Chapter Summaries

Xu Yi learned that only a handful of disciples would be selected for the Inner Sect and that buying beast cores was forbidden. When Elder Lei announced the seven selected disciples, Xu Yi challenged the decision before the beast cores had been inspected, then demanded to know the lowest qualifying count as the hall turned against him.

• Chen Bing explained that disciples competed across two cohorts for a limited number of Inner Sect places and that buying or selling beast cores meant immediate expulsion.
• Elder Lei announced seven selected disciples, and Xu Yi stood up to object.
• Xu Yi identified himself as Zhong Ruyi and asked Elder Lei to let him explain why the selection was unjust.
• Xu Yi argued that the beast cores had not yet been inspected, and Chen Bing explained that disciples submitted them through a mechanism in each seat.
• Elder Lei told Xu Yi to submit his cores, but Xu Yi demanded to know how many cores the last selected disciple had turned in, provoking a deafening uproar.

Xu Yi presented an enormous haul of savage beast cores and demanded a place among the seven selected disciples, provoking objections from Tong Lin and Fu Sheng. Elder Lei approved a fight to settle the dispute, and Xu Yi challenged all seven at once.

• Xu Yi displayed seventy-six green cores and one hundred twenty-three primal cores, surpassing the other disciples’ reported totals.
• Elder Lei recalled Tao Jin had not hunted and proposed replacing the last disciple on the list with Xu Yi.
• Tong Lin and Fu Sheng argued that Xu Yi should not be selected, questioning how he obtained the cores and citing his Stone Infant status.
• Xu Yi defended his claim to a place and suggested a fight to silence doubts about his merit.
• Elder Lei granted Xu Yi’s request for a contest, and Xu Yi challenged all seven selected disciples to fight him together.
• Elder Lei silenced the hall and warned Xu Yi not to play tricks.

Xu Yi pressured Tong Lin, Fu Sheng, and four other disciples into a public fight, wagering his cores against their Infant Transformation Pills. He overwhelmed their combined attacks with the Unknowing Sword, leaving the onlookers astonished by his strength.

• Xu Yi proposed that the six disciples fight him, wagering their Infant Transformation Pills against his wild cores, and Elder Lei agreed to witness the contest.
• Tong Lin and Fu Sheng pushed the other four disciples into accepting the challenge, while Tao Jin declined to join.
• Elder Lei cleared an arena and started the fight, and Tong Lin, Pu Lengchen, Xiang Nan, and the others unleashed their techniques against Xu Yi.
• Xu Yi waited until the six attacks reached full strength, then used the Unknowing Sword to break through their encirclement and shatter their techniques.
• The crowd marveled at Xu Yi's profound Sword Qi, and Luo Fu defended her family friendship with Brother Ruyi.

Xu Yi defeated Tong Lin, Fu Sheng, and the others, but Fu Sheng’s sneak attack and Tong Lin’s attempt to challenge the result earned them severe punishments from Elder Lei. Tao Jin then challenged Xu Yi to withstand three moves, wagering his three Infant Transformation Pills, and the two prepared to fight.

• Xu Yi withdrew his attack after Elder Lei stopped the contest, but Fu Sheng launched a sneak attack and was defeated; Elder Lei sentenced him to three years in the Dark Prison and expulsion from the Southern Pole Sect.
• Tong Lin tried to use Tao Jin’s absence to dispute the result, so Elder Lei condemned him to thirty years of hard labor on Sky Horse Star.
• Tao Jin challenged Xu Yi, saying Xu Yi only needed to withstand three moves, and Xu Yi accepted while wagering the Infant Transformation Pills.
• Tao Jin offered the three pills prepared for him, and Xu Yi agreed to fight, calculating that the pills could help him break into the Life Wheel Realm.
• The disciples gathered to watch as the arena was cleared for Xu Yi and Tao Jin’s match.

Xu Yi faced Tao Jin in a public duel, where Tao Jin first overwhelmed him with water-based Profound Intent. Xu Yi revealed that he had also comprehended Profound Intent and defeated Tao Jin with mastery of all five elements, leaving Tao Jin pinned to the ground.

• Xu Yi attacked Tao Jin with ten thousand streams of Sword Qi, and Tao Jin turned them into a whirlwind that shattered Xu Yi's layered defenses.
• Tao Jin moved the fight outside and trapped Xu Yi in a cage of five water dragons, declaring that Xu Yi had lost.
• Xu Yi broke free by forming an identical cage with fire and revealed that he had comprehended Profound Intent too.
• Xu Yi summoned five dragons for each of the five elements, merged them into a giant five-colored dragon, and crushed Tao Jin's Golden Protective Shield.
• Xu Yi released Tao Jin and acknowledged his graciousness after winning the duel.

Xu Yi claimed all the Infant Transformation Pills and received additional rewards for rescuing disciples during the hunt. He later confronted Xue Ba, who suspected his identity, and the two traded threats as Xu Yi’s hidden recording plan remained in motion.

• Elder Lei gave Xu Yi nine Infant Transformation Pills, a thousand Profound Yellow Pills, and a jade token as rewards for his contributions.
• Xu Yi returned to Yinghai Peak, where the disciples thanked him for winning every slot and saving them during the hunt; he promised to host a banquet.
• The Ruyi Pearl began bouncing after Xu Yi returned to his cave, and he went to meet Xue Ba at Zhuangri Pavilion.
• Xue Ba demanded the Profound Yellow Pills from the beast cores and accused Xu Yi of impersonating Zhong Ruyi and killing Dong Chao.
• Xu Yi denied being anyone but Zhong Ruyi and threatened to reveal Xue Ba’s role in Dong Chao’s plot if Xue Ba exposed him.
• Xu Yi continued playing along with Xue Ba’s scheme while Huang Mei hid with the Ruyi Pearl to record their exchange.

Xu Yi killed Xue Ba and concealed the murder, then paid respects to Zhong Ruyi at Abyss of Silence Cliff. Back at Yinghai Peak, he accepted a loan offer and learned the lender expected him to fail his breakthrough and remain an Outer Sect Disciple.

• Xue Ba revealed his plan to kill Xu Yi and cover it up with a disguised Zhong Ruyi, but Xu Yi killed Xue Ba and destroyed his Life Wheel's radiance.
• Xu Yi erased evidence at Zhuangri Pavilion and escaped; nearly a year later, the sect discovered Xue Ba's death and assumed he had died while traveling.
• Xu Yi offered wine, incense, joss paper, and Xue Ba's severed head to Zhong Ruyi at Abyss of Silence Cliff, then threw the head into the abyss.
• Xu Yi visited Li Ping at Yinghai Peak, and Li Ping offered to arrange a two-thousand-Profound Yellow Pill loan at five percent annual interest.
• Li Ping explained that the lender expected Xu Yi to fail his breakthrough and remain an Outer Sect Disciple so he could continue joining hunts; Xu Yi accepted and asked who the lender was.

Xu Yi accepted two thousand Profound Yellow Pills from Elder Song and used them to break through to the Life Wheel Realm. He formed two golden Life Wheels and emerged with a deeper understanding of the Profound Intent and a new direction for improving the Great Art of Transforming Qi.

• Li Ping told Xu Yi that Elder Song wanted a written pledge in exchange for two thousand Profound Yellow Pills, but Xu Yi insisted on receiving the pills before signing.
• Song Yuanyou arrived, gave Xu Yi the pills, and recorded their exchange with a Ruyi Pearl as Xu Yi wrote the pledge.
• Xu Yi rented a luxurious meditation room at Zishentang and began his carefully prepared Life Wheel breakthrough.
• Xu Yi endured the dissolution of his Profound Infant, seized a second connection with the Profound Intent, and formed two golden Life Wheels, though his twin wheels prevented the celebratory drum from sounding.
• Xu Yi realized his perfected Life Wheels had raised him to the Second Realm of Life Wheel and concluded that adding a Z-axis to the Great Art of Transforming Qi could let it swallow attacks outright.

Xu Yi completed the Great Art of Transforming Qi and learned he would have to repay Song Yuanyou’s Profound Yellow Pills after advancing to the Inner Sect. Meanwhile, Luo Fu bought a Charm Whisper Heart believing Zhong Ruyi remained devoted to her, but Long Zhen and Chen Qianqian told her his Life Wheel was worthless and demanded their gifts back.

• Xu Yi established the Z-axis in his reconstruction and completed the Great Art of Transforming Qi, then complained that advancing to the Inner Sect would bar him from hunting.
• Song Yuanyou learned Xu Yi had broken through and ordered Li Ping to tell him that his contract required repayment of the principal and interest within a year.
• Tao Jin dismissed Xu Yi as an unworthy rival after hearing of his breakthrough.
• Luo Fu bought a Charm Whisper Heart and believed Zhong Ruyi might soon form a superior Life Wheel, enjoying the status she gained from their supposed relationship.
• Long Zhen and Chen Qianqian told Luo Fu that Zhong Ruyi had formed a worthless Life Wheel and demanded that she return their gifts.

After becoming an Inner Sect Disciple, Xu Yi visited his cousin Jiang Xiao and learned that Ye Zhifan was publicly smearing her, so he went to help. At Langya Hall, Li Zhenghe’s companions began discussing his troubles with a woman.

• Luo Fu crushed the Charm Whisper Heart and demanded that Zhong Ruyi repay the two Profound Yellow Pills he still owed her.
• Li Ping told Xu Yi that Song Yuanyou expected him to repay three thousand Profound Yellow Pills within a year and gave him a Ruyi Pearl for staying in contact.
• Xu Yi registered as an Inner Sect Disciple but kept his cave dwelling, then traveled to Cold Star Peak after Jiang Xiao invited him to celebrate his breakthrough.
• Jiang Xiao gave Xu Yi six Profound Yellow Pills, then Shao Zijun arrived and warned that Ye Zhifan was smearing Jiang Xiao at a gathering.
• Jiang Xiao and Shao Zijun rushed to confront Ye Zhifan, and Xu Yi followed to help Jiang Xiao.
• At Langya Hall, Zhang Tai told the gathered cultivators that Li Zhenghe had been saddled with an ugly woman.

At a poetry gathering, Li Zhenghe and the other cultivators falsely accused Jiang Xiao of pursuing him, but Xu Yi interrupted and demanded repayment of a loan Li Zhenghe owed Elder Song. Xu Yi restrained Li Zhenghe and contacted Elder Song, who angrily refused to get involved, leaving Xu Yi to handle the matter himself.

• Zhang Tai spread a story that Jiang Xiao had written love poems for Li Zhenghe, and the gathering mocked her when she arrived.
• Shao Zijun defended Jiang Xiao and accused Li Zhenghe of inventing the story, while Liu Changlun ordered the women to leave.
• Xu Yi entered the pavilion and demanded that Li Zhenghe repay three thousand Profound Yellow Pills owed to Elder Song.
• Xu Yi said he had witnessed Li Zhenghe borrow two thousand Profound Yellow Pills from Elder Song Yuanyou at five percent annual interest, then seized Li Zhenghe when he tried to evade him.
• Xu Yi contacted Elder Song through a Ruyi Pearl, but Elder Song angrily told him to handle the matter himself and ended the connection.

Xu Yi forced Li Zhenghe and Zhang Tai to confess that Ye Zhifan had arranged a scheme against Jiang Xiao, then took them to confront Ye Zhifan at You Yue Peak. The chapter ended with Ye Zhifan threatening Xu Yi as his banquet guests turned hostile.

• Xu Yi used Elder Song and the debt of two thousand Profound Yellow Pills to pressure Li Zhenghe into confessing that Ye Zhifan had made him frame Jiang Xiao.
• Shao Zijun learned that Jiang Xiao had taken the blame for her, while Jiang Xiao smiled through tears at Xu Yi.
• Xu Yi confronted Zhang Tai, who admitted his guilt and gave Jiang Xiao ten Profound Yellow Pills as compensation.
• Xu Yi declared he would deal with Ye Zhifan and marched Li Zhenghe and Zhang Tai toward You Yue Peak despite Jiang Xiao's warning.
• Xu Yi arrived at Ye Zhifan's banquet, where Ye Zhifan threatened him and the gathered guests watched with hostility.

Xu Yi confronted You Yue Peak over Ye Zhifan’s mistreatment of Shao Zijun, defeating Ye Zhifan and forcing witnesses to explain what happened. Shen Ao challenged Xu Yi to answer for storming the peak, and they began a fierce hand-to-hand fight.

• Xu Yi broke Ye Zhifan’s Heaven Shaking Art and knocked him down with a single punch.
• Xu Yi struck Ye Zhifan twice more, leaving him cracked and barely conscious on his knees.
• Shen Ao emerged from seclusion and accused Xu Yi of making trouble at You Yue Peak.
• Xu Yi had Li Zhenghe and Zhang Tai recount the events, prompting the crowd to recognize Ye Zhifan’s wrongdoing.
• Shen Ao demanded that Xu Yi kneel or be beaten, and Xu Yi taunted him into a fight.
• Xu Yi and Shen Ao charged at each other and traded blows in close combat.

Xu Yi defeated Shen Ao with a strange box-like divine ability, then used it to neutralize a golden sword that nearly shattered his Dao Heart. Tao Jin’s vow to surpass Xu Yi was interrupted by Zhang Daohan’s sudden arrival.

• Xu Yi overwhelmed Shen Ao in close combat, then trapped Shen Ao’s Marry-Myself Divine Ability inside a light-box and pinned him to a cliff with a spear.
• Shao Zijun celebrated Xu Yi’s victory as the crowd discussed his rapid rise from menial worker to powerful cultivator.
• Tao Jin watched Xu Yi’s victory and vowed to make him understand, despite feeling left behind.
• A golden sword struck at Xu Yi, but he enclosed it in another box and made it disappear.
• Tao Jin demanded to know what divine ability Xu Yi had used and turned to find Zhang Daohan standing behind him.

After Xu Yi displayed his golden Life Wheel and defended himself against Elder Meng, Shao Yong protected him from punishment and from Zhang Daohan’s attempts to claim him. Xu Yi later went to the Transmission Hall as a newly inducted Inner Sect Disciple to choose a cultivation method.

• Zhang Daohan explained to Tao Jin that Zhong Ruyi’s numerology-based divine ability came from a fortuitous encounter, and Tao Jin vowed to surpass him.
• Shao Yong argued with Zhang Daohan over how to handle Xu Yi and insisted that Xu Yi had been right to stand up for his sister and oppose Ye Zhifan.
• Xu Yi listed Ye Zhifan’s offenses and summoned his pure-gold Life Wheel while Elder Meng questioned him, drawing the attention of hidden observers.
• Shao Yong announced that the Punishment Hall would judge the matter and warned Zhang Daohan not to take Xu Yi from Yinghai Peak.
• The next morning, Xu Yi arrived at the Transmission Hall to choose a cultivation method, and Elder Ye Shangong came out to receive him.

Xu Yi demanded fair treatment from Ye Shangong and threatened to stage a public protest unless the sect gave him resources comparable to Tao Jin. He made good on the threat, leaving Ye Shangong to face pressure from Shao Yong.

• Xu Yi reflected that the Punishment Hall had punished him lightly while sentencing Li Zhenghe, Zhang Tai, and Ye Zhifan far more harshly.
• Jiang Xiao urged Xu Yi to visit home before going to the Chaotic Abyss Sea and choose the Myriad Soldier Art, hinting that the Zhong Household needed his help.
• Ye Shangong asked Xu Yi to record his divine art for the Transmission Hall, and Xu Yi demanded compensation for the resources he had been denied.
• After Ye Shangong dismissed his threat, Xu Yi stripped down to his underpants, wrote “Wronged” on his body, and lay in the plaza outside the Transmission Hall.
• Shao Yong contacted Ye Shangong and challenged him for treating Xu Yi unfairly.

Xu Yi confronted Ye Shangong over the Transmission Hall’s unfair allocation of resources and pressured him into offering compensation. The dispute ended with Ye Shangong granting Xu Yi the Profound Yellow Pill formula after he completed the required oath and blood restriction.

• Xu Yi staged a public grievance outside Ye Shangong’s quarters, while Ye Shangong learned that the crowd had rallied to Xu Yi’s side.
• Ye Shangong summoned Xu Yi and offered to arrange more resources for him, but Xu Yi threatened to make the dispute a public scandal ahead of the Transmission Elder election.
• Xu Yi rejected a receipt and delayed compensation, then asked for the Profound Yellow Pill formula.
• Ye Shangong agreed to give Xu Yi the formula and sent an attendant to begin the oath and blood-restriction procedure.

Xu Yi left the Southern Pole Sect and traveled to Jin State, where he learned about the kingdom’s rulers while enjoying the capital’s food and bustle. He reached the Duke of Lu State Mansion and was welcomed as Zhong Ruyi by his adoptive mother, who fainted from excitement.

• Xu Yi gave Ye Shangong the Myriad Soldier Art, collected his mission token, and prepared to leave for the Chaotic Abyss Sea in fifteen days.
• Xu Yi searched the Abyss of Silence for the little wolf dog but could not contact it, then left the Southern Pole Sect.
• Xu Yi arrived in Fanyang City, learned about Jin State’s royal family and recent conflict with Southern Chu, and bought large quantities of local delicacies.
• Xu Yi went to the Duke of Lu State Mansion and greeted Zhong Ruyi’s mother, who recognized him and fainted from excitement.

Xu Yi returned to the Duke of Lu State’s household and attended a banquet celebrating Zhong Ruyi’s return and Life Wheel breakthrough. Zhong Shu crashed the feast, challenged Zhong Lin’s claim to the title, and left Zhong Lin collapsed after revealing that his military defeat might not have been an accident.

• Madam Zhong welcomed Xu Yi warmly, while Zhong Lin greeted him with reserve and the household held a grand banquet for the clan.
• Zhong Shu barged into Huarong Hall, insulted Madam Zhong, and demanded that Zhong Lin surrender the Duke of Lu State’s title.
• Zhong Shu claimed Zhong Lin’s cultivation had fallen after the Longhu Army’s defeat at Mount Langya and argued that Zhong Ruyi was unfit to inherit.
• Zhong Shu hinted that Zhong Lin’s disastrous turn at Mount Langya had been arranged, and Zhong Lin spat blood and collapsed.
• Zhong Shu declared that he would take charge of the Zhong family and reached for Madam Zhong as the banquet hall erupted into chaos.

Xu Yi subdued and executed Zhong Shu in the Zhong family ancestral hall, then learned that Ancestor Ku Shangren had conspired against the family to obtain its Star Core Sand. After tending to Madam Zhong and Zhong Lin, Xu Yi went to the palace to attend morning court, where his arrival drew the officials’ attention.

• Xu Yi stopped Zhong Shu from attacking Madam Zhong, restrained him, and brought him before the Zhong family ancestors.
• Xu Yi declared the ancestors had decreed Zhong Shu’s execution and killed him by cutting away his flesh until only his skeleton remained.
• Huang Mei confirmed that Ancestor Ku Shangren had manipulated Zhong Shu and spread word of the Zhong family’s Star Core Sand to seize it.
• Xu Yi comforted Madam Zhong, helped her fall asleep, and found Zhong Lin unconscious with ragged breathing.
• Xu Yi ordered the old steward to prepare the Duke’s ceremonial guard and carriage, then traveled to the palace to attend morning court.
• Xu Yi stepped down at the palace gates as officials discussed his arrival, and another grand procession appeared.