Chapter Summaries

Prince Yan fought the Golden Staff National Master long enough for Ning Chen to recover in the Heavenly Pool, then escaped with him. Meanwhile, Fan Lingyue led the Northern Mongol army through Heaven's Gate Pass after her young general advanced to Connate, leaving Great Xia's forces trapped outside.

• Prince Yan used his swords to fend off the Golden Staff National Master's attacks and protect Ning Chen in the Heavenly Pool.
• The Heavenly Tome, the Heavenly Pool, and the Heaven-Revolving Pills restored Ning Chen, and Prince Yan fled with him after he awoke.
• The Red-Clad General delivered a Divine Heaven Pill to help Fan Lingyue awaken, and Great Xia's three Martial Marquises later trapped the Northern Mongol army before Heaven's Gate Pass.
• Fan Lingyue ordered the Northern Mongol army to break through the pass, and the young general advanced to Connate and killed the gate guards and three Attendant-level experts.
• The Northern Mongol army entered Heaven's Gate Pass and shut the gates, trapping Great Xia's three Martial Marquises and their soldiers outside.
• Fan Lingyue ordered the young general to find the mechanism diagram, kill those who knew it, and remain behind with fifty thousand soldiers to guard the pass.

Fan Lingyue’s scheme to seize Heaven’s Gate Pass succeeded after Yang Hong used the Divine Heaven Pill to break through to the Xiantian Realm, while Ning Chen and Prince Yan traveled toward the Northern Mongol capital. Their journey ended at a marriage contest, where Prince Yan caught the embroidered ball.

• Fan Lingyue revealed that the Eternal Night Divine Cult had awakened her by giving Yang Hong the Divine Heaven Pill, allowing her to take Heaven’s Gate Pass and trap Great Xia’s three Martial Marquises outside.
• Ning Chen and Prince Yan agreed to travel to the Northern Mongol capital, and Prince Yan told Ning Chen that A'man was well but confined by the Barbarian King.
• Prince Yan said he had reached the peak of the Fourth Tribulation of the Five Tribulations Realm, while Ning Chen worried about Great Xia and kept his survival secret.
• After two days, Ning Chen and Prince Yan reached a lively tribe where young men were competing for an embroidered ball in a marriage contest.
• The embroidered ball flew into Prince Yan’s arms, and the young woman on the platform smiled as the crowd erupted.

Ning Chen and Prince Yan were detained by the Pei Clan after Prince Yan rejected Pei Yan’s red ribbon, and Ning Chen suspected their black-clad opponent was linked to the attack on the Empress Dowager. As Ning Chen tried to resolve the dispute and investigate the curved saber, Pei Mingcheng proposed that Prince Yan marry Pei Yan.

• Pei Yan offered Prince Yan a red ribbon, but he turned away, and the white-bearded elder ordered men to stop him and Ning Chen.
• Ning Chen fought Mingcheng, recognized his curved saber as resembling those used by the Empress Dowager’s assassins, and chose to stay with Prince Yan.
• The white-bearded elder had Ning Chen and Prince Yan brought to a tent, where they agreed to investigate the possible connection to the assassination.
• Mingcheng told Ning Chen that Pei Yan’s husband-selection custom was serious and that Prince Yan’s rejection had put her in an awkward position.
• Ning Chen asked how to resolve the dispute, and Mingcheng suggested that Prince Yan marry Pei Yan, leaving Ning Chen choking on his tea.

Ning Chen tried to learn about the Pei Clan Tribe while avoiding responsibility for the marriage matter Prince Yan had brought upon them. After befriending the herdsmen over dinner, he returned toward the tent without remembering that Prince Yan had asked him to bring back food.

• Ning Chen told Pei Mingcheng that he and Prince Yan were traveling to the royal capital, while Mingcheng questioned them about their origins and destination.
• Prince Yan left Ning Chen to resolve the young lady's marriage matter, and Ning Chen planned to investigate the curved-saber faction behind Changsun's assassination attempt.
• When a beautiful woman entered the tent, Ning Chen hurried outside and agreed to bring food back for Prince Yan.
• Ning Chen won over the herdsmen by helping around the campfire and befriending A'hu and his wife, who offered to repair his wheelchair.
• Ning Chen ate most of a roasted sheep with A'hu and his wife, then headed back to the tent without remembering Prince Yan's request for food.

Ning Chen defeated Mingcheng in a spar, then learned that Pei Yan had fainted and was being prepared for a marriage-for-good-fortune ceremony. As the tribe surrounded Prince Yan’s tent to prevent them from escaping, Ning Chen realized it was too late to run.

• Ning Chen broke his wheelchair during the spar but caught Mingcheng’s saber with his fingers and defeated him, after which Prince Yan provided him with a chair.
• Ning Chen learned that Prince Yan had not spoken to Pei Yan, then heard that Pei Yan had fainted and that the physician believed she was beyond help.
• The white-bearded chief ordered Pei Yan’s wedding dress brought and arranged a marriage for that night, while Mingcheng warned him not to offend Ning Chen.
• Ning Chen received a crude replacement wheelchair from A'hu and learned that the tribe was preparing a wedding for good fortune.
• Ning Chen told Prince Yan they should escape, but at least a hundred men surrounded the tent and ordered them not to run.

Ning Chen and Prince Yan saved Pei Yan by extending her life, then reached Northern Meng’s royal capital and parted ways as Prince Yan pursued the Sand Sword. With Great Xia losing badly to Fan Lingyue, Ning Chen entered the Qing Family by force to become a guest elder and investigate its ties to the assassins.

• Ning Chen agreed to use his blood, with Prince Yan’s help, to extend Pei Yan’s life by three years in exchange for the Qing Family dropping its grievances; Pei Yan awoke and learned Prince Yan’s identity.
• Ning Chen and Prince Yan left the grasslands, heard a farewell song from a woman in red bridal robes, and continued north to Northern Meng’s royal capital.
• Prince Yan departed to investigate Northern Meng’s emerging Sand Sword, while Ning Chen learned that Fan Lingyue had breached Heaven’s Gate Pass and left Great Xia in a dire military position.
• Ning Chen decided to investigate the Qing Family, whom he suspected of serving as one of Fan Lingyue’s hidden pieces and of being linked to the assassins who targeted Changsun.
• Ning Chen fought his way into the Qing Family and demanded that someone with authority come out so he could become a guest elder.

Ning Chen entered the Qing residence disguised as Bai Yutang and fought his way into the Qing Family as a retainer. After Qing Wushuang recruited him, he considered the family’s formidable strength and the greater difficulty of his plans.

• Ning Chen claimed he had come to become a retainer and marry Qing Wushuang, provoking her to send nine black-clad men against him.
• Ning Chen defeated the nine men, then clashed evenly with Qing Wushuang until a middle-aged man separated them.
• Qing Wushuang admitted to the Grand Elder that Ning Chen had beaten her, and the Grand Elder ordered the Seventh Elder to test him.
• Ning Chen endured the Seventh Elder’s attacks for five moves, and the Grand Elder accepted him as a Qing Family retainer.
• Qing Wushuang assigned Ning Chen to meet her the next morning, and Ning Chen reflected on the Qing Family’s hidden strength.

Ning Chen joined the Qing Family as a guest retainer and secured a place in its Martial Arts Banquet team, hoping to use the event to undermine the family and trouble Fan Lingyue. As the Qing Family prepared for the banquet, news arrived that a Ninth-Rank guest retainer had joined the Xiao Family.

• Ning Chen formally entered the Qing Family as a guest retainer and registered for the Martial Arts Banquet after Qing Wushuang agreed to consider marrying him if he won first place.
• Ning Chen completed the Qing Family's entry rites and later accepted both swords Qing Wushuang offered him.
• Ning Chen fought his way into one of the Qing Family's three Martial Arts Banquet spots during its selection.
• The Qing Family prepared its three selected participants for the banquet, while Qing Wushuang gave up her own spot because her cultivation technique was unsuitable to reveal.
• News that a Ninth-Rank guest retainer had arrived at the Xiao Family cast a gloom over the Qing Family.

At the Northern Mongol Martial Arts Banquet, Ning Chen disguised his strength and advanced through the tournament by barely winning or conceding. After claiming that the Qing Family's second young lady had promised to marry him if he took first place, he killed the Xiao and Ming Family finalists with the Ink Sword and asked whether that made him champion.

• Ning Chen accompanied the Qing Family delegation to the Martial Arts Banquet and drew a Sixth Rank woman for his first match.
• Ning Chen won his first three matches by narrow margins while the Qing Family's other competitors were eliminated.
• Ning Chen conceded his semifinal match against the Xiao Family's Ninth Rank, while the Ming Family's Eighth Rank defeated and crippled the Yang Family's representative.
• The Xiao Family's Ninth Rank defeated the Ming Family's Eighth Rank, and Ning Chen conceded again, leaving the two as the announced champion and runner-up.
• Ning Chen asked the Little Emperor to witness his claim that the Qing Family's second young lady had promised to marry him if he took first place.
• Ning Chen struck with the Ink Sword and killed the Xiao Family's Ninth Rank and the Ming Family's Eighth Rank before asking whether he was now champion.

Ning Chen abducted the Little Emperor from the palace and escaped into the desert, where a sandstorm helped him lose his pursuers. After learning the captive’s name was Mingyue, Ning Chen discovered that the Little Emperor was a girl.

• Ning Chen killed two guards, took the Little Emperor hostage, and forced Qing Wushuang to accompany them out of the palace.
• After walking for four hours, Ning Chen sent Qing Wushuang ahead on horseback and fled with the Little Emperor as the court officials and experts pursued them.
• Two immense streams of Sword Qi collided on the horizon, unleashing a sandstorm that buried Ning Chen and his pursuers; Ning Chen escaped with the Little Emperor using the Scroll of Dust and the Power of Thick Earth.
• The imperial Attendant ordered the Qing Family members imprisoned in the Sand Prison and sent word to the Military Advisor that the emperor had been abducted.
• Once he had lost his pursuers, Ning Chen questioned the Little Emperor, who said her name was Mingyue.
• Ning Chen examined Mingyue with True Qi and realized the Little Emperor was a girl.

Ning Chen discovered that the Little Emperor, Mingyue, was a seven-year-old girl and promised to keep her secret. Lost in the desert, he carried her through the night, and she fell asleep on his back after removing his disguise.

• Ning Chen realized Mingyue was a girl, then promised not to reveal her identity.
• Mingyue offered not to kill Ning Chen if he returned her, but neither of them knew how to navigate the desert.
• Ning Chen saw Mingyue's blistered feet and carried her on his back, covering her with his outer garment.
• Mingyue peeled the scars and beard from Ning Chen's face, then shared water from the snow he conjured.
• Mingyue fell asleep on Ning Chen's back as he walked onward, and he removed and discarded her imperial crown.

Ning Chen carried the kidnapped Northern Mongol emperor, Mingyue, out of the desert and across the grasslands while trying to decide what to do with her. They headed south toward Great Xia, with Mingyue trusting him as her only support and Ning Chen promising not to hand her over to the Xia Emperor.

• Ning Chen found a river in an oasis, caught fish, and cooked breakfast for Mingyue after she woke.
• Mingyue ate with Ning Chen, then happily explored the grassland as they traveled south.
• Ning Chen told Mingyue his real name, and she said Fan Lingyue had warned her to be careful of him.
• After arguing about her discarded imperial crown, Mingyue made peace with Ning Chen and held his hand.
• Mingyue asked why Ning Chen had kidnapped her, and he promised not to give her to the Xia Emperor and to return her after the war between Great Xia and Northern Mongol ended.

Ning Chen’s survival and abduction of the Little Emperor threw the world into turmoil and gave Great Xia renewed hope. As Ning Chen and Mingyue traveled across the grasslands toward Great Xia, he rescued a merchant caravan from bandits and helped Mingyue change into girls’ clothes.

• Fan Lingyue learned that Ning Chen was alive and ordered Qing Wuyou to make the Qing Family pay for its mistake while warning Qing Wuhen not to reveal any flaws.
• A'man rejoiced that Ning Chen had reached Seventh-Rank and recovered his legs, while the Barbarian King worried that she might soon leave him.
• Changsun and Qing Ling realized Ning Chen had abducted Mingyue, and the Xia Emperor celebrated the news as a chance to change Great Xia’s fortunes.
• Ning Chen carried the tired Mingyue across the grasslands, promised to protect her, and bought food and clothes from a northbound caravan.
• Ning Chen killed all twenty-seven horse bandits attacking the caravan and let its people keep the horses.
• Mingyue changed into the girls’ clothes the caravan manager had given her, and Ning Chen told her she looked good.

Ning Chen disguised himself with Little Mingyue’s help as they prepared to cross into Great Xia. When a woman struck Mingyue in an inn, Ning Chen retaliated violently and broke the woman’s arm, leaving the hall horrified.

• Ning Chen worried about evading the forces waiting for him and Little Mingyue at the border, then decided to disguise himself before entering Great Xia.
• Little Mingyue crafted a convincing older-looking face for Ning Chen, and the two went downstairs to eat.
• When Mingyue disliked the inn’s food, Ning Chen went to the kitchen to roast her a fish and spoke with the chef about his younger sister.
• Ning Chen returned to find three young men and a woman occupying their table while Mingyue stood nearby with finger marks on her face.
• Ning Chen attacked the young men and demanded to know who had struck Mingyue.
• The woman admitted she had used her left hand, and Ning Chen snapped her arm in front of the horrified diners.

Ning Chen defeated Wujue after the monk tried to stop him from punishing the woman who had struck Mingyue, but he was injured and comforted the girl afterward. The next morning they set out for Great Xia and crossed the desolate Northern Zhangyuan, where the battlefield’s dead strengthened Ning Chen’s hatred of Northern Martial Marquis and moved Mingyue to condemn war.

• Ning Chen broke the woman’s other arm despite Wujue’s plea, then fought the Du'e Temple monk and wounded him by breaking through his Buddhist defenses.
• Ning Chen took Mingyue upstairs, revealed his injuries, healed her slap mark with the Scroll of Life, gave her a protective talisman, and promised to protect her.
• Ning Chen considered how he could gain more techniques and worried about the senior who had gone into the desert to seek a Sand Sword.
• Ning Chen and Mingyue left for Great Xia and reached Northern Zhangyuan after two days and one night of travel.
• Ning Chen found the battlefield strewn with fallen Great Xia soldiers, picked up a blood-written banner, and condemned Northern Martial Marquis.
• Mingyue said there should not be war, and Ning Chen urged her to put the people’s suffering first if she ever held power.

Ning Chen visited Marquis Qinghe at Xingchao Pass, where the old Marquis staged a fierce confrontation to fool hidden watchers and secretly passed his cultivation to him. After escaping pursuit and reuniting with Little Mingyue, Ning Chen absorbed the gift and stopped just short of breaking through to the Ninth-Rank.

• Ning Chen brought Little Mingyue into Xingchao Pass in disguise and went alone to the Martial Marquis Estate to pay his respects to Marquis Qinghe.
• Marquis Qinghe showed Ning Chen the Xia Emperor’s order to capture him and Changsun’s plea for mercy, then ordered four generals to seize him after Ning Chen rejected the Imperial Edict.
• Ning Chen fought the four generals, but Marquis Qinghe struck him and sent him fleeing from the estate while ordering his men to capture him alive.
• Ning Chen disguised himself and escaped the generals’ search at the inn, where Little Mingyue helped conceal him and tended to his injuries.
• Ning Chen realized Marquis Qinghe’s attack had secretly transferred the Changsun Lineage’s cultivation and ten years of the old Marquis’s power to him.
• Ning Chen’s cultivation climbed to the peak of the Eighth-Rank, but he suppressed the breakthrough to protect his foundation.

After Marquis Qinghe sacrificed ten years of cultivation to help Ning Chen, Ning Chen escaped Xingchao Pass with Mingyue and learned two martial arts from the Changsun lineage. They set out across the Qizhou Mountain Range to bypass Heaven's Gate Pass, but a deep cry from above interrupted Ning Chen’s story as they crossed the mountains.

• Marquis Qinghe dismissed four generals and resolved to support Ning Chen, believing the Xia Emperor’s choices had helped bring Great Xia to the brink of collapse.
• Ning Chen awoke from meditation, reassured Mingyue, and left the inn with her under cover of night.
• After evading searches around Xingchao Pass, Ning Chen spent five days in another city practicing a sword technique and a palm technique taught by Marquis Qinghe.
• Ning Chen and Mingyue reached the area outside Heaven's Gate Pass and chose to cross the dangerous Qizhou Mountain Range rather than force their way through the pass.
• As Ning Chen carried Mingyue through the mountains, he told her stories and jokes, then began recounting his own adventures.
• A deep cry sounded from the nine heavens, and Ning Chen’s expression darkened.

Ning Chen and Little Mingyue encountered dangerous beasts in the Qizhou Mountain Range, then followed a giant ape to a waterfall and found a centuries-old stone house. A note there bore the signature of Ji Taishi, whose handwriting Ning Chen recognized as belonging to the Old Master from his academy, leaving him stunned by the possibility that The Master was still alive.

• Ning Chen wounded a giant strange bird, then fought a giant ape that attacked him and forced it to kneel.
• Mingyue persuaded Ning Chen to spare the ape because it had only defended its territory, and the ape agreed to guide them to humans.
• Ning Chen and Mingyue rode on the ape to a waterfall with unusually dense spiritual qi, where Ning Chen left Mingyue under the ape's watch while he searched nearby.
• Ning Chen discovered a centuries-old stone house and read a note saying Ji Taishi had protected a young beast ape for ten years.
• Ning Chen recognized the note's handwriting as that of the Old Master who had taught him at the academy and realized The Master might still be alive.

Ning Chen defeated the monstrous birds threatening Little Mingyue, then let the giant ape join their journey as Little Huang. As they crossed the Qizhou Mountain Range, a massive rift opened at dawn and swallowed Ning Chen, Mingyue, and Little Huang.

• Ning Chen learned that The Master was still alive in the academy, but the ancient paper bearing The Master's writing crumbled to ash when Ning Chen touched it.
• Ning Chen protected Little Mingyue by attacking the monstrous birds, severing the leader's wings and driving the flock away.
• Ning Chen found a cyan pearl in the bird leader's head and gave it to the giant ape, which swallowed it and shrank to Little Mingyue's height.
• The giant ape followed Ning Chen and Little Mingyue, and Mingyue accepted Ning Chen's suggested name for it: Little Huang.
• Ning Chen carried the sleeping Mingyue across the second ridge of the Qizhou Mountain Range while Little Huang followed cautiously.
• At dawn, a huge rift opened beneath Ning Chen, Mingyue, and Little Huang and swallowed them before vanishing.

Ning Chen, Mingyue, and the little beast ape fell into Taotie's belly, where Ning Chen met Jiang Wangji, the Daoist Patriarch from a thousand years ago. Jiang Wangji helped Ning Chen escape and entrusted him with finding the Scroll of Nothingness to face a coming disaster.

• Ning Chen slowed their fall with the Ink Sword and led Mingyue and the little beast ape through a dark passage inside Taotie.
• Ning Chen entered a realm of consciousness, met Jiang Wangji, and revealed his Scroll of Life and Scroll of Earth.
• Jiang Wangji told Ning Chen that he and The Master had survived for a thousand years by different means, and warned that both had little time left.
• Jiang Wangji gave Ning Chen a Daoist Sect cultivation art and instructed him to find the Scroll of Nothingness and keep their survival secret.
• Jiang Wangji disrupted Taotie's senses, and Ning Chen escaped with Mingyue and the little beast ape as Taotie opened its mouth.
• Jiang Wangji watched Ning Chen leave and hoped he would find the Scroll of Nothingness before the coming disaster.