Chapter Summaries

Meng Qi led Madam Huangfu and Huangfu Fei through Mr. Wash Moon’s destruction of the forest by predicting his attack pattern and hiding outside the forest. In Huayuan City, he arranged a hiding place for the two women and prepared to teach Huangfu Fei the Five Thunders True Spell and Shenxiao Spear Technique.

• Meng Qi studied the pattern of Mr. Wash Moon’s attacks and decided to retrace their route through the forest.
• Meng Qi concealed himself, Madam Huangfu, and Huangfu Fei with the Obscuring Leaf, then hid them in a crack beyond the forest as Mr. Wash Moon destroyed the area.
• Meng Qi waited until the next morning before carrying Madam Huangfu and Huangfu Fei out of the ruined forest.
• In Huayuan City, Meng Qi found Madam Red Thread’s warning that Xia Yanyun was a traitor and learned that Qi Shaochong and Huang Ling had gone into hiding separately.
• Meng Qi rented a courtyard and told Madam Huangfu and Huangfu Fei to lie low for a month before contacting Qi Shaochong and the others.
• Huangfu Fei asked Meng Qi to teach her the Five Thunders True Spell and Shenxiao Spear Technique, and he agreed.

Meng Qi completed his mastery of the Orifice Opening portion of the Yuxu Kaitian Art and taught Huangfu Fei before helping her reunite with He Canshang and recover the Xuanwu Pendant. The pendant revealed the next clue in Zhenwu’s mystery, Worry-Free Valley, while a guard in Spring Valley asked whether an important figure from Immortal Trace had arrived.

• Meng Qi explained how to cultivate the Shenxiao Spear Technique and Five Thunders True Spell, then guided Huangfu Fei for a month until her understanding improved greatly.
• Meng Qi reached great mastery in the Orifice Opening portion of the Yuxu Kaitian Art and told Huangfu Fei that his guidance was ending.
• Meng Qi demonstrated Heaven Strikes with Five Thunders, bringing the saber technique close to complete integration.
• Meng Qi arranged for Qi Shaochong and Huang Ling to meet Huangfu Fei and Madam Huangfu, then accompanied Huangfu Fei to He Canshang.
• He Canshang handed over the Xuanwu Pendant, which led Meng Qi to hear the clue “Worry-Free Valley” and the Lord of Six Paths Samsara’s instruction to find it.
• In Spring Valley near Heaven’s Village, a guard entered an underground passage and anxiously asked whether the important figure from Immortal Trace had arrived.

Meng Qi, disguised as Yuanshi Tianzun, learned how the North Sea squad’s mission changed after Yu Zishou confined Qin Qing with the Kirin Pendant. He went to Heaven’s Village to rescue her and appeared at her door.

• Ying Zi, Old Pan, and Dongyuan told Meng Qi that Yu Zishou had discovered their infiltration and given Qin Qing the Kirin Pendant while forbidding her to leave.
• Old Pan explained that their mission now required them to free Qin Qing, and the three asked Meng Qi for help.
• Meng Qi told the squad to gather their belongings and wait to return, then disappeared from their secret room.
• Yu Zishou brought tangyuan to Qin Qing at the Fragrant Spring Pavilion, where she said she missed her former freedom.
• Meng Qi knocked at the pavilion door, and Qin Qing recognized his Yuanshi Tianzun mask.

Meng Qi, disguised as Yuanshi Tianzun, confronted Jade-Faced Flying Dragon Yu Zishou and used a staged revelation about a powerful organization to distract and influence him. Meng Qi defeated Yu Zishou long enough to rescue Qin Qing, then vanished as Yu Zishou watched.

• Meng Qi claimed Qin Qing was a member of his organization and used the Demon-Quelling Heavenly Venerable's inheritance to make Yu Zishou doubt his assumptions.
• Yu Zishou refused to release Qin Qing, even while admitting he might believe the organization's claims, and prepared to fight.
• Meng Qi used the Great Law of Changing Heaven and Striking Earth to unsettle Yu Zishou, then struck him with a powerful palm.
• Meng Qi sealed Qin Qing's acupoints, grabbed her, and fled through Heaven's Village as Yu Zishou and several elders pursued them.
• Old Pan, Wang Dongyuan, and Ying Zi turned back after hearing the Lord of Six Paths Samsara, while Meng Qi unsealed Qin Qing's acupoints and sent her away.
• Meng Qi disappeared after giving Yu Zishou a Daoist salute, leaving Yu Zishou standing in surprise.

Meng Qi completed the True Intent Inheritance of Heaven Strikes with Five Thunders, accepted an investigation mission in Jiangdong, and learned that He Jiu was gathering top Human Ranking experts at Xingyun Manor. He traveled to Longyan City and received an invitation to the Feast of Xingyun.

• Meng Qi spent five hundred Merit Points to complete the True Intent Inheritance of Heaven Strikes with Five Thunders and began integrating its essence.
• Meng Qi collected the Qinghua Fruit for completing his Immortal Trace mission and accepted Yun Zhongzi's mission to investigate the disappearance of Jin Li in Wen'an.
• Meng Qi read Immortal Trace's posted information and learned that He Jiu had invited top Human Ranking talents to a banquet at Xingyun Manor.
• Meng Qi returned from Immortal Trace, reported on the Mountain God Temple battle while downplaying his swordsmanship, and set out for Jiangdong as Mad Saber Su Meng.
• A messenger delivered He Jiu's invitation to Meng Qi at an inn in Longyan City.

Meng Qi disguised himself as a Green-robed Young Master and questioned Lü Jian about his missing friend Jin Li. Lü Jian confirmed that Jin Li had last stayed in Wen'an more than three years earlier, then vanished after leaving on a rainy night.

• At the Feast of Xingyun, Meng Qi accepted an invitation to attend on New Year's Eve and planned to visit Wen'an first.
• Lü Jian and his nephew Lü Huo saw the updated Human Ranking, which placed Su Meng sixth after he killed the Demonic Shadow Cold Palm, Blazing Fiend, and Soul-Scattering Flute.
• Lü Jian noticed the ranking now emphasized Su Meng's saber over his sword, while Lü Huo excitedly wondered about mastering both weapons.
• Meng Qi, disguised as a Green-robed Young Master, approached Lü Jian on a bridge and asked whether Jin Li had last appeared in Wen'an.
• Lü Jian said Jin Li had visited him more than three years earlier, said strange things, and left one rainy night; Lü Jian learned only recently that he had been missing for years.

Meng Qi questioned Lu Jian about Jin Li’s disappearance, then used a blood bead to find Jin Li’s remains in a mass grave and learned that the Chen Family had buried them. He went to the Chen estate, where Chen Chang Geng encountered a masked stranger in his room.

• Lu Jian told Meng Qi that Jin Li had spoken of the anguish of not knowing whether someone was alive or dead and had seemed unusually interested in famous couples.
• Meng Qi asked Lu Jian to investigate whether Jin Li had been involved in a romantic entanglement in Wen'an.
• Meng Qi used Yun Zhongzi’s blood bead at the mass grave and found Jin Li’s bones beneath the earth.
• A beggar told Meng Qi that servants from Chen Chang Geng’s family had secretly buried Jin Li’s corpse there.
• Chen Chang Geng entered his concubine’s room and found a masked, black-robed figure waiting beside the table.

Meng Qi investigated Jin Li’s death, questioning Chen Chang Geng and gathering leads from Lu Jian before visiting Tianming Temple. Daoist Tianming tried to read Meng Qi’s fate, but the reading changed from green to pure white and left him terrified.

• Meng Qi overpowered Chen Chang Geng, who admitted that he had found Jin Li’s body outside his side gate and secretly buried it, then named several families and sects he suspected as enemies.
• Lu Jian told Meng Qi that a Shen Family girl had resisted an arranged marriage shortly after Jin Li disappeared and that a mysterious female Daoist had appeared at Tianming Temple.
• Lu Jian described the Shen Family’s influence and the strange beliefs and reputed predictions of Daoist Tianming.
• Meng Qi went to Tianming Temple and asked Daoist Tianming to read his fate.
• Daoist Tianming first called Meng Qi’s fate green, then changed it to red, yellow, white, and finally pure white before falling in fright.

Meng Qi learned that the Shen Family concealed its affairs and infiltrated Shen Garden to investigate, while his search for Jin Li led him to Daoist Jie Sha, who denied knowing him. The chapter ended with Meng Qi spotting an unfamiliar woman in white arriving at Shen Garden.

• Meng Qi startled Daoist Tianming with his five-colored fate, then persuaded him to explain that the Shen Family's fate was crimson and seemed to conceal something.
• Meng Qi met Daoist Jie Sha, but she showed no reaction to Jin Li's name or description and denied ever seeing him.
• Daoist Tianming appeared beside Meng Qi and questioned whether inviting him to meet his elders might itself be predestined.
• Lu Jian told Meng Qi that the Shen Family planned to receive a shipload of trafficked people that night, giving Meng Qi a chance to investigate Shen Garden.
• Meng Qi secretly entered Shen Garden and saw Shen Qinan welcome a woman in white whose appearance seemed faintly familiar.

Meng Qi infiltrated the Shen Family to investigate its mysteries and questioned Shen Ruoxuan about Jin Li's death. After discovering her baby carried Jin Family blood, he exposed the ruse and faced an ambush from Jin Li, who was supposedly dead.

• Meng Qi hypnotized a maid, learned that the Shen Family's young master had killed Shaoyao, and decided to report the family to Six Doors.
• Meng Qi entered Peony Tower and questioned Shen Ruoxuan, who said Jin Li had died fighting her third uncle and that her father had hidden their bodies outside the Chen Family's gate.
• Meng Qi noticed the many braziers and discovered a baby hidden behind a screen in Shen Ruoxuan's room.
• Meng Qi used a blood bead to confirm the baby belonged to the Jin Family and challenged Shen Ruoxuan's explanation.
• Jin Li dropped from the rafters and attacked Meng Qi, who answered with a hand seal that made himself seem immovable as the earth.

Meng Qi discovered that Shen Ruoxuan and the Shen Family were connected to the Demon Race, then fought Jin Li and fled when the pair tried to silence him. He escaped the pursuing Demon Venerable by reaching Tianming Temple, where Daoist Tianming was absorbed in puzzling over five kinds of fate.

• Meng Qi blocked Jin Li’s powerful attack with the Immovable Golden Lotus and fought him without yielding the initiative.
• When the baby revealed a forked tongue, Meng Qi realized Shen Ruoxuan was a snake demon and deduced that Jin Li had faked his death to join the Demon Race.
• Shen Ruoxuan tried to raise the alarm, but Meng Qi used feints and the Heaven-Turning Seal to break away and escape from the pavilion.
• Jin Li rescued Shen Ruoxuan and raised the alarm, while Meng Qi fled through the rear garden and into the woods with a Demon Venerable pursuing him.
• Meng Qi reached the vicinity of Tianming Temple, where the pursuit stopped, and found Daoist Tianming pondering five kinds of fate.

Meng Qi killed two demons that ambushed him at Tianming Temple, while Daoist Jiesha slew a hidden Half-step Outer Scenery demon. After Daoist Tianming agreed to report the Shen Family to the Six Doors, Meng Qi was attacked in a darkened room by Wolf King Tie Sheng.

• Meng Qi killed a snake demon and a tiger demon with powerful palm and fist strikes as they attacked him in Daoist Jiesha's courtyard.
• Daoist Jiesha killed a concealed Half-step Outer Scenery earthworm demon with one swing of her axe, then returned to chopping firewood.
• Meng Qi collected useful materials from the three demon corpses, including the earthworm demon's Demon Core, and waited until dawn to leave the temple.
• Daoist Tianming told Meng Qi that the Shen Family and a branch of the Jia Family had fled into the mountains, then agreed that fate had ordained he report the matter to the Six Doors.
• Meng Qi hid in an empty room to change his appearance, but Wolf King Tie Sheng plunged the room into darkness and attacked him from every direction.

Meng Qi escaped the Wolf King's ambush and learned that Daoist Jiesha had a personal connection to the Wolf King, who planned to leave for Yingcheng. After completing his mission and preparing to conceal Heaven's Wound, Meng Qi set out for Yingcheng with only a day and a half remaining.

• Meng Qi used a Heaven-Turning Seal strike to break free from the Wolf King's darkness and escaped through a wall, while the Wolf King fled through another.
• Daoist Jiesha told the Wolf King to return to the Grasslands, but he said he would first go to Yingcheng to test He Jiu's strength.
• Six Doors investigated the disappearance of the Shen Family, and Meng Qi left Wen'an after confirming the affair had not been suppressed.
• Meng Qi returned to the Immortal Traces Workshop, reported his mission, exchanged materials for a Void Netherstone, and left a note asking about Little Fox.
• Meng Qi changed into his black martial outfit and Hero's Scarf, took up his saber, and headed for Yingcheng.

Meng Qi toured Yingcheng’s Ten-Mile Tianxiu, traded barbs with drunken martial artists, and met Yan Chong on the way to the Feast of Xingyun. The chapter ended with Gu Xiaosang passing by with a little girl who called Meng Qi “Dad,” leaving him stunned.

• Meng Qi asked the old boatman about Yingcheng’s sights and listened to his recommendations for temples, the academy, and local food.
• After a drunken young martial artist insulted him, Meng Qi tripped the man with a flicked piece of wood, prompting his companions to chase his boat.
• Meng Qi encountered Yan Chong on a stone bridge, and the two recognized each other as formidable rivals and agreed to meet at Xingyun Manor.
• Meng Qi spotted Gu Xiaosang on a passing pleasure boat, where she stood beside a little girl in a red padded jacket.
• Gu Xiaosang prompted the little girl to call Meng Qi “Dad,” and the boat disappeared as Meng Qi sat stunned.

Meng Qi reunited with Wang Zai in Yingcheng and agreed to attend a martial arts banquet before returning to his inn, where Gu Xiaosang was waiting. She claimed she had saved Qi Zhengyan and teased Meng Qi with a story about their supposed past life and child, leaving him unsettled.

• Meng Qi left the river after imagining the trouble Gu Xiaosang could cause and wondered why she had come to Yingcheng.
• Meng Qi met Wang Zai, drank with him, and agreed to attend a martial arts banquet as a guest and offer pointers.
• Wang Zai told Meng Qi which martial world experts might attend the Feast of Xingyun.
• Meng Qi returned to his inn and found Gu Xiaosang waiting in his room.
• Gu Xiaosang showed Meng Qi Qi Zhengyan's identity token and said she had saved him.
• Gu Xiaosang claimed she and Meng Qi had loved each other and had a child in a past life, then revealed she was teasing him.

After Gu Xiaosang warned Meng Qi to stay in and move to Xingyun Manor, he arrived and met He Jiu, who revealed that he had wounded the Wolf King. While staying at the manor, Meng Qi advanced his Eight-Nine Arcane Art and opened another lower-orifice acupoint; Wang Zai then came to take him to the martial gathering as a guest assessor.

• Gu Xiaosang warned Meng Qi that Senior Brother Qi was in danger and urged him to move to Xingyun Manor as soon as possible.
• Meng Qi considered her warning, packed his belongings, and went to Xingyun Manor, where He Jiu welcomed him.
• He Jiu told Meng Qi that the Wolf King had attacked him and that he had struck the Wolf King three times, likely leaving him unable to leave Yingcheng.
• Meng Qi and He Jiu discussed martial arts, and He Jiu arranged for Meng Qi to stay at Snow's Last Remnant Tower until the Feast of Xingyun.
• While cultivating Yi Jin Jing and the Eight-Nine Arcane Art, Meng Qi opened another lower-orifice acupoint and strengthened his cultivation.
• Wang Zai came to collect Meng Qi for the martial gathering, where Meng Qi would attend as a guest assessor rather than a participant.

Meng Qi attended Yingcheng’s martial arts gathering, where he and the other young experts judged demonstrations and offered advice. After Meng Qi repaired flaws in a saber technique, he spotted Gu Xiaosang and Senior Brother Qi among the spectators.

• The gathering was held at the Six Doors County Office, where Meng Qi joined Wang Zai, Mi Zijing, Yan Chong, and Chu Yunyu as a judge.
• Mo Jing'an defeated Teng Qijiao, and Wang Zai praised Mo's refined swordsmanship while the others added their comments.
• Yan Chong identified how Song Jue's training against a left-handed saber user had left a weakness in his technique.
• Meng Qi found flaws in five moves of Chang Hui's saber set and showed him how to revise them into a seamless sequence.
• Meng Qi noticed Gu Xiaosang watching him with Senior Brother Qi beside her.

Meng Qi reunited with the disguised Qi Zhengyan and learned that Mythos had ambushed him, while Gu Xiaosang had helped him escape. After they discussed how to respond to Mythos, Meng Qi’s saber demonstration impressed the gathering, and a Yuehua Sect disciple stepped forward to challenge the young heroes.

• Meng Qi used Sound Transmission to ask Qi Zhengyan about his injuries, and Qi Zhengyan explained that the Tithe-Blessing Heavenly Official had ambushed and pursued him until Gu Xiaosang drove the attacker away.
• Gu Xiaosang warned that Mythos might send an Outer Scenery expert after Meng Qi, and Qi Zhengyan said he would wait at the Flower Washing Sword Sect’s base for an elder while keeping watch on Meng Qi.
• Meng Qi considered notifying Six Doors and Immortal Trace, while Gu Xiaosang said Luo Sect members in Yingcheng would also take an interest in Mythos.
• Chang Hui thanked Meng Qi for completing the saber forms, and Wang Zai praised Meng Qi’s ability to restore the missing techniques.
• Ying Shaozhuo, an Eight-Apertures Yuehua Sect disciple, entered the training grounds and challenged Meng Qi and the other young heroes.

At a martial gathering, Meng Qi defeated the seemingly formidable Ying Shaozhuo with a single saber stroke, then watched the remaining matches. As the gathering prepared to choose a winner, Bai Qigu entered the arena, and her strength gave Meng Qi and the other experts cause for concern.

• Wang Zai proposed that anyone wishing to challenge the gathered experts first had to defeat Ying Shaozhuo, and Ying chose Meng Qi as his opponent.
• Ying Shaozhuo demonstrated impressive movement and swordsmanship, but Meng Qi read his movements and defeated him with one powerful saber stroke.
• Wang Zai praised Ying Shaozhuo's skills and explained how Meng Qi had timed his attack, while the crowd cheered Meng Qi.
• The martial gathering continued, with the victors mostly being Human Ranking figures or long-established experts.
• Bai Qigu entered the arena and argued with her nephew Mi Zijing about whether she was young enough to join the gathering.
• Meng Qi, Yan Chong, and the others sensed that Bai Qigu's strength was already close to He Jiu's.

Bai Qigu challenged Yan Chong, then drew Meng Qi into their fight, using the pressure of their combined attacks to break through a barrier in her cultivation. She left after thanking them, while Meng Qi and Yan Chong wondered whether He Jiu had planned a similar challenge at the Feast of Xingyun.

• Wang Zai explained that Bai Qigu was Bai Lianxiang, a powerful member of the Bai Clan and Mi Zijing's aunt.
• Bai Qigu chose Yan Chong as her opponent, and he descended from the platform before opening the fight with a saber strike.
• Yan Chong and Bai Qigu exchanged powerful attacks as their martial auras stirred up clouds, lightning, and torrential rain.
• Bai Qigu called Meng Qi into the battle, and he joined Yan Chong in attacking her from both sides.
• Bai Qigu endured their combined strikes, broke through a barrier in her cultivation, and left after saying she would remember the favor.
• Meng Qi and Yan Chong wondered whether He Jiu had intended to challenge several top Human Ranking experts at the Feast of Xingyun.