Chapter Summaries

Chu Huai Xu reached Minor Accomplishment of the Sword Heart and sensed a distant sword serving as the imperial capital’s formation eye. Ming Xuanji’s attempt to divine Chu Huai Xu’s Sword Dao was blocked by a powerful force and left him badly injured.

• Situ Cheng questioned why Destined Swords should serve Chu Huai Xu, while a middle-aged scholar suggested he had embarked on an unknown path of the Sword Dao.
• Ming Xuanji sensed the Spirit Sword anomaly and hesitated to divine Chu Huai Xu after Cheng Yuyan warned that Chu Huai Xu might have anticipated his reaction.
• Ming Xuanji divined Chu Huai Xu’s Sword Dao, suffered a severe backlash, and realized someone had shielded the heavenly secrets.
• Chu Huai Xu opened his eyes after reaching Minor Accomplishment of the Sword Heart and found he could sense nearby swords but not Jiang Zhi’s sword, the Bronze Sword, or the Sword Venerable’s sword.
• Chu Huai Xu sensed a distant sword connected to a vast formation and realized it was likely the formation eye of the imperial capital’s City Protection Formation.

After Chu Huai Xu sensed a sword at the heart of the imperial capital’s protection formation, Jiang Zhi connected it to the Moon Kingdom’s lost National Suppressing Sword. The chapter then introduced the Imperial Pool and ended with the Female Imperial Advisor entering it and preparing to cultivate.

• Chu Huai Xu told Jiang Zhi, Chu Yinyin, and Nangong Yue that he had sensed a special sword in the imperial capital’s City Protection Formation.
• Nangong Yue explained that the formation drew power from the nation’s destiny, and Jiang Zhi suggested that the sword might be the Moon Kingdom’s lost National Suppressing Sword.
• Chu Huai Xu planned to spar with Big Ice Block and Little Xu before visiting the Imperial Pool after the competition.
• The chapter explained that the Imperial Pool held ten pools, including four strands of the Founding Emperor’s Divine Sense absorbed by Prince Rui’s Heir.
• The Female Imperial Advisor entered the Imperial Pool, crossed all ten pools, and sat down to cultivate.

Lin Qingci prepared to use the Wedding Dress Secret Art to help the Ancestor Emperor possess Chu Huai Xu, while privately resenting the life he had arranged for her. After three days, Chu Huai Xu entered the Imperial Pool with Jiang Zhi guarding him, unaware that Lin Qingci had sensed his arrival.

• Lin Qingci discussed the Ancestor Emperor’s plan to possess Chu Huai Xu, who had a rare cultivation foundation and the Power of Origin.
• Lin Qingci accepted her role in the Ancestor Emperor’s plan and said she had brought aphrodisiacs to begin dual cultivation immediately after the possession.
• During the following three days, Chu Huai Xu trained Big Ice Block and Little Xu, while Lin Zixuan’s request for another Spirit Seed was rejected.
• Before the competition preliminaries began, Chu Huai Xu planned to visit the Imperial Pool, and Jiang Zhi offered to accompany him and guard him.
• Chu Huai Xu passed through the stone building’s entrance wearing the required blood-red crystal necklace, and Lin Qingci opened her eyes when he arrived.

Chu Huai Xu entered the Emperor Pool and quickly reached its absorption limit in the first pool. As Lin Qingci and the Ancestor Emperor watched, a golden mark appeared between his brows and flames ignited in his eyes.

• Lin Qingci watched Chu Huai Xu from the mist while planning to use the Wedding Dress Cultivation Method to transfer her cultivation and Power of Origin to him.
• The Ancestor Emperor praised Chu Huai Xu’s physique and his Sword Body Dual Cultivation.
• Chu Huai Xu entered the first Emperor Pool wearing only the blood-red crystal necklace, and his Character Panel began recording Experience Points.
• All ten beads on the Stone Platform lit up, granting Chu Huai Xu 5,000 Experience Points and meeting the pool’s absorption limit.
• As Chu Huai Xu started to rise, he dropped back into the pool, and a golden mark appeared between his brows as flames lit his eyes.

Chu Huai Xu used his Body Refining Divine Ability to absorb extra power from the Imperial Pools and accumulate Cultivation Technique Experience Points. At the fourth pool, he lit all ten beads and surpassed Qin Xuanxiao’s record, while the Ancestor Emperor attributed his achievement to the Power of Origin within him.

• Chu Huai Xu activated his Sacred Body State in the first Imperial Pool and gained an extra 5,000 Cultivation Technique Experience Points.
• Lin Qingci recognized that Chu Huai Xu had awakened an unusually powerful Body Refining Divine Ability, and the Ancestor Emperor confirmed it.
• Chu Huai Xu absorbed 20,000 Experience Points from the second pool and 40,000 from the third by activating his ability in each.
• Chu Huai Xu entered the fourth pool and kept absorbing its power even after all ten beads lit up, breaking Qin Xuanxiao’s record.
• The Ancestor Emperor told Lin Qingci that Chu Huai Xu’s Power of Origin had enabled him to achieve the record.

Chu Huai Xu absorbed the first nine Imperial Pools and reached the tenth, where he sensed four streams of energy that might be the Emperor's Divine Sense. Meanwhile, Qin Xuanxiao pursued his own plans, and Jiang Zhi searched for the sword at the heart of the Imperial Capital Grand Array.

• Chu Huai Xu gained millions of Experience Points from the Imperial Pools, while Lin Qingci believed Ancestor Emperor would take those gains when he entered the tenth pool.
• Qin Xuanxiao invited Han Shuangjiang and Xu Ziqing to a gathering and learned from the Emperor's Divine Sense that his assigned task was due.
• Jiang Zhi waited for Chu Huai Xu and searched the Imperial Capital for the sword that might be the Grand Array's core, but found nothing.
• Chu Huai Xu finished absorbing the ninth Imperial Pool and walked toward the tenth as Lin Qingci watched and prepared the aphrodisiac.
• Chu Huai Xu hesitated before the blood-red tenth pool and sensed four streams of energy moving through it, wondering if they were the Emperor's Divine Sense.

Chu Huai Xu entered the Imperial Pool, where the Ancestor Emperor’s Divine Sense attempted to possess his body. As the possession began, Chu Huai Xu realized something was wrong and roared, “How dare you!”

• Chu Huai Xu entered the Imperial Pool, and its four wisps of the Emperor’s Divine Sense rushed toward him.
• Lin Qingci watched from behind the mist as the Ancestor Emperor’s Divine Sense began trying to possess Chu Huai Xu.
• The Ancestor Emperor discovered Chu Huai Xu had a Mid-grade Spiritual Embryo but decided to proceed with his plan to improve it afterward.
• Lin Qingci was surprised that Chu Huai Xu had advanced so far with a Mid-grade Spiritual Embryo and considered the effects of giving him her yin essence.
• Chu Huai Xu sensed that someone was taking control of his body, roared “How dare you,” and the black Heart Sword in his Sea of Consciousness moved.

The Ancestor Emperor’s attempt to possess Chu Huai Xu stalled when the Heart Sword and Dao Seals countered his divine sense. Unable to break the stalemate, he decided to manipulate Qin Xuanxiao while waiting for Chu Huai Xu’s strength to run out.

• The Ancestor Emperor sent four strands of divine sense into Chu Huai Xu, but the Heart Sword suppressed them before they could reach his Sea of Consciousness.
• The Imperial Pool’s Formation and stored power restrained Chu Huai Xu, sealing the imprint Jiang Zhi had left in his body and preventing him from striking down the Ancestor Emperor’s divine sense.
• Golden light and the Dao Seals [South Flowing Scenery] and [Huai Xu] flared within Chu Huai Xu, further countering the Ancestor Emperor and leaving the possession attempt at a stalemate.
• Lin Qingci offered to help, but the Ancestor Emperor concealed the situation from her and kept her nearby to protect him and serve his plans after the possession.
• The Ancestor Emperor resolved to wear down Chu Huai Xu and make him lose control, then decided it was time to make moves concerning Xuanxiao.

Chu Huai Xu remained trapped in the Imperial Pool as the Ancestor Emperor’s possession attempt reached a stalemate, while Qin Xuanxiao arranged for Lin Zixuan to share the next day’s competition with him. In the capital, Niu Yuanshan and Mo Qingmei watched the snowfall together, but Niu Yuanshan restrained his hopes of a life with her.

• Chu Huai Xu tried to resist the possession formation and realized the Emperor’s Divine Sense and the protagonists’ Golden fingers carried both opportunity and tribulation.
• Qin Xuanxiao told Lin Zixuan to use her spiritual abilities to let Chu Huai Xu witness the competition ceremony, and she agreed after he said Ming Xuanji would help.
• Qin Xuanxiao heard the Ancestor Emperor praise his obedience and thought that Mu Bing Jiu needed to prove her loyalty.
• Niu Yuanshan went to Mo Qingmei’s door as snow began to fall, and she came outside to watch it with him.
• Niu Yuanshan imagined sharing an ordinary life with Mo Qingmei, then suppressed the thought because their lives and worlds were too entangled.

While Chu Huai Xu struggled to resist the Ancestor Emperor’s possession formation inside Emperor’s Pool, Qin Xuanxiao exposed alleged spies from the Western Continent during the Grand Competition’s opening ceremony. The crowd turned toward the Dao Sect, where the seemingly unremarkable “Willing Ox” stood after Qin Xuanxiao called him out.

• Han Shuangjiang, Xu Ziqing, and Jiang Zhi waited for Chu Huai Xu to return from Emperor’s Pool.
• Chu Huai Xu used the system to level up twice and endured the possession formation, while the Ancestor Emperor planned to exploit his exhaustion after dawn.
• At the Grand Competition’s opening ceremony, Lin Zixuan activated Spirit Vision and Spirit Hearing for Chu Huai Xu so he could hear the proceedings from Emperor’s Pool.
• Qin Xuanxiao announced that the Moon Kingdom had uncovered spies within the four Eastern Continent sects and named alleged agents in the Sword Sect, Spring Autumn Mountain, and Luotian Valley.
• Qin Xuanxiao said two alleged spies belonged to the Dao Sect and that one was present, then ordered his “dog slave” to come forward.
• The Dao Sect’s expressionless “Willing Ox” stood before the crowd.

The Ancestor Emperor used Niu Yuanshan’s exposed identity to pressure Mu Bing Jiu and advance his plan to possess Chu Huai Xu. Niu Yuanshan accepted the public disgrace, but before kneeling to Qin Xuanxiao, he returned his Dao Sect badge to Nangong Yue and Chu Yinyin.

• Chu Huai Xu realized the Ancestor Emperor wanted to establish him as a Moon Kingdom citizen so the Emperor could claim him after a successful Body Possession.
• Qin Xuanxiao exposed Niu Yuanshan as a Moon Kingdom spy, stunning the Dao Sect disciples who had trusted him as Steward Niu.
• Mu Bing Jiu left Mo Qingmei and walked onto the high platform as Qin Xuanxiao ordered him to kneel.
• Before kneeling, Mu Bing Jiu tore off his Dao Sect attendant’s badge and sent it toward Nangong Yue and Chu Yinyin.
• Mu Bing Jiu knelt before Qin Xuanxiao while facing the accusations and contempt of the crowd.

Qin Xuanxiao exposed Mu Bing Jiu as the Dao Sect spy Niu Yuanshan and accused Chu Huai Xu of being a Moon Kingdom agent, but Niu Yuanshan refused to betray him and was ordered to kill himself. As the Ancestor Emperor tried to seize Chu Huai Xu’s body in the Imperial Pool, Chu Huai Xu fought back by sending the Corruption Pill into himself.

• Qin Xuanxiao identified Mu Bing Jiu as Niu Yuanshan and named Huo Ding Yi as his fellow spy in the Dao Sect.
• Qin Xuanxiao accused Chu Huai Xu of being Huo Ding Yi, but Niu Yuanshan declared that Chu Huai Xu was Chu Huai Xu and insisted Huo Ding Yi was dead.
• The Ancestor Emperor ordered Qin Xuanxiao to make Niu Yuanshan take his own life, and Niu Yuanshan accepted the order and died.
• The Ancestor Emperor used the blood-red Formation and Moon Kingdom’s destiny to try to break into Chu Huai Xu’s Sea of Consciousness and take control of his body.
• Lin Qingci swallowed the medicine meant for three people and prepared to act when her seal lifted, while Chu Huai Xu resolved to die with the Emperor’s Divine Sense.
• Chu Huai Xu directed Dao Gives Birth to One to send the Corruption Pill through the Formation and into his body.

Chu Huai Xu used the Corruption Pill to attack the Ancestor Emperor’s Divine Sense, accepting the destruction of his own body and cultivation rather than surrendering his body. As his consciousness faded, he seemed to hear a System prompt saying he had consumed a Revival Coin.

• After Niu Yuanshan died, the Ancestor Emperor taunted Chu Huai Xu about Mu Bing Jiu’s willingness to die for him.
• Chu Huai Xu drew the Corruption Pill toward the Ancestor Emperor’s Divine Sense with the Medicine Cauldron’s power.
• The Corruption Pill devoured Chu Huai Xu’s flesh, vitality, Spiritual Power, and Blood Qi while causing the Ancestor Emperor to suffer as well.
• The Corruption Pill consumed the formation’s power, the Moon Kingdom’s fortune, and four strands of the Ancestor Emperor’s Divine Sense, while the Heart Sword remained unharmed.
• Chu Huai Xu’s consciousness sank into chaos, and he seemed to hear a System prompt that he had consumed one Revival Coin.

Chu Huai Xu survived the Corruption Pill after the Medicine Cauldron swallowed it and awakened the full power of his Body Becoming Saint ability. He recovered completely, but the Female Imperial Advisor, still affected by the aphrodisiac and Wedding Dress, wrapped herself around him in the Imperial Pool.

• The Medicine Cauldron drew the Corruption Pill back in after it absorbed four wisps of the Emperor's Divine Sense, while Lin Qingci's remaining Divine Sense fell asleep.
• Golden threads and a Heaven and Earth Manifestation formed behind Chu Huai Xu as his body, Spirit Fetus, and Sea of Consciousness regenerated.
• Chu Huai Xu woke with his body fully restored and discovered that he had two Revival Coins left.
• Chu Huai Xu remembered the Female Imperial Advisor was hiding in the Imperial Pool as she stumbled into the clear water.
• The Female Imperial Advisor, overcome by the aphrodisiac and Wedding Dress, coiled around Chu Huai Xu and began kissing him.

Chu Huai Xu escaped Lin Qingci’s drug-induced attempt to use Wedding Dress cultivation after awakening her with Spirit Cleansing Talismans. Lin Qingci realized the Ancestor Emperor’s possession scheme had failed, then wrestled with the lingering medicine and her newly awakened desire to defy his control.

• Lin Qingci, under the effects of medicine, pinned Chu Huai Xu down in the Imperial Pool, and the System revealed she was using Wedding Dress to cultivate dual cultivation.
• Jiang Zhi began breaking through the Imperial Pool’s Restriction as Chu Huai Xu used two Spirit Cleansing Talismans on Lin Qingci.
• Lin Qingci regained some clarity and pulled away, allowing Chu Huai Xu to escape while she put on her Imperial Advisor’s robe.
• Lin Qingci realized the Ancestor Emperor had failed to possess Chu Huai Xu and that his divine sense within her had fallen into slumber.
• Alone in the Imperial Pool, Lin Qingci refused to purge the medicine and imagined giving herself to Chu Huai Xu as a way to thwart the Ancestor Emperor.

Chu Huai Xu escaped the Emperor’s Divine Sense’s attempt to possess him and reunited with the Dao Sect elders. After mourning Niu Yuanshan and deciding what to do next, he resolved to deal with his enemies one by one, beginning with Qin Xuanxiao.

• Jiang Zhi found Chu Huai Xu unharmed outside the Imperial Pool, and Chu Huai Xu told him the Emperor’s Divine Sense had tried to possess him.
• Jiang Zhi and Chu Huai Xu returned to the Monastery and reunited with Nangong Yue and Chu Yinyin, who learned the Emperor’s Divine Sense had sought a new vessel.
• Nangong Yue asked whether Niu Yuanshan had been a spy, and Chu Huai Xu insisted that he had not been one.
• Chu Huai Xu visited Niu Yuanshan’s courtyard, remembered how Niu had sacrificed himself to protect him, and ate one of his sour Spirit Oranges.
• Chu Huai Xu decided to follow his heart and deal with his enemies one by one, setting his sights on Qin Xuanxiao.

After the failed attempt to possess Chu Huai Xu, Qin Xuanxiao and the Moon Kingdom’s leaders concealed the truth while weighing the threat he posed. Chu Huai Xu told Han Shuangjiang and Xu Ziqing what had happened and declared that he planned to kill Qin Xuanxiao, though his plan depended on the prince’s cooperation.

• Qin Xuanxiao brooded over the Imperial Pool’s secrets, blamed Huo Ding Yi, and resolved to claim the Emperor’s Divine Sense for himself.
• Ming Xuanji worried that four strands of the Emperor’s Divine Sense were lost and considered divining Chu Huai Xu despite the danger.
• Han Shuangjiang and Xu Ziqing stayed with Chu Huai Xu, who revealed that the Ancestor Emperor had tried to possess his body.
• Chu Huai Xu explained that powerful allies and the threat of war made the Moon Kingdom unlikely to attack him openly, and said he would continue the competition.
• Chu Huai Xu told Han Shuangjiang and Xu Ziqing that he intended to kill Qin Xuanxiao, depending on whether the prince cooperated with his plan.

Chu Huai Xu kept his plans hidden while the sect representatives promised to protect him, and the East-West Continent Grand Competition continued amid public outrage over Niu Yuanshan's death. During the Top 32 round, four of the Ancestor Emperor's divine-sense strands awakened inside Qin Xuanxiao, and the Ancestor Emperor immediately asked him where Chu Huai Xu's corpse and a bead were.

• Chu Huai Xu recounted what happened in the Imperial Pool to Jiang Zhi, Sword Venerable, Tian Luo, and Mei Chuxue, concealing his own secrets while disclosing the Female Imperial Advisor's Wedding Dress cultivation.
• Tian Luo promised to protect Chu Huai Xu, then the four representatives planned to demand an explanation from the Moon Kingdom without involving him.
• The competition advanced through several rounds as people debated Qin Xuanxiao's accusation against Chu Huai Xu and Dao Sect disciples grew angry over Niu Yuanshan's death.
• Chu Huai Xu asked Han Shuangjiang and Xu Ziqing about Mo Qingmei and whether Qin Xuanxiao had used the Emperor's Divine Sense; they said he had not.
• During the Top 32 round, four strands of the Ancestor Emperor's divine sense awakened inside Qin Xuanxiao, and the Ancestor Emperor asked him where Chu Huai Xu's corpse and the bead were.

Ancestor Emperor learned from Qin Xuanxiao that Chu Huai Xu had survived the Imperial Pool and suspected he had recovered by reclaiming the power inside the pill bead. He then feared that Lin Qingci might have given herself to Chu Huai Xu, while Lin Qingci struggled with hazy memories and dreams before Emperor’s Divine Sense woke and demanded to know whether her pure Yin was intact.

• Qin Xuanxiao told Ancestor Emperor that Chu Huai Xu had returned unharmed, contradicting Ancestor Emperor’s belief that Chu Huai Xu had died in the Imperial Pool.
• Ancestor Emperor theorized that Chu Huai Xu had reclaimed the Malevolent Aura from the pill bead and used his healing abilities to recover, and he hoped his four lost wisps of Divine Sense remained inside it.
• Ancestor Emperor realized Lin Qingci might have given herself to Chu Huai Xu and stopped answering Qin Xuanxiao as he feared losing both her and his prize.
• Lin Qingci reflected on her hazy memories of the Imperial Pool and her dreams of Chu Huai Xu while wondering what had happened between them.
• Emperor’s Divine Sense woke inside Lin Qingci and demanded to know whether she had given her pure Yin to Chu Huai Xu.

Lin Qingci learned that Chu Huai Xu had survived catastrophic injuries and recovered the Ancestor Emperor’s four strands of Divine Sense, while the Emperor ordered her to retrieve them. At the East-West Continent Grand Competition, Chu Huai Xu entered the Top 16 and drew the first match against Lou Mingdong, challenging Moon Kingdom’s accusations that he was its citizen and a Dao Sect spy.

• Lin Qingci told the Ancestor Emperor that she had offered Chu Huai Xu her primordial yin, enraging him with the revelation that he had refused it at the final moment.
• The Ancestor Emperor told Lin Qingci that Chu Huai Xu had suffered a ruined Spirit Fetus foundation and a nearly collapsed Sea of Consciousness, then ordered her to recover the pill bead containing his four strands of Divine Sense.
• Eastern Continent experts and a huge crowd gathered to watch Chu Huai Xu appear at the competition’s Top 16 matches.
• Chu Huai Xu drew number one and was paired with Lou Mingdong, a disciple of Moon Kingdom’s Monastery.
• Chu Huai Xu advised Lou Mingdong to concede, then explained that he would prove himself against Moon Kingdom cultivators because Prince Rui’s Heir had called him both a Moon Kingdom citizen and a Dao Sect spy.