Chapter Summaries

Zuo Han Feng’s strength surged after using Mister Yin’s method, and he overwhelmed Du Huai Shang and wounded Jiang Zhiwei. While they kept him occupied, Meng Qi broke the restrictions on the Yin Yang Mirror replica, and the others killed Yin Leng Hui, leaving Zuo Han Feng facing the remaining fighters.

• Zuo Han Feng used Mister Yin’s method to transform and defeat Du Huai Shang’s Great Sun Golden Crow Aspect with a single burst of punches.
• Jiang Zhiwei struck Zuo Han Feng with her sword but was badly wounded, and Meng Qi caught her fall while working to break the Yin Yang Mirror replica’s restrictions.
• Ruan Yushu targeted Yin Leng Hui with the Guanghan Curse, allowing Zhao Heng and Qi Zhengyan to attack him while he was slowed.
• Yin Leng Hui’s Primordial Spirit re-formed after his body collapsed, but eerie blue light froze and shattered it, killing him.
• Lan Die fled as Zuo Han Feng’s enemies turned their attention toward him, and Meng Qi heard the restriction on the Yin Yang Mirror replica break.

Meng Qi and his allies fought Zuo Han Feng, using the Yin Yang Mirror and their strongest attacks to cripple him. Though Meng Qi split Zuo Han Feng apart with a thunderous saber strike, Zuo Han Feng reformed and vowed to kill everyone.

• Zuo Han Feng gravely wounded Du Huai Shang, then moved to strike Meng Qi and the others.
• Ruan Yushu disrupted Zuo Han Feng with Phoenix Cry Nine Heavens, and Jiang Zhiwei followed with a sword strike that injured him slightly but broke her hand.
• Meng Qi used the Yin Yang Mirror, forcing Zuo Han Feng to sacrifice his Chi Dragon Aspect; the mirror shattered and Zuo Han Feng's strength plummeted.
• Zhao Heng severed Zuo Han Feng's left arm with an imperial sword strike, while Qi Zhengyan's Hornless Cold Chi slowed him with ice.
• Meng Qi used Heaven Strikes with Five Thunders to split Zuo Han Feng apart, but Zuo Han Feng's flesh reformed and he roared that everyone would die.

Zhao Heng’s Nine Dragon Seal crippled Zuo Han Feng, and the exhausted companions defeated him and Jiang Shenghong. Meng Qi then bluffed the surrounding soldiers into surrendering and used the Six Paths’ lightning to escape Da Ning with his companions.

• Zhao Heng used the Nine Dragon Seal to wound Zuo Han Feng and destroy the strange patterns on his body.
• Du Huai Shang attacked Zuo Han Feng with the Great Sun Golden Crow’s power while Ruan Yushu, Qi Zhengyan, Jiang Zhiwei, and Meng Qi worked together to kill Jiang Shenghong.
• Meng Qi noticed that the mission required Du Huai Shang to leave Da Ning, then took the Dragon Claw Treasure Weapon and Jiang Shenghong’s head to intimidate the soldiers.
• Meng Qi convinced the soldiers to surrender and led his companions toward the open city gate.
• Qi Zhengyan carried Du Huai Shang through the gate as Zuo Yi Qian’s mother charged at Meng Qi, and the lightning summoned by the Six Paths transported Meng Qi and the others away.

After returning from the Gods and Demons World, Meng Qi and his companions exchanged their spoils and learned that their next quest would take place in their own world in one year. Jiang Zhiwei then announced that she would enter death seclusion to seek a breakthrough, risking death if she failed.

• Meng Qi and his companions returned after completing their quest, received their evaluations and rewards, and sold most of Zhou Yong's and Zuo Han Feng's items to Six Paths.
• After spending Merit Points to learn about the next quest, the group discovered it would take place in their own world in one year, with no information provided.
• Meng Qi warned that a quest in their world could be dangerous despite their ability to call on powerful allies, and Qi Zhengyan urged everyone to focus on improving themselves.
• Jiang Zhiwei told the group she had decided to enter death seclusion and fight against herself, accepting that failure would mean she was buried in her meditation chamber.
• Jiang Zhiwei explained that she would spend Merit Points to delay reincarnation for a year and said they should consider her dead if she had not emerged after two years.

Meng Qi and his companions discussed how to spend their Merit Points and prepare for the next mission, while Jiang Zhiwei committed herself to breaking through within two years. Meng Qi arranged supplies and recommendations for Sikong Tu's son, then chose a Bodhi Seed to aid his own comprehension.

• Jiang Zhiwei refused Meng Qi's offer of extra time and set herself a two-year limit to break through, then exchanged Merit Points for one year of time.
• Zhao Heng chose the True Emperor Seal and agreed to trade Meng Qi the Dragon Flower Pendant and two thousand Merit Points for it, along with letters of recommendation for Sikong Tu's son.
• Meng Qi exchanged the remaining funds for a sword, cultivation aids, pills, and medicine for Sikong Tu's son.
• Zhao Heng planned to spend his remaining Merit Points on a month of cultivation time, while Qi Zhengyan exchanged for a Core of a Fallen Star and Ruan Yushu chose the Immortal Melody of Azure Nether.
• Meng Qi decided against exchanging for an Outer Scenery sword move and chose a five-hundred-year-old Bodhi Seed to help his comprehension.

Meng Qi visited Jiang Zhiwei at the Sword Washing Pavilion before her death seclusion, prompted by Gao Lan to say the farewell he feared he might regret. Jiang Zhiwei remembered their friendship but chose to pursue her own path, leaving Meng Qi to watch her walk toward the mountaintop.

• Meng Qi exchanged for a Bodhi Seed and the Saber Sword Combination technique Reversing Yin and Yang before parting from Jiang Zhiwei and deciding to travel north.
• Gao Lan noticed Meng Qi's sadness, urged him to speak honestly with Jiang Zhiwei, and brought him to the Sword Washing Pavilion.
• Meng Qi asked to see Jiang Zhiwei, and she agreed to meet him at the Halfway Pavilion before entering death seclusion.
• Jiang Zhiwei recalled how Meng Qi and their companions had fulfilled her hopes for the martial world, but said those were not what she wanted most.
• Jiang Zhiwei walked toward the mountaintop, singing about loving her sword and slaying herself, while Meng Qi watched her disappear among the flowers.

Meng Qi drank with Gao Lan, who revealed that he had reached the Dharma Body realm before rejecting their sworn-brother bond and leaving. After learning that Tie Sheng had taken first place on the Human Ranking and he was second, Meng Qi set out north to kill the Wolf King.

• Gao Lan and Meng Qi drank outside Sword Washing Pavilion while Gao Lan mourned his dead wife and vowed to avenge her.
• Gao Lan revealed his Dharma Body strength and judged several masters before warning Meng Qi that he was unworthy of becoming his sworn brother.
• Six Doors revised the Human Ranking after Absolute Sword Fairy entered death seclusion, placing Tie Sheng first and Su Meng second.
• Meng Qi recovered from Gao Lan's departure, took up his saber, and headed north to kill the Wolf King.

In Le Li, Shangguan Heng appeared and declared that results in a fight mattered more than arguments about the Human Ranking, while Meng Qi arrived seeking the Sikong Family. Meng Qi met Sikong Tu’s wife, who believed her husband would never return.

• Tavern patrons argued over the Human Ranking as a Great Jin traveler and a phoenix-eyed woman defended its rankings.
• Shangguan Heng silenced the tavern and left, prompting speculation that he was heading south to challenge the Human Ranking’s top ten.
• Meng Qi asked about the Si Family and learned that they lived at the corner of Sunny Street and Pear Blossom Lane.
• The tavern’s Great Jin traveler recognized Meng Qi as Mad Saber Su Meng after he left to visit the family.
• Meng Qi reached the Sikong estate, saw a boy play at fighting river pirates, and met Sikong Tu’s wife, who said her husband had been gone for ten months and would not return.

Meng Qi delivered Sikong Tu’s belongings to his widow, learned the Karma Secret Art, and discovered a record linking Sikong Tu’s cenotaph to Worry-Free Valley. After leaving, he faced Shangguan Heng in a duel and defeated him by awakening memories of his past lives.

• Meng Qi gave Sikong Tu’s wife his Treasure Weapon, manual, and other belongings, warning her of the manual’s curse.
• Sikong Tu’s wife copied the Karma Secret Art for Meng Qi, and he felt the karmic burden lift and his progress toward Celestial Being Connection resume.
• Meng Qi advised Sikong Tu’s wife to take Xing south, then learned that Sikong Tu had buried a record about Worry-Free Valley in his cenotaph outside Le Li City.
• Meng Qi encountered Shangguan Heng in the street and accepted his challenge to fight.
• Meng Qi used Ananda's Broken Precept Saber and the Great Law of Changing Heaven and Striking Earth to make Shangguan Heng experience memories of past lives, then defeated him.

Meng Qi defeated Shangguan Heng, recovered ancient books from Sikong Tu’s grave, and learned that Worry-Free Valley was likely hidden in Bomi. As Shangguan Heng followed him, Meng Qi began questioning what Heaven and Earth truly were, leaving his companion unsettled by his unfamiliar perspective.

• Meng Qi effortlessly defeated Shangguan Heng in the street, leaving Shangguan Heng bewildered by the saber strike and his past-life memories.
• Meng Qi retrieved Sikong Tu’s books from a trapped grave while nearby tomb raiders watched, then learned from the books that Worry-Free Valley was probably in Bomi.
• After ensuring Sikong Tu’s wife and children had gone south safely, Meng Qi left Le Li, and Shangguan Heng stopped him on the road and insisted on following him.
• As they traveled, Meng Qi walked through the rain and spent time outdoors, puzzling Shangguan Heng with his unusual way of experiencing the world.
• Meng Qi questioned Shangguan Heng about the nature of Heaven and Earth and the stars, leaving Shangguan Heng dazed by the distance between their perspectives.

Meng Qi investigated how Buddhist and Daoist teachings, martial inheritances, and the structure of the worlds might reveal the nature of heaven and earth. After two days of study, he gained a clearer insight into the Eight-Nine Arcane Art, and Shangguan Heng offered to take him to a dangerous place to meet another man studying the same questions.

• Shangguan Heng suggested that the Jiangdong Wang Clan might possess ancient texts, and Meng Qi decided to compare different martial inheritances to learn how their creators understood heaven and earth.
• Meng Qi went to a bookstore and bought Buddhist and Daoist scriptures, then spent two days reading and pondering while Shangguan Heng waited nearby.
• Meng Qi connected Buddhist and Daoist descriptions of worlds with the final line of the Eight-Nine Arcane Art's Orifice Opening Chapter and glimpsed the division between the Indestructible Golden Body and Bodhi Golden Body paths.
• Meng Qi stopped studying because he was hungry and headed to a restaurant, where Shangguan Heng asked whether he dared visit a dangerous place to meet a madman studying heaven and earth.

Meng Qi and Shangguan Heng climbed Yuyuan Snow Mountain to seek an eccentric who pondered heaven and earth. After Meng Qi saved Shangguan Heng from a Snow Python, the two rested on the mountain, where a fleeing man tossed Meng Qi a damaged Snow Lotus as pursuers approached.

• Shangguan Heng told Meng Qi about the dangers and Snow Lotus of Yuyuan Snow Mountain, and Meng Qi decided to go there after they ate.
• Meng Qi and Shangguan Heng climbed the mountain, killed a Snow Monster, and scaled steep ice walls toward the summit.
• A Snow Python attacked Shangguan Heng on an ice wall, but Meng Qi killed it and saved Shangguan Heng from falling when the wall collapsed.
• The two passed a man gathering a century-old Snow Lotus without trying to take it, then made camp in a sheltered hollow.
• A bloodied man fleeing a group of pursuers threw a damaged Snow Lotus to Meng Qi before continuing on, and the pursuers arrived as it landed in his hand.

Meng Qi returned a stolen thousand-year-old Snow Lotus to its owner after using his strength to restore the pursuers’ original situation, explaining that he was tempering his heart by refusing to take what someone else had obtained. At the summit, Huang Liang told Meng Qi that he was not from this world and that his own world had cultivated martial arts.

• Meng Qi caught the swordsman who had thrown the Snow Lotus to divert the pursuers, then carried him back and returned the flower so the confrontation could continue as before.
• Meng Qi explained to Shangguan Heng that he would not interfere with an object someone else had obtained, and that resisting greed was part of cultivating his heart.
• Meng Qi and Shangguan Heng reached the summit and met Huang Liang in a small ice house.
• Huang Liang recognized that Meng Qi pondered questions about reality and the world, then revealed that he was not from this world and that his world also cultivated martial arts.

Meng Qi questioned Huang Liang about the Real Realm and learned that Huang Liang claimed to have come from a world where people knew the earth revolved around the sun. After months of contemplation, Meng Qi reached a new understanding of the multiverse and the Buddhist and Daoist teachings, then awakened to Celestial Being Connection as Shangguan Heng stopped following him.

• Huang Liang explained his theory that many worlds arose beyond an eternal Real Realm and described the world he had left behind.
• Meng Qi learned that Huang Liang's former world had powerful beings who had traveled around it and determined that it revolved around the sun.
• Meng Qi left the peak with Shangguan Heng and began traveling north in silent, ascetic contemplation.
• Near the Heavenly Mountain Range, the word “Heavenly” prompted Meng Qi to connect the Nine Heavens with Buddhist descriptions of the worlds.
• At dawn, Meng Qi grasped the meaning of change and emptiness, and Celestial Being Connection arose naturally within him.
• Shangguan Heng recoiled from Meng Qi's profound gaze, declared he was no match for him, and walked away.

After consolidating his new realm, Meng Qi was drawn to Yuanjue Temple by the Demon Venerable’s Outer Demon's Skin and discovered that he had entered the world of the Demon Queen and the Sword Emperor. He met the White Veil Woman in the temple and asked whether she had come to see the Sword Emperor off.

• Meng Qi shaved his hair and beard, reviewed the cultivation methods he had comprehended, and began consolidating his Celestial Being Connection.
• Meng Qi examined his Inner World and continued adjusting it to resonate with the Outer World along his developing path.
• An external disturbance transported Meng Qi from the wilderness to a bustling temple fair at Yuanjue Temple.
• Meng Qi recognized the setting from the storyteller’s tales, and the Demon Venerable’s Outer Demon's Skin burned to ash when he took it out.
• Meng Qi entered a guarded side hall, approached the White Veil Woman, and asked whether she intended to become a nun and had come to see the Sword Emperor off.

Meng Qi returned to the Capital City and visited the Demon Queen before reuniting with Changsun Jing and Monk Ruyi. After learning that the Living Buddha was hiding in the Cloud Goose Pavilion and that the Sword Emperor was nearing the end of his life, Meng Qi invited his old friends to go with him to the pavilion.

• Meng Qi visited the Demon Queen at the temple, and she recognized him as Little Meng of the Startling God Sword after he left.
• Changsun Jing and Monk Ruyi reminisced about Meng Qi and his past guidance while discussing the conflicts of the previous five years.
• Meng Qi arrived at Xiaoxiang Tower, where Changsun Jing and Monk Ruyi recognized him and welcomed him.
• Changsun Jing told Meng Qi that the Living Buddha had secretly entered the Capital City and was hiding in the Cloud Goose Pavilion.
• After Monk Ruyi and Changsun Jing warned him about the Living Buddha, Meng Qi invited them to go to the Cloud Goose Pavilion.

Meng Qi confronted the Living Buddha at Cloud Goose Pavilion, where their Mental Secret Arts pulled them into visions of their past lives. Though Meng Qi found no sign of Ananda and seemed on the verge of defeat, he revealed a Buddha’s Palm-like trump card and shook the Living Buddha’s great-sun vision.

• Meng Qi told Changsun Jing and Monk Ruyi that he was going to Cloud Goose Pavilion to hear the Living Buddha’s teachings, and they followed him there.
• After Meng Qi gave his name as Startling God Sword, a Western Barbarian guard admitted him and his companions to Cloud Goose Pavilion.
• Meng Qi and the Living Buddha exchanged gazes and unleashed their Mental Secret Arts, drawing one another into memories of past lives.
• Meng Qi witnessed traumatic scenes from his previous life and many other lives, but found nothing unusual at the beginning of reincarnation, while the Living Buddha’s Zen Intent strengthened.
• As Changsun Jing and Monk Ruyi feared for Meng Qi, he assumed a heaven-pointing, earth-pointing pose and manifested a Golden Giant Buddha in the Spirit World.
• The Golden Giant Buddha told the Living Buddha, “The Sea of Suffering has no bounds. Turn back, and the shore is there!” and the great sun behind him trembled.

Meng Qi defeated the Living Buddha in a spiritual duel, leading him to enter Nirvana, then shared insights on cultivation with Changsun Jing and Monk Ruyi. The Sword Emperor challenged Meng Qi to meet at Sunset Peak the next day, and Meng Qi accepted.

• Meng Qi overcame the Living Buddha’s past-life visions with his Dharma words, and the Living Buddha entered Nirvana after asking where the shore was.
• Meng Qi left Cloud Goose Pavilion as a guard’s attack was stopped by a precise sword strike, while the Western Barbarian envoys knelt before the Living Buddha.
• The Demon Queen, Wang Derang, and the Imperial Advisor learned that the Living Buddha had entered Nirvana after facing the Startling God Sword.
• Meng Qi explained principles of cultivation to Changsun Jing and Monk Ruyi as they walked to Changsun Jing’s rented courtyard.
• A commander delivered the Sword Emperor’s challenge for a sword meeting at Sunset Peak, and Meng Qi accepted it with his flame-forged sword.

Changsun Jing and Monk Ruyi admired the Divine Sword Puppet’s two peerless sword techniques, while an Imperial Guard commander secretly copied them before delivering the puppet to the Sword Emperor. At Sunset Peak, Meng Qi and the dying Sword Emperor prepared to duel, and the Sword Emperor raised his sword as Meng Qi sensed the power of heaven and earth.

• Changsun Jing named the puppet the Divine Sword Puppet, and he and Monk Ruyi praised the sword techniques inscribed on it.
• The Imperial Guard commander secretly made rubbings of the puppet’s thirty characters and named the techniques Town Evil Sword Technique and Startling God Sword Technique.
• The Sword Emperor examined Meng Qi’s reply, gave the puppet to Song Ming, and marked the puppet with the acupoints and True Qi paths of his sword technique.
• The Demon Queen, the Imperial Advisor, and other observers gathered near Sunset Peak, and Wang Derang agreed to escort the ruler there to watch the duel.
• Meng Qi met the Sword Emperor at the summit and sensed that the old man had restrained Meng Qi’s external demon within himself.
• Meng Qi entered a vast state of awareness and sensed the world’s vital energy as the Sword Emperor raised his sword.

Meng Qi and the Sword Emperor fought a duel at Sunset Peak, each pushing their swordsmanship beyond its limits until a clash of external-realm moves opened a rift. The Sword Emperor died and merged into a blue-green-robed man in a Stone Chamber after recognizing the truth behind his strange memories.

• The Sword Emperor opened with a star-filled sword formation, but Meng Qi broke its momentum with Flowing Fire and fought him to a stalemate.
• As their battle resonated with heaven and earth, Meng Qi used the external-realm move Nine Stars Align, and the Sword Emperor created a new sword art to deflect it.
• Meng Qi unleashed Nine Dragons Reaching Head, and the Sword Emperor met it with a rainbow-like sword that left him unmoved.
• The exhausted Meng Qi and the Sword Emperor struck each other’s blades with their final moves, opening a rift that swallowed them from the summit.
• The Sword Emperor’s body crumbled as he crushed a black-skinned monster, while Meng Qi stood with his sword before both vanished in white light.
• In a Stone Chamber, the Sword Emperor became a young man, recognized the blue-green-robed man before him, and flew into his brow as Sword Qi.