Chapter Summaries

Yun Qingyin used Music Dao: Final String, burning her spirit veins, soul, and life force to destroy Xu Xun. She won the battle but vanished into the Arena’s golden net of laws.

• Yun Qingyin pinned down the bloodstained strings and unleashed Music Dao: Final String by sacrificing her life force.
• Yun Qingyin sent a ray of sound that erased everything in its path toward Xu Xun.
• Xu Xun said the being inside him would not dodge and accepted that they would perish together.
• The ray shattered Xu Xun’s body, Primordial Spirit, and true spirit, erasing him completely.
• Yun Qingyin smiled as her zither and body dissolved into cyan light and merged into the golden net of laws.

Yun Qingyin died after trading her life for a victory, leaving the Origin Continent cultivators mourning her while the Chaos Ancient Clan raged over the defeat. The clan tried to deter others from following her example, but its threat was rejected by cultivators who cited their powerful backers.

• Yun Qingyin was declared the winner of the battle after dying to secure victory.
• Ye Lin's remaining participants and the watching Origin Continent cultivators paid their respects to Yun Qingyin and vowed to remember her.
• Some cultivators considered following Yun Qingyin's path and trading their lives for victory.
• Chaos Ancient Clan powerhouses cursed their dead fighter for losing despite dying and called his death worthless.
• A Chaos Ancient Clan powerhouse threatened anyone who imitated the fighter, but other cultivators mocked him and named their Half-Step Saint ancestors as backers.
• Someone stopped the Chaos Ancient Clan powerhouse before he could respond further.

After Xu Xun’s death, the Chaos Ancient Clan spectators condemned him for showing off instead of surviving, while the Origin Continent mourned Yun Qingyin in silence. The Origin Continent’s leaders urged their fighters to prolong the Arena battles where possible as they continued trying to cultivate a new Saint, though both sides’ true intentions remained unclear.

• The Chaos Ancient Clan spectators argued that Xu Xun had needlessly acted himself to death despite being able to win and survive.
• The Origin Continent mourned Yun Qingyin in silence, contrasting with the Chaos Ancient Clan’s angry accusations.
• A supreme powerhouse in the Void told the Origin Continent’s fighters to drag out the battles when they could, while winning if possible.
• The Origin Continent’s leaders continued using the Arena battles to buy time and find powerhouses who could receive resources to become a new Saint.
• Both sides kept their plans hidden as the Arena battles continued.

Yan Wuji of the Heavenly Fire Sect faced Xiao Xuan, a man who had vanished into the Boundary Sea thirty thousand years earlier and joined the Chaos Ancient Clan. Xiao Xuan said he intended to die in the match without losing, while Yan Wuji refused to concede.

• The draw selected number eighteen, and Yan Wuji introduced himself before stepping onto the Arena.
• A black-robed man carrying a massive sword approached, startling the Chaos Ancient Clan's experts.
• Yan Wuji recognized the newcomer as Xiao Xuan, who had disappeared thirty thousand years ago after being hunted by the Three Great Sects.
• Xiao Xuan said the Chaos Ancient Clan had avenged him and cleared his name, and that he would not leave the match alive or lose.
• Xiao Xuan urged Yan Wuji to concede, but Yan Wuji refused.

Yan Wuji and Xiao Xuan agreed to fight despite understanding each other’s reasons for refusing to surrender. Their first exchange ended with Xiao Xuan breaking apart Yan Wuji’s Flame Qilin, and they prepared to continue.

• Ye Lin learned that Xiao Xuan had sought refuge with the Chaos Ancient Clan after the Three Great Sects destroyed his family and hunted him for avenging them.
• Yan Wuji refused to surrender, and Xiao Xuan agreed to fight him while promising to protect him if he could.
• Yan Wuji summoned a Flame Qilin with his Blazing Flame Great Dao and sent it charging at Xiao Xuan.
• Xiao Xuan blocked the Qilin’s attack, struck it with his greatsword, and kicked apart its flames.
• Yan Wuji praised the weight of Xiao Xuan’s sword strike, and Xiao Xuan noted that they had not fought thirty thousand years earlier.

Xiao Xuan and Yan Wuji exchanged thoughts on their weapons before Yan Wuji tested his full-strength punch against Xiao Xuan’s greatsword. Yan Wuji’s blow damaged the blade and forced Xiao Xuan back, while the sword’s rebound injured Yan Wuji; both fighters acknowledged the other’s strength.

• Xiao Xuan explained that he had wielded increasingly heavy swords, and that his current greatsword was the heaviest and only he could lift it.
• Yan Wuji declared that his punch contained the entirety of his lifetime cultivating the Blazing Flame Great Dao and charged at Xiao Xuan.
• Xiao Xuan swept his greatsword across his chest and blocked Yan Wuji’s punch, which drove him back and left a deep fist mark in the blade.
• Xiao Xuan said no one had punched a Sword Seal into his blade in thirty thousand years, while Yan Wuji’s fist was scorched by the sword’s rebounding force.
• Yan Wuji shook off the damaged skin on his knuckles and praised the hardness of Xiao Xuan’s sword.

Xiao Xuan and Yan Wuji continued testing each other’s strength in the Arena, and Xiao Xuan revealed the durability of his greatsword and the speed of his swordsmanship. The chapter ended with Yan Wuji wounded by Xiao Xuan’s powerful slash and remarking that it was far faster than Xiao Xuan’s sword strikes thirty thousand years earlier.

• Xiao Xuan explained that his greatsword had been forged from a primordial creature’s spinal fossil and tempered for twenty thousand years, and Yan Wuji learned his earlier strike had used only thirty percent of its full force.
• Yan Wuji attacked again with successive punches, and Xiao Xuan blocked them with his sword and knee while gauging their speed and force.
• Xiao Xuan described how Yan Wuji’s punches were precisely calculated, and Yan Wuji recognized that Xiao Xuan had been testing him.
• Xiao Xuan enveloped himself in dark-silver light and brought down a sword phantom that carved a groove into the Arena floor.
• Yan Wuji dodged the slash but suffered a shallow cut on his left arm, then remarked that Xiao Xuan’s strike was more than three times faster than it had been thirty thousand years earlier.

Xiao Xuan and Yan Wuji fought in the Arena, where Yan Wuji unleashed a meteor storm of flame laws to push Xiao Xuan to his limit. Xiao Xuan endured the bombardment and charged toward Yan Wuji, taking the falling meteors on his back.

• Xiao Xuan said he had become faster because he wanted to be, and Yan Wuji asked whether the past thirty thousand years had been hard on him.
• Xiao Xuan said he had only been waiting for a time when he no longer needed to wait, and Yan Wuji vowed to force him to his limit.
• Yan Wuji unleashed golden-white flame laws that formed clouds and rained flaming meteors over the Arena.
• Xiao Xuan raised a sword-light curtain to block the meteors, enduring repeated impacts that injured his arms and made blood seep from his mouth.
• Xiao Xuan shifted his greatsword into a forward thrust and charged toward Yan Wuji, taking the falling meteors on his back.

Xiao Xuan lowered his sword after Yan Wuji urged him to let go of his hatred, but neither fighter would admit defeat. They prepared to unleash their greatest attacks, leaving the outcome of their clash unresolved.

• Xiao Xuan held his sword at Yan Wuji’s shoulder, then withdrew it after Yan Wuji told him to separate the living person before him from the hatred of his past.
• Xiao Xuan asked Yan Wuji to strike with all his strength, and Yan Wuji refused to admit defeat before readying his fists.
• Yan Wuji covered himself in golden-white Dao marks and summoned a Flame Qilin, warning Xiao Xuan that his ultimate punch might destroy him.
• Xiao Xuan raised his greatsword and formed an enormous sword phantom bearing the essence of his thirty thousand years of sword cultivation.

Xiao Xuan survived Yan Wuji’s final punch, and Yan Wuji accepted defeat and died. After saying he had settled everything, Xiao Xuan killed himself on the Arena and vanished into a point of dark-silver light.

• Yan Wuji’s golden-white attack collided with Xiao Xuan’s sword phantom, tearing open the Holy Palace’s laws and cracking the Coiling Dragon Pillars.
• Both men remained standing after the clash, though they were gravely wounded.
• Yan Wuji knelt before Xiao Xuan’s sword, admitted defeat, and died in golden-white flames after asking Xiao Xuan to wait for him.
• Xiao Xuan traced the fist mark on his greatsword and said he was going down to find Yan Wuji.
• Xiao Xuan drove the greatsword into his chest, turned into dark-silver light, and disappeared.

Yan Wuji and Xiao Xuan died in the Arena, giving the Chaos Ancient Clan victory. Xiao Xuan’s sacrifice earned the enemy’s respect, while the Origin Continent mourned both fallen prodigies and began to doubt it could win.

• Yan Wuji and Xiao Xuan died in the battle, and the Chaos Ancient Clan claimed victory.
• Chaos Ancient Clan powerhouses praised Xiao Xuan for fighting to repay their kindness and choosing death over surrender.
• The Origin Continent’s cultivators mourned Yan Wuji and Xiao Xuan, recognizing that Xiao Xuan had once been driven away by their own side.
• Origin Continent cultivators recalled their string of defeats and questioned whether they could still win.

Supreme powerhouses in the endless Void debated whether the Arena was needlessly killing the Origin Continent’s young prodigies, but an aged voice defended the test as a way to find those worthy of nurturing. The powerhouses accepted the argument and began studying their own opponents ahead of their future Arena battles.

• A supreme powerhouse questioned whether they were right to let promising young talents die on the Arena.
• Another voice argued that the Arena exposed whether the prodigies were strong enough to deserve further nurturing.
• The powerhouses agreed that the Origin Continent could not afford to wait for potential Saints to emerge by other means.
• An aged voice urged the powerhouses to trust the young fighters and warned them not to perform worse when their own Arena battles came.
• The powerhouses fell silent and began studying their opponents.

The next tournament match began between Li Tian of the Origin Continent and Ling'er of the Chaos Ancient Clan. Li Tian's powerful first axe passed through Ling'er without harming her, leaving the fight's outcome unresolved.

• The tournament resumed with the factions drawing lots for the next match.
• Ling'er appeared for the Chaos Ancient Clan, and Li Tian stepped forward to represent the Origin Continent.
• Ye Lin watched Li Tian and sensed that he was a powerful opponent.
• Li Tian and Ling'er introduced themselves on the Arena.
• Li Tian attacked with his first axe, but its phantom blade passed through Ling'er and struck the Arena instead.

Ling'er explained that her ghostly body shifted between reality and illusion, making Li Tian's material attacks unable to touch her. After his axe strikes all missed, she sent a translucent shadow through his defenses and struck the surface of his Primordial Spirit core.

• Li Tian questioned how Ling'er had let his axe light pass through her without dodging.
• Ling'er said she was the Chaos Ancient Clan's existence closest to a ghost and that attacks had to reach her source to harm her.
• Li Tian launched a faster barrage of axe lights, but Ling'er turned parts of her body into mist and avoided every strike.
• As Li Tian's final axe lights faded, Ling'er sent a white shadow through the arena's barriers toward him.
• Ling'er's Dao of Ghosts pierced Li Tian's spiritual platform and touched his Primordial Spirit core.

Ling'er explained that her Ghost's Touch attacked Li Tian's Primordial Spirit and warned that repeated hits would eventually shatter it. Li Tian endured the pain and frost spreading through his arm as she offered him a chance to surrender.

• Li Tian felt a piercing cold pain erupt from his Primordial Spirit, and frost spread across his right arm.
• Ling'er revealed that the attack was Ghost's Touch, which damaged the Primordial Spirit with every strike.
• Ling'er explained that repeated attacks would progressively fracture Li Tian's Primordial Spirit until it shattered.
• Ling'er warned Li Tian that his axe could miss and still expose him to another Ghost's Touch, then offered him a chance to surrender.
• Li Tian inspected his frozen arm and remained silent.

Li Tian changed tactics against Ling'er, using his dark-gold Force Law to catch her as she shifted between mist and solid form. His axe grazed her arm as she reformed, leaving a dark-gold slash on her white dress.

• Li Tian decided to keep fighting despite Ling'er's ability to stab his Primordial Spirit.
• Li Tian flooded his axe with dark-gold Force Law, making its aura three times heavier.
• Li Tian lunged at Ling'er with his left arm while swinging his axe backward to intercept her return to solid form.
• Li Tian's axe missed Ling'er's body but its Force Law ripples grazed her left arm and marked her dress.
• Ling'er cried out as dark-gold light flickered along the slash in her sleeve.

Li Tian identified Ling'er's condensation habit and struck her true body, but Ling'er revealed that her Ghost's Touch had planted two icy marks in his spiritual platform. She demonstrated a full-strength attack with a hair-thin white thread.

• Ling'er acknowledged that Li Tian had read her condensation pattern and grazed her true body with his axe light.
• Li Tian explained that Ling'er always condensed half a foot to the left of her original position, and Ling'er admitted it was a bad habit.
• Ling'er told Li Tian that Ghost's Touch had already sent another chill into his spiritual platform, leaving him with two icy cracks.
• Ling'er explained that each Ghost's Touch left an ice mark on an opponent's Primordial Spirit and warned that full strength would be more dangerous.
• Ling'er condensed a silver-white ripple into a hair-thin thread and shot it toward Li Tian.

Li Tian endured Ling'er’s attack and learned that she had used only sixty percent of her strength. He changed his fighting style, gathering his force into his body and axe to prepare for close combat.

• Li Tian blocked Ling’er’s white line with his axe, but a tiny fragment struck behind his left ear and caused severe icy pain.
• Li Tian recovered from the blow, though frost spread across his body and blood froze at the corner of his mouth.
• Ling’er told Li Tian that her attack had used sixty percent of her strength.
• Li Tian gathered his Force Law into his body and axe, then announced that he would fight Ling’er at close range.

Li Tian used his compressed Force Law to strike Ling'er while she was intangible, forcing her back into solid form and injuring her. The dark-gold wound continued to erode her Ghost Law protection as silver-white mist escaped from her lips.

• Li Tian approached Ling'er, compressing the Force Law entirely into his body and explaining that a direct hit would crush her.
• Li Tian thrust his axe at Ling'er, who turned intangible and drifted aside.
• Li Tian adjusted his thrust to follow Ling'er's movement and cut deeply into her white-mist form.
• Ling'er was forced back into solid form with a dark-gold scorch mark on her dress and Ghost Power scattered by the blow.

Li Tian identified the direction of Ling'er's phasing and continued attacking despite the damage Ghost's Touch inflicted on his Primordial Spirit. He landed a second hit, while Ling'er's phasing slowed and Li Tian's injuries worsened.

• Li Tian explained that he had read the mist's flow to predict Ling'er's phasing direction and said he would aim each axe strike accordingly.
• Ling'er warned that every strike left another crack in Li Tian's Primordial Spirit through Ghost's Touch.
• Li Tian swung a second axe toward Ling'er's likely dodge route, then redirected it as she phased left and cut into the mist.
• The strike forced Ling'er out of her phased state with a scorch mark on her right arm, while Li Tian suffered a fourth crack in his Primordial Spirit and began bleeding.
• Li Tian said Ling'er's phasing had slowed after being hit twice, making it easier for him to land further attacks.