Chapter Summaries

Key Plot Points and Events

• The Li Chen Sect's Tai Mother flying ship travels westward towards the Sword Garden Grand Event.
• On the ship, over twenty cultivators gather, including half of the sect's forty participants for the event.
• The ship descends, revealing a vast area with thousands of cultivators and bonfires, marking the start of the grand event.

Character Developments

• Yu Ci, the protagonist, has been focused on refining his golden-green silk sash and has rarely interacted with others on the ship, leading many to not recognize him.
• Li You, Yu Ci's friend, explains the identities and backgrounds of several notable cultivators on the ship.
• Hua Xifeng, a senior brother from the Moral Branch, is introduced as a steady and formidable cultivator with a unique skill to track individuals based on their distinct auras.
• Zhang Yan, another friend of Yu Ci, reminds him to seek opportunities within the Sword Garden and avoid provoking others, given the presence of powerful cultivators from various sects.

Significant Themes

• The power and influence of the Li Chen Sect, demonstrated by the strength of its fourth-generation disciples.
• The anticipation and excitement for the Sword Garden Grand Event, with thousands of cultivators gathering and preparing for the event.
• The potential dangers and opportunities within the Sword Garden, hinted at by Zhang Yan's warning to Yu Ci.

Character Interactions

• Li You and Yu Ci discuss the cultivators on the ship, with Li You providing insights into their backgrounds and personalities.
• Hua Xifeng examines Yu Ci's sword and collects his unique aura characteristics using his 'Heaven and Earth Interconnection Divine Response Technique.'
• Zhang Yan offers Yu Ci advice on navigating the Sword Garden Grand Event, highlighting the presence of powerful cultivators from other sects.

Yu Ci reunited with Yu Zhou at the Li Chen Sect retreat before the sword garden opened, and learned more about the gathering’s rival factions and the history of Mr. Zhu. The sword garden opened unexpectedly, leaving Yu Zhou asking whether the disciples were prepared.

• The Li Chen Sect cultivators arrived at the White Cloud Diagram retreat, where Zhang Yan warned Yu Ci about powerful rival factions nearby.
• Yu Zhou appeared at the retreat and told the cultivators to preserve their strength because the sword garden might open before its expected time.
• Yu Zhou praised Yu Ci’s progress and heard Li You recount Yu Ci’s encounter with Mr. Zhu, then explained that Mr. Zhu had survived the destruction of the Shangqing Sect.
• A pillar of gray smoke rose beyond the archway as the earth and sky shook, and Yu Zhou announced that the sword garden had opened wide.

Yu Ci and the Li Chen Sect disciples entered the Sword Garden, but an ambush disrupted their formation and scattered them across the vast, distorted space. Hua Xifeng gathered most of the group and sensed that Yu Ci had entered too, though he was more than a thousand miles away.

• The Li Chen Sect disciples prepared overnight, then Hua Xifeng led forty cultivators toward the Sword Garden in a coordinated formation.
• A Black Lightning Shuttle struck the silver cocoon as the group reached the entrance, disrupting the formation and preventing some disciples from entering.
• Hua Xifeng entered the Sword Garden and found himself alone on a boundless gray plain.
• Hua Xifeng sent a crimson contact flying star and gathered twenty fellow disciples, while six others remained unaccounted for.
• Li You noticed Yu Ci was missing, and Hua Xifeng sensed that Yu Ci had entered but was more than a thousand miles away.

Yu Ci entered the Sword Garden and repelled an ambush by marauding thieves, killing their leader with the Nine Luminaries Dragon Abyss Sword Talisman. The sword strike carried him to a confrontation with members of the Heavy Artifact Sect, whose imposing appearance left him stunned.

• Yu Ci sensed the Sword Garden’s dense vital energy and killing aura as he explored the wilderness.
• Pang Ji and Guo Yuan ambushed Yu Ci with a cursed sword, fire talismans, and flying swords, but Yu Ci’s sword art killed three attackers.
• Yu Ci used the Star-Shooting Disc to send the Nine Luminaries Dragon Abyss Sword Talisman after the fleeing Guo Yuan and Pang Ji.
• Yu Ci sensed the ichthyodragon’s perception and used Respond to Opportunity to strike Pang Ji more than ten miles away.
• A group from the Heavy Artifact Sect found Pang Ji’s corpse and demanded to know who had killed him, while Yu Ci saw their immense, imposing figures through the ichthyodragon.

Yu Ci watched a heavily armored group from the Heavy Artifact Sect inspect Pang Ji’s corpse and discovered that its leader could strike him through the Fish-Dragon from ten li away. When the two armored cultivators left behind turned toward him, Yu Ci realized they were both Core Formation cultivators and fled.

• A Heavy Artifact Sect group arrived at Pang Ji’s corpse, and one of its members identified him as Poison Wolf Pang Ji and his weapon as the Curse Sword Conch.
• Elder Ma revealed that he had once dealt with Pang Ji, while the group’s leader casually discarded the conch.
• The leader’s gaze struck Yu Ci through the Fish-Dragon across ten li, making Yu Ci stagger.
• The leader departed with most of the group, leaving two armored cultivators behind to clean up.
• Yu Ci sensed that both remaining cultivators were at Core Formation and immediately turned to flee.

Yu Ci escaped two Core Formation cultivators by hiding underground, but the sword garden’s hostile metal Qi left him badly injured. After he spotted the abandoned Curse Sword Conch, a new cultivator arrived, claimed it, and was struck by sudden blue lightning.

• Yu Ci used the Breath-Light Evasion Technique and mist-like sword intent to conceal himself from the Thunder Duke Mask female cultivator.
• Yu Ci doubled back underground and hid beneath Pang Ji’s corpse until the two Core Formation cultivators left, enduring severe injuries from the sword garden’s Geng Metal Qi.
• Yu Ci treated his wounds and decided not to pursue the Heavy Artifact Sect, then moved to take the nearby Curse Sword Conch.
• A newcomer used a ring of sword Qi to enclose the conch and approached, claiming the artifact as its rightful owner’s or his own.
• Blue electric fire suddenly flashed at the newcomer as he drew the Curse Sword Conch into his grasp.

Yu Ci escaped Xiao Fuyun’s attacks, but Xiao used a soul-capturing smoke pot to strike him down while seeking the location of the Donghou Tomb. A Heavy Artifact Sect cultivator intervened, and Yu Ci vanished beneath the earth as another Core Formation cultivator arrived to confront Xiao.

• The curse sword conch shocked Xiao Fuyun when he picked it up, giving Yu Ci time to retreat and defend himself with Meng Wei’s Flawless Sword Circle.
• Xiao Fuyun identified Yu Ci as a rising star of the Li Chen Sect, introduced himself, and used Soul Hooking Ghost Howl to leave Yu Ci apparently dazed.
• Xiao Fuyun cast the smoke net from his Chaotic Nine-Hole Soul-Dispersing Smoke Pot to capture Yu Ci’s soul and force him to reveal the Donghou Tomb’s location.
• A female cultivator in heavy armor and a Thunder Duke Mask arrived, recognized Xiao Fuyun, and sent a golden signal for help.
• Xiao Fuyun’s smoke net passed through Yu Ci, who collapsed and disappeared into the soil as the female cultivator attacked with an electric whip.
• Another Core Formation cultivator arrived and attacked Xiao Fuyun with a black light shuttle.

Yu Ci escaped the three core formation cultivators by using the Grand Unity Star Pivot to lure the Heavy Artifact Sect cultivator away, then hid in a poisonous swamp and meditated. After emerging, he found Pang Ji’s remains and the Curse Sword Conch at the battle site, where something suddenly caught his attention.

• Yu Ci used the Grand Unity Star Pivot to send an avatar ahead while he concealed himself with the Heavenly River Auspicious Prayer Curse and fled underground.
• Yu Ci hid deep in the poisonous swamp, and the Heavy Artifact Sect male cultivator chased the avatar’s aura past him.
• Yu Ci meditated in the swamp and cultivated by drawing anomalous qi into his Inner Void until he reached his limit.
• Yu Ci emerged after Xiao Fuyun and the Heavy Artifact Sect cultivators had disappeared, then returned to their ruined battlefield.
• Yu Ci found Pang Ji’s charred remains and the Curse Sword Conch, then noticed something that made him stop.

Yu Ci found a token on Pang Ji that explained how the thieves had passed through the Sword Garden’s outer seal, then used a ruined sword cultivator’s tomb as a hiding place. While meditating nearby, he sensed a group of people appearing from the void and searching for the Rakshasa fiend.

• Yu Ci took an intricately patterned iron shard from Pang Ji and learned it could protect its bearer from Sword Qi and grant passage through the Sword Garden’s outer seal.
• Yu Ci headed for the senior sword cultivator’s tomb, hoping to hide there while avoiding Xiao Fuyun and the Heavy Artifact Sect.
• Yu Ci found the tomb looted and the senior’s bones scattered, saluted the remains, and promised to bury them elsewhere when he left.
• Yu Ci chose a nearby rock crevice as his shelter and practiced Clear and Still Void while the fish-dragon scouted the area.
• The fish-dragon spotted several figures appearing from the void and heard them say the Rakshasa fiend had vanished nearby.

Yu Ci hid in a mountain crevice as Half-Mountain Island, Pan Huang Sect, and Dongyang Orthodox Sect cultivators gathered nearby and discussed their rivalries and the Heavy Artifact Sect. After the others left, someone concealed in the rock strata called out to Yu Ci.

• Yu Ci concealed the fish-dragon and watched Ye Ming of Half-Mountain Island meet Bu Cuo of the Pan Huang Sect.
• Xiao Fuyun arrived with a large Dongyang Orthodox Sect force and mocked Ye Ming, who soon vanished after receiving a warning from his fellow sect members.
• Xiao Fuyun asked Bu Cuo about the Heavy Artifact Sect, then left after receiving news about his quarry.
• Bu Cuo invited a hidden Rakshasa Sect cultivator to join his brothers in exploring a sword cultivator's tomb, but found no one and departed with them.
• Yu Ci prepared his Nine Luminaries Dragon Abyss Sword Talisman, and a voice from deep in the rock strata called him Senior Immortal Yu.

Incense Slave awakened in Yu Ci’s hiding place after escaping Ye Ming’s attack, and Yu Ci followed her group toward the other sects while investigating his suspicions about her. Meanwhile, Xiao Fuyun used the Void Mirror Disk to search for his quarry, but its revelation drew an armored figure from the sky, who immediately destroyed it.

• Incense Slave remembered why she had joined the Rakshasa Sect, thanked Yu Ci for rescuing her, and contacted her fellow disciples after he appeared to leave.
• Yu Ci secretly watched Incense Slave reunite with her companions and decided to follow them toward the Dongyang and Pan Huang forces instead of heading toward the Marquis Dong Tomb.
• Xiao Fuyun ordered the Dongyang Orthodox Sect cultivators to use their Void Mirror Disk to find the Heavy Artifact Sect cultivator, despite Ji Long and Lian Chang’s objections.
• The mirror revealed Li Chen Sect cultivators and an unusual artifact, prompting Ji Long to alter the search incantations and summon a pillar of azure light.
• An azure-armored figure emerged from the light, called the cultivators annoying, and shattered the Void Mirror Disk.

An armored cultivator slaughtered the Dongyang Orthodox Sect party with the Ten Directions Hell Shaking Ghosts and Gods Method, then left Yu Ci to confront the lingering curse. Yu Ci overcame the attack and transformed his inner void, but the armored cultivator struck him down from a hundred miles away, burying him beneath the earth.

• The armored cultivator broke the thirteen Core Formation cultivators’ formation, killed several of them, and sent Xiao Fuyun fleeing with the Heavenly Demon Self-Sacrifice Technique.
• Yu Ci reached the slaughter site and discovered that more than forty Dongyang Orthodox Sect cultivators, including twelve Core Formation cultivators, had died.
• The victims’ resentful thoughts triggered the armored cultivator’s hidden technique, overwhelming Yu Ci with their fear and threatening to collapse his inner void.
• Yu Ci realized that he was different and used his sword intent to dispel the fear, reorganizing his inner void and producing a thread of spiritual light.
• The armored cultivator praised Yu Ci’s resolve, then sent a speck of starlight a hundred miles to strike him and bury him deep beneath the ground.

Buried beneath the earth by a distant cultivator, Yu Ci used his hard-won insight into life and death to rebuild his Inner Void around a new Life and Death Talisman. He remained trapped underground, but his reorganized spirit essence began absorbing the essence of the outside world.

• Yu Ci recognized that relying on the True Dragon Form Qi had left a flaw in his mind-image and resolved to rebuild it from his understanding of life and death.
• After realizing he should begin with what he knew best, Yu Ci repeatedly drew talismans in the Inner Void until his spirit essence formed the Life and Death Talisman.
• Yu Ci restored the Inner Void’s former landscape and made the True Dragon Form Qi, the Zhaoshen Bronze Mirror, the Dao Scripture Master Treasure Seal, and the twin-hook palace cord serve as support for his new mind-image.
• Yu Ci tried to escape the earthen prison but found the earth too hard to break through, even with the Five Elements escape technique.
• As Yu Ci’s reorganized essence overcame much of the restriction, a mechanism opened in the Inner Void and the essence of the outside world poured into him.

Yu Ci escaped the underground prison after the Life and Death Talisman refined the sword garden’s dangerous qi into power that replenished his own. He recovered the Void Mirror Disk from Ji Long and set out to pursue Xiao Fuyun, but something went wrong in his body along the way.

• The Life and Death Talisman adapted to the sword garden’s qi, filtering out baleful intent and strengthening Yu Ci’s circulating power.
• Yu Ci shattered the earth prison with sword qi and rushed to the site where the Dongyang Orthodox Sect cultivators had died.
• Yu Ci took the Void Mirror Disk from Ji Long and recognized its connection to his Zhaoshen Bronze Mirror and the Eighteen Heavenly Demon Illustrations.
• Yu Ci sent the fish-dragon to track Xiao Fuyun and pursued him, hoping to learn more and keep the Dongyang Orthodox Sect from discovering what had happened.
• After traveling barely a hundred miles, Yu Ci sensed that something was amiss within his body.

Yu Ci used the Flawless Sword Circle to ease the pressure from the Life and Death Talisman’s surging primordial qi while traveling toward Xiao Fuyun. He was ambushed near Xiao Fuyun’s hidden healing site and recognized the powerful man commanding the attackers as Di She of the Light Demon Sect just as their auras closed in.

• Yu Ci formed the Flawless Sword Circle and drew the pressure in his body into his dantian, where it began to dissolve.
• The fish-dragon showed Yu Ci a talisman array and blood-colored flame beside Xiao Fuyun’s sword, prompting him to hurry toward the site.
• Yu Ci stopped before reaching the cliff after sensing danger, and six hidden attackers revealed themselves around him.
• A man on the mountain demanded Yu Ci surrender valuables and kowtow, while Yu Ci judged that he might defeat some of the six but could not match their leader.
• Yu Ci recognized the man as Di She of the Light Demon Sect, and Di She’s six substitute puppets closed in on him.

Yu Ci fought off Di She and his puppet avatars, then joined a red-clad cultivator who came to his aid. The two faced Di She’s group together, and the woman asked whether Yu Ci was a disciple of Half-Mountain.

• Yu Ci killed one of Di She’s puppet avatars and forced a Core Formation pursuer and Di She back with his sword strikes.
• Yu Ci broke through the encirclement and fled through the mountains as Di She ordered his remaining followers to pursue.
• Di She taunted Yu Ci by insulting Ye Bin, and Yu Ci grew angry at his words.
• A red-clad cultivator attacked Di She’s group with the Azure Water Three Thousand Sword Art, and Yu Ci turned back to join her.
• The red-clad cultivator recognized Yu Ci’s Mirage Light sword embryo and asked whether he was a disciple of Half-Mountain.

Yu Ci escaped Di She's encirclement, defeated a Core Formation cultivator guarding Xiao Fuyun, and attacked the talisman formation to reach him. The chapter ended as Yu Ci sent a star-dust talisman into the ground, making Xiao Fuyun scream under the effect of the Nameless Tribulation Star Soul Shattering Divine Light.

• Yu Ci used a sword strike to create an opening for Su Yu, then escaped as Ye Ming arrived with Half-Mountain Island reinforcements to confront Di She.
• Yu Ci returned to Xiao Fuyun's cliffside talisman formation, exposed the hidden guards with a Five Thunder Talisman, and killed one Spirit cultivator.
• Yu Ci fought the Core Formation guard, wounded him severely despite being struck by yuan-magnetic sword force, and recognized that he could now contend with Core Formation cultivators.
• Yu Ci stabbed the talisman formation with the Xiguang Sword, then released prepared stardust from the Zhaoshen Bronze Mirror into the ground.
• Xiao Fuyun screamed as Yu Ci's stardust unleashed the Nameless Tribulation Star Soul Shattering Divine Light.

Yu Ci defeated Xiao Fuyun, but Di Tianluo’s remote control turned Xiao into a blood-mist attack while a lean woman wielding Aurora Yuan Magnetism ambushed Yu Ci. Yu Ci struck back before crashing at the cliff’s base, where a vast collapse revealed a powerful sword-cultivator secret treasure.

• Yu Ci shattered the talisman array with the Nameless Tribulation Star Soul Shattering Divine Light, ruined Xiao Fuyun’s Dao foundation, and questioned him through the Soul-Shaking Technique.
• A ghostly green light claimed two items from Xiao Fuyun’s storage ring, and Yu Ci realized the speaker was stalling before warning Half-Mountain Island that Di Tianluo was coming.
• Di Tianluo remotely restarted Xiao Fuyun’s Heavenly Demon Body Sacrifice Method, and Yu Ci cut Xiao in half before escaping the exploding blood mist.
• A lean figure attacked Yu Ci with Aurora Yuan Magnetism, but Yu Ci struck her Qi-operation node before she smashed him into the cliff base.
• The lean figure sensed a sword-cultivator secret treasure as a ten-mile area collapsed, exposing a cavernous void and surging Geng Metal Qi.

A newly opened Sword Garden cavern drew Ye Ming’s group and Di Tianluo’s forces into its depths, while Yu Ci hid among the caves after wounding Di Tianluo. His Life and Death Talisman quickly restored his qi and formed another coil in his dantian, and his inward exploration opened a vision of the Inner Void.

• Ye Ming and Su Yu discussed the pure Innate Geng Metal Qi, Yu Ci’s apparent false sword embryo, and his likely survival after the battle.
• Di Tianluo and Di She descended into the cavern, using the Blood Shadow Demonic Beast formed from Xiao Fuyun to track Yu Ci.
• Di Tianluo sensed a nearby presence and damaged the cave wall, but Yu Ci remained concealed among the winding rock caves.
• Yu Ci explained how he had misdirected the Blood Shadow’s tracking with the Grand Unity Star Pivot Clone and hidden his aura with the Breath-Light Evasion Technique.
• The Life and Death Talisman replenished Yu Ci’s primordial qi and formed another coil in his dantian as he examined his inner state.
• Yu Ci’s consciousness penetrated deeper, and the vision before him opened abruptly into the Inner Void.

Yu Ci studied the Life and Death Talisman in his Inner Void and discovered how it was linked to the qi mechanisms in his dantian. He used that insight to create another Upper Azure Star-Glow Induction Divine Thunder, then watched his qi mechanisms regather around what he recognized as a Seed True Talisman.

• Yu Ci entered his Inner Void and closely examined how the Life and Death Talisman had adjusted and refined its own structure.
• Yu Ci identified a hidden structure within the talisman that absorbed vital energy and converted it into power for Sword Qi.
• Yu Ci used the Talisman Disk's thirty-six apertures, a blank Jade Talisman, and his Killing Intent to create an Upper Azure Star-Glow Induction Divine Thunder.
• Yu Ci exhausted his vital energy and scattered the intertwined qi mechanisms in his dantian, but the Life and Death Talisman soon restored him.
• Yu Ci watched a dust-fine qi mechanism appear and link with the others, while the talisman's pearl shone like glazed crystal; he realized it was a Seed True Talisman.