Chapter Summaries

Li Mo and Ying Bing discussed the Demon Summoning Cult and the upcoming Yun Prefecture Martial Arts Summit while bathing together. Ying Bing scrubbed Li Mo’s back, panicked after noticing his reaction, and left when the session ended, as the system offered her a chance to extend it.

• Li Mo told Ying Bing that Futu had taken a Blood Pill from Yin Huaxuan and survived one of his hammer blows.
• Ying Bing explained that the Demon Summoning Cult’s foundational Demon Summoning Scripture could be used for good or evil, and confirmed the cult was plotting against Clear Abyss.
• The system prompted Ying Bing to scrub Li Mo’s back, and she asked him for a towel before doing so.
• Ying Bing asked whether Li Mo had prepared for the Yun Prefecture Martial Arts Summit, and he learned that each peak would choose one participant.
• Ying Bing accidentally noticed Li Mo’s reaction, struck his neck while claiming to kill a mosquito, then left the spring when the countdown ended.
• The system asked Ying Bing whether she wanted to extend the bathing session for a higher evaluation.

Ying Bing received a feather garment, a divine sword-art fragment, and a Sumeru Object that took the form of a doll resembling Li Mo. Li Mo visited Jiang Chulong and gave her the promised peach blossom branch, leaving her in tears.

• Ying Bing calmed herself by counting coins, then received the Dark Bird Neon Garment and the first three forms of the Divine Firmament Heavenly Heart Sword Canon.
• Ying Bing's Sumeru Object appeared as a big-headed doll resembling Li Mo, and she opened its storage space by twisting off its head.
• Li Mo reasoned that Ying Bing's strange behavior was due to her period, then remembered he had not prepared Jiang Chulong's lesson.
• Li Mo used the Jade Sword Peach Blossom Branch to visit Jiang Chulong and helped her remove her basket.
• Li Mo presented Jiang Chulong with the peach blossom branch he had promised to give her upon reaching the Inner Breath Realm, and she cried with joy.

Li Mo watched Jiang Chulong practice with the Jade Sword Peach Blossom Branch, which helped her comprehend Spring Breeze Sword Intent and improve her Wild Grass Sword Scripture. After agreeing to take her to Cloud-Crossing Sword City, Li Mo returned to Autumn Water Pavilion and claimed the Nine Swords of Dugu.

• Jiang Chulong practiced swordsmanship with the Peach Blossom Branch while Li Mo praised her progress and mentioned his upcoming trip to Cloud-Crossing Sword City.
• The famed weapon awakened the sword intent left by its former swordsman, helping Jiang Chulong comprehend Spring Breeze Sword Intent and advance her Wild Grass Sword Scripture.
• Jiang Chulong asked to accompany Li Mo, and he agreed after she promised not to embarrass him.
• Li Mo and Jiang Chulong shared cola and popsicles by the beach, where he asked her to let him pat her head even after her swordsmanship surpassed his.
• Li Mo returned to Autumn Water Pavilion, checked his investment reward, and claimed the Nine Swords of Dugu.

Li Mo received the profound, ungraded Nine Swords of Dugu and sought Ying Bing out to practice swordsmanship. Ying Bing received an absurd system reward involving hitting Li Mo with her butt, and the chapter ended with her challenging him to spar while he resolved to show off his new sword art.

• Li Mo witnessed a vision of a swordsman in the Sword Mound and received the Nine Swords of Dugu, a martial art based on the principles of change.
• Ying Bing saw a system reward instructing her to use her butt to hit Li Mo's hand and decided to ignore it.
• Li Mo called for Ying Bing to practice swordsmanship, and she opened the door while the strange reward began affecting her.
• At breakfast, Ying Bing chose to stand because sitting intensified the sensation, while Li Mo wondered why she seemed so competitive.
• Ying Bing drew Heavenly Frost and challenged Li Mo to spar, and Li Mo stood up with a bun in his mouth, determined to demonstrate the Nine Swords of Dugu.

Li Mo sparred with Ying Bing and used his martial insights to advance the Nine Swords of Dugu, eventually finding a weakness in her swordsmanship. The swords were knocked away, but Li Mo pressed his attack with his hands and declared victory.

• Li Mo and Ying Bing agreed to spar with a reward at stake, and Ying Bing revealed the powerful Divine Firmament Heavenly Heart Sword.
• Ying Bing's sword overwhelmed Li Mo, and she smacked him on the butt before ending the spar.
• Li Mo infused more martial insights and used his crude-looking swordplay to find flaws in Ying Bing's defenses.
• Ying Bing unleashed the second stance of the Divine Firmament Heavenly Heart Sword, knocking both swords from their hands.
• Li Mo continued attacking without his sword, struck Ying Bing, and announced that he had won.

Li Mo sparred with Ying Bing, helped her discover a flaw in her swordsmanship, and received Primal Frost Treasure Dew as an investment reward. After days of training and enduring Ying Bing’s daily ruler strikes, he was called to set off for Yun Province.

• Li Mo accidentally struck Ying Bing’s backside during their spar, so she restarted the match and beat him with a ruler for an hour.
• Li Mo received a drop of Primal Frost Treasure Dew after helping Ying Bing discover a flaw in her sword technique.
• Ying Bing reviewed the spar, struggled to forget Li Mo’s final strike, and resolved to become stronger.
• Li Mo trained his Will Soul and Nine Swords of Dugu for several days while Ying Bing continued striking his backside with her ruler.
• Ouyang arrived at Autumn Water Pavilion and told Li Mo that they were setting off for Yun Province.

Li Mo traveled toward Cloud-Crossing Sword City with Ying Bing, Ouyang, and Jiang Chulong, who joined after Mei Yun reluctantly gave her permission. To entertain Ouyang and Ying Bing, Li Mo began a new story, whose title left Ying Bing visibly startled.

• Li Mo and Ouyang discussed turning Ouyang’s drawings into illustrated storybooks as the disciples prepared to depart for the Martial Dao Summit.
• Li Mo picked up Jiang Chulong at the hotpot shop, where Mei Yun worried that Chulong would attract attention in the jianghu but ultimately let her go after giving her instructions.
• During the carriage ride, Li Mo asked Ying Bing to stop striking his forbidden zone during sword sparring, and she claimed she had forgotten doing so.
• Ouyang asked Li Mo for a story to illustrate, so Li Mo announced that he would tell one called “The Overbearing Empress Falls in Love With Me!”
• Ying Bing dropped her teacup when she heard the story’s title.

Li Mo told Ouyang, Jiang Chulong, and Ying Bing the opening of a story about an empress and a disciple, drawing them in with its cliffhanger romance. Before he could continue, Xu Zhiqing announced that the Clear Abyss Sect’s convoy was under attack.

• Li Mo explained that a striking title helped attract readers, then began telling a story called “The Overbearing Empress Falls in Love With Me?!”
• Li Mo introduced Liu Wuyan, the powerful empress of Snow Moon Palace, and Jiang Chen, an ordinary disciple tricked into delivering her a love letter.
• Li Mo described how Liu Wuyan turned the scheme against its mastermind by pressing Jiang Chen against a wall and accepting his confession, captivating Ouyang, Jiang Chulong, and Ying Bing.
• The carriage jolted to a stop as Xu Zhiqing shouted that enemies were attacking, and Ouyang charged outside to confront them.

Li Mo and the Clear Abyss Sect convoy were ambushed by Drizzle Pavilion assassins on their way to the Martial Dao Summit. After the disciples captured them, Li Mo discovered the assassins had been sent to Yun Province under the Mountain Rain Approaching Order, and proposed interrogating them.

• Three days earlier, Drizzle Pavilion assassins discussed the Mountain Rain Approaching Order and learned that the Heavenly Demon Saintess was also heading to Yun Province.
• The assassins spotted Li Mo, followed the Clear Abyss Sect convoy, and waited until he was traveling without senior sect members before ambushing it.
• The assassins demanded Li Mo be handed over, then challenged Ying Bing to a one-on-one fight.
• Ying Bing and the Clear Abyss Sect disciples quickly subdued and bound the assassins.
• Li Mo used his Heaven's Mandate Divine Eye on Zhang Erdan and learned he had been ordered to travel to Yun Province City.
• Li Mo proposed keeping the assassins under guard and questioning them about Drizzle Pavilion's plans.

Li Mo and the Clear Abyss Sect staged a rescue to trick the Drizzle Pavilion assassins into revealing their plans in Yun Province. The chapter ended with Li Mo unmasking himself as the Northwest Hammer King and revealing the supposedly dead Ouyang and the other disciples had followed them into the forest.

• Shen Yunfei introduced his Clear Abyss Sect companions to his parents while Ouyang described Li Mo's backup plan.
• Li Mo questioned the captured assassins, but they refused to reveal the Drizzle Pavilion's plans, so Ying Bing approached them with her sword.
• A man claiming to be the Northwest Hammer King attacked the courtyard, defeated the disciples, and freed the assassins.
• The Northwest Hammer King led the assassins into the Silent Sea Dense Forest, where they revealed the Yun Province branch's location and its experts.
• The assassins discussed Li Mo's bounty and gloated over his supposed death before the Northwest Hammer King unmasked himself as Li Mo.
• Ouyang and the other Clear Abyss Sect disciples emerged, revealing that Li Mo had staged the escape to expose the assassins.

After Ying Bing advanced her swordsmanship, she activated a new Loser's Punishment ahead of the next comparison with Li Mo. Li Mo received a secret finger technique that turned out to be a massage art, leaving him alarmed by its suggestive warning.

• After half a month of travel, Li Mo and the Clear Abyss Sect group camped outside Yun Province City, where he continued studying Ying Bing's Ascension to Dao Diagram.
• Ying Bing completed her comprehension of the first three forms of Divine Firmament Heavenly Heart Sword and activated the next Loser's Punishment.
• The system required Ying Bing to request a caress from the winner, covering at least eighty percent of her body, and she regretted activating it.
• Li Mo received the Flower-Plucking Finger as investment feedback for helping Ying Bing comprehend a sword technique.
• Li Mo discovered the Flower-Plucking Finger was a secret-art-level massage technique and was startled by its warning against using it on the opposite sex.

Li Mo and his companions arrived in Yun Province City for the Martial Arts Summit, where he read a massage technique booklet while Ying Bing worried about the competition and his unusual interest. At the city’s entrance, Bai Jinghong recognized Li Mo and abruptly knelt before him, shocking the crowd.

• Li Mo read the Flower-Plucking Finger booklet and praised its massage techniques, while Ying Bing mistook his excitement for interest in a profound martial art.
• Ying Bing became nervous about Li Mo learning the massage technique, and Li Mo sensed her unease and wondered who might be making her feel threatened.
• Li Mo, Jiang Chulong, Ying Bing, and the Clear Abyss Sect disciples reached Yun Province City, paid the entry fee, and saw the newly released Hidden Dragon Ranking.
• The crowd spotted Bai Jinghong arriving with Cao and Wu, two other Cloud-Crossing Sword City prodigies ranked above him.
• Bai Jinghong saw Li Mo holding the Star Pestle and dropped to his knees in front of the gathered crowd.

Li Mo gave Bai Jinghong a warning about Drizzle Pavilion, while the Heaven Derivation Sect Walker began asking about the Clear Abyss Sect disciples. As the Martial Dao Summit approached, Li Mo’s Nine Swords of Dugu reached the threshold of mastery, and its next step called for him to test his sword against the assembled heroes.

• Bai Jinghong knelt reflexively when he saw Ying Bing and Little Li, then accepted Li Mo’s letter about Drizzle Pavilion to deliver to an elder.
• After Li Mo and the others left, Wu Chushu and Cao Mu criticized Bai Jinghong for embarrassing Cloud-Crossing Sword City, and Bai Jinghong went to deliver the letter.
• Word of Bai Jinghong’s kneeling spread through Yun Province City, and a picture book based on Li Mo and Ying Bing appeared.
• Elder Zeng ordered Wu Chushu, Cao Mu, and Bai Jinghong to challenge disciples from Clear Abyss Sect at the Sword Trial Assembly, and the Heaven Derivation Sect Walker asked what they looked like.
• Li Mo trained as the Martial Dao Summit neared and raised his Nine Swords of Dugu to the threshold of mastery.

Li Mo and the Clear Abyss Sect arrived at Cloud-Crossing Sword City for the Sword Trial, where challengers would compete for ten arena positions. Along the way, Li Mo recorded two promising martial artists and learned that the arena masters who lasted three days would pass the trial.

• Li Mo promised the Calamity Meteor Hammer he would let it show off at a future Hammer Trial Assembly, then changed into Jiang Chulong’s handmade outfit and thanked her for it.
• Ouyang gave Li Mo the first-issue profits from The Overbearing Empress Falls in Love With Me, while Ying Bing emerged in a feather-patterned robe and headed for the carriage.
• On the way to Cloud-Crossing Sword City, Li Mo recorded Wu Chushu, who planned to challenge Ying Bing, and Huang Donglai, who had decided to return home after meeting Jiang Chulong.
• Li Mo and Ying Bing discussed the abundance of talent in the Eastern Wasteland Domain and its history as the capital of Great Shang.
• At Cloud-Crossing Sword City, an old man explained that challengers could claim the ten arenas and that anyone still holding an arena after three days would pass the Sword Trial.

The Sword Trial began in Sword City as Zhong Zhenyue and Ying Bing took the arenas, while Li Mo planned to hone his sword skills and help Ying Bing and Jiang Chulong observe the Cloud-Crossing Sword Mark. Jiang Chulong faced a challenger, and her Peach Blossom Branch ended the fight in an instant.

• Zhong Zhenyue volunteered to take an arena, and Li Mo’s Heavenly Mandate Divine Eye revealed his past entanglement with Yin Mianmian of the Drizzle Pavilion.
• Li Mo decided to use the Sword Trial to improve the Nine Swords of Dugu and help Ying Bing and Jiang Chulong study the Cloud-Crossing Sword Mark.
• Ying Bing took an arena, and the crowd recognized her as the inspiration for Liu Wuyan in Ouyang’s popular picture book.
• Elder Zeng scolded the External Affairs Hall for failing to build excitement, then secretly took the steward’s picture book and read it.
• The ten arenas filled, and a Profound Pill Realm swordsman challenged Jiang Chulong, who asked whether the fight had started before her Peach Blossom Branch defeated him immediately.

At the Cloud-Crossing Sword City trial, Jiang Chulong and Ying Bing stunned the crowd with their swordsmanship while Li Mo’s opponents kept turning into admirers. Li Mo then offered a cash bounty to lure someone into a real fight, and a burly Gangdou Sect martial artist stepped onto his platform.

• Jiang Chulong defeated a Profound Pill martial artist with one sword strike, revealing her sword intent and astonishing the elders of Cloud-Crossing Sword City.
• Cao Mu asked Bai Jinghong to switch opponents, and Bai Jinghong agreed to face Jiang Chulong.
• Li Mo’s young opponent asked him for an autograph and left without fighting him.
• Ying Bing overwhelmed a Three Apertures of Divine Observation swordsman with her opening stance, leaving the elders stunned.
• Wu Chushu and Cao Mu switched opponents, while Li Mo posted a bounty for anyone who challenged him at full strength.
• A burly Gangdou Sect martial artist named Tie Qi’s big brother accepted Li Mo’s invitation to a friendly exchange.

Li Mo defeated a Gangdou Sect disciple with unorthodox swordplay, turning their match into a lesson that astonished the sword masters watching. After accepting the disciple’s thanks and paying the promised reward, Li Mo left him wondering if he was the renowned figure from the Blood Phoenix Secret Realm.

• Li Mo drew the Crimson Firmament Sword and confronted the burly Gangdou Sect disciple, while Wu Chushu and the crowd studied his technique.
• Li Mo’s seemingly clumsy strike repeatedly targeted the burly man’s openings, and he stopped the man’s halberd attack with a precise counter.
• The burly man charged again, and Li Mo explained the flaws in his halberd technique as the onlookers realized he was teaching rather than simply sparring.
• Ying Bing recognized a familiar trace of Taiyin in Li Mo’s Will Soul and wondered how he could have observed it.
• The burly man thanked Li Mo for his guidance, and Li Mo paid him the promised gold reward.
• The burly man suspected Li Mo was the person from the Blood Phoenix Secret Realm, and Li Mo told him to keep quiet because he was a swordsman now.

Li Mo kept inviting challengers to spar, earning money while refining his swordsmanship, as Jiang Chulong astonished the crowd by defeating Bai Jinghong. After sparring with dozens of opponents, Li Mo faced Wu Chushu, who stepped forward before Li Mo could grow even stronger.

• Li Mo invited heroes to challenge him for a reward, and a long line formed at his stage as he taught each opponent and adapted their martial arts.
• Bai Jinghong challenged Jiang Chulong, but she evaded his Horizontal Cloud Sword Qi and disarmed him with her Peach Wood Branch.
• The onlookers and elders marveled at Jiang Chulong and Ying Bing, while the challengers dwindled at their stages and Li Mo's line remained busy.
• Li Mo received a Seven-Pattern Void-Filling Pill after getting Huang Donglai to challenge him, then wondered whether his sword insights could help him form another Profound Pill.
• Wu Chushu challenged Li Mo after realizing Li Mo's true essence was recovering quickly and his swordsmanship kept improving.

Li Mo defeated Wu Chushu by exposing a flaw in his Ten Thousand Flower Dragon-Roaming Sword Technique and displaying a spectacular show of weapon control. As the crowd celebrated, someone identified the power forming within Li Mo as a Sword Pellet.

• Wu Chushu challenged Li Mo on the dueling platform, and the two exchanged courteous poses before Wu began his sword technique.
• Wu Chushu unleashed his Ten Thousand Flower Dragon-Roaming Sword Technique, but Li Mo pierced the petals and struck his soft sword with precision.
• Li Mo combined his insights into Dugu's Nine Swords as a Sword Pellet began to condense within him.
• Li Mo used his Extreme Weapon Slaughter Body to draw weapons toward himself, overwhelming Wu Chushu, who admitted defeat.
• Ying Bing realized Li Mo had secretly controlled the arena's weapons, while Elder Zeng questioned the aura he had sensed.
• A mysterious voice declared that the aura was a Sword Pellet as its owner approached with the chime of a bell.

After Li Mo’s striking performance at the Sword Trial Assembly, Cloud-Crossing Sword City’s elders discussed his Sword Pellet and the threat revealed by Drizzle Pavilion’s Mountain Rain Approaching Order. Li Mo learned he would be allowed to study the Cloud-Crossing Sword Mark, and worried that doing so might expose how little experience he had as a swordsman.

• The elders recognized that Li Mo had condensed a Sword Pellet and discussed his talent and flamboyant reputation.
• Elder Zeng revealed that Li Mo had sent word of Drizzle Pavilion’s order, two strongholds, and the whereabouts of its Saintess.
• A Heaven Derivation Sect woman divined that Cloud-Crossing Sword City would turn danger into safety.
• After the Sword Trial Assembly, Shen Yunfei left to seek treatment and told Li Mo he would return for a spar.
• Ying Bing explained that visitors who studied the Cloud-Crossing Sword Mark had to leave a copy of what they comprehended in Sword City.
• Li Mo wondered what he would comprehend and worried that his swordsman persona would collapse.