Chapter Summaries

Zhang Rongfang investigated Zhang Huanqing’s behavior and, learning nothing suspicious about his teachers, decided to seek answers about the Gentleman’s Sword inheritance. He went to rescue Ding Yu from a trap set by Sea Dragon, the Divine General Imperial Clan, and the Academy, while an unidentified figure appeared behind the ambushers.

• Zhang Zhenhai told Zhang Rongfang that Zhang Huanqing’s teachers and daily lessons showed no obvious cause for his nephew’s strange behavior.
• Zhang Rongfang decided to ask Dongfang Mu about the Gentleman’s Sword inheritance, then ordered the Reverse Time Society to control Wushan Prefecture and set out to rescue Ding Yu himself.
• Ding Yu fled through a border town as his pursuers closed in, while an unbearable itch spread across his back and his instincts warned him that the apparent escape route was a trap.
• Xu Kaining reported to Thousand Forms and Fu Chengtao, who revealed that they had used Ding Yu as bait to lure Zhang Rongfang into an ambush.
• Zhang Rongfang arrived alone, and Thousand Forms ordered the ambushers to kill him and frame the Human Immortal Temple for an attack on nearby towns.
• An unseen person appeared behind Thousand Forms and Fu Chengtao, startling them as they turned to face the newcomer.

Zhang Rongfang and the Reverse Time Society’s experts moved to rescue Ding Yu, but Ding Yu’s apparent reunion with Zhang Rongfang concealed an attack empowered by Earth Mother. Trapped in the Doubtful Cloud Mist, Zhang Rongfang unleashed Blood River to resist the spreading Void.

• Thousand Forms and Fu Chengtao encountered Fierce Tiger, Fan Heng, and Di Jiang, who attacked them with Facing Solution.
• Zhang Rongfang explained that he had summoned the three Reverse Time Society experts to help protect him while he tracked Ding Yu.
• Zhang Rongfang found Ding Yu in an alley, but Ding Yu grabbed his hand and fired a green beam at him before Earth Mother Spirit Threads unleashed Doubtful Cloud Mist.
• White Scale warned Zhang Rongfang that Earth Mother’s Void would consume his consciousness and urged him to sever his Spirit Core and cripple his Civilian Skill.
• Zhang Rongfang cut open his wrist and tore out blood vessels, spreading a circulating Blood Pool that suppressed the mist and revealed his Blood River technique.

Zhang Rongfang repelled the Earth Mother God's Spirit Thread with his Blood Pool, then rescued survivors and brought Ding Yu to recover. He later sought Dongfang Mu's help investigating his nephew and learned that the scattered Confucian branches might be involved.

• Zhang Rongfang's Blood Pool overwhelmed the Earth Mother God's Spirit Thread, and its aura vanished.
• Zhang Rongfang recalled his Blood Pool, found the unconscious Ding Yu, and thanked the Reverse Time Society's experts for their help.
• Di Jiang told Zhang Rongfang that the Academy, great nobles, Imperial Clan, and Divine Generals had sent the ambushers, and that the Reverse Time Society remained divided over joining the Human Immortal Temple.
• Zhang Rongfang rescued captured Human Immortal Temple experts and brought Ding Yu to Wish Woman Canyon, where Ding Yu slowly recovered but remained mentally weak.
• Zhang Rongfang visited Dongfang Stronghold to ask Dongfang Mu about his nephew's unusual behavior, and Dongfang Mu explained that the Confucian Way was divided among rival branches.

Zhang Rongfang investigated Zhang Huanqing’s strange behavior and learned that the Seven Lineages’ Gentlemen’s Swords were sealed objects tied to the bloodline of a great Spirit Person Noble. He found a sword-shaped accessory on the child, but after examining it and witnessing Huanqing’s abnormal strength and attachment to it, he returned it and planned to speak frankly with his sister at dawn.

• Dongfang Mu told Zhang Rongfang that the Gentlemen’s Swords had been forged from seven dangerous Demonic Sects and could only be inherited by someone with half the bloodline of a great Spirit Person Noble.
• Zhang Rongfang visited Zhang Huanqing and noticed the child had grown slightly and wore an aged Purple Sword-shaped Accessory around his neck.
• Zhang Rongfang removed the accessory, provoking Huanqing into a violent outburst, and repeatedly knocked him unconscious to keep the commotion from drawing attention.
• Zhang Rongfang examined Huanqing and the accessory, found Locked Script praising gentlemen on it, and returned it after deciding he could not risk taking it away.
• Zhang Rongfang kept Huanqing apparently asleep until late at night, then decided to tell his sister about the child’s condition and reveal more about himself the next morning.

Zhang Rongfang confronted Zhang Rongyu about Little Huan Qing’s troubling behavior and learned that she had knowingly allowed the Confucian Sect to influence him in pursuit of greater power and security. The siblings agreed to follow their own paths, leaving Zhang Rongfang troubled by how little he understood his sister.

• At breakfast, Zhang Rongfang asked Zhang Rongyu to discuss Little Huan Qing, whose strange behavior had unsettled him.
• In the garden, Zhang Rongyu admitted that Little Huan Qing’s Spirit Person blood and the Confucian Sect’s influence were behind his behavior.
• Zhang Rongyu explained that she had accepted the cost because she wanted to rise beyond the hardship and vulnerability of their former lives.
• Zhang Rongfang offered to protect her and help restore Little Huan Qing, but Zhang Rongyu insisted that she did not need his protection and that they should not interfere with each other’s paths.
• Zhang Rongfang recognized that his sister’s ambition, rather than only concern for her son, drove her choices, and he ended the conversation by saying he understood.

Zhang Rongfang learned that Zhang Huanqing’s strange behavior was a side effect of the Sword Bell, then used Attribute Points to break through to Great Grandmaster and strengthen Enemy Anticipation. He met Xue Tong to help him escape Wish Woman Canyon, though Xue Tong concealed his true intentions.

• Zhang Rongfang questioned Zhang Rongyu about risking Zhang Huanqing’s future, and she insisted the child’s fate made the gamble worthwhile.
• Li Zhen explained that the Sword Bell was changing Zhang Huanqing’s physique and that removing it early could make his mind collapse, so Zhang Rongfang agreed to wait a year.
• One month later, Zhang Rongfang spent twenty Attribute Points to advance the Illusory Image Talisman Method to Great Grandmaster, then noticed that the Blood God’s pattern inside his first Blood Lotus had shrunk.
• Zhang Rongfang spent his remaining twenty Attribute Points on Enemy Anticipation, gaining a one-second advantage in judgment against opponents of the same realm.
• Zhang Rongfang jumped from the Human Immortal Platform without injury and met Xue Tong, who claimed he planned to live in seclusion after escaping, while keeping his real calculations secret.

Zhang Rongfang followed Xue Tong into a cave, where Xue Tong revealed his plan to seize Zhang Rongfang’s body. Zhang Rongfang’s blood power destroyed many of Xue Tong’s shadow forms, but the fight remained unresolved.

• Xue Tong led Zhang Rongfang into a cave lined with bone formations and explained that its Locked Script could guide the power of Gods and Buddhas.
• Zhang Rongfang questioned the human bones and entered the cave with Xue Tong, who tried to activate a ritual but found that the outer formation had been altered.
• Xue Tong activated the inner formation and admitted he wanted Zhang Rongfang’s body so he could leave and accomplish great things.
• Xue Tong sent a Shadow wielding Demon Weapon Crystal City to stab Zhang Rongfang, but Zhang Rongfang survived the heart wound.
• Zhang Rongfang unleashed streams of crimson blood, and the blood destroyed half of Xue Tong’s shadow forms when they attacked.

Zhang Rongfang defeated Xue Tong’s divided spirit in the God Sealing Array and learned that Xue Tong remained a dangerous threat in reality. Over the next year, he monitored his nephew, investigated the Confucian Seven Gentlemen Sword, and continued developing his abilities.

• Zhang Rongfang endured Xue Tong’s strengthened shadow monsters until his spreading Blood River corroded the array and left Xue Tong vulnerable.
• Zhang Rongfang crushed Xue Tong’s divided spirit, while White Scale warned him that Xue Tong had two more and would be formidable in reality.
• Zhang Rongfang explained that he had reconstructed his heart and could regenerate it, then returned to his normal form and left Wish Woman Canyon.
• Zhang Rongfang learned that Xue Tong, not Wish Woman, had created the canyon’s poisonous miasma, and he sought protection from his friends in the Reverse Time Society.
• Little Huan Qing’s abnormal behavior faded after half a year, and Zhang Rongfang reduced his visits to Mu Chi Prefecture after confirming his nephew had passed through the difficult period.
• Zhang Rongfang spent the following year cultivating, researching his abilities, and investigating the Confucian Seven Gentlemen Sword.

Zhang Rongfang prepared Human Immortal Temple to join a coordinated campaign against the Western Sect and ordered the first-generation Blood Descendants to gather at Ming Wu Mountain. He then visited his nephew Zhang Huanqing, whose new teacher agreed to confront him over their past, leaving the two men face-to-face at the courtyard entrance.

• Zhang Rongfang observed Qing Su, Zhang Zhenhai, Chang Yuqing, and Ding Yu spar and reflected on how his Enemy Anticipation ability now predicted opponents' moves a second in advance.
• Qing Su and Zhang Zhenhai reported the Confucian Sect's growing activity, and Zhang Rongfang announced plans to strike back against those who had oppressed Human Immortal Temple.
• Zhang Rongfang revealed that the Reverse Time Society was preparing an operation against the Western Sect and ordered the top fifty first-generation Blood Descendants to accompany him to Ming Wu Mountain in ten days.
• Zhang Rongfang learned that his brother-in-law had been promoted to magistrate and that Confucian Sect experts had come to protect Zhang Huanqing.
• Zhang Huanqing asked his teacher, the old man Meng, to teach Zhang Rongfang a lesson for knocking him unconscious in the past, and Meng agreed.
• Zhang Rongfang arrived at Zhang Huanqing's courtyard and met the old man Meng at its entrance.

Zhang Rongfang visited Zhang Huanqing and Zhang Rongyu before preparing to confront the Western Sect and Spirit Person nobles and establish the Human Immortal Temple’s sphere of influence. He and Zhang Rongyu exchanged protective tokens as the Righteous Lineage prepared to leave Wu Mountain, with both sides heading toward a coming conflict.

• Zhang Rongfang brushed past Meng Hui and reached Zhang Huanqing, revealing strength that shocked the Righteous Lineage guards.
• Zhang Rongfang learned that Zhang Huanqing and the Righteous Lineage would leave for Rong Prefecture, and he promised to visit his nephew.
• Zhang Rongyu arrived, and Zhang Rongfang told her he would remain in Wu Mountain while she and her family departed.
• Zhang Rongfang and Zhang Rongyu exchanged protective tokens, each warning the other to keep the gift close.
• Zhang Rongfang left, and Zhang Rongyu acknowledged that her token was meant to protect him from the coming battle.

The United Council of Elders and its allies attacked the Reverse Time Society’s Star Divisions, and the forces at Ming Wu Mountain fought a desperate battle against Auduna’s army. As Thousand Forms prepared to activate a formation, he sensed a hidden figure watching from the forest.

• The United Council of Elders launched a purge against the Rebel Alliance, destroying more than ten Star Division strongholds and beginning assaults on the remaining bases.
• At Ming Wu Mountain, Sky Roc Hunting Tiger and the other defenders learned that no reinforcements were coming, while Auduna and the Spirit Army assembled against them.
• Auduna faced Hunter Tiger as the Spirit Army and Rebel Alliance clashed, with the Spirit Army’s superior discipline and numbers pushing the defenders back.
• Hunter Tiger and three Extreme Realm Grandmasters rushed into battle to engage Auduna and the other Worship Gods, while Ximen Yu questioned the cost of the defense.
• Zhou Fengyu ordered Thousand Forms to activate the formation, but Thousand Forms sensed a gaze from the forest and spotted a tall figure in a dark red robe.

Zhang Rongfang infiltrated the Offering Spirit Army and overwhelmed its forces with his speed and newly tested powers. After killing Thousand Forms and unleashing a destructive sonic wave, he drew the attention of Divine General Auduna and Sky Roc Hunting Tiger, leaving their battle interrupted.

• Zhang Rongfang appeared among the Offering Spirit Army, evaded its encirclement, and killed the Twelve Silver Scales deputy generals.
• The soldiers ignited gray-white powder that slowed Zhang Rongfang, but he dodged Thousand Forms and killed more than forty soldiers.
• Thousand Forms transformed into his Final Form, while Zhang Rongfang tested his speed and grew to seven meters tall using successive Blood Lotus forms.
• Zhang Rongfang struck Thousand Forms with a massive blow, leaving only a deep pit, then endured the army's cannon fire.
• Zhang Rongfang unleashed Destructive Sonic Wave, shredding everything within more than twenty meters and making Divine General Auduna and Sky Roc Hunting Tiger turn toward him.

Zhang Rongfang killed Offering Spirit Army commander Zhou Fengyu, but the army held formation and used mist to suppress him while the Rebel Alliance continued to collapse. Ran Xin Yue explained that the force restraining him was military momentum, which Zhang Rongfang could not disperse.

• Mr. Rong activated the Inviting the Virtuous formation around the child, spreading mist that weakened the Rebel Alliance soldiers' will to fight.
• Zhang Rongfang endured artillery and Silver Spirit Thread attacks, then used Ground Shrinking to reach Zhou Fengyu and kill him with a single palm.
• Zhang Rongfang seized and broke Zhou Fengyu's commander's banner, but the Offering Spirit Army continued fighting and retreated into a circular formation around him.
• The Offering Spirit Army's mist and formation suppressed Zhang Rongfang's speed and strength as the Rebel Alliance forces faltered.
• Ran Xin Yue approached Zhang Rongfang and identified the force restraining him as military momentum, which he could not disperse.

Zhang Rongfang learned how the Offering Spirit Army’s formation worked and rushed toward his elder sister when Ximen Yu’s attack threatened her and her son. He arrived in time to stop Ximen Yu’s blade, and finally met Zhang Rongyu’s gaze.

• Ran Xin Yue explained that the formation’s combined military momentum and Literary Qi could be broken by destroying its array cores, and said the alliance’s experts were already attacking them.
• Ximen Yu and an Extreme Realm expert found the final array core and attacked after discovering Zhang Rongyu and her son Zhang Huanqing inside.
• Mr. Rong intercepted the Extreme Realm expert while Li Zhen used the array disk to defend the core against Ximen Yu.
• Ximen Yu broke through Li Zhen’s defenses, shattered the array disk, and attacked Zhang Rongyu and Zhang Huanqing.
• Zhang Rongfang seized Ximen Yu’s blade before it struck Zhang Rongyu, and met his elder sister’s gaze.

Zhang Rongfang stopped Ximen Yu from killing the array’s inheritor, reunited with Zhang Rongyu, and destroyed the fog array himself. After the array fell, he struck Ximen Yu unconscious and left Hunter Tiger and Auduna to notice his towering presence at the battlefield’s core.

• Zhang Rongfang disarmed and restrained Ximen Yu, then recognized his elder sister Zhang Rongyu as she realized he was her younger brother.
• Zhang Rongfang ordered Zhang Rongyu, her son, and Li Zhen to leave, and Mr. Rong carried them away while the array remained intact.
• Zhang Rongfang used Blood Mist to smash the ground and break the fog array, then told Ximen Yu he would repay the Rebel Alliance but not him.
• Zhang Rongfang struck Ximen Yu into a tree, leaving him unconscious, while the array’s fog began to disperse across the battlefield.
• Hunter Tiger and Auduna heard the array break; Auduna leaped above the trees and spotted Zhang Rongfang towering at the array’s core.

Zhang Rongfang helped the Rebel Alliance turn back Auduna’s army, then met his sister Zhang Rongyu in their abandoned home and urged her to join the Human Immortal Temple. Their disagreement over which faction to support ended with Zhang Rongyu raising the mystery of their parents’ deaths, leaving Zhang Rongfang wondering whether it explained her ties to the Confucian Sect.

• Zhang Rongfang destroyed Auduna’s array core, and Hunter Tiger wounded her before she withdrew with the Offering Spirit Army.
• Hunter Tiger told Zhang Rongfang that the alliance had achieved its objective at Ming Wu Mountain and would next support the battle at Kun City.
• Zhang Rongfang returned to the abandoned courtyard and found Zhang Rongyu, who questioned how he had gained his extraordinary strength.
• Zhang Rongfang invited Zhang Rongyu and Huan Qing to join the Human Immortal Temple, while she urged him to join the Confucian Sect and help the Zhang Family rise.
• Zhang Rongyu asked Zhang Rongfang whether he knew how their family had declined and how their parents had died.

Zhang Rongyu revealed that her family had long been tied to the Confucian Sect and urged Zhang Rongfang to join her side, but he refused and confessed that he had founded the Human Immortal Temple. Mr. Rong then identified Zhang Rongfang as a notorious figure newly placed seventh on the Crimson List, leaving Zhang Rongyu to face the truth about her younger brother.

• Zhang Rongyu told Zhang Rongfang that their parents had died after a Su Muda Clan noble forced them to sell a treasured painting, and that the Confucian Sect's Righteous Lineage had supported the siblings afterward.
• Zhang Rongyu explained that she and her daughter were bound to the Confucian Sect and urged Zhang Rongfang to join her, warning that a major event would soon engulf Great Ling.
• Zhang Rongfang refused to take her hand, saying he could not extricate himself from his ties to the Human Immortal Temple and the Reverse Time Society.
• Zhang Rongyu warned that the Human Immortal Temple would destroy him, but Zhang Rongfang revealed that he had founded it and created the Blood Daoist path.
• Mr. Rong arrived and recited Zhang Rongfang's crimes and achievements, confirming that Snow Rainbow Pavilion had placed him seventh on the Crimson List.

Zhang Rongfang revealed the truth about his Crimson List status to Zhang Rongyu and left after Mr. Rong warned him that the Human Immortal Temple would face suppression. Three days later, Zhang Rongfang and his allies attacked Jade Buddha Temple to avenge their fallen brothers and target the Sea Dragon sect.

• Zhang Rongyu learned that Zhang Rongfang had founded the Bloodsucking Immortal Path and appeared on the Crimson List, while Zhang Rongfang insisted he was still a good person.
• Mr. Rong warned Zhang Rongfang that an army of experts would soon move against the Human Immortal Temple and promised that the Confucian Sect's Righteous Lineage would protect Zhang Rongyu.
• Zhang Rongfang left after telling Zhang Rongyu to keep her jade pendant safe.
• At Jade Buddha Temple, Sea Dragon King Kong Fan learned that the Great Sect Alliance had abandoned the Western Sect and prepared to eat a captive girl, who tried to stab him but failed.
• Ding Yu and Black Daoist stormed Jade Buddha Temple, killing its monks as they sought revenge for their dead brothers.
• Zhang Rongfang watched the assault with Ran Xin Yue and said he wanted to capture the Sea Dragon God as a Remnant God.

Kong Fan tried to bargain with the Human Immortal Temple forces, but his trap failed to stop the Black Daoist, who challenged him in a battle of Grandmasters. Zhang Rongfang watched as Kong Fan invoked the Sea Dragon God and gained the upper hand, while he wondered why a Divine Descent had not suppressed him in an earlier fight.

• Kong Fan offered the Black Daoist Sea Dragon’s treasure vaults, but a warning from the Beauty Slave came too late to prevent the poison-needle trap from injuring her and the two Daoists.
• Zhang Rongfang healed the Beauty Slave and ordered Ding Yu to hunt down the remaining Sea Dragon members, while he and Ran Xin Yue watched Kong Fan fight the Black Daoist.
• The Black Daoist used Three Flowers Gather on Crown and Yin Rainbow, but Kong Fan invoked the Sea Dragon God and pierced his chest while suppressing his movement.
• Ran Xin Yue explained that Divine Descent exerted pressure on opponents’ spiritual will, prompting Zhang Rongfang to wonder whether the Blood God had once shielded him from it.
• Zhang Rongfang recalled that Kong Chi had been the first person he saw use Divine Descent, but questioned whether Kong Chi’s self-destructive state had truly counted as one.

Zhang Rongfang killed Kong Fan, searched Jade Buddha Temple, and discovered a shrine to the Sea Dragon God, whom White Scale identified as a powerful Manifest God. As blue water flooded the Underground Palace, White Scale warned that the Sea Dragon God had arrived.

• Zhang Rongfang killed Kong Fan with a single strike and told Black Daoist to recover and continue searching the temple.
• Zhang Rongfang's group rescued imprisoned children and sent them back to Wu Mountain.
• Ding Yu told Zhang Rongfang that avenging himself had left him feeling empty, and Zhang Rongfang urged him to find a new purpose.
• Zhang Rongfang found the Sea Dragon God's black Statue in an Underground Palace and learned from White Scale how Gods and Buddhas were ranked.
• Zhang Rongfang asked White Scale about Yujing Hanshi Celestial Lord and his Master's Spirit General slot, but White Scale did not answer.
• Blue water burst through the Underground Palace, and White Scale warned Zhang Rongfang that the Sea Dragon God had arrived.