Chapter Summaries

Lu Chen defended the arena against a succession of Cloud Prefecture fighters, surviving their attacks and defeating them with his overwhelming strength and abilities. With his Sword Test of Heroes progress at 94/100, he hoped to finish the trial and break through to Great Swordsman during the tournament.

• Ji Xiaohe teased Ji Hongdie about Lu Chen’s recent growth, and Ji Hongdie embarrassedly explained that they had not yet adjusted to his new height.
• Xiang Lei volunteered to fight Lu Chen, but Fu Prince ordered him to wait and chose instead to wear Lu Chen down by sending fighters against him one after another.
• Lu Chen pulled a Cloud Prefecture youth in with All Things of Attraction, endured his powerful Instant Burst attack without injury, and knocked him unconscious.
• Lu Chen foresaw a swordsman’s attack and sent him flying, then continued defeating the fighters Cloud Prefecture sent to exhaust him.
• Lu Chen learned through system notifications that his Sword Test of Heroes progress had reached 94/100 and looked forward to completing the trial and advancing to Great Swordsman.

Lu Chen defeated Cloud Prefecture’s prodigies but began to lose blood and vitality as they tried to wear him down. He recovered by using Meditation to absorb natural energy, and Cloud Prefecture sent a Spirit Master with a Fire Ox into the arena, which Lu Chen recognized as an Elite Creature.

• Lu Chen defeated more than twenty Cloud Prefecture prodigies as their executives stopped sending swordsmen and had their warriors resist his attraction to drain his strength.
• Lu Chen prepared to take Blood Replenishing Pills, but Fu Prince told him the rules barred medicine during battle, so he put them away.
• Lu Chen used Meditation to absorb natural energy and recover stamina, while Cloud Prefecture’s experts debated how to stop his recovery.
• A Cloud Prefecture warrior attacked Lu Chen, but Lu Chen pulled him close with All Things of Attraction and defeated him quickly.
• Fu Prince sent a Spirit Master onto the arena, and the man summoned a Fire Ox and empowered it with spells as it charged Lu Chen.
• Lu Chen felt Feast’s excitement and recognized the Fire Ox as an Elite Creature.

Lu Chen swallowed the Fire Ox and gained another Feast enhancement after undergoing a painful physical evolution. He then used All Things of Attraction and Corruption of Plorymon to subdue a Barbarian Bear and replenish his strength, while the Yun Zhou Executives considered forcing the Spirit Beast Master to surrender.

• Lu Chen swallowed the Fire Ox alive, and its digestion triggered a painful evolution that stretched and strengthened his body.
• The Spirit Beast Master mistook Lu Chen's pain for the Fire Ox's resistance and sent a Barbarian Bear to attack him.
• Lu Chen pulled the Barbarian Bear toward him, while Corruption of Plorymon devoured the Spirit Beast Master's curses and filled both master and beast with fear.
• The Spirit Beast Master suppressed his fear by meditating on his clan's Sacred Beast, while Lu Chen bit into the Barbarian Bear and drank its blood.
• The Yun Zhou Executives worried that Lu Chen was replenishing his Blood Qi and debated making the Spirit Beast Master surrender; system notifications confirmed Lu Chen would gain another Feast enhancement after digestion.

Lu Chen used Feast to devour an Elite Creature, grew stronger, and defeated Cloud Prefecture’s fighters until he completed his swordsmanship trial and advanced to Great Swordsman. As he continued battling, his new sword intent and skills emerged, leaving Cloud Prefecture’s leaders shocked that he had advanced during the tournament.

• Lu Chen completed Feast’s fourth enhancement layer after devouring the Fire Ox, and the Cloud Prefecture leaders realized how rapidly his strength had grown.
• Lu Chen defeated a Talismans Master and then more than ten Cloud Prefecture geniuses, while the executives considered sending their Central Continent talent to fight him.
• After defeating one hundred sword-wielders, Lu Chen completed Sword Test of Heroes, spent 10,000 Experience Points, and advanced from Swordsman to Great Swordsman, improving Fatal Blow.
• A Myriad Flowers Sword Sect swordsman wounded Lu Chen with deathly intent, but Lu Chen’s Conqueror’s Haki crushed it and allowed his Constitution to heal the wound.
• Lu Chen replaced several drawn skills and obtained the Gold-rank skill Piercing the Rakshasa’s Impermanence.
• The Cloud Prefecture powerhouses sensed Lu Chen’s advancement during the battle and rose in shock.

Lu Chen faced Xiang Lei, whose lightning-powered speed and attacks overwhelmed his reactions but could not pierce his defense. As Xiang Lei launched a dangerous thrust, Lu Chen unleashed Conqueror's Haki: Intimidation.

• Lu Chen's repeated victories strengthened him, alarming the Cloud Prefecture crowd and prompting Fu Prince to send Xiang Lei to fight.
• Xiang Lei used a magnetic lightning field to break Lu Chen's All Things of Attraction, then moved at extreme speed and struck Lu Chen repeatedly without damaging him.
• Xiang Lei called down lightning and deliberately let it hit him, entering a lightning-charged state that made him resemble a Super Saiyan.
• Xiang Lei attacked Lu Chen from different directions at near-teleporting speed, while Lu Chen sensed the blows but could not react quickly enough to stop them.
• Xiang Lei used Shining Thrust to target Lu Chen's kidney, and Lu Chen answered by releasing Conqueror's Haki: Intimidation.

Lu Chen battled Xiang Lei, whose Thunder God Meditation Diagram countered Lu Chen’s Conqueror’s Haki, and used Star Platinum to break Xiang Lei’s arm. Lu Chen then unleashed a tracking Noble Phantasm and trapped Xiang Lei between rising walls, leaving the attack’s outcome unresolved.

• Lu Chen’s Conqueror’s Haki clashed with Xiang Lei’s Thunder God Meditation Diagram, and their opposing pressures cracked the arena.
• Xiang Lei attacked while Lu Chen was occupied, but Star Platinum struck back and broke Xiang Lei’s arm before its limited range halted the pursuit.
• Lu Chen and Star Platinum healed their wounds, while Xiang Lei despaired over how difficult Lu Chen was to hurt.
• Lu Chen chanted the release words and hurled his Meteor Sword at Xiang Lei with Piercing the Rakshasa’s Impermanence.
• Xiang Lei dodged repeatedly, but the sword tracked him, while Lu Chen raised Mud Giant Walls on both sides of the arena and drew his hands together.

Lu Chen defeated Xiang Lei by crushing him beneath the earth, then dominated the remaining arena matches. After repeatedly asking his opponents whether he was a swordsman, he left convinced that he was one.

• Lu Chen trapped Xiang Lei between two Mud Giant Walls, struck him with Piercing the Rakshasa's Impermanence, and buried him beneath compressed earth until the Cloud Prefecture side surrendered.
• Lu Chen spared Xiang Lei, retrieved his sword, and reasoned that throwing a longsword could still make him a swordsman.
• A Cloud Prefecture Martial Artist challenged Lu Chen, who lifted him by the neck and demanded to know whether he looked like a swordsman.
• Lu Chen accepted the fighter's praise, threw him from the arena, and continued winning the remaining matches with ease.
• Lu Chen repeatedly asked his opponents to confirm he was a swordsman, then concluded that he was one.

Cloud Prefecture sent Gongzi Liusui to challenge Lu Chen, expecting the Central Continent prince to turn the contest around. Their head-on clash ended with Lu Chen defeating him in one blow, leaving the Yun Zhou Executives' trump card unconscious and the crowd stunned.

• The people of Cloud Prefecture asked Gongzi Liusui to fight Lu Chen, and the prince agreed, appearing sorrowful as he climbed onto the arena.
• Gongzi Liusui covered himself in golden armor and challenged Lu Chen to an honorable head-on battle.
• Lu Chen activated Endless Rage, used Fatal Blow, summoned First Demon God: Soul Bender Kazan, and met the prince's sword strike directly.
• Lu Chen's powerful blow sent Gongzi Liusui flying off the arena, badly injured and unconscious beneath it.
• The Cloud Prefecture crowd and executives reacted in shock as their Central Continent trump card was defeated, while Xiang Liang and the other experts began to realize something.

Lu Chen defeated Gongzi Liusui with a single blow, leaving Cloud Prefecture’s geniuses afraid to challenge him head-on. As they wore him down, Lu Chen spent experience points to raise Meditation to perfection and saw that its next upgrade required the Unity of Heaven and Man trial.

• Gongzi Liusui’s head-on fighting style proved no match for Lu Chen’s overwhelming strength, and Lu Chen knocked him unconscious with one strike.
• Cloud Prefecture’s clans worried over how to defeat Lu Chen, while Gongzi Liusui’s thoughts revealed that pride and fear had driven him to fight head-on.
• Cloud Prefecture’s remaining geniuses tried to wear Lu Chen down, lowering his qi and blood until he upgraded Meditation with his accumulated experience points.
• Lu Chen raised Meditation to perfection and discovered that it granted Tranquility, which increased his resistance to abnormal conditions.
• Lu Chen checked Meditation’s next upgrade requirement and found the trial task Unity of Heaven and Man.

Lu Chen upgraded his Barbarian Bone Realm and gained Blessing of the Sun, which restored his strength as he defeated Cloud Prefecture’s challengers. After he publicly accused Yi Rong of leaking information, he turned the resulting backlash against the Demon Sect into leverage for an alliance, leaving Yi Rong to consider his proposal.

• Lu Chen raised his Barbarian Bone Realm to Level 5 while enduring the Cloud Prefecture geniuses’ attacks, then drew and solidified the gold-tier Blessing of the Sun.
• With the sun rapidly restoring his injuries and Vitality, Lu Chen defeated the Cloud Prefecture challengers one after another until Yi Rong was the last to face him.
• Lu Chen thanked Yi Rong for supposedly giving him information, prompting the Cloud Prefecture crowd to condemn her and the Demon Sect as traitors.
• Yi Rong accused Lu Chen of taking revenge, but he said she had once intended to manipulate him and proposed cooperating under their new circumstances.
• Lu Chen argued that the Demon Sect now had no ally in Cloud Prefecture and that the Barbarian Wastes were its only option, while Yi Rong stood ready to fight him.

After defeating Cloud Prefecture, Lu Chen forced Yi Rong to submit and became the Barbarians’ celebrated champion, then discovered his Demon Hand had grown dangerous by feeding on the crowd’s fear. Corruption of Plorymon tried to seize his body, leaving Lu Chen fighting the terror it unleashed within him.

• Lu Chen broke Yi Rong’s resolve with Corruption of Plorymon and made her admit defeat and seek him out that night.
• Lu Chen silenced the Cloud Prefecture spectators with his imposing presence and the Ghost God’s power, and the Yun Zhou Swordsman declared Cloud Prefecture had lost.
• The Barbarians celebrated Lu Chen’s victory, while Yi Rong and her master were left with no choice but to remain in Border City and rely on him.
• Lu Chen reviewed his 150,000 Experience Points, attributes, and plans to establish a tribe before the Demon Hand suddenly manifested Corruption of Plorymon in his room.
• Lu Chen realized Corruption of Plorymon had absorbed the crowd’s fear and was trying to possess him, so he resisted its terrifying influence with Meditation and Conqueror’s Haki.

Lu Chen subdued Corruption of Plorymon after his protected Barbarians’ battle cries strengthened his will, and he learned that the Demon God had become corporeal by feeding on Cloud Prefecture’s fear. As a blood-red moon began falling toward Border City, Lu Chen prepared for the disaster but realized the moon was not natural.

• Lu Chen resisted Corruption of Plorymon’s invasion as the Barbarians’ support countered the fear of Cloud Prefecture’s people.
• Lu Chen discovered that Corruption of Plorymon had become corporeal and could remain manifest by absorbing fear, while the Barbarians’ battle intent stirred Soul Bender Kazan.
• Lu Chen meditated to calm Soul Bender Kazan, then fell asleep while considering what auras might awaken the other Demon Gods.
• Direct Perception woke Lu Chen to an overwhelming threat, and he forced himself outside to seek the Barbarian powerhouses.
• Lu Chen saw a vast blood-red full moon falling toward Border City and summoned Phantom Keiga to enter the Weird Realm while covering himself in armor.
• As the moonfall drew closer, Lu Chen realized that the blood-red moon was not the natural moon.

Lu Chen witnessed a falling God Kingdom crash near Border City, where powerful fighters shielded the city but the fallen god’s aura transformed the surroundings into a dangerous nightmare. He headed for the Barbarian Tribe’s quarters to find Ji Hongdie and gather the surviving geniuses, despite the mutated buildings.

• Lu Chen sensed that the blood-red moon contained a dying god’s God Kingdom, and realized Border City was caught in a divine battle.
• A Blazing Sun Fist and Cloud Prefecture’s sword qi tore open the falling moon, while a bell-shaped treasure shielded Border City from its impact.
• Lu Chen survived the crash but suffered from the god’s howls and discovered black patterns spreading through the city, mutating corpses, buildings, and other objects.
• Lu Chen avoided the creatures and hazards created by the god’s aura and decided to gather the Barbarian geniuses, including Ji Hongdie.
• Lu Chen reached the mutated Barbarian Tribe quarters and stepped toward its dark, open gate to search inside.

Lu Chen entered the black-patterned house, where Corruption of Plorymon absorbed curses and grew stronger as he fought animated evil objects. Finding the house’s rooms twisted together, he chose to destroy the entire structure rather than follow its doors.

• Lu Chen entered a room filled with hooded worshippers, and Corruption of Plorymon devoured their curses and turned their summoned crows and snakes against them.
• Lu Chen ordered Corruption of Plorymon to absorb curses aimed at him but not the world’s aura, wary that too much Evil Spirit Qi could erase his will.
• Animated throwing knives attacked Lu Chen in the next room, but he seized them with All Things of Attraction and let his Demon Hand devour their Evil Spirit Qi.
• Lu Chen destroyed a set of animated armor with one blow of his Meteorite Greatsword and saw a doorway appear in the wall.
• Lu Chen rejected the doorway and stomped with Earthquake, intending to collapse the haunted house and its shifting rooms.

Lu Chen reunited with the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Princes inside the living, monster-filled house, but Ji Hongdie and the tribe’s experts were still missing. Instead of fleeing when the evil creatures surrounded them, Lu Chen held the Princes aloft with All Things of Attraction and repeatedly unleashed Earth Tremor, leaving the house and its attackers in ruins.

• Lu Chen stomped the ground, tearing apart the house without bringing it down, and spotted the three Princes fighting evil creatures nearby.
• The Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Princes broke through to Lu Chen, and he asked whether anyone had seen Ji Hongdie; they had not encountered anyone else.
• A face in the wall announced that the group would die for the Sovereign, and evil creatures emerged through doors on every wall to surround them.
• The Seventh Prince tried to lead the group toward weaker enemies, but Lu Chen stopped him and declared that he had surrounded them instead.
• Lu Chen lifted the three Princes with All Things of Attraction and repeatedly stomped, killing or crippling the evil creatures as they tried to attack him.

Lu Chen destroyed the haunted encampment, killed many Evil Spirits, and escaped Border City with the three Princes through the shadows. They returned to a city overrun by evolving monsters, where Ji Hongdie faced a deadly attack as Lu Chen and the Princes fell from the sky.

• Lu Chen crushed the haunted houses and corporeal Evil Spirits, then used Corruption of Plorymon and War Shout to kill the remaining illusory spirits and daze the three Princes.
• The Eighth Prince abandoned his claim to the throne, and Lu Chen used Phantom Keiga to carry the Princes through the shadows out of the Weird Realm.
• Lu Chen and the Princes reappeared above Border City, where Barbarians and ordinary humans were fighting Evil Spirits and corpses animated by spreading black patterns.
• Ji Hongdie directed the Barbarian defense as monsters emerged from deep wells and black vines drained the blood of trapped warriors.
• Vines attacked Ji Hongdie, and as she feared she would die, Lu Chen and the Princes cried out while falling toward the city.

Lu Chen rescued Ji Hongdie and led the Barbarians through Border City, destroying Evil Spirits and sealing the wells that spawned them. As he moved the group toward open ground, Zhong Liqing and her daughter faced an Evil Spirit, but Lu Chen and his warriors arrived in time to save them.

• Lu Chen sensed Ji Hongdie's danger across layered space, pierced through with Phantom Keiga, and rescued her by knocking the vines and Evil Spirits unconscious.
• Lu Chen rallied the Barbarians, cut through the Evil Spirits with his flaming Meteorite Greatsword, and sealed the deep wells with boulders.
• Lu Chen ordered the group to leave their fortress for open ground, fearing that black patterns could animate buildings and separate them.
• Lu Chen observed that ordinary people from Cloud Prefecture were especially vulnerable to the outbreak, while Barbarians could better defend themselves.
• Zhong Liqing pushed her frightened daughter Qing'er away and tried to hold back an Evil Spirit until Lu Chen arrived with a group of Barbarians.

Lu Chen led survivors through the god’s kingdom, protected them, and explored its layered realms with Phantom Keiga. He reached the true god’s domain, where countless Petitioners noticed him, and tried to excuse himself and leave.

• Lu Chen saved Zhong Liqing and her daughter from an evil creature, then led an expanding crowd of Barbarian and Cloud Prefecture survivors onward while keeping them behind his warriors.
• Lu Chen’s group reached an open square, where he ordered the survivors to gather, Barbarians to guard them, and others to demolish nearby houses.
• Lu Chen used Phantom Keiga to explore the god’s kingdom, found he could not cross its boundary into the real world, and observed evil creatures moving between its lower levels.
• Lu Chen reached a vast domain with a blood-red eye, countless kneeling Petitioners, and twelve Pillars to Heaven, then realized the Petitioners had noticed him.
• Lu Chen nervously apologized to the Petitioners and said he would leave.

Lu Chen escaped the god’s kingdom after a distant divine battle nearly overwhelmed him, then learned that the god’s injury was making evil creatures grow stronger throughout Border City. He led the Barbarians in clearing the city and rescuing survivors, and the chapter ended when his group met Cloud Prefecture fighters who were also hunting the creatures.

• Lu Chen endured the Petitioners’ attacks until the god’s battle stunned them, then used Phantom Keiga to flee to the second floor and return to Border City.
• Ji Hongdie told Lu Chen that the city’s lanterns had mutated after a terrifying roar, and Lu Chen ordered the Barbarians to clear the city before the god’s aura strengthened its monsters.
• Ji Hongdie explained that god-slaying wars could last centuries because mortal believers had to be defeated before a god could be slain, though Lu Chen’s battle had skipped that stage.
• Lu Chen led the Barbarians through Border City, destroying evil creatures, gaining Experience Points, and sending rescued civilians back to the plaza.
• Lu Chen’s group encountered Cloud Prefecture fighters clearing the evil creatures, and Gongzi Liusui challenged Lu Chen’s assumption that the Barbarians would not have fought while the monsters were weak.

Lu Chen joined forces with the Cloud Prefecture geniuses and rescued people corrupted by the Nightmare God’s terrifying visage. When a drop of god blood animated a door panel, its divine words crippled Xiang Lei and Gongzi Liusui as the battle against the newly formed evil creature began.

• Lu Chen learned from Xiang Lei and Gongzi Liusui that defeating the ancient Nightmare God could take a month or longer, then warned the Cloud Prefecture leaders that dangerous objects could be animated by God's Aura.
• Gongzi Liusui proposed that Lu Chen and the Cloud Prefecture people unite, and Lu Chen agreed to gather their forces and patrol for evil creatures.
• The Nightmare God’s face appeared in the sky, corrupting ordinary civilians into Petitioners, so Lu Chen released Corruption of Plorymon to absorb the fear and protect the survivors.
• A drop of god blood escaped the pursuing geniuses and animated a door panel; Lu Chen pulled Xiang Lei out of its range after its words broke his legs.
• The door panel summoned evil objects and stone lions, then used its divine words to blind Gongzi Liusui and inflict severe injuries as he charged it.