Chapter Summaries

Li Yuan found Xia Zhao and the other missing team members trapped at the bottom of the Canyon, then contacted the camp to request a rescue. He left the group waiting as help was prepared.

• Li Yuan heard a man answer his call in the Canyon and soon reunited with Xia Zhao.
• Xia Yao asked how Li Yuan had found them, and he said he had gotten lucky.
• Li Yuan reassured the trapped group that his rope and movement technique would let him climb out and contact the camp.
• Xia Zhao told Li Yuan that her team had fled a pack of mutant beasts into the Canyon, where the beasts seemed docile after drinking the water.
• Li Yuan climbed the rope until his communication device reached the camp, then gave the rescue team their location and asked them to come help.

Li Yuan helped the stranded team escape the canyon, and everyone was rescued without any deaths. After reuniting with Xia Zhao, he gave her Life Essence Fluid before they were hauled to safety, while Xia Yao resigned herself to having no chance with him.

• The camp received Li Yuan’s message and sent a rescue party with standard rescue ropes to the canyon.
• Xia Yao watched Li Yuan and Xia Zhao together and realized she had no hope of winning Li Yuan’s affection.
• Xia Zhao told Li Yuan that her team had discovered another lair containing many weak mutant beasts, part of a faction’s effort to create obedient, powerful beasts.
• Li Yuan gave Xia Zhao Life Essence Fluid to help her recover from the poisonous mist, and she warned him to keep its supply secret.
• Li Yuan and Xia Zhao were hauled out of the canyon, completing the rescue with everyone alive.
• Liu Shuang and the others recognized Li Yuan’s abilities and understood why Xia Zhao had married him.

After the missing team members were found alive, the group returned to camp and celebrated their good fortune. Xia Zhao reunited with Li Yuan, learned about his confrontation with Jin Lou, and insisted that they face future dangers together; after sharing the expedition’s findings over dinner, the team set out for home.

• The group returned to camp, where Liu Shuang cooked a feast and everyone celebrated being alive.
• Xia Zhao asked Li Yuan about his visit to the Xia Family, and he told her about his recent experiences and his encounter with Jin Lou.
• Xia Zhao became angry that Li Yuan had faced Jin Lou’s ambush and told him they should handle future matters together.
• At the bonfire dinner, Liu Shuang encouraged the team to discuss the expedition’s gains and discoveries in front of Li Yuan.
• The group packed up and began the return journey after completing most of the mission.

Li Yuan and Xia Zhao returned to the Xia Family Estate and discussed how to pressure Jin Lou and the Jin Family. Xia Zhao then told Li Yuan about Gu Xin, a powerful martial artist occupying the Xia Family’s Little Creek Mountain, and they planned to visit him.

• Xia Zhao told Cheng Jing to publicize Jin Lou’s crimes and affair with Ding Xiaoyue while she and Li Yuan continued working to grow stronger.
• Xia Zhao and Li Yuan learned that the Jin Family’s factions were already divided, but Xia Cheng warned that further pressure could unite them.
• Xia Cheng explained that the Xia Family wanted to reclaim Little Creek Mountain, where Gu Xin had stayed after recovering from an injury and refused to leave.
• Xia Zhao told Li Yuan that Gu Xin was a renowned prodigy called the Cloud Immortal, though neither of them believed the rumor that he had been reincarnated.

Li Yuan and Xia Zhao went to Little Creek Mountain to confront Gu Xin, whose reputation as the Cloud Immortal’s successor had attracted factions hoping to share the Xia Family’s cultivation grounds. They met Gu Xin at the Training Ground, where he was asked to assess fighters and read their futures.

• Xia Zhao told Li Yuan that Gu Xin had risen to ninth rank and gained a reputation for predicting the future through the Art of Reading People and the Art of Reading the Heavens.
• Li Yuan and Xia Zhao set out for Little Creek Mountain after resting, with Cheng Jing gathering information on the way.
• Cheng Jing explained that rival factions had come to court Gu Xin and were eyeing Little Creek Mountain, while the Xia Family faced pressure to reclaim its property.
• Li Yuan, Xia Zhao, and Cheng Jing climbed past visitors and landscaping that was erasing signs of the Xia Family’s ownership.
• At the Training Ground, Li Yuan saw Gu Xin watching martial artists spar, and the fighters asked Gu Xin to assess their performance and read their futures.

Gu Xin used physiognomy to impress martial artists and argue that Little Creek Mountain should remain under his care. When Li Yuan challenged his authority to choose its successor, Gu Xin dismissed him as a nobody who would never amount to anything.

• Gu Xin read the faces of two martial artists, correctly identifying their hidden experiences and ailments and offering advice that convinced them of his abilities.
• Xia Zhao and Li Yuan approached Gu Xin, and Xia Zhao acknowledged his recovery before asking him to return Little Creek Mountain to the Xia Family's authority.
• Gu Xin claimed that Heaven and the mountain required him to stay until he found someone more outstanding and better suited to inherit the place, while other factions' martial artists supported him.
• Li Yuan asked whether Gu Xin alone set the standard for choosing a successor, and Gu Xin criticized Xia Zhao's choice of husband.
• Gu Xin declared that Li Yuan was a nobody who would never amount to anything, and Li Yuan laughed off his prediction.

Gu Xin mocked Li Yuan and Xia Zhao, then accepted Li Yuan's challenge to spar at the Training Ground. Li Yuan's Wiping Blade attack surprised Gu Xin with its power, leaving the clash unresolved.

• Gu Xin ridiculed Li Yuan's fate and ambitions while the surrounding martial artists joined in mocking him.
• Gu Xin told Xia Zhao that Little Creek Mountain did not suit her and suggested she seek another blessed land.
• Li Yuan rejected Gu Xin's judgment and declared that he would one day shake the world.
• Gu Xin accepted Li Yuan's challenge and said a spar would give him a chance to learn.
• Li Yuan and Gu Xin took wooden weapons and began fighting with their strength suppressed to the Seventh Rank.
• Gu Xin criticized Li Yuan's Wiping Blade technique, but Li Yuan's afterimage attack struck from a blind spot and put Gu Xin under pressure.

Li Yuan overwhelmed Gu Xin in their martial Dao spar, even after Gu Xin raised his realm and fought without restraint. Gu Xin faced defeat as the watching Martial Artists realized his prediction that Li Yuan would remain a nobody was false.

• Gu Xin grew serious and attacked Li Yuan with sword Qi, but Li Yuan held his own without falling behind.
• Gu Xin struggled against Li Yuan’s transformed Wiping Blade and declared he would fight using the realm he had possessed at age thirty-three.
• Gu Xin raised his martial Dao realm to the eighth grade and fought harder, yet Li Yuan continued to suppress him.
• Li Yuan saw through Gu Xin’s techniques and intensified his saber attack, leaving Gu Xin panicked and close to defeat.
• The watching Martial Artists recognized that Gu Xin’s prophecy about Li Yuan becoming a nobody had been utter bullshit.