Chapter Summaries

Kong Wenxuan advanced the Black Water Divine Sword to a Second Tier Spirit Artifact and discovered its Momentum Accumulation could unleash the strongest strike he could currently wield. After his family told him a trained batch of peacock spirit birds was ready to awaken as Peacock Dao Soldiers, he went with them to see the birds.

• Kong Wenxuan completed the Black Water Divine Sword’s advancement, absorbing the last of the Second Tier spiritual water and drawing closer to the Foundation Establishment Late Stage.
• Kong Wenxuan tested the sword’s Momentum Accumulation, building its power before smashing a huge boulder with a strike stronger than those of his other Second Tier divine swords.
• Kong Wenxuan found that the Lesser Five Elements Sword Formation could increase the sword’s accumulated momentum further, but he dispelled the formation because the secret realm had no suitable place for a test.
• Kong Changlan, Kong Yujin, and the others arrived after hearing the commotion, and Kong Wenxuan told them he had finished refining the Black Water Divine Sword.
• Kong Yujin said the Kong Household had trained peacock spirit birds and planned to awaken them as Peacock Dao Soldiers before escorting goods and taxes to Bifang Commandery City.
• Kong Yujin led Kong Wenxuan and the others to the Azure Cloud Bamboo grove, where the peacock spirit birds were being raised.

Kong Wenxuan and Kong Yujin oversaw the enlightenment of the Kong Household’s first batch of Peacock Dao Soldiers in the Peacock Secret Realm. The ritual created new fighters, including three second-tier soldiers, though some peacocks died in the transformation.

• Kong Wenxuan decided to use Dragon Whisker Pine from the captured secret realm fragment to advance his Azure Wood Divine Sword instead of using the scarce second-tier Azure Cloud Bamboo.
• Kong Wenque showed Kong Yujin and Kong Wenxuan the thirty-odd peacock spirit birds prepared for enlightenment, including three second-tier birds.
• Kong Wenxuan summoned the Five-Colored Peacock True Spirit, which scattered Five-Colored Starlight over the birds and began their transformation.
• Some peacocks became sword-wielding Peacock Dao Soldiers, while others died when their transformations failed; all three second-tier birds succeeded.
• The new Peacock Dao Soldiers gained limited intelligence and were intended to protect Kong Household cultivators by taking dangerous battlefield roles.

Kong Wenxuan led the Kong Household’s first tax payment from Peacock County to Bifang Commandery City, inspecting the new trade route and its settlements along the way. After reaching the city safely, the group prepared to handle the county’s taxes and other business.

• Kong Wenxuan ordered the Peacock Dao Soldiers to kill a pack of wolf demons near the mountain road, and they gathered the corpses and demon materials.
• Kong Wenxuan led Kong Changlan, Kong Yushuo, Kong Yuyin, Kong Wenjun, and other Kong Household members aboard two Feather Boats to escort Peacock County’s first tax payment to Bifang Commandery City.
• The group inspected the road and nearby wild-bloodline settlements, stopping at their towns and finding no problems.
• Kong Wenxuan and his group visited Ya Zhaoying at Cuckoo Town, then continued north without the Ya Household joining them.
• After traveling more than twenty thousand li, Kong Wenxuan and his group arrived safely at Bifang Commandery City half a month later.

Kong Wenxuan and the Kong Household bought the former Du Household Manor in Bifang Commandery City and prepared it as their foothold. They held a housewarming banquet to introduce themselves to the commandery city’s households, where members of the Ya and Fu Households arrived as guests.

• Kong Wenxuan submitted Peacock County’s tax documents to the commandery office, but the revenue bureau delayed the handover while processing Pit Viper County’s taxes.
• Kong Wenxuan and the second elder sold Peacock County goods, then negotiated with the revenue bureau to buy a manor and chose the former Du Household Manor for two hundred thousand low-grade Spirit Stones.
• The Kong Household renovated the manor, hung a new plaque, and invited commandery officials and the other county lineages to a housewarming celebration.
• Five days later, Ya Tianyu and Ya Xingheng arrived with gifts, and Kong Wenxuan and Kong Changlan welcomed them into the manor.
• Fu Rongji and Fu Zongchang arrived next with gifts, and Kong Wenxuan and Kong Changlan greeted them and escorted them to the banquet.

Kong Wenxuan and Kong Changlan welcomed the Jiao and He Households to the Kong Household’s relocation celebration. He Minghua asked who would manage the Kong Household’s affairs in the commandery city, and Kong Changlan said she would stay there while recovering from injuries; the Bi Household then arrived.

• Jiao Shicheng and Jiao Jing'en presented gifts and congratulated the Kong Household before joining the banquet.
• Ya Tianyu and Jiao Jing'en criticized the He Household for arriving late and looking down on other lineages, while the Fu Household stayed quiet.
• He Minghua reminisced about the Du Household’s former estate, and Kong Wenxuan welcomed the He Household while reminding them that it now belonged to the Kong Household.
• He Minghua asked who would reside in the commandery city, and Kong Changlan said she would stay there with Kong Household descendants and recover from injuries.
• The Bi Household arrived as Kong Wenxuan and Kong Changlan were speaking with the He Household.

The Kong Household hosted a housewarming banquet attended by the Bi Household and several other lineages, where the He Household’s deferential treatment of the Bi Household provoked an exchange between He Minghua and Kong Wenxuan. Bi Yanshu stopped Kong Wenxuan’s sword intent and ordered the Kong Household to complete its tax-revenue handover at the revenue office the next day.

• Bi Yanshu led seven Bi Household members to the Kong Household’s banquet, where the guests welcomed them and gave them the seats of honor.
• The Kong Household watched as Qi Refinement juniors from the He Household served the Bi Household, then performed a crane dance for the guests.
• He Minghua challenged the Kong Household to have its juniors perform a peacock dance, and Kong Wenxuan responded by proposing a sword dance with a He Household partner.
• Kong Wenxuan’s sword intent overwhelmed He Minghua until Bi Yanshu’s cough broke the vision and suppressed the sword power; Bi Yanshu told He Minghua to apologize to Kong Wenxuan.
• He Minghua apologized to Kong Wenxuan, and Bi Yanshu told him to bring the Kong Household to the revenue office the next day to complete the tax-revenue handover.

Kong Wenxuan settled Peacock County’s tax handover and arranged for the Kong Household to establish a lasting presence in Bifang Commandery City. While seeking a diagnosis for Kong Changlan’s injuries, they learned that the recommended cure cost one hundred million low-grade Spirit Stones, and she refused treatment.

• Kong Wenxuan and Kong Yushuo delivered Peacock County’s taxes and hosted the revenue office’s assistants and clerks to establish useful connections.
• Kong Wenxuan’s group stored most of the Kong Household’s goods at its new city estate and assigned Kong Changlan and Kong Wenjun to oversee the estate and future business.
• Kong Wenxuan took Kong Changlan to a Bi Household pill shop, where an Alchemist recommended a Seventh Tier Life Nirvana Pill but could not professionally diagnose her injuries.
• The Bi Household shop quoted the pill at ten thousand high-grade Spirit Stones, or one hundred million low-grade Spirit Stones.
• Kong Changlan refused to seek treatment, saying she could never repay the Lineage for a pill that expensive.

Kong Wenxuan brought Second Elder Kong Changlan to the Qinggeng Medical Hall, where a Geng Household physician rejected an unsuitable pill and explained the costs and risks of other treatments. After learning that Changlan’s injury was draining her lifespan, Kong Wenxuan chose the Hall’s long-term treatment plan.

• Kong Wenxuan reassured Kong Changlan that the Kong Household could afford treatment and led the family to the Qinggeng Medical Hall on the Bi Household alchemist’s recommendation.
• A Golden Core Stage Geng Household physician examined Kong Changlan and ruled out the Life Nirvana Pill because its fire-aspect power could harm her water-aspect cultivation and foundation.
• The physician recommended three Seventh Tier pills from other domains, each costing around twenty thousand high-grade Spirit Stones, and offered to purchase one for the Kong Household with half the price paid upfront.
• The physician offered a long-term treatment plan with a fifty-percent chance of success, warning that it could stop Kong Changlan’s origin from leaking away and preserve her lifespan.
• Kong Wenxuan chose long-term treatment for Kong Changlan to halt the loss of her lifespan.

Kong Wenxuan returned to Peacock County after establishing the Kong Household in Bifang Commandery City and strengthening ties with the Ya Household. After reporting the trip’s progress to the Lineage, he entered the Peacock Secret Realm to refine the final Azure Wood Divine Sword.

• Kong Wenxuan left Kong Changlan, Kong Wenjun, the Qi Refinement disciples, the Peacock Dao Soldiers, and the Lightning Falcon Feather Boat in Bifang Commandery City to oversee the Kong Household’s estate and businesses.
• Kong Wenxuan, Kong Yushuo, and Kong Yuyin traveled back toward Peacock County and found that local bloodline households treated them warmly and that no predatory cultivators attacked them.
• Kong Wenxuan explained that the Kong Household’s growing strength and presence in Bifang Commandery City had earned respect along the route.
• Kong Wenxuan and the others stopped in Cuckoo Town to visit Ya Zhaoying and deliver items from Ya Tianyu, then continued their journey the next day.
• Kong Wenxuan and his companions returned to Peacock County, exchanged news with the Lineage, and joined a banquet celebrating their return and the Kong Household’s new foothold in the commandery city.
• Kong Wenxuan entered the Peacock Secret Realm and began refining Second Tier Dragon Whisker Pine spirit wood to improve the final Azure Wood Divine Sword.

Kong Wenxuan completed the Azure Wood Divine Sword’s promotion to a Second-Tier Spirit Artifact and advanced to the Foundation Establishment Late Stage. With Peacock County flourishing, he considered the dangers of pursuing the Purple Mansion Stage and an Eighth-Grade True Spirit Lineage, and resolved to build up his strength and the Kong Household’s foundations first.

• Over more than three years, Peacock County prospered as new servant-cultivator households settled there and the Kong Household’s operations developed; Kong Wenxuan focused on secluded cultivation.
• The Kong Household’s escorts and Peacock Dao Soldiers deterred threats along the trade routes, while searches from Demon-Suppressing Pass found no trace of the Demon Race or Du Household cultivators.
• In the Peacock Secret Realm, Kong Wenxuan refined the final piece of Second-Tier Dragon Whisker Pine into the Azure Wood Divine Sword, promoting it to a Second-Tier Spirit Artifact.
• The sword’s Law Power and spirituality flowed into Kong Wenxuan, raising his cultivation to the Foundation Establishment Late Stage.
• Kong Wenxuan recognized that advancing to the Purple Mansion Stage and elevating the Kong Household to an Eighth-Grade True Spirit Lineage remained dangerous, and decided to accumulate more strength and resources before attempting either.

After advancing all five of his Five Elements Divine Swords to Second Tier and reaching the Foundation Establishment Late Stage, Kong Wenxuan decided to investigate the Demon Race’s secret base in the South Lake Mountains. He left the Peacock Secret Realm planning to go alone, with the refined Cuckoo Feather Boat for transportation.

• Kong Wenxuan completed the Azure Wood Divine Sword’s advancement, bringing all five Five Elements Divine Swords and his Lesser Five Elements Sword Formation to their full Second Tier power.
• Kong Wenxuan surveyed the thriving Peacock Secret Realm and saw its workshops, farms, mines, lake, and training grounds flourishing.
• Kong Wenxuan left the realm and visited Kong Changgeng at the county yamen after more than three years in secluded cultivation.
• Kong Wenxuan told Kong Changgeng that he had reached the Foundation Establishment Late Stage and planned to investigate the Demon Race’s secret base in the South Lake Mountains.
• Kong Wenxuan declined to take Lineage members or Peacock Dao Soldiers, and Kong Changgeng agreed to let him take the refined Cuckoo Feather Boat.

Kong Wenxuan spent time with his family before heading south to investigate the Demon Race's stronghold, stopping at the Kong Household's Demon-Suppressing Pass to study maps and intelligence about the South Lake Mountains. While he was there, Demon Beasts gathered outside and triggered the pass's defenses.

• Kong Wenxuan bid farewell to his parents and the patriarch after spending half a month in Peacock County, then flew south aboard the Cuckoo Feather Boat.
• Kong Wenxuan arrived at the Demon-Suppressing Pass, where Kong Yuling and Kong Yugui explained the pass's role and the Kong Household's limited forces there.
• Kong Wenxuan asked Kong Yuling for maps and intelligence about the mountains beyond the pass and spent several days studying them for signs of the Demon Race and the Du Household.
• A shimmering Five-Colored Peacock appeared above the pass as Demon Beasts gathered outside, and Kong Yugui told Kong Wenxuan that such attacks were routine.

Kong Wenxuan learned that Demon Beast attacks on Demon-Suppressing Pass usually arose from local causes rather than the Demon Race, then watched the Kong Household easily repel a group of gray pythons. Reassured that the pass was secure, he left to search the southern mountains for the Demon Race’s hidden stronghold.

• Kong Yugui explained that Demon Beasts attacked the pass because they had been displaced, sought local resources, or pursued cultivators who provoked them.
• Kong Wenxuan went to the wall with Kong Yugui and saw that a little over thirty gray pythons, mostly First Tier with two Second Tier leaders, were attacking.
• Kong Yuling commanded the Peacock Dao Soldiers to unleash sword attacks and Law Techniques that killed most of the gray pythons.
• The Five-Colored Peacock trapped the two Second Tier gray pythons in an illusion, allowing Kong Yuling and Kong Yugui to kill them.
• Kong Wenxuan took his leave of Kong Yuling, Kong Yugui, and the others, then headed into the southern mountains to search for the Demon Race’s hidden stronghold.

Kong Wenxuan searched the remains of Flying Peak for clues, but found nothing before a Third Tier black tiger Demon Beast attacked him. Protected by the Bifang Jade Token, he recognized the beast as one of the Five Elements Demon Array beasts that escaped after Ya Zhaoying’s battle.

• Kong Wenxuan searched the lake where Flying Peak had stood but found only broken rocks and volcanic ash.
• A Third Tier black tiger Demon Beast attacked Kong Wenxuan with golden light, and its first strike injured him after knocking away the Yellow Earth Divine Sword.
• Kong Wenxuan activated the Bifang Jade Token, whose blue-red starlight shield blocked the tiger’s next attack.
• Kong Wenxuan noticed the tiger’s missing ear and burn scars and recognized them as wounds Ya Zhaoying had inflicted.
• Kong Wenxuan recalled that the black tiger had escaped with the rock wolf after the Third Tier Cuckoo Demon was killed.

Kong Wenxuan tested his second-tier Lesser Five Elements Sword Formation against a third-tier black tiger Demon Beast, using illusions and the formation’s power to strengthen his swords. His strongest Black Water Divine Sword strike finally wounded the beast, but it broke free and fled.

• Kong Wenxuan trapped the third-tier black tiger Demon Beast in the Lesser Five Elements Sword Formation to test whether it could defeat an enemy of a higher tier.
• The formation’s sword attacks failed to pierce the beast’s defenses, and its repeated charges threatened to break the formation.
• Kong Wenxuan used the Five-Colored Peacock’s Peacock Spreads Its Tail illusion to slow the beast and stabilize the formation.
• Kong Wenxuan strengthened each Divine Sword with the Five Elements’ mutual generation, but only the Black Water Divine Sword’s Momentum Accumulation strike pierced the beast’s hide and wounded it.
• The wounded black tiger broke free of the formation and fled in pain.

Kong Wenxuan realized he could use the Cuckoo Feather Boat to frighten a third-tier black tiger Demon Beast that had once been controlled by the Cuckoo Demon Race. With no other leads on the Demon Race stronghold, he pursued the beast, hoping it would lead him there or reveal where it was afraid to go.

• Kong Wenxuan assessed that his strongest attack could wound a higher-tier opponent only under special conditions, and decided not to pursue the escaped black tiger directly.
• Kong Wenxuan brought out the Cuckoo Feather Boat, and the black tiger fled in greater panic at the sight of its Cuckoo Demon Race presence.
• Kong Wenxuan recalled that a third-tier Cuckoo demon had once controlled and driven the black tiger, and guessed that the beast feared the Cuckoo Demon Race.
• Kong Wenxuan decided to pursue the black tiger, hoping it would lead him to the stronghold, reveal places it avoided, or at least provide a lead.
• Kong Wenxuan activated the Cuckoo Feather Boat and its cuckoo phantom, then chased the black tiger as it fled overland through the mountains.

Kong Wenxuan pursued a Third Tier black tiger Demon Beast through the South Lake Mountains for nearly two years, mapping places it avoided in hopes of locating a Demon Race stronghold. After an attempted theft nearly got the beast killed, he intensified the chase to force it toward the stronghold.

• Kong Wenxuan used Peacock Spreads Its Tail and his Second Tier Azure Wood Divine Sword to kill Wind Wolf Demon Beasts the black tiger had led him to.
• Kong Wenxuan mapped nearly half the South Lake Mountains and marked places the black tiger went out of its way to avoid.
• Kong Wenxuan summoned five Peacock Dao Soldiers to take turns watching the black tiger while he rested and recovered during the long pursuit.
• A Third Tier Purple Mansion cultivator tried to snatch the black tiger and nearly killed it, but Kong Wenxuan used the Bifang Jade Token to frighten the cultivator away.
• After nearly two years, Kong Wenxuan believed the Demon Race stronghold was likely among the places the black tiger avoided and pursued it relentlessly to force it there.

Kong Wenxuan pursued the third-tier black tiger Demon Beast through numerous dens, hoping it would lead him to the Demon Race stronghold, while enduring attacks from other third-tier Demon Beasts. After the black tiger surrendered, Kong Wenxuan gestured for it to find the Cuckoo Demon Race, and it began leading him in a direction.

• Kong Wenxuan chased the third-tier black tiger Demon Beast into dens where other third-tier Demon Beasts attacked him and his Cuckoo Feather Boat.
• Kong Wenxuan spotted the escaped third-tier rock wolf Demon Beast but continued pursuing the black tiger.
• After nearly three months and more than ten dens, the black tiger turned to fight Kong Wenxuan, but neither could defeat the other.
• Kong Wenxuan trapped the black tiger in the Lesser Five Elements Sword Formation and considered whether the stronghold lay in one of the remaining places it avoided.
• The black tiger lay down and exposed its belly, then, after Kong Wenxuan gestured toward the Cuckoo Demon Race, got up and started leading him in a direction.

Kong Wenxuan followed the Third-Tier black tiger Demon Beast to South Lake and concluded that a hidden Demon Race stronghold might be there. Unwilling to report a suspicion without proof or enter the lake alone, he decided to investigate further and contacted his household to obtain supplies.

• Kong Wenxuan followed the hesitant Third-Tier black tiger Demon Beast for a month until it led him to South Lake in the South Lake Mountains.
• The black tiger sprawled on the ground and refused to go farther, and Kong Wenxuan reasoned that South Lake was the likeliest place for the hidden Demon Race stronghold.
• Kong Wenxuan reflected that his pursuit had mapped the South Lake Mountains, strengthened his cultivation, and gained him the black tiger as a subdued Demon Beast.
• Kong Wenxuan considered asking the Bifang Commandery Governor to send the Bi Household army, but decided to confirm the stronghold’s location before reporting his suspicion.
• Kong Wenxuan left South Lake and used a message Jade Slip to ask his household to buy supplies for him in Bifang Commandery City.

Kong Wenxuan searched South Lake for the Demon Race stronghold and traces of the Du Household, but his beast scouts found nothing. As the governor’s deadline approached, he decided to provoke the suspected occupants with the Cuckoo Feather Boat, trusting the Bifang Jade Token to protect him.

• Kong Wenxuan received Four Spirits Commands and supplies from the Kong Household, then used them to subdue beasts for reconnaissance.
• Kong Wenxuan fitted aquatic beasts and demonic birds with Concentric Mirror Law Artifacts and sent them to scout South Lake.
• Kong Wenxuan spent more than six months searching through the beasts’ reports, finding powerful Demon Beasts but no stronghold or Du Household cultivators.
• Kong Wenxuan repeatedly released the black tiger Demon Beast, and it always led him back to South Lake, strengthening his belief that the Cuckoo Demon Race was there.
• Kong Wenxuan decided to keep searching himself rather than report South Lake to the Bi Household, and relied on the Bifang Jade Token for protection.
• Kong Wenxuan flew over South Lake in the Cuckoo Feather Boat, manifesting a cuckoo and crying out to provoke the Du Household cultivators and the Cuckoo Demon Race into revealing themselves.