Chapter Summaries

Shi Jian defeated the giant golden crocodile with a claw strike and a spiritual roar, then forced him to submit and placed a restriction in his sea of consciousness. With the beast tide dispersed, the human cultivators resumed building their city in Evil Water Marsh.

• The giant golden crocodile insulted Shi Jian and attacked him with a beam of light, but Shi Jian shattered it with one claw.
• Shi Jian’s roar shattered the crocodile’s sea of consciousness and left him near death.
• Shi Jian demanded the crocodile submit or die, then stabilized his soul and bound him with an Essence Blood restriction and a Divine Sense Mark.
• Shi Jian ordered Kuang Dou and Lord Rat to make the crocodile disperse the beast tide and find every Demon General above level five in Evil Water Marsh.
• The crocodile drove the beast tide back into the swamp, while Sun Chengzu told the human cultivators to continue building the city.

White Cloud Temple expanded into the northern region of Evil Water Marsh, clearing miasma, locating Spirit Veins, and bringing Demon Beasts under Shi Jian’s command. As the land began to recover, the golden crocodile emerged from his pool and waited for Shi Jian.

• Sun Chengzu directed White Cloud Temple’s cultivators to occupy the northern region and begin the slow work of clearing its miasma.
• Sun Qiming and the Sun Clan’s spirit rats discovered three Spirit Veins, including a high-grade, third-tier vein.
• Shi Jian sent Kuang Dou and Lord Rat to subdue the Demon Beasts, and they incorporated more than half of the scattered groups over six months.
• Shi Jian visited the recovering golden crocodile several times, teasing him as he healed from the damage to his sea of consciousness.
• Cultivators channeled Spirit spring water across the land, where the soil began to regain Spiritual Qi and green moss spread.
• The golden crocodile crawled out of the pool and climbed a hill to wait for Shi Jian.

Shi Jian persuaded Golden Crocodile to join his system and help him take the Evil Water Marsh. Golden Crocodile agreed on the condition that humans would not harm his clan’s young.

• Shi Jian questioned Golden Crocodile about his clan’s poor prospects after 470 years in the Evil Water Marsh.
• Shi Jian described how White Cloud Temple’s demon branches had gained territory and resources through cooperation with humans rather than enslavement.
• Shi Jian asked Golden Crocodile to bring the five branches of his clan into his system and help him take the Evil Water Marsh.
• Shi Jian promised that demons who wished to leave could depart through the waterways to the Boundless Sea, and that he would protect Golden Crocodile’s kin.
• Golden Crocodile agreed to join Shi Jian, demanding that no human touch the young in his clan.

After Golden Crocodile submitted to Shi Jian, the Crocodile Beast Clan accepted his control of the northern region and agreed not to obstruct White Cloud Temple cultivators. A year of development cleared the region’s miasma and transformed it with a spirit lake and medicine fields, while the other three territories remained unconquered.

• Golden Crocodile summoned the five Crocodile Beast lineages and told them the northern region was under Shi Jian’s control because he could not defeat him.
• Golden Crocodile explained the conditions he had agreed to with Shi Jian, and the thirty-one Foundation Establishment demons assented to leave human cultivators undisturbed.
• White Cloud Temple cultivators spent a year clearing the northern region’s miasma and restoring its Spirit Veins, pools, and woodland.
• Sun Qiming admired the new spirit lake, while Sun Chengzu reported that the soil had recovered enough to support second-tier spirit medicine after further tending.
• Sun Chengzu considered expanding into the other three regions, but their masters had not submitted, and Shi Jian chose to proceed at a measured pace.

Shi Jian and Sun Chengzu assessed the rival demon factions in Evil Water Marsh while White Cloud Temple consolidated the northern region. Over five years, migrating lineages and mortals developed it into Abundant Water City, leaving the human settlement thriving but surrounded by powerful factions.

• Shi Jian learned that the southern Flood Dragon Python Clan had three Golden Core demons, while the western Azure Wave Turtles and eastern Yin Water Bees each had one.
• Shi Jian weighed the threat posed by the five rival Golden Core demons and their uncertain alliances, while Sun Chengzu decided to consolidate the northern region before confronting them.
• White Cloud Temple divided the northern region into parcels and set rules for allocating land to migrating Foundation Establishment lineages.
• Eight lineages settled first, and Sun Chengzu's allocation plan gave military contributors the best land while others claimed parcels using sect merit or Spirit Stones.
• Over the next four years, the number of migrated lineages rose to twenty-six, and Sun Chengzu named their growing market town Abundant Water City.
• By the fifth year, Abundant Water City had attracted tens of thousands of human cultivators as towns, farmland, and trade expanded.

Shi Jian established Abundant Water Lake as a protected Demon Beast territory, where the crocodile clans and other beasts prospered under White Cloud Temple’s care. Alarmed by the Human Race’s growing foothold in the northern region, the Venomous Flood Dragon King formed an alliance with Wanxiang and Mingshui to launch a beast tide.

• Shi Jian assigned the crocodile lineages and other Demon Beasts protected habitats in Abundant Water Lake, with Sun Chengzu’s decree barring unauthorized hunting.
• Golden Crocodile saw his kin’s health and cultivation improve under White Cloud Temple’s Spirit Cuisine and care, and accepted their stricter life.
• By the sixth year of development, the northern region had cleared most of its miasma, cultivated new fields, and discovered profitable spirit metal veins.
• The Venomous Flood Dragon King summoned Wanxiang and Mingshui to Dragon-Binding Abyss and proposed driving the Human Race out with a beast tide.
• Mingshui agreed on the condition that her clan’s eastern territory would not shrink, and Wanxiang agreed to cooperate while asking what would happen if they lost.
• The three Golden Core Demon Generals agreed to coordinate their forces and plan the beast tide.

Shi Jian secretly met Wanxiang, who revealed the Venomous Flood Dragon King's plans for a three-pronged beast tide and questioned Shi Jian's intentions. Wanxiang agreed to send his turtles west as a feint, and Shi Jian offered the Azure Wave Turtle Clan a place in the future order of Evil Water Marsh.

• Wanxiang told Shi Jian that the Venomous Flood Dragon King planned to attack from three directions in half a month, and admitted he had agreed to join the beast tide to protect his clan.
• Wanxiang asked what Shi Jian hoped to accomplish by working with humans, and Shi Jian said he used their resources and systems to strengthen the Demon Race.
• Shi Jian invited Wanxiang to visit Abundant Water Lake, asking him to decide how much effort his forces would make in the coming battle.
• Wanxiang said his turtles would join the western attack but only put on a show, while the Bee Queen's insects attacked from the east and the flood dragon pythons from the south.
• Shi Jian promised the Azure Wave Turtle Clan territory after the battle and acknowledged that Wanxiang had once saved Golden Crocodile's eggs.
• Wanxiang recognized in Shi Jian a chance to restore the Demon Race's strength.

Shi Jian prepared Abundant Water Lake for a coming million-strong beast tide from three Demon Race factions, arranging Golden Core and Foundation Establishment defenses. He secured Golden Crocodile’s cooperation and planned to bring Shi Yin into the fight, leaving the Northern Region’s defenders with half a month to prepare.

• Shi Jian asked Lord Rat to send a message to Shi Yin at the Supreme Purity Sect, then summoned Sun Chengzu and Golden Crocodile to reveal the coming beast tide.
• Shi Jian assessed the Golden Core matchups and assigned Shi Yin to the Red-Scaled Flood Dragon, Golden Crocodile to the Jade Wave Flood Dragon, and Sun Chengzu to hold off the Bee Queen.
• Shi Jian explained that Abundant Water City's defensive formation would protect against the insect swarm while the Golden Core fighters held their ground.
• Shi Jian asked Golden Crocodile to send his clan’s thirty-one Foundation Establishment Demon Beasts to fight the enemy forces, and Golden Crocodile agreed to protect his clan’s new home.
• Shi Jian promised each surviving Foundation Establishment Demon Beast that fought three portions of Beast-Nurturing Pills and blood-food essence after the battle.

Shi Jian prepared with Shi Yin and the Northern Region forces for an expected beast tide, then watched as the Flood Dragon Python Clan, insects, and giant turtles attacked Abundant Water City from three directions. The defenders mobilized according to plan as the three forces converged, and Shi Jian waited above the battlefield for the challengers.

• Shi Jian received Shi Yin’s message that he would set out to serve the ancestor’s grand plan.
• Sun Chengzu strengthened Abundant Water City’s defenses and organized cultivators and supplies across the city and its outposts.
• Shi Yin arrived and agreed to hold off the fifth-level Red-Scaled Flood Dragon while Shi Jian faced the seventh-level pseudo-king.
• Sun Chengzu ordered the city’s defenses activated when an insect tide appeared south of Abundant Water City earlier than expected.
• Zhao Yanshan saw flood dragons and serpents surge across the river from the south as giant turtles advanced from the west.
• Shi Jian rose above the battlefield as the insect tide, flood dragon tide, and turtle formation approached from three sides.

Shi Jian and his allies faced four Golden Core Demon Generals while Abundant Water City’s defenders fought off the flood dragon and bee armies. Shi Jian held off the Venomous Flood Dragon King, and the chapter left the other battles raging across the city’s defenses.

• Shi Jian assigned Shi Yin to fight the Red-Scaled Flood Dragon, Golden Crocodile to face the Jade Wave Flood Dragon, and Sun Chengzu to battle the Bee Queen, Mingshui, while he confronted the Venomous Flood Dragon King.
• Shi Jian grew to giant size and blocked the Venomous Flood Dragon King’s tail, then used his Lightning Armor Divine Ability to neutralize the king’s poison.
• Sun Qiming led twenty-four Foundation Establishment cultivators against eighty-seven flood dragons and pythons, using groups of three to hold the line.
• Abundant Water City’s southern formation fired beams of spiritual light at the demon attackers as thirty crocodile demons struck their flank.
• Zhao Yanshan activated the eastern defensive formation and ordered Qi Refining cultivators to burn the advancing bee swarm with fire techniques.
• Sun Chengzu’s sword formation cut through the bee soldiers, while Mingshui stayed hidden inside the insect cloud and avoided fighting him directly.

Shi Jian broke free of the Venomous Flood Dragon King’s poison cloud and crippled Mingshui, the Bee Queen, with a surprise attack, routing the insect swarm. The Venomous Flood Dragon King then realized Wanxiang’s forces had barely joined the battle.

• The Venomous Flood Dragon King spread a vast poison cloud to trap Shi Jian and keep him from influencing the battlefield below.
• Shi Jian shattered the cloud with his Thunder Sound technique, saw the insect swarm overwhelming the eastern defenses, and raced toward Mingshui.
• Shi Jian struck Mingshui with a soul-shaking Thunder Sound and a crushing paw blow, gravely injuring her and throwing the bee soldiers into chaos.
• Mingshui escaped and ordered a retreat, ending the insect swarm’s offensive as Sun Chengzu moved to attack her.
• The Venomous Flood Dragon King accused Shi Jian of fighting dishonorably, but Shi Jian defended his strategy and returned to face him.
• Seeing that the southern battle remained at a stalemate and the western turtles had barely moved, the Venomous Flood Dragon King realized Wanxiang had not committed his forces.

The defenders drove back the Venomous Flood Dragon King’s army after the Bee Queen fled, though the battle left Abundant Water City with heavy casualties. As both sides regrouped, Shi Jian prepared for a fiercer clash to come.

• The Venomous Flood Dragon King ordered a retreat, and Shi Jian stopped Shi Yin from pursuing the flood dragons into their waterways.
• The defenders counted their losses, including more than seven hundred Qi Refining cultivators killed, and Sun Chengzu ordered the army to rest and repair its defenses.
• Shi Jian replenished his spiritual power at Abundant Water Lake while the Golden Crocodile complained about failing to catch the Jade Wave Flood Dragon.
• Shi Yin reported that he had wounded the Red-Scaled Flood Dragon by cutting off part of his tail tip.
• Shi Jian judged the first battle a victory and resolved to strike decisively when the Flood Dragon Kings returned.

After recovering from the costly battle at Abundant Water City, Shi Jian negotiated the Azure Wave Turtle Clan’s submission and agreed to establish beast-rearing grounds for them. Wanxiang revealed the Turtle Clan’s substantial strength, leaving Shi Jian with a new group of demon allies.

• White Cloud Temple compensated the families of cultivators who died in battle, while Sun Qiming worried that the fighting would drain the sect’s resources.
• After more than a month of quiet, Shi Jian received three envoys from the Azure Wave Turtle Clan, who asked whether their clan could benefit from Abundant Water Lake’s beast-rearing system.
• Shi Jian agreed to set aside territory for the Turtle Clan on the condition that Wanxiang meet him and accept rules for cooperation.
• Wanxiang met Shi Jian and agreed to manage his own clansmen, follow orders on major matters, share resources, and provide a detailed roster of the Turtle Clan’s branches.
• Wanxiang revealed that his eight Turtle Clan bloodlines had eighty Foundation Establishment great demons, and Golden Crocodile expressed surprise at the strength he had kept hidden.

After Bee Queen Mingshui died from her injuries, her insect clan descended into a bloody succession war. Shi Jian intervened, enslaved the surviving females, and devoured Mingshui’s Demon Core and remains to strengthen himself.

• Shi Jian learned that Mingshui’s death would throw the insect clan into chaos, then concluded that his earlier attacks had left her mortally wounded.
• Less than three months later, Mingshui died, and twenty-three Foundation Establishment females began fighting for the position of queen.
• After the females’ battle reduced their number to five, Shi Jian, Shi Yin, and Golden Crocodile went to the central hive.
• Shi Jian broke into the hive, subdued the insect demons, and planted Slave Seals in the surviving females.
• Shi Jian found Mingshui’s corpse, swallowed her Demon Core, and devoured her remains, absorbing their essence.

With the Eastern Region brought under his control, Shi Jian held all but the Southern Region of Evil Water Marsh and focused on cultivation while Sun Chengzu organized the conquered territories. The Western Region’s new beast-rearing area strengthened Shi Jian’s Demon Beast forces and left the Southern Region surrounded.

• Shi Yin reported that the insect swarms in the Eastern Region were under control, and Shi Jian tasked Shi Yin and Lord Rat with settling them and gathering the region’s insect-type Demon Beasts.
• Shi Jian returned to Abundant Water Lake and entered seclusion, leaving only the Southern Region and the Venomous Flood Dragon King outside his control.
• Sun Chengzu announced that three regions of Evil Water Marsh had been pacified, earning White Cloud Temple praise and supplies from the Supreme Purity Sect.
• Sun Chengzu spent two years developing a Western Region beast-rearing area, reserving more than half the territory for turtle species and assigning land to White Cloud Temple’s Foundation Establishment Lineages.
• Wanxiang and the eight Azure Wave Turtle branches moved into their assigned habitats, including Azure Vast Pool, a complete Blessed Land with a third-tier Spirit Vein.

After five years of prosperity at White Cloud Temple, Shi Pan began his Core Formation breakthrough on Boulder Peak. He survived the Spiritual Qi Trial, but merging with Earth Dao Heaven and Earth Qi left him in grave danger as the mountain rose into the sect’s tallest peak.

• White Cloud Temple prospered from its gains in Evil Water Marsh, strengthening its resources and Spiritual Qi while supporting more Core Formation Cultivators and great Demon Beasts.
• Shi Pan began secluded cultivation on Boulder Peak after decades of preparation and the loss of his old friends, Lei Huan and Lei Nu.
• Earthen-yellow clouds gathered over Boulder Peak, and Shi Pan absorbed vast Spiritual Qi until he passed the first stage of Core Formation.
• Shi Pan merged with the Earth Dao Heaven and Earth Qi, suffering severe damage as the earth veins shifted and Boulder Peak rose with dozens of surrounding peaks.
• Old Daoist Yun Du watched the upheaval as Boulder Peak became White Cloud Temple’s tallest peak, while Shi Pan’s condition inside the cave abode reached its greatest danger.

Shi Pan endured the Earth Dao Heaven and Earth Qi’s crushing pressure and formed a Golden Core, becoming a level-five Demon General and taking the name Boulder as ancestor of his bear-kind. He asked Yun Du to conceal his breakthrough, leaving White Cloud Temple with a hidden combatant and Boulder Peak sealed as a forbidden area.

• Shi Pan resisted the pain and despair of his transformation, drawing on his resolve until the Earth Dao Heaven and Earth Qi merged with his body.
• Shi Pan’s Demon Core shattered and reformed as a Golden Core, healing his injuries and transforming him into a fifteen-zhang giant bear.
• Shi Pan declared himself the honored lord of Boulder, took the name Boulder, and called on his clan’s bear-kind to honor him as their ancestor.
• The beast clans and Demon Beasts of the Northern Mountain Range submitted to Boulder, while Yun Du congratulated him on reaching the Golden Core realm.
• Boulder declined a public celebration and asked Yun Du to keep his breakthrough secret so White Cloud Temple could retain a hidden advantage.
• Yun Du agreed to conceal the news and designated Boulder Peak a forbidden area.

Zhao Yanshan reached the end of his life and entrusted the Zhao Household’s inheritance and its ties to White Cloud Temple and Ancestor Shi Jian to Zhao Xuanqing. After Zhao Yanshan died peacefully, Sun Chengzu and Sun Qiming honored him, and Zhao Xuanqing and Sun Qiming affirmed that the bond between their households would continue.

• Zhao Yanshan reflected on the Zhao Household’s decline and survival as he prepared to pass its genealogy to Zhao Xuanqing.
• Zhao Yanshan told Zhao Xuanqing to protect the household’s relationship with White Cloud Temple and Ancestor Shi Jian, and Zhao Xuanqing promised to remember his instructions.
• Zhao Yanshan died peacefully in his courtyard in Abundant Water City, and the Zhao Clan mourned him.
• Sun Chengzu offered wine and incense at Zhao Yanshan’s grave and promised to protect the Zhao Household.
• Zhao Xuanqing and Sun Qiming exchanged nods, affirming that the bond between the Zhao and Sun households would carry on.

After Zhao Yanshan’s death, Zhao Xuanqing took over the Zhao Household and received Shi Jian’s promise of protection. Meanwhile, the Flood Dragon Python Clan’s harassment was contained, and White Cloud Temple developed the Eastern and Western Regions as Abundant Water City grew into a major settlement.

• Zhao Xuanqing visited Shi Jian, who accepted his leadership of the Zhao Household and promised to protect the clan as long as it did not defy him.
• As the Flood Dragon Python Clan continued raiding Southern Region strongholds, Sun Qiming proposed sweeping the waterways, but Sun Chengzu instead ordered hidden underwater sentries from the Crocodile Beast Clan.
• The crocodile beasts curbed the raids, and Shi Jian told Sun Chengzu to let Golden Crocodile guard the southern front until he had fully refined the Bee Queen’s remains.
• Golden Crocodile redeployed with the Crocodile Beast Clan’s elites and kept the flood dragon pythons from crossing the forbidden line, maintaining peace for two and a half years.
• White Cloud Temple completed most development in the Eastern and Western Regions, turning the Eastern Region’s insect nest into a spiritual-ore mining site and improving the Western Region’s spiritual lands.
• Abundant Water City expanded to more than ten thousand permanent cultivators, while the population of Evil Water Marsh grew to several million.

Sun Chengzu defeated the Red-Scaled Flood Dragon in a fierce battle, strengthening the White Cloud Temple’s position as Shi Jian emerged from seclusion. Shi Jian visited Shi Pan after learning of his Golden Core breakthrough, then shared his plan to confront the Venomous Flood Dragon King and his unease about an approaching crisis.

• Sun Chengzu rushed south after water flood dragons killed four White Cloud Temple cultivators, then wounded the Red-Scaled Flood Dragon badly enough to drive him away.
• The southern region grew more restrained after the battle, while Shi Jian neared the Golden Core Late Stage bottleneck during his long seclusion.
• Shi Jian emerged from seclusion, and Golden Crocodile sensed that his presence had grown stronger and more formidable.
• Shi Jian visited Boulder Peak and confirmed that Shi Pan had secretly formed a solid Golden Core.
• Shi Jian told Shi Pan he planned to confront the seventh-level venomous flood dragon within a year or two and ordered him to remain at the sect.
• Shi Jian admitted that he had an ominous premonition, and he and Shi Pan wondered whether a threat might come from outside the Clear Granary Kingdom.