Chapter Summaries

Xiang Yutian fought the five Buddhist Great Masters who had come to challenge him at the Evil Extreme Sect. He overwhelmed them with his demonic strength and, furious after their attacks, unleashed a killing blow as the battle continued.

• Xiang Yutian revealed his face and demanded to know why the five Buddhist masters had come to the Evil Extreme Sect.
• Jiaxiang, Zhihui, Venerable Dixian, Daoxin, and Kong launched a coordinated attack on Xiang Yutian.
• Xiang Yutian countered their techniques, knocking Zhihui and Venerable Dixian away while enduring Jiaxiang's One Finger Zen and Daoxin's palm strike.
• Jiaxiang broke a finger attacking Xiang Yutian's head, while Xiang Yutian struck toward Daoxin and faced Kong's Void Splitting Palm and Venerable Dixian's renewed staff attack.
• Xiang Yutian shattered Venerable Dixian's staff, blasted him away, and sent Daoxin flying with a kick.
• Xiang Yutian roared "Die!" as his killing intent surged around the battered Buddhist masters.

Xiang Yutian resisted being pulled through the Immortal Gate, escaped the Buddhist masters despite horrific injuries, and fled to find the Evil Emperor's Sarira. A black-robed youth appeared above him in a golden river, and Xiang Yutian recognized him.

• Xiang Yutian fought the Immortal Gate's pull while Daoxin, Jiaxiang, Dixin, Zhihui, and Liaokong discussed why he resisted Shattering the Void.
• Xiang Yutian endured the Immortal Gate's destructive power, then escaped when the five Buddhist masters attacked him.
• Dixin urged the Buddhist masters to seek an imperial warrant, and Zhihui ordered them to kill the Evil Extreme Sect disciples.
• Xiang Yutian fled through the forest toward the Evil Emperor's Sarira to heal his injuries before Jingyan Palace appeared.
• A golden river crossed the sky, and Xiang Yutian recognized the black-robed youth standing within it.

Gu Shaoshang fought the gravely wounded Xiang Yutian, who sacrificed his body’s remaining potential to regain his strength and battle at full power. Their clash left both badly injured, but Xiang Yutian was drawn into the Immortal Gate, and Gu Shaoshang escaped with his head.

• Gu Shaoshang confronted the severely injured Xiang Yutian and challenged him to fight again.
• Xiang Yutian drained the life force from nearby trees to restore his strength, knowing the effort would destroy his body.
• Gu Shaoshang and Xiang Yutian collided with their full power, opening spatial cracks and grievously injuring each other.
• Xiang Yutian’s head was severed as the Immortal Gate appeared, and Gu Shaoshang seized it while his headless body was pulled inside.
• Gu Shaoshang dodged the closing fissures, escaped the Immortal Gate’s pull, and landed on the devastated ground.

Gu Shaoshang discovered that Xiang Yutian had survived as a fading primordial spirit and learned how the Evil Emperor's Sarira and his search for War God's Hall had shaped his failed schemes. Gu Shaoshang offered Xiang Yutian a Daoist soul-cultivation manual in exchange for fifty years of service, leaving Xiang Yutian considering the bargain.

• Gu Shaoshang restrained his blood qi so Xiang Yutian could appear as a hazy primordial spirit without dissipating.
• Xiang Yutian explained that the Evil Emperors' Origin Essence had hindered his martial progress and described his search for War God's Hall and failed political schemes.
• Gu Shaoshang asked whether Xiang Yutian wanted to live, then revealed the Heavenly Dao Spirit Suppressing Meditation Method.
• Xiang Yutian recognized the manual's path to becoming a Ghost Immortal and asked Gu Shaoshang what he wanted.
• Gu Shaoshang offered Xiang Yutian the manual in exchange for fifty years of service, and Xiang Yutian began weighing the offer.

Gu Shaoshang secured Xiang Yutian’s agreement to explain Daoist cultivation and continued impersonating Yang Guang. The chapter left him established as crown prince, with Pei Ju entering his household as a retainer.

• Xiang Yutian agreed to explain the cultivation bottlenecks of Daoist magic to Gu Shaoshang in exchange for the remaining manuals after he became a Ghost Immortal.
• Xiang Yutian revealed that Jingyan Palace would not open for eight years and explained that he had secretly schemed against Yang Jian, who still had several years to live.
• Gu Shaoshang returned to Daxing, resumed Yang Guang’s appearance, and ordered his guards to find the heartwood of a thousand-year locust tree for Xiang Yutian.
• Yang Su proposed Yang Guang as crown prince, and the court officials supported the appointment.
• Great Virtue entered Daxing to become Daoxin’s disciple, while Pei Ju joined Yang Guang’s household as a retainer.

Gu Shaoshang balanced governing Great Sui with martial cultivation and tasked Shi Zhixuan, disguised as Pei Ju, with secretly investigating the population hidden by aristocratic clans. Days later, as Gu Shaoshang returned from court, a rider announced urgent news from the border.

• Gu Shaoshang rejected Xiang Yutian's warning that governing and court life would weaken his martial path, insisting that worldly challenges could not shake his fist intent.
• Shi Zhixuan, posing as Pei Ju, asked to leave the Crown Prince's service, but Gu Shaoshang assigned him to investigate concealed populations across the realm.
• Gu Shaoshang persuaded Shi Zhixuan to accept the task, and Xiang Yutian remarked that the Evil King might not be easy to control.
• Several days later, Pei Ju left Daxing while Gu Shaoshang continued attending court and cultivating.
• As Gu Shaoshang returned from court, a rider galloped through the streets, shouting that urgent news had arrived from the border.

Gu Shaoshang was summoned to lead a Sui expedition against the Turks and marched north with three hundred thousand troops. As Yang Su and Shi Wansui moved ahead to block the Turkic retreat, Gu Shaoshang vowed to annihilate the invading army and press into the grasslands; a blizzard swept over the border as battle loomed.

• Gu Shaoshang learned that the Turks had invaded and received an imperial summons to the palace.
• Yang Jian appointed Gu Shaoshang Grand Marshal of a three-hundred-thousand-strong expedition, with Yang Su, Han Qinhu, Shi Wansui, and Yuwen Tuo accompanying him.
• Yang Su and Shi Wansui proposed taking fifty thousand elite troops ahead to cut off the Turks, and Gu Shaoshang approved the plan.
• Gu Shaoshang told Xiang Yutian that he intended to destroy the invading Turkic army and invade the grasslands.
• Yang Su and Shi Wansui blocked the Turkic army's retreat beyond the Great Wall while Gu Shaoshang's main force neared the border in a blizzard.

Shi Wansui led ten thousand Sui cavalry against Datou’s massive Turkic army, while Yang Su defended Wuwei. When Shabolu arrived from the north, Yang Su called for Yuwen Tuo to draw his sword, and Yuwen Tuo leaped into the air amid a flash of scarlet light.

• Yang Su and Shi Wansui prepared to face Datou’s cavalry outside Wuwei as the snow and cold threatened their defenses.
• Shi Wansui led ten thousand cavalry out to meet Datou’s army and killed Ashina Zanbo in a duel, raising the Sui soldiers’ morale.
• Datou ordered his cavalry to attack, and Shi Wansui charged through the arrows and cut into the Turkic forces.
• Yang Su spotted Shabolu’s cavalry approaching from the north and shouted for Yuwen Tuo to draw his sword.
• Yuwen Tuo leaped into the air as scarlet light swept through the falling snow.

Yuwen Tuo slaughtered thousands of Turkic cavalry with the Xuanyuan Sword, but his limited strength left him vulnerable when Bi Xuan confronted him. Shi Wansui rescued the wounded Yuwen Tuo after his own ten thousand cavalry were wiped out, leaving them surrounded by the Turkic army.

• Yuwen Tuo unleashed a devastating sword sweep that killed countless Turkic cavalry and threw their army into chaos.
• Bi Xuan charged Yuwen Tuo, and their first clash injured Yuwen Tuo while driving Bi Xuan back.
• Bi Xuan attacked Yuwen Tuo with the Blazing Sun Great Law, blasted him away, and prepared a second spear strike.
• Shi Wansui hurled his horse lance at Bi Xuan, then seized the fallen Yuwen Tuo when Bi Xuan shattered the weapon.
• Shi Wansui and Yuwen Tuo were surrounded as Shi Wansui's ten thousand cavalry were wiped out.

Gu Shaoshang charged alone into the three hundred thousand Turkic cavalry outside Wuwei City, demonstrating an unstoppable force. He tore through their formation as Yang Su watched from the walls, with Sui reinforcements approaching in the distance.

• Gu Shaoshang told Xiang Yutian that the Turkic army’s remaining strength was enough and set out to break through it alone.
• Bi Xuan attacked Shi Wansui and Yuwen Tuo, who chose to fight rather than retreat, while Yang Su refused to send troops from Wuwei City.
• Gu Shaoshang raced toward the Turkic army, and Yang Su spotted a Sui banner approaching from the plains and ordered the city troops to prepare.
• Turkic soldiers fired a storm of arrows at Gu Shaoshang, but his surrounding gale deflected them and sent them back into the ranks.
• Gu Shaoshang blasted through the Turkic formation, killing soldiers and horses as he drove more than ten miles through the army.

Gu Shaoshang slaughtered his way through the Turkic army and killed Bi Xuan with a single punch. The surviving Turkic soldiers surrendered as Yang Su led Wuwei City's forces onto the battlefield.

• Gu Shaoshang charged through the Turkic formation, killing tens of thousands with Scattered Arrows Strike.
• Shi Wansui carried the wounded Yuwen Tuo away while Bi Xuan pursued Gu Shaoshang.
• Gu Shaoshang faced Bi Xuan and crushed his Moon Wolf Spear and chest with Buzhou Break, killing him with one punch.
• The Turkic soldiers dropped their weapons and knelt after witnessing Bi Xuan's death.
• Yang Su led Wuwei City's troops out to find Gu Shaoshang standing among the kneeling Turkic soldiers.

Gu Shaoshang defeated Bi Xuan and planned to use the captured Turkic soldiers to build a Grand Canal, promising to solve the food shortage himself. As Yang Su and Han Qinhu escorted the prisoners to Daxing, news of the Sui victory reached Yang Jian, who prepared to receive them.

• Gu Shaoshang killed Bi Xuan with one punch, and Yang Su ordered the Sui Army to capture the remaining Turkic forces.
• Gu Shaoshang rejected calls to kill the more than two hundred thousand captives and announced his plan to use them to build a Grand Canal.
• Gu Shaoshang inspected the Nine Cauldrons’ growing space and considered how potatoes could help solve Great Sui’s food shortage.
• Yang Su and Han Qinhu escorted the captives toward Daxing as news of the Sui victory spread across Great Sui.
• Yang Jian celebrated the victory and dispatched Su Wei to receive the captives.

Gu Shaoshang abandoned his advance across the snowbound grasslands, returned to Daxing City, and learned from Xiang Yutian that Ran Min had vanished after confronting a Heavenly Demon. Seven years later, Gu’s trained youths had become powerful martial artists, and Xiang Yutian prepared to take revenge on the Buddhist sects.

• Datou wept over the winter famine, but Gu Shaoshang turned back because the snow made an advance across the grasslands impossible.
• Gu Shaoshang returned to Daxing City with his army after handing over the prisoners and found that his Source Power had reached one hundred thousand.
• Xiang Yutian recounted how Ran Min disappeared after a crimson star fell and a huge golden palm descended from the sky, while Ran Min and Mo Yiming cried out, “Heavenly Demon!”
• Seven years later, Gu Shaoshang watched more than nine hundred youths train, including many who had reached the Grandmaster Realm.
• Xiang Yutian told Gu Shaoshang that he would take revenge on the Buddhist sects.

Gu Shaoshang reached the Qi Sect Realm and discussed its cultivation path with Xiang Yutian while preparing for their journey to War God's Hall. Their plans were interrupted when Yuwen Tuo reported that Emperor Yang Jian was gravely ill, and Gu Shaoshang hurried to the palace.

• Gu Shaoshang explained that he had tempered a seed of true qi and entered the Qi Sect Realm, describing how it transformed blood qi and opened acupoints.
• Xiang Yutian asked for the cultivation methods beyond Ghost Immortal, and Gu Shaoshang promised them after they retrieved the War God's Catalog from War God's Hall.
• Anger arrived, and Gu Shaoshang said he looked forward to facing the demonic dragon at War God's Hall.
• Yuwen Tuo reported that an imperial envoy had brought word that Yang Jian was gravely ill and near death.
• Gu Shaoshang sent Anger into the air and left for the palace.

Yang Jian ordered Yang Guang’s arrest and named Yang Jun as Crown Prince after Lady Xuanhua accused Yang Guang of trying to violate her. Gu Shaoshang entered the palace and found himself surrounded by Imperial Guards, Yuwen Shang, Yuwen Huaji, and Liaokong.

• Yang Jian, gravely ill and enraged by Lady Xuanhua’s accusation, ordered Liu Shu and Yuan Yan to depose Yang Guang and appoint Yang Jun as Crown Prince.
• Lady Xuanhua, Liu Shu, and Yuan Yan revealed that they had conspired to turn Yang Jian against Yang Guang, while Imperial Guards waited to seize him.
• Gu Shaoshang arrived at the palace and sensed the killing intent as the gates closed behind him.
• Yuwen Shang, Yuwen Huaji, and Liaokong emerged with the Imperial Guards and confronted Gu Shaoshang.
• Gu Shaoshang mocked his opponents as stray dogs who dared to encircle him.

Gu Shaoshang revealed his overwhelming martial power when Yuwen Huaji and the conspirators attacked him at Meridian Gate. After killing the attackers, he headed for Yang Jian’s Imperial Palace to claim what he believed was his.

• Yuwen Huaji attacked Gu Shaoshang with his sword, but Gu disarmed him and crushed his head against the ground.
• Yuwen Shang and Liao Kong joined the attack as the soldiers charged Gu Shaoshang.
• Gu unleashed a devastating punch that killed Yuwen Shang, Liao Kong, and the charging soldiers, carving a vast scar through the ground.
• The surviving soldiers dropped their weapons in terror, while Gu Shaoshang walked toward Yang Jian’s Imperial Palace.

Gu Shaoshang entered Yang Jian’s palace after crushing the rebellion and learned that the Yuwen Clan, the Dugu Clan, and Buddhist monks had plotted to replace him as Crown Prince. He ordered the court summoned after declaring Yang Jian dead, leaving his purge of the conspirators poised to begin.

• Gu Shaoshang reached Yang Jian’s bedchamber, where a eunuch told him Liu Shu and Yuan Yan had delivered a letter connected to the plot.
• Lady Xuanhua blamed the Yuwen Clan and Jingnian Zen Temple for the scheme, and Gu Shaoshang killed her before finding Yang Jian near death.
• Gu Shaoshang ordered the eunuch to take him to Liu Shu and Yuan Yan, who confessed that the Yuwen and Dugu clans and monks including Kong had planned to depose him.
• Gu Shaoshang killed Liu Shu and Yuan Yan, then ordered the eunuch to summon the ministers and announce that Yang Jian had died.

Gu Shaoshang ascended the throne as emperor of the Great Sui and received a great influx of Source Power, then approved Yang Su’s proposals to destroy the Yuwen and Dugu clans and purge the Buddhist sect. Yang Su left to assist Shi Wansui in attacking the Yuwen Clan while privately growing more apprehensive about Gu Shaoshang.

• After a month of upheaval in Daxing City, Gu Shaoshang ascended the throne and received 100,000 Source Power from the Myriad Heavens Mirror.
• Gu Shaoshang surveyed the officials’ thoughts and reflected that martial progress mattered more to him than imperial power and glory.
• Yang Su accused the Yuwen Clan and Dugu Clan of rebellion and requested their extermination, and Gu Shaoshang approved.
• Yang Su called for the Buddhist sect’s property to be confiscated, its monks returned to secular life, and its defiant or criminal members killed, and Gu Shaoshang approved.
• Yang Su warned Gu Shaoshang that the Buddhist sect’s Four Great Holy Monks would be difficult to find, but Gu Shaoshang dismissed the concern.
• Yang Su left to assist Shi Wansui in destroying the Yuwen Clan and privately recalled Gu Shaoshang’s mysterious transformation with unease.

Gu Shaoshang ordered the Dugu Clan’s destruction while sparing one young girl, then sent Xiang Yutian and Shi Wansui to carry out the attack. The chapter ended as Dugu Feng charged Shi Wansui, who answered with a storm of blade light.

• Xiao Meiniang asked Gu Shaoshang to spare the Dugu Clan, and he told her he had already ordered that Dugu Feng’s young daughter be left alive.
• Gu Shaoshang secretly left the Imperial Study and flew toward the Dugu Clan’s residence in Daxing City.
• Xiang Yutian told Shi Wansui that Yuwen Tuo had been ordered to exterminate the Yuwen Clan and that resistance from the Dugu Clan was to be met with death.
• Shi Wansui smashed open the Dugu Clan’s gates and led soldiers into the courtyard, where You Chuhong confronted him.
• Dugu Feng stepped forward to take responsibility and attacked Shi Wansui, who drew his saber and engulfed him in blade light.

Xiang Yutian and Shi Wansui attacked the Dugu Clan, where four Buddhist masters emerged to defend the conspirators. Xiang Yutian revealed himself and prepared to face them, just as an unknown figure arrived.

• Shi Wansui nearly defeated Dugu Feng, while Xiang Yutian intercepted You Chuhong and proved himself a Grandmaster.
• Xiang Yutian knocked You Chuhong back, and Shi Wansui beheaded Dugu Feng.
• Daoxin, Dixing, Zhihui, and Jiaxiang emerged and used their voices to incapacitate the fighters in the courtyard.
• Dugu Ba condemned Yang Guang's actions, and Shi Wansui accused the aristocratic clans and Buddhist sect of exploiting the people.
• Daoxin and the other monks recognized Xiang Yutian, who challenged them and announced he would kill them; a figure then rushed onto the scene.