Chapter Summaries

The Profound Truth Sect’s leaders prepared for the Vajra Order’s challenge, relying on Yang Jing to face Li Yu after Chu Yunhai fought first. Cao Zhen promised a Dragon-Tiger Mountain Great Restoration Pill to whoever distinguished themselves, then assigned preparations for the arriving spectators and sent the Peak Masters to make ready for the contest.

• Cao Zhen learned that the Vajra Order’s party had reached Hidden Dragon Town, and Bai Bing said Yang Jing had trained hard and could contend with Li Yu.
• Huang Zhen reported that Chu Yunhai had been unsettled by the challenge and Yang Jing’s breakthrough, though he had mostly regained his form.
• Cao Zhen ordered Chu Yunhai to fight first and Yang Jing to serve as the final challenger against Li Yu.
• Cao Zhen promised a Dragon-Tiger Mountain Great Restoration Pill to whoever performed outstandingly and won honor for the Profound Truth Sect.
• Cao Zhen assigned Ouyang Jingxuan to receive the visitors and maintain order, then told the Peak Masters to return to their peaks and gather again in one hour.

Bai Bing returned to Lingxi Peak and waited outside the Training Room while Yang Jing cultivated ahead of the coming contest with the Vajra Order. Yang Jing advanced the Indestructible True Art to the qi-nourishing realm, giving him two true arts at that level before his fight with Li Yu.

• Bai Bing told Si Jiawen to alert Lingxi Peak's elders and disciples to gather at Fu Mountain Square, then went to the Training Room where Yang Jing was cultivating.
• Bai Bing decided to let Yang Jing continue training so he could strengthen himself before the contest and pursue the Dragon-Tiger Mountain Great Restoration Pill.
• Yang Jing practiced the Indestructible True Art until it reached the peak of the qi-devouring realm, then used a drop of Aperture-Nurturing Jade Marrow to fuel a breakthrough.
• Yang Jing advanced the Indestructible True Art to the qi-nourishing realm and realized he now wielded two qi-nourishing realm true arts before facing Li Yu.

Yang Jing completed his breakthrough to the qi-nourishing realm and went to Fu Mountain Square with Si Jiawen for the coming challenge against the Vajra Order's Three Heroes. There, Zhao Wenju privately offered him the Shadow Garment to conceal his cultivation, with the promise that he could keep it if he defeated Li Yu.

• Yang Jing advanced the Indestructible True Art to the qi-nourishing realm and admitted his breakthrough when Si Jiawen discovered it.
• Si Jiawen escorted Yang Jing to Fu Mountain Square and told him to wait while Chu Yunhai handled the early matches.
• Zhao Wenju arrived on Qin Gang's orders and led Yang Jing to an empty storeroom for a private conversation.
• Zhao Wenju showed Yang Jing the Shadow Garment, explaining that it could conceal his aura and cultivation realm.
• Zhao Wenju offered to lend Yang Jing the garment for his fight against Li Yu, saying Yang Jing could keep it if he won and had to return it if he lost.

Yang Jing received Qin Gang’s Shadow Garment, which concealed his newly advanced cultivation, before heading to Fu Mountain Square for the matches against the Vajra Order. As his friends gathered around him, Lin Ziheng revealed that Li Yu had also entered the qi-nourishing realm, leaving them stunned.

• Zhao Wenju gave Yang Jing the Shadow Garment, and Yang Jing found it comfortable and able to conceal his aura.
• Qin Gang explained that lending Yang Jing the treasure could help the sect and repair his past rejection of Yang Jing.
• Yang Jing crossed Fu Mountain Square, where disciples cleared a path for him, and reunited with Fang He, Yan Chenglong, Zhang Hengyi, and Ma Qiang.
• Fang He and Zhang Hengyi criticized the Vajra Order for challenging the Profound Truth Sect first and seeking to humiliate it.
• Lin Ziheng hurried to Yang Jing and his friends and reported that Li Yu had broken through into the qi-nourishing realm.

As the Profound Truth Sect prepared for the Vajra Order’s Mountain-Visiting Challenge, the news that Li Yu had reached the qi-nourishing realm left Yang Jing’s allies fearing defeat. Yang Jing joined his master Bai Bing on the viewing platform, where the arrival of Cao Zhen and Xiao Chen signaled that the confrontation was about to begin.

• Lin Ziheng revealed that Li Yu had broken through to the qi-nourishing realm, but Yang Jing declared he would give the battle everything he had.
• Representatives of the Heavenly Sword Sect and other major powers arrived at Fu Mountain Square, where Hong Qingzhu learned that the composed young man she had noticed was Yang Jing.
• Guang Liang told Hong Qingzhu that Xu Hong had declined her invitation, while Lin Shuhua realized her friend had used her name to approach him.
• Bai Bing summoned Yang Jing to the viewing platform, and he climbed up to stand respectfully behind her as the crowd watched.
• Hong Qingzhu noticed Yang Jing on the platform and found him appealing, while Xu Hong studied him and privately resolved to surpass him by breaking through first.
• Cao Zhen and Xiao Chen arrived at Fu Mountain Square, and the gathered leaders and disciples rose to greet them.

The Vajra Order’s Mountain-Visiting Challenge began with Chu Yunhai fighting Xu Shizheng on the Fu Mountain Battle Arena. Chu Yunhai awakened his battle body and defeated Xu, but Zhou Qiang immediately challenged him while he was injured and depleted, leaving Yang Jing considering whether he would have to reveal his Qi-Nourishing Realm breakthrough.

• Xiao Chen asked Cao Zhen to begin the Mountain-Visiting Challenge, and Cao Zhen agreed.
• Chu Yunhai faced Xu Shizheng and initially fought on even terms before unleashing his battle body and gaining the advantage.
• After a hundred moves, Chu Yunhai struck Xu Shizheng down, winning the opening match and drawing loud cheers from the Profound Truth Sect’s disciples.
• Li Yu helped the badly injured Xu Shizheng off the arena while Zhou Qiang stepped forward and immediately challenged Chu Yunhai.
• Yang Jing worried that Chu Yunhai might lose while injured and considered entering the arena, which could expose his breakthrough to the Qi-Nourishing Realm.

Chu Yunhai and Zhou Qiang fought to a brutal draw in the Mountain-Visiting Challenge, leaving both too badly injured to continue. As the final match against Li Yu approached, Sect Master Cao Zhen promised Yang Jing an additional reward if he defeated Li Yu and defended the Profound Truth Sect's dignity.

• Zhou Qiang unleashed the Seven-Star Fist against Chu Yunhai, who met his attacks with the Astral-Refining Palm despite his lingering injuries.
• Chu Yunhai and Zhou Qiang fought for hundreds of exchanges, each growing bloodied and exhausted without gaining a decisive advantage.
• Chu Yunhai and Zhou Qiang struck each other simultaneously and collapsed, unable to rise, ending their match in a draw.
• Disciples carried Chu Yunhai and Zhou Qiang away for treatment as the crowd anticipated the final battle between Yang Jing and Li Yu.
• Li Yu met Yang Jing's gaze with open provocation, while Bai Bing asked Yang Jing if he was confident and Cao Zhen promised him twenty drops of Aperture-Nurturing Jade Marrow if he defeated Li Yu.

Yang Jing faced Li Yu in the final battle of the Vajra Order’s Mountain-Visiting Challenge, while everyone feared Li Yu’s superior cultivation. The chapter ended with Yang Jing revealing that he had also reached the Qi-Nourishing Realm, stunning the crowd and restoring the Profound Truth Sect’s hopes.

• Yang Jing accepted Li Yu’s challenge and followed him into the Fu Mountain Battle Arena as the Profound Truth Sect’s last available fighter.
• Li Yu released his aura, revealing his Qi-Nourishing Realm breakthrough and plunging the Profound Truth Sect’s disciples into despair.
• Yang Jing calmly circulated his internal qi, revealing an equally powerful Qi-Nourishing Realm aura beneath the Shadow Garment’s concealment.
• The dignitaries and spectators were stunned by Yang Jing’s breakthrough, and the Profound Truth Sect’s disciples erupted in renewed cheers.

Yang Jing revealed his Qi-Nourishing Realm cultivation and fought Li Yu in the Mountain-Visiting Challenge. After initially holding back to test his strength, he fused the power of the Mountain-Splitting Seal and Indestructible True Art and left Li Yu badly injured with one strike.

• Yang Jing revealed that he had reached the Qi-Nourishing Realm, reigniting the Profound Truth Sect disciples’ hope and alarming Xiao Chen.
• Li Yu attacked Yang Jing with the Black Tiger Wind-Splitting Claw, and Yang Jing met him with the Mountain-Splitting Seal, appearing slightly weaker in their first clash.
• Yang Jing traded more than twenty exchanges with Li Yu to test his strength while the Profound Truth Sect leaders watched his calm demeanor.
• Yang Jing fused the internal qi of the Mountain-Splitting Seal and Indestructible True Art, causing his aura to surge toward the peak of the Qi-Nourishing Realm.
• Yang Jing advanced to meet Li Yu’s strongest claw strike and overwhelmed him with one punch, sending him crashing into the arena railing as the crowd erupted.

Yang Jing dominated Li Yu in their Mountain-Visiting Challenge fight, revealing the overwhelming strength of his fused Qi-Nourishing Realm internal qi. Desperate to avoid defeat, Li Yu tried to force a breakthrough with his second true art during the battle, but the attempt failed and left his internal qi rampaging through his body.

• Yang Jing overwhelmed Li Yu in their renewed exchange, repeatedly driving him back while remaining composed and largely unharmed.
• After Yang Jing sent him crashing into the arena railing, Li Yu attempted to force his Astral Dharma Body from the peak of the Qi-Devouring Realm into the Qi-Nourishing Realm.
• Yang Jing recognized Li Yu's dangerous plan and chose to watch rather than interrupt, while Xiao Chen hesitated too long to stop the attempt.
• Li Yu's breakthrough stalled and failed, sending his internal qi out of control and causing him to vomit blood as his meridians and dantian were damaged.

Yang Jing defeated Li Yu after Li Yu’s reckless breakthrough attempt caused a devastating qi backlash, securing the Profound Truth Sect’s victory in the Mountain-Visiting Challenge. The sect’s leaders summoned Yang Jing to the Main Peak Hall and prepared to grant him the promised generous reward.

• Li Yu’s failed breakthrough left him unconscious and near death, and Xiao Chen gave him a healing pill before asking Cao Zhen for a place to treat him.
• Yang Jing stood alone on the arena as Zhou Qiang and Xu Shizheng realized Li Yu’s injuries might leave them as the Vajra Order’s remaining prodigies.
• The Profound Truth Sect celebrated its victory, while Chen Qiuhe and Qi Fengnian recognized Yang Jing as a rising leader of Jintai Prefecture’s younger generation.
• Bai Bing thanked Qin Gang for yielding Yang Jing to Lingxi Peak, and Qin Gang reaffirmed that the Shadow Garment belonged to Yang Jing.
• Bai Bing summoned Yang Jing to the Main Peak Hall, where Cao Zhen praised his contribution and promised him the generous reward the sect had pledged.

Yang Jing received three precious rewards from the Profound Truth Sect after defeating the Vajra Order, while news of his victory spread throughout Jintai Prefecture. The Vajra Order and Hong Family learned of his rise and confronted the consequences of having underestimated him.

• Cao Zhen awarded Yang Jing twenty drops of Aperture-Nurturing Jade Marrow, a Dragon-Tiger Mountain Great Restoration Pill, and the Rainstorm Pear Blossom Needles, and promised him an exclusive Grade-A Training Room.
• Yang Jing accepted the treasures, promised to cultivate diligently, and returned to stand behind his master, Bai Bing, as the Profound Truth Sect's leaders discussed the victory.
• Witnesses carried news of Yang Jing's victory over Li Yu throughout Jintai Prefecture, turning Yang Jing into the focus of public attention while Li Yu was dismissed as his defeated rival.
• Wei Ran read Xiao Chen's letter and learned that Li Yu, Zhou Qiang, and Xu Shizheng had all lost to the Profound Truth Sect; he ordered the Vajra Order's hall masters and core elders to assemble.
• Hong Shixian heard the Grand Elder's account of Yang Jing's victory and regretted shelving a marriage alliance between Yang Jing and his daughter, Hong Qingzhu.

After Yang Jing defeated Li Yu, the Lin Family resolved to strengthen its ties with him, while Bai Bing tested his power and confirmed that both his true arts had reached the Qi-Nourishing Realm. Yang Jing left Lingxi Hall to find Si Jiawen waiting outside, where she suspected he had been hiding his strength to claim Lingxi Peak’s Senior Brother’s seat.

• Lin Weiyuan and the Lin Family's Grand Elder discussed Yang Jing's victory and resolved to use their existing connection to draw closer to him, including encouraging Lin Shuhua to meet him.
• Bai Bing tested Yang Jing in combat and identified his Indestructible True Art's breakthrough as a reason for his strength.
• Yang Jing confirmed to Bai Bing that both his Mountain-Splitting Seal and Indestructible True Art had reached the Qi-Nourishing Realm.
• Bai Bing told Yang Jing to cultivate peacefully and informed him that the sect was building him an exclusive Grade-A Training Room.
• Si Jiawen confronted Yang Jing outside Lingxi Hall and accused him of concealing his strength to pursue Lingxi Peak's Senior Brother's seat.

Yang Jing sparred with Si Jiawen and learned how vast the gap between their strength remained, then resolved to advance his third true art and cultivate harder. Sun Ningxiang brought him a letter from Yuhe County, and he eagerly asked who had sent it.

• Si Jiawen led Yang Jing to a secluded clearing and challenged him to spar so she could test his strength.
• Si Jiawen overpowered Yang Jing, struck both his eyes during their exchange, and ended the spar after he conceded.
• Si Jiawen privately recognized Yang Jing's remarkable combat strength and worried that he might eventually take her place as Lingxi Peak's foremost disciple.
• Yang Jing returned to his courtyard, resolved to train in the new Grade-A Training Room and advance Crossing the River to the qi-nourishing realm.
• Sun Ningxiang arrived with a letter from Yuhe County, and Yang Jing eagerly asked who had sent it.

After reading letters from home and celebrating his victory with Sun Ningxiang, Yang Jing resolved to search for his missing father and Elder Uncle and warn his family about the Demon Cult's return. He began cultivating in a newly completed exclusive Grade-A Training Room, entering it to make use of its powerful origin energy.

• Yang Jing read letters from Sun Yong, Yang An, and Liu Maolin, agreed with Sun Ningxiang to visit Yuhe County, and looked forward to meeting Liu Maolin in Hidden Dragon Town.
• Yang Jing decided to ask Bai Bing and the Profound Truth Sect to help find his missing father and Elder Uncle, then wrote Sun Yong a warning about the Demon Cult's return.
• Yang Jing celebrated his victory with Sun Ningxiang over a feast, walked her back to her courtyard, and practiced the Mountain-Splitting Seal to settle his restless blood and qi.
• Yang Jing slept, dreamed of defeating Si Jiawen and giving her panda eyes, then woke refreshed and headed to the training room area.
• Yang Jing rented a Grade-B Training Room while the sect finished building his exclusive Grade-A Training Room, then entered the completed room with Steward Zhang Jian.

Yang Jing cultivated intensively in his private Grade-A Training Room while news of his victory made him a celebrated prodigy across Jintai Prefecture. After reports of a brutal attack on Horse Mountain Village and an urgent sect steward's arrival, Yang Jing and Sun Ningxiang returned to Duck Mountain Island, where the disciples' alarm suggested a crisis had begun.

• Zhang Jian explained the facilities and rules of Yang Jing's private Grade-A Training Room, and Yang Jing began training there with the Mountain-Splitting Seal and Crossing the River.
• Yang Jing's victory over Li Yu brought him invitations and fame across Jintai Prefecture, but he accepted only the Lin siblings' invitation and remained focused on cultivation.
• A short, round-faced young man led black-robed martial artists to Horse Mountain Village and ordered them to sacrifice its residents for the Sacred Cult's return.
• At a rainy banquet in Hidden Dragon Town, Lin Shuhua and Ma Qiang told Yang Jing that the martial world ranked him alongside Jiang Yun, Duan Wenjun, and Chen Chu.
• A panicked Profound Truth Sect steward raced toward Duck Mountain Island, prompting Yang Jing to suspect a connection to the Demon Cult.
• After Yang Jing and Sun Ningxiang returned to Duck Mountain Island, they encountered disciples discussing something urgently with shock and apprehension.

Yang Jing and Sun Ningxiang learned that the Demon Cult had slaughtered villages across Jintai Prefecture, draining the villagers’ blood essence, and joined their companions to assess the threat. As reports of attacks spread and the Profound Truth Sect mobilized its forces, the group feared the cult’s resurgence could exceed the catastrophe of thirty years ago.

• Yang Jing and Sun Ningxiang heard that the Demon Cult had slaughtered seven villages in Heyin County and drained every villager into a dried corpse.
• Yang Jing reassured Sun Ningxiang and decided to seek more information from his master or Si Jiawen, while rumors of further massacres and battles spread across Duck Mountain Island.
• The next day, Yang Jing, Sun Ningxiang, Lin Ziheng, Ma Qiang, Yan Chenglong, and Fang He gathered at the Ma Family Tavern to share what they knew about the Demon Cult.
• Fang He recalled that the Five Great Schools had needed the full strength of Jintai Prefecture’s righteous martial world to drive the Demon Cult back thirty years earlier.
• Yang Jing and his companions discussed the cult’s attacks across the prefecture and the possibility that its return could bring a disaster as great as the invasion six hundred years ago.

As the Demon Cult invasion devastated Jintai Prefecture, the Five Great Schools adapted to the fighting and drove the cult into hiding, though two renowned Core-Realm Experts died. On Duck Mountain Island, Yang Jing stayed focused on cultivation, having advanced Crossing the River into the Qi-Nourishing Realm and aiming to bring the Mountain-Splitting Seal to its peak.

• Fang He reported the Demon Cult’s massacres across Jintai Prefecture, and Yang Jing and Yan Chenglong suppressed their desire to join the fighting under the sect’s orders.
• Qin Shiyun and Chong Tao died in battle against Demon Cult experts, while the Vajra Order’s leader later avenged Qin Shiyun by killing her attacker.
• The Five Great Schools killed four Demon Cult Core-Realm Experts and many other fighters, forcing the remaining cultists to abandon frontal battles and hide in small groups.
• In October, Yang Jing went to his Grade-A Training Room and reflected on his cultivation after more than two months of focused training.
• Yang Jing’s Crossing the River entered the Qi-Nourishing Realm, and he turned his main effort toward advancing the Mountain-Splitting Seal through intensive practice.

Yang Jing trained with the sect’s Aperture-Nurturing Jade Marrow before Si Jiawen summoned him to the Main Peak Hall. There, the sect’s leaders and elite disciples gathered amid rumors that the meeting concerned the Demon Cult, but the purpose of the summons remained unknown.

• Yang Jing refined his Mountain-Splitting Seal with a drop of Aperture-Nurturing Jade Marrow until Si Jiawen arrived with word that their master had summoned them and Du Lingchen to the Main Peak Hall.
• Yang Jing and Si Jiawen set out for the Main Peak, speculating that the sect intended to involve them in the fight against the Demon Cult.
• Yang Jing and Si Jiawen reached the Main Peak Hall, where the Peak Masters and Chief Elder Ouyang Jingxuan were already assembled and Du Lingchen joined them.
• Elite disciples from the other peaks arrived, and Yang Jing noticed Chu Yunhai watching him with renewed fighting spirit and plans to challenge him after reaching the Qi-Nourishing Realm.
• The gathered disciples whispered that the Demon Cult had moved again in Heyin County, but Sect Master Cao Zhen had yet to arrive and the summons’s purpose was still unclear.

Cao Zhen announced that the Profound Truth Sect’s Qi-Nourishing Realm Core Disciples and Transforming Strength disciples would join a prefecture-wide campaign to find and eradicate the Demon Cult. The operation would begin in three months, and Yang Jing and the others were warned to beware both hidden fiends and traitors.

• Cao Zhen entered the Main Peak Hall and explained that the Demon Cult had driven its surviving forces underground after a wave of blood sacrifices and battles with the righteous schools.
• Cao Zhen ordered the disciples to patrol Jintai Prefecture in three months, using their heightened senses to find Demon Cult members and calling on stationed Core Realm experts for help when needed.
• Cao Zhen promised rewards for kills, discovered strongholds, and useful clues, while warning that the campaign would be dangerous and prolonged.
• The disciples’ fighting spirit rose as they accepted the mission to eradicate the Demon Cult.
• Cao Zhen warned the disciples that infiltrators and collaborators could be harder to detect and more dangerous than openly declared Demon Cult fiends, making Yang Jing recall their treachery.