Chapter Summaries

Zhang Chu killed Lu Chengfeng with a single palm, then revealed overwhelming strength when Lu Chengfeng’s sworn brother Fan Lingxiao arrived to demand justice. The crowd watched in terror as Zhang Chu killed Fan Lingxiao too, leaving Linjiang’s martial world stunned.

• Lu Chengfeng attacked Zhang Chu with his Iron Blood Divine Palm, but Zhang Chu killed him with one strike of True Martial First Form—Demon-Sweeping.
• The onlookers were shocked by Zhang Chu’s strength and feared that his power had reached the limit of Hidden Force.
• Fan Lingxiao arrived and condemned Zhang Chu for killing Lu Chengfeng, claiming to represent the Righteous Path.
• Zhang Chu challenged Fan Lingxiao over the Righteous Path’s failure to stop the Li Family and Boat Gang, then overwhelmed him with his pressure.
• Fan Lingxiao realized Zhang Chu was a True Gang Grandmaster and begged for his life, but Zhang Chu killed him with a palm strike.

After defeating Lu Chengfeng and Fan Lingxiao, Zhang Chu used the Merit Points they provided to master all three layers of Bitter Gourd Palm. With both Bitter Gourd Palm and True Martial Palm perfected, he received a prompt asking whether to fuse them.

• Zhang Chu asked the Martial World crowd to witness that Lu Chengfeng and Fan Lingxiao had attacked first, and Hong Shijie, Situ Ying, and Yu Mantang supported his account.
• Zhang Chu returned to the temple and spent Merit Points strengthening Bitter Gourd Palm, first reaching Binding Body and demonstrating its ability to bind Broken Rocks.
• Zhang Chu strengthened Bitter Gourd Palm’s second layer, Sea of Suffering, and tested its crushing, restraining force on the mountain.
• Zhang Chu strengthened the final layer, Karma Fire, gaining a palm technique that eroded spirits and suppressed evil arts and venomous insects.
• After True Martial Palm and Bitter Gourd Palm both reached perfection, Zhang Chu received a prompt asking whether to fuse them.

After Jin Mu died while escorting a Refining Corpse Sect Expert, Zhang Chu received a blood letter reading “A ghost!” and agreed to join the Sky Patrol Guard. He accepted a mission to help protect Sword Forging Manor’s Divine Sword, while resolving to investigate the ghost mentioned in the letter.

• Li Gang visited Zhang Chu with Jin Mu’s blood letter and explained that Jin Mu had been ambushed and poisoned before he could deliver it.
• Zhang Chu read the words “A ghost!” and kept his suspicions about the letter’s meaning to himself.
• Li Gang invited Zhang Chu to join the Sky Patrol Guard, and Zhang Chu agreed after learning he could access information about the Demonic Cult.
• Li Gang gave Zhang Chu a mission to assist Sword Forging Manor in guarding a Divine Sword from the Demonic Cult at the Sword Appraisal Convention.
• Zhang Chu agreed to meet Li Gang at Sword Forging Manor before the fifteenth of July, then vowed to discover whether the ghost was truly a man or a ghost.

Zhang Chu killed a woman who tried to use him as a scapegoat, then slaughtered the three men pursuing her. He found the strange treasure she had stolen, and a thin stranger appeared and identified it as Golden Cicada.

• Zhang Chu stopped to rest near the mountain leading to Jinguang Temple and saw a woman pursued by three men.
• The woman tried to steal Zhang Chu's horse and attacked him, so Zhang Chu killed her with a palm strike.
• The three pursuers threatened Zhang Chu, but he killed them after stopping their saber with two fingers.
• Zhang Chu found a marble-like object among the woman's remains and suspected it was the treasure she had mentioned.
• A thin man appeared on a distant tree, recognized the object as Golden Cicada, and startled Zhang Chu with his remarkable Lightness Skill.

Zhang Chu learned from Ma Wuji that the marble he held was the Golden Cicada, one of Red Lotus Temple’s three treasures, and that Jinguang Temple was built on the site of a mysterious fire that had killed its abbot. As he headed for the temple to investigate Yuan Hui and the survivors, Ma Wuji warned him that its gates were closed after dark, but Zhang Chu continued onward.

• Ma Wuji introduced himself as the ninety-eighth-ranked Human Ranking martial artist and told Zhang Chu he was ranked tenth under the nickname Little True Martial.
• Ma Wuji explained that Jinguang Temple had once been Red Lotus Temple, which burned down ten years earlier, and identified Zhang Chu’s marble as the Golden Cicada, one of its three treasures.
• Ma Wuji revealed that the woman Zhang Chu had killed was the daughter of a Twin Dragon Society chief and had stolen the Golden Cicada, though he could not understand how she had taken it from the temple.
• Ma Wuji said the old abbot had died in the fire and that three surviving disciples, including Yuan Hui, had become eminent monks; Zhang Chu questioned how the fire could have killed someone in the Dark Strength Realm.
• Zhang Chu headed for Jinguang Temple to investigate, but Ma Wuji warned him that the temple admitted no guests after dark and that even its lay disciples could not enter; Zhang Chu said they would open the gate.

Zhang Chu and Ma Wuji broke into Jinguang Temple to investigate Yuan Hui and discovered that the Buddha Incense was poisonous. After Zhang Chu killed the monks who confronted them, golden light and eerie chanting erupted from inside the temple.

• Zhang Chu smashed Jinguang Temple’s gate, releasing a hallucinogenic fragrance that Ma Wuji mistook for Buddha Incense.
• Ma Wuji fell under the incense’s spell and walked toward a lake, but Zhang Chu’s shout woke him before he drowned.
• Zhang Chu demanded to know where Yuan Hui was, and the monks attacked him after accusing him of slandering their martial uncle.
• Zhang Chu killed the obese monk with a palm strike and then slaughtered the other monks, whose dark blood and lack of Merit Points revealed that they were already dead.
• Golden light filled the temple as terrifying voices chanted, “Golden light shines upon all, paradise on earth!”

Zhang Chu confronted the Gold Corpses of the eminent monks Yuanjue and Yuanwu at Red Lotus Temple while Ma Wuji searched the rear courtyard for living monks. Ma Wuji found a Corpse Suspension Hall, where Zhang Chu soon appeared carrying the two monks’ severed heads.

• Poisonous Buddha Incense filled Red Lotus Temple with hallucinations as Yuanjue and Yuanwu confronted Zhang Chu and Ma Wuji.
• Zhang Chu recognized the monks as Gold Corpses and sent Ma Wuji to investigate the temple’s rear courtyard for living monks.
• Ma Wuji agreed after Zhang Chu threatened that Golden Cicada could be moved, then hurried into the rear courtyard.
• Ma Wuji found a strange hall containing a black coffin, a dead old monk, and monks chanting a scripture of rebirth.
• Zhang Chu appeared behind Ma Wuji carrying the severed heads of Yuanjue and Yuanwu, shocking him with how quickly the fight had ended.

Zhang Chu exposed Yuan Hui as the mastermind behind Jinguang Temple’s living corpses and the fire ten years earlier, then revealed how a blood letter had identified him. Yuan Hui rose from his coffin and admitted Zhang Chu had uncovered the truth, but prepared to fight because Zhang had come to the temple.

• Zhang Chu entered Jinguang Temple’s Rebirth Hall with Ma Wuji and showed Guangming the heads of Yuanjue and Yuanwu, revealing that they were long-dead gu corpses.
• Ma Wuji explained that the monks at the temple entrance were also gu corpses, while Guangming said the corpses had been taken in after the fire ten years earlier.
• Zhang Chu accused Yuan Hui of refining living corpses, targeting him to protect the temple’s secret, and using Jin Kui as a scapegoat for the true Six Storehouse Scripture.
• Zhang Chu claimed the old abbot had started the fire to destroy the Three Treasures of Red Lotus, and that Yuan Hui and the other two senior monks had been the murderers who escaped.
• Yuan Hui sat up from his coffin and admitted Zhang Chu had inferred much, while Zhang explained that a stray blood stroke on Jin Mu’s letter had been an attempt to write the murderer’s name.
• Yuan Hui laughed that Zhang had come despite suspecting the trap and declared that his arrival was all that mattered.

Zhang Chu fought Yuan Hui, who revealed the Six Storehouse Scripture’s ability to devour inner force and Gang Qi. Zhang Chu then killed him with Karma Fire, leaving the mystery of the person backing Yuan Hui unresolved.

• Yuan Hui attacked Zhang Chu inside Rebirth Hall, and Zhang Chu threw him outside to keep the other monks from being caught in the fight.
• Yuan Hui admitted someone had helped him and demanded Zhang Chu reveal his secret, while Ma Wuji fled after realizing Yuan Hui had reached the perfected Dark Strength Realm.
• Yuan Hui used the Six Storehouse Scripture to devour Zhang Chu’s inner force and Gang Qi, claiming it made him immune to Zhang Chu’s methods for two hours.
• Zhang Chu struck Yuan Hui with Karma Fire, which ignited his Gang Qi and eroded his spirit until his body burst apart.
• Zhang Chu received 15,000 Merit Points.

Zhang Chu accepted the temple's last Golden Cicada and fused True Martial Palm with Bitter Gourd Palm, creating the powerful Northern Cold Flame True Hand. After testing its terrifying abilities, he discovered Ma Wuji had witnessed his practice.

• Guangming explained the history of the Three Treasures of Red Lotus and gave Zhang Chu the last Golden Cicada.
• Zhang Chu swallowed the Golden Cicada, then used 30,000 Merit Points to fuse True Martial Palm and Bitter Gourd Palm.
• The fusion created Northern Cold Flame True Hand, which strengthened Zhang Chu's body and transformed his Gang Qi.
• Zhang Chu tested the new art's corrosive cold flames and weakened spiritual power by destroying a tree and blasting a deep crater into the mountainside.
• Ma Wuji appeared in a tree and nervously insisted he had not meant to spy on Zhang Chu.

After destroying Jinguang Temple, Zhang Chu learned that the Twin Dragon Society was hunting him and set out with Ma Wuji for the Sword Appraisal Convention. They stopped at an inn where the society’s leaders awaited him, apparently supported by the Northern Blade Sect and the Northern Land Saber King.

• Ma Wuji returned to the temple and saw the crater left by Zhang Chu’s martial arts, then warned him that the Twin Dragon Society was coming after him.
• Zhang Chu ordered Ma Wuji to accompany him and retrieve his horse, then headed toward the Sword Forging Manor’s Sword Appraisal Convention.
• Zhang Chu and Ma Wuji took shelter from heavy rain at an inn, where the patrons recognized Zhang Chu and discussed his recent killings.
• Guests identified the two men in the corner as Twin Dragon Society leaders Chang Zuo and Chang You, whose daughter had died at Jinguang Temple.
• A white-haired elder said the Twin Dragon Society was waiting for reinforcements from the Northern Blade Sect, likely including the Northern Land Saber King.

Zhang Chu confronted the Twin Dragon Society leaders over the death of Chang Qingqing and killed them with a single casual strike. Their backer, Little Blade King Yuan Haotian, then entered the inn, setting up a confrontation with Zhang Chu.

• Chang Zuo and Chang You challenged Zhang Chu over Chang Qingqing's death, and Zhang Chu said she had deserved to die for her evil deeds.
• Chang You attacked Zhang Chu, who repelled him with a flick of his finger and sent him flying.
• Chang Zuo and Chang You joined forces with their saber technique, but Zhang Chu killed both with one sweep of his arm.
• Zhang Chu sensed someone waiting outside and called them out.
• Yuan Haotian, the eighth-ranked Little Blade King and adopted son of the Northern Land Saber King, entered the inn.

Zhang Chu confronted Yuan Haotian, the Northern Land Saber King’s adopted son, at the inn and killed him after defeating his saber techniques. The witnesses were left stunned, and Zhang Chu’s killing of the Human Ranking’s eighth-ranked fighter threatened to draw the Northern Land Saber King into the conflict.

• Yuan Haotian challenged Zhang Chu and revealed he wanted to use Zhang Chu’s head to provoke Bai Feiyu into fighting him.
• Yuan Haotian attacked with Thousand Mountain Snow, but Zhang Chu shattered the strike and sent him staggering backward.
• Zhang Chu asked Yuan Haotian where he had gained Attribute Power, but Yuan Haotian refused and unleashed Snow Slaughtering the World.
• Zhang Chu used Cold Flame True Hand to blast Yuan Haotian into fragments and wreck the inn.
• The Jianghu travelers outside the inn reacted in horror, realizing Zhang Chu had killed the Northern Land Saber King’s adopted son.

After Zhang Chu killed the Little Blade King, he set out for Sword Forging Manor and learned that a legendary Divine Sword was about to be born there, drawing the Demonic Cult and many powerful fighters. While Ma Wuji feared the coming bloodshed, Zhang Chu welcomed the prospect of earning Merit Points.

• Zhang Chu declared that he would use his Sky Patrol Guard authority to purge the Northern Blade Sect and left the crowd stunned after killing the Little Blade King.
• Tu Xiong, the Lingnan Circuit Commander of the Sky Patrol Guard, discussed Zhang Chu's rapid progress and secrets, then headed for Sword Forging Manor to confront the Demonic Cult.
• Zhang Chu and Ma Wuji set out for Sword Forging Manor, where Ma Wuji worried about the dangers surrounding the Divine Sword's birth.
• Ma Wuji told Zhang Chu about the Ten Great Famous Swords, including Passing Time, which was said to have brought about the slaughter of Ten Thousand Horse Hall.
• Zhang Chu became excited at the prospect of many powerful fighters arriving, while Ma Wuji questioned his lack of fear.

Zhang Chu arrived at Sword Forging Manor for the Sword Appraisal Convention and met several renowned martial artists. Li Gang showed him a token bearing traces of the Demonic Cult’s Dao Master of Emotion, revealing that the sword-protection journey faced a threat from Mountain Weeps Earth Laments Red Dust Thread Slash.

• Zhang Chu and Ma Wuji arrived at Sword Forging Manor, where steward Tian Sihai welcomed Zhang Chu and led them to meet the Manor Lord.
• Zhang Chu reunited with Li Gang and was introduced to Bai Feiyu, Long Tu, Sun Jingyi, and Lei Potian.
• Li Gang warned Zhang Chu that the sword-protection journey might go wrong despite the many experts gathered at the manor.
• Li Gang showed Zhang Chu a metal token embedded in the Divine Sword Hall plaque, whose lingering traces could wound anyone who touched it.
• Li Gang identified the traces as Mountain Weeps Earth Laments Red Dust Thread Slash, the ultimate art of the Demonic Cult’s Dao Master of Emotion.

The Ever-Changing Demon Lord led the Demonic Cult’s assault on Sword Forging Manor, revealing that the prize was a Divine Sword Embryo and defeating the manor’s defenders. As the attackers appeared poised to claim it, an unknown person stepped forward to challenge the Demon Lord.

• Li Gang explained the Eight Dao Masters’ ultimate arts before Tian Sihai reported that the Ever-Changing Demon Lord had wounded Deng Wuzong and attacked Sky Fire Cave a day early.
• Li Gang revealed that Sword Forging Manor had concealed the Divine Sword Embryo’s true emergence date, and he led the gathered martial artists to fight the Demonic Cult.
• The Four Heroes of Demonic Rock and ten Gold Corpses overwhelmed the defenders as Tu Xiong battled the Ever-Changing Demon Lord.
• Bai Feiyu ignored warnings and attacked the Four Heroes of Demonic Rock, but their combined strike shattered his sword and buried him beneath rubble.
• The Ever-Changing Demon Lord defeated Tu Xiong and declared that everyone in Sword Forging Manor would die before he claimed the Divine Sword Embryo.
• An unidentified person stepped forward and challenged the Ever-Changing Demon Lord’s confidence.

Zhang Chu revealed himself as a True Gang Grandmaster and killed the Four Heroes of Demonic Rock and the Ever-Changing Demon Lord in swift succession. The remaining Demonic Cult followers fled and called for the Red Dust Envoy.

• Zhang Chu ignored warnings from Li Gang, Sun Jingyi, Elder Longtu, Lei Potian, and Deng Wuzong and stepped onto the battlefield.
• Zhang Chu unleashed his True Gang power and killed the Four Heroes of Demonic Rock with the Northern Cold Flame True Hand, earning 60,000 Merit Points.
• The Ever-Changing Demon Lord challenged Zhang Chu, but Zhang Chu struck first and killed him, earning 22,000 Merit Points.
• The Demonic Cult followers abandoned the Gold Corpse and retreated, calling for the Red Dust Envoy.

At Sword Forging Manor, the Red Dust Envoy learned that Zhang Chu had killed the Ever-Changing Demon Lord and went to confront him. He tried to recruit Zhang Chu into the Sacred Cult, then claimed the Cult’s purpose was tied to the broken path.

• In Sky Fire Cave, the Red Dust Envoy learned from a Demon Guard that Zhang Chu had killed the Four Heroes of Demonic Rock and the Ever-Changing Demon Lord.
• The Red Dust Envoy left the cave, saying the Divine Sword Embryo needed another quarter hour to emerge and that he would meet the people outside.
• At Sword Forging Manor, Deng Wuzong thanked Zhang Chu for saving them, while the assembled heroes remained shaken by his strength.
• Tu Xiong identified the newcomer as one of the Twelve Red Dust Envoys, and Deng Wuzong explained the Envoys’ connection to the Dao Master of Emotion.
• The Red Dust Envoy praised Zhang Chu and tried to tempt him into joining the Sacred Cult, but Zhang Chu questioned its aims.
• The Red Dust Envoy denied that the Cult merely sought to overthrow the Imperial Court and said its great undertaking concerned the broken path.

Zhang Chu fought the Red Dust Envoy, discovering that his opponent used Gang Qi threads to control disposable puppets. After destroying the Envoy’s final puppet, Zhang Chu learned the real Envoy had escaped, and Sword Forging Manor’s Divine Sword was found missing.

• The Red Dust Envoy invited Zhang Chu to join the Sacred Cult, but Zhang Chu refused and killed the first puppet with a palm strike.
• Tu Xiong warned Zhang Chu that the dead figure was not the real Red Dust Envoy, and Zhang Chu spotted the threads controlling it.
• The Red Dust Envoy explained his Thread Play technique and sent waves of puppets to attack Zhang Chu, who destroyed them one after another.
• Zhang Chu blasted the final puppet into a deep pit, where the dying Red Dust Envoy said he had lost and promised they would meet again.
• A red thread escaped north from the corpse, and people at Sword Forging Manor shouted that the Divine Sword was gone.

After the Divine Sword Embryo vanished from Sword Forging Manor, Zhang Chu withdrew to a secret chamber and used his Merit Points to advance Yellow Court Inner Strength to its Ninth Layer. He broke through into the Jade Liquid Realm with the manifestation “Northern Sea Sows Golden Lotus.”

• A disciple reported that the Divine Sword Embryo had disappeared from Sky Fire Cave, and Deng Wuzong rejected the claim that the manor had an insider.
• Zhang Chu asked Deng Wuzong for a quiet place to recover, and Deng sent him to the back-mountain secret chamber with precious medicines.
• Zhang Chu spent 30,000 Merit Points to complete the Eighth Layer of Yellow Court Inner Strength and reach the limit of the True Gang Realm.
• Zhang Chu spent his remaining 80,000 Merit Points to complete the Ninth Layer, liquefy his Gang Qi, and form a Northern Sea with a golden lotus manifestation.
• Zhang Chu confirmed that he had become a Jade Liquid Grandmaster and sensed that he ranked among the foremost experts in the world.