Chapter Summaries

Gu Hui stole the Esoteric Sect’s secret manuals, mastered their arts, and spent ten years creating the Samsara Secret Art. He then reached the desert and met the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan and their pupil, Guo Jing, as they trained for their wager with Qiu Chuji.

• Gu Hui used the Soul-Confounding Technique to take an Esoteric Sect monk and learn how to enter the sect’s secret chamber.
• Gu Hui read the Dragon Elephant Prajnaparamita Skill, the Unexcelled Yoga Tantra, and the Heaven-Changing Earth-Shaking Technique, then left the manuals behind.
• Gu Hui cultivated the Dragon Elephant Prajnaparamita Skill to its thirteenth level and spent ten years in Kunlun Valley comprehending the other two arts.
• Gu Hui combined the Soul-Shift Technique, the Heaven-Changing Earth-Shaking Technique, and the Unexcelled Yoga Tantra to create the Samsara Secret Art.
• Gu Hui found the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan training Guo Jing in the desert and greeted them, then advised Guo Jing to cultivate diligently and build a solid foundation.

Gu Hui became Guo Jing’s master in the great desert, strengthened his foundation, taught him medicine, and passed on the Nine Yang Manual. After Li Ping and the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan departed for Jiangnan, Gu Hui left Guo Jing to make the journey alone.

• Gu Hui advised Guo Jing’s teachers to focus on a broad, forceful palm style and urged them to take Li Ping back to Jiangnan.
• Ke Zhen'e asked Gu Hui to teach Guo Jing, and Guo Jing became his disciple in the Free and Unfettered Sect.
• Gu Hui made Guo Jing carry a heavy stone sword, taught him basic medicine, and later gave him the Nine Yang Manual.
• Gu Hui learned that Guo Jing practiced Quanzhen internal energy and let him continue without interfering.
• Ke Zhen'e and the others decided to return to Jiangnan with Li Ping after discussing Mei Chaofeng and the Nine Yin Manual.
• After they departed, Gu Hui led Guo Jing in circles for over ten days, then sent him to Jiangnan alone and left him despairing.

Gu Hui reunited with Guo Jing and met Yang Tiexin, Mu Nianci, and Ma Yu in Zhongdu, where he cured Ma Yu’s poison and spoke about old acquaintances and martial arts. He rejected Huang Rong’s request to learn his youth-preserving Formless Skill, then explained that he knew her father and criticized his scattered pursuits.

• Gu Hui arrived in Zhongdu with Guo Jing and Huang Rong, who questioned whether Gu Hui was really Guo Jing’s master because he looked so young.
• Guo Jing introduced Gu Hui to Ma Yu, Yang Tiexin, Mu Nianci, and a noblewoman, and Yang Tiexin and Mu Nianci recognized him as the Medicine Immortal who had treated Yang Tiexin years earlier.
• Gu Hui removed Ma Yu’s poison with pressure points and silver needles, then complained that Wang Chongyang had delayed his relationship with a woman from the Ancient Tomb.
• Gu Hui described his Formless Skill, which could preserve youth, and refused Huang Rong’s request to learn it because she was too calculating.
• Gu Hui claimed he had met Huang Rong’s father and said the man could have achieved more if he had focused on martial arts instead of pursuing too many disciplines.

Gu Hui helped Guo Jing complete the Nine Yang Manual and break through his cultivation bottleneck. Outside, Wanyan Honglie and Wanyan Kang confronted Bao Xiruo, who refused to leave Yang Tiexin, while Wanyan Honglie asked whether she had ever felt sincere affection for him.

• Gu Hui envied Guo Jing's pure twenty years of inner strength and learned that Guo Jing had recovered.
• Gu Hui used pressure to make Guo Jing circulate the Nine Yang Manual until he completed its final volume and broke through.
• Gu Hui told Guo Jing to deal with the people outside, where Wanyan Honglie, Wanyan Kang, Qiu Chuji, and others had arrived.
• Bao Xiruo refused Wanyan Honglie and Wanyan Kang's pleas to return, declaring that she would stay with Yang Tiexin.
• Wanyan Kang said he regarded Wanyan Honglie as his father, while Bao Xiruo explained that she had entered Prince Zhao's Residence for his sake.
• Wanyan Honglie asked Bao Xiruo whether she had ever felt even the slightest sincerity toward him.

Bao Xiruo reunited with Yang Tiexin and rejected Wanyan Honglie, while Gu Hui rescued their group and sent them toward Zhongnan Mountain. There, his meddling married Wang Chongyang and Lin Chaoying; half a year later, Gu Hui encountered Gu Xin fighting Huang Yaoshi outside Lin'an.

• Bao Xiruo refused Wanyan Honglie, and Yang Tiexin tried to take his own life before Gu Hui knocked aside his spear.
• Gu Hui incapacitated Wanyan Honglie and his soldiers with a nonlethal drug, then advised Yang Tiexin and Bao Xiruo to flee to Zhongnan Mountain.
• Gu Hui told Qiu Chuji that he had a half-sister on Zhongnan Mountain whose martial arts matched Wang Chongyang's, and revealed that his other martial brother had died.
• Wang Chuyi and the others found Wang Chongyang and Lin Chaoying newly married after Gu Hui secretly arranged their union; Wang Chongyang handed the Quanzhen Sect leadership to Ma Yu and left with Lin Chaoying.
• Half a year later, Gu Hui found Gu Xin fighting Huang Yaoshi outside Lin'an after Huang Yaoshi had attacked people at Gu Manlou.

Gu Hui reunited with Gu Xin and Gu Wei after leaving Huang Yaoshi, revealing that he had reached innate great perfection and created a spiritual cultivation technique called Samsara. The family exchanged teasing remarks about marriage and their clan before the conversation turned to Gu Xin’s single life.

• Gu Xin left Huang Yaoshi and watched as Gu Hui deflected his pebble before departing.
• Gu Xin and Gu Wei intercepted Gu Hui, who learned that Xiao Feng had died and remarked on Gu Wei’s advancing cultivation.
• Gu Hui said he had reached innate great perfection and taught Gu Xin and Gu Wei his Samsara Secret Art to preserve in the clan’s Scripture Depository.
• Gu Wei asked about finding another daughter-in-law, and Gu Hui joked about the prospect while warning him about the Gu Family’s disorderly branches.
• Gu Xin tried to speak, but Gu Wei scolded her for remaining single and devoting herself to martial arts.

Gu Hui encountered Guo Jing, Huang Rong, and Hong Qigong near Jiaxing after traveling with Mu Nianci, and learned that Hong Qigong had taught Guo Jing the Dragon-Subduing Eighteen Palms. Gu Hui urged Hong Qigong to choose a successor and consider taking Huang Rong as a disciple.

• Gu Hui asked Mu Nianci to travel with him, and they visited Lin'an before she eventually left after half a month.
• Gu Hui encountered Guo Jing, Huang Rong, and Hong Qigong outside Jiaxing and recognized that Hong Qigong had taught Guo Jing the Dragon-Subduing Eighteen Palms.
• Guo Jing thanked Huang Rong and Hong Qigong, and Gu Hui told him to regard Hong Qigong as another master.
• Hong Qigong admired Guo Jing's character and taught him the final three palms.
• Gu Hui discussed the Beggars' Sect's history and urged Hong Qigong to choose a successor and consider taking Huang Rong as his disciple.

Gu Hui advised Guo Jing to keep studying martial arts and aim for a breakthrough, then admitted to drugging Wang Chongyang and Lin Chaoying to bring them together. Wang and Lin confronted him, but Gu Hui escaped on horseback, and Lin passed the Formless Skill to Huang Rong.

• Hong Qigong accepted Huang Rong as his disciple after Gu Hui vouched for her, then praised Guo Jing’s potential and urged him to study martial arts manuals.
• Hong Qigong asked Gu Hui why he had drugged Wang Chongyang and Lin Chaoying, and Gu Hui claimed he had helped them become a couple.
• Wang Chongyang and Lin Chaoying appeared behind Gu Hui and announced they would beat him, but Gu Hui tricked them and fled on horseback.
• Lin Chaoying told Hong Qigong that Gu Hui had looked unchanged for over thirty years and explained that she had failed to master his youth-preserving martial art.
• Huang Rong introduced herself as Guo Jing’s beloved, and Lin Chaoying transmitted the Formless Skill to her.

Gu Hui rescued Huang Yaoshi’s blind, wayward disciple and offered to treat her eyes, then clashed musically with Huang Yaoshi before stopping him from killing her. The chapter ended with Gu Hui criticizing how Huang Yaoshi had taught his disciples and their use of the Nine Yin Manual.

• Gu Hui arrived to find a group in white attacking a blind woman in black, defeated their leader with his Jade Flute, and knocked the others unconscious.
• Gu Hui put the woman on his horse, but Huang Yaoshi appeared and demanded that he put her down, revealing that she was his disciple.
• Gu Hui told Huang Yaoshi that the woman’s blindness could be treated, then exchanged attacks with him using music and invisible sword qi before they stopped at a draw.
• Gu Hui and Huang Yaoshi chatted about martial arts and the coming Mount Hua Tournament while Gu Hui rejected the idea of gaining a great reputation.
• The woman in black awoke and knelt to admit her wrongdoing, prompting Huang Yaoshi to threaten to kill her.
• Gu Hui intervened and criticized Huang Yaoshi’s teaching, saying the disciple had twisted the Nine Yin Manual’s Daoist art into something sinister.

Gu Hui took Mei Chaofeng under his care, restored her sight, and began retraining her in martial arts, medicine, and poison. He made her his medicine child and warned her to abandon revenge against Guo Jing, his powerful disciple.

• Gu Hui told Huang Yaoshi he had no ill will toward Mei Chaofeng, gave him a copy of the Nine Yin Manual, and advised him to focus on creating his own martial arts.
• Gu Hui took Mei Chaofeng away and forbade her from using human skulls to practice the Divine Claw of Crushing Fortifications, then trained her reactions while she was blind.
• After a month of training, Gu Hui replaced Mei Chaofeng's eyes, restoring her sight.
• Gu Hui crippled Mei Chaofeng's improperly cultivated internal energy, helped her rebuild it with innate true essence, and taught her the proper way to cultivate.
• Gu Hui made Mei Chaofeng his medicine child, instructed her to study medicine and poison, and told her to give up revenge against Guo Jing.

Gu Hui spent three years traveling with Mei Chaofeng, helping people and transforming her martial arts and temperament, before heading to Mount Hua for the tournament. There, he revealed his longing to return to his former world, reunited with the martial artists, and examined Guo Jing’s techniques.

• Gu Hui and Mei Chaofeng traveled from Jiaxing to Xiangyang over three years, treating the sick as Mei mastered the Divine Claw of Crushing Fortifications and left behind her sinister ways.
• Outside Xiangyang, Gu Hui found Pusiqu Snakes and arranged for them to be raised in a sealed valley at Gu Sword Manor.
• Gu Hui agreed to go with Mei Chaofeng to the Mount Hua Tournament, where his memories stirred and his aura sent Mei flying and left her badly injured.
• Gu Hui healed Mei Chaofeng and reunited with Huang Yaoshi, Hong Qigong, Wang Chongyang, Lin Chaoying, Guo Jing, Huang Rong, and the others.
• Gu Hui praised Mei Chaofeng’s reform and asked Guo Jing to demonstrate the Left-Right Hand Technique and Seventy-Two Forms of Vacant Fists, then advised him to refine his fist technique.

Gu Hui discussed Zhou Botong’s martial potential and Guo Jing’s cultivation before the Mount Hua Tournament narrowed to its strongest fighters. Gu Xin arrived at the summit after a breakthrough and learned that Mei Chaofeng had become Gu Hui’s medicine apprentice.

• Gu Hui said Zhou Botong had surpassed Wang Chongyang and explained that Guo Jing could cultivate the Formless Skill, though his straightforward nature suited other arts better.
• Gu Hui revealed that Guo Jing had mastered the Nine Yang Manual and was immune to poison, making Ouyang Feng’s poison arts ineffective against him.
• The Mount Hua Tournament left Zhou Botong, Wang Chongyang, Lin Chaoying, Huang Yaoshi, Master Yideng, Hong Qigong, Ouyang Feng, Han Xiaoying, and Guo Jing among the final competitors.
• Han Xiaoying impressed the gathered fighters with the Evil-Warding Sword Art and exchanged moves with Lin Chaoying and Huang Yaoshi.
• Gu Xin reached the summit, spoke with Gu Hui about her breakthrough, and learned that Mei Chaofeng had become his medicine apprentice.

After the Mount Hua Tournament established the Nine Absolutes, Gu Hui warned Duan Zhixing about the Mongol threat and secluded himself in the Qinling Mountains to break through. He emerged with Innate true essence transformed into true liquid, having extended his lifespan but still wondering whether he could reach a higher realm.

• The Mount Hua contestants were unable to outmatch one another, and Han Xiaoying, Guo Jing, and Lin Chaoying joined the Five Absolutes as the Sword Absolute, Palm Absolute, and Fist Absolute.
• Gu Xin revealed that Gu Hui was her old ancestor and was more than a hundred and fifty years old, then teased him about seeking a wife.
• Gu Hui urged Duan Zhixing to cultivate harder and warned that Mongol might destroy Western Xia, Southern Song, or Dali, advising him to send younger members of the Duan Clan away.
• After the tournament made the Nine Absolutes famous, Gu Hui sensed his life was running short and traveled to a mysterious place in the Qinling Mountains to enter deep seclusion.
• Gu Hui transformed all his Innate true essence into Innate true liquid, identified three stages of the Innate realm, and emerged with greatly increased strength and speed.

After ten years of secluded cultivation, Gu Hui returned to the Ancient Tomb and encountered Gu Wei and Gu Xin, who had brought the dying Mu Nianci to him for treatment. The tomb’s yin qi and Gu Hui’s true essence caused an unexpected union that left Mu Nianci alive and both of them strengthened, and Gu Hui pledged to care for her and her son.

• Gu Hui emerged from ten years of seclusion, learned how much time had passed, and returned to the Ancient Tomb.
• Gu Wei and Gu Xin arrived to cultivate and asked Gu Hui to save Mu Nianci, whom they had found near death in Jiaxing.
• Gu Hui treated Mu Nianci, but the tomb’s yin qi entered him and caused him to lose consciousness as she recovered.
• Mu Nianci woke and considered killing Gu Hui, but he apologized and offered to care for her and raise her son as his own.
• Gu Hui explained that Mu Nianci had reached the Innate Realm and that he had advanced through their unconscious union, then reassured her about her son and told her to cultivate with him.

After reaching the innate realm, Gu Hui and Mu Nianci began traveling as physicians so Mu Nianci could gain experience and steady her state of mind. In Zhongdu, Gu Hui drugged a young nobleman and his guards after they threatened to seize Mu Nianci.

• Gu Hui examined his new innate power and lifespan, then explained cultivation to Mu Nianci, who chose to learn the Hunyuan Skill.
• Gu Hui told Mu Nianci they would travel the world to broaden her experience, and she asked to see Yang Guo; Gu Hui proposed checking on him secretly.
• Gu Wei and Gu Xin arrived, learned Mu Nianci was Gu Hui’s wife, and greeted her as their aunt and great-grandmother.
• Gu Hui and Mu Nianci gathered medicinal herbs in the Qinling Mountains, then set out to travel as physicians.
• In Zhongdu, a young nobleman demanded that Gu Hui surrender Mu Nianci, so Gu Hui drugged him and his guards and left the nobleman unable to walk.

Gu Hui and Mu Nianci traveled to Zhongdu, where Gu Hui revealed the Gu Clan’s immense influence and introduced Mu Nianci to his descendant Gu Fei as his new wife and Gu Fei’s grandmother. The reunion left Gu Hui asking whether Gu Fei had sent their cousins out of the clan.

• Gu Hui explained to Mu Nianci that he preferred poison to martial arts against enemies and said he had arranged protection for a proud, resourceful boy traveling through Southern Song territory.
• Gu Hui told Mu Nianci that the Gu Clan had powerful martial artists, enormous wealth, and influence across many countries, then brought her to Gu Manlou in Zhongdu.
• At Gu Manlou, the staff hesitated to show Gu Hui the collections until Gu Fei recognized him and hurried over to serve him.
• Gu Hui introduced Mu Nianci as his wife and Gu Fei’s Sky Ancestor grandmother, leaving Gu Fei stunned before he greeted her respectfully.
• Gu Hui criticized Gu Fei’s childhood mischief, and Gu Fei said Gu Hui’s beatings had made him sensible before complaining that the clan’s younger members had grown lax.
• Gu Hui defended the clan’s training system and asked Gu Fei whether all of his cousins had been sent out.

Gu Hui took Mu Nianci from Gu Manlou’s collection room with treasured equipment and set out on a leisurely journey south with her. Three years later, they met Hong Qigong on Mount Hua, where Mu Nianci explained her return from suspended death and Gu Hui revealed his connection to Qiao Feng.

• Gu Hui selected several treasures from Gu Manlou’s collection and promised Gu Fei additional clan contributions for them.
• Gu Hui outfitted Mu Nianci with the Guiyuan Bracelet, Purple Profound Ring, Jade-Woven Garment, Blood Jade Ring, and Chengying Sword, then left with her.
• Gu Hui and Mu Nianci traveled south, gathering herbs and treating people for free, until they reached Mount Hua three years later.
• Hong Qigong met Gu Hui and Mu Nianci, and Mu Nianci explained how she had survived and asked him to keep her return secret from Yang Guo and the Guos.
• Gu Hui told Hong Qigong that Qiao Feng had taught him the Dragon-Subduing Eighteen Palms, astonishing Hong Qigong.

Gu Hui and Mu Nianci caught up on the martial world’s recent events with Hong Qigong, then traveled to Peach Blossom Island to see Yang Guo from afar. After Mu Nianci worried that she was not a good mother, Gu Hui comforted her and decided to take her to his home to notify his descendants.

• Gu Hui told Hong Qigong that Chief Qiao had died peacefully after his lifespan ran out, and Hong Qigong recounted how Wang Chongyang and Lin Chaoying had also died.
• Hong Qigong described Ouyang Feng’s madness and Gu Manlou’s assassinations that forced the Mongol imperial family to sign a pact of nonaggression.
• Hong Qigong told Gu Hui about Li Mochou and Little Dragon Girl, and Gu Hui explained his ties to the Free and Unfettered Sect.
• Gu Hui and Mu Nianci set out for Peach Blossom Island and watched Huang Rong teach Yang Guo and the other children from hiding.
• Mu Nianci felt distressed that Huang Rong was not teaching Yang Guo martial arts, but Gu Hui comforted her and offered to take her home to meet his descendants.

Gu Hui returned to Gu Sword Manor with Mu Nianci, reunited with his descendants, and addressed the gathered Gu Clan about its rules and future. He left the clan fired up by his admonition and ended the gathering by kicking Gu Quan for joking about a new great-grandmother.

• Gu Hui arrived at Gu Sword Manor with Mu Nianci and summoned his descendants with a voice transmission.
• Gu Ze, Gu Yuan, Gu Man, Gu Quan, and other elderly descendants hurried to greet Gu Hui, who learned that all ancestors above their fathers' generation had died.
• Gu Hui ordered the Gu Clan descendants on the island to gather, and roughly a hundred thousand people assembled in the main hall.
• Gu Hui introduced himself as their Ancestor and instructed the clan to uphold its honor, educate its descendants, and expel anyone who pursued supremacy.
• Gu Quan joked that Gu Hui had brought them another great-grandmother, and Gu Hui kicked him across the hall.

Gu Hui returned to Gu Sword Manor with Mu Nianci, introduced her as the Gu Clan’s ancestress, and trained the clan’s martial artists for more than a year. As they prepared to leave, Mu Nianci revealed she was expecting a child, so Gu Hui decided they would stay until the baby was born.

• Gu Hui introduced Mu Nianci to the Gu Clan and warned everyone that he was still alive and would punish anyone who forgot him.
• Gu Hui sorted the clan’s martial artists by skill, tested them with his Jade Flute, and assigned them to train one another under his instruction.
• Gu Hui and Mu Nianci held a grand wedding and stayed at Gu Sword Manor for more than a year, during which the clan’s martial arts improved through daily training.
• Gu Hui and Mu Nianci departed by ship, but Mu Nianci told him she thought she was pregnant.
• Gu Hui celebrated the news, returned to shore with Mu Nianci, and announced they would stay until their child was born; Gu Qinghan joked that the baby might spare the clan some beatings.