Chapter Summaries

Lu Feng realized Master Huiwen Chan’s Zen Examination relied on a memorized set of questions and arranged for Miao Qing to teach them to him. The group began rapidly memorizing the material before the examination, while Ye Fan’s attempt to gather answers from examinees failed.

• Lu Feng sent Ye Fan to find a Zen Follower who had taken the examination and learn its questions.
• Ye Fan frightened off one female Zen Follower, then discovered that another woman he questioned was Master Huiwen Chan’s disciple and the examination’s proctor; he escaped after claiming Huiwen had summoned her.
• Other Zen Followers refused to reveal the examination questions, saying that doing so would damage their Zen Virtue.
• Ye Fan returned and found Lu Feng learning the questions from Miao Qing, who had agreed to help after hearing that Leng Huaping’s injuries were critical.
• Miao Qing explained Zen Meditation and began teaching the Four Contemplations, while Lu Feng asked her to use soul methods to convey the remaining material faster.

Bai Bing feared Bai Xianzhou had killed Lu Feng and prepared to die by poison rather than live without him. In the Heaven Lotus Sect's Council Hall, she learned Lu Feng was alive and had badly outmatched Bai Xianzhou, leaving the sect elders shocked.

• Bai Bing hid a deadly poison pill in her sleeve as she went with Bai Xue to learn the result of Bai Xianzhou's mission.
• Bai Wujin claimed Bai Xianzhou had completed the mission, and Bai Bing asked whether Lu Feng was dead.
• Bai Xianzhou revealed that Lu Feng was still alive just as Bai Bing nearly swallowed the poison, and Bai Xue grabbed her wrist.
• Bai Xianzhou explained that Lu Feng had tricked him into helping eliminate an opponent and then repelled him with a single sword strike.
• The elders and Bai Dihe reacted with shock when they heard how decisively Lu Feng had defeated Bai Xianzhou.

Bai Xianzhou revealed that Lu Feng had defeated him with extraordinary strength and mastery of the Swordless Realm and White Lotus Swordplay, prompting the Heaven Lotus Sect to reconsider its marriage alliance. Bai Xue claimed she and Lu Feng had already consummated their marriage, and Bai Wujin accepted that his daughters could not be married elsewhere; meanwhile, Lu Feng continued studying Zen with Miao Qing.

• Bai Xianzhou explained that Lu Feng had beaten him because his combat strength rivaled the Heaven Soul Realm, he had mastered the Swordless Realm, and he wielded the White Lotus Swordplay better than Bai Xianzhou.
• Bai Dihe proposed sounding out the great sect before deciding the marriage alliance, and Bai Wujin agreed.
• When Bai Dihe asked who had leaked the sect's swordplay, Bai Xue claimed responsibility and declared that Lu Feng was not an outsider because she had already consummated her marriage with him.
• Bai Wujin concluded that neither Bai Bing nor Bai Xue could be married off and agreed to meet Lu Feng before accepting him as their husband.
• Lu Feng continued asking Miao Qing about Zen, and she explained the difference between observing precepts and Zen Meditation.

Lu Feng, Ye Fan, and Ruo Shui took the Zen Thought examination after Miao Qing had given them the questions, while Ye Fan provoked Master Puxin Chan and left early. Puxin discovered all three had copied the same wrong answer from Miao Qing and ordered her detained, as Ye Fan headed toward Compassionate Heart Hall.

• Miao Zhun registered Lu Feng, Ye Fan, and Ruo Shui for the examination, and Master Puxin Chan personally distributed their answer sheets.
• Ye Fan flirted with Puxin and later distracted her with Zen riddles before leaving after answering 178 questions.
• Lu Feng finished more than 200 answers and stayed until Ruo Shui completed her sheet.
• Puxin noticed that all three had given the same incorrect definition of Mindfulness Root and traced the error to Miao Qing's answer sheet.
• Puxin ordered Miao Zhun to keep Miao Qing in the side hall, while Lu Feng and Ruo Shui learned that Ye Fan had gone to Compassionate Heart Hall.

Lu Feng learned that Miao Qing faced severe consequences for helping him, while her defense of her choices impressed Pu Xin and earned her a summons from the Grand Elder. Meanwhile, the Hall's agents prepared to respond to peace negotiations without their Hall Master, relying on three brocade pouches he had left behind.

• Ye Fan was confronted for entering Compassionate Heart Hall through a window and reading its medicine manuals, but the Zen physician deferred the matter to Master Huiwen Chan.
• Su Xi learned that Miao Qing had been detained for leaking the Zen Question and warned Lu Feng that the offense could cost her the right to practice Zen.
• Lu Feng admitted that Miao Qing had leaked the question to help him, and Su Xi explained that Miao Qing had concealed the risk to spare him worry.
• Miao Qing defended her choice to help Lu Feng before Pu Xin, arguing that compassion and her own Zen heart mattered more than blindly following precepts.
• The Grand Elder contacted Pu Xin, who summoned Miao Qing to meet him, while Su Xi felt proud of her disciple's insight.
• At Fortune Source Inn, Blazing Enchantress told the gathered agents that the Hall Master had left three brocade pouches to be opened only at critical moments before the peace negotiations.

Blazing Enchantress and the others began carrying out Lu Feng’s first order as Thunder Fire Sect and Beast Taming Manor prepared to negotiate. Meanwhile, Lu Feng, Ye Fan, and Ruo Shui arrived at Secluded Pool Stele for the Zen Intention Trial, where Ye Fan questioned whether Master Hengyi Chan was deliberately making the examination difficult for them.

• Blazing Enchantress explained that the first brocade pouch’s order was to spread Mad Ape Powder across Cottonwood Forest before the negotiations, and Iron Puppet directed the group to obey.
• Blazing Enchantress said the second moment would be marked by “crimson fireworks,” but kept the yellow pouch closed until the right time.
• Master Hengyi Chan accepted Miao Qing as her disciple, and Lu Feng learned that Miao Qing’s new training would keep her from seeing him for forty-nine days.
• Lu Feng took Ye Fan and Ruo Shui to Secluded Pool Stele for the Zen Intention Trial after Master Huiwen Chan postponed judgment on Ye Fan’s trespass.
• Master Puxin Chan explained that the twelve Mystic Steles contained scenes of life and that comprehending even a trace of Zen Meaning could advance an examinee.
• Ye Fan asked whether Master Hengyi Chan had arranged the difficult examination to make things difficult for them.

Lu Feng and Ye Fan watched the Zen Followers test their Soul Strength and ability to comprehend Zen Meaning through the Mystic Steles. After most candidates failed and Pu Xin explained the assessment, Ye Fan entered the pavilion to take his turn, boasting that his temperament had been exceptional since childhood.

• Pu Xin demonstrated the Mystic Stele assessment, where weaker Zen Followers failed to sustain their Zen contemplation and several Five Elements Realm soulmasters produced ripples.
• Pu Xin explained that she had produced eight ripples in her Chan Master assessment, while no one in the Qingxiu Chan Sect had ever comprehended all ten.
• Among the nearly one hundred members of the Miao generation, only three comprehended any Zen Meaning, earning a chance to enter the Zen Gate for deeper cultivation.
• Pu Xin called Ye Fan, Lu Feng, Leng Huaping, and Ruo Shui to take their turns together, and Lu Feng asked Pu Xin to look after Leng Huaping.
• Ye Fan leaped into the stone pavilion and claimed his temperament had been exceptional since childhood.

Lu Feng wagered with Ye Fan over who could stir more ripples at the Secluded Pool Stele, then demonstrated his Exquisite Steps by walking across the water. As Lu Feng, Ye Fan, and Ruo Shui began contemplating the steles, Ruo Shui and Ye Fan each sensed one, while Heng Yi warned Miao Qing that Exquisite’s return heralded coming chaos.

• Ye Fan wagered his Snow Feather Heart-Fulfilling Pills against Lu Feng’s unfinished Earth-grade Dragon Slaying Array, and Chan Master Puxin rebuked them for gambling at the Zen Gate.
• Lu Feng walked across the pool using the third layer of Exquisite Steps, White Dew Across the River, impressing the Zen Followers and Ye Fan.
• Heng Yi watched Lu Feng with Miao Qing and declared that Exquisite had reappeared and the heavens would fall into chaos, then left with her new disciple.
• Lu Feng, Ye Fan, and Ruo Shui sat down to sense the Secluded Pool Stele, while Puxin explained that sensing it depended on Soul Strength and understanding its Zen Meaning depended on temperament and fortune.
• Ruo Shui was the first to sense a stele depicting tidal scenery, and Ye Fan later triggered the stele Puxin had sensed, which depicted the changing seasons.

Ruo Shui and Ye Fan each comprehended five or more ripples from the Mystic Steles, gaining insights into their cultivation and alchemy, while Lu Feng remained motionless. A Mystic Stele then shifted, and Puxin revealed that the Zen Intention left by the predecessors had lost its guard, which Ye Fan suspected was caused by Lu Feng.

• Ruo Shui comprehended five ripples from a water-based scene, then awakened and worried that Lu Feng had made no progress.
• Ye Fan reached six ripples, teased Puxin about her earlier claim, and later explained that he had gained alchemy insights from a scene of the changing seasons.
• Ruo Shui told Puxin that the tidal scene had helped her improve her use of the White Silk Cultivation Method, astonishing Puxin.
• A Mystic Stele shifted half a fraction, prompting Puxin to send Miao Jing to summon Chan Master Huiwen.
• Puxin explained that the Zen Intention left by the predecessors had lost its guard, and Ye Fan suspected Lu Feng was responsible because of their bet.

Lu Feng’s meditation caused the Secluded Pool Stele to shift and then produced ripples at a second Mystic Stele, astonishing the Zen Sect elders. Afterward, he revealed that he had strengthened his Sorrowful Intent and sensed a second scene, but still lacked one final insight to derive a technique.

• Hui Wen and the elder Zen Masters arrived after the Secluded Pool Stele shifted, and the elders left cryptic remarks about affinity and reality.
• Hui Wen and Pu Xin speculated that Lu Feng’s deep understanding of sorrow had caused one predecessor’s Zen Intention to lose its hold.
• A second Mystic Stele near Lu Feng produced eight ripples before stabilizing, while Ye Fan prepared to pay off his wager.
• Lu Feng awoke, accepted the Snow Feather Heart-Fulfilling Pill from Ye Fan, and admitted he had not known the first Mystic Stele had shifted.
• Lu Feng explained that the first scene strengthened his Sorrowful Intent and that he then sensed a Deep Mountain Forest scene at another Mystic Stele.
• Lu Feng said he had grasped a little Zen Meaning from the second scene but still could not derive its corresponding technique, leaving Hui Wen and Pu Xin wondering how powerful it might be.

Lu Feng brought Leng Huaping to the Qingxiu Chan Sect’s Zen Meditation trial, hoping to qualify for help from Master Hengyi Chan. As Miao Hu, Miao Jing, and Miao Yu entered meditation one after another, Ye Fan prepared to try next, while his teasing unsettled Puxin.

• Lu Feng urged Puxin to arrange the Zen Heart Trial quickly, and Huiwen agreed to advance them toward Master Hengyi Chan’s assessment.
• Puxin explained the Zen Meditation trial beneath the Teacher's Heart Tower and warned that the lingering Zen consciousness in its stone prayer mats could not be deceived.
• Miao Hu, Miao Jing, and Miao Yu entered Zen Meditation in succession while Ye Fan and Lu Feng watched.
• Ye Fan teased Puxin about leaving the Zen path for the Mortal World, provoking her even as his words made her hesitate.
• Ye Fan stepped forward to attempt Zen Meditation, and Lu Feng joked that Ye Fan’s childhood sweetheart would blame him if Ye Fan joined the Zen Sect.

Ye Fan and Lu Feng failed to enter Zen Meditation, which exposed their unresolved worries and left them furious at the Qingxiu Chan Sect’s refusal to meet them. As Ruo Shui took her turn, Hui Wen warned Ye Fan against forcing his way in by revealing the sect’s formidable strength.

• Pu Xin blamed Ye Fan’s inability to enter Zen Meditation on his impure heart, and Ye Fan admitted the stone cushion had dragged up memories he could not quiet.
• Lu Feng tried Zen Meditation, was overwhelmed by his many unresolved responsibilities, and stopped before the experience could harm him.
• Ye Fan and Lu Feng grew angry when Hui Wen reiterated that the Grand Elder would not meet them unless they completed Zen Meditation, and Ye Fan considered fighting their way in.
• Ruo Shui went to try the stone cushions as Hui Wen arrived and warned Pu Xin that Miao Hu might become a black-robed Zen Master.
• Ye Fan understood Hui Wen’s warning about the Qingxiu Chan Sect’s powerful black-robed Zen Masters and abandoned the idea of causing trouble.

Lu Feng and Ye Fan learned how Qingxiu Chan Sect’s robes reflected a practitioner’s state of mind before following Hui Wen to the gate, where the Eight Blade Sects demanded Blood Butcher’s saber art. Hui Wen refused to hand it over, and the assembled blade masters began pressing the sect with threats and claims that they could purify the art.

• Pu Xin explained how Chan robes marked practitioners’ states of mind, from unsettled Zen Followers to newly appointed Chan Masters, while Ruo Shui began entering Zen Meditation.
• Three bell-and-drum strikes signaled trouble at the sect gate, and Hui Wen went to investigate with Lu Feng and Ye Fan following her.
• The Eight Blade Sects gathered at the gate with nearly ten Heaven Soul Realm Late Stage Soul Masters and demanded that Qingxiu Chan Sect hand over Blood Butcher and his Blood Butcher Three Sabers.
• Hui Wen said Blood Butcher had renounced his former identity and warned that his saber art required human blood, but Lou Yue and Mu Yi Ji demanded to inspect it anyway.
• A middle-aged brute urged Lou Yue to stop negotiating and lead the blade masters in an attack on the sect.

Du Lehu, Lou Yue, and Mu Yi Ji attacked the Qingxiu Chan Sect to seize the Blood Butcher Three Sabers, but Master Hengfu Chan stopped them and protected Hui Wen and the Blood Butcher. The Blood Butcher revealed that he had passed the complete technique to a young saber wielder, then destroyed his cultivation and remaining memories of the art, leaving his pursuers to seek the unknown successor.

• Du Lehu attacked Hui Wen and the Zen Followers, but Master Hengfu Chan appeared and blocked his full-force strike with a Zen Heart Seal.
• Hengfu ordered the intruders to leave, while Hui Wen earned his approval for standing firm and protecting the Blood Butcher.
• The Blood Butcher revealed that he had taught the Blood Butcher Three Sabers to a young saber wielder he had met by chance.
• The Blood Butcher broke through his sealed strength, lost his cultivation, and warned that no one could obtain the technique from him because his memories were incomplete.
• Lou Yue and Mu Yi Ji decided the successor would be easier to pursue, while the Blood Butcher urged them to send people after the young wielder so the art would spread through battle.

Lu Feng and Ye Fan waited while Ruo Shui took Leng Huaping to Master Hengyi Chan for treatment, and Lu Feng cultivated a new art from the Secluded Pool Stele. The chapter ended with Ruo Shui reporting that even Master Hengyi Chan could not heal Leng Huaping, leaving Lu Feng consumed by killing intent toward Sun Liuliu and the others.

• Ruo Shui ended her Zen Meditation early, and Puxin directed her to take Leng Huaping to Master Hengyi Chan while Lu Feng and Ye Fan stayed behind.
• Lu Feng cultivated the Zen Meaning he had learned from the Secluded Pool Stele, and Puxin sensed he was comprehending a new cultivation art.
• Ye Fan teased Puxin while she kept him under watch, then searched the Compassionate Heart Hall and learned that the Jade Void Cauldron had been stolen many years earlier.
• Near dawn, Ruo Shui returned with Leng Huaping still unconscious and reported that Master Hengyi Chan could not heal her injury.
• Lu Feng and Ye Fan were shocked by the failed treatment, and Lu Feng's killing intent toward Sun Liuliu and the others surged.

Lu Feng learned that a mysterious person in the forbidden Demon Suppression Forest might be able to heal Leng Huaping, and entered the forest alone after restraining Ye Fan and Ruo Shui. Inside, he was drawn into a white soul realm and confronted by a soul beast.

• Ruo Shui told Lu Feng and Ye Fan that Master Hengyi Chan could only stop Leng Huaping’s soul injury from worsening, but said someone in the Demon Suppression Forest might be able to save her.
• Pu Xin warned them that the forest was forbidden and described how Dragon Lord Yang had been trapped in its outer perimeter for half a year and lost an arm.
• Lu Feng sealed Ye Fan and Ruo Shui, asked Pu Xin to look after them, and carried Leng Huaping into the forest alone.
• Ye Fan forced Pu Xin to remove his seal, then waited with Ruo Shui outside the forest as Lu Feng continued inside.
• After the bamboo forest abruptly changed into a boundless white mist, Lu Feng realized he had entered a soul world and faced a Black Wolf Fierce Tiger soul beast.

Lu Feng remained trapped in Demon Suppression Forest while Ye Fan attacked Qingxiu Chan Sect to force the sect to rescue him. After Hui Wu subdued Ye Fan, he explained that even the sect leader could not heal Lu Feng, leaving Ye Fan demanding to know who lived in the forest.

• Another soul body appeared to attack Lu Feng, while Ye Fan sent Ruo Shui away and prepared to fight the sect without restraint.
• Ruo Shui returned to Qingxiu Chan Sect and found Ye Fan surrounded by Zen Followers after he poisoned dozens of them and demanded Lu Feng’s release and an antidote exchange.
• Chan Master Hui Wu struck Ye Fan down, and Ruo Shui rushed to heal him and confessed she would not abandon him or Lu Feng.
• Hui Wu explained that Lu Feng had entered the forbidden Demon Suppression Forest seeking a cure for his severe soul injury, and that only the person inside could heal him.
• Ye Fan challenged Hui Wu to explain who was in Demon Suppression Forest and why that person could not come out to save Lu Feng.

After Ye Fan handed over the antidote, Hui Wen recounted what little he knew about the mysterious origins of Demon Suppression Forest and suggested that Chan Master Guang Xu might still be hidden there. The group then rushed to the forest and found its outer bamboo ring flattened by an overwhelming force that seemed to come from soul pressure.

• Ye Fan gave Hui Wu the antidote and learned that the poison only caused a temporary, convincing appearance of near-death; Hui Wen said Ye Fan would face several strokes of the board and months of confinement.
• Hui Wen told Ye Fan, Ruo Shui, and Pu Xin that a group of gifted young people had come to the Zen Sect more than twenty years earlier with a gravely injured woman, after which the bamboo grove became Demon Suppression Forest.
• Hui Wen explained that one man from the group had gone missing and the injured woman had not left, then speculated that the forest might shelter Chan Master Guang Xu, Heng Yi's master and a legendary Chan healer.
• Pu Xin sensed something amiss, and Ye Fan and Ruo Shui hurried with Hui Wen and Pu Xin to Demon Suppression Forest.
• The group found the forest's outer bamboo ring snapped and flattened, and Hui Wen concluded that immense soul pressure had caused the destruction.

Ye Fan and Ruo Shui lost sight of Lu Feng in the bamboo grove, while Lu Feng woke in a strange chamber beside a coffin and met the voice of a woman preserved within it. The woman reacted with shock when Lu Feng said he had grown up without knowing his parents or origins.

• Ruo Shui cried out that Lu Feng had disappeared, and Ye Fan recognized a tuft of white hair as the strange hair that had appeared on Lu Feng before.
• Ye Fan was injured when he probed the bamboo grove with Soul Consciousness, and Hui Wen relayed Master Hengyi Chan's message that Lu Feng had received the favor of someone within it.
• Lu Feng woke in a chamber beside a coffin after his Purple Eyes calmed his weakening soul, and he saw his unconscious body covered in white hair and silver fur.
• Lu Feng regained control of his body, found the hair had vanished, and spoke with the woman lying in the coffin, who claimed seniority over him.
• The woman asked about Lu Feng's parents, and she became shocked and bitter when he said he had been raised without knowing his origins.

Ye Fan and Ruo Shui lost sight of Lu Feng in the bamboo grove, while Lu Feng awoke in a strange structure beside a coffin and spoke with the woman inside it. After learning Lu Feng had grown up without knowing his parents, the woman reacted with shock and bitter laughter.

• Ye Fan found only a tuft of white fur where Lu Feng had stood, and Hui Wen relayed Master Hengyi Chan's message that Lu Feng had received someone's favor.
• Lu Feng awakened in a gray space beside a coffin, discovered his face had grown white and silver fur, and later found the fur had disappeared.
• Lu Feng heard a woman's voice from the coffin and saw her lying inside, preserved by four Extreme Cold Sea Rhombus Jade stones.
• The woman asked Lu Feng about his surname and parents, while Lu Feng asked where Leng Huaping was and whether the woman was the person Master Hengyi Chan had sent him to find.
• Lu Feng explained that he had been taken in as a child and did not know his origins, and the woman responded in shock before laughing bitterly.