Chapter Summaries

Hong Yuan infiltrated the burning Hidden Treasury Pagoda and took a pebble-like Buddhist treasure called the Nirvana Dharma Eye, whose influence halted the fighting and filled everyone nearby with a sense of emptiness. Huiming and the Illuminating Veneration Envoy attacked him as the chapter ended.

• Huitong and Huizhi fought Dharma Kings Qingjing and Baosheng while Huiming arrived and discovered that Huizhao had been burned nearly to death.
• Huiming attacked Lady Miaoyun, but she evaded him with her Illusory Flower Painted-Skin Astral Force and joined the Illuminating Veneration Envoy against him.
• Hong Yuan recognized Lady Miaoyun as the Red Lotus Cult woman who had appeared as the Miaoyun Immortal Maiden in the Jade Wutong Immortal Realm, then entered the burning Hidden Treasury Pagoda.
• Hong Yuan reached the pagoda’s highest floor, broke through its Demon-Subduing Painting, and caught a dark, pebble-sized object before the structure collapsed.
• Hong Yuan identified the object’s effect when its ripple stopped the fighting and filled those nearby with hollowness; Huiming and the Illuminating Veneration Envoy then attacked him for the Nirvana Dharma Eye.

Hong Yuan kept the Nirvana Dharma Eye while Vajra Temple and the Red Lotus Cult surrounded him, each claiming the relic. After Qingjing’s failed ambush and Hong Yuan’s counterattack, the battle continued as Hong Yuan confronted the Corpse Puppet and called the three Vajra Temple monks into the fight.

• Huiming and the Illuminating Veneration Envoy joined forces to attack Hong Yuan, but he escaped their assault and kept the Nirvana Dharma Eye.
• Huitong ordered Vajra Temple’s disciples to put out the spreading fire while seven supreme experts and the Corpse Puppet surrounded Hong Yuan.
• Huiming and Red Lotus each claimed the Nirvana Dharma Eye, and Hong Yuan refused to choose a side or help Vajra Temple attack the Red Lotus Cult.
• Qingjing ambushed Hong Yuan, but Hong Yuan pierced his chest and destroyed his heart; Baosheng charged at Hong Yuan and was blasted backward by a punch.
• Hong Yuan saw through the Illuminating Veneration Envoy’s Mirror-Realm Mental Method, kicked the bronze-masked Corpse Puppet, and called Huiming, Huitong, and Huizhi to join the fight.

Hong Yuan overpowered the three Hui monks, killed Huitong, and fought off the Red Lotus Cult’s attacks. He broke Red Lotus’s illusion, wounded her, and tore away her painted skin, while the Illuminating Veneration Envoy retreated.

• Hong Yuan shattered the three Hui monks’ linked defenses, crushed Huiming’s fist, and killed Huitong with a strike to the throat.
• Hong Yuan used Flowing Cloud Unfixed Force to deflect Huizhi’s attack, then hurled Huitong’s head into the Hundred-Poison Corpse Puppet.
• Red Lotus trapped Hong Yuan in an illusion, but he broke it and countered attacks from Huiming and the Illuminating Veneration Envoy.
• Hong Yuan wounded Huiming and the Illuminating Veneration Envoy, who called for retreat and vanished.
• Hong Yuan pursued Red Lotus, cut off her hand and took her bell, then tore away her painted skin to reveal her patterned, stitched face.

Hong Yuan defeated the Red Lotus Cult and Vajra Temple experts at the temple, then forced Vajra Temple to hand over its martial arts manuals. As he studied the collection, Huiming explained that Red Lotus’s Ghost Astral Art was an ancient Spirit Refining method said to grant immortality, while Hong Yuan suspected he was being baited.

• Hong Yuan crushed Red Lotus, pursued the fleeing Dharma King Baosheng, pierced his palms, and ordered him to stay put while sparing his life.
• After the fires were extinguished, the ruined Vajra Temple and the name Myriad Calamities Daoist became the focus of Songyang Commandery’s powerful families and gangs.
• Hong Yuan made Huiming and Huizhi provide the temple’s Force Arts, True Arts, and two Astral Body manuals, then quickly memorized and studied them.
• Hong Yuan found that Turning Dharani Force could advance his plans for Eight Forces Unification and examined the temple’s other cultivation methods.
• Hong Yuan asked Huiming about Red Lotus’s unusual Astral Art, and Huiming identified it as the ancient Ghost Astral Art, a Spirit Refining method rumored to grant immortality.
• Hong Yuan recognized Huiming’s explanation as an attempt to lure him toward the dangerous Ghost Astral Art and dismissed the bait.

Hong Yuan searched Vajra Temple’s libraries for knowledge of the Phantom-Soul Astral Art and learned that its practitioners refined their spirits into phantom souls anchored to Spirit Vessels. He then used a bell to awaken Song Yinglong’s Corpse Puppet and sent it crashing through a stone wall.

• Hong Yuan questioned Huiming about the Phantom-Soul Astral Art, then ordered Huiming and Huizhi to take him to Vajra Temple’s libraries.
• Hong Yuan spent three days reading Vajra Temple’s books and learned that phantom souls needed Spirit Vessels to endure in the world.
• Hong Yuan found an account linking a Spirit Vessel in Wushan County to deaths at a well, and speculated that monsters and demons were transformed astral cultivators.
• Hong Yuan examined the dormant Nirvana Dharma Eye, recalled the mural in the Hidden Treasury Pagoda, and put the eye away.
• Hong Yuan visited the imprisoned Song Yinglong and rang a bell, awakening him as a Corpse Puppet.
• Song Yinglong’s Corpse Puppet attacked Hong Yuan, who kicked him through a stone wall.

Hong Yuan discovered how to control the Corpse Puppet and questioned Dharma King Baosheng about the Red Lotus Cult. He then pressured Vajra Temple into publicly executing Baosheng in one month, hoping to draw the Red Lotus Cult and its Holy Lord into a confrontation.

• Hong Yuan found a rune-covered Jade Token and countless insects inside the Corpse Puppet, then tuned his bell until he could command it without making it roar.
• Hong Yuan ordered Vajra Temple's monks to clean the Corpse Puppet and fit it with fresh armor and a mask, then questioned Dharma King Baosheng about the Red Lotus Cult.
• Huiming and Huizhi brought Hong Yuan martial arts gathered from Songyang Commandery's clans and sects.
• Hong Yuan argued that Dharma King Baosheng should be executed publicly, and Huiming and Huizhi reacted with alarm.
• Hong Yuan declared that the public execution would take place in one month and ordered the monks to spread the announcement.

Hong Yuan arranged a public execution of the Red Lotus demoness and Dharma King Baosheng, prompting news of his victory at Vajra Temple to spread across the martial world. As martial artists converged on Songyang Commandery, Qinglingzi arrived at Vajra Temple and was confronted by Nan Guyun, who asked whether Alliance Leader Hong had come.

• Hong Yuan secured Huiming and Huizhi's agreement to hold a public execution and later left Vajra Temple to enjoy the winter scenery.
• Xie Lingjun, the Chen Family representative, and the Wang Family representative discussed Hong Yuan's defeat of multiple masters before learning that the Red Lotus demoness and Dharma King Baosheng would be executed.
• A pale-faced man and a man surnamed Zuo ordered the Azure Coin Agents to spread the news and summoned Yi Twelve because of his promising nephew.
• Reports of Hong Yuan's battle at Vajra Temple and the planned execution spread throughout the world, drawing martial artists toward Songyang Commandery.
• Nan Guyun arrived outside Vajra Temple as a Sea-Calming Alliance delegation led by Qinglingzi approached.
• Nan Guyun blocked Qinglingzi and asked whether Alliance Leader Hong had arrived.

At the Vajra Temple, Nan Guyun arrived from the Huaxi Sword Sect and was led to meet Hong Yuan, while the temple’s senior monks struggled with the Six Voids Force Hong Yuan had implanted in them. Hong Yuan refined Void Force Corrosion and ended the chapter by challenging Nan Guyun to draw his sword.

• Nan Guyun introduced himself at the Vajra Temple, where Liaoru welcomed him and led him inside as the crowd outside demanded entry and news of the Myriad Calamities Daoist.
• Huiming and Huizhi greeted Nan Guyun, then discussed how the Six Voids Force implanted by Hong Yuan disrupted their blood and qi and suppressed their martial arts.
• Hong Yuan reflected on Void Force Corrosion, a technique that planted Six Voids Force in another person’s body, and considered refining it into an enduring tribulation force.
• Liaoru brought Nan Guyun to Hong Yuan’s meditation courtyard, where Nan Guyun sensed Hong Yuan’s overwhelming presence and reached for his sword.
• Hong Yuan praised the Huaxi Sword Sect’s swordsmanship and told Nan Guyun to draw his sword.

Hong Yuan tested Nan Guyun’s Huaxi Swordsmanship, defeated him with a finger, and secretly planted Six Voids Force in him. He then searched Songyang Commandery for powerful figures, singled out Xie Lingjun, and brought Qinglingzi to the Vajra Temple to retrieve a Corpse Puppet.

• Hong Yuan made Nan Guyun draw his sword and easily broke through his Flower Shadow Flowing Light Sword, sending Nan Guyun’s weapon flying and planting Six Voids Force in him.
• Nan Guyun accepted his defeat but insisted that his loss did not reflect the quality of Huaxi Swordsmanship, and Hong Yuan invited him to stay at the Vajra Temple.
• Hong Yuan surveyed Songyang Commandery and secretly planted Six Voids Force in dozens of notable martial artists and lineage members.
• Hong Yuan discovered Xie Lingjun of the Xie Family, whose martial arts and unusual eyes nearly exposed him, and suspected the Red Lotus Cult was pursuing another plan.
• Hong Yuan carried Qinglingzi from a restaurant to the Vajra Temple and showed him the bronze-masked Corpse Puppet, which he told Qinglingzi to take back as a powerful ally.

Hong Yuan learned that the Red Lotus Cult had seized Lotus County and threatened its residents to force the Myriad Calamities Daoist into a duel. He entered the town with Nan Guyun, and as the Red Lotus Holy Lord prepared to carry out her threat, Hong Yuan burst into the cult’s hideout.

• Hong Yuan trained Qinglingzi to control Song Yinglong’s Corpse Puppet and planted Six Voids Force in more targets while experts gathered in Songyang Commandery.
• The Red Lotus Cult’s envoys learned that the Yinshan Sect and Nine Tribulations Chan Monastery would not join them, and the Red Lotus Holy Lord declared she would defeat the Myriad Calamities Daoist herself.
• The Red Lotus Cult occupied Lotus County, killed its magistrate, and threatened to burn the town unless the Myriad Calamities Daoist appeared by the hour of the rooster.
• Hong Yuan persuaded Huiming to lead Vajra Temple’s warrior monks to Lotus County, then carried Nan Guyun into town to observe the Red Lotus Cult’s martial arts.
• As the Red Lotus Holy Lord prepared to burn the town, Hong Yuan broke into the cult’s residence and declared that everyone there could die.

Hong Yuan attacked the Red Lotus Cult’s gathering, clashing with the Red Lotus Holy Lord and the two envoys while Nan Guyun fought the cult’s other experts. The battle drew martial artists and Black Armor Army soldiers to the scene as the fighting continued.

• Hong Yuan burst into the Red Lotus Cult’s residence and collapsed the building, killing several members while fighting the Red Lotus Holy Lord and his two envoys.
• Hong Yuan rejected the Red Lotus Holy Lord’s offer to make him the next cult leader and demanded to know about the Nirvana Dharma Eye and the cult’s martial arts.
• The Red Lotus Holy Lord attacked Hong Yuan with a mind-shaking karmafire technique, but Hong Yuan resisted and struck him with immense physical strength.
• The Illuminating Veneration Envoy, the Venerable Envoy of Annihilation, and the Red Lotus Holy Lord attacked Hong Yuan together as Nan Guyun engaged the other Red Lotus Cult experts.
• Martial artists gathered to watch the battle, and Black Armor Army soldiers arrived under the command of Red Lotus Cult senior members.

Hong Yuan fought the Red Lotus Holy Lord and the cult’s two envoys, overcoming their mental techniques and revealing that he could combine multiple forces. He killed the Red Lotus Holy Lord, while the other two envoys remained in the fight.

• Several hundred Red Lotus Cult soldiers charged the residence, but the combatants’ battle shattered its walls and scattered the soldiers.
• Hong Yuan resisted the Red Lotus Holy Lord’s and the two envoys’ mental attacks, then used Six Voids Force to withstand the Venerable Envoy of Annihilation’s vitality-draining strike.
• Hong Yuan captured the Venerable Envoy of Annihilation and forced the Red Lotus Holy Lord and the Illuminating Veneration Envoy to fight with Variant Force.
• Hong Yuan combined three forces in a single punch, shocking the Red Lotus Holy Lord and breaking through his defenses.
• The Red Lotus Holy Lord tried to unleash a final fiery attack, but Hong Yuan’s punch overwhelmed him and killed him.

Hong Yuan defeated the Red Lotus Cult’s forces in Lotus County, killing the supposed Red Lotus Holy Lord and capturing two envoys, while Yandao rescued Baosheng from the Vajra Temple. Hong Yuan then pressed the envoys to recognize him as the cult’s new sovereign and reveal its true art.

• Hong Yuan killed the Red Lotus Holy Lord, captured the Illuminating Veneration Envoy, and routed the cult’s soldiers while Nan Guyun defeated the remaining leaders.
• Hong Yuan questioned whether the dead woman was truly the Red Lotus Holy Lord, then sent Nan Guyun to bring Vajra Temple monks to clean up.
• Yandao entered the Vajra Temple, resisted Huichi’s attack, and took Baosheng from his stone chamber despite the restrictions on Baosheng’s body.
• Hong Yuan learned that Yandao had rescued Baosheng and decided to remember the Nine Tribulations Chan Monastery’s interference.
• Hong Yuan asked the two captured envoys to recognize him as the Red Lotus Cult’s new sovereign and demanded to learn the cult’s true art.

Xie Lingjun visited Vajra Temple to offer martial arts to the Myriad Calamities Daoist, whose defeat of the Red Lotus Cult had drawn powerful figures from across the realm. He witnessed Hong Yuan emerge from an illusion while practicing a True Art and learn that the captured envoys’ arts could improve Comprehension as well as Root Bone.

• Xie Lingjun observed the many clans, principalities, and military powers gathered to present gifts to the Myriad Calamities Daoist.
• He recalled that the Heaven Ranking placed the Myriad Calamities Daoist third among fifty southern experts.
• A Guest-Receiving Monk invited Xie Lingjun into Vajra Temple after he presented a brocade box containing one True Art and two Subtlety-level Force Arts.
• Xie Lingjun entered a meditation courtyard and found Nan Guyun intently watching strange ripples in the air.
• Hong Yuan appeared as an illusion shattered, then reflected that the Mirror-Realm Mental Method and Taiyin Soul-Slaying Curse could improve Comprehension as well as Root Bone.

After subduing the Red Lotus Cult’s envoys, Hong Yuan studied their secret arts and received gifts from the Jiangling Xie Family. Xie Lingjun invited him to watch Yuan Nutao challenge Bei Mingzi in a Heaven Ranking fight scheduled as a warm-up for the Qionghua Martial Assembly.

• Hong Yuan continued studying the Mirror-Realm Mental Method and the Taiyin Soul-Slaying Curse, learning how their powers worked.
• Xie Lingjun visited Hong Yuan on behalf of the Jiangling Xie Family and presented him with a brocade box containing three martial arts books.
• Hong Yuan accepted the gift and offered Xie Lingjun three answers to questions about martial studies.
• Xie Lingjun told Hong Yuan that Yuan Nutao had challenged Bei Mingzi over their Heaven Ranking positions.
• Xie Lingjun gave Hong Yuan an invitation to the fight at Wuwang Peak on the twentieth day of the second month.

Hong Yuan accepted the factions’ gifts and arranged a collective audience while continuing to study potential specimens for Void Force Corrosion. At the Tao Residence, a pale-faced stranger who claimed kinship with Hong Yuan attacked the guards, fought Qinglingzi and Qingsongzi, and triggered the arrival of a figure in Black Iron Armor.

• Hong Yuan accepted the invitation to Wuwang Peak and guided Xie Lingjun through his questions about the Xie Clan Secret Art, while secretly observing him as a specimen.
• After Xie Lingjun left, Hong Yuan instructed Nan Guyun to gather representatives from the factions for an audience.
• A pale-faced man arrived at the Tao Residence, killed guards with strange black specks, and claimed that he and Hong Yuan were family.
• Qinglingzi and Qingsongzi attacked the stranger, but he parried their swords with twin short blades and wounded a gray-clad martial master.
• Qinglingzi rang a bell as he retreated with Qingsongzi, and a figure in Black Iron Armor burst through the residence walls toward the fight.

Qinglingzi used the Hundred-Poison Corpse Puppet to fight off a formidable pale-faced intruder who attacked the residence. The enemy escaped, and Qinglingzi resumed guarding Xu Qingjing and Tao Xiyue while Hong Yuan remained away.

• The pale-faced man recognized that the charging armored figure was a corpse puppet and focused on Qinglingzi’s bell.
• Qinglingzi controlled the Hundred-Poison Corpse Puppet as it attacked the pale-faced man, whose blades wounded it and released corrosive poison.
• Qinglingzi warned the guards and martial artists to retreat from the spreading green vapor, while the corpse puppet continued fighting the pale-faced man.
• The pale-faced man failed to damage the puppet with his gu worms and retreated after knocking it aside; Qinglingzi stopped the puppet from pursuing him.
• Xu Qingjing and Tao Xiyue emerged from a secret chamber, and Qinglingzi told them that Hong Yuan’s contingency had driven the enemy away.

Yu Wuhen was captured by Corpse Fly of the Green Coin Organization, while Hong Yuan tested his newly combined martial arts and attacked the Red Dragon Gang. After killing the gang’s leader and finding a human-bone token, Hong Yuan was confronted by a white figure using the Phantom-Soul Astral Art.

• Corpse Fly tracked Yu Wuhen to a river in the prefectural city, pierced him with black ants, and captured him after identifying his Illusory Poison Art.
• Nan Guyun told Hong Yuan that the Green Coin Organization might have issued the Heaven Ranking, and Hong Yuan left Vajra Temple to test his new skills.
• The Viper Strategist lured Zhu Yunling, the Seven Heroes of Songyang, and a band of avengers into a trap set by the Red Dragon Gang at Floating Dragon Lake.
• Hong Yuan arrived above the gang’s ship, used illusions and a killing curse to devastate the pirates, then crossed the lake to Red Dragon Island.
• Hong Yuan killed the maddened Red Dragon, retrieved a human-bone token from his chest, and saw a white figure cling to his back.

Hong Yuan examined a spirit vessel containing a phantom soul, then returned to Linjiang Prefecture and learned that the Green Coin Organization had attacked his residence and abducted Yu Wuhen. With Song Yinglong dead and Yu Wuhen missing, Hong Yuan turned his attention to an old friend as the Dragon Cavalry Army was left without a leader.

• Hong Yuan tested his blood energy and Taiyin Soul-Slaying Curse against the phantom soul in the Human Bone Plaque, then kept the cracked plaque for study.
• Hong Yuan left the battle at Red Dragon Island and traveled to Linjiang Prefecture.
• Qinglingzi told Hong Yuan that an attacker had struck the Tao Residence and left the characters for “Yu” and “Green Fly” at a riverbank.
• Hong Yuan confirmed that Yu Wuhen was missing and realized the Green Coin Organization had abducted him.
• Hong Yuan decided to visit an old friend because Song Yinglong was dead and Yu Wuhen could no longer lead the Dragon Cavalry Army.

Key plot points and events

• Yang Lie enjoys his comfortable place in Mangcang Mountain’s martial estate, where the fighters who once watched him now treat him warmly.
• He knows their friendliness is largely due to his powerful friend Hong Yuan, and cheerfully admits he has stopped trying to match Hong Yuan’s achievements.
• Yang Lie explains that Song Yinglong previously forced him into discipleship and restricted his movements, but the surveillance and hostility have since disappeared.
• Wu Duxiong tests Yang Lie with a sudden attack, then asks about his relationship with Thirteenth Lady and urges him to settle down.
• Hong Yuan appears and announces that Song Yinglong will not be returning. He hints that Yang Lie is to marry Thirteenth Lady, take control of Dragon Charger, and “reach the pinnacle of life.”

Character developments and interactions

• Yang Lie remains lazy and self-deprecating, but is socially shrewd: he recognizes that people’s sudden warmth comes from his association with Hong Yuan. He is comfortable relying on his friend rather than competing with him. He and Thirteenth Lady seem close, though he is hesitant about marrying her without Song Yinglong’s approval.
• Wu Duxiong acts as a protective, blunt elder. His attack checks that Yang Lie has not grown complacent, and his questions reveal concern for Yang Lie’s future.
• Hong Yuan returns with a strikingly elevated presence, suggesting his strength and status have advanced further. His casual confidence—and his declaration that Song Yinglong will not return—signals that he can now reshape the situation.
• The three men share easy familiarity: Yang Lie greets Hong Yuan joyfully, Wu Duxiong recognizes the change in him, and Hong Yuan teases Yang Lie with an ambitious future.

Significant themes

• Power reshapes social relationships: Yang Lie’s improved treatment stems less from his own standing than from Hong Yuan’s influence.
• Contentment versus ambition: Yang Lie abandons the goal of matching his friend and embraces an easier, more comfortable life.
• Friendship and loyalty: Hong Yuan’s rise brings security and opportunity to those close to him.
• Marriage and succession: Wu Duxiong’s concern for the Yang family line, together with Hong Yuan’s announcement, frames Yang Lie’s possible marriage as both personal and political.