Chapter Summaries

Chu Qing and Mu Tong'er explored the First Martial Emperor’s tomb while the Ghost Emperor was seized by a seemingly undead figure, which Mu Tong'er suspected was the First Martial Emperor. When Chu Qing touched the Wordless Stele, it revealed itself as a fragment of his System and drew his consciousness inside, where he discovered he could not leave.

• Chu Qing and Mu Tong'er demanded that Ghost Emperor Moduo compensate them for the damaged Alchemy Furnace, but their argument was interrupted when a pale, hairless figure grabbed the Ghost Emperor from behind.
• Mu Tong'er suspected the figure was the First Martial Emperor, while Chu Qing recognized that it had approached unseen and chose not to help the Ghost Emperor.
• The Ghost Emperor urged Chu Qing and Mu Tong'er to join forces against the figure, but Chu Qing distrusted his plea and led Mu Tong'er to examine the Wordless Stele.
• Chu Qing touched the stele, causing it to glow, shatter, and vanish as System notifications announced that a System fragment was fusing with his System.
• Chu Qing's consciousness entered a misty space where the stele was rebuilding itself, and he realized he was temporarily unable to leave.

Chu Qing remained motionless after touching the Wordless Stele while the Ghost Emperor ordered Grave King to attack the strange creature. The creature killed Grave King, revealed its immense power, and struck at Mu Tong'er just as Chu Qing finally raised his head.

• Mu Tong'er found Chu Qing breathing normally but unable to move, and claimed to the Ghost Emperor that he had gained insight from the Wordless Stele.
• The Ghost Emperor ordered Grave King to use the Poison of Dripping Water on the creature, but Grave King discovered the poison was missing.
• Wen Rou found the Poison of Dripping Water and planned to give it to her Third Brother, while Wu Qianhuan led the others onward in search of Chu Qing.
• After failing to find the poison, Grave King struck the creature and was drained into a handful of yellow earth; the Ghost Emperor then freed his Dharma Image and blasted the creature away.
• The creature demanded to know where the Wordless Stele was, attacked the Ghost Emperor, and revealed that it was not the First Martial Emperor before turning its strike toward Mu Tong'er.
• As Mu Tong'er was trapped beneath the creature's attack, Chu Qing suddenly raised his head.

Chu Qing tested the Martial Arts Stele, using it to refine Little Li Flying Dagger before emerging to fight the restored Bu Xing Tian. Bu Xing Tian revealed how he had tricked the First Martial Emperor into dying in the Dragon Trapped Immortal Ascension Pool and why he had taken his place.

• Chu Qing used the Martial Arts Stele to practice and transform Little Li Flying Dagger, combining it with other techniques until it surpassed A Sword Separating Worlds.
• Chu Qing sensed that the Ghost Emperor had restored the ghostly figure’s consciousness and emerged to protect Mu Tong'er from the Dragon Probing Palm.
• Chu Qing wounded the figure with a palm strike, then identified himself as Chu Qing, the Third Young Master, and learned the figure was Bu Xing Tian, the First Martial Emperor’s fifth disciple.
• Bu Xing Tian explained that the First Martial Emperor pursued immortality, massacred his clan and disciples, and was ultimately tricked into entering the pool dead.
• Bu Xing Tian revealed that the pool’s method could grant immortality only to someone who entered alive, and Chu Qing questioned the point of his thousand-year existence there.

Bu Xing Tian recited the Martial Emperor Divine Art to Chu Qing, the Ghost Emperor, and Mu Tong'er while secretly plotting to steal their power and prolong his life. Chu Qing and the Ghost Emperor saw through his scheme and killed him, but their confrontation was interrupted by Hua Jinnian, who demanded to know why the Ghost Emperor wanted to kill his own son.

• Bu Xing Tian offered to pass on the Martial Emperor Divine Art, and Chu Qing urged Mu Tong'er to memorize it.
• Bu Xing Tian claimed he could transfer his internal strength to only one person, provoking Chu Qing and the Ghost Emperor to fight over the inheritance.
• Bu Xing Tian secretly planned to exploit their greed and use his life-borrowing technique to steal from whoever accepted his transmission.
• Chu Qing and the Ghost Emperor turned their attacks on Bu Xing Tian, overcame his Azure Dragon Seven Absolutes, and struck him until only his ruined skin remained.
• The Ghost Emperor prepared to resume his fight with Chu Qing, who questioned him about his treatment of his wife and daughter.
• Hua Jinnian arrived and asked the Ghost Emperor why his biological father insisted on killing him.

Chu Qing confronted the Ghost Emperor Moduo, who revealed that he planned to kill his daughter Hua Jinnian to complete the Ghost God Path and preserve his title. Hua Jinnian’s words instead helped Moduo achieve a breakthrough, and Chu Qing accepted a commission to assassinate him as their battle began.

• Chu Qing’s transmitted words revealed that the Ghost Emperor was not controlled by the Heavenly Demon Mind Control Art and intended to kill his own daughter, prompting Sun Xiaoxiang and the others to argue over whether to believe him.
• The Ghost Emperor explained that killing Hua Jinnian was necessary to cultivate the Ghost God Path and retain his position among the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.
• Hua Jinnian confronted Moduo over treating her and her mother as tools, and her words helped him realize that divine nature and the ghostly code were one.
• Chu Qing accepted the commission to assassinate Moduo and refused to leave Hua Jinnian behind as the Ghost Emperor broke through and attacked.
• Chu Qing sent Hua Jinnian and Mu Tong'er into the tomb’s mechanisms to protect them from the clash, and they landed near Mihua after the two powers collided.

Daoist Yi Ge accused the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors of suppressing anyone who might unite the martial world and pledged to serve Liu Zhaonian if Chu Qing defeated the Ghost Emperor. Chu Qing then burst from underground and resumed his battle with the Ghost Emperor, leaving the Southern Region experts to decide whom they would support.

• Sun Xiaoxiang questioned whether the mysterious voice exposing the Ghost Emperor was a Heavenly Evil Cult plot, while Wu Qianhuan trusted what she had heard through Heavenly Sound Transmission.
• Daoist Yi Ge argued that the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors secretly destroyed ambitious forces and heaven-chosen geniuses to preserve their power.
• Daoist Yi Ge wagered his future on Liu Zhaonian and promised to serve him if Chu Qing defeated the Ghost Emperor.
• Chen Zhengnan drew his sword against Daoist Yi Ge, but a sudden roar drew everyone's attention to Chu Qing bursting from underground.
• Chu Qing unleashed repeated sword strikes that tore through Ten Absolutes Cave, and the Ghost Emperor emerged to clash with him as the gathered experts wondered which side to follow.

Chu Qing battled the Ghost Emperor through the ruined Tomb of the First Martial Emperor, then faced him in the air above Ten Absolutes Cave. When the Ghost Emperor ordered the Southern Region experts to attack Chu Qing, they instead declared their loyalty to the Alliance Leader, who ordered them to leave while he faced the Ghost Emperor alone.

• Chu Qing and the Ghost Emperor fought through the Tomb of the First Martial Emperor, smashing its mechanisms and structures before their battle carried them back into the open air.
• After exchanging attacks, the Ghost Emperor issued the Ghost Emperor Token and ordered the Southern Region experts to kill Chu Qing, accusing him of being a Heavenly Evil Cult spy.
• Liu Zhaonian, Tianfengzi, Ouyang Tianxu, Tie Lingyun, and the other experts stopped and knelt before Chu Qing, asking permission to fight at his side instead of obeying the Ghost Emperor.
• Tianfengzi denounced the Ghost Emperor for threatening his followers, and the Southern Region experts demanded that Chu Qing let them join the battle.
• Chu Qing refused their help and ordered them to leave Ten Absolutes Cave, and they obeyed his decree.

Chu Qing defeated the Ghost Emperor with his Divine Saber Slash, but the Ghost Emperor revived through his mastery of the Ghost God Path and declared himself immortal. As Chu Qing faced him again, the martial world’s leaders urged Chu Qing to lead them into a larger conflict.

• The Ghost Emperor attacked with Third Watch Death and the Reincarnation Great Hand Seal, but Chu Qing countered both with sword qi and his saber techniques.
• Chu Qing struck down the Ghost Emperor with Divine Saber Slash, and the Southern Region martial artists gathered to celebrate and urged Chu Qing to lead them against the Heavenly Evil Cult and the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.
• Mu Tong'er returned with Mihua and recounted how she and Hua Jinnian had escaped through the Bronze Gate.
• Hua Jinnian mourned beside the Ghost Emperor's remains, then said she would accompany Chu Qing and later seek a quiet life with Gu Ling'er and the others.
• Chu Qing realized his assassination commission had not been marked complete, turned around, and saw the Ghost Emperor revive in a youthful body.
• The Ghost Emperor claimed the Ghost God Path made him immortal, struck Chu Qing back, and Chu Qing summoned the Shark Slaying Saber to fight him again.

Chu Qing and the Ghost Emperor fought an escalating battle, with both revealing powerful techniques and neither gaining a decisive advantage. Chu Qing finally discarded the Shark Slaying Saber and raised a flying dagger, promising to kill the Ghost Emperor repeatedly despite his deathless arts.

• Chu Qing battled the Ghost Emperor in the air and drove him through the ground, but the Ghost Emperor countered with the Reincarnation Great Hand Seal and Six Paths of Suffering.
• The Southern Region experts watched from safety as Wu Qianhuan worried that she could not help Chu Qing, while Wen Rou, Tianfengzi, and Liu Zhaonian assessed the fight.
• Chu Qing and the Ghost Emperor traded taunts as they fought, and each recognized the other's growing strength and the difficulty of finding a decisive opening.
• Chu Qing concluded that the Ghost Emperor's deathless techniques made the present moment his best chance to kill him, but he could not safely repeat the Divine Saber Slash.
• After driving the Ghost Emperor back with the Three Parts Divine Finger, Chu Qing reflected on his emotions and Hua Jinnian, then threw away the Shark Slaying Saber and produced a flying dagger.

Chu Qing revealed himself as the Night Emperor and repeatedly killed the Ghost Emperor with flying daggers, while the Ghost Emperor revived each time. After the Ghost Emperor tried to flee, Chu Qing confronted him with a mental technique that began erasing his knowledge of the Ghost God Path.

• Onlookers connected Chu Qing’s past appearances with the Night Emperor and realized they were the same person as he threw a flying dagger that killed the Ghost Emperor.
• Fang Tianrui recognized the dagger, and the crowd learned that their alliance leader was the Night Emperor; Tie Lingyun and others were left confused by the revelation.
• The Ghost Emperor revived after Chu Qing killed him with daggers to his throat and head, then revived again after Chu Qing pierced his head through his ghostly illusions.
• After dying a fourth time, the Ghost Emperor awoke and tried to escape, but Chu Qing appeared in his path and killed him again with another flying dagger.
• Chu Qing used a mental technique to make the Ghost Emperor forget the Six Paths’ supreme arts, reincarnation, life and death, and ultimately the Ghost God Path.

Chu Qing defeated the Ghost Emperor by damaging his spiritual power, erasing his martial knowledge, and burning his body until the assassination commission was completed. Back at the main camp, he summoned Daoist Yi Ge and confronted him over his audacity.

• Chu Qing used repeated Little Li Flying Daggers to damage the Ghost Emperor's spiritual power, then used the Art of Absolute Wisdom to make him flee in confusion.
• Chu Qing captured the Ghost Emperor, snapped his neck, and burned his body with the Shark Slaying Saber until the commission confirmed his death.
• Wen Rou gave Chu Qing the Poison of Dripping Water, but he put it away after the Ghost Emperor's remains had burned for two hours; Hua Jinnian accepted two bones for burial as the rest scattered into the wind.
• Chu Qing led the survivors back to the main camp and told Wu Qianhuan he did not want to become emperor, though he would consider the matter if the world were united.
• Chu Qing returned to the main camp, summoned Daoist Yi Ge, and seized him by the head after Daoist Yi Ge knelt before him.

Chu Qing exposed Daoist Yi Ge’s reckless accusations against the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, then detained him after he produced evidence of Martial Emperor Li Juechen’s crimes. The Heavenly Evil Cult advanced toward the Southern Region, and Chu Qing ordered its factions to prepare for battle before opening a random martial arts treasure chest.

• Chu Qing struck Daoist Yi Ge and accused him of trying to drive a wedge between the Southern Region and the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.
• Liu Zhaonian called for Daoist Yi Ge’s execution, but Yi Ge revealed documents accusing Martial Emperor Li Juechen of burying martial artists alive and using their lives to create evil arts.
• Chu Qing ordered an investigation into both the documents and Daoist Yi Ge, while declaring that he would kill Li Juechen himself if the accusations proved true.
• Holy monk Kashyapa arrived pursued by Heavenly Evil Cult experts, and Chu Qing killed the pursuers with Heaven and Earth Lose Color.
• Kashyapa warned Chu Qing that Earth Butcher Weapon Master was leading nearly a hundred thousand cultists toward the Southern Region, so Chu Qing ordered the region’s factions to assemble and prepare for battle at dawn.
• Chu Qing returned to his tent and opened the prompt for a random martial arts treasure chest.

Chu Qing used the Martial Arts Stele to fuse his saber and sword techniques with the Forty-Nine Forms of Dual Saber and Sword Kill, creating Eight Desolations and Six Directions, I Am Supreme and then incorporating Innate Body-Piercing Formless Sword Qi. The resulting aura drew blades from across Ten Absolutes Cave, and Chu Qing emerged from cultivation with a new art that was no longer limited to weapons.

• Chu Qing worried his existing methods would not be enough against the Heavenly Evil Cult's leader or the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, and obtained the Forty-Nine Forms of Dual Saber and Sword Kill from the system.
• Chu Qing used the Martial Arts Stele to refine Heaven and Earth, Ghosts and Gods All Bound and A Sword Separating Worlds, then fused them with the Forty-Nine Forms into Eight Desolations and Six Directions, I Am Supreme.
• Chu Qing incorporated Innate Body-Piercing Formless Sword Qi into his new art and began cultivating in his tent, sending saber intent and sword qi across a radius of more than ten miles.
• Sikong Yijian and others watched as sabers and swords flew toward Chu Qing's tent, including Sikong Yijian's own sword, while Liu Zhaonian advised him to wait.
• After two hours, the blades returned in a rain that avoided the tent and bystanders; Sikong Yijian retrieved his sword and decided to seek Chu Qing again only after improving his own swordsmanship.
• Chu Qing opened his eyes and recognized that his new art made every gesture a technique, then considered opening a Blood Treasure Chest and choosing a martial arts category.

Chu Qing used the Martial Arts Stele to merge the Demon Light Heart Method into Illuminated Jade Divine Strategy, transforming his internal cultivation and manifesting wind, clouds, sun, and moon around his tent. After the energies returned to him, he renamed the improved art Heavenly Limitless Form Divine Ability, while the onlookers discussed his identity and awaited his coming battle against the Heavenly Evil Cult.

• Chu Qing found that the Martial Arts Stele could no longer improve Illuminated Jade Divine Strategy on its own, then opened a preset Blood Treasure Chest and obtained the Demon Light Heart Method.
• Chu Qing took control of the Martial Arts Stele’s deductions and merged the heart method’s sun-and-moon principles into Illuminated Jade Divine Strategy.
• Chu Qing’s cultivation summoned moonlight, heat, wind, clouds, and three Dragon Form Qi Energies around his tent, startling the onlookers.
• Wu Qianhuan, Wen Rou, Wen Fusheng, and Mu Tong'er discussed Chu Qing’s training and identity, while Liu Zhaonian confirmed that Chu Qing was his nephew.
• Liu Zhaonian and others praised Chu Qing’s strength and anticipated facing the Heavenly Evil Cult with him the next day.
• The three Dragon Form Qi Energies returned to Chu Qing, who completed his cultivation breakthrough and renamed the transformed martial art Heavenly Limitless Form Divine Ability.

Chu Qing learned that Earth Butcher Weapon Master was preparing to invade the Southern Region with more than fifty thousand Heavenly Evil Cult members, and he promised Kashyapa he would kill him. He asked Mu Tong'er for a token her father, the Mystic Emperor, would recognize and trust, and she gave him her father's old embroidered handkerchief.

• Chu Qing sent the gathered experts away, cultivated the Heavenly Limitless Form Divine Ability, and planned to use the Martial Arts Stele to develop new techniques.
• The Southern Region's forces broke camp and left Ten Absolutes Cave, and Chu Qing summoned Kashyapa to hear what he knew about Earth Butcher Weapon Master.
• Kashyapa said Earth Butcher Weapon Master had taken Xiangnan City and was preparing to lead over fifty thousand Heavenly Evil Cult members into the Southern Region, and Chu Qing promised to kill him.
• Chu Qing asked Mu Tong'er about her father, and she recounted how the Mystic Emperor had defied his family to marry her mother and later gained their acceptance.
• Chu Qing asked Mu Tong'er for something her father would recognize as proof of trust; after accidentally offering her chest wrap, she gave him an old handkerchief embroidered by her father.

Shang Qiuyu fought off an ambush at Forsaken God Valley, but the attackers poisoned him with Dripping Water. Just as he prepared to face them while weakened, Chu Qing arrived and offered to protect his name.

• Seven disciples of First Academy attacked Shang Qiuyu with the Seven Ghosts Heart-Slaying Palm, but he killed them without difficulty.
• Six black-cloaked leaders confronted Shang Qiuyu, and he drove one away with a single palm strike while evading the others.
• Two elderly servants arrived to report that Shang Qiuyu's daughter Tong'er had run away and was with Chu Qing, prompting Shang Qiuyu to panic over her possible romance.
• Shang Qiuyu urged the servants to leave and killed the black-clothed attackers who charged him, but then discovered that he had been poisoned with Dripping Water.
• The black-cloaked men revealed the poison had been planted during the earlier attack, and Shang Qiuyu vowed to take them down before he died.
• Chu Qing arrived through the air and promised to protect Shang Qiuyu, who instead wondered where the pretty boy had come from.

Chu Qing reached Forsaken God Valley to bring Mystic Emperor Shang Qiuyu back and ask him to guard the southern region’s other gateway, but he found Shang Qiuyu besieged by the Heavenly Evil Cult. Chu Qing crushed the attackers’ techniques, killed Liu Qianguan, and trapped the surviving enemies as they tried to flee.

• Chu Qing arrived at Forsaken God Valley and found Shang Qiuyu poisoned and surrounded by enemies, who mocked him and attacked.
• An attacker unleashed a powerful palm technique, but Chu Qing erased it with a breath and sent the man flying.
• A cloaked figure recognized Chu Qing; Chu Qing exposed Liu Qianguan, seized him, and killed him despite the Literary Heart Pavilion Pavilion Master’s safeguard.
• Chu Qing and Shang Qiuyu recognized each other, traded jokes, and confirmed Chu Qing was the nineteen-year-old Martial Arts Alliance Leader of the Southern Region.
• The remaining attackers tried to escape, but Chu Qing blocked their way with saber and sword strikes and declared the valley would be their burial ground.

The Literary Heart Pavilion Master learned that Liu Qianguan and likely Grave King’s group had fallen in Forsaken God Valley, then ordered the Heavenly Evil Cult’s forces to continue their campaign against the Southern Region. Meanwhile, Chu Qing confronted the remaining Heads of the Institute, identified their arts, and killed three of them, leaving two to face him.

• The Literary Heart Pavilion Master recovered after someone erased his thought in Forsaken God Valley, and he concluded that Liu Qianguan and Grave King’s group were likely in danger.
• The Literary Heart Pavilion Master discussed the army’s advance with the Earth Butcher Weapon Master and ordered the original plan to proceed while the Seven Punishments Weapon Master led another force south.
• A Head of the Institute tried to distract Chu Qing by invoking Shang Qiuyu’s poisoning, but Chu Qing refused to let the six Heads escape and asked about their secret arts.
• Chu Qing identified the six institutes as the Great Qian Dynasty’s six departments and recognized the arts of the bamboo-flute, twin-hook, and crossbow wielders.
• Chu Qing broke the flute player’s rite-based attack and killed him, annihilated the twin-hook wielder, and turned the crossbow bolt back on its user, killing all three.
• Chu Qing turned to the two surviving Heads of the Institute and challenged them to show what they could do.

Chu Qing defeated the six heads of Literary Heart Pavilion and told Shang Qiuyu that the Ghost Emperor was dead, then persuaded him to leave and seek a cure for the Poison of Dripping Water. Chu Qing brought Shang Qiuyu to a person in a wheelchair, who reacted with shock at seeing him.

• Chu Qing killed the First Institute Head and the fleeing head of the remaining institute, then gathered and burned the corpses of the six institute heads.
• Chu Qing told Shang Qiuyu that he had killed the Ghost Emperor and recounted the Ghost Emperor’s family affairs; Shang Qiuyu accepted the account because Mu Tong'er’s handkerchief convinced him.
• Chu Qing convinced Shang Qiuyu to stop waiting for the Ghost Emperor and explained the poison, the possible cure, and the danger facing the Southern Region.
• Shang Qiuyu proposed that Chu Qing marry Mu Tong'er and produce an heir to inherit the Nine Profound Divine Skill and become the next Mystic Emperor.
• Chu Qing carried Shang Qiuyu to a cottage, where a person in a wheelchair saw Shang Qiuyu and asked why he had come.

Chu Qing brought Shang Qiuyu to the Yin Yang Recluse, who treated the Poison of Dripping Water by making the Mystic Emperor endure the Myriad Poison Pool. As Chu Qing and the Recluse worked to neutralize the poison, Cao Qiupu fled from an attacker with a warning about danger to his Third Brother, but the attacker’s palm closed in on him.

• Shang Qiuyu and You Zong argued until Chu Qing asked the Yin Yang Recluse for help treating the Mystic Emperor’s Poison of Dripping Water.
• The Yin Yang Recluse examined Shang Qiuyu and prepared the Myriad Poison Pool, explaining that he would fight the poison with poison.
• Chu Qing persuaded Shang Qiuyu to undergo the treatment, and the Yin Yang Recluse’s disciple prepared the pool.
• Shang Qiuyu entered the pool, where the poisonous creatures bit him and died as he drew their toxins into his body.
• On the morning of the third day, Chu Qing struck Shang Qiuyu while the Yin Yang Recluse used silver needles to guide the poisons into battle.
• Hundreds of miles away, the injured Cao Qiupu tried to escape after learning someone intended to harm his Third Brother, but his pursuer’s palm reached him.