Chapter Summaries

After the survivors returned from New Green Mountain, Dugu Yun addressed them before the Sword Dao Institute counted their demonic beast kills to determine the assessment results. Fang Hai challenged Lin Bai to compare scores, but Lin Bai produced a mountain of corpses, leaving Fang Hai stunned.

• Lin Baoyu reported what had happened at New Green Mountain, and Dugu Yun ordered him to receive punishment in the Hall of Law Enforcement.
• Dugu Yun praised the surviving disciples and announced that the demonic beast counts would determine the assessment winner and eligibility for the Sword Dao Institute.
• The genius group’s scores were counted, with Long Qingfeng leading at 2,250 points, while Qi Yao and He Qian stood out in the advanced group.
• Fang Hai scored 950 points, then demanded that Lin Bai kneel and kowtow, but Lin Bai refused and challenged him to wait to be slaughtered.
• Lin Bai released a nearly hundred-meter-high pile of demonic beast corpses, shocking Fang Hai and asking whether they still needed to compare.

Lin Bai decisively won the new disciple assessment and became a formal disciple of the Sword Dao Institute. After collecting his rewards and settling his wager with Fang Hai, he openly challenged Liu Xuan and the person backing him, leaving Liu Xuan plotting to take Lin Bai’s points.

• Lin Bai presented enough monster corpses to earn 9,700 points, silencing Fang Hai’s accusation that he had avoided the fighting.
• Lin Bai forced Fang Hai to hand over 1,300 points, then Lin Baoyu declared Lin Bai first place and awarded him 10,000 points, making him a formal disciple.
• Lin Baoyu announced Long Qingfeng, Ye Jianqiu, and Liu Xuan in second, third, and fourth place, while Jian Ruohan placed tenth; the top ten received 5,000 points each.
• Liu Xuan demanded that Lin Bai fulfill the matter Liu Tian had raised, but Lin Bai asked whether Liu Xuan had found a burial ground and told Liu Tian to come find him.
• Liu Xuan vowed to tell Liu Tian that Lin Bai had more than 30,000 points and plotted to seize them.

Lin Bai prepared for Liu Tian’s attack after revealing that he had reached the sixth level of the Human Core Realm and learned to fuse the Devouring Sword Soul into his sword. Liu Tian arrived at Shadow Mountain seeking Lin Bai’s points, and the two faced off, ready to fight.

• Lin Bai reunited with Tang Bufan, who had left New Green Mountain after obtaining a fifth-level Human Core Realm demonic beast’s corpse.
• Lin Bai sent Tang Bufan away and revealed he was waiting for the man in black, while Tang Bufan warned him that the intruder was a seventh-level Human Core Realm martial artist.
• Lin Bai revealed his cultivation had reached the peak of the sixth level of the Human Core Realm and tested fusing the Devouring Sword Soul into the Azure Song Sword, raising it to the peak of Grade Nine Spirit Tool power.
• Liu Tian arrived at Lin Bai’s courtyard at night, eager to seize the more than thirty thousand points Liu Xuan had told him Lin Bai possessed.
• Lin Bai challenged Liu Tian to take the points by force, and Liu Tian declared that he would kill him.

Lin Bai defeated Liu Tian in a fight at Residence Number Eighty-One on Shadow Mountain and killed him after Liu Tian begged for mercy. Yuan Qing appeared after the killing and accused Lin Bai of breaking Divine Relic Ridge's rules.

• Liu Tian attacked Lin Bai, but Lin Bai repelled him and urged him to use his strongest technique before other elders arrived.
• Liu Tian unleashed the Bloodflame Overlord Sword, and Lin Bai countered with the Nirvana Sword Manual, destroying Residence Number Eighty-One and defeating him.
• Lin Bai refused to let Liu Tian leave and ignored his threats that the Sword Dao Institute would punish him for killing an elder.
• Liu Tian called for Yuan Qing to save him, but Yuan Qing did not appear, and Lin Bai cut Liu Tian's throat.
• Yuan Qing appeared after Liu Tian's death and accused Lin Bai of defying Divine Relic Ridge's rules, while Lin Bai suggested Yuan Qing had been waiting in the shadows.

Lin Bai defeated Yuan Qing after Yuan Qing tried to arrest him for killing Liu Tian, then exposed Yuan Qing’s ties to Murong Xu. Dean Dugu Yun arrived, revealed he had witnessed Yuan Qing’s complicity in the attempted assassination, and furiously demanded to know whether Murong Hai had given him the nerve to act.

• Yuan Qing confronted Lin Bai and demanded that he surrender, relying on his eighth-level Human Core Realm cultivation.
• Lin Bai and Yuan Qing clashed with Sword Heart Clarity, and Lin Bai defeated Yuan Qing and held the Azure Song Sword to his throat.
• Lin Bai inferred that Murong Xu had ordered Yuan Qing to target him and called for Dean Dugu Yun, who was nearby.
• Yuan Qing accused Lin Bai of breaking the rules by killing Liu Tian and asked Dugu Yun to punish him.
• Dugu Yun revealed that he had seen Yuan Qing meet Liu Tian and let him go after Lin Bai, then accused Yuan Qing of helping an elder assassinate a disciple and demanded to know if Murong Hai was behind it.

Lin Bai dealt with Yuan Qing after Dugu Yun intervened, then received a hundred thousand points from the Dean. Dugu Yun warned Lin Bai about Murong Hai’s vast influence in the Sword Dao Institute, leaving Lin Bai aware of the threat he posed.

• Dugu Yun ordered Yuan Qing to resign as an elder and face the wall for ten years, and Yuan Qing fled after thanking him.
• Dugu Yun accused Lin Bai of planning to kill Yuan Qing, and Lin Bai admitted he had expected Dugu Yun to come.
• Dugu Yun transferred one hundred thousand points to Lin Bai, bringing his total to 140321 points, and urged him to comprehend the Mo Wen Sword’s second move.
• Dugu Yun warned Lin Bai to be careful after provoking Murong Hai and explained that Murong Hai had taught many Sword Ranking geniuses, including the Nine Swords of Yun Hai.
• Dugu Yun said Murong Hai controlled much of the Sword Dao Institute through his students and the Elders Council, while his own Sky Realm cultivation kept him as Dean.

Lin Bai learned more about Murong Fei and cultivated Mowen Sword’s Second Technique, then searched for a movement divine ability and found the obscure Nine Revolution Sword Step. Lu Zhen warned him that the technique was strange.

• Dugu Yun warned Lin Bai about Murong Hai and Murong Fei, then advised him to temper his weak sword intent at Martial Intent Mountain.
• Lin Bai stayed at Tang Bufan’s residence, then went to Mystic Art Valley and spent one hundred thousand points to cultivate Mowen Sword’s Second Technique, Sweep of a Thousand Armies.
• Lin Bai left with forty thousand points and searched the low-grade divine ability area for a movement technique.
• Lin Bai found the Nine Revolution Sword Step and met Lu Zhen, who advised him not to choose it because the divine ability was strange.

Lin Bai studied the Nine-Revolution Sword Step and discovered that its nine pictures depicted movements of extraordinary speed, though he concealed his progress from Lu Zhen. He left Divine Ability Valley with Lu Zhen to visit Martial Intent Mountain and cultivate sword intent.

• Lu Zhen warned Lin Bai that the Nine-Revolution Sword Step was difficult and dangerous to cultivate, but Lin Bai decided to try it.
• Lin Bai spent ten thousand points to reveal the stele’s nine identical pictures and realized that focusing on them let him see the first two steps’ incredible speed.
• Lu Zhen returned and assumed Lin Bai had learned nothing, while Lin Bai privately recognized the technique’s value and hid his success.
• After the comprehension period ended, Lin Bai told Lu Zhen he had gained nothing and said he wanted to cultivate sword intent at Martial Intent Mountain.
• Lu Zhen offered to accompany Lin Bai, and the two left Mystic Art Valley together for Martial Intent Mountain.

Lu Zhen explained Martial Intent Mountain’s rules and its hidden Ascension Bridges and Ascension Palaces to Lin Bai before they entered separate rooms to cultivate. Lin Bai’s will was drawn into the mountain and arrived in a vast, barren battlefield, ready to begin.

• Lu Zhen told Lin Bai that Martial Intent Mountain let disciples battle Spirit Puppets with their martial intent to earn spirit crystals, but required points to enter and barred anyone killed inside for ten days.
• Lu Zhen explained that four Ascension Bridges led to Ascension Palaces where martial intent could be cultivated far faster, though no one had found a bridge for centuries.
• Lin Bai and Lu Zhen found vacant rooms beneath the mountain and entered them separately.
• Lin Bai inserted his Identity Token, and his will left his body and was pulled into Martial Intent Mountain.
• Lin Bai awoke in a desolate battlefield and decided to begin cultivating.

Lin Bai explored Martial Intent Mountain, learned that Spirit Puppet levels corresponded to martial intent cultivation, and searched the Scorching Gobi for stronger opponents. After hearing Wei Yuhua’s distress call about a spirit tide of Third- and Fourth-Level Spirit Puppets at Crocodile Beach, Lin Bai raced there.

• Lin Bai entered the illusory battlefield and killed a First-Level Spirit Puppet, absorbing its spirit crystal.
• Lin Bai killed a Second-Level Spirit Puppet and concluded that higher-level puppets would better improve his sword intent.
• Lin Bai searched the Gobi for half a day, killing more than thirty Second-Level Spirit Puppets without finding a Third-Level one.
• Sibao contacted Lin Bai through his Identity Token and explained that it also served as a Sound Transmission Talisman in the battlefield.
• Wei Yuhua broadcast a request for help from Crocodile Beach, where a spirit tide of Third- and Fourth-Level Spirit Puppets had appeared.
• Lin Bai headed southeast at full speed toward Crocodile Beach.

Lin Bai reached Crocodile Beach to answer Wei Yuhua’s distress call and discovered an enormous horde of Spirit Puppets, including a seventh-level one that should not have appeared in Scorching Gobi. As distress messages revealed puppet tides erupting throughout the region, Lin Bai decided to join the battle while avoiding the powerful puppet.

• Lin Bai used the map on his Identity Token to find Crocodile Beach and cautiously approached it.
• Lin Bai saw more than a hundred Spirit Puppets chasing Wei Yuhua and two Spear Dao Academy disciples, and discovered that the horde included a seventh-level Spirit Puppet.
• Lin Bai received distress messages from Lin Ling, Qin Kai, Su Zi, and others describing multiple puppet tides across Scorching Gobi.
• Chai Lin and a group of Sword Dao Institute martial artists arrived to rescue Wei Yuhua, unaware of the seventh-level Spirit Puppet.
• Lin Bai decided to fight the weaker Spirit Puppets without provoking the seventh-level one and charged into the battle.

Lin Bai joined the battle in the illusory battlefield, refined third-level Spirit Puppet crystals to raise his sword intent, and teamed up with Yue Qingsong to kill two fourth-level Spirit Puppets. When Lin Bai asked to divide their crystals, Yue Qingsong attacked him and revealed he intended to keep them both.

• Lin Bai joined the gathered martial artists in killing Spirit Puppets and refined a third-level spirit crystal, advancing his sword intent to perfect third-order.
• Lin Bai watched Chai Lin slay a fourth-level Spirit Puppet with one strike, then attacked another and was sent flying by its counterattack.
• Yue Qingsong of the Fist Dao Academy proposed joining forces with Lin Bai, and the two killed two fourth-level Spirit Puppets.
• As the seventh-level Spirit Puppet grew restless, Lin Bai asked Yue Qingsong to divide their crystals, but Yue Qingsong distracted him, struck him from behind, and refused to share them.

Lin Bai killed Yue Qingsong after he refused to hand over Lin Bai’s spirit crystal, then fled when a seventh-level Spirit Puppet massacred the fighters at Crocodile Beach. He found a secluded place to refine the two fourth-level spirit crystals he had taken.

• Lin Bai demanded his share of the spirit crystals, but Yue Qingsong refused and attacked him.
• Lin Bai used the Nine Revolution Sword Step to outmaneuver Yue Qingsong, killed him, and took both fourth-level spirit crystals.
• Martial artists spotted fifth- and sixth-level Spirit Puppets and a seventh-level Spirit Puppet among the enemies at Crocodile Beach.
• The seventh-level Spirit Puppet killed more than twenty martial artists with one sword strike, and Lin Bai fled with the surviving fighters.
• Lin Bai reached a secluded place and began refining the two fourth-level spirit crystals.

Lin Bai absorbed spirit crystals and broke through to fourth-tier Sword Intent as high-level Spirit Puppets appeared across the Scorching Gobi. He rescued Lin Ling from a pursuing horde, killed more than thirty third-level Spirit Puppets with one sword, and confronted Hu Yunhu.

• Lin Bai absorbed seven third-level and two fourth-level spirit crystals, breaking through to fourth-tier Sword Intent.
• Lin Bai heard more than fifteen hundred distress messages, including reports of a ninth-level Spirit Puppet, and hurried across the Scorching Gobi.
• Lin Bai initially fled from five martial artists pursued by Spirit Puppets, but returned when Lin Ling called him for help.
• Lin Ling explained that a sixth-level Spirit Puppet had killed their companions, while Hu Yunhu insulted Lin Bai and doubted his strength.
• Lin Bai used the second form of Mo Wen Sword, Sweep of a Thousand Armies, to kill all thirty-odd third-level Spirit Puppets in one strike.
• Lin Bai collected the spirit crystals and asked the stunned Hu Yunhu what he had to say.

Lin Bai rescued Lin Ling and Hu Yunhu, then warned them that the dwindling distress signals meant Spirit Puppets had nearly wiped out the martial artists on the Scorching Gobi. A message from Ruan Jinhui called survivors to the Coral Barren Sea to form an alliance and counterattack, and Lin Bai agreed to go see what was happening.

• Lin Bai collected the spirit crystals from Hu Yunhu, who apologized and offered him three second-grade spirit crystals, but Lin Bai refused.
• Lin Bai learned that only three distress messages had arrived in the past two hours and explained that the signals had dwindled because the Spirit Puppets had nearly slaughtered the martial artists on the Scorching Gobi.
• Lin Bai said the survivors should leave the Scorching Gobi, where only someone able to fight a seventh-grade Spirit Puppet could stand a chance.
• Ruan Jinhui sent a message urging surviving martial artists to gather at the Coral Barren Sea and prepare to sweep through the Scorching Gobi, while stronger fighters were summoned to handle the highest-grade Spirit Puppets.
• Lin Bai agreed to go to the Coral Barren Sea with Lin Ling and the others to check out Ruan Jinhui's alliance.

Lin Bai and his companions reached the Coral Barren Sea, where thousands of martial artists had gathered into an alliance to hunt Spirit Puppets. He reunited with Jian Ruohan and agreed to join the guard team, then met Ruan Jinhui and Lu Rui as the alliance prepared to set out.

• Lin Bai and his companions entered the Coral Barren Sea and told Xiao Yunfei they had come in response to the summons.
• Lin Bai saw that thousands of martial artists had gathered, and Jian Ruohan greeted him with Fourth-Order Sword Intent.
• Jian Ruohan explained that she had been hired with pooled spirit crystals to guard the Alliance Army and handle level-four Spirit Puppets.
• Jian Ruohan invited Lin Bai to join the guard team, and he agreed so he could hunt Spirit Puppets and pursue Fifth-Order Sword Intent.
• Lu Rui told Jian Ruohan that the team was ready to set out, and she informed Ruan Jinhui and Lu Rui that Lin Bai had agreed to join the guard team.

Lin Bai joined Ruan Jinhui's escort team after Jian Ruohan vouched for his strength, despite Lu Rui's mockery of his Yellow Rank One martial soul. As the team prepared to depart, Lu Rui threatened Lin Bai, whose chilling smile revealed his growing killing intent.

• Ruan Jinhui welcomed Lin Bai into the escort team after confirming he had fourth-stage martial intent, but Lu Rui mocked Lin Bai's Yellow Rank One martial soul and argued he would be a burden.
• Lin Bai declined to prove himself in a spar and prepared to leave rather than force his way onto the team.
• Jian Ruohan vouched for Lin Bai, saying his strength matched or exceeded hers, and Ruan Jinhui hurried after him to invite him formally.
• Lin Bai agreed to accompany the escort team and promised to do his utmost if a level-four Spirit Puppet blocked their path.
• Lu Rui threatened to kill Lin Bai if he held the team back, and Lin Bai answered with a chilling smile that Jian Ruohan recognized as a sign of deadly killing intent.

Ruan Jinhui organized the guard team and led the Alliance Army out of the Coral Barren Sea toward the Withered Forest Mountains to sweep for Spirit Puppets. After Lin Bai refined his payment and advanced his sword intent, the army encountered a large horde of third- and fourth-level Spirit Puppets.

• Ruan Jinhui introduced the guard team, paid its members their commissions in advance, and gave them time to refine their spirit crystals.
• Lin Bai refined his one hundred third-level spirit crystals and advanced from early-stage to middle-stage fourth-level sword intent.
• Ruan Jinhui divided nearly five thousand martial artists into ten squads and assigned the guard team to lead, support, and protect the rear as the army departed.
• Lu Rui complained that Lin Bai was unworthy of the guard team, while Ruan Jinhui recognized Lu Rui's jealousy over Jian Ruohan.
• Lin Bai and Jian Ruohan talked as the army marched, and Jian Ruohan dismissed Lu Rui's hostility.
• The Alliance Army spotted more than a thousand Spirit Puppets, including many fourth-level ones, and the disciples prepared to fight.

Lin Bai rushed to support the escort team after the rear guard was overwhelmed by a growing horde of Spirit Puppets, including fifth-level ones. He unleashed overwhelming sword techniques to decimate the attackers, leaving Ruan Jinhui, Lu Rui, and Jian Ruohan stunned by his strength.

• Lin Bai sent Jian Ruohan to reinforce the rear while he stayed in the middle to keep the disciples advancing in formation.
• Ling Shuang reported that the rear faced more than two thousand Spirit Puppets, including eighteen fifth-level ones, and Lin Bai hurried there to help.
• Lu Rui criticized Ling Shuang for bringing Lin Bai instead of Qianshan Yun, but Lin Bai told her to leave the battle to him and summoned a sword.
• Lin Bai used Sword Heart Clarity to destroy more than thirty third-level Spirit Puppets with one strike.
• Lin Bai used Nine Revolution Sword Step and Divine Sword Thunder Control Art to annihilate seven fourth-level Spirit Puppets, astonishing Ruan Jinhui, Lu Rui, and Jian Ruohan.

Lin Bai slaughtered the fourth-level Spirit Puppets before a fifth-level Spirit Puppet struck him and forced him to reconsider revealing his trump cards. He joined forces with Jian Ruohan to kill it, and the chapter left them still holding back their full strength.

• Lin Bai killed fourth-level Spirit Puppets with single strikes while Ruan Jinhui, Lu Rui, and the other disciples fought the third-level ones.
• After collecting seventy-eight fourth-level spirit crystals, Lin Bai was struck by a fifth-level Spirit Puppet and sent flying.
• Lin Bai decided not to reveal his trump cards and asked Jian Ruohan to help him kill the fifth-level Spirit Puppet.
• Jian Ruohan offered to take none of the fifth-level spirit crystals, and she and Lin Bai attacked the Spirit Puppet together.
• Lin Bai and Jian Ruohan killed the fifth-level Spirit Puppet through seamless coordination, astonishing Ruan Jinhui.