Chapter Summaries

Kuang Liuting emerged from seclusion with most of the Great Sun Raw Stone essence Qi he needed for Core Formation and returned to the prefecture court. After hearing reports of unrest and a dispute involving Ye Zhen, he decided to visit the Book and Sword Gate and judge whether Ye Zhen had been wronged.

• Kuang Liuting used the Yang-Refining Spirit Physique of the Yue household’s legitimate daughter to refine Great Sun Raw Stone Marrow and bring his stored essence Qi to three quarters of what he needed for Core Formation.
• Kuang Liuting learned that the Star-Picking Pavilion had blocked approval for a Myriad Treasures Trading Company branch in Xuanwei City.
• Zhu Tong reported that the Three Incense Cult had incited a beast tide in Pu Prefecture, which the Stone Mountain Sect helped quell; Kuang Liuting ordered an inquiry into the governor and summoned the sect master.
• Zhu Tong reported that Ye Zhen was accused of killing Shen Baiyue and had refused Tie Liuyun’s attempt to arrest him, while Kang Dabao had mediated between them.
• Kuang Liuting decided to visit the Book and Sword Gate and investigate whether Ye Zhen had been wronged.

Tie Liuyun exposed the political maneuvering surrounding Shen Baiyue’s murder, then sent the New Cloud Alliance leaders to destroy a Changning Sect party near the Book and Sword Gate. After they won the battle, they returned to find a lean Daoist waiting with Tie Liuyun, who praised Kang Dabao for carrying the slain woman’s head.

• Shan Sheng persuaded Tie Liuyun to move the dispute inside the Book and Sword Gate, where Tie told the Shen Household to keep mourning publicly while denying that Ye Zhen, Shen Xing, or Shen Tu had killed Shen Baiyue.
• Tie Liuyun exposed Li Mingyuan’s identity and reprimanded Ye Zhen and Shen Xing for having considered killing Shen Baiyue, then revealed that Chen Ye was the likely killer and warned that the Changning Sect threatened Kang Dabao’s and Shen Xing’s sects.
• Tie Liuyun ordered the alliance leaders to attack a Changning Sect party hiding near the Book and Sword Gate, and Ye Zhen, Shen Xing, Li Mingyuan, Kang Dabao, and Shan Sheng set out that night.
• The alliance leaders killed two Changning Sect Foundation Establishment cultivators and several Qi Refinement cultivators; Kang Dabao claimed the blue-clad woman’s head, while the group divided the Storage Bags’ contents.
• When the leaders returned to the Book and Sword Gate, they found Tie Liuyun standing respectfully beside a lean Daoist, who looked at Kang Dabao’s trophy and said, “Good!”

Kuang Liuting praised Kang Dabao and rewarded the New Cloud Alliance, while ordering half of Ingenious Craftsman Fort’s disciples sent to Pingrong County. Kang Dabao returned from visiting the Kuai Household with a long list of duties awaiting him at the sect, where he wondered how far along his Brother Yi was.

• Kuang Liuting warned Tie Liuyun to restrain his faction and praised Kang Dabao for his accomplishments and Ice Leaf Dao Foundation.
• Kuang Liuting praised the New Cloud Alliance for defeating Shen Baiyue’s killers and ordered Ingenious Craftsman Fort to send half its disciples to Pingrong County.
• Kuang Liuting told Kang Dabao to invite him when Kang’s legitimate son was born, leaving Kang Dabao feeling burdened rather than pleased.
• Five days later, Kang Dabao inspected the Kuai Household’s accounts and reviewed its shares of the blue silver and Spirit Stone veins.
• Kang Dabao gave Kuai En pills and advice on improving the household, then rode back to the sect with numerous responsibilities still ahead.
• As Kang Dabao returned, he wondered how many months along his Brother Yi was.

Kang Dabao strengthened the Chongming Sect’s defenses and cultivated the Northern Night Palace Primordial Body True Explanation, while growing closer to Fei Shuhe. News that Acting Sima Gun had attained a False Core left him uneasy, and he entered seclusion as Fei Nanying’s warning that more people would die returned to him.

• Kang Dabao advised Deng Baichuan to wait and watch Yue Feng, then tested a stronger training puppet with Zhang Le and Mo'er and collected Moon Scale Stone Juice from Ye Pingshui.
• Pei Yi reached the Eighth Layer of Qi Refining and urged Kang Dabao to protect the caravan, improve the sect’s mountain formation, and enlist the Golden-Feathered Owl.
• Kang Dabao asked Fei Shuhe for help; Nanny Sun arranged for a beastmaster to warn the disciples and a Fei Household formation master to build a Second-Tier Upper-Grade Six Star Gang Flame Formation.
• Over the following year, Kang Dabao refined his pill and began cultivating the Northern Night Palace Primordial Body True Explanation, suffering two dangerous failures before making progress.
• Kang Dabao heard that Acting Sima Gun had attained a False Core and was being considered for a noble title, then entered seclusion, troubled by Fei Nanying’s warning that more people would die.

Kang Rongquan helped Kuai En improve the Kuai Household’s spirit fields before returning to the Chongming Sect for Jin Shilun and Mo’er’s wedding. Ten days later, Gun Shilu asked Daoist Black Shoes to help him target Dai Fu, offering a Mountain-Viewing Cave token as a reward, and Daoist Black Shoes’ interest sharpened when he remembered Chen Ye.

• Kang Rongquan advised Kuai En to plant yellow sprout beans, arranged seasonal work for the Kuai Household’s live-in sons-in-law, and delivered cultivation resources from Madam Kuai of the Pei Household.
• Kang Rongquan saw the Ingenious Craftsman Fort thriving at Cloth Bag Mountain and resented its role in the Chongming Sect’s defeat at Little Wu Mountain.
• Kang Rongquan returned to the Chongming Sect for Jin Shilun and Mo’er’s wedding feast, where Zhou Xinran got him drunk and Fei Shuhe sent Ping'er to look after him.
• Gun Shilu visited Daoist Black Shoes and asked him to help avenge Gun Shide by targeting Dai Fu, claiming the Changning Sect would soon make a major move.
• Daoist Black Shoes refused to join the conflict, but Gun Shilu offered him a Mountain-Viewing Cave token for killing Dai Fu and another reward for capturing him alive.
• Daoist Black Shoes reconsidered after seeing the token and remembered that Chen Ye was with Dai Fu.

Sima Fei maneuvered to draw Daoist Black Shoes into his service while arranging for the Changning Sect’s planned war to reach Qin Sufu and Lord Yin Shan. Kang Dabao prepared the New Cloud Alliance for battle and sought support for the Chongming Sect, leaving Fei Shuhe offering help from her own household after Sima Fei turned him away.

• Sima Fei told Acting Sima Gun to find capable clerks and spread word of the Changning Sect’s planned war to Qin Sufu and Lord Yin Shan.
• Daoist Black Shoes and Kang Dabao agreed to take the fight to the Changning Sect in about two months, while Kang Dabao planned to seek resources from the Fei and Yue Households.
• Kang Dabao organized the Chongming Sect’s preparations, assigning Pei Yi to make pills, Yuan Jin and Ye Pingshui to repair Law Artifacts, and Wei Gu to strengthen the spirit-fields array.
• Kang Dabao inspected the Glazed Treasure Tree with Zhou Yixiu, who said he could not move it, and Wei Gu began gathering materials to improve its protection.
• Ten days later, Fei Shuhe told Kang Dabao that Sima Fei had refused to help and offered Nanny Sun and other Green Lotus Courtyard retainers for the coming war.
• Fei Shuhe urged Kang Dabao to speak with Yue Feng and offered to pressure the Yue Household through her family connections if it refused to contribute resources.

Kang Dabao visited Yue Feng to seek the Yue Household’s support, then confronted the Illusory Sword Alliance over its past treatment of Huo Ying. After handling Chongming Sect business and receiving a delivery from the Yue Household, Kang Dabao recognized the escort as Gui Xiang.

• Yue Feng learned that his household retainer had formed his Dao Foundation and told Kang Dabao he needed time to consider Kang’s request for support.
• Kang Dabao went to the market commandant’s office, learned Deng Baichuan was in seclusion, and continued toward the Chongming Small Pavilion.
• Deacon Zhang recognized Kang Dabao and fell to his knees in fear; Kang ordered him to carry a message demanding that the Illusory Sword Alliance address its past actions.
• Kang Dabao visited the Chongming Small Pavilion, approved Zhou Xinran’s plan to hire outside refiners, and later selected an artifact refiner for the shop.
• The Yue Household master apologized to Kang Dabao and delivered spirit silk and a Storage Bag; Kang recognized the middle-aged escort as Gui Xiang.

Kang Dabao discovered that Gui Xiang had become a Foundation Establishment retainer of the Yue Household and postponed plans to kill him while inspecting the supplies Yue Feng had sent. At the Changning Sect, Dai Fu and the other leaders resisted Jiang Yuan’s demand for action until Chen Ye pressed them to prepare for war against the New Cloud Alliance within three months.

• Kang Dabao recognized Gui Xiang as his old enemy but refrained from attacking him in the trade market because Gui Xiang served the Yue Household.
• Kang Dabao examined Yue Feng’s shipment of weapons, talismans, and pills, then decided to wait for Deng Baichuan to emerge from seclusion before acting further.
• Dai Fu attended the Changning Sect council meeting and heard Lin Kunxue and Ge Qinglan report on the sect’s finances and internal difficulties.
• Chen Ye delivered Jiang Yuan’s demand that the Changning Sect attack the New Cloud Alliance and warned that he would report anyone who failed to obey.
• Dai Fu and Ge Qinglan asked for a year to prepare, but Chen Ye gave them three months, and the leaders agreed to comply.

You Ersheng benefited from Jiang Qing’s reforms at the Tanggu County Spirit Stone mine, where better conditions and fairer rules increased production. After cultivating and receiving word that the New Cloud Alliance would fight the Changning Sect at Old Ox Mountain, Jiang Qing collected his sect’s share of Spirit Stones and set out for home.

• You Ersheng returned from the mine to his blue-brick house and reflected on how Jiang Qing’s rules had improved life for the laborers and raised mine output.
• Jiang Qing reviewed the quarterly figures and credited his eldest senior brother for the mine’s one-fifth increase in Spirit Stone production.
• Jiang Qing returned to his cave abode, drank dew served by Big Yellow, and studied Ten Discourses on Qingfuzi's Sword Classic before resuming his cultivation.
• Sect Leader Kang Da summoned Jiang Qing with news that the New Cloud Alliance would meet the Changning Sect in battle at Old Ox Mountain within two months.
• Shan Sheng advised Jiang Qing to return home early, and Jiang Qing collected the Chongming Sect’s Spirit Stones before bidding farewell to the other cultivators.

Jiang Qing encountered bandits attacking Gun Yuyao, a palace official traveling through Guo County, and turned back to save her. He killed one attacker, drove the other away, and carried the unconscious Gun Yuyao toward the Chongming Sect.

• Jiang Qing left the Spirit Stone vein and headed back to the Chongming Sect, passing a lively market in Tanggu County.
• Gun Yuyao battled two Foundation Establishment bandits, who overpowered her despite her multicolored ring and lightning talismans.
• Jiang Qing initially continued past the fight, but turned back after hearing Gun Yuyao identify herself as a palace official and mention her journey to visit the Fei Household.
• Jiang Qing fought the two bandits, while Gun Yuyao was knocked unconscious and the taller bandit severed his partner's escape from danger by fleeing after losing a hand.
• Jiang Qing killed the shorter bandit, took his Storage Bag, treated Gun Yuyao, and carried her aboard his spirit boat toward the Chongming Sect.

Kang Dabao recruited patrolmen and bought rare Formation-Breaking Pearls at the Double Brightness Trade Market, then arranged for Xiu Ming to work as the Chongming Small Pavilion’s Puppet Master. On his way to Pingrong County, he helped stop three Evil Cultivators from harming children and greeted the powerful newcomer who had intervened first as Lord Shan.

• Kang Dabao secured Deng Baichuan’s support to recruit patrolmen and selected veterans from the Thief-Catching Office roster.
• Kang Dabao bought five First Tier Formation-Breaking Pearls and returned to the Chongming Small Pavilion.
• Kang Dabao praised Xiu Ming’s puppets, agreed to hire him as the shop’s Puppet Master, and gave him a Law Artifact.
• Kang Dabao shared a meal with Jin Shilun, urged him to improve his cultivation, and set out for Pingrong County with a puppet for Little Sanzi.
• Kang Dabao found Evil Cultivators preparing to kill a baby and rushed to intervene as another cultivator killed their leader and helped defeat the accomplices.
• Kang Dabao confirmed that the children were safe and bowed to the newcomer, addressing him as Lord Shan.

Kang Dabao accompanied Lord Yin Shan to Pingrong County, where they discussed Chen Ye’s sinister Foundation Establishment method and the danger it posed if it spread. Kang Dabao confronted the county’s neglected administration, while Lord Yin Shan relieved the poor, and Kang Dabao left knowing the county’s problems would have to wait until after his campaign against the Changning Sect.

• Kang Dabao arranged for Jin Shilun to take the rescued children to Chongming City, and Lord Yin Shan praised his care for them.
• On the way to Pingrong County, Lord Yin Shan explained that Chen Ye had used Change Yin and a Blood Foundation Pill to establish his foundation, warning that the method could endanger cultivators and mortals across the realm.
• Lord Yin Shan vowed to kill anyone who reached Foundation Establishment through the evil method, and Kang Dabao promised to remember his words before asking him to lecture on the Dao.
• Kang Dabao saw Pingrong County’s starving people and neglected hamlets, then ordered the county’s three ranked officials to properly encourage farming, sericulture, and local administration.
• Kang Dabao found little of use in the county armory and went to find Lord Yin Shan, leaving the county’s deeper problems for after his planned attack on the Changning Sect.

Fei Shuhe learned that Jiang Qing had rescued the injured Gun Yuyao, who woke after receiving a healing pill and learned her rescuer’s name. When Medical Officer Du and his guards were found dead, the Chongming Sect identified refined corpses among the attackers and sent Jiang Qing and others to investigate; the chapter ended with Ge Yangwei’s group preparing to fight two people blocking their escape.

• Fei Shuhe thanked Jiang Qing for saving Gun Yuyao, then gave the unconscious attendant officer a Six-Origin Meridian-Restoring Pill, which soon woke her.
• Gun Yuyao asked about the black-clad swordsman who had rescued her, and Fei Shuhe told her he was Jiang Qing, her husband’s junior brother.
• Fei Shuhe and Nanny Sun learned that Medical Officer Du and his guards had been killed, and Nanny Sun identified a wisp of the attackers’ Qi as coming from a refined corpse.
• Yuan Jin ordered Jiang Qing to search for missing disciples and asked Pei Yi to contact the Ingenious Craftsman Fort about its border garrisons.
• Ge Yangwei, leading a Changning Sect vanguard with refined corpses, decided to retreat toward Old Ox Mountain after his group suffered losses and was discovered.
• Ge Yangwei’s scouts spotted two people gathering Qi, and one of them detected the scouts, prompting Ge Yangwei to order his men to fight through.

Sun Fu sent a warning about Ge Yangwei and the other Changning Sect cultivators, but Li Bing was killed while helping him escape. Kang Rongquan captured the yellow-robed pursuer with his vine techniques, and Sun Fu took up Niu Kuang’s blade to avenge Li Bing.

• Sun Fu spotted Ge Yangwei and two other Changning Sect cultivators, warned Li Bing to flee, and launched a message talisman toward the Chongming Sect.
• The yellow-robed cultivator and Ge Yangwei struck down Li Bing, who used his final breath to urge Sun Fu to keep running.
• A silver-ring Law Artifact and the arrival of Chu Huer, Niu Kuang, and Kang Rongquan interrupted the attackers’ pursuit of Sun Fu.
• Ge Yangwei and the hunchback fled, while the yellow-robed cultivator stayed behind and Kang Rongquan trapped him in a cage of summoned vines.
• Sun Fu learned that Li Bing was dead, then took Niu Kuang’s blade and demanded the chance to kill the captive himself.

After the Changning Sect’s infiltration failed, Kang Dabao prepared defenses and ordered a response while weighing how to use the captives and the Ingenious Craftsman Fort. He summoned Mo Wen and revealed Enlisted Army Talismans, leaving Mo Wen wondering whether Kang Dabao had gained new standing with the prefectural court.

• Kang Dabao learned that the captured Changning Sect group could not confirm whether more infiltrators were already in the Cold Crow Mountain Range, so Fei Shuhe ordered more Golden-Feathered Owls deployed and moved most household guards to the Chongming Sect.
• Kang Dabao ordered Ye Zhengwen to summon the Ingenious Craftsman Fort’s representative and approved Sun Fu’s request to let him avenge Li Bing by executing Ge Yangwei.
• Kang Dabao gave Pei Yi Enlisted Army Talismans to use on the other captives before sending them under guard to the prefectural army.
• Mo Wen received Kang Dabao’s summons and traveled from the Ingenious Craftsman Fort’s Pingrong County base to the Chongming Sect, where Kang Dabao asked him to send more disciples to the border stockades.
• When Mo Wen said the Ingenious Craftsman Fort could not spare more disciples quickly, Kang Dabao produced Enlisted Army Talismans, and Mo Wen feared Kang Dabao had become more valuable to the prefectural court.

Kang Dabao used Enlisted Army Talismans to make a surviving captive into a controllable living puppet, then sent Mo Wen to station Chongming Sect cultivators at the military camps. In Xuanwei City, Fei Nanying and Gun Shilu discussed the prefecture court’s growing influence and considered how to keep Qin Sufu from joining the Yue Household.

• Kang Dabao used talismans on four captured cultivators, and only the hunchbacked middle-aged man survived, stripped of his own thoughts.
• Kang Dabao gave Mo Wen a dark talisman token and assigned Chongming Sect cultivators to the military camps; Mo Wen accepted and left to make arrangements.
• Fei Nanying and Gun Shilu discussed Gun Yuyao’s safe return, then considered sending Gun Shilu’s two hundred Dao soldiers to support the Chongming Sect against Changning Sect.
• Fei Nanying and Gun Shilu discussed Zhu Tong’s efforts to bring Ding Prefecture’s Hongyi Sect vassals into line and mediate the Yang Household’s internal conflict.
• Fei Nanying learned that the Yue Household was courting Qin Sufu and suggested recruiting him through Kang Dabao; Gun Shilu agreed to write Kang Dabao a letter.

Ye Zhengwen, Chu Huer, and their allies attacked a hidden Changning Sect team in a cavern and killed nearly all of them, while two escaped. After finding the next suspected hideout abandoned, Yuan Jin said the younger disciples needed more battlefield experience as the group continued its sweep.

• A Changning Sect guard spotted an attack on the cavern, and the potbellied leader fled while Ye Yaoling and the other attackers trapped the remaining disciples.
• Ye Yaoling wounded the narrow-eyed man and his bat beast with her Water Arrow Technique as more Chongming Sect cultivators emerged from the underground river.
• Chu Huer, Ye Zhengwen, Kang Rongquan, and the patrolmen entered the cavern and killed the Changning Sect disciples who remained, while two escaped and Sun Fu was wounded.
• Yuan Jin returned with the potbellied leader's head, and Ye Zhengwen led the group toward another hideout found by Beast Master Long's Golden-Feathered Owls.
• The group found the low cliff abandoned, and Yuan Jin said they had brought the younger disciples along to expose them to battle before the New Cloud Alliance's campaign discussions.

The New Cloud Alliance leaders finalized their campaign plans as the Chongming Sect’s influence grew. At a stockade under siege, wounded Lu Bing struggled to defend the failing array until Yuan Jin arrived, killed the enemy commander, and sent the attackers into chaos.

• Kang Dabao declared the New Cloud Alliance’s campaign arrangements settled, with the Chongming Sect now a major force in the alliance.
• Lu Bing, wounded and still recovering, returned from the infirmary to defend the stockade when the Changning Sect’s forces attacked.
• Yuan Jin arrived with patrolmen and defeated the enemy commander’s spirit zombie, then routed the disorganized attackers.
• Yuan Jin pursued and killed the loose-haired Ge Household True Disciple, further breaking the enemy’s formation.
• Yuan Jin rallied his patrolmen to call for surrender while displaying the commander’s head, leaving the attacking force stunned.

Yuan Jin led the Thief-Catching Office patrolmen in a battle against the Changning Sect vassals besieging the stockade, routing a force that outnumbered them several times over. After the survivors fled, Yuan Jin ordered the stockade’s defenders to prepare food and lodging, saying his mission was not finished.

• Yuan Jin ordered the patrolmen to attack after the Ge Household disciples hesitated to fight or retreat.
• Qian Liu and his squad advanced behind refined copper shields while the Feng Household Brothers’ lance squads broke through the enemy vanguard.
• Yuan Jin used the White Bear Fang Banner to strengthen his patrolmen, and the Feng Household Brothers’ combined lance formation shattered the enemy’s Spirit Stone formation plate.
• Yuan Jin charged into the enemy ranks as the Shao Brother and Sister led the vanguard in combat, killing several cultivators and throwing the besiegers into chaos.
• The stockade’s defenders joined the fight with battered puppets, the besieging force collapsed, and one Ge Household disciple died while the other fled.
• Yuan Jin told the stockade’s senior brother to prepare food and lodging for the night and said he had come for more than just saving the stockade.

Wang Wu joined Yuan Jin’s force at Old Ox Mountain, where the New Cloud Alliance had driven the Changning Sect into its fortified stronghold and weakened its subordinate powers. Dai Fu led the Changning Sect’s forces out to fight, and the two sides began a divided battle as he drew Daoist Black Shoes away for a duel.

• Wang Wu and the patrol left Left Forest Stockade, defeated six Changning Sect subordinate forces, and reached the New Cloud Alliance’s camp at Old Ox Mountain.
• The New Cloud Alliance spent nearly half a month forcing nearby Changning Sect powers to defect, prompting Dai Fu to lead eight Foundation Establishment cultivators and four hundred elites out of the formation.
• Dai Fu rode the Snow-Feathered Night Owl toward Daoist Black Shoes, then lured him away from the main battle.
• Chen Ye took command of the Changning Sect’s divided forces and sent the Iron Scale Cavalry to attack Hemu Dao.
• Ye Zhen and the Book and Sword Gate stopped the Iron Scale Cavalry, while Ge Qinglan’s hundred-corpses formation pressured the forces opposing it.
• Lin Kunxue faced the Chongming Sect’s forces with only two Foundation Establishment cultivators and feared the Lin Household would struggle to hold its line.