Chapter Summaries

Lin Xu planned how to develop the upgraded ranch and use trade to strengthen his territory and Qimeng City. He left the story focused on the need to invest in ordinary people's lives to gain both real-world influence and Source Fire.

• Lin Xu surveyed the level 2 ranch, calculated the cattle and sheep’s boosted breeding rates, and decided to grow the herds rather than sell them immediately.
• Lin Xu planned to use the territory’s villages and available labor for livestock farming, then recruited ninety-six villagers after Source Fire converted the beastmen territory.
• Elder Jiang asked Lin Xu about external trade, and Lin Xu divided his priorities between acquiring Spirit Realm resources and building real-world influence and wealth.
• Lin Xu planned to support the Night Watchers with Spirit Realm food and later sell equipment and supplies to adventurers when Qimeng City’s trade market reopened.
• Lin Xu concluded that investing in production and infrastructure for ordinary residents would bring the territory money, influence, and more Source Fire.

Lin Xu developed plans for his territory and received a rare talisman-brush blueprint from Elder Jiang, while a beacon linked his territory to the Chen Lineage’s. Jiang Wanqing became a Daoist and shared the Jiang Clan’s spirit talisman legacy with Lin Xu, leaving him determined to honor her trust as they embraced.

• Lin Xu told Elder Jiang about his Spirit Pattern Chicken Farm, and Elder Jiang offered to arrange a blueprint for a larger farm and explained how family ties could bring adventurers into a territory.
• Elder Jiang gave Lin Xu a purple rare Spirit Void Talisman Refining Brush Blueprint that granted a crafting legacy.
• Lin Xu sensed that Chen Hao had brought the Wayfinding Compass beacon into the Chen Lineage’s territory, linking the territories as he prepared to avenge the Jiang Clan.
• Lin Xu found Jiang Wanqing had opened her Divine Aperture and become a Daoist after receiving his Dharma Seed.
• Jiang Wanqing revealed her spirit talisman master class and gave Lin Xu the Jiang Clan’s Spirit Pivot Qi Guiding Art, explaining that her grandfather had planned it as her dowry.
• Jiang Wanqing grew emotional as she recalled her missing father and her grandfather’s hopes for her, and Lin Xu drew her into an embrace.

Lin Xu put the Black Tiger Gang to work securing the Spirit Realm resource market and training new recruits, then opened a passage into his territory. After discovering a positioning device planted by the Jiang Lineage of Lei City, he decided to begin building up his military forces immediately.

• Lin Xu accepted Zhang Meng's two martial-arts-trained recruits on trial and ordered them to meet Daoist standards.
• Lin Xu tasked the Black Tiger Gang with managing the Spirit Realm resource market and gave it a hundred training slots.
• Lin Xu opened a Spirit Realm Passage in the Jiang Clan compound, and more than a hundred gang members entered the territory.
• Lin Xu inspected the soldiers' training and considered expanding the force, while Zhang Meng led the gang members through their exercises.
• Lin Xu spotted an activating positioning bronze disc in a linen bundle, identified the Jiang Lineage of Lei City as a threat, and sent Zhang Meng the informant's details.
• Lin Xu resolved to begin the territory's military buildup and use combat artifacts to strengthen its Daoists.

Lin Xu led the expedition through the Spirit Realm while adjusting the bond between Xuanwei Monastery and Chen Lineage Village to control when the Jiang Lineage could arrive. When a charging herd of red-eyed boars threatened the Dao soldiers, Lin Xu disrupted their charge with pits in the ground, and Zhao Dan struck the first boar as it reached the formation.

• Lin Xu watched Zhao Dan's Dao soldiers and Yan Jingshu's Red-Robed Ghosts advance through the mist, while estimating the distance between Xuanwei Monastery and Chen Lineage Village.
• Qiuqiu spotted a horde of more than three hundred undead, and Lin Xu led the army away from it.
• The undead horde clashed with a group of centaurs, drawing other monsters toward the battlefield.
• Lin Xu ordered Zhao Dan to form ranks against a charging herd of red-eyed boars, as fire talismans failed to stop them.
• Lin Xu used mana to create pits beneath the boars, scattering their charge, and Zhao Dan swung his halberd at the first boar to reach the Dao soldiers.

Lin Xu led his troops through the Misty Wilderness, avoided a monstrous horror, and reached Chen Lineage Village. As his Evil Eyes began infiltrating the fortified settlement, the Chen Lineage’s leaders argued over the danger caused by Chen Jiale’s theft from the Jiang Lineage.

• Lin Xu used basic spells to turn the Dao soldiers’ fight with wild boars into a slaughter, then ordered a retreat while the red-robed ghosts drained the carcasses.
• Lin Xu spotted a huge human-headed spider approaching the battlefield and led his group away from it and the surrounding monster fights.
• Lin Xu reached Chen Lineage Village and admired its massive earthen fort, deciding to have Heavenly Craftsman Rabbit Demons reinforce it after taking control.
• Lin Xu directed the Evil Eyes to attack the village’s watch teams, and the adventurers on the walls were killed almost simultaneously.
• Inside the fort, Third Master confronted Chen Lingfeng over Chen Jiale’s theft of a treasure from the Jiang Lineage and warned that the Chen Lineage was in danger.

At a clan meeting, Chen Lingfeng revealed that he had ordered Chen Jiale to steal the reusable Age of Empires dungeon and planned to use it to strengthen the Chen Lineage. Lin Xu arrived with his ghosts and Dao soldiers, launching an attack that left Chen Lingfeng trapped inside the fort as his clansmen were slaughtered.

• Chen Hao accused Chen Jiale of stealing Lord Jiang's property and urged the clan to hand him over, but Chen Lingfeng said he had acted on his orders.
• Chen Lingfeng revealed that the stolen item was a new Age of Empires dungeon that could be used three times and help expand the Chen Lineage's power.
• Chen Lingfeng explained that he had planted a locator disc in Lin Xu's territory and hidden the Chen Lineage Village from the real world, but he spotted Lin Xu watching from a purple cloud.
• Lin Xu ordered his ghosts to enter the fort and kill everyone except the villagers, and the Ghost Bride opened the magically protected gate.
• The Red-Robed Ghosts and Dao soldiers stormed the fort, killing the Chen Lineage's adventurers as Chen Lingfeng hid inside and recognized Lin Xu's attack.

Lin Xu and his forces overwhelmed Chen Lingfeng and the Chen Lineage in their fort, ending Chen Lingfeng’s ambitions and life. Yan Jingshu captured Chen Lingfeng’s soul and brought it to Lin Xu.

• Chen Lingfeng realized the fort’s defenses had been breached and fought his way out of the earthen house as Lin Xu watched from above.
• Chen Lingfeng accused Lin Xu of setting him up and revealed that Jiang Shiyan had arranged for him to place a beacon in Lin Xu’s territory.
• Dao soldiers surrounded Chen Lingfeng, and Zhao Yan severed the wrist holding his sword.
• Lin Xu joined the Dao soldiers’ attack, and a halberd cut Chen Lingfeng apart in midair.
• The Red-Robed Ghosts crushed the remaining resistance in Chen Lineage Fort, and Yan Jingshu presented Chen Lingfeng’s captured soul to Lin Xu.

Lin Xu killed Chen Lingfeng and found several valuable items in Chen Lineage Village, including two jade pendants that might lead to Spirit Realm ruins and a Magic Garden model. As the village’s bond with Xuanwei Monastery strengthened, the marked Giant Weird Spider pursued Lin Xu to the territory.

• Lin Xu trapped Chen Lingfeng in an illusion and destroyed his soul, then searched the earthen fort’s concealed compartment.
• Lin Xu found a dragon-patterned jade pendant that resonated with the phoenix-patterned pendant and suspected the pair could point to Spirit Realm ruins.
• Lin Xu collected the Age of Empires dungeon scroll, the Magic Garden model, and an account book documenting Chen Lineage Village’s harvests and expenses.
• Lin Xu sensed Chen Lineage Village drawing closer to Xuanwei Monastery after seizing the territory and noted that the village’s wheat supply could return to normal.
• Qiuqiu warned Lin Xu that a monster was approaching, and Lin Xu recognized the pursuing Giant Weird Spider that had marked him.

Lin Xu and the Red-Robed Ghosts fought the Giant Weird Spider as its taunts stirred hostile mental force and it showed immunity to psychic attacks. The Ghost Bride recovered from its influence, but the creature turned its taunts on Lin Xu.

• Lin Xu purified the Giant Weird Spider's mental assault with Glazed Fire and warned the Evil Eyes, whose Mind Shock Blasts failed against the creature.
• Yan Jingshu and the Red-Robed Ghosts attacked the Giant Weird Spider, but its taunts enraged the Ghost Bride and made her focus on stabbing its mouth.
• The Giant Weird Spider's mouth was badly wounded, but it twisted a Wedding Procession Ghost into a Weird Spider that healed it and began corrupting the other ghosts.
• Lin Xu used the Dharma Seed to rouse Yan Jingshu, who purified the mental force infecting her and the Red-Robed Ghosts.
• The Giant Weird Spider taunted Lin Xu, but he burned away the psychic force with Glazed Fire.

Lin Xu and his forces killed the Giant Weird Spider, with the Dao soldiers attacking while Yan Jingshu’s Red-Robed Ghosts restrained its limbs. Afterward, the ghosts absorbed the creature’s corpse, and Lin Xu saw that the red energy flowed to Yan Jingshu in her bridal chamber.

• Lin Xu struck the Giant Weird Spider with an Explosive Fireball, whose Glazed Fire kept it from quickly recovering.
• Lin Xu ordered Zhao Dan and the Dao soldiers to attack the spider’s front left leg while Yan Jingshu and the Red-Robed Ghosts restrained its limbs with red threads.
• The spider’s damaged leg buckled, and Lin Xu directed the soldiers and ghosts in a coordinated assault that kept it from standing.
• Zhao Yan severed the middle-aged man’s head, killing the Giant Weird Spider, while the Ghost Bride continued stabbing its corpse.
• Lin Xu treated more than thirty wounded Dao soldiers as Yan Jingshu led the Red-Robed Ghosts in cutting up and absorbing the spider’s corpse.
• Lin Xu followed his connection to Yan Jingshu’s consciousness and saw her gather the blood-red light flowing through threads from the Wedding Procession Ghosts.

Lin Xu helped Yan Jingshu absorb the Giant Weird Spider’s power, then rescued the Wang Lineage from a horde of walking corpses and took control of their blacksmith’s shop. The Wang Lineage agreed to serve him, and Lin Xu asked about other lineage forces in the Spirit Realm.

• Lin Xu used the Glazed Bright Light Lamp to purify the Weird power Yan Jingshu was absorbing, and the Giant Weird Spider’s remains were transformed into power and decorations for the Wedding Procession Ghosts.
• Lin Xu spotted a blacksmith’s shop under attack by more than five hundred walking corpses and judged that its defenders could not hold out.
• Lin Xu destroyed much of the horde with a fireball, then sent the Evil Eyes to kill nearly two hundred more with mind attacks.
• Wang Xu offered the blacksmith’s shop to Lin Xu in exchange for rescuing the Wang Lineage, and Lin Xu accepted the property.
• Lin Xu invited the Wang Lineage to stay in his territory, and they pledged to serve him.
• Lin Xu asked Wang Xu whether many lineage forces like theirs existed in the Spirit Realm.

Lin Xu brought the Wang Lineage safely back to his territory and offered other Spirit Realm families a chance to settle there in exchange for operating their claimed buildings. Elder Jiang gave Lin Xu two jade pendants tied to a dangerous inheritance, then left after asking him to protect Wanqing and keep her father’s fate secret.

• Wang Xu explained that Spirit Realm families would give up years of building rights for safety and resources, and Lin Xu offered him Heaven Silver for every family he recruited.
• Lin Xu led the Wang Lineage back to his territory, assigned them a patrol, and began building a spirit-pattern stone road with the Heavenly Craftsman Rabbit Demons.
• Elder Jiang refused to revisit the place where the Jiang Clan’s fortunes had fallen and recounted finding ruined palace halls during his youth.
• Elder Jiang explained that he had obtained a talisman master inheritance there but failed to complete it, and he gave Lin Xu two jade pendants that might grant access to the ruins.
• Elder Jiang asked Lin Xu to treat Wanqing well and conceal the truth about her father, then left while reflecting on the destruction of the Chen Lineage.

The Zhang Lineage discussed the new Pioneer Lord Lin Xu’s rise in Qimeng City and struggled to secure resources from the Great Awakening Temple. Meanwhile, Lin Xu gathered Tiger Sha demons and corpse drivers in a cavern as he prepared a Zombie Mine dungeon to strengthen his territory before war with the Jiang Lineage.

• Zhang Zhiyuan and his advisers discussed the upheaval Lin Xu’s arrival could bring to Xiang Province and decided to wait for an opportunity to support him.
• Zhang Sui warned Zhang Zhiyuan against robbing the Great Awakening Temple, whose martial saint and warrior monks could overwhelm the Zhang Lineage.
• Zhang Zhiyuan recognized Lin Xu’s blank spirit-silk letter and hurried to welcome the envoy from Qimeng City himself.
• Lin Xu brought the black tiger demon, Tiger Sha soldiers, Zhen Shisan, and corpse drivers into a natural cavern to prepare for battle.
• Lin Xu chose corpse drivers and refined corpses as a shortcut to building military strength before the Jiang Lineage’s attack.
• Lin Xu had heavenly artisans shape the cavern and inscribe it as the defensive site for the Zombie Mine.

Lin Xu used the Spirit Lamp Prayer Art to maximize his summoning scrolls, then created a Zombie Mine instance and began securing its connection to his territory with spirit-pattern floor tiles. He left the mine’s first zombie captured by a corpse driver as the mine’s monsters and resources promised to refresh regularly.

• Lin Xu used five summoning scrolls under the Spirit Realm’s influence and gained twenty-five corpse drivers, bringing his total to thirty-one.
• Lin Xu materialized the Zombie Mine map inside his cavern, placing its entrance within range of two spirit-pattern watchtowers.
• Lin Xu entered the mine with the black tiger demon and demon soldiers, where a lynx spirit killed a level-zero Yin Corpse Maggot.
• Lin Xu ordered Heavenly Artisan Yaoguai to lay spirit-pattern floor tiles that strengthened the Bond between the mine and his territory.
• The black tiger demon’s soldiers captured a miner zombie with a black iron chain, and a corpse driver approached it with a Soul-Stealing Bell.

Lin Xu oversaw 31 corpse herders as they began cultivating with their zombie partners, using the dungeon’s recovery facilities to survive the dangerous training. He then directed the Tiger Sha Army’s sweep through the Zombie Mine and activated the Spirit Lamp Prayer Art after finding few drops among the slain zombies.

• A corpse herder bound a White Jiangshi and cultivated with it, gaining power while losing health as the zombie’s corpse Qi strengthened his Dark Yin Dharma Power.
• The corpse herder collapsed after eleven cultivation sessions, then recovered in a spirit-patterned bed and returned to cultivate after eating and replenishing his zombie’s corpse Qi.
• Lin Xu confirmed that all 31 corpse herders had begun corpse refinement and calculated that their rapid training could raise their levels quickly with the dungeon’s help.
• The Tiger Sha Army advanced through the Zombie Mine, capturing clawed zombies while killing crippled-leg and ordinary zombies.
• Lin Xu noted the low drop rate as the army fought a large horde in the first-level tunnels, then spent Incense Fire Dharma Coins to activate the Spirit Lamp Prayer Art.

Lin Xu cleared the first level of the Zombie Mine, collected valuable loot, and captured zombies and yin corpse maggots for use in his territory. After discovering the mine’s connection to the territory was weakening, he began extending spirit-pattern floor tiles through the cave to anchor it permanently.

• Lin Xu’s forces cleared the zombie cave, collecting skill books, equipment, and other drops that he recognized as a rich source of resources.
• Lin Xu decided to station true disciples in the mine to use the Wish Technique and improve the zombies’ drop rate.
• Lin Xu’s demon soldiers captured clawed zombies and yin corpse maggots, which he planned to use for corpse herding, poison-making, and waste decomposition.
• Lin Xu mapped the first level and found the entrance to the second level, but chose to focus on anchoring the mine to his territory.
• Lin Xu used Source Fire and the Illusory Rock Form-Refining Spell to create spirit-pattern floor tiles, then continued extending them deeper into the cave.

Lin Xu oversaw mining and corpse refinement in the tunnel as his refined corpses advanced into Purple Zombies. Meanwhile, Jiang Wanqing arrived in the capital to take up her post at the Lords' Council and entered its conference room, where Xia Jingyi explained the seating hierarchy.

• Lin Xu inspected the iron and black iron ore mined from the tunnel and noted the value of the stone and mineral resources.
• Lin Xu watched corpse drivers feed dead zombies to their refined corpses, which absorbed corpse Qi and advanced from White Jiangshi to Purple Zombies.
• Jiang Wanqing arrived in the capital with Xia Jingyi and noticed protective formations covering the city's residential buildings.
• Xia Jingyi told Jiang Wanqing that Old General Gu Qiancheng protected the capital and that a Spirit Vein powered its formations.
• Jiang Wanqing signed the paperwork to join the Lords' Council and followed Xia Jingyi into the conference room on the 108th floor.
• Xia Jingyi explained that the inner ring was for Legendary Lords, the outer ring for Enfeoffed Lords and acting lords, and the middle ring for Pioneer Lords.

Jiang Wanqing attended the Lords' Council as Qimeng City gained autonomous territory status, but the meeting revealed that evil gods and their cults were accelerating a global crisis. The council warned that four entities inspired by Warhammer were escaping fictional narratives and projecting their influence into reality.

• Jiang Wanqing took her seat in the middle ring and traded barbs with Jiang Shiyan of the Jiang Lineage of Lei City, earning approval from many liaison officers.
• Gu Qiancheng welcomed Lin Xu as a newly appointed Pioneer Lord and announced that Qimeng City had become an autonomous territory with provincial-level powers and independent financial authority.
• Gu Qiancheng described deadly cult-linked incidents in Yunjin City, Feihong City, and Qimeng City, noting that Lin Xu had defeated the invading orcs in Qimeng City.
• Gu Qiancheng reported 19 high-risk Spirit Realm invasions worldwide in 72 hours and linked many of them to four major cults and their Warhammer-inspired evil gods.
• Jiang Wanqing listened as Gu Qiancheng warned that the evil gods were escaping fictional narratives and extending their influence into reality.

Jiang Wanqing attended a Lords' Council meeting where Gu Qiancheng's proposal to rebuild the Yulin Guard was overwhelmingly rejected. As the meeting turned to the report on the third contact with the extraterrestrial civilization, Jiang Wanqing gained a clearer view of Central State's rival factions and the threat the Jiang Lineage posed to the Lin Lineage.

• Gu Qiancheng's representative proposed rebuilding the Yulin Guard under unified military control, but local lords objected to concentrating power.
• Li Mengyao explained to Jiang Wanqing that the lords opposed the proposal because it would strengthen the central authorities at their expense.
• The council voted down the proposal, with 120 votes in favor, 1,627 against, and 33 abstentions; Jiang Wanqing abstained.
• Li Mengyao warned Jiang Wanqing that the Jiang Lineage would resist the Lin Lineage's rise in Qimeng City and pointed out the alliances among the great lords.
• The chair began the agenda item on the third contact with the extraterrestrial civilization, the Qimeng People.

Jiang Wanqing sought a direct trade channel with Night Watchers headquarters for Qimeng City, but established lords blocked her request through existing regulations. She revealed that Qimeng City could produce finished supernatural goods, stirring the council and leaving the territory’s prospects newly in focus.

• Jiang Wanqing learned that humanity had contacted seventeen extraterrestrial civilizations through the Spirit Realm, while the council’s liaison officers treated the news with indifference.
• Jiang Wanqing requested a direct trade channel with Night Watchers headquarters to obtain strategic supplies for Qimeng City.
• The Jiang Lineage liaison officer, Xiang Province, rejected her request and insisted that Qimeng City apply through the provincial bureau branch.
• Jiang Wanqing presented a middle-grade Spirit Grain Pill, and a white-haired old man tasted it and praised its purity.
• Jiang Wanqing said Qimeng City could also produce spirit talismans and magic artifacts, causing a sensation in the council.