Chapter Summaries

Yu Ci followed Xuan Huang’s urgent summons to Return Manor, where a strange vision showed a celestial dragon being slain by a human. He entered Hao Dian's Former Residence and found unfinished embroidered gauze, while Xuan Huang remained unreachable.

• Yu Ci worried about the Heavy Artifact Sect leader, the damaged seals, and Xuan Huang before receiving Xuan Huang’s message to come to a location in Guixu.
• Yu Ci left the Sky Vault Sword Pool and reached Return Manor, whose archway vanished behind him as he entered.
• Yu Ci explored the cloud-linked paths of Return Manor and felt drawn toward a small courtyard.
• The clouds showed Yu Ci a vision of a vast celestial dragon and a human who killed it with a single gesture.
• Yu Ci woke before the entrance to Hao Dian's Former Residence and found unfinished fire-colored embroidered gauze in its courtyard.

Yu Ci followed the qi-cloud vision to uncover a third piece of Manifesting Gauze and witness a demonstration of the God Slaying Thorn technique, though he could not comprehend its difficult formulas. The heavenly dragon’s struggle clarified his True Dragon Form Qi, and Xuanhuang then told him the sword scripture was above the tree crown before saying it would leave him.

• Yu Ci recognized the unfinished embroidery as related to the Manifesting Gauze and sensed that the qi resonance came from outside the courtyard.
• Yu Ci watched a wounded heavenly dragon’s blood and the qi clouds reveal the Outer Daoist Refining Method for the God Slaying Thorn.
• Yu Ci compared the technique with the Hundred Spirits and Ten Yin methods and found the new dragon-slaying method far harder to understand.
• Yu Ci’s True Dragon Form Qi responded to the heavenly dragon’s struggle, sharpening his senses and clarifying the fish-dragon image in his Inner Void.
• Yu Ci reached into the qi clouds and seized another piece of fiery red fine yarn, causing the vision to collapse.
• Xuanhuang told Yu Ci that the sword scripture was above the tree crown and said it would no longer accompany him.

Yu Ci lost contact with Xuan Huang and found himself trapped in Return Manor, then was knocked unconscious when he probed the cloud-covered treetop where the Supreme True Nine Heavens Flying Immortal Sword Scripture might be. Meanwhile, Guixu descended into bloody chaos after its talisman seals broke, and a force released from the seals began swarming toward the crowds.

• Xuan Huang fell silent as its astral mind-radiance weakened, and a burst of sword Qi destroyed Yu Ci's attempt to reach it.
• Yu Ci searched for a way out of Return Manor, but the void beyond its boundary suppressed the Ghost Gauze Cloud and left him trapped.
• Yu Ci headed toward the treetop after realizing it might hold the Flying Immortal Sword Scripture, but his probing divine intent triggered a powerful attack that knocked him unconscious.
• Tens of thousands of cultivators entered Guixu after breaking the three-layered talisman seals, and fierce fighting left at least a hundred dead in the first clash.
• Li Hong, Wang Jiu, Hua Xifeng, and Xiao Lu discussed the turmoil in the Garden of Life and Death as the force released from the seals surged toward the gathered cultivators.

Hua Xifeng, Li Hong, and Wang Jiu faced Wen Shifei and a coalition of Northern Demonic Sect cultivators, while Yu Ci recovered after four failed attempts to probe the cloud qi. The demons attacked as an aged figure emerged to intervene, and Yu Ci realized too late that he had come to the courtyard with his soul at its weakest.

• Hua Xifeng sent Xiao Lu to find an exit, escort the Li Chen Sect disciples out, notify the elders, and protect Donghou Tomb.
• Hua Xifeng, Li Hong, and Wang Jiu were surrounded by Wen Shifei and cultivators from several Northern Demonic Sect branches, who demanded they join forces to claim the realm’s opportunities.
• Hua Xifeng rejected Wen Shifei’s offer, and Wen Shifei unleashed demonic qi against the three Li Chen Sect cultivators.
• An aged white-haired man emerged from the garden shadows and challenged Wen Shifei’s claim that no place of purity existed.
• Yu Ci recovered from his fourth failed attempt to enter the tangled cloud qi, concluded he needed rest, and headed back toward the courtyard.
• A thunderous boom struck Yu Ci’s mind, and he realized he had entered the courtyard while his soul was at its weakest.

Yu Ci was overwhelmed by the illusion in the clouds and forced to imprint the Dragon Slaying Manifesting Gauze formula, while the battle in the Garden of Life and Death was interrupted by a powerful Li Chen Sect elder. The elder drove back Wen Shifei’s assault, then asked Hua Xifeng and the others whether they had seen Yu Ci.

• Yu Ci’s weakened soul lost control in the cloud illusion, casting him into the True Dragon and Sword Immortal battle.
• Yu Ci stopped resisting and received the Dragon Slaying Manifesting Gauze formula, which appeared in crimson characters and branded itself into his mind.
• Uncle-Master Yu arrived at the Garden of Life and Death and unleashed the Flowing Water Sword, spreading his sword intent across the garden.
• Wen Shifei led an assault against the old Daoist, but the Flowing Water Sword wounded him and damaged the Black Lightning Shuttle, while two of his allies fell.
• Wen Shifei called for the fighting to stop, and Uncle-Master Yu asked Hua Xifeng and the others whether they had seen Yu Ci.

Yu Zhou confronted Wen Shifei and learned that the master of the Sunken Sword Cave had dealings with the Great Brahma Demon King, while Yu Ci continued exploring Hao Dian’s Former Residence and became immersed in the experience of a heavenly dragon wielding the God Slaying Thorn.

• Wen Shifei asked Yu Zhou about Yu Ci, and Hua Xifeng explained how Yu Ci had been captured by the leader of the Heavy Artifact Sect.
• Incense Slave accused Wen Shifei of possessing the Crimson Soul Spirit Returning Pearl and knowing about the master of the Sunken Sword Cave’s blood connection to his family.
• Wen Shifei brought out the restrained sword ghost Tie Lan, who identified the Great Brahma Demon King as the person who had recently dealt most closely with his master.
• Yu Zhou and the Li Chen Sect disciples realized the revelation connected the Sunken Sword Cave to the Great Brahma Demon King, and Wen Shifei asked whether Yu Zhou was satisfied.
• Yu Ci left Hao Dian’s Former Residence and found that its Illusionary Arts had merged his soul with the depicted heavenly dragon rather than with Hao Dian.

Yu Ci mastered a way to transcend the celestial dragon and strike back at Hao Dian’s God Slaying Thorn, then discovered that the Illusionary Arts were losing power. He rushed toward the tree crown, hoping the weakening formation would let him escape Return Manor.

• After nearly twenty defeats in the illusion, Yu Ci fused with and then transcended the celestial dragon, slashing Hao Dian’s phantom before the God Slaying Thorn nearly overwhelmed his soul.
• The True Return Purple Smoke Warm Jade nourished Yu Ci’s spirit, and he studied the three and a half pieces of Manifesting Gauze while he recovered.
• Yu Ci challenged Hao Dian’s illusion again, using the celestial dragon’s majesty in his sword intent to strike her phantom as the God Slaying Thorn hit him.
• Yu Ci discovered that both the Thorn’s damage and the illusion’s power had vanished, and he realized something outside Return Manor had disrupted its sustaining force.
• Yu Ci ran toward the tree crown and sensed the hidden sword scripture’s aura emerging through the clouds.

Yu Ci entered the cloud-wrapped tree canopy to find a possible shortcut from Return Manor to the Sword Garden, but the Supreme True Nine Heavens Flying Immortal Sword Scripture overwhelmed his mind with information. After he collapsed, a vast iceberg in his memory drew in the scripture’s information, leaving him to wonder what had happened to its pressure.

• Yu Ci studied the dangerous tree canopy and prepared the unstable Heavenly Demon Fire orb in case he needed to burn through a void barrier.
• Yu Ci advanced into the clouds with a temporarily refined sword and met the sword Qi radiating from the Supreme True Nine Heavens Flying Immortal Sword Scripture.
• Yu Ci’s dragon might and sword intent let him push forward, and the clash scattered the clouds to reveal the scripture’s projected characters.
• Yu Ci recognized the words “Supreme True Nine Heavens,” but their immense information nearly overwhelmed his spirit.
• Yu Ci dropped the magic orb and collapsed, triggering a massive iceberg in his memory to draw in the scripture’s information.

After the Supreme True Nine Heavens Flying Immortal Sword Scripture struck Yu Ci, the iceberg in his soul expanded and transformed his Inner Void into a sea surrounding an island. Yu Ci was pulled through a Void Rift and met a mysterious speaker who revealed that the seal had stored a mold of the Sword Scripture, then urged him to save the Mysterious Yellow.

• The iceberg expanded within Yu Ci's soul, and he used the Life and Death Talisman to stabilize the collapsing Inner Void.
• Yu Ci manifested his Inner Void as a small island in an endless, frigid sea and recognized a vast iceberg in the distance.
• A disturbance in the real world pulled Yu Ci through a distorted Void Rift to an unfamiliar place.
• A mysterious speaker told Yu Ci that the seal in his soul had stored a mold of the Supreme True Nine Heavens Flying Immortal Sword Scripture.
• The speaker discussed Yu Ci's Half-Mountain Mirage sword intent and then told him to run because the Mysterious Yellow needed him to save its life.

Yu Ci followed a mysterious guide through the Boundary River toward the trapped Xuanhuang, learning how the sword had been ambushed and corrupted by heavenly demon evil Qi. After encountering a hostile cultivator in midair, Yu Ci killed him with a single sword strike.

• The mysterious guide showed Yu Ci a route through the Boundary River and pinpointed Xuanhuang, whose primordial spirit had been weakened after falling into a trap at Battle Blood Hall.
• The guide explained that Xuanhuang had been contaminated by heavenly demon evil Qi while serving as Lord Yuan Dao’s carried sword, and admitted he did not know where Qu Wujie was.
• Yu Ci committed the route to memory and crossed several void rifts toward Xuanhuang’s location.
• Yu Ci emerged high above the clouds, caught his fall on the Ghost Gauze Cloud, and sensed a Core Formation cultivator approaching with hostile intent.
• As the cultivator entered striking range, Yu Ci drew his sword, disrupted the opponent’s sword light, and pierced the cultivator’s brain.

Yu Ci sought guidance from a mysterious senior after killing a cultivator, learning that his mixed sword intent was impure and that he had passed over a method better suited to him. As they entered a mountain forest, the senior urged him to refine his sword intent in combat so he could approach the Xuan Huang Killing Sword, but a hostile group discovered Yu Ci and attacked.

• Yu Ci asked the mysterious senior about his sword strike, and the senior criticized his impure sword intent for mixing atomization with True Dragon Form Qi.
• The senior explained the principles of pure sword intent and described the unfinished God Slaying Orthodox Method, which could wield the Primordial Formless Sword; Yu Ci regretted choosing the Dragon Slaying Manifesting Gauze instead.
• Yu Ci crossed into a mountain-forest space and learned that his True Dragon Form Qi would prevent him from approaching the Xuan Huang Killing Sword unless he refined it through combat.
• A hidden group discovered Yu Ci, and an icy voice ordered them to slaughter him as frost spread through the forest.

Yu Ci escaped an ambush by the Ice Snow Demon Palace and drew Yuan Wang’s attention, prompting the group to pursue him through the frozen terrain. As the palace’s array closed in, Yu Ci tried the sword-control technique instead of relying on a sword talisman, but his attempt faltered.

• Yu Ci blocked the Ghost Sound Cold Prison and fled deeper into the jungle as the entity beside him counted twenty-one enemies.
• Yuan Wang used the Mysterious Ice Heart Mirror to identify Yu Ci and ordered his disciples to follow him without pushing him too hard.
• A flying sword wounded one of Yuan Wang’s disciples, and Yuan Wang killed the dying man before ordering the remaining group to form an array.
• Yuan Wang directed the array toward Yu Ci, and its wave of cold swept across the hills and disrupted the surrounding Qi.
• The entity criticized Yu Ci’s reliance on a sword talisman, so Yu Ci attempted the Tu family brothers’ Sword Control Technique and nearly lost his sword.

Yu Ci endured the Ice Snow Demon Palace’s pursuit while learning how to refine his sword intent through his clashes with Yuan Wang. After repeatedly crossing Void Rifts, he seized the moment the cultivators followed him through one and counterattacked through the rift they were still crossing.

• Yu Ci fled the Ice Snow Demon Palace’s annihilation cold tide toward a Void Rift, while Yuan Wang directed the formation to drive him onward.
• Yuan Wang crossed the rift after Yu Ci, blocked his attack, and struck him away with the Nine Ren Snow Collapse Sword as another cultivator pursued him.
• Yu Ci continued to flee through two more Void Rifts, suffering injuries but gaining insight into refining his sword intent by discarding traits that did not belong to it.
• At the fourth Void Rift, Yu Ci vanished instead of appearing on the other side, then charged back through the rift as the Ice Snow Demon Palace cultivators were crossing.
• Yu Ci broke through the disordered cultivators and escaped back through the Void Rift before Yuan Wang could stop him.

Yu Ci escaped the Ice Snow Demon Palace pursuers and crossed a Void Rift into the Outer Domain of the Nine Heavens under the protection of a mysterious expert. The expert’s voice then vanished, leaving Yu Ci alone in an unfamiliar place and waiting for his return.

• Yu Ci ambushed the Ice Snow Demon Palace cultivators, killed three of them, and escaped Yuan Wang by using Shadow Concealment Evasion and the Grand Unity Star Pivot Clone.
• Yu Ci evaded Yuan Wang and Derong’s repeated pursuit and shook off the remaining cultivators before reaching a Void Rift near Xuanhuang’s location.
• The mysterious expert warned Yu Ci to inspect the rift’s destination, revealing it led to the Outer Domain of the Nine Heavens.
• Yu Ci crossed the dangerous outer space in five breaths while the expert’s Sword Qi shielded him from the True Sun Fire and Nine Heavens Gang Wind.
• After Yu Ci passed through the rift, the expert complained about being guarded, said something had come up, and told Yu Ci to wait without acting rashly.

Yu Ci endured the blood-tainted energy of the strange world while searching his memories for the mysterious man he had met before, then studied the changes in his Life and Death Talisman. His reflection on sword intent was interrupted by a vast sword hum and a voice shouting “Kill.”

• Yu Ci arrived in a crimson, barren world where the tainted primordial energy injured him, so he sealed himself off and recovered with a pill.
• Yu Ci used Divine Light Reflection and the Xuan Yuan Gen Ben Qi Fa to reconstruct and sort through nearly two years of memories.
• Yu Ci found no likely identity for the mysterious man who had claimed they had crossed paths before.
• Yu Ci examined the changing Seed True Talisman and realized his talismanic habits kept him from thinking with a swordsman’s purity.
• A powerful sword hum shook the world, and Yu Ci heard a voice repeatedly cry, “Kill.”

Yu Ci endured the Xuan Huang Killing Sword’s rampaging baleful intent and raced toward it, while two Void Stepping cultivators entered the Boundary River after the Sword Garden seal collapsed. As the cultivators turned their attention to Yu Ci, he stopped advancing and gathered his sword intent, with a rising sword hum behind him.

• Yu Ci recognized Xuan Huang’s uncontrolled baleful intent and ran toward the Xuan Huang Killing Sword despite the deadly pressure.
• A blood tide surged through the Void Rift, exposing the Sword Garden’s collapsed seal and drawing powerful outsiders into the Boundary River.
• Yu Ci pressed on through the receding tide as Seven Injuries Daoist and another Void Stepping cultivator argued over the sword artifact.
• Seven Injuries Daoist attacked Yu Ci with streams of air, forcing him to dodge and halt within three miles of the sword.
• Yu Ci turned to face the two cultivators and gathered the sword intent within his talismanic fractions as sword hums rose behind him.

Yu Ci awakened the Xuan Huang Killing Sword’s slaughtering power, which killed two Void Stepping cultivators but left him struggling to survive the surging blood tide. Outside the Sword Garden, the sword’s power spread toward White Cloud Retreat, forcing Xiao Lu and the others to flee as a beam of light erupted into the heavens.

• Yu Ci used his sword intent to resonate with the Xuan Huang Killing Sword, unleashing a blood tide that killed the two Void Stepping cultivators.
• Yu Ci endured the blood tide by keeping his sword intent pure, but the force overwhelmed him and left him unable to move.
• At White Cloud Retreat, Xiao Lu stopped Li You from rushing back into the Sword Garden to find Yu Ci.
• A rapidly expanding red glow reached the retreat, scorching the surrounding vital essence and alarming the cultivators.
• Xiao Lu and Zhao Fu led the cultivators away on sword flight as the mountain range shook and a brilliant beam pierced the heavens.

Yu Ci used a sword sheath to seal the Xuan Huang Killing Sword’s blood-slaughter aura, but the effort left him severely weakened. As he prepared to return to his sect, his companion told him about a debt owed by Xuan Huang and began to explain the Great Brahma Demon King.

• Yu Ci woke after the blood tide’s eruption and found a black sword sheath beside him.
• Following his companion’s instructions, Yu Ci carried the sheath to within a hundred feet of the Xuan Huang Killing Sword.
• A blue thread of light struck the sheath as the Xuan Huang Killing Sword lunged at Yu Ci, and the sheath contained the blade and silenced the blood-colored world.
• Yu Ci used the Half-Mountain Mirage to restore his distorted body while his companion warned him to leave before others arrived.
• Yu Ci chose to return to his sect, but his companion mentioned Xuan Huang’s debt of a Thunder-Slaying Calamity-Averting Token and began telling him about the Great Brahma Demon King.

Xia Boyang’s attempt to recruit Incense Slave was disrupted by a blood storm and the sudden appearance of a coffin, while Yu Ci learned that the Great Brahma Demon King had obtained Lord Yuan Dao’s coffin. Yu Ci’s companion suspected the Demon King had a larger plan and asked about Yu Ci’s relationship with Yu Zhou.

• Xia Boyang questioned Incense Slave about the Great Brahma Demon King and offered his group’s help, believing the Rakshasa Sect knew how to stop him.
• A blood-colored storm erupted from a Void Rift, throwing Xia Boyang’s party into chaos, and Incense Slave refused to lead them.
• Xia Boyang tried to stop Incense Slave from leaving, and the two exchanged attacks as their powers clashed.
• A bloody attack tore apart cultivators on the outskirts, and a huge coffin appeared, prompting Xia Boyang to organize his fighters.
• A companion told Yu Ci about recent clashes and said the Great Brahma Demon King had obtained Lord Yuan Dao’s coffin, possibly to possess his body.
• Yu Ci’s companion questioned whether the Demon King had a broader aim, then asked Yu Ci if he was close to Yu Zhou.

Yu Ci asked about Lord Wujie while following a route through Guixu, and Xia Boyang’s group was attacked by a bronze coffin that forced him to flee through a Void Rift. After recognizing Incense Slave as an old acquaintance, Xia Boyang heard of a terrifying figure whose breathing cleaved through a hundred miles of void, and he considered seeking that person’s help as a guide.

• Yu Ci asked where Lord Wujie was, and his companion said that the chaos would not be happening if Lord Wujie were willing to appear.
• Xia Boyang ordered the cultivators to attack the bronze coffin, but it reappeared and smashed apart their formation.
• Incense Slave fled toward a Void Rift, and Xia Boyang escaped after the coffin opened and shattered his Disaster-Replacing Sorcery Doll.
• Xia Boyang caught up with Incense Slave in another space and recognized her as an old acquaintance from the Eastern Sea.
• Xia Boyang and Incense Slave heard a powerful being’s breathing cleave through a hundred miles of void, and Xia Boyang considered asking that being to lead them.