Chapter Summaries

Kong Wenxuan and Kong Changgeng fought to hold off the Du Household’s Starlight Cuckoo-possessed beasts while the forbidden ritual continued. Du Yuxian completed his breakthrough on the Phoenix Terrace and announced that he had reached the Purple Mansion Stage.

• Kong Wenxuan used the Lesser Five Elements Sword Formation with Kong Changgeng’s illusion technique to kill three Second Tier flying beasts.
• The Du Household cultivators empowered their remaining beasts with Starlight Cuckoos, whose starlight protection blunted the sword formation and resisted Kong Changgeng’s illusions.
• Kong Wenxuan shifted the formation from offense to defense, protecting himself and Kong Changgeng from the beasts and the Du Household cultivators.
• Kong Changgeng offered to use the Kong Household’s Space-Breaking Talisman to escape, but Kong Wenxuan instead questioned him about Purple Mansion cultivators and Ya Zhaoying’s strength.
• Du Yuxian rose on the Phoenix Terrace as purple qi gathered at his brow and announced that he had reached the Purple Mansion Stage.

Du Yuxian broke through to the Purple Mansion Realm and tried to seize the gathered clans, but Ya Zhaoying revealed that she had been concealing her strength and turned the battle against the Du Household. With the Ya Household’s help, Kong Wenxuan joined the assault and killed Du Zikai.

• Du Yuxian credited the Ya and Kong Households with forcing him to break through, then declared he would capture them and use their bloodlines for his ritual.
• Kong Wenxuan and Kong Changgeng considered using their Space-Breaking Talisman to retreat as Du Yuxian’s Purple Mansion pressure threatened their formation.
• Ya Zhaoying revealed her Fire Crow Clones’ true power, destroyed the ritual’s formation and Cuckoo True Spirit, and suppressed Du Yuxian.
• Ya Zhaoying’s four Foundation Establishment allies attacked the Du Household forces, while her third uncle urged the Kong Household to join them.
• Kong Changgeng chose to stay, and Kong Wenxuan turned the Lesser Five Elements Sword Formation against Du Zikai.
• Kong Wenxuan’s sword formation broke Du Zikai’s defenses and killed him.

After Kong Wenxuan killed Du Zikai, he countered Du Ziting’s Beast Soul Scroll with the Peacock Soul-Bewitching Scripture and the Lesser Five Elements Sword Formation. Du Ziting’s talismans broke the formation, but Kong Wenxuan escaped on the Crimson Fire Divine Sword and charged toward him.

• Kong Wenxuan killed Du Zikai, freeing the three Second-Tier avian beasts, which attacked the remaining Du Household cultivators.
• Du Ziting confronted Kong Wenxuan and unleashed beast souls from his Beast Soul Scroll.
• Kong Wenxuan’s peacock illusion drove the beast souls into a frenzy, and his Lesser Five Elements Sword Formation killed many of them and damaged the scroll.
• Du Ziting used starlight to protect and revive the remaining beast souls, then bombarded Kong Wenxuan’s sword formation with Second-Tier lightning and fire talismans until it broke.
• Kong Wenxuan rode the Crimson Fire Divine Sword out of the beast souls’ encirclement and attacked Du Ziting with the White Metal Divine Sword.

Kong Wenxuan killed Du Ziting and helped Kong Changgeng defeat Du Zhimin while Ya Zhaoying gained the upper hand against Du Yuxian. Du Yuxian fell and merged with the Cuckoo True Spirit to become a false phoenix, but Ya Zhaoying transformed into a fire crow and tore him apart.

• Kong Wenxuan broke through Du Ziting's defenses with his divine swords and killed him, then collected the spoils and remaining Demon Beast souls.
• Kong Wenxuan assessed the other battles and saw that Ya Zhaoying was suppressing Du Yuxian while Kong Changgeng kept Du Zhimin occupied.
• Kong Wenxuan used the Lesser Five Elements Sword Formation to kill Du Zhimin and support Kong Changgeng.
• Du Yuxian, driven into desperation, merged with the Cuckoo True Spirit and fell to become a false phoenix.
• Ya Zhaoying merged with her three hundred Fire Crow Clones, transformed into a fire crow, and tore the false phoenix in half.

After Du Yuxian and the Cuckoo True Spirit were destroyed, the Cuckoo True Spirit Star fell and the Cuckoo Secret Realm began collapsing. Kong Wenxuan abandoned the pursuit of the fleeing Du Household and claimed a resource-rich mountain range for the Kong Household with the Peacock True Spirit Star.

• Ya Zhaoying killed Du Yuxian and the false phoenix, then used an array to enclose the phoenix blood being refined from its remains.
• The Cuckoo True Spirit Star shattered, causing the Cuckoo Secret Realm to collapse and destroying resource sites and killing cultivators caught in the spreading cracks.
• The surviving Du Household cultivators fled the secret realm, while the Ya Household used the Fire Crow True Spirit Star to protect and claim its resources.
• Kong Wenxuan and Kong Changgeng stopped pursuing the Du Household and began seeking a resource site for the Kong Household to claim.
• Kong Changgeng pointed out a mountain range containing a dark iron ore vein, Spirit Plants, and spirit springs, and Kong Wenxuan used the Peacock True Spirit Star to suppress and claim it.

As the Cuckoo Secret Realm collapsed, Kong Wenxuan and Patriarch Kong Changgeng secured a resource-rich mountain range under the Peacock True Spirit Star’s protection. They rescued five cultivators from the Yan and Ma Households, while more than thirty survivors sought refuge with the Ya Household, and Kong Wenxuan remained suspicious of Ya Zhaoying.

• The Kong Household used the Peacock True Spirit Star projection to protect a mountain range, and the Ya Household let them claim it while seizing other territory.
• Patriarch Kong Changgeng found First Tier black iron, Second Tier red copper and spirit water, and First and Second Tier Spirit Plants in the mountains.
• The Cuckoo True Spirit Star fell and shattered, causing the secret realm’s final collapse and leaving only areas protected by True Spirit Star projections safe.
• Survivors from the servant cultivator households begged the Ya Household or Kong Household for protection; the Ya Household sheltered more than thirty, while Kong Changgeng rescued Yan Zhiyu, three Yan Household cultivators, and one cultivator from the Ma Household.
• Yan Zhiyu told Kong Wenxuan that the Yan and Ma Households trusted the Kong Household and believed it needed their support, and Kong Wenxuan grew more doubtful of Ya Zhaoying.

After the Cuckoo Secret Realm was destroyed, Ya Zhaoying claimed the ruined Cuckoo County City for the Fire Crow Ya Household and began relief efforts. Kong Wenxuan learned that a Demon Beast tide had overrun Demon-Suppressing Pass and was approaching Peacock Ridge, so he hurried home with the Kong, Yan, and Ma Households.

• Ya Zhaoying used her Fire Crow clones and Purple Mansion might to suppress looters, claimed Cuckoo County City for the Ya Household, and renamed it Cuckoo Town.
• Ya Zhaoying ordered her household and its servant-cultivator Lineages to rescue survivors and restore order in the city.
• Kong Changgeng received messages from Kong Wenzhang reporting that Demon-Suppressing Pass had fallen and a Demon Beast group was heading for Peacock Ridge.
• Kong Wenxuan and Kong Changgeng boarded their Feather Boat with the Yan and Ma Households and left for Peacock Ridge.
• Ya Zhaoying told Kong Wenxuan that the Ya Household's forces would handle the beast tide and promised to introduce him to the commandery governor after the crisis.

Kong Wenxuan and Kong Changgeng returned to Peacock Ridge as a beast tide besieged the Kong Household’s ancestral home, and they helped turn the battle against the attackers. The siege renewed when four Second Tier wolf demons arrived, and Lang Jitong declared that he intended to destroy the Kong Household in revenge for the Gray Wolf Lang Household’s losses.

• Kong Wenxuan and the others saw the Kong Household’s protective formation using the Peacock True Spirit Star to resist the beast tide at Peacock Ridge.
• Kong Changgeng signaled the clansmen with a black peacock, and the defenders intensified their counterattack.
• Kong Wenxuan, Kong Changgeng, Yan Zhiyu, and the other cultivators attacked the beast tide, killing many Demon Beasts and nearly scattering the horde.
• A wolf’s howl rallied the beast tide, and four Second Tier wolf demons appeared behind it.
• Lang Jitong spoke to Kong Wenxuan, blamed the Kong Household for the Gray Wolf Lang Household’s ruin, and vowed to destroy Peacock Ridge in revenge.

Kong Wenxuan learned that the intelligent Demon Race was real and that its members could use Bloodline Divine Abilities and Spirit Artifacts. As the battle began, he attacked Lang Jitong and discovered that the wolf demon’s defenses could withstand his swords.

• Kong Changgeng explained that the Demon Race was an intelligent enemy the True Spirit Lineages were expected to hunt, though the Kong Household had never encountered one before.
• Lang Jitong led three Second-Tier wolf demons in an attack on the Feather Boat and threatened to consume the Kong Household and sacrifice its Peacock True Spirit.
• Kong Wenxuan assigned Kong Changgeng and Patriarch Yan to hold off the three beasts while he leapt from the boat to fight Lang Jitong.
• Kong Wenxuan’s Crimson Fire Divine Sword struck Lang Jitong’s bronze-and-iron body but failed to pierce his Bloodline Divine Ability.
• Kong Wenxuan’s White Metal Divine Sword also failed to kill Lang Jitong after a bronze-and-iron Spirit Artifact blocked its strike.

Kong Wenxuan fought the wolf demon Lang Jitong, whose Spirit Artifacts and defenses resisted the Five Elements Divine Swords and their formation. Kong summoned the Peacock True Spirit Star to strengthen the formation, which suppressed and killed Lang Jitong.

• Lang Jitong attacked Kong Wenxuan with his Bronze and Iron Great Seal, but the Yellow Earth Divine Sword knocked it aside.
• Kong Wenxuan used the Azure Wood and Black Water Divine Swords to attack, but Lang Jitong’s Spirit Armor and Bloodline Divine Ability blocked them.
• Lang Jitong unleashed more Second Tier Spirit Artifacts, forcing Kong to defend with the Yellow Earth Divine Sword.
• Kong used four divine swords to cast reinforcing illusions, then trapped Lang Jitong in the Lesser Five Elements Sword Formation.
• The formation could not penetrate Lang Jitong’s defenses, so Kong drew power from the Peacock True Spirit Star to strengthen it.
• The star’s projection suppressed Lang Jitong, dispelled his Bloodline Divine Ability, and allowed the formation to tear him apart.

Kong Wenxuan killed Lang Jitong and the remaining Second Tier wolf demons, breaking the beast tide’s siege of the Kong Household’s ancestral lands. He then escorted Yan Zhiyu and a Ma Household cultivator to check their Lineages, leaving the Ma Household grieving its losses.

• Kong Wenxuan used the Peacock True Spirit Star’s power to suppress and kill Lang Jitong, then joined Kong Changgeng and Yan Zhiyu in killing the remaining wolf demons.
• Kong Wenxuan, Kong Changgeng, and Yan Zhiyu slaughtered the First Tier Demon Beasts attacking Peacock Ridge, routing the beast tide.
• Kong Changgeng sent Kong Wenxuan to escort Yan Zhiyu and the Ma Household cultivator to their ancestral lands and help defend them if needed.
• Kong Wenxuan flew with Yan Zhiyu and the Ma Household cultivator to Swallow Dock, where they killed the scattered Demon Beasts attacking the Yan Household.
• Yan Zhiyu confirmed that the Yan Household had suffered no significant casualties, then accompanied Kong Wenxuan to Sparrow Ridge.
• The group found Sparrow Ridge untouched by the beast tide, and the Ma Household cultivator hurried inside to report the deaths of more than ten members who had gone to Cuckoo County.

Kong Wenxuan returned the Yan Household head to Swallow Dock before reporting to Peacock Ridge, where the Kong Household learned how Demon-Suppressing Pass had fallen and that the Demon Beast tide still threatened Cuckoo County. He proposed joining the “Fire Crow” Ya Household’s forces to fight the invaders and help the Kong Household expand its territory.

• Kong Wenxuan escorted Yan Zhiyu to Swallow Dock, where the Yan Household members thanked him and acknowledged him as their master.
• Kong Wenxuan returned to Peacock Ridge, where the Kong Household had survived the wolf demons’ attack without major losses.
• Kong Wenzhang and the others explained that the Du cultivators and legions had disappeared from Demon-Suppressing Pass before the Demon Beast tide overran it.
• Kong Wenxuan concluded that members of the Demon Race were directing attacks across Cuckoo County and that the crisis remained unresolved.
• Kong Wenxuan proposed meeting the “Fire Crow” Ya Household’s legion, joining its campaign against the invaders, and using the effort to help the Kong Household expand its territory.

Kong Wenxuan led a Kong Household squad to patrol the area around Peacock Ridge before joining the Ya Household in fighting the Demon Beast tide. At the ruined Feng Household ancestral lands, they found signs that the intelligent Demon Race had accompanied the beasts, and set out to trace the threat.

• Patriarch Kong Changgeng agreed to Kong Wenxuan's expedition plan and arranged for Third Aunt Kong Yuyin, Kong Wenzhang, and the service squad to accompany him.
• Kong Changgeng contacted the Ya Household, warned it that the Demon Race was directing the Demon Beast tide, and received an invitation to meet in Cuckoo County City.
• Kong Wenxuan piloted the Feather Boat on a patrol around Peacock Ridge and nearby lands, clearing scattered Demon Beasts before reaching Hummingbird Forest.
• Kong Wenxuan and his squad found the Feng Household settlement and ancestral hall destroyed, with no bodies left among the ruins.
• Kong Wenxuan ordered the squad to search for the Demon Beast tide's trail; their discovery that useful resources had been removed suggested Demon Race members had searched the Feng Household lands.

Kong Wenxuan and his companions pursued the Demon Beast tide from the Feng Household’s ancestral grounds and found it besieging the Lark Yun Household. They discovered that the Demon Race was holding ordinary Feng people captive, prompting Kong Wenxuan to suspect it planned to create more demons.

• Kong Wenxuan followed the Demon Beast tide’s tracks away from the Kong, Yan, and Ma Households’ ancestral grounds, wondering why the Demon Race had avoided them.
• Kong Wenxuan and his companions caught up with the tide at night as it attacked the Lark Yun Household’s Lark Peak.
• Kong Wenxuan searched for the Demon Race member controlling the tide while the Yun Household’s remaining cloud defenses neared collapse.
• Kong Wenxuan and the others spotted several hundred ordinary Hummingbird Feng Household members being guarded by Demon Beasts near Lark Peak.
• Kong Yuyin explained that an intelligent Demon Race member must have ordered the captives spared, and Kong Yuluo suggested they were being taken to cultivate more members of the Demon Race.

Kong Wenxuan exposed a fox demon hiding among the beasts holding the Feng Household members and fought off its attacks. After the fox’s illusions vanished, he uncovered a second demon in ambush and realized the encounter was a trap aimed at the Kong Household.

• Kong Wenxuan suspected a red fox among the beasts and attacked it with the Crimson Fire Divine Sword.
• The red fox revealed its defensive Spirit Artifact and transformed into a fox demon, confirming Kong Wenxuan’s suspicion.
• The fox demon attacked the Feather Boat with foxfire, then fled through multiple illusions while commanding the Demon Beast tide to charge.
• Kong Wenxuan used the Feather Boat’s peacock illusion to dispel the fox demon’s false figures, but could not find its real body.
• Kong Wenxuan sensed a ripple beside the Feather Boat and struck at it with the Yellow Earth Divine Sword, revealing a chameleon demon in spirit armor.
• Kong Wenxuan realized that two Second Tier Demon Race members had set a trap for the Kong Household.

Kong Wenxuan realized that two Second Tier demons had lured him into an ambush, then used the Peacock True Spirit Star and the Lesser Five Elements Sword Formation to defeat them. The chameleon demon escaped by shedding its tail, but Kong Wenxuan killed the red fox demon and was left without one of his attackers.

• Kong Wenxuan recognized that the Demon Beast tide had been a trap designed by the Second Tier red fox and chameleon demons to target him and the Peacock Kong Household.
• The red fox demon struck the Peacock Feather Boat with its Foxfire Great Hammer, but Kong Wenxuan protected it with the Lesser Five Elements Sword Formation reinforced by the Peacock True Spirit Star.
• The red fox and chameleon tried to retreat, but Kong Wenxuan’s manifested peacock unleashed illusion and sword attacks that revealed and trapped them.
• The chameleon demon escaped by shedding its tail, while Kong Wenxuan suppressed the red fox with the Peacock True Spirit Star and tore it apart with the sword formation.

Kong Wenxuan saved the Feng Household members and fought through the Demon Beast tide with his Five Elements Divine Swords. The Lark Yun Household joined the battle, and the tide broke apart and fled.

• Kong Wenxuan killed the scarlet fox and the Demon Beasts threatening the Feng Household members, then put his relatives in charge of protecting them.
• Kong Wenxuan charged into the approaching Demon Beast tide and slew a Second-Tier scarlet tiger with the Yellow Earth Divine Sword.
• Kong Wenzhang admired Kong Wenxuan’s swordsmanship and had begun refining the Black Water and White Metal Divine Swords from spirit materials.
• The Lark Yun Household cultivators descended from Lark Peak and attacked the rear of the Demon Beast tide alongside the Peacock Kong Household.
• With its commanders gone and the Demon Beasts suffering heavy losses, the tide broke apart and fled.

After rescuing the Lark Yun Household, Kong Wenxuan hurried his group toward Cuckoo County City, choosing caution over pursuing the Demon Race. He arrived to find the city renamed Cuckoo Town and nearby bloodline lineages moving there to seek safety and claim land under the Fire Crow Ya Household.

• Yun Qishen thanked Kong Wenxuan and his companions for saving the Lark Yun Household, and Kong Wenzhang declined the household’s invitation to stay.
• Kong Wenzhang left the rescued Feng Household members in the Yun Household’s care before the Kong party boarded the Feather Boat for Cuckoo County City.
• After being nearly ambushed by Demon Race members, Kong Wenxuan resolved to stay close to the Fire Crow Ya Household’s main force rather than pursue enemies himself.
• Kong Wenxuan and his companions reached Cuckoo County City in less than a day and learned that the Fire Crow Ya Household had renamed it Cuckoo Town.
• Kong Wenxuan saw nearby bloodline lineages moving into Cuckoo Town to seek refuge and claim territory under the new rulers.

Kong Wenxuan reported the Demon Race’s role in the Cuckoo County crisis to Ya Zhaoying and declined to lead an independent force, choosing instead to wait for the Ya Household’s campaign. He brought his relatives into the Kong Household’s secret realm fragment, where they celebrated its promise and the return of their Dark Iron vein.

• Kong Wenxuan met Ya Zhaoying at the Garrison Residence and warned her that the Demon Race had attacked bloodline lineages and taken ordinary people captive.
• Ya Zhaoying said she would report the Demon Race’s actions and Kong Wenxuan’s accomplishments to the commandery governor’s yamen, then invited him to lead a separate force against the invaders.
• Kong Wenxuan declined to command an independent force and agreed to join the Ya Household’s army after it had investigated the Demon Beast tide.
• Kong Wenxuan led Third Aunt, Fifth Uncle, his eldest brother, and the others into the secret realm fragment held by the Peacock True Spirit Star.
• Kong Wenzhang recognized the Dark Iron vein that the Du Household had once taken and remarked that it had returned to the Kong Household as the Du Household fell into ruin.

Kong Wenxuan began refining the White Metal Divine Sword with Red Copper from the spoils taken from the Du Household, using the process to cultivate his Law Power and Spiritual Consciousness as well as advance the sword. After three days of slow progress, the Fire Crow Ya Household reported it was ready to launch an all-out attack on the invaders in Cuckoo Town, while Kong Wenxuan’s sword remained far from becoming a Spirit Artifact.

• Kong Wenxuan and Patriarch Kong Changgeng sorted the spoils taken from the Du Household and found that its Foundation Establishment cultivators had carried supplies sufficient to help the Lineage survive and rebuild.
• Kong Wenxuan reflected that the Du Household’s escaped members might struggle to hide after the Cuckoo True Spirit Star fell and the Golden Crow Imperial Dynasty put the Lineage on its wanted list.
• Kong Wenxuan began refining the White Metal Divine Sword with second-tier Red Copper, knowing the process would take years but would strengthen both his cultivation and the completed sword.
• After three days of refinement, the Red Copper had barely diminished and the sword had gained only a faint red trace along its blade.
• The Fire Crow Ya Household sent word that it was ready to attack the Demon Beast tide and Demon Race that had invaded Cuckoo Town.