Chapter Summaries

After thirty years of cultivation, Fang Xiao learned from Ling Taichu that Spirit Transformation cultivators had agreed not to intervene in the contest for Taibai Sword Sect because the Central Plains Royal Court had entered the fray. The restriction left the conflict to Nascent Soul cultivators and drew many more powers into the contest.

• Lietian Sword Sect cultivators arrived at Tianlan Sect, where Senior Brother Fan expected to negotiate an alliance and Junior Brother Li hoped to challenge Fang Xiao.
• Fang Xiao had spent the past thirty years advancing his cultivation, brewing Xuan Yin Spirit Forging Wine, and taking Fan Chen as his personal disciple.
• Fang Xiao emerged from seclusion and planned to hunt transformed Demon Cultivators in the Southern Wilderness because his supply of essence blood was running low.
• Ling Taichu told Fang Xiao that Spirit Transformation cultivators would not take part in the Taibai Sword Sect contest, a rule established after the Central Plains Royal Court joined the conflict.
• Ling Taichu warned that the agreement would increase the pressure on Nascent Soul cultivators and could bring hundreds of them to Taibai Sword Sect.

Fang Xiao learned about the factions and dangers surrounding the struggle for Great White, then met the Lietian Sword Sect’s cultivators at Guest Reception Peak. He agreed to test sword intent with Li Jifeng and overwhelmed Li’s Lietian Sword Intent, leaving Fan Zhe as the only one who might match him.

• Ling Taichu gave Fang Xiao a Jade Slip detailing the holy land factions and their relationships with the Tianlan Sect.
• Ling Taichu explained that Wan Ning would lead the Tianlan Sect’s delegation, while Senior Brother Li’s avatar would make the real decisions and Fang Xiao needed to remain wary of the Royal Court and other factions.
• Fang Xiao went to Guest Reception Peak to meet Wei Jingxian, who arrived with four Lietian Sword Sect Nascent Soul cultivators.
• Li Jifeng challenged Fang Xiao to spar, and Fang Xiao proposed that they compare their sword dao realms through Sword Intent instead.
• Li Jifeng unleashed his Lietian Sword Intent, but Fang Xiao’s Sword Intent domain immediately shook it apart.

Fang Xiao and Fan Zhe tested their Lietian Sword Intent, then agreed to call their closely matched contest a draw. As the two sects strengthened their ties, Fan Zhe proposed that the Tianlan Sect help the Lietian Sword Sect eliminate the Shanhai Sect before Taibai opened.

• Fang Xiao and Fan Zhe clashed with their Sword Intents, while Li Jifeng and the others retreated from the dangerous aftershock.
• Fan Zhe admitted defeat, but Fang Xiao called their contest a draw to preserve his face.
• Fan Zhe invited Fang Xiao to his cave dwelling, where they exchanged West Sea specialties for Spirit Wine and agreed to arrange future trade.
• Fan Zhe asked about the Tianlan Sect's stance toward the Shanhai Sect, and Fang Xiao said they would not establish ties with it.
• Fan Zhe offered to locate the Shanhai Sect and asked Fang Xiao to join him in destroying it before Taibai opened.

Fang Xiao secured Lietian Sword Sect’s support for a planned attack, while the Tianlan Sect prepared to travel to Donghua Prefecture early to confront the Ice Soul Sect. The nine-person party teleported out to begin the operation, with the Shanhai Sect left as a later target.

• Fan Zhe offered Fang Xiao a chance to comprehend the Wordless Sword Stele, and Fang Xiao agreed to help Lietian Sword Sect pursue its plans against the Shanhai Sect.
• Fan Zhe told his fellow disciples that Fang Xiao was powerful and influential, and ordered them to track the Shanhai Sect’s movements.
• At True Spirit Hall, Li Mobai told Fang Xiao that the Beimíng Sword Sect had found traces of the Ice Soul Sect, prompting the Tianlan Sect to act before the Taibai Sword Sect opened.
• Fang Xiao informed Fan Zhe of the Tianlan Sect’s plans, and they agreed to target the Ice Soul Sect before the Shanhai Sect.
• Nine figures gathered in the Teleportation Hall and departed after Ling Taichu and Li Mobai warned Fang Xiao to stay safe.

Beimíng Sword Sect reinforcements were intercepted while Gu Mingcheng’s group faced a deadly ambush, leaving Fang Xiao to hold off four Nine Marvels Sect cultivators. Fang Xiao’s attacks were checked by their protective white light, and he considered breaking through it with brute force.

• Lan Lin’s Ice Soul Sect reinforcements arrived first, forcing Gu Mingcheng and four Beimíng Sword Sect cultivators to flee.
• Fang Xiao and his allies were intercepted by nine Nascent Soul cultivators from the Shanhai Sect and Nine Marvels Sect.
• Li Mobai split the group, sending Fan Zhe and the Lietian Sword Sect against the Shanhai Sect while Fang Xiao held off the four Nine Marvels Sect cultivators.
• Fang Xiao’s sword intent and Great Yin starlight trapped the four women, but their leader protected them with an unusual white light.
• Fang Xiao tried several methods against the white barrier without success and considered breaking it by force.

Fang Xiao resisted the Nine Marvels Sect’s Buddhist chants and used the Profound Origin Dao Platform to overpower their defenses. When Spirit Transformation cultivator Miao Zhen intervened through a possessing divine sense, Fang Xiao froze her with Great Yin power and struck her soul, leaving her divine sense badly weakened.

• The four Nine Marvels Sect cultivators chanted Buddhist scriptures that suppressed Fang Xiao’s killing intent, but he recognized the effect and used the Chanting Sword Art to awaken himself.
• Fang Xiao activated the Profound Origin Dao Platform, warping the surrounding space and forcing the Nine Marvels Sect’s protective light to contract.
• The peak Nascent Soul female cultivator offered compensation, but Fang Xiao refused to spare the sect members.
• The female cultivator summoned Miao Zhen, a Spirit Transformation cultivator, by pressing a finger to Hui Yuan’s glabella.
• Miao Zhen’s Bodhisattva Dharma form crushed Fang Xiao’s Great Yin projection, but the resulting Great Yin power froze Miao Zhen and exposed a flaw in the white light.
• Fang Xiao sent threads of sword light into Miao Zhen’s possessing divine sense, weakening it until her Dharma form vanished.

Fang Xiao rejected Miao Zhen’s offer and killed the four Nine Marvels Sect cultivators despite her spiritual avatar’s intervention. He then intervened in the battle between the Lietian Sword Sect and Shanhai Sect, rescuing Li Jifeng and disabling the Shanhai Sect fighters with his Thought Sword.

• Miao Zhen offered Fang Xiao the Wondrous Truth Mantra Scripture in exchange for sparing her disciples, but Fang Xiao destroyed the Jade Slip and refused.
• Miao Zhen dispersed her spiritual avatar, and Fang Xiao broke through the weakened protection and killed all four Nine Marvels Sect cultivators.
• Fang Xiao collected the fallen cultivators’ storage artifacts while the Lietian Sword Sect and Shanhai Sect continued fighting without noticing the Nine Marvels Sect’s defeat.
• The Shanhai Sect focused its attacks on Li Jifeng, who prepared to self-destruct rather than let himself be killed.
• Fang Xiao’s spatial rift severed the Shanhai Sect cultivator’s saber, and his Thought Sword knocked out the Shanhai fighters while grievously wounding their peak Nascent Soul cultivator.

Fang Xiao killed the Shanhai Sect cultivators threatening Fan Zhe’s group, then hurried to support his fellow sect members. He learned the Central Plains Royal Court had gathered thirty-six Nascent Soul Cultivators near the Taibai Sword Sect, forcing the Ice Soul Sect and Yuetian Sect confrontation to pause.

• Fang Xiao appeared and revealed that the spatial rifts and Void Cutter Sword Threads had killed the enemy, including his Nascent Soul.
• Fan Zhe thanked Fang Xiao, admitted his group was too injured to continue, and stayed behind to recover as Fang Xiao departed.
• Li Jifeng and the Lietian Sword Sect cultivators speculated that Fang Xiao had killed nine Nascent Soul Cultivators and might be able to challenge Spirit Transformation cultivators.
• Fang Xiao met Li Mobai and the others alongside the injured but surviving cultivators from the Beimíng Sword Sect.
• Wan Ning explained that thirty-six Royal Court cultivators had appeared while the groups faced the Ice Soul Sect and Yuetian Sect, preventing a fight.

Li Mobai led Tianlan Sect toward Pillar of Heaven Peak to connect with the Great White Sword Sect’s protective formation while other factions formed alliances and prepared to enter. After Fang Xiao revealed that he had killed nine Nascent Soul cultivators, Li Mobai warned him about the Nine Marvels Sect’s corrupting techniques and found tracking marks on the fallen cultivators’ storage artifacts.

• Li Mobai rejected Fang Xiao’s suggestion to wait for the Royal Court to leave and ordered Zhao Xuankai and Jing Chi to prepare a formation at Pillar of Heaven Peak.
• Lan Lin and Yue learned that nine Nascent Soul cultivators from the Nine Marvels Sect and Shanhai Sect had fallen, and they began contacting potential allies.
• Tianlan Sect reached Pillar of Heaven Peak, where Zhao Xuankai and Jing Chi began setting up the formation while Gu Mingcheng, Wan Ning, and others kept watch.
• Li Mobai privately asked Fang Xiao about killing the nine cultivators and cautioned him against practicing the Nine Marvels Sect’s techniques.
• Li Mobai examined the Nine Marvels Sect’s storage artifacts and jade slips, finding tracking marks and techniques that gradually twisted their users’ temperaments.

Li Mobai explained how the Tianlan Sect planned to protect the Taibai Sword Sect while its space remained stable, and assigned Fang Xiao to act alone as a distraction. As the opening approached, Fang Xiao cultivated and strengthened his magic treasures in preparation for the expedition.

• Li Mobai explained that the sects’ powerful cultivators could destabilize Taibai’s space, so his first plan would scatter entering Nascent Soul Cultivators with the grand formation’s teleportation ability.
• Li Mobai said his second plan was to secretly establish a teleportation formation linked to the sect-protecting formation before Taibai became inaccessible again.
• Li Mobai ordered Fang Xiao to explore alone, eliminate enemies when possible, and draw attention away from the formation work; he also warned Fang Xiao that allied factions might include a traitor.
• Li Mobai gave Fang Xiao a jade talisman that could teleport him out of Taibai if he hid within the sect-protecting formation.
• Fang Xiao returned to cultivation and refined his treasures, bringing his Nascent Soul Dao Sword and Soul Nurturing Gourd to the top-grade level.
• Fang Xiao planned to advance either the Profound Origin Dao Platform or the Void Cutter Sword to the top-grade level before Taibai opened.

Fang Xiao’s Void Cutter Sword absorbed Space Force as it advanced, unexpectedly opening the Taibai Sword Sect months ahead of schedule. Li Mobai activated the formation to bring the Tianlan Sect group inside, while Fang Xiao wondered whether their prepared formation could influence the sect’s grand formation.

• Fang Xiao focused on advancing the Void Cutter Sword, setting aside his work on the Profound Origin Dao Platform as the group waited for the Taibai Sword Sect to open.
• Li Mobai rejected allies’ invitations to act elsewhere and kept the Tianlan Sect group guarding the formation.
• The Void Cutter Sword drew in vast amounts of Space Force, prompting Fang Xiao to realize the Taibai Sword Sect was about to open.
• Li Mobai ordered Zhao Xuankai and Jing Chi to activate the formation as other forces raced toward their chosen positions.
• The spatial rifts closed, revealing the road to Pillar of Heaven Peak, and Fang Xiao stopped the sword from absorbing Space Force before joining the group.
• Li Mobai activated the formation core, and a river of Sword Qi swept Fang Xiao and the others toward the sect as Fang Xiao wondered whether their prepared formation could affect the sect-protecting grand formation.

Fang Xiao entered the Taibai Sword Sect with Li Mobai and the others, then went alone to the Sword Mound to seek Zhenkong and the Void Suppressing Sword. Zhenkong recognized Fang Xiao’s advancement to Nascent Soul and lamented the Taibai Sword Sect’s fall.

• Fang Xiao and the others crossed the Sword Qi Storm, while Fang Xiao sensed Sacred Land forces entering behind them.
• After arriving at the Taibai Sword Sect, Li Mobai warned Fang Xiao not to go to Tongtian Hall and asked him to watch the Royal Court cultivators.
• Fang Xiao left the group and headed for the Sword Mound and the Spiritual Medicine Grotto-Heaven, hoping to obtain the Void Suppressing Sword and find a fragment of sword body.
• Fang Xiao reached the Sword Mound in less than half an hour and called for Zhenkong.
• Zhenkong recognized Fang Xiao, questioned how he had returned, and mourned the Taibai Sword Sect’s fall.

Fang Xiao persuaded Zhenkong, the Void Suppressing Sword Spirit, to leave the Sword Mound by wagering that he would reach Spirit Transformation strength within a hundred years and Deity Transformation power within two hundred. After they left the grotto-heaven, Fang Xiao sealed it and Zhenkong began creating a spectacle that spread up Pillar of Heaven Peak.

• Fang Xiao promised to find successors for the Taibai Sword Sect’s legacy and urged Zhenkong to leave the Sword Mound with him.
• Fang Xiao wagered that he would reach Spirit Transformation strength within a hundred years and Deity Transformation power within two hundred, and Zhenkong accepted.
• Zhenkong gathered the swords in the grotto-heaven into the Void Suppressing Sword and let Fang Xiao take the Sword Fiend and absorb the Sword Origin Essence’s spiritual charm.
• Fang Xiao asked Zhenkong to create a spectacle after they left, and Zhenkong agreed.
• Fang Xiao and Zhenkong left the grotto-heaven, and Fang Xiao sealed it and marked its location.
• Zhenkong stirred the spiritual energy around the Void Suppressing Sword, creating an unusual phenomenon that spread through the Inner Sect and up Pillar of Heaven Peak.

Fang Xiao carried the Void Suppressing Sword openly through the Taibai Sword Sect's Inner Sect, using its phenomenon to draw attention while he sought clues about the Central Plains Royal Court and the Taibai Ancestor's inheritance. Two Heavenly Buddha Temple cultivators confronted him and tried to seize the sword, and the young monk attacked him.

• Fang Xiao declined the Void Suppressing Sword Spirit's offer of help and continued toward another grotto-heaven with the Spirit Treasure openly displayed.
• Nascent Soul cultivators noticed the sword's phenomenon, while Li Mobai recognized Fang Xiao's ploy and led Wan Ning onward.
• Fang Xiao asked about the Taibai Ancestor's inheritance, and the Void Suppressing Sword Spirit confirmed that an inheritance grotto-heaven existed but had never been found.
• Two Heavenly Buddha Temple monks stopped Fang Xiao, and the older monk urged him to surrender the Void Suppressing Sword under the pretense of cleansing it.
• The young monk threatened Fang Xiao, transformed into a towering Vajra-like figure, and swung a Demon Subduing Pestle at his head.

Fang Xiao defeated two Heavenly Buddha Temple monks and revealed his Self Dharma Aspect while testing the Void Cutter Sword. The old monk was annihilated, leaving Fang Xiao with only his Golden Wheel magic treasure.

• Fang Xiao evaded the young monk's attack, severed his head with an invisible weapon, and captured his Nascent Soul after disrupting his escape.
• The old monk attacked Fang Xiao with a Buddha Dharma Aspect and Golden Wheel, but Fang Xiao's Five-Colored Light Wheel and Profound Origin Dao Platform stopped the blow.
• Fang Xiao manifested his Self Dharma Aspect and used the Method Gathering Artifact to place the Void Cutter Sword in its hands.
• The Void Cutter Sword pierced through the Buddha Dharma Aspect and annihilated the old monk with Primordial Space Force.
• The old monk's Dharma Aspect dispersed and his Golden Wheel stopped resisting, while his other possessions were destroyed.

After defeating the Buddhist cultivators, Fang Xiao discovered a sarira and learned that the Buddhist factions were searching for the Ascension Platform, with a reincarnated Spirit Realm great power among them. He informed Li Mobai, then proposed exposing the search to provoke a clash with the Central Plains Royal Court.

• Zhenkong told Fang Xiao to burn a monk’s corpse, and Fang Xiao found a sarira in the ashes.
• Zhenkong gave Fang Xiao a Secret Art for refining sarira, and Fang Xiao accepted it before continuing his journey.
• Fang Xiao learned from the monk’s memories that fifteen Buddhist cultivators were searching Taibai Sword Sect for sword inheritances and the Ascension Platform, and that one was a reincarnated Spirit Realm great power.
• Fang Xiao sent the news to Li Mobai, who warned him to avoid confronting the reincarnated great power directly.
• Fang Xiao told Li Mobai he planned to expose the Ascension Platform search and make the Buddhist factions clash with the Central Plains Royal Court.

Fang Xiao learned that the Ascension Platform might lie at a Spirit Vein node beneath Pillar of Heaven Peak, but reaching it required breaking the formation that suppressed the Spirit Veins. After a Central Plains Royal Court cultivator destroyed a floating Spirit Peak and ignored the tempting Void Suppressing Sword, Fang Xiao suspected a larger scheme and pursued him.

• Li Mobai ordered Zhao Xuankai and the others to speed up construction of the teleportation array while he prepared to support Fang Xiao.
• Fang Xiao killed five Nascent Soul Cultivators drawn to the Void Suppressing Sword, but learned nothing about the Ascension Platform from them.
• The Void Suppressing Sword Spirit explained that the Ascension Platform could emerge if the formation suppressing Pillar of Heaven Peak’s Spirit Veins was broken by destroying its formation eye.
• A floating Spirit Peak suddenly shattered, and Fang Xiao saw a Central Plains Royal Court Nascent Soul Late Stage cultivator nearby.
• The cultivator noticed Fang Xiao’s Spirit Treasure but refrained from attacking and flew away, so Fang Xiao gripped the Void Cutter Sword and chased him.

Fang Xiao pursued and killed a Royal Court cultivator, then learned from Li Mobai that the Royal Court members could not be interrogated through Soul Searching and that the teleportation array would not be ready until the sixth day. As he set out to stop the Royal Court’s destruction of Spirit Peaks, seven cultivators arrived, and two True Lords’ divine soul incarnations possessed members of the group to confront him.

• Fang Xiao caught and killed a Nascent Soul Late Stage Royal Court cultivator, then kept the man’s Nascent Soul in hopes of learning his secrets.
• Li Mobai told Fang Xiao that Royal Court cultivators’ secret divine soul technique made Soul Searching futile and said the Taibai Sword Sect would be warned about the destruction of Spirit Peaks.
• Fang Xiao learned the teleportation array would not be ready until the sixth day, crushed the captive Nascent Soul, and continued pursuing the Royal Court’s plans.
• Fang Xiao captured another Royal Court cultivator and restrained him so he could question him after he awoke.
• Seven cultivators from the Gongye Family and Shangqing Sect arrived, recognized Fang Xiao, and summoned Gongye Liyuan and Cang Xi through divine soul possession.

Fang Xiao fought Gongye Liyuan and Cang Xi, using his strengthened Nascent Soul Dao Sword and spatial techniques to overcome their countermeasures. He killed Gongye Liyuan’s possessed host and scattered her avatar, while Cang Xi remained on the battlefield.

• Gongye Liyuan warned the seven cultivators below peak Nascent Soul to leave, while Cang Xi blocked Fang Xiao’s Thought Swords with his sword intent.
• Gongye Liyuan used a tower-shaped Exotic Treasure to lock space and prevent Fang Xiao from shifting through the void.
• Gongye Liyuan caught Fang Xiao’s Nascent Soul Dao Sword in her Soul Suppressing Bowl, but the sword overwhelmed the bowl and the Void Cutter Sword shattered it.
• Cang Xi attacked Fang Xiao with sword lights, but Fang Xiao used the Profound Origin Dao Platform to weaken them and the Void Cutter Sword to destroy them.
• Fang Xiao reached Gongye Liyuan’s possessed host and split it in two, killing the host and scattering Gongye Liyuan’s avatar with his Nascent Soul Dao Sword.

Fang Xiao defeated Cang Xi’s True Lord soul fragment and questioned a captured Central Plains Royal Court cultivator about the destruction of Spirit Peaks. The captive revealed that a word-binding curse prevented him from disclosing the Royal Court’s secrets.

• Fang Xiao used the Nascent Soul Dao Sword to exhaust and destroy Cang Xi’s soul fragment, then recovered the tower-shaped Exotic Treasure.
• Fang Xiao discovered that Cang Xi had tried to seize his disciple’s body and make it an incarnation.
• Fang Xiao questioned the captured Royal Court cultivator about the destruction of Spirit Peaks, and the man claimed the Royal Court suspected they contained treasures.
• Fang Xiao threatened the captive with black threadworms until he agreed to talk.
• The Royal Court cultivator said a word-binding curse would cause anyone who revealed the court’s secrets to suffer soul dispersal and death.