Chapter Summaries

Yuan Jin and Kang Dabao survived Ge Yangfeng’s ancient sword attack, but the battle left the Chongming Sect cultivators battered and Ye Pinglin gravely injured. Ge Yangfeng withdrew to pursue the Wang Household survivors, while Kang Dabao used a rare healing pill in a desperate attempt to save Ye Pinglin.

• Ye Pinglin’s bronze mirror briefly checked Ge Yangfeng’s ancient sword, and Kang Dabao’s Delusion-Breaking Golden Eyes and Yuan Jin’s fist Gang knocked it off course.
• Ge Yangfeng summoned his wounded natal spirit zombie and used his soul-capturing bell and yin winds to keep the Chongming Sect cultivators on the defensive.
• Ge Yangfeng’s yin wind hurled Ye Pinglin into a tree, leaving him with numerous broken bones, while Yuan Jin struck back with his Tiger Sha Staff.
• Kang Dabao warned Ge Yangfeng that the Wang Household survivors might be lost, and Ge Yangfeng withdrew after threatening to take revenge another day.
• Ji Wuwu examined Ye Pinglin and found his injuries life-threatening, so Kang Dabao ordered him to dissolve a rare Yang-Restoring Pill in water for Ye Pinglin.

Ge Yangfeng tried to escape with the Wang Household's Fifth Elder, but Tie Xishui caught up and killed him. Yue Lan took the Fifth Elder away, while Tie Xishui remained behind to carry on with the plan.

• Ge Yangfeng abandoned one corpse worm's trail after hearing a fight and found the Wang Household's Fifth Elder fleeing toward Feng Prefecture.
• Tie Xishui killed the Wang Household's Second Elder and let his gray sparrow devour a corpse worm from the remains.
• Ge Yangfeng took the Fifth Elder aboard a green-leaf flying boat, but Tie Xishui pursued them in a Demon Correction Office flying boat and rammed it apart.
• Tie Xishui's Heaven Overturning Seal killed Ge Yangfeng as Yue Lan arrived and took the Fifth Elder away.
• Tie Xishui asked whether Ge Yangfeng had ever considered what difference his arrival would make.

After the Caishi Wang Household fell, Kang Dabao sought to take the wounded Ye Pinglin back for treatment, but Magistrate Xie tried to punish the Chongming Sect for letting remnants escape. Kang Dabao confronted Xie Fu and left him terrified and begging for mercy.

• Jiang Qing secretly killed a Rogue Cultivator who tried to rob him and collected several Storage Bags as the Pingrong County forces looted and destroyed the Caishi Wang Household.
• Kang Dabao and the others returned injured, with Ye Pinglin in grave danger, and the Alchemists said only a second-tier healing spirit pill might save him.
• Yuan Jin urged the group to return and seek help from Chen Yu, so Kang Dabao went to tell Xie Fu they needed to leave.
• Xie Fu accused Kang Dabao, Yuan Jin, Ji Wuwu, and Ye Pinglin of dereliction and threatened them with facial tattooing and head shaving.
• Kang Dabao seized Xie Fu, dismissed his threats, and slammed him through his spiritual shield until Xie Fu begged for mercy.

Zhou Xinran managed the Chongming Small Pavilion, where Lady Chong collected her repaired Law Artifact and probed her about Sect Leader Kang’s injuries. After Lady Chong teased Jin Shilun and left, Zhou Xinran met Ye Pinglin and Ye Yaoling, learning that Ye Pinglin’s injuries had ended his cultivation prospects but that he remained composed.

• Zhou Xinran finished a sale at the Chongming Small Pavilion and recorded the shop’s accounts.
• Lady Chong collected her repaired Law Artifact from Zhou Xinran, then asked whether Sect Leader Kang was still injured and offered to introduce him to a dual-cultivation healer.
• Jin Shilun arrived, saw Lady Chong, and fled into the kitchen after she teased him.
• Zhou Xinran saw Ye Pinglin and Ye Yaoling outside the shop and asked about Ye Pinglin’s recovery.
• Zhou Xinran recalled that Ye Pinglin had survived severe injuries but that his damaged meridians and organs had ruined his cultivation foundation.

Tie Xishui offered Kang Dabao the Pingrong County magistrate post, but Kang rejected it. After a Foundation Establishment assassin killed Xie Fu and other officials, Tie Liuyun arrived with the killer’s head and forced Kang to choose between two government posts.

• Tie Xishui told Kang Dabao that the elders wanted to replace Xie Fu with him as magistrate, but Kang refused, citing his injuries and desire to focus on the Chongming Sect.
• Yuan Jin returned bloodied and told Kang Dabao that a Foundation Establishment cultivator had killed Xie Fu, Zhai Le, and two Demon Correction Office squad leaders at the county meeting.
• Yuan Jin explained that the assassin fled after people from the earl’s residence arrived, then shared Storage Bags taken from outlaw cultivators he had killed on his way back.
• Tie Liuyun came to the Chongming Sect carrying the assassin’s head and announced that the murderer of Pingrong County’s magistrate and commandant had been executed.
• Tie Liuyun handed Kang Dabao two bloodstained seals and ordered him to choose a post, leaving Kang unable to refuse.

Kang Dabao and the other newly appointed Pingrong County officials held their first meeting amid escalating conflict between the Immortal Dynasty and the Two Instruments Sect. Luo Heng tried to order Kang Dabao to restore order, but the meeting ended in a tense standoff, and Tie Xishan privately asked Kang Dabao for help with a small matter.

• Kang Dabao and the other three chief officials took office and received several hundred Spirit Stones in congratulatory gifts.
• Luo Heng reviewed the county treasury and learned that only forty-three Spirit Stones remained after taxes and expenses were distributed.
• Sun Bingdou ordered the clerk to prepare an itemized account, while Luo Heng failed to win Tie Xishan's support.
• Luo Heng told Kang Dabao to restore order, and Kang Dabao challenged him to capture a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
• Tie Xishan stopped Luo Heng from reaching for his Storage Bag, and Luo Heng left the meeting in anger.
• Kang Dabao thanked Tie Xishan, who then privately asked him for help with a small matter.

Tie Xishan asked to rent a shop in Chongming Market for the Pingrong Tie Household, and Kang Dabao agreed. After traveling together and discussing Tie Xishan’s difficult path to cultivation, they reached the market and signed the contract, establishing a Tie Household talisman shop there.

• Tie Xishan explained that the Tie Household wanted a Chongming Market shop to buy beast materials cheaply and train more talisman masters, and Kang Dabao agreed to show him the vacant pavilion.
• Tie Xishan and Kang Dabao left the county yamen together, traveled toward Chongming Market, and stopped at a tavern, where Tie Xishan arranged for a singer and her father to be taken elsewhere.
• Kang Dabao reflected on Tie Xishan’s Five Spirit Roots and the burdensome family duties he undertook while pursuing cultivation.
• Tie Xishan inspected the vacant pavilion and toured Chongming Market while Kang Dabao went to the Chongming Small Pavilion, where Zhou Xinran, Jin Shilun, Ye Pinglin, and Ye Pinglin’s sister had gathered.
• Tie Xishan found Kang Dabao and quickly signed the contract, securing a shop for the Pingrong Tie Household in Chongming Market.

Kang Dabao hosted the He, Lu, Xue, and Ye households at Chongming Market and discussed the risks of opening a trade route with Lu Xun. Afterward, Lu Xun considered the Lu Household’s plans for spirit bees and honey while harboring resentment toward Kang Dabao.

• Kang Dabao stayed in Chongming Market after Tie Xishan left, received He Degong, and continued running the Chongming Small Pavilion as business recovered.
• The He Household caravan arrived with injured members, and its leader told Kang Dabao that bandits had grown more hostile on the roads.
• Kang Dabao held a feast for the He, Lu, Xue, and Ye households, then asked Lu Xun how likely he was to establish a trade route; Lu Xun estimated the odds at thirty percent.
• Kang Dabao resolved to speak with the scarred Rogue Cultivator surnamed Du after realizing he had neglected the man as a registered disciple.
• Lu Yunniang discussed locust blossom honey and the spirit bees with Lu Xun, who accepted the possibility of sharing benefits with the Chongming Sect.
• After Lu Yunniang left, Lu Xun resented Kang Dabao and resolved that he would not always remain beneath him.

After rewarding Du Qing for his work, Kang Dabao returned to the Chongming Sect and worried that his new county commandant post could put him in danger. He spent two months rebuilding his strength and studying battle formations, until a message talisman interrupted his seclusion.

• Kang Dabao gave Du Qing a lower-grade Law Artifact and thirty Spirit Stones as a reward for guarding the caravan.
• A young man from the He Household told Kang Dabao that he had seen Gui Xiang wearing the clothes of a Yue Household retainer in Han City.
• Kang Dabao returned to the Chongming Sect, considered the risks of his county commandant appointment, and decided to review battle formations and improve his cultivation.
• Kang Dabao found his Delusion-Breaking Golden Eyes could not overcome powerful opponents and set them aside while he focused on the Guo Mountain Corpse Refining Method and refining Qi.
• Kang Dabao spent two months cultivating, refining a corpse, studying techniques, and practicing formations before a message talisman flew into his cloud chamber.

Kang Dabao went to the Pingrong County yamen and learned that the Cloud Horn Prefecture governor’s office had ordered the counties to provide a thousand Bone Refining Realm laborers for a Spirit Stone mine in Tanggu County. He refused Luo Heng’s request to handle the requisition, but Sun Bingdou volunteered, leaving Kang Dabao to suspect he had been maneuvered into a trap.

• Kang Dabao arrived in Pingrong County and found yamen runners searching the streets while many idlers had disappeared.
• Kang Dabao entered Luo Heng’s room and found Luo Heng and Sun Bingdou consorting with courtesans, then led them to the main hall to discuss business.
• Luo Heng presented Kang Dabao with a document from Huo Bing ordering the counties to requisition a thousand Bone Refining Realm laborers for Tanggu County’s Spirit Stone mine.
• Kang Dabao refused to organize the labor requisition, arguing that assigning laborers was a civil matter for the county magistrate.
• Sun Bingdou volunteered to take charge of the requisition, and Kang Dabao suspected the two officials had set a trap for him.

Kang Dabao took charge of Pingrong County’s officials, oversaw the arrest and detention of martial artists, and arranged for Chongming Sect to meet Sun Bingdou’s labor levy. He inspected the county armory and discovered its supplies fell far short of regulations.

• Kang Dabao summoned Pingrong County’s functionaries, ordered them to act honestly, and considered placing Ji Wuwu in a vacant clerk position.
• Luo Heng’s runners arrested prominent martial artists across Pingrong County, and cultivators from the Luo Household of Black Forest Fort were hired to guard them in jail.
• Sun Bingdou ordered thirty-seven taxpaying households to provide fifty Bone Refining martial artists each, and Kang Dabao sent Kang Dahou to handle Chongming Sect’s share.
• Kang Dabao inspected Pingrong County’s armory with the stores clerk and found that it lacked most of its required weapons and supplies.

Luo Heng and Sun Bingdou discussed the threat Kang Dabao might pose over the stolen Spirit Stones, then decided to let an impending militia campaign place him in danger. Kang Dabao remained unaware of their plans and focused on improving his strength.

• The armory clerk told Luo Heng that Kang Dabao intended to inspect the accounts for provincial military funds the next day.
• Luo Heng reasoned that he could blame the missing Spirit Stones on dead officials if the accounts were investigated.
• Kang Dabao treated the armory inspection as a formality and spent the night studying military formations and refining a corpse.
• Sun Bingdou proposed killing Kang Dabao, but Luo Heng warned that the higher-ups were watching the county and rejected the immediate attack.
• Luo Heng told Sun Bingdou that Pingrong County would soon be ordered to send militia against bandits in Guo County and promised to ensure Kang Dabao stood out in military service.

Kang Dabao tried to leave Pingrong County but Magistrate Luo used a conscription order to trap him and provoke a confrontation. Kang Dabao defeated Luo Heng and demanded the prefectural court's silk letter.

• Kang Dabao learned that Prefectural Sima Fei had ordered Pingrong County to conscript one cultivator in three for a campaign against bandits in Guo County.
• Luo Heng and Qian Liu blocked Kang Dabao from inspecting the silk letter, and Kang Dabao attacked Qian Liu with his silver jian.
• Tie Xishan ordered the Demon Correction Office soldiers to withdraw and demanded to see the letter, leaving Kang Dabao to face Luo Heng.
• Kang Dabao overwhelmed Luo Heng, shattered his ancient scroll Law Artifact, and took his Storage Bag.
• Kang Dabao pinned Luo Heng beneath his foot and demanded that he hand over the silk letter.

Kang Dabao organized Pingrong County’s elite cultivators for Sima Fei’s expedition and recruited people who had crossed him to join the contingent. He left Chongming Market with a list of additional targets supplied by Shopkeeper Ye.

• Kang Dabao and Tie Xishan read Sima Fei’s letter, then had Qian Liu treat the badly injured Luo Heng.
• Kang Dabao and Tie Xishan assigned ten cultivators each from the Luo Household of Black Forest Fort, the Grass Witch Cult, Hemu Dao, and the Fellow Cultivators Association, leaving ten places to fill.
• Kang Dabao decided he would lead the contingent and conscript people on bad terms with him, including Qian Liu.
• Kang Dabao paid Shopkeeper Ye five Spirit Stones and handed him a list of Evil Cultivators to locate.
• Kang Dabao pressured Shopkeeper Ye to provide information by threatening to conscript him, and Shopkeeper Ye wrote out a list before Kang Dabao left with his soldiers.

Kang Dabao prepared the Chongming Sect for his dangerous campaign against the bandits by reviewing its finances and making succession arrangements. He named Yuan Jin as his successor and Pei Yi as cultivation instruction elder before the disciples bowed in gratitude as he set out to face an uncertain fate.

• Kang Dabao told the sect that he had been ordered to join the campaign against Sima Fei's bandits in Guo County and refused to let any disciples accompany him.
• Zhou Xinran and Zhou Yixiu reported the Chongming Small Pavilion's profits and the spirit fields' expected yields, while Yuan Jin detailed the sect's annual expenses.
• Kang Dabao urged the younger disciples to cultivate diligently and named Yuan Jin as the next sect leader in case he did not return.
• Kang Dabao promoted Pei Yi to cultivation instruction elder, and Yuan Jin and the assembled disciples bowed to thank him.

Kang Dabao assembled Pingrong County’s troops by arresting and conscripting local cultivators, then led his fifty-person contingent to the Guo County military camp. After training the uneven force for over a month, he received orders to march on Cloth Bag Mountain and capture the Five Aspects Sect.

• Kang Dabao’s officers captured and beat Feng Buxing, and Kang killed him before coercing the Feng brothers into serving.
• Kang arrested Han Lu and his spouse, seized the Shao siblings, and recruited two prisoners to complete his six condemned conscripts.
• Kang took forty-four local soldiers and six prisoners by flying boat to the Guo County military camp, where Sima Fei inspected the contingent and warned him about wielding dangerous fighters.
• Kang removed the prisoners’ spiritual cangues, organized the fifty men into five fires, and drilled them in formations and signals.
• After more than a month of training, Kang’s troops received orders to march to Cloth Bag Mountain and take the Five Aspects Sect.

Kang Dabao and his hastily assembled militia unit joined the prefectural court’s campaign against the Five Aspects Sect, only to be assigned as the vanguard. As the two sides formed ranks for battle, a hunting falcon circled overhead, waiting for the fighting to begin.

• Sima Fei rallied the conscripted forces and sent them toward the battlefield aboard Mystic Falcons.
• Kang Dabao reunited with Kuai Wu and joined a hundred-man unit led by Centurion Xu.
• Centurion Xu secured the vanguard assignment, then punished a loud rogue cultivator and promised rewards to stir the unit’s morale.
• Kang Dabao arranged his men cautiously as Centurion Xu led them ahead of the main force.
• The unit met a contingent from the Five Aspects Sect on level ground, while a red-collared hunting falcon watched from above.

Centurion Xu’s vanguard routed the Five Aspects Sect’s makeshift force, and the pursuing cultivators raced ahead for rewards. Kang Dabao stopped his own force from breaking formation and led it cautiously toward the Five Aspects Sect’s main formation, where the real battle still awaited.

• Centurion Xu’s better-equipped Rogue Cultivators overwhelmed the Five Aspects Sect’s front ranks, and many enemy fighters fled.
• Centurion Xu killed the Five Aspects Sect disciple leading the formation and ordered his troops to pursue the retreating fighters for bounties.
• Kang Dabao kept Pingrong County’s force advancing slowly while the other troops scattered in pursuit.
• When Luo Household disciples began breaking formation, Kang Dabao killed the steward with a different surname and ordered the others to hold their ranks.
• Shao Meng, the Two Sha of the Feng Household, Han Lu, and Dan Xia helped suppress the mutiny, and Kang Dabao led the force toward the Five Aspects Sect’s main formation.

Sima Fei’s advancing army clashed with the Five Aspects Sect, and Kang Dabao struggled to keep Pingrong County’s ragtag formation intact against elite attackers. The reinforcements arrived in time to force the enemy to retreat, leaving Kang Dabao badly wounded but alive as Sima Fei ordered him to recover with the central army.

• Sima Fei advanced after the centurion surnamed Xu’s reckless pursuit ended in a rout, and Kang Dabao pushed Pingrong County’s formation forward to block the Five Aspects Sect pursuers.
• The Five Aspects Sect disciples inflicted heavy casualties on the formation, killing Dan Xia and Han Lu and driving the Feng Household brothers and Shao siblings back.
• Kang Dabao kept the ranks moving, helped Deacon Cai survive a Five Aspects Sect woman’s attack, and watched elite enemies break into the formation.
• The Five Aspects Sect leader ordered a retreat when provincial court reinforcements approached, then hurled Heavenly Thunder Seeds that devastated the formation and badly wounded Kang Dabao.
• Kang Dabao rallied the survivors into a defensive circle, and Sima Fei arrived, praised him, and ordered him to recover with the central army.

The prefectural court’s forces overwhelmed the Five Aspects Sect after Sima Fei and Acting Sima Gun broke its formations and killed its leaders. The sect’s troops fled as Sima Fei concluded that the Two Instruments Sect would not intervene and prepared to report that the court could act more boldly.

• Acting Sima Gun led the picked vanguard into the Five Aspects Sect’s quicksand trap, broke it with his judge’s brush, and struck the sect’s front formation with an ink sword.
• The Five Aspects Sect’s five linked formations strengthened their disciples, but Sima Fei charged in, killed a formation director, and drove off the two allied Foundation Establishment cultivators.
• Kang Dabao picked up the Five Aspects Sect master’s fallen red crown and stored it while the sect’s disrupted formations began to falter.
• Sima Fei destroyed another formation node, and the Five Aspects Sect’s disciples and hired cultivators fled as their leaders fell.
• Sima Fei ordered his troops to cut down the fleeing Five Aspects Sect members and resolved to report to Kuang Liuting that the prefectural court could act more boldly.