Chapter Summaries

Li Ziyu used the system to raise the Imperial Sword Art to perfection and cleaved the Heavenly Sword Sect’s Testing Stone apart, stunning everyone at the test. Wang Ze rushed to report Li Ziyu’s extraordinary comprehension to his superiors, while Li Ziyu waited and wondered if he had gone too far.

• Wang Ze explained how the sword test measured comprehension and told Li Ziyu that exceptional talent could attract the attention of sect elders.
• Li Ziyu used the system to raise the Imperial Sword Art from uninitiated to perfection in moments.
• Li Ziyu slashed the Testing Stone in half, astonishing the cultivators waiting for their tests.
• Wang Ze asked Li Ziyu to demonstrate again, and Li Ziyu split the two halves of the stone into four.
• Wang Ze hurried to report Li Ziyu’s achievement to his superiors, while Li Ziyu waited and wondered if he had gone too far.

Li Ziyu mastered the Imperial Sword Art in one breath and split the Heavenly Sword Sect’s Testing Stone, impressing Steward Xue and earning a token to attend the recruitment ceremony. Sect Master Jian Wudi learned of his talent and ordered Steward Xue to keep Li Ziyu safe while the sect awaited his spirit-root test.

• Wang Ze interrupted Steward Xue’s fishing to report that Li Ziyu had mastered the Imperial Sword Art and split the Testing Stone.
• Steward Xue questioned Li Ziyu, accepted his answers, and gave him a jade token to attend the recruitment ceremony in three days.
• Wang Ze offered Li Ziyu an empty room, while Steward Xue hurried to report his talent to Jian Wudi.
• Jian Wudi considered whether Li Ziyu was a spy but decided his swordsmanship made that unlikely.
• Jian Wudi said Li Ziyu’s spirit-root quality would determine his prospects and ordered Steward Xue to keep him safe until the ceremony.

Li Ziyu learned about Purple Kite Immortal City's Spirit Gathering Pavilion and Heavenly Sword Mountain, then attended the pavilion's auction. Meanwhile, Li Xuehe slaughtered cultivators to pursue a breakthrough, and Li Ziyu entered the auction as a VIP using Steward Xue's Jade Token.

• Xiaoyu told Li Ziyu about the Spirit Gathering Pavilion's upcoming auction and the Heavenly Sword Sect's arts and Heavenly Sword Mountain.
• Li Ziyu reasoned that Heavenly Sword Mountain might hold the key to escaping the secret realm and decided to visit the auction first.
• Li Xuehe killed a combat-clad warrior and vowed to slaughter three more people to reach Level Eight Great Grandmaster.
• Li Ziyu arrived at the auction disguised in a green robe, where Liang'er recognized him and Madam Peach Blossom decided to approach him.
• A servant checked Li Ziyu's Jade Token and escorted him to a VIP private room on the second floor.

Li Ziyu spoke with Madam Peach Blossom at the auction and learned more about the scale of the cultivation world before the bidding began. When the opening item, a Foundation Establishment Pill, drew fierce bids, Li Ziyu asked Madam Peach Blossom to appraise a rare ore he might barter.

• Madam Peach Blossom introduced herself to Li Ziyu and invited him to visit Peach Blossom Manor, while Li Ziyu concealed that he had not tested his spiritual root.
• Madam Peach Blossom explained that Purple Kite Immortal City was one of many cities in Zhao Kingdom, which was only one of ten countries in a much larger world.
• Jin Sanniang opened the Spirit Gathering Pavilion auction, and the first item, a Foundation Establishment Pill, quickly drew bids of a thousand spirit stones.
• Li Ziyu asked Madam Peach Blossom about the pavilion's bartering reputation and handed her his Star Shine Ore for appraisal.
• Madam Peach Blossom mistook the ore for Purple Gold Stone and estimated that the large piece weighed at least one kilogram.

At the auction, Li Ziyu learned of a secret realm near Beili Immortal City that might connect to another civilization and wondered whether it was linked to Great Xia’s Fourth World Resonance. He then bid on the incomplete Ghost God Blade, hoping his Martial God System could help him recover its missing techniques.

• Madam Peach Blossom valued Li Ziyu’s Purple Gold Stone at about five hundred spirit stones.
• Jin Sanniang offered Huang Yidao’s qi-and-blood-based Yellow River One Slash, but it attracted little interest.
• Li Ziyu heard that a secret realm had appeared near Beili Immortal City and considered whether it connected the Immortal Cultivation World to Great Xia’s Fourth World Resonance.
• Jin Sanniang auctioned the damaged Ghost God Blade, whose surviving section covered only the Qi Refining stage.
• Madam Peach Blossom advised Li Ziyu to save his spirit stones for the Extreme Emotion Sword, but he bid one hundred and twenty spirit stones on the Ghost God Blade.

Li Ziyu won the Ghost God Blade manual at auction and traded two beast corpses to cover its cost. As bidding for the Extreme Emotion Sword reached 4,500 spirit stones, he unexpectedly entered the contest with a 5,000-spirit-stone bid.

• The Valley Family Ancestor and Li Ziyu competed for the Ghost God Blade, which Li Ziyu won for 200 spirit stones.
• Elder Liu of the Spirit Gathering Pavilion appraised the Cold Toad King and the mid Foundation Establishment King of Silent Hunters, agreeing to accept them in the transaction for the manual.
• Madam Peach Blossom admired Li Ziyu after learning he had slain the mid Foundation Establishment beast.
• The auction’s final item, the Extreme Emotion Sword, drew bids from several influential families, and the Valley Family Ancestor raised the price to 4,500 spirit stones.
• Li Ziyu bid 5,000 spirit stones from private box number seven.

Li Ziyu deliberately drove up the price of the Ghost God Blade’s auction, provoking the Valley Family Ancestor into targeting him. After the Valley Family ambushed him in an alley, Li Ziyu killed them and took the Ancestor’s cultivation technique, leaving with his identity and traces concealed.

• Li Ziyu raised the Ghost God Blade’s price to six thousand spirit stones, then stopped bidding and made the Valley Family Ancestor pay far more than he wanted.
• The Valley Family Ancestor learned Li Ziyu was a Western Regions Rogue Cultivator and decided to kill him before the Heavenly Sword Sect could claim him.
• Li Ziyu left the auction alone and entered a deserted alley, where the Valley Family Ancestor and his forces surrounded him.
• A Valley Family Attendant attacked Li Ziyu, who killed the Early Foundation Establishment cultivator with one strike.
• The Valley Family Ancestor fled with the Brocade-robed Youth, but Li Ziyu caught up and killed him, then took his Storage Bag and cultivation technique.
• Li Ziyu erased the corpses and evidence, left the alley, and exited God Form.

Li Ziyu mastered the first strike of Ghost God Blade with the system and discovered that his Primordial Energy could absorb spiritual energy from Spirit Stones. He went to the Heaven Heavenly Sword Sect’s recruitment ceremony to test whether he had a Spirit Root, where a disciple asked about his comprehension.

• Li Ziyu used the system to master Ghost God Blade’s Ghost God's Leave None and unleashed a blade strike filled with intense killing intent and supreme arrogance.
• Li Ziyu tested a Low-grade Spirit Stone and found that his Primordial Energy absorbed and converted its spiritual energy, leading him to wonder whether he effectively possessed a Spirit Root.
• Three days later, Xiao Yu praised Li Ziyu’s sword comprehension and prepared a carriage to take him to the Heaven Heavenly Sword Sect’s recruitment ceremony.
• Li Ziyu joined a line at the sect’s mountain gate to have his Jade Token inspected.
• Wang Xiao asked Li Ziyu what level of comprehension he possessed.

Li Ziyu was recognized as having peerless swordsmanship comprehension and received special treatment at the Heavenly Sword Sect’s recruitment ceremony. As more candidates reached the mountaintop, elders considered his potential, and dozens of streaks of light approached through the mountain ravines.

• A Heavenly Sword Sect disciple identified Li Ziyu’s emerald Jade Token as proof of peerless comprehension and exempted him from verification and the climb.
• Li Ziyu rode a cloud-treading colt to the mountaintop while Xuan Yi and Huang Yidao watched him leave the line.
• Elder Liu and deputy master Jian Guyuan discussed whether Li Ziyu might have a High-grade Spirit Root and become a True Disciple.
• Xiaoyang reached the mountaintop and greeted Li Ziyu as Senior, while a young man in blue complained about his preferential treatment.
• Li Ziyu looked toward the distant ravines as dozens of streaks of light flew toward the mountaintop.

Li Ziyu arrived at the Heavenly Sword Sect’s disciple-acceptance ceremony and saw Yu Ningmo among the inner disciples, where she was being pursued by Jiang Bai. The sect’s leaders began the tests, leaving Li Ziyu waiting to be called according to his Jade Token number.

• Li Ziyu noticed Yu Ningmo among the inner disciples, and she discreetly acknowledged him while keeping her identity hidden from Jiang Bai.
• Jiang Bai questioned Yu Ningmo about Li Ziyu and claimed he would look after him if he joined the sect, while Yu Ningmo rebuffed him.
• Li Ziyu observed Liang Yian, the foremost of the twelve True Disciples, and sensed that Liang Yian’s strength rivaled or surpassed his own.
• Sect Master Jian Wudi arrived with Vice Sect Master Jian Gu and Elder Liu, announced the start of the tests, and took his seat.
• Steward Xue instructed the candidates to come forward in Jade Token order and called Wang Erhu first.

Li Ziyu underwent the Heavenly Sword Sect’s spiritual root test after Xuan Yi revealed a High-grade Spirit Root. When Li Ziyu touched the jade stone, it blazed with overwhelming golden light, leaving the mountaintop stunned.

• Xuan Yi tested as having a High-grade Spirit Root and qualified as an inner sect disciple.
• Li Ziyu stepped up for his test as onlookers speculated about his spiritual root and potential.
• Li Ziyu used his essence energy with the jade stone and noted that Jian Wudi could not detect it.
• The jade stone erupted with brilliant golden light that illuminated the mountaintop and scattered the clouds.
• The crowd stared in shock as the mountaintop filled with thunderous noise and excited discussion.

Li Ziyu’s spirit-root test produced a golden phenomenon that Elder Liu identified as the legendary Immortal Body, surpassing even Sword Immortal Leng Aoxue’s recorded manifestation. Jian Wudi eagerly recruited Li Ziyu as Heavenly Sword Sect’s Vice Sect Master, leaving the sect’s disciples and elders bowing to their new superior.

• Li Ziyu continued pouring Origin Energy into the jade stone until Jian Wudi stopped him and confirmed the test was genuine.
• Elder Liu consulted an ancient book and identified Li Ziyu’s golden light as the legendary Immortal Body, possibly more powerful than Sword Immortal Leng Aoxue’s.
• Jian Wudi offered Li Ziyu the positions of martial brother to the sect master and Vice Sect Master, and Li Ziyu accepted after some hesitation.
• Steward Xue, Elder Liu, and the others bowed to Li Ziyu, while Jiang Bai, Liang Yian, Yu Ningmo, Xuan Yi, and Huang Yidao reacted to his sudden rise in rank.

Li Ziyu completed his apprenticeship at the Heavenly Sword Sect and received an enormous supply of cultivation resources. After discovering how quickly he could absorb spirit stones, he headed for the sect’s Scripture Pavilion.

• A Myriad Blade Pavilion elder rejected his nephew’s suggestion to kill Li Ziyu and decided to seek a marriage alliance to recruit him instead.
• Li Ziyu and Jian Wudi completed the apprenticeship ceremony, and Jian Wudi entered Li Ziyu into the Heavenly Sword Sect Genealogy.
• Jian Wudi, Jian Guyuan, and Elder Liu left, while Steward Xue directed Li Ziyu to the Scripture Pavilion and arranged resources and a grotto-heaven for him.
• Li Ziyu inspected his spirit stones, magic tool, armor, and spirit sword, then found that he could absorb one mid-grade spirit stone per day.
• Li Ziyu estimated he could reach Advanced Grandmaster in less than half a month and set out for the Scripture Pavilion.

Li Ziyu entered the Heavenly Sword Sect’s Scripture Pavilion and took the forbidden Nine Heavens Ruthless Slash, then visited Yu Ningmo to learn about the cultivation world and find a way back to Great Xia. Yu Ningmo revealed the scale of Zhao Kingdom’s power and told him the other two Great Grandmasters who had come with her were dead.

• Li Ziyu showed his Jade Token to the Scripture Pavilion’s guardian, who confirmed he was the sect’s Vice Sect Master and let him enter.
• Li Ziyu found Nine Heavens Ruthless Slash, learned it required abandoning emotion, and took the technique despite the guardian’s doubts.
• Li Ziyu absorbed spirit stones to build qi-blood points, then went to Yu Ningmo’s cave abode to ask about the secret realm’s exit and her discoveries.
• Yu Ningmo explained that Zhao Kingdom had at least a hundred Golden Core cultivators and that Nascent Soul Cultivators stood above them, but Li Ziyu responded with excitement about advancing beyond Martial Saint.
• Yu Ningmo told Li Ziyu that the other two Great Grandmasters who had come with her were dead.

Li Ziyu learned that Heavenly Sword Mountain’s violent attacks grew according to a climber’s strength, then decided to challenge it after preparing further. His plan to climb the mountain spread through the Heavenly Sword Sect, where many disciples doubted he could match the existing records.

• Yu Ningmo told Li Ziyu that only cultivators below the Golden Core stage could climb Heavenly Sword Mountain and that even elite climbers had failed to reach its summit.
• Li Ziyu decided to challenge Heavenly Sword Mountain, believing his current Intermediate Grandmaster strength might let him avoid its most powerful attacks, but resolved to prepare further first.
• Several months later, Li Ziyu absorbed spirit stones delivered by two female True Disciples, who relayed Elder Liu’s warning against rushing his cultivation.
• Li Ziyu told the disciples he was preparing to climb Heavenly Sword Mountain, and news of his challenge spread across the sect as many disciples questioned his strength.
• Liang Yian told the True Disciples that the Sect Master believed Li Ziyu could break Ancestor Wujian’s six-hundredth-level record, though Liang Yian privately doubted it.

The Myriad Blade Pavilion’s Hu Yidao visited the Heavenly Sword Sect to assess Li Ziyu’s talent before he attempted to climb Heavenly Sword Mountain. Unaware of the visitors, Li Ziyu upgraded the Ghost God Blade and Nine Heavens Ruthless Slash to completion, discovering that the latter could overwhelm those with emotions.

• Jian Guyuan asked Jian Wudi whether they should persuade Li Ziyu not to climb Heavenly Sword Mountain, but Jian Wudi trusted Li Ziyu’s judgment.
• Hu Yidao arrived with two Myriad Blade Pavilion Vice Pavilion Masters and said he had come to watch Li Ziyu climb Heavenly Sword Mountain.
• Jian Wudi told Hu Yidao that Li Ziyu was in seclusion, while Hu Yidao recalled his own climb and wondered whether Li Ziyu could surpass his record.
• Li Ziyu used his blood-qi points to upgrade the Ghost God Blade and Nine Heavens Ruthless Slash to complete level.
• Li Ziyu discovered that the completed Nine Heavens Ruthless Slash stirred emotions in its user and could drag emotional enemies into a torrent of feeling.

Li Ziyu broke True Man Wujian’s record by reaching seven hundred levels of Heavenly Sword Mountain, then continued climbing until he faced an opponent representing the pinnacle of the Great Grandmaster realm. He met the opponent’s matching battle skills head-on and began a blade strike.

• Li Ziyu surpassed seven hundred levels and defeated a high-level Foundation Establishment Daoist phantom with Ninefold Thunder Blade.
• Jian Wudi, Jian Gu, Elder Liu, Hu Yidao, Yu Ningmo, Liang Yian, and Xuan Yi watched in disbelief as Li Ziyu broke the patriarch’s record.
• Li Ziyu climbed to nine hundred levels, where condensed Gang Qi tore his protective Yuan Energy and left bloody marks on his body.
• Li Ziyu faced a Great Grandmaster phantom whose domain formed a towering golden body, then shattered it with Ghost God Blade and Great Sun Prajna Divine Power.
• The phantom revealed a white-clad opponent who mirrored Li Ziyu and attacked with Level 9 Battle Skill—Crazy Eighteen Strikes; Li Ziyu answered with God Slayer’s One Slash.

Li Ziyu broke through Heavenly Sword Mountain’s 900th level with his Nuclear Explosion Extreme Fist and faced an even stronger opponent at level 999. His attacks failed to pierce the opponent’s Half-Step Martial Saint domain, but Li Ziyu kept fighting.

• Li Ziyu studied the white-robed man’s movement and defeated him with his self-created Nuclear Explosion Extreme Fist, reaching Heavenly Sword Mountain’s 900th level.
• The watching Heavenly Sword Sect disciples, Jian Guyuan, Yu Ningmo, and Liang Yian were astonished by Li Ziyu’s strength.
• Li Ziyu reached level 999 and faced a cold-faced middle-aged man whose power seemed to approach that of a Martial Saint.
• Li Ziyu used God Form and combined the Ninefold Thunder Blade, Ghost God Blade, and Nuclear Explosion Extreme Fist against the man, but the attacks only rippled his domain and destroyed Li Ziyu’s protective armor.
• Li Ziyu refused to give up and continued striking the middle-aged man with Nuclear Explosion Extreme Fist.

Li Ziyu returned from a secret realm after reaching the summit of Heavenly Sword Mountain, while the Extreme Path Martial Arts Hall investigated an elder’s death and targeted him. He told Zhang Beihai that the realm connected to another human civilization, leaving Zhang shocked and hopeful about a possible ally against the World Echo.

• Li Ziyu’s punches unleashed blasts across Heavenly Sword Mountain as Jian Wudi and the others watched him reach the summit.
• Tian Shang Xing discovered that Tianwei Xing’s life lamp had gone out and decided to capture Li Ziyu to learn what happened.
• Li Ziyu returned to Wilderness Area No. 2 and found that the secret realm’s entrance had disappeared.
• Zhang Beihai received news that Li Ziyu had exited the secret realm and contacted him.
• Li Ziyu told Zhang Beihai that the secret realm seemed to connect to another human civilization, and Zhang questioned whether they also faced the World Echo.

Li Ziyu agreed to join Zhang Beihai’s Central War Zone and attend the Military Department’s vanguard selection. Meanwhile, Tian Shang Xing abducted Zhao Yanan and other people connected to the Secret Realm, then killed them after questioning them.

• Li Ziyu told Zhang Beihai that he was the only one able to leave the Secret Realm and agreed to join the Central War Zone.
• Zhang Beihai ordered Little Wang to prepare an airship so he could personally bring Li Ziyu back from Wilderness Area No. 2.
• Zhao Yanan told her friends she might join the Central War Zone because her cousin, Li Ziyu, had mentioned it.
• A scar-faced man abducted Zhao Yanan and brought her with other people connected to the Secret Realm to an abandoned factory.
• Tian Shang Xing questioned the captives about Li Ziyu and the Secret Realm, then killed them all with his blood qi while Zhao Yanan watched.