Chapter Summaries

Lü Yue arrived at Hidden Dragon Valley as Meng Zhao’s envoy, prompting speculation that Meng Zhao wanted Xie Wanzhi’s aid. Xie Wanzhi sent his young disciple to invite Lü Yue inside and guide him through the valley’s deadly formation, leaving the onlookers convinced that Xie held Meng Zhao in high regard.

• Liu Xiong thanked Zhou Sheng for preventing him from offending Lü Yue, and Zhou Sheng guessed that Meng Zhao wanted Xie Wanzhi to leave the valley and help him.
• Zhou Sheng considered following Xie Wanzhi to Lingwu City, while Liu Xiong hoped for a chance to see Xie Wanzhi.
• Lü Yue’s voice cleared the mist around Hidden Dragon Valley, and a young man emerged to announce that his master invited Lü Yue inside.
• The young disciple warned Lü Yue to dismount and walk through the valley because a deadly formation lay within.
• The people outside the valley grew jealous of Xie Wanzhi’s disciple and inferred from his respectful invitation that Xie Wanzhi valued Meng Zhao greatly.

Lü Yue entered Hidden Dragon Valley to meet Xie Wanzhi, while people outside speculated about why Meng Zhao had sent him. Zhou Sheng and other martial artists waited to learn whether Xie Wanzhi would leave for Lingwu City, which would shape their own plans.

• Lü Yue dismounted his Dragon Steed and followed a young man into Hidden Dragon Valley to meet Xie Wanzhi.
• People outside the valley debated whether Meng Zhao had sent for Xie Wanzhi because of his injuries or to discuss the Heavenly Demon Palace Lord.
• Zhou Sheng and Liu Xiong considered following Xie Wanzhi to Lingwu City and seeking a place with the Meng Family if he left the valley.
• The martial artists remained outside Hidden Dragon Valley, waiting to see what Xie Wanzhi would do.

Lü Yue reached Xie Wanzhi’s secluded residence in Hidden Dragon Valley to represent Meng Zhao and pay his respects. Xie Wanzhi welcomed him warmly, then assessed Lü Yue’s martial foundation and asked about the strength of Meng Zhao’s followers.

• Lü Yue followed Xie Wanzhi’s disciple through Hidden Dragon Valley’s deadly formations to a bamboo grove and wooden building.
• The disciple announced that Dragon King Meng’s man had arrived, and Lü Yue introduced himself and paid his respects to Xie Wanzhi.
• Xie Wanzhi rose from his wicker chair and warmly invited Lü Yue inside, revealing a friendlier manner than Lü Yue had expected.
• Xie Wanzhi served tea and pastries, then praised Lü Yue’s solid foundation and asked whether many people like him served Meng Zhao.
• Lü Yue replied that he was mediocre compared with others in the Meng Family and credited his strength to following Meng Zhao longest and receiving his guidance.

Lü Yue visited Xie Wanzhi on Meng Zhao’s orders, but Xie first asked him to recount Meng Zhao’s deeds and discussed his duel with Tong Lie. After learning that Meng Zhao had fought the Heavenly Demon Palace Lord, Xie explained the Palace’s history and reassured Lü Yue that retaliation against the Meng Family was unlikely.

• Xie Wanzhi praised Lü Yue’s martial foundation and encouraged him and his disciple to exchange pointers.
• Lü Yue began telling Xie Wanzhi and his disciple about Meng Zhao’s deeds, praising his talent, character, and accomplishments.
• Xie Wanzhi recalled his defeat by Tong Lie and praised Meng Zhao for driving Tong Lie away.
• Lü Yue relayed Meng Zhao’s view that Xie Wanzhi’s duel with Tong Lie had been a selfless act and that their defeat had been narrowly decided.
• Xie Wanzhi asked whether Meng Zhao and the Heavenly Demon Palace Lord had both been badly injured, and Lü Yue confirmed the duel but said the Palace Lord’s condition was uncertain.
• Xie Wanzhi described the Heavenly Demon Palace’s ancient power and reassured Lü Yue that its injured Lord was unlikely to lead a retaliation against the Meng Family.

Lü Yue asked Xie Wanzhi to help capture the Great Grandmaster responsible for massacres near Lingwu City, offering Meng Zhao’s support and rewards. Xie Wanzhi refused, explaining that his damaged martial foundation had left him resigned to a quiet life, and sent his apologies to Meng Zhao.

• Lü Yue clarified that he had come to ask Xie Wanzhi to capture the Great Grandmaster behind the massacres near Lingwu City, not to seek protection from the Demonic Path.
• Lü Yue offered Meng Zhao’s assistance with a Divine Weapon and Primordial Spirit Power to help Xie Wanzhi advance toward the Celestial Human Realm.
• Xie Wanzhi rejected the offer, doubting Meng Zhao’s guarantees and warning that the task could draw him into conflict with the Heavenly Demon Palace.
• Lü Yue urged Xie Wanzhi to reconsider, assuring him that the Heavenly Demon Palace Lord could not interfere and that Meng Zhao kept his promises.
• Xie Wanzhi revealed that his martial foundation was damaged, his potential exhausted, and his hopes of reaching the Celestial Human Realm gone, so he refused to risk his peaceful life in Hidden Dragon Valley.

Lü Yue persuaded Xie Wanzhi to consider meeting Meng Zhao, who might repair the damage to Xie’s martial foundation. As Lü Yue explained Meng Zhao’s Primordial Spirit abilities to Xie’s youngest disciple, he began to question why Xie had fought Tong Lie decades earlier.

• Lü Yue told Xie Wanzhi that Meng Zhao might be able to heal his old injuries and repair his flawed foundation.
• Xie Wanzhi’s youngest disciple urged his master not to miss the chance, and Xie left to consider the offer.
• Xie Wanzhi told Lü Yue to wait with his youngest disciple while he decided whether to accept.
• Lü Yue assured the disciple that Meng Zhao could use Primordial Spirit Power to locate and heal Xie’s injuries.
• Lü Yue asked why Xie Wanzhi had left Hidden Dragon Valley to fight Tong Lie of the Savage Tribes, despite his current reluctance to involve himself in the world.

Lü Yue persuaded Xie Wanzhi to travel to Lingwu City and seek Meng Zhao’s help with his martial path. Xie Wanzhi left ahead of them, and Lü Yue and Xie Wanzhi’s disciple departed Hidden Dragon Valley after warning the gathered martial artists away from the valley’s formations.

• Xie Wanzhi’s disciple told Lü Yue that Xie Wanzhi had left seclusion to protect his descendants from Tong Lie.
• Lü Yue and the disciple discussed their martial paths and sparred while waiting for Xie Wanzhi to return.
• Xie Wanzhi agreed to accompany Lü Yue to Lingwu City and seek Meng Zhao’s help repairing his martial foundation.
• Xie Wanzhi set out for Lingwu City ahead of Lü Yue, leaving his disciple to pack and travel with him.
• Liu Xiong questioned the disciple as more than a hundred martial artists surrounded them outside Hidden Dragon Valley.
• The disciple warned the crowd about the valley’s deadly formations, then followed Lü Yue out into the snowstorm.

Nangong Yao discussed Xie Wanzhi’s trip to Lingwu City and defended the Chaos Grinding Mill, the martial art he had created. He revealed his ruthless history with Madam Xie’s family and suspected his young disciple knew he intended to use her as a cauldron.

• Nangong Yao and his young disciple speculated that Xie Wanzhi had gone to Lingwu City to test whether Meng Zhao was vulnerable.
• Nangong Yao explained that he created the Chaos Grinding Mill by evolving the Spirit Seizing Secret Art after stealing a Chaos Body’s aptitude.
• His disciple criticized the art and noted that Nangong Yao had only cultivated a Primordial Spirit, while he argued that he was strengthening his foundation before entering the Heavenly Human realm.
• Nangong Yao reproached his disciple for not devouring anyone to improve her bloodline and wondered whether she had guessed he planned to use her as a cauldron.
• Nangong Yao recalled how he had cultivated Madam Xie and her family before ruthlessly taking what he wanted, treating them as tools.

Nangong Yao explained that he had raised his Ethereal Physique disciple to use the Chaos Grinding Mill and eventually drain her power to perfect his Chaos bloodline. He warned her that Xie Wanzhi’s final disciple, who possessed the Azure Mulberry Physique, could surpass her, while revealing that Xie Wanzhi also intended to use the young man to overcome his own cultivation bottleneck.

• Nangong Yao had created the Chaos Grinding Mill to exploit his Ethereal Physique disciple and planned to drain her after she cultivated it and gathered other bloodlines.
• Nangong Yao’s disciple boasted that her Ethereal Physique and Nine Heavens Goddess True Scripture made her a match for nearly anyone, aside from Meng Zhao and Shen Tianci.
• Nangong Yao cautioned his disciple that Xie Wanzhi’s final disciple could defeat her once he reached the Grandmaster realm.
• Nangong Yao recognized that Xie Wanzhi’s final disciple possessed the Azure Mulberry Physique, whose vitality and bloodline potential made him an exceptional cultivation prospect.
• Xie Wanzhi had prepared the Azure Mulberry Physique disciple as a means to repair his flawed foundation and break through his cultivation bottleneck.

Nangong Yao and his female disciple compared his martial prowess with Meng Zhao’s and considered the rewards of devouring Meng Zhao with the Chaos Grinding Mill. The disciple suggested that absorbing Meng Zhao’s gifts could make Nangong Yao strong enough to defeat even Beitang Sheng and the Heavenly Demon Palace Lord.

• The female disciple changed the subject and asked Nangong Yao whether he or Meng Zhao was stronger.
• Nangong Yao admitted that he would once have been no match for Meng Zhao, but said their strength was now comparable and depended on their Primordial Spirit realms or who reached the Celestial realm first.
• The female disciple questioned whether Meng Zhao’s reported mutual ruin with the Heavenly Demon Palace Lord was genuine, noting that Meng Zhao may have relied on a divine weapon.
• The female disciple asked how much power the Chaos Grinding Mill could gain by devouring Meng Zhao.
• The female disciple urged Nangong Yao to devour Meng Zhao, arguing that absorbing even half of his gifts could make Nangong Yao unbeatable.

Nangong Yao weighed the danger Meng Zhao posed and questioned Yu Nanfeng about her plan to target him. Yu Nanfeng proposed using her beauty to approach Meng Zhao, while Nangong Yao remained unsure of her true intentions.

• Nangong Yao judged Meng Zhao too powerful and unpredictable to attack directly, preferring to keep his attention on Yu Nanfeng.
• Nangong Yao asked Yu Nanfeng whether she wanted him to make a move against Meng Zhao.
• Yu Nanfeng said she intended to make Meng Zhao her first prey but sought Nangong Yao's opinion because he also knew the Chaos Grinding Mill.
• Yu Nanfeng explained that she would use a Beauty Trap rather than fight Meng Zhao, relying on his weakness for beautiful women.
• Nangong Yao looked at Yu Nanfeng and wondered whether she meant her proposal or was concealing her real purpose.

Nangong Yao weighed Yu Nanfeng’s plan to approach Meng Zhao through her beauty and martial arts, hoping to use the Chaos Grinding Mill to steal his bloodline aptitude. He tentatively accepted the plan but remained wary of the risks and of losing control over Yu Nanfeng.

• Nangong Yao worried that Meng Zhao might see through Yu Nanfeng’s Beauty Trap or that his women would drive her away.
• Nangong Yao realized Yu Nanfeng could first join the Meng Family as a Grandmaster before gradually seducing Meng Zhao.
• Yu Nanfeng confirmed that she planned to win Meng Zhao’s trust through martial arts, beauty, and the Su Nu Gong before using the Chaos Grinding Mill.
• Nangong Yao considered the plan promising but feared Yu Nanfeng might be exposed or act beyond his control.

Nangong Yao sent Yu Nanfeng to approach Meng Zhao and investigate him, while Meng Zhao enjoyed a peaceful stay at Meng Family Village. News that Ji Rushuang’s clan branch could eventually supply a large army strengthened Meng Zhao’s ambitions for the three prefectures.

• Nangong Yao agreed to let Yu Nanfeng try her plan and told her to discreetly contact Xie Wanzhi in Lingwu City for help.
• Nangong Yao intended to use Yu Nanfeng to probe Meng Zhao, whom he viewed as a future obstacle to his ambition for supreme transcendence.
• Meng Zhao played chess with Zhao Rulíng while Han Lu and Ji Rushuang attended them at Meng Family Village.
• Ji Rushuang recalled her insecurity and fear of being abandoned, while Meng Zhao’s care for her and her daughter Meng Miao had deepened her devotion to him.
• Ji Zhenyun informed Meng Zhao that his branch had become one of the Dan Chi Clan’s three strongest factions and could raise a large force, though its troops still needed equipment and training.
• Meng Zhao considered the news a major advantage as he pursued control of the lands of the three prefectures.

Meng Zhao weighed his influence across Ji Prefecture, Yanzhou, and Liang Prefecture while planning an elite Dan Chi cavalry force and explaining why he would delay having children. He told Zhao Rulíng that he was securing Lingwu City before pursuing the Supreme Scepter in the Arctic Ice Plains, and left the journey dependent on resolving dangers at home.

• Meng Zhao planned to form eight thousand elite Dan Chi cavalrymen, with Ji Zhenyun selecting the warriors and Meng Zhao supplying their equipment and provisions.
• Meng Zhao explained to Ji Rushuang that they should wait to have children until Tan Cai'er entered the household and he reached the realm of Gods and Devils, and Ji Rushuang agreed.
• Zhao Rulíng lost three games of Go to Meng Zhao and worried about Xie Wanzhi, Yu Changkong, the Heavenly Demon Palace Lord, and the Supreme Scepter.
• Meng Zhao assured Zhao Rulíng that Xie Wanzhi would come, Yu Changkong would die from his injuries, and he had sent people to the Arctic Ice Plains to gather information.
• Meng Zhao said he would secure Lingwu City and resolve the threats posed by Yu Changkong and the Heavenly Demon Palace Lord before setting out for the Northern Lands with Zhao Rulíng.

Meng Zhao reassured Zhao Rulíng about the dangers posed by the Imperial Court and Beitang Sheng, then helped Ji Rushuang and Han Lu make plans to visit their families. The chapter left both women preparing to reconnect with their relatives while remaining under Meng Zhao’s care.

• Zhao Rulíng warned Meng Zhao that the Imperial Court might act and urged him to watch Xie Wanzhi carefully.
• Meng Zhao told Ji Rushuang he would travel to the Arctic Ice Plains and offered to arrange a visit with her family.
• Ji Rushuang chose to invite her relatives to Lingwu City rather than return to the Ji Clan branch herself.
• Han Lu asked Meng Zhao for leave to visit her ailing mother and elder brother in Nan'an City.
• Meng Zhao approved Han Lu’s trip, offered medicines for her family, and said she could bring them to Lingwu City afterward.

Xie Wanzhi surveyed Lingwu City and investigated Meng Zhao’s influence, the Yangwu Army, and the recent bloody crimes near the provincial borders. He concluded that Meng Zhao’s power could threaten the Beitang Imperial Clan and suspected the Heavenly Demon Palace Lord had used a Great Grandmaster to lure Meng Zhao into an ambush; Xie Wanzhi resolved to proceed cautiously and seek an advantage.

• Xie Wanzhi wandered through Lingwu City and heard people repeatedly discuss Meng Zhao’s battle with the Heavenly Demon Palace Lord.
• Xie Wanzhi secretly examined the Yangwu Grand Barracks and felt the army’s formations could threaten even a Great Grandmaster.
• Xie Wanzhi observed that Meng Zhao’s influence permeated Lingwu City and its surrounding regions, leading him to suspect Meng Zhao harbored rebellious ambitions.
• Xie Wanzhi investigated the bloody crimes near the borders of three provinces and questioned whether the suspected Great Grandmaster acted willingly or under someone’s control.
• Xie Wanzhi suspected the Heavenly Demon Palace Lord had used the crimes to draw Meng Zhao out and ambush him, so he decided not to pursue the fiend without preparation or some benefit.

Lü Yue and Xie Jun reported to Meng Zhao that Xie Wanzhi had not arrived in Lingwu City, and Meng Zhao suspected he was investigating the information he had received. Xie Jun stayed with the Meng Family, while Meng Zhao began probing him about Xie Wanzhi’s life and martial arts.

• Lü Yue and Xie Jun reached the Meng Family and told Meng Zhao that Xie Wanzhi had not appeared.
• Meng Zhao examined Xie Jun and recognized that he seemed to possess an exceptional wood-related constitution or bloodline.
• Lü Yue and Xie Jun worried that the Heavenly Demon Palace Lord or another demonic expert might have interfered with Xie Wanzhi.
• Meng Zhao reassured them that Xie Wanzhi was probably safe and might be secretly checking the claims Meng Zhao had passed along.
• Xie Jun prepared to remain at the Meng Family while waiting for his master.
• Meng Zhao questioned Xie Jun about when he had joined Xie Wanzhi, his master’s habits, martial arts, and past fight with Tong Lie.

Meng Zhao used a mind-affecting technique to make Xie Jun reveal everything, then showed Lü Yue Heavenly Net evidence that Xie Wanzhi's Special Physique disciples had repeatedly disappeared under suspicious circumstances. The chapter left Meng Zhao convinced that Xie Wanzhi was likely treacherous and that Xie Jun was a key figure in the mystery.

• Meng Zhao questioned Xie Jun, who emerged from a trance with fragments of what he had revealed and accused Meng Zhao of using methods against him.
• Meng Zhao dismissed Xie Jun's complaint, and Xie Jun agreed to claim that exhaustion had muddled his mind before leaving to rest in the village.
• Lü Yue asked why Meng Zhao risked creating a rift with Xie Wanzhi, whom they had invited to help deal with a vicious fiend.
• Meng Zhao privately told Lü Yue that Heavenly Net intelligence had made him suspect Xie Wanzhi was supremely treacherous.
• Lü Yue read a dossier reporting that Xie Wanzhi's four previous disciples with Special Physiques or extraordinary bloodlines had died mysteriously, and that Xie Jun was his fifth such disciple.
• Meng Zhao explained that he had questioned Xie Jun directly because the suspicious pattern made Xie Wanzhi dangerous, and he regarded Xie Jun as a key figure.

Meng Zhao suspected Xie Wanzhi was raising his disciples as resources for a demonic art and ordered Lü Yue to recruit Xie Jun by warning him of the danger. Lü Yue gained Xie Jun’s trust, and Xie Jun vented his anger at Meng Zhao while hoping the complaint might improve how Meng Zhao treated Xie Wanzhi.

• Meng Zhao concluded that Xie Jun could become a useful ally and suspected Xie Wanzhi’s mysterious connection to Nangong Yao through the Great Wind Cloud Hand.
• Meng Zhao told Lü Yue to warn Xie Jun that Xie Wanzhi’s schemes threatened his life and that he needed a powerful patron.
• Lü Yue went to Xie Jun and claimed Meng Zhao’s coercive actions had caught him by surprise, explaining that he had little influence over his Young Master.
• Xie Jun accepted Lü Yue’s explanation and complained that Meng Zhao had forced private information from him, making him feel disloyal to Xie Wanzhi.
• Xie Jun confided in Lü Yue, hoping his words might persuade Meng Zhao to treat Xie Wanzhi with more respect.

Lü Yue revealed that Meng Zhao had used deception to investigate whether Xie Wanzhi was exploiting Xie Jun and other disciples as cultivation resources. Xie Jun admitted he had long feared his master’s intentions and had only pretended to be loyal, leaving him desperate for a powerful protector.

• Xie Jun assumed Meng Zhao’s arrogance was not meant to target Xie Wanzhi, but Lü Yue warned him that hidden circumstances explained Meng Zhao’s actions.
• Lü Yue gave Xie Jun a Heavenly Net dossier and explained that Meng Zhao had sought information to verify suspicions about Xie Wanzhi.
• Xie Jun read the dossier and learned that Xie Wanzhi likely treated disciples with special bloodlines and aptitudes as resources to harvest.
• Lü Yue told Xie Jun he needed a powerful backer because he could not escape Xie Wanzhi’s designs alone.
• Xie Jun admitted he had long suspected his master viewed him as food, and that he had feigned filial loyalty in the hope of being spared.