Chapter Summaries

Xu Yunfan fought Mountain Gazing Taoist after learning the Dao Sect had been surrounded by the Three Temples and Nine Sects, but Chu Sheng of the Nine Luminaries Sect intervened. The chapter ended with Chu Sheng charging Xu Yunfan, who braced himself behind the Crimson Fire Dragon Devouring Mace.

• Mountain Gazing Taoist revealed that the Dao Sect was surrounded, and Xu Yunfan accused him and the Five Great Sects of using the Dao Sect as bait.
• Xu Yunfan attacked Mountain Gazing Taoist with the Crimson Fire Dragon Devouring Mace, driving him back and breaking his fly whisk and golden talisman barrier.
• Mountain Gazing Taoist recognized Xu Yunfan's Ten Extremes Martial Dao and revealed that he wore Star Net Heavenly Silk Armor.
• Chu Sheng arrived and knocked Xu Yunfan's mace off course before challenging him to show what a true Ninth Realm physique could do.
• Xu Yunfan dodged Chu Sheng's first punch and questioned why he was not reclaiming his sect's mountain gate from Great Qian.
• Chu Sheng charged Xu Yunfan, who raised the Crimson Fire Dragon Devouring Mace to block his fist.

Xu Yunfan battled Chu Sheng in Jade Capital City, then fought both Chu Sheng and Mountain Gazing Taoist at once. He gained the upper hand and moved behind Mountain Gazing Taoist, taunting him that his sword was too slow.

• Chu Sheng sent Xu Yunfan crashing through palace walls, but Xu Yunfan countered with his mace and drained Chu Sheng's blood and qi.
• Xu Yunfan and Chu Sheng fought for more than three hundred exchanges, reducing a city block to rubble.
• Mountain Gazing Taoist ambushed Xu Yunfan with the Dragon-Tiger Demon Subduing Sword, but Xu Yunfan blocked it without looking back.
• Xu Yunfan faced Chu Sheng and Mountain Gazing Taoist together, using Heavenly Net and Earthly Trap to withstand their attacks as the clash devastated the imperial city.
• Xu Yunfan blasted Chu Sheng back, then slipped behind Mountain Gazing Taoist and told him his sword was too slow.

Xu Yunfan overwhelmed Chu Sheng and Mountain Gazing Taoist, killing Mountain Gazing Taoist with a single mace strike despite Yun Lan Fairy’s intervention. Chu Sheng continued attacking Xu Yunfan, whose Dragon Scale Armor withstood his blows.

• Xu Yunfan’s attacks drove Chu Sheng and Mountain Gazing Taoist back, while his defenses shrugged off their strikes.
• Mountain Gazing Taoist realized Xu Yunfan’s strength far exceeded that of an ordinary Ninth Realm expert, and Xu Yunfan charged at him again.
• Xu Yunfan struck Mountain Gazing Taoist and knocked aside Chu Sheng, then nearly finished Mountain Gazing Taoist with a palm strike.
• Yun Lan Fairy descended and stabbed Xu Yunfan, but his Dragon Scale Armor stopped her sword as he continued his attack.
• Mountain Gazing Taoist used a life-saving jade talisman, but Xu Yunfan shattered its protective phantoms and killed him with a mace strike.
• Chu Sheng launched a desperate barrage of punches at Xu Yunfan, whose Dragon Scale Armor endured them.

Xu Yunfan defeated the Ninth Realm masters who challenged him at the Black Tortoise Martial Arts Stage, killing Chu Sheng and Yun Lan Fairy after Mountain Gazing Taoist had also fallen. Guo Lang watched from the wreckage as all three corpses lay before him.

• Xu Yunfan broke Chu Sheng’s ribs and fought off Yun Lan Fairy’s sword attack while preparing to strike Chu Sheng again.
• Xu Yunfan crushed Chu Sheng’s head with the Crimson Fire Dragon Devouring Mace despite Yun Lan Fairy’s attempt to stop him.
• Xu Yunfan’s hand wound and damaged Dragon Scale Armor regenerated as Yun Lan Fairy realized she could not defeat him.
• Yun Lan Fairy offered Xu Yunfan Penglai Pavilion’s immortal arts and warned that transcending the Ninth Realm would bring calamity, but he pierced her chest with his mace.
• Xu Yunfan killed Yun Lan Fairy, while Guo Lang watched beside the bodies of her, Chu Sheng, and Mountain Gazing Taoist.

Xu Yunfan slaughtered the remaining imperial officials involved in the blood sacrifice and left the martial examination set to continue the next day. In the palace, the Empress and the Five Great Sects debated a plan to kill him before he drained Great Zhou’s national fortune.

• Xu Yunfan killed Guo Lang for advising the Empress to sacrifice thirty-six million people, then killed the trembling Commander of the Imperial Guards with a pebble.
• Xu Yunfan asked the Old Steward whether the martial examination would continue tomorrow and left after hearing that only the Empress could suspend it.
• An Imperial City Bureau spy reported that Xu Yunfan had killed Mountain Gazing Taoist, Chu Sheng, and Yunlan, prompting the Empress to warn that his growing power threatened Great Zhou and the sects.
• The Nine Luminaries Sect, Mystic Truth Sect, Sword Pavilion, and Amitabha Temple argued over the sacrifices and formations needed to defeat Xu Yunfan.
• The Empress agreed to provide the Dragon Suppressing Seal and urged the sects to stop concealing their strength before Xu Yunfan destroyed their mountain gates.

After the devastation in Jade Capital City, Xu Yunfan spoke with Dugu Jiu about the swordmaster’s past and why he had come. Dugu Jiu warned that the Dao Sect’s Grand Celestial Ritual may have disrupted heaven and earth, bringing the Heavenly Demons back, and explained that they were connected to the pursuit of immortality.

• A Penglai Pavilion envoy offered the Nine Nether Cold Iron Chains to help lure Xu Yunfan into an arena, while the Empress demanded that he be torn apart.
• Xu Yunfan surveyed the wreckage left by his battle with three supreme grandmasters and regretted that he had not fully protected the city.
• Dugu Jiu recounted how a massacre three hundred years earlier had led him to spend thirteen years in Sword Burial Abyss before he resolved to sever karma without hesitation.
• Dugu Jiu revealed that someone had tried to use a fragment of the Myriad Chariots Sword Transformation to enlist his aid in killing a flood dragon nearing transformation into a true dragon.
• Dugu Jiu warned that the Dao Sect’s Grand Celestial Ritual had disrupted the world’s qi and might bring the Heavenly Demons back, then told Xu Yunfan that they held opportunities for immortality and could also be used as resources.

Dugu Jiu told Xu Yunfan that he might be able to oppose the Heavenly Demons by reaching the ninth realm, while the Ministry of Works secretly prepared to suppress his Spiritual Qi. During the final round of the Martial Examination, the Suffering Calamity Doom Three Monks attacked Xu Yunfan using the arena’s manipulated earth veins, but he faced their trap without fear.

• Dugu Jiu explained that the Grand Celestial Ritual was meant to forge someone capable of opposing the Heavenly Demons and said Xu Yunfan might fulfill that role.
• Xu Yunfan practiced the Lin Character Secret, then discovered that the Ministry of Works had restored the Black Tortoise Martial Arts Stage and embedded Spirit Suppressing Jades to interfere with his Spiritual Qi absorption.
• The Ministry of Works officials worried that their Spirit Suppressing Jades would not contain Xu Yunfan, while representatives of the Five Great Sects gathered to watch the final round.
• The Old Steward ruled that the Suffering Calamity Doom Three Monks counted as one contestant under the Martial Examination Code, and Xu Yunfan challenged them.
• Ci Ku attacked Xu Yunfan with the Mystic Yin Soul Slaughtering Blade as Ci E triggered Mystic Yellow Chains from the altered earth veins and Ci Nan enveloped him in Thousand Machine Powder.
• Xu Yunfan used Ten Extremes True Qi to counter the monks’ attacks and showed no concern as their trap closed around him.

Xu Yunfan countered the Suffering Calamity Doom Three Monks’ restraints and poison with his Ten Extremes True Qi, then used the Town Mountain Vast Sea Hammers to batter them and turn their poison back against them. As Ci E intensified the earth-meridian array and pinned Xu Yunfan with Mystic Yellow Chains, Xu Yunfan hurled one hammer at his opponents.

• Xu Yunfan absorbed the Nine Mystic Yellow Chains and Ci Nan’s poisonous mist, refining both into nourishment with his Ten Extremes True Qi.
• Xu Yunfan summoned the Town Mountain Vast Sea Hammers, which an elder of the Nine Luminaries Sect recognized as weapons once carried by its former sect master.
• Xu Yunfan struck Ci Ku with his hammer, sending him crashing through the Black Tortoise stone sculpture and bending the Mystic Yin Soul Slaughtering Blade.
• Ci E and Ci Nan renewed their attacks with the Nine Palaces Earth Meridian Array and Thousand Machine Powder, slowing Xu Yunfan and corroding his Dragon Scale Armor.
• Xu Yunfan used Whale Swallows the World to blast the poison back toward the monks, leaving Ci Nan’s hand covered in poison spots.
• Ci E bound Xu Yunfan with the strengthened Mystic Yellow Chains, but Xu Yunfan hurled a Town Mountain Vast Sea Hammer at his opponents.

Xu Yunfan defeated the Suffering Calamity Doom Three Monks with overwhelming martial power, revealing that he had reached the rare Condensing Qi into Form stage. After killing Ci E, he faced the stunned spectators and reflected on the limits of his cultivation.

• Xu Yunfan smashed Ci E's Dragon Suppressing Seal, then broke Ci Ku's Mystic Yin Soul Slaughtering Blade and crushed him with two hammer strikes.
• Xu Yunfan killed Ci Nan with his returning hammer strike.
• Xu Yunfan drew the Rift Sky Piercing Cloud Bow and killed the fleeing Ci E with an arrow of condensed true qi.
• The spectators recognized that Xu Yunfan had attained Condensing Qi into Form and displayed the Ten Extremes Martial Dao's Myriad Arts Return to the Source.
• Xu Yunfan challenged the crowd to discuss 'three as one' as the Mystic Yellow Chains returned to his body and the Penglai Pavilion envoy's chains lay broken.
• Xu Yunfan read a notification confirming that he had slain the Suffering Calamity Doom Three Monks and considered the limits of martial arts cultivation after the Ninth Realm.

Xu Yunfan claimed the martial champion title and absorbed the Mystic Yellow Qi of Great Zhou’s earth veins, strengthening his body. He then used True Qi Absorption to drain the Five Great Sects’ martial power, leaving their experts struggling to resist.

• Xu Yunfan declared himself the martial champion after the Five Great Sects fell silent.
• Mystic Yellow Qi surged from Jade Capital City’s earth veins into Xu Yunfan, refining his body and revealing signs of the Golden Body Realm.
• Xu Yunfan’s roar shattered the Spirit Suppressing Jade around the arena and began pulling true qi from the Five Great Sects’ experts.
• Xu Yunfan discovered the True Qi Absorption effect on his Attribute Panel and used Ten Extremes Martial Dao to convert the experts’ martial power into his own.
• The Five Great Sects’ experts tried to seal their true qi, but Xu Yunfan’s devouring whirlpools dismantled their martial traits and drew their power into him.

Xu Yunfan drained a Nine Luminaries Sect elder to strengthen his body, then faced attacks from several sects’ experts on the Martial Arts Stage. He deflected their techniques and turned Penglai Pavilion’s chains against an Amitabha Temple monk, leaving Xuan Lin furious as the clash continued.

• Xu Yunfan seized the Purple-Robed Elder of the Nine Luminaries Sect and drained his true qi, leaving him a desiccated corpse as Xu Yunfan’s strength and physique rapidly transformed.
• Xu Yunfan’s Lin Character Secret and Primal Chaos True Seed kept his mind and true qi steady through the violent transformation, while the onlookers recoiled in terror.
• An elder from Mystic Truth Sect attacked with Golden Light Talismans, but Xu Yunfan melted their chains with Ten Extremes True Qi and explained their dwindling power.
• Xuan Lin and three Penglai Pavilion cultivators launched nine rune-engraved chains at Xu Yunfan, who deflected them into the path of a sneaking Amitabha Temple monk.
• The chains bound the monk just before his Demon Subduing Pestle could strike Xu Yunfan, and Xuan Lin angrily hauled on them.

Xu Yunfan fought off the Ninth Realm experts of the six top sects, turning their attacks and techniques against them while overwhelming their formations and treasures. As the Mystic Truth Sect’s oldest daoist suffered a terrible backlash to invoke the Dragon Tiger Celestial Venerable Dharma Idol, the battle reached a new escalation.

• The Tianxuan Sword Master attacked Xu Yunfan with a Big Dipper Sword Formation, but he returned her sword qi and left her wounded.
• Xu Yunfan drained the Purple Robed Elder, then made his body explode and injured the two old eunuchs with hidden Ten Extremes True Qi.
• The Mystic Truth Sect’s three daoists trapped Xu Yunfan with a formation, but he dodged their Dragon Tiger True Qi and damaged the oldest daoist’s Mystic Tortoise Treasure Armor.
• Penglai Pavilion’s Weak Water Needles were absorbed by Xu Yunfan’s Dragon Scale Armor and reflected toward the Amitabha Temple monks, while he also transformed their Pure Fire and burned the Sword Pavilion disciples’ formation.
• The oldest Mystic Truth Sect daoist invoked the Dragon Tiger Celestial Venerable Dharma Idol by forming a blood talisman, suffering a severe backlash as purple qi surged between his brows.

Xu Yunfan annihilated the Mystic Truth Sect Daoists and drained their Dragon Tiger True Qi, then turned on the remaining survivors at the Black Tortoise Martial Arts Stage. By the end, the arena was ruined and only Xu Yunfan and the spared old steward remained standing, while Xuan Lin knelt before him.

• The three Mystic Truth Sect Daoists formed a Dragon Tiger Celestial Venerable Dharma Idol, but Xu Yunfan destroyed it and drained the first Daoist's Dragon Tiger True Qi, killing him.
• Xu Yunfan seized the two remaining Mystic Truth Sect Daoists and extracted their true qi, leaving their bodies as empty shells.
• Xu Yunfan confronted the Tianxuan Sword Master and the surviving cultivators, freezing the Sword Master with copied Rain of Sword Qi and draining a Penglai Pavilion cultivator from afar.
• Xu Yunfan killed the remaining fighters at the Black Tortoise Martial Arts Stage, leaving the arena strewn with corpses and wreckage.
• Xu Yunfan stood amid the ruins with the spared old steward as the sole other survivor, while Xuan Lin knelt before him and his armor cracked.

Xu Yunfan absorbed the cultivation of nine Ninth Realm Grandmasters with the Ten Extremes Martial Dao, then crushed Xuan Lin after learning that his power came from Deep Sea Demon Qi. The old steward survived, while Xu Yunfan struggled to contain the foreign True Qi churning inside him.

• Xu Yunfan questioned the kneeling Xuan Lin and learned that the merfolk envoy wielded pure Deep Sea Demon Qi.
• Xuan Lin saw that Xu Yunfan had drained nine Ninth Realm Grandmasters and feared the Ten Extremes Martial Dao as a demonic technique.
• Xu Yunfan crushed Xuan Lin with a palm strike, vaporizing his demon blood.
• Xu Yunfan ignored the terrified old steward and continued crushing strands of Penglai Weak Water True Qi.
• Foreign True Qi surged beneath Xu Yunfan's skin, and strands of Nine Luminaries and Mystic Truth Sect energy escaped from his body.

Xu Yunfan continued refining the foreign true qi in his body before Li Haomiao returned to warn him that killing the sect grandmasters could leave Great Zhou vulnerable to invasion. After seeing the civilian deaths caused by their battle, Xu Yunfan still prepared to face the Empress the next day, while noting that Li Haomiao had apparently restrained the Black Armored Army.

• Xu Yunfan refined the remaining foreign true qi within him as he prepared for the final Martial Examination match and the Grand Celestial Ritual.
• Li Haomiao returned to Jade Capital City and warned Xu Yunfan that the deaths of the Ninth Realm grandmasters could leave the realm exposed to foreign enemies.
• Xu Yunfan argued that the sects had oppressed the people, while Li Haomiao explained that the grandmasters had also defended the provinces from invasion.
• Li Haomiao confronted Xu Yunfan over the civilian casualties from the battle, including a little girl killed by its aftershocks, and Xu Yunfan said he had done what he could to stop them.
• Xu Yunfan declared that he would enter the imperial city and face the Empress the next day, then pointed out that Li Haomiao had held back the three hundred thousand Black Armored Army soldiers despite twelve mobilization orders.

Xu Yunfan explained to Li Haomiao why he intended to destroy the old order and promised to kill the Empress, leaving the Black Armored Army to become the foundation of a new dynasty. That night, Dugu Jiu discovered Xu Yunfan’s Ten Extremes Martial Dao could absorb others’ essence and Qi, and eagerly proposed refining Ninth Realm masters to seek a Path to Immortality.

• Xu Yunfan told Li Haomiao that the people had long suffered under the sects and that destroying the old order would give them a chance to rebuild.
• Xu Yunfan said the Black Armored Army could not be spent attacking the imperial court and would instead form the foundation of Li Haomiao’s new dynasty after Xu Yunfan killed the Empress.
• Xu Yunfan promised Li Haomiao that he would succeed and show him true universal harmony the next day.
• Dugu Jiu appeared on Heavenly Inquiry Pavilion and praised Xu Yunfan for turning the Ten Extremes Martial Dao into a method that absorbed others’ essence and Qi.
• Dugu Jiu grew excited at the possibility of refining Ninth Realm grandmasters into kindling to cleave open a Path to Immortality.

Xu Yunfan persuaded Dugu Jiu to distract the Empress during the next day's palace trial, while Dugu Jiu revealed that the Zhou Clan possessed a Heavenly Demon corpse. As Jade Capital braced for conflict, Dugu Jiu launched an attack on Amitabha Temple before dawn.

• Xu Yunfan proposed that Dugu Jiu help him reshape the realm, and Dugu Jiu agreed to keep the Empress occupied for half a quarter-hour at the palace trial.
• The World-Warning Bell rang, and the Empress announced that she would attend the Martial Arts Stage the next morning.
• Dugu Jiu gave Xu Yunfan Li Chunyang's bloodstained ordination certificate and warned him to strike the Empress's TanZhong Acupoint if her pupils turned purple.
• Dugu Jiu sensed Amitabha Temple's monks approaching and vowed to attack them at Chou Hour Three Quarters.
• Before dawn, Dugu Jiu flew toward Amitabha Temple as Xu Yunfan watched the Imperial City Bureau's Spirit Devouring Crossbows at the end of Vermillion Bird Avenue.

Xu Yunfan faced the Empress alone in the ruined imperial palace and battled her as she unleashed the Nine Dragons Suppressing Prison Technique and the power of the Heavenly Demon Purple Gold Pill. The Empress’s purple mist began devouring Xu Yunfan’s true qi, but he smiled and formed the Pure Yang Three Styles Sword Incantation.

• Xu Yunfan entered the deserted Martial Arts Stage and found the Empress waiting amid the decaying palace.
• The Empress revealed that she had sacrificed three hundred imperial clan members with the Dragon Swallowing Life Devouring Art and attacked Xu Yunfan with the Nine Dragons Suppressing Prison Technique.
• Xu Yunfan and the Empress exchanged blows with the Crimson Fire Dragon Devouring Mace and the Heavenly Pillar Bone, collapsing the Black Tortoise Martial Arts Stage.
• The Empress revealed the Heavenly Demon Purple Gold Pill embedded in her chest and used Nine-Five Annihilation against Xu Yunfan.
• The Empress detonated the Purple Gold Pill, transformed her bone staff into a Spine Sword, and trapped Xu Yunfan’s left arm in devouring purple mist.
• As purple veins spread across his body, Xu Yunfan formed the Pure Yang Three Styles Sword Incantation with his right hand.

Xu Yunfan defeated the Empress by overwhelming her with Ten Extremes True Qi and the Pure Yang Sword Incantation, destroying her Purple Gold Core and burning away her demonic qi. As the Empress’s remains fell, pillars of Mystic Yellow Qi surged toward the Black Tortoise Martial Arts Stage, and Xu Yunfan looked toward them as he considered breaking through to the Land Immortal Realm.

• Xu Yunfan forced the Purple Poison from his body, crushed it, and used the Pure Yang Sword Incantation to cut through the Empress’s defenses.
• Xu Yunfan pierced the Empress with the Crimson Fire Dragon Devouring Mace, but her true blood transformed her into a giant centipede-like monster.
• Xu Yunfan combined the three forms of the Pure Yang Sword Incantation, then used Mountain Collapse to crush the monster’s lower body.
• Xu Yunfan bound the Empress’s remains with nine chains of golden flame and pierced her brow, destroying her Purple Gold Core and killing her.
• Xu Yunfan considered whether another baptism of Mystic Yellow Qi could help him reach the Land Immortal Realm as pillars of Mystic Yellow Qi surged toward the Black Tortoise Martial Arts Stage.

Xu Yunfan broke through to the Land Immortal Realm after absorbing the Mystic Yellow Qi, while the Dao Sect’s destiny and Qingwei Mountain were renewed. After the Great Zhou Empress’s defeat, Bi Yuan declared the Dao Sect would spread its influence, and Xu Yunfan met Dugu Jiu in Jade Capital City.

• Xu Yunfan absorbed six streams of Mystic Yellow Qi, entered the Land Immortal Realm, and gained extraordinary powers, though his attempt at foundation establishment failed.
• Xu Yunfan rose above the Martial Arts Stage and let out a roar that scattered the clouds as martial artists across Jade Capital City watched in shock.
• The final Mystic Yellow Qi from the Grand Celestial Ritual restored Qingwei Mountain’s Spirit Meridian and helped Bi Yuan and the Dao Sect’s disciples advance.
• Bi Yuan concluded that the Dao Sect had won the contest for the nation’s destiny and ordered the sect to accept disciples and protect the common people.
• Xu Yunfan descended in Jade Capital City and spoke with Dugu Jiu, who marveled at how swiftly Xu Yunfan had defeated the Great Zhou Empress.