Chapter Summaries

Gu Shao'an defeated Dongfang Bai with a sword strike infused with Heaven and Earth Momentum, then secured Qu Feiyan’s safety without accepting her into the Emei Sect. Dongfang Bai revealed that a mysterious person had tried to recruit him to attack Wudang, and Gu Shao'an began to correct Dongfang Bai’s misunderstanding.

• Gu Shao'an explained that his sword strike used Heaven and Earth Momentum, and Dongfang Bai recovered from his shock by becoming eager to pursue that level of power.
• Gu Shao'an asked Dongfang Bai to spare Qu Yang and Qu Feiyan, and Dongfang Bai agreed before Gu Shao'an returned to the inn.
• Qu Yang asked Gu Shao'an to take Qu Feiyan into the Emei Sect, but Gu Shao'an refused and urged him to care for his granddaughter himself; Qu Yang chose to stay with her.
• Dongfang Bai revealed that half a year earlier a cautious stranger had offered him a Great Returning Pill to lead the Sun Moon Divine Sect in an attack on Wudang three years later.
• Dongfang Bai called the revelation repayment for Gu Shao'an’s mercy, and Gu Shao'an said Dongfang Bai had misunderstood something.

Gu Shao'an warned Dongfang Bubai against further wrongdoing, then traveled in disguise to the capital to contact Shangguan Haitang. A message offering a deal with the Divine Marquis using Heavenly Fragrance Cardamom drew Shangguan Haitang to the eastern outskirts, followed by Gu Shao'an.

• Gu Shao'an warned Dongfang Bubai that he would kill him if the Sun Moon Divine Sect continued its evil deeds, and Dongfang Bubai left after agreeing to remember the warning.
• Gu Shao'an identified a faction behind a lavish recruitment offer but decided to prioritize obtaining the Diamond Body Divine Skill and dealing with the Demon Master Palace.
• Disguised as an ordinary man, Gu Shao'an waited five days at Fragrant Tea House and watched Shangguan Haitang enter Number One Villa Under Heaven.
• An unseen attacker fired a dagger into Shangguan Haitang's study, carrying a note that offered the Divine Marquis a deal using Heavenly Fragrance Cardamom.
• Shangguan Haitang hurried toward the eastern outskirts, and Gu Shao'an followed her out of the city.

Gu Shao'an traded Heavenly Fragrance Cardamom to Zhu Wushi for access to Dragon Guard Manor’s secret nineteenth prison level. He entered the cavern alone and found an old man seated on a stone, while the half-hour limit began to run.

• Duan Tianya, Shangguan Haitang, and Guihai Yidao questioned the mysterious offer of Heavenly Fragrance Cardamom, but Zhu Wushi agreed to meet the visitor at Dragon Guard Manor.
• Gu Shao'an revealed the cardamom and threatened to poison it unless Zhu Wushi let him meet the prisoner on the nineteenth level alone for half an hour.
• Zhu Wushi accepted the terms, and he led Gu Shao'an and the others through the heavily guarded prison to a concealed staircase below the eighteenth level.
• Gu Shao'an entered the crude nineteenth-level passage alone as Zhu Wushi warned him to return within half an hour.
• Gu Shao'an reached a large cavern and saw an old man seated on a flat stone.

Gu Shao'an revealed to Gu Santong that Suxin was alive and that they had a son, then secured the Diamond Body Divine Skill and tried to persuade Gu Santong to leave the heavenly prison. Gu Santong agreed after learning Zhu Wushi had framed him, but Gu Shao'an's second pill left him unable to speak as the chapter ended.

• Gu Shao'an stopped Gu Santong's attack by telling him that Suxin was alive and explaining that Zhu Wushi had preserved her in ten-thousand-year ice.
• Gu Shao'an told Gu Santong that Suxin had borne him a twenty-two-year-old son, and Gu Santong agreed to teach him the Diamond Body Divine Skill.
• Gu Santong taught Gu Shao'an the skill and warned him about its supposed restrictions and deadly costs, while Gu Shao'an proposed helping him escape in exchange for protecting his sect.
• Gu Shao'an revealed that Zhu Wushi had killed the experts at Taihu Lake and framed Gu Santong, then offered to help save Suxin and heal Gu Santong if he joined his sect.
• Gu Santong accepted after Gu Shao'an gave him a pill that eased his injuries, but after swallowing another pill he suddenly could not speak.

Gu Shao'an arranged Gu Santong’s escape and then led Zhu Wushi and his guards out of Dragon Guard Manor, handing over the Heavenly Fragrance Cardamom and claiming the antidote was among the packets Shangguan Haitang carried. He revealed a second Heavenly Fragrance Cardamom to provoke Zhu Wushi, then stopped their pursuit with a poison he had secretly prepared.

• Gu Shao'an told Gu Santong how to escape, disguise himself, and meet at Linshan Inn, and explained that he had sent Gu Santong’s son toward Wudang Sect territory.
• Gu Shao'an left the Imperial Prison with Zhu Wushi and noticed that several cells on the upper levels had been emptied.
• Gu Shao'an gave Shangguan Haitang, Duan Tianya, and Guihai Yidao numbered medicine packets, handed Zhu Wushi the Heavenly Fragrance Cardamom, and identified packet Nine as the antidote.
• Gu Shao'an warned Zhu Wushi that the cardamom might be the second of three doses, then revealed another Heavenly Fragrance Cardamom as he fled into the forest.
• Zhu Wushi and the others chased Gu Shao'an, but Binding Wind Silk poison took effect and slowed them; Gu Shao'an revealed that Shangguan Haitang had been poisoned when she accepted the packets.

Gu Shao'an poisoned Zhu Wushi and the others, then lured Zhu Wushi into the forest while escaping with the Heavenly Fragrance Cardamom. As Gu Santong broke free and triggered the prison alarm, Gu Shao'an turned to attack Zhu Wushi, but Zhu Wushi trapped him with the Great Skill of Absorbing Power.

• Gu Shao'an revealed that his poison had already entered Zhu Wushi and the others, displayed the Heavenly Fragrance Cardamom, and fled into the forest as Zhu Wushi pursued him.
• Shangguan Haitang, Duan Tianya, and Guihai Yidao found three poisoned Heavenly Spirits and a toxic-smoke gourd in the forest, then heard the prison alarm and returned to Dragon Guard Manor.
• Gu Santong broke his chains and shattered the prison stele, setting off Dragon Guard Manor's alarm bell.
• A strange fragrance poisoned Zhu Wushi during the chase, and Gu Shao'an attacked him with a Thousand Leaf Heart-Shattering Calyx before evading the redirected blades.
• Zhu Wushi unleashed the Great Skill of Absorbing Power and drew Gu Shao'an into its suction as Gu Shao'an detected a trace of musk.

Gu Shao'an poisoned Zhu Wushi and lured him away from Dragon Guard Manor, allowing Gu Santong to escape the heavenly prison. Gu Santong overwhelmed the guards and fled southwest, while Zhu Wushi, still weakened by poison, questioned whether Gu Santong’s strange cries had been a signal.

• Gu Shao'an used powders and the Empty Valley Orchid poison to escape Zhu Wushi’s suction and keep him occupied as the heavenly prison’s warning bell rang.
• Gu Santong fought his way from the nineteenth layer to the prison exit, defeating the guards who tried to stop him.
• Guihai Yidao attacked Gu Santong, but Gu Santong caught and snapped his blade, then wounded him with the broken half.
• Gu Santong’s roar became a string of “aba aba” sounds, leading Shangguan Haitang to wonder whether he was mute; Gu Santong then fled southwest.
• Zhu Wushi returned to the prison and learned Gu Santong had escaped; after hearing Shangguan Haitang’s account, he suspected the strange cries might have been a signal to Gu Shao'an.

After rescuing Gu Santong from Dragon Guard Manor, Gu Shao'an met him in Linshan City and explained his grudge against Zhu Wushi and his ties to the Emei Sect. Gu Shao'an treated Gu Santong’s declining health as their first priority, then began cultivating the Diamond Body Divine Skill and condensed his first Golden Essence.

• Gu Shao'an retrieved the Heavenly Sword and supplies from a hidden pit, disguised himself, and entered Linshan City, where Gu Santong found him at an inn.
• Gu Shao'an gave Gu Santong an antidote that restored his voice, then explained that he had rescued him because he wanted help guarding his sect and confronting Zhu Wushi.
• Gu Shao'an revealed the Heavenly Sword and said his master was Abbess Miejue, Fengling Shita’s disciple, and Gu Santong realized that Gu Shao'an had been disguised at Dragon Guard Manor.
• Gu Shao'an warned that Gu Santong’s old injuries and physical depletion required treatment before they could travel to find Suxin, and Gu Santong agreed to follow his plan.
• After Gu Santong left to eat, Gu Shao'an studied the Diamond Body Divine Skill and cultivated until he condensed Golden Essence, which he used to begin tempering his body.

Zhu Wushi learned that Gu Santong had escaped with the Diamond Body Divine Skill and sent agents to search for him, while planning to keep Cao Zhengchun from obtaining it. At an inn, Gu Shao'an treated Gu Santong and learned why the Great Skill of Absorbing Power made Zhu Wushi’s path to the Heavenly Human Realm more difficult, then threatened to test a poison on Gu Santong.

• Imperial physicians confirmed that the poison on the Heavenly Fragrance Cardamom had been removed and verified that failing to take the third cardamom within a year could cause death.
• Shangguan Haitang reported that portraits of the two fugitives had been sent to intelligence stations, while Duan Tianya said Yidao’s injuries were not serious and the poison in their meridians was slowly dispersing.
• Zhu Wushi identified the escaped prisoner as Gu Santong and warned that Cao Zhengchun must not obtain Gu Santong’s Diamond Body Divine Skill; he also sent Shangguan Haitang to Jiading Prefecture to retrieve a medicinal ingredient and invite Gu Shao'an to join Dragon Guard Manor.
• At the inn, Gu Shao'an treated Gu Santong’s injuries and asked why Zhu Wushi had not reached the Heavenly Human Realm despite his immense cultivation.
• Gu Santong explained that the Great Skill of Absorbing Power devoured other martial artists’ Essence, Qi, and Spirit, making it harder to condense the Three Flowers, and said Zhu Wushi might need to absorb a Heavenly Human Realm martial artist’s cultivation.
• After Gu Santong mocked Gu Shao'an, Gu Shao'an approached with a bottle of Half-Step Laughing Madness and threatened to make Gu Santong experience the poison.

Gu Shao'an treated Gu Santong’s long-standing injuries and restored much of his vitality, then advanced the first layer of the Diamond Body Divine Skill to beginner level. Gu Santong sensed the change and asked whether Gu Shao'an had reached beginner level.

• Gu Santong tested the effects of Gu Shao'an's medicine, which caused him to expel stagnant blood as his blood and qi circulated.
• Gu Santong drew attention by hopping around and spitting blood, so Gu Shao'an used Heavenly Sword to discipline him.
• Five days later, Gu Shao'an used silver needles, medicinal liquid, and nine palm strikes to expel a mass of clotted blood from Gu Santong and ease his injuries.
• Gu Shao'an warned that Gu Santong still needed three months of pills and nourishment to recover fully, while Gu Santong acknowledged Gu Shao'an's medical skill and went to catch fish.
• Gu Shao'an cultivated the first layer of the Diamond Body Divine Skill until it reached beginner level and earned ten Achievement Points.
• Gu Santong sensed the energy around Gu Shao'an, rushed over, and asked whether he had reached beginner level in the skill.

Gu Santong discovered that Gu Shao'an's extraordinary true essence made him perfectly suited to the Diamond Body Divine Skill, then learned that Gu Shao'an was only nineteen. The two traveled to Xuanbei Heavenly Mountain, where Gu Santong retrieved Suxin from the Heavenly Pool.

• Gu Santong explained the Diamond Body Divine Skill's difficult first stage, then examined Gu Shao'an and was astonished by the purity and vastness of his true essence.
• Gu Shao'an revealed that he cultivated the Emei Nine Yang Manual and was not yet nineteen, shocking Gu Santong with his talent and his past scheme against Zhu Wushi.
• After finishing their meal, Gu Shao'an urged Gu Santong to leave for Xuanbei Heavenly Mountain and rescue Suxin before Zhu Wushi could act.
• Gu Shao'an told Gu Santong that his people had discovered Suxin in an ice coffin beneath the Heavenly Pool, and the two climbed to the summit.
• Gu Santong plunged into the Heavenly Pool and emerged carrying Suxin, whom Gu Shao'an saw for the first time.

Gu Shao'an, Gu Santong, and the unconscious Suxin avoided Xuanbei City and traveled to a secluded hot spring near Gushan City to treat her. As Suxin began to recover, Gu Shao'an considered Zhu Wushi’s likely reaction to discovering she was gone.

• Gu Shao'an stabilized Suxin’s injuries and explained that the ten-thousand-year ice and Heavenly Fragrance Cardamom would keep her safe for months.
• Gu Shao'an avoided Xuanbei City to evade Zhu Wushi’s informants and headed toward Gushan City with Gu Santong and Suxin.
• Gu Santong recognized Gu Shao'an’s rapid progress in the Diamond Body Divine Skill, and they discussed the threats posed by Zhu Wushi and Pang Ban.
• Gu Santong revealed that he had forged warnings into the Diamond Body Divine Skill and Great Skill of Absorbing Power manuals, which had kept Zhu Wushi from draining him.
• After half a month, Gu Shao'an and Gu Santong reached a secluded hot spring, where Gu Santong drew the cold poison out of Suxin and she began to regain her color.

Gu Shao'an cured Suxin’s cold poison and reunited her with Gu Santong, then they traveled to Gushan City. While Gu Santong went to buy Suxin a gift, a crippled beggar warned Suxin that the tofu pudding had been drugged.

• Gu Shao'an gave Gu Santong a pill to ease the cold poison, treated Suxin with acupuncture, and explained how the Heavenly Fragrance Cardamom worked.
• Gu Santong carried Suxin into the hot spring, where she later awakened and thanked Gu Shao'an for saving her and reuniting her with their child.
• Gu Shao'an, Gu Santong, and Suxin arrived in Gushan City, where Gu Santong and Suxin went out to enjoy the market together.
• Gu Santong noticed Zhou's Silver Shop and left Suxin at a roadside stall while he went to buy her a gift.
• The stall owner spotted Suxin's gold and signaled someone; Suxin gave food and silver to a crippled little beggar, who warned her that the tofu pudding had medicine in it.

Suxin noticed that a beggar and the food-stall owner had poisoned their meal, so Gu Shao'an and Gu Santong waited for the criminals to come to their room. After capturing and interrogating two intruders, they learned the robbery was arranged by the Ghost Hand Gang, a name Gu Shao'an recognized with hostility.

• Gu Santong gave Suxin a carefully crafted silver magnolia hairpin, and she told him she treasured being by his side.
• Suxin discreetly brought the food back to the inn, where Gu Shao'an identified Two Hour Powder and concluded that the beggar and stall owner had worked together.
• Gu Shao'an, Gu Santong, and Suxin waited in their room, then seized two men who slipped inside to rob them.
• Gu Santong interrogated the intruders and learned that a local gang had targeted Suxin for the money in her pouch.
• Gu Santong identified the gang as the Ghost Hand Gang, and Gu Shao'an recognized them as familiar enemies.

Gu Shao'an investigated the Ghost Hand Gang in Gushan City after learning it might be connected to the gang he had fought four years earlier. He and Gu Santong reached the gang’s hideout, where they found evidence of its brutality and confronted Young Gang Leader Xu Wenrui.

• Gu Shao'an interrogated two Ghost Hand Gang members and learned their hideout was in the Sihai Wine House, though they claimed to know little about the gang’s wider operations.
• Gu Shao'an told Gu Santong and Suxin about the gang’s past crimes, and the three decided to investigate its Gushan City hideout together.
• Gu Shao'an killed the two captives, and he, Gu Santong, and Suxin went to the Sihai Wine House in the western part of the city.
• Xu Wenrui ordered guards to dispose of a woman he had killed and dismissed their warnings about the gang’s dwindling supply of captives and the Giant Sword Sect.
• Gu Shao'an killed the four guards and seized Xu Wenrui by the throat as Gu Santong and Suxin arrived.
• Gu Shao'an broke Xu Wenrui’s bones before he could finish pleading for his life.

Gu Shao'an tortured Xu Wenrui for information, killed him, and prepared to wipe out the Ghost Hand Gang stronghold after finding a murdered woman. He and Gu Santong and Suxin then confronted Bai Zhenshan and two gang members, leaving Bai stunned as he realized the courtyard guards had been killed without a sound.

• Gu Shao'an crushed the bones throughout Xu Wenrui's body, questioned him about the Ghost Hand Gang, learned the gang leader was in the estate's largest courtyard, and killed him.
• Gu Shao'an explained to Gu Santong that the gang leader would know more than Xu Wenrui, then turned toward the estate as his killing intent rose over the murdered woman.
• Gu Santong promised Suxin that no one in the estate would escape, and the pair vanished into the night.
• Bai Zhenshan told two Ghost Hand Gang members about Mei Jiangxue and fantasized about selling her for gold.
• Gu Shao'an sealed the three men's acupoints with copper coins and entered their room with Gu Santong and Suxin.
• Bai Zhenshan saw corpses in the courtyard and realized Gu Shao'an's group had killed the guards without making a sound.

Gu Shao'an interrogated Ghost Hand Gang members and learned that the gang helped destroy the Meishan Aristocratic Family with the aid of three masked experts. In Xu Xiong's study, Gu Shao'an and his companions appeared while Xu Xiong and Liu Zhihong discussed their trafficking operation and plans to capture Mei Jiangxue.

• Gu Shao'an questioned Bai Zhenshan about the Meishan Aristocratic Family's destruction, and Bai revealed that three masked Condensing Qi into Essence experts had helped the Ghost Hand Gang, Sihai Hall, and the Giant Sword Sect.
• Bai Zhenshan told Gu Shao'an that the gang trafficked abducted people and rare goods, held captives beneath the wine room, and answered to Xu Xiong and strategist Liu Zhihong.
• Gu Shao'an compared Bai Zhenshan's account with another captive's answers, then knocked both men unconscious and killed them.
• Xu Xiong and Liu Zhihong worried about meeting their shipment quota, discussed capturing Mei Jiangxue, and resolved to establish a new stronghold in Linhai Town.
• Xu Xiong detected the scent of blood and saw Gu Shao'an, Gu Santong, and another person standing by the study window, while Gu Santong invited him to continue talking.

Gu Shao'an and Gu Santong interrogated the Ghost Hand Gang’s Xu Xiong and Liu Zhihong, uncovering their connection to a supplier from the Eastern Sea. Gu Shao'an suspected Bat Island, whose founder was Yuan Dongyuan of Wuzheng Villa.

• Gu Shao'an found the Ghost Hand Gang’s records of abducted women and children, subdued Xu Xiong, and discovered he carried Tang Sect Rainstorm Pear Blossom Needles.
• Gu Shao'an tortured Xu Xiong after learning Xu Xiong’s son was dead, then cured the poison Xu Xiong had taken and forced him to reveal what he knew.
• Xu Xiong identified Madam Crimson Moon as the gang’s contact and said she came from the Eastern Sea, while the force behind her had arranged Sihai Hall and other helpers.
• Gu Santong interrogated Liu Zhihong, whose testimony matched Xu Xiong’s, and then Gu Santong and Gu Shao'an killed both men.
• Gu Shao'an identified Bat Island as the likely supplier and revealed that its founder was Yuan Dongyuan, master of Wuzheng Villa.

Gu Shao'an and Gu Santong uncovered Mei Jiangxue’s identity and learned that the Ghost Hand Gang was holding forty-seven kidnapped women and children. After Mei Jiangxue begged them to avenge the Meishan Aristocratic Family, Gu Shao'an agreed to help and began planning how to rescue the captives.

• A lame beggar girl approached Gu Shao'an, Gu Santong, and Suxin, then revealed that she knew where the kidnapped people were held.
• The girl identified herself as Mei Jiangxue, and Gu Shao'an and Gu Santong recognized her as the surviving descendant of the Meishan Aristocratic Family.
• Gu Shao'an freed Xiong Wei from among the guards, and Mei Jiangxue and Xiong Wei begged him to avenge the massacre of their family.
• Gu Shao'an agreed to take Mei Jiangxue back to his sect and investigate the Ghost Hand Gang, Sihai Hall, and the Giant Sword Sect.
• Xiong Wei revealed that forty-seven captives remained in the dungeon, and Gu Shao'an proposed a bold plan to Gu Santong.

Gu Shao'an and Gu Santong staged Suxin’s abduction to mislead Zhu Wushi into investigating the Ghost Hand Gang and its allies. After Gu Santong’s performance convinced the inn’s witnesses that Suxin had vanished, the others escaped through a hidden path while he launched his staged pursuit toward the Giant Sword Sect.

• Gu Shao'an and Gu Santong planned to make Zhu Wushi believe the Ghost Hand Gang had abducted Suxin, then use the ensuing investigation to draw attention to the gang’s backers.
• Gu Shao'an treated Mei Jiangxue’s injured leg and gave her a safer medicine to maintain her disguise; Mei Jiangxue agreed to help with the plan.
• At dawn, Gu Santong entered the inn disguised as a dying old man and carried the disguised Suxin upstairs, then later returned and loudly accused the inn staff of making her disappear.
• Gu Santong discovered that the waiter who had leaked their room information was a Ghost Hand Gang lookout, while Gu Shao'an, Suxin, Mei Jiangxue, and Xiong Wei escaped the winery through a hidden path.
• Gu Santong staged a frantic search through the dungeon and burst out of the winery before asking bystanders where the Giant Sword Sect was and rushing toward it.