Chapter Summaries

Bing, the South Mountain Tribe’s young chief, challenged Jiang Qiu to test himself against the North Snow Tribe’s Heaven’s Chosen One. Jiang Qiu stopped Bing’s charge with one hand and struck him with overwhelming force, leaving the fight’s outcome unresolved as Bing was sent flying.

• The tribes’ delegations discussed Bing’s challenge and speculated about Jiang Qiu’s strength.
• Bing entered the circle, determined to fight Jiang Qiu at full strength despite his father’s warning to avoid harming relations between the tribes.
• Jiang Qiu and Bing began their match, and Jiang Qiu stopped Bing’s full-force charge with his ice-armored right palm.
• Bing realized Jiang Qiu’s Bloodline Talent had reinforced his arm, while Jiang Qiu recognized the danger of Bing’s considerable strength.
• Jiang Qiu warned Bing that he was about to use his strength, then crossed the circle and struck Bing hard enough to crack his bones and send him flying.

Jiang Qiu defeated Bing in a single clash, stunning the gathered tribes and convincing Bing that the Northern Snow Tribe was worth supporting. Bing abandoned his plans to choose a wife and resolved to focus on training, while Hua waited anxiously in a carriage.

• Jiang Qiu sent Bing flying with an armored collision, and Bing rose despite his injuries to praise Qiu's strength.
• The crowd cheered for Jiang Qiu, and the gathered tribes recognized the power of a Heaven's Chosen One.
• Bing told Mang he no longer wanted to choose a wife and would devote himself to hunting and training instead.
• Bing declared that the Northern Snow Tribe deserved South Mountain's support and that Qiu was stronger than their Qiang.
• Bing ordered a warrior to tell Hua she would not need to go to South Mountain, while Hua waited tearfully in the carriage.

After the coming-of-age ceremony, Jiang Qiu and the other youths visited North Snow Tower to claim their rewards. The old shaman gave Jiang Qiu the legendary North Snow Spear, and Jiang Qiu recognized it as evidence of an unbroken weapon-cultivation inheritance.

• The envoys left North Snow Tribe with the girls they had chosen, and Jiang Qiu noticed Hua was not among them.
• The old shaman led Jiang Qiu, Zhuang, Wood, and the other youths into North Snow Tower to collect their rewards.
• The old shaman explained the tower's history and let each youth choose a Cold Iron Spear.
• The old shaman presented Jiang Qiu with the North Snow Spear, a weapon passed down from the tribe's Heaven's Chosen Ones.
• Jiang Qiu sensed the spear's lingering spirituality and realized it had once been a Natal Weapon, linking North Snow Tribe to an ancient, unbroken weapon-cultivation lineage.

Jiang Qiu returned from North Snow Tower determined to prepare for the Heaven's Chosen Competition, and he learned that Hua had come back to the North Snow Tribe after her marriage alliance fell through. Just as he admired his new armor, a warrior arrived with news that Uncle Xiong had been ambushed by the demon race.

• Jiang Qiu recalled the shaman's warning that the Ancestral Remains would open in three years and vowed to claim the Ancestral Inheritance.
• Hua told Jiang Qiu that the South Mountain Tribe had released her after its young chief lost to him, and she planned to remain in the North Snow Tribe.
• Jiang Qiu worried that Hua would struggle to pay her adult taxes, but she stayed cheerful about earning her own food.
• Jiang Qiu returned home, found Uncle Xiong away hunting, and tried on the full-body armor he had received from North Snow Tower.
• A warrior told Jiang Qiu that Uncle Xiong's Hunting Team had been ambushed by the demon race and that Uncle Xiong had stayed behind to cover the others' escape.

Jiang Qiu led North Snow Tribe warriors to rescue Xiong after avian demons attacked his Hunting Team near Ice and Snow Ridge. The One-Eyed Snow Owl’s group overwhelmed Xiong and the survivors, and as the demons prepared to kill them, Xiong resolved to take one down before he died.

• Ma escaped the avian demons and reported that Xiong’s Hunting Team had been attacked by more than a hundred demons led by a mid-grade One-Eyed Snow Owl.
• Jiang Qiu gathered more than twenty garrison warriors and raced toward Ice and Snow Ridge to rescue Xiong.
• The One-Eyed Snow Owl wounded Xiong and helped his demons defeat the remaining North Snow Tribe warriors.
• The demons decided to kill the survivors and take their armor and weapons back to Cold Sky Cliff.
• As clawed feet approached, Xiong gripped his Cold Iron Spear and prepared to take an enemy with him.

Xiong faced certain death as the One-Eyed Snow Owls attacked, but Qiu arrived with reinforcements and killed one of them. The mid-stage One-Eyed Snow Owl recognized the North Snow Spear and ordered the demons to kill Qiu, whom he believed to be the tribe’s Heaven’s Chosen One.

• Xiong prepared to fight the approaching One-Eyed Snow Owl, reflecting on his years with Qiu and his regrets about failing to give him better conditions.
• A projectile struck the initial-stage One-Eyed Snow Owl’s skull, and the demons turned toward its source.
• Qiu rode in wearing black armor, followed by more than twenty warriors, and Xiong recognized that it was the day of Qiu’s coming-of-age ceremony.
• The mid-stage One-Eyed Snow Owl identified the North Snow Spear and suspected that Qiu was the North Snow Tribe’s Heaven’s Chosen One.
• The mid-stage One-Eyed Snow Owl promised rewards and a place on the Cold Sky Stele to whoever killed Qiu, and more than a hundred avian demons took flight.

Jiang Qiu rescued Xiong and fought through a swarm of demonfolk to reclaim the North Snow Spear. After the demons failed to bring him down, the One-Eyed Snow Owl planned to kill the Blue-Hoofed Horses and wear the humans out before attacking again.

• Jiang Qiu helped Xiong onto his Blue-Hoofed Horse and took a Cold Iron Spear from the warriors before rushing to retrieve the North Snow Spear.
• The mid-tier One-Eyed Snow Owl sent more than a hundred demonfolk after Jiang Qiu, hoping to kill the North Snow Tribe's Heaven's Chosen One and earn favor with Lord Wind.
• Jiang Qiu cut through the demonfolk and fought off the One-Eyed Snow Owl, wounding its palm and forcing it to retreat.
• Jiang Qiu reached the North Snow Spear and continued fighting with both spears as the demonfolk's numbers fell by half.
• The mid-tier One-Eyed Snow Owl ordered the demonfolk to kill the Blue-Hoofed Horses, intending to exhaust the humans before attacking them again.

Jiang Qiu killed a mid-level demon and drove the remaining attackers away before returning toward the North Snow Tribe with Chief Lie’s riders. At Cold Sky Cliff, Black Eagle reported that the spear-wielding Heaven’s Chosen One might be Jiang Qiu to Heaven-Chosen Demon Feng, who reacted with interest.

• Jiang Qiu killed a mid-level One-Eyed Snow Owl with the North Snow Spear, causing the other demons to flee.
• Chief Lie arrived with the Hunting Teams, heard Ma’s account, and ordered the warriors’ bodies recovered before escorting Jiang Qiu back to the tribe.
• Black Eagle questioned the fleeing demons and learned that the Heaven’s Chosen One at Ice and Snow Ridge might be Jiang Qiu.
• Black Eagle went to the ruins at the bottom of Cold Sky Cliff and told Feng about the possible sighting.
• Feng emerged from the hall and asked whether the North Snow Tribe’s Heaven’s Chosen One was Jiang Qiu.

[Wind] ordered [Black Eagle] to prepare a three-year campaign against the North Snow Tribe by exploiting its conflict with the West Ice Tribe. At the West Ice Tribe, Uncle Second reported seeing the North Snow Tribe’s Heaven’s Chosen One kill a demon, bringing the tribe’s plans against its rival closer to action.

• [Wind] questioned [Black Eagle] about the North Snow Tribe’s strength and whether it could be destroyed.
• [Black Eagle] explained the tribe’s history and proposed exploiting its tensions with the West Ice Tribe before using its Ancestral Remains in a trap.
• [Wind] put [Black Eagle] in charge of future operations against humanity and ordered him to intensify the conflict between the two tribes.
• [Wind] returned to studying ancient human texts and sought to break through the Iron Flesh Realm.
• Uncle Second returned to the West Ice Tribe and reported that he had seen the North Snow Tribe’s Heaven’s Chosen One kill a mid-stage One-Eyed Snow Owl.

Jin learned that the North Snow Tribe’s Heaven’s Chosen One had used a weapon resembling the North Snow Spear against demons, and he wondered if it was Jiang Qiu. Meanwhile, Bing arrived at the South Mountain Tribe and considered how it should rely on cooperation with North Snow rather than Qiang alone.

• Second Uncle told Jin that a North Snow Tribe Heaven’s Chosen One had fought demons from Cold Sky Cliff and thrown a spear-like weapon.
• Jin suspected the Heaven’s Chosen One might be Jiang Qiu and promised Second Uncle an Ice Crystal Stone for the report.
• Jin reflected that his command over ice and snow would help the West Ice Tribe grow powerful.
• Mang brought Bing’s convoy to the South Mountain Tribe, where Bing observed the tribe’s fighters and its vulnerable position against demons.
• Bing judged Qiang less promising than Qiu and decided the South Mountain Tribe needed to cooperate with North Snow.

After the Cold Sky Cliff demons killed North Snow Tribe warriors, Chief Lie curbed calls for an immediate attack, while the tribe focused on Jiang Qiu’s cultivation. Jiang Qiu left the depleted hot spring to prepare for the Ancestral Remains, where he hoped to gain an inheritance as Xiong’s health continued to fail.

• Chief Lie ordered the fallen warriors brought home for burial and suppressed the tribe’s demands for revenge against the demons of Cold Sky Cliff.
• Jiang Qiu trained in the hot spring, broke through the Copper Skin Realm, advanced in the Iron Flesh Realm, and strengthened his Ice Armor Bloodline Talent.
• Jiang Qiu ended his hot spring training after the tribe’s stored essence ran out and the remaining water had little effect on him.
• Jiang Qiu told Xiong that North Sea Ice would melt in three days and the Ancestral Remains would open, giving him a chance to meet other tribes’ Heaven’s Chosen Ones.
• Xiong explained the importance of the Ancestral Remains and hoped Jiang Qiu would gain its inheritance, while privately fearing he might not live to see Jiang Qiu reach North Realm Mountain.

Jiang Qiu left the North Snow Tribe with Chief Lie and a group of warriors to travel to the North Sea and seek Ancestral Inheritances. Hua watched him go and admitted that even after four years, she still would not want to marry anyone else.

• Jiang Qiu said goodbye to Uncle Xiong, then rode north with Chief Lie and the tribe’s strongest warriors.
• Hua waved goodbye to Jiang Qiu and wished him success in obtaining the most Ancestral Inheritances.
• Hua’s mother urged her to prepare for the coming-of-age ceremony and consider marriage, but Hua continued weaving in silence.
• Hua remembered how Jiang Qiu had become increasingly distant as he grew into the tribe’s Heaven’s Chosen One and left for the North Sea.
• Hua told her mother that she did not want to marry and would still feel that way after four years.

Jiang Qiu learned that the Ancestral Remains preserved ancient Spirit Charm and that surviving its Water of Origin trial could greatly increase a person’s physical cultivation. As the North Snow Tribe faced pressure from Cold Sky Cliff and the West Ice Tribe, Jiang Qiu realized the trial might help him grow strong enough to compete for the Heaven’s Chosen title.

• Jiang Qiu worried that the North Snow Tribe was vulnerable while Chief Lie and its strongest warriors traveled north, after the West Ice Tribe and Cold Sky Cliff had driven its hunters from Ice and Snow Ridge.
• Lie explained that the ancestors had sealed the North Realm’s Spirit Charm in the Ancestral Remains and that no one had yet lifted the North Realm Seal by obtaining the Enlightenment Fruit.
• Lie said each tribe could send one gifted person into the Ancestral Remains to soak in the Water of Origin, whose Blazing Flame Spirit Charm rewarded perseverance and pure Exquisite Blood.
• Lie recalled that the Heaven’s Chosen One Zhuang had possessed seventy to eighty percent Exquisite Blood purity and nearly reached Jade Tendons in the Ancestral Remains.
• Jiang Qiu saw that his First-Stage Exquisite Blood had reached 99/100.

The North Snow Tribe convoy encountered the West Ice Tribe while traveling toward the North Sea. [Jin] stopped [Zhan] from attacking, and the two convoys continued onward as [Jin] focused on gaining power and eliminating his rivals.

• [Lie] halted the North Snow Tribe convoy after spotting another group in the distance.
• [Lie] recognized the approaching convoy as the West Ice Tribe, and both sides prepared for a fight.
• [Zhan] aimed at [Lie], but [Jin] told him not to clash with the North Snow Tribe yet.
• [Jin] reminded [Zhan] of the tribes' agreement to keep the journey to the North Sea safe, and [Zhan] ordered his warriors to stand down.
• [Jin] rode on with the West Ice Tribe, determined to gain the Enlightenment Fruit and kill the other Heaven's Chosen Ones.

Jiang Qiu and the gathered tribes reached the North Sea, where the North Sea Palace opened beneath the ice and called for the purest-blooded human genius. Descending toward the Ancestral Remains, Jiang Qiu sensed spiritual aura for the first time in sixteen years.

• Jiang Qiu spotted the West Ice Tribe’s golden-haired youth but saw no fight break out as Chief Lie led the North Snow Tribe onward.
• The North Snow Tribe reached the North Sea and settled near the West Ice Tribe, where Jiang Qiu recognized Tang Guang among the East Shore Tribe.
• The human tribes gathered at the shore until a fissure opened in the ice and revealed steps descending toward the North Sea Palace.
• An ancient voice announced that the palace’s inheritance would go to the most pure-blooded human genius, and Jiang Qiu felt his blood respond strongly.
• Chief Lie led Jiang Qiu and the North Snow Tribe down the steps, where Jiang Qiu sensed spiritual aura rising from the depths.

Jiang Qiu and the other tribal geniuses entered the Ancestral Remains and were plunged into separate pools of Water of Origin to undergo the ancestors’ inheritance trial. Jiang Qiu sensed the origin within his pool, while Jin anticipated a powerful inheritance and Fan reflected on his frustrated hopes for East Shore Tribe.

• The thirty-six tribal geniuses entered the submerged palace and found their names engraved on a stele as candidates for the Ancestral Inheritance.
• An ancient voice called on posterity to inherit its will, and the hall floor vanished, dropping the geniuses into pools of Water of Origin.
• Jiang Qiu absorbed the Water of Origin and sensed Blazing Flame Spirit Charm and an origin suited to his Dao strengthening him.
• Jin entered another pool, recognized its tempering power, and resolved to face the trial in hopes of earning an unprecedented inheritance.
• Fan reflected on how his potential had been overshadowed and how East Shore Tribe lacked swords despite his Sword Dao Perception.

Wind ordered the demons of Cold Sky Cliff to attack the North Snow Tribe while its chief and many warriors were away at the Ancestral Remains. Hua learned of the assault as a black tide appeared on the horizon.

• Lie worried that Qiu might lose the inheritance ranking to Jin, leaving the North Snow Tribe at a disadvantage against the West Ice Tribe.
• Wind learned that the human tribes had gone to the North Sea and ordered the demons of Cold Sky Cliff to assemble and attack the North Snow Tribe.
• Hua waited for Qiu's return while sewing Ice Silkworm Silk and calculating that he might be gone for at least a year.
• Hua's father told her and her mother to hide because the demons of Cold Sky Cliff had launched a surprise attack.
• Hua saw a black tide approaching the North Snow Tribe as her father ran off to join the warriors.

Jiang Qiu continued absorbing the Water of Origin in the Ancestral Remains, pushing his inheritance progress far ahead of the other Heaven's Chosen Ones. As the North Snow Tribe came under attack, his widening lead over Jin made his success crucial to the tribe’s survival and humanity’s struggle for power in the North Realm.

• Jiang Qiu’s bloodline purity and cultivation advanced as he absorbed the Water of Origin, and his inheritance progress rose.
• The warriors watching the stele saw Jiang Qiu remain in first place, with Jin second and Ba still lacking even one bar of inheritance.
• Jiang Qiu opened a two-bar lead over Jin, reaching six bars while Jin had four, alarming the tribes over what the gap meant for human unity.
• The North Snow Tribe sent warriors home to defend against the demon race of Cold Sky's Edge, leaving the tribe in a precarious position.
• The South Mountain Tribe weighed whether to ally with the North Snow Tribe as Jiang Qiu’s lead threatened to shift the initiative away from the West Ice Tribe.

As tribes waited for the Ancestral Remains inheritance to end, Jiang Qiu grew stronger while tensions rose between North Snow Tribe and West Ice Tribe. Jiang Qiu broke through to the Steel Bones Realm and achieved the legendary Nine Bars, leaving the tribes astonished and West Ice Tribe stunned.

• Tribes shifted their support toward North Snow Tribe as Jiang Qiu's inheritance progress surpassed [Jin]'s by two bars, while [Lie] worried about his homeland's defense.
• [Zhan] quietly sent two or three members of West Ice Tribe's Hunting Team south on an unknown mission, making [Lie] suspect trouble was coming.
• [Lie] stayed at the North Sea with Jiang Qiu, unable to return to defend North Snow Tribe while the inheritance remained unfinished.
• After two more months in the Water of Origin, Jiang Qiu broke through to the Steel Bones Realm.
• Jiang Qiu's inheritance reached Nine Bars, astonishing the watching tribes and leaving West Ice Tribe's chief and members frozen in disbelief.

Jiang Qiu broke through to second-order Exquisite Blood and met the human ancestor, who passed on the Azure Luan Art. Back in North Sea Palace, he faced [Jin], who sealed the hall’s exit and turned his killing intent toward him.

• Jiang Qiu absorbed the Water of Origin until his Exquisite Blood reached the second order and his body began to transform.
• The human ancestor appeared to Jiang Qiu, warned that North Sea Palace and the Ancestral Realm were failing, and taught him the Azure Luan Art.
• Jiang Qiu returned to North Sea Palace and saw that he had an Eight Bars inheritance, while [Jin] had gained immense power.
• [Jin] questioned whether Jiang Qiu had Nine Bars, unleashed a freezing wave, and sealed the hall’s exit.
• Jiang Qiu faced [Jin] without the [North Snow Spear] and prepared to fight with the power of the Azure Luan Art.