Chapter Summaries

Li Fan discovered that the rats' tunnels formed part of a vast underground formation beneath Jingji, then used canal repairs to move commoners out of danger without exposing his discovery. As the Divine Sect invaded from the west and the Grand Preceptor prepared to act, Li Fan left the story facing an approaching confrontation and an uncertain threat beneath the capital.

• Li Fan explored the rat tunnels, found a cursed stone maid and an immortal zombie in an ancient tomb, and realized the rats were connecting earth-vein nodes for a formation spanning Wang Jing.
• Li Fan decided not to reveal the underground formation and used his position as Assistant Clerk to organize canal repairs that sent more than a hundred thousand commoners outside Jingji.
• Li Fan asked Zhong Hui to move the laborers' families to the canal worksites, and Zhong Hui agreed after overseeing the execution of the former Chariot and Cavalry General's relatives.
• Li Fan and Zhong Hui discussed reports that the Divine Sect had seized western territory and cut off garrisons beyond Heishan Pass.
• The court mobilized armies for a western campaign, sending Xinling County Duke to command forces in Dui while troops from the Three Enclosures prepared for battle.

Li Fan warned Zhong Hui about rat demons beneath the capital and sent Amao and his companions to investigate their tunnels. After uncovering the Grand Tutor’s apparent connection to the rats and fighting off hidden assassins, Li Fan received an invitation to the Grandmaster Mathematics examination at Yuntai Peak.

• Li Fan discussed the court’s campaign against the Divine Sect with Zhong Hui, then reported the rat demons discovered by river workers.
• Li Fan met Amao, Xiao Bai, and Xiao Qing, learned that the Snake Demons had eaten candied rats, and sent the group to find the rat nest and report to the Sili Xiaowei’s office.
• Li Fan caught four concealed Nascent Soul swordsmen who had followed Amao and recognized them as death soldiers serving the Guardian General.
• Li Fan concluded that the rats and the formation beneath the Three Enclosures were arrangements made by the Grand Tutor, then faced down more death soldiers in an alley.
• An immortal crane delivered Li Fan a recommendation from Dao Lord Wuyang, inviting him to take the Grandmaster Mathematics examination and qualify for the Yuntai Peak gathering.

Li Fan learned how the Xuanmen planned to divide power at Yuntai Peak, then weighed the temple master's cautious strategy against Xuantian's advice to exploit the upheaval. He kept his main body on Yuntai Peak while secretly sending a Blood God clone to attack travelers headed for the gathering, where he fought a foul-mouthed cultivator and recorded the opponent's fist technique.

• Li Fan and the temple master discussed the Grand Tutor's plans, the coming campaign against the Divine Sect, and the rivalries among the Xuanmen and ancient Daoist lineages.
• The temple master advised Li Fan to avoid competing for territory and instead focus on Yudu and the Nangong Clan while observing the gathering without getting involved.
• Xuantian urged Li Fan to exploit the chaos by robbing or killing powerful visitors before the western campaign began.
• Li Fan kept his main body on Yuntai Peak to study for the master diviner certification exam and secretly sent a Blood God clone to intercept travelers bound for the gathering.
• Li Fan fought a powerful, foul-mouthed cultivator with a counterfeit Blazing Blood Palm and recorded the opponent's Dingjia Unerring Divine Fist.

Li Fan robbed merchants around Jingji as a Blood God Child, then discovered a large fleet carrying the Gao family's tribute mission and an apparent assassination plot targeting Gao Ming. He suspected Li Wugou's disguised border soldiers were waiting to exploit his attack.

• Li Fan fought a foul-mouthed Xuanmen cultivator using Dingjia Wuwang Divine Fist, but the man fled after tossing him a silver bell and a green porcelain bowl.
• Li Fan continued robbing merchants around Jingji and stored the gathered materials and treasures in the Divine Sect's secret vault.
• Merchant families assembled a fleet with four Divine Transformation cultivators and many Nascent Soul cultivators to guard their goods against the Blood God Child.
• Li Fan recognized the fleet's central contingent as the Gao family's diplomatic mission, accompanied by Jing Yao and Gu Panpan.
• Li Fan discovered that Li Wugou and disguised border soldiers were aboard the fleet, apparently preparing to attack Gao Ming, and suspected they planned to exploit his robbery.

Li Fan watched Li Wugou and Gu Panpan’s preparations as a demonic raid triggered an assault on the Gao clan’s ship. The attack failed to reach Gao Ming, and Li Fan fled after clashing with a powerful hidden warrior, leaving the wider struggle over Hebei poised to grow more dangerous.

• Li Fan found Li Wugou preparing with veteran cultivators to attack the Gao clan’s ship, then watched Gu Panpan rebuff Gao Wan and secretly weaken the ship’s formation.
• A Divine Cult cultivator broke through the weakened barrier, and Gu Panpan set a fire while Li Wugou led the veterans in a surprise assault on the Gao clan’s guards.
• Li Fan read the women’s fortunes and entered the banquet hall, where he saw Gao Ming’s apparent fate of an early death and heard a hidden warrior detect him.
• The hidden warrior struck Li Fan with a powerful fist, destroying half his Blood God Child clone and splitting the ship apart as the guests fled.
• Li Fan killed Gao Wan amid the chaos, escaped his pursuers, and saw that Gao Ming had been carried to safety by Wangwu Mountain experts.

Li Fan rescued the wounded Li Wugou from Gao clan pursuers, learned that her back tattoo marked a hidden treasure, and left her in Han Xiangmo’s care. Back at Yuntai Peak, he exchanged a Heavenly Book with Manifestation and acquired another Xuan Girl Heavenly Book.

• Li Fan arrived as Li Wugou was overwhelmed by Wangwu Mountain cultivators and Gao clan retainers, then took her from them after they captured her.
• The Tianlong Mountain monks explained that Li Wugou’s yaksha tattoo was a treasure map tied to the Northern Expedition Army’s hidden spoils.
• Han Xiangmo arrived and revealed that Li Wugou was her disciple, so Li Fan handed her over and fled.
• Li Fan returned to Yuntai Peak, where he prepared for the Grandmaster examination by discussing research drawn from the Heavenly Book.
• Manifestation asked Li Fan to lend him Sighing at the World's Inaction and exchanged it for The Secret Register of the Supreme Nine Heavens Xuan Girl for Slaying Evil.

Li Fan studied Penglai’s original Xuan Girl Heavenly Scripture, learned how its Evil-Slaying Secret Register guarded and repaired a cultivator’s Dao body, and used it to improve his Microdust Avatar. After Divine Lords Zhichun and Cui Yuan drew him into the Nine Great Xuan Sects’ election proceedings, he carried the scripture into a trial that revealed the Beichen Sword Sect’s Nine Luminaries Sword Pavilion.

• Manifestation gave Li Fan Penglai’s original Xuan Girl Heavenly Scripture, the Evil-Slaying Secret Register, and told him to return it to Yuntai Peak before the sects’ election.
• Li Fan studied the scripture, learned that it used a Celestial Dipper heart method to find and eliminate flaws in a Dao body, and refined his Microdust Avatar into a miniature universe.
• Li Fan emerged from seclusion with a conspicuous aura and met Divine Lords Zhichun and Cui Yuan, who came to Yuntai Peak to recruit him.
• Li Fan agreed to support Dao Lord Wuyang’s faction and gave Cui Yuan the scripture that Manifestation had entrusted to him.
• Cui Yuan directed Li Fan to pass a trial, and Li Fan crossed a sword formation that revealed the Nine Luminaries Sword Pavilion at the summit of Nine Yin Peak.

Li Fan placed the Xuan Girl Heavenly Book in the Nine Luminaries Sword Pavilion, secretly strengthened its sword formation, and learned about the factions competing to reshape the Nine Great Xuan Sects. At the Peach Banquet, Cui Yuan revealed that Qin Jiu had impressed Songshan’s patriarchs and asked Li Fan to let him represent Songshan in a contest.

• Li Fan entered the Nine Luminaries Sword Pavilion, deposited the Heavenly Book, and upgraded Xuantian’s sword formation before leaving with Cui Yuan.
• Cui Yuan explained the history and value of Emei’s peaches, then described the sects competing to join the Nine Great Xuan Sects as Songshan and Supreme Purity gathered support.
• Cui Yuan suggested Ink Bamboo Mountain could enter the selection, but Li Fan declined because he expected the Central Plains’ growing sects to threaten his mountain and Li Country.
• Cui Yuan told Li Fan that Qin Jiu had won Songshan’s outer disciple competition and had incapacitated seventy-four Qiantian Palace disciples using Songshan techniques.
• Cui Yuan asked Li Fan to let Qin Jiu represent Songshan in the Golden Core competition, offering the boy two patriarchs as nominal masters and access to the Great Yi Heavenly Book.
• Li Fan suspected Songshan’s patriarchs had divined Qin Jiu’s unusual potential, and Cui Yuan smiled without confirming it.

At the Peach Banquet on Yuntai Peak, Li Fan agreed to let Qin Jiu compete after Songshan praised the boy and Cui Yuan proposed a marriage alliance for him. Li Fan then joined representatives of three other mountains in forming an alliance against Supreme Purity and learned that their disciples would risk their lives in the tournament; the banquet erupted when Emei arrived.

• Cui Yuan invited Qin Jiu to compete at Yuntai Peak, and Li Fan agreed to let his disciple broaden his horizons.
• Cui Yuan praised Qin Jiu and offered to arrange a marriage with one of his descendants, while Li Fan said he would ask the boy.
• At the Peach Banquet, Li Fan met the leaders of Taiyi Mountain, Luofu Mountain, and Tianfu Mountain, who explained their conflicts with Supreme Purity and their need for allies.
• Li Fan and the three Shenjuns exchanged talismans and registers to establish cooperation among their four mountains.
• The three Shenjuns agreed that their disciples would challenge Supreme Purity's representatives at Yuntai Peak and risk their lives to claim a place among the Nine Great Xuan Sects.
• The banquet grew noisy as Emei arrived, and Li Fan sensed several familiar people.

Li Fan attended the Yuntai Peak banquet as Emei’s disciples prepared to compete and the great sects gathered amid rising tension. After learning that Qin Jiu’s fate was dangerously hard to read, Li Fan warned him he could leave, but Qin Jiu chose to face the trial.

• Emei brought its Outer Sect disciples to the banquet as its Inner Sect prepared to ascend, and Li Fan renewed his acquaintance with Li Wugou, Chu Nanyi, and other disciples.
• Gu Panpan provoked Chu Nanyi, and Li Fan learned that competitors could use powerful borrowed treasures in the Yuntai competition.
• Master Wei arrived with Hengshan after emerging from seclusion with a transformed Dao body, and she healed Han Xiangmo’s sword wound.
• Xianhua warned Li Fan that Qin Jiu’s unreadable fate signaled severe hardship and told him not to kill anyone from Penglai.
• Li Fan pulled Qin Jiu aside and offered to take him back to Ink Bamboo Mountain, but Qin Jiu chose to compete and face his tribulation.

The Yuntai Grand Competition began with a race up Nine Yin Mountain, and Qin Jiu used the Great Songyang Divine Art to overwhelm Supreme Purity Dao disciples blocking his way. After Qin Jiu insisted he was not from Songshan and was not competing for a rank, Bai Shuangying of Hengshan stepped forward to challenge him.

• Li Fan watched the competitors gather at the foot of Nine Yin Mountain and learned the Two Elders of Songshan had guided Qin Jiu.
• Li Fan apologized to Xia Baishu and Ji Qingyan for Qin Jiu injuring their disciples and gave them a gourd of Nine Revolutions Mysterious Purple Gold Pills.
• Qin Jiu wrapped himself in dense Xuanhuang True Qi and attacked the advancing competitors, leaving three Supreme Purity Dao disciples badly wounded.
• Li Fan realized Qin Jiu's Great Songyang Divine Art and knowledge of the Supreme Purity Dao's weaknesses had helped him dominate the opening clash.
• Qin Jiu told the angry Supreme Purity Dao disciples he was not from Songshan and was not competing for a rank, then Bai Shuangying of Hengshan challenged him.

Qin Jiu defeated Bai Shuangying on Nine Yin Mountain and revealed that he was blocking Hengshan to avenge his family, whose land had been seized under the sect’s name. He killed three more Hengshan disciples in a brutal exchange and healed himself with the Dustless Easy Qi Sword, leaving the spectators stunned as he continued to guard the mountain path.

• Bai Shuangying attacked Qin Jiu with her Heavenly Pillar Star-Glory Sword Technique, but Nine Yin Mountain’s defenses disrupted her flying sword and left her gravely injured.
• Li Fan and the others learned that Qin Jiu had singled out Hengshan because its people had seized his family’s farmland and his relatives had starved or been forced into slavery.
• Three Hengshan disciples charged Qin Jiu in a coordinated sword formation, and he killed all three while suffering serious wounds.
• Purple Void Dao Lord, the Songshan elders, and Han the Divine Lord recognized Qin Jiu’s technique as the Dustless Easy Qi Sword, which Xianhua explained could both kill and heal.
• Qin Jiu used the technique to close his wounds, while the silent spectators watched him continue to block the path up Nine Yin Mountain.

Qin Jiu fought the Hengshan disciples at the mountain entrance while the other sects hurried past to claim peaks. After Hengshan’s ambush pushed him to the brink, a blood-red power erupted from Qin Jiu, and he stood again to bar every Hengshan disciple from passing.

• Xia Chuanming of Zhenzhen Palace and other neutral disciples passed Qin Jiu, while Gu Panpan led Wangwu Mountain and its allies up the mountain.
• Qian Xingchun challenged Qin Jiu with the Jade Balance Sword Technique, but their qi contest ended with Qian Xingchun blasted off the path and Qin Jiu’s reserves depleted.
• Sun Xing'an struck Qin Jiu while he was weakened, but Qin Jiu used Blood Flow Sword Rain to kill Sun Xing'an and reveal the Blood Talisman Sword technique.
• Hengshan disciples attacked Qin Jiu together, and a Supreme Purity Dao disciple who had doubled back used Earth Escape to trap his legs.
• As three Hengshan disciples hacked Qin Jiu into a bloody mess, he recalled a wounded boy asking him to comfort his mother, then erupted in a blood-red blast that killed them.
• Qin Jiu healed with the red sand drawn back into his body, stood at his boundary, and declared that no Hengshan disciples could pass.

Li Fan confronted Purple Void Dao Lord over Qin Jiu’s fight and argued that the tournament should test the disciples rather than protect sect standings. Shi Kai challenged Qin Jiu on the mountain path, and after their fierce duel ended with both exhausted, Shi Kai carried the unconscious Qin Jiu toward the summit as Hengshan’s disciples rushed past.

• Purple Void Dao Lord scorched Li Fan’s arm with violet moonfire and offered land as compensation, but Li Fan rejected her proposal and argued that the tournament’s trials mattered more than sect prestige.
• Purple Void Dao Lord accepted Li Fan’s point and released him, while the frightened Hengshan disciples began to lose their resolve.
• Shi Kai, who had not passed Emei’s entrance exam, challenged Qin Jiu and cut him in half with a saber strike, but Qin Jiu reassembled himself and continued fighting.
• Qin Jiu and Shi Kai traded powerful sword and saber techniques until each was wounded and they struggled over their weapons.
• Chu Nanyi and an underground attacker ambushed the fighters, but Qin Jiu and Shi Kai each instinctively protected the other, and Qin Jiu knocked the attacker back before collapsing.
• Shi Kai carried the unconscious Qin Jiu up the mountain as the Hengshan disciples rushed past Chu Nanyi, insisting that their fight was not over.

After Shi Kai carried the wounded Qin Jiu away from the tournament, two Mount Song elders brought Li Fan into a hidden Nine Palaces chamber and questioned him about Dao Lord Wuyang. They revealed their fear that Wuyang would become the Celestial Devil Emperor, then sent Li Fan back to learn whether Wuyang would return to the Xuan Sects or pursue the Supreme Plain path.

• Shi Kai fled with Qin Jiu as a crowd pursued them, while Li Fan watched from the Peach Banquet.
• Two Mount Song elders seized Li Fan and took him to a hidden chamber where Ji Qingyan, Xia Baishu, and Manifestation confronted him about Dao Lord Wuyang and North Mang Mountain.
• Li Fan truthfully said he knew only about the rats beneath North Mang Mountain, and Manifestation concluded that Wuyang had not told him more.
• Manifestation explained that Wuyang might try to become the Celestial Devil Emperor, drawing on the Immortal Palace's demon research and the unrest in Xun and Zhen Countries.
• The elders asked Li Fan to return and find out whether Wuyang would choose the Xuan Sects or pursue demonhood, warning that Manifestation would lead the Xuan Sects against him if necessary.
• Li Fan agreed to go, having learned that Manifestation's rules currently governed the Xuan Sects.

Li Fan prepared to intervene in the Grand Tutor’s tribulation and decide whether to support or oppose his rise as a demon. He followed Amao’s trail underground, reached a well filled with the Dark River’s weak water, and plunged in as an approaching bell-wielder drew near.

• Li Fan chose to seek the Grand Tutor and assess whether he could be persuaded to cooperate with the Xuan Sect.
• Li Fan summoned the Kun with a cloud-script talisman and sent it into Yuntai Peak to rescue Qin Jiu and the others.
• Li Fan followed Amao through the rat tunnels and found Xiao Bai’s discarded snake skin among the awakened baleful corpses.
• Li Fan followed the densest baleful energy toward the Grand Tutor and discovered a well filled with the weak water of the Dark River.
• After sensing a bell-wielding figure approaching through the corpse formation, Li Fan plunged into the well.

Qin Jiu woke badly wounded after the Songshan tournament, then found himself on a Hengshan arena with Shi Kai, where they faced Chu Nanyi and two Hengshan disciples. Kun turned the fight by swallowing the disciples’ attacks and spitting them back, leaving the Hengshan fighters defeated and Qin Jiu still complaining about fish saliva.

• Qin Jiu woke from his injuries as Xiao Ai treated him and urged him to give up his place in the Yuntai tournament.
• Kun startled Qin Jiu by licking his face, then Qin Jiu realized he was on an arena where Shi Kai was protecting him from Hengshan disciples.
• Qin Jiu joined Shi Kai against Chu Nanyi and the Hengshan disciples, while Chu Nanyi fought Shi Kai and two disciples trapped Qin Jiu in a coordinated formation.
• Kun swallowed the Hengshan disciples’ weapons and spells, then spat them back in a barrage that knocked both disciples off the arena.
• Shi Kai caught a Nine-Turn Changchun Pill Kun spat out, while Qin Jiu cursed Kun for spitting saliva into his mouth.

Kun intervened in the Yuntai Competition after Hengshan’s Cheng Xingchu trapped Shi Kai and Chu Nanyi overwhelmed Qin Jiu. Shi Kai killed Cheng Xingchu, and Qin Jiu challenged Chu Nanyi, who revealed Emei’s secret sword art as the fight continued.

• Ji Qingyan ruled that Kun, an Ink Bamboo Mountain disciple and institute director, could compete, and Kun persuaded the Hengshan disciples to offer it food instead of fighting.
• Chu Nanyi and Cheng Xingchu attacked Qin Jiu and Shi Kai with Emei sword techniques and a ritual that trapped Shi Kai’s spirit.
• Kun entered Shi Kai’s Divine Sense realm and destroyed the ghost sustaining Cheng Xingchu’s ritual, freeing Shi Kai to kill Cheng Xingchu.
• Chu Nanyi cut off Qin Jiu’s right arm, but he reattached it, while Shi Kai withdrew to recover with Kun’s medicine.
• Qin Jiu challenged Chu Nanyi, who transformed her appearance and announced Emei’s secret sword art, Sword Roll Residual Clouds.

Qin Jiu and Chu Nanyi’s brutal duel ended with Chu Nanyi rescued and Emei conceding, while Qin Jiu was left near death and revived in a medicinal cauldron. Elsewhere, Li Fan was stopped in the Yellow Springs by Xiao Qingzhi, whose Divine Transformation corpse clone revealed that Chen Jinu might have several powerful clones as the Grand Tutor began his tribulation.

• Chu Nanyi transformed and unleashed Residual Clouds Sword Qi, but Qin Jiu countered with blood techniques before the sword force tore through him and the Ten Ultimate Formation’s Bloodbreak Sand nearly killed her.
• Han the Divine Lord rescued Chu Nanyi and declared Emei’s concession, while Shi Kai, Kun, and Ji Qingyan placed Qin Jiu in a cauldron to restore him with Immortal Spirit Jade Marrow.
• The Hengshan disciples refused to attack the helpless Qin Jiu and left to challenge other peaks, while the immortals departed Yuntai Peak after sensing that the Grand Tutor had begun his tribulation.
• Li Fan encountered Xiao Qingzhi, Chen Jinu, and Zhi Jingzi in the Yellow Springs and recognized Xiao Qingzhi as a Divine Transformation clone made through the Taishang Sanshi Zhongjing.
• Li Fan realized Chen Jinu might have several Divine Transformation-level corpse clones and an even stronger main body.

Li Fan crossed the Yellow Springs with Xiao Qingzhi and reached the underground capital where the Grand Tutor’s tribulation had begun. There he discovered the Grand Tutor’s plan to create an army of demon generals with Soldier-Refining Pills, but the powerful soldiers were difficult to control as the Grand Tutor’s fate remained uncertain.

• Li Fan met Xiao Qingzhi in the Yellow Springs, and Xiao Qingzhi explained that he wanted to witness the Grand Tutor’s tribulation and pursue the Tai Su Dao.
• A Jade Toad girl arrived, and Xiao Qingzhi rescued her before inviting Li Fan to travel with him to see the Grand Tutor.
• Li Fan and Xiao Qingzhi reached an underground replica of the old capital, where demon-god heads formed a false Tai Su sky and thousands of powerful corpses filled the city.
• Xiao Qingzhi showed Li Fan a Soldier-Refining Pill and explained that it could turn Nascent Soul martial gods into powerful demon generals.
• Li Fan realized the Immortal Palace’s pill-making research could let the company mass-produce demon generals, but Xiao Qingzhi revealed that the generals’ growing power and recovered consciousness made them hard to control.
• Li Fan saw the Grand Tutor’s palace at the heart of the formation and learned that, if the Grand Tutor survived his tribulation, the demon generals might submit to him.