Chapter Summaries

Xu Xiaoshou fled across the world on the wounded Blood Venerable’s back while Sheng Xin pursued them, intent on killing him before the Demon Decree could guide him to the Holy Spirit Continent. With Blood Venerable destroyed and Sheng Xin about to strike, Xu Xiaoshou invoked Master Shou’s descent technique.

• Xu Xiaoshou rode the Twelve-Winged Blood-Sucking Golden-Spotted Mosquito, who introduced himself as Xue Wuqi, away from the hospital while Sheng Xin attacked them with golden light and summoned an Earth City Temple.
• Xue Wuqi carried Xu Xiaoshou through a thunderstorm and used Space-Rending Flash to escape to another country, but admitted he lacked the power to complete the Demon Decree’s guidance safely.
• Xu Xiaoshou agreed to let Xue Wuqi stab him to begin the guidance, but Sheng Xin arrived, split Xue Wuqi in two, and crushed him with the Blood Demon Hand.
• As Sheng Xin prepared to kill him, Xu Xiaoshou called inwardly to Master Shou, and both he and Sheng Xin were drawn into a vast, dark expanse where Xu Xiaoshou’s voice recited a mysterious invocation.
• Sheng Xin awakened and fired five Golden Profound Fingers at Xu Xiaoshou, who raised his hands and shouted, “Master! Shou! Descent! Technique!”

Xu Xiaoshou used the perfected Way of Fame to bring Hidden Pain and powers from his reincarnated self into the Age of Dharma Decline, then battled Sheng Xin. Though Sheng Xin briefly killed him with Delayed Law Heavenly Kingdom, Hidden Pain crossed time and space from the Holy Spirit Continent and returned with enough power to destroy Sheng Xin.

• Xu Xiaoshou summoned Hidden Pain instead of his reincarnated body and spoke with his future self across time and space.
• Xu Xiaoshou used the Supreme Name: Dao Dissolution to break apart Sheng Xin’s Blood Demon attack, then drew on the fame of countless names and worlds to withstand his assault.
• Sheng Xin unleashed Blood Demon Baptism, but Xu Xiaoshou absorbed its power, dodged his other attacks, and prepared Hidden Pain: Heaven Dissolution.
• Sheng Xin turned to flee, then used Reversed Prohibition Wheel Rebirth to restore his strength and sealed Xu Xiaoshou inside Delayed Law Heavenly Kingdom, cutting him apart.
• Sheng Xin followed a black sword scar through time and space and witnessed Xu Xiaoshou on the Holy Spirit Continent build momentum at Heting and send Hidden Pain toward his past self.
• Hidden Pain returned through time and space, broke through Delayed Law Heavenly Kingdom, and blasted Sheng Xin into dregs with Heaven Dissolution.

Sheng Xin’s final remnant invaded Dao Qiongchang after Xu Xiaoshou exhausted himself with Hidden Pain: Heaven Dissolution. As Dao Qiongchang appeared close to being consumed, Xu Xiaoshou’s grief-stricken farewell exposed his scheme, and Dao Qiongchang finally revealed his hidden card: a severed hand.

• Sheng Xin’s Eye of Prophecy showed possible challengers across the myriad worlds before Xu Xiaoshou’s sword erased Sheng Xin’s body, spirit, and intent.
• Sheng Xin’s surviving Dao evil entered the Black Memory Trace and attacked Dao Qiongchang while Xu Xiaoshou lay too weak to help.
• Dao Qiongchang’s powers failed to stop the remnant, which seized his body and began devouring his spirit, intent, and Way of Memory.
• Dao Qiongchang asked Xu Xiaoshou to kill him, while Xu Xiaoshou lamented that he would erase every memory of Dao Qiongchang to prevent Sheng Xin’s revival.
• Xu Xiaoshou’s farewell made Dao Qiongchang break his act, and he pulled a severed hand from his chest as his hidden card.

Dao Qiongchang used a severed hand to trace Ba Zunan through memory, but Sheng Xin possessed Dao Qiongchang before the technique could finish. Ba Zunan reached them through the Mysterious Gates, while Sheng Xin’s attempt to flee was trapped by Dao Qiongchang’s trillion-fold calculations, which ultimately declared that no self-rescue was possible.

• Dao Qiongchang used his severed hand and the Great Retro-Tracing Technique to call Ba Zunan across spacetime, revealing that he had secretly kept a way to locate him.
• Sheng Xin completed his possession of Dao Qiongchang and discovered the Trillion Heavenly Secret Worlds, filled with Heavenly Secret Brains and Spirit Palaces he hoped to use to recover his strength.
• Ba Zunan appeared at the end of the memory-light, and Sheng Xin severed the connection and tried to block his way with memory and spatial techniques.
• Dao Qiongchang’s Heavenly Mechanism Brains flooded Sheng Xin with competing escape plans, while Xu Xiaoshou also suffered from the torrent of thoughts he had read.
• Sheng Xin ignored the calculations and tried to flee, but Ba Zunan’s sword intent suspended him in the starry sky and Mysterious Gates carried Ba Zunan’s sword-self toward him.
• The Heavenly Mechanism Brains determined that Ba Zunan’s Sword Chant left no possibility of self-rescue, then shut down with a recorded farewell.

Ba Zunan killed Sheng Xin with the Sword Worship Technique, ending the battle against Demon Medicine Sui Dao. Xu Xiaoshou then debated whether to spare Dao Qiongchang, but Ba Zunan urged him to kill him at once.

• Ba Zunan trapped Sheng Xin in Great Dream of a Thousand Autumns and revealed the sword cultivators and battles that had shaped his path.
• Ba Zunan used a yellow leaf to unleash the Sword Worship Technique, killing Sheng Xin and destroying Dao Qiongchang’s body.
• Xu Xiaoshou memorized Ba Zunan’s sword technique and learned that Sheng Xin’s fall had ended Demon Medicine Sui Dao’s resistance.
• Dao Qiongchang pleaded with Xu Xiaoshou not to erase the brand in his consciousness, offering his knowledge and help in exchange for his life.
• Xu Xiaoshou asked Ba Zunan whether he should kill Dao Qiongchang, and Ba Zunan told him to kill him immediately if he had the chance.

Xu Xiaoshou, Ba Zunan, and Dao Qiongchang negotiated a secret alliance in which Dao would live and cultivate Ancient Sword Arts so Ba could keep him in check. After agreeing to keep their trio exclusive until they met Nuo, Ba entrusted Xu with a recording announcing Saint Slave’s disbandment.

• Xiao Qi pleaded with Xu Xiaoshou and Ba Zunan to spare Dao Qiongchang, explaining that Dao had only a memory brand and could help resurrect the people of the Apricot Realm.
• Xu Xiaoshou decided not to kill or enslave Dao Qiongchang and proposed that Dao cultivate Ancient Sword Arts, allowing Ba Zunan to monitor and restrain him through the Sword Path.
• Dao Qiongchang agreed to cultivate Ancient Sword Arts and asked that his freedom remain unrestricted and that Xu Xiaoshou and Ba Zunan help him when they could.
• Xu Xiaoshou and Ba Zunan agreed to keep their alliance secret until after meeting Nuo and to exclude anyone else from influencing their trio.
• Ba Zunan told Xu Xiaoshou that Saint Slave had fulfilled its mission and entrusted him with a sword-will recording announcing its formal disbandment.

Xu Xiaoshou rejected Ba Zunan’s proposal to disband the Saint Slave and agreed that their groups would remain independent as they looked toward the Heavenly Realm. As Dao Qiongchang restored people and places from the Black Memory Trace, Xu Xiaoshou wrestled with returning home, and Dao Qiongchang pointed him toward Little Yu, who had a gift for him.

• Xu Xiaoshou insisted that the Saint Slave remain intact, and Dao Qiongchang argued that it, the First Pavilion Under Heaven, and the Heavenly Mechanism Divine Sect should remain separate groups.
• Dao Qiongchang proposed the name Four Directions Tavern for their alliance, but Xu Xiaoshou destroyed the sword will he had taken from Ba Zunan and demanded that he give it up.
• Ba Zunan agreed not to disband the Saint Slave, asked Xu Xiaoshou to guide him with the River of Sword Dao, and departed before answering who the Saint Slave’s Old Sixth was.
• Xu Xiaoshou supplied energy while Dao Qiongchang restored people and places from the Black Memory Trace, including Mu Zixi, Yu Zhiwen, and Tiansang Spirit Palace.
• As familiar people and places returned, Xu Xiaoshou admitted that he felt hesitant to go home because it seemed everything would be over once he did.
• Dao Qiongchang urged Xu Xiaoshou to go to the Southern Abyss and find Little Yu, who had a gift for him.

Yu Zhiwen remembered the seashell she had given Dao Xuanji as a child and the fear that kept her from expressing herself. During a moonlit walk with Xu Xiaoshou, she gathered her courage and gave him a seashell of her own, and he accepted it in surprise.

• Yu Zhiwen recalled how Dao Xuanji had smashed the seashell she gave her as a child after she secretly visited the Southern Abyss with Grandpa Yu.
• Yu Zhiwen walked beside Xu Xiaoshou along the Southern Abyss shore and struggled to respond to his teasing and attention.
• Xu Xiaoshou discussed Ai Cangsheng and Lei Xiaoxiao, then showed Yu Zhiwen fireworks despite forgetting she could no longer see with her eyes.
• Xu Xiaoshou offered to make Yu Zhiwen youtiao and egg soy milk, and began preparing the food in a giant bathtub.
• Yu Zhiwen found the courage to offer Xu Xiaoshou a seashell, and he asked in disbelief whether it was for him.

Apple and Wu Deng reflected on the completion of the novel, thanked readers, and discussed why the story ended without exploring its remaining leads. Apple planned to rest before starting a new book, while Wu Deng’s return date remained undecided.

• Apple said the novel had taken five years and four months to complete and thanked the readers who had followed it.
• Apple explained that the Great Calamity, Nuo, Four Directions Tavern, and events beyond Holy Spirit Continent were left as leads for another story.
• Apple said the story had ended and planned to rest before deciding what to write next.
• Apple considered disbanding the QQ group and said readers could direct their complaints at Wu Deng.
• Wu Deng thanked readers and began to say farewell, but Apple noted that Wu Deng’s return date was undecided.