Chapter Summaries

Chen Sanshi rode alone to the Southern Xu vanguard and used his white horse and force-storing bow to kill hundreds of cavalry, including Lang Jiping, while escaping every attempt to catch him. His attack shattered the vanguard’s morale, and Ran Jingxuan ordered the troops reorganized before they tried to take Hulao Pass.

• Chen Sanshi took command of Hulao Pass, learned that it had fewer than three hundred defenders and scant provisions, and sent Zhao Kang to scout the approaching Southern Xu army.
• Li Gong learned that Southern Xu had seized parts of Lingzhou and ordered Fan Shuzhen to take Hulao Pass, while discussing Ziwei Mountain, Gu Xinlan, and Deng Feng.
• After learning that more than one hundred thousand Southern Xu troops were gathering, Chen Sanshi rejected a defensive strategy and rode alone to challenge their vanguard.
• Lang Jiping led five hundred cavalry to surround Chen Sanshi, but Chen escaped on Qianxun and killed Lang Jiping and most of the pursuing riders with his bow and spear.
• Chen Sanshi attacked Fan Jiaxiao’s reinforcements, killed more cavalry, and retreated after frightening the vanguard into taking shelter behind shields.
• Ran Jingxuan recognized the damage to Southern Xu’s morale, ordered Peng Yunheng to join the vanguard, and delayed an assault while the army rested and reorganized.

Chen Sanshi and Fang Qingyun lured Fan Jiaxiao’s Southern Xu vanguard into an ambush, using a storm and a deceptive show of numbers to surround them. As the enemy began to break out, Chen Sanshi invoked the mysterious pearl and ordered the Eighteen Underworld Soldiers Rolling Thunder Formation.

• Chen Sanshi returned to Hulao Pass after hunting Southern Xu patrols, then ordered preparations for a strike and continued killing enemy scouts around their camp.
• Chen Sanshi broke through to Minor Accomplishment in the Meridian Opening Realm, while Fang Qingyun arranged an attack using twenty disguised riders and a staged force of thirty thousand.
• Fan Jiaxiao led more than ten thousand Southern Xu troops after Chen Sanshi’s riders into Silver Pine Gorge, where Fang Qingyun’s troops ambushed them amid a torrential storm.
• Fan Jiaxiao’s forces found themselves surrounded by apparent enemy troops, and Deng Feng revealed overwhelming strength while Sha Wenlong engaged the vanguard.
• Fang Qingyun called off further pursuit once their objective was achieved, but Chen Sanshi chose to continue and activated the mysterious pearl before ordering the Eighteen Underworld Soldiers Rolling Thunder Formation.

Chen Sanshi used the Heavenly Book Array and lightning to rout Southern Xu’s vanguard, capture Fan Jiaxiao, and raise Sheng’s morale. As Southern Xu’s hundred-thousand-strong army gathered against Hulao Pass, Chen and Deng Feng rode out to confront Peng Yunheng and lure the enemy into a larger trap.

• Chen Sanshi’s formation and two lightning strikes broke the ten-thousand-strong Southern Xu vanguard; Deng Feng slaughtered fleeing soldiers, and Chen captured Fan Jiaxiao while Qianxun subdued his Green Horse.
• Chen Sanshi ordered the surviving Southern Xu soldiers to escape with their story of heavenly thunder, then gave the Green Horse to Deng Feng and led the army back toward Hulao Pass.
• Fan Shuzhen and Ran Jingxuan weighed reports of the defeat and prepared their hundred-and-ten-thousand-strong army to attack Hulao Pass, while Meng Quji continued harassing Li Gong at Yongle Prefecture.
• Chen Sanshi reached Great Accomplishment in Troop Command and ordered the garrison to drill the Heavenly Book Array as Peng Yunheng challenged Hulao Pass with two hundred cavalrymen.
• Chen Sanshi and Deng Feng rode out to pursue Peng Yunheng; Deng revealed himself as an ally, and Peng’s signal summoned Southern Xu’s generals and troops to surround them.
• Chen Sanshi and Deng Feng fought toward the Southern Xu camp as Chen shot down Peng’s cavalry, beginning his plan to frighten the enemy’s hundred thousand troops into defeat.

Chen Sanshi and Deng Feng killed Peng Yunheng and nearly a thousand Southern Xu soldiers, weakening the hundred-thousand-man army before it advanced on Hulao Pass. Chen Sanshi arranged negotiations that drew Fang Qingyun, Deng Feng, Sha Wenlong, and Wang into the enemy camp, then ordered the three-thousand-man garrison to prepare for a decisive battle.

• Deng Feng defeated and killed Peng Yunheng while Chen Sanshi slaughtered the cavalry, and the two riders routed Southern Xu's vanguard before escaping.
• Fan Shuzhen and Ran Jingxuan concluded that Hulao Pass held roughly fifteen thousand troops and decided to wait for its provisions to run low before attacking.
• Chen Sanshi proposed trading Lan Province and Mo Province for two months of peace and the return of Fan Jiaxiao, then arranged for Fang Qingyun, Deng Feng, Sha Wenlong, and Wang to negotiate in the enemy camp.
• Ran Jingxuan accepted the negotiators but ordered a trap prepared around the Main Military Tent in case talks failed.
• The four men entered Southern Xu's hundred-thousand-man camp, and Chen Sanshi ordered Xia Cong to prepare the Hulao Pass garrison for a decisive battle at dawn.

Chen Sanshi led three thousand Black Armored Army soldiers out of Hulao Pass and used the Nine Heavens Heavenly Soldier Formation to conceal their charge against Southern Xu’s hundred-thousand-man army. While the Sheng generals stalled Fan Shuzhen in negotiations, the attack threw Southern Xu’s vanguard into panic, and Fan Shuzhen turned on the negotiators when he realized he had been deceived.

• Chen Sanshi prepared Hulao Pass’s three thousand soldiers for a decisive battle, while Meng Quji learned of the plan too late to stop him.
• Fan Shuzhen and Ran Jingxuan demanded further concessions from Fang Qingyun during overnight peace negotiations, unaware that Chen Sanshi was preparing to attack.
• Chen Sanshi formed the Nine Heavens Heavenly Soldier Formation, drawing the vast fog around his army and leading the concealed soldiers toward Southern Xu’s camp.
• Chen Sanshi’s army burst from the fog and routed Southern Xu’s unprepared vanguard, as the soldiers mistook the black-armored troops for heavenly soldiers.
• A deputy general warned Fan Shuzhen that Sheng had attacked; Fan Shuzhen accused Fang Qingyun of deception and ordered his men to attack the negotiators.

Chen Sanshi led three thousand Black Armored soldiers to rout Southern Xu’s hundred-thousand-strong army at Hulao Pass, killing You Jingzhi and capturing Fan Shuzhen and Fan Jiaxiao. After exposing and killing Sha Wenlong, Chen returned to Laizhou as Meng Quji learned that Southern Xu had been defeated and the road to Yongle Prefecture was open.

• Fang Qingyun played his jade flute to repel You Jingzhi and help Wang Zhi escape while the battlefield descended into chaos.
• Chen Sanshi’s Black Armored Army used the Heavenly Book Array and blood mist to break Southern Xu’s formations and rout its army.
• Chen Sanshi killed You Jingzhi with the Sword Qi Technique, then joined his senior brothers to defeat Fan Shuzhen, Ran Jingxuan, and Sha Wenlong’s forces.
• Ran Jingxuan admitted Southern Xu had lost to only three thousand soldiers, and Deng Feng killed him; Fan Shuzhen and Fan Jiaxiao surrendered and agreed to gather their remaining troops for Great Sheng.
• Chen Sanshi intercepted Sha Wenlong’s secret message, exposed his accusations, and killed him with the purple sword.
• Chen Sanshi led the army back to Laizhou and toward Yongle Prefecture, while Zhan Tai Ming told Meng Quji that Chen had defeated Southern Xu’s hundred thousand soldiers.

Chen Sanshi helped secure the recovery of the Three Prefectures, then learned that Ziwei Mountain might conceal the Grand Ancestor's legacy treasure and a path to the immortal realm. As the Emperor prepared to travel there for the Fengshan ceremony, the Twelfth Prince Cao Zhi arrived at Chen Sanshi's residence with the Brocade Guard.

• Meng Quji and Zhan Tai Ming learned that Chen Sanshi's three thousand troops had defeated the hundred-thousand-strong southern Xu army at Hulao Pass, and Meng Quji ordered Yongle Prefecture surrounded.
• Chen Sanshi's forces helped capture Yongle Prefecture, while Li Gong fled with a small group before they were surrounded in the mountains; the Qing Kingdom later sought peace and returned the Three Prefectures.
• Chen Sanshi rested in Taihu Prefecture, trained, provided porridge for starving residents, and prepared to secure Ziwei Mountain for the Fengshan ceremony.
• Liao Shizhong of Immortal Seeking Tower told Chen Sanshi that the Emperor and Crown Prince sought a hidden treasure left by the Grand Ancestor, possibly on Ziwei Mountain, and asked him to watch for it.
• Emperor Longqing ordered preparations for the Fengshan ceremony and announced that he would travel southeast to Ziwei Mountain.
• Cao Zhi, the Twelfth Prince and commander of the Brocade Guard, visited Chen Sanshi and greeted him with deference; Chen Sanshi sensed that Cao Zhi possessed spiritual energy.

Chen Sanshi discovered a sealed chamber beneath Ziwei Mountain and learned from Fang Qingyun that it might hold Cao Xie's relics, then sought Cao Fan's help to open it. Cao Fan asked the disguised Chen Sanshi to kill Chen Sanshi, and he accepted while taking Cao Fan's jade pendant as collateral.

• Cao Zhi visited Chen Sanshi, forced a sworn-brotherhood pact, and warned him that the Fourth and Eighth Princes planned to move against the Crown Prince at the Fengshan ceremony.
• Chen Sanshi disguised himself and approached the Incense God Cult, demanding medicine for an injured friend as the price of negotiating with them.
• The Mysterious Pearl led Chen Sanshi through an underwater cavern to a sealed stone door on Ziwei Mountain, but its red restriction resisted his attacks.
• Chen Sanshi told Fang Qingyun about the chamber, and Fang Qingyun explained that Cao Xie's relics might lead to the immortal realm and urged caution around Immortal Seeking Tower.
• Cao Fan and Yan Maoxing's allies tried to draw Chen Sanshi into their court schemes, while Chen Sanshi avoided promising support to either side.
• Disguised as Great Hero Zhang, Chen Sanshi accepted Cao Fan's medicine and incense power, then agreed to kill Chen Sanshi in exchange for a share of Cao Xie's relics and took Cao Fan's jade pendant as collateral.

Chen Sanshi explored the secret chamber beneath Ziwei Mountain with Eunuch Lao, but Cao Xie’s animated statues drove them away before they could claim its treasures. At court, Emperor Longqing praised Chen Sanshi before assassins attacked the imperial party, and the revealed attacker was Li Gong, King Tang of Qing Kingdom.

• Chen Sanshi tested the jade pendant Cao Fan had given him and discovered it could absorb and unleash flames, then cultivated his Sword Qi Technique.
• Chen Sanshi and Eunuch Lao entered the chamber beneath the deep pool and read the statues’ account of Cao Xie’s life before Chen Sanshi decapitated the emperor’s wooden likeness.
• The Dragon Abyss Sword activated the statues, which attacked Chen Sanshi and Eunuch Lao; the two escaped after Eunuch Lao shut the stone door.
• Chen Sanshi gave Wang Zhi medicine that might restore his ability to practice martial arts, then attended the imperial court gathering on Ziwei Mountain.
• Emperor Longqing praised Chen Sanshi while descending the mountain and told him that his master was dying and might need help.
• Four assassins attacked Emperor Longqing’s party; Chen Sanshi feigned injury while Huang Hong and others fought them, and the masked Martial Saint was revealed as Li Gong, King Tang of Qing Kingdom.

After an assassination attempt and a border rebellion shook Ziwei Mountain, Emperor Longqing stripped the Crown Prince of responsibility for overseeing the state and ordered Chen Sanshi to lead the mountain's defense. That night, Chen discovered the Crown Prince's followers were preparing a coup, and learned that Lü Ji and Meng Quji had joined them.

• Li Gong led masked assassins in an attack that killed the Seventh Prince and several officials before escaping, while Chen Sanshi shielded Emperor Longqing and was wounded.
• At court, ministers accused one another of treason, and Emperor Longqing suspended the Crown Prince from overseeing the state without directly convicting him.
• A report announced that Zhan Tai Ming had rebelled with Qing Kingdom forces, so Emperor Longqing ordered Fan Tianfa to suppress the uprising and assigned Chen Sanshi to defend Ziwei Mountain.
• Chen Sanshi transformed into Zhang Laizi and went to a secret meeting, where Crown Prince supporters revealed plans to act before the Fengshan ceremony.
• Lü Ji and Meng Quji arrived at the meeting as allies, and the conspirators gathered to discuss their planned coup.

Chen Sanshi prepared for a planned uprising on Ziwei Mountain, achieved Great Accomplishment in the Meridian Opening Realm, and uncovered Cao Zhi’s connection to Immortal Seeking Tower. As the Crown Prince’s brothers moved against him, Prince Qin and Prince Qi entered his bedchamber and forced medicine on him.

• The Black-robed Monk finalized the uprising’s assignments, while Lu Ji insisted that the conspirators spare Chen Sanshi and lure him away instead.
• Chen Sanshi trained during the seven days before the revolt, opened the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, and gained the True Dragon Force trait at Great Accomplishment in the Meridian Opening Realm.
• Emperor Longqing summoned Chen Sanshi, questioned his loyalty, reflected on his reign, and offered him a reward for his military service.
• Eunuch Lao invited Chen Sanshi to help retrieve the Grand Ancestor’s relic, and Chen Sanshi discovered that Cao Zhi was listening nearby and working with Immortal Seeking Tower.
• Chen Sanshi mastered the Sword Qi Technique’s Ten Thousand Swords Descend spell, while Prince Qin and Prince Qi decided to kill the Crown Prince before the uprising began.
• Prince Qin and Prince Qi entered the Crown Prince’s bedchamber with Imperial physicians, subdued his eunuch, and ordered the physicians to force medicine on the Crown Prince.

Chen Sanshi infiltrated the palace amid a rebellion, then joined Cao Fan and Eunuch Lao in retrieving the Grand Ancestor's relics. After the Immortal Seeking Tower turned on them, Chen Sanshi used the jade pendant's strange fire to drive them off, took the relics, and vanished as the rebels surrounded the Old Emperor, who calmly addressed them.

• Chen Sanshi disguised himself as Scabby Head and entered the palace while Pan Cheng's conspirators killed Zhu Jianliang and the Zhendong Army attacked the Imperial Guard.
• Meng Quji led the rebellion against the Imperial Guard, and Yan Maoxing confronted him before Jiang Yuanbo and Meng Quji began fighting.
• Chen Sanshi persuaded Cao Fan to retrieve the Grand Ancestor's relics with him and Eunuch Lao, and Cao Fan's blood disabled the wooden statues guarding the treasure.
• Cao Fan and Eunuch Lao failed to draw the Dragon Abyss Sword, while Chen Sanshi realized the sword was connected to someone else and hurried everyone out of the secret chamber.
• The Immortal Seeking Tower tried to seize the relics, but Chen Sanshi unleashed the jade pendant's strange fire, killing several attackers before taking the box's contents and slipping away.
• The rebels gathered outside the Old Emperor's bedchamber, and Emperor Longqing opened his eyes and asked what important matter had brought his ministers there.

Emperor Longqing resisted a forced abdication in the bedchamber, while his guards fought the conspirators and Chen Sanshi entered the palace amid the rebellion. The Crown Prince revealed himself as the Incense God Cult's leader, fused with a shrine through the Evil God Path, and demanded that his father die after Longqing refused to abdicate.

• The Black-robed Monk and his allies demanded Emperor Longqing abdicate for the Crown Prince, but Longqing challenged their motives and rejected their accusations about his rule.
• The Black-robed Monk listed seven alleged crimes, including the planting of spirit grain and the Ten Days in Yunzhou, before the conspirators demanded Longqing's abdication by force.
• Huang Hong, Changsun Xusheng, Lu Ji, and the twelve masked deathsworn fought the conspirators, while Longqing used the Imperial Jade Seal of Stabilizing the Realm to turn the battle in his side's favor.
• Chen Sanshi arrived with the Black Armored Army, detained Yan Maoxing and Gao Bo, and then secretly watched the bedchamber fight; Yan Liang persuaded Meng Quji to question the rebels' motives.
• After the Black-robed Monk was defeated, the Crown Prince appeared and again demanded that Longqing abdicate, then used the Evil God Path to fuse with the shrine and declared that he would have his father die.

Chen Sanshi helped Emperor Longqing defeat the palace coup, then disguised himself as Zhang Laizi to eliminate Cao Fan and the fleeing Crown Prince's allies. The rebellion collapsed, Meng Quji agreed to join Deng Feng in following Chen Sanshi, and Chen Sanshi ended the chapter with a Parchment Scroll in his possession.

• Meng Quji confronted Gao Bo over the deaths of the border soldiers in Yunzhou, then rushed toward the Ziwei Palace after declaring he would side with neither faction.
• The Crown Prince attacked Emperor Longqing with Incense Divine Power, but Emperor Longqing fought back, and the Dragon Abyss Sword emerged from the mountain and subdued the Crown Prince.
• Chen Sanshi fought the Fragrant Incense Master, killed him, and escorted the injured Emperor Longqing to safety as the Black Armored Army entered the palace.
• Deng Feng persuaded Meng Quji to abandon his suicidal charge and join Chen Sanshi's cause, while the Crown Prince's faction fled and Lingxuzi died.
• Chen Sanshi secretly killed Yunxiaozi and the other fugitives, revealed that he had been Zhang Laizi, killed Cao Fan, and found a Parchment Scroll among the corpses.

After the Incense God Cult rebellion, Chen Sanshi learned that Cao Xie had left him a genuine immortal cultivation method and a jade token for the approaching opening to the Cultivation World. The court rewarded Chen Sanshi with an earldom and command of the new Hongze Camp; he returned to Liangzhou with three thousand soldiers and learned a formidable female guest had kept Lan Jie'er from welcoming him.

• Chen Sanshi read Cao Xie's Five Elements Art and learned that the End of the World passage to the Cultivation World opened every fifty years, with the next opening approaching.
• Deng Feng brought Meng Quji to Chen Sanshi, who accepted the Martial Saint into his service and promised to help protect Meng Quji's family.
• At the court assembly, Chen Sanshi received the title Earl Wu Yi, became General of the Nation and Main General of the Elite Camp, and was ordered to establish Hongze Camp.
• Emperor Longqing gave Lu Ji the Crown Prince's ritual artifacts and permission to use the northern temples, while Lu Ji's request to marry Sun Li was refused.
• Chen Sanshi returned to Liangzhou with three thousand Black Armored Army soldiers and reunited with his family, then learned that a formidable female guest had prevented Lan Jie'er from meeting him.

Chen Sanshi discovered that the Daqing Empress, Shen Guiyi, was Gu Xinlan’s younger sister and learned that the Luotian Mountain Range threatened the whole world. After seeing immortals gather around the source of the baleful qi, he sent Gu Xinlan away with Shen Guiyi and received a pouch of spiritual energy.

• Chen Sanshi returned home, met Shen Guiyi, and learned that she was the Daqing Empress and Gu Xinlan’s younger sister, while Gu Xinlan recounted their family’s fall from power.
• Shen Guiyi warned Chen Sanshi that Liangzhou might become a wasteland, and he handled military affairs before refining medicine with almost all its toxins removed for his soldiers.
• Chen Sanshi visited Ningxiang, acquired Mysterious Iron, and learned that she and Zhaozhao were in danger from the Immortal Seeking Tower and wanted Sun Xiangzong’s protection.
• Chen Sanshi entered the Luotian Mountain Range, felled Ghost Vein Wood, hunted exotic beasts, and saw a column of baleful qi and many otherworldly immortals gathering near the Twelfth Mountain.
• Chen Sanshi returned and agreed to let Shen Guiyi take Gu Xinlan away for safety, leaving Duhe behind; Shen Guiyi gave him a pouch filled with dense Azure Profound Qi.

Chen Sanshi reached the Mystic Elephant Realm, forged a top-grade mystic Liquan Spear, and began cultivating with an inferior mixed spiritual root. After meeting Mei Xiao and receiving Azure Profound Qi for the mysterious pearl, he prepared to travel to the End of the World, recruited Ningxiang and Zhaozhao as companions, and began teaching them an immortal array.

• Chen Sanshi broke through to the Mystic Elephant Realm, gained the Breath of the Black Tortoise, and forged a top-grade mystic Liquan Spear.
• Fang Qingyun told Chen Sanshi that his master had approved his journey to the End of the World and arranged two companions for him.
• Mei Xiao met Chen Sanshi, added Azure Profound Qi to the mysterious pearl, and warned him about the meaning of immortals before vanishing.
• Chen Sanshi used a spirit stone to begin cultivating the Five Elements Art and discovered that he had an inferior mixed spiritual root.
• Ningxiang agreed to sign a Blood Contract, and Chen Sanshi redeemed her from the Crimson Sleeve Tower for two million taels so she and Zhaozhao could travel with him.
• Chen Sanshi began teaching Ningxiang and Zhaozhao an immortal array, and the System Panel displayed the Divine Ability Immortal Taming.

Chen Sanshi traveled south toward the Cultivation World, broke through to Qi Refining Layer 1, and learned that immortals were gathering near the coast. After a battle with Liangshan Marsh rebels, he reunited with Zhang Shun and reached Nanling Town, where he found a wanted poster for a fiend who had killed an immortal.

• Chen Sanshi practiced cultivation and the Three Flowers Gathering Spirit Formation during his journey, then learned Thick Earth Art and reached Qi Refining Layer 1.
• On Liangshan Marsh, Jin Zhaofu attacked Chen Sanshi’s ship, and Chen Sanshi killed him before Zhang Shun arrived and recognized his old friend.
• Zhang Shun told Chen Sanshi that an immortal had taken him as a disciple and warned him about immortals and a fiend who killed them in the southeast.
• Chen Sanshi continued south with Ningxiang, Mohua, and Qianxun, whose Horse Control skill revealed that it could open its spirit apertures and cultivate.
• In Nanling Town, Chen Sanshi heard reports of immortals and monsters, then saw a wanted poster for the fiend who had killed an immortal.

Chen Sanshi investigated the strange bounty and sudden abundance of exotic beasts in Nanling Town, then learned that a Spirit Vein Revival had drawn cultivators to seek a Pulse Spirit. He boarded a cultivator ship toward End of the World and discovered that the Ghost-Faced Devil was aboard, asking him to keep quiet about a killing.

• Chen Sanshi spotted disguised cultivators searching Nanling Town and found that its mountains and seas had recently begun producing valuable exotic beasts, including spirit beasts.
• A bearded cultivator seized the spirit fish Chen Sanshi wanted, and Chen Sanshi chose to leave town quickly rather than risk getting caught up in the cultivators' dispute.
• The Ghost-Faced Devil killed four cultivators who demanded the Pulse Spirit, while Chen Sanshi watched from a nearby roof.
• Mo Zhu explained that a Spirit Vein Revival had drawn cultivators to Nanling Town and that Chen Sanshi needed a cultivator ship to reach End of the World; Chen Sanshi paid him for directions and joined the midnight voyage with Ningxiang and Zhaozhao.
• On board the ship, Chen Sanshi sensed someone using martial arts gang qi to kill a passenger, and the Ghost-Faced Devil asked him to stay silent until they reached their destination.

Chen Sanshi reached the Cultivation World through an ancient Teleportation Array and separated from the suspicious group he traveled with. He found a poor village under the Nine Heavens Sect, took Li Ping'an as a disciple, and learned that spirit rice was paid as tax to the immortal sects.

• Chen Sanshi befriended Ghost Seven aboard the Walnut Boat, who revealed that he intended to destroy the spirit vein, then reached the End of the World with the other cultivators.
• Xu Youliang accepted a youth with Three Spiritual Roots as his disciple, while Mo Zhu explained how jade tokens and the Ancient Teleportation Array allowed travel to the Cultivation World.
• Chen Sanshi joined Lu Boqin and the other jade-token holders to use the array, but left their group after Lu Boqin forced Tang Ao to test the array's protection.
• The White Swan Horse, Qianxun, unexpectedly crossed through the array and appeared beside Chen Sanshi, who discovered that Beast Taming had become available in his System Panel.
• Chen Sanshi reached Little Stone Village, learned that the Nine Heavens Sect ruled the region and collected spirit rice, and accepted Li Ping'an as his disciple.