Chapter Summaries

Chen Fei drew with Shen Tucang, the Immortal Cloud Sword Sect’s second-ranked True Disciple, and earned widespread fame after the gathering. Back at the Yuan Chen Sword Sect, he resumed cultivation and, eight days later, tried measuring his acupoints.

• Chen Fei and Shen Tucang fought to a draw, leaving Shen Tucang frustrated and resolved to cultivate a movement technique.
• Chen Fei returned to the Yuan Chen Sword Sect to praise from its disciples and elders, while Feng Xiupu approved of him stopping at second place.
• Gong Guanzi rewarded Chen Fei with an Origin Opening Pill and returned the damaged Yuan Chen Sword Body inheritance to the Yuan Chen Sword Sect.
• Feng Xiupu warned Chen Fei not to study the damaged inherited cultivation arts when he reached the Aperture Refining Realm, except for the Heaven Escaping Movement.
• News of Chen Fei’s result spread through Xianyun City and the surrounding lands, making his name widely known.
• Chen Fei resumed cultivation after returning to the sect, and eight days later he tried measuring his acupoints.

Chen Fei measured his acupoint and found a barrier tied to a memory of the original body's childhood hunger, then learned from Feng Xiupu that it might be an obsession he could wear down. He reached the peak of the Organ Refinement Realm, but the barrier remained stubborn as he was named the Yuan Chen Sword Sect's chief True Disciple.

• Chen Fei measured his acupoint and saw a childhood memory of the original body behind a barrier blocking his Spiritual Power.
• Chen Fei asked Feng Xiupu for advice, and Feng Xiupu suggested the barrier was an obsession that Chen Fei could erode with Spiritual Power.
• Chen Fei spent a month wearing down the barrier while continuing to refine pills and cultivate.
• Chen Fei's cultivation reached the peak of the Organ Refinement Realm, strengthening his body and making his Spiritual Power more nimble.
• Chen Fei continued trying to erode the obsession, but his progress remained slight.
• At the Yuan Chen Sword Sect's half-year evaluation, Chen Fei was named chief True Disciple without challenge, and Guo Linshan celebrated his achievement.

Chen Fei reached Great Perfection in the Dragon Subduing Elephant, which halved the time needed to erase the obsession blocking his acupoints, but he still refused to wait six or seven years. He left the Yuan Chen Sword Sect to return to his home village, while the sect lost track of him and grew concerned.

• Chen Fei continued refining pills and cultivating the Dragon Subduing Elephant as he waited for it to help remove his acupoint obsession.
• Chen Fei made pills to protect Chi Defeng and Lan Yunzhi’s unborn child and improve its natural aptitude.
• The Dragon Subduing Elephant reached Great Perfection, greatly strengthening Chen Fei and letting him conceal his aura, while speeding up the removal of his obsession.
• Chen Fei decided to return home, packed his belongings, visited Feng Xiupu, and left the Yuan Chen Sword Sect without returning to True Inheritance Peak.
• Wu Guangyin failed to track Chen Fei after Qu Qingsheng sent him to protect him, and Qu Qingsheng went to question Feng Xiupu.
• Ten days later, Chen Fei disguised himself as a Bone Forging Realm martial artist and left the city with the Immortal Cloud Merchant Team.

Chen Fei traveled with the Immortal Cloud Merchant Team toward Xingfen City, speaking with Chu Wennian and enduring the strange entity’s influence along the road. The team safely passed the haunted hillside, and Chen Fei continued working to wear away the obsession outside his Acupoint.

• Chu Lan brought Chen Fei warm wine, but Chu Wennian found the flask and drank it while offering Chen advice about staying in Xianyun City.
• Chu Lan repeated a rumor that Chen Fei was eight feet tall with an eight-foot waist, and Chen realized the story described him absurdly.
• Chen Fei told Chu Wennian he planned to handle business in Xingfen City and then return to Xianyun City.
• The merchant team warned travelers to close their eyes near the haunted hillside, and Chen heard faint murmuring before a spiritual artifact’s bell silenced it.
• The merchant team passed the hillside without incident, while Chen meditated and tried to wear away the obsession outside his Acupoint.

Chen Fei returned to Xingfen City, learned that the Anomaly swallowing Pingyin County had grown to Second-tier strength, and planned to visit his former village while it remained outside the danger zone. He discovered Zhang Sinan and Shan Xiang living at the Xu Family residence, then confronted Ling HanJun and seized him with overwhelming force.

• Chen Fei parted from Chu Wennian and Chu Lan, arrived in Xingfen City, and bought reports about nearby dangers and Pingyin County.
• Chen Fei learned that Pingyin County remained engulfed by an expanding Anomaly that had reached Second-tier strength, though his former village was still beyond its reach.
• Chen Fei spotted Shan Xiang and Ling HanJun shopping together, followed them to the Xu Family residence, and secretly watched Zhang Sinan train.
• Chen Fei left Zhang Sinan and Shan Xiang undisturbed, then entered Ling HanJun's room and grabbed his throat before Ling HanJun could land a saber strike.

Chen Fei questioned Ling HanJun about the Dragon Subduing Elephant hide and learned that it came from a cave on Guanzhou Mountain. After discovering Xu Wangliang had taken a group there more than ten days earlier, Chen Fei decided to go to the mountain with Ling HanJun.

• Chen Fei overpowered Ling HanJun and showed him the Dragon Subduing Elephant hide, asking how he had obtained it.
• Ling HanJun explained that he had found the hide in a cave on Guanzhou Mountain in Pingyin County.
• Ling HanJun revealed that a nest of spider demons guarded the cave and that Xu Wangliang had led a group there more than ten days earlier to seek medicinal herbs.
• Chen Fei considered waiting for Xu Wangliang or searching the cave himself, then ordered Ling HanJun to lead him to Guanzhou Mountain.

Chen Fei visited the ruined village where the original owner had lived and dispersed the obsession obstructing his acupoint, leaving him able to break through to the Aperture Refining Realm. He chose to return to Guanzhou Mountain to investigate the array concealing the cave before deciding whether to break through, but a sudden fluctuation erupted from the mountainside as they approached.

• Chen Fei and Ling HanJun rode to Guanzhou Mountain, where bandits revealed that strange fog had appeared on the southern mountainside about ten days earlier.
• Chen Fei recognized the fog as an array formation and took Ling HanJun to the ruined mountain village where the original owner had lived.
• Walking through the village, Chen Fei felt the original owner's lingering stress response fade and used his Spiritual Power to disperse the obsession outside his acupoint.
• Chen Fei realized he could now attempt to break through to the Aperture Refining Realm, but chose to investigate the cave and the Dragon Subduing Elephant technique first.
• As Chen Fei and Ling HanJun returned toward Guanzhou Mountain, a sudden fluctuation burst from its mountainside.

Chen Fei and Ling HanJun crossed Guanzhou Mountain’s disorienting mist and followed the cave path to the stone sphere where Ling HanJun had found the Dragon Subduing Elephant beast hide. They found signs of the spider demons and heard attacks ahead, where Xu Wangliang and five others were trying to break a barrier around an ancient corpse and a black box.

• Chen Fei led Ling HanJun into the mist and used his Spiritual Power and jade pendant to guide them safely to the cave.
• Chen Fei and Ling HanJun entered the cave, passed a dead spider demon, and reached the stone sphere where Ling HanJun had discovered the beast hide.
• Chen Fei shattered the stone sphere but found nothing inside, then continued along the path with Ling HanJun past more spider demon remains.
• Xu Wangliang and five others attacked a barrier surrounding an ancient corpse with undeclining flesh and a black box, hoping the box held a treasure that could help them reach the Aperture Refining Realm.

Chen Fei arrived at the cave where Xu Wangliang’s group had been trying to break a barrier guarding a black box, then killed all six Organ Refinement Realm cultivators who challenged him. As he approached the box, the barrier appeared before him.

• Xu Wangliang and five others continued battering the barrier after clearing the cave of spider demons and discovering a corpse and a black box.
• Ling HanJun arrived with Chen Fei, and Chen Fei ignored Xu Wangliang’s questions as he examined the box.
• Kou Renji attacked Chen Fei, who killed him with one sword strike and claimed the box and cave.
• Xu Wangliang and four others formed an array and attacked Chen Fei, but he struck them down together.
• Chen Fei walked toward the black box, and a barrier appeared in front of him.

Chen Fei discovered that the barrier protecting a black box could be opened by demonstrating his mastery of Dragon Subduing Elephant. Inside, he found fragments of the technique’s continuation and learned that the Dragon Elephant True Person had left later generations the challenge of reconstructing it.

• Chen Fei tried brute force against the barrier but could not make more than a slight impression on it.
• Chen Fei realized that circulating Dragon Subduing Elephant in time with the barrier’s lights could answer its test, and he broke the formation.
• Chen Fei opened the black box and found hundreds of fragments bearing the continuation of Dragon Subduing Elephant, along with a silk note from the Dragon Elephant True Person.
• Chen Fei learned that the Dragon Elephant True Person had been a Joint Aperture Realm expert whose own reconstruction of the technique was flawed, and that the fragments were meant for later successors to assemble.

Chen Fei escaped the cave’s hidden Aperture Refining Realm ambush and activated the formation to protect himself, but Lu Zhichun pursued him and demanded that he lower it. Lu Zhichun killed Ling HanJun with his Demonic Sound Inundating the Ears and turned his attention back to Chen Fei.

• Chen Fei buried Dragon Elephant True Person’s corpse and sealed Ling HanJun’s cultivation, leaving him to find his own way back to Xingfen City.
• As Chen Fei approached the cave entrance, an Aperture Refining Realm cultivator attacked him with vital energy and a Mind Skill, forcing him deeper into the cave as dark green pollution spread through his Sea of Consciousness.
• Chen Fei returned to Dragon Elephant True Person’s resting place and activated the formation with Dragon Subduing Elephant, enclosing himself inside it.
• Lu Zhichun appeared and killed Ling HanJun with a glance, then learned from him about the black box, the cultivation art on the beast hide, and the incorruptible corpse.
• Lu Zhichun demanded that Chen Fei disperse the formation, and when Chen Fei refused, Lu Zhichun used Demonic Sound Inundating the Ears, killing Ling HanJun and threatening Chen Fei.

Chen Fei bluffed Lu Zhichun into leaving by claiming to be a true disciple of the Immortal Cloud Sword Sect, then used the time to test the panel’s ability to reconstruct Dragon Subduing Elephant and learn to control the Dragon Elephant Array. As Chen Fei rapidly raised the array’s proficiency, Lu Zhichun remained hidden outside the cave, waiting.

• Ling HanJun died from the force of Lu Zhichun’s shout, and Chen Fei implied that his strength should have earned him a protector.
• Chen Fei claimed to be Shen Tucang, a second true disciple of the Immortal Cloud Sword Sect, and proved it by showing Lu Zhichun two Essence Gathering Beads.
• Lu Zhichun laughed off their conflict as a misunderstanding and vanished, while Chen Fei suspected he would be waiting nearby.
• Chen Fei read the scattered beast-hide fragments, and the panel offered to organize the chaotic Dragon Subduing Elephant method and simplified the Dragon Elephant Array.
• Chen Fei studied the silk’s formation instructions and circulated Dragon Subduing Elephant to raise the array’s proficiency as Lu Zhichun hid outside the cave.

Chen Fei trapped Lu Zhichun in the Dragon Elephant Array and fled toward Xingfen City, but his Spiritual Power contamination flared before he could escape his pursuer. With no other choice, he ran into a strange mountain village, where Lu Zhichun and Hua Daohong followed him.

• Lu Zhichun attacked the Dragon Elephant Array, and Chen Fei realized it was weaker than its recorded strength.
• Chen Fei tricked Lu Zhichun into approaching, then transformed the Dragon Elephant Array into an Ensnaring Formation and trapped him.
• Chen Fei fled toward Xingfen City while concealing his aura and using the Thousand Source Heart Locking Art to suppress his Spiritual Power contamination.
• When the contamination suddenly became active and danger drew near, Chen Fei ran into the strange mountain village.
• Lu Zhichun tracked Chen Fei to the village, and Hua Daohong joined him as both men rushed inside.

Chen Fei found himself in Mi Village with his memories gone and a Red Candle in hand, while the village chief dragged him through the unsettling settlement. Two more guests, including Lu Zhichun and Hua Daohong, arrived, and the villagers gathered to welcome them with a meal.

• Fang Ziqiu led a group of Rogue Cultivators into Pingyin County after the array weakened, and the gate slammed shut behind them.
• Chen Fei awoke in Mi Village with no memory of how he got there and hesitated to light the Red Candle he was holding.
• The village chief seized Chen Fei and showed him the village’s crops, fishpond, and livestock, while Chen Fei sensed something sinister about the place.
• The village chief dragged Chen Fei to a gathering of villagers, who silently watched him before blocking his way out.
• The village chief brought Lu Zhichun and Hua Daohong to the gathering and announced that the village had prepared food, but none of the three guests ate.

Chen Fei, Lu Zhichun, and Hua Daohong became trapped in Mi Village’s strange influence, which erased their memories and made them teach the villagers their martial arts. The chapter ended with Chen Fei enthusiastically explaining the Extreme Mountain Breathing Technique to the villagers, unaware of what the village was taking from him.

• Chen Fei tried to leave Mi Village alone, but a sudden dizzy spell returned him to the dining table with Lu Zhichun and Hua Daohong, unable to remember eating.
• The village chief invited the three outsiders to teach martial arts, while a cold force spread from their stomachs and dulled their memories and suspicions.
• Lu Zhichun demonstrated and explained Mountain Propping Fist in full, then forgot the technique as his cultivation declined slightly.
• Hua Daohong taught the villagers his first leg technique, losing his memories and some cultivation as the villagers absorbed something from his explanation.
• Chen Fei explained the Extreme Mountain Breathing Technique and its simple breathing method to the silent, cold-eyed villagers.

Fang Ziqiu’s group cleared weak Anomalies in Pingyin County while he warned them that the nearby Desolate Mountain Ancient Village was dangerous. At the village, Chen Fei’s misleading lesson drained power from the villagers, but after they made him and the others drink, the village chief demanded more cultivation instruction.

• Fang Ziqiu explained how clearing lesser Anomalies could weaken Pingyin County’s domain and cautioned against investigating Desolate Mountain Ancient Village too soon.
• Chen Fei demonstrated the Extreme Mountain Breathing Technique to the villagers and claimed that cultivating it required one tael of silver.
• The villagers failed to copy Chen Fei’s explanation and lost strands of their power and comprehension to him, leaving Chen Fei stronger and clearer-minded.
• The village chief offered wine to Chen Fei, Lu Zhichun, and the other man, and Chen Fei found that he had drunk his bowl despite intending to refuse.
• The village chief coldly asked the three guests to impart more cultivation knowledge after they drank.

At a village gathering, Lu Zhichun and Hua Daohong were tricked by the villagers into teaching martial arts and lost cultivation and spiritual power. Chen Fei turned the villagers’ scheme against them with absurd lessons in fist training and pill refinement, absorbing their energy as the village chief’s hostility grew.

• Lu Zhichun taught the villagers an eighteen-style leg technique and inadvertently revealed additional cultivation knowledge, losing cultivation and spiritual power.
• Hua Daohong taught internal-energy methods, then returned to Lu Zhichun with the same growing suspicion and confusion about the village.
• The village chief called on Chen Fei to teach, but Chen Fei explained that his Extreme Mountain Fist could be cultivated by waving one’s arms and required one liang of silver, causing the villagers’ energy to flow into him.
• When the village chief asked about other skills, Chen Fei claimed that learning the Blood Qi Pill formula involved stir-frying thinly sliced pig liver.
• A villager charged at Chen Fei, was crushed into powder, and released a surge of force that Chen Fei absorbed as more energy escaped from the other villagers.

Chen Fei and his companions grew increasingly uneasy in Mi Village, where strange forces clouded their memories and the villagers tried to keep them there. After a woman entered Chen Fei’s room and asked him to paint her, visitors appeared in Lu Zhichun’s and Hua Daohong’s rooms as well.

• In Pingyin County, Fang Ziqiu declined to intervene as anomalies grew stronger and lower-cultivated martial artists suffered heavy casualties.
• Chen Fei felt his strength improve after teaching cultivation methods in Desolate Mountain Ancient Village, but his memories of the Yuan Chen Sword Sect and other matters became hazy.
• The village chief blocked Lu Zhichun and Hua Daohong from leaving, and the three guests accepted rooms as night seemed to fall unnaturally fast.
• Alone in his room, Chen Fei struggled to piece together his fragmented memories and decided to leave the village the next day.
• A woman entered Chen Fei’s room after his thoughts blurred and asked him to paint her; at the same time, someone appeared in each of Lu Zhichun’s and Hua Daohong’s rooms.

In Mi Village, an old man drained Lu Zhichun and Hua Daohong’s essence, qi, and spirit through a chess match and drinking, while Chen Fei resisted a woman’s strange attempt to make him paint her. The village chief then offered the three men a technique, but Chen Fei noticed mysterious writing flickering at the bottom of his vision.

• An old man lured Lu Zhichun into a chess match that gradually depleted his cultivation, while another old man drained Hua Daohong’s cultivation through cups of wine.
• Hua Daohong sensed danger, spat out the wine, and forced the old man to leave, but a strange force suppressed his urge to escape and sleep overtook him.
• Lu Zhichun ended the chess game and watched the old man leave, then collapsed from exhaustion when he tried to leave his room.
• Chen Fei refused to paint a woman who visited him, and after she left, he was overcome by drowsiness and again forgot what he had intended to do.
• At the hour of the dragon, the village chief gathered Chen Fei, Lu Zhichun, and Hua Daohong and offered them the Gathering Wind Technique, whose explanation drained their energy as they listened.
• Chen Fei noticed a line of writing flickering at the bottom of his vision while the old woman explained the technique.

Chen Fei broke through the ancient village’s suppression by simplifying the Gathering Wind Technique and mastering it through blowing, while Lu Zhichun and Hua Daohong remained absorbed in the old woman’s incomplete lessons and rapidly lost cultivation. Chen Fei began drawing energy from the old woman, startling the village chief and disrupting the village’s advantage.

• Lu Zhichun asked the old woman questions about the Gathering Wind Technique, and Hua Daohong joined their discussion as the old woman answered while secretly withholding details and absorbing their escaping energy.
• The village chief noticed Lu Zhichun and Hua Daohong’s cultivation falling, while Chen Fei stood distracted by the grass and repeatedly overlooked the words flashing in his vision.
• Chen Fei focused on the prompt, paid forty thousand taels to simplify the Gathering Wind Technique into “Blow,” and gained his first point of proficiency by exhaling.
• Chen Fei’s breath sliced a ravine into the turf, and the escaping energy above his head stopped as he began drawing energy from the old woman.
• The village chief realized Chen Fei had learned and was rapidly comprehending the Gathering Wind Technique, and the old woman turned to look at him.