Chapter Summaries

Li Xingyun revealed that most of the Dark Nether Cult were Bad People, while Yuan Tiangang and Xiao Xuan watched their scheme unfold. Xiao Xuan then confronted Zhu Yougui, and their battle continued as Zhu Yougui repelled his third sword technique.

• Li Xingyun declared his identity and called on the Bad People, prompting most of the Dark Nether Cult to kneel and pledge allegiance to him.
• Yuan Tiangang told Xiao Xuan that he still intended to help Li Xingyun restore the Great Tang, then sent Xiao Xuan to deal with Zhu Yougui.
• Meng Po freed Ji Ruxue and revealed that she was a Bad People infiltrator, while Yuan Tiangang and Xiao Xuan appeared before Zhu Yougui.
• Xiao Xuan revealed that he had killed the Dark Nether Cult's Four Yama Kings and attacked Zhu Yougui with three forms of the Green Lotus Sword Song.
• Zhu Yougui shattered Xiao Xuan's Morning Glow sword radiance, continuing their fight.

Xiao Xuan killed Zhu Yougui, while Wen Tao escaped with Dragon Spring, and Yuan Tiangang urged Li Xingyun to claim the throne. After reflecting on his choices and Xiao Xuan’s advice, Li Xingyun began to consider taking control of his own fate and rebuilding the Great Tang.

• Xiao Xuan defeated and killed Zhu Yougui after Yuan Tiangang told him to stop holding back, while Wen Tao escaped with Dragon Spring.
• Yuan Tiangang urged Li Xingyun to ascend the throne in Jiaolan Hall and restore the Great Tang, but Li Xingyun questioned whether ruling would cost him his sense of self.
• Xiao Xuan advised Li Xingyun to choose his own path and take control of his fate, then offered to help him if he decided to fight for supremacy.
• Li Xingyun recalled his father teaching him to write “Tang” and wondered whether he could truly rebuild the Great Tang by taking the throne.
• Xiao Xuan left for Qingcheng, and Li Xingyun watched the sunrise before deciding that he might be the one to tear through the night.

Li Xingyun accepted Yuan Tiangang’s support for restoring Great Tang but rejected claiming the throne before he had the people’s backing, ordering Yuan Tiangang to build up an army and help Xiao Xuan. A month later, Yuan Tiangang brought Xiao Xuan gold and scriptures, while Xiao Xuan chose to hire displaced people to build his Daoist establishment on Mount Qingcheng.

• Yuan Tiangang and the Bad People pledged themselves to Li Xingyun’s restoration of Great Tang after he refused to claim the throne immediately.
• Li Xingyun explained that he would travel among the people before rising up, and tasked Yuan Tiangang with recruiting soldiers and securing horses.
• Yuan Tiangang praised Xiao Xuan’s martial and scholarly talent, and Li Xingyun ordered him to provide Xiao Xuan with funds and Daoist scriptures.
• A month after Xiao Xuan returned to Mount Qingcheng, Yuan Tiangang brought him a thousand taels of gold from Li Xingyun.
• Xiao Xuan declined Yuan Tiangang’s offer of workers and chose to hire displaced people and beggars from Yuzhou City, paying them wages to build the palaces.

After five years of traveling and gathering nine young disciples, Xiao Xuan returned to Mount Qingcheng, named his new lineage the Zhengxuan Dao, and left the children in Yang Shuzi’s care. He then joined Yuan Tiangang, Li Xingyun, and other allies at Qianling Mausoleum as the feudal lords gathered over the Dragon Spring Treasure.

• Xiao Xuan traveled across the feudal states for five years, gathering nine children to train as disciples.
• Yuan Tiangang found Xiao Xuan in Xiangyang and told him to meet at Qianling Mausoleum in half a year to discuss their plans.
• Xiao Xuan returned to Mount Qingcheng, where Yang Shuzi welcomed him alongside Daoist Xingxuan and two children.
• Xiao Xuan named his lineage the Zhengxuan Dao and left the young disciples with Yang Shuzi to study and train.
• Xiao Xuan joined Yuan Tiangang, Li Xingyun, the Empress, the Qi Prince, and the Qianjiang Poison King, and they headed to Qianling Mausoleum.
• The feudal lords gathered at Qianling Mausoleum, recognized Li Xingyun, and exchanged formal greetings.

Li Xingyun revealed his plan to restore Great Tang and forced the gathered feudal lords to accompany him to Luoyang, backed by a prepared army. At the Salt Marsh, he used his blood to open the entrance to the Dragon Spring Treasure and led the others down its stairs.

• Li Xingyun announced that he would ascend the throne in Luoyang in half a year and asked the feudal lords to support Great Tang's restoration.
• Li Siyuan and the other feudal lords tried to delay returning with Li Xingyun, but Yuan Tiangang, Li Maozhen, the disguised Zhu Youzhen, and the Dark Nether Cult declared their support.
• Xiao Xuan challenged the feudal lords' sincerity, and Li Siyuan and the others agreed to accompany Li Xingyun to Luoyang when a prepared army closed in around them.
• Li Xingyun led the group to the Salt Marsh and plunged Dragon Spring into the salt lake, causing a coffin-like entrance to emerge.
• Li Xingyun used his blood to open the coffin and descended into the Dragon Spring Treasure with the others as the stairway torches lit.

Xiao Xuan helped Li Xingyun restore the Great Tang and establish its new government after they returned to Luoyang with the hidden treasure. The dynasty began rebuilding and recovering its former territories, while Xiao Xuan left the Orthodox Profound Sect under Yang Shuzi's supervision.

• Xiao Xuan found and took a mysterious fragment of Strange Iron from the treasure chamber as the Bad People loaded the riches onto carriages.
• Li Xingyun and Yuan Tiangang brought the treasure and the warlords to Luoyang, where Li Xingyun was swiftly enthroned and proclaimed the restoration of the Great Tang under the Zhongxing era name.
• Yuan Tiangang announced Song Shuiyun's appointment as Empress and granted titles to Yuan Tiangang, Li Huan, Yang Shuzi, and Xiao Xuan.
• Xiao Xuan helped Li Xingyun establish a cabinet, investigate officials, and issue livelihood policies while the restored Great Tang focused on recovery rather than subduing the warlords.
• Xiao Xuan visited the Orthodox Profound Sect, taught its disciples cultivation techniques, and left Yang Shuzi to supervise them.

Xiao Xuan helped Li Xingyun unite and restore the realm before retiring to Qingcheng, where he cultivated and watched generations pass. After nearly two hundred years, Xiao Xuan attempted to ascend with his primordial spirit, but the two metal pieces merged and carried him away to an unknown destination.

• Xiao Xuan and Yuan Tiangang eliminated the regional lords’ threat, and Xiao Xuan resigned from office and retired into seclusion.
• Li Xingyun left the throne, joined Xiao Xuan at Qingcheng, and studied how to advance beyond the Great Heavenly Position.
• Xiao Xuan explained the Primordial Position and its grades to Li Xingyun while they watched the young disciples train.
• Xiao Xuan remained secluded as Li Yi ruled well and his companions and disciples passed away over the following generations.
• Yuan Tiangang lived nearly five hundred years before entering a vast tomb, while Xiao Xuan lived nearly two hundred years and advanced but failed to transcend the Xiantian Realm.
• Xiao Xuan attempted ascension with his primordial spirit, but the two pieces of metal merged and whisked him away.

Xiao Xuan continued to pose as a good-for-nothing prince to stay clear of palace dangers, then visited the Thousand Gold Terrace and flirted with Ye Ruoyi. The chapter left him jokingly negotiating with Xiao Ruofeng to avoid another punishment.

• Xiao Xuan recalled how he had pretended to be a wastrel after memorizing the Nation-Splitting Sword Technique, while his father, Xiao Ruojin, scolded him for neglecting martial arts.
• Xiao Qing tried to plead for Xiao Xuan, but Xiao Ruojin still sent him away after berating him.
• Xiao Xuan invited Xiao Lingchen to go have fun, but Xiao Lingchen refused because he feared his father's discipline.
• At the Thousand Gold Terrace, Xiao Xuan encountered Xiao Chuhe and Ye Ruoyi, then asked Ye Ruoyi to marry him.
• Xiao Ruofeng rebuked Xiao Xuan for his behavior, and Xiao Xuan asked him to spare him from kneeling again in public.

Xiao Xuan explained his exceptional cultivation and arranged for Mingde Emperor’s surviving fourth prince to impersonate him in Apocalypse City. The next day, Xiao Xuan attended lessons at Jixia Academy, where the other royal and noble children were already gathered.

• Xiao Xuan reviewed the martial realms and reflected on how his knowledge from several lifetimes had made him an extraordinary cultivator by age seven.
• Xiao Xuan revealed that he had saved Mingde Emperor’s fourth prince and arranged for him to serve as his lookalike and shadow in Apocalypse City.
• Xiao Xuan warned the young man never to try to replace him, then gave him the Nation-Splitting Sword Technique and ordered him to train and study in secret.
• Xiao Xuan went to Jixia Academy the next day, where Xie Xuan and the other royal and noble children were in class.

Xiao Xuan spent years neglecting his studies and stirring up trouble in Apocalypse City while new martial-world experts rose to prominence. Nearly a year after slipping away from the city under a human-skin mask, he arrived in Luoyang City and settled in at an inn.

• Xiao Xuan tried to invite Xiao Qing, Ye Ruoyi, and Xiao Jingning out, but they all refused.
• Xie Xuan scolded Xiao Xuan for drinking in class, and Xiao Xuan joked about his ambitions before falling asleep at his desk.
• Xiao Xuan continued causing trouble in Apocalypse City, holding arena challenges until the person in the palace eventually stopped trying to send him away.
• Thor, the Medical Immortal, and the Poison Immortal rose to prominence as powerful, elusive figures in the martial world.
• Xiao Xuan left a shadow behind in Apocalypse City, traveled to Luoyang City in disguise, and ate at an inn.

Xiao Xuan defeated the young lord and his father in a tavern, then fought Li Hanyi and revealed himself as the Medical Immortal. After years of traveling and challenging martial artists, he heard that Ye Dingzhi had abducted Consort Xuan, fallen in love with her, and invaded Northern Li to secure her freedom.

• Xiao Xuan severed the meridians of the young lord's attackers and struck down the powerful middle-aged man who came to avenge them.
• Xiao Xuan identified Li Hanyi as the Snow Moon Sword Immortal, fought her, broke her mask, and left before she could stop him.
• Xiao Xuan traveled across several lands, challenged renowned martial artists, and spread the Medical Immortal's fame.
• Xiao Xuan visited Master Wuyou at Cold Water Temple, where they discussed Buddhist teachings and became friends.
• Xiao Xuan heard that Ye Dingzhi had abducted Consort Xuan, fallen in love with her, had a son with her, and led Beyond Heavens in an invasion of Northern Li.

After nearly ten years away, Xiao Xuan stopped at Snowfall Mountain Villa and found the banished Xiao Chuhe crippled and running an inn. Xiao Chuhe accepted the Nine Yang Manual as the cure and became Xiao Xuan’s disciple, leaving with the text memorized.

• Xiao Xuan traveled through the martial world, broke through into the Spirit Wanderer Mysterious Realm, and learned that Xiao Chuhe had been banished from Apocalypse City.
• On his way to Snow Moon City, Xiao Xuan stopped at Snowfall Mountain Villa and recognized its gloomy innkeeper as Xiao Chuhe.
• Xiao Xuan diagnosed a sinister force blocking Xiao Chuhe’s hidden meridians and explained several possible ways to cure him.
• Xiao Chuhe chose the Nine Yang Manual and promised to honor Xiao Xuan as his teacher.
• Xiao Xuan wrote out the manual, and Xiao Chuhe memorized it after reading it several times.

Xiao Xuan met Yue Ji and Ming Hou on his journey and gave them insights to help advance their cultivation. In Snow Moon City, Baili Dongjun recognized Xiao Xuan beneath his disguise and learned why he had lived freely in the martial world; Xiao Xuan asked him to keep his identity secret.

• Xiao Xuan left Snowfall Mountain Villa and met Yue Ji and Ming Hou, who had reached the peak of the Great Free and Easy Realm.
• Xiao Xuan gave Yue Ji and Ming Hou a booklet on Half-Step Divine Wandering and Divine Wandering, then ordered them to develop their assassin pavilions.
• Xiao Xuan arrived at Eastward Return Tavern and asked Baili Dongjun whether his new wine was ready.
• Baili Dongjun saw through Xiao Xuan's disguise and asked him to reveal his face, then recognized him as Prince Xuan from Tianqi.
• Xiao Xuan explained that his shadow had let him enjoy years of freedom in the martial world, asked Baili Dongjun to keep his identity secret, and said he had no interest in the Supreme position.

Xiao Xuan spent the spring in Snow Moon City, where he met Ye Ruoyi and attended the Hundred Flowers Festival. The festival ended with Li Hanyi challenging him, and the two faced off in a clash of sword techniques.

• Baili Dongjun discussed the limits of human strength and the danger of the Red King, while revealing that Xie Zhize might know about the prince's condition.
• Xiao Xuan followed the sound of Ye Ruoyi's qin and met her in a courtyard, where she offered to brew him tea.
• Xiao Xuan spent the following months practicing and relaxing in Snow Moon City, and Tang Lian told him he had reached the Free and Easy Earth Realm.
• At the Hundred Flowers Festival, Snow Moon City's young disciples displayed their talents, and Ye Ruoyi's sword dance drew attention.
• Xie Xuan left the festival after exchanging taunts with Li Hanyi, who arrived and challenged Xiao Xuan to a sword fight.
• Li Hanyi's Moonlit Flower Morning clashed with Xiao Xuan's Myriad Swords Return to the Sect, and she blocked his strike near her throat.

Xiao Xuan traveled to an immortal island in the East Sea and fought the powerful Daoist Mo Yi in a battle that shook the sea and drew attention from Apocalypse City. After Xiao Xuan left, Qi Tianchen reunited with Mo Yi and challenged his continued attempt to revive his dead younger sister.

• Xiao Xuan flew across the East Sea and encountered Mo Yi on an island, where they began fighting.
• Xiao Xuan and Mo Yi exchanged hundreds of blows, using the Five-Thunder Heavenly Fist, the Son of Heaven's sword, and the Cloud-Deciding Sword Intent.
• Qi Tianchen sensed the battle from the Imperial Astronomy Bureau and sent his consciousness toward the East Sea, while a black-clad figure at Heaven Sword Pavilion recognized Xiao Xuan's aura.
• After the battle left both men battered and the seas disturbed, Xiao Xuan sensed someone approaching and flew away.
• Qi Tianchen arrived and greeted Mo Yi as his junior brother, then questioned why he still sought to revive his younger sister.

Xiao Xuan subdued a giant python on Snake Island, used the Six Buddhist Powers to shrink it, and returned to Apocalypse City after years away. He prepared a hidden pool beneath Pastoral Residence, then summoned the man impersonating him at the Xuan Prince's Residence, who accepted that their meeting was inevitable.

• Mo Yi declared that he would revive his younger sister and left Qi Tianchen, believing the gifted man he had fought might help him find a way.
• Xiao Xuan fought the giant python on Snake Island, froze its eyes, and subdued it with the Power of Knowing Others' Minds.
• Xiao Xuan used the Divine Foot Power to shrink the python into a small snake and took it with him to Apocalypse City.
• Xiao Xuan reached Pastoral Residence, dug a secret passage to the moat, and made an underground pool for the python.
• Xiao Xuan sent a voice transmission to the man in the Xuan Prince's Residence, who recognized that Xiao Xuan had returned and resigned himself to their meeting.

Xiao Xuan reunited with Xiao En, brought him into his service, and visited the Mingde Emperor with Xiao Qing. The emperor revealed that he knew Xiao Xuan had returned, while Xiao Chong arrived at court, leaving Xiao Xuan’s intentions in the succession struggle unresolved.

• Xiao Xuan met Xiao En in the Pastoral Residence’s secret chamber, granted him the Xiao surname, and gave him a mask to use while serving under the name Xiao En.
• Xiao Xuan introduced Xiao En to Dongfang Yao and went with him to the Xuan Prince’s Residence, where Xiao Qing arrived and said the Mingde Emperor had sent her to visit.
• Xiao Xuan accompanied Xiao Qing and Dongfang Yao to Tai'an Hall, where the Mingde Emperor confirmed he knew the prince had been away and tested whether he wanted the throne.
• Xiao Chong arrived to pay his respects to the Mingde Emperor, who regarded him as upright and steady while remaining wary of Xiao Xuan.

Xiao Xuan met with Xiao Chong at the palace, prompting the princes to speculate about his intentions and alliances. At the Xuan Prince’s Residence, Ji Xue arrived with the newly updated Golden Ranking, which listed the realm’s leading martial artists.

• Mingde Emperor reminded Xiao Xuan that the princes were siblings before dismissing him and the others from Tai'an Hall.
• Xiao Xuan invited Xiao Chong to visit his residence, and Xiao Chong and Shao Han wondered whether the meeting was a performance or an attempt to persuade him.
• Xiao Yu heard that Xiao Xuan and Xiao Chong had met and concluded they were trying to intimidate him by appearing allied.
• Ji Xue visited Xiao Xuan and presented the updated Golden Ranking, including its Fine Jade and Peerless rankings.

Xiao Xuan continued posing as an idle prince while the Peerless Ranking provoked outrage and speculation across the martial world. The chapter ended with Marquis Lanyue, revealed as Xiao Xuan’s uncle Xiao Yueli, visiting the Xuan Prince’s Residence.

• Xiao Xuan remarked that many renowned fighters had failed to make the Peerless Ranking, then dismissed a visitor who was traveling to inspect other places.
• Yan Zhantian destroyed the ranking list in anger after seeing fighters ranked above him, including people he had never fought.
• Tang Lian, Sikong Qianluo, Baili Dongjun, Sikong Changfeng, and Li Hanyi discussed the ranking and wondered about the identities of the Medical Immortal, Poison Immortal, Thor, and Mo Yi.
• Song Yan Hui praised his young disciple in Wushuang City after the boy declared that he would become a Sword Immortal.
• Xiao Xuan spent the following year reinforcing his secret passage and behaving like a carefree idler, causing Xiao Chong and Xiao Yu to dismiss him as a rival for the heir apparent position.
• Marquis Lanyue, the former Twelfth Prince Xiao Yueli, visited Xiao Xuan, who welcomed him into the tea pavilion.

Xiao Xuan accompanied Marquis Lan Yue to visit the supposedly ill White King Xiao Chong, where the princes exchanged courteous but pointed wishes about their ambitions. The chapter then recounted how Red King Xiao Yu and Xiao Xuan became princes, and described the different circumstances that shaped their standing with Mingde Emperor.

• Xiao Xuan agreed to accompany Marquis Lan Yue to White King's Residence after hearing that Xiao Chong was ill.
• Marquis Lan Yue and Xiao Xuan found Xiao Chong waiting in his residence, and he said he had been recovering from a serious cold.
• Xiao Xuan gave Xiao Chong medicines prepared from prescriptions left by Medicine Immortal, and the brothers exchanged polite remarks about their ambitions.
• The narration recounted how Xiao Yu's Hundred Flowers Record angered Li Yuantang and led Mingde Emperor to confine Xiao Yu and Xiao Xuan.
• The narration explained that Xiao Yu became Red King before Xiao Xuan because Mingde Emperor favored Consort Xuan, while Xiao Xuan's mother had died in the palace.