Chapter Summaries

Shi Lan fought the Cloudreturn Sword Emperor’s incarnation in a trial overseen by Wuxu, enduring its overwhelming Sword Qi and briefly seizing the initiative. The battle remained locked in a stalemate after several days and nights, with both fighters still showing no sign of yielding.

• Shi Lan unfurled her Black Domain, stirring the Cloudreturn Sword Emperor’s incarnation into action as Wuxu watched.
• The incarnation unleashed a storm of Sword Qi that broke through Shi Lan’s Black Domain and drove her back more than a hundred zhang.
• Shi Lan charged back and struck with her halberd, but the incarnation shattered her attack and badly wounded her with a river of Sword Qi.
• Shi Lan pressed upstream through the Sword Qi and used the Three Halberd Strikes to Burn the Heavens to stagger the incarnation and briefly seize the initiative.
• Shi Lan opened several acupoints during the fight, but each increase in her cultivation strengthened the incarnation as well, returning the battle to a stalemate.
• After several days and nights, the incarnation showed no fatigue while Shi Lan’s sword wounds grew shallower and healed faster.

Shi Lan passed Emperor Gu Yun’s trial after breaking through to the ninth stage of the Jade Forging Art and defeating his incarnation. Back in the great hall, Gu Yun began explaining why Heaven sends down the World-Destroying Calamity to prevent beings from reaching Emperor Grade.

• After days of fighting, Shi Lan’s Jade Forging Art reached its ninth stage and formed a Glazed Jade Body.
• Shi Lan shattered the incarnation’s sword and battered it with the Vajra Divine Fist until it fell and faded away.
• Wuxu praised Shi Lan’s potential as she recovered from her wounds.
• Shi Lan returned to the great hall, where Emperor Gu Yun’s divine consciousness confirmed that she had passed the test and prepared to pass on his inheritance.
• Emperor Gu Yun asked how Shi Lan viewed the connection between the world and its living beings, then explained that beings return to the world after death.
• Emperor Gu Yun said that beings who reached Emperor Grade could leave the world, so Heaven brought down the World-Destroying Calamity to prevent them from doing so.

Shi Lan accepted Emperor Gu Yun’s sword inheritance despite Samsara’s warning that it could constrain her path. The inheritance began showing her memories of the Sword Emperor’s youth and the vengeance that shaped his sword Dao.

• Emperor Gu Yun explained that accepting his inheritance would bind Shi Lan to his sword Dao and offered her a choice.
• Samsara urged Shi Lan to refuse, warning that the inheritance could limit her future.
• Shi Lan took the sword hilt, and the inheritance flooded her mind with memories.
• In the memories, the Sword Emperor’s father taught him martial arts and swordsmanship before disappearing to settle a blood feud.
• The Sword Emperor’s father returned after his wife’s death, explained the feud, and died after urging his son to become a free swordsman.
• After his parents’ deaths, the Sword Emperor avenged himself on his mother’s family when its survivors ambushed him.

Shi Lan received the Sword Lord’s memories, including his rise to fame, his bond with Wan Feng, and his eventual transcendence after her death. As she continued accepting the inheritance, the Sword Lord’s reborn sword Dao began changing her own Dao heart, prompting the system to detect an abnormality and start correcting it.

• The Sword Lord rose to the peak of the Heavenly Dipper Realm, became the famed Sword Lord, and later reached the ninth level of the Heavenly Human Realm without ascending to Emperor Grade.
• Wan Feng followed the Sword Lord for thousands of years, but she died before he could turn back to her.
• The Sword Lord found Wan Feng’s grave and letter, reclaimed the emotions he had cut away, and began transforming his sword path.
• The Sword Lord’s grief and renewed emotions reshaped his Dao, and he finally faced the World-Destroying Calamity after thousands of years.
• Shi Lan continued receiving the Sword Lord’s memories despite the Sword Emperor’s warning, and his sword Dao began altering her Dao heart.
• The system detected that Shi Lan’s Dao heart was changing abnormally and began correcting her state.

Shi Lan received the Sword Emperor Guiyun’s inheritance and left the ruins, while Wuxu warned her to flee the Demon Domain and gave her a sword for protection. A human Emperor Armament’s awakening stirred the Demon Domain’s great demons, and Shi Lan prepared to return to the Shenzhou Vast Land.

• The Sword Emperor Guiyun told Shi Lan that his possessions in the Guiyun Realm were hers, asked her to find another successor if she abandoned his sword path, and apologized to Wuxu before vanishing.
• Wuxu warned Shi Lan that Heavenly Demons could see through her bloodline disguise, urged her to leave the Demon Domain, and gave her a sword she could break to summon his help.
• Shi Lan returned through the teleportation array and escaped the flooded ruins, then met Azure Moon and two other Demon Kings at the surface.
• A sword cry and Emperor-level pressure spread across the Demon Domain, and the great demons realized a human Emperor Armament had emerged and raced toward it.
• Shi Lan told the Demon Kings she would enter seclusion, slaughtered the demon beasts in the valley, and prepared to return to the Shenzhou Vast Land.

Shi Lan prepared to leave the Demon Domain, giving Tian Bai a Golden Dragon pearl and warning it to stay away from the Shenzhou Vast Land. After Wuxu emerged from the ruined mountain range with an awakened Emperor Armament, he recognized Yan Mobei’s swordsmanship and sent him a point of spiritual light.

• Shi Lan encouraged Tian Bai to cultivate, warned it never to go east, and gave it a Golden Dragon pearl before entering the cave to leave.
• Tian Bai and Cang Yue saw terrifying auras cross toward the barren land, but Cang Yue chose not to investigate.
• Su Banyun emerged near the collapsed mountain range, pursued by Yan Mobei, and the great demons helped him repel Yan Mobei’s sword strike.
• Wuxu’s Emperor Armament awakened from the fissure, killing countless demons and forcing Su Banyun and the others to flee.
• Wuxu emerged, closed the fissure, told Yan Mobei he had arrived too late, and sent a point of spiritual light toward him.

Wuxu drew the Emperor Sword and left for the stars after warning Yan Mobei, who returned to the Shenzhou Vast Land. Shi Lan made her way back to a ruined fortress and set out for Immortal Martial City, hunting demon beasts along the way.

• Yan Mobei accepted the information from Wuxu’s spiritual light and thanked him.
• Wuxu drew the Emperor Sword, spoke the command “Slay,” and cut a vast rift through the heavens before ascending into the starry sky.
• Yan Mobei chose not to pursue Su Banyun and opened a passage to the Shenzhou Vast Land.
• Shi Lan returned to the Chengtian Domain border after a long journey and learned from Samsara that she had reached her destination.
• Shi Lan found her fortress ruined and searched a map, deciding to head for Immortal Martial City, where her family had gathered.
• Shi Lan checked her supplies and quest progress, then traveled toward Immortal Martial City while hunting Earth Baleful Realm demon beasts.

Shi Lan continued toward Immortal Martial City, advancing her cultivation while avoiding the growing demon hordes. After learning the city was only 4,300 li away, she flew to its gates and presented her Demon Suppression Order for verification.

• Shi Lan declined Samsara's offer to teach her alchemy and continued cultivating while studying the Heavenly Extreme Seal.
• She crossed regions crowded with demon hordes, killed dozens of Earthfiend Realm demon beasts, and opened forty-eight of her seventy-two acupoints.
• Shi Lan met Feng Zhe's convoy traveling from Linjiang City to Immortal Martial City and warned them that the Demon Race's vanguard was nearby.
• She flew toward Immortal Martial City, landed under the city's air-restriction formation, and reached its crowded gates.
• Shi Lan handed her black Demon Suppression Order to a gate soldier, who asked her to wait while he verified her identity.

Shi Lan reunited with Bai Weiyang in Immortal Martial City, learned that Wu Lingkong was safe and her former unit had been reassigned, then traveled across the city to find her relatives. She reached Shi Tianlu’s residence and asked to see Su Lanyue, while a servant was shocked by how much Shi Lan resembled the missing Eldest Young Master.

• Shi Lan arrived at the training grounds and met Bai Weiyang, who explained that the Demon-Suppression Army had retreated to Immortal Martial City.
• Bai Weiyang told Shi Lan that her former unit had been split up, Wu Lingkong was safe, and the Women's Battalion was elsewhere; he gave her a slip with her blood relatives’ address.
• Shi Lan traveled across the city overnight, stopped at Gorgeous Garments Pavilion to repair the Moon-Extreme Skirt, and changed into a green skirt.
• Shi Lan reached the residence listed on the slip and asked the servants to see Su Lanyue.
• A servant noticed Shi Lan’s resemblance to the missing Eldest Young Master and hurried inside to report it to the mistress.

Shi Lan returned to the Shi residence after nearly two years away, where Su Lanyue welcomed her home and revealed that Shi Tianlu already knew the truth. As Su Lanyue prepared a room and clothes for her, Shi Lan remained burdened by the affection meant for the person she had replaced.

• Shi Qinghu returned to the courtyard and recognized Shi Lan as his Eldest Brother, then struggled to understand whether she was his brother or sister.
• Su Lanyue recognized Shi Lan, embraced her, and said Shi Tianlu knew the truth and had left a few days earlier.
• Shi Lan told Su Lanyue, "Mother, I'm home," and discovered that her mother had reached the fourth level of the Xiantian Realm.
• Su Lanyue led Shi Lan to a prepared room, combed her hair, and tried unsuccessfully to apply makeup.
• Su Lanyue showed Shi Lan a wardrobe of dresses, but Shi Lan showed little interest and asked for rest.

Shi Lan broke through to the late Earth Fiend stage and continued cultivating as her family adjusted to her transformation. Meanwhile, a bruised young man recruited a middle-aged accomplice to target the Shi Clan for money, leaving their scheme poised to threaten the family.

• Shi Lan sealed her room with a formation and used spirit crystals and a Spirit Transformation Pill to break through to the late Earth Fiend stage while refining phoenix blood.
• Shen Mingqiu confirmed that Shi Lan had become a woman and decided not to dwell on it, while urging Shi Qinghu to avoid causing trouble.
• Su Lanyue sent Shi Lan medicinal food, which Shi Lan refined before dawn.
• Shi Yiming watched Shi Lan practice the Vajra Divine Fist and was frightened by her strength and changed demeanor; Shi Lan wondered whether the fist art had a continuation.
• A bruised young man told a middle-aged man that Shi Tianlu was away, then negotiated a share of the money from targeting the Shi Clan, and the man agreed to thirty percent.

Shi Lan returned to the Demon Suppression Army and learned how the feud with the Shengwu Immortal Sect had driven the Women's Battalion out of Immortal Martial City. She discovered that Shi Feng had joined the sect, then saw her father, Shi Tianlu, arrive at the training grounds.

• Su Lanyue learned that Shi Lan had become a captain of a thousand in the Demon Suppression Army, while Shi Lan realized Shi Feng had not visited the Shi Mansion.
• Bai Weiyang summoned Shi Lan, and several hundred soldiers escorted her from the courtyard back to the training grounds.
• Bai Weiyang told Shi Lan that the army would attack the Demon Race the day after tomorrow, and Shi Lan learned from Wang Ning about the conflict between the Demon Suppression Army and the Shengwu Immortal Sect.
• Shi Lan discovered that Shi Feng had become a True Disciple of the Shengwu Immortal Sect and that the Women's Battalion had been transferred far from Immortal Martial City.
• Shi Tianlu arrived at the training grounds as Shi Lan was returning to her tent.

Shi Lan reunited with Shi Feng, learned that he had secretly protected her for years, and discussed her engagement to Lu Yueqing with Shi Tianlu. As the Demon Suppression Army prepared to leave the city for training, Shi Lan reflected on her struggle to survive.

• Shi Lan received Shi Feng in her tent, learned Tang Yan and the children were safe, and sent him away after he realized she had surpassed his cultivation.
• Shi Tianlu told Shi Lan that he had assigned Shi Feng to protect her from the time she was fifteen.
• Shi Tianlu reminded Shi Lan that she was engaged to Lu Yueqing, and Shi Lan resolved to settle the matter when they next met.
• Shi Tianlu warned Shi Lan that most of the army would leave the city the next day to hunt demon beasts and train.
• Shi Lan asked Wang Ning why he had come to the frontier, and he said he wanted to make something of himself and stop others from bullying him.

Shi Lan joined Bai Weiyang’s campaign against a massive demon horde, using her new bow and Golden Rainbow to kill demon beasts as the Demon Suppression Army attacked. As the battle reached close quarters, a giant golden ape crushed Shi Lan’s horned horse and struck at her.

• Shi Lan recalled Wu Lingkong’s remarks about young Central Heaven Domain scions serving in the Demon Suppression Army, then left her tent at dawn with the army.
• Bai Weiyang distributed magical treasures to the officers and gave Shi Lan the Thunderclap Bow and nine Void-Shattering Arrows.
• Bai Weiyang’s force surrounded a demon horde and launched a barrage of arrows; Shi Lan used her bow to kill Disha Realm demon beasts.
• Bai Weiyang and another general charged toward the horde’s Demon Kings while Shi Lan continued firing and sent Golden Rainbow into the fray.
• Shi Lan fired three arrows through the advancing beast tide, then a golden ape grew to enormous size and crushed her horned horse as she leaped clear.

Shi Lan fought the golden ape amid the Demon-Suppression Army, using Golden Rainbow and the remnants of the Sword Emperor of Returning Clouds' sword techniques to overpower it. Just as she was about to kill the beast, a young man crushed its skull with a stone stele and claimed the final blow, leaving Shi Lan furious.

• The golden ape hurled two dragon horses into the Demon-Suppression ranks, killing and maiming hundreds of soldiers, and Shi Lan struck it with her bow.
• Shi Lan's nine Space-Shattering Arrows pierced the golden ape's chest, but it caught them and hurled them back, wounding her lower leg.
• Shi Lan drew Golden Rainbow and wounded the golden ape, then used powerful Sword Qi to drive it from the beast horde and tear through its defenses.
• The golden ape attacked Shi Lan in a flurry of blows, but she punched it into the ground and prepared to sever its head.
• A young man dropped a stone stele onto the golden ape, killing it, then returned to the main force as Shi Lan resented him for taking her kill.

Shi Lan reported Wan Yuanwu for stealing her battle merits, and Bai Weiyang confronted him despite Du Tian'an’s attempt to excuse the offense. Bai Weiyang struck Wan Yuanwu and warned that he would have executed him if the army were not short of men.

• Shi Lan set aside the stolen battle merits for the moment, reorganized her troops, and used the Thunderclap Bow to attack high-level demonic beasts.
• A Demon-Subduing General fell from the sky during the battle, and another general fought the wounded azure raptor as the Demon-Subduing Army routed the beast tide.
• Bai Weiyang and the other general finished off the azure giant bird, and the army cleared the battlefield after the remaining demonic beasts were killed.
• Shi Lan stopped Wang Ning from reporting first and asked Bai Weiyang what punishment applied to someone who seized a comrade's battle merits; Wang Ning and other witnesses identified Wan Yuanwu.
• Du Tian'an tried to minimize Wan Yuanwu's offense and privately warned Bai Weiyang about Wan Yuanwu's connections, but Bai Weiyang demanded three times the stolen merits in compensation.
• Wan Yuanwu denied violating any military regulation, so Bai Weiyang slapped him, sent him flying, and threatened to execute him for undermining military discipline.

After Bai Weiyang punished Wan Yuanwu and awarded Shi Lan battle merits for killing a Vajra Demon Ape, Shi Lan returned to Immortal Martial City and prepared to visit her family. Wan Mingxu warned Wan Yuanwu that Immortal Martial City would fall, while Shi Lan arrived home and encountered a group bearing a golden-sun emblem.

• Bai Weiyang took Wan Yuanwu's and Shi Lan's Demon-Suppressing Tokens, calculated Shi Lan's reward for killing a Vajra Demon Ape, and made up Wan Yuanwu's shortfall in battle merits.
• Bai Weiyang warned Wan Yuanwu not to retaliate against Shi Lan, and the surviving troops returned to Immortal Martial City after suffering heavy losses in the battle.
• Shi Tianlu visited Shi Lan at the drill grounds, invited her home for dinner, and revealed that he had been injured.
• Wan Mingxu rebuked Wan Yuanwu for considering revenge against Shi Lan and declared that Immortal Martial City would fall.
• Shi Lan retrieved the Moon-Extreme Skirt from the Rainbow Garment Pavilion, went home, and encountered people wearing a golden-sun emblem.

Shi Lan met Du Yue'er and Fang Chan, disciples of the Shengwu Immortal Sect, and dismissed them before delivering a Blood Ginseng to Shi Tianlu. Shi Tianlu refused the precious herb, but Shi Lan left it with him, while he quietly hoped Shi Feng would not become involved in her life.

• Shi Lan recognized Du Yue'er among the Shengwu Immortal Sect group and learned Fang Chan wanted to speak with her because of her connection to Shi Feng.
• Shi Lan bluntly sent Fang Chan and the others away, then returned to her room and inspected the repaired Moon Extremity Skirt.
• Shi Lan brought a Blood Ginseng to Shi Tianlu's study, where she found him with Shi Feng.
• Shi Tianlu urged Shi Lan to keep the herb, but she left it with him and departed.
• Shi Tianlu privately felt relieved that Shi Lan showed no interest in Shi Feng, while worrying Shi Feng could hinder her cultivation.

Shi Feng confessed his long-standing love for Shi Lan to Shi Tianlu, but Shi Tianlu interrupted him and distanced himself from the newly affiliated Shengwu Immortal Sect disciple. Later, Shi Tianlu revealed a hidden chamber and gave Shi Lan three martial arts manuals, leaving her to prepare for the difficult days ahead.

• Shi Feng told Shi Tianlu that he had long loved Shi Lan and asked for permission to pursue her, but Shi Tianlu coughed up blood and abruptly left.
• Shi Tianlu warned Shi Feng that their changed affiliations made private contact inappropriate, while Shi Feng resolved to grow strong enough to win Shi Lan's affection.
• Shi Lan continued refining Phoenix Blood, opened another acupoint along her spine, and joined Shi Tianlu's family for dinner.
• Shi Tianlu led Shi Lan to a secret underground chamber and gave her three ancient manuals from the Shi Clan's collection.
• Shi Lan asked when Shi Tianlu learned she practiced martial arts and when he learned she was a woman; Shi Tianlu answered that he had learned each from her fainting and her mother's confession.

Shi Lan learned the Spirit-Burning Art, exchanged reputation for a lottery draw, and received an interstellar cruise ship that she damaged while investigating it. The ship transmitted a signal to a distant warship, whose captain ordered a jump toward the newly discovered high-level plane.

• Shi Lan learned the Spirit-Burning Art and saw that her mission progress had reached 846 out of 1,000.
• Shi Lan exchanged 1,000 reputation for a beginner lottery draw and won an interstellar cruise ship.
• Shi Lan damaged the cruise ship's door, struck a robot inside, and destroyed its head when it began speaking.
• A data signal from the wreckage reached a warship in the universe, where the crew identified an unknown coordinate with a vast time discrepancy.
• The captain ordered the warship to activate a spatial jump toward the coordinate, 780,000 light-years away.