Chapter Summaries

Duàn Yì asked Tang Wan'er about Dragon's Tooth of the Soaring Dragon and Grass Worm as he searched for a way to remove the heat toxin from his pill. Tang Wan'er explained that Grass Worm was an Ice Silkworm and offered him a Cooling Pill, leaving Duàn Yì unsure whether to trust her gift.

• Tang Wan'er told Duàn Yì that Dragon's Tooth of the Soaring Dragon had been found in a tomb by the Wu family, who later vanished, and advised him to search for them.
• Duàn Yì explained that Lord Yuwen had given him a cultivation pill with dangerous heat toxin and that he was seeking a cure.
• Tang Wan'er explained that Grass Worm was an Ice Silkworm whose cold saliva could counter the pill's heat toxin, but warned that improper use could cause cold-toxin problems.
• Tang Wan'er offered to prepare a detoxifying powder if Duàn Yì found an Ice Silkworm and gave him a mild Cooling Pill.
• Duàn Yì accepted the bottle but wondered whether Tang Wan'er had hidden motives for giving it to him.

Duàn Yì accepted Tang Wan'er's Cooling Pill and discussed the assassination attempt on Yuwen Lan Jun with her. Tang Wan'er suspected Bai Wei had concealed her true nature, and Duàn Yì left with a new respect for Tang Wan'er as a friend.

• Tang Wan'er explained that she had given Duàn Yì the Cooling Pill as a meeting gift and accepted him as her little brother.
• Duàn Yì asked Tang Wan'er about the assassination attempt, and she blamed Bai Wei, whom she said had been pretending to be flirtatious to gain Yuwen Lan Jun's trust.
• Tang Wan'er demonstrated how easily she could shift into a pure and dignified manner, then pointed out clues that Bai Wei had been acting against her real nature.
• Duàn Yì reconsidered his interactions with Bai Wei and agreed that she may have been deliberately making him dislike her.
• Tang Wan'er complained about Bai Wei and Yuwen Lan Jun, then let Duàn Yì leave; outside, he realized he had come to like Tang Wan'er as a friend.

Duàn Yì entered the Tower of Hidden Martial Arts to test the Yang Core Pill and endured its intense heat as it transformed his strength. He broke through Meridian Unblocking and reached Essence Condensing, discovering that his talent gave him true essence far beyond that of ordinary martial artists.

• Duàn Yì examined the Ice Profound Energy manual, the Yang Core Pill, and the Cooling Pills he had acquired in You Prefecture.
• Duàn Yì used his consciousness to recreate the manual and both pills inside the Tower of Hidden Martial Arts.
• Duàn Yì swallowed the Yang Core Pill and endured three minutes of searing heat as its energy spread through his body.
• The pill more than doubled Duàn Yì's true qi and helped him break through the final barrier of Meridian Unblocking.
• Duàn Yì's true qi began condensing into true essence, advancing him to Essence Condensing and greatly increasing his power.

Duàn Yì advanced his true essence cultivation by using the Yang Core Pill, then endured its heat toxin and tested the Cooling Pill through repeated experiments. After studying the Ice Profound Energy manual, he resolved to master the art beyond anyone before him.

• Duàn Yì's true qi transformed into true essence, and he reached the True Essence like a Mountain realm.
• Duàn Yì suffered the Yang Core Pill's heat toxin and used Tang Wan'er's Cooling Pill to suppress it temporarily.
• Duàn Yì recorded and repeated the pill experiment, learning to use more of the Yang Core Pill's medicinal power while facing stronger heat toxin.
• Duàn Yì studied the Ice Profound Energy manual and learned about Droplet Strength, Surging Waves Strength, Vortex Strength, and its levels of icy power.
• Duàn Yì understood Ice Profound Energy as a martial art rooted in the transformative power of water and vowed to surpass all previous practitioners.

Duàn Yì studied Ice Profound Energy and converted his existing true qi into it, breaking through to Meridian Unblocking inside the Tower of Hidden Martial Arts. The chapter ended by clarifying that his breakthrough had occurred only within the tower.

• Duàn Yì studied the three levels of Droplet Strength and recognized how they might improve his body, true qi, intent, and swordsmanship.
• Duàn Yì compared Ice Profound Energy with Ice True Qi and decided to convert his existing true qi using the new formula.
• Duàn Yì transformed his Bone-Melting True Qi into Ice Profound Energy true qi, then began digesting his Ice True Qi by extracting its frigid yin power.
• Duàn Yì circulated the resulting Ice Profound Energy through his body, linked his twelve regular meridians, and completed the Greater Celestial Circuit.
• Duàn Yì achieved Meridian Unblocking inside the Tower of Hidden Martial Arts.

Duàn Yì refined his true qi and spent half a month in seclusion while Ji County prepared for the approaching duel between Yan Chongtian and Aorgel. As martial artists and spies flooded the city and tensions mounted, Duàn Yì finally emerged from his sealed room.

• Duàn Yì merged his three streams of true qi into pure Ice Profound Energy, swallowed a Yang Core Pill, and continued cultivating.
• Yuwen Lan Jun returned to Ji County, while Tang Wan'er, Tang Nineteen, Bai Wei, and Sun Wei were released but barred from leaving the county; Tang Wan'er and Bai Wei parted ways.
• Yuwen Mu went to brief the Six Gates experts, then returned troubled and could not speak with Duàn Yì, who remained in seclusion.
• As the duel between Yan Chongtian and Aorgel drew near, martial artists and spies arrived in Ji County, prompting stronger defenses and frequent clashes.
• Qiu Shaozhen killed Lotus Grandfather, while Liu Zhicheng, Ye Xiaoxian, Huiqing, and Blood Saber Ding Ran gained attention among the gathered experts.
• After half a month in seclusion, Duàn Yì stepped into the sunlight.

After emerging from seclusion, Duàn Yì learned of the martial artists gathering in Ji County and decided to stay to watch the coming duel between Yan Chongtian and Aorgel, while also searching for the Ice Silkworm. He rode into Ji County and observed a deadly fight, seeing how the approaching duel had drawn martial artists from across the region.

• Duàn Yì emerged from half a month of seclusion, cleaned up, and learned from a soldier about the changes in Ji County.
• Duàn Yì chose to postpone returning to Wei Prefecture and decided to watch Yan Chongtian and Aorgel's duel and look for the Ice Silkworm.
• Duàn Yì dressed, took his Songyang Iron Sword, and rode toward Ji County.
• Outside Ji County's western gate, Duàn Yì watched a former Overlord Saber Sect disciple fight the chief disciple of the small sect whose member he had killed.
• Duàn Yì noticed more than twenty martial artists among the spectators and realized the approaching duel had drawn a larger crowd than he expected.

Duàn Yì witnessed a bearded fugitive defeat a young swordsman through deception, then entered Ji County and found himself unexpectedly recognized by restaurant staff. He accepted a prepared private room at Huibin Tower, wondering who had arranged it and how they had known he would come.

• The bearded man feigned weakness, killed the young swordsman with a hidden dagger, and left after looting his body.
• Duàn Yì reflected on the dangers of underestimating an opponent and noticed that someone was watching him.
• A middle-aged man revealed that the Blade Master had ordered him to pay attention to Duàn Yì.
• Duàn Yì entered Ji County, observed the many martial artists gathered there, and went to Huibin Tower for a meal.
• Two waiters recognized Duàn Yì, offered him a prepared VIP room, and took his horse to the stable.
• Duàn Yì asked who had booked the room, how the waiters recognized him, and how they knew he would arrive.

Duàn Yì discovered that Lu Liding had arranged lavish meals for him throughout Ji County and met the wealthy, formidable man at Huibin Tower. Lu Liding said he acted at someone else’s request and asked whether Duàn Yì remembered an old acquaintance from Yuyang, prompting Duàn Yì to suspect Lingling.

• A waiter told Duàn Yì that inns and taverns across Ji County had received orders to welcome him, with a portrait used to identify him.
• Duàn Yì entered Huibin Tower, found a private room full of freshly prepared food, dismissed the waiter and two women, and ate the meal.
• After eating, Duàn Yì opened the window and let in the warm breeze while looking down at the street.
• Lu Liding entered the private room, introduced himself, and said he had arranged for every tavern and inn in Ji County to host Duàn Yì.
• Lu Liding said he had acted at another person's request and asked Duàn Yì whether he remembered the Old Acquaintance from Yuyang; Duàn Yì asked if he meant Lingling.

Duàn Yì met Lu Liding, who offered to cover his expenses and revealed the Huaxiu Merchant Association’s immense wealth and reach. Duàn Yì grew more wary of the connection between Lu Liding, Lingling, and the Northern Demonic Cult, while Lu Liding began to consider Duàn Yì a remarkable talent.

• Duàn Yì recalled that Lingling had identified Wang Tiancheng and his inheritance, and suspected she and Lu Liding had ulterior motives concerning the Heavenly Cripple Divine Skill in his possession.
• Lu Liding offered to pay all of Duàn Yì’s expenses in Ji County, but Duàn Yì warned that he feared being drawn into trouble.
• Lu Liding explained that he was a chief manager of the Huaxiu Merchant Association, which operated across Great Xia and backed Risheng Money House.
• Duàn Yì realized the association’s immense financial power might be connected to the Northern Demonic Cult and worried that Lu Liding had told him too much.
• Lu Liding studied Duàn Yì’s composure and martial bearing, then began to consider recruiting or otherwise making use of his talent.

Lu Liding tried to recruit Duàn Yì into the Huaxiu Merchant Association, but Duàn Yì demanded the Three Great Hatreds in exchange. When the Association could not provide them all, Lu offered him an employment arrangement instead, which Duàn Yì considered.

• Lu Liding urged Duàn Yì to join the Huaxiu Merchant Association, promising wealth, resources, and opportunities in return for his loyalty and martial strength.
• Duàn Yì said he would join if Lu could provide the Dragon's Tooth of the Soaring Dragon, Ear of the Desolate Domain, and Fire of the Snow Mountain.
• Lu admitted the Association possessed only the Ear of the Desolate Domain, a top-grade Jade Lingzhi, and asked Duàn Yì to name another condition.
• Duàn Yì declined to join and promised to keep his suspicions about the Association's connection to the Northern Demonic Cult to himself.
• Lu offered Duàn Yì an employment arrangement that would let him work for the Association without becoming its subordinate, and Duàn Yì found the proposal tempting.

Duàn Yì negotiated a flexible employment arrangement with Lu Liding and asked the Huaxiu Merchant Association for a thousand-year Ice Silkworm to strengthen his Ice Profound Energy. The association had none, but offered him a five-hundred-year one in exchange for future work, and the chapter ended as Lingling entered the private room.

• Duàn Yì considered working for the Huaxiu Merchant Association and asked what it would take to obtain an Ice Silkworm.
• Duàn Yì explained that he wanted a thousand-year Ice Silkworm to neutralize the Yang Core Pill's poison and improve his cultivation.
• Lu Liding said the association's oldest Ice Silkworm was six hundred years old and offered Duàn Yì one of its three five-hundred-year specimens for future labor.
• Duàn Yì asked whom Lu Liding wanted him to kill, but Lu Liding said he had no task for him yet.
• Duàn Yì sensed Lingling outside the private room and called her out, after which a figure in white entered.

Duan Yi negotiated with Lingling to work for the Huaxiu Merchant Association in exchange for Ice Silkworm saliva and, eventually, a five-hundred-year Ice Silkworm. Lingling’s first assignment was to attack the Beggars’ Sect branch in Ji County and kill its leader and two disciples.

• Duan Yi sensed Lingling’s formidable Saber Qi as she entered the private room and recognized that her main art was likely the saber.
• Lingling praised Duan Yi’s progress, then offered him the Ice Silkworm if he completed three tasks for her over the next month.
• Duan Yi insisted on being allowed to refuse tasks and receiving payment in advance, and he agreed to take three grams of Ice Silkworm saliva after each completed task.
• Lingling explained that the Beggars’ Sect had targeted Duan Yi by telling Monk Huiqing he knew the Great Vajra Fist Style.
• Lingling asked Duan Yi to join her that night in killing the Beggars’ Sect branch leader, an Eight-Bag Protector, and two seventh-generation disciples in Ji County.

Duàn Yì agreed to help Lingling target the Ji County Beggars' Sect branch, though he remained worried about Shaolin Temple discovering that he had taken the Great Vajra Fist Style. After Lu Liding described the branch’s defenses and leaders, Lingling revealed that she and Duàn Yì would infiltrate it alone that night while Lu Liding created a diversion.

• Duàn Yì blamed the Beggars' Sect for exposing his theft of Shaolin Temple's Great Vajra Fist Style and agreed to Lingling's job after requesting detailed intelligence.
• Lu Liding described the Ji County branch's heavily guarded compound and identified its leaders as Jiang Baichuan, Yao Jiacheng, and Luo Zhen.
• Duàn Yì asked who would accompany them and which opponents Lu Liding planned to handle.
• Lingling said Lu Liding would not fight directly because he lacked experience under pressure and would be unreliable against the branch's experts.
• Lingling planned for herself and Duàn Yì to infiltrate the branch at a quarter past the xu hour, strike its three leaders within fifteen minutes, and rely on Lu Liding to draw away guards and set off fireworks.

Lingling and Duàn Yì agreed to attack Yao Jiacheng and the others without Lu Liding joining the fight, and they used a violent storm as cover to begin their approach. They moved through Ji County toward Peach Garden Street, where Lingling’s blade technique was about to be revealed.

• Lingling proposed that she and Duàn Yì kill Yao Jiacheng and the other two while Lu Liding arranged support, and Duàn Yì accepted her plan.
• Lingling judged Duàn Yì’s improved martial arts made them a formidable pair, with a chance to succeed and enough strength to escape if necessary.
• As dark clouds gathered over Ji County, Lingling, Duàn Yì, and Lu Liding recognized that the coming storm could conceal their operation.
• During the torrential rain, Lingling and Duàn Yì left through an old alley and headed toward Peach Garden Street in disguise.
• Duàn Yì absorbed Water Qi from the rain to strengthen his Ice Profound Energy, while Lingling carried a short treasured blade.

On a rainy night, Duàn Yì and Lingling infiltrated the Beggar Gang branch and silently killed five guards. Duàn Yì’s newfound ability to wield raindrops impressed Lingling as they prepared to continue their mission.

• Lingling explained that five guards protected the wall and asked Duàn Yì to help kill them without raising an alarm.
• Duàn Yì realized his usual methods could not silently kill all five, then conceived of using the rain and Droplet Strength of Ice Profound Energy.
• Duàn Yì leapt over the wall and killed four guards with force-filled raindrops, leaving their bodies upright and undisturbed.
• Lingling used barbs from the vines to kill the fifth guard, and Duàn Yì recognized the skill behind her method.
• Lingling praised Duàn Yì’s cultivation and said their chances of success that night had increased.

Duàn Yì and Lingling infiltrated the Beggars' Sect branch and overcame its first three lines of defense on their way to Floating Splendor Garden. They killed the two Five-Bag Disciples guarding the garden, leaving their assault on the branch's leaders still ahead.

• Duàn Yì and Lingling followed Lu Liding's information through the branch, evading its mastiffs and patrols in the heavy rain.
• They reached Floating Splendor Garden, where Jiang Baichuan lived and the branch's silver reserves were stored.
• The two Five-Bag Disciples guarding the entrance discussed Protector Yao's confidence in defeating Blood Saber Ding Ran and mocked Ding Ran's reputation.
• Lingling decapitated one guard while Duàn Yì killed the other with a sword thrust between the brows.

Lingling and Duàn Yì broke into Floating Splendor Garden to assassinate Yao Jiacheng, whom Lingling wanted dead in part to protect Ding Ran. They confronted Yao Jiacheng, Jiang Baichuan, and Luo Zhen, and Yao demanded to know their names as the fight loomed.

• Duàn Yì guessed that Lingling had killed Yao Jiacheng to protect Ding Ran, and Lingling refused to explain herself.
• Lingling and Duàn Yì entered Floating Splendor Garden after killing the men guarding their way inside.
• Yao Jiacheng, Jiang Baichuan, and Luo Zhen gathered around a hot pot while discussing their investigation and Jiang Baichuan's request for help avenging Liu Laogui.
• Lingling and Duàn Yì smashed through the pavilion doors and entered the hall in their rain capes.
• Yao Jiacheng questioned the intruders and declared that he would raise a monument for them after they died.

Duàn Yì and Lingling began their planned assault on Yao Jiacheng, Jiang Baichuan, and Luo Zhen, with Lingling seeking a duel against Yao while Duàn Yì occupied the other two. Their opening exchanges plunged the hall into darkness and left the battle unresolved, with Duàn Yì’s sword pressing toward Jiang Baichuan.

• Duàn Yì reflected on his reasons for targeting the Beggars' Sect trio and followed the plan to keep Yao Jiacheng apart from Jiang Baichuan and Luo Zhen.
• Lingling challenged Yao Jiacheng, extinguished the hall’s lights with her approach, and stabbed at him with her short blade.
• Yao Jiacheng used the Dragon Subduing Palm to deflect Lingling’s attack, and their clash shattered the furniture and cracked the floor.
• Duàn Yì attacked Jiang Baichuan and Luo Zhen with his Songyang Iron Sword, while Luo Zhen drew his sword to defend himself.
• Jiang Baichuan unleashed his Splitting Air Palm, but Duàn Yì’s sword pierced through the palm force and continued toward him.

Duàn Yì used Droplet Strength and Ice Profound Energy to break Jiang Baichuan’s whip and defeat him, while Luo Zhen’s attack failed. Yao Jiacheng remained locked in a fierce battle with the troublesome woman.

• Jiang Baichuan attacked Duàn Yì with a snake whip that coiled around his sword and restrained him.
• Luo Zhen seized the opening and sent Heavenly Pillar Cloud Qi toward Duàn Yì’s back.
• Duàn Yì used Droplet Strength to sever the whip, evade Luo Zhen’s strike, and pierce the technique’s weak point.
• Duàn Yì’s icy Sword Qi froze Jiang Baichuan’s whip and cut through his right arm, leaving him unable to fight.
• Yao Jiacheng continued battling the troublesome woman as their fight wrecked the hall’s furnishings and decorations.