Chapter Summaries

Kuang Liuting, the Earl of Nan'an, destroyed the Niu Household’s power in Xuanwei City and ordered its surviving cultivators exiled and its mortals sold. He then reached Han City, shattered its defenses, and called for Yue Lin to meet him.

• Kuang Liuting broke the Niu Household ancestor’s defenses and killed him with lightning swallows after the ancestor tried to flee.
• Huo Bing reported that 1,823 Niu Household cultivators and relatives had been shackled, and Kuang Liuting ordered their exile to Liangxi Circuit and the sale of the household’s mortals.
• Kuang Liuting told Huo Bing he would deal with the Yue Household and move the prefectural offices to Han City, then gave Huo Bing the Niu Household’s Storage Bag and a share of its holdings.
• Kuang Liuting reached Han City, shattered its defensive formations and city wall, and shouted for Yue Lin to come out and meet him.

Yue Lin fought Kuang Liuting, the Earl of Nan'an, but was trapped in his Thunder Slaughter Array. A vastly more powerful lightning strike shattered the array and forced Kuang Liuting to face an unknown presence that ordered him to leave.

• Yue Lin arrived alone to confront Kuang Liuting, explaining that the Two Instruments Sect had warned him of the Earl's coming.
• Kuang Liuting attacked with a lightning vajra, but Yue Lin broke through its strike with Sword Qi and countered with his flying sword.
• Kuang Liuting summoned thunder swallows that wounded Yue Lin's sword, then trapped him inside the Thunder Slaughter Array.
• Yue Lin's third-tier talisman failed to break the array, and Kuang Liuting prepared to kill him.
• A tremendous bolt of lightning blasted the array flags away without harming Yue Lin, then struck beneath Kuang Liuting and a powerful voice ordered him to scram.

Qiu Yunsheng and Kuang Furen settled the dispute over Cloud Horn Prefecture, while the Chongming Sect tried to move a weakened locust tree. Jiang Qing and Kang Rongquan learned that Xuanwei City had fallen and offered Cultivation Master Zhou and his relatives shelter in Chongming City.

• Qiu Yunsheng agreed to have the Yue Household send twelve Foundation Establishment cultivators to serve the Earl of Nan'an's residence for fifty years, and Kuang Furen accepted the arrangement.
• Han Yundao and Duan Anle reported the damaged locust tree to Kang Dabao, who sent Kang Rongquan to assess it and then ordered Jiang Qing to take him to Xuanwei City for help.
• Kang Rongquan said he could not save the locust tree, so Jiang Qing set out with him to find Cultivation Master Zhou.
• Jiang Qing learned from travelers that an immortal dynasty official had conquered Xuanwei City and wiped out the Dingnan Niu Household.
• Jiang Qing and Kang Rongquan encountered Cultivation Master Zhou evacuating his relatives, and Jiang offered to shelter them in Chongming City while the sect arranged help with the locust tree.

Yuan Jin escorted Farmer Zhou’s relatives back toward the Chongming Sect while Han Yundao and Duan Anle grew closer, and Han Yundao developed a crush on Zhou Xinran. At the sect, Kang Dabao, Yuan Jin, and Jiang Qing planted a scholar tree on the site of an old elm, and Kang Dabao revealed his resolve to restore what had been taken from the sect.

• Han Yundao thanked Duan Anle for covering up his failure during the mission to deal with White Ram Monastery’s ghost, and Duan Anle reassured him of their bond as brothers.
• Zhou Xinran brought Han Yundao and Duan Anle spirit tea, and Han Yundao became flustered after learning that she was Farmer Zhou’s daughter.
• The caravan reached Chongming City, where Yuan Jin entrusted Farmer Zhou’s relatives to Kang Dahou before taking the disciples back to the sect on the sect leader’s urgent summons.
• Yuan Jin joined Kang Dabao and Jiang Qing in carrying Farmer Zhou’s scholar tree to its planting site, while Farmer Zhou prepared the spirit soil and connected it to the earth veins.
• Kang Dabao told Yuan Jin and Jiang Qing that he meant to replace the things taken from the Chongming Sect with better ones, and the group laughed together as the tree took root.

Kang Dabao attended Magistrate Xie Fu’s meeting on taxation, where the county magistrate demonstrated the Great Wei Immortal Dynasty’s renewed authority. After Ren Xiong resisted and was executed, the gathered powers agreed to obey the tax order.

• Kang Dabao rode to Pingrong County after a county clerk summoned him to pay respects to Magistrate Xie Fu.
• Xie Fu announced the annual tax assessments for thirty-seven Qi Refining powers and declared that the prefectural court had ordered them.
• Ren Xiong of the Iron Sword Sect challenged the tax demand, but Xie Fu sentenced him to death and the Demon Correction Office soldiers subdued him.
• Xie Fu executed Ren Xiong, then asked the gathered representatives whether anyone else would refuse to pay.
• Kang Dabao and the other representatives pledged to obey Xie Fu’s order.

After news of the Immortal Dynasty’s takeover of Cloud Horn Prefecture made Kang Dabao wary, Pei Yi persuaded him to investigate Lü Wen’s cave abode once Jiang Qing reached the Eighth Layer of Qi Refining. The three brothers reached the canyon and split up to search, where Kang Dabao spotted someone unexpected and concealed himself.

• Kang Dabao told the Chongming Sect that the Immortal Dynasty had subdued Cloud Horn Prefecture’s great powers, and he ordered the disciples to stay inside amid rumors of a coming crackdown.
• Pei Yi reminded Kang Dabao about the cave abode and possible second-tier Lion Insect eggs, but Kang Dabao delayed the trip until Jiang Qing advanced.
• Jiang Qing reached the Eighth Layer of Qi Refining, and three days later Kang Dabao, Pei Yi, and Jiang Qing set out for the cave abode while Yuan Jin stayed behind.
• On the road, Kang Dabao and Pei Yi discussed how the cave abode might be hidden by an illusory formation and agreed to search carefully rather than enter recklessly.
• After ten days, the three brothers arrived at Shandu Ridge and reached the canyon where Pei Yi and Lü Wen had previously found the cave abode.
• Kang Dabao, Pei Yi, and Jiang Qing split up to search; Kang Dabao spotted an unexpected person, silenced his donkey, and hid with a concealment formation plate.

Kang Dabao followed Daoist Wu's widow and her son Ai'er into the Wu Household tomb, where she sacrificed the boy to unlock the grand marshal's legacy. After she began taking the treasures, Kang Dabao killed her, but the chapter leaves him grieving over Ai'er's body and wishing he had been the one to commit the cruel act.

• Kang Dabao watched Daoist Wu's widow awaken Ai'er and open the hidden entrance to the Wu Household tomb, then followed them inside alone.
• Kang Dabao learned that the tomb belonged to Gu Huntong and heard the widow tell Ai'er that villains had killed his father and uncle; Ai'er vowed to avenge his father by killing Niu Gui'er and Kang Dabao.
• The widow stabbed Ai'er to death and used his organs in a thirty-six-part incantation that opened the black coffin.
• The widow found an array of treasures in the coffin, including a Six Harmonies True Yang Jujube, and Kang Dabao killed her with a black short blade.
• Kang Dabao entered the chamber, saw Ai'er's body beneath the treasures, and lamented that he wished he had been the one to commit the heartless deed.

Kang Dabao uncovered the tomb owner's hidden legacy, including powerful treasures and a Foundation Establishment late-stage barbarian corpse, and decided to keep the discovery secret. The black bone consumed the corpse and revealed a faint silver-seal character that Kang Dabao could not read.

• Kang Dabao opened the hidden yin coffin and found a second-tier-or-better talisman, a Cosmos Rank cultivation method, a possible nascent Law Treasure, and two Foundation Establishment Pills.
• Kang Dabao resolved to conceal the treasures from his junior brothers and disciples to protect the sect from the danger of word spreading.
• Kang Dabao discovered the wrapped corpse of a Foundation Establishment late-stage Mountain Barbarian cultivator and considered refining it himself rather than selling it to a powerful sect or household.
• The black bone flew from Kang Dabao's Storage Bag and consumed the barbarian corpse, coating Kang Dabao's face with powder.
• Kang Dabao examined the black bone and saw a silver-seal immortal character flickering at its tip, but he could not recognize it.

Kang Dabao and his junior brothers returned from Gu Huntong’s tomb with Lion Insect eggs and other treasures, then Kang Dabao hid the haul in the Chongming Sect’s secret chamber. The chapter left him weighing whether to sell some of the sect’s newly recovered treasures to cover its expenses.

• Kang Dabao concealed the treasures he had found in the tomb, then searched the chambers with Pei Yi and Jiang Qing for two more days.
• Pei Yi discovered more than a dozen Lion Insect eggs in a hidden chamber, and Kang Dabao packed them into a spirit-storing box before leading the group back to the sect.
• Kang Dabao refused Jiang Qing’s request to visit Hong County, insisting that the sect needed him to stay and help shoulder its burdens.
• After returning to the Chongming Sect, Kang Dabao dismissed the juniors, heard Yuan Jin’s report, and went to his cloud chamber.
• Kang Dabao entered the secret chamber beneath his bed and added the treasures from the tomb to the sect’s collection of foundational texts and valuables.
• Kang Dabao worried that selling rare spirit materials might cost the sect valuable resources, and considered turning in the Four Ghosts of the Liu Household for Spirit Stones instead.

Kang Dabao encountered Kang Yilong, a traveling merchant from the powerful Endless Creation Sect, on Azure Immortal Mountain and was taken to the Cloud Repository Pavilion. After weighing Kang Dabao’s karmic luck and finding it ordinary, Kang Yilong demanded that he offer something to buy his life.

• Kang Dabao left the Chongming Sect alone and rode toward the Demon Correction Office in White Sand County.
• Kang Dabao paid one spirit fragment for lodging at a fortified manor, then learned that its three cultivator attendants had fought over the payment, leaving one dead and two injured.
• Kang Dabao met Kang Yilong on Azure Immortal Mountain, but Kang Yilong stopped him from fleeing and brought him through a rift to the Cloud Repository Pavilion.
• The Pavilion’s artifact spirit slapped Kang Dabao after he stomped on the cloud floor, and Kang Yilong warned him not to provoke it.
• Kang Yilong weighed Kang Dabao’s karmic luck with his Sixteen Golden Star Steelyard, found it ordinary, and demanded that Kang Dabao offer something to buy his life.

Kang Yilong discovered that Kang Dabao lacked enough fortune for a normal deal, but valued his possessions and took most of his fortune in exchange for a contract. Before leaving, he refined a Law Treasure prototype for Kang Dabao, who was left wondering how much it had cost to buy back his life.

• Kang Yilong explained that the Creation Demonic Sect plundered geniuses' fortune through deals and threatened Kang Dabao when his fortune proved too low.
• Kang Dabao brought Kang Yilong to the Chongming Sect's secret chamber, where Kang Yilong valued his possessions and agreed to take two jin, four taels, and one qian of fortune.
• Kang Yilong returned several items, bound Kang Dabao to a contract for a meeting eight hundred years later, and warned that the meeting could bring either help or disaster.
• Kang Dabao asked for an extra benefit, and Kang Yilong acknowledged him as a namesake junior before refining his Law Treasure prototype into the third-tier mid-grade sword Solemn Autumn.
• Kang Yilong vanished, and Kang Dabao stared at the empty chamber, reflecting that buying back his life had cost a great deal.

Kang Dabao arranged a deal with the Lu Household's female cultivator to let her Black Jade Bees gather nectar from the Chongming Sect's locust tree, securing eighty percent of the honey for the sect. Zhou Jiashi revealed that his demonstration of the bees damaging the blossoms had been a trick, and he and Kang Dabao estimated the tree could earn the sect hundreds of Spirit Stones a year.

• Kang Dabao returned to the Chongming Sect after hiding in a secret chamber and met with the Lu Household's female cultivator about placing her Black Jade Bees beneath the locust tree.
• Zhou Jiashi warned that the bees' rough nectar-gathering habits might damage the tree's blossoms, so the group went to inspect it.
• The Lu Household's female cultivator offered the Chongming Sect a growing share of the honey, and Kang Dabao accepted her offer of eighty percent.
• Zhou Jiashi used a secret technique to force two blossoms to bloom and demonstrated a bee damaging them, then explained that the real blossoms would resist the lower-grade bees.
• Zhou Jiashi estimated the honey would earn the sect one hundred and twenty to one hundred and sixty Spirit Stones annually, and Kang Dabao calculated that the tree could bring in two or three hundred Spirit Stones a year.
• The author addressed reader feedback about Kang Yilong's abrupt appearance and said the main storyline would remain unchanged.

Zhou Yixiu formally joined the Chongming Sect, while Wei Gu and Mo Ku reflected on their hopes of finding security there. Their concerns grew when they heard that cultivators conscripted by Magistrate Xie had vanished in a mine collapse.

• At a ceremony in the newly built Patriarch Hall, Kang Dabao inducted Zhou Yixiu into the Chongming Sect as his fourth junior brother.
• Wei Gu and Mo Ku watched the ceremony and considered how joining the sect might offer them a more secure life.
• After the ceremony, Wei Gu shared his knowledge of arrays at a Dao gathering, while Mo Ku listened and tried to learn.
• Wei Gu worried that his work installing the sect's arrays was nearly finished and that he would soon need another employer.
• Mo Ku told Wei Gu that Magistrate Xie had conscripted rogue cultivators, and that a group from Pingrong County had been buried in a collapsed mine.

During Yuan Changsheng’s fifth-birthday feast, Kang Dabao received County Commandant Zhai, who announced Magistrate Xie’s order to conscript able-bodied men. The order threatened to disrupt the Chongming Sect’s celebration, and Kang Dabao asked Zhai An to speak privately.

• Zhou Xinran poured spirit wine for the Chongming Sect’s young disciples, turning the birthday feast lively.
• Jiang Qing flew through the courtyard with Ruyi on his shoulders, while Zhou Yixiu gave envious Changsheng a ride on his flying sword.
• A message talisman brought Kang Dabao outside the sect gate, where he met County Commandant Zhai An.
• Zhai An explained that his main branch had been devastated in a fight over Zhai Household Market, leaving him to seek refuge and a post in Pingrong County.
• Zhai An told Kang Dabao that Magistrate Xie had ordered the conscription of able-bodied men, and Kang Dabao asked to speak with him privately.

Kang Dabao learned that the Chongming Sect had been ordered to send Jiang Qing and four other cultivators to help wipe out the Caishi Wang Household, so he recruited Rogue Cultivators to fill the quota. Xie Fu learned that households were replacing their fighters with Rogue Cultivators and sent Zhai Le back with a list of required people, leaving Kang Dabao to see Jiang Qing’s name on it.

• Zhai Le accepted thirty Spirit Stones from Kang Dabao and revealed that the county planned to attack the Caishi Wang Household, with the Chongming Sect required to send five cultivators including Jiang Qing.
• Kang Dabao discussed the conscription with his juniors and decided to recruit four Rogue Cultivators, while excluding the younger disciples and newly arrived Zhou Yixiu from the battlefield.
• Zhou Yixiu and Ji Wuwu recruited four people in three days, as other households also began hiring Rogue Cultivators to take their places.
• Xie Fu learned that most of the county’s force might consist of Rogue Cultivators and ordered Zhai Le to deliver a list naming the key people each household had to send.
• Zhai Le returned with two Late Qi Refinement cultivators and gave Kang Dabao the list, which began with Jiang Qing’s name.

Wang Li watched Pingrong County’s forces destroy the Caishi Wang Household’s defenses and kill his relatives before Second Uncle Wang led him and the other youngsters through a secret escape passage. The group was intercepted by Yuan Jin and then attacked again while fleeing, leaving Wang Li wounded and unconscious.

• Wang Li hid at Eaglet Cave as Pingrong County’s forces broke through the Caishi Wang Household’s defenses, and he witnessed his relatives being killed by the invaders.
• Second Uncle Wang urged Wang Li and the other youngsters to remember the blood debt, then led them through the household’s secret passage while Fifth Uncle Wang guarded the rear.
• After emerging, the group used Divine Movement Talismans, but Yuan Jin ambushed them and refused to let them pass despite their distant marriage connection.
• Yuan Jin attacked Second Uncle Wang with his Tiger Sha Staff, then withdrew, prompting Second Uncle Wang to lead the group into a hurried escape.
• As the group fled, Wang Li heard a weapon strike flesh, felt himself lifted, and then lost consciousness.

The Wang Household’s fleeing party was attacked by opportunistic cultivators, and the second brother killed one before Kang Dabao’s ambush forced everyone to scatter. Yuan Jin reached the remaining Wang members as a black-armed monster killed a scar-faced attacker, then faced the newcomer’s dangerous gaze.

• An emerald flying knife killed Wang Li, and the Wang Household’s fifth brother fled with two juniors while the second brother stayed to fight the ambushers.
• The second brother killed one of the four opportunistic cultivators, but Kang Dabao struck him with Golden Light and chased him as both sides withdrew.
• Kang Dabao recalled that Xie Fu had sent Yuan Jin after the fifth brother and the two children, while Kang Dabao had hoped to avoid a dangerous assignment.
• A female cultivator and a scar-faced man intercepted the fifth brother and the two juniors, and the scar-faced man knocked away the youths’ Law Artifacts.
• Yuan Jin arrived as a black-armed creature tore open the scar-faced man’s chest and ate his heart, then recognized a dangerous enemy from the Feng Prefecture Ge Household.

Yuan Jin faced a tall cultivator from the Feng Prefecture Ge Household and his two Black-Haired Zombies while the Wang brothers fought a female cultivator. After being wounded and poisoned, Yuan Jin forced himself back to his feet as another man approached the battle.

• The fifth Wang brother argued with the tall Ge Household cultivator, who defended his household and tended to the two Black-Haired Jiangshi feeding on a scar-faced cultivator.
• Yuan Jin recognized the Feng Prefecture Ge Household and realized he was outmatched by the tall cultivator and his two superior-grade Black-Haired Zombies.
• The tall cultivator sent the zombies at Yuan Jin, who struck one with his Tiger Sha Staff but failed to stop it from attacking again.
• Yuan Jin tried to flee, but claw winds wounded him and left him with a poisoned cut; he cursed the cultivator and fought back against the zombies.
• The zombies battered Yuan Jin through his defenses, but he survived and rose in anger as the tall cultivator noticed a man with a steel whip approaching.

Yuan Jin, Kang Dabao, and the Wang family fought the Ge Household cultivator and his zombies before Tie Xishui struck down their escape boat and resumed executing the Wang clan. The survivors were scattered, and Kang Dabao was forced to help hold off the Ge cultivator while Tie Xishui pursued the Wangs; two Foundation Establishment cultivators watched the battle from afar.

• Yuan Jin battered one black-haired zombie while the Wang family's second brother and his kin killed the female cultivator.
• Kang Dabao helped Yuan Jin escape the remaining zombie, and the Ge Household cultivator and Wang family agreed to flee together.
• Tie Xishui shattered their flying boat with the Heaven Overturning Seal and attacked the scattered Wang family.
• The Ge Household cultivator ordered the Wangs to scatter and tried to hold off Tie Xishui, while Tie Xishui demanded that Kang Dabao and Yuan Jin help stop him.
• Kang Dabao claimed Yuan Jin was gravely wounded but was forced to block the Ge Household cultivator and his zombie as Tie Xishui departed.
• Two Foundation Establishment cultivators from opposing sides watched the battle together from a distance.

Kang Dabao and Yuan Jin fought Ge Yangfeng, whose ancient sword overwhelmed Kang Dabao and threatened Yuan Jin after he badly damaged Ge Yangfeng’s black-haired zombie. Yuan Jin fled as the sword pursued him, leaving his survival uncertain.

• Yue Lan and a younger Foundation Establishment cultivator discussed the prefectural court’s maneuver and watched Ge Yangfeng fight Kang Dabao and Yuan Jin.
• Ge Yangfeng deflected Kang Dabao’s Golden Light and other attacks, then drew his ancient sword and drove Kang Dabao onto the defensive.
• Yuan Jin battered Ge Yangfeng’s black-haired zombie, tore open its back, and began pulling out its spine.
• Ge Yangfeng redirected his ancient sword toward Yuan Jin, severing fingers and knuckles as Yuan Jin used the zombie to block the attack.
• Yuan Jin ran as the ancient sword broke through the Garrison Earth Azure Origin Shield and continued after him.