Chapter Summaries

Mu Yunyao used the Way of the Sentimental Sword to make his peach blossom Sword Intent pursue Phantom Shadow through the shadows. The attack forced her out and wounded her, leaving a mark she could not erase.

• Phantom Shadow praised Mu Yunyao’s peach blossom Sword Intent but judged it too slow.
• Mu Yunyao said his sword used emotion as its guide and launched a sorrowful, winding strike.
• His pinkish-white ribbon transformed into tracking peach blossom petals that pursued Phantom Shadow into the shadows.
• Phantom Shadow tried to block the petals with a curtain of black light, but several pierced through and wounded her.
• Phantom Shadow landed on one knee as pinkish-white radiance marked her wounds, resisting her Shadow Laws.

Mu Yunyao explained how his severed bond let him sense Phantom Shadow and track her movements. Phantom Shadow abandoned hiding and attacked him with the Law of Shadow, leaving the two locked in a clash that drove Mu Yunyao backward.

• Mu Yunyao told Phantom Shadow that her movements tugged at the broken bond tied to his heart, allowing him to sense her wherever she hid.
• Phantom Shadow reacted with alarm, then covered herself in shadow armor and declared that she would stop hiding.
• Phantom Shadow lunged at Mu Yunyao at more than three times her previous speed and slashed at him with shadow claws.
• Mu Yunyao blocked her attack with his peachwood sword, and their clash shattered nearby law chains and sent him several yards backward.

Mu Yunyao and Phantom Shadow traded increasingly powerful sword and shadow attacks in a close arena battle, each taking minor injuries. Mu Yunyao then summoned ancient characters on his peachwood sword, drawing Phantom Shadow’s wary attention.

• Mu Yunyao turned aside Phantom Shadow’s tail-blade and counterattacked with a rising sword thrust that narrowly missed her throat.
• Phantom Shadow sent eight shadow blades at Mu Yunyao, who destroyed them with three rings of sword light.
• Mu Yunyao suffered a burn to his arm, while Phantom Shadow received a bleeding cut to her neck and lost two scales.
• Mu Yunyao raised his peachwood sword as ancient characters appeared across its blade, and Phantom Shadow narrowed her eyes at their sight.

Mu Yunyao formed a peach-blossom domain from the memory of the woman he loved and pushed Phantom Shadow's law of shadow back. He thrust his sword at her shield with a calm intent focused on completing something rather than killing her, and the sword met the shield.

• Mu Yunyao's peachwood sword resonated with the Arena's chains of law and filled the space with phantom peach blossoms.
• The blossoms eroded Phantom Shadow's shadow armor and confined her within Mu Yunyao's domain of emotion.
• Mu Yunyao walked through the peach grove and left fading footprints of peach blossoms behind him.
• Mu Yunyao thrust his sword at Phantom Shadow with a calm Sword Intent carrying the last trace of the deceased woman he loved.
• Phantom Shadow gathered her shadow law into a shield, and Mu Yunyao's sword tip touched it.

Mu Yunyao’s peachwood sword stopped at Phantom Shadow’s chest, and he chose not to kill her after recognizing an ancient flower mark on her scales. Phantom Shadow accepted defeat, leaving their history and the mark’s origin unexplained.

• Mu Yunyao’s peachwood sword pierced Phantom Shadow’s shadow shield and armor but stopped when it touched her chest scales.
• A peach blossom formed on the sword tip, then faded into motes as Phantom Shadow’s shadow armor dissolved.
• Phantom Shadow asked why Mu Yunyao had not pierced her, and he explained that he did not kill those who bore flower marks.
• Phantom Shadow found the ancient mark on her scale and acknowledged that Mu Yunyao had won.

Mu Yunyao defeated Phantom Shadow in the Arena, but the sword stroke consumed more of the memories he held dear. After Phantom Shadow vanished, he left the Arena alone, while the stunned spectators remained silent.

• Phantom Shadow conceded defeat and withdrew her claws, and Mu Yunyao sheathed his sword and drank from his wine flask.
• Mu Yunyao told Phantom Shadow to report his victory and warned that he would not spare her if they met again.
• Phantom Shadow said Mu Yunyao's master would have grieved to see him and then disappeared into the shadows.
• Mu Yunyao murmured that his master's heart had once ached for him before she left, then walked toward the Arena's edge.
• The peach blossom illusions faded, and the spectators stayed silent after witnessing the fight.

Mu Yunyao won a rare battle without either fighter dying, earning another point for the Origin Continent. Ye Lin waited impatiently for his turn as the next lot was about to be drawn.

• The Origin Continent spectators celebrated Mu Yunyao's victory, noting that both fighters had survived.
• The contestants praised Mu Yunyao's fight while observing that he had not taken the final step in his cultivation.
• Ye Lin considered the Peach Blossom Sword Immortal's conflicted sword path, then returned to wondering when he would enter the arena.
• The contestants waited with mixed anticipation and apprehension as the battlefield opened again.
• The announcer said the next battle was about to begin and started the drawing of lots.

Iron Hammer faced Zhurong in a duel to the death on the Arena, where Zhurong opened with a fiery dome and three chains of flame. Iron Hammer met the first attack with his Great Hammer, and the fight remained unresolved.

• The draw selected Number Two, and Iron Hammer entered the Arena to face Zhurong of the Chaos Ancient Clan.
• Ye Lin learned that Iron Hammer was a blacksmith who had forged his own path through hammering iron, while the Chaos Ancient Clan warned Zhurong not to underestimate him.
• Zhurong and Iron Hammer exchanged salutes and agreed that only one of them would leave the Arena alive.
• Zhurong formed a dome of scarlet-gold flame around the Arena and sent three chains of flame toward Iron Hammer.
• Iron Hammer spun his Great Hammer to split the heat wave and struck the first flame chain, producing a shower of sparks.

Iron Hammer withstood Zhurong’s flaming chains and answered his Fire Lotus: Nine Revolutions with the first form of Nine Smithing Forms. The strike hardened the space around the hammer’s impact, leaving the clash unresolved.

• Iron Hammer smashed Zhurong’s first chain attack and tore the chain from his shoulder with his bare hand.
• Zhurong asked why Iron Hammer was immune to the flames, and Iron Hammer said his hands had been made to hold fire.
• Zhurong formed nine blue-white fire lotuses and sent them toward Iron Hammer.
• Iron Hammer raised his hammer, gathered gray law-force, and used Nine Smithing Forms: First Form—Bone Tempering to harden the space around the impact.

Zhurong's fire lotuses failed to seriously injure Iron Hammer, who praised the flames and taunted him about forging iron. Zhurong answered by summoning nine enormous fire Dragons above the Arena.

• Zhurong sent nine fire lotuses at Iron Hammer, but six were crushed by his hammer and the last three forced him to drop it and stagger back.
• Iron Hammer picked up his hammer, admired Zhurong's fire, and invited him to forge iron.
• Zhurong took Iron Hammer's invitation as an insult and formed an ancient fire-law rune in his palm.
• Zhurong invoked Flame Dragon—Nine Heads, drawing nine huge Dragons of blue-white flame from the dome above the Arena.
• Zhurong challenged Iron Hammer to withstand the fire Dragons.

Iron Hammer countered Zhurong’s nine coordinated fire dragons with the quenching power of his Nine Smithing Forms, shattering every dragon. The fragments of Zhurong’s Law of Fire flowed back into the rune in his palm, which burned brighter.

• Zhurong sent nine fire dragons to attack Iron Hammer from every direction.
• Iron Hammer used the second of his Nine Smithing Forms, Quenching, to freeze the first three dragons with his hammer.
• Iron Hammer smashed the remaining fire dragons, freezing and shattering them across the Arena.
• Iron Hammer stood firm despite scorch marks on his hand, while Zhurong’s expression darkened.
• Flame fragments from the shattered dragons returned to the rune in Zhurong’s palm, making it glow brighter.

Zhurong unleashed Fire God: Possession and fought Iron Hammer in a fierce exchange of blows. Both were wounded as they separated to catch their breath, leaving the duel unresolved.

• Zhurong gathered the Arena’s lingering fire into a Phoenix sigil and activated Fire God: Possession.
• Zhurong struck Iron Hammer’s hammer with compressed fire-law punches, breaking its quenching glow and denting its head.
• Iron Hammer fought back with his great hammer and used Nine Smithing Forms: Third Form—Hundred Refinements to break Zhurong’s flame barrier.
• Zhurong dodged Iron Hammer’s blow aimed at his chest and counterattacked with a flaming kick.
• Zhurong and Iron Hammer drew apart, both wounded and recovering their breath.

Iron Hammer unleashed his Heaven Forge technique against Zhurong’s full-power Fire God: Heaven-Incinerating Wings, shaking the Arena and cracking its barrier. The excerpt ends with the two attacks colliding, before the outcome is revealed.

• Iron Hammer calmly endured his burns and prepared another blow while Zhurong recognized that he still had power in reserve.
• Iron Hammer revealed the silver metal and ancient forging patterns on his hammer, then invoked the Seventh Form, Heaven Forge.
• Iron Hammer’s descending strike bent the chains of law and fractured space across the Arena.
• Zhurong gathered his remaining fire-law power into his chest mark and summoned a vast divine bird of flame.
• Zhurong unleashed Fire God: Heaven-Incinerating Wings, and the clash with Iron Hammer’s hammer blow cracked the Arena’s barrier and sent a tremor through the viewing stands.

Iron Hammer and Zhurong shattered each other’s weapons and defenses in a devastating clash, then prepared their final attacks. Zhurong charged at Iron Hammer in flame armor as Iron Hammer gathered the power for his last hammer strike.

• Iron Hammer’s silver-white hammer shattered, and the backlash hurled him into the arena wall.
• Zhurong was blasted backward, leaving scorch marks as his Phoenix mark split and his flames dimmed.
• Iron Hammer raised his broken hammer handle and declared that he had one final strike left, the ninth form taught by his master.
• Zhurong broke apart his Phoenix mark and formed its fragments into flame armor, invoking “Flame God: Ashen Blaze.”
• Zhurong transformed into a pale cyan-white pillar of light and charged straight at Iron Hammer.

Iron Hammer and Zhurong fought to the brink of death in the Arena, where Iron Hammer’s final strike shattered the laws and pierced them both. Iron Hammer fell with a smile, and Zhurong remained standing before turning toward the Arena’s edge.

• Iron Hammer unleashed the Ninth Smithing Form, Return to the Void, against Zhurong’s pillar of flame.
• The strike shattered the Arena’s law chains and tore through Zhurong’s armor, body, and right hand.
• A streak of blue-white flame pierced Iron Hammer’s chest and began widening the wound.
• Zhurong bowed solemnly to Iron Hammer, who weakly raised the broken handle in return before collapsing.
• After confirming Iron Hammer had fallen silent, Zhurong turned toward the Arena’s edge, then buckled to one knee and struggled back up.

Zhurong defeated Iron Hammer in the Arena, leaving the Origin Continent’s spectators stunned and mourning their fallen champion. As Zhurong departed, a Chaos Ancient Clan member celebrated his victory, but another insisted that Iron Hammer deserved respect.

• Zhurong left the Arena as the flaming dome collapsed and burned out behind him.
• The Origin Continent’s cultivators realized Iron Hammer had died and mourned him as a hero who had fought for them.
• A Chaos Ancient Clan member praised Zhurong and criticized Iron Hammer for failing to adapt.
• Another Chaos Ancient Clan member said Iron Hammer had been a strong opponent and should not be mocked.

After the Chaos Ancient Clan won, Zhurong defended their harsh treatment of the defeated, while the clan’s experts vowed to crush the Origin Continent in the battles ahead. Ye Lin waited impatiently for his turn as the Origin Continent cultivators, now impressed by his sword strike, encouraged him and stood united.

• Zhurong said the strong had the right to trample the weak, but his colleagues ridiculed him even more harshly.
• The Chaos Ancient Clan experts promised to use their full strength and win the coming battles without giving the Origin Continent hope.
• An enraged Origin Continent cultivator said he wanted to avenge Iron Hammer, whom he had watched die in battle.
• Ye Lin complained that the drawing had not yet selected him, and the cultivators beside him urged him to be patient.
• The Origin Continent cultivators waited for the next drawing, speaking quietly as allies with interests bound together.

Zhao Zhaoxue stepped forward as Number Twenty-Eight, declaring that she would slaughter the Chaos Ancient Clan and avenge the fallen. As she headed to the arena, Ye Lin learned that she was the direct disciple of a legendary figure from the Central Region.

• The drawing of lots ended, and Number Twenty-Eight was called.
• Zhao Zhaoxue revealed herself, promised to avenge the fallen, and walked toward the arena with her red-tasseled spear.
• Cultivators recognized Zhao Zhaoxue as the beloved disciple of a powerful ancestor and feared what that ancestor might do if she were harmed.
• A cultivator told Ye Lin that Zhao Zhaoxue was the direct disciple of a legendary figure who had lived since countless ages ago.

Ye Lin learned that Zhao Zhaoxue was the Old Ancestor’s sole disciple and realized how dangerous it would be if anything happened to her. As Zhao Zhaoxue’s next opponent emerged, the chapter left Walker heading toward the Arena.

• A young man explained to Ye Lin that the ancient Old Ancestor had no family, cherished Zhao Zhaoxue as a personal disciple, and commanded the respect of the Origin Continent’s strongest experts.
• Ye Lin understood Zhao Zhaoxue’s importance and turned his attention to the Arena to see how strong she was.
• Chaos Ancient Clan experts mocked their short, grotesque fighter for facing a little girl.
• The fighter introduced himself as Walker, threatened to kill anyone who called him ‘kid,’ and walked toward the Arena.

Walker used the Chaos Ancient Clan's Holy Breath Devouring Art against Zhao Zhaoxue, draining the arena's Saintly Breath and contaminating the battlefield. A Quasi-Saint explained that the technique gave Walker an increasing advantage, leaving Zhao Zhaoxue in danger.

• Walker leered at Zhao Zhaoxue and described his desire to chew on her like a work of art.
• Zhao Zhaoxue called Walker filth, and he responded with laughter.
• Walker inhaled the arena's Saintly Breath and turned it into murky gray-white mist that spread across the ground.
• The arena's golden restriction patterns dimmed as the mist slowed their operation.
• A Quasi-Saint identified Walker's technique as the Chaos Ancient Clan's Holy Breath Devouring Art and warned that Zhao Zhaoxue was already at a disadvantage.