Chapter Summaries

Li Xiao returned to the Three Origins Sect after breaking through to the Marrow-Piercing Realm and visited Elder Feng, who was astonished by his strength and confidence about the Candidate Saint Son competition. After promising to deal with Elder Feng’s enemy and giving him Fifth-Turn Pills, Li Xiao headed for his courtyard and found a crowd gathered outside.

• Li Xiao entered the Three Origins Sect quietly and visited Elder Feng, who praised his breakthrough and asked if he was confident about the Candidate Saint Son competition.
• Li Xiao declared that he would claim the Candidate Saint Son position and demonstrated his Life-Slaying Amitabha Sword Scripture Sword Qi to Elder Feng.
• Elder Feng told Li Xiao about losses from the battle against the Demon Race and hesitantly raised the matter of his enemy.
• Li Xiao promised to kill Elder Feng’s enemy if an opportunity arose and gave him several bottles of Fifth-Turn Pills.
• Li Xiao left Elder Feng’s courtyard and saw a large crowd gathered outside his own courtyard.

Li Xiao returned to find disciples crowding his courtyard to meet the rising star they had only heard about, and he revealed his identity before retreating inside. He stored Venerable Manqiong's ashes and checked the Panel, where the fusion of his three archery techniques was nearly complete.

• Disciples gathered outside Li Xiao's courtyard, praising him and speculating about the upcoming Candidate Saint Son Grand Tournament.
• Li Xiao asked the crowd to make way, but the disciples accused him of trying to cut in line to meet Senior Brother Li.
• Li Xiao identified himself, asked for a few quiet days to prepare for the tournament, and was given a respectful path through the crowd.
• Two maids told Li Xiao that visitors had brought a mountain of gifts, and he asked them to sort and list everything until after the tournament.
• Li Xiao sealed away Venerable Manqiong's ashes, then checked the Panel and saw that the fusion of his three archery techniques had one day left.

Li Xiao created and began practicing the powerful Four Symbols Sun-Shooting Arrow Method, while Huangfu Yuan returned to the Prince of Nanyang's Mansion with influential companions and drew his brothers' wary attention. The new arrow technique showed exceptional force but demanded enormous energy, and Huangfu Yuan's growing circle of allies made him a potential rival in the struggle for heir apparent.

• Li Xiao's Panel completed the Four Symbols Sun-Shooting Arrow Method, a Ninth Turn technique that required immense proficiency and rare materials for its divine bow.
• Li Xiao practiced the Azure Dragon arrow on the Back Mountain and blasted apart a mountain peak, though the shot consumed nearly twenty percent of his True Qi and mental energy.
• Huangfu Yuan returned to the Prince of Nanyang's Mansion with Du Tianshan, Qingyunzi, and the others after their campaign against the Demon Race.
• The Prince of Nanyang welcomed Huangfu Yuan more warmly after seeing his merit and powerful companions, while Huangfu Yuan's brothers regarded him as a possible rival for heir apparent.

Huangfu Yuan anticipated the Prince of Nanyang’s coming downfall, while Emperor Zhou decided to extend his lifespan using a dangerous technique that could drain the Zhou Kingdom’s fortune. After Lin Tianyang failed to stop the plan, Emperor Zhou revealed that the Taiyi Dao Sect would help carry it out.

• Huangfu Yuan watched the Prince of Nanyang at a banquet and expected events from his previous life to make his father suffer a crushing fall.
• Lin Tianyang urged Emperor Zhou to reconsider extending his lifespan, warning that the method would destabilize the kingdom’s Fortune and Destiny.
• Lin Tianyang attacked Wu Daoxuan, but Wu Daoxuan effortlessly stopped the palm strike, and Emperor Zhou ordered Lin Tianyang to stand down.
• Wu Daoxuan warned Emperor Zhou to prepare enough strength to face the consequences of the plan.
• Emperor Zhou revealed that he had promised the overseas Taiyi Dao Sect the right to become the Zhou Kingdom’s state religion in exchange for its help.

Emperor Zhou announced a Heaven-Sacrificing Grand Ceremony and the appointment of the Taiyi Dao Sect as Zhou Kingdom’s state religion, while rumors claimed the ritual would conceal his Life-Extension Method. As the announcement stirred factions and princes across the realm, Huangfu Yuan gathered his supporters to prepare for the upheaval ahead.

• Wu Daoxuan warned Emperor Zhou that making the Taiyi Dao Sect the state religion could destabilize Zhou Kingdom, but Emperor Zhou insisted he could reclaim any Dynastic Fortune and Destiny he surrendered.
• Emperor Zhou summoned the princes and announced a September 1 ceremony in Capital City to quell the Heavenly Dao’s wrath and formally appoint the Taiyi Dao Sect as state religion.
• Rumors spread that the ceremony would conceal disturbances caused by Emperor Zhou’s Life-Extension Method, prompting Military Governors, Aristocratic Clans, and Sects to mobilize and make contact.
• Zhou Kingdom’s princes reacted to the prospect of Emperor Zhou’s extended life by consulting advisers, contacting ministers, and courting Military Governors.
• Huangfu Yuan summoned his officials, generals, Qingyunzi, Du Tianshan, and other supporters to his courtyard, preparing to use the approaching upheaval as his opportunity.

Huangfu Yuan gathered officials and generals to recruit their support amid the Emperor’s plan to sacrifice a city for immortality. He set out to claim the Prince of Nanyang’s heir position and control of two provinces, relying on Chu Ling'er to persuade General Chu Xiong to remain neutral.

• Du Tianshan confirmed that the Emperor planned to blood-sacrifice an entire city during the Heaven-Sacrificing Grand Ceremony to extend his life.
• Huangfu Yuan told the gathered officials and generals that the upheaval gave him a chance to become Heir Apparent and take control of two provinces, and they pledged to help him.
• The group identified General Chu Xiong, a Sixth Turn expert loyal to the Prince of Nanyang, as the greatest obstacle to Huangfu Yuan’s plans.
• Huangfu Yuan introduced Chu Ling'er and revealed that she had given herself to him and believed she could persuade her father, Chu Xiong, to remain neutral.
• Huangfu Yuan assigned Chu Ling'er to approach General Chu and asked the others to carry out their duties.

Li Xiao attended a Three Origins Sect meeting after reflecting on Emperor Zhou’s blood sacrifice and the Zhou Kingdom’s looming upheaval. The Sect Master and Peak Masters arrived to discuss important matters, but the meeting’s agenda had not yet been revealed.

• Li Xiao considered Emperor Zhou’s sacrifice and wondered whether it was the upheaval Huangfu Yuan had once predicted.
• A disciple summoned Li Xiao to a meeting for elders and disciples above the Fifth-Turn Realm.
• Li Xiao entered the hall, where Fifth-Turn disciples regarded him as a major rival for the Candidate Saint Son position.
• Elder Gu praised Li Xiao’s progress, and Li Xiao said he intended to pursue both alchemy and the Candidate Saint Son position.
• The Sect Master and three Peak Masters arrived and began the meeting by announcing that they would discuss several important matters.

The Three Origins Sect decided to publicly oppose Emperor Zhou’s attempt to extend his life and send a Seventh Turn Supreme Elder to the capital. Li Xiao suspected the intervention was a trap, but the Sect Master moved on to the Candidate Saint Son Grand Tournament before Li Xiao could change his mind.

• The Sect Master asked the hall to discuss Emperor Zhou’s attempt to extend his life, and elders urged the Three Origins Sect to act against him.
• The Sect Master announced that the Three Origins Sect would proclaim Emperor Zhou’s crimes and send a Seventh Turn Supreme Elder to stop him in the capital.
• Li Xiao warned Elder Gu that the Sect should stay out of the conflict, and Elder Gu revealed that the Sect had contacted a prince and hoped to help him take the throne.
• Li Xiao recalled Huangfu Yuan’s warning about a trap and worried that the Sect could lose its Seventh Turn Supreme Elder, while other elders defended the intervention.
• The Sect Master concluded the discussion of Emperor Zhou and introduced the Candidate Saint Son Grand Tournament.

The Three Origins Sect announced that its Candidate Saint Son Grand Tournament would be held in one month and opened to challenges from disciples of other great sects. Li Xiao began planning his training, and the Flying Cloud Peak Master visited him with concerns about the tougher competition.

• The Sect Master announced that great sects would be invited to observe the tournament and that their disciples could challenge Three Origins Sect candidates.
• The Iron Wire Peak Master explained the privileges of Candidate Saint Sons, warned that the Sect would leave positions vacant rather than appoint unworthy candidates, and set the tournament for one month later.
• Elder Gu urged Li Xiao to train and learn about his rivals, then offered to provide him Pills if needed.
• Li Xiao decided to focus on body refinement and improving his Azure Wave Palm before the tournament.
• The Flying Cloud Peak Master visited Li Xiao and warned that challenges from other sects made his selection uncertain.

The Flying Cloud Peak Master prepared Li Xiao for the Candidate Saint Son Grand Tournament by setting rules for the match and giving him resources and intelligence. Li Xiao left with a month to train and a clearer sense of the opponents awaiting him.

• The Flying Cloud Peak Master told Li Xiao that he had to use Three Origins Sect Cultivation Methods in the tournament, though he could still use his archery.
• The Flying Cloud Peak Master gave Li Xiao a Token to enter the Azure Wave Secret Realm and raise the Azure Wave Palm to the Fifth-Turn Realm.
• The Flying Cloud Peak Master handed Li Xiao a booklet about participating factions and their promising young disciples.
• Li Xiao studied the booklet, noting several Fifth-Turn talents with powerful backgrounds and extraordinary constitutions.
• The Flying Cloud Peak Master warned Li Xiao that other sects were gathering information about him and that his tournament opponents would be prepared.

Li Xiao visited Azure Wave Peak to prepare for the Candidate Saint Son Grand Tournament, where the Azure Wave Peak Master briefed the disciples on dangerous opponents and offered guidance. After sparring with a Fifth-Turn Azure Wave Palm disciple, Li Xiao began refining his technique and left with new insights.

• Li Xiao arrived at Azure Wave Peak and paid his respects to the Azure Wave Peak Master, who welcomed him into the secret realm preparations.
• The Azure Wave Peak Master named several tournament threats, including Yang Shaohua, Zhao Wumian, and Bai Ye, and reminded the gathered disciples that the tournament would display the Three Origins Sect's might.
• The Azure Wave Peak Master led the disciples to the Martial Arts Training Ground and offered to guide them, prompting Li Xiao to volunteer for the first spar.
• A female disciple challenged Li Xiao with her Fifth-Turn Azure Wave Palm, and the Azure Wave Peak Master pointed out that Li Xiao's technique lacked its soft, yielding variations.
• Li Xiao adjusted his Palm Force during the fight and used his abundant True Qi to force the female disciple back, earning her admiration and gaining new insights into the Azure Wave Palm.

Shen Qingyun panicked as Li Xiao’s rise threatened his standing and his Supreme Elder patron refused to intervene. Meanwhile, Wang Yuheng awoke badly injured in Taihang Village, where a blind young woman and her brother had cared for him.

• Shen Qingyun’s trusted aides discussed killing Li Xiao, but they could find no opportunity before the Candidate Saint Son selection.
• Shen Qingyun contacted a Supreme Elder for help, but the elder told him to stay calm and offered only vague assurances.
• Shen Qingyun realized his patron would not risk offending Li Xiao’s allies, smashed the communication talisman, and feared Feng Qing would move against him.
• Wang Yuheng woke after half a month in a thatched hut in Taihang Village, where a blind young woman and her brother had nursed him.
• Wang Yuheng thanked the young woman, drank porridge and medicine, and learned from the boy that his name was Little Stone.

Li Xiao entered the Azure Wave Secret Realm to temper his state of mind and advance his Azure Wave Palm. After confronting a humiliating memory from his previous life in an illusion, he returned to the path with smoother True Qi and a steadier heart.

• Li Xiao sparred with Azure Wave Peak disciples and learned finer points of the Azure Wave Palm from the Peak Master's guidance.
• Li Xiao showed his Token to the guards at the Secret Realm entrance and entered past its restrictions.
• The Secret Realm transformed the mountain path into a scene from Li Xiao's previous life, where his manager berated him during overtime.
• Li Xiao confronted the manager and beat him, releasing some of the resentment he had long suppressed.
• The illusion shattered, and Li Xiao realized the Secret Realm honed the spirit by bringing hidden obsessions to the surface and helping him let them go.

Li Xiao reflected on his scattered martial arts and found a direction for combining three Three Origins Sect techniques as he continued through the Secret Realm. Meanwhile, Wu Daoxuan’s forces sealed Peaceful City to prepare a blood sacrifice, and he dismissed his fellow disciple’s concerns about the consequences.

• Li Xiao reviewed the techniques he had learned and recognized how Iron Wire Fist, Flying Cloud Leg, and Azure Wave Palm could work together as a unified combat style.
• Li Xiao decided to focus on integrating the three Three Origins Sect techniques over the next month and continued deeper into the Secret Realm.
• The Ironclad Guards sealed Peaceful City, blocking its residents from leaving despite their pleas and attempts to force their way out.
• Wu Daoxuan told the gray-robed middle-aged man that the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion intended to sacrifice the city’s people to obtain a treasure from Emperor Zhou.
• Wu Daoxuan predicted Emperor Zhou would fail, then departed, and the gray-robed middle-aged man followed after silently surveying the trapped city.

After leaving the Azure Wave Secret Realm, Li Xiao traveled to Mu Province to seek the Golden Blade Sect’s help finding rare cultivation materials before the Candidate Saint Son Grand Tournament. He reached the sect as it faced an unexplained crisis, with its Sect Master Wang Yuanqiao visibly troubled.

• Li Xiao completed his heart-tempering in the Azure Wave Secret Realm and brought Azure Wave Palm to the Fifth Turn, strengthening his coordination with Iron Wire Fist and Flying Cloud Leg.
• Li Xiao left seclusion, packed his belongings, and flew north toward Mu Province to cultivate the Mystic Glazed Body Scripture and search for rare materials.
• Li Xiao reviewed Mu Province’s history and its rival powers, then chose to visit the Golden Blade Sect based on an old connection with the Three Origins Sect.
• Two days later, Li Xiao reached the Liyang Mountains and saw signs that the Golden Blade Sect was struggling.
• Wang Yuanqiao sat in the Golden Blade Sect’s main hall, visibly worried as an oppressive atmosphere hung over the sect.

Wang Yuanqiao struggled to decide whether the Golden Blade Sect should surrender a Liyang Stone vein that might conceal the Ten Thousand Souls Sect’s legacy. Li Xiao forced his way into the sect and was surrounded by its disciples as Wang Yuanqiao and the elders hurried to confront him.

• Wang Yuanqiao told the elders that the Hatred-Severing Sect demanded the Golden Blade Sect withdraw from the ore vein, after the Hatred-Severing Sect and the Cai Family learned it might be linked to the Ten Thousand Souls Sect.
• Wang Yuanqiao recalled that Saintess Shen Qinghe of the Red Dust Devil Palace had arrived to oversee the claim, leaving the Golden Blade Sect intimidated by the forces behind its rivals.
• Li Xiao confirmed the Golden Blade Sect’s location, descended at its gate, and asked the guards to announce him as a visitor from the Three Origins Sect.
• When the guards demanded a bribe and refused to let him in, Li Xiao used his Fifth Turn Marrow-Piercing Realm pressure to pin them to the ground and walked through the gate.
• A disciple warned Wang Yuanqiao that Li Xiao had knocked down the gate guards and was forcing his way toward the main hall, prompting Wang Yuanqiao and the elders to hurry outside.
• Li Xiao entered the Outer Sect square, where dozens of Golden Blade Sect disciples surrounded him with drawn sabers.

Li Xiao forced his way into the Golden Blade Sect to ask about Ten-Thousand-Year Mystic Yellow Stone Marrow and Mountain Earth Core Qi. Wang Yuanqiao revealed that the ore vein where the materials might be found was controlled by the Hatred-Severing Sect and the Cai Family, backed by the Red Dust Devil Palace, leaving Li Xiao to weigh the danger of helping the Golden Blade Sect.

• Li Xiao fought off the Golden Blade Sect disciples who tried to stop him, until Sect Master Wang Yuanqiao intervened with a strike of Saber Qi.
• Li Xiao explained that the gate disciples had tried to extort him, and Wang Yuanqiao rebuked them before inviting Li Xiao into the main hall.
• Li Xiao asked Wang Yuanqiao for leads on Ten-Thousand-Year Mystic Yellow Stone Marrow and Mountain Earth Core Qi, and an elder pointed to a newly discovered ore vein that might contain the ruins of the Ten Thousand Souls Sect.
• Wang Yuanqiao explained that the Hatred-Severing Sect and the Cai Family, backed by the Red Dust Devil Palace, had taken control of the ore vein, where Shen Qinghe was stationed.
• Li Xiao realized the Golden Blade Sect hoped to use his strength against the Red Dust Devil Palace, but he considered cooperating because he needed local help to find the materials quickly.

Li Xiao learned that Shen Qinghe and the allied Hatred-Severing Sect and Cai Family were threatening the Golden Blade Sect’s hold on the Ore Vein, which might contain the Ten Thousand Souls Sect’s legacy. After reading a report on Shen Qinghe, Li Xiao prepared to investigate the vein and declined the Golden Blade Sect’s attempt to entertain him with female disciples.

• Wang Yuanqiao told Li Xiao that Shen Qinghe had defeated Golden Blade Sect elders with the Six Desires Demonic Art and was in the Round Marrow Realm.
• Li Xiao said he was interested in the Ore Vein, and Wang Yuanqiao arranged a courtyard and a detailed report for him.
• After Li Xiao left, Wang Yuanqiao admitted to his elders that he hoped to use Li Xiao and the Three Origins Sect to counter the Hatred-Severing Palace and the Cai Family.
• Li Xiao read the report on the Ore Vein, the Red Dust Demon Sect, and Shen Qinghe, then looked forward to testing her strength.
• Li Xiao examined the Token from the Mine Secret Realm and turned away the female disciples Wang Yuanqiao had sent to attend to him.

Li Xiao set out to assess the Ore Vein seized by the Hatred-Severing Sect and Cai Family, while the Golden Blade Sect struggled with its forced retreat. The Red Dust Devil Palace Saintess warned that the buried Ten Thousand Souls Sect ruins might be dangerous, and the Golden Blade Sect’s elders hoped Li Xiao could help them.

• Li Xiao refused Wang Yuanqiao’s suggestion to summon help from the Three Origins Sect and left with a Golden Blade Sect elder to inspect the Ore Vein.
• The Hatred-Severing Sect and Cai Family guarded the mine and forced miners to excavate under their control.
• The Red Dust Devil Palace Saintess warned the leaders that the Ten Thousand Souls Sect ruins might not be a blessing and should perhaps remain buried.
• Golden Blade Sect disciples resented losing the mine while their elders discussed their lack of options.
• Zhou Yuande learned that a Three Origins Sect disciple had arrived and hoped Li Xiao could disrupt the enemy’s control of the Ore Vein.

Li Xiao fought Shen Qinghe in the air, using the clash to temper his Cultivation Methods while holding off her Six Desires Heavenly Demon Qi. After the old woman mocked him and threatened the Three Origins Sect, Li Xiao revealed his Sword Qi and turned to seize her, leaving her fleeing in terror.

• Shen Qinghe shattered Li Xiao's True Qi sphere and closed in to fight him at close range.
• Li Xiao and Shen Qinghe exchanged blows as the people on the mountaintop watched, and Li Xiao used the battle to refine his techniques.
• The old woman mocked Li Xiao and threatened to report the Three Origins Sect to the Vein Master.
• Li Xiao declared that he was invincible below the Sixth Turn and sent black Sword Qi at Shen Qinghe, forcing her to retreat behind a barrier.
• Li Xiao used Flying Cloud Leg to catch up with the fleeing old woman and reached out to grab her.