Chapter Summaries

Lu Nan investigated the Wang Family Mansion, suspecting it was tied to the masked cultivators who had once attacked him, and discovered signs of a sinister scheme nearby. As he considered reporting his findings to the sect, Su Wan arrived at the manor with four companions.

• Lu Nan left Azure Lotus Market and traveled toward the Wang Family to pursue revenge against the cultivators who had attacked him.
• After watching the Wang Family Mansion for several days, Lu Nan saw black-robed men return with a strong stench of blood and decided to investigate a nearby city first.
• Lu Nan noticed that the city’s soldiers and residents repeated identical movements, but a bell chime dispelled his clouded state and he withdrew from its gates.
• Lu Nan returned to the Wang Family Mansion, concluded that it was connected to his attackers, and decided to report it to the sect.
• Su Wan arrived at the Wang Family Mansion with two men and two women, and one of the men knocked on its gates as Lu Nan watched from hiding.

Lu Nan followed Su Wan and the other Sword Sect disciples into the Wang Family Mansion, where Patriarch Wang offered to help find their missing peers. After Su Wan revealed that a hostile presence had been spying on them, Lu Nan asked whether she had seen a strange city.

• Lu Nan planted Spirit Talismans around the Wang Family Mansion, then approached its gates while concealing his aura and carrying a Detonating Talisman.
• An old man welcomed Lu Nan as a Sword Sect disciple and led him to meet Su Wan and Patriarch Wang.
• Wang San said the Wang Family had little information about the missing disciples and invited the visitors to stay; Su Wan agreed to wait three days.
• Lu Nan warned Su Wan and the others that the Wang Family might have ulterior motives, but Su Wan said their previous seniors had left after receiving news.
• At midnight, Su Wan told Lu Nan a black shadow had been eavesdropping and showed him a Protective Talisman that detected hostile intent.
• Lu Nan asked Su Wan whether she had ever seen a strange city, and she asked him to explain.

Lu Nan discovered that someone wearing his face had drugged the Sword Sect disciples and infiltrated their rooms. After exposing the impostor and warning that the Wang Family Ancestor might be far stronger than they expected, Lu Nan and the others were confronted by Patriarch Wang.

• Lu Nan realized he could no longer remember the location of the city he had visited, then grew suspicious after Su Wan left his room.
• Lu Nan found an impostor wearing his appearance in Su Wan’s room, and Su Wan killed the impostor after Lu Nan mentioned the Book Collection Pavilion.
• Lu Nan and Su Wan gathered the other four disciples and found a Thousand Transformations Mask, He Shuo Smoke, and Companion Haze Powder used to create a drugging mist.
• Lu Nan warned the group that the Wang Family Ancestor might be at Foundation Establishment Perfection or even Golden Core, and urged them to leave Wang Manor.
• Patriarch Wang appeared and admitted he wanted the disciples dead so the Wang Family could delay the Sword Sect until the Ancestor broke through.

Lu Nan uncovered the Wang Family’s scheme to capture cultivators and escaped the mansion with Su Wan and the others using her Hundred Mile Talisman. The Wang Family pursued them, while Wang San reported their escape to his father, who was refining a Blood Pill and ordered him to capture the group alive if possible.

• Lu Nan explained how Dream Weaver Mist had been used to fool visitors, then refused Wang San’s offer and fought alongside Su Wan and the others.
• Lu Nan found an opening and led the group out of the house, but Wang San raised the Family Grand Formation around the mansion.
• Su Wan used a Fifth-grade Hundred Mile Talisman to teleport the group away before the barrier closed, and Wang San sent his people to chase them.
• Wang San entered the underground chamber and told his father that the Azure Lotus Sword Sect disciples had escaped.
• Wang San’s father ordered him to kill Lu Nan if he could not be subdued and to capture Su Wan alive if possible; he revealed that the Blood Pill would be ready in seven days, or three if the six were captured.
• Wang San confirmed that the earlier Azure Lotus Sword Sect disciples were still alive, though they had been reduced to skeletal figures.

Lu Nan discovered the Wang Family’s underground human-alchemy operation and fled Wang Manor with two injured Azure Lotus Sword Sect disciples. He drew Wang San away from the manor and stopped in a ravine to face him.

• The Old Man warned Wang San that the Wang Family would be destroyed if the six captives escaped, and Wang San left after sealing the secret passage.
• Lu Nan copied Wang San’s hand seals, entered the passage, and found a blood-filled chamber where the Wang Family Ancestor appeared to be conducting Living Human Alchemy.
• Lu Nan escaped the tunnels and encountered Wang San with two captured Sword Sect disciples; the women urged him to flee and deliver the news to their sect.
• Wang San threatened and brutalized the women, but Lu Nan fled rather than risk alerting the Wang Family Ancestor.
• Lu Nan lured Wang San away from Wang Manor and stopped in a mountain ravine to confront him.

Lu Nan killed Wang San after a fierce fight, then rescued Jing Ran and Li Nianqiao from Wang Manor. He left them recovering in a concealed cave and planned to find Su Wan before returning to the sect.

• Lu Nan used Talismans and his Blood Qi to withstand Wang San’s attacks, then severed Wang San’s left arm with a sword strike.
• Lu Nan ambushed Wang San from behind and killed him after confirming his death with repeated strikes from his Flying Sword.
• Lu Nan rushed to Wang Manor, found Jing Ran and Li Nianqiao unconscious near the Secret Passage, and carried them away to a hidden cave.
• Lu Nan treated Jing Ran and Li Nianqiao’s injuries, and they told him that Li and An had died covering their escape.
• Lu Nan told Jing Ran and Li Nianqiao he would hide them safely, then search for Su Wan and return to the sect with them.

Lu Nan hid Li Nianqiao and the other injured woman in a protected tree hollow before hunting the Wang Family members who had pursued him. After learning that Su Wan had fled into the Strange Rock Forest, he headed there and captured Wang Family men who knew the way through its natural maze.

• Lu Nan carried the immobile women to a miasma-covered forest, sheltered them in a warded hollow, and left supplies while warning them to escape if he did not return within three days.
• Lu Nan confirmed that the people who had hunted him belonged to the Wang Family and began killing their members as he searched the area.
• The Wang Family’s Seventh Elder learned that Su Wan was surrounded in the Strange Rock Forest and ordered the clan to gather there.
• Lu Nan overheard a Wang Family group mention the Strange Rock Forest’s natural maze, followed them, and killed several more clan members.
• Lu Nan entered the Strange Rock Forest, subdued a group of injured Wang Family members, and questioned a man who recognized him about the family and the maze.

Lu Nan searched the Strange Rock Forest for Su Wan and found her near collapse after she fought through Wang Family clansmen. He rescued her, and after she woke, he told her about the Wang Family’s Living Human Alchemy and the others he had saved.

• Lu Nan interrogated four Wang Family clansmen, learned about the family’s forces and Guiding Talismans, then killed them and continued through the shifting stone forest.
• Lu Nan overheard a group warning that Su Wan was nearby and waited in ambush, but Su Wan attacked the group before he could act.
• Lu Nan killed the remaining Wang Family men as they tried to call for help, then caught Su Wan when she collapsed and gave her a Healing Pill.
• Su Wan woke and told Lu Nan that the other Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters had been captured; Lu Nan said he had rescued Jing Ran and Li Nianqiao and that Li Nian and An Er had sacrificed themselves during their escape.
• Su Wan and Lu Nan recovered, then set out together.

Lu Nan and Su Wan escaped the Strange Rock Forest, only to be surrounded by the Wang Family’s elders and clansmen. Lu Nan killed Ninth Elder with a powerful sword strike and fled into the Eastern Jungle, where two elders soon found him hiding.

• Su Wan led Lu Nan through the Strange Rock Forest, and he slaughtered several groups of Wang Family members along the way.
• Three early Foundation Establishment elders and dozens of Wang clan members surrounded Lu Nan and Su Wan as they tried to leave.
• Lu Nan cut down most of the attacking clan members, then hurled Su Wan eastward and used Sword Qi to hold off the elders.
• Lu Nan wounded Ninth Elder with a strike combining his thrust and the Azure Lotus Strike, then escaped into the Eastern Jungle as the other elders pursued him.
• Lu Nan hid beneath a dead tree, but two figures stopped in the air above him and discovered his hiding place.

Lu Nan escaped the two Wang Family elders after hiding beneath dead wood, then fled to treat his injuries. Su Wan found Jing Ran and Li Nianqiao, but their severe injuries made escape together dangerous, leaving their plan unresolved.

• Lu Nan hid from the Brocade Old Man and the Black-Clad Old Man, who searched for him before leaving to pursue him east.
• Lu Nan waited half an hour, escaped from beneath the dead wood, spat out blood, took a Recovery Pill, and ran south to treat his injuries.
• Su Wan followed her remembered route through poisonous miasma and reached Jing Ran and Li Nianqiao's hiding place inside a tree hollow.
• Jing Ran and Li Nianqiao verified Su Wan's identity, and she helped them out of the hollow after they opened the array.
• Jing Ran and Li Nianqiao told Su Wan that Lu Nan had rescued them and likely killed Wang San, while Su Wan revealed that the Wang Family practiced Living Human Alchemy.
• Su Wan warned that their injuries made escape together too dangerous, and Jing Ran told her they understood before Su Wan could explain her plan.

Su Wan reached her master, the Sect Master, and told her about the Wang Family’s Living Human Alchemy and the hunt for her companions. The Sect Master rescued Jing Ran and Li Nianqiao, then headed for the Wang Family Mansion as its Old Man fled after swallowing the unfinished pill.

• Su Wan left Jing Ran and Li Nianqiao behind and hurried toward the sect after failing to contact her master or use any Protective Talismans.
• Su Wan finally reached her master through the Communication Stone, and the woman in white appeared and heard her account of the Wang Family’s crimes and Lu Nan’s help.
• The Old Man beneath the Wang Family Mansion saw images of Lu Nan killing Wang San and the Ninth Elder, then returned his attention to the nearly finished pill.
• The Sect Master freed Jing Ran and Li Nianqiao from the tree hollow’s formation, healed them, and learned that Lu Nan had escaped after killing the Ninth Elder.
• The Sect Master captured the Seventh and Eighth Elders, killed them after they refused to answer her questions, and took Su Wan and the two Senior Sisters toward the Wang Family Mansion.
• Sensing a great danger approaching, the Old Man swallowed the unfinished pill and fled the underground space.

Lu Nan encountered the Wang Family Ancestor, who blamed him for ruining years of plans and attacked him. Lu Nan escaped with his Hundred Mile Talisman but collapsed after arriving in an unfamiliar place.

• Lu Nan left his cave and set out to find his companions and report the Wang Family's crimes to the Azure Lotus Sword Sect.
• The Wang Family Ancestor trapped Lu Nan in a Light Membrane and revealed that Lu Nan had disrupted his plans.
• Lu Nan and the Wang Family Ancestor exchanged attacks, and Lu Nan wounded the ancestor's right hand.
• The Wang Family Ancestor launched a deadly attack, but Lu Nan activated his Hundred Mile Talisman and vanished before it could hit him.
• Lu Nan appeared in an unfamiliar place, spat out black blood, and lost consciousness while searching for somewhere to hide.

Ye Hanyan uncovered the Wang Family’s mass killing and learned that the Soul Refining Sect had helped them refine Blood Pills. Back at the Azure Lotus Sword Sect, she withdrew into seclusion while Su Wan, Jing Ran, and Li Nianqiao continued to hope that the missing Lu Nan would return.

• Ye Hanyan found the Wang Family’s underground chamber, healed the surviving Sword Sect disciples, and discovered that the Wang Family had used countless victims to refine Blood Pills.
• Su Wan led Ye Hanyan to the strange city Lu Nan had described, and Ye Hanyan’s Sword Qi revealed a ruined landscape covered with corpses.
• A black-robed man revealed that Wang Dian had been a disciple of the Azure Lotus Sword Sect and hinted that he had helped the Wang Family before escaping.
• Ye Hanyan reported the Soul Refining Sect’s involvement to Grand Elder Qingchuan, who identified the man as Lian Hunyu and urged her to let the matter end.
• Ye Hanyan entered seclusion, while Su Wan, Jing Ran, and Li Nianqiao continued to believe Lu Nan was alive and hoped he would return.

Lu Nan woke at the Artifact Refining Sect’s Ninth Peak, where Liu Qilan had rescued him and offered to take him as her disciple. After several days of recovery under Wu Wan’s care, Lu Nan was nearly healed and expected to join the sect if the Azure Lotus Sword Sect’s leader agreed.

• Liu Qilan told Lu Nan she had found him injured by a mountain stream and brought him to the Ninth Peak.
• Liu Qilan offered to make Lu Nan her second disciple, and he agreed on the condition that the Azure Lotus Sword Sect’s leader approve.
• Liu Qilan introduced Wu Wan as Lu Nan’s Eldest Senior Sister and left him to recover.
• Wu Wan cared for Lu Nan’s wounds and brought him nourishing soup as he recovered over the next several days.
• Wu Wan called Lu Nan to eat, and Liu Qilan appeared at the table asking whether the food was ready.

Lu Nan learned array formation basics from Liu Qilan and quickly demonstrated his talent by creating several formations. Liu Qilan gave him Ninth Peak’s Array Manual and challenged him to master its first part within three years to continue studying array-based Artifact Crafting.

• Liu Qilan gave Lu Nan an introductory Jade Token on array formations and Artifact Crafting, and he studied its knowledge through the night.
• Lu Nan experimented with scattered stones and successfully made a Concealment Formation.
• Seven days later, Lu Nan showed Liu Qilan his Concealment and Blazing Fire Formations and listed seven formations he had mastered.
• Liu Qilan gave Lu Nan Ninth Peak’s Array Manual and explained that he had to master its first part within three years to study the later portions and pursue array-based Artifact Crafting.
• Liu Qilan told Lu Nan that Wu Wan had mastered the first part in two years, but Lu Nan regained confidence by thinking of the Mysterious Space.

Liu Qilan brought Lu Nan to meet Sect Leader Jiang Qing, who tested Lu Nan’s formation skills and recognized his exceptional comprehension. Jiang Qing accepted him as a Peak Lord Disciple and promised to help resolve his status as a former Azure Lotus Sword Sect disciple, while Liu Qilan gave Lu Nan a Ninth Peak token.

• Liu Qilan took Lu Nan to First Peak to meet Jiang Qing, who questioned whether Lu Nan’s low talent qualified him to be her disciple.
• Liu Qilan defended Lu Nan by telling Jiang Qing that he had mastered formation fundamentals and comprehended her seven formations in less than seven days.
• Lu Nan set up a basic trapping formation and quickly escaped Jiang Qing’s First-grade Mist Array and Second-grade Heart Illusion Array.
• Jiang Qing tested Lu Nan with a Third-grade Fog Trap Array, but Lu Nan declined the challenge, and Jiang Qing praised him as a formation genius.
• Jiang Qing offered Lu Nan Peak Lord Disciple status and promised to help with his former affiliation to Azure Lotus Sword Sect.
• Liu Qilan took Lu Nan back to Ninth Peak and gave him a token bearing his name.

Liu Qilan gave Lu Nan his Identity Token and discovered that he could create First- and Second-grade Formations after he demonstrated a Three Talents Trapping Formation. After learning about his sect benefits and speaking with Wu Wan about the Azure Desolate Secret Realm, Lu Nan returned to his room and entered the Mysterious Space to check his spirit plants.

• Liu Qilan gave Lu Nan an Identity Token confirming his membership in the Artifact Refining Sect and learned that he could set up First- and Second-grade Formations.
• Lu Nan created a Three Talents Trapping Formation and explained its principles to an impressed Liu Qilan, who urged him to study the Array Manual.
• Lu Nan read about his Peak Lord Disciple benefits, including spirit stones, pills, techniques, and a Spirit Artifact, and recalled his grudge against the Wang Family Ancestor.
• At dinner, Lu Nan asked Wu Wan how she became Liu Qilan's disciple and learned that she hoped to pursue Heavenly Foundation Establishment in the Azure Desolate Secret Realm.
• Lu Nan returned to his room, set up warning and Concealment Formations, and entered the Mysterious Space to check on his spirit plants.

Lu Nan gathered nearly thousand-year-old spirit herbs and prepared a concealed cavern for cultivation and alchemy. After a painful failed attempt to temper his body, he gave up on the Indestructible Body and began refining a second-grade Rejuvenation Pill.

• Lu Nan inspected the aged herbs and Peach Tree in his spirit field, then left to find a safe place for alchemy.
• Lu Nan excavated a cavern beneath a waterfall, concealed it with formations, and furnished it with an alchemy cauldron and shelves.
• Lu Nan studied the Indestructible Body manual and learned that his current stage was Body Tempering.
• Lu Nan used his qi and blood to begin body tempering, but the Blood-colored Calf caused him intense pain and injured his arm.
• After healing and resting, Lu Nan chose to refine a second-grade Rejuvenation Pill and began working at the Cauldron.

Lu Nan visited the Market with Wu Wan to buy Spirit Talisman materials and found a mysterious black token. Liu Qilan then took him to the Azure Lotus Sword Sect to settle his identity, promising to compensate the sect for its past kindness to him.

• Lu Nan completed a batch of pills, then went with Wu Wan to the Market at the foot of Seventh Peak.
• Lu Nan bought four sets of second-grade Spirit Talisman materials from Zhou Tong.
• Lu Nan bought a sword and a black token from a stall owner, suspecting the token might contain an inheritance.
• Liu Qilan met Lu Nan at the Market entrance and took him away, telling him she was bringing him to the Azure Lotus Sword Sect to settle his identity.
• Lu Nan explained how he had entered the Azure Lotus Sword Sect, and Liu Qilan promised that Sister Fu would compensate the sect for its kindness to him.

Ye Hanyan learned of Lu Nan’s unusual talents and ordered Qingchuan to search for him, while Liu Qilan secured permission to take him as her disciple. Ye Hanyan then found Lu Nan at the foot of Sect Master Peak and confronted him about joining the Artifact Refining Sect.

• Su Wan told Ye Hanyan how Lu Nan had helped her and become an alchemist after borrowing the Alchemy Primer.
• Ye Hanyan showed Qingchuan a superior-quality First-grade Talisman made by Lu Nan and ordered him to organize a search.
• Liu Qilan asked Ye Hanyan to release her exceptionally handsome Outer Disciple, Lu Nan, and Ye Hanyan agreed.
• Ye Hanyan learned the disciple’s name was Lu Nan and rushed to the guest room where he was staying.
• Ye Hanyan confronted Lu Nan about joining the Artifact Refining Sect, and Lu Nan said his master had already discussed the matter with the Sect Leader.