Chapter Summaries

Lu Nan discovered an Earth Fiend Spirit Sword in the hands of Huang Kou Village’s village chief just as Scarface and his bandits threatened the villagers. He drove the bandits away and received the sword, leaving the village safe.

• After finishing their meal, Lu Nan sensed a spirit sword nearby and flew toward a village.
• Lu Nan spotted a rusty longsword in the village chief’s hand as Scarface arrived with dozens of armed men to demand money and threaten the villagers.
• When the village chief prepared to hand over the sword, Lu Nan appeared and offered to help in exchange for it.
• Scarface recognized Lu Nan as a threat and fled with his men, leaving the villagers stunned.
• The village chief thanked Lu Nan and gave him the longsword, which Lu Nan identified as an Earth Fiend Spirit Sword.

Lu Nan destroyed Ten Forts to protect Huang Kou Village, but Wang Ermazi escaped. An old man offered information about a second broken sword and a Nascent Soul True Person's cave abode in exchange for help restoring his cultivation, leaving Lu Nan to decide whether to trust him.

• Lu Nan learned from the old man that Huang Kou Village lay in the Wasteland and that the broken sword had been found in the Demonic Beast Forest.
• The old man identified the attackers as Ten Forts bandits led by Wang Ermazi and pointed Lu Nan toward their stronghold.
• Lu Nan destroyed Ten Forts with a spiritual-energy strike but could not find Scarface or Wang Ermazi.
• Lu Nan returned to Huang Kou Village, told the old man that Wang Ermazi had escaped, and gave him a talisman to burn if the bandit returned.
• The old man offered information about another identical sword in the Demonic Beast Forest in exchange for Lu Nan restoring his cultivation.
• The old man revealed that he had come to the Wasteland seeking a Nascent Soul True Person's cave abode and claimed Lu Nan would not kill him because he had helped the villagers.

Lu Nan discovered that Mu Cang’s dantian could be healed and offered to do so in exchange for Mu Cang’s loyalty and three tasks. Mu Cang left Huang Kou Village to fulfill the conditions, while Lu Nan stayed for a month to protect the village.

• Mu Cang told Lu Nan he had planned to kill Wang Ermazi with a broken sword and explained that instinct had led him to believe Lu Nan could heal him.
• Lu Nan examined Mu Cang and found his dantian severely injured but still treatable, then refused Mu Cang’s offers of a share of the cave dwelling and help finding the sword.
• Mu Cang pledged loyalty to Zhao Qi, and Lu Nan said he would heal him if he killed Wang Ermazi, found the broken sword in the Demonic Beast Forest, and gathered the required medicinal ingredients.
• Lu Nan gave Mu Cang one month and promised to protect Huang Kou Village during that time, so Mu Cang departed to complete the conditions.
• Lu Nan built a thatched hut near the mountain stream and told the villagers they could seek shelter there if danger arose.

Lu Nan discovered that Little Wood and Black Girl had good Spiritual Roots and began training them in his courtyard. After they persevered through their first lesson, he promised to feed them meat and learned that Black Girl had no real name.

• Little Wood asked Lu Nan whether he was an Immortal Master, and Lu Nan offered to teach him to become powerful.
• Black Girl timidly asked to join them, and Lu Nan admitted both children into the courtyard while keeping the other children out.
• Lu Nan taught Little Wood and Black Girl a horse stance, then secretly watched as they endured it for an hour.
• Lu Nan returned with a demonic beast, praised the children, healed their aching bodies, and promised them meat at every meal.
• Lu Nan asked the little girl her name, and Little Wood explained that she had been found outside the village and was called Black Girl because her skin darkened.

Lu Nan named Black Girl Mulan and shared the demonic beast’s meat with her, Little Wood, and the villagers. Little Wood and Mulan left with meat for their families as the village children hurried to tell their parents about the portions.

• Lu Nan named Black Girl Mulan and kept Little Wood’s existing name.
• Lu Nan cut up the demonic beast, roasted meat, and offered it to Mulan and Little Wood, but Lu Taiji snatched their first serving.
• Lu Nan reassured the children, gave them more meat, and let Little Wood take a large piece home for his parents.
• Lu Nan sent the remaining meat outside the formation and told Little Wood to announce that every household could take a portion.
• Little Wood told the waiting children that Lu Nan had given Mulan her name and allowed each household a share, then he and Mulan hurried home as the others ran to fetch their parents.

Lu Nan gave food to the children of Huang Kou Village and guided Little Wood and Mulan in cultivation for a month. Mu Cang returned and reported that he had killed Wang Ermazi, gathered most of the requested herbs, but failed to find the broken sword.

• Little Wood brought roasted meat to his mother and siblings, explaining that Lu Nan had given it to him.
• Mu Shi's wife brought the children to Lu Nan, who offered to guide Little Wood and Mulan for a month and told them to visit him before sunrise.
• Near the end of the month, Little Wood and Mulan reached the second level of Body Tempering, and Lu Nan noticed someone arriving outside the village.
• Mu Cang returned to Lu Nan exhausted and apologized for failing to complete all three requests.
• Mu Cang presented Wang Ermazi's head and 108 of the 138 requested medicinal herbs, then admitted he had not found the broken sword.
• Mu Cang said his intuition had helped him find the herbs and survive the journey.

Lu Nan healed Mu Cang and tasked him with teaching Little Wood and the other child while searching for broken swords. After Mu Cang revealed that a Heavenly Human Ruins was about to emerge in the Demonic Beast Forest, Lu Nan left with Lu Taiji to investigate.

• Lu Nan told Mu Cang he could heal him and arranged to meet him at the thatched hut three days later.
• Mu Cang visited Lu Nan, discovered Little Wood and the other child had reached Body Tempering, and swallowed a pill that restored his ruined dantian.
• Mu Cang described the Demonic Beast Forest and its powerful inhabitants, and Lu Nan asked him to teach the children and send them to the Azure Lotus Sword Sect if they wished.
• Lu Nan gave Mu Cang three communication talismans and a Storage Ring, and asked him to search for broken swords while caring for the children.
• Mu Cang revealed rumors that a Heavenly Human Ruins would emerge in the Demonic Beast Forest, drawing people and the Seven Great Sects toward its core region.
• Lu Nan departed with Lu Taiji, leaving the two children behind with Mu Cang.

Lu Nan refined an Earth Fiend Spirit Sword and discovered its Flame Spit ability produced powerful, water-resistant fire. In the Demonic Beast Forest, he followed a spirit sword to the Spirit Monkey King's cave and negotiated entry, but remained wary as the king offered to retrieve what he sought.

• Lu Nan refined the rust-covered Earth Fiend Spirit Sword and learned the Flame Spit divine ability.
• Lu Nan tested Flame Spit, found that water made its flames burn more fiercely, and experimented with shaping the fire.
• Lu Nan entered the Demonic Beast Forest with Lu Taiji, who identified its strongest beast as a sixth-level Demon King.
• Lu Nan sensed at least three Earth Fiend Spirit Swords nearby and followed one to a cave, where he fought and wounded the Spirit Monkey King.
• Lu Nan refused the Spirit Monkey King's demand for nine fifth-grade pills but gave him a fourth-grade pill to heal his severed arm.
• The Spirit Monkey King offered to retrieve Lu Nan's target, and Lu Nan warned him not to betray their agreement.

Lu Nan recovered the broken Earth Fiend Spirit Sword and recruited the Spirit Monkey King to find two more swords, then secretly followed it through a hidden passage into a gathering of powerful demon beasts. He sent Lu Taiji to investigate their plans and waited underground for its return.

• Lu Nan offered the Spirit Monkey King fourth-grade pills to collect broken swords, and the king brought him the two swords held by the Eagle King and Wild Boar King.
• Lu Nan paid the Spirit Monkey King, then secretly followed it with Lu Taiji to a cliff and opened a hidden passage using spatial power.
• Lu Nan and Lu Taiji entered a place containing an eighth-tier Tiger Clan Demon Venerable and eighty or ninety seventh-tier demon beasts.
• Lu Nan persuaded Lu Taiji with five stalks of thousand-year spirit bamboo to investigate the demon beasts, then hid underground and waited.
• Lu Taiji returned to Lu Nan after investigating.

Lu Nan learned that Upper Realm demonic beasts planned to attack the Southern Seven Great Sects to pursue the inheritance of a powerful human who had retreated to the lower realm. He left the Mysterious Space intending to challenge the Southern Domain’s younger generation, then bound three spirit swords and began studying Pot Heaven.

• Lu Taiji told Lu Nan that the Tiger Clan leader carried the Upper Realm’s aura and explained that Upper Realm people viewed the lower realm as a land of exile.
• Lu Taiji revealed that the demonic beasts planned to use the Heavenly Human Ruins as bait to trap the Seven Great Sects while seeking an ultimate powerhouse’s inheritance.
• Lu Nan left the Mysterious Space and said he planned to challenge the Southern Domain’s younger generation to improve through battle.
• Lu Nan found a secluded spot, bound the three spirit swords, and learned their names: Swallowing Blade, Pot Heaven, and Divine Movement.
• Lu Nan began comprehending Pot Heaven and tested it by reaching into a space that appeared beside him.

Lu Nan encountered a youth who killed a pursuer from the Ou Family and learned that the family had destroyed the youth’s family over an ancestral longsword. The youth described the sword, and Lu Nan’s interest in it grew.

• Lu Nan decided to wait for the Heavenly Human Ruins to appear by seeking out excitement in the Demonic Beast Forest.
• A youth killed a burly man who had pursued him on behalf of the Ou Family, then declared that he was going after the family.
• Lu Nan introduced himself as Zhao Qi and questioned the youth, who suspected him of being connected to the Ou Family and denied coming for the ruins.
• Lu Nan followed the youth through the forest despite repeated attempts to shake him off, until the youth agreed to tell his story.
• The youth said the Ou Family had destroyed his family for refusing to surrender their ancestral longsword, which was identical to a sword the Ou Family possessed.
• The youth described the sword, and Lu Nan expressed regret that he could not inspect the real one.

Lu Nan made a Dao Heart deal with Du Lingze to avenge his clan in exchange for the inherited Earth Fiend Spirit Sword. After learning where the Ou Family had gathered in the Demonic Beast Forest, Lu Nan confronted them at their temporary encampment.

• Lu Nan recognized Du Lingze's inherited sword as the Earth Fiend Spirit Sword and offered to avenge him in exchange for it.
• Lu Nan and Du Lingze swore Heavenly Dao oaths, and Du Lingze handed over the sword.
• Du Lingze told Lu Nan that the Ou Family had brought powerful cultivators to the Heavenly Human Ruins and explained why its second young master had pursued him.
• Lu Nan agreed to target the Ou Family and followed Du Lingze to their temporary encampment in the Demonic Beast Forest.
• Lu Nan flew toward the Ou Family gathering, where Ou Feng greeted him from inside the palace.

Lu Nan learned the Ou Family’s location from Ling Ze, infiltrated its headquarters in Shan'ou Commandery, and found the sword he had been seeking. After Ling Ze placed Array Plates around the family’s grounds, Lu Nan brought him before the Ou Family to begin his revenge.

• Lu Nan burned the Ou Family members around Ling Ze to ashes, then learned that the family’s headquarters lay in Shan'ou Commandery.
• Ling Ze explained that the Ou Family held Shan'ou Commandery as its fief and confirmed it possessed a sword identical to the one Lu Nan sought.
• Lu Nan gave Ling Ze four Array Plates to place around the Ou Family’s grounds, then secretly entered the family compound.
• Lu Nan searched the ancestral hall without finding the sword, then broke into the treasury, took its Top-grade Spirit Stones, and found the sword in a casket.
• After Ling Ze set the Array Plates, Lu Nan put on a mask and brought him above the Ou Family’s grounds, where Ling Ze declared he had come to claim lives.

Lu Nan helped Ling Ze confront the Ou Family, killing its cultivators and forcing the Ou Family Old Ancestor to negotiate. Ling Ze rescued his injured little sister, Shuang'er, and learned that about a hundred Ling Family members were still in the Ou Family’s hands.

• Ou San recognized Ling Ze and ordered the Ou Family members to attack, but Lu Nan instantly turned the attackers into fragments.
• Ou San offered Lu Nan three times Ling Ze’s payment to stay out of the feud, then activated the family formation and summoned the Ou Family’s Nascent Soul cultivators.
• Lu Nan used five swords to kill the Ou Family elders, leaving Ou San alive, and demanded that the hidden Old Ancestor appear.
• The Ou Family Old Ancestor offered compensation and the return of Ling Family captives, but Ling Ze demanded the Ou Family’s extermination and then asked to see his clansmen.
• Ou San brought out Ling Ze’s battered little sister, Shuang’er, and Lu Nan ordered him to hand her over.
• Ling Ze reunited with Shuang'er, gave her a medicinal pill, and asked how many Ling Family members remained captive; Ou San said about a hundred.

Lu Nan secured the Ling Family members’ release from the Ou Family, then turned back to confront Ouyang after the Ou Family threatened the Ling remnants. Their battle escalated as Lu Nan shattered the family formation and met Ouyang’s Black Dragon Break with his five-colored sword.

• Ling Ze reunited with the wounded Ling Family captives and led them out of the Ou residence, while Lu Nan demanded that Ou San release the remaining clansmen.
• Ou San threatened the Ling Family, and Ling Ze thanked Lu Nan before preparing to leave with his clansmen; Lu Nan stopped him and told him to protect them.
• Lu Nan challenged Ouyang, shattered the Ou Family’s formation with his Five Elements Sword Intent, and attacked him with the five spirit swords.
• Ouyang summoned a black spear and pressed Lu Nan with a fierce assault, but Lu Nan’s Sword Qi cut off one of his ears.
• Ouyang transformed his spear’s black qi into a giant dragon and unleashed Black Dragon Break, while Lu Nan merged his five spirit swords into a giant five-colored sword and struck back.

Lu Nan defeated and killed Ouyang in a battle over the Ling Family Ancestral Item, then hurried out of Ouyang Residence to find Ou San and the Ling Family. Outside, he encountered an unexpected figure and a wavering person standing before them.

• Ouyang offered to spare Lu Nan if he handed over the Ling Family Ancestral Item, then sent Ou San to capture the Ling Family.
• Lu Nan trapped Ouyang in a tornado and attacked him with flames, forcing Ouyang to sever his burning right arm and abandon peace talks.
• Ouyang attacked Lu Nan with three black dragons, but Lu Nan concealed a spirit sword that pierced Ouyang's head.
• Lu Nan sealed Ouyang's soul, destroyed his body, scattered the ashes, and left Ouyang Residence to check on Ou San and the Ling Family.
• Lu Nan paused in surprise when he saw a teasing figure facing a wavering person outside.

Lu Nan killed Ou San, destroyed the Ou Family, and recruited Ling Ze to gather intelligence on the remaining great families. After leaving for the Demonic Beast Forest, Lu Nan discovered Immortal Material within his body and Nascent Soul and began investigating his cultivation.

• Lu Nan killed Ou San, completed his deal with Ling Ze, and destroyed the Ou Family grounds with a single palm strike.
• Ling Ze asked to see the Ou Family Ancestral Item, then agreed to find the locations and exact strengths of the remaining families for Lu Nan.
• Lu Nan gave Ling Ze pills for his wounded clansmen and left; Ling Ze distributed the medicine, declined Hu Ke's offer of shelter, and entered the Ou Family ruins to gather its resources.
• Lu Nan reached the Demonic Beast Forest and told Lu Taiji not to interfere unless he was in danger or gave the order.
• Lu Nan discovered a tiny clump of Immortal Material in his Nascent Soul and another in his body, both at the heel of his left foot.
• Lu Nan realized Immortal Material had to cover his entire Nascent Soul to form an Immortal Soul and wondered why he had gained only two Battle Marks.

Lu Nan waited in the Demonic Beast Forest and warned the Azure Lotus Sword Sect that the Heavenly Human Ruins were bait for an attack on the Southern Region’s great sects. After sharing evidence of a Heavenly Human demonic beast and a Return to Void cultivator, he watched several sects withdraw and headed back to the familiar cliff with Lu Taiji.

• Lu Nan concluded that gathering Three Thousand Battle Marks would take a long time and decided to seek opponents among the Four Great Sects or the Spirit Transformation demonic beasts.
• Lu Nan met Cang Ge and learned that the Azure Lotus Sword Sect had designated him its successor and Young Sect Master.
• Lu Nan warned Cang Ge, Sword Nine, Hu Tian, and Zhang Shan that the Heavenly Human Ruins were bait and that a Heavenly Human demonic beast and a Return to Void cultivator hid in the forest.
• Lu Nan gave the Azure Lotus Sword Sect leaders coordinates to investigate and urged them to return to the sect and alert the Great Geng Dynasty.
• The Azure Lotus Sword Sect, Light Tremor Temple, and Carefree Academy departed, while Soul Severing Cliff and Sky-Hanging Abyss remained; Lu Nan and Lu Taiji then raced to the familiar cliff.

Lu Nan entered the demon territory with Lu Taiji’s help and began hunting lone beasts to temper himself. After killing a fifth-tier demon, he fought a swift antlered demon in a cave and discovered that sensing the wind helped him counter its attacks, though the battle remained unresolved.

• Lu Nan asked Lu Taiji to conceal him from the Return to Void cultivator so he could challenge isolated demons.
• Lu Taiji found a lone fifth-tier demon, which Lu Nan killed with a surprise attack and stored away.
• Lu Nan and Lu Taiji went to a cave where a sixth-tier antlered demon accused Lu Taiji of betrayal and attacked Lu Nan.
• The antlered demon used an ash-brown staff and extraordinary speed to overwhelm Lu Nan, who realized he could detect its movements through the wind.
• Lu Nan used the breeze to receive the demon’s next blow and taunted it, prompting the antlered demon to prepare a full-strength attack.

Lu Nan battled an antlered young man who wielded wind attacks, spatially striking fragments, and a pursuing drop of Nine Netherwater. After being wounded, Lu Nan tricked the antlered man into being struck by his own water, leaving him frozen as an ice sculpture.

• The antlered young man sent two wind serpents at Lu Nan, but Lu Nan turned them around and made them crash into their summoner.
• The antlered young man unleashed concealed fragments that pierced Lu Nan's defenses, and Lu Nan escaped but suffered a wound to his right arm.
• The antlered young man summoned Nine Netherwater, which relentlessly pursued Lu Nan and accelerated as it chased him.
• Lu Nan led the speeding Nine Netherwater toward the antlered young man, then escaped through a piece of wood on his opponent using the Great Five Elements Escape.
• Nine Netherwater struck the antlered young man and transformed him into a humanoid ice sculpture.