Chapter Summaries

Jiang Yao resented Jiang Xue for inheriting the engagement to Gu Jinzhi and secretly planned to have Yun Zheng cripple her. Meanwhile, Li Wei stayed at the Beast Arena to gather Abyss Essence, and Jiang Han refused to leave her there alone.

• Jiang Yao's parents praised her martial skill and discussed her chances in Qingyun's freshman competition, while Jiang Yao defended Yun Zheng from her father's insult.
• Jiang Yao told her parents that she had arranged for the household staff to take the day off, leaving Jiang Xue and Jiang Han without help when they returned home.
• Jiang Yao privately blamed Jiang Xue for taking her engagement to Gu Jinzhi and sent Yun Zheng a message claiming she was scared because her sister had returned.
• At the Beast Arena, Li Wei refused to go home and resolved to stay until she could help kill the Sixth-Tier Abyssal Monster, while her Abyss Essence count stood at 352.
• Jiang Han decided to stay at the arena too, challenging Li Wei to keep going without sleep.

At Gu Garden, Gu Shiheng questioned Liang Qiushi about Jinzhi’s marriage and asked Gu Jinzhi what he thought of Jiang Xue; he agreed to meet her before their approaching wedding. Meanwhile, the Jiang family could not reach Jiang Xue, Jiang Yao plotted against her, and Zhang Pengcheng prepared for his rivalry with Gu Jinzhi.

• At breakfast, Gu Shiheng asked Liang Qiushi about rumors surrounding Jinzhi’s marriage and Sister Chunhua’s seclusion, while Liang Qiushi concealed her plans.
• Gu Jinzhi recalled his distant history with Jiang Xue and said his grandfather must have had a reason for choosing her as his fiancée.
• Gu Shiheng told Gu Jinzhi to spend time with Jiang Xue before the wedding, but Liang Qiushi said she would collect her on the twenty-fifth.
• At the Jiang family manor, Tang Zhou and Jiang Yunshu worried that they could not find Jiang Xue, while Jiang Yao secretly expected Yun Zheng to defeat her.
• At the Zhang family training ground, Zhang Yansheng praised Zhang Pengcheng’s saber skills, and Zhang Pengcheng dismissed Gu Jinzhi as no longer his equal.

Zhang Yansheng ordered Zhang Pengcheng to kill Jiang Xue during her wedding to Gu Jinzhi, while Yun Zheng tortured Jiang Yao for information about Jiang Xue. At the beast arena, Li Wei continued training as Jiang Han complained, and Gu Jinzhi bribed him to keep helping her.

• Zhang Yansheng told Zhang Pengcheng that Gu Jinzhi had to die and planned to have Jiang Xue killed during the wedding, leaving Gu Jinzhi as the only person who could stop him.
• Yun Zheng choked Jiang Yao as punishment and questioned her about Jiang Xue, who had disappeared despite leaving her luggage at home.
• At the beast arena, Li Wei kept training after two days while Jiang Han urged her to leave and accused her of enduring it for Gu Jinzhi.
• Jiang Han messaged Gu Jinzhi that he could no longer keep helping Li Wei, and Gu Jinzhi offered him Shen Yaochi’s student council sign-in sheet in exchange for continuing.

Li Wei and Jiang Han watched the Investigation Bureau test its weapons against a captured Death Worm, and Li Wei gained a large amount of Abyss Essence. At a hotel afterward, she used it to raise her Vitality through Minor Perfection, enduring severe pain and itching before emerging exhausted but refreshed.

• Tang Ao led Li Wei and Jiang Han to an observation pit to see a captured Death Worm and warned them to wear protective suits.
• The Investigation Bureau unleashed advanced weapons against the Death Worm, and Li Wei absorbed its Abyss Essence through the Observation Window.
• Li Wei and Jiang Han went to a hotel to clean up before meeting the Jiang Family relatives.
• Li Wei spent Abyss Essence to raise her Vitality from 78 to 80, enduring intense pain as her Muscles and Bones Ringing in Harmony realm reached its limit.
• Li Wei pushed her Vitality from 80 to 89, suffered a prolonged bone-deep itch as black impurities left her body, and finally felt refreshed despite her exhaustion.

Li Wei raised her Vitality to 100, surpassing the supposed limit of 99 and awakening an extraordinary connection with the world around her. She discovered she could enter this state only briefly before severe pain forced her to stop, and resolved to strengthen herself until she could sustain it.

• Li Wei washed away the grime, then discovered her body had become beautiful, stronger, and vastly more perceptive.
• Li Wei spent Abyss Essence to raise her Vitality to 100, exceeding the upgrade limit and losing consciousness.
• Li Wei experienced two lives and sets of memories merging before she woke with Vitality at 100.
• Li Wei found that she could move with unnatural ease, gather water, and draw in air through a connection with her surroundings.
• Li Wei sensed a pool of water between her brows and entered the wondrous state again, but the pain forced her to stop.

Li Wei returned to the Jiang Family Manor with Jiang Han, while the injured Jiang Family elder reacted to Li Wei’s extraordinary presence. In the manor hall, Yun Zheng challenged the Jiang Family’s Quasi-Martial Artists after injuring Jiang Yuquan, but an arrival called him “Yun Bajin.”

• Jiang Han noticed Li Wei’s sudden breakthrough and grew bitter over his own stalled progress.
• The red-dressed Jiang Family elder sensed Li Wei’s presence and was shocked by her proximity to the Dao Body.
• Jiang Zhirou demanded an explanation from Jiang Yunshu after Yun Zheng shattered Jiang Yuquan’s shoulder for insulting him.
• Yun Zheng dismissed Jiang Zhirou’s complaint and challenged every Jiang Family Quasi-Martial Artist to defeat him.
• A woman at the entrance addressed Yun Zheng as the illustrious “Yun Bajin.”

Li Wei entered the Jiang Family hall, taunted Yun Zheng, and cut off his arm with a single sword strike after reaching Minor Accomplishment in Cold Pond Sinking Jade. She escaped the relatives’ excited welcome with Jiang Han, while Jiang Xinyue marveled at her rapid progress and the family searched for Jiang Yao.

• Li Wei and Jiang Han watched Yun Zheng show off, and Jiang Han explained Yun Zheng’s background and old name, Yun Bajin.
• Jiang Xinyue spoke to Li Wei through her mind and urged her to go inside and cut off Yun Zheng’s arm.
• Li Wei raised Cold Pool Sinking Jade to Minor Accomplishment, entered the hall, and provoked Yun Zheng by calling him Yun Bajin.
• Yun Zheng attacked Li Wei, but she cut off his arm in a single strike, and the white-robed middle-aged man carried him away.
• Jiang Xinyue shouted in disbelief at Li Wei’s sword skill, while Jiang Han pulled her away from the crowd of relatives.
• Li Wei noticed lotus flowers on the female relatives’ foreheads, and Jiang Yunshu sent Tang Zhou to find Jiang Yao.

Li Wei met Jiang Xinyue, who explained the rarity of Li Wei’s Dao-Approaching Body and urged her to abandon the Gu Family marriage contract and battlefield mission. Li Wei refused because she had promised Liang Qiushi, and Jiang Xinyue appeared to admire her resolve.

• Jiang Han left Li Wei at the courtyard gate, and Li Wei went in to meet Jiang Xinyue.
• Li Wei asked about the lotus marks worn by Jiang Family women, and Jiang Xinyue explained that most were merely imitations of a cultivation power.
• Jiang Xinyue told Li Wei that her Dao-Approaching Body made her one of only two people in two hundred years to possess it, then asked whether she would still risk her life for Liang Qiushi’s request.
• Jiang Xinyue offered to save Li Wei’s little brother, make her a god-granddaughter, and pass down her techniques if Li Wei broke the engagement and abandoned the mission.
• Li Wei refused to go back on her promise to Liang Qiushi and said she would return to Jiang Xinyue if she survived the battlefield.
• Jiang Xinyue praised Li Wei, and Li Wei realized that Jiang Xinyue had been testing her character.

Jiang Xinyue explained why Li Wei’s Dao-Approaching Body made her hesitate over trading her for Gu Jinzhi, then revealed her connection to Liang Qiushi and prepared to help Li Wei break through to martial artist. Li Wei agreed to keep her unusual potential secret and protect Jiang Xinyue’s god-grandson.

• Jiang Xinyue admitted that she had hesitated to trade Li Wei, whose Dao-Approaching Body made her far more valuable than Gu Jinzhi.
• Jiang Xinyue explained that Li Wei could enter Heaven-Man Resonance and advance much faster and become far stronger than her peers.
• Jiang Xinyue revealed that Liang Qiushi’s father had been her ex-boyfriend and that she had raised Liang as her goddaughter.
• Jiang Xinyue warned Li Wei to conceal her potential and said she had noticed Li Wei’s secret but had chosen not to expose it.
• Li Wei promised to keep quiet and protect Jiang Xinyue’s god-grandson, and Jiang Xinyue prepared to help her break through to martial artist.

Jiang Xinyue began infusing Li Wei with the Jiang Family’s Great Yin Jade Lotus Treasure Scroll, explaining its cultivation method as she guided Li Wei through its painful first stage. The process took an unexpected turn when Jiang Xinyue discovered Li Wei’s Lower Dantian was already half-open.

• Jiang Xinyue revealed that she had faked her injury to protect the wedding and began preparing Li Wei for an empowerment infusion.
• Jiang Xinyue found that all of Li Wei’s acupoints were fully open and explained how the Great Yin Jade Lotus Treasure Scroll connected them into a unified circulation.
• Li Wei endured intense pain as Jiang Xinyue guided her qi and blood to form the technique’s meridian network and central node.
• Jiang Xinyue sensed Li Wei’s qi and blood surging toward the node and discovered that her Lower Dantian was half-open.

Li Wei awakened a White Natal Lotus in her Sea of Consciousness at First Order, gaining a purification effect and shocking Jiang Xinyue. Jiang Xinyue explained the lotus’s rarity and urged Li Wei to call off her marriage to the Gu Family, but Li Wei collapsed before she could respond.

• Jiang Xinyue watched a lotus grow through Li Wei’s three half-open Dantians and bloom with one white petal in her Sea of Consciousness.
• Li Wei regained control, inspected her status, and spent one Abyss Essence to increase the Great Yin Jade Lotus Treasure Scroll, slightly raising her qi and blood limit.
• Li Wei saw the lotus petal on her forehead, while the lotus’s growth had wrecked Jiang Xinyue’s courtyard and caused its plants to bloom.
• Jiang Xinyue explained that Li Wei’s half-open Dantians gave her some traits of a Sixth-Order martial artist and that the technique had evolved on its own.
• Jiang Xinyue described the four colors of Natal Lotus and revealed that Li Wei’s rare White Lotus governed purification and creation.
• Jiang Xinyue told Li Wei to call off her marriage to the Gu Family, but Li Wei lost consciousness before replying.

Gu Jinzhi asked Zeng Yi how to make Jiang Xue loathe him because he believed he could not return her feelings and feared what might happen to him. After hearing Zeng Yi’s suggestions, Gu Jinzhi decided to try one of them, though the story left his plan unspecified.

• Zeng Yi eagerly received a signed form from Gu Jinzhi and thanked him for the favor.
• Gu Jinzhi asked Zeng Yi how to make a woman loathe him, then explained that he meant Jiang Xue and could not return her feelings.
• Zeng Yi urged Gu Jinzhi not to give up on his life, warning him that the Zhang family were ruthless and reminding him that Jiang Xue would be affected.
• Gu Jinzhi insisted that romance was a burden and asked Zeng Yi for practical ways to drive Jiang Xue away.
• Zeng Yi proposed acting like a frightening, controlling man from a novel, and Gu Jinzhi asked him to explain the plan in detail.
• After hearing Zeng Yi’s advice, Gu Jinzhi said he would try it.

Yun Xi failed to win the Sword Carp’s recognition, then disciplined Jiang Yao for taking advantage of Yun Zheng. She suspected Jiang Xue’s marriage to Gu Jinzhi might be tied to a plot and resolved to make Jiang Xue a scapegoat if it was not.

• Yun Xi fed the Sword Carp in the pool and offered her blood, but the fish fled instead of accepting her.
• The Old Madam Yun comforted Yun Xi through a Telepathic Message and urged her to deal with Jiang Yao, who had been kneeling for over an hour.
• Yun Xi slapped Jiang Yao for showing resentment, made her admit she had taken advantage of Yun Zheng, and sent her away to care for him.
• The Old Madam Yun questioned why Yun Xi kept Jiang Yao close, and Yun Xi explained that Yun Zheng liked her and hinted she might use Jiang Yao in her plans involving the Gu Family.
• Yun Xi wondered whether Liang Qiushi meant to use Jiang Xue to die in Gu Jinzhi’s place, and vowed to make Jiang Xue the scapegoat if she was not already one.

Zhang Yansheng learned that Jiang Xue had reached Great Perfection and concluded that the Jiang and Gu Families had concealed her talent. He changed the Zhang Family’s plan: Jiang Xue could not be killed, but Zhang Pengcheng would still disrupt her wedding to Gu Jinzhi.

• Uncle An reported that Jiang Xue’s fingerprints matched the database and confirmed she had severed Yun Zheng’s arm with one sword strike.
• Zhang Yansheng connected Jiang Xue’s training at Alan Wallace’s academy to Jiang Xinyue’s past favor to Wallace and suspected the Jiang Family had hidden Jiang Xue’s talent.
• Zhang Pengcheng demanded that Jiang Xue be kept for him, but Zhang Yansheng and Uncle An warned him that harming her could provoke Jiang Xinyue and endanger the Zhang Family.
• Zhang Yansheng declared that Jiang Xue could not be killed and ordered Zhang Pengcheng to attend the wedding with his friends and make a scene at the Gu Family’s venue.

Liang Qiushi argued with Jiang Xinyue over whether Li Wei should take Jiang Jinzhi’s place in the Western Frontier, revealing Li Wei’s extraordinary talent and proposing a plan to protect her from the Zhang Family. After Jiang Xinyue and Liang Qiushi laid out the risks, Li Wei chose to go.

• Liang Qiushi confronted Jiang Xinyue for detaining Li Wei and demanded that she honor their agreement.
• Jiang Xinyue revealed that Li Wei had a Dao-Approaching Body, three half-open dantians, and a rare White Lotus Natal Lotus.
• Liang Qiushi argued that revealing Li Wei’s talent would deter the Zhang Family from harming her while allowing her to take Jiang Jinzhi’s place.
• Liang Qiushi said that an unnamed powerful person had guaranteed the Zhang Family would not use underhanded tactics, then offered help investigating Jiang Xinyue’s missing mother.
• Jiang Xinyue released Li Wei and told her the decision was hers, and Li Wei resolutely agreed to go to the Western Frontier.

Li Wei left with Liang Qiushi to begin posing as her daughter at the Gu Family, while the two discussed the arrangement and her plans. Liang Qiushi told her she could hunt abyssal monsters on rift outskirts and promised she would not have to fulfill marital duties, but she refused to explain who “that person” was.

• Li Wei said goodbye to the gathered families, noticed Jiang Han was absent, and departed with Liang Qiushi.
• Liang Qiushi comforted Li Wei when she began to cry, and Li Wei was flustered when Liang Qiushi hugged her.
• Liang Qiushi warned Li Wei not to expose flaws at the Gu Family and said she could meet Li Cheng around mid-August.
• Liang Qiushi allowed Li Wei to hunt abyssal monsters near rift outskirts and warned her not to venture deeper.
• Liang Qiushi told Li Wei she would not have to fulfill marital duties and advised her to beat up her son if he got handsy.
• Li Wei asked who “that person” was, and Liang Qiushi refused to explain.

Li Wei arrived at Gu Jinzhi’s home and mistook his scrutinizing gaze for something sinister, drawing her sword and attacking him before they had properly met. After Liang Qiushi explained Li Wei’s supposed martial arts breakthrough, the two agreed to spar at the Training Ground, leaving Liang Qiushi stunned by their unusual first meeting.

• Liang Qiushi brought Li Wei to the Small Building where Gu Jinzhi lived.
• Li Wei saw Gu Jinzhi watching her from the terrace, interpreted his gaze as perverted, and sprang up to hold her sword at his neck.
• Liang Qiushi explained that Li Wei had reached Great Perfection in Blood Nourishment and become a First Order martial artist, and Gu Jinzhi accepted the explanation for her strength.
• Li Wei tried to act familiar with Gu Jinzhi, but he repeatedly moved away before she hooked an arm around his shoulders and awkwardly declared she disliked his gaze.
• Gu Jinzhi apologized and invited Li Wei to exchange moves at the Training Ground, and Liang Qiushi remained bewildered by their combative introduction.

Li Wei sparred with Gu Jinzhi at the Gu Family Training Ground, revealing speed and sword skills that overwhelmed him despite his fierce saber techniques. The fight continued with Gu Jinzhi forced onto the defensive, while Gu Jinyi decided she wanted to learn swordsmanship from Li Wei.

• Gu Jinyi and Gu Jinwen arrived at the training ground, where Gu Jinyi clung to Li Wei and Gu Jinwen jokingly proposed marrying her instead of his brother.
• Li Wei and Gu Jinzhi chose blunt training weapons, and Li Wei tied up her hair before they began their spar.
• Li Wei rapidly attacked Gu Jinzhi, who blocked her first strike and spun his saber to defend against her follow-up.
• Gu Jinzhi unleashed the Gu Family's Great Sun Meditation Method and charged Li Wei, but she dodged and pressed him with a flurry of fast, unpredictable sword strikes.
• Gu Jinzhi spun his blazing saber again to repel Li Wei, while Gu Jinyi watched in awe and announced that she would learn the sword from her sister-in-law.

Li Wei sparred with Gu Jinzhi, whose Blazing Sun Heavenly Saber reached Great Accomplishment mid-fight and forced her onto the defensive. She entered Unity of Heaven and Man, turned the battle around, and both fighters were left injured after their weapons shattered.

• Li Wei and Gu Jinzhi exchanged attacks as their vital energy dwindled, with Gu Jinzhi struggling against her speed and swordwork.
• Gu Jinzhi comprehended Blazing Sun Heavenly Saber at Great Accomplishment and began overpowering Li Wei with his saber intent.
• Li Wei entered Unity of Heaven and Man, using her heightened perception and control of the surrounding airflow to counter Gu Jinzhi.
• Li Wei’s Cold Pool Sinking Jade combat-method progress rose rapidly, while a Natal Lotus Flower phenomenon appeared above her.
• Gu Jinzhi and Li Wei poured their remaining strength into a final clash that shattered their weapons and sent them both crashing to the ground.
• Gu Jinwen and Gu Jinyi shouted that they would tell their parents about Gu Jinzhi’s breakthrough, leaving Li Wei and Gu Jinzhi speechless.

Li Wei and Gu Jinzhi’s fierce sparring ended in an embarrassing tangle when Gu Shiheng, Liang Qiushi, Gu Jinwen, and Gu Jinyi walked in. Afterward, Liang Qiushi confirmed Li Wei would take the formal martial artist examination the next day to build her reputation and deter the Zhang family.

• Li Wei pulled Gu Jinzhi down during their sparring and pounced on him, leaving him struggling to defend himself without touching her inappropriately.
• Gu Shiheng and his family entered the Training Ground and found Li Wei and Gu Jinzhi tangled together, prompting Li Wei to leap away in embarrassment.
• Gu Shiheng praised Li Wei’s battle and asked about her Blood-Nurturing Great Perfection, then took Gu Jinzhi aside to speak with him.
• Li Wei checked her system panel and found that her Cold Pool Sinking Jade combat method had gained progress during the fight.
• Liang Qiushi told Li Wei to take the formal martial artist examination the next day and conceal the effects of her Proximity to the Dao Body.