Chapter Summaries

The Scripture Envoy ordered the chieftains to take over Luoyang Town and supply the Holy Cult with a monthly quota of human blood stipend. Zhang Sanxian arrived at Prison King Mountain and began his attack, leaving the bandits frozen in terror as he unleashed The World.

• The Scripture Envoy dismissed Zhang Sanxian as a minor threat and told the chieftains to occupy Luoyang Town after Tie Xiangsong's death.
• The Scripture Envoy ordered the chieftains to provide ten dan of blood stipend each month, including body parts from infants, young adults, and young women.
• The Scripture Envoy assured the chieftains the Holy Cult would later send reinforcements and reward them, then prepared to leave.
• Zhang Sanxian appeared on the training ground among nearly a hundred dead bandits and announced he had come to take the heads of the stronghold's leaders.
• The chieftains threatened Zhang Sanxian, and he stopped time with The World and sent a wave of sword strikes toward the Hall of Gathering.

Zhang Sanxian used his time-stopping stand to make the Scripture Envoy's attacks miss while killing the fleeing bandits and strengthening his aura. The Scripture Envoy tried to escape, but Zhang Sanxian turned his bone arrows against him and blinded him.

• When time resumed, Zhang Sanxian's stand had left the four chief bandit leaders grievously injured, and the Scripture-Wielding Envoy praised his martial arts before attacking him.
• Zhang Sanxian repeatedly stopped time and returned the Scripture-Wielding Envoy to his starting position, causing the envoy's attacks to miss and leaving him confused.
• As the terrified bandits fled, Zhang Sanxian's invisible stand struck them down, while the Scripture Envoy grew increasingly wary of Zhang Sanxian's rising aura.
• The Scripture Envoy fled toward the night sky and hurled two bone arrows at Zhang Sanxian.
• Zhang Sanxian had his stand seize the arrows and drive them into the Scripture Envoy's eyes, sending him tumbling from the sky in agony.

Zhang Sanxian discovered that Intent-Force battles hinged on prestige, then crushed the Palm Scripture Envoy’s strength and used Phenomenon Fiction to torture him. The defeated Scripture Keeper begged Zhang Sanxian to spare him.

• Zhang Sanxian realized that weakening an opponent’s prestige reduced their strength while bolstering his own increased it.
• The blind Palm Scripture Envoy’s prestige collapsed as Zhang Sanxian stopped time and had his Stand beat him into a cripple, reducing his strength to Level 0.
• The Scripture Keeper resisted physical torture and briefly regained strength by mocking Zhang Sanxian.
• Zhang Sanxian used Phenomenon Fiction to inflict unbearable pain on the Scripture Keeper’s soul and body.
• The Scripture Keeper repeatedly begged Zhang Sanxian to spare him.

After forcing Shen Jianshan to surrender, Zhang Sanxian learned about the Heaven-Piercing Sect, its ranks, and its Flesh-and-Blood Martial Way. The chapter ended with Zhang asking Shen Jianshan about his cultivation realm and the realms above it.

• Zhang Sanxian forced Shen Jianshan to yield and questioned him about his name, the Holy Sect, and the role of a Scripture Keeper.
• Shen Jianshan revealed that the Holy Sect was formally called the Heaven-Piercing Sect and described its hierarchy from low-ranking members to Dharma Kings who Protect the Sect.
• Zhang Sanxian asked about the unusual martial arts Shen Jianshan had used, and Shen explained the Flesh-and-Blood Martial Way.
• Shen Jianshan described his Sensory Distortion Art, Viscera Shifting Art, and Bone Tree Grand Method, which let him alter sensations, move organs, and fire bone arrows.
• Zhang Sanxian judged Shen Jianshan to be a bottom-rung practitioner and asked what realm he had reached and what realms came next.

Zhang Sanxian forced Shen Jianshan to summon the Holy Cult’s vengeance before killing him, then drank among the dead as the night rain stirred a new insight. He began to perceive each raindrop as a tiny act of killing, and an unnamed supreme art seemed close to taking shape.

• Zhang Sanxian questioned Shen Jianshan about the blood-and-flesh martial path and the Holy Cult, but Shen Jianshan withheld its secrets and locations.
• Zhang Sanxian asked Shen Jianshan to alert the Holy Cult that he had killed him, and Shen Jianshan fired a signal that proclaimed Zhang Sanxian’s name across the sky.
• Shen Jianshan admitted he would not spare Zhang Sanxian if their positions were reversed, so Zhang Sanxian killed him with one sword slash and gained two fragments.
• Zhang Sanxian stayed in the Hall of Brotherhood, drank amid the corpses, and listened to the rain and the silence inside.
• Zhang Sanxian gained an insight and perceived the falling raindrops as tiny weapons of Heaven and Earth, as a supreme art began to emerge in his mind.

Zhang Sanxian formed the Night Rain Startles Strings killing art and broke through to the Realm of Forgetting Self and World. When three Return-to-Underworld Envoys attacked him, he used his music to kill one and cripple another, while their leader transformed with the Bone Tree Grand Method.

• Zhang Sanxian developed Night Rain Startles Strings and advanced to the Realm of Forgetting Self and World.
• Zhang Sanxian tested the art by turning rain and sound into blades that tore through the downpour.
• Three Return-to-Underworld Envoys arrived, found Shen Jianshan dead, and charged Zhang Sanxian.
• Zhang Sanxian played the lute and killed one Envoy with Thorn Sting, then shattered another's armored arms with Fierce Slash.
• Zhang Sanxian attacked the lead Envoy with Twisting Spiral, forcing him to unleash the Bone Tree Grand Method's Second Transformation: Demon Chieftain.

Zhang Sanxian used Night Rain Startles Strings’ final form, Startled Locusts, to annihilate the Netherworld Envoys and destroy the Night Wolf Bandit Stronghold. He then raised his skills and traits to Level 2 and gained the Wave Perception Method, leaving his perception vastly improved.

• Zhang Sanxian’s third form of Night Rain Startles Strings shattered one Netherworld Envoy’s bone armor and left him and another envoy gravely wounded.
• Zhang Sanxian played Startled Locusts, unleashing thousands of sonic and ice projectiles that killed the two envoys and pulverized the stronghold and its buildings.
• Zhang Sanxian collected two fragments from the slain envoys, bringing his total from them to four.
• After the destruction ended, Zhang Sanxian raised his skills and traits to Level 2.
• Zhang Sanxian’s Wave Perception Method expanded his perception to a range of one thousand meters with millimeter-level accuracy.

Zhang Sanxian discovered that Divine Strategy Army soldiers had terrorized Luoyang Town and demanded penalty silver from its residents. When three soldiers tried to extort Blacksmith Liu, Zhang killed them with the sound of his sanxian.

• Zhang Sanxian reached Luoyang Town and found its streets deserted and its residents hiding indoors.
• Blacksmith Liu told Zhang Sanxian that Captain Wang and the Divine Strategy Army had arrested the town yamen and demanded penalty silver from every household.
• Three Divine Strategy soldiers entered Blacksmith Liu's shop to collect two hundred taels and threatened to search it.
• Zhang Sanxian struck his sanxian, freezing the three soldiers and shattering them into blood-ice.

Zhang Sanxian gave Old Liu money and urged him to flee before cutting down Divine Strategy Bandit Army soldiers who were abusing Luoyang Town’s people. He entered the town yamen and unleashed a chilling zither note against Captain Wang and the soldier-bandits, leaving their fate unclear.

• Zhang Sanxian gave Old Liu silver and told him to leave town and open another shop elsewhere.
• Zhang Sanxian killed ten soldier-bandits as they assaulted and robbed residents in the streets.
• Zhang Sanxian continued through Luoyang Town, killing Divine Strategy Bandit Army soldiers who oppressed civilians.
• Zhang Sanxian entered the town yamen and killed the drunken bandits abusing women in its courtyard with sound blades.
• Zhang Sanxian entered the main hall as Captain Wang assaulted a young girl and played a piercing zither note that made the leering soldier-bandits crumble into bloody ash and ice.

Zhang Sanxian rescued a girl from Captain Wang, then left Luoyang Town and headed into the dangerous Blackwind Ridge. As he entered a mountain pass, a two-headed tiger ambushed him.

• Captain Wang attacked Zhang Sanxian, who split him in two with a chilling strike from his zither.
• Zhang Sanxian covered the trembling girl with Captain Wang’s discarded clothes and armor, then disappeared from the yamen.
• The townsfolk beat Captain Wang, and Zhang Sanxian removed the ice sealing his wound, causing him to bleed to death.
• Zhang Sanxian left Luoyang Town and traveled east toward Blackwind Ridge.
• Zhang Sanxian crossed the ridge’s rough paths until a two-headed tiger suddenly pounced on him.

Zhang Sanxian killed a two-headed tiger with his zither and discovered that demons in Blackwind Ridge could drop Stronger Fragments. After giving tiger meat to desperate refugees, he followed cooking smoke to a poor mountain town, where he arrived as the chapter ended.

• Zhang Sanxian killed a giant two-headed tiger with a note from his zither and found a fragment on its corpse.
• Zhang Sanxian searched Blackwind Ridge for more demons but encountered starving refugees pretending to be bandits.
• Zhang Sanxian left the refugees a bundle of preserved tiger meat so they could survive long enough to leave the ridge.
• Scarface and the refugees revealed that escaping Blackwind Ridge would free them from the Mountain God's curse and their oppressors.
• Zhang Sanxian followed the scent of cooking smoke to a valley town with several hundred households, most of them poor and run-down.

Zhang Sanxian arrived in Black Wind Town and learned that its people were sacrificing two young women to a Mountain God who had ruled the area for decades. He followed the wedding procession to a riverside altar, where Village Head Zhang summoned the Mountain God.

• Zhang Sanxian rented a room from an elderly man, who warned him that the Mountain God was taking brides that night.
• The old man said the Mountain God had taken women for over thirty years and cursed anyone who tried to leave Blackwind Ridge.
• Zhang Sanxian left the house and secretly followed the procession carrying two bound women through town.
• At a riverside altar, Village Head Zhang and the townspeople bowed toward the mountain forest and invited the Mountain God.

Zhang Sanxian exposed the Mountain God’s tricks and slaughtered the three experts who attacked him. The villagers begged for mercy, but he wondered why killing the men had earned him no fragments.

• Zhang Sanxian recognized the Mountain God’s roar and ghostly fires as staged tricks while the villagers believed the god had appeared.
• Zhang Sanxian used his lute to kill the servants who charged him, then accused the Mountain God of preying on the villagers.
• Three powerful experts attacked Zhang Sanxian, who cut them apart with the Separation of Flesh and Bone sword stance.
• Zhang Village Chief and the other villagers fell to their knees and begged for mercy after seeing the experts’ deaths.
• Zhang Sanxian wondered why the three deaths had not credited any fragments to his account.

Zhang Sanxian discovered that the three fiends he killed were hollow tiger ghosts, then faced the true Mountain Lord, a three-headed demon tiger. As the tiger attacked, Zhang Sanxian unleashed the final form of Night Rain Startles Strings against it.

• Zhang Sanxian confronted Village Chief Zhang and the local gentry over their exploitation of the villagers, but a terrifying roar interrupted him.
• A three-headed tiger demon emerged from a cave, and the remains of the three fiends released ghostly smoke that entered its mouth, revealing they had been its servants for decades.
• Village Chief Zhang recognized the Mountain God's true form and died of fright as the other locals collapsed in terror.
• The Mountain Lord leapt at Zhang Sanxian, who summoned freezing energy and played Night Rain Startles Strings—Final Form: Startled Locusts.
• Hundreds of blue points of light shot toward the charging tiger in a torrent of freezing, destructive force.

Zhang Sanxian killed the three-headed tiger demon and cleared its cave of its monstrous offspring and victims. In the treasure chamber, he found an Xun Immortal Mirror that promised a wish if all eight mirrors were gathered.

• Zhang Sanxian slew the three-headed tiger demon with Startled Locusts and flew to investigate the cave it had emerged from.
• Zhang Sanxian discovered pregnant women transformed into incubators for two-headed tiger abominations and found human bones scattered through the cavern.
• Zhang Sanxian killed five approaching two-headed giant tigers with sound blades, then ended the suffering of the pregnant women and their unborn abominations.
• Zhang Sanxian followed a premonition into a treasure chamber and found a jade disc identified as the Xun Immortal Mirror.
• Zhang Sanxian learned that collecting all eight Immortal Mirrors would grant one wish.

After defeating the three-headed tiger demon, Zhang Sanxian created three new techniques inspired by its powers. He returned to the riverbank to find that more than a day seemed to have passed, then went to Black Wind Town, where a crowd watched the old man who had sheltered him.

• Zhang Sanxian suspected the Xun Immortal Mirror had caused the tiger to become a demon, pocketed it and the treasures, and began creating techniques.
• Zhang Sanxian created Three Baleful Tiger Roar Force, Cold Shadow Bewildering Step, and Demon Melody Soul Seizure.
• Zhang Sanxian returned to the riverbank and found the tiger demon’s corpse and the people who had gathered there gone, leaving only scattered bones and wild grass.
• Zhang Sanxian noticed a strange gap in time and headed to Black Wind Town.
• Zhang Sanxian reached the grain-drying ground and saw a crowd gathered around the thin, short old man who had taken him in.

Zhang Sanxian returned to Black Wind Town just as its gentry tried to burn Old Li, whom they had falsely accused of aiding demons. His sudden appearance stopped the execution and left the crowd and gentry terrified.

• A fat gentryman told the townsfolk that Village Head Zhang had died heroically and that Old Li was responsible for the tragedy.
• The gentryman ordered Old Li burned as a demon accomplice, and a town guard prepared to light the firewood.
• Zhang Sanxian struck a note on his zither, silencing the crowd and revealing that he was still alive.
• The fat gentryman and the other gentrymen panicked when they recognized Zhang Sanxian.
• Zhang Sanxian walked through the crowd toward Old Li, and no one dared stop him.

Zhang Sanxian killed the country squires who had falsely accused him, freed Old Li, and left town. As he traveled through the wilderness, he effortlessly killed a swordsman who attacked him, leaving the attacker’s junior brother terrified.

• The country squires, including Qian Mancang, begged Zhang Sanxian for mercy, but he killed them and their men with a strike from his zither.
• Zhang Sanxian freed Old Li, judged his injuries to be superficial, and told the townspeople to take care of themselves before leaving town.
• While walking through the wilderness, Zhang Sanxian overheard two swordsmen discussing a plan to test their sword on him.
• One swordsman attacked Zhang Sanxian, who swiftly cut off the man’s head and broke his sword without stopping.
• The surviving junior brother watched Zhang Sanxian leave and wondered who the blind man was.

Zhang Sanxian reached Lian City and discovered that the Eight Desolations Sect had locked it down amid a deadly epidemic. After entering the city, he found a man eating a corpse and realized the plague was a zombie virus.

• Zhang Sanxian arrived at Lian City and learned from the Eight Desolations Sect guards that an epidemic had killed many people and the city was under lockdown.
• Zhang Sanxian ignored the guards’ warning and climbed the thirty-zhang city wall with effortless lightness skill, frightening the guards into kneeling and begging for mercy.
• Zhang Sanxian surveyed the deserted city, heard coughing and screams, and noticed the pungent smells of medicinal substances.
• Zhang Sanxian followed a distant scream to an abandoned pavilion, where he saw an old man eating a mangled corpse and identified the plague as a zombie virus.

Zhang Sanxian discovered that the plague originated at the western Ghost Market and was spreading through Lian City as people transformed into zombies. He hurried toward the western district, killing zombies along the way, and left a bearded man grieving after Zhang killed his newly transformed younger brother.

• Zhang Sanxian questioned a corpse-eating old man, who identified the western Ghost Market as the plague’s origin seven days earlier, then killed him and discovered grayish-white worms beneath the corpses’ skin.
• Zhang Sanxian realized the corpse tide was beginning and killed a zombie scholar who was battering down a door in a brothel; the woman inside then took her own life.
• Zhang Sanxian killed the zombified women gathering downstairs and continued toward the western district.
• Zhang Sanxian found two men defending a cart of medicinal herbs meant for World-Saving Hall, and watched the younger man begin transforming into a zombie.
• Zhang Sanxian beheaded the attacking zombies and the transformed younger man, leaving the bearded man to grieve over his brother.