Chapter Summaries

Zhang Chu spent his Merit Points to strengthen the Heavenly Toad Undying Divine Skill to its ninth layer, gaining overwhelming vitality and greatly increased lifespan. His cultivation triggered a vast response from nature and the Gu insects, leaving Jing Zhongyue and Tu Lu questioning who Gu God truly was.

• Zhang Chu used Merit Points to strengthen the Heavenly Toad Undying Divine Skill through its first eight layers, healing old injuries and increasing his resilience and lifespan.
• Zhang Chu spent 1,280,000 Merit Points to complete the ninth layer and unleash an immense Life Force.
• Zhang Chu's Life Force resonated across the Thousand Mountains Range, making plants sprout and causing Southern Border's Gu insects to gather and bow toward him.
• Tu Lu recognized the Ten Thousand Gu Worship and the manifested Heavenly Toad Undying Diagram, then was stunned that Zhang Chu had mastered the divine skill so quickly.
• Jing Zhongyue asked the Treasure Toad how Zhang Chu had advanced so fast, but it could only stare at him in bewilderment.
• Jing Zhongyue watched Zhang Chu and wondered who Gu God truly was.

After defeating the threats to Southern Border, Zhang Chu gained the Heavenly Toad Undying Divine Skill and prepared to seek more ultimate arts and uncover the mysteries surrounding his master, Huang Xugu. He departed with Southern Border’s gratitude, leaving Jing Zhongyue to lead the clans as the Jianghu recognized her people’s new strength.

• Zhang Chu realized the Heavenly Toad Undying Divine Skill had greatly increased his vitality and lifespan, and considered using it to develop another phenomenon.
• Zhang Chu resolved to recover the final three chapters of the Twelve Chapters of the Yellow Court and investigate his master, Huang Xugu.
• Jing Zhongyue thanked Zhang Chu for ending Southern Border’s troubles, while Zhang Chu questioned whether fate had brought them together.
• Tu Lu and another general pledged Southern Border’s support to Zhang Chu, and the clanspeople thanked him as he departed at dawn.
• Jianghu onlookers concluded that Southern Border was now protected by Jing Zhongyue and Zhang Chu, and that rival factions would hesitate to attack.

Zhang Chu returned to Wanshan City and was welcomed by a Sky Patrol Guard general who secretly tried to poison him. Zhang Chu detected the poison and exposed Huang Zheng through the strong scent of Buddha Incense, linking him to the Bodhi Institute’s stolen treasure.

• Zhang Chu entered an inn in Wanshan City and heard the shopkeeper praise the order and safety his presence had brought to the city.
• Huang Zheng, Town General of the Eastern Ridge Circuit Sky Patrol Guard, arrived under Marshal Hong Yue’s orders and invited Zhang Chu to a banquet.
• Zhang Chu accused Huang Zheng of trying to rob and kill him, then revealed that Huang had secretly released a strange, deadly poison.
• Huang Zheng asked how Zhang Chu had seen through him, and Zhang Chu explained that the overpowering scent of Buddha Incense exposed him as the Bodhi Institute’s treasure thief.

Zhang Chu exposed Huang Zheng as the treasure thief, forced the strange poison out of his body, and killed him before returning to the Southern Regions Sky Patrol Guard headquarters. Marshal Hong Yue welcomed him and marveled at his strength, leaving Zhang Chu’s rapid rise the focus of their reunion.

• Huang Zheng admitted Zhang Chu had uncovered his disguise and summoned the strange poison with a blue pouch, but Zhang Chu forced the poison from his body and examined it.
• Huang Zheng warned that the poison had marked Zhang Chu’s spirit and that a powerful figure would eventually harvest him, but Zhang Chu showed interest rather than fear.
• Zhang Chu declared himself the enemy of the whole world and erased Huang Zheng with a sweep of his hand, earning 150,000 Merit Points.
• Zhang Chu returned to the Southern Regions Sky Patrol Guard headquarters, where Marshal Hong Yue and other high-ranking officials waited to greet him.
• Hong Yue tested Zhang Chu’s physical strength with a strike and praised his extraordinary power, saying even he was inferior.

Zhang Chu returned to Sky Patrol Guard headquarters, reported Huang Zheng’s assassination attempt, and requested another visit to the Secret Technique Pavilion. Hong Yue revealed three rising threats in the Jianghu and named Zhang Chu among the Four Great Experts of the New Generation.

• Sky Patrol Guard commanders praised Zhang Chu’s achievements in the Southern Border before Hong Yue welcomed him to a banquet.
• Zhang Chu told Hong Yue that Huang Zheng had ambushed him with a strange poison in Wanshan City, and Hong Yue suspected Huang Zheng had been backed by a powerful force.
• Zhang Chu requested entry to the Secret Technique Pavilion, and Hong Yue agreed his achievements justified it but first shared major Jianghu news.
• Hong Yue reported that Zhu Xi wielded the Heavenly Evil Blade and had grievously wounded Horse King Buddha in the Western Regions.
• Hong Yue explained that Lei Muyun had seized control of the Dragon King Hall after obtaining the Sea God Inheritance, and would likely become Zhang Chu’s future opponent.
• Hong Yue described an unnamed inheritor of the Snow Region Outer Heaven Grotto-Heaven who had slain experts across the northern Snow Region, then said Zhang Chu and the three newcomers were regarded as the Four Great Experts of the New Generation.

Zhang Chu visited the Southern Regions' Secret Technique Pavilion to choose ultimate arts that suited his path and selected Divine Phoenix Strike and Silent God Art. After comprehending and enhancing both with his Merit Points, he left the pavilion stronger but nearly out of Merit Points, planning to fuse the arts with the Heavenly Toad Undying Divine Skill.

• Zhang Chu told Hong Yue that the title of one of the four great experts was only a stumbling block on his path, and Hong Yue allowed him to choose ultimate arts freely.
• Zhang Chu entered the Secret Technique Pavilion and noticed that Senior Sun was absent, then searched the third floor for suitable manuals.
• Zhang Chu chose Divine Phoenix Strike for its swift, continuous attacks and Silent God Art for its thought-based killing power, believing the two could be fused.
• Zhang Chu comprehended both arts to the entry level and used his Merit Points to enhance them, spending nearly four hundred thousand.
• Zhang Chu left the pavilion in the evening with a slightly stronger aura and nearly depleted Merit Points, expecting that fusing the arts with the Heavenly Toad Undying Divine Skill would require several million.

After receiving a secret letter linking his missing master Huang Xugu to the Western Regions, Zhang Chu learned that the Western Regions Ancient City was tied to Illusionary City, one of the Eight Profound of Heaven and Earth. Despite Hong Yue's warnings about the dangers there, Zhang Chu decided to travel west and planned to return to Linjiang County before setting out.

• Hong Yue told Zhang Chu that Senior Sun had received a secret letter and gone to Monan.
• Zhang Chu opened a letter bearing the character Zhao, which revealed that Huang Xugu had stayed at Yellow Wind Plain before vanishing.
• Hong Yue explained that the Western Regions Ancient City was Illusionary City, a secret realm where the Illusionary Aperture could be opened, and warned Zhang Chu about its dangers.
• Zhang Chu resolved to go to the Western Regions to investigate his master's disappearance and seek merit among the monsters and demons there.
• Hong Yue gave Zhang Chu a golden token to present to Marshal Shen of the Western Regions Sky Patrol Guard.
• Zhang Chu left headquarters, planning to return to Linjiang County before departing for the Western Regions Ancient City.

Zhang Chu returned to True Martial Temple and found it had become a respected sacred land, with powerful sect leaders gathering to pay their respects. After entrusting the temple’s protection to Li Minghuai and leaving him two treasured weapons, Zhang Chu departed for the Western Regions to seek their master.

• Zhang Chu entered a peaceful Linjiang County, where people credited him with ending unrest and True Martial Temple had become a renowned sacred land.
• Zhang Chu found Li Minghuai receiving grandmasters who hoped to meet him, and noticed that his Senior Brother had advanced to the Dark Strength Realm.
• Zhang Chu entered the hall, greeted Li Minghuai, and learned that Wang Yuan had also reached the Dark Strength Realm after using the Golden Cicada.
• Zhang Chu told Li Minghuai he was heading to the Western Regions and entrusted him with guarding True Martial Temple.
• Zhang Chu left the Tear Stain Sword and Demon Buddha Treasure Blade with Li Minghuai, then departed west after nightfall.

Zhang Chu took shelter from the rain in a seemingly abandoned manor, where he reunited with Tu Xiong, Li Gang, and Sun Youwei and met Wu Qingfeng. Tu Xiong revealed that sects and other groups had been mysteriously vanishing across the Southern and Western Regions, and lightning exposed a figure in the manor.

• Zhang Chu found signs that the supposedly abandoned manor was still in use and entered to escape the rain.
• An elderly man let Zhang Chu stay, then disappeared from sight after a group knocked at the gate.
• Tu Xiong, Li Gang, Sun Youwei, and Wu Qingfeng arrived, and Zhang Chu learned that Sun Youwei had entered the Dark Strength Realm.
• Tu Xiong explained that sects and horse gangs had vanished overnight in both regions, prompting a secret investigation by the Sky Patrol Guard.
• Thunder and lightning illuminated the manor and revealed an unidentified figure.

Zhang Chu followed Tu Xiong, Li Gang, Sun Youwei, and Wu Qingfeng after a mysterious figure’s knocking sound lured them into a trance. He stopped them from being devoured by man-eating Weird Flowers and Grass and recognized the Gray Mist toxin controlling them.

• During a rainy night, Zhang Chu spotted a fast-moving figure outside the window and heard it knock with a familiar sound.
• Tu Xiong, Li Gang, Sun Youwei, and Wu Qingfeng fell into a trance and walked out of the estate, while Zhang Chu followed.
• The four approached enormous, living flowers and grass that opened into spike-filled maws.
• Zhang Chu knocked the four away from the plants before they could be eaten.
• Zhang Chu saw Gray Mist stirring at the center of each victim’s brow and recognized the toxin that had controlled Huang Zheng.

Zhang Chu rescued Tu Xiong, Li Gang, Sun Youwei, and Wu Qingfeng from a mind-clouding poison that had nearly led them into lethal plants at the Desolate Manor. Tu Xiong recognized the poison as connected to the Demonic Cult’s Medicine Dao Master, an Outer Golden Core practitioner.

• Zhang Chu used chaotic erasure to purge the poison from the four, then restored their strength with the Heavenly Toad Undying Divine Skill.
• Zhang Chu cut apart the Weird Flowers and Grass, revealing corrosive fluid and countless insect eggs inside.
• Zhang Chu explained that the four had been poisoned before reaching the Desolate Manor and nearly controlled into walking into the plants.
• Tu Xiong recalled hearing about the Medicine Dao Master from a True Person during a visit to the Daoist Sect thirty years earlier.
• Tu Xiong identified the Medicine Dao Master as one of the Demonic Cult’s eight Dao Masters, whose ancient Outer Golden Core path drew its power from external objects.

After identifying the Medicine Dao Master as the likely force behind the sinister estate, Zhang Chu rejected a cautious search and destroyed the entire estate with one Heaven Covering palm. Tu Xiong, Li Gang, Sun Youwei, and Wu Qingfeng were left stunned by the scale of his power.

• Tu Xiong explained that the Medicine Dao Master was a legendary Demonic Cult Dao Master whose abilities were said to defy heaven and change fate.
• Li Gang and Sun Youwei argued that they should find the old man who lived in the estate, while Tu Xiong warned that searching at night or splitting up was too dangerous.
• Zhang Chu said that knowing the Medicine Dao Master was behind the danger was enough and that everyone else only needed to die.
• Zhang Chu rose above the estate and unleashed his Heaven Covering palm, flattening the entire sprawling compound in an instant.
• Wu Qingfeng, Tu Xiong, Li Gang, and Sun Youwei stared at the wreckage, shaken by Zhang Chu's overwhelming power.

Sun Youwei and the others discovered a hidden chamber beneath the estate, and Zhang Chu smashed through its sealed entrance. They found murals showing people being refined into pills and a strange alchemy chamber bearing the inscription “Reverse Chaos Yin Yang, Undying Ascend to Immortality!”

• Sun Youwei spotted a square opening beneath the Weird Flowers and Grass, and Tu Xiong identified the entrance as a decades-old underground secret chamber sealed by a Dragon-Breaking Stone.
• Wu Qingfeng warned that the chamber might contain mechanisms or poisonous miasma, but Zhang Chu shattered the Dragon-Breaking Stone with one kick and entered first.
• Zhang Chu led Tu Xiong, Li Gang, Sun Youwei, and Wu Qingfeng down the slippery stone stairs into a vast underground space.
• Li Gang and the others discovered murals of a Daoist refining mutilated people in a monstrous Alchemy Cauldron, while Zhang Chu identified the images as human pill refinement.
• Zhang Chu kicked through a stone door and revealed a huge black Alchemy Cauldron surrounded by incomprehensible writing, including the inscription “Reverse Chaos Yin Yang, Undying Ascend to Immortality!”

Zhang Chu and the others discovered a Bronze Coffin and confronted its Coffin Guardians in an underground Medicine Dao chamber. The Guardians revealed that the Dao Child was cultivating a technique that used human flesh and blood to grow and absorb Dharma Bones.

• Tu Xiong led the group deeper underground, where they found a larger medicine-refining chamber filled with strange writing and a Bronze Coffin.
• Sun Youwei spotted the vanished old man behind the coffin, sitting beside the gaunt middle-aged man Zhang Chu had seen outside.
• The two men declared themselves Coffin Guardians and said the chamber was the Dao Child's cultivation ground.
• Zhang Chu identified the Three Flowers Technique from the murals, and the coffin trembled as the person inside breathed more heavily.
• The middle-aged Coffin Guardian explained that the technique implanted another person's Dharma Bone and used pills refined from living humans to nourish it.

Zhang Chu exposed the Demon Cult’s Three Flowers Divine Technique as a scheme to refine living people into nourishment, then killed the two experts guarding the Bronze Coffin and destroyed the Dao Child inside it. Wu Qingfeng and the others were left stunned by Zhang Chu’s power as they considered bringing him to White Deer Academy.

• The middle-aged man revealed that the Three Flowers Divine Technique used living people as medicinal cauldrons to help the Dao Child open the Secret Treasury of Essence.
• The old man and middle-aged man attacked Sun Youwei, Wu Qingfeng, Li Gang, and Tu Xiong while the figure in the Bronze Coffin gathered power.
• Zhang Chu killed the old man and middle-aged man effortlessly by crushing them with Gang Qi.
• The Dao Child burst into motion inside the Bronze Coffin and threatened Zhang Chu for killing his subordinates.
• Zhang Chu restrained the Dao Child and refined him inside the Bronze Coffin, destroying both and earning 400,000 Merit Points.
• Wu Qingfeng and the others stared in awe, and Wu Qingfeng wondered whether Zhang Chu would also refuse to look for anyone at White Deer Academy.

Zhang Chu destroyed Desolate Manor after eliminating its Demonic Cult occupants, then agreed to accompany Wu Qingfeng and the others to White Deer Academy to investigate the cult’s growing activity. When they reached the Academy, Elder Zhou Jingshan recognized Zhang Chu and was shocked by his arrival.

• Zhang Chu crushed the Demonic Cult’s Dao Child and destroyed Desolate Manor at Tu Xiong and Li Gang’s urging.
• Wu Qingfeng asked Zhang Chu to visit White Deer Academy, and Zhang Chu agreed after learning it was close to Yellow Wind Plain and might hold useful records.
• Zhang Chu and the others traveled for two days through the desolate Western Regions toward White Deer Academy.
• Academy disciples questioned Zhang Chu’s identity and tried to bar him from entering until Wu Qingfeng identified him as the Yellow Court Dao Master.
• Elder Zhou Jingshan arrived, learned Zhang Chu had come to the Academy, and reacted with shock.

Zhang Chu arrived at White Deer Academy, where Elder Zhou welcomed him with great respect after recognizing him as the Yellow Court Dao Master. When Qin Cang attacked for the White Rainbow Sword Art, he recognized Zhang Chu and tried to flee, but Zhang Chu stopped him.

• Zhou Jingshan greeted Zhang Chu with a deep bow, and the Academy disciples learned that their guest was the Yellow Court Dao Master.
• Zhang Chu entered White Deer Academy's main hall, where Zhou Jingshan thanked him for saving the Academy's disciples from the Demonic Cult.
• Mo Li crashed into the hall gravely wounded and urged the others to escape with the White Rainbow Sword Art.
• Qin Cang, the Sandbar Nine Dragon Sword, demanded the White Rainbow Sword Art and threatened to destroy White Deer Academy.
• Qin Cang entered the main hall, recognized Zhang Chu, and turned to flee, but Zhang Chu asked whether he had let him leave.

Zhang Chu killed Qin Cang after learning that the Heavenly Evil Cult had sent him to seize White Deer Academy’s White Rainbow Sword Art. Qin Cang revealed that the art was connected to a Desert Dao Academy from five hundred years ago and the Secret Treasury of Qi, so Zhang Chu asked Mo Li about the academy.

• Qin Cang recognized Zhang Chu and abandoned his arrogance, kneeling and begging for mercy before the Yellow Court Dao Master.
• Zhang Chu questioned Qin Cang, who said Secret Envoys from the Heavenly Evil Cult had ordered him to take the White Rainbow Sword Art.
• Qin Cang revealed that the sword art seemed connected to a Desert Dao Academy from five hundred years ago and the Secret Treasury of Qi, but he knew no more.
• Zhang Chu killed Qin Cang with one palm, and White Deer Academy’s people watched in shock.
• Zhang Chu helped Mo Li recover and asked him what Qin Cang meant by the Desert Dao Academy.

Mo Li explained that the Heavenly Evil Cult sought White Deer Academy’s White Rainbow Sword Art to restore the Desert Dao Academy’s lost martial art and uncover the Secret Treasury of Qi. As Zhang Chu followed him to the Library Pavilion, he sensed a Demonic Seed near the rear mountain well, exposing a threat inside the Academy and suggesting the missing handyman was not the real culprit.

• Mo Li told Zhang Chu how the Desert Dao Academy was founded, declined, and lost its other three lineages, and why the Heavenly Evil Cult wanted the White Rainbow Sword Art.
• Mo Li led Zhang Chu toward the Library Pavilion, while Wu Qingfeng worried that the Heavenly Evil Cult would attack White Deer Academy; Zhang Chu assured him he would kill any attackers.
• Zhang Chu sensed a Demonic Seed from the rear mountain and led everyone to a sinister wildflower growing beside the Academy’s well.
• Wu Qingfeng realized the Demonic Seed could have silently consumed the Academy’s disciples, and Elder Zhou suspected the missing rear-mountain handyman had planted it.
• Zhang Chu stopped Wu Qingfeng from pursuing the handyman and said the man could not escape, but was not the real culprit.

Zhang Chu exposed Zhou Jingshan as the traitor who had colluded with the Demonic Cult and murdered Academy disciples. Zhou Jingshan confessed that he had sought the Bone Law Realm and the White Rainbow Sword Art, and blamed his failure on the Academy’s pedantry.

• Zhang Chu summoned everyone at White Deer Academy and identified Zhou Jingshan as the only person carrying a pouch with the same scent as the one linked to the Demonic Cult.
• Zhang Chu challenged Zhou Jingshan to tap his pouch, and Zhou Jingshan’s reaction revealed his guilt.
• Mo Li and Wu Qingfeng confronted Zhou Jingshan, who admitted he had spent twenty years trapped in the Jade Liquid Realm and wanted to reach the Bone Law Realm.
• Zhou Jingshan said the Demonic Cult had promised him the Patriarch’s ultimate art in exchange for the White Rainbow Sword Art and offered him the Medicine Dao Master’s Outer Golden Core technique.
• Zhou Jingshan confessed that he had used toxins to control Academy disciples, killed them, and used their essence to nourish flowers.
• Zhou Jingshan lamented that Wu Qingfeng had brought Zhang Chu back and cried that he had been defeated by the Academy’s pedantry.