Chapter Summaries

Li Musheng brought Zhao Muning into Mystery Palace to find Daoist Qingye's senior sister, despite her attempt to recruit him. Inside, they encountered the Black Moon Yin Elder, whom Li Musheng swiftly subdued.

• Zhao Muning offered to help Li Musheng rescue someone and tried to recruit him, but he refused.
• Li Musheng took Zhao Muning to Mystery Palace and led her through its open gate.
• The gate slammed shut behind them, and the Black Moon Yin Elder appeared in the hall.
• Zhao Muning recognized the Black Moon Yin Elder as a martial-world master who had killed three Celestial Realm experts.
• When the Black Moon Yin Elder threatened them, Li Musheng vanished from his sight and sealed his acupoints before he could land a strike.

Li Musheng subdued Black Moon Yin Elder and learned that Mystery Palace was a prison, with recently captured people likely held on its underground floors. After freeing the old man’s sealed acupoints so he could suppress a deadly poison, Li Musheng secretly sent a talisman into his body.

• Zhao Muning watched in shock as Li Musheng effortlessly immobilized Black Moon Yin Elder.
• Black Moon Yin Elder revealed that Mystery Palace held prisoners across its eighteen floors and that recent captives had been taken underground.
• Li Musheng learned the underground entrance’s location and invited Zhao Muning to descend with him.
• Black Moon Yin Elder explained that a poison in his body would flare up unless he circulated his cultivation every six hours.
• Li Musheng reopened Black Moon Yin Elder’s acupoints, then sent a flash of talismanic light into his body.

Li Musheng marked Black Moon Yin Elder with a threatening seal and ordered him to search Mystery Palace’s upper floors for an imprisoned Daoist nun while he and Zhao Muning headed underground. Black Moon Yin Elder reluctantly went to the second floor, where he faced the powerful martial expert guarding it.

• Li Musheng warned Black Moon Yin Elder that the Life-Death Seal would make him beg for death when it acted up.
• Li Musheng gave Black Moon Yin Elder a strand of martial aura and ordered him to search the upper floors for an imprisoned Daoist nun, promising he might help remove the poison in his body.
• Li Musheng and Zhao Muning went toward the underground levels while Black Moon Yin Elder hesitated over confronting the experts upstairs.
• Black Moon Yin Elder entered the second floor and encountered its burly guardian, a master of external cultivation who had driven him away before.
• Black Moon Yin Elder asked the guardian to let him search the floor for someone.

Black Moon Yin Elder confronted a muscular brute guarding his turf, but Li Musheng’s martial aura protected him from the brute’s attacks. The brute stopped punching and asked what external cultivation art Black Moon Yin Elder practiced.

• Black Moon Yin Elder launched a surprise finger strike at the brute, but the brute’s body-protecting art blocked it.
• The brute punched Black Moon Yin Elder into an iron wall, but Li Musheng’s martial aura kept him unharmed.
• The brute struck Black Moon Yin Elder again, and the old man discovered that Li Musheng’s aura was shielding him from injury.
• The brute realized his punches could not hurt Black Moon Yin Elder and asked what external cultivation art he practiced.

Black Moon Yin Elder fought the muscular man on Mystery Palace’s second floor, enduring more than twenty punches without injury before both men stopped. After finding no Daoist nun there, he went upstairs and proposed a test to a swordsman so he could search the third floor.

• Black Moon Yin Elder endured the muscular man’s repeated punches, then counterattacked until the exhausted man conceded and let him search the second floor.
• Black Moon Yin Elder searched the smaller halls but found no Daoist nun, warned the muscular man not to tamper with the broken bells, and headed upstairs.
• The muscular man followed Black Moon Yin Elder toward the third floor to see whether the experts there could break through his defenses.
• Black Moon Yin Elder asked a square-faced swordsman to let him search the third floor if he could withstand three palm strikes.

Black Moon Yin Elder used Li Musheng’s protective martial aura to withstand attacks as he climbed Mystery Palace to the eighth floor. Meanwhile, Li Musheng forced the underground guards to help search for Daoist Qingye’s senior sister and approached the ninth floor, where Fire Cloud Evil God awaited.

• Black Moon Yin Elder survived the middle-aged swordsman’s palms and sword strike, then searched the second floor and headed upward.
• The middle-aged swordsman and the burly man followed Black Moon Yin Elder, intrigued by his unexplained defensive ability.
• Black Moon Yin Elder endured attacks from experts on each floor and reached the eighth floor unharmed, growing more convinced of Li Musheng’s power.
• Li Musheng defeated the underground floor guards and ordered them to search for Daoist Qingye’s senior sister.
• A fat old man warned Li Musheng that Fire Cloud Evil God, a feared expert, guarded the ninth underground floor.

Li Musheng reached Mystery Palace’s ninth level and found Daoist Qingyu among the prisoners, including the chief shopkeeper of the Treasure-Gathering Association. Fire Cloud Evil God suppressed the intruders and singled out Li Musheng, leaving a confrontation imminent.

• Li Musheng searched the five cells and asked whether the woman in the middle was Daoist Qingyu, but she remained silent.
• The chief shopkeeper of the Treasure-Gathering Association said his captors had drugged the prisoners and that he had heard them question the woman about a cultivation technique.
• Li Musheng asked whether the technique was the Longevity Scripture, but Fire Cloud Evil God interrupted him.
• Fire Cloud Evil God erased the natural true qi in the hall and sealed the intruders’ martial true qi, leaving them helpless.
• Fire Cloud Evil God recognized Li Musheng as the expert who had cleared the earlier levels, while Zhao Muning feared for his safety.

Li Musheng revealed that he had subdued the Fire Cloud Evil God with a single move, then questioned the Treasure-Gathering Association’s head shopkeeper about the woman in white. An old martial artist said she resembled Daoist Qingyu, leaving Li Musheng to investigate whether she was Qingyu’s senior sister.

• Li Musheng mocked the Fire Cloud Evil God, who remained motionless, prompting Zhao Muning to suspect he had been subdued.
• Li Musheng casually sent the Fire Cloud Evil God sliding into the shadows, and the martial artists realized he had defeated him with one move.
• Li Musheng approached the cages and demanded that the head shopkeeper continue answering his question.
• The head shopkeeper said the woman in white had been questioned about immortality, and Li Musheng asked whether anyone had seen Daoist Qingyu of Azure Cloud Temple.
• An old martial artist examined the woman and said she resembled Daoist Qingyu.

Li Musheng freed five prisoners in Great Xuan Imperial Palace but found that the woman in white, whom he suspected was Daoist Qingyu, showed signs of poisoning without carrying the toxin found in the others. Unsure of her identity, he questioned Fire Cloud Evil God, who demanded to know Li Musheng’s identity first.

• Li Musheng shattered the woman in white’s cell and examined her, finding her meridians ruined and her cultivation gone, but no trace of the poison affecting the other prisoners.
• Li Musheng brought the four other prisoners to him and discovered that all except the woman in white carried a potent toxin; the chief shopkeeper confirmed they had all been force-fed the same poison.
• Zhao Muning urged Li Musheng to leave before Great Xuan Imperial Palace’s experts reacted, but he chose to verify the woman’s identity before taking her away.
• Li Musheng brought Fire Cloud Evil God out of hiding and asked whether the woman in white was Daoist Qingyu; Fire Cloud Evil God refused to answer until Li Musheng revealed who he was.

Li Musheng questioned Fire Cloud Evil God and the Treasure-Gathering Association's chief shopkeeper about Mystery Palace and the demonic essence. After learning the palace guards were puppets and the shopkeeper's account might be false, Li Musheng decided to seek out the Great Xuan Emperor directly.

• Li Musheng used the Life-Death Seal to torment Fire Cloud Evil God, who identified the woman Li Musheng was seeking.
• Li Musheng questioned the chief shopkeeper, who claimed the Great Xuan Imperial Palace had imprisoned him to obtain the two pieces of demonic essence he collected.
• Zhao Muning doubted the shopkeeper's story, questioning why the palace would go to such lengths instead of simply demanding the demonic essence.
• Fire Cloud Evil God revealed that Mystery Palace was a smokescreen and that its guards were puppets controlled by the Great Xuan Imperial Palace.
• Li Musheng decided to stop questioning them and go find the Great Xuan Emperor directly.

Li Musheng offered the prisoners in Mystery Palace a chance to escape the Great Xuan Imperial Palace if they helped him find the Great Xuan Emperor. After they debated ways to locate the emperor, Li Musheng noticed the plump old man hesitating and asked him to share his idea.

• Li Musheng told the martial world experts that helping him find the Great Xuan Emperor could earn them a cure for their poison and freedom from Mystery Palace.
• Fire Cloud Evil God asked what Li Musheng wanted and revealed that the emperor had sometimes entered Mystery Palace through a hidden passage.
• Li Musheng promised to cure and safely free anyone who proposed a useful way to find the emperor.
• The martial world experts debated possible plans while Zhao Muning stayed silent and did not join them.
• Li Musheng noticed the plump old man hesitating and asked him to explain the method he had thought of.

Li Musheng accepted the fat old man's proposal to abduct the Great Xuan Emperor's consorts and use them to force the emperor to appear. He left the ninth underground level with Zhao Muning and the others, while Black Moon Yin Elder found an elderly Daoist nun.

• The fat old man suggested repeating the Thief Saint White Shadow's abduction of an imperial consort to provoke the Great Xuan Emperor into revealing himself.
• Li Musheng praised the fat old man and said he would capture several consorts and possibly the emperor's children as well.
• A martial arts expert suggested questioning palace maids or eunuchs to find the consorts' residences, while Zhao Muning refused to help.
• Li Musheng ordered the experts to bring the woman in white and the head shopkeeper, released Fire Cloud Evil God's acupoints, and led the group toward the first level with Zhao Muning.
• Black Moon Yin Elder searched the floor and found an elderly Daoist nun with snow-white hair.

Li Musheng found Daoist Qingyu—or someone who claimed to be her—and led his followers out of Mystery Palace to seize the Great Xuan Emperor’s consorts. He suspected neither woman was the real Daoist Qingye’s senior sister and planned to capture the emperor to uncover the truth.

• Black Moon Yin Elder brought a white-haired Daoist nun to Li Musheng, who recognized her as resembling Daoist Qingye’s drawing and confirmed she was Daoist Qingyu of Azure Cloud Temple.
• Li Musheng revealed that he had also found a woman in white claiming to be Daoist Qingyu, but postponed comparing their identities and prioritized escaping Mystery Palace.
• Li Musheng broke open the palace gates and led Zhao Muning, Black Moon Yin Elder, Fire Cloud Evil God, and the others out, while the remaining guards wondered why they followed him despite the poison and danger.
• Li Musheng’s group seized eunuchs to learn where the consorts lived, overcame hidden Great Xuan Imperial Palace experts, and reached the Three Palaces and Six Courts.
• A martial artist asked Li Musheng what kind of consorts he preferred, misunderstanding his purpose as personal revenge against the Great Xuan Emperor.

Li Musheng let Great Xuan martial artists abduct nearly twenty imperial consorts while Zhao Muning tried to keep the conflict from worsening and offered to negotiate with the emperor. The palace had been alerted, and the chapter ended with the captured consorts being presented to Li Musheng to choose from.

• Li Musheng asked the Great Xuan martial artists to seize more consorts, preferably those favored by the emperor, and they left to raid nearby courtyards.
• Li Musheng guessed Zhao Muning's identity and asked whether she knew where the Great Xuan Emperor was, but she said she did not.
• Zhao Muning offered to negotiate with the emperor, and Li Musheng agreed to wait for her efforts before escalating the conflict.
• The Great Xuan martial artists returned with nearly twenty consorts after fighting off palace eunuchs, aided by Fire Cloud Evil God.
• The elders warned Li Musheng that the emperor would soon hear of the raid, then began introducing the abducted consorts to him.

Li Musheng refused to mistreat the abducted consorts and said he would free them if the Great Xuan Emperor did not appear. His promise stirred the Great Xuan martial artists, who had spent years trapped as puppets in Mystery Palace.

• Zhao Muning hid her face from the consorts and urged Li Musheng not to touch them.
• Li Musheng ordered the martial artists to lock the consorts in the courtyard without harming them.
• The martial artists guarded the courtyard as Li Musheng waited for the Great Xuan Emperor to come.
• Fire Cloud Evil God asked what Li Musheng would do if the emperor did not appear.
• Li Musheng said he would give the consorts their freedom, and his words moved the martial artists who had been imprisoned in Mystery Palace.

Li Musheng abducted the Great Xuan palace concubines, prompting Crown Prince Zhao Kuang to order his death and the deaths of everyone involved. Zhao Kuang then decided to personally oversee the response, hoping to satisfy the Great Xuan Emperor.

• Li Musheng rallied the Great Xuan martial world experts against the imperial palace, while the abducted concubines still hoped palace forces would rescue them.
• Eunuch experts reported the abduction of more than a dozen concubines to the people in Profound Clarity Palace.
• Zhao Kuang learned that Li Musheng had led the Mystery Palace guards in the abduction and declared that the crime had made him irredeemable.
• A purple-robed Daoist urged Zhao Kuang to kill Li Musheng, and Zhao Kuang ordered the deaths of Li Musheng and everyone with him.
• After a signal from the purple-robed Daoist, Zhao Kuang chose to go personally to the scene, and the elderly eunuch followed to protect him.

Fire Cloud Evil God confronted two powerful eunuchs who had tracked Li Musheng and his group to the palace courtyard, but they quickly subdued him and the Great Xuan martial artists. The eunuchs discovered that the group had abducted imperial consorts and a princess, while Li Musheng demanded to know why the Great Xuan Emperor had not come.

• Fire Cloud Evil God sensed an approaching presence and rose into the air as a frigid aura descended over the palace courtyard.
• A eunuch warned Fire Cloud Evil God that he had been poisoned, but Fire Cloud Evil God refused to return to Mystery Palace and attacked.
• A second eunuch overpowered Fire Cloud Evil God, encased him in dark ice, and incapacitated the Great Xuan martial artists with his frigid aura.
• Two old eunuchs discovered the group had abducted imperial consorts and Zhao Muning, but held back because Zhao Kuang wanted Li Musheng and the others alive.
• Li Musheng asked the eunuchs why only two of them had come and where the Great Xuan Emperor was.

Li Musheng captured two powerful eunuchs and questioned them about the Great Xuan Emperor, but they did not reveal his whereabouts. After other imperial experts arrived, the Crown Prince Zhao Kuang entered the courtyard, leaving Li Musheng still searching for the emperor.

• The gaunt old eunuch and the old eunuch in black attacked Li Musheng, but he effortlessly captured them and sealed their acupoints.
• Li Musheng freed the frozen Great Xuan martial world experts and asked the two eunuchs where the Great Xuan Emperor was.
• Fire Cloud Evil God took the eunuchs away to interrogate them, while Li Musheng questioned Zhao Muning and concluded that she did not know the emperor's location.
• The fat old man suggested abducting someone more important to draw out the Great Xuan Emperor, but arriving eunuch experts injured several martial world fighters before Li Musheng intervened.
• Zhao Kuang entered the courtyard with a white-haired eunuch and a Daoist priest, and Fire Cloud Evil God identified him as the Crown Prince rather than the Great Xuan Emperor.

Li Musheng seized Crown Prince Zhao Kuang and demanded that the Great Xuan Emperor hand over Daoist Qingyu, but Zhao Kuang claimed he did not know where she was. The palace’s senior guards declined to disturb the Emperor, who was in seclusion, leaving Li Musheng to question Zhao Kuang while the consorts and captives remained in his hands.

• Crown Prince Zhao Kuang entered the courtyard with a white-haired old eunuch and a purple-robed Daoist, and Li Musheng instantly seized him despite their attempts to protect him.
• Li Musheng offered to spare Zhao Kuang if he handed over Daoist Qingyu of Azure Cloud Temple, but Zhao Kuang said he did not know where she was.
• Li Musheng sent the palace guards, the white-haired old eunuch, and the purple-robed Daoist flying out of the courtyard and demanded that the Great Xuan Emperor appear.
• The white-haired old eunuch refused to disturb the Emperor, who was in seclusion, and insisted that they find another way to deal with Li Musheng.
• The escaped martial world experts praised Li Musheng, while the consorts and others feared the worsening situation.
• Li Musheng questioned Zhao Kuang again about whether he knew that the Emperor had captured Daoist Qingyu, and Zhao Kuang repeated that he knew little about her.

Li Musheng revealed that Emperor Tianqi had captured Daoist Qingyu to obtain the Longevity Scripture, then convinced Crown Prince Zhao Kuang that his father’s possible immortality threatened his chance to rule. Zhao Kuang agreed to help Li Musheng find Emperor Tianqi, leaving the palace courtyard with Li Musheng and Zhao Muning following him.

• Li Musheng confirmed that Zhao Muning was the Seventh Princess and told Zhao Kuang that Emperor Tianqi had abducted Daoist Qingyu for the Longevity Scripture.
• Li Musheng explained that the Scripture could restore youth and extend life, and argued that Emperor Tianqi might rule for another two hundred years, leaving Zhao Kuang Crown Prince indefinitely.
• Zhao Kuang rejected Li Musheng’s claim at first, but his fear of losing his chance to become emperor led him to ask how they could cooperate.
• Li Musheng offered to help Zhao Kuang find Emperor Tianqi in exchange for Daoist Qingyu, and Zhao Kuang accepted the deal.
• Zhao Kuang set out to search two places where Emperor Tianqi might be cultivating in seclusion, while Li Musheng stopped the others from seizing him and followed with Zhao Muning.