Chapter Summaries

Lin Xu fought the invading orcs and realized their deaths were fueling a blood sacrifice that was widening the Spirit Realm passage. He set out to stop the remaining rituals, leaving Monk Zhixing and the Night Watcher Unit to handle one site.

• The Night Watcher Unit switched to explosives and heavier weapons as reinforcements arrived, while Lin Xu used his spells to kill orcs and noted how much stronger they had become.
• Lin Xu saw the corpses being drained of vitality and observed an orc projection gradually solidify as it crossed into reality.
• Lin Xu stopped fighting and searched for the remaining sacrificial sites, realizing the cultists had begun a new ritual after he destroyed one site.
• Lin Xu encountered Monk Zhixing being escorted by the Night Watcher Unit and learned that Zhixing was heading to destroy a ritual site.
• Lin Xu warned Zhixing to watch for cultists and flew toward another abnormal energy point, while Zhixing recognized the depth of Lin Xu's power.

Lin Xu destroyed a second sacrifice array, purifying an evil god’s power and strengthening his Bond with Meng City. At the third site, he found a murdered child and two Night Watchers, then joined the fight against a powerful Tzeentch demon that could move between the Spirit Realm and reality.

• Lin Xu burned away the second sacrifice array, exposed its runestone, and purified the evil god’s power with the Glazed Spirit Lamp.
• Lin Xu sensed that destroying the array had strengthened his Bond with reality and flew toward the next node.
• Lin Xu arrived at the third sacrifice site and found a little girl and two female Night Watchers dead beside the array.
• The Changeling overwhelmed the Night Watchers with illusions and powerful spells as they fought to destroy the array.
• Lin Xu dispelled the magical mist, introduced himself to the surviving Night Watchers, and warned them that the Changeling could move between the Spirit Realm and reality.

Lin Xu helped Li Yue and the Night Watchers battle the Changeling, a Tzeentch demon that attacked from the Spirit Realm and foresaw their moves. After Lin Xu destroyed the sacrificial array’s hidden core, Li Yue charged the demon, which perished in Glazed Fire; the survivors then searched for Yinyin.

• Li Yue led the Night Watchers in striking the blood-lit array while Lin Xu used fire to flush out the Changeling, which attacked through the Spirit Realm.
• Lin Xu recognized the demon’s divination and used Glazed Fire to burn the array’s visible patterns while protecting the Night Watchers from its spells.
• The Changeling wounded Axing and briefly bewitched another Night Watcher, but Lin Xu disrupted its attacks and destroyed the array’s hidden core node.
• The array’s power failed, revealing the Changeling near the Night Watchers, and Li Yue charged it as blue flames engulfed them both.
• Lin Xu extinguished the magical flames on Li Yue, and the Changeling dissipated in Glazed Fire.
• Li Yue recovered among the fallen and wounded Night Watchers, then asked where Yinyin was.

After Yinyin died, Lin Xu gathered the dead souls and discovered that his territory’s anchoring to Meng City had granted him the ability to observe and attack across the city. He found Chen Hao preparing to enter the Chen Lineage’s Spirit Realm territory and began questioning him about it.

• Yinyin briefly awoke, returned her sapphire necklace to Li Yue, and died; Lin Xu gathered the souls from the sacrificial hall into the Glazed Spirit Lamp.
• The Yellow Dragon egg trembled in a hidden chamber, drawing the attention of a middle-aged man who sensed Lin Xu’s territory anchoring to Meng City.
• Lin Xu killed invading orcs with fire arrows and realized his growing lord authority let him observe Meng City and strike anywhere within it.
• Lin Xu bypassed the Chen Lineage compound’s protective array, found Chen Hao preparing for the Spirit Realm, and hypnotized him.
• Chen Hao revealed that the Chen Lineage had owned its territory for about twenty years, and Lin Xu asked how large and developed it was.

Lin Xu learned that Elder Jiang had discovered the Chen Lineage’s village and that the lineage was tied to the disappearance of Wanqing’s father. As Meng City’s invasion subsided, Lin Xu sent Chen Hao into the Spirit Realm with a beacon while a celestial vision appeared over the battlefield.

• Chen Hao told Lin Xu about his village, its militia, and the dragon-patterned jade pendant his father had given him.
• Old Master Jiang recognized the pendant and explained that it was linked to Spirit Realm ruins and Wanqing’s missing father.
• Elder Jiang revealed that he had discovered the Chen Lineage’s territory and that his failed attempt to seize it had left the Jiang Clan vulnerable to the lineage’s attack.
• Lin Xu used the Wayfinding Compass to create a beacon, gave Chen Hao a Spirit Realm stone, and sent him into the Spirit Realm to plant it.
• A lord in Lei City noticed Meng City’s anchoring but refrained from intervening because of the Lord Covenant.
• Wounded Chen Lingfeng blamed Lin Xu and began planning to frame him, then looked up as palaces appeared in the sky and the battlefield fell silent.

Lin Xu anchored his Spirit Realm territory to Meng City and used Dao soldiers and Yan Jingshu to crush the orc invasion. The Order Source Fire recognized him as a guardian of Central State, and he used its power to resist the orc tribe’s attempt to widen the Spirit Realm passage.

• Lin Xu projected his Daoist temple into Meng City, and his Dao soldiers joined the Night Watchers in killing the orcs.
• Demon-Suppressing Commandant Zhao Dan led four Dao soldiers in formation, and they killed an orc warrior who attacked them with Dou Qi.
• Lin Xu sent Yan Jingshu and the Wedding Procession Ghosts to hunt down orcs hiding in residential buildings.
• Lord projections watched the battle as the Order Source Fire’s fluctuations drew attention to Lin Xu across Central State.
• After the orcs were routed and the passage began to shrink, Lin Xu called on the Order Source Fire’s authority to resist the orc tribe’s attempt to widen it.

Lin Xu used Source Fire to reopen the Spirit Realm passage, allowing the Tiger Sha Demon Army and other forces to invade and defeat a beastman tribe. After capturing its territory, he sensed that it would soon drift near Xuanwei Monastery and planned to claim it as a ranch.

• Lin Xu widened the shrinking Spirit Realm passage with Source Fire, and the black tiger demon led the Tiger Sha Demon Army through it to ambush the beastman shamans and kill the chief.
• The Dao soldiers crossed the passage in formation while the Ghost Bride led the Red-Robed Ghosts into the tribe, and the invaders crushed the beastmen's resistance.
• Lin Xu sensed a Bond linking Xuanwei Monastery to the captured territory and learned that it would drift close to his domain within two days.
• Yan Jingshu sorted the captured beastmen, imprisoning those who resisted and sending the cooperative ones back to work under Dao soldier supervision.

After securing the orc territory and defending Meng City, Lin Xu negotiated with Night Watchers headquarters and prepared to move against Chen Lingfeng and the Chen Lineage. Night Watchers appointed Lin Xu director of the Meng City bureau, while Jiang Shiyan’s demand to take Chen Lingfeng set a deadline before dawn.

• Lin Xu closed the Spirit Realm passage after restoring order in the orc territory, then asked Xia Jingyi how many Pioneer Lords existed in Central State.
• Xia Jingyi told Lin Xu that Jiang Shiyan had ordered Night Watchers headquarters to take Chen Lingfeng and the Chen Lineage away.
• Lin Xu agreed to hand over Chen Lingfeng only in exchange for enticing resources and warned Xia Jingyi that he would attack Chen Lingfeng and the Chen Lineage the next morning.
• Xia Jingyi explained that Meng City would become Lin Xu’s autonomous domain and outlined the rights and obligations he would receive as a Pioneer Lord.
• Lin Xu left the battlefield, and Xia Jingyi announced that headquarters had removed Chen Lingfeng as director and appointed Lin Xu to lead the Meng City Night Watchers Bureau.

Lin Xu discovered that his new authority let him sense his territory from Meng City, draw Spiritual Qi into reality, and open a passage between worlds. He showed the passage to his mother and Jiang Wanqing, then considered how it could serve his territory and its cultivation needs.

• Lin Xu sensed his territory from Meng City, drew Spiritual Qi across the barrier, and opened a Spirit Realm Passage.
• Lin Xu brought Li Yingqiu through the passage and explained that ordinary people in Meng City could enter his territory.
• Jiang Wanqing and Lin Xu's mother saw the passage, met Li Yingqiu, and learned that Lin Xu had become a lord.
• Lin Xu explained that the Spirit Realm Trial remained necessary to preserve balance and allow new Pioneer Lords to emerge.
• Li Yingqiu suggested inviting city residents to help develop Lin Xu's territory, and Lin Xu proposed collecting incense offerings in reality.

Lin Xu organized a faith-based system to develop his territory and used Source Fire to resurrect the people killed in the invasion. He recruited ordinary victims as villagers and transformed Night Watchers into monastery acolytes, outer disciples, and Daoist soldiers.

• Lin Xu told Li Yingqiu to prepare a priesthood and manage incoming adventurers, then ordered Meng Yunxu and his captured companions kept imprisoned.
• Lin Xu sent the souls of hundreds of people killed in the invasion through the Spirit Realm passage and recruited them as villagers, reuniting many with their families.
• Lin Xu spent Source Fire to transform more than eighty Night Watchers into Daoist acolytes of Xuanwei Monastery.
• Lin Xu resurrected five Night Watcher elites as two outer disciples and three level-four Daoist soldiers, then turned his attention to a brilliant soul he had saved.

Lin Xu revived Yinyin as a hero and discovered that her divine talent could help establish a faith among his followers. After comforting her and discussing the territory with Jiang Wanqing, he resolved to deepen his Bond with Meng City by taking control of the Night Watchers.

• Lin Xu used Source Fire to restore Yinyin as Xu Yinyin, a hero with the Divinely Inspired One talent and the ability to baptize believers into priests.
• Yinyin mourned her dead parents, and Lin Xu comforted her; her faith in him quickly reached the level of a devout believer.
• Lin Xu decided to establish a church organization in his territory and ordered Li Yingqiu to plan how to use the Night Watchers.
• Jiang Wanqing asked to visit Lin Xu's territory and help develop it, and Lin Xu agreed to bring her and Mother Lin there in a few days.
• Lin Xu sensed that anchoring Meng City provided a steady supply of Source Fire and resolved to deepen his Bond with the city by taking control of the Night Watchers.

Chen Lingfeng was ordered by Lord Jiang’s steward to plant a location beacon in Lin Xu’s Spirit Realm territory, but he secretly redirected his son to bring back another object he believed could help him become a true lord. Meanwhile, Lin Xu removed Chen Lingfeng from his post and ordered a citywide search for the traitor and the Wheel of Fate.

• A steward reprimanded Chen Lingfeng for failing to notice Lin Xu’s rise to Pioneer Lord and ordered him to plant a location beacon in Lin Xu’s Spirit Realm territory.
• Chen Lingfeng learned that Lord Jiang’s influence had enabled the Chen Lineage’s power in Meng City and realized that refusing the order could cost him his life.
• Chen Lingfeng called his son Jiale and persuaded him to bring back an object by promising to recognize him as his eldest son and move his mother’s ashes to the Chen ancestral graveyard.
• A watcher in the shadows listened to Chen Lingfeng’s call and withdrew, remarking that a storm was brewing.
• At the Night Watchers’ meeting, Lin Xu announced Chen Lingfeng’s removal and investigation, ordered all personnel investigated, and placed Meng City on the highest level of combat readiness.
• Lin Xu ordered the Night Watchers to search the city and destroy the Wheel of Fate’s remaining strongholds and cultists.

Lin Xu consolidated his influence over the Night Watchers in Meng City by promising more Spirit Realm trade goods, then received an apology gift from the Jiang Lineage. He studied the rare items, especially a Zombie Mine dungeon scroll, and asked Xia Jingyi about acquiring valuable class inheritances.

• Lin Xu doubled the supply of spirit rice at the Spirit Realm trade market, winning enthusiastic support from the department heads.
• Xia Jingyi told Lin Xu that he had gained preliminary control of the Night Watchers in Meng City.
• Xia Jingyi presented the Jiang Lineage's apology gift, including five targeted summoning scrolls, a Zombie Mine scroll, and a Treasure-Gathering Basin.
• Xia Jingyi explained that the Zombie Mine released monsters, had a low skill-book drop rate, and could remain for at most two weeks through Bonds.
• Lin Xu asked whether the country sold class inheritances, and Xia Jingyi explained that complete, high-potential inheritances were extremely rare.

Lin Xu learned how the state’s career-legacies and resource-trading systems worked, including their steep prices and monthly points limits. He decided to use the national channel only for urgent needs and rely on Meng City’s local Spirit Realm market for ordinary supplies.

• Lin Xu asked Xia Jingyi how to obtain more career legacies, and she quoted a price of a hundred tons of cyan-grade spirit rice for a basic career.
• Xia Jingyi showed Lin Xu the career tree on a spirit-rune computer, which listed combat and livelihood careers, and explained the differences between career legacies, NPC artisans, and career trainers.
• Lin Xu learned that the Night Watchers managed Spirit Realm adventurers and national trade markets, and that NPCs gained sentience after being recruited and transformed by Source Fire.
• Xia Jingyi explained that the Lord Covenant gave a level-one Pioneer Lord 100 points per month for purchases, so Lin Xu concluded the national channel was best reserved for urgent needs.
• Lin Xu asked about taxes, and Xia Jingyi explained that lords exchanged Spirit Realm resources equivalent to their taxes, while the state returned value through tax refunds and other means.

Lin Xu negotiated Meng City's Spirit Realm access policy with Xia Jingyi, then brought Jiang Wanqing, Mother Lin, and Elder Jiang to see Xuanwei Monastery. The monastery and orc territory had drawn within five li, weakening their Bond, and Lin Xu took his guests into the sky to show them the grounds.

• Lin Xu discussed the city's tax arrangement and asked Xia Jingyi for advice about opening a Spirit Realm Passage; she urged him to protect humanity's chances of producing new lords and follow the state agreement.
• Lin Xu gave Xia Jingyi his proposal for the Lamp-Lighting Kindling Flame Dao, which she approved on the condition that it remain within Meng City.
• Lin Xu asked to buy spirit jade, and Xia Jingyi advised him to station a liaison at Night Watchers headquarters; he said Wanqing would handle it.
• At Xuanwei Monastery, Lin Xu sensed that the Bond with the orc ranch was weakening as the territories drew within five li.
• Lin Xu showed Jiang Wanqing, Mother Lin, and Elder Jiang around the monastery, and Elder Jiang said its recruitment building could help Lin Xu become a great lord.
• Lin Xu raised the group on a bank of clouds to give them a view from the sky.

Lin Xu surveyed his territory’s road construction and used Source Fire to open an underground tunnel and extend a spirit rune path toward the orc territory. He then crafted a Heavenly Craftsman Spirit-Storing Canister to help rabbit demons work longer, leaving its effectiveness to be seen.

• Lin Xu and his family surveyed the territory’s slow road construction, and Elder Jiang learned it covered about 120 square kilometers.
• Lin Xu used Source Fire to open a tunnel from the underground city to the surface and create a spirit rune path toward the orc territory.
• He sent Heavenly Craftsman Rabbit Demons along the path while Evil Eyes led by Captain Qiuqiu watched over them in the mist.
• Lin Xu told Elder Jiang that he had occupied the territory of a tribe of more than 2,000 orcs that had invaded Meng City.
• Lin Xu crafted a Heavenly Craftsman Spirit-Storing Canister to give rabbit demons a larger reserve of Spiritual Qi for construction work.

Lin Xu equipped the Heavenly Craftsman Rabbit Demons to speed up construction and connected his territory to the orc territory. After inspecting its productive cattle ranch, he considered annexing other Spirit Realm territories and left the story poised on that ambition.

• Lin Xu used Source Fire to refine four sets of spirit-pattern equipment, while the rabbit demons quickly completed a stone road to the orc territory and stabilized the Bond between the territories.
• Lin Xu gave protective jade pendants to Mother Lin and Jiang Wanqing, then brought them and Elder Jiang to inspect the orc territory.
• Elder Jiang praised the cattle ranch's useful livestock and offered to contact Spirit Realm landowners about trading for its products.
• Lin Xu explained that only those who condensed territory authority were true lords, then told Elder Jiang he was thinking of annexation.

Lin Xu occupied the Orc Tribe, converting most of its buildings into the style of his primary civilization and gaining control of the territory. He discovered that the territory could not yet fuse with his other holdings because its authority had not fully condensed.

• Lin Xu explained that he wanted to bring local Lineages under his protection and develop their territories, while planning to negotiate with an army at their doorstep.
• Lin Xu inspected the Level 4 Orc Tribe’s territory data and found that its orc labor slaves were visible but unavailable for recruitment.
• Lin Xu chose to occupy the Orc Tribe for 2,000 points of Source Fire, and the territory began converting to his primary civilization.
• The conversion transformed most buildings and pastures, but a stone totem pole collapsed under the Source Fire.
• Lin Xu found that the territory’s recruits had changed from orcs to humans, but it still could not fuse with his other territories until it was upgraded.

Lin Xu used the Dungeon Heart to connect the pasture territory to Xuanwei Monastery’s Earth Vein and fuse the territories, expanding his land and gaining control over the pasture. He then opened a golden chest from the orc territory, installed a Life Totem, and began upgrading it.

• Lin Xu spent 1,000 Source Fire to connect the Dungeon Heart to the Earth Vein, bringing Spiritual Qi into the pasture and condensing his authority over it.
• Lin Xu fused the pasture territory with Xuanwei Monastery, dispelling fog across a vast stretch of barren land and prompting new growth.
• Elder Jiang marveled at Lin Xu’s territorial ability, while Lin Xu turned his attention to Zhao Dan and the golden treasure chest from the orc territory.
• Lin Xu opened the chest and found a level-one Life Totem that increased plant and animal growth and boosted living beings’ vitality.
• Lin Xu installed the Life Totem in the village and spent 50 Source Fire to upgrade it.

Lin Xu upgraded the beastmen’s totem pole and used Emerald Immortal Mushroom seeds and Source Fire to transform the pastures, greatly improving their capacity to support livestock. After upgrading the cattle and sheep farms, he left the territory with increased monthly recruitment, while Jiang Wanqing asked how many calves and lambs its herds could produce.

• The totem pole changed to white marble and its territory bonuses increased, but Lin Xu found that its next upgrade conditions were unmet.
• Lin Xu planted Emerald Immortal Mushroom seeds and used Source Fire to spread the nutrient-rich spirit grass across the beastmen’s pastures.
• Lin Xu said the mushroom grass had over ten times the nutrients of ordinary pasture grass and could improve livestock, prompting Jiang Pu to note that it could raise the territory’s livestock capacity tenfold.
• Lin Xu spent more than half an hour spreading the grass, then used Source Fire to upgrade the cattle and sheep farms, doubling their output.
• The upgraded territory could recruit 30 cattle and 60 sheep each month, and Jiang Wanqing asked how many calves and lambs the herds could produce.