Chapter Summaries

Meng Zhao explained to Purple Lightning Saber Lord how the political upheaval and the revival of Martial Dao Fortune were unfolding together, and revealed their connection to Calculates All Beings, Beitang Gong, and Emperor Beitang Sheng. He warned that the Divine Saber Hall might not withstand the upheavals ahead.

• Meng Zhao distinguished the political upheaval under the Great Yong Dynasty from the changes in Martial Dao Fortune across the Divine Land.
• Purple Lightning Saber Lord recalled that cultivation and breakthroughs had become easier, and linked the earlier suppression of Martial Dao to Calculates All Beings and Beitang Gong.
• Meng Zhao confirmed that those two men were behind the decline of Martial Dao Fortune and said Beitang Sheng's ascension had brought about its current revival.
• Purple Lightning Saber Lord praised Beitang Sheng for restoring possibilities for martial artists, while Meng Zhao cautioned him that the ambitious Emperor and the converging upheavals threatened the Divine Saber Hall.

Meng Zhao proposed a loose organization of Great Grandmasters to help its members exchange martial arts knowledge, advance toward the Divine Demon Realm, and withstand future calamities. The Purple Lightning Saber Lord considered the proposal and learned that Meng Zhao's other candidate was Hui Kong.

• The Purple Lightning Saber Lord agreed with Meng Zhao that the coming upheavals could threaten even the Divine Saber Hall.
• Meng Zhao proposed gathering trusted Great Grandmasters into an organization with equal standing, mutual aid, and a shared goal of reaching the Divine Demon Realm.
• The Purple Lightning Saber Lord asked about the organization's purpose, admission requirements, responsibilities, and benefits, and Meng Zhao answered each question.
• The Purple Lightning Saber Lord asked who Meng Zhao's two candidates were, and Meng Zhao named him and Hui Kong.
• Meng Zhao explained that he intended the loose organization to build ties among powerful martial artists without making them feel subordinate to him.

Meng Zhao invited Purple Lightning Saber Lord to join the Ascension Society, an organization meant to unite powerful martial artists, and the Saber Lord agreed that the proposal deserved consideration. After losing a spiritual contest to Meng Zhao, he sought Xue Zihou’s thoughts on the Society and its plans, and Xue Zihou quickly concluded that his father had to join.

• Meng Zhao explained the Ascension Society’s goal and assured Purple Lightning Saber Lord that membership would not conflict with his duties to the Divine Saber Hall.
• Purple Lightning Saber Lord asked Xue Zihou whether he was satisfied with mastering the Eight Demonic Saber Techniques, and Xue Zihou defended his choice and said he trusted Meng Zhao.
• Purple Lightning Saber Lord told Xue Zihou that Meng Zhao had defeated him in spiritual combat and praised Meng Zhao’s unusual strength.
• Purple Lightning Saber Lord recounted Meng Zhao’s plans for the Ascension Society and his concerns about Monk Huikong and the Pudu Cult.
• Xue Zihou drew on what he knew of Meng Zhao and concluded that Purple Lightning Saber Lord needed to join the Society.

Xue Zihou persuaded the Purple Lightning Saber Lord to join Meng Zhao’s Ascension Society, arguing that Meng Zhao was likely to prevail and that joining carried little risk. After the Purple Lightning Saber Lord agreed, Xue Zihou told Meng Zhao to leave the Divine Saber Hall temporarily because the Jiang and Jin Factions were preparing to settle their struggle over the Hall’s future.

• Xue Zihou argued that Meng Zhao had a strong chance of taking control of the Northern Lands and that the Ascension Society was unlikely to endanger the Xue Family.
• The Purple Lightning Saber Lord decided to join the Ascension Society after weighing the risks and potential benefits.
• Meng Zhao stayed at the Divine Saber Hall for several days, traded saber techniques deduced with the Heaven-Illuminating Divine Mirror, and searched unsuccessfully for information about the Pure Spring.
• Xue Zihou asked Meng Zhao to leave the Divine Saber Hall temporarily and told him that his father had agreed to join the Ascension Society.
• Xue Zihou explained that the Jiang and Jin Factions would debate the saber to decide the Divine Saber Hall’s future, and Meng Zhao expressed disappointment that the Hall had become caught up in power struggles.

After a carefree journey, Meng Zhao returned to the Tan Family and learned that Tong Lie had challenged him after defeating Xie Wanzhi. Lü Yue explained that Meng Zhao’s reputation and political ambitions depended on accepting, but even a loss could bring public condemnation.

• Meng Zhao spent over half a month traveling before hearing that Tong Lie had challenged him, then returned to the Tan Family.
• Meng Zhao reunited with Lü Yue, who shared news from Lingwu City and the surrounding regions.
• Lü Yue explained that Tong Lie’s victory over Xie Wanzhi and challenge to Meng Zhao had united Northern Lands martial artists in demanding a response.
• Meng Zhao recognized that refusing would destroy his public standing and undermine the political foundation of his power.
• Lü Yue warned that, unlike Xie Wanzhi, Meng Zhao could be condemned even if he lost the fight.

Meng Zhao assessed the risks of losing to Tong Lie, investigated the unknown Fatty Xia, and accepted Tong Lie’s challenge after revealing that he had reached the Great Grandmaster realm. He proposed wagering everything each side owned, including their lives, leaving Tong Lie to decide whether to accept.

• Meng Zhao asked Lü Yue about Tong Lie’s helper, Fatty Xia, and suspected he might be part of a powerful organization’s scheme.
• Meng Zhao agreed to fight Tong Lie openly but rejected the stakes Tong Lie had proposed.
• Meng Zhao told Lü Yue that he had reached the Great Grandmaster realm and believed Tong Lie could not defeat him.
• Meng Zhao wagered everything he possessed, including his life, against everything Tong Lie possessed and told Lü Yue to deliver the terms.

Meng Zhao’s all-or-nothing response to Tong Lie’s challenge shook the Northern Lands, with many suspecting it was a bluff and others believing he had reached Great Grandmaster Martial Dao. After Tong Lie acknowledged Meng Zhao might truly be his equal, Fatty Xia urged him to abandon the fight, but Tong Lie remained silent.

• News spread that Meng Zhao would fight Tong Lie only if they both wagered everything, leaving the loser unable to rise again.
• Tong Lie studied information about Meng Zhao while Fatty Xia questioned whether Meng Zhao had really attained Great Grandmaster Martial Dao.
• Tong Lie reasoned that Meng Zhao might have advanced from grandmaster to Great Grandmaster in a year, despite admitting he could not have done the same.
• Fatty Xia advised Tong Lie to cancel the fight and warned that Meng Zhao’s strength and record made him dangerous.
• Tong Lie stopped eating and remained silent as Fatty Xia urged him not to provoke Meng Zhao.

Tong Lie weighed the risks of fighting Meng Zhao against the cost of abandoning his courage and martial path, then chose to uphold the duel. Fatty Xia offered a way to strengthen him before the fight.

• Tong Lie considered avoiding Meng Zhao to protect his freedom, but realized retreat would destroy his fearless heart and halt his martial advancement.
• Tong Lie concluded that backing down would also squander a rare chance to strike at the human race and benefit the Savage Tribes.
• Fatty Xia asked whether Tong Lie still intended to fight, and Tong Lie confirmed he did despite fearing defeat.
• Tong Lie said that even if he lost, he would work under Meng Zhao while continuing to help his lord uncover the truth.
• Fatty Xia offered a method to increase Tong Lie's strength, and Tong Lie doubted that the weakling could help a Great Grandmaster.

Fatty Xia explained that the Thirteenth Bronze Figure might let Tong Lie borrow the power of the vanished Twelve Bronze Figures and improve his combat strength against Meng Zhao. Tong Lie understood the possibility but began to suspect that the Heavenly Demon Palace Lord had taught him the Dutian God Fiend Bronze Man Scripture for a hidden purpose.

• Fatty Xia told Tong Lie that his cultivation could not be raised easily, but his combat strength might be enhanced through an external means.
• Fatty Xia explained that the Thirteenth Bronze Figure had been forged from leftover materials and refined metal essence from the Twelve Bronze Figures.
• Tong Lie wondered whether the Thirteenth Bronze Figure could reveal the Twelve Bronze Figures' whereabouts, but Fatty Xia said it could not.
• Fatty Xia proposed that Tong Lie might use the bronze figure and the Dutian God Fiend Bronze Man Scripture to borrow the Twelve Bronze Figures' power.
• Tong Lie considered whether the Heavenly Demon Palace Lord had made him a tool for finding and using the Thirteenth Bronze Figure, and kept his suspicions to himself.

Fatty Xia told Tong Lie that Emperor Qin Ying Zheng may have built the Twelve Bronze Figures, Terracotta Warriors, and a vast Imperial Tomb to help himself and his trusted followers transcend together. The story left Tong Lie considering whether Ying Zheng had sacrificed Great Qin’s Mandate of Heaven to carry out that plan.

• Tong Lie asked Fatty Xia where the Thirteenth Bronze Figure was, and Fatty Xia said he had leads but first wanted to tell him a story.
• Fatty Xia described Emperor Qin Ying Zheng’s three Human Dao Supreme Divine Artifacts and his immense construction projects, including an Imperial Tomb said to be a Cave-Heaven World.
• Fatty Xia explained the rumor that the Terracotta Warriors were made from Great Qin’s elite Black Eagle Elite soldiers and that the Twelve Bronze Figures formed the core of a great formation.
• Tong Lie reasoned that Ying Zheng may have intended to bring others with him when he transcended, and Fatty Xia agreed this was a likely explanation for the preparations.
• Fatty Xia argued that Ying Zheng had spent Great Qin’s National Destiny on the plan, leaving the empire vulnerable after he and its strongest forces disappeared.

Fatty Xia told Tong Lie that Xiang Yu had survived the Battle of Wujiang, defeated Liu Bang, and entered Ying Zheng’s imperial mausoleum, where the Thirteenth Bronze Figure was hidden. Tong Lie reconsidered Xiang Yu’s choice to spare Liu Bang as Fatty Xia revealed that Xiang Yu had entered the mausoleum’s deadly Cave-Heaven World.

• Fatty Xia explained that the Thirteenth Bronze Figure lay inside Ying Zheng’s imperial mausoleum, a lethal Cave-Heaven World, and said Xiang Yu had been an exception able to enter it.
• Tong Lie and Fatty Xia discussed Xiang Yu’s reputation and the conflicting stories about whether he had died at the Wu River or left the world by slashing open the void.
• Fatty Xia said Heavenly Demon Palace’s eyewitness records showed Xiang Yu had broken through Liu Bang’s forces, captured him, spared him, and then departed through the void.
• Tong Lie pondered why Xiang Yu had spared Liu Bang and concluded that Xiang Yu might have left after accepting that he had lost the struggle for supremacy.
• Fatty Xia said Xiang Yu had destroyed Great Qin, burned Epang Palace, and entered the Cave-Heaven World containing Ying Zheng’s imperial mausoleum.

Fatty Xia explained how the Thirteenth Bronze Figure passed from Xiang Yu’s hands to the Heavenly Demon Palace Lord’s master’s sect and warned Tong Lie about the trials required to obtain it. Facing the risk of spiritual injury against the chance to gain the Bronze Figures’ power and defeat Meng Zhao, Tong Lie decided to take the trial.

• Tong Lie wondered whether Ying Zheng had taken the Twelve Bronze Figures away from the Divine Land, and Fatty Xia agreed that it was possible.
• Fatty Xia told Tong Lie that Xiang Yu had passed the Thirteenth Bronze Figure through Long Ju and Xiang Zhuang’s line until it was hidden by his master’s sect.
• Fatty Xia explained that applicants had to pass mind-testing trials in an underground palace, beginning with the Chu-Han Contention and the Battle of Wujiang.
• Fatty Xia said Tong Lie’s spirit might be harmed but could recover, and that his master had originally planned to wait until Tong Lie became a Celestial Being.
• Tong Lie weighed the risks against his urgent need to overcome Meng Zhao and decided to attempt the trials.

Meng Zhao’s reputation and influence surged after Tong Lie failed to respond, drawing envoys and followers to the Meng Family. At the chapter’s end, Liang Muqiu faced Prince Fu Beitang Shu’s envoys, who sought to place Fu Fei in Meng Zhao’s Yangwu Army as a test of Meng Zhao’s willingness to submit or cooperate.

• Tong Lie gave no response to Meng Zhao, and the Northern Lands’ martial world took his silence as fear, boosting Meng Zhao’s reputation.
• Rogue cultivators and envoys from Northern Lands forces flocked to Lingwu City, rapidly strengthening the Meng Family’s influence.
• Liang Muqiu tried to dismiss Chen Siyuan and Fu Fei after they spent a week at the Meng Family residence making unreasonable demands.
• Chen Siyuan asked Liang Muqiu to let Fu Fei join the Yangwu Army, claiming Prince Fu Beitang Shu would later transfer him elsewhere and could assist the Meng Family.
• Liang Muqiu recognized that Beitang Shu was using Fu Fei’s appointment to test Meng Zhao’s attitude and draw him into Beitang Shu’s service.

Chen Siyuan pressured Liang Muqiu to give Fu Fei a place in the Meng Family while Meng Zhao was away, knowing even a temporary position would signal a connection between Meng Zhao and Beitang Shu. Liang Muqiu remained unable to decide, and Chen Siyuan ended by questioning whether Meng Zhao could truly defeat Tong Lie.

• Chen Siyuan reasoned that Meng Zhao's absence and Liang Muqiu's delays had left his attitude toward Beitang Shu unclear.
• Liang Muqiu said she lacked the authority to decide and asked Chen Siyuan and Fu Fei to wait for Meng Zhao's return.
• Chen Siyuan proposed that Fu Fei first take a position in the Meng Family, then enter the Yangwu Army after Meng Zhao returned.
• Liang Muqiu realized that accepting or refusing the proposal would both reveal Meng Zhao's stance toward Beitang Shu.
• Fu Fei professed admiration for Meng Zhao while privately envying him and harboring twisted desires toward the women in his household.
• Chen Siyuan praised Liang Muqiu's management of the Meng Family and warned that Meng Zhao would ruin his reputation if he failed to answer Tong Lie's challenge.

Liang Muqiu told Chen Siyuan and Fu Fei that Meng Zhao intended to fight Tong Lie and was highly confident of winning, warning them that Beitang Shu could not assume he held the upper hand. She concluded that Beitang Shu wanted to recruit Meng Zhao before the duel so he could share in a victory, but she expected Meng Zhao to refuse subordination.

• Chen Siyuan explained that Beitang Shu could end Meng Zhao's unresolved duel with Tong Lie by making it a matter of the dynasty, but Liang Muqiu said Meng Zhao intended to fight and believed he had a ninety percent chance of winning.
• Liang Muqiu's warning left Chen Siyuan and Fu Fei uneasy, and they left without pressing her further.
• Liang Muqiu reasoned that Beitang Shu had focused on Meng Zhao because Tong Lie's challenge could either elevate Meng Zhao into a powerful Northern Lands leader or strip away his reputation as a prodigy.
• She concluded that Beitang Shu wanted Meng Zhao under his command before the duel so he could share in a victory and avoid losing a valuable ally if Meng Zhao were defeated.
• Liang Muqiu believed Meng Zhao would refuse Beitang Shu because he would not accept the loss of freedom and future opportunities that came with becoming a subordinate.

Liang Muqiu reasoned that Beitang Shu could limit Meng Zhao but could not easily strip him of control over Lingwu City and the Yangwu Army. Meanwhile, Chen Siyuan and Fu Fei realized Meng Zhao had no intention of joining Beitang Shu, leaving their mission in jeopardy.

• Liang Muqiu concluded that Beitang Shu could use connections, assassinations, or imperial authority against Meng Zhao, but could not readily dislodge him from command of the Yangwu Army.
• Liang Muqiu complained that Meng Zhao had left her to handle everything, while privately longing for his return and taking pride in his rise.
• Chen Siyuan and Fu Fei dismissed their attendants and discussed the possibility that Meng Zhao had mastered the martial path of a Great Grandmaster.
• Fu Fei worried that failing Beitang Shu's mission would bring him punishment, while Chen Siyuan urged him not to trust Liang Muqiu's claim without proof.
• Chen Siyuan admitted that he had misjudged the Meng Family's willingness to draw closer to Beitang Shu and noted that Meng Zhao controlled Lingwu City and had powerful allies.

Chen Siyuan and Fu Fei realized that Meng Zhao’s strength and influence made their plan to recruit him unlikely to succeed. Fu Fei warned Chen that failing to bring Meng Zhao under Beitang Shu’s command could ruin both their prospects with Prince Fu.

• Chen Siyuan considered abandoning the mission or seeking another approach, but judged that force, influence, and possible alliances would not work against Meng Zhao in Lingwu City.
• Fu Fei grew despondent because he had carried Beitang Shu’s instructions and his sister’s hopes, and he feared returning without success.
• Fu Fei explained that Beitang Shu had long promoted Meng Zhao’s reputation, closely monitored him, and was determined to recruit him.
• Fu Fei warned Chen Siyuan that failure could cost them Beitang Shu’s trust and threaten their places in his service.
• Chen Siyuan understood that Fu Fei might regain favor through his sister, while Chen himself could be cast out of the prince’s inner circle and targeted by rival advisers.

Chen Siyuan and Fu Fei planned to exploit tensions among Meng Zhao’s women to get Fu Fei placed in the Yangwu Army. They rejected Zhu'er as too close to Liang Muqiu and Han Lu, leaving the daughters of Lingwu City’s top three families as possible targets.

• Chen Siyuan proposed using Meng Zhao’s other women to secure Fu Fei a place in the Yangwu Army.
• Fu Fei praised the plan, believing Meng Zhao’s women might resent Liang Muqiu’s authority.
• Chen Siyuan and Fu Fei considered Zhu'er as a target because Fu Fei thought she would be easy to influence.
• Chen Siyuan warned that Zhu'er was close to Liang Muqiu and Han Lu and might expose their scheme.
• Fu Fei suggested turning instead to the daughters of Lingwu City’s top three families.

Fu Fei and Chen Siyuan planned to approach Ding Zhanyun through the Ding Family to help their mission succeed. When Chen Siyuan dismissed the idea of planting a spy near Meng Zhao, Fu Fei suggested that someone already close to Meng Zhao might evade suspicion, leaving Chen Siyuan startled by his proposal.

• Fu Fei asked Chen Siyuan which of the three upper families' women they should target, and Chen Siyuan chose Ding Zhanyun because Meng Zhao favored her most.
• Chen Siyuan proposed visiting the Ding Family under the identity of Prince Fu's Mansion to test whether they would help.
• Fu Fei asked what they would do if their mission failed, and Chen Siyuan admitted he had no way to weaken Meng Zhao.
• Fu Fei suggested planting a hidden spy beside Meng Zhao, and Chen Siyuan argued that Meng Zhao's defenses made such a plan nearly impossible.
• Fu Fei asked whether Meng Zhao would detect someone who had been beside him all along, startling Chen Siyuan into realizing he had been drawn into Fu Fei's line of thought.

Fu Fei revealed his plan to sexually compromise Meng Zhao's women and use their fear of exposure to force them into betraying him. Chen Siyuan rejected the scheme as dangerously reckless, while Fu Fei remained confident in his ability to exploit women's weaknesses.

• Chen Siyuan suspected Fu Fei wanted to draw him into a dangerous plan and questioned how Meng Zhao's women could be turned against him.
• Fu Fei argued that coercion could make the women obey, then disclosed that he intended to make them his own and use their disgrace to control them.
• Fu Fei imagined the women secretly betraying Meng Zhao and believed their betrayal would let him humiliate his rival and make his own name known.
• Chen Siyuan judged the plan disastrous and refused to help, fearing Meng Zhao would kill them if it came to light.
• Fu Fei's confidence came from his past success manipulating women, while jealousy toward Meng Zhao had fueled his audacious idea.