Chapter Summaries

Xiang Yuan helped Wang Daoyan stage a scene to provoke Li Yuanrong, then left for Northern Qi to unseal the golden dragon of fate. After arriving in Tai'an, he questioned a gang of thugs and learned that True Heart Dao was notorious across the realm, leaving him determined to keep his identity hidden.

• Xiang Yuan acted as Wang Daoyan’s lover, and Li Yuanrong declared that he would marry another woman before leaving for the capital.
• Wang Daoyan offered Xiang Yuan more money to continue their scheme, but he refused and departed for Qilin Pass.
• Xiang Yuan traveled through Northern Qi to Tai'an Prefecture, intending to unseal the golden dragon of fate discreetly.
• A gang of thugs cornered Xiang Yuan in an alley, but he hypnotized them and made their leader answer his questions.
• The thug described Northern Qi’s major powers and recounted True Heart Dao’s outrageous scandals, including its detention of Miao Qiong.
• Xiang Yuan learned the thug was an informant for Six Doors and resolved to conceal his connection to True Heart Dao.

Xiang Yuan secretly entered the Liu Clan’s imperial mausoleum to destroy the formation beneath Northern Qi’s capital, but found Liu Che and a woman waiting in an ambush. After defeating them and learning that Daoist Quexin had arranged the trap, Xiang Yuan realized he had been led into a disastrous confrontation on his first day in Northern Qi.

• Xiang Yuan found the pyramid beneath the Liu Clan’s imperial mausoleum and smashed the formation sealing Northern Qi’s luck-golden dragon.
• Liu Che appeared and trapped Xiang Yuan inside a reinforced formation, while a woman used the Mountains and Rivers Geomancy Map to suppress him.
• Xiang Yuan destroyed the teleportation array, broke through the woman’s control of the map, and defeated Liu Che after overpowering both of them.
• Xiang Yuan tried to question Liu Che, who revealed that his name was Liu Che and accused Xiang Yuan of attacking Northern Qi’s fortune.
• Liu Che explained that Daoist Quexin of the True Heart Dao had warned him about the formation and helped him prepare the ambush for Xiang Yuan.

Xiang Yuan and Liu Che discovered that Heartless Daoist had manipulated them into fighting, then learned they were martial brothers because Heartless had taken Liu Che as a nominal disciple over an old wager. After Xiang Yuan explained he had come to Northern Qi to break its Dragon-Locking Formation, Liu Che tried to recruit him into court, but Xiang Yuan revealed he was already betrothed to a princess of the Xiao family.

• Xiang Yuan told Liu Che that Dragon-Locking Formations also sealed the dragon veins in Western Chu and Southern Jin, and explained that Heartless Daoist had engineered their misunderstanding.
• Xiang Yuan revealed his true name and Daoist title, and told Liu Che that Heartless Daoist was his master; Liu Che recognized him as his senior brother.
• Liu Che recounted how Heartless Daoist had taken him as a nominal disciple after losing a wager to Huixing, the abbot who had taken Liu Che's son Liu Xiu as a disciple.
• Xiang Yuan and Liu Che met at the temporary imperial palace, where Xiang Yuan explained that he planned to leave once he broke the formation beneath the capital.
• Liu Che urged Xiang Yuan to join the Northern Qi court as a Great General, but Xiang Yuan said he was already betrothed to a princess of the Xiao family, prompting Liu Che to rise in fury.

After leaving Northern Qi’s capital, Xiang Yuan infiltrated the Great Saber Alliance’s Saber Repository, where his presence and a thunderclap triggered a tense confrontation that he resolved by posing as a Shaolin Daoist. He then reached True Heart Dao but hesitated to enter, eventually finding the peak where his master lived and recognizing a tree from Hard Drive Martial Uncle’s memories.

• Liu Che complained to Empress Jiang Wang that Xiang Yuan had refused his offer to become Grand General, and Jiang proposed introducing her younger sister Jiang Yingjun to drive a wedge between Xiang Yuan and the Xiao Clan.
• Xiang Yuan dug up nine nested chests at the imperial villa, found a note from Que Xin telling him to visit his master, and agreed to escort Jiang Yingjun to Overlord Tower in exchange for Liu Che dropping an old misunderstanding.
• Xiang Yuan entered the Great Saber Alliance’s Saber Repository and set off a thunderclap while opening a hidden empty chest, drawing alliance leader Pang Wanjun and his saber wielders to confront him.
• Xiang Yuan claimed to be a Shaolin Daoist who had warned the alliance about its lax defenses, and Pang Wanjun accepted the excuse, dismissed his men, and saw Xiang Yuan off.
• Xiang Yuan avoided entering Shaolin Temple because he expected an ambush, passed Mingzhou three times, and finally traveled to True Heart Dao’s mountain grounds.
• Xiang Yuan found his master’s peak and recognized an ancient tree from Hard Drive Martial Uncle’s memories of Que Xin perched above him.

Xiang Yuan entered a hidden heavenly realm and fought Sect Leader Miao Qiong after she tested his cultivation. He overpowered her, but her defeat triggered a powerful demonic transformation, leaving him facing a towering demon.

• Xiang Yuan entered the courtyard outhouse and discovered a small heavenly realm hidden inside it.
• Sect Leader Miao Qiong confronted Xiang Yuan, and he provoked her into attacking him with her sword.
• After his sword sheath was sealed, Xiang Yuan fought Miao Qiong with the Rouge Sword and forced her to retreat with repeated blows.
• Miao Qiong unleashed the Six Stars of the Southern Dipper, but she had to withdraw the attack after Xiang Yuan's black-and-white swimming fish held it back.
• When Xiang Yuan approached the exhausted Miao Qiong, she fell into demonic transformation and summoned a towering demon; Xiang Yuan responded with Dharma Manifestation and Three Heads, Six Arms.

Xiang Yuan defeated demonized Sect Master Miao Qiong, reunited with Old Daoist Quexin, and explored the eccentric True Heart Dao. The chapter ended with Miao Qiong joining them to hear Quexin teach and Quexin deciding to help Xiang Yuan reach the Nether-Connecting Realm that day.

• Xiang Yuan destroyed Miao Qiong’s demon domain with the Heavenfall Sword Strike, then battered her until she fell unconscious.
• The Bagua Treasure Mirror restored the shattered minor realm, and Miao Qiong was carried away through a starry portal to recover.
• Old Daoist Quexin appeared, questioned Xiang Yuan’s identity, and accepted his proof after Xiang Yuan repeated Senior Brother Clear Insight’s insult about him.
• Quexin punished Clear Insight after Xiang Yuan claimed the senior brother had insulted him further, then took Xiang Yuan around to visit their absent martial uncles and collect their greeting gifts.
• Quexin brought Xiang Yuan to his mountain to offer cultivation guidance, where Miao Qiong arrived and asked to listen despite lacking a master-disciple bond with him.
• Quexin asked when Xiang Yuan could reach the Nether-Connecting Realm, and Xiang Yuan said he could do it anytime, so they agreed to start that day.

Xiang Yuan broke through to the Nether Passage Grandmaster realm at True Heart Dao, received a mysterious wisp of light from Old Daoist Quexin, and spent time consolidating his strength. He then arrived in Tai'an Prefecture to escort Jiang Yingjun, realizing that he had become a member of the Liu Clan’s imperial kin.

• Xiang Yuan entered the Nether Passage Grandmaster realm, and Old Daoist Quexin sent a mysterious wisp of light into his brow that transformed his Primordial Spirit.
• Xiang Yuan discovered that he could not find another version of himself in the other worlds and asked Old Daoist Quexin about his unusual fate and the Jambu Gate.
• Xiang Yuan sparred with Miao Qiong to practice controlling his new strength, then spent over half a month consolidating his cultivation at True Heart Dao.
• Xiang Yuan explored True Heart Dao’s Scripture Repository and found the original copies of Shaolin Temple’s Seventy-Two Peerless Skills.
• Xiang Yuan arrived in Tai'an Prefecture and learned that Jiang Yingjun’s concert tour was being escorted by a member of the imperial family, prompting him to realize he had become a member of the Liu Clan’s imperial kin.

Xiang Yuan entered the imperial residence to meet Jiang Yingjun, whom he was assigned to escort to Western Chu, and immediately clashed with her over manners and rank. He left her convinced he was an uncultured but astonishingly talented Grandmaster, while she considered whether she could ever be moved by him.

• Xiang Yuan pushed past the crowd gathered outside the imperial residence and vaulted over its wall, prompting the Imperial Guard to arrest several men who tried to charge the gates.
• Xiang Yuan met Jiang Yingjun in the rear garden, dismissed her formal greeting, and established that he would escort her to Shendu in Western Chu.
• Xiang Yuan confronted Liu Che about arranging the escort and jokingly accused him of setting up a honey trap, while Liu Che mocked Xiang Yuan's claims of literary talent.
• Jiang Yingjun learned from Jiang Wang that Xiang Yuan was eighteen and a Grandmaster, and briefly considered whether he could make a suitable husband.
• Jiang Yingjun admitted that Xiang Yuan's talent might move her if he had any refinement, but she and Jiang Wang agreed his crude speech made that unlikely.

Carefree Valley’s touring concert convoy was ambushed near Huai Prefecture by Stellar Palace assassins, but their leader fled when he recognized Xiang Yuan. Xiang Yuan caught Pang Wanjun and forced him to reveal that the Tai'an Liu Clan had commissioned the attack.

• The convoy left Tai'an Prefecture’s capital, and Xiang Yuan rode in Jiang Yingjun’s carriage as her bodyguard.
• After the convoy shifted to a point near Huai Prefecture, Chai Tong found the road eerily deserted and was trapped by a formation.
• Stellar Palace assassins surrounded the convoy, but their leader recognized Xiang Yuan and fled, prompting Xiang Yuan to pursue him.
• Xiang Yuan caught the leader, Pang Wanjun of the Great Saber Alliance, and defeated him after Pang tried to fight back.
• Pang Wanjun revealed that the Tai'an Liu Clan had placed the order for the assassination.

Xiang Yuan exposed the Liu Clan’s staged assassination attempt, then accompanied Carefree Valley’s convoy to the border between Northern Qi and Western Chu. When Western Chu challenged the convoy to three scholarly contests, Jiang Yingjun drew in calligraphy and Xiang Yuan secretly turned the chess match against Xiao Feng; the painting contest remained ahead.

• Xiang Yuan spared Pang Wanjun after learning that the Liu Clan had hired Stellar Palace assassins to stage a rescue opportunity, then broke the formation blocking Carefree Valley’s convoy.
• Xiang Yuan told Jiang Yingjun that Liu Che had arranged the ambush and warned her that Grandmasters often led double lives, leaving her unsettled by his stories about the martial world.
• Carefree Valley’s convoy reached the Northern Qi–Western Chu border, where Xiao Feng, Wu Rui, and Chen Suhe challenged the Northern Qi scholars to contests in calligraphy, chess, and painting.
• Jiang Yingjun faced Wu Rui in calligraphy and forced a draw by writing the Song of Righteousness.
• Xiao Feng pressured Jiang Yingjun during their chess match, but Xiang Yuan secretly guided her moves and defeated him, leaving him injured and demanding to know who had beaten him.
• Jiang Yingjun said she was too exhausted to compete in painting, and Xiang Yuan promised to handle the final contest with his painting and poetry.

Xiang Yuan guided Jiang Yingjun through a painting contest with Chen Suhe, using her osmanthus painting and a poem to expose the flaws in Chen Suhe’s work and secure a draw. Jiang Yingjun recognized Xiang Yuan’s literary talent and approached him with new admiration, while Xiang Yuan regretted getting involved in the contest.

• Chen Suhe opened the Myriad Forms Scroll, which assigned him chrysanthemums and Jiang Yingjun osmanthus as the subjects for the painting contest.
• Xiang Yuan controlled Jiang Yingjun’s hand to paint a solitary osmanthus branch, then waited as Chen Suhe completed a Hundred Chrysanthemums Painting.
• Xiao Feng mocked Jiang Yingjun’s painting and praised Chen Suhe’s, giving Xiang Yuan the opening he wanted.
• Jiang Yingjun criticized the Hundred Chrysanthemums Painting and inscribed a poem beside her osmanthus, revealing its pride and turning the contest into a draw.
• Jiang Yingjun realized Xiang Yuan’s literary ability surpassed her own, treasured the painting, and sought him out to offer to frame it.
• Xiang Yuan returned to the carriage and regretted being drawn into the contest, while noticing Jiang Yingjun’s newfound interest in him.

Xiang Yuan escorted Jiang Yingjun into Western Chu, where he tried to convince her that Liu Che had arranged a honey trap while she coaxed him into sharing poetry. In Shendu, he explained his tangled ties to Northern Qi to the Xiao brothers, then learned Carefree Valley’s route had changed to Zhendian Prefecture, putting Jiang Yingjun’s journey near the Southern Border.

• Jiang Yingjun sat beside Xiang Yuan, admired his talent, and dismissed his warnings that Liu Che had plotted to use her as a honey trap.
• Xiang Yuan told Jiang Yingjun he was betrothed to a Xiao Clan princess and recited romantic poems, leaving her eager for another verse.
• At Overlord Tower, Xiang Yuan told Xiao Feng, Xiao Qiushui, and Xiao Ling how he had become connected to the Li Clan and Liu Clan through his exploits in Southern Jin and Northern Qi.
• Xiang Yuan insisted that he remained devoted to Xiao Lingyue and warned the Xiao brothers not to use underhanded methods against Jiang Yingjun.
• Xiao Qiushui told Xiang Yuan that Carefree Valley had been invited to Zhendian Prefecture, and Xiang Yuan worried that the route would take Jiang Yingjun near the Southern Border.

Xiang Yuan agreed to escort Jiang Yingjun to Zhendian Prefecture as part of a plan to draw out Western Chu’s hidden plotters, then traveled south with Xiao Feng and the convoy. In Wild Goose Peak City, he thwarted an impostor posing as Xiao Feng and exposed three concealed figures, leaving their identities unknown.

• Xiang Yuan accepted the Xiao Clan’s plan for the convoy to travel to Zhendian Prefecture, secured spatial travel and a grandmaster escort, and again urged the three Xiao brothers to cooperate with the other kingdoms against the threat to the fortune golden dragons.
• Three days later, the southbound convoy left Shendu with Jiang Yingjun, Xiang Yuan, and Xiao Feng, stopping in Wild Goose Peak City, where Xiao Feng broke Feng Wenyu’s and Feng Wenyuan’s legs after they challenged Jiang Yingjun.
• Xiang Yuan refused Jiang Yingjun’s offer to publish his poems, and she grew jealous of his devotion to Xiao Lingyue while trying to imitate romantic lines she had heard.
• A disguised man posing as Xiao Feng approached Xiang Yuan, but Xiang Yuan recognized that he was an impostor; the real Xiao Feng pursued the man after he escaped through space.
• Xiang Yuan sensed three hidden figures nearby and struck them out of concealment with Yunhua leaves, while Jiang Yingjun watched.

Xiang Yuan stopped an attack on Jiang Yingjun, uncovered a plot to destabilize Western Chu, and revealed his identity as Yellow Springs Dao’s Left Envoy to Xiao Feng. In Zhendian Prefecture, he discovered that Cheng Yuling had disguised herself as a maid to help Xiao Lingyue catch him with another woman.

• Xiang Yuan subdued two black-clad grandmasters with his gaze and seized their Black Tortoise cauldron, while their leader escaped using a technique Xiang Yuan associated with the Five Poisons Cult.
• A hidden restriction killed the two captured attackers; Xiang Yuan suspected the mastermind behind Other Shore Gate was trying to throw Western Chu into chaos by framing Heavenly Sword Pavilion.
• Xiang Yuan told Jiang Yingjun that he was Xiang Wentian, Left Envoy of Yellow Springs Dao, and urged Xiao Feng to warn Shendu and seek talks with Northern Qi and Southern Jin.
• Xiao Feng returned pretending to have fought five hundred rounds, then gave Xiang Yuan a vague update after consulting Shendu.
• Daoist Purple Duckweed and Qin Zhaorong watched Jiang Yingjun’s procession arrive in Zhendian Prefecture, and Qin proposed sneaking into the posthouse to steal the princess’s poems.
• Xiang Yuan followed a disguised maid into his courtyard and discovered she was Cheng Yuling, who had come to help Xiao Lingyue catch him with another woman.

Xiang Yuan cleared up Cheng Yuling’s suspicions about his journey with Jiang Yingjun and revealed that he had become a grandmaster. Cheng Yuling prepared to take him to King Zhao Residence, but hid in a wardrobe when Xiao Yan arrived.

• Cheng Yuling confronted Xiang Yuan over a letter claiming he had become entangled with the Northern Qi princess, and he insisted the accusation was false.
• Cheng Yuling accompanied Xiang Yuan to meet Jiang Yingjun, who gave him a collection of poems and deliberately scratched his hand, worsening Cheng Yuling’s suspicions before she realized Xiang Yuan had been wronged.
• Xiang Yuan explained his engagement to Xiao Lingyan as part of an alliance between the Xiao Clan and the Heavenly Martial Sect, and asked Cheng Yuling to keep the matter quiet.
• Xiang Yuan told Cheng Yuling that he was already a grandmaster, and she urged him to return with her to King Zhao Residence and help her confront her rivals.
• When Xiao Yan arrived at the courtyard, Cheng Yuling hid in the wardrobe because she did not want to see him.

Xiang Yuan hosted Xiao Yan and Xiao Feng at the posthouse while Cheng Yuling hid in a wardrobe, leading Xiao Yan into an embarrassing confrontation when he tried to expose her. After Xiang Yuan left for a banquet, Daoist Purple Duckweed and Qin Zhaorong prepared to sneak into the posthouse and steal the Northern Qi princess’s poetry collection.

• Xiang Yuan showed Xiao Yan the reforged Storm Mist Blade, and Xiao Yan learned that Xiang Yuan had turned it into a grandmaster-grade weapon.
• Xiang Yuan disciplined Xiao Feng for barging in loudly, then introduced him to Xiao Yan as a senior clan elder, prompting Xiao Yan to bow in alarm.
• Xiao Yan opened the wardrobe to expose the woman he thought was Xiang Yuan’s lover and discovered Cheng Yuling inside; she took him back to King Zhao Residence to settle matters.
• Xiang Yuan explained to Xiao Feng why Cheng Yuling had hidden in the wardrobe, beat him after he kept asking questions, and left with him for a banquet.
• Daoist Purple Duckweed and Qin Zhaorong learned that Xiang Yuan had left the posthouse and planned to sneak in to steal the Northern Qi princess’s poetry collection.

Xiang Yuan met Xiao Feng and Xiao Yin at Literary Canal Academy, where they discussed his ties to the Heavenly Sects and plans to target the Heavenly Sword Pavilion. After reuniting with Wang Wenxu, Xiang Yuan sensed intruders at the posthouse and went to intercept them, while Ziping and Qin Zhaorong discovered they had walked into a trap.

• Xiang Yuan met Xiao Yin at Literary Canal Academy and reassured Xiao Feng that Ji Boli would not move against the Xiao Clan unless it struck first.
• Xiang Yuan said he would stay out of the Xiao Clan’s plans against the Heavenly Sects but would help them target the Heavenly Sword Pavilion.
• Xiao Yin showed Xiang Yuan a poetry collection and sent a paper crane to summon Wang Wenxu, whom Xiang Yuan greeted as his former teacher.
• Xiang Yuan wrote a poem about plum blossoms, then joked that Wang Wenxu knew he had become a Nether Passage Realm grandmaster.
• Xiang Yuan sensed intruders at the posthouse and left to meet them, telling Xiao Feng to stay and pour tea.
• Ziping and Qin Zhaorong climbed into the inn courtyard, where Ziping realized a spatial restriction had trapped them against a much stronger Grandmaster.

Ziping and Qin Zhaorong were trapped in a spatial restriction with two Grandmasters from Unrivaled Palace, while Xiang Yuan watched from a deeper layer. When the women’s duel broke the restriction, Xiang Yuan intervened and prepared to punish them, leaving his first target unclear.

• Ziping tried to break the spatial restriction with her Heaven-Viewing Pattern Disk and Azure Star Sword, but she and Qin Zhaorong remained trapped.
• Two Unrivaled Palace Grandmasters, Yinshuang and Daoxue, entered the courtyard, broke through the restriction, and confronted Ziping and Qin Zhaorong.
• Xiang Yuan watched from the restriction’s third layer and decided to wait and learn why the women had come before choosing a side.
• Daoxue attacked Ziping, who used her magic treasures to resist, while Qin Zhaorong taunted Daoxue and increased her pressure.
• Yinshuang joined Daoxue, and the two Grandmasters’ combined attack shattered the spatial restriction and revealed Xiang Yuan.
• Xiang Yuan accused the four women of plotting against Princess Wenying, overwhelmed Yinshuang and Daoxue with his aura, and struck at Daoxue with his fist.

Xiang Yuan defeated Yinshuang and Daoxue, then learned that Unrivaled Palace had sent them to test his strength for a possible journey through Jambu Gate. After altering their memories and sending them away, he turned to Ziping and Qin Zhaorong, whose hopes of rescue rested on Shang Qingmeng.

• Xiang Yuan overwhelmed Daoxue with Yin-Yang First Divide, then defeated Yinshuang after she and Ziping combined their powers against him.
• Xiang Yuan knocked Ziping and Qin Zhaorong unconscious, questioned Yinshuang and Daoxue, and learned they had come on Bai Wuyan's orders to test his cultivation.
• Yinshuang and Daoxue explained their tangled status as Bai Wuyan's nominal disciples and said they did not know why she wanted Xiang Yuan tested.
• Xiang Yuan altered Yinshuang and Daoxue's memories so they believed they had fought him to a standstill, then sent them away with hidden hypnosis triggers.
• Ziping and Qin Zhaorong argued over whether Shang Qingmeng could save them as a figure approached inside the spatial restriction.

Xiang Yuan disguised himself as a Liu Clan grandmaster and cornered Ziping and Qin Zhaorong, but Shang Qingmeng appeared after Qin Zhaorong went to find her. Shang Qingmeng confronted Xiang Yuan about his journey and other women, then returned to Sword Heart Studio with Ziping and Qin Zhaorong while Xiang Yuan stayed at the relay station.

• Xiang Yuan found Qin Zhaorong and Ziping together, then pretended to be a lecherous Liu Clan grandmaster and demanded that one of them stay behind.
• Qin Zhaorong left to find Shang Qingmeng, while Ziping stayed and was pinned against the wall by Xiang Yuan, who revealed his identity.
• Shang Qingmeng arrived carrying Qin Zhaorong, caught Xiang Yuan with Ziping, and later explained that she had used Ziping to lure him out.
• Shang Qingmeng questioned Xiang Yuan about Jiang Yingjun and the Unrivaled Palace grandmasters, then agreed to return to Sword Heart Studio after he promised to visit her later.
• Shang Qingmeng left with Ziping and Qin Zhaorong, and Xiang Yuan later denied to Cheng Yuling that a woman had visited him overnight.