Chapter Summaries

Kang Dabao and Pei Yi discovered that Lü Wen’s strange illness may have come from swallowing a rare Lion Insect egg, and they agreed to investigate the cave abode together. Before they could return to the market, Gui Xiang and his companion ambushed them; Kang Dabao killed the woman and drove Gui Xiang off, though Gui Xiang escaped.

• Kang Dabao disposed of Lü Wen’s corpse, and Pei Yi explained that Lü Wen had swallowed a Grass Stone Pill after finding it in a cave abode.
• Kang Dabao and Pei Yi concluded that the supposed pill might have been a Lion Insect egg and agreed to explore the cave abode with Jiang Qing.
• Vines ensnared Kang Dabao and Pei Yi, and Gui Xiang and a palace-robed woman attacked them with flying swords and a silver mace.
• Kang Dabao freed himself and Pei Yi, then used his Delusion-Breaking Golden Eyes to kill the woman while Gui Xiang’s small green snake held Pei Yi.
• Kang Dabao fought Gui Xiang with the Army-Breaking Hammer and shattered Gui Xiang’s jade-green inkstone, but Gui Xiang escaped into the woods.

After Kang Dabao and Pei Yi survived Gui Xiang’s ambush, they returned to the Chongming Sect, recovered, and welcomed Pei Que as a disciple. Their quiet days ended when Jiang Qing returned in terrible condition and collapsed after coughing up black blood.

• Kang Dabao and Pei Yi fled Lingyun Market with the youths and took shelter behind the Chongming Sect’s Red Light Formation.
• Kang Dabao and Pei Yi spent ten days healing, then Pei Que became Kang Dabao’s disciple and quickly began cultivating.
• Kang Dabao guided the disciples and discussed the return of Pei Yi’s and Li Household clansmen with Pei Yi and Wu Meng.
• Duan Anle announced that Jiang Qing had returned, and Kang Dabao and Pei Yi went out to meet him.
• Jiang Qing coughed up black blood and collapsed unconscious in the courtyard.

Cao Hesheng bullied a shopkeeper and his wife, then was whipped by the city lord’s eldest legitimate grandson for falsely claiming kinship with the Kang Household. The young rider arrived at the city lord’s residence, where Kang Dahou asked whether two families had nearly arrived.

• Wei Ni hurried to greet Master Hong, endured three slaps, and paid for his tea before returning to the restaurant.
• Cao Hesheng groped the rouge shop proprietress and ordered her to visit his room, then set off to buy a striped tiger’s penis for his great-grandfather.
• Cao Hesheng tried to claim kinship with the city lord’s eldest legitimate grandson, who whipped and warned him for invoking the Kang Household.
• The rouge shopkeeper watched Cao Hesheng suffer in the street and looked after the departing rider with a cold glint in his eyes.
• The rider reached the city lord’s residence, where Kang Dahou asked whether the two families were almost there.

The Li and Pei households returned to Chongming City, where the patriarchs of eight households were summoned to the Chongming Sect and warned by its Immortal Masters. The chapter ended with Kang Dabao, Pei Yi, Jiang Qing, and Yuan Jin drinking, singing, and dancing together.

• Kang Dahou learned that the Li and Pei households were approaching Chongming City and went out to welcome them.
• The Li and Pei patriarchs arrived with their people and attended a banquet with the other household heads before preparing to visit the immortals.
• Wu Meng brought the eight patriarchs by donkey cart to the Chongming Sect, where Kang Dabao warned Kang Dahou and Pei Yi admonished the Pei and Li patriarchs.
• Wu Meng sent the chastened patriarchs home with ginger soup and a pointed message from the sect master.
• Kang Dabao and his fellow disciples resumed their reunion banquet, and Yuan Jin led them in singing and dancing together.

Kang Dabao scolded Jiang Qing for risking his life on the caravan trip and arranged treatment for his hidden injuries while the brothers discussed the sect’s affairs. Lord Yin Shan visited to apologize for Gui Xiang’s actions, left a mysterious beast egg, and Kang Dabao explained how the revered elder had sacrificed his human form to protect a mortal settlement.

• Kang Dabao reprimanded Jiang Qing for confronting He Degong’s bandits and instructed Pei Yi to find medicine for Jiang Qing’s hidden injuries.
• Kang Dabao ordered the He Household’s goods returned and the remaining spoils inventoried for merit points, while Yuan Jin discussed Changsheng’s prospects and Jiang Qing’s future.
• Kang Dabao prepared to write to He Dezong about the incident before Han Yundao announced that a visitor had arrived.
• Lord Yin Shan came on Qin Sufu’s behalf to apologize for Gui Xiang and left Kang Dabao a mysterious beast egg he had found on Cold Crow Mountain.
• Kang Dabao told the juniors how Lord Yin Shan had endured a Golden Core demon slave’s attack to protect mortals and had lived for a century afterward as their guardian.

After Yuan Jin reported that Evil Cultivators were attacking the Ye Household on Heng Mountain, Kang Dabao organized aid from the Lu and Xue Households and led a group toward the besieged settlement. The Ye Household’s defenders were overwhelmed by the attackers’ forces and their cultivator commander, who ordered the Black Tiger Battalion to storm the ancestral hall.

• Yuan Jin returned to Kang Dabao after learning that several groups of Evil Cultivators were besieging Heng Mountain and destroying the settlement outside the Ye Household’s formation.
• Kang Dabao sent Jiang Qing to summon help from the Lu and Xue Households, then led the Lu cultivators toward the Ye Household while Jiang Qing and the Xue cultivator stayed behind to guard the sect.
• The Ye Household’s fighters used Ten-Ox Crossbows and spear formations to repel the attackers, while Evil Cultivators and their soldiers slaughtered and looted the settlement.
• The Ye Household’s old commander and his ox were killed by a wind blade, and two Ye Martial Ancestors were cut apart by the middle-aged cultivator’s silver strands.
• The middle-aged cultivator ordered the Black Tiger Battalion to advance on the Ye ancestral hall and promised the soldiers seven days of looting.

Kang Dabao, Yuan Jin, Pei Yi, and the Lu Household fighters intervened as the Ye Household’s defenders were being overwhelmed by the allied Evil Cultivators. After Yuan Jin killed the Fire Saber Stronghold master, the attackers’ relief party broke apart, leaving the group to turn back toward the remaining enemies outside the formation.

• Lu Zhen reported that the Ghost Horse Owls, Jia Mountain Bandits, and Fire Saber Stronghold had gathered their core members and recruited Evil Cultivators, including Zhao Gu, their only Late Qi Refinement cultivator.
• Kang Dabao rejected retreat and led the group into the Ye Household’s walled settlement, where the last defenders were being cut down.
• Yuan Jin ambushed the middle-aged cultivator, killed him after luring the Fire Saber Stronghold master and other reinforcements into range, and took the master’s Storage Bag.
• Pei Yi, Lu Zhen, Kang Dabao, and the Lu Household cultivators attacked the relief party, killing several Evil Cultivators and scattering the rest.
• Kang Dabao killed the ghost-faced female cultivator and asked Lu Zhen whether thirty enemies still remained outside the Ye Household’s formation.

The Ye Household’s formation collapsed under Zhao Gu’s assault, leaving the clan exposed to the Evil Cultivators. Kang Dabao’s group delayed its rescue, but Jiang Qing arrived and they set out to help.

• Zhao Gu summoned his refined corpse, which shattered the Ye Household’s formation after the old cultivator exhausted himself trying to hold it together.
• The Jia Mountain bandit chief attacked the thin Daoist with blazing azure flame while the Evil Cultivators killed several Ye Household cultivators.
• Kang Dabao rejected Lu Zhen’s plan to confront the Evil Cultivators immediately and told the group to recover while a messenger sought help from his sect.
• Jiang Qing arrived after arranging for the children and Brother Xue to reach the Lu Household, and Kang Dabao scolded him for leaving the sect on his own.
• Kang Dabao and Jiang Qing headed to rescue the Ye Household, though Kang Dabao feared they might arrive too late.

The gaunt Daoist defended three surviving Ye Household youngsters against the Jia Mountain Bandits and their Evil Cultivator allies, but he was overwhelmed and killed. Jiang Qing arrived, slew the bandit leader and the remaining attackers, then hurried back toward the main battlefield where Zhao Gu and his men threatened his senior brothers.

• The bandit leader’s men failed to find anything worth taking, while the gaunt Daoist held them off with the Ye Household youngsters behind him.
• The exhausted gaunt Daoist wounded the bandit leader with a blood arrow, but the bandit leader recovered and beheaded him.
• A blazing red sword net tore through the attackers as Jiang Qing entered the secret passage.
• Jiang Qing killed the bandit leader and ordered the three Ye Household youngsters to stay where they were.
• Jiang Qing finished off the surviving Evil Cultivators and left to help his senior brothers against Zhao Gu.

Kang Dabao and the Chongming Sect allies fought Zhao Gu’s outlaw cultivators and corpse puppet at the Ye Household compound. Jiang Qing killed Zhao Gu, Yuan Jin destroyed the corpse puppet, and the battle ended in their victory.

• Kang Dabao cut through the weaker outlaw cultivators while Yuan Jin and Pei Yi struggled against Zhao Gu and his corpse puppet.
• The corpse puppet wounded Lu Zhen and broke through Pei Yi’s grass and vine techniques, but Kang Dabao’s Golden Light attack blasted away half its head.
• Yuan Jin blocked Zhao Gu’s Tiger Sha Staff with his perfected Ape Demon Cannon Fist, while Kang Dabao’s support forced Zhao Gu to break off his attack.
• Jiang Qing’s red strike cut Zhao Gu in half as he turned to dodge Kang Dabao’s Golden Light.
• Yuan Jin punched the corpse puppet and snapped its spine, securing victory for the Chongming Sect allies.

After defeating the bandits, Kang Dabao questioned two surviving Ghost Horse Owls lackeys and learned where their lair was. The Lu and Xue Household masters proposed joining the Chongming Sect’s expedition, and the Ye Household also asked to be included.

• Lu Zhen counted the Spirit Stones he had taken from the Jia Mountain Bandits’ leader and accepted that his injured arm might take two years to heal.
• Kang Dabao slapped Yuan Jin out of his violent frenzy, then threatened the two captured lackeys until one revealed the Ghost Horse Owls’ lair.
• Pei Yi treated Lu Zhen and the injured Ye Household youths, though he said Lu Zhen’s recovery would take at least two years.
• The Lu Household Master mourned his dead relative and quickly accepted fifteen Spirit Stones from the Xue Household Master.
• The Xue and Lu Household masters offered to join Kang Dabao’s attack on the Ghost Horse Owls’ lair, and a representative of the Ye Household asked to join as well.

Ye Pinglin joined Kang Dabao's expedition to destroy the Ghost Horse Owls, whose remaining bandits were led by the notorious Evil Granny. The assault swept through the stronghold, where the Xue Household head confronted Evil Granny with his white-bone sarira.

• Ye Pinglin asked to join the expedition so he could personally avenge his household, and Kang Dabao agreed to take him along.
• Kang Dabao left Yuan Jin behind to watch over the Chongming Sect's children and traveled to Guo County with the Xue and Lu Households.
• The group learned that Zhao Gu's dao companion, nicknamed Evil Granny, commanded nearly twenty surviving Ghost Horse Owls in Emerald Mountain.
• Kang Dabao's forces stormed the stronghold, and the Lu and Xue Household heads killed many of the bandits' underlings.
• Evil Granny tried to flee, but the Xue Household head intercepted her and used his white-bone sarira to destroy the eight straw figures she summoned.

The allied cultivators defeated Evil Granny and her bandits, winning their first battle without losing anyone. Pei Yi opened a hidden cave full of cultivation resources, leaving the victors ready to divide the spoils.

• Household Head Xue fought Evil Granny, whose short blade damaged his White Bone Sarira and destroyed his Black Blood Flying Dagger.
• Evil Granny tried to flee, but Kang Dabao trapped her with vines and killed her with the Army-Breaking Hammer.
• The bandits fled after Evil Granny fell, but the allied forces caught and killed them all without suffering casualties.
• Household Head Lu rummaged through his cultivators' Storage Bags for valuables while Xue Hu regretted losing his Law Artifact and missing out on the spoils.
• Ye Pinglin survived his reckless charge after Jiang Qing blocked a blow for him.
• Pei Yi used a command talisman to open a secret cave in the cliff, revealing a store of cultivation resources.

Kang Dabao divided the Ghost Horse Owls’ spoils with the Lu and Xue Households, then led the allied forces to destroy the Jia Mountain Bandits and claim their smaller hoard. After giving Ye Pinglin a defensive Law Artifact, Kang Dabao wondered what the Fire Saber Stronghold might contain.

• Kang Dabao claimed the cooking utensils, red spirit grain, and miscellaneous ores as the Chongming Sect’s share of the Ghost Horse Owls’ treasure, while the three parties agreed to copy the Cultivation Methods.
• Kang Dabao arranged for the allied forces to rest overnight before leaving the Ghost Horse Owls’ lair.
• Kang Dabao brought Pei Yi to guard Jiang Qing as Jiang Qing collected Storage Bags from the Jia Mountain Bandits’ corpses.
• The allied forces found and wiped out the Jia Mountain Bandits’ lair after spending several days searching Xuping County with a Rogue Cultivator’s guidance.
• Kang Dabao rejected the Lu household head’s proposal to kill their guide, chose ores and spirit fruits, and gave Ye Pinglin a hexagonal bronze mirror.

Kang Dabao and Pei Yi recruited the Kuai Household to guide the allied forces to Fire Saber Stronghold’s lair, with Kuai Wu negotiating for Dantong Cliff in return. The force captured the stronghold, and Kang Dabao prepared to oversee the division of its spoils.

• Kang Dabao and Pei Yi visited Kuai Wu, who confirmed he knew Fire Saber Stronghold’s lair and asked to join the attack.
• Kang Dabao agreed that the Kuai Household could claim Dantong Cliff after the assault, provided anything they took in battle went into the three families’ common treasury.
• Two days later, Kuai Wu led twenty cultivators from five families to Dantong Cliff, where the stronghold’s guards spotted them and wounded Kuai Wu with talismans.
• Jiang Qing disrupted the mountain-guarding formation by striking its operators, and Xue Hu joined him as the allied forces overwhelmed the bandits.
• The allied forces captured Fire Saber Stronghold, and Kang Dabao gathered the patriarchs outside the storehouse to begin dividing the spoils.

After returning to the Chongming Sect with a rich haul, Kang Dabao directed his brothers to distribute the spoils and strengthen the sect. The chapter ended with the sect’s affairs proceeding in an orderly fashion over the next three months.

• Kang Dabao gave Ye Pinglin a Storage Bag before returning to the Chongming Sect and resting overnight.
• After morning lessons, Pei Yi calculated the expedition’s substantial haul, including Spirit Stones, cultivation supplies, artifacts, pills, and spirit herbs.
• Kang Dabao assigned Yuan Jin to spend Spirit Stones in Xuanwei City, hire reputable practitioners, and return with his family within three months.
• Kang Dabao told Pei Yi to give suitable low-grade items to the children and make higher-grade goods available to the brothers.
• Kang Dabao ordered Jiang Qing to focus on cultivation and training the juniors instead of going out to fight.
• Over the following three months, the Chongming Sect’s affairs proceeded in an orderly fashion.

Kang Dabao arranged for specialists to restore the Chongming Sect’s Spirit Vein, cultivate spiritual fields, and install formations as construction expanded. The sect’s development got underway after the three deals were settled.

• Kang Dabao hired geomancer Sun to survey Little Ring Mountain and negotiated a contract for restoring its Spirit Vein within two years.
• Kang Dabao and Sun agreed on payments and penalties tied to the Spirit Vein’s restored grade, then sealed the contract.
• Pei Yi hired a spiritual farmer to open twenty-one mu of spiritual fields and provide the sect with planting guidance.
• Yuan Jin and Kang Dabao negotiated with a formation master, agreeing to a shorter term at a lower price while Yuan Jin supplied the formation materials.
• Kang Dabao’s relatives began building essential sect facilities, and the three specialist contracts put the Chongming Sect’s construction on track.

He Dezong learned that He Degong had mishandled Jiang Qing’s encounter with Hei Wu and punished him, while lamenting the lost chance to draw Jiang Qing and his companions into the He Household. He ordered gifts prepared and resolved to visit the Chongming Sect to apologize to Jiang Qing, leaving him troubled by the household’s prospects for Foundation Establishment.

• He Dezong heard that Jiang Qing had survived Hei Wu’s ambush and rebuked He Degong for abandoning him and losing a caravan.
• He Dezong suspended He Degong’s stipend for three years, restricted his business travel, and gave him pills to help him reach the Qi Refining Fifth Layer.
• He Dezong lamented that He Degong had ruined his efforts to recruit Jiang Qing, Kang Dabao, and Yuan Jin into the He Household through marriage.
• After the steward defended He Degong, He Dezong ordered two hundred Spirit Stones, refined gold sand, Moon Water Caltrop Gauze, and a Gray Spirit Falcon prepared for a visit to the Chongming Sect.
• He Dezong resolved to apologize to Jiang Qing despite the expense and worried that the He Household’s branches were doing little to help him achieve Foundation Establishment.

He Dezong visited the Chongming Sect, where Kang Dabao welcomed him, returned the caravan goods, and hosted him through several days of banquets. He left on warm terms with the sect, after giving gifts to the juniors and discovering that Kang Dabao had also set out other goods for him to take.

• He Dezong toured the Chongming Sect with Kang Dabao and learned that Jiang Qing had safely stored the caravan goods he had left behind.
• Kang Dabao invited He Dezong to a banquet, and Ye Pinglin arrived with ten heavenly heart fruits to thank Kang Dabao for helping preserve the Ye Household.
• He Dezong praised Kang Dabao's conduct, then joined the sect members for a feast and gave middle-grade Law Artifacts to the juniors, including Changsheng and Ruyi.
• Yuan Jin, Pei Yi, Jiang Qing, and the other Chongming Sect brothers each hosted He Dezong for another day's banquet, drawing out his visit.
• He Dezong checked and collected the caravan goods, noticed additional items Kang Dabao had set out, and departed after the four brothers escorted him five li.

The Xue, Lu, and Ye household heads visited the Chongming Sect to strengthen relations, and Ye Pinglin offered to return a boy with a Triple Spirit Root to the Kang lineage. Kang Dabao welcomed the child as a promising new disciple, then returned to cultivating as the sect’s reputation continued to grow.

• The Xue, Lu, and Ye household heads visited Kang Dabao together, bringing gifts to thank the Chongming Sect for its help.
• Ye Pinglin revealed that a boy with a Triple Spirit Root descended from a Kang ancestor and offered to return the boy and his close relatives to the Kang Household.
• Kang Dabao tested the boy’s bloodline, and Kang Dahou confirmed the child’s ancestry in the household genealogy.
• Kang Dabao renamed the boy Kang Rongquan, welcomed him into the household, and hosted a banquet that lasted until midnight.
• Kang Dabao cultivated with the Azure Wood Treasured Light Guide and resolved to keep strengthening himself.