Chapter Summaries

Xu Xiaoshou traced the battle between Hua Changdeng and Fish Elder through Wurao’s memories and witnessed Hua Changdeng’s overwhelming Ghost Sword Technique. After Hua Changdeng discovered him, Yue Gongli arrived and offered to surrender Cold Palace’s share of Wurao if Hua Changdeng let him catch up with Xu Xiaoshou.

• Xu Xiaoshou observed Yue Gongli’s investigation at Listening Rain Pavilion and revealed his aura in Wurao to give Dao Qiongchang cover.
• Xu Xiaoshou transformed into Wurao’s yellow earth and traced the memories of Hua Changdeng’s battle with Fish Elder.
• Hua Changdeng overwhelmed Fish Elder with his Fengdu sword technique and trapped him in the River of Forgetfulness.
• Xu Xiaoshou studied Hua Changdeng’s Sword Ghost techniques until Hua Changdeng noticed him and called out his name.
• Xu Xiaoshou revealed himself, and Yue Gongli arrived with Hua Changdeng and greeted him as an old friend.
• Yue Gongli tore up a Saint Emperor’s Golden Edict and promised Hua Changdeng Cold Palace’s share of Wurao if he would let Yue Gongli speak with Xu Xiaoshou.

Xu Xiaoshou tested Yue Gongli’s offer of friendship by asking him to protect him on the journey to Beming, where Xu planned to reconcile with Bei Huai. He then explained that Yue Gongli’s condescension kept him from being a true friend, contrasting him with Dao Qiongchang and declaring the two men worlds apart.

• Yue Gongli switched sides and offered Xu Xiaoshou friendship, while Hua Changdeng watched and refused to give them more than one incense stick.
• Xu Xiaoshou demanded that Yue Gongli protect him for a day and accompany him to Beming so he could settle matters with Bei Huai and join forces with him.
• Yue Gongli realized Xu Xiaoshou’s request would help him reach Bei Huai and accused him of playing him.
• Xu Xiaoshou recalled how Ba Zunan had treated him as an equal and asked whether Yue Gongli and Hua Changdeng could do the same.
• Xu Xiaoshou compared Yue Gongli with Dao Qiongchang, saying Dao would have risked himself to accompany Xu Xiaoshou and calling the difference between them that of clouds and mud.

Xu Xiaoshou provoked Yue Gongli, then escaped Wurao as scattered points of light, leaving Yue Gongli and Hua Changdeng behind. Yue Gongli warned Hua Changdeng not to pursue him, but Hua Changdeng remained determined to fight and seize his path.

• Xu Xiaoshou taunted Yue Gongli about his envy of Dao Qiongchang and rejected Yue Gongli's offer of protection.
• Xu Xiaoshou self-destructed into countless points of light and fled, challenging Yue Gongli to find his true body.
• Hua Changdeng began to summon Fengdu, but Yue Gongli stopped him; Hua Changdeng instead drew his sword on Yue Gongli before letting Xu Xiaoshou escape.
• Yue Gongli admitted to himself that he envied others and lacked a path of his own, then loudly invited Xu Xiaoshou to visit the Listening Rain Pavilion.
• Yue Gongli warned Hua Changdeng that pursuing Xu Xiaoshou would lead to his death, but Hua Changdeng declared he would go anyway and said, "The Dao is seized."

Xu Xiaoshou sent Jinren to Beming, where Jinren searched for Dao Qiongchang’s hidden memory imprints before being drawn into a gray underworld and confronted by Ghost Ancestor. Ghost Ancestor revealed himself as the many-named ruler of Fengdu, then summoned a scythe as Jinren panicked.

• Xu Xiaoshou realized Hua Changdeng and Moon Fox had stopped pursuing him, and his two halves of Jinren’s consciousness continued toward Qian Shi and Beming.
• Bei Huai sensed Jinren’s arrival in the Sorrowful Emperor Realm and spoke with a black-robed figure who repeatedly denied wanting to meet him.
• Jinren entered Beming through Hua Zhiyao’s identity jade tablet and found traces of Dao Qiongchang’s memory imprints.
• Before Jinren could alter the 108 imprints, he was pulled into a gray, mist-filled realm and lost most of his connection to Xu Xiaoshou.
• Ghost Ancestor appeared, named himself the ruler of Nine Nether and Fengdu, and summoned a scythe as Jinren begged him not to attack.

Xu Xiaoshou pushed the Life Dao Disk through Transcendent Dao Transformation and encountered the Ghost Ancestor through Jinren. The Ghost Ancestor revealed key facts about fallen Ancestors, the Sword Tower, Hua Changdeng, and the Shennong Medicine Garden before warning that he and Jinren might not meet again.

• Xu Xiaoshou raised the Life Dao Disk to 90% and sensed the Ghost Ancestor’s presence, while the Ghost Ancestor reassured Jinren that he bore no ill intent.
• The Ghost Ancestor explained that the Sword, Dragon, War, and Heavenly Ancestors had fallen in the battle to seize the Dao and could not return as they once were.
• The Ghost Ancestor revealed that the Sword Tower suppressed an Ancestor God's spirit and the Inverted Buddha Pagoda suppressed an Ancestor God's body, but he would not identify either one.
• The Ghost Ancestor said Hua Changdeng had obtained his Divine Court and carried the bearing of an Ancestor God, while Medicine and Ghosts' Life and Death constrained him.
• The Ghost Ancestor warned Jinren that the Shennong Medicine Garden was a later move by the Medicine Ancestor, though it was only a contingency of little importance.
• The Ghost Ancestor said Beming Holy Emperor constrained him and that he might not meet Jinren again; Xu Xiaoshou realized his premature transformation may have cost them another opportunity.

Jinren questioned Ghost Ancestor about the Medicine Ancestor’s many contingencies and learned how Ancestor Gods obstruct cultivators’ paths to transcendence. Ghost Ancestor gave Jinren Death God’s Scythe in exchange for future help, but warned that he might not be himself when they met again.

• Jinren asked Ghost Ancestor about the Medicine Ancestor’s contingencies, and Ghost Ancestor named several people, places, and paths connected to Him.
• Ghost Ancestor explained that cultivators could escape an obstruction by pursuing the Dao of slaying gods and extinguishing ancestors rather than becoming gods and ancestors themselves.
• Jinren promised to help Ghost Ancestor with his predicament, and Ghost Ancestor offered him Death God’s Scythe in return for repayment.
• Jinren accepted Death God’s Scythe, which entered his Red-Character Ghost Talisman and appeared in Xu Xiaoshou’s hand.
• Jinren asked whether he could summon Ghost Ancestor with the scythe in the future, and Ghost Ancestor warned that he might not be himself when they met again.

Jinren questioned the Ghost Ancestor about Bei Huai, the Medicine Ancestor, and the Ancestor Gods as the collapsing gray fog space neared its end. The Ghost Ancestor killed Jinren but gave him three pieces of advice before his death.

• Jinren asked the Ghost Ancestor about the Medicine Ancestor’s best contingency and learned that Bei Huai had been chosen by the Great World Locust Tree as a child.
• The Ghost Ancestor explained that Bei Huai had used the Medicine Ancestor’s power to pursue a path joining life and Reincarnation, becoming an existence capable of standing alongside Him.
• Jinren asked about the Holy Demon pair, the Ancestors’ saying, the Time Ancestor, and Kong Yuhen, but the Ghost Ancestor refused to discuss them.
• As the space collapsed, Jinren asked the Ghost Ancestor for three pieces of advice, and the Ghost Ancestor beheaded him.
• Before Jinren’s soul and intent were extinguished, the Ghost Ancestor advised him to stay on guard, protect Yunshan Holy Emperor, and not go to Qian Shi.

Jinren explored Qian Shi on a mission to contaminate one of Dao Qiongchang’s memory imprints, but his caution led him to kill an apparently helpless woodcutter before he found a little girl practicing swordsmanship. He recognized her sword technique and learned that she was Liu Keke, a descendant of the ruined Chenglin Liu Clan and Rao Yaoyao’s niece.

• Xu Xiaoshou considered the Ghost Ancestor’s three pieces of advice, questioned why Hua Changdeng had to be protected, and found no consciousness within Death God’s Scythe.
• Jinren wandered through Qian Shi while maintaining active shielding and killed a woodcutter he suspected might be a spy for Dao Qiongchang.
• Jinren reached a pavilion on an island, where a little girl named Keke practiced punches and then demonstrated a powerful sword technique he recognized.
• The old man and the girl detected Jinren despite his concealment, and Jinren revealed himself and claimed he had come to admire the lake scenery.
• Jinren asked the girl’s surname and identified her as Rao Yaoyao’s niece; she called herself Liu Keke, a descendant of the destroyed Chenglin Liu Clan, then feared she had revealed too much.

Jinren wandered through Qian Shi, where shifting memories and strange encounters led him to meet a boy who looked like A-Jie riding an ancient turtle. After Jinren killed himself to escape, the boy revealed that Jinren remained in an altered state of existence and questioned whether being remembered meant eternal life.

• Jinren left the forest lake and questioned whether his encounters with the Wu Rao pair and the old woodcutter had been real.
• Jinren realized he might be trapped in a strange loop that altered his memories, then tried to kill himself on the tidal flats.
• A colossal old turtle and a child appeared, and Jinren concluded that the child or the turtle was the Qian Shi Holy Emperor.
• The child turned around and revealed a face identical to A-Jie's, leaving Jinren overwhelmed by questions about Dao Qiongchang and the Holy Emperor Clans.
• Jinren killed himself and warned his original body not to enter Qian Shi, but he reappeared without a physical body, soul, or consciousness.
• The child told Jinren that people died three times and asked whether being remembered by even one person counted as eternal life.

Xu Xiaoshou suspected Jinren had fallen into a trap in Qian Shi and killed him remotely, only to find that he could not create another Second True Body. Jinren, secretly still alive, pledged himself to the Qian Shi Holy Emperor in exchange for immortality, but his attempt to fight back failed and he was left at the Holy Emperor’s mercy.

• Xu Xiaoshou realized the Qian Shi Holy Emperor might be manipulating Jinren and ended Jinren’s life with a thought.
• Xu Xiaoshou tried to create another Second True Body but failed, then angrily cursed Dao Qiongchang through the Telepathic Link Technique.
• Jinren survived beneath the old turtle’s shell and pledged to follow the little boy, asking for immortality and declaring that he wanted to replace Xu Xiaoshou.
• The little boy saw through Jinren’s plan and rejected him, so Jinren transformed into the Limit Giant and attacked him.
• The little boy destroyed the Limit Giant with a flick, and Jinren attacked again using Grotesque Trickery and the Name Sword Technique.
• The old turtle returned to its true form, struck Jinren down, and the little boy invited him to reveal Xu Xiaoshou’s other abilities.

Xu Xiaoshou confronted Dao Qiongchang about the Heavenly Origin Saint Emperor and received advice on protecting Jinren, while the two avoided revealing their secrets. In the Heavenly Origin Emperor Realm, Jinren questioned the boy who held him captive about his connection to Dao Qiongchang, and the boy hinted that he was a Dao Ancestor.

• Xu Xiaoshou used the Telepathic Link Technique to demand that Dao Qiongchang explain what he knew about the Heavenly Origin Saint Emperor, but Dao Qiongchang said he could not speak about him.
• Dao Qiongchang appeared in the Ghost Buddha Realm, used the Great Oblivion Technique to put everyone else into a daze, and asked Xu Xiaoshou whether he trusted Jinren.
• Dao Qiongchang said the Heavenly Origin Saint Emperor was half a step short of becoming an Ancestor God and advised Xu Xiaoshou to let Jinren play along, disappear through Fourfold Renunciation, or become an Ancestor God himself.
• Xu Xiaoshou threatened to wipe out the Heavenly Mechanism Divine Sect, then reassured Dao Qiongchang that they were still good friends.
• In the Heavenly Origin Emperor Realm, Jinren asked the little boy on the old turtle's back what his relationship with Dao Qiongchang was.
• The little boy questioned why Jinren called him the Heavenly Origin Saint Emperor instead of Dao Ancestor.

Jinren mocked the Turtle Boy, whom he suspected was Dao Qianshi, until the boy overwhelmed him with memories to record his reactions and force him through life experiences. Xu Xiaoshou was then swept through a series of memories, witnessing You Tu’s journey, a dragon’s rise, and Cao Yihan’s extraordinary cultivation before arriving at Kui Leihan’s first encounter with Gu Wu.

• Jinren challenged the Turtle Boy’s claim to be a Dao Ancestor, but the boy demanded to see Xu Xiaoshou’s abilities and began recording Jinren’s actions in a starry sky.
• The Turtle Boy flooded Jinren with memories of countless lives, leaving him unable to attack, escape, or end his own suffering.
• Xu Xiaoshou found himself reliving You Tu’s departure from his master and later witnessed a dragon defeat an Ice Phoenix and lead the sea races toward the continent.
• Xu Xiaoshou experienced Cao Yihan’s breakthrough into an eleventh realm, his mastery of lightning Dao, and his eventual destruction of the Zhao Clan.
• Xu Xiaoshou followed Cao Yihan’s rapid rise from acquired cultivator to Throne, then witnessed him meet the bald Gu Wu while standing among the Ten Seat Holders.

Xu Xiaoshou absorbed a flood of Jinren’s memories and began exploring the Red Dust Aspect while the Ghost Buddha Realm grew more dangerous. After waking, he proposed that opposing aspects could be fused by building one’s present foundation from the mortal world and one’s past-life roots from Reincarnation.

• Xu Xiaoshou endured memories of countless lives, and the Two Lives Aspect shifted toward the Red Dust Aspect as he experienced the myriad faces of the mortal world.
• Mei Suren and the others sealed the area around Xu Xiaoshou, while Li Fugui warned that powerful ghost creatures were appearing and Hua Changdeng might arrive within three days.
• Mei Suren stopped Li Fugui from moving Xu Xiaoshou and proposed that they seek Ba Zunan’s help, but Xu Xiaoshou woke and asked to go with them.
• Xu Xiaoshou explained that he could monitor the Ghost Buddha Realm while experiencing the memories, then asked whether opposing aspects could be merged.
• Xu Xiaoshou suggested forging the Dao foundation of this life from the hundred forms of the mortal world and rooting his previous life in ten thousand cycles of Reincarnation.

Jinren endured a month-long flood of mortal-world memories imposed by Turtle Boy, while Ba Zunan recovered his former self and met Xu Xiaoshou, who explored merging aspects and the path toward the Mysterious Gate. The chapter ended with Ba Zunan unable to answer Xu Xiaoshou’s question about merging aspects and Dao, telling him to try it.

• Turtle Boy continued forcing mortal-world memories into Jinren, saying the ordeal would last a month and might help Xu Xiaoshou comprehend reincarnation.
• Jinren suspected Turtle Boy was hiding his connection to Dao Qiongchang and resolved to preserve his memories for Xu Xiaoshou.
• After six months of losing and regaining his senses, Ba Zunan returned to his younger, restored state and waited for Hua Changdeng.
• Mei Suren and Elder Yang brought Xu Xiaoshou and Li Fugui to Barren Mountain, where Ba Zunan recognized Xu Xiaoshou’s insight into the Dao of the Mortal World.
• Xu Xiaoshou asked whether merging aspects and then Dao could make two become one and return to zero, and Ba Zunan answered uncertainly, telling him to try it.

Xiao Wanfeng traveled to Fusang City to witness the coming Sword Immortal showdown and heard that powerful figures and Famous Swords were gathering near Lingyu Mountain. He was confronted by Cheng Xie, who recognized Xuancang and demanded the divine sword, leaving Xiao Wanfeng surrounded by shocked spectators.

• Xiao Wanfeng reached Fusang City with the crowd of Spirit Refiners heading toward the battle near Lingyu Mountain.
• Xiao Wanfeng heard that Gu Qingyi One, Two, Three, Four, Cheng Xie, the Nether Ghost Sect's sect master, and Pill Saint Lu Shiyu were among those connected to the gathering of Famous Swords.
• Xiao Wanfeng recognized Xiao Qixiu and learned from the tavern's conversations that prominent figures from across the Five Domains were traveling to watch the showdown.
• Cheng Xie sat down with two Void Realm guards and fixed his attention on Xuancang, while one guard's pressure forced Xiao Wanfeng back into his seat.
• Cheng Xie identified himself and demanded that Xiao Wanfeng hand over the Xuancang Divine Sword, shocking everyone in the taverns.

Xiao Wanfeng’s Xuancang Divine Sword revealed itself in Fusang City, drawing the attention of Cheng Xie and the gathered sword cultivators. After Xuancang humiliated Cheng Xie’s Sleeve Sword Twin Needles and provoked a confrontation, Xiao Wanfeng drew a boundary and threatened anyone who crossed it.

• Cheng Xie confronted Xiao Wanfeng and questioned whether he truly possessed the Xuancang Divine Sword, after Xiao identified himself as belonging to First Pavilion Under Heaven.
• Xuancang broke its sealing bands, overwhelmed the swords in the tavern, and forced Cheng Xie’s Sleeve Sword Twin Needles to yield.
• Cheng Xie demanded that Xiao hand over Xuancang, but the sword repeatedly baited both men until Xiao caught it and pointed it at Cheng Xie.
• When two Cheng Clan Taixu Elders attacked, Xiao slashed the ground to mark a boundary between himself and the Cheng Clan.
• Xiao’s anger finally erupted, and he warned that anyone who crossed the line would die.

As factions gathered around Xiao Wanfeng and the Xuancang Divine Sword in Fusang City, Li You and the Nether Ghost Sect discovered that an alarming number of powerful figures had arrived. Li You tried to withdraw her sect, but the chapter ended when the Third Elder spotted Ba Zunan, the Eighth Sword Immortal, at the western city gate.

• Li You refused to let the Nether Ghost Sect seize Xuancang and the Sleeve Sword Twin Needles, then recognized Gu Qingyi and his companions from the Burial Sword Tomb and proposed an alliance.
• Gu Qingyi rejected Li You’s offer, and he rebuked the Nether Ghost Sect elders for separately urging his junior disciples to betray their Sect Master.
• Pill Saint Lu Shiyu and the City of the Living Futu arrived but chose to watch, while Gu Qingyi declared that the Burial Sword Tomb would not interfere.
• Li You sensed danger and identified Gou Wuyue, Feng Tingchen, Lu Ke, and Lei Shuangxing among the gathered figures, then ordered the Nether Ghost Sect to retreat.
• The Third Elder spotted Ba Zunan at the western city gate, and Li You recognized the arrival of the Eighth Sword Immortal.

Ba Zunan confronted the Nether Ghost Sect at Fusang’s western gate and demanded its treasured sword, Ghost Wheel Sorrow. After an illusion showed Li You the deaths of her elders if they resisted, she handed over the sword, and Ba Zunan headed toward a tavern where fighting was already underway.

• Li You recognized the ragged man as the Eighth Sword Immortal and ordered the Nether Ghost Sect to retreat, but Ba Zunan demanded that Ghost Wheel Sorrow stay.
• Bei He attacked Ba Zunan to protect Li You, and Ba Zunan killed him with a single finger strike.
• The First and Second Elders and the other Nether Ghost Sect members charged Ba Zunan and were cut down in Li You’s vision, so she tried to surrender Ghost Wheel Sorrow.
• Ba Zunan’s illusion ended, leaving the elders alive but exhausted; Li You realized the vision showed what would happen if they truly attacked.
• Li You agreed to give up Ghost Wheel Sorrow and asked Ba Zunan to introduce her to Master Shou, and Ba Zunan accepted the sword and placed it in his sack.
• Ba Zunan set off toward a tavern, where Li You saw fighting already in progress and urged him to fleece everyone there.

Xiao Wanfeng revealed overwhelming swordsmanship when Cheng Xie sent two Great Void experts to seize Xuancang, trapping them with the Heart Sword Technique and defeating them with Heart Rainbow. The chapter left Cheng Xie and the gathered spectators confronting the deadly power of Xiao Wanfeng’s unfamiliar Ancient Sword Arts.

• Cheng Xie ordered his two Great Void experts to attack Xiao Wanfeng and take Xuancang.
• Xiao Wanfeng unleashed Grandmaster Sword Intent and revealed that he had reached the Sword Way Throne, stunning the crowd.
• Xiao Wanfeng used Heart Lake to trap the two Great Void experts and the surrounding spectators, then stored the gathered heart-ripples in Xuancang’s scabbard with Returning Ripples.
• Cheng Xie called for Cheng Zhong and Cheng Qi to wake after Xiao Wanfeng’s technique left them mentally broken.
• Xiao Wanfeng drew Xuancang and used Heart Rainbow to strike down Cheng Zhong and Cheng Qi, leaving their bodies intact but lifeless.

Xiao Wanfeng defeated a Cheng Clan Upper Void with his unique Heart Lake swordsmanship and explained that he followed his own Dao. As Cheng Xie faltered under the comparison to Ba Zunan, a sack-carrying man claiming to be the Eighth Sword Immortal appeared and challenged him.

• Xiao Wanfeng killed a Cheng Clan Upper Void with Heart Lake and declared that he cultivated the Dao of Evening Wind, unlike anyone else.
• Gu Qingyi revealed that Ba Zunan had once tried Xiao Wanfeng’s unconventional method, but had only sampled it before choosing to continue his own path.
• Cheng Xie lost his nerve as he faced Xiao Wanfeng and the weight of Ba Zunan’s reputation.
• A sack-carrying man claiming to be Ba Zunan arrived, provoking the crowd and challenging Cheng Xie.
• The man condemned Cheng Xie for cowardice and for allowing the Gods and Buddhas Under Eyes to grow, prompting Cheng Xie to challenge him to a fight.