Chapter Summaries

At a banquet hosted by Yi Hanshuang, Ye Zhen connected Wan Ji Peak elders’ strange behavior and rapid recovery to the Blood Demons. He concluded that Xue Dao, Hua De, and Sun Ziwen had been possessed, but needed a way to expose them; Xue Dao’s swift healing gave him an opening.

• Yi Hanshuang hosted Ye Zhen at a banquet attended by Wan Ji Peak’s elders to discuss the plan to exterminate demons.
• Ye Zhen noticed Xue Dao had fully recovered from severe injuries in less than two hours, astonishing Leng Yue and Bai Xin.
• Bai Xin told Ye Zhen that Hua De and Xue Dao had abruptly reconciled a month earlier, breaking apart the old factional alliance between Hua De and Leng Yue.
• Ye Zhen concluded that Xue Dao, Hua De, and Sun Ziwen were possessed by Blood Demons, which explained their weakness against his Soul Shocking techniques and their suspicious actions.
• Ye Zhen decided he needed to make the three elders expose themselves and recognized Xue Dao’s rapid recovery as his chance.

Ye Zhen reasoned that the Blood Demon had possessed Xue Dao and was secretly weakening Wan Ji Peak to obtain powerful martial artists’ vital blood. He persuaded Bai Xin to check on disciples and elders who had gone missing, but as no replies arrived, her unease grew while she entered the arena to face him.

• Ye Zhen deduced that the Blood Demon had hidden in Wan Ji Peak to drain the vital blood of powerful martial artists and explained how it could have restored Xue Dao’s injuries.
• Ye Zhen asked Bai Xin about Xue Dao’s activities, and she recalled his inspections, punishments, and personnel changes.
• Ye Zhen persuaded Bai Xin to contact disciples sent away from the sect and check whether any Spirit Transformation Realm or Soul Sea Realm martial artists had vanished.
• Bai Xin sent Talisman Signals and later returned to the banquet hall, while Ye Zhen learned that Yi Hanshuang had verified his identity with Sect Master Guo of the Qing Luo Sect.
• Yi Hanshuang asked Ye Zhen to demonstrate Clear Heart Sword Intent, and Ye Zhen invited Bai Xin to spar with him.
• Bai Xin grew anxious when no replies arrived, and Xue Dao raised his head with cold light in his eyes as she entered the arena.

Ye Zhen sparred with Bai Xin, demonstrated that his Clear Heart Sword Intent could counter the Nirvana Sword Canon, and decided to seek a chance to study it. After Bai Xin received a disturbing Talisman Signal, Ye Zhen asked Sect Master Yi Hanshuang to let him comprehend the canon, provoking Great Elder Xue Dao.

• Ye Zhen broke Bai Xin's Myriad Manifestations of the Lotus and considered how studying the Nirvana Sword Canon might strengthen his Clear Heart Sword Intent.
• Blood Spirit, inhabiting Xue Dao's body, discussed eliminating Ye Zhen with Hua De and Sun Ziwen because Ye Zhen's power frightened him.
• Bai Xin became distracted during the spar, allowing Ye Zhen to win half a match, then anxiously waited for replies to her Talisman Signals.
• Bai Xin received a Talisman Signal that drained the color from her face, and Ye Zhen recognized that it confirmed his suspicions.
• Ye Zhen asked Yi Hanshuang for permission to study the Nirvana Sword Canon, and Xue Dao angrily called him an insolent brat.

Ye Zhen provoked Wan Ji Peak by demanding the Nirvana Sword Canon, then revealed that Great Elder Xue Dao was the Blood Spirit Guardian and warned of a threat to the sect. Yi Hanshuang stopped the elders from attacking Ye Zhen and confronted Xue Dao about the sect members who had disappeared.

• Xue Dao and the other elders condemned Ye Zhen after Yi Hanshuang refused his request to cultivate the Nirvana Sword Canon.
• Ye Zhen told Leng Yue to reconsider her accusation an hour later and thanked Xue Dao for giving him a chance to help save Wan Ji Peak.
• Bai Xin reported her intelligence to Yi Hanshuang, who learned that the sect's Talisman Signals had gone unanswered.
• Ye Zhen exposed Xue Dao as the Blood Spirit Guardian, but Xue Dao denied it and ordered the elders to capture him.
• Yi Hanshuang ordered the elders to stand down and demanded that Xue Dao explain the disappearance of the sect's disciples and elders.

Ye Zhen helped Wan Ji Peak repel a surprise attack by Blood Spirit and two other Blood Demon Venerables, then joined Yi Hanshuang in fighting Blood Spirit. After escaping Blood Spirit’s bloody tentacles, Ye Zhen faced its newly revealed trump card.

• Xue Dao revealed himself as the Blood Demon guardian Blood Spirit, killed Yu Lou by possessing him, and attacked the Wan Ji Peak elders while Hua De and Sun Ziwen struck as well.
• Ye Zhen saved Leng Yue from Blood Spirit and destroyed the Blood Demon Venerables who escaped from Hua De and Sun Ziwen.
• Yi Hanshuang battled Blood Spirit until Ye Zhen joined her, using Soul Shocking Heavenly Lightning to weaken it and give Yi Hanshuang an opening to strike with Wan Ji Peak’s Sect-Protecting Spirit Weapon.
• Blood Spirit rushed Ye Zhen, trapped him in its Blood God's Spirit-Transforming Vine, and Ye Zhen blasted the tentacles away with lightning that also burned off his hair and eyebrows.
• Blood Spirit praised Ye Zhen for escaping and revealed a bloodlit orb as its trump card.

Ye Zhen used the Mirage Dragon Pearl to devour Blood Spirit’s Blood River, escaping its deadly encirclement and weakening the Blood Demon. He then overwhelmed Blood Spirit with Soul Shocking Heavenly Lightning, leaving only a small ruby-like bead behind.

• Blood Spirit unleashed the Blood River, destroying Yi Hanshuang’s Annihilation Peak and trapping Ye Zhen while the river devastated Wan Ji Peak.
• Ye Zhen directed the Mirage Dragon Pearl to swallow the Blood River, freeing himself and cracking the seal on its Third Layer Space.
• Blood Spirit realized the Blood River Pearl had lost most of its power and panicked as Ye Zhen attacked him with four manifested figures and Soul Shocking Heavenly Lightning.
• Ye Zhen struck Blood Spirit with more than thirty lightning blasts, dispersing his blood light and leaving a crystal-clear ruby-like bead floating in the void.

Ye Zhen killed Blood Spirit and recovered the cracked Blood God Pearl, ending the immediate threat to Wan Ji Peak. After helping treat the wounded and exposing the scale of the sect’s losses, he accepted Yi Hanshuang’s thanks and prepared to contact the mysterious senior who had taught him the Soul Shocking Thunder Art.

• Ye Zhen took the Blood God Pearl from Blood Spirit’s remains, while Yi Hanshuang, Bai Xin, and the Wan Ji Peak elders reacted with shock to his victory.
• Yi Hanshuang ordered the elders to assess casualties and treat the Blood River’s victims, and Ye Zhen joined them in cutting away poisoned flesh.
• Leng Yue reported that six True Disciples, twenty-nine outer affairs elders, and seventeen stewards had vanished, while five Wan Ji Peak elders had fallen.
• Yi Hanshuang thanked Ye Zhen for saving the sect and invited him to stay for a banquet three days later.
• Leng Yue formally apologized to Ye Zhen, who accepted and cautioned him against acting on emotion.
• Ye Zhen dismissed the maidservants in his guest courtyard and prepared to contact the mysterious senior about the Blood God Pearl.

Ye Zhen contacted Ning Shiyi after killing Blood Spirit, but learned that Blood Spirit might have survived through the Clone Life Continuation Art. Ning Shiyi refused to teach Ye Zhen the third level of the Soul Shocking Thunder Art until he could meet him in the Xuan Guang Domain, and Bai Xin then arrived with an urgent summons from their master.

• After Ye Zhen waited for a reply, Ning Shiyi asked whether he had obtained Blood Spirit's Blood God Pearl, and Ye Zhen described the kill while hiding his use of the Mirage Dragon Pearl.
• Ye Zhen reported that the Blood God Pearl was cracked, and Ning Shiyi warned that Blood Spirit might have survived by using the Clone Life Continuation Art.
• Ning Shiyi explained that Blood Spirit's Blood Demon Seed could be hidden in a nearby martial artist and that Blood Spirit would likely flee the Black Dragon Domain to seek powerful allies.
• Ning Shiyi declined to teach Ye Zhen the Soul Shocking Divine Thunder remotely, saying cultivation was too dangerous without his help, and told Ye Zhen to contact him in the Xuan Guang Domain.
• Bai Xin arrived and told Ye Zhen that their master had an urgent matter and wanted to see him.

Ye Zhen learned that Blood Spirit’s remnant had escaped Wan Ji Peak and could not be reliably tracked, then secured permission to study the Nirvana Sword Canon’s mental cultivation method. After more than a month of study greatly advanced his sword meridian, an emergency message from the Qi Yun Sect arrived.

• Yi Hanshuang showed Ye Zhen two mummified corpses and asked him to help hunt the Blood Demon remnant.
• Ye Zhen explained that Blood Spirit’s remnant could not be tracked, advised Wan Ji Peak to search for further victims, and agreed to swear an oath before studying the Nirvana Sword Canon’s mental cultivation method.
• Ye Zhen studied the Nirvana Sword Canon and raised the meridian forging in his First Sword Meridian from about sixty-seven percent to seventy percent in half an hour.
• Yi Hanshuang later reported that Wan Ji Peak’s search found four mummified Earth-tier Demonic Beasts in the southeastern mountain range, but the remnant had vanished again.
• After more than a month of study, Ye Zhen raised his First Sword Meridian’s meridian forging to eighty percent and considered leaving Wan Ji Peak.
• A Purple Meteor Talisman Signal from the Qi Yun Sect landed in Ye Zhen’s guest courtyard, alarming him.

Ye Zhen returned to the Qi Yun Sect after learning that Black Water Country had begun preparing an eastern expedition against the Sword Origin Empire. He found Caiyi still absent, fought Liao Feibai, and learned that the Sect Master was waiting to discuss the campaign.

• Ye Zhen left Wan Ji Peak and flew toward Black Water Country after hearing that the nation was launching an eastern expedition against the Sword Origin Empire.
• Ye Zhen passed through Daye Pass and noticed troops quietly gathering there before reaching the Qi Yun Sect.
• Ye Zhen went to Fairy Maiden Peak, found that Caiyi had not returned, and encountered Liao Feibai, who challenged him to a fight.
• Liao Feibai defeated Ye Zhen and whipped him for blasting off her hair, but spared him after he praised her as the Profound Ice Fairy.
• Zhong Li Jing told Ye Zhen that Liao Feibai had defeated or challenged nearly every elder and had fought the Sect Master, then said the Sect Master was waiting to discuss the eastern expedition.

Ye Zhen chose to serve as a free-roaming Special Envoy Military Adviser and went to Blackwater Royal City to report to the military headquarters. After General Chu He threatened Liu Datong’s son over the Three Treasures Pearl, Ye Zhen set out to intervene and unexpectedly encountered Chu He at headquarters.

• Ye Zhen declined a deputy marshal position, accepted the Special Envoy Military Adviser title, and agreed to report to Blackwater Royal City.
• After leaving Qi Yun Sect, Ye Zhen visited Liu Datong and learned that General Chu He was demanding the Three Treasures Pearl and threatening to send Liu Hu to the Vanguard Battalion.
• Ye Zhen promised Liu Datong that he would protect Liu Hu and went to the military headquarters to address the matter.
• Chu He saw Ye Zhen in the military headquarters’ inner hall and challenged whether his identity had been verified.

Ye Zhen reported to the eastern expedition headquarters, where Chu He insulted him and the commanders tried to take the Battle Soul Blood Banner. After Ye Zhen reclaimed it and revealed that only he could control it, he rejected Gu Zhaoge’s appointment as a special envoy military adviser.

• Ye Zhen asked Chu He to spare Liu Datong’s son, Liu Hu, but Chu He mocked him and threatened the Liu family over the Three Treasures Pearl.
• Ye Zhen arrived at the military headquarters and greeted Zhou Zhen before answering Grand Marshal Gu Zhaoge.
• Gu Zhaoge took the Battle Soul Blood Banner and assigned it to Chu He, but Ye Zhen recalled it and explained that only he could activate and control it.
• Ye Zhen told Gu Zhaoge he had changed his mind and would not serve as a special envoy military adviser.

Ye Zhen rejected the special envoy military adviser post and secured an independent Left Route Army of three hundred thousand troops for the eastern expedition. After the imperial decree forced Gu Zhaoge to cooperate, Ye Zhen chose Chu He's Huben Army as his first force.

• Ye Zhen sent a Talisman Signal to Qi Yun Sect Master Guo Qijing and refused to accept a military post under Gu Zhaoge's command.
• Guo Qijing approved Ye Zhen's request and sent Talisman Signals to Blackwater Royal City, prompting the Emperor to issue an imperial decree.
• Chief Eunuch Wu announced that Ye Zhen was appointed Left Route Deputy Marshal, with authority to form an independent army of three hundred thousand troops.
• The Emperor ordered Gu Zhaoge to cooperate with Ye Zhen and warned him that further urgent Talisman Signals could cost him his position.
• Ye Zhen selected Chu He's Huben Army as the first force for his Left Route Army, leaving Chu He white with fear.

Ye Zhen took command of the Left Route Army and targeted Chu He by ordering him to build a camp for three hundred thousand soldiers in three days. After Chu He failed, Ye Zhen had him flogged and gave him another three days, leaving Chu He kneeling outside the marshal’s tent overnight.

• Ye Zhen demanded the Huben Army and Chu He for the Left Route Army, and Grand Marshal Gu Zhaoge agreed to the transfer under His Majesty’s decree.
• Ye Zhen appointed Duke Ming Zhou Zhen to help command the army and ordered Chu He to prepare a camp for three hundred thousand troops.
• Chu He appealed to Gu Zhaoge, who slapped him and warned him to avoid making mistakes under Ye Zhen’s command.
• After three days, Chu He reported that his twenty thousand men had completed only one-third of the camp, and Ye Zhen ordered him beheaded for failing to carry out the military order.
• At the generals’ pleas, Ye Zhen spared Chu He’s life but ordered one hundred heavy military strokes and gave him three more days to finish the camp.
• That night, Chu He knelt outside Ye Zhen’s marshal’s tent until morning.

Ye Zhen left the Left Route Army in Deputy Marshal Zhou Zhen’s hands and traveled to Spirit Sword Burial Mountain to advance his sword cultivation. After claiming the mountain’s central summit boulder and comprehending its powerful sword qi, he sensed a faint pulse coming from underground.

• Ye Zhen dismissed Chu He from his punishment, assigned the assembled troops to build the camp, and entrusted military affairs to Zhou Zhen.
• Ye Zhen asked Zhou Zhen to look after Liu Hu, left guards to assist him, and rode Cloud Winged Tiger King Xiao Mao toward Spirit Sword Burial Mountain.
• Ye Zhen forced his way past a Spirit Transformation Realm martial artist and a Soul Sea Realm martial artist before taking the central boulder at the summit.
• The summit’s fissure released powerful sword qi, and Ye Zhen used it to advance the Clear Heart Sword Intent in his First Sword Meridian from eighty percent to ninety percent in a month.
• While comprehending sword dao, Ye Zhen sensed an exceedingly faint pulse from underground.

Ye Zhen investigated the mysterious pulse beneath Spirit Sword Burial Mountain as his Clear Heart Sword Intent advanced, then waited for the mountain’s major eruption. When Sword Origin Sect elder Zhisheng attacked him, Ye Zhen chose to flee rather than risk missing the eruption, leaving Zhisheng in pursuit.

• Ye Zhen discovered that he could sense a powerful underground pulse only while using Clear Heart Sword Intent and the Nirvana Sword Canon atop the Sword-Mark Stone.
• As Ye Zhen’s First Sword Meridian advanced from ninety-one to ninety-three percent, he sensed the pulse more frequently, but his progress stalled at ninety-seven percent.
• Ye Zhen spent three and a half months on the summit, ignoring ordinary remnant swords and expecting the next major eruption to bring Golden Remnant Swords.
• Zhisheng arrived and attacked Ye Zhen for occupying Sword Origin Sect’s Sword-Mark Stone, and Ye Zhen recognized him as an old enemy.
• Ye Zhen used his Crimson Jade Spiritual Armor to withstand Zhisheng’s sword auras, rode off the summit, and escaped on Xiao Mao while Zhisheng pursued him.

Ye Zhen lured Zhisheng away from Spirit Sword Burial Mountain and killed him with Soul Shocking Heavenly Lightning. When the Golden Remnant Sword erupted, Ye Zhen seized it, drove off the other Soul Sea Realm martial artists, and began comprehending it as Sword Origin Sect disciples recognized him and sent a warning to the sect.

• Ye Zhen baited Zhisheng into the clouds and killed him with repeated Soul Shocking Heavenly Lightnings, then buried his corpse and took his Storage Ring.
• As Spirit Sword Burial Mountain shook, the three Soul Sea Realm martial artists at its summit noticed Zhisheng was missing and were startled when Ye Zhen returned alone.
• The Golden Remnant Sword erupted from the mountain with more than twenty Crimson Remnant Swords, and Ye Zhen followed it into the sky on Cloud Winged Tiger Little Cat.
• Ye Zhen struck down Elder Hu and the gaunt swordsman with Soul Shocking Heavenly Lightning, while Xiao Mao held back the martial artist surnamed Wang, allowing Ye Zhen to catch the Golden Remnant Sword.
• The three rival martial artists retreated, and Ye Zhen returned to the Sword-Mark Stone to comprehend the Golden Remnant Sword.
• Sword Origin Sect disciples recognized Ye Zhen and hurried to send a Talisman Signal to the sect after realizing Zhisheng had not returned.

Ye Zhen remained at Spirit Sword Burial Mountain to study the Golden Remnant Sword and the strange underground pulse, while Sword Origin Sect received reports that Elder Zhisheng had likely died. Second Elder Kong Shan persuaded Yu Ruhai that Qi Yun Sect had staged an ambush, and the sect began mobilizing its forces to counterattack.

• Ye Zhen asked Little Cat to watch for enemies, then used Clear Heart Sword Intent and the Nirvana Sword Canon to comprehend the Golden Remnant Sword as his Origin Sword Meridian rapidly grew.
• Sword Origin Sect's messengers delayed reporting the warnings while they tried to verify Elder Zhisheng's fate, and Yu Ruhai learned that Zhisheng had not answered urgent signals.
• Yu Ruhai prepared to pursue Ye Zhen, but Kong Shan pointed out that Ye Zhen's apparent lack of injuries made the reports suspicious.
• Kong Shan argued that Qi Yun Sect had lured Zhisheng into an ambush as part of its planned eastern campaign, and Yu Ruhai accepted the explanation.
• Kong Shan proposed mobilizing Sword Origin Sect's elite forces to turn the supposed trap against Qi Yun Sect, and Yu Ruhai sent summoning signals throughout the region.

Ye Zhen continued comprehending the Golden Remnant Sword at Spirit Sword Burial Mountain, where a mysterious underground pulse resonated with his nearly completed Clear Heart Sword Intent and accelerated his progress. As Ye Zhen chose to stay and await the pulse forging’s completion, Yu Ruhai led Sword Origin Sect’s elite forces toward the mountain with a plan to trap Guo Qijing using the Four Symbols Sword Array.

• Ye Zhen discovered that his Clear Heart Sword Intent could resonate with the underground pulse, and that the pulse helped him comprehend the Golden Remnant Sword’s sword dao.
• Ye Zhen judged that Sword Origin Sect’s delay was suspicious but stayed at Spirit Sword Burial Mountain, confident he could escape with his Soul Shocking Heavenly Lightning.
• Yu Ruhai gathered the remaining sect elders and ninety-six elite external affairs elders and stewards, divided into four groups trained in the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Black Tortoise, and Vermilion Bird Sword Arrays.
• Yu Ruhai explained that the Four Symbols Sword Array would help him trap and potentially kill Guo Qijing, then ordered his forces to advance secretly toward Spirit Sword Burial Mountain.

Ye Zhen completed forging his Clear Heart Sword Intent and discovered it could communicate with a strange sword-linked presence beneath Spirit Sword Burial Mountain. As Sword Origin Sect Leader Yu Ruhai’s forces attacked, Ye Zhen prepared to flee, leaving the mysterious presence’s response unresolved.

• Ye Zhen completed his First Sword Meridian and discovered that Clear Heart Sword Intent granted him the Heart Sword move and a connection to the being underground.
• Ye Zhen used Clear Heart Sword Intent to communicate with the underground presence, suspecting it might be a Spirit Sword.
• Yu Ruhai and Kong Shan decided to proceed with their ambush to force Ye Zhen into danger and see whether Qi Yun Sect would intervene.
• Sword Origin Sect elders advanced on Spirit Sword Burial Mountain as ninety-six Qi Yun Sect outer sect elders began setting up their array.
• Ye Zhen coaxed the underground being to come outside, and Spirit Sword Burial Mountain shook as the being answered with a provocative pulse.
• When Yu Ruhai and more than a dozen powerful sword lights approached, Ye Zhen said goodbye to the underground being and escaped on Cloud Winged Tiger King Xiao Mao.