Chapter Summaries

Jiang Sheng and Xiangyu Immortal Monarch encountered a colossal desolate beast in the depths of chaos, and Jiang Sheng chose to charge into its mouth rather than flee. The beast swallowed them and returned to sleep, leaving their fate unknown.

• The desolate beast revealed dozens of star-like eyes and trapped Jiang Sheng and Xiangyu Immortal Monarch in its gaze.
• Xiangyu Immortal Monarch offered to detonate the Fatian Thousand-Lustre Pearl to escape, but Jiang Sheng concluded the beast had targeted them and they could not flee.
• Jiang Sheng unleashed his full power and struck the beast with the Heaven-Cutting sword technique, then was dragged into its mouth by the beast's suction.
• Xiangyu Immortal Monarch followed Jiang Sheng into the beast's mouth with the Pearl Light Mirror.
• The desolate beast swallowed them, closed its eyes, and drifted into sleep as a speck of tainted demonic light briefly flared and vanished.

Jiang Sheng and Xiangyu Immortal Monarch survived the desolate beast’s deadly currents but were left trapped in a world inside its belly, where magical power could not be used. As Jiang Sheng began recovering under the care of a grandfather and grandson, he discovered that even ordinary food in this world offered a faint source of power.

• Jiang Sheng used the Pearl Light Mirror to survive the stellar currents, but a gap in their defenses let the torrent devastate his body before he fell into the beast’s inner world.
• A grandfather and his grandson found the unconscious Jiang Sheng, cared for him, and gave him rice water and jujubes.
• Jiang Sheng woke unable to speak or mobilize magical power, and Xiangyu Immortal Monarch explained that the Mahayana beast’s body suppressed spiritual energy and magic.
• Xiangyu Immortal Monarch recounted how he and Jiang Sheng had descended through the beast’s gullet and explained that the people there likely descended from survivors of a swallowed world.
• Jiang Sheng assessed his severe injuries and learned that his cultivation would slowly heal him despite his inability to use magical power.
• Jiang Sheng swallowed the jujubes and sensed a faint warmth from them, then accepted that he would have to rest and recover in the beast’s belly.

Jiang Sheng continued recovering in the Wild Realm while investigating how to escape the beast that had swallowed it, and he trained Zhang Xiaojiu in martial arts. The chapter left Jiang Sheng at Willow River’s bank as Zhang Xiaojiu went underwater to catch a fish.

• Jiang Sheng and Xiangyu Immortal Monarch discussed how the Wild Realm had formed inside the wild beast and planned to search for traces of ancient cultivators and a way out.
• Jiang Sheng advised Zhang Laosan to make sure Zhang Xiaojiu ate enough to support his martial arts training.
• Zhang Xiaojiu pushed Jiang Sheng from their home in Willow River Village to the riverbank, eager to catch a fish.
• Jiang Sheng ordered Zhang Xiaojiu to catch a fish or practice horse stance that night, and Zhang Xiaojiu leaped into Willow River.

Jiang Sheng arranged for Zhang Xiaojiu to learn martial arts, literacy, and medicinal-herb identification so he could live safely and make a living. While testing whether this world’s martial arts could help him escape the desolate beast, Jiang Sheng began teaching Xiaojiu to prepare medicines.

• Zhang Laosan gave Jiang Sheng the Five Tigers Gate-Breaking Saber and asked what future Xiaojiu should pursue.
• Zhang Laosan explained that his son had died seeking wealth and status, so Jiang Sheng offered to teach Xiaojiu self-defense, reading, and medicinal-herb identification.
• Jiang Sheng promised Xiaojiu he would also teach him alchemy, prompting the boy to eagerly gather plants.
• Jiang Sheng considered combining martial arts with the Five Manifestations Essential-Separation Scripture and noticed that his Dao marker had changed.
• Jiang Sheng identified Xiaojiu’s gathered plants and instructed him to sort herbs and prepare an ointment for injuries and a powder for protection.

Three years after Jiang Sheng began teaching him, Zhang Xiaojiu had grown strong and learned to identify herbs, read, and practice the Five Forms Fist, though Jiang Sheng told him his medical studies had barely begun. Jiang Sheng urged him to keep training and promised he could become a martial sage, but Zhang Xiaojiu doubted him because Jiang Sheng’s own internal injuries remained unhealed.

• Jiang Sheng tested Zhang Xiaojiu on five herbs and praised his answers after three years of study and training.
• Jiang Sheng explained that Zhang Xiaojiu had only begun learning medicine and described the twelve introductory courses he himself had studied.
• Zhang Xiaojiu reflected on Jiang Sheng’s lingering internal injuries and asked whether enemies had hunted him down.
• Jiang Sheng dismissed Zhang Xiaojiu’s speculation, outlined the four stages and eight realms of martial arts, and told him to strengthen his Root Bone.
• Jiang Sheng promised that Zhang Xiaojiu could become a martial sage after fortifying his organs, but Zhang Xiaojiu questioned why Jiang Sheng had not used the method himself.

Jiang Sheng reflected on the Wild Realm’s martial inheritance and trained Zhang Xiaojiu, whose foundation was finally strong enough for advanced instruction. When Jiang Sheng asked whether he remembered the promised technique leading to the Martial Saint Realm, Zhang Xiaojiu mistakenly concluded that his master had been crippled while protecting a stolen inheritance and vowed to avenge him.

• Jiang Sheng and Xiangyu Immortal Monarch discussed the Wild Realm’s martial realms, the origins of its great powers, and plans to investigate their inheritances.
• Jiang Sheng watched fifteen-year-old Zhang Xiaojiu practice the Five Forms Fist and praised his progress after six years of training and medicinal conditioning.
• Jiang Sheng asked Zhang Xiaojiu whether he remembered the technique pointing straight to the Martial Saint Realm.
• Zhang Xiaojiu assumed Jiang Sheng had been hunted and crippled for possessing an Immortal inheritance, then vowed to reach the Martial Saint Realm and avenge him.

Jiang Sheng offered Zhang Xiaojiu three Martial Saint-level cultivation methods, and Zhang chose the Three Transformations Unifying Profound Art. As Zhang began learning and analyzing its general outline, Jiang Sheng and Xiangyu Immortal Monarch discussed their wager and Zhang’s potential as a disciple.

• Jiang Sheng described the Three Transformations Unifying Profound Art, the Heaven-and-Man Five Manifestations True Scripture, and the Dao-Transforming Six Elements True Explanation to Zhang Xiaojiu.
• Zhang Xiaojiu worried that learning Jiang Sheng’s inheritance might endanger his injured master, but Jiang Sheng urged him to cultivate diligently so he could protect him.
• Zhang Xiaojiu chose the Three Transformations Unifying Profound Art, and Jiang Sheng recited its general outline for him to memorize.
• Jiang Sheng asked Zhang Xiaojiu to explain every sentence and word in his own understanding, leaving him to puzzle over the method.
• Jiang Sheng and Xiangyu Immortal Monarch discussed their wager, and Xiangyu sent Jiang Sheng the Six Elements Dispersion True Scripture while encouraging him to nurture Zhang Xiaojiu.

After Zhang Xiaojiu reached the Bronze Skin stage, Jiang Sheng tested his martial arts and encouraged him to build a reputation by doing what was right. Jiang Sheng planned to use Zhang Xiaojiu’s growing fame and improved medicinal formulas as bait to draw out powerful people in the Wild Realm, confident he could protect his disciple.

• Zhang Xiaojiu demonstrated his Five Forms Fist against an iron palm tree, leaving marks and showing that his skin training had begun to work.
• Jiang Sheng told Zhang Xiaojiu that saving someone in Mountain City Town had been right and urged him to stand tall, train harder, and act uprightly.
• Jiang Sheng directed Zhang Xiaojiu to master Bronze Skin and Iron Bones and to sell medicines made with his formulas to fund the herbs and meat he needed.
• After Zhang Xiaojiu left, Jiang Sheng told Xiangyu Immortal Monarch that he intended to use Zhang Xiaojiu’s growing reputation and unusual medicines to draw the Wild Realm’s clans and sects into the open.
• Jiang Sheng assured Xiangyu Immortal Monarch that he could protect Zhang Xiaojiu, then looked at his delicate hands and revealed his confidence in their power.

Zhang Xiaojiu sold medicinal pastes and powders to the Wang Family pharmacy, then bought meat before meeting Liu Qing, the woman he had previously rescued. After learning she had nowhere to go, he gave her money and urged her not to sell herself.

• The Mountain City Town pharmacy shopkeeper paid Zhang Xiaojiu twenty percent extra for his effective medicinal pastes and powders.
• Zhang Xiaojiu bought ten jin of meat at the Wang Family butcher shop and received a pair of Ironback Pig eyes for free.
• Zhang Xiaojiu ran into Liu Qing, who said her brother had been eaten by a demon beast and her sister-in-law had barred her from their home.
• Liu Qing said she might sell herself to survive, so Zhang Xiaojiu gave her a money pouch and encouraged her to keep her ambition.

Liu Qing learned that the Wang Family was pursuing a hidden treasure and concluded that it would likely appear near Willow River Village. There, the exhausted Nine Snow watched the village, sensing something strange within it while carrying a secret needed to save its master.

• Liu Qing learned that Wang Ziyi had come to Mountain City Town for the hidden treasure, and she kept the Liu Family’s involvement secret.
• Liu Qing and her shadow reasoned that the pursued demon would likely flee through Willow River Village because of its mountain and river routes.
• Nine Snow watched Willow River Village from outside, sensing that something extraordinary was hidden there.
• Nine Snow recalled its journey of a hundred thousand li to reach the Six Evolutions Sect with a secret that could help save its master.
• Exhausted and in need of strength, Nine Snow continued watching Willow River Village.

Nine Snow stole Zhang Xiaojiu’s demon beast meat and medicinal herbs while Jiang Sheng and Xiangyu Immortal Monarch watched. As mist covered Anyang Mountain, Wang Ziyi ordered the town’s gangs to search for the demon, offering a precious pill to whoever found it.

• Nine Snow crept into Zhang Xiaojiu’s room and ate his stored demon beast meat and medicinal herbs.
• Jiang Sheng and Xiangyu Immortal Monarch watched Nine Snow, discussing what kind of demon she might be, but Jiang Sheng let her go.
• Zhang Xiaojiu discovered the theft and told Jiang Sheng he had given his remaining money to Miss Liu, who had nowhere else to go.
• Jiang Sheng forgave Zhang Xiaojiu and had him push his wheelchair up Anyang Mountain to gather more herbs.
• Mist spread over Anyang Mountain, and Wang Ziyi told the town’s gang leaders to search for the demon in exchange for a Wang Family pill.

The Wang, Liu, and Hou families pursued the Nine-Tailed Spirit Cat through a foggy Anyang Mountain as the search stirred up dangerous beasts. Hou Chonghu revealed that he had created the fog and set out with his Serpent Guards to hunt the demon creature.

• Wang Ziyi stayed in Mountain City Town with the Iron Guards while warning Mr. Zhong that the Hou Family’s offer carried risks tied to powerful forces.
• Zhang Xiaojiu left Jiang Sheng by a cliff to gather herbs, while Liu Qing and Black Shadow entered Anyang Mountain to find the Nine-Tailed Spirit Cat.
• The fog disoriented Nine Snow, and her presence appeared to provoke Ironback Pigs into charging through the gangs and causing heavy casualties.
• Wang Ziyi ordered the Iron Guards into the mountain, while Liu Qing and Black Shadow raced toward the forest where the disturbance began.
• Hou Chonghu revealed that he had created the fog, learned that Liu Qing was nearby, and led the Hou Family’s Serpent Guards into the mountain to hunt.

Nine Snow escaped a crossbow ambush when Mo Xiangyan intervened, then Wang Ziyi and Mo Xiangyan traded threats over their families’ conflict. Wang Ziyi suspected the Liu Family had also come to Anyang Mountain as the gathering beasts made the situation more dangerous.

• Nine Snow sensed an ambush and dodged nine heavy armor-piercing bolts, but a sword strike cut apart the net laid to catch it, allowing it to flee.
• Wang Ziyi confronted Mo Xiangyan, who apologized for their past sparring match while concealing the Mo Family’s forces nearby.
• Wang Ziyi provoked Mo Xiangyan by bringing up his crippled sister, Mo Qinglian, and her suspected betrayal within the Mo Family.
• Mo Xiangyan declared that he would oppose the Wang Family and vanished into the fog, while Wang Ziyi chose not to risk his hidden Iron Guards against him.
• Wang Ziyi told Mr. Zhong that the Liu Family might have arrived, possibly with Liu Qing, as he watched the beast herds stirring in Anyang Mountain’s depths.

Zhang Xiaojiu hurried through the foggy mountains to bring Jiang Sheng home while Liu Qing and Hou Chonghu fought over the search for Nine Snow. Hou Chonghu escaped after revealing the Six Evolutions Sect’s influence behind the Hou Family, and Liu Qing was surprised when Zhang Xiaojiu appeared.

• Zhang Xiaojiu gathered herbs and hurried through the mountain fog toward Jiang Sheng, worried that his master had been left alone by the cliff.
• Liu Qing’s and Hou Chonghu’s forces encountered each other while searching for Nine Snow, and their martial masters exchanged attacks after the fog cleared.
• Liu Qing blocked Hou Chonghu’s arrows with her Frost Bone-Transforming Palm, and Hou Chonghu asked to see her rumored heaven-grade cultivation art.
• Liu Qing and Hou Chonghu fought, but Hou Chonghu fled and vowed that the Hou Family would claim Nine Snow before visiting the Liu residence with betrothal gifts.
• Liu Qing recognized Hou Chonghu’s Soaring Sky Golden Roc Art and concluded that the Jin Family of the Six Evolutions Sect was backing the Hou Family.
• Liu Qing heard someone approaching, lowered her aura, and greeted the newcomer as Young Hero Zhang.

Liu Qing encountered Zhang Xiaojiu in the fog and learned he was rushing back to his injured master, so she followed to help him reach safety. Meanwhile, Nine Snow sensed multiple forces searching the mountains, and the Red-Chain Snake Clan mobilized under its king.

• Liu Qing recognized Zhang Xiaojiu and realized he had entered the mountains to gather herbs after giving her his silver.
• Zhang Xiaojiu rushed back into the fog to find his injured master despite Liu Qing's warning that powerful forces were searching the mountains.
• Liu Qing rebuked her shadow for calling Zhang Xiaojiu ungrateful and pursued him so she could guide him and his master down the mountain.
• Nine Snow sensed three different groups passing nearby and reasoned that the commotion had likely attracted Anyang Mountain's demon beasts.
• The Red-Chain Snake King and its horde mobilized, sending fire-red snakes slithering through the fog.

The Red-Chain Snake King emerged from its lair, enraged by the humans searching Anyang Mountain while it prepared to shed its skin and break through. Wang Ziyi, Mo Xiangyan, and Hou Chonghu led their forces deeper in search of Nine Snow, where they encountered the Red-Chain Snakes; Hou Chonghu’s group was struck by the Snake King’s devastating attack.

• The Red-Chain Snake King came out of its nest and resolved to devour the humans in Anyang Mountain as nourishment for its breakthrough.
• Wang Ziyi hunted with Mr. Zhong and two squads of Iron Guards, then led them deeper into the mountain to search for Nine Snow and avoid provoking the snakes.
• Mo Xiangyan and Hou Chonghu also led their groups deeper after Nine Snow’s traces suggested she had entered the mountains.
• Red-Chain Snakes surrounded Mo Xiangyan’s Owl Guards and killed one, while Wang Ziyi’s Iron Guards were attacked until he beheaded two snakes and saw the swarm approaching.
• Hou Chonghu encountered the Red-Chain Snake King, ordered his group to retreat, and watched its tail smash several Snake Guards to pieces.

Liu Qing warned Zhang Xiaojiu that powerful families were hunting a life-saving cat demon and urged him to leave Willow River Village, but Zhang Xiaojiu hoped the creature could cure his master. At the mist-covered cliff, Nine Snow encountered Jiang Sheng, mistook him for a helpless cripple, and then submitted when he revealed his strength.

• Liu Qing told Zhang Xiaojiu that a dangerous cat demon had drawn the Wang, Mo, and Hou families into Anyang Mountain and advised him to leave with his family.
• Liu Qing explained that the cat demon could revive the dead and save the gravely wounded, and Zhang Xiaojiu wondered if it could heal his master.
• Jiang Sheng and Little Friend Ling Yuan suspected that the strange fog in Anyang Mountain had been deliberately created.
• Nine Snow emerged from the mist at the cliff and approached Jiang Sheng, believing him to be a harmless cripple.
• Jiang Sheng rose from his wheelchair, terrifying Nine Snow, then picked it up and stroked it as it lay docilely across his legs.

Zhang Xiaojiu and Liu Qing encountered a Crimson-Chain Snake, and Liu Qing grew curious about Zhang Xiaojiu’s extraordinary training and mysterious master. Meanwhile, Jiang Sheng discovered that Nine Snow might have rare spiritual-cat lineage and considered taking it to Little Penglai to breed more.

• A Crimson-Chain Snake lunged at Zhang Xiaojiu, who dodged and struck it with the Crane Catches Spirit Snake stance before Liu Qing froze and killed it.
• Liu Qing questioned Zhang Xiaojiu about his exceptional movement and master, and Zhang Xiaojiu vaguely said his master came from the heavens.
• Zhang Xiaojiu hurried toward Jiang Sheng after seeing the snake, while Liu Qing followed him out of curiosity.
• Jiang Sheng stroked Nine Snow as several Crimson-Chain Snakes watched from the mist, held back by the pressure he emanated.
• Xiangyu Immortal Monarch suggested Nine Snow might share lineage with the Nine-Tailed Spirit Cat or Nine-Tailed Demon Fox and proposed taking it to Little Penglai to breed a group.
• Jiang Sheng considered giving the cats to his friends and relatives, while Nine Snow sensed that he had decided its fate.

Hou Chonghu, Wang Ziyi, and Mo Xiangyan joined forces to fight the Red-Chain Snake King as it rampaged across Anyang Mountain. Meanwhile, Liu Qing reached Jiang Sheng and discovered that Zhang Xiaojiu’s master had the Nine-Tailed Cat Nine Snow at his side.

• The Red-Chain Snake King slaughtered Hou Chonghu’s guards, so Hou Chonghu led it toward the Wang Family’s Iron Guards.
• Wang Ziyi’s crossbow bolts failed to pierce the snake king’s scales, and he and Hou Chonghu drew it toward Mo Xiangyan.
• Hou Chonghu, Wang Ziyi, and Mo Xiangyan agreed to fight together and attacked the Red-Chain Snake King.
• Zhang Xiaojiu returned to Jiang Sheng with Liu Qing, who saw Nine Snow resting obediently on Jiang Sheng’s lap.
• Jiang Sheng introduced himself to Liu Qing as Ling Yuan, and she recognized him as the extraordinary master Zhang Xiaojiu had described.

Liu Qing, Zhang Xiaojiu, and Jiang Sheng were trapped on a cliff as the Red-Chain Snake King drove Hou Chonghu, Wang Ziyi, and Mo Xiangyan there after devastating their forces. The Snake King cornered the survivors, but hesitated when it met Jiang Sheng's gaze.

• Liu Qing offered to escort Jiang Sheng and Zhang Xiaojiu down the mountain, but Jiang Sheng said it was already too late to leave.
• Hou Chonghu, Wang Ziyi, and Mo Xiangyan fled through the mist while suppressing fire poison from the Red-Chain Snake King, and their guards suffered heavy losses.
• Liu Qing realized the Snake King had deliberately driven the three young leaders toward a dead end, and Zhang Xiaojiu feared the danger could reach Willow River Village.
• Mister Zhong and the surviving guards arrived at the cliff, followed by Hou Chonghu, Wang Ziyi, and Mo Xiangyan, who found the Nine-Tailed Cat with Jiang Sheng.
• The Red-Chain Snake King emerged from the mist and trapped everyone on the narrow cliff, then hesitated when it saw Jiang Sheng.