Chapter Summaries

After Pengfei killed Lu Qiang’s Water Monkey, Lu Qiang tried to seize Pengfei and attack Xia Wuji, but Xu Qi arrived and stopped him. Xu Qi punished Lu Qiang and Dugu Ming, then invited Xia Wuji to speak with her in private.

• Pengfei obtained its identity token and swallowed the Water Monkey’s Demonic Core after killing it.
• Lu Qiang blocked Xia Wuji’s departure, demanded Pengfei as compensation, and ordered his cultivators to attack.
• Xu Qi arrived on a White Fierce Tiger, subdued Lu Qiang, and forced him to confess to manipulating the trial.
• Xu Qi ordered Lu Qiang and Dugu Ming detained and punished for their actions on Beast Heart Island.
• Xu Qi thanked Xia Wuji for accepting her invitation to talk privately, and he suspected her intervention had another motive.

Xia Wuji met Mo Xinlan, who revealed that the Heavy Water Sword Art might help open the sealed Profound Water Palace secret realm and asked him to teach it to her. He agreed without payment, and while they began practicing, Xu Qi's attempt to make her Little White Tiger dominate Pengfei went badly.

• Xia Wuji followed Xu Qi to her courtyard, where she introduced Mo Xinlan as the person who had brought him to Beast Heart Island.
• Mo Xinlan explained that the Heavy Water Sword Art came from the destroyed Profound Water Palace and was one possible key to opening its sealed secret realm.
• Mo Xinlan revealed her mother and Dugu Ming's father were both among Purgatory's Six Great Yellow Springs Emissaries, and said she needed Xia Wuji to teach her the sword art.
• Xia Wuji agreed to teach Mo Xinlan without accepting her offer of ten thousand Spirit Crystals per hour, and Xu Qi arranged a place for them to practice.
• Xu Qi ordered her Little White Tiger to make Pengfei submit, but Pengfei pounced on it and soon had it crying out in comfort.

After Pengfei received a Heavenly Beast Spirit Pill from Little White Tiger, Xia Wuji returned to Ghost Sword Island and exposed the token proving Pengfei had earned Beast Heart Island’s recognition. He then went to advance to a second-level Asura, seeking peace from Zhao Qingyue’s people.

• Mo Xinlan reached the threshold of mastery in the Heavy Water Sword Art after Xia Wuji guided her, while Xu Qi grew jealous when Little White Tiger befriended Pengfei.
• Little White Tiger gave Pengfei her Heavenly Beast Spirit Pill as a meeting gift, and Mo Xinlan left to return to Purgatory Island before Xia Wuji and Huang Ming departed Beast Heart Island.
• Huang Ming rejected Du Tianbao’s attempt to join their Spirit Boat, explaining that Du Tianbao’s fear of danger made him untrustworthy in a crisis.
• On Ghost Sword Island, Yue Ping and a third-level Rakshasa demanded that Xia Wuji surrender Pengfei, but Pengfei showed his Beast Heart Island recognition token and forced them to stand aside.
• The third-level Rakshasa blamed Yue Ping for wrongly assuring her that Dugu Ming had interfered with Pengfei’s trial, then struck him and left.
• Xia Wuji had Huang Ming lead him to advance to a second-level Asura so he could get some peace from Zhao Qingyue’s people.

Xia Wuji passed Sword Honing Hall’s screening and received a promotion mission to advance from First-Class Asura to Second-Class Asura. After cultivating and helping Pengfei prepare for his breakthrough, Xia Wuji learned that he had to set out within three days, but the mission details were revealed only in the scroll he opened at the end.

• Xia Wuji blocked Sword Honing Hall’s puppet attack with two fingers, then destroyed the puppet with three flying swords and received the hall’s sealed qualification scroll.
• Xia Wuji submitted the scroll to Mission Hall, which told him his promotion mission would be determined within ten days, and Huang Ming explained the protections given to candidates awaiting missions.
• Xia Wuji prepared a Gathering Yuan Formation to help Pengfei break through, while Huang Ming left after expressing his wish to become Xia Wuji’s friend.
• Mo Xinlan visited Xia Wuji for guidance on the Heavy Water Sword Art, then gave him a bottle of seventh-tier pills before leaving.
• Xia Wuji advanced to the seventh layer of the Life and Death Realm, and a Mission Hall Rakshasa delivered his promotion mission scroll and told him to depart within three days.
• Xia Wuji opened the scroll to read the details of his promotion mission.

Xia Wuji prepared to carry out his promotion mission to kill ten Hengtian Sect outer disciples while Pengfei broke through and awakened his Supreme Yin and Supreme Yang powers. Before they could leave, Zhao Qingyue tried to recruit Xia Wuji, but he refused and went on his way, leaving Yue Ping with a sinister grudge.

• Xia Wuji read his mission scroll and learned that he had one month to kill ten Hengtian Sect outer disciples near Water Cloud Island.
• Xia Wuji helped Pengfei absorb the golden energy from his Heavenly Beast Spirit Pill, allowing Pengfei to break through to the sixth-grade middle rank and awaken control over Supreme Yin and Supreme Yang.
• Xia Wuji gave Pengfei half a day to stabilize his breakthrough, then set out with him to complete the promotion mission.
• Zhao Qingyue confronted Xia Wuji, held Yue Ping at swordpoint, and offered to recruit Xia Wuji and reward him with resources, but Xia Wuji refused.
• Zhao Qingyue left Yue Ping a bottle of pills as compensation, and Yue Ping picked it up while vowing that everyone would die.

Xia Wuji traveled to Water Cloud Island to carry out his advancement mission and began hunting Hengtian Sect disciples. After killing nine outer disciples, he needed only one more kill to return to Ghost Sword Island and advance to second-level Asura.

• Sword Rakshasa refused to send protection for Xia Wuji, saying that handling danger was part of his advancement mission.
• Luo Xiang assigned Xia Wuji a relatively safer search area, while Luo Lin agreed to lure Hengtian Sect inner disciples there for Dugu Ming’s agent.
• The scar-faced man gave Luo Lin a poisoned Face-Fixing Pill, and she died after swallowing it.
• Xia Wuji and Pengfei defeated two Hengtian Sect disciples who had fled a battle, and Xia Wuji collected their identity medallions and Storage Rings.
• The Purgatory martial artists shared their clues with Xia Wuji, and he killed nine Hengtian Sect outer disciples in one day, leaving one mission target remaining.

Xia Wuji tracked down Hengtian Sect disciples and killed them, including a Myriad Manifestation Realm inner disciple who tried to capture him. A scar-faced Purgatory martial artist then trapped Xia Wuji and Pengfei and attacked, leaving their fight unresolved.

• Xia Wuji used the Hundred Mile Tracking Technique to find three Hengtian Sect outer disciples, and Pengfei broke their seabed formation.
• Xia Wuji and Pengfei killed the two ninth-level Nirvana Realm disciples, while the tenth-level woman escaped after trapping Pengfei with a talisman.
• A first-level Myriad Manifestation Realm Hengtian Sect inner disciple appeared, but Xia Wuji wounded him with the Wrath of the Sea God and Pengfei crushed his head; Xia Wuji then killed the fleeing woman.
• Xia Wuji sensed a hidden pursuer and confronted a scar-faced second-level Myriad Manifestation Realm Purgatory martial artist, who bound Pengfei with shadows and attacked Xia Wuji with a black spear.
• Xia Wuji used Soaring Dragon Steps—Nine Steps to Heaven and swung the Jinghong Sword at the scar-faced man's spear.

Xia Wuji returned to Ghost Sword Island after surviving an attempt on his life, completed his advancement to second-class Asura, and reported the interference to Disciplinary Hall. The chapter ended with him standing outside Dugu Ming’s residence, while Sword Rakshasa and Feng Xuan watched.

• Xia Wuji killed the scar-faced death warrior with Ghostly Formless Strike, and the man’s body decayed before it could reveal evidence of his identity.
• Xia Wuji returned to Ghost Sword Island with Pengfei, submitted twelve Hengtian Sect outer disciple tokens and one inner disciple token, and registered as a second-class Asura.
• Xia Wuji told Lian Tianye that someone had interfered with his advancement mission, and Lian Tianye promised an investigation and gave him a spirit talisman.
• Lian Tianye reported the incident to Feng Xuan, who brought it to Sword Rakshasa; Sword Rakshasa showed him Xia Wuji standing outside Dugu Ming’s residence.

Xia Wuji challenged Dugu Ming to a martial arena fight, suspecting him of sending the dead soldier Tian Scar to kill him. Dugu Ming accepted and arrived at the arena, where the two prepared to fight.

• Xia Wuji publicly challenged Dugu Ming at his residence, and Dugu Ming agreed to meet him at the martial arena in half an hour.
• Dugu Ming told his old man that Xia Wuji had no evidence linking him to Tian Scar, then killed the burly man who had overheard their conversation.
• Xia Wuji waited at the arena as spectators gathered and discussed Dugu Ming’s strength and powerful background.
• Huang Ming urged Xia Wuji to leave through an Emergency Mission, but Xia Wuji refused and sent him off the arena.
• Dugu Ming arrived, demanded Xia Wuji submit to him, and then agreed to fight when Xia Wuji said the match was only a contest.

Xia Wuji fought Dugu Ming in the martial arena, overcoming Dugu Ming’s thunder techniques by turning his own locked-on lightning against him. Dugu Ming then revealed the Alligator Dragon Great Law and charged at Xia Wuji, who answered with Ghostly Formless Strike.

• Dugu Ming attacked Xia Wuji with the Heavenly Thunder Sword Art, while Xia Wuji countered with his flying swords and Wrathful Sea Sword Art.
• Xia Wuji unleashed Wrath of the Sea God and gained the upper hand, but Dugu Ming detonated a hidden talisman that shattered the Sea God phenomenon and sent Xia Wuji flying.
• Dugu Ming used Heavenly Thunder World Destruction, but Xia Wuji activated the Dust Washing Art to break its lock, causing the lightning to strike Dugu Ming instead.
• Xia Wuji pursued the injured Dugu Ming, who summoned the Alligator Dragon Great Law and drove him back with the giant alligator phantom’s tail.
• Dugu Ming lunged at Xia Wuji under the alligator phantom’s protection, and Xia Wuji slashed with Ghostly Formless Strike.

Xia Wuji defeated Dugu Ming and was protected by Sword Rakshasa, who revealed that she had passed him the first move of the Ghostly Sword Art. The chapter ended with Sword Rakshasa’s sword qi reaching Xia Wuji’s courtyard and revealing the art’s second move, Ghostly Sound Howl.

• Xia Wuji used the Ghostly Formless Strike to split Dugu Ming’s alligator-dragon phantom and send him crashing down.
• Dugu Ming’s old attendant rescued him but attacked Xia Wuji, so Sword Rakshasa’s sword qi severed the attendant’s arm and forced him to kneel.
• Sword Rakshasa declared Xia Wuji the winner, ordered the attendant to take Dugu Ming back to Purgatory Island, and made clear she would protect Xia Wuji.
• Sword Rakshasa told Feng Xuan that Xia Wuji should rise on his own rather than receive more help, since he was already attracting attention.
• Xia Wuji admitted to Huang Ming that he had used the Ghostly Formless Strike, then returned Huang Ming’s spirit pearl and went back to his courtyard with Pengfei.
• Sword Rakshasa’s sword qi appeared at Xia Wuji’s residence, and Xia Wuji stopped it before his palm as he recognized the second move, Ghostly Sound Howl.

After receiving Ghostly Sound Howl, Xia Wuji cultivated it and advanced to the eighth level of the Life and Death Realm, then tried and failed to fully open the Universe Pagoda’s second layer. He left for seven days of cultivation in the Sword Prison Space, hoping to reach the ninth level.

• Xia Wuji mastered Ghostly Sound Howl, while Sword Rakshasa regretted accepting only female disciples but decided not to alter his foundation.
• Jiang Zhiyuan and Li Hai returned to Ghost Sword Island after completing their promotions, and Mo Xinlan visited Xia Wuji to study the Heavy Water Sword Art and offered him spirit pills.
• Xia Wuji refined Mo Xinlan’s pills over three days and advanced from the seventh to the eighth level of the Life and Death Realm.
• Xia Wuji entered the Universe Pagoda and tried to break the restriction sealing its second layer, but exhausted himself after breaking only nine runes.
• Xia Wuji told Jiang Zhiyuan and Pengfei to stay home, then went alone to the Sword Prison Space to cultivate for seven days and pursue the ninth level of the Life and Death Realm.

Xia Wuji accepted Ding He’s challenge on the Sword Discussion Platform and defeated the renowned strongest Level-Two Asura on Ghost Sword Island. Ding He welcomed the loss for the insights it gave him, while the spectators realized Xia Wuji was now the island’s strongest Level-Two Asura.

• Xia Wuji cultivated in the second level of Sword Prison Space until his Life and Death Realm cultivation neared its ninth layer.
• Ding He, a renowned sword-obsessed Level-Two Asura, offered Xia Wuji a Hundred Flower Jade Dew Pill to spar with him, and Xia Wuji accepted.
• Ding He opened the Sword Discussion Platform and told Xia Wuji he would accept responsibility for any injuries or death caused by their full-strength exchange.
• Ding He attacked with the Mountain Sea Sword Scripture and briefly broke through Xia Wuji’s flying sword formation, but Xia Wuji countered with the Wrathful Sea Sword Art and Ghostly Formless Strike.
• Xia Wuji stopped his seven flying swords just short of Ding He, and Ding He admitted defeat while praising the insights he gained.
• The spectators realized that Xia Wuji had become the strongest Level-Two Asura on Ghost Sword Island.

After defeating Ding He, Xia Wuji learned that Mo Xinlan needed Profound Water Lotus Seeds from the Profound Water Palace secret realm to survive and was invited to help retrieve them. He did not answer Xu Qi’s invitation directly, and the chapter ended with him breaking through to the ninth layer of the Life and Death Realm.

• Xia Wuji defeated Ding He in Sword Prison Space, and Ding He told Ding Lu that Xia Wuji had overwhelmed him with his swordsmanship.
• Xu Qi visited Xia Wuji and invited him to join the effort to open the Profound Water Palace secret realm treasury.
• Xu Qi explained that Mo Xinlan needed Profound Water Lotus Seeds from the treasury to treat her injuries, and that Xia Wuji’s perfected Heavy Water Sword Art could help open it.
• Xu Qi offered Xia Wuji five hundred thousand Spirit Crystals, but he said he was not short of Spirit Crystals, and she left angrily without receiving a clear answer.
• Xia Wuji swallowed the Hundred Flower Jade Dew Pill Ding He had given him and broke through from the eighth to the ninth layer of the Life and Death Realm.

Xia Wuji joined Ghost Sword Island’s delegation to the Profound Water Palace secret realm, despite Mo Xinlan’s concerns about the danger. As the expedition gathered, Ding Lu revealed that Yao Xi was improving under pressure and would likely be released after Xia Wuji returned.

• Mo Xinlan visited Xia Wuji for Heavy Water Sword Art guidance, gave him three bottles of pills, and left without mentioning the secret-realm trip.
• Ding Lu invited Xia Wuji to join Ghost Sword Island’s ten-person delegation and asked him to guide Ding He if he became fixated on the wrong path in swordsmanship.
• Ding Lu told Xia Wuji that Yao Xi had reached the tenth level of the Nirvana Realm and was making progress after hearing that he might be poached by Zhao Qingyue.
• Li Hai delivered the formation materials Xia Wuji had requested before the expedition.
• Mo Xinlan and Xu Qi discussed Xia Wuji’s refusal to help, then saw him arrive with Ding Lu’s delegation; Ding Lu explained that Xia Wuji had insisted on going.

Xia Wuji traveled with Mo Xinlan’s group toward the Profound Water Palace secret realm, where his instruction helped Mo Xinlan master the Heavy Water Sword Art and heightened Zhang Jun’s jealousy. When Dugu Ming arrived with Yellow Springs Emissary Dugu’s forces, he spotted Xia Wuji and vowed to kill him.

• Xu Qi apologized after learning Xia Wuji had not demanded Spirit Crystals, and Xia Wuji met Zhang Jun, who bristled at his exchange with Mo Xinlan.
• Xia Wuji taught Mo Xinlan the Heavy Water Sword Art in the Spirit Ship’s cabin for five days, bringing her to grand mastery and provoking Zhang Jun’s jealousy.
• Mo Xinlan offered a generous reward to whoever found the Profound Water Lotus Seed, and the group waited for Yellow Springs Emissary Dugu’s people to arrive.
• Dugu Ming arrived with his injuries healed and a breakthrough to the first level of the Myriad Manifestation Realm.
• Dugu Ming recognized Xia Wuji, threatened him, and his group resolved to make killing or capturing Xia Wuji a priority.

Mo Xinlan and Xia Wuji tried to open the Profound Water Palace's sealed treasury, but their attack shattered the seal and released a horde of powerful sea beasts. Xia Wuji escaped with the injured Mo Xinlan as the beasts tore through her followers and Thunder Eels pursued them.

• Dugu Ming demanded that Mo Xinlan hand over Xia Wuji, but she refused and led her people to the seabed treasury route.
• Zhang Jun revealed the sealed array eye, and Mo Xinlan used the Heavy Water Sword Art to crack it before asking Xia Wuji to help.
• Xia Wuji sensed a vicious aura in the seal and pulled Mo Xinlan away just before it exploded and released the Sky-Cutting Crab and other sea beasts.
• The Sky-Cutting Crab destroyed Mo Xinlan's Spirit Sword and killed more than a dozen of her followers while the other beasts attacked the crowd.
• Xia Wuji carried the wounded Mo Xinlan out of the sea, but Thunder Eels pursued them as lightning spears.

Xia Wuji and Pengfei helped Xu Qi and Mo Xinlan’s group escape a deadly sea-beast ambush, though more than half the group were killed or injured and Zhang Jun was missing. After leaving the survivors to recover on a deserted island, Xia Wuji flew off with Pengfei, while Xu Qi realized her Little White Tiger was a love brain.

• Pengfei and Xia Wuji fought off Thunder Eels and helped Xu Qi and the White Fierce Tiger survive a Bloodthirsty Shark’s attack.
• Xia Wuji led the battered group to a deserted island, where Mo Xinlan mourned their losses and worried that Zhang Jun was missing.
• Xia Wuji reassured Mo Xinlan that they could still reach the Profound Water Palace treasury and harvest its Profound Water Lotus Seeds.
• Xu Qi arranged for the injured to take pills and recover, then thanked Xia Wuji for saving her.
• Pengfei told the Little White Tiger he had risked his life for it, and Xia Wuji soon left the island with Pengfei.
• Xu Qi watched her Little White Tiger pine after Pengfei and concluded that it was a love brain.

Xia Wuji weakened the seal on the true entrance to the Profound Water Palace treasury, then returned to find Zhang Jun accusing him of causing the group’s losses and urging Mo Xinlan to follow a different entrance. Mo Xinlan chose to trust Xia Wuji and asked him to take her to the entrance he had found.

• Xia Wuji found the real treasury entrance beneath the seabed and used Hun Lie’s soul power to weaken its seal.
• Xia Wuji returned to the island, where Zhang Jun accused him of plotting and claimed Dugu Ming had already entered the secret realm.
• Xia Wuji accused Zhang Jun of fleeing the sea beasts and sacrificing three companions to escape, while Xu Qi defended Xia Wuji.
• Zhang Jun urged Mo Xinlan to follow the entrance he had found, but Mo Xinlan chose Xia Wuji’s entrance and asked him to lead her there.

Mo Xinlan chose to trust Xia Wuji over Zhang Jun and followed him to the formation-core stele, which Xia Wuji opened to enter the Profound Water Palace secret realm. As both groups raced toward the Profound Water Lotus Seeds, Dugu Ming planned to destroy them and kill Xia Wuji.

• Mo Xinlan rejected Zhang Jun's accusations and left with Xia Wuji, while Zhang Jun led more than twenty people toward a different entrance.
• Xia Wuji brought Mo Xinlan's group to the formation-core stele and dissolved its runes before pulling it from the ground to reveal a passage.
• Xia Wuji, Mo Xinlan, Xu Qi, and the others entered the secret realm and hurried toward the mountain with the Profound Water Lake.
• Dugu Ming led his group through formations and Demon Beasts toward the same mountain, ordering them to prioritize the lotus seeds over other treasures.
• Dugu Ming ordered his group to destroy the Profound Water Lotus Seeds after harvesting them and told Qin Tao they would kill Xia Wuji together.