Chapter Summaries

Li Bufan and Ma Dali emerged from the Karma Severing Platform quickly and unharmed, prompting accusations of cheating that the black-robed elder dismissed after revealing they had comprehended true intent. Ten prisoners remained, and the elder led them onward to begin the third trial for a chance at sentence reductions.

• Li Bufan and Ma Dali returned to the plaza, where Supervisor Huang boasted about their swift passage through the trial.
• Several prisoners accused Li Bufan and Ma Dali of cheating, but the black-robed elder declared that they had used true intent and eliminated the accusers.
• The black-robed elder announced that ten prisoners had passed and that the first three winners of the next trial would qualify for sentence reductions.
• Li Bufan and Ma Dali followed the black-robed elder through a corridor toward the third trial, still recovering their strength.

Li Bufan and Ma Dali faced the miners’ final sentence-reduction trial, excavating Mysterious Prison Black Gold under a two-hour limit. Exhausted but still standing, they left the cave together after time ran out.

• The old man in black robes assigned the ten prisoners their tasks and gave them two hours to prove themselves.
• Li Bufan and Ma Dali entered the cave and discovered walls filled with Mysterious Prison Black Gold.
• Ma Dali explained that the ore and their wrist rings suppressed their bodies and blood vitality, making the mining especially difficult.
• Li Bufan learned to strike along the ore’s patterns, and both men continued mining despite their growing exhaustion.
• When time ran out, Li Bufan collapsed and Ma Dali helped him up before they carried their picks out of the cave together.

Li Bufan and Ma Dali earned sentence-reduction eligibility by mining Mysterious Prison Black Gold, and a weeder received the third slot. Li Bufan’s token reduced his sentence by six months as Supervisor Huang led the miners back to Forbidden Peak to celebrate.

• The old man inspected the cleared weeds, sorted debris, and ore, then praised Li Bufan and Ma Dali for their mining results.
• The old man awarded sentence-reduction eligibility to Li Bufan, Ma Dali, and a hardworking weeder, prompting Supervisor Huang to celebrate.
• Supervisor Huang argued with the porter supervisor after he dismissed the miners’ success as luck, and the old man ended the dispute.
• The old man gave the three winners black tokens, and Li Bufan’s ring responded by reducing his remaining sentence from 177 to 123.
• Supervisor Huang led Li Bufan and Ma Dali back toward Forbidden Peak, praising their achievements and promising them an extra meal.

After Li Bufan and Ma Dali won the Sentence Reduction Competition, Supervisor Huang treated the prisoners to a feast and invited other mine supervisors to celebrate. The exhausted Li Bufan returned to his cave and fell asleep, while Ma Dali watched him and murmured that he was interesting.

• Supervisor Huang stopped the prisoners’ work and announced a feast to celebrate Li Bufan and Ma Dali winning sentence reductions.
• The prisoners roasted meat and opened wine, cheering and thanking Li Bufan and Ma Dali for their good fortune.
• Supervisor Huang invited Li Bufan and Ma Dali to sit with him and introduced them to seven or eight supervisors from other mine pits.
• The visiting supervisors praised Li Bufan and Ma Dali, and the group ate, drank, and socialized until dusk.
• After the feast, Li Bufan returned to his cave exhausted from the day’s ordeal and fell asleep.
• Ma Dali watched Li Bufan, murmured that he was interesting, then sat down to regulate his breathing.

After recovering enough to mine, Li Bufan reviewed his progress in three True Meanings and asked Gu Moxie to teach him how to use them. Gu Moxie explained the sight barrier that makes grasping additional True Meanings difficult, then began a practical lesson with Li Bufan.

• Li Bufan mined for half an hour and found that his True Meanings of Water, Wind, and Thunder had progressed.
• Gu Moxie praised Li Bufan for comprehending three True Meanings in a month and agreed to teach him about Water and Thunder.
• Li Bufan asked Gu Moxie why comprehending a second True Meaning was harder, and Gu Moxie explained that a first True Meaning creates a sight barrier.
• Gu Moxie questioned Li Bufan about his rapid progress, but Li Bufan denied having a secret method.
• Gu Moxie suggested demonstrating True Meaning through firsthand practice, and he struck first as the two began sparring.

Li Bufan sparred with Gu Moxie and learned to weave True Meaning into his techniques, then practiced through a storm and advanced his True Meaning of Wind and True Meaning of Water. Exhausted by the day’s training, he returned to the mine pit and slept.

• Gu Moxie sparred with Li Bufan, demonstrating how to combine the True Meaning of Water and True Meaning of Thunder in his attacks.
• As they fought through the day, Gu Moxie advised Li Bufan on using Water to entangle and penetrate and Thunder to build toward a decisive strike.
• After their sparring ended, Li Bufan reviewed what he had learned and connected the fused thunder and fire on the Karma Severing Platform to an application of True Meaning.
• Li Bufan’s True Meaning of Wind and True Meaning of Water advanced to Proficient, while his True Meaning of Thunder remained Beginner.
• Li Bufan practiced the Surging Waves Palm and Dragon Roaming Steps in the storm, using Water and Wind, then stopped when exhaustion overwhelmed him.
• Li Bufan returned to his shelter in the mine pit and fell asleep.

After more than half a month of intense sparring and solitary practice, Li Bufan had greatly improved his grasp of several True Meanings. He paused training to recover and reflected on the deeper mysteries he might uncover during his remaining hundred days in Forbidden Peak.

• Li Bufan and Gu Moxie sparred daily, while Li Bufan also practiced alone at night amid Forbidden Peak’s storms and earthfire.
• Li Bufan used the True Meaning of Water to challenge Gu Moxie’s True Meaning of Thunder, impressing him with how quickly he had learned and adapted the technique.
• Li Bufan thanked Gu Moxie for teaching him, then explained that physical and mental fatigue meant he needed to stop sparring and rest.
• Gu Moxie realized he had overlooked Li Bufan’s limited cultivation and agreed to let him recover before they continued.
• Li Bufan reviewed his progress in wind, water, and thunder, considered why fire still eluded him, and wondered whether the mine’s gloom and Mysterious Prison Black Gold held other True Meanings.

Li Bufan left Forbidden Peak for a brief visit with Lin Zhiyan, who told him she planned to travel in pursuit of becoming a True Disciple. He learned she had reached the Acupoint Realm while he still had a hundred days left in prison.

• Wang Shan told Li Bufan that Supervisor Huang had summoned him because he had a visitor, and Huang granted him half a day off.
• Two Enforcement Disciples changed Li Bufan’s wrist ring, reducing its suppression, and escorted him out of Forbidden Peak.
• The Enforcement Disciples brought Li Bufan to a pavilion on Punishment Peak, where he met Lin Zhiyan.
• Li Bufan told Lin Zhiyan that the Sentence Reduction Competition had cut six months from his sentence, leaving him a hundred days to serve.
• Lin Zhiyan said she would soon travel to advance toward becoming a True Disciple, then revealed her Acupoint Realm cultivation.

Li Bufan reunited with Lin Zhiyan during his brief visit outside Forbidden Peak, and she promised that becoming a Core Disciple could make his feelings for her possible. After she left, he resolved to advance, then returned to Forbidden Peak following a short, peaceful sleep.

• Li Bufan asked Lin Zhiyan about the dojo and learned that Uncle Lin and the others had gone back, while Gong and Yang had become Inner Disciples of Songhe Gate.
• Lin Zhiyan offered to deal with the person who had framed Li Bufan, but he insisted he could handle the matter himself.
• Li Bufan asked whether Lin Zhiyan would be willing to repeat what had happened in the secret realm, and she said it would not be impossible if he became a Core Disciple before she returned.
• Li Bufan vowed to become a Core Disciple, then fell asleep in the pavilion and dreamed of chasing Lin Zhiyan through the clouds.
• The Enforcement Disciples woke Li Bufan and escorted him back to Forbidden Peak, where Supervisor Huang took charge of him.

Supervisor Huang gave Li Bufan two erotic books, and Li Bufan returned to the mine to fight Gu Moxie with unusual intensity. After Li Bufan exhausted himself and fell asleep, Gu Moxie secretly read the books and wondered if they had caused Li Bufan’s sudden energy.

• Supervisor Huang teased Li Bufan about a girl and gave him two illustrated erotic books before sending him back into the mine.
• Li Bufan hid the books from Gu Moxie and challenged him to fight, showing much greater strength and intensity than before.
• Li Bufan and Gu Moxie fought for hours, rested, then continued until Li Bufan collapsed and fell asleep.
• Gu Moxie noticed the books, used true energy to take them from Li Bufan’s robes, and read them in secret.
• Gu Moxie returned the books to Li Bufan and tried to regulate his breath, but the images lingered in his mind.

Li Bufan discovered that Gu Moxie had suffered a qi deviation and hurried to find help after Supervisor Huang was nowhere to be found. The chapter ended with Li Bufan carrying the increasingly weak Gu Moxie through Forbidden Peak in search of another supervisor.

• Li Bufan completed his mining quota and reflected on what he had learned from fighting Gu Moxie.
• Li Bufan found Gu Moxie exhausted and distracted, and their sparring ended early.
• For three days, Li Bufan visited Gu Moxie, who remained motionless in his corner.
• Li Bufan found Gu Moxie collapsed and bleeding, recognized that he had suffered a qi deviation, and carried him to Supervisor Huang's room.
• When Supervisor Huang was absent, Li Bufan asked Wang Shan to wait for him and set out to search the other mining areas for help.

Li Bufan desperately carried the unconscious Gu Moxie through Forbidden Peak in search of help, only to be wounded when he crossed the entrance boundary. An Enforcement Disciple agreed to escort them after Li Bufan insisted that Gu Moxie needed saving, and they headed toward Punishment Peak’s front mountain.

• Gu Moxie’s suppressed thoughts about two provocative books overwhelmed his mind, causing him to suffer qi deviation as Li Bufan rushed to find help.
• Li Bufan found Mine Area Three’s overseer absent and learned that the overseers had gone to watch Punishment Peak’s Core Disciple Grand Competition.
• Li Bufan used Explosive Steps to carry Gu Moxie toward Forbidden Peak’s entrance, where crossing the boundary triggered his confinement ring and left him unable to move.
• An Enforcement Disciple stabbed Li Bufan and Gu Moxie, then doubted Li Bufan’s claim that the injured man was Gu Moxie.
• Li Bufan pleaded for Gu Moxie to be saved, and the Enforcement Disciple gave him a healing pill and escorted them toward Punishment Peak’s front mountain.

Gu Tianxing arrived at the Punishment Law Hall, confirmed Gu Moxie's identity, and brought Li Bufan to Punishment Peak's summit, where he broke the ring suppressing Li Bufan's cultivation. Li Bufan cultivated freely for half a month, greatly strengthening his skills, and remained on the summit awaiting someone to take him away.

• Fu Canghai escorted Li Bufan, who carried the unconscious Gu Moxie, to the Punishment Law Hall with Guan Yun following.
• Gu Tianxing appeared, took charge of Gu Moxie, and told Fu Canghai and Guan Yun that Gu Moxie had entered Forbidden Peak to investigate its forbidden power.
• Gu Tianxing told Li Bufan that Li Tianying had asked him to find a chance to free him, then took him to Punishment Peak's summit.
• Gu Tianxing shattered the black ring suppressing Li Bufan and left with Gu Moxie, while Li Bufan's cultivation surged back to life.
• Li Bufan cultivated on the summit for half a month, raising Five Elements Heaven Skill to the Second Level and Nine Revolutions Golden Wall Art to the Eighth Level.

Li Bufan comprehended how the True Meaning of Water aided the Five Elements Heaven Skill and broke through to the third Dantian layer. He discovered he could form a small mass of pseudo water with his qi and true meaning, then sensed the world across an eighty-zhang radius.

• Li Bufan focused on cultivating the Five Elements Heaven Skill with the True Meaning of Water and learned that true meaning accelerated the technique.
• After reaching the peak of the second Dantian layer, Li Bufan contemplated the Five Elements and gained insight while watching rain, streams, plants, and the mountain landscape.
• Li Bufan broke through the bottleneck, expanded his Dantian to one zhang, and reached the third Dantian layer.
• Li Bufan combined his qi, the True Meaning of Water, and surrounding Vital Energy to create a small mass of pseudo water in his palm.
• Li Bufan spread his divine sense across eighty zhang and sensed the changes in the surrounding world.

Li Bufan comprehended Wood True Meaning after a month of meditation on Punishment Peak, recovering from his injuries and growing stronger. Gu Moxie visited to thank him for saving his life and told him that the time had come for someone to take him away.

• Li Bufan used the rain, surrounding vegetation, and his Water, Wind, and Thunder True Meanings to comprehend Wood True Meaning.
• After a month of stillness, Li Bufan awoke with Wood True Meaning at Beginner stage and found that it had healed his hidden injuries and fatigue.
• Li Bufan tested his increased strength and reviewed his progress in cultivation and the Five Elements True Meanings.
• Gu Moxie arrived, sensed Li Bufan's new True Meaning, and thanked him for saving his life.
• Gu Moxie gave Li Bufan a Gu family jade token and said the time had come for someone to take him away.

Wen Qinglian arrived to escort Li Bufan from Punishment Peak to Formation Peak, where Li Tianying had summoned him. After parting from Gu Moxie and impressing Wen Qinglian with his perfected movement technique and True Meaning of Wind, Li Bufan entered Formation Peak with her through a concealed formation.

• Wen Qinglian told Li Bufan that Li Tianying had ordered him to go to Formation Peak.
• Gu Moxie praised Li Bufan's hidden talent, and the two affirmed their friendship and promised to spar again.
• Wen Qinglian carried Li Bufan away from Punishment Peak, leaving Gu Moxie to watch them depart.
• Li Bufan kept pace with Wen Qinglian through the mountains by using the perfected Dragon Roaming Steps and True Meaning of Wind.
• Wen Qinglian and Li Bufan reached Formation Peak, where she formed a light formation that transported them both away.

Li Bufan returned from Forbidden Peak and demonstrated what he had learned during his assessment by Xie Qisha. He unleashed his strongest technique but could not break through Xie Qisha’s defense, and sensed the immense saber intent and mysterious forces guarding his master.

• Wen Qinglian received the Heavenly Wind Spirit Crystal from Li Tianying and left the thatched cottage.
• Li Tianying told Li Bufan that he was his master for the month they would spend training together, and Li Bufan respectfully addressed him as Master.
• Xie Qisha arrived and asked Li Bufan to show what he had comprehended during half a year at Forbidden Peak.
• Li Bufan demonstrated Surging Waves Palm and the Thunderclap Saber Technique, but Xie Qisha’s invisible defensive boundary stopped his attacks.
• Li Bufan unleashed Heavenly Thunder Break with his saber intent, yet he still could not break through Xie Qisha’s defense and sensed the vast power surrounding his master.

Xie Qisha tested Li Bufan’s saber technique and urged him to win first place among the Inner Disciples before training on Blade Peak. Li Tianying advised Li Bufan to study formations to become a Core Disciple, but Li Bufan chose alchemy and reaffirmed his resolve despite Zhou Huoyun’s opposition.

• Li Bufan used Chaos of Rivers and Mountains, and Xie Qisha matched the move and broke his saber momentum.
• Xie Qisha praised Li Bufan’s comprehension of four True Meanings but said he had neglected the Greedy Wolf Saber Technique, then urged him to claim first place among the Inner Disciples.
• Li Tianying asked Li Bufan to call him Master and explained that Core Disciples needed to master a secondary profession, recommending formations.
• Li Bufan told Li Tianying and Xie Qisha that he had chosen alchemy because he wanted to save money on pills and had promised someone he would place in the Pill Combat Tournament.
• Li Tianying accepted Li Bufan’s choice but warned him about Zhou Huoyun, and Li Bufan said he would give up becoming a Core Disciple rather than turn away from his decision.

Li Bufan chose his own path, and Li Tianying and Xie Qisha backed his decision. Xie Qisha took him to Blade Peak and demonstrated the five forms of the Greedy Wolf Saber Technique, leaving Li Bufan to study their saber intent.

• Xie Qisha praised Li Bufan's resolve to defy restrictions, while Li Tianying promised that they would protect him from trouble.
• Li Tianying reminded Li Bufan to cultivate the Circulatory Stars Diagram after reaching the Qi Sea Realm, and Xie Qisha took him to Blade Peak for personal instruction.
• Xie Qisha told Li Bufan to master all five forms of the Greedy Wolf Saber Technique before descending the mountain.
• Xie Qisha demonstrated Chaos of Rivers and Mountains, whose saber intent embodied chaos, and Looking Northwest, which embodied courage.
• Xie Qisha demonstrated Kill Break Wolf, which embodied breaking through obstacles, and Protect the King and Escort, which embodied speed.
• Xie Qisha demonstrated Pacify the Nine Provinces, whose saber intent embodied stability, leaving Li Bufan deeply shaken by the five forms.

Xie Qisha taught Li Bufan how the five forms of the Greedy Wolf Saber Technique embodied the Five Elements True Meaning, then trapped him inside a ring of saber intent as a test. Li Bufan began cultivating within the ring and made progress understanding the first form, Chaos of Rivers and Mountains, but had not yet escaped.

• Xie Qisha explained the Five Elements True Meaning concealed in each of the five saber forms and demonstrated them for Li Bufan.
• Li Bufan thanked Xie Qisha after grasping the essence of the Greedy Wolf Saber Technique.
• Xie Qisha formed a ring of saber intent around Li Bufan and told him he could leave the mountain once he escaped it.
• After Xie Qisha departed, Li Bufan began cultivating inside the ring, reflecting on the five forms and their connection to the Five Elements True Meaning.
• Li Bufan practiced Chaos of Rivers and Mountains until he developed a deeper understanding of its chaotic water intent, but the ring remained intact.