Wei would sacrifice himself for its people.
• The jade wall began to shatter as the Ten Thousand Jiaolong Grand Formation completed and monsters in the Dragon Palace started waking.
• Chen Qing took Yuchi Feihong into a mother-of-pearl shell as the collapsing formation unleashed a torrent, and he warned that the monsters would soon feast on one another.

Chen Qing revealed that he had broken the formation to lure the Dragon Palace’s Blood Guards into carrying them toward the nobles as they evacuated from the out-of-control Heavenly Ghost Octopus. He planned to use the evacuation to reach the Dragon Palace’s higher-ups and seize the white jade they would not leave behind.

• Yuchi Feihong and Murong Yunji watched Blood Guards drain a giant shark and learned from Chen Qing that they were human blood sorcerers transformed to collect blood essence for the Dragon Palace.
• Chen Qing told Yuchi to close the mother shell, explaining that Blood Guards would transport it to their superiors because it might contain valuable Baiyu Essence.
• Murong Yunji grew suspicious of Chen Qing’s knowledge and wondered whether he served the Ancient Ones or the Dragon Palace.
• Chen Qing explained that the Dragon Palace nobles would evacuate because the Heavenly Ghost Octopus was out of control and the top dragons could not yet awaken.
• Yuchi realized Chen Qing meant to hitch a ride with the Blood Guards, and Murong understood that he had also broken the formation to claim the Dragon Palace’s white jade.

Chen Qing and Yuchi Feihong discovered that the Blood Guards were bringing Blood Essence Stones to revive a small Turtle Chancellor, whose divination could guide the Dragon Palace forces to safety. Chen Qing told Yuchi to prepare to seize it before it could calculate their location.

• Yuchi Feihong used the giant clam's vision to report that the Blood Guards were carrying giant clams and white jade into the abyss.
• The group sensed a powerful yaksha, and Chen Qing explained that the Blood Guards were escorting dormant Dragon Palace elites rather than reviving them all.
• Yuchi saw that the Blood Guards were sending most of their Blood Essence Stones deeper into the abyss, where more than a thousand yakshas lay frozen.
• At the seabed, Yuchi saw the Blood Guards feeding most of the stones to a small, translucent sea turtle beneath enormous icebergs.
• Chen Qing identified the turtle as a Turtle Chancellor, whose shell enabled divination and whose predictions could help the Dragon Palace forces retreat safely.
• Chen Qing declared that seizing the Turtle Chancellor was their chance to gain an advantage and told Yuchi to wait for his signal.

A Bao, a young Heavenly Mystic Turtle, was tasked with guiding the Heavenly Dragon Palace’s evacuation and divined that the North Sea offered the best chance of survival. Before the Blood Guards could act on his advice, Chen Qing attacked, seized A Bao, and revealed that he had released the Heavenly Ghost Octopus.

• A Bao recovered with Blood Essence Stones and learned that the Dragon Palace had entrusted him with guiding its lords to safety.
• A Bao confirmed that his divination favored the North Sea, and the Blood Guards agreed to follow his recommendation.
• A Bao dismissed the Blood Guard leader, but a sudden attack blasted the leader into fragments.
• Chen Qing seized A Bao with a Divine Wind Spell as Blood Guards surrounded him.
• Chen Qing refused the Blood Guards’ threats and announced that he had released the Heavenly Ghost Octopus.

Chen Qing used the Divine Fire Spell to force the Blood Guards and a restored yaksha to negotiate, then demanded to speak with Ao Xin. The yaksha did not dare attack while A Bao remained in danger.

• The Blood Guards accused Chen Qing of releasing the Heavenly Ghost Octopus, and Chen Qing retorted that they had forgotten their ancestors.
• Yuchi Feihong prepared to defend Chen Qing, but the Blood Guards revealed that his borrowed ancient-level strength would not last.
• Chen Qing surrounded himself and Yuchi Feihong with the South Sea Dragon Palace's Divine Fire Spell and threatened A Bao with it.
• Chen Qing demanded a negotiator, but when the Blood Guards offered their lord, he called out a hidden yaksha instead.
• The yaksha emerged and challenged Chen Qing, who kept burning A Bao and demanded to speak with the Third Prince of the West Sea, Ao Xin.

Chen Qing persuaded the yaksha guards to bring him before West Sea Third Prince Ao Xin, whose whereabouts had been closely concealed. Upon seeing Ao Xin frozen inside a vast iceberg, Chen Qing recognized the face of a former coworker from his past life, though he doubted the prince was really the person he remembered.

• A yaksha questioned Chen Qing about how he knew the hidden details of Ao Xin's identity and whereabouts.
• Another yaksha arrived with a jade token and said Ao Xin had ordered Chen Qing brought before him.
• Chen Qing and Yuchi Feihong followed the yakshas through the frozen nobles of the Heavenly Dragon Palace, with Chen Qing keeping the Divine Fire Spell around the Mystic Turtle.
• The yakshas led Chen Qing to the largest iceberg, where he saw the human face of the frozen Third Prince Ao Xin.
• Ao Xin asked Chen Qing in a gentle voice whether they knew each other, and Chen Qing wondered if he could truly be his former coworker Qi Xiaosheng.

Chen Qing confronted Ao Xin over the white jade and revealed that he knew the other Dragon Palaces’ royal scions had died in a secret incident. He left Ao Xin weighing whether to comply or risk his group’s survival, while Chen Qing released A Bao and challenged the two yakshas to stop him.

• Chen Qing recognized Ao Xin’s appearance as resembling his former assistant Qi Xiaosheng and dismissed the yakshas’ objections.
• Chen Qing demanded that Ao Xin send thirty flood dragons to deliver half the white jade and withdraw within six hours, threatening to burn A Bao if he refused.
• Chen Qing argued that Ao Xin could safely return only to the West Sea Dragon Palace and questioned why the other Dragon Palaces’ royal scions had not evacuated.
• Chen Qing named Ao Bing, Ao Yun, and Ao Zhuo, then asserted that the other royal scions were dead and that Ao Bing had died to the north.
• Chen Qing accused Ao Xin of using a Blood Essence Stone to revive his consciousness and relying on A Bao’s divination to justify leading the group west.
• Ao Xin threatened to kill Chen Qing, but Chen Qing released A Bao and challenged Ao Xin to risk traveling the abyss without him.

Chen Qing used the Nine Heavens Mirror Valley core to force Ao Xin into giving him a quarter of the Dragon Palace’s white jade, while the old Dragon Palaces began to awaken and threaten the factions undergoing Dragon Transformation. At the East Sea Dragon Palace, Chen Baifeng confronted Blood Guards who were waiting to see whether the outsiders would succeed.

• Chen Qing reclaimed A Bao with the Nine Heavens Mirror Valley’s power and made Ao Xin agree to give him a quarter of the white jade in exchange for safe passage.
• Ao Xin ordered Ying Yi to transport the cloud shells, and Chen Qing released A Bao to divine a safer route.
• As the Ten Thousand Jiaolong Grand Formation shook, the ancient Dragon Palaces began awakening and the factions undergoing Dragon Transformation drew their attention.
• At the East Sea Dragon Palace, Chen Baifeng and Pang Xingyun faced Blood Guards who had surrounded their group without attacking.
• Chen Baifeng accused the Blood Guards of waiting to see whether the Dragon Transformation succeeded, and the guards’ fear of losing their lives kept them from risking an attack.

Hong Yue failed his Dragon Transformation and died horribly, leaving Chen Baifeng’s group at the mercy of the Blood Guards. Yaksha intervened before they could attack and revealed that the Dragon Palace needed their help because a danger was approaching and it lacked the Blood Essence Stones to revive its dragons.

• Hong Yue’s failed Dragon Transformation killed him and several Yin-Yang Academy sorcerers, while the Blood Guards consumed his remains for Blood Essence Stones.
• The Blood Guards prepared to attack Chen Baifeng’s group, but Yaksha arrived and killed their leading guard for threatening someone undergoing Dragon Transformation.
• Yaksha apologized to Chen Baifeng and explained that a divination had revealed trouble at the Heavenly Dragon Palace and an approaching danger.
• Yaksha told the group that the Dragon Palace lacked enough Blood Essence Stones to revive its dragons and would rely on them, offering successful candidates the position of East Sea Dragon Palace masters.

Yaksha explained that the Dragon Palace had awakened early because the Earth Spirits were beginning to revive, but its reserve resources had been destroyed and a growing monster threatened its survival. He offered the humans a chance to command the Dragon Palace if they completed Dragon Transformation, then revealed the crisis was in the Heavenly Dragon Palace, prompting Chen Baifeng and Pang Xingde to suspect Chen Qing was responsible.

• Pang Xingde questioned Yaksha's offer, and Yaksha explained that ancient forces needed vast amounts of blood essence to recover from their hibernation.
• Yaksha told Chen Baifeng and Pang Xingde that the Earth Spirits were beginning to revive and that ancient forces had awakened early to seize resources before their rivals.
• Yaksha offered successful Dragon Transformation candidates authority over the Dragon Palace until its elders revived, exciting the spellcasters while Pang Xingde remained wary.
• Yaksha revealed that the Dragon Palace's reserve resources had been destroyed and an out-of-control monster was rapidly growing in the Heavenly Dragon Palace.
• Chen Baifeng and Pang Xingde realized Yaksha might mean the central Dragon Palace they had entered and suspected Chen Qing was the monster.

Chen Qing refused the West Sea Dragon Palace’s offer of Dragon Transformation, exposing its need for human factions and the brutal role humans once held under demon rule. He warned Ao Xin that the Ancient Insect was heading for the West Sea Dragon Palace, leaving its fate in immediate danger.

• In the North Sea, a yaksha persuaded the Duke of Wei’s youngest son and other leaders to consider becoming lesser dragons, while Bai Sang and Xiang Tianyu questioned the offer.
• At the Heavenly Dragon Palace, Chen Qing explained to Yuchi Feihong that the Dragon Palace needed human factions for resources, intelligence, and labor, and described how humans had been exploited in the past.
• Ao Xin offered noble status to humans who underwent Dragon Transformation, but Chen Qing rejected the offer and challenged the Dragon Palace’s assumptions about cooperation.
• Ao Xin revealed that most of Chen Qing’s companions had accepted the agreement and threatened that Chen Qing would not leave after taking Dragon Palace supplies.
• Chen Qing warned Ao Xin that the Ancient Insect was approaching the West Sea Dragon Palace, the same biological weapon the dragons had once refused to let enter Nine Heavens Mirror Valley.

Shen Laoda used the chaos caused by the Dragon Palace’s shortage of Blood Essence Stones to seize control of Blood Guards and attack the West Sea Dragon Palace. He stood on the verge of taking control of the palace and credited Chen Qing for creating his opportunity.

• The West Sea Dragon Palace’s defenders retreated to an iceberg while Shen Laoda’s Blood Guards and yakshas surrounded them.
• Shen Laoda explained that a woman had once used the Nine Heavens Mirror Valley to imprison him for tens of thousands of years, and he praised her ability.
• Shen Laoda recounted how he escaped after the Dragon Palace opened early, then gathered blood essence by slaughtering island nations in the West Sea.
• Chen Qing’s actions left the Dragon Palaces of the Four Seas short of the Blood Essence Stones needed to revive their nobles.
• Shen Laoda took control of several Blood Guards and sent his ancient kin to burrow into the brains of yakshas sealed in ice.
• Shen Laoda decided to use his advantage to seize the West Sea Dragon Palace and called Chen Qing his lucky star.

Ao Xin and Chen Qing reached the West Sea Dragon Palace as Shen Laoda threatened Ao Zhen and other dormant dragons. With the teleportation point dim and human-headed katydids revived outside, Chen Qing realized several dangerous monsters were poised to exploit the dragons’ weakness.

• Ao Zhen resisted Shen Laoda’s insect spawn, but recognized that the Ancient Insect could grow rapidly by controlling powerful subordinates and feared for the West Sea Dragon Palace.
• Ao Xin sensed his elder sister’s distress and challenged Chen Qing over his role in unleashing dangerous creatures, but Chen Qing promised not to let Shen Laoda control the Dragon Palace.
• Chen Qing and Ao Xin arrived at the West Sea Dragon Palace’s teleportation point and found its energy dimmed, indicating that more creatures had entered after Shen Laoda.
• Ao Xin realized that human-headed katydids had revived and might seek dragon transformation while the nobles remained unable to revive.
• Chen Qing worried that Shen Laoda was exploiting the chaos to expand his control and hurried to consider the rapidly growing threats around him.

Chen Qing and Yuchi Feihong entered the West Sea Dragon Palace while Ao Xin risked leaving his life-sustaining iceberg to return there. Chen Qing explained that Ao Xin hoped to revive himself by preying on creatures undergoing Dragon Transformation, then revealed that he and Yuchi would attempt Dragon Transformation themselves.

• Ao Xin ordered the yaksha to cut away most of his iceberg so he could fit through the teleportation gateway, despite the risk that he would die without blood essence soon.
• Chen Qing and Yuchi Feihong teleported ahead with Murong, leaving the Mystic Turtle with Ao Xin; Ao Xin restrained the yaksha from attacking because he had lost contact with A Da and could not risk losing his remaining guard.
• After arriving, Chen Qing explained that the Mystic Turtle would expose their location to Ao Xin and might betray them, so bringing it along would be dangerous.
• Chen Qing told Yuchi that the Dragon Palace lacked blood essence, so its dormant nobles would target creatures weakened by Dragon Transformation as nourishment.
• Chen Qing announced that he and Yuchi would undergo Dragon Transformation, arguing that surviving the ensuing weakness could give them a chance to control the Dragon Palace.

Bai Sang suspected the yakshas planned to attack during the weakness that followed a successful Dragon Transformation, so he pretended to choose a safer, lower-grade breed to test their reactions. He told the duke's youngest son and the others to ride on him as a Thousand-Footed Dragon and escape while he recovered.

• Bai Sang reasoned that the yakshas wanted high-quality Blood Essence Stones and might target them after successful Dragon Transformations, when they were vulnerable.
• A yaksha offered Bai Sang an Armored Dragon transformation with an eighty percent success rate, but Bai Sang chose the Thousand-Footed Dragon option with a one hundred percent success rate.
• The yakshas privately worried that Bai Sang had discovered the weakness period and agreed to watch the group closely so they could not escape.
• Bai Sang told the duke's youngest son and the others that the yakshas would strike after his transformation and that the agile Thousand-Footed Dragon would give them a better chance to flee.
• Bai Sang instructed the group to climb onto him as soon as his Dragon Transformation succeeded and hold on while they escaped.

Chen Qing led Yuchi Feihong through the West Sea Dragon Palace to find a Dragon Transformation species suited to Yuchi’s Steel Bone Physique and pearl oyster-enhanced blood and qi. He chose a dangerous Garuda hybrid that could awaken Yuchi’s Peng bloodline and make him a candidate for the Wind Gate Battle God, leaving Yuchi poised to attempt the transformation.

• Chen Qing recognized the Dragon Palace’s familiar design and took Yuchi Feihong to search for a suitable Dragon Transformation material.
• Chen Qing warned Yuchi that the palace’s upper levels would become a battlefield, so they descended to the secluded underground levels.
• Chen Qing explained that the lowest level held dangerous experimental species sealed in black ice, whose transformation success rates were usually low.
• Chen Qing chose a Garuda hybrid made from an Arctic Kun and Garuda bloodline, saying Yuchi’s Steel Bone Physique and enhanced blood and qi could raise his success rate to at least eighty percent.
• Chen Qing said a successful transformation could awaken Yuchi’s Peng bloodline and give him the potential to become the Wind Gate Battle God.