Chapter Summaries

Zhang Qingyuan broke Fan Hongrui’s strongest martial skill with a single sword strike and defeated him. The chapter left Fan Hongrui gravely wounded and helpless before Zhang Qingyuan.

• Fan Hongrui unleashed Flowing Cloud Heavenly Sleeve, confident that his ultimate move would overwhelm Zhang Qingyuan.
• Zhang Qingyuan raised the Black Sky Longsword and released a devastating River Sea Sword Momentum strike.
• Zhang Qingyuan’s sword shattered Flowing Cloud Heavenly Sleeve and sent a violent shockwave through the surrounding area.
• The backlash wounded Fan Hongrui, and Zhang Qingyuan’s remaining Sword Momentum blasted him into a distant hill.
• Zhang Qingyuan crossed to the defeated Fan Hongrui and remarked that his backing was not as powerful as he had imagined.

Zhang Qingyuan defeated Fan Hongrui with a sword that fused three perfection-grade martial skills. Fan Hongrui begged for his life and revealed that an unfinished Spirit Artifact remained in the ruins of the Spirit Sea Sword Sect.

• Zhang Qingyuan's sword broke Fan Hongrui's Flowing Cloud Heavenly Sleeve and left him gravely wounded.
• Fan Hongrui knelt and kowtowed, offering to become Zhang Qingyuan's servant and surrender his possessions and martial skill.
• Zhang Qingyuan dismissed Fan Hongrui's offer and threatened to kill him.
• Fan Hongrui revealed that the Spirit Sea Sword Sect had been forging a Spirit Artifact before its destruction, and that it was still being nurtured in the Fire Vein at the sect's gate.

Zhang Qingyuan killed Fan Hongrui after learning of a rumored Spirit Artifact, then left the battlefield with the Snake Tongue Fruit, the serpent’s body, and Fan Hongrui’s Storage Bag. He found a secluded place to inspect his gains and prepare to refine the fruit.

• Zhang Qingyuan questioned Fan Hongrui about the Spirit Artifact rumor, grew suspicious, and killed him with a sudden strike.
• Zhang Qingyuan took Fan Hongrui’s Storage Bag, collected the Snake Tongue Fruit and the giant serpent’s body, and left the area.
• The Bystander Cultivators watched Zhang Qingyuan depart, fearing his strength and decisiveness; some noticed valuable serpent remains scattered nearby.
• Zhang Qingyuan found a secluded place, set up several formations, and began inspecting his gains before refining the Snake Tongue Fruit.

After killing Fan Hongrui, Zhang Qingyuan searched his Storage Bag, found a weakened Natal Magic Treasure, and used a Snake Tongue Fruit to refine the Royal Jelly’s remaining power. Three days later, he reached True Essence Second Layer Perfection and prepared to head toward the Spirit Sea Sword Sect’s ruins.

• Zhang Qingyuan found three hundred mid-grade spirit stones, several Magic Tools, and the weakened Jun Mountain Natal Magic Treasure in Fan Hongrui's Storage Bag.
• Zhang Qingyuan stored Jun Mountain for later and decided to sell Fan Hongrui's medicinal pills, which he did not trust.
• Zhang Qingyuan sat on the White Jade Cushion and ate the Snake Tongue Fruit, enduring its scorching medicinal power as it refined the Royal Jelly within him.
• After three days of cultivation, Zhang Qingyuan reached True Essence Second Layer Perfection and anticipated advancing to the Third Layer after further training.
• Zhang Qingyuan stood and looked toward the Spirit Sea Sword Sect's ruins, expecting the Mountain Protecting Formation to be nearly broken.

Zhang Qingyuan raced toward the Spirit Sea Sword Sect ruins, hoping to claim its unfinished Spirit Artifact and other treasures while following the strange reaction of his Linghai Token. He arrived as the Mountain Protecting Formation was breached, leaving the ruins open to the gathered cultivators.

• Zhang Qingyuan decided the unfinished Spirit Artifact was worth the risks, despite the enemies and Black-Robed Formation Master he expected to face.
• Zhang Qingyuan examined his Linghai Token and saw it glow and tremble as he approached the Spirit Sea Sword Sect.
• Zhang Qingyuan hurried toward the Sect Gate, avoiding True Essence Realm Great Demons and passing signs of battles along the way.
• Zhang Qingyuan spotted cultivators attacking the still-intact Mountain Protecting Formation and sped toward the Sect Gate.
• The Mountain Protecting Formation was breached in a deafening explosion.

Zhang Qingyuan raced toward the Spirit Sea Sword Sect ruins as cultivators converged on its entrance, but a domineering saber-wielding man blocked the way and threatened to kill anyone who crossed his line. The chapter ended with Zhang Qingyuan and the other arrivals halted before the Line of Sky Sect Gate.

• Zhang Qingyuan saw cultivators entering the Spirit Sea Sword Sect and hurried toward its gate to avoid losing the initiative.
• Zhang Qingyuan sensed more than a hundred cultivators rushing toward the Line of Sky Sect Gate, with many more likely approaching.
• A massive roar from a saber-wielding man sent nearby Spirit Essence Realm cultivators tumbling from the air.
• The saber-wielding man struck Zhang Qingyuan with a sweeping blade and sent him flying.
• The man carved a vast gully across the entrance, declared the gate off limits, and forced the arriving cultivators to stop.

Nangong Bantian barred Spirit Essence Realm cultivators from entering the Spirit Sea Sword Sect ruins and killed one who challenged him. When he tried to stop a bedraggled young man, the youth answered with a sudden sword strike and asked whether it qualified him to enter.

• Nangong Bantian killed a Spirit Essence Realm cultivator who tried to explain that the weaker cultivators only wanted scraps from the ruins.
• Nangong Bantian allowed True Essence Realm cultivators to pass while keeping the Spirit Essence Realm crowd trapped outside the Line of Sky Gorge gates.
• A True Essence Realm youth praised Nangong Bantian for supposedly protecting the weaker cultivators, while the rogue cultivators suppressed their anger.
• As Nangong Bantian prepared to enter the sect gate, he spotted a bedraggled young man slipping in and questioned whether he qualified.
• The young man unleashed a powerful Sword Light at Nangong Bantian and asked whether the strike qualified him.

Zhang Qingyuan confronted Nangong Bantian and forced the Mad Saber of the South Sea back with a single sword strike. After Zhang Qingyuan gave his name, the crowd recognized his remarkable rise and recent advancement, leaving Nangong Bantian unable to advance or retreat.

• Zhang Qingyuan's sword collided with Nangong Bantian's blade and drove him back more than ten zhang.
• Nangong Bantian demanded to know Zhang Qingyuan's identity and answered the setback with killing intent.
• Zhang Qingyuan introduced himself as a disciple of Cloud Water Sect.
• The crowd recognized Zhang Qingyuan as the former Spirit Essence Realm prodigy and the man who had killed Fan Hongrui with one sword.
• Witnesses marveled that Zhang Qingyuan had advanced from late True Essence Second Layer to Second Layer Perfection in only a few days.
• Nangong Bantian heard the crowd's discussion and found himself unable to advance or retreat.

Zhang Qingyuan and Nangong Bantian’s confrontation ended without a fight when cultivators rushed toward the Spirit Sea Sword Sect Ruins. Zhang Qingyuan entered by a different route, while the remaining spectators followed the stronger cultivators into the ruins.

• Nangong Bantian hesitated to attack Zhang Qingyuan after learning he was a Cloud Water Sect genius, despite his resentment over being forced back.
• A clash within the Spirit Sea Sword Sect Ruins drew the watching True Essence Realm Cultivators away from the standoff.
• Nangong Bantian claimed he was sparing Cloud Water Sect’s face and hurried into the ruins.
• Zhang Qingyuan reflected that Nangong Bantian’s carelessness had helped his sword strike succeed, then took another route into the ruins to avoid him.
• The Spirit Essence Realm spectators decided to enter the vast ruins and search for overlooked treasures.

Zhang Qingyuan explored the Spirit Sea Sword Sect ruins, found a map in a dead disciple’s Cave Dwelling, and headed for the Inheritance Secret Ground. A black-robed cultivator was also racing there, hoping to find something his Master had mentioned.

• Zhang Qingyuan chose the secluded woodland garden over the ruined palace complexes and entered a Cave Dwelling.
• He found a skeleton and searched the Cave Dwelling, recovering a map of the Spirit Sea Sword Sect's Sect Gate among the modest supplies.
• Zhang Qingyuan memorized the map, identified the nearby Inheritance Secret Ground as his priority, and left the other areas unexplored because he needed to compete for a Spirit Artifact.
• He destroyed the Cave Dwelling to bury the skeleton, then flew toward the Inheritance Secret Ground.
• A black-robed cultivator also hurried toward the Inheritance Secret Ground, hoping the thing his Master had mentioned was still there.

Wang, a surviving disciple of the Spirit Sea Sword Sect, raced to claim his sect’s inheritance after revealing that he had deliberately sabotaged Zhang Qingyuan. Zhang reached the Inheritance Secret Ground and found Niu Jingru cornered by Jin Yingpeng and his men.

• Wang recalled his hatred of the Cloud Water Sect and admitted he had intentionally obstructed Zhang during the Gold Devouring Bee attack.
• Wang hurried toward the Spirit Sea Sword Sect’s inheritance, hoping to seize it and find a particular item.
• Zhang reached the area marked on his map and heard fighting near the Inheritance Secret Ground.
• Zhang silently approached the battle site and saw Jin Yingpeng’s group surrounding the badly injured Niu Jingru.
• Niu Jingru refused to surrender the item, and Jin Yingpeng’s men launched a combined attack to kill him.

Niu Jingru was overwhelmed by the Southwest Three Bandits after unleashing his strongest sword technique, but Zhang Qingyuan arrived and saved him from Jin Yingpeng’s fatal strike. After Zhang Qingyuan identified himself as a Cloud Water Sect inner disciple and warned the bandits to retreat, Jin Yingpeng ordered an attack on both disciples.

• Niu Jingru unleashed the Crimson Flame Scorching Sky Sword against Jin Yingpeng and the other two cultivators, but their combined attack wounded him and left him unable to resist.
• Jin Yingpeng launched a final punch at Niu Jingru, but Zhang Qingyuan suddenly appeared and knocked Jin Yingpeng back with a counterstrike.
• Niu Jingru warned Zhang Qingyuan that his opponents were the Southwest Three Bandits and offered to hold them off so Zhang Qingyuan could escape.
• Zhang Qingyuan introduced himself as an Inner Sect Disciple of the Cloud Water Sect's Mystic Water Peak lineage and told the bandits to retreat.
• Jin Yingpeng decided to kill Zhang Qingyuan and Niu Jingru to silence them, and the three bandits launched attacks against both disciples.

Zhang Qingyuan killed the Southwest Three Bandits in a few breaths and rescued Niu Jingru, who was stunned by his strength. As Zhang prepared to leave, Niu Jingru offered to share a great opportunity with him.

• Jin Yingpeng and the other two bandits attacked Zhang Qingyuan, who answered with a sword strike that severely injured Jin Yingpeng.
• The other two bandits fled, but Zhang Qingyuan pursued and killed them with his sword.
• Zhang Qingyuan finished off Jin Yingpeng and searched the bandits' Storage Bags while Niu Jingru struggled to comprehend what had happened.
• Niu Jingru thanked Zhang Qingyuan, and the two exchanged Contact Methods and agreed to address each other as Daoist Friends.
• As Zhang Qingyuan prepared to leave, Niu Jingru asked him to wait and offered to share a great opportunity.

Niu Jingru explained the Spirit Sea Sword Sect’s Inheritance Cave Mansion and its precious stone-carved inheritances to Zhang Qingyuan, then led him inside to investigate. Black-Robed Cultivator Wang arrived afterward and entered, determined to claim the inheritances for himself.

• Niu Jingru told Zhang Qingyuan that the Inheritance Cave Mansion preserved powerful Techniques and Martial Arts in stone carvings, and revealed that the Southwest Three Bandits had attacked him to learn its entry mark.
• Zhang Qingyuan and Niu Jingru flew past the ruined Inheritance Hall and reached the damaged Stone Peak containing the cave mansion.
• Niu Jingru used a Formation Disk to find the way through the formation Light Curtains, and Zhang Qingyuan followed him inside.
• Black-Robed Cultivator Wang arrived, feared the inheritances had been plundered, and rushed into the cave mansion after them.

Zhang Qingyuan and Niu Jingru fought through the spirits guarding an inheritance chamber and defeated six powerful True Essence Realm spirits. The Inheritance Stone Carving blazed with light, appearing to activate as the two turned their attention to it.

• Zhang Qingyuan and Niu Jingru entered an intact inheritance chamber, where Zhang Qingyuan explained that the gathered spirits and their Spiritual Power were part of the inheritance trial.
• Zhang Qingyuan and Niu Jingru defeated the chamber’s initial spirits and approached the Inheritance Stone Carving.
• Six True Essence Realm spirit shadows appeared, and Zhang Qingyuan killed the first three while Niu Jingru fought the other three.
• Niu Jingru killed one spirit but was nearly struck by the two remaining shadows, until Zhang Qingyuan cut them down with a flash of Sword Light.
• The final spirits’ power returned to the Inheritance Stone Carving, which blazed with radiance as Zhang Qingyuan and Niu Jingru looked toward it.

Niu Jingru tested the Spirit Sea Sword Sect’s Inheritance Stone Carving and confirmed it was safe, allowing him and Zhang Qingyuan to claim its inheritances. Zhang Qingyuan gained the Four Seas Suppressing Heaven Palm and advanced to the peak of the True Essence Third Layer, leaving him eager to see if he could progress further.

• Niu Jingru volunteered to test the Inheritance Stone Carving first, and Zhang Qingyuan agreed to let him try.
• Niu Jingru safely inherited the Heavenly Flow Returning Yuan Hand and discovered that the stone carvings could also slightly increase cultivation, though a person could accept only three or four inheritances.
• Zhang Qingyuan and Niu Jingru cleared another inheritance chamber, where they killed five True Essence Third Layer Spirit Shadows.
• Zhang Qingyuan inherited the quasi-Yellow Tier Four Seas Suppressing Heaven Palm at minor accomplishment and advanced from the peak of the True Essence Second Layer to the True Essence Third Layer.

Zhang Qingyuan and Niu Jingru explored deeper into the Spirit Sea Sword Sect’s Inheritance Cave Mansion, seeking stronger inheritances. In the shattered core chamber, Zhang Qingyuan sensed the Dao Essence Remnant left by the overwhelming strike that had destroyed the space.

• Zhang Qingyuan discovered that his Spiritual Sense limited how many inheritances he could receive before needing time to digest them, so he decided to prioritize higher-grade inheritances.
• After realizing that stronger Spirit Shadows and chambers farther inward indicated better inheritances, Zhang Qingyuan persuaded Niu Jingru to explore toward the cave mansion’s core.
• Zhang Qingyuan and Niu Jingru crossed the damaged, trap-filled passages, and Zhang Qingyuan saved Niu Jingru from a concealed spatial restriction.
• The two entered the collapsing core space, where Zhang Qingyuan saw the lingering image of a Sky-Covering Hand crushing the realm and recognized its trace as Dao Essence.

Zhang Qingyuan studied the Dao Rhyme left by a Great Power’s strike and advanced his Four Seas Suppressing Heaven Palm to Great Accomplishment. He and Niu Jingru then discovered an intact, ancient Inheritance Stone Carving in the ruined core chamber.

• Zhang Qingyuan touched the lingering Dao Rhyme and witnessed the Great Power’s palm destroy the Inheritance Cave Mansion three hundred years earlier.
• Zhang Qingyuan gained insight into the path of suppression, raising his Four Seas Suppressing Heaven Palm to Great Accomplishment.
• Zhang Qingyuan told Niu Jingru that the Dao Rhyme had dispersed, but did not reveal the insights he had gained.
• Zhang Qingyuan and Niu Jingru surveyed the shattered core chamber and found an intact Inheritance Stone Carving at its edge.

Zhang Qingyuan approached the last inheritance in the shattered core space and triggered a trial set by the ancient cultivator Qianyuanzi. He resolved to unleash his strongest attack against Qianyuanzi’s Void Wheel barrier to claim the inheritance.

• Niu Jingru declined to compete for the final inheritance because he had already accepted three inheritances and lacked the strength for another.
• Zhang Qingyuan thanked Niu Jingru and cautiously approached the Inheritance Stone Tablet while Niu Jingru gathered fragments of broken tablets.
• A golden figure appeared and introduced himself as Ye Wentian, Qianyuanzi of the Spirit Sea Sword Sect, then created a Void Wheel barrier as a trial for the inheritance.
• Zhang Qingyuan considered the trial’s meaning and concluded that he had to attack with all his strength, then released his full aura.

Zhang Qingyuan unleashed his full strength against Qianyuanzi’s inheritance trial, astonishing Niu Jingru with power comparable to the Sect’s leading genius. Qianyuanzi’s conscious inheritance spirit doubted Zhang had understood the trial’s intent but watched to see whether he could overcome it by force as his sword strike crashed into the Heaven and Earth Circle.

• Zhang Qingyuan’s immense Aura pressure forced Niu Jingru back and convinced him that Zhang’s strength rivaled Yan Kuangtu’s.
• Zhang Qingyuan drew the Black Sky Longsword and gathered his swordsmanship into a powerful attack.
• Qianyuanzi recognized the sword, reflected on the Spirit Sea Sword Sect’s apparent destruction, and explained that the trial was meant to be broken by understanding the Cycle of Heaven and Earth Force.
• Qianyuanzi acknowledged that extraordinary strength might also break the trial and watched expectantly as Zhang Qingyuan attacked.
• Zhang Qingyuan unleashed a sweeping Water Intent sword strike that slammed into Qianyuanzi’s Heaven and Earth Circle.