Chapter Summaries

Xu Xiaoshou, disguised as Saint Slave's second-in-command, convinced the Red Robes and Storyteller that he had taken the Emberglow Primordial Seed from the real Xu Xiaoshou, who they believed was dead. He revealed his identity by drawing the famed sword Yanmang, then left Shouye uncertain whether Xu Xiaoshou had survived.

• Lan Ling and the Red Robes dismissed Yu Zhiwen's theory that Saint Slave's second-in-command was Xu Xiaoshou, while Storyteller panicked at his apparent loss of control.
• Xu Xiaoshou played along with Storyteller's questions and let him conclude that the real Xu Xiaoshou had given him the Emberglow Primordial Seed, helping him recover from his injuries.
• Storyteller explained that the second-in-command had sought Xu Xiaoshou for the Emberglow Primordial Seed, and Lan Ling and Shouye concluded that Xu Xiaoshou must be dead.
• Xu Xiaoshou drew the famed sword Yanmang, revealing that he possessed the weapon Shouye had transferred to Xu Xiaoshou.
• Shouye demanded to know what had happened to Xu Xiaoshou, and Xu Xiaoshou said he was not dead before casting doubt on whether anyone should believe him.

Xu Xiaoshou, disguised as Second Saint Slave, exploited the Red Robes’ fear and confusion to seize Lu Ke and turn him against his allies. As Lan Ling began the Heaven-Sealing Grand Formation’s Heaven-Shattering technique, the Red Robes prepared to break the Ancient Book Space.

• Xu Xiaoshou taunted the Red Robes and singled out Lu Ke, prompting Xin to warn Lan Ling to protect him.
• Shouye and Xu Xiaoshou each grabbed one of Lu Ke’s shoulders, but Shouye was forced to release him when Xu Xiaoshou threatened to cut him apart with Yousi Sword.
• Xu Xiaoshou manipulated Lu Ke into attacking, and Lu Ke’s Azure-Scaled Spine struck Xin and wounded his cheek.
• Xu Xiaoshou praised Lu Ke and urged him to keep the famed sword, leaving the Red Robes afraid to approach.
• Shouye called for Lan Ling, who began teleporting the Red Robes away; Xu Xiaoshou took Lu Ke’s place so the beam would not carry him off.
• Lan Ling abandoned the attempt to retrieve Lu Ke and activated the Heaven-Sealing Grand Formation’s Heaven-Shattering technique to break the Ancient Book Space.

Xu Xiaoshou secretly turned the Red Robes’ attempt to escape the Ancient Book Space into a catastrophic detonation of the Heaven-Sealing Grand Formation. As the blast swallowed everyone in a black hole, he froze Lu Ke, entered his Berserk Giant form, and searched for the White Cavern spatial node.

• Xu Xiaoshou discovered that the Red Robes had connected the Ancient Book Space’s Heaven-Sealing Grand Formation to the White Cavern’s Thirty-Six Heavens Sealing Void Formation, and decided to help them escape.
• Xu Xiaoshou used the Heavenly Pivot Mechanism Plate to destabilize the formation, then detonated it and destroyed the Ancient Book Space.
• Storyteller and Lan Ling were swallowed by the black hole as the survivors struggled to protect themselves among its fragments.
• Xu Xiaoshou froze Lu Ke and sent him into the Origin Mansion, then transformed into the Berserk Giant and asked the ice lotus to locate White Cavern’s spatial node.
• The explosion ravaged Sword-Severing Prairie and much of White Cavern, killing creatures and making the trial-takers vanish.

After the Ancient Book Space exploded, Lan Ling struggled to stabilize the collapsing White Cavern while the Red Robes searched for survivors and feared the worst. Shouye left to rescue Lu Ke, Storyteller confronted the remaining Red Robes, and Xu Xiaoshou escaped the blast only to encounter Shouye face-to-face.

• Xin and Lan Ling emerged in the ruined Sword-Severing Prairie, where Lan Ling activated the Thirty-Six Heavens Sealing Void Formation to restrain the White Cavern’s collapse.
• Shouye searched for survivors but found no signs of life nearby; Black Nether reasoned that Senior Wuyue and the others might have evacuated the trial-takers.
• Rain began falling through the shattered White Cavern, and the Red Robes realized the communications team might have died in the explosion.
• Shouye left to find Lu Ke, while Storyteller appeared and revealed that Second Saint Slave had used the Red Robes to hold them back.
• Xu Xiaoshou escaped the Ancient Book Space, replenished his spiritual essence, and began looking for a way out of the White Cavern.
• Shouye called out to Xu Xiaoshou, who turned around and met him face-to-face.

Xu Xiaoshou was exposed as the person who had impersonated Second Saint Slave in Storyteller's Ancient Book Space, and Shouye tried to take him into Red Robes custody. Xu Xiaoshou refused, arguing that he had acted to survive and protect his friends, and the chapter ended with him asking whether wanting a few friends after surviving was wrong.

• Shouye recognized Xu Xiaoshou as the person who had posed as Second Saint Slave and connected him to Elder Sang, the Ghost Beast, and the events at the City Lord's Manor.
• Xu Xiaoshou revealed his true appearance and admitted he had deceived Shouye to escape Storyteller's Ancient Book Space, but Shouye said he no longer trusted anything Xu Xiaoshou said.
• Shouye ordered Xu Xiaoshou to come with him to Red Robes Prison, while Xu Xiaoshou refused and threatened to crush Lu Ke's ice-encased body if Shouye tried to arrest him.
• Xu Xiaoshou explained that he had saved the Ghost Beast and protected his friends because he wanted a good outcome and had been trying to survive.
• Xu Xiaoshou challenged Shouye's views on Ghost Beasts and said he had acted for himself as well as others, then asked whether wanting a few friends after surviving was wrong.

Xu Xiaoshou refused to surrender to Shouye and fought him in the White Cavern, unleashing his giant transformations and sword techniques. He ended the battle by pinning Shouye with Yousi Sword’s Sword Thought and cleaving him apart.

• Xu Xiaoshou rejected Shouye’s demand to return and declared that they would fight.
• Xu Xiaoshou transformed into the Berserk Giant, broke Shouye’s Void Imprisonment, and struck him with a surprise attack.
• Shouye evaded Xu Xiaoshou’s sword auras with Shadow Stealth, but Xu Xiaoshou became the Dark Giant and hit him with Explosive Stance.
• Xu Xiaoshou used Sword Observation Technique to draw out Yousi Sword’s black Sword Thought and forced it toward Shouye.
• The Sword Thought pinned Shouye in place and cleaved his head from his body.

Xu Xiaoshou fought Shouye in the failing White Cavern, discovering that Shouye could repeatedly reappear and that neither could safely use their full strength without risking the Red Robes. Xu Xiaoshou fused Emberglow Primordial Seed with Three-Day Frost Calamity to threaten the cavern’s collapse and escape, leaving the two powers spreading across the world.

• Xu Xiaoshou repeatedly attacked Shouye, but Shouye reappeared after each apparent death and revealed that countless versions of him could emerge.
• Shouye taunted Xu Xiaoshou and threatened him with a finger strike as Xu Xiaoshou’s spiritual source dwindled.
• Xu Xiaoshou argued that Shouye could not use Dao-Slaying power without endangering his Red Robes companions and the White Cavern.
• Xu Xiaoshou revealed Emberglow Primordial Seed and Three-Day Frost Calamity, then forcibly fused the two powers to threaten the White Cavern’s collapse.

Xu Xiaoshou unleashed the Emberglow Primordial Seed and Three-Day Frost Calamity against Shouye, who swallowed the blast and struggled to contain it. Xu Xiaoshou escaped and discarded Azure-Scaled Spine to break Shouye’s tracking, but two women intercepted him and one recognized his identities.

• Xu Xiaoshou vanished and released a fused blast from the Emberglow Primordial Seed and Three-Day Frost Calamity, but Shouye swallowed it to protect White Cavern.
• Shouye trapped the explosion’s aftermath in a dark domain and fought to contain the energy as Xu Xiaoshou struck him with Yousi Sword attacks.
• Xu Xiaoshou left Shouye struggling, then suspected Azure-Scaled Spine was letting Shouye track him and threw the frozen famous sword away.
• Xu Xiaoshou fled using One Step to Heaven, but a woman in red and a woman in white intercepted him.
• The woman in red asked whether she should call him Second Brother, Wen Ming, or Xu Xiaoshou.

Xu Xiaoshou faced Storyteller and Luo Leilei after his Transformation disguise failed, then tried to explain his abilities and apologize for deceiving Storyteller. Storyteller recognized him as Wen Ming, forced him to call him big brother, and restrained him outside the White Cavern’s Heavenly Dao laws as he began to explain why he had left Sword-Severing Prairie.

• Luo Leilei recognized Xu Xiaoshou and questioned him about Transformation and how he wielded Yousi Sword.
• Xu Xiaoshou claimed Transformation was a talent and said Sword Thought let him hold Yousi Sword longer, then apologized to Storyteller and begged him to spare his life.
• Storyteller praised Xu Xiaoshou and confirmed with Luo Leilei that he was Wen Ming, the person the leader had noticed.
• Storyteller demanded that Xu Xiaoshou call him big brother and frightened him into complying by unleashing his power.
• Storyteller embraced Xu Xiaoshou and cast him outside the White Cavern’s Heavenly Dao laws, then asked whether he wanted to know why Storyteller had come from Sword-Severing Prairie.

Xu Xiaoshou tried to negotiate with Storyteller, who wanted him to come along and learn an external incarnation, while revealing he had survived every Nine-Death Lightning Tribulation. The chapter ended with Storyteller sealing Xu Xiaoshou off from the White Cavern’s Heavenly Dao, leaving him trapped and powerless.

• Storyteller forced Xu Xiaoshou to admit he wanted to learn an external incarnation, then said Xu Xiaoshou would have to come with him and not let his big brother take him away.
• Xu Xiaoshou described the scruffy uncle who gave him the Canon of Sword Observation, and Storyteller reacted with suspicion when he heard the uncle’s appearance.
• Storyteller let Xu Xiaoshou move away, but warned that he could not escape; Xu Xiaoshou refused to accept Storyteller’s condition and asked about his strength.
• Storyteller revealed that he was at Peak Path-Cutting and had undergone every Nine-Death Lightning Tribulation, while Luo Leilei feared he might kill Xu Xiaoshou.
• Xu Xiaoshou asked Storyteller to let him run before chasing him, but Storyteller noticed him connecting with the Heavenly Dao and sealed off his access to its rules.

Xu Xiaoshou tried to escape Storyteller’s sealed space, but Storyteller trapped him and overwhelmed A-Jie in battle. Xu Xiaoshou struck at the Netherworld Dragon Head with the Yousi Sword, but Storyteller tightened the confinement until Xu Xiaoshou’s Vanishing Art could no longer offer a way out.

• Xu Xiaoshou pretended to fight Storyteller, then used Vanishing Art and One Step to Heaven to flee, but Storyteller sealed the space and stopped his escape.
• Xu Xiaoshou summoned A-Jie and urged him to hold Storyteller off while he prepared a powerful attack.
• A-Jie attacked Storyteller with rapid strikes and a piercing shriek, but Storyteller evaded him and countered with spatial techniques.
• Storyteller summoned the Netherworld Dragon Head and trapped A-Jie, while Xu Xiaoshou rushed in under Vanishing Art and stabbed the dragon head with the Yousi Sword.
• Storyteller compressed the confined space around the Netherworld Dragon Head, leaving Xu Xiaoshou trapped and realizing his Vanishing Art would soon be useless.

A-Jie absorbed Yousi Sword’s demonic power and used its Higher Void strength to wound Storyteller, who trapped A-Jie and Xu Xiaoshou in nested Ancient Book Spaces. Xu Xiaoshou found a way out with A-Jie, while Shouye arrived and asked Storyteller where Xu Xiaoshou had gone.

• A-Jie absorbed Yousi Sword’s demonic power, gained greater Higher Void strength, and severed Storyteller’s arm with a sword strike.
• A-Jie shattered Storyteller’s Ancient Book Space, but Xu Xiaoshou realized they were still trapped inside another nested space.
• Xu Xiaoshou found the spatial node leading to the White Cavern, and A-Jie broke it open with a punch.
• Xu Xiaoshou transformed into a Berserk Giant, grabbed A-Jie, and charged through the collapsing space toward the White Cavern.
• Storyteller told Luo Leilei that he had trapped Xu Xiaoshou and A-Jie, then Shouye arrived and asked where Xu Xiaoshou was.

Xu Xiaoshou escaped the Ancient Book Space and lured Shouye and Storyteller toward a compressed Ice-Fire Ball Art trap. He teleported away as the energy point destabilized, leaving Storyteller fleeing with Luo Leilei while the explosion threatened to erupt.

• Storyteller and Shouye realized Xu Xiaoshou was breaking out of the Ancient Book Space and raced to seize him at the spatial node.
• The spatial node closed without Xu Xiaoshou emerging, and Shouye and Storyteller blamed each other before spotting signs that Xu Xiaoshou had escaped elsewhere.
• Xu Xiaoshou used One Step to Heaven to flee, then prepared his compressed Ice-Fire Ball Art as Shouye and Storyteller pursued him.
• Xu Xiaoshou teleported away at the last moment, leaving the unstable energy point in their path.
• Shouye dodged the blazing energy point, while Storyteller grabbed Luo Leilei and put her in the Ancient Book Space before fleeing.

Shouye swallowed Xu Xiaoshou’s exploding energy orb to protect White Cavern, while the Red Robes realized that the supposed Second Saint Slave was likely Xu Xiaoshou in disguise. Elsewhere, a wounded masked man returned from a spatial rift and reasoned with Cen Qiaofu that the people inside had found a candidate in White Cavern.

• Shouye chose to protect White Cavern and swallowed the energy orb, but its leaked energy devastated the surrounding space.
• On Sword-Severing Prairie, the Red Robes felt the explosion, and Black Nether and Lan Ling concluded that Wen Ming was Xu Xiaoshou and the Second Saint Slave was likely fake.
• Lan Ling realized the Red Robes had underestimated Xu Xiaoshou and judged him dangerously capable, while Storyteller deflected questions about how he had failed to recognize him.
• In a hidden place, Cen Qiaofu worried about the Chief Seat as the spatial rift stirred, then the masked man emerged coughing blood.
• The masked man told Cen Qiaofu that the old man inside had found a candidate, and he reasoned that the candidate must be among those in White Cavern.

Xu Xiaoshou escaped Storyteller and Shouye’s attack but discovered that an unseen force was watching and hypnotizing him through the rain in the White Cavern. As the cavern began to break apart, Yousi Sword led him toward an unknown destination while he remained unaware that he was still being watched.

• Cen Qiaofu learned that the masked man believed Wen Ming could attract the attention of several factions in the White Cavern.
• Xu Xiaoshou survived the Ice-Fire Seed’s explosion, treated his injuries, and wondered who was observing him as the White Cavern began to fracture.
• Xu Xiaoshou realized that the rain was watching and hypnotizing him, but its influence made him forget what he had discovered.
• Xu Xiaoshou asked Yousi Sword to help him break through the White Cavern’s boundary, and the sword carried him toward a destination while the information panel reported that he was still being watched.

Cen Qiaofu revived the injured masked man as rain fell over the White Cavern, and they sensed someone approaching. Xu Xiaoshou was dragged toward the dimensional rift by Yousi Sword, which flew into the masked man’s chest after Storyteller arrived.

• Cen Qiaofu woke the masked man and explained that the White Cavern’s people had gone to key locations as the world neared collapse.
• The masked man and Cen Qiaofu noticed unnatural rain overhead and suspected a sealed cultivator from the Holy Spirit Hall was holding the White Cavern together.
• Xu Xiaoshou realized Yousi Sword was dragging him toward the dimensional rift, but he could not release it even as A-Jie refused to cut off his hand.
• Storyteller arrived at the rift and greeted the masked man, who sensed the aura of a famed sword nearby.
• Yousi Sword shot into the masked man’s chest, leaving him bloodied and unconscious.

Yousi Sword repeatedly wounded the masked man before Cen Qiaofu finally pulled it free, badly damaging his chest in the process. After the sword obeyed the masked man's command to stop, he asked Storyteller where Wen Ming was, the sword’s newly recognized wielder.

• Yousi Sword pierced the masked man several times, while Storyteller panicked and Cen Qiaofu struggled to free him.
• Cen Qiaofu kicked the masked man's chest to pull Yousi Sword out, and the masked man later recovered enough to stand.
• Storyteller said Wen Ming had wielded Yousi Sword in the Ancient Book Space and had tried to blow up White Cavern to escape.
• The masked man ordered Yousi Sword to stop, and it halted its attack before unleashing a devastating burst of sword qi.
• The masked man asked Storyteller where Wen Ming was.

Xu Xiaoshou escaped underground with A-Jie while the Saint Slave trio discussed Wen Ming, A-Jie's origins, and Elder Sang's hidden plan. The masked man suspected that another famous sword besides Yousi Sword had been present.

• Xu Xiaoshou used A-Jie to siphon away his demonic energy, then hid underground to avoid the Saint Slave trio.
• Storyteller and Cen Qiaofu questioned how Wen Ming could cause such a disturbance despite his low cultivation, and Storyteller revealed that Wen Ming had a strange Heavenly Mechanism Puppet.
• The masked man identified A-Jie as a first-generation Heavenly Mechanism Puppet that had developed intelligence and been destroyed on Void Island.
• Xu Xiaoshou realized A-Jie was connected to Void Island and worried about why its past was tied to him and Elder Sang.
• The masked man said Elder Sang had returned to stop his plan and complete another one, then sensed that a famous sword besides Yousi Sword had been present.

Xu Xiaoshou was exposed while hiding underground with the Saint Slave trio and confronted the masked man, whom he tried to question about his identity. The masked man refused to let him leave, insisting that their repeated encounters were fate as the White Cavern faced destruction.

• Xu Xiaoshou realized the Saint Slave trio were pretending not to notice him and that he was still trapped in the Ancient Book Space.
• Xu Xiaoshou ran out of spiritual essence, lost Vanishing Art, and was exposed when the masked man split open the ground with sword intent.
• Xu Xiaoshou tried to work out how many times he had met the masked man and asked who he was; the masked man identified himself as the Saint Slave's First Seat.
• Xu Xiaoshou hesitated to ask the masked man's name, then pleaded to be released from the Saint Slave's plans.
• The masked man refused and told Xu Xiaoshou that their repeated encounters were fate while the White Cavern world neared destruction.

Xu Xiaoshou resisted joining Saint Slave until the Masked Man forced him to confront how deeply he was already entangled in the conflicts around him. The Masked Man reframed compromise and freedom as choices rather than opposites, leaving Xu Xiaoshou shaken and uncertain as the White Cavern’s destruction loomed.

• Xu Xiaoshou refused the Masked Man’s invitation, insisting he could find a way forward without joining Saint Slave.
• The Masked Man deduced that Xu Xiaoshou had acquired Yanmang and the Emberglow Primordial Seed, and argued that his choices had already drawn him into the storm.
• At the Masked Man’s command, Cen Qiaofu turned the world around Xu Xiaoshou, forcing him to face the White Cavern and the reality he had avoided.
• Xu Xiaoshou reconsidered his desire to remain untainted, but recoiled when he realized that compromise might cost him his pursuit of freedom.
• The Masked Man urged Xu Xiaoshou to use other people as tools, then revealed a scarred face and drank from a gourd of wine.
• The Masked Man argued that compromise and freedom were not opposites, leaving Xu Xiaoshou overwhelmed as the White Cavern’s destruction approached.