Chapter Summaries

The Tianmu Cult's leaders in Yunshan County planned to use Xu Yan and his master for their schemes, then staged a procession that reached Li Xuan's courtyard. Li Xuan and Xu Yan faced the cult's representatives, and Li Xuan learned that their Peak Jianghu Expert was weak by his standards.

• The county magistrate, beggar, and others met with a hemp-clad Tianmu Cult Protector, who ordered them to recruit Xu Yan's master and keep watch on Donghe Commandery.
• Xu Yan told Li Xuan that the Tianmu Cult was a long-standing rebellious sect that had resurfaced to preach in Yunshan County.
• Li Xuan suspected that the Tianmu Cult had secretly taken control of Yunshan County, and Xu Yan worried that it had taken over his family's shops.
• Li Xuan told Xu Yan to let the procession approach, and the cult's leader called out to them from outside the courtyard gate.
• Xu Yan identified the speaker as a Peak Jianghu Expert, and Li Xuan asked about Internal Energy after dismissing the expert's strength as weak.

Li Xuan and Xu Yan confronted Tianmu Cult members who had come to extort the Xu Family, but learned that the Xu Family was in danger because of the Princes' Succession Struggle. Xu Yan discovered the Prefect of Donghe Commandery planned to seize his family’s property, and he prepared to respond with force.

• Li Xuan mocked the Tianmu Cult members’ poor disguises and exposed the County Magistrate of Yunshan among them.
• The Tianmu Cult members attacked Xu Yan, but he suppressed them with his Vital Energy.
• The County Magistrate revealed that the Prefect of Donghe Commandery planned to confiscate the Xu Family’s property and imprison them on behalf of a powerful figure in the Capital City.
• Xu Yan learned that the Xu Family had been targeted because his maternal grandfather supported the Third Prince, whose faction was losing the succession struggle.
• The County Magistrate urged Xu Yan to join the Tianmu Cult, and Xu Yan sent him flying with a slap.

Xu Yan hurried home after Li Xuan sent him to deal with the crisis facing his family, while Li Xuan forced the Tianmu Cult and the County Magistrate to explain the world to him. At the Xu residence, Xu Junhe revealed that the family was being targeted as part of a purge against the Third Prince’s faction and prepared to send Xu Yan to the Wu Kingdom.

• Xu Yan left for home using the Light Swan Movement Technique, and Li Xuan brought the old man in hemp clothes, the County Magistrate, and the Tianmu Cult members inside to question them.
• The old man in hemp clothes declared Li Xuan the Great Sage Heavenly Duke, and the others prostrated themselves before Li Xuan threatened them into standing and speaking properly.
• Xu Junhe told Madam Xu that the Tianmu Cult was demanding the Xu Family’s wealth while the authorities waited for news connected to the Princes’ Succession Struggle.
• Xu Junhe explained that the lost Evergreen Longevity Stone had ruined the Third Prince’s standing and placed his faction, including the Xu Family, in danger of being purged.
• Xu Junhe and Madam Xu hoped Xu Yan would escape the calamity, and Apothecary Pan said he was ready to escort him to the Wu Kingdom.

Xu Junhe and Madam Xu faced arrest and the seizure of their estate after the Prefect accused them of colluding with the Tianmu Cult. Xu Yan returned with overwhelming martial power, stopping the soldiers and revealing that he had apparently mastered extraordinary techniques.

• Xu Junhe told Apothecary Pan to leave that night, while Kou Ruozhi prepared the Tianmu Cult to exploit Xu Family's arrest and seize Donghe Commandery.
• The Prefect of Donghe Commandery led soldiers into Xu Family's residence, ordered its property seized, and moved to arrest Xu Junhe and Madam Xu.
• Xu Junhe questioned the prefect's accusation, realizing the authorities might be pressuring him to join the Tianmu Cult.
• Xu Yan roared at the soldiers and descended from the sky, using two blazing dragons to scatter them and kill the men carrying the cangues.
• Xu Junhe, Madam Xu, the prefect, and the others stared in shock as Xu Yan stood before his parents, surrounded by blazing qi.

Xu Yan confronted the Prefect of Donghe Commandery for trying to seize his family’s property, then used his power to defeat the soldiers sent against him. Kou Ruozhi and the Tianmu Cult pledged allegiance to Xu Yan as the Great Sage Heavenly Duke, leaving him bewildered by their sudden declaration.

• Xu Yan denounced the Prefect of Donghe Commandery for targeting his family and rejected the charge that he feared rebellion.
• The Prefect ordered soldiers to arrest Xu Yan and his parents, while Madam Xu urged her son to flee.
• Kou Ruozhi and twelve Tianmu Cult experts arrived, and Kou revealed that cult members had infiltrated the soldiers and turned their arrows against them.
• Xu Yan stopped the incoming arrows and struck down the soldiers with his Dragon Subduing Palm.
• Kou Ruozhi knelt and named Xu Yan the Great Sage Heavenly Duke, and the Twelve Peerless Experts of the Tianmu Cult followed suit.
• Xu Yan questioned whether the Tianmu Cult planned to rename itself the Tiangong Cult.

Kou Ruozhi tried to recruit Xu Yan into the Tianmu Cult by tempting him with the Heavenly Mother and then beautiful men, but Xu Yan repeatedly mistook his persuasion for an attempt to undermine his martial heart. Kou finally offered to negotiate with Xu Junhe and signaled the cult’s forces, while Xu Junhe told Xu Yan to wait before acting against the Prefect of Donghe Commandery.

• Kou Ruozhi praised the Heavenly Mother’s beauty and urged Xu Yan to join the Tianmu Cult as its Great Sage Heavenly Duke, but Xu Yan suspected a plot to ruin his martial cultivation and threatened him with the Dragon Subduing Palm.
• Kou Ruozhi swore that he had only meant to test Xu Yan’s resolve, then suggested Xu Yan choose beautiful men from the cult, prompting Madam Xu to worry that her son preferred men.
• Xu Yan accused Kou Ruozhi of trying to ruin his reputation, and Kou claimed the beautiful men could be sent to the Qi Emperor to destabilize his rule.
• Xu Yan rejected the Tianmu Cult’s rebellion and methods, saying he could kill the Qi Emperor himself, while Xu Junhe demanded that Kou prove he was qualified to negotiate.
• Kou Ruozhi ordered the cult’s experts to sound whistles across Donghe Commandery City, and Xu Junhe told Xu Yan to wait for news before deciding what to do about the Prefect of Donghe Commandery.

Xu Junhe rejected an alliance with the Tianmu Cult and planned to have Xu Yan settle the crisis in the capital after revealing his strength against the forces threatening Donghe Commandery. Kou Ruozhi seized the prefectural office by impersonating the Prefect, while Xu Junhe prepared Xu Yan to defeat Jiang Pingshan’s army and protect the Xu Family’s interests.

• Kou Ruozhi revealed that the Tianmu Cult had taken control of the prefectural office and used the Commander of Donghe Commandery’s soldiers to capture the wounded rebels.
• Kou Ruozhi disguised himself as the Prefect of Donghe Commandery, had the real Prefect masked as a Tianmu Cult expert, and left to consolidate his control.
• Xu Yan asked whether the Xu Family should rebel, but Xu Junhe explained that rebellion could endanger his wife’s family in the capital.
• Xu Yan claimed he could face a hundred thousand soldiers alone, reassuring Xu Junhe about his strength.
• Xu Junhe concluded that Jiang Pingshan and the Great General of Donghe’s Manor would soon act, and ordered Xu Yan to defeat Jiang Pingshan’s army without letting the Tianmu Cult exploit the battle.
• Xu Junhe planned for Xu Yan to go to the capital afterward and intimidate the imperial family and court officials on behalf of his maternal grandfather.

The Qi court sent the Divine Might Army to arrest the Tianmu Cult and seize the Xu Family, but Xu Yan confronted the army to protect his family. After he shattered its charge with Dragon Subduing Palm, he challenged Jiang Pingshan to continue the fight outside the city.

• The Divine Might Army surrounded the prefectural office and routed the Tianmu Cult, while Kou Ruozhi escaped through a tunnel with the Twelve Paramounts and the County Commandant.
• Apothecary Pan returned to the Xu residence with trusted experts, and Xu Junhe prepared them to protect the family after Xu Yan left.
• Jiang Pingshan led the Divine Might Army to the Xu residence and ordered Xu Junhe to surrender.
• Xu Yan rejected his father's suggestion to flee and declared that he would test the Divine Might Army's strength.
• Xu Yan unleashed Dragon Subduing Palm and broke apart the Divine Might Army's charge, sending soldiers and horses flying.
• Xu Yan challenged Jiang Pingshan to take the fight outside the city.

Xu Yan challenged the Divine Might Army outside the city and used the Dragon Subduing Palm to sweep aside its ten thousand soldiers. He reached minor mastery in the technique as the city’s spectators watched in disbelief.

• Xu Yan regretted damaging shops and risking civilian injuries, while Jiang Pingshan agreed to fight him outside the city.
• Xu Junhe, Madam Xu, Kou Ruozhi, and the city’s prominent figures gathered on the wall to watch the battle.
• Jiang Pingshan ordered the Divine Might Army to charge Xu Yan from every direction.
• Xu Yan unleashed the Dragon Subduing Palm, refining his control over its force until the technique reached minor mastery.
• Xu Yan’s crimson dragons swept the soldiers and their horses from the battlefield, routing the Divine Might Army.

Xu Yan defeated the Divine Might Army and stopped the Tianmu Cult from exploiting its defeat, then returned home as Donghe Commandery’s people began searching for his mysterious master. Li Xuan learned about the Tianmu Cult’s young Heavenly Mother and wondered whether she might make a suitable disciple.

• Xu Yan defeated Jiang Pingshan’s Divine Might Army while holding back, and Jiang acknowledged the Xu Family’s victory.
• Tianmu Cult followers rushed to seize the defeated army, but Xu Yan drove them back until Jiang’s own troops arrived.
• Xu Yan returned to Xu Junhe and Madam Xu, while Donghe’s prominent figures and the Tianmu Cult began searching for his eminent master.
• In Yunshan County, Li Xuan heard the old man in hemp clothes and the county magistrate explain the outside world and the Tianmu Cult’s young Heavenly Mother.
• Li Xuan considered whether the Heavenly Mother might be a suitable disciple, noted that she had gone to Wu Kingdom, and wondered how Xu Yan’s family was faring.

Li Xuan gained a Mysterious Aura after Xu Yan’s battle and went looking for another promising disciple. In Yunshan County, he met the bald youth Meng Chong, who was wanted for a huge bounty and began explaining his revenge against the Meng Family.

• Li Xuan gained Hundred Battles Experience from Xu Yan’s victory and received a Mysterious Aura because Xu Yan had made his name resound.
• Li Xuan decided to seek more disciples and considered inviting the current Heavenly Mother of the Tianmu Cult to Yunshan County.
• Li Xuan encountered Shi Er chasing the bald youth Meng Chong, a fugitive wanted by Wu Kingdom for ten thousand taels of gold.
• Meng Chong told Li Xuan that he was the Tian Ping Meng Family’s direct heir, and that his relatives had branded him a jinx, seized his inheritance, and driven him out.
• Meng Chong explained that he suspected the Meng Family elders had murdered his parents and that he had vowed to take revenge.

Li Xuan learned how Meng Chong’s attempt to assassinate the Wu Emperor had sparked copycat attacks across Wu Kingdom. The Wu Emperor stopped traveling, officials and householders grew wary of their servants, and the bounty on Meng Chong rose to one hundred thousand taels of gold.

• Meng Chong explained that he had attacked the Wu Emperor to take revenge on the Meng Family, which led to the family’s execution while he escaped.
• Shi Er revealed that a servant copied Meng Chong by attacking the Wu Emperor after suffering abuse at the hands of the Minister of Personnel’s household, and the Minister’s family was executed.
• A nephew of the Vice Minister of War imitated Meng Chong to avenge his mother, prompting another assassination attempt and the execution of the Vice Minister’s family.
• Copycat attacks and fears of servant revenge spread through Wu Kingdom, and the Wu Emperor stopped going on imperial tours.
• The Wu Emperor and his officials raised the bounty for Meng Chong to one hundred thousand taels of gold.

Li Xuan took Meng Chong as his new disciple and ordered the Tianmu Cult to bring Precious Medicines for his cultivation. Meanwhile, Xu Yan subdued the cult’s experts in Donghe Commandery City and warned his parents to flee to Yunshan County if danger arose before his trip to the Capital City.

• Meng Chong proposed repeatedly collecting Wu Kingdom bounties by having Shi Er escort him between county offices and then recapture him.
• Li Xuan recognized Meng Chong’s unconventional thinking as suitable for a disciple, accepted him, and asked Shi Er to bring Precious Medicines and summon the Tianmu Cult’s young girl.
• Xu Yan beat Kou Ruozhi and the other Tianmu Cult experts until they could use only thirty percent of their martial strength, then demanded that Kou Ruozhi prove he was fully convinced.
• Xu Yan left the commandery’s potential threats subdued, kept the Xu Family’s guards at full strength, and told his parents to hide in Yunshan County if circumstances changed before he went to the Capital City.

After learning that Xu Yan had effortlessly defeated ten thousand soldiers, the Qi Emperor feared the Xu Family’s power and chose to protect Guo Rongshan rather than provoke them. Guo Rongshan returned home convinced that the emperor had lost his mind.

• The Qi Emperor read the report of Xu Yan’s victory and realized that executing Guo Rongshan’s family could bring about the Qi Kingdom’s destruction.
• The Qi Emperor summoned Guo Rongshan and the Third Prince to the Imperial Ancestral Temple, where he made the prince take Guo Rongshan as his master.
• The Qi Emperor declared Guo Rongshan his sworn brother, hoping the family ties would persuade Xu Yan to spare him.
• The Qi Emperor offered Consort Yun to Guo Rongshan, but withdrew the offer when Guo Rongshan mentioned his fierce wife.
• Guo Rongshan returned home dazed and told Guo Yunkai that the Qi Emperor seemed to have a brain ailment.

Xu Yan arrived in the capital on crimson dragons after the Qi Emperor had elevated Guo Rongshan and Guo Yunkai and made the Third Prince Crown Prince. His arrival revealed the reason for the emperor’s seemingly absurd decisions, but his display of power and a Tianmu Cult uprising sent Qi Kingdom into turmoil.

• Guo Rongshan told Guo Yunkai about the Qi Emperor’s unexpected teacher-student bond and sworn brotherhood with him, leaving them both convinced the emperor had lost his senses.
• The Qi Emperor made Guo Rongshan King of Qi and Imperial Tutor, appointed Guo Yunkai to command the Divine Might Army, and named Prince Ming Crown Prince, while publicizing the Guo family as loyal sages.
• Xu Yan rode two crimson dragons into the capital and crashed one into the palace square, terrifying the officials and prompting Guo Rongshan to introduce him to the Qi Emperor as his sworn brother.
• Xu Yan questioned how the Qi Emperor could be his grandfather’s sworn brother while corrupt officials had confiscated the family home, and the Qi Emperor forced a kindly smile.
• Tianmu Cult followers tried to use Xu Yan’s arrival to start a rebellion, so the Qi Emperor sent the imperial guards to hunt them down.
• News reached the court that Xu Yan had defeated ten thousand soldiers of the Divine Might Army in Donghe Commandery, explaining why the Qi Emperor had acted to appease the Guo family.

Xu Yan’s strength transformed the Qi capital, while the Qi Emperor used Guo Rongshan’s reputation to bind the Guo family to the throne. Meanwhile, Li Xuan learned that the Endless Mountains lay near Yunshan County and wondered whether they held the answers to the world’s mysteries.

• Xu Yan’s display of power sparked a capital-wide craze for finding reclusive experts, and officials flocked to the Qi Prince’s residence.
• Guo Rongshan explained to Guo Yunkai that the Qi Emperor had used honors and public praise to make rebellion costly to the Guo family’s reputation.
• Guo Rongshan told Guo Yunkai to gather cultivation resources for Xu Yan while the imperial family searched for an expert who could challenge him.
• Li Xuan brought Meng Chong home, assigned him a guest room, and told him to cook chicken soup.
• Shi Er delivered two Nine-Leaf Spirit Ganoderma and three stalks of Thousand-Year Ginseng, then told Li Xuan that the Endless Mountains began two hundred li from Yunshan County.
• Li Xuan wondered whether the Fire Mane Wolf came from the Endless Mountains and whether the region concealed the true strength of the world.

Li Xuan gained a stronger mysterious aura after Shi Er reacted with awe to his words, then began devising a new physical cultivation method for Meng Chong. He finished drafting the Great Sun Golden Bell Shield and planned to teach it to Meng Chong the next day.

• Li Xuan dismissed Shi Er’s worries about the Endless Mountains, and Shi Er became even more respectful of him.
• A system message reported that Xu Yan had shocked the Capital City of Qi Kingdom, strengthening Li Xuan’s mysterious aura.
• Li Xuan told Meng Chong to prepare Nine-Leaf Spirit Ganoderma chicken soup and decided to create a cultivation method suited to Meng Chong’s powerful physique.
• Li Xuan designed Body Cultivation Martial Dao, including the Great Sun Golden Bell Shield, which combined Skin Tempering, Bone Refining, and Organ Refining.
• Li Xuan completed his draft of the Great Sun Golden Bell Shield and planned to teach Meng Chong to grasp its intent rather than follow its written form blindly.

Li Xuan taught Meng Chong the Great Sun Golden Bell Shield, urging him to comprehend its principles and begin cultivating. Meanwhile, the Yunshan County officials learned of Xu Yan’s power and turned their attention from rebellion toward pleasing Li Xuan and pursuing the martial path.

• Li Xuan burned his draft of the Great Sun Golden Bell Shield after checking the cultivation method he had prepared for Meng Chong.
• Li Xuan explained the martial path and taught Meng Chong the Great Sun Golden Bell Shield as a body-cultivation method suited to his physique.
• Meng Chong memorized the method and began practicing a horse stance while trying to sense his Vital Energy, as Li Xuan advised him to stay calm and take breaks.
• Li Xuan told Meng Chong to seek Shi Er if he needed anything and reminded him to use Precious Medicine when stewing chicken.
• At the Yunshan County Office, the county magistrate and others discussed Xu Yan’s victory over the Divine Might Army and their renewed desire to become martial artists.
• Shi Er proposed giving Li Xuan more Nine-Leaf Spirit Ganoderma and Thousand-Year Ginseng in hopes of earning his favor and guidance.

Li Xuan accepted gifts of Precious Medicine from the Tianmu Cult, while Xu Yan continued entering the Imperial Palace to temper his state of mind and gained a vague insight into the Innate Realm. The Qi Emperor punished the ministers for their suggestive looks after Xu Yan left the inner palace.

• The County Magistrate of Yunshan and Tianmu Cult experts brought Li Xuan gifts of Precious Medicine, which he accepted while warning himself not to let the cult misuse his name.
• Shi Er delivered a chicken to Meng Chong, and Li Xuan considered whether to take him on as a servant.
• The Qi Emperor seethed as Xu Yan repeatedly visited the inner palace, while Xu Yan believed the Qi Emperor was helping him cultivate by having the consorts dance.
• Xu Yan left the inner palace feeling his state of mind had improved and gained a vague insight into the cultivation method of the Innate Realm.
• The ministers gave Guo Rongshan strange looks after Xu Yan left, so the Qi Emperor ordered Guo Yunkai to have them all beaten with twenty strokes of the board.

The Qi Emperor blamed the First Prince for the trouble surrounding Xu Yan and ordered him beaten, while Xu Yan continued comprehending his cultivation technique. After gaining the Clear Mind State, Li Xuan watched Meng Chong discover a way to cultivate the Great Sun Golden Bell Shield, and Meng Chong began tempering his body from the outside in.

• The Qi Emperor ordered the First Prince to receive thirty strokes of the rod for losing his virtue, and the First Prince inwardly cursed his father.
• Xu Yan focused on comprehending the Innate Realm cultivation technique at the Prince of Qi's residence.
• Li Xuan gained the Clear Mind State after learning that Xu Yan had entered the Qi Emperor's harem to temper his state of mind.
• Meng Chong watched the sun, realized how to approach the Great Sun Golden Bell Shield, and began cultivating beneath it.
• Meng Chong used the sunlight to stir his qi and blood, tempered his bones and organs, and felt his body become as seamless as a great bell.