Chapter Summaries

Ning Chen and Vermilion Bird joined forces to trap the white-robed god in the Heavenly River, then escaped as the Divine Realm collapsed. After leaving the Divine Relic Site separately, Ning Chen encountered a black-mist figure searching for Phoenix.

• Phoenix and Vermilion Bird fought the white-robed god, whose injuries from the Queen Mother's Hairpin began to show.
• Vermilion Bird trapped the god with Vermilion Flame Devouring Heaven while Phoenix used the Queen Mother's Hairpin to engulf them both in the Heavenly River; Vermilion Bird escaped with his spatial divine ability.
• Ning Chen rescued the badly wounded Vermilion Bird from the collapsing Divine Realm, and they found White Tiger's damaged Ancient Zither and divine weapon on the altar.
• Vermilion Bird took White Tiger's divine weapon, while Ning Chen claimed the Ancient Zither and absorbed Blade Mountain's countless blade lights.
• Ning Chen and Vermilion Bird left the Divine Relic Site in separate directions, and a figure shrouded in black mist appeared before Ning Chen, calling him Phoenix.

Ning Chen lured the Vermilion Bird Underworld General into a primeval star’s earthfire, recovered his strength, and defeated her in battle. He sealed her in the Green Cauldron and left, while another Underworld Palace figure arrived and realized Vermilion Bird had fallen.

• The Vermilion Bird Underworld General confronted Ning Chen, who fought her while exhausted and fled into the earthfire of a primeval star.
• Ning Chen restored his strength in the flames and resumed the fight with the Star Soul Sword, turning the earthfire to his advantage.
• Ning Chen overwhelmed the Vermilion Bird Underworld General with fire and sword techniques, despite sustaining serious injuries himself.
• Ning Chen sealed the wounded Vermilion Bird Underworld General with the Yellow Springs Restriction and confined her in the Green Cauldron.
• Ning Chen departed as the Fire Deity, and another powerful Underworld Palace figure arrived to find the battle’s wreckage and learn that Vermilion Bird had been defeated.

Ning Chen returned to the Painted Boat, repaired the Ancient Zither, and secretly tortured the captured Vermilion Bird Underworld General to learn how she had tracked him. The next morning, he praised Yin'er's swordsmanship and allowed her to practice with Lingzhi.

• Ning Chen returned to the Painted Boat, gave Yin'er Queen Mother's Hairpin, and told her to focus on sword practice.
• Ning Chen examined the four divine blood essences, then traveled to the Hundred Thousand Mountains and questioned the Vermilion Bird Underworld General about how she had found him.
• After torturing the Vermilion Bird Underworld General through the night, Ning Chen returned to the Mishui Riverbank and washed the blood from his hands.
• Yin'er brought Lingzhi to meet Ning Chen and asked her to join sword practice.
• Yin'er demonstrated a sword strike that split the river for a hundred zhang, and Ning Chen praised her before leaving the two girls to practice together.

Ning Chen watched Yin'er teach Lingzhi swordsmanship, then rushed to the Hundred Thousand Mountains after sensing the Yellow Springs seal’s sword array had been triggered. Prince Yan and A'man arrived and rescued the Vermilion Bird general, then returned with Ning Chen to the riverbank, where Yin'er recognized A'man as “Little Mistress.”

• Ning Chen watched Yin'er guide Lingzhi in sword practice and decided not to take another disciple.
• The Azure Dragon Underworld General reached the Vermilion Bird general, but touching the broken spear triggered the Yellow Springs seal and its Supreme Sword Array.
• Ning Chen arrived as the array trapped Azure Dragon, but Prince Yan and A'man appeared before he could enter.
• Prince Yan entered the array, dispersed its sword light, and ordered Azure Dragon to take the Vermilion Bird general and leave.
• A'man warned Ning Chen that killing added karmic burden that could harm his cultivation, and Ning Chen accepted her advice.
• Ning Chen, Prince Yan, and A'man returned to the Mishui Riverbank, where Yin'er recognized A'man and greeted her as “Little Mistress.”

Prince Yan tested Ning Chen’s swordsmanship in a fierce duel at the Mishui River, then prepared to leave and warned him about the Immortal Slaying Sword. He promised to deal with Ning Chen’s trouble in the Nether Hall before leaving Ning Chen to follow his chosen path alone.

• Yin'er introduced Lingzhi to A'man, who agreed to take Lingzhi as her disciple.
• Prince Yan summoned the Immortal Slaying Sword and challenged Ning Chen to prove that his sword could protect himself.
• Ning Chen and Prince Yan fought with their strongest sword techniques until Ning Chen was defeated and wounded.
• Prince Yan warned Ning Chen not to use the Immortal Slaying Sword unless absolutely necessary, because its baleful intent burdened his body.
• Ning Chen told Prince Yan that the Nether Hall’s two people were in a forbidden region in the Spirit Void Starfield, and Prince Yan promised to resolve the trouble once before leaving.

Prince Yan went to the Underworld Palace and demanded that it leave Ning Chen alone, then fought its Acting Palace Lord. When the palace revealed its ancient powerhouses, Prince Yan drew the Immortal-Slaying Sword and prepared to face them.

• After parting from Ning Chen and A'man, Prince Yan arrived at the Underworld Palace in the Primordial Forbidden Land.
• Prince Yan defeated the Underworld Palace's first assault, then warned its Acting Palace Lord not to touch Ning Chen.
• Prince Yan and the Acting Palace Lord fought evenly, with the palace's territory bolstering the Lord's strength.
• The Acting Palace Lord summoned ancient powerhouses from coffins beneath the earth.
• Prince Yan returned to his sword rack, challenged the ancient figures, and drew the Immortal-Slaying Sword.

Prince Yan attacked the Nether Hall with Immortal Slaughter while Ning Chen left for Mo Star to temper himself in the Fire Domain. On Heavenly Language Peak, the Heaven Speaker fought Xuan Luo to protect the demon, and after Ning Chen joined the battle, she exhausted her strength and fell from the cliff into the demon’s arms.

• Prince Yan wielded Immortal Slaughter, killed the three elders, and wounded the Nether Hall Lord before a force from beyond the mortal world appeared.
• Ning Chen told A'man and Yin'er that he had to leave, then entered the Fire Domain on Mo Star to temper his body as the Phoenix.
• Xuan Luo descended on Heavenly Language Peak and attacked the Heaven Speaker, who used her power to stop his demonic techniques and grievously wound him.
• The demon overcame his demonic nature, intervened when Xuan Luo threatened the Heaven Speaker, and fought him as dawn broke.
• The Heaven Speaker unleashed a final heavenly punishment that destroyed half of Xuan Luo’s body, forcing him to flee.
• The Heaven Speaker collapsed over the cliff, and the demon caught her hand as she told him he had done very well.

After Heavenly Language gave her remaining origin to Yin'er, Ning Chen emerged from Ink Star and fought the Ink Lord on Ink Mountain. He appeared to kill the Ink Lord, but the enemy revealed his True Realm power, while a swordsman in the Nether Palace welcomed another True Realm expert to a long-awaited fight.

• Heavenly Language gave her remaining origin to Yin'er and died peacefully as she returned to heaven and earth.
• A'man told the demon that the Phoenix Body was at Ink Star, and he went there to find it.
• Ning Chen emerged from the Fengshui Forbidden Land and attacked the Ink Lord on Message Peak, destroying Fifth Peak during their battle.
• Ning Chen wounded the Ink Lord with the Immortal Slaying Sword and pierced him with a fatal strike, but the Ink Lord revealed his True Realm power and blasted Ning Chen away.
• In the Nether Palace, a True Realm expert confronted the king among swordsmen, who welcomed him and demanded that he not disappoint him again.

Ning Chen’s Phoenix and demon bodies fought the Ink Lord after he reached the True Realm, but his immortal arts and hidden control over the Ink Sect’s techniques left them struggling to overcome him. As the Ink Lord survived their combined forbidden strike, the scene shifted to the Primordial Forbidden Land, where Xia Yan faced Moluo Tian in a sword duel.

• The Ink Lord used a true immortal art to overwhelm Ning Chen’s First Sun Illuminates the East, but Ning Chen summoned the Godslayer Chariot and wounded him with Star Transformation.
• Ning Chen’s Phoenix and demon bodies joined forces against the Ink Lord, using Heaven Weeps to suppress his cultivation and striking with Zhuxian and Chilian.
• The Ink Lord unleashed the black moon’s power and tried to draw out the auras he had planted in the Ink Sect’s immortal arts, forcing the Phoenix Body to suppress them while the demon body held him off.
• The Phoenix and demon bodies combined their powers in the Demonic Phoenix Tribulation, wounding the Ink Lord with a storm of sword lights, though he survived.
• In the Primordial Forbidden Land, Xia Yan introduced himself to Moluo Tian, who summoned the Underworld Artifact Divine Obscurity and challenged him.
• Xia Yan met Moluo Tian’s opening strike with the Azure Sword.

Prince Yan fought Moluo Tian in the Primordial Forbidden Land while the phoenix and demonic bodies battled the Ink Lord at Message Peak. The dual bodies killed the Ink Lord, but Chaos broke free and watched the wounded victors with concealed greed.

• Prince Yan and Moluo Tian exchanged fierce sword and blade attacks, with Prince Yan's King Sword forcing Moluo Tian back.
• The phoenix and demonic bodies wounded the Ink Lord, who revealed a powerful sun-and-moon manifestation and counterattacked.
• The demonic body absorbed Chaos's power to recover enough strength to return to the fight, while the phoenix body charged Immortal Slaying with sword qi and lightning.
• The phoenix and demonic bodies merged and unleashed their ultimate sword strike, piercing the Ink Lord's crown and killing him before the Ink Lord's final counterattack wounded them.
• Chaos broke free and eyed the badly wounded victors greedily, but the demonic body's killing intent made it lower its head.

The Phoenix and the demonic body left Message Peak after she recovered the Ink Sect’s Immortal Jade and seized the Yin-Yang Immortal Art. In the Primordial Forbidden Land, the King defeated Moluo Tian after his sealed shared body returned, then warned the Nether Hall to stay quiet for ten years.

• The Phoenix persuaded the demonic body to spare Chaos, then entered Message Peak’s secret ground to retrieve its treasures.
• The Phoenix absorbed the Immortal Jade from the eighth stone chamber and broke into the ninth chamber to take the Yin-Yang Immortal Art.
• The Phoenix and the demonic body left Message Peak with Chaos as the battle between the King and Moluo Tian reached its turning point.
• Moluo Tian wounded the King, but the King’s sealed shared body returned with the Sword of Sealing and shifted the battle in his favor.
• The King defeated Moluo Tian by disarming him with Rivers and Mountains Change Hands, then warned the Nether Hall not to draw attention for ten years.

After recovering from his battle with Ink Lord, Ning Chen learned that the Time Restriction was among the treasures hidden in the Ancient Battlefield, where only cultivators under a hundred could venture. He traded three feet of peachwood from the Immortal Peach Tree to Moonlit Tower Master for the route map and prepared to face the dangerous road ahead.

• Moonlit Tower Master visited the ruined Ink Sect and wondered whether Ink Lord was truly dead.
• Ning Chen spent three months healing aboard the Painted Boat while news of Ink Lord’s fall spread and Red Luan Princess departed in hatred.
• After recovering, Ning Chen remained by the Mishui River as winter arrived and declined to accompany A'man and Yin'er to Lingzhi’s home.
• Moonlit Tower Master found Ning Chen and offered news of the Time Restriction in exchange for three feet of peachwood from the Immortal Peach Tree.
• Moonlit Tower Master gave Ning Chen a starfield route map to the Ancient Battlefield, where the Time Restriction was one of three promised treasures and only those under a hundred could enter.

Ning Chen, A'man, and Yin'er traveled along the Ancient Starry Road toward the Ancient Battlefield as Heaven's Chosen from across the starfields set out to compete for its treasures. After reaching an ancient city, Ning Chen suspected the Moonlit Tower Master might be behind the journey and found strength in A'man's encouragement.

• The Moonlit Tower Master told Red Luan that Ning Chen was more dangerous than the Heaven's Chosen and warned that he might slaughter anyone who provoked him.
• Ning Chen left Mishui River with A'man and Yin'er, while a black figure arrived at the Painted Boat to guard the divine tree.
• News of the Ancient Battlefield and its treasures spread, drawing Heaven's Chosen and messengers onto the Ancient Starry Road.
• Ning Chen sensed a Reality Realm Expert in an ancient city, then learned that Luoyang of Taiyi Sect was attending a banquet there with Elder Jialing.
• Ning Chen wondered whether the Moonlit Tower Master had arranged the contest to draw him toward the Time Restriction, and A'man urged him to keep going.
• Ning Chen shouted loudly enough to disturb the ancient city's sleeping residents.

Ning Chen healed a child injured by the twelve mounted experts and challenged Elder Jialing to clarify whether their violence broke the Ancient Starry Road’s rules. Luoyang had confronted the attackers, and the chapter ended with the twelve experts and Luoyang watching Ning Chen warily.

• At a banquet, Luoyang and Elder Jialing noticed Ning Chen’s presence in the city, while Ning Chen stayed awake through the night thinking about how to protect A'man and Yin'er.
• Twelve powerful experts rode into the ancient city, drawing the attention of Elder Jialing and other residents.
• Ning Chen struggled to wake Yin'er, and A'man got her out of bed by promising her breakfast.
• The twelve experts charged through the street and fatally injured a child, prompting the child’s mother to confront them.
• Luoyang blocked an attack on the mother, while Ning Chen examined the child and used his power to heal him.
• After Elder Jialing arrived, Ning Chen asked whether harming people on the Ancient Starry Road violated the rules and whether killing was allowed.

Ning Chen and A'man protected Yin'er as they traveled through a desolate route, where A'man demonstrated her swordsmanship and Ning Chen secretly killed the attackers who returned at night. By morning, A'man began teaching Yin'er, while Ning Chen left her to decide for herself whether to accept Senior Tianyu's inheritance.

• Ning Chen left a rescued child with her mother and led A'man and Yin'er out of the city without confronting Elder Jialing.
• When twelve mounted experts charged at them, A'man crippled four with her sword and spared their lives, then agreed to teach Yin'er.
• Luoyang followed the trio, and Ning Chen confronted him before their brief exchange of force revealed each man's strength.
• After Yin'er fell asleep, Ning Chen secretly killed the eight attackers who returned and used the Star Soul to kill the four surviving, crippled experts.
• A'man reprimanded Ning Chen for acting without telling her, and he asked her to teach Yin'er swordsmanship while letting the girl choose whether to inherit Senior Tianyu's legacy.
• At dawn, Yin'er asked A'man to teach her the sword move and learned that the attackers had not returned.

Ning Chen, A'man, and Yin'er witnessed a black-clad youth battle an enforcer in a Floating City. When Ning Chen sensed the Heavenly Tome in the youth’s final move, he intervened, secured the enforcer’s agreement to leave the youth in his hands, and led him away.

• Yin'er dragged A'man and Ning Chen to see a black-clad youth fighting after he had killed several people in the city.
• An elderly enforcer in blue attacked the black-clad youth, and the youth held his own despite the gap in their cultivation.
• When the black-clad youth revealed a martial art carrying the aura of the Heavenly Tome, Ning Chen recognized it and decided to save him.
• Ning Chen used his sword to halt the fight and told the enforcer the youth possessed something his master's sect had lost.
• The enforcer let Ning Chen take the black-clad youth, and Ning Chen warned four onlookers not to seek revenge recklessly before leading the others away.

Ning Chen obtained a fragment of the Scroll of God from Lian Yue and learned that the Moonlit Tower Master was monitoring his presence on the Ancient Starry Road. As the group traveled toward the Ancient Battlefield, Ning Chen bought a protective carving for Yin'er.

• Ning Chen asked Lian Yue about his Heavenly Tome technique, and Lian Yue gave him its jade slip and warned him about the Immortal Burial Forbidden Land.
• Ning Chen and A'man identified the fragment as the Scroll of God, though Ning Chen could not sense his original body or determine whether he could cultivate it.
• The Moonlit Tower Master told Elder Qinglian that Ning Chen had killed Ink Lord and ordered him not to interfere unless the women beside Ning Chen were endangered.
• Ten days later, Ning Chen traveled through Qinglian City with Yin'er and A'man as martial artists gathered along the Ancient Starry Road ahead of the Ancient Battlefield.
• Ning Chen entered a Yi Tower and agreed to buy a wooden carving for four thousand Immortal Jade to protect Yin'er.

Ning Chen visited Elder Qinglian in Qinglian City, where he was warned about the dangers of the Ancient Battlefield and agreed to attend a gathering of powerful young talents in ten days. After the visit, the Tower Lord instructed Elder Qinglian to accompany him and revealed that someone wanted to take A'man as a disciple.

• Ning Chen bought Yin'er a restriction-bearing wooden sculpture at Yi Tower and left with A'man and Yin'er as Qin Bai ordered his pageboy to investigate him.
• Ning Chen explained that visiting Elder Qinglian would deter the people following them, then met the enforcer and heard warnings about the Ancient Battlefield and powerful figures watching him.
• Ning Chen agreed to remain in Qinglian City for the gathering of young talents in ten days, while Yin'er was taken by A'man to practice swordsmanship.
• Qin Bai learned that Ning Chen had protected a Killing Star from the All Heavens Starfield, and news of Ning Chen's audience with the enforcer spread through the city.
• The Tower Lord told Elder Qinglian to accompany Ning Chen to the gathering and warned him that an old fellow wanted A'man as a disciple.

At the Gathering of Heavenly Prodigies, Elder Qinglian introduced Ning Chen and warned the gathered prodigies to look after him, drawing suspicion about why Ning Chen needed such protection. When Qingyuan insulted Ning Chen and challenged him, A'man fought in his defense, and Ning Chen left after warning Qingyuan; a sword then flew from its owner's hand and struck someone, staining the scene red.

• Lian Yue arrived at the gathering, where Qin Bai invited Xiyan to play the Ancient Zither and danced with his sword until an Enforcer's aura interrupted them.
• Elder Qinglian arrived with Ning Chen, A'man, and Yin'er, introduced Ning Chen as his clan junior, and asked the gathered prodigies to look after him.
• Ning Chen accepted toasts from Qin Bai and the others, while Luoyang questioned why he relied on Elder Qinglian's protection.
• Qingyuan challenged Ning Chen, who declined to fight, and A'man drew the Sword of Original Heart and demanded an apology for Qingyuan's insult.
• A'man and Qingyuan fought until Ning Chen dispersed their clashing force and called A'man back, then warned Qingyuan and left with A'man and Yin'er.
• A sword suddenly flew from its owner's hand and struck through the air, staining something red.

Ning Chen refused Divine Schemes’ demand to take A'man as his disciple, and Divine Schemes attacked him on the Ancient Starry Road. As their sword fight began, Divine Schemes criticized Ning Chen’s weak foundation.

• Ning Chen left Qinglian City with A'man and Yin'er after bidding farewell to Elder Qinglian.
• In a hidden hall, powerful figures discussed the Ancient Battlefield and Divine Schemes’ desire to claim A'man; Moonlit Tower Master warned them not to harm her or Ning Chen.
• Moonlit Tower Master left Moonlit Wine House with Red Luan, concerned that Ning Chen’s troubles could draw A'man and Yin'er into danger.
• Divine Schemes confronted Ning Chen on the Ancient Starry Road and demanded his decision about A'man; A'man said she would follow Ning Chen’s choice.
• Divine Schemes attacked after A'man refused, and Ning Chen sent A'man and Yin'er away before meeting him in a sword fight.
• Ning Chen and Divine Schemes clashed with their swords, and Divine Schemes said Ning Chen’s swordsmanship was excellent but his foundation was too poor.