Recaps

Lin Bai entered the Combat Arena to register as a fighter and chose a mysterious mask that concealed his identity. He left the old man’s chamber with the mask named Sword Demon.

• Lin Bai and Ban Ye crossed the underground casino and reached the chamber where fighters registered.
• Two guards let Lin Bai enter after he insisted on joining, but they barred Ban Ye from following him.
• The Slovenly Old Man explained that new fighters had to pass three unrewarded matches before earning Merit Points for wins.
• Lin Bai chose the pitch-black mask the old man had just finished carving and put it on, transforming his clothes into black robes.
• The Slovenly Old Man named the mask Sword Demon.

Lin Bai accepted the Sword Demon mask and arranged to enter the Combat Arena the next day. As Blackwater City's City Lord prepared to choose a successor, Lin Bai studied the arena and set out before dawn for his first match.

• The Slovenly Old Man gave Lin Bai the Sword Demon mask and showed him the passage to the Combat Arena; he refused the Blackwater City Lord's request for help with his injuries.
• The Blackwater City Lord ordered the Eight Great Families to prepare to select his successor, acknowledging that he did not have long to live.
• Taiyi registered Lin Bai as Sword Demon, scheduled his first match for the next day, and gave him a book of fighter records and a map of the Combat Arena.
• Lin Bai returned to the Tang Family with Ban Ye, studied the map and fighter records, and decided to rely on his fists unless he had to draw his sword.
• Lin Bai left the Tang Family before dawn and headed to the Combat Arena as Ban Ye watched him go and offered advice.

Lin Bai entered the Combat Arena disguised as the masked Sword Devil and watched Ghost Messenger kill Lu Wei in the opening qualifying battle. Taiyi then called Lin Bai and Hong Lang to fight next, leaving Lin Bai to face an opponent who dismissed him as an easy win.

• Lin Bai disguised himself in black clothes and a mask, then waited with the other newcomers in a room beneath the Combat Arena.
• Taiyi announced that six newcomers would compete for two places as true combatants and sent Ghost Messenger and Lu Wei out for the first battle.
• Ghost Messenger turned the fight around and killed Lu Wei with one punch after Lu Wei used a forbidden technique.
• A masked martial artist and an unmasked body-refining martial artist criticized Ghost Messenger’s performance after his victory.
• Taiyi called Sword Devil and Hong Lang for the next battle, and Hong Lang mocked Lin Bai’s seventh-level Death Reversal Realm cultivation.

Lin Bai entered the Combat Arena and killed Hong Lang with a single punch in his first match. He chose to fight again without resting, and his second opponent, Shen Hua, arrived as Lin Bai charged at him.

• Taiyi warned Lin Bai and Hong Lang that their first three matches would determine how others valued them in the Combat Arena.
• Hong Lang boasted that he would kill Lin Bai, but Lin Bai dodged his repeated attacks before striking back.
• Lin Bai shattered Hong Lang's arm and killed him with one punch, then asked Ning Zheng to begin his second match immediately.
• Taiyi selected Shen Hua as Lin Bai's next opponent, and Shen Hua entered the arena.
• Shen Hua mocked Lin Bai's win as luck, but Lin Bai charged at him and declared that all his opponents had to die.

Lin Bai defeated Shen Hua in his second Combat Arena match and chose to fight again immediately. His third opponent was Ghost Messenger, whom Madam Yang had recruited and expected to become an Ever-Victorious General.

• Lin Bai shattered Shen Hua's vines and defensive art, forcing Shen Hua to surrender and leave the arena.
• Ning Zheng congratulated Lin Bai, and Lin Bai chose to begin his third match without resting.
• Taiyi selected Ghost Messenger as Lin Bai's next opponent, and Ghost Messenger entered the arena.
• Madam Yang told her companions that Ghost Messenger was a Faceless Ones assassin she had recruited by promising him a night with her if he won ten consecutive matches.
• Ning Zheng announced the start of Lin Bai and Ghost Messenger's match.

Lin Bai fought Ghost Messenger in the Combat Arena, exposing the assassin’s reliance on a single killing strike before defeating him at the cost of a serious wound. Ning Zheng praised Lin Bai’s strength, while the spectators debated how decisively he had outmatched Ghost Messenger.

• Lin Bai and Ghost Messenger began their match, and Ghost Messenger attacked with blinding speed and a deadly claw.
• Ghost Messenger surrounded Lin Bai with afterimages and short swords, but Lin Bai shattered them with a powerful punch and revealed his true body.
• Lin Bai and Ghost Messenger fought for thousands of exchanges without a victor, while the crowd watched and Madam Yang grew concerned.
• Lin Bai explained that the assassin’s techniques depended on a single killing blow, then charged at Ghost Messenger as the fight’s decisive moment arrived.
• Ghost Messenger stabbed Lin Bai in the abdomen with his Certain-Kill Sword Strike, but Lin Bai struck his heart and killed him.
• Ning Zheng praised Lin Bai, who rose despite his wound as spectators discussed why he had been stronger than Ghost Messenger.

Lin Bai defeated the Ghost Messenger in a deadly gamble, earning praise and establishing himself in the Combat Arena. After he left with a Voice Transmission Token, Madam Yang asked Taiyi to arrange a private meeting with him.

• An Apex Realm expert explained that Lin Bai had exposed a deliberate weakness and won the lethal exchange with the Ghost Messenger by shattering his heart meridians.
• Ning Zheng praised Lin Bai, awarded him one thousand merit points for each future victory, and told him to return the next day after recovering from his injuries.
• The spectators cheered for Lin Bai, and Taiyi gave him a Voice Transmission Token to arrange future fights.
• Madam Yang learned that the Ghost Messenger had died and decided to meet Lin Bai, whom Taiyi said was an unaffiliated cultivator.
• Taiyi agreed to notify Lin Bai about Madam Yang's request and contacted him after leaving her private room.

After winning three matches in the Combat Arena, Lin Bai was invited by powerful members of the Eight Great Families to become an Ever-Victorious General. He met Madam Yang at the Celestial Fairy Pavilion, where she began to explain why she had summoned him.

• Lin Bai returned to the Tang Family after passing all three trials, and Ban Ye realized he had succeeded.
• Taiyi told Lin Bai that influential figures wanted to recruit him as an Ever-Victorious General, and Lin Bai agreed to meet Madam Yang of the Zhao Family.
• Lin Bai healed his injuries, put on his Sword Demon disguise, and went to the Celestial Fairy Pavilion at dusk.
• Taiyi introduced Lin Bai to Madam Yang, accepted ten thousand merit points from her, and left them to speak privately.
• Madam Yang asked Lin Bai whether he knew why she had summoned him, and Lin Bai asked her to explain.

Lin Bai negotiated with Madam Yang to become her Ever-Victorious General in exchange for the Blackwater Divine Lightning Art. He accepted her offer to receive the art in stages, leaving with the first copy to be obtained immediately.

• Madam Yang approached Lin Bai and revealed that the Ghost Messenger he killed had been her chosen candidate to become the Ever-Victorious General.
• Lin Bai said he would join Madam Yang if she helped him obtain the Blackwater Divine Lightning Art.
• Madam Yang offered to provide the three copies in stages: the first immediately, the second after ten victories, and the third after fifty consecutive victories.
• Lin Bai agreed to Madam Yang's terms and insisted on receiving the first copy right away.
• Madam Yang sent one of her handsome attendants to exchange for the Blackwater Divine Lightning Art at the Cultivation Arts Pavilion.

Lin Bai received one-third of the Blackwater Divine Lightning Art from Madam Yang and spent half a month cultivating it, including the Lightning Storm Fist. Madam Yang then arranged for him to fight a Junior General from the Zhou Family at the Combat Arena the next day.

• Madam Yang gave Lin Bai one-third of the Blackwater Divine Lightning Art, and Lin Bai agreed to take a match after at least ten days of cultivation.
• Lin Bai returned to the Tang Family and studied the art, learning that it contained lightning techniques and insights from other martial artists.
• After seven days, black lightning appeared around Lin Bai as he began cultivating the Lightning Storm Fist.
• Lin Bai cultivated in seclusion for half a month before Madam Yang contacted him and arranged his match for the next day.
• Madam Yang told Lin Bai that his opponent was a Junior General from the Zhou Family and urged him to win her wager.

Lin Bai learned that he would face the formidable Junior General Rakshasa in the Combat Arena and prepared to test his Blackwater Divine Lightning against him. On the day of the match, Lin Bai met Madam Yang in her private suite before the main event.

• Ban Ye and Fat Uncle told Lin Bai that Rakshasa had won thirty of his thirty-one Combat Arena matches and would fight the Sword Demon the next day.
• Ban Ye warned Lin Bai about Rakshasa’s powerful fist and saber techniques, while Fat Uncle confidently bet on Rakshasa to win.
• Lin Bai told Ban Ye and Fat Uncle he would not accompany them to the Combat Arena, then resolved to test his Blackwater Divine Lightning on Rakshasa.
• Lin Bai secretly left the Tang Family at dawn, put on the Sword Demon Mask, and went to Madam Yang’s Number One Yellow Suite.
• Madam Yang revealed she had bet fifty thousand merit points on Lin Bai and cautioned him that Rakshasa was a dangerous opponent.

Lin Bai entered the Combat Arena as Sword Demon and faced the Junior General Rakshasa, who mocked him and attacked with his famed fist and saber techniques. Lin Bai defeated Rakshasa in two punches, then left as the arena crowd reeled and his reputation spread.

• Referee Ning Zheng announced Rakshasa’s match against newcomer Sword Demon as the day’s final battle.
• Lin Bai asked Madam Yang about the odds, then entered the arena while the crowd loudly backed Rakshasa.
• Rakshasa mocked Lin Bai and charged with his Dragon Fist, but Lin Bai’s first punch sent him flying and left him spitting blood.
• Rakshasa attacked with his battle saber, but Lin Bai’s Lightning Storm Fist shattered it and knocked Rakshasa down for good.
• Lin Bai spared Rakshasa and left the arena, while his victory bankrupted many bettors and stunned Madam Yang.

Lin Bai proposed replacing the win-streak requirement for the Blackwater Divine Lightning Art with a deal based on how many merit points he earned for Madam Yang. She agreed and chose Beast, one of the Combat Arena’s strongest Ever-Victorious Generals, as his next opponent.

• Lin Bai collected the one thousand merit points he earned for defeating the Junior General and told Madam Yang that sixty consecutive victories would take too long.
• Lin Bai proposed earning the second and third parts of the Blackwater Divine Lightning Art by bringing Madam Yang one million and five million merit points, respectively.
• Lin Bai asked Madam Yang to bet all her merit points on him against an Ever-Victorious General, claiming that few martial artists below the Apex Realm could defeat him.
• Madam Yang agreed to the new arrangement and told Lin Bai to rest while she selected his opponent.
• Madam Yang chose Beast, the Qian family's Ever-Victorious General, hoping his reputation would draw large bets and raise the odds.

After Lin Bai agreed to fight the Qian Family’s undefeated Beast, the Combat Arena buzzed over the upcoming match and bettors overwhelmingly backed Beast. Ban Ye wagered his entire fortune on Lin Bai, hoping the long odds would earn him enough merit points to obtain another portion of the Blackwater Divine Lightning Art.

• Ban Ye and Fat Uncle returned from drinking after Fat Uncle lost his fortune betting on Junior General Rakshasa, whom Lin Bai had defeated in two punches.
• Madam Yang told Lin Bai that he would fight Beast in three days and offered further portions of the Blackwater Divine Lightning Art in exchange for helping her earn merit points; Lin Bai agreed.
• News spread that Beast, a brutal Qian Family Ever-Victorious General with ninety-nine consecutive wins, would face Lin Bai in his hundredth bout, and tickets sold out as most bettors backed Beast.
• A Qian Family manager urged Beast to show Lin Bai no mercy after placing a five-million-merit-point outside bet against him.
• Ban Ye bet all thirty-five thousand of his merit points on Lin Bai at odds of one to ten, hoping to win enough to exchange for another portion of the Blackwater Divine Lightning Art.

Madam Yang increased her bets on Lin Bai, convinced he would defeat Beast and win her the second part of the Blackwater Divine Lightning Art. The chapter ended as Lin Bai and Beast entered the Combat Arena for their long-awaited fight.

• Madam Yang raised her casino bet on Lin Bai to two million merits and her outside wager with Qian Youcai to seven million merits.
• Ban Ye and Fatty arrived at the Combat Arena, where Fatty revealed he had secretly bet ten thousand merits on Beast.
• Madam Yang told Lin Bai the final odds were one to eleven and promised him the Blackwater Divine Lightning Art if he won.
• Madam Yang warned Lin Bai that Beast had ninety-nine victories and had brutally killed nearly every opponent.
• Ning Zheng introduced the fighters, and Lin Bai and Beast entered the arena as the crowd roared for Beast.

Lin Bai faced the beast in the Combat Arena and endured his overwhelming attacks while spectators urged him to fight back. When Lin Bai finally met the beast’s punch with his own, their fists collided and left the crowd stunned.

• Lin Bai and the beast entered the Combat Arena as the spectators cheered, and Ning Zheng announced the start of the match.
• The beast attacked with immense strength, smashing the arena floor, while Lin Bai dodged his blows.
• Qian Youcai told his attendants that the beast possessed Divine Power and had mastered three offensive techniques, while Madam Yang watched anxiously over her wager.
• After hundreds of exchanges without being hit, Lin Bai stopped dodging and faced the beast’s descending punch with a punch of his own.
• Lin Bai’s body flashed with black lightning as his fist collided with the beast’s, and the crowd stared in disbelief at the unexpected result.

Lin Bai withstood the Beast’s mighty punch and overwhelmed him with a rapid counterattack, but Qian Youcai prompted the Beast to unleash the Beast Eight Styles. The Beast’s attacks blasted Lin Bai into the arena wall and left him vomiting blood.

• Lin Bai caught the Beast’s punch, shoved him back, and said his hand had only gone numb.
• Lin Bai attacked the Beast with a storm of punches, leaving him unable to fight back as the crowd shouted.
• Qian Youcai ordered the Beast to rage, and the Beast’s sudden burst of strength blasted Lin Bai away.
• Qian Youcai commanded the Beast to attack, crack, and shake, and the Beast’s moves drove Lin Bai into the arena wall, where he vomited blood.
• Qian Youcai explained that the Beast Eight Styles were techniques the Beast could perform only when prompted, and said the Beast’s power could rival a Great General’s.

Lin Bai turned the Beast’s renewed assault around by unleashing his Blackwater Divine Lightning and defeating him with the Seventh Layer Lightning Storm Fist. As Lin Bai approached the defeated Beast, the arena watched in fear and the grizzled old man wondered how Lin Bai’s Lightning Storm Fist could be so powerful.

• The Beast began attacking in a deliberate pattern, and Qian Youcai ordered him to kill Lin Bai.
• Lin Bai dodged the Beast’s blows and summoned the Blackwater Divine Lightning, absorbing the bolts that struck him.
• Lin Bai struck the Beast with the Seventh Layer Lightning Storm Fist and sent him crashing through the stone wall.
• The Beast lay grievously wounded as Lin Bai walked toward him and the martial artists stared in shock.
• The grizzled old man recognized the Lightning Storm Fist and marveled at its power.

Lin Bai defeated Beast in the Combat Arena and refused to kill him, then demanded the promised Blackwater Divine Lightning Art from Madam Yang. Madam Yang offered all three portions at once in exchange for three more fights, and Lin Bai questioned whether he could trust her deal.

• Lin Bai defeated Beast with the Blackwater Divine Lightning, spared his life, and asked Referee Ning Zheng to declare the winner.
• Ning Zheng announced Lin Bai as the victor, and most of the spectators mourned their lost merits while Ban Ye was pleased.
• Lin Bai collected his winnings and went to Number One Yellow Suite to demand the Blackwater Divine Lightning Art from Madam Yang.
• Madam Yang offered to give Lin Bai all three portions of the art if he fought three more battles against opponents she chose.
• Lin Bai accused Madam Yang of changing their agreement to profit from him and asked whether she trusted him not to leave Blackwater City after receiving the art.

Lin Bai traded three more Combat Arena matches for the two remaining portions of the Blackwater Divine Lightning Art and learned that Madam Yang knew where another volume could be found. After returning to the Tang Family, he memorized the complete art and began studying its Mystic Arts, focusing on Ten Directions of Annihilation.

• Lin Bai identified the Blackwater Divine Lightning Art as one volume of the Five Elements Divine Lightning Manual, which came from the Five Elements Scripture.
• Madam Yang offered to reveal the location of another volume after Lin Bai fought three more matches, win or lose, and Lin Bai accepted the deal.
• Madam Yang gave Lin Bai the two remaining portions of the Blackwater Divine Lightning Art, then privately planned which opponents to arrange for his next matches.
• Madam Yang told her four pretty men that Lin Bai would still strive to win because warriors like him treated matches as opportunities to cultivate.
• Lin Bai returned to the Tang Family, memorized the complete Blackwater Divine Lightning Art, and chose to study Ten Directions of Annihilation.

After ten days of cultivating the Blackwater Divine Lightning Art, Lin Bai learned that Ban Ye had won a fortune betting on the Sword Demon and heard that his next Combat Arena opponent would be the formidable Moon God. The chapter left Lin Bai preparing to face Moon God, who had challenged him and also cultivated the Blackwater Divine Lightning Art.

• Lin Bai emerged from seclusion and joined Ban Ye and the fat uncle for a feast, where Ban Ye revealed he had bet thirty-five thousand merit points on the Sword Demon and won three hundred and fifty thousand.
• The fat uncle celebrated Ban Ye’s winnings and asked him to share any future bets, while Lin Bai congratulated him.
• Madam Yang contacted Lin Bai to say his next Combat Arena bout would take place in five days against the Tang Family’s Great General, Moon God.
• Ban Ye and the fat uncle told Lin Bai that Moon God had fought fifteen bouts, was known for defeating opponents in fewer than a hundred moves, and had requested the match herself.
• Ban Ye suggested Moon God may have challenged Lin Bai because she also cultivated the Blackwater Divine Lightning Art and had seen his unusually powerful version of it.

Word spread that the Moon Goddess was injured before her match with Sword Demon, shifting the betting odds in her favor. Lin Bai learned that Madam Yang had planted the rumor to sway the bets, then entered the arena to face the Moon Goddess.

• Blackwater City martial artists debated whether Sword Demon or the Moon Goddess would win their match, and the odds initially stood at one to one.
• The Combat Arena announced that the Moon Goddess had been ambushed and injured, prompting martial artists to bet heavily on her despite the rumor.
• A martial artist told Ban Ye and the portly uncle that the injury was a smokescreen, but Ban Ye still bet fifty thousand merits on Sword Demon and the portly uncle bet ten thousand.
• Lin Bai asked Madam Yang whether the match should be postponed, and she revealed that she had spread the injury rumor and bet ten million merits on him.
• Referee Ning Zheng called the fighters into the arena, and the Moon Goddess emerged from the passage wearing a black robe and a silver-white crescent-moon mask.

Lin Bai and Moon Goddess began their duel after agreeing to wager that he would reveal how he controlled the Blackwater Divine Lightning if she defeated him. Moon Goddess unleashed her Black Lightning Swordplay, but Lin Bai’s far stronger lightning turned the fight around, and she countered his attack with a second sword technique.

• Lin Bai asked Moon Goddess whether she was injured, and she said she was not.
• Moon Goddess asked Lin Bai about his powerful Blackwater Divine Lightning and wagered that he would explain his method if she won; Lin Bai accepted confidently.
• Moon Goddess revealed her Eternal Night sword and attacked Lin Bai with the Black Lightning Swordplay, culminating in her Heaven-Severing strike.
• Lin Bai’s Blackwater Divine Lightning erupted and suppressed Moon Goddess’s lightning as he charged her with the Sevenfold Lightning Storm Fist.
• Moon Goddess dodged with Lightning Shadow and struck back with the Heavenly Serpent Swordplay, forcing Lin Bai to defend himself.

Lin Bai and Moon Goddess fought a fierce battle using Blackwater Divine Lightning, and both unleashed Ten Directions of Annihilation. Lin Bai survived the collision standing while Moon Goddess fell, leaving him the victor and the spectators’ bets lost.

• Moon Goddess retreated from Lin Bai’s punch and wounded him with the Heavenly Serpent Swordplay, but Lin Bai declared that her swordplay could not defeat him.
• Lin Bai used Thunder Shadow to rush Moon Goddess, and they exchanged hundreds of blows that injured them both and filled the Combat Arena with Blackwater Divine Lightning.
• Moon Goddess unleashed Ten Directions of Annihilation, and Lin Bai used the same Mystic Art in response.
• Their twenty lightning pillars collided, flattening the Combat Arena and leaving the spectators waiting to see who had won.
• Lin Bai remained standing while Moon Goddess lay twitching on the ground, and the disappointed bettors lamented their lost wagers.

Lin Bai defeated Moon Goddess in the Combat Arena, recognized her as Tang Yuezhi, and used the Five Elements Divine Pill to calm the Blackwater Divine Lightning harming her. After Lin Bai returned to the Tang Family to cultivate, Tang Jingxiu confronted Tang Jingyuan and Tang Yuezhi over her dangerous fight, while Tang Yuezhi realized the Sword Demon’s back matched someone she knew.

• Lin Bai explained that Moon Goddess had tried to exhaust his spiritual power before using Ten Directions of Annihilation, then identified her as Tang Yuezhi.
• Lin Bai touched Tang Yuezhi to soothe the Blackwater Divine Lightning with the Five Elements Divine Pill, and referee Ning Zheng declared him the winner.
• Tang Yuezhi regained her ability to move and recognized the Sword Demon’s back as identical to someone familiar.
• The fat man celebrated his winnings with Ban Ye, while Lin Bai collected his merit points, requested his next two matches, and returned to the Tang Family to cultivate.
• Tang Jingxiu angrily reprimanded Tang Jingyuan for allowing Tang Yuezhi to fight in the Combat Arena, and the Tang Family elders reacted with shock upon learning Moon Goddess’s identity.