Chapter Summaries

Lu Nan suspected that the colossal demon beast guarding the floating island was a giant panda, so he tested it with bamboo spirit herbs. When the panda finally ate the bamboo, Lu Nan became determined to lure it away before other cultivators arrived.

• Lu Nan recognized the black-and-white demon beast as possibly a giant panda and debated whether to approach it.
• Lu Nan brought bamboo spirit herbs from the Mysterious Space and placed them near the beast.
• The cautious beast inspected its surroundings, then returned to its resting place without eating the bamboo.
• After an hour, the beast shrank and ate the bamboo, confirming Lu Nan's suspicion that it was a giant panda.
• Lu Nan decided to lure the panda away before the other cultivators arrived and went into the Mysterious Space to plan his next move.

Lu Nan bargained with a massive creature guarding Inheritance Island, learning that the ruins came from the Upper Realm and that reaching the island required Heavenly Human strength. The creature let him attempt the ascent, and Lu Nan began climbing the three-thousand-step staircase.

• Lu Nan offered spiritual bamboo to the massive creature, which demanded three hundred stalks before agreeing to let him board the island.
• Lu Nan learned that White Sword had reached the creature, but had not been qualified to master the ruins, which had fallen from the Upper Realm.
• The creature explained that only a seventh-rank Demon King, equivalent to a Heavenly Human, could board the island, but agreed to let Lu Nan try in exchange for the possibility of joining him if he survived.
• The creature revealed a staircase of three thousand steps, with the pressure increasing threefold every thousand steps, and Lu Nan began climbing.
• Lu Nan reached the thousandth step, steadied himself against the increased pressure, and continued upward.

Lu Nan reached the island’s gate and found a place with abundant spiritual energy to form his Golden Core. As his breakthrough began, a massive lightning tribulation drew him outside, where he learned that surviving it could let him forge a Heavenly Heart Golden Core.

• Lu Nan climbed to the three-thousandth step, opened the gate, and entered the island’s misty ruins.
• Lu Nan decided to form his Golden Core inside the ruins and spent several days finding and securing a secluded valley with formations and Spirit Stones.
• Lu Nan began his breakthrough, but his purple-gold divine palace cracked as a powerful force prevented his Golden Core from forming.
• A pillar of golden light lifted Lu Nan out of the valley beneath a vast lightning-filled black cloud.
• Lu Nan learned that surviving the ninefold lightning tribulation could forge a Heavenly Heart Golden Core and wondered what that meant.

Lu Nan endured the escalating Ninefold Heavenly Tribulation, discovering that its lightning both battered and tempered his body. After surviving another fold of lightning comparable to a Return to Void strike, he faced the still-gathering clouds with his tribulation unfinished.

• Lu Nan mistook the first nine bolts for the whole tribulation, then realized each fold contained nine increasingly powerful strikes.
• He survived successive folds that escalated from Foundation Establishment and Golden Core strength to Spirit Transformation, though the lightning repeatedly injured and charred him.
• A blurry figure watched Lu Nan appear to fail, then was astonished when he survived and emerged from the charred shell with lightning repairing and strengthening his body.
• Lu Nan met the next nine bolts with his divine abilities and spirit swords, but the lightning shattered his Sword Formation and left him barely able to breathe.
• Lu Nan survived the fold he compared to a Return to Void strike and smiled, while the tribulation clouds continued to gather.

Lu Nan survived the final lightning strike and formed a Heavenly Heart Golden Core, reaching the third layer of the Golden Core Realm. After confirming his injuries had healed, he met a mysterious man in white who congratulated him.

• Lu Nan escaped the ninth lightning strike by entering the Mysterious Space, where the purple lightning healed his shattered meridians.
• When Lu Nan could not return to the Mysterious Space, the golden lightning struck him, but he remained unharmed as three Blood-colored Calves appeared and a violet-gold Golden Core formed.
• Lu Nan absorbed the golden lightning into his Golden Core, discovered his injuries had healed and his physical strength had increased, and realized he had reached the third layer of the Golden Core Realm.
• A man in white appeared, congratulated Lu Nan on forming the Heavenly Heart Golden Core, and invited him to sit and drink tea.

Lu Nan met a mysterious man in white, who explained the Heavenly Heart Golden Core and offered him an inheritance. After leaving Lu Nan with several treasures and a way to return, the man disappeared, and Lu Nan began consolidating his cultivation in the secret realm.

• Lu Nan questioned the man in white about the Heavenly Heart Golden Core and learned that it let cultivators contend for the Heavenly Heart and fight across a major realm.
• The man in white explained that the Upper and Lower Realms were both parts of the Azure Realm, and said he had once lived in the Upper Realm before dying in the secret realm.
• After hearing Lu Nan describe the cultivation world’s inability to ascend, the man in white offered him a divine weapon, a cultivation method, and spiritual materials, asking him to choose one or owe him a promise for all three.
• Lu Nan chose the Longsword rather than make a promise, and the man in white gave him a Jade Slip containing the Azure Lotus Sword Canon and a waist token for returning.
• The man in white vanished after telling Lu Nan to return at the Heavenly Being realm, and Lu Nan took the remaining Extinguishing Finger technique and a hundred-thousand-year-old medicinal herb as well.
• Lu Nan inspected the Extinguishing Finger, then dug a hole and began consolidating his cultivation in the secret realm.

After stabilizing his cultivation at the fourth layer of the Golden Core Realm, Lu Nan returned to the big guy and persuaded it to make an equal contract with him. Their blood merged, forming a connection between them.

• Lu Nan left the underground cavern and crossed the stairs back to where the big guy waited.
• The big guy tried to deny their agreement, but Lu Nan tempted it with food and descriptions of the world above.
• The big guy revealed it had been waiting for someone who could take it away, though it thought Lu Nan was too weak.
• Lu Nan offered food, lodging, and spirit bamboo in exchange for an equal contract, and the big guy agreed.
• The big guy supplied a drop of blood and shared information about its own contract method with Lu Nan.
• Lu Nan and the big guy merged their drops of blood, forming a connection between them.

Lu Nan tried to free Lu Taiji by identifying three special lamps among seventy-two identical ones, but discovered the puzzle’s slightest disturbance could endanger them all. He found clues in the statues’ gazes and identified a likely target lamp, yet had not worked out how to safely complete the task.

• Lu Nan gave the trapped big fellow the name Lu Taiji, with Lu Bao as his nickname, and learned how to retrieve the divine soul hidden among seventy-two lamps.
• Lu Nan descended into the underground chamber and found the stone platform, its seventy-two identical lamps, and the surrounding statues.
• Lu Nan discovered that three statues looked toward the platform and used their gazes to locate a lamp at their intersection.
• Lu Nan approached the likely target, then pulled back when his movement made nearly half the flames sway; he found an invisible membrane around the lamp that reacted to touch.

Lu Nan investigated how to remove Lu Taiji from the frozen space containing seventy-two lamps without extinguishing their flames. After his first attempt to lift the lamp nearly disrupted the balance, he found a route beneath the stone platform and began another attempt using Divine Sense.

• Lu Nan discovered that briefly inserting a small object through the Light Membrane disturbed the frozen space, and he deduced that foreign elements caused the lamps to flicker.
• Lu Nan isolated the surrounding elements and sent his Divine Sense through the membrane, guiding it three steps toward the target lamp.
• Lu Nan lifted the lamp with a Divine Sense net, but nearby flames swayed violently, so he set the lamp down and withdrew his Divine Sense.
• Lu Nan entered the stone platform using the Great Five Elements Escape and found another Light Membrane beneath the lamps.
• Lu Nan began guiding his Divine Sense toward the target lamp from below.

Lu Nan retrieved the Heaven, Earth, and Human Lamps, assembled the Heaven Lamp, and helped Lu Taiji recover his strength. Lu Taiji devoured the spirit plant from the white-robed man and rose to Void Returning, then stared at Lu Nan with a conflicted expression.

• Lu Nan used the Qi Gazing Technique to find and retrieve the Heaven Lamp and Earth Lamp, then asked Lu Taiji which order to extinguish the three lamps in.
• Lu Taiji told Lu Nan to extinguish them in Heaven, Earth, Human order, and Lu Nan assembled the components into the Lotus Glazed Lamp.
• Lu Taiji opened the Lotus Glazed Lamp with his blood, swallowed its gemstone, and recovered to Heavenly Human perfection.
• Lu Taiji explained that the next step required a spirit plant from the isolated island, and he rejected Lu Nan’s thousand-year spirit bamboo.
• Lu Taiji recognized the spirit plant from the white-robed man, swallowed it, and rose to Void Returning before looking at Lu Nan with a conflicted expression.

Lu Taiji made Lu Nan’s essence blood part of a master-servant contract, then escaped his separate space and explained the three layers surrounding the inheritance ground. His power was sealed to remain within three major realms of Lu Nan, and he shrank to rabbit size so Lu Nan could carry him out.

• Lu Taiji took Lu Nan’s essence blood and fused it with his own, turning their equal contract into a master-servant contract.
• Lu Nan released his Divine Sense, and Lu Taiji crossed from the space containing his true body into Lu Nan’s space.
• Lu Taiji explained that the inheritance ground lay in a third space and that his approval or overwhelming strength was needed to enter it.
• Lu Taiji revealed that the contract had sealed his power to keep him no more than three major realms above Lu Nan.
• Lu Taiji refused to shrink at first, but became rabbit-sized when Lu Nan said they could otherwise study the restrictions outside, and Lu Nan picked him up.

Lu Nan freed Lu Taiji from the underground prison and escaped with him through a dangerous secret realm. He found Xu Bai and the others being threatened by a young master, accepted two swords Xu Bai had found for him, and faced the threat to hand over the treasures and two women.

• Lu Nan tunneled out with Lu Taiji, who briefly roared in celebration before Lu Nan warned him about the many powerful cultivators in the secret realm.
• Lu Nan avoided pursuing cultivators and headed toward the exit with Lu Taiji, then sensed Xu Bai and his companions nearby and went to help them.
• Lu Nan found Xu Bai and the others injured and surrounded by a Golden Core peak young man and his followers.
• Xu Bai gave Lu Nan two treasured swords he had found, and Lu Nan introduced Lu Taiji to Xu Bai, Xu Qing, and An Miaoyu.
• The young man demanded the treasures and the two women, threatening that none of them would leave, and Lu Nan turned toward him with a cold look.

Lu Nan helped Xu Bai and the others defeat their attackers, but they killed a young man whose father was a Celestial Venerable. When the father approached, Lu Nan offered to hold him off while the others refused to abandon him.

• Lu Nan sent Lu Taiji to kill two Nascent Soul cultivators in exchange for Spirit Bamboo, while Xu Bai and the others confronted the surviving young man.
• The young man offered compensation and invoked his Celestial Venerable father, but Lu Nan warned Xu Bai that releasing him could invite revenge, and the three killed him.
• Lu Nan admitted he had no escape plan for the group and could take only one person with him; Xu Bai, Xu Qing, and An Miaoyu decided to split up and asked him to inform their sects if he escaped.
• Lu Taiji sensed a seventh-rank cultivator approaching, and Lu Nan identified him as the dead young man's father, who would arrive in about five minutes.
• Lu Nan urged Xu Bai, Xu Qing, and An Miaoyu to flee while he held off the pursuer, but they refused to leave him behind.

Lu Nan let the Heavenly One Venerable torment Xu Bai while he treated Lu Taiji as a harmless companion, then sent Lu Taiji to fight when the Venerable attacked. Lu Taiji killed and devoured the Venerable, leaving Xu Qing and An Miaoyu stunned.

• The Heavenly One Venerable arrived, recognized Xu Qing, Xu Bai, and An Miaoyu, and demanded to know who had killed his son.
• The Heavenly One Venerable injured Xu Bai to force Lu Nan to reveal his identity, while Xu Qing offered to go with him in exchange for her brother's safety.
• Lu Nan refused to submit, reassured Xu Bai, and began treating his injuries as the Heavenly One Venerable reached for him.
• Lu Nan tossed Lu Taiji at the Heavenly One Venerable, and Lu Taiji grew to enormous size and struck him with a single punch.
• Lu Taiji tore the Heavenly One Venerable apart and swallowed his fleeing phantom as Xu Qing and An Miaoyu watched in shock.

Lu Nan left the White Sword Secret Realm with Xu Bai and the others, then returned to Sword Valley and introduced Lu Taiji to Miao Feng. He settled Lu Taiji in his courtyard and gave him the promised spirit bamboo.

• Lu Nan and the others left the secret realm, and Xu Qing parted ways with him to take care of the injured Xu Bai while An Miaoyu returned to Luanxian Pavilion.
• Lu Nan returned to Sword Valley, where Miao Feng confirmed he was unharmed and recognized Lu Taiji as an iron-eating beast capable of reaching the Heavenly Human realm or possibly Return to Void.
• Lu Taiji told Lu Nan that his instincts suggested Miao Feng was stronger than he appeared, prompting Lu Nan to wonder about his master's true cultivation.
• Lu Nan brought Lu Taiji to his courtyard and gave him two-thousand-year spirit bamboo, which Lu Taiji happily began to eat.

Lu Nan bound three spirit swords and learned the divine abilities they carried, then discovered that the Peach Tree in the Mysterious Space had gained spiritual intelligence and could enhance talent through its fruit. After consuming all three hundred peaches, he reached the fifth level of Golden Core, gained a supreme-grade Spiritual Root, and discovered spiritual qi inside the Mysterious Space.

• Lu Nan bound two Earth Fiend Spirit Swords and one Heavenly Dipper Spirit Sword, learning that they carried Push Mountains and Fill Seas, Immobilize, and Slay Demons.
• Lu Nan entered the Mysterious Space and discovered that the Peach Tree had developed spiritual intelligence and called itself Little Peach.
• Little Peach explained that its fruit could enhance talent, and Lu Nan ordered it to drop all three hundred peaches despite the long recovery this would require.
• Lu Nan ate all the peaches, advanced to the fifth level of Golden Core, and transformed his Spiritual Root from high-grade to supreme-grade.
• Lu Nan sensed and confirmed that spiritual qi had appeared inside the Mysterious Space.

Lu Nan comprehended three newly acquired divine abilities, then took Lu Taiji to a restaurant to introduce him to human food. After Lu Taiji eagerly agreed to help him slaughter two people in exchange for three daily servings, Lu Nan was left to explain what he meant.

• Lu Nan searched for the source of spiritual energy in the Mysterious Space but could not sense it again, then comprehended his three new divine abilities.
• Lu Nan tested an immobilization ability and found that Slay Demons could strengthen his Sword Qi, but he could not figure out Push Mountains and Fill Seas.
• Lu Nan gave Lu Taiji thirty stalks of spirit bamboo and took him to a restaurant outside Sword Valley to try human food.
• Lu Taiji enjoyed the dishes so much that he devoured the first table and asked for more, while Lu Nan ordered three additional tables.
• Lu Nan agreed to provide Lu Taiji with three servings of the feast each day if he helped slaughter two people, and Lu Taiji headed for the door.

Lu Nan prepared to return to the Southern Domain and settle matters with Lian Hunyu, receiving a protective teleportation token from Miao Feng before leaving Sword Valley. After several transfers, he arrived near the Soul Refining Sect and set out to kill the Blood Peak Lord.

• Lu Nan bought Lu Taiji a meal and provisions at Winewind Tower, then visited Bai Fu, who told him Wu Bai had been missing since the Wu Family incident.
• Lu Nan asked Bai Fu to pass along any news of Wu Bai and then went to Miao Feng to request permission to travel to the Southern Domain.
• Miao Feng gave Lu Nan a Jade Token containing an incarnation that could block a mid-stage Return to Void strike and added a cross-domain teleportation array that could return him to Sword Valley.
• Lu Nan spent a day or two preparing, then used Sword Valley's teleportation array and traveled through several more arrays toward the Southern Domain.
• Lu Nan arrived near the Soul Refining Sect and flew toward it, intent on killing Lian Hunyu, the Peak Lord of Blood Peak.

Lu Nan returned to the Soul Refining Sect and learned it was preparing for war against the Azure Lotus Sword Sect. He recruited Lu Taiji to target a sixth-rank cultivator on Blood Peak, then reunited with Yin Ning, who began recounting what had happened during his absence.

• Lu Nan showed his Identity Token to the guards, who told him the sect was preparing for war with the Azure Lotus Sword Sect on the Sect Master's orders.
• Lu Taiji sensed a seventh-rank Celestial Being and several sixth-rank cultivators in the sect, but refused Lu Nan's offer to fight the Celestial Being.
• Lu Nan offered Lu Taiji a five-thousand-year Spirit Bamboo to kill the sixth-rank cultivator he suspected was on Blood Peak, and Lu Taiji agreed to target him quietly.
• Lu Nan returned to Cliffside Courtyard and found it spotless, then met Yin Ning, who had broken through to the third layer of Golden Core.
• Lu Nan asked Yin Ning what had happened in the sect while he was away, and Yin Ning began explaining.

Lu Nan learned the Soul Refining Sect was preparing for war with the Azure Lotus Sword Sect and that rumors said Wu Bai had fallen. The Blood Peak Lord, Lian Hunyu, tried to force Lu Nan to join him, but Lu Taiji killed and devoured him; Lu Nan then broke through to the sixth level of Golden Core as someone approached.

• Yin Ning told Lu Nan the sect was preparing for war and that many disciples had left Corpse Peak after rumors spread that Wu Bai had fallen.
• Lu Nan learned the rumors had come from Blood Peak and asked where the Blood Peak Lord stayed.
• Lian Hunyu appeared in Lu Nan's courtyard, revealed himself as the Blood Peak Lord, and demanded that Lu Nan become his disciple.
• When Lian Hunyu attacked, Lu Nan promised Lu Taiji a three-thousand-year spiritual bamboo to kill him.
• Lu Taiji pierced Lian Hunyu's chest and devoured his fleeing soul, while Lu Nan erased the traces and advanced to the sixth level of Golden Core.
• Lu Taiji warned Lu Nan that someone was approaching, identifying the newcomer as an old seventh-rank cultivator.