Chapter Summaries

After Chang Yue revived Ning Chen, he agreed to help her obtain the Scroll of Heaven and the Scroll of Life’s cultivation essence while keeping his promise to its original giver. Seven years later, Changsun died at the New Year, leaving Ning Chen grieving as memories of their years together returned.

• Ning Chen met Chang Yue in the Zhiming Marquisate study and learned she had spent precious treasures and the Venerable Lady’s power to save him.
• Chang Yue demanded the Scroll of Heaven and the Scroll of Life, and Ning Chen offered to let her draw the Scroll of Life’s cultivation foundation from him until she reached Great Perfection.
• Chang Yue warned Ning Chen that his divided body’s karmic burden could make future tribulations fatal, then left with him for the Ancient Land of Western Buddhism.
• Over seven years, Chi'er took the throne, Changsun returned power, Ning Xi married the son of Marquis Taiping, and Ruoxi continued serving at the marquisate.
• As the New Year began, Changsun woke, asked Ning Chen to help her to the window, and peacefully died against his shoulder while Qing Ling, Xia Xinyu, and Ning Chen mourned.
• Ning Chen remembered his early palace misdeeds and Changsun’s reprimand, along with her decision to confine him in Weiyang Palace for six months.

Ning Chen relinquished his title as Martial Marquis and left Great Xia with Ruoxi, setting out across the western Divine Continent to search the other Four Domains for a way to awaken the Ghost Maiden. They boarded Xin Liangchen’s merchant ship bound for Southern Mausoleum, where an enormous sea shadow retreated after sensing Ning Chen’s power.

• Ning Chen handed over the Martial Marquis Seal and Battle Robe, took the Ice Coffin containing the sleeping woman, and departed the manor with Ruoxi as its residents bid him farewell.
• Ning Chen and Ruoxi traveled west on foot for years, and he brought her to the sea, explaining that their destination lay beyond it.
• Xin Liangchen ordered his merchant ship to shore and welcomed Ning Chen and Ruoxi aboard for their journey to Southern Mausoleum.
• Ning Chen and Ruoxi settled into a guest room, and Ruoxi asked whether people could avoid growing old; Ning Chen promised to seek ways to preserve her appearance.
• A violent jolt shook the ship, and an enormous shadow beneath the water retreated when Ning Chen looked toward it.

After reaching Southern Mausoleum, Ning Chen left Xin Liangchen’s caravan to confront the sea beast that had followed their ship. He traded Phoenix Blood for the Black Tortoise Descendant’s heart-protecting shell and heart’s blood, then departed with Ruoxi for Yan'ge City.

• Ning Chen accepted Xin Liangchen’s invitation to visit the Xin Family, but left the caravan after recalling the ship’s unexplained shudder.
• Ning Chen and Ruoxi found a Black Tortoise Descendant at sea, and it revealed that it wanted Phoenix Blood.
• Ning Chen threatened to kill the beast when it refused to communicate, but Ruoxi stopped him from slaughtering it.
• The Black Tortoise Descendant offered its heart-protecting armor and heart’s blood, and Ning Chen gave it a drop of Phoenix Blood in return.
• Ning Chen collected the Black Tortoise Descendant’s heart’s blood and flew away with Ruoxi.

Ning Chen and Ruoxi visited Six Envy Tower with Xin Liangchen, where Zhao Ling'er attacked the teahouse and tried to take the pipa player Jiaqi away. When Xin Liangchen was overwhelmed by Zhao Ling'er's fighters, Ning Chen intervened and revealed his strength, leaving the confrontation at a standstill.

• Xin Liangchen brought Ning Chen and Ruoxi to Six Envy Tower, where Jiaqi played the pipa and caught his attention.
• Zhao Ling'er arrived with her attendants, ordered the teahouse wrecked, and tried to seize Jiaqi.
• Xin Liangchen drove off two men who tried to take Jiaqi, but Zhao Ling'er summoned soldiers and ordered her arrested.
• Xin Liangchen resisted the soldiers, then fought Ah Si and Ah San as Zhao Ling'er escalated the confrontation.
• Ning Chen blocked Ah San's sword with a turtle shell, took Zhao Ling'er's hairpin, and helped Xin Liangchen steady his true qi.

Ning Chen stopped the Yan'ge City Lord's men from attacking him at Six Envy Tower, then accompanied Xin Liangchen to a banquet at the Xin residence. As Ning Chen suspected the Xin family’s kindness concealed deeper motives, the Yan'ge City Lord and Zhao Ling'er prepared to test him by sending Hong Wulei of the Tuoluo Extinction Gate.

• Chaotian Ji and Bai Xiaoran joined forces against Ning Chen, but he stopped their attack and defeated them without serious harm.
• The Yan'ge City Lord invited Ning Chen to his residence, while Zhao Ling'er returned his hairpin as a keepsake.
• Xin Liangchen settled the commotion at Six Envy Tower, then took Ning Chen and Ruoxi to meet the Xin Family head at a banquet.
• The Xin Family head rewarded Xin Liangchen with the East Glory Pavilion, and Ning Chen privately questioned the sincerity behind the family’s cordial behavior.
• The Yan'ge City Lord told Zhao Ling'er they must win Ning Chen over if their next attempt failed, but she insisted Hong Wulei would succeed.

Ning Chen accompanied Xin Liangchen and Ruoxi to the Yan'ge City Lord's banquet, where the Hundred Dynasties Competition was announced. The gathering turned into a contest between Chu Huaijing and Nanming Tian, whose swords clashed as the guests watched.

• Xin Liangchen accepted the Yan'ge City Lord's invitation, and Ning Chen agreed to attend with him and Ruoxi.
• At the Literary Arts Pavilion, the Yan'ge City Lord announced that the dynasty's representatives for the Hundred Dynasties Competition would be selected in four months.
• Ning Chen shared golden lotus seeds with Ruoxi and used his strength to move the seeds from Xin Liangchen's plate to hers.
• Nanming Zhen challenged Chu Huaijing after Chu mocked him, prompting Nanming Tian to arrive and take up the challenge.
• Chu Huaijing and Nanming Tian drew their swords, and Chaotian Ji and Bai Xiaoran shielded the guests from the clash's aftershocks.

At a banquet in the Literary Arts Pavilion, Ning Chen ignored the duel between Nanming Tian and Chu Huaijing, then stopped an arrow aimed at Young Master Xin. On the road afterward, Hong Wulei ambushed Ning Chen, but he defeated her without moving and let her escape.

• Nanming Tian defeated Chu Huaijing, and Beigong Yu intervened when Chu Huaijing attacked from behind before challenging Ning Chen instead.
• An unseen attacker shot an arrow at Young Master Xin, but Ning Chen caught it and shattered it; Ning Chen then left the banquet with Ruoxi and Young Master Xin.
• Hong Wulei, an assassin from the Tuoluo Extinction Gate, confronted Ning Chen on a deserted street and attacked him with her blade.
• Ning Chen stopped Hong Wulei's ultimate strike with two fingers, broke her blade, and sent her retreating without killing her.
• Nanming Tian and Beigong Yu examined the broken blade and realized Hong Wulei belonged to the Tuoluo Extinction Gate; both admitted they could not have defeated her as effortlessly as Ning Chen.

Ning Chen confronted the Xin Family patriarch over the danger facing Xin Liangchen, then the Yan'ge City Lord reconsidered his alliance and sought to avoid making Ning Chen an enemy. The chapter ended with Beigong Yu challenging Ning Chen to a future duel after Ning Chen refused to fight.

• Ning Chen warned the Xin Family patriarch that he would retaliate against anyone who harmed Xin Liangchen, and the patriarch realized Ning Chen had seen through his involvement.
• Ning Chen explained to Ruoxi how the Xin Family patriarch and Zhao Ling'er had maneuvered against Xin Liangchen, and warned that the patriarch must keep pretending to be a loving father.
• The Yan'ge City Lord learned that Ning Chen had guessed at their involvement and decided to make amends, ordering Zhao Ling'er to deliver letters to the Xin Family patriarch and Ning Chen.
• Beigong Yu attacked Ning Chen in the courtyard, revealed himself, and asked for a duel, but Ning Chen declined and promised to fight him if he ever took up his sword again.

Ning Chen and Ruoxi left the Xin residence for the Yuheng Sacred Land, hoping to find the Resurrection Technique and awaken the Ghost Maiden. On the road, Ruoxi asked Ning Chen to save the gravely wounded Hong Wulei, and he agreed.

• Zhao Ling'er visited the Xin residence and gave Ning Chen a token of goodwill: a place in the Tianshu Imperial Dynasty's competition before the throne.
• Ning Chen and Ruoxi departed west, bound for the Yuheng Sacred Land to seek the Resurrection Technique.
• Hong Wulei's companion betrayed her during a battle against eleven innate experts, and Hong Wulei was badly wounded while escaping.
• Ning Chen and Ruoxi passed the fight without intervening, but Hong Wulei collapsed in front of them and Ruoxi caught her.
• Ruoxi said she wanted to save Hong Wulei because she reminded her of Xixiu, and Ning Chen agreed to help.

Ning Chen rescued Hong Wulei from the Nine Heavens Sword Sect’s warriors, and Ruoxi helped her recover as the three traveled to Qiyi City. Hong Wulei revealed that she sought revenge, while Ruoxi offered to ask Ning Chen to teach her, leaving Hong Wulei afraid of him.

• Ning Chen repelled eleven Nine Heavens Sword Sect warriors with his sword intent and left them alive.
• Ruoxi helped Ning Chen tend to Hong Wulei’s injuries by a stream, and Hong Wulei woke during the night.
• At dawn, Hong Wulei revealed her name by writing it and declined to ride in Ning Chen’s ghost carriage.
• Ning Chen, Ruoxi, and Hong Wulei reached Qiyi City and rented rooms so Hong Wulei could recover.
• Hong Wulei wrote that she wanted revenge, and Ruoxi offered to ask Ning Chen to teach her, frightening Hong Wulei.

Ning Chen guided Hong Wulei in combat during the four-month journey to Yuheng Sacred Land, then parted from her and entered the Sacred Land with Ruoxi as an outer disciple to seek the Resurrection Technique. He waited at the mountain’s foot, keeping his distance from the powerful ancestor.

• Ning Chen agreed to guide Hong Wulei and taught her to simplify her saber techniques while she recovered and traveled with him and Ruoxi.
• Over the journey, Hong Wulei practiced diligently, and Ning Chen later taught her a footwork technique to help her survive.
• At Yuheng Sacred Land, Hong Wulei challenged Ning Chen, lost, and said farewell to him and Ruoxi.
• Ning Chen and Ruoxi entered Yuheng Sacred Land, where Ning Chen took the identity of an outer disciple to search for the Resurrection Technique without attracting notice.
• Ning Chen stayed at the mountain’s foot and waited for several months.

Ning Chen infiltrated Yuheng Sacred Land’s Profound Mechanism Pavilion to find the Resurrection Technique, then fought its Law Enforcement Elder, Xiao Wuming, when discovered. The Yuheng Sect Master halted the battle and invited Ning Chen to talk, leaving his identity and purpose under scrutiny.

• The grand competition began on Mountain Above Mountain, and the elders allowed outer disciples to compete for a Hundred Dynasties Competition place if they could defeat someone in the inner sect’s top ten.
• Ning Chen used the competition as a distraction to enter the Profound Mechanism Pavilion and found that the Resurrection Technique required the Yuheng Divine Cauldron.
• Xiao Wuming confronted Ning Chen, and they moved outside to fight as four Grand Elders sealed off the area.
• Ning Chen and Xiao Wuming exchanged powerful sword techniques, drawing the attention of Wan Hongzhu, Yin Yixuan, and the Yuheng Sect Master.
• A steward elder reported that Ning Chen was an outer disciple recruited by Scarlet Lotus Peak three months earlier, and the Yuheng Sect Master stopped the duel.
• Ning Chen accepted the Yuheng Sect Master’s invitation to talk in the pavilion.

Ning Chen agreed to represent the Yuheng Sacred Land in the Hundred Dynasties Competition in exchange for borrowing the Yuheng Divine Cauldron to save the Ghost Maiden. As the competition progressed, he guided Wan Hongzhu and entered the final four, while she arrived for her match against Yin Yixuan dragging a massive divine tree.

• Ning Chen defeated Nan Tianyuan with one move, and the Yuheng Sect Master asked Xiao Wuming to make him a disciple in name so he could officially represent the Sacred Land.
• Ning Chen told Ruoxi he had a seventy percent chance of awakening the Ghost Maiden with the Resurrection Technique and was unsure whether he could secure a top-three finish in the competition.
• Wan Hongzhu and other inner sect disciples visited Ning Chen for martial guidance, and he advised her to replace her sword with one made from the crimson divine tree on the mountain.
• Ning Chen entered the final four by defeating his young female opponent, while Wan Hongzhu was tasked with persuading the Yuheng Sect Master and Grand Elders to provide the tree.
• Wan Hongzhu arrived late for her match against Yin Yixuan, dragging a massive divine tree behind her.

Ning Chen forged Wan Hongzhu a sword from the Divine Wood Bloodmark Zitan, and she defeated Yin Yixuan to become chief inner disciple. After Wan Hongzhu conceded her match against Ning Chen, Jian Shui'er, Yin Yixuan, and Wan Hongzhu joined forces against him, but he quickly overwhelmed them and left them with a lesson about the sword.

• Wan Hongzhu brought the Divine Wood Bloodmark Zitan to Ning Chen, who carved and tempered it into a sword using her blood.
• Wan Hongzhu fought Yin Yixuan for chief inner disciple, and his sword broke during their final clash, giving her the victory.
• Wan Hongzhu conceded her match against Ning Chen, but Jian Shui'er challenged him and Yin Yixuan joined her at Jian Shui'er's urging.
• The Yuheng Sect Master allowed the group battle to proceed, and Ning Chen agreed to fight after being asked to stay.
• Ning Chen defeated Jian Shui'er, knocked Yin Yixuan from the platform, and left Wan Hongzhu standing alone.
• Ning Chen departed after telling the three that a sword was a weapon for killing.

Ning Chen prepared for the Hundred Dynasties Competition while explaining to Wan Hongzhu how life-and-death crises could reveal and strengthen a martial artist’s hidden potential. He named her sword Undying Bloom and left the night hoping he would not need to draw King Yama's Divine Sword.

• Ning Chen told Ruoxi she would travel with him and Hongzhu in two days, despite her concern that she would hold them back.
• Wan Hongzhu thanked Ning Chen for the sword he had given her, and he named it Undying Bloom.
• Wan Hongzhu asked about Ning Chen’s lesson on the martial platform, and he explained that desperate battles could reveal potential and teach techniques worth turning into lasting strength.
• Wan Hongzhu tried to touch King Yama's Divine Sword but felt its force of rejection, and Ning Chen said it had been unused for ten years.
• Ruoxi urged Wan Hongzhu to leave for the night, and Wan Hongzhu thanked Ning Chen before returning up the mountain.

Ning Chen, Ruoxi, Wan Hongzhu, and Jian Shui'er set out for the Hundred Dynasties Competition, but an unknown powerhouse ambushed them soon after they left the Yuheng Sacred Land. After Ning Chen drove the attacker away, he suspected the assault was connected to Jian Shui'er’s family’s past.

• Ning Chen learned that Yin Yixuan had gone missing and chose to travel on foot with Ruoxi, Wan Hongzhu, and Jian Shui'er.
• An unidentified phantom attacked the group, and Ning Chen fought it through dozens of exchanges while protecting the others.
• Ning Chen summoned King Yama's Divine Sword, prompting the phantom to withdraw before he could pursue it.
• Wan Hongzhu asked who the attacker was, and Ning Chen concluded the man might have targeted Jian Shui'er.
• Ning Chen recalled that Jian Shui'er was the sole survivor of a massacre that had wiped out her family and realized the attack might be tied to that history.

Ning Chen led Wan Hongzhu, Jian Shui'er, and Ruoxi toward the Hundred Dynasties Competition, pondering who had arranged the attack on Jian Shui'er and preparing to cross the hostile Tianquan territory. After Ning Chen broke through Jiatian Pass and left Hongzhu and Jian Shui'er to fight its defenders, a mysterious man in black joined him and Ruoxi at a pavilion.

• Ning Chen suspected Jian Shui'er's first journey down the mountain had been deliberately arranged and considered the Yuheng Sect Master a possible culprit, though his intuition did not convict him.
• Wan Hongzhu warned Ning Chen that Tianquan and Yuheng had long been enemies, and the group continued toward the competition through Tianquan territory.
• At Jiatian Pass, Ning Chen shattered the gate with a sword strike that spared the soldiers' lives, then left Wan Hongzhu and Jian Shui'er to face the defenders as he proceeded with Ruoxi.
• Wan Hongzhu intercepted the Three Calamities expert while Jian Shui'er fought ten Xiantian experts, and Ning Chen and Ruoxi waited at a pavilion beyond the pass.
• A black-robed man wearing a black hat joined Ning Chen and Ruoxi and asked whether they were traveling to the Hundred Dynasties Competition, then revealed that he was too old to compete.

Ning Chen refused Ye Fengdu’s demand for his sword-wielding hands in exchange for Hong Wulei’s life, and Ye Fengdu later warned Mei Yingxue that Ning Chen was a formidable enemy. Half a month later, while traveling north with a merchant caravan, Ning Chen was approached in his room by Madam Yao, who tried to seduce and threaten him.

• Ning Chen and Ye Fengdu negotiated over Hong Wulei, but Ning Chen rejected the price of surrendering his hands and Ye Fengdu withdrew.
• Ye Fengdu returned to the Tuoluo Extinction Gate and warned Mei Yingxue that Ning Chen was a great enemy she should not underestimate.
• Ning Chen reassured Ruoxi that he would consider helping Hong Wulei after the Hundred Dynasties Competition, then continued north with Ruoxi, Wan Hongzhu, and Jian Shui'er.
• Half a month later, Ning Chen's group joined a merchant caravan and reached Yilan City after traveling together for three days.
• Madam Yao entered Ning Chen's room late at night, pressed herself against him, and threatened to accuse him of abducting her if he refused her advances.

Ning Chen defeated Mei Yingxue, a hidden martial artist from the Tuoluo Extinction Gate, after she poisoned him and tried to kill him. He then spent the night protecting Ruoxi from the poison, and the chapter ended with Jian Shui'er mocking him for leaving her unharmed.

• Ruoxi watched as Mei Yingxue tried to seduce Ning Chen, then entered when she sensed danger.
• Mei Yingxue revealed that she was Mei Yingxue, the second gate master of the Tuoluo Extinction Gate, and attacked Ning Chen with the Passion-Severing Spring Poison.
• Ning Chen burned away the poison with phoenix fire and killed Mei Yingxue, whose life tablet then shattered at the Tuoluo Extinction Gate.
• Ruoxi was affected by the poison, and Ning Chen struggled through the night to free himself from her embrace and expel it from her body.
• Ruoxi woke and remembered what had happened, while Jian Shui'er saw that she was still a virgin and called Ning Chen worse than a beast.

Ten years after the realms were sealed, Mu Chengxue searched for her departed companions before Ning Chen and his party entered an ancient city that trapped them in a Buddhist purification ritual. The Sin-Purging Incantation targeted Ning Chen’s sins as phoenix fire struggled to protect him and his companions.

• Ning Chen buried Mei Yingxue beneath a plum tree, then continued traveling with Ruoxi, Wan Hongzhu, and Jian Shui'er.
• Luan Fengchen, Wang You, and Meng Xuanji sealed the passage between the two realms and departed for the Four Extremes.
• Mu Chengxue visited the ruins of the Desolate City, learned Jian Liuying was still guarding it, and later discovered Xia Chi had grown into the Great Xia Emperor while Miss Qing had left.
• Ning Chen and his companions reached an ancient city, where he sensed an Xiantian Great Perfection expert and led the group onward.
• The four became trapped in the city as hammering, chanting, and scripture recitation stirred Ning Chen's killing intent.
• Golden Brahma rain and the Sin-Purging Incantation descended, and Ning Chen used phoenix fire to shield his companions while blood streamed from his ears.