Chapter Summaries

Chen Fan entered the Deer Hunt’s illusory realm, where demon beasts threatened the contestants and the Deer Spirit’s location appeared only briefly. Cen Heyu swiftly eliminated Yuan Siwei, drawing attention from the princes and leaving them worried about her eventual clash with Chen Fan.

• Chen Fan encountered and killed a giant wild boar, while the number of surviving contestants rapidly fell.
• Cen Heyu ambushed Yuan Siwei on a mountain and eliminated him with a single attack.
• The princes and spectators watched Cen Heyu’s victory, and the Crown Prince worried that Chen Fan might not defeat her.
• Chen Fan saw the Deer Spirit’s location briefly revealed by a pillar of light and headed toward it.
• A quarter-hour later, the pillar appeared again far from its previous location.

Chen Fan advanced through the competition, destroying an ambush with his Eightfold Thunder Blade and revealing that he could detect hidden opponents. When the Deer Spirit appeared nearby, he rushed to confront its holder and demanded that the man hand it over.

• Wu Tianjiao chose to eliminate a martial artist he spotted near the Deer Spirit rather than pursue the contest too early.
• Chen Fan entered a town, sensed martial artists lying in ambush, and struck their hiding place with his Eightfold Thunder Blade before they could attack.
• Spectators speculated that Chen Fan had comprehended divine sense after he precisely detected the ambushers from afar.
• A two-halo pillar of light appeared near Chen Fan, and he rushed toward it as the Crown Prince worried that he was pursuing the Deer Spirit too soon.
• The brawny man carrying the Deer Spirit saw Chen Fan appear before him amid branching lightning, and Chen Fan demanded that he hand it over.

Chen Fan seized the Deer Spirit early and held it against waves of attackers, killing half the eliminated contestants as the competition narrowed. After he held it through five quarter-hours, Cen Ruyu realized he might win outright and prepared to act.

• Chen Fan refused Hutuba’s offer to join forces and defeated him, taking the Deer Spirit.
• Chen Fan stayed in place with the Deer Spirit and killed the contestants and demon beasts who came to challenge him.
• As the light pillar drew stronger opponents, Chen Fan defeated groups and ninth-realm geniuses while allowing some fleeing contestants to escape.
• When the Deer Spirit’s light flashed for the fifth time, fewer than a hundred contestants remained, and Chen Fan had killed half of those eliminated.
• Cen Ruyu saw Chen Fan’s pillar of light and, fearing he would win outright, decided she could no longer wait to compete for the Deer Spirit.

Chen Fan effortlessly defeated Cen Heyu after she challenged him, while the remaining martial artists fled rather than face him. Wu Tianjiao, shaken by Chen Fan’s overwhelming strength, encountered a ninth-level martial artist who claimed to know how he could defeat him.

• Chen Fan eliminated the martial artists who challenged him as the Deer Hunt dwindled to sixty-seven competitors.
• Cen Heyu attacked Chen Fan, but he evaded her strikes and defeated her with a lightning sword thrust.
• The martial artists hiding nearby fled, while Chen Fan waited with the Deer Spirit as the map shrank and time ran short.
• Wu Tianjiao watched Chen Fan defeat Cen Heyu and lost the courage to challenge him.
• A young man in embroidered robes approached Wu Tianjiao and claimed he had a way to defeat Chen Fan.

Lin Zhongyu led dozens of remaining opponents in a coordinated attack on Chen Fan, hoping to overcome his overwhelming strength. Chen Fan unleashed his lightning Dao Domain and a powerful Thunder Blade, eliminating them all and ending the deer hunt.

• Lin Zhongyu told Wu Tianjiao he had already contacted several opponents and proposed that the remaining fighters join forces against Chen Fan.
• Dozens of fighters led by Lin Zhongyu charged Chen Fan in a hastily assembled battle formation as the final quarter-hour approached.
• Chen Fan chose to face the group instead of fleeing and revealed his lightning Dao Domain, shocking the fighters and spectators.
• Wu Tianjiao led the combined attack, but Chen Fan's Thunder Blade broke through their formation and overwhelmed the gathered fighters.
• The remaining opponents vanished in the lightning, and Chen Fan sheathed his sword after the deer hunt ended.

Chen Fan won the Deer Hunt by defeating an alliance of nearly fifty martial artists and revealed that he had comprehended a Dao Domain. The Great Qian Emperor awarded the Crown Prince the One-Horned Auspicious Deer, while Chen Fan’s victory and growing power spread through the Imperial Commandery.

• Chen Fan unleashed two ninth-level Thunder Blade strikes, eliminated the alliance, and waited as one of five survivors in the Deer Hunt.
• The Great Qian Emperor praised Chen Fan’s Dao Domain, and Crown Prince Liu Lun watched his strength with wariness and excitement.
• Chen Fan emerged victorious from the Deer Hunt, received Yan Shoudao’s announcement, and returned to Liu Lun as the other princes reacted to his success.
• The Thirteenth Prince praised Liu Lun’s eye for talent and made an ambiguous remark that left Chen Fan wondering about the Crown Prince’s past allies.
• The Great Qian Emperor awarded Liu Lun the One-Horned Auspicious Deer, whose aura strengthened him and made Chen Fan’s Dragon Soul Jade grow hot.
• Chen Fan’s victory and possible progress toward the tenth level became widely known across the Imperial Commandery.

After winning the Origin Hunt Rite, Chen Fan heard that the Crown Prince had prepared gifts for him, including a beautiful woman sent to his residence. Suspecting Cai Die was a spy, Chen Fan bound and stabbed her, then thrust his sword toward her heart when she refused to reveal who had sent her.

• The Crown Prince thanked Chen Fan for winning the Origin Hunt Rite and promised him a secret great gift, while Cheng Caiying reacted with a complicated expression.
• After the banquet, the Crown Prince told Chen Fan that a small gift had already been sent to his residence.
• Chen Fan found Cai Die, Heaven on Earth's top courtesan, waiting at his home and claiming she had willingly become his concubine.
• Chen Fan rejected Cai Die and demanded to know who had sent her, binding her with his thunder domain when he suspected she had ulterior motives.
• Cai Die refused to confess, so Chen Fan stabbed her shoulder and then aimed his sword at her heart.

Chen Fan exposed Miss Cai Die as an infiltrator and forced her to reveal that the Crown Prince might be plotting against him. He bound her to gather more information and left her under guard in the Crown Prince's Residence.

• Chen Fan stabbed Miss Cai Die, but a white lotus of spiritual energy blocked his sword from penetrating deeply.
• Miss Cai Die admitted she had been sent on a secret mission and offered to act as Chen Fan's informant, but he refused to trust her without more valuable information.
• Miss Cai Die revealed that the Crown Prince may have arranged for talented commoners he once recruited to die or disappear, and that Chen Fan might also meet with an accident.
• Chen Fan ordered Miss Cai Die to investigate the Crown Prince's past and plans, then bound her with a blood oath using the Star God Seal.
• Miss Cai Die gave her real name as Zhao Yajie, and Chen Fan marked her, ordered her to stay inside the Crown Prince's Residence, and gave her medicine before leaving.

Chen Fan considered whether the Crown Prince had ulterior motives and went to the Dantai clan to buy ores needed to repair the White Emperor Armor. He left with the ores and asked Dantai Yuheng to search for a spirit artifact eye mask that could conceal his aura.

• Chen Fan resolved to gather more information before deciding whether the Crown Prince truly had designs on him.
• Chen Fan left the Crown Prince's Residence, and Dao Domain martial artist Qi Chen followed him through the Imperial Capital.
• Chen Fan met Dantai Yuheng and inspected the ores the Dantai clan had prepared for him.
• Dantai Yuheng reduced the price from 101,800 to 100,000 Origin Crystals, and Chen Fan paid for and stored the ores.
• Chen Fan asked Dantai Yuheng to check whether the Dantai clan had a spirit artifact eye mask that could conceal its wearer's aura.

Chen Fan caught Miss Cai Die secretly contacting a masked conspirator and demanded to learn the Crown Prince’s secret. The masked man agreed to explain, beginning with Liu Lun’s mysterious transformation from a frail, sickly child into a martial genius.

• Chen Fan returned to the Crown Prince’s Residence after sensing Miss Cai Die use a communication spirit stone to contact a masked man.
• Miss Cai Die claimed Chen Fan had refused her advances because he intended to honor his marriage engagement, while the masked man discussed the Crown Prince’s hostility toward Chen Fan.
• Chen Fan burst into the room, restrained Miss Cai Die, seized the spirit stone, and spoke directly with the masked man.
• Chen Fan asked about the Crown Prince’s secret, and the masked man agreed to tell him because he opposed the Crown Prince’s plan.
• The masked man revealed that Liu Lun had been born with a congenital illness and was once too weak to practice martial arts, despite later becoming a Grandmaster.

Chen Fan learned that the Crown Prince’s rise might have involved a secret method for taking another person’s talent, and White Lord warned him to stay alert. After White Lord identified several dozen kilograms of Blue Tear Ore as counterfeit, Chen Fan confronted the Tantai Clan and watched as an ore expert began inspecting it.

• The masked man told Chen Fan that Liu Lun had recovered his health and gained talent after visiting a secret place, while a gifted youth secretly nurtured by the Zhao clan disappeared.
• Chen Fan suspected the Zhao clan had transferred the youth’s talent and foundations to Liu Lun, and the masked man explained how Liu Lun later gathered and supported commoner geniuses.
• Chen Fan ended the communication and asked White Lord about the possibility of stealing talent; White Lord confirmed such methods existed but warned that they had severe limits and drawbacks.
• White Lord consumed Chen Fan’s ores to restore its power, then spat out the Blue Tear Ore and declared that all of it was counterfeit.
• Chen Fan took the fake ore to the Tantai Clan, where Dantai Yuheng promised to investigate and summoned Master Gongyang Zhi to examine it.

Chen Fan confronted Master Gongyang over a forged Blue Tear Ore, but the dispute shifted to Gongyang’s disciple, whom Chen Fan suspected of tampering with the clan’s stock. After detecting the disciple’s lie, Chen Fan cut off his arm.

• Master Gongyang examined the Blue Tear Ore and declared it a deliberate forgery, prompting Dantai Yuheng to offer Chen Fan a refund and replacement ore.
• Gongyang Zhi refused to accept the complaint, accused Chen Fan of switching the ore, and pressured him with his aura.
• Chen Fan suppressed Gongyang Zhi with his Lightning Dao Domain and said he would seek an investigation, even offering to pay more if his claim proved false.
• Dantai Yuheng identified Chen Fan as Great Qian’s publicly acknowledged number one genius, and Gongyang Zhi promised to apologize if he was proven wrong.
• Chen Fan examined Gongyang Zhi’s disciple with his divine sense, detected that he was lying, and severed one of the man’s arms.

Chen Fan exposed Gongyang Zhi’s disciple as a thief, secured compensation and an eyepatch, and improved the White Emperor Armor. After three months in seclusion, he emerged wearing the eyepatch and told the Crown Prince he had cultivated the Heart Sword Technique, while the Crown Prince and Wen Siyuan continued plotting to lure him into a sealed trap.

• Chen Fan defeated Gongyang Zhi’s disciple and forced him to confess to switching out the ore, after which Gongyang Zhi killed the disciple and apologized to Chen Fan.
• The Dantai clan compensated Chen Fan with Origin Crystals and Blue Tear Ore, and Gongyang Zhi agreed to forge equipment for him without charge.
• Gongyang Zhi delivered Chen Fan’s eyepatch and the Blue Tear Ore, while the White Emperor Armor completed its repairs with greatly increased power and defense.
• The Crown Prince visited Chen Fan’s residence and learned from Miss Cai Die that Chen Fan had entered seclusion, then discussed with Wen Siyuan how to wait until they could trap him in a sealed place.
• After three months, Chen Fan emerged wearing an eyepatch and told the Crown Prince he had cultivated the Heart Sword Technique.

Chen Fan concealed his newly condensed Demon-Killing Eye and clone as he joined Crown Prince Liu Lun on a journey to a secret mystic realm said to be connected to immortals. They reached Heavenly Blade Gorge, where Liu Lun opened a hidden entrance and led Chen Fan and Uncle Chen inside.

• Chen Fan told the Crown Prince he had mastered a Heart Sword Technique, hiding that his blindfold concealed the Demon-Killing Eye he had condensed and that he had also made a Demon-Killing Clone.
• The Crown Prince invited Chen Fan to leave the Imperial Capital for a secret mystic realm connected to immortals and a possible immortal inheritance.
• Chen Fan traveled with Crown Prince Liu Lun, Cheng Caiying, Qi Chen, and the others aboard a mechanized warship to a mist-shrouded mountain range.
• Liu Lun identified Heavenly Blade Gorge as a cleft supposedly made by an immortal's single slash, and Chen Fan examined the unnaturally smooth, matching cliffs.
• Liu Lun used a golden token to reveal a hidden doorway and entered the mystic realm with Chen Fan and Uncle Chen, leaving Cheng Caiying and the others to guard the warship.

Chen Fan entered a hidden ritual hall with Liu Lun and discovered that Liu Wei, the Emperor of Great Qian, intended to take his talent and strength for himself. The chapter ended with Chen Fan confronting Liu Lun over the betrayal.

• Chen Fan and his companions passed through a guarded passage lined with eighteen powerful puppets and entered an ancient hall.
• Chen Fan followed Liu Lun through a battle-scarred corridor into a ritual chamber, where a stone stele sealed the exit behind them.
• Chen Fan found Liu Wei waiting in the chamber with Wen Siyuan and learned that the Emperor, not Liu Lun, had arranged to seize his talent and foundation.
• Liu Wei declared that Chen Fan's life would fuel his imperial ambitions, while Liu Lun claimed Chen Fan owed him for saving his life.
• Chen Fan mocked Liu Lun's supposed gift and faced him with growing disappointment and coldness.

Chen Fan discovered that Emperor Liu Wei and Wen Siyuan had trapped him in the ruins to use him as nourishment for a divine array, leaving him no way to flee. He unleashed the White Emperor Armor and the Primordial Demon Mirror, then struck Liu Wei and Wen Siyuan with his strongest sword technique.

• Liu Wei revealed that only the jade core token in his hand could open the Dragon-Suppressing Stele, and threatened to sacrifice Chen Fan and take his fiancée and niece into the palace.
• Chen Fan accepted that he had no choice but to fight and activated the White Emperor Armor’s ultimate True Essence amplification state.
• Chen Fan used the Primordial Demon Mirror’s Annihilation Divine Light, weakening Qi Chen and the Crown Prince while affecting Liu Wei and Wen Siyuan.
• Wen Siyuan accused Chen Fan of being a Star Demon Sect traitor, and Chen Fan unleashed Berserk and three layers of Dao Domain before attacking.
• Chen Fan’s Fire Saint Sword shattered Wen Siyuan’s Dao Domain and drove Liu Wei backward despite the Emperor’s imperial destiny protecting him.

Chen Fan battled Wen Siyuan until Liu Wei intervened with the Son of Heaven Sword, killing Wen Siyuan and badly injuring Chen Fan. After Liu Wei refused to let Chen Fan leave with the Dragon-Suppressing Stele, Chen Fan charged at him again.

• Chen Fan overwhelmed Wen Siyuan with repeated sword strikes, forcing Wen Siyuan to call for Liu Wei's help.
• Liu Wei unleashed the Son of Heaven Sword, and its golden light devoured Wen Siyuan while striking Chen Fan.
• Chen Fan survived the attack using the White Emperor Armor and several layers of protection, but suffered serious injuries.
• Liu Wei warned Chen Fan that he could attack again, while Chen Fan asked him to release the Dragon-Suppressing Stele and let him leave.
• Liu Wei refused, and Chen Fan burned his blood, replenished the White Emperor Armor with Origin Crystals, and charged at him.

Chen Fan defeated Liu Wei with the Primordial Sword and killed the Great Qian Emperor despite the consequences. His killing intent advanced into a Killing Dao Domain, and he then killed Uncle Chen and Crown Prince Liu Lun.

• Chen Fan combined the four Sacred Swords into the Primordial Sword, which shattered Liu Wei's Son of Heaven Sword and broke his aura.
• Liu Wei offered Chen Fan the token and his freedom in exchange for his life, but Chen Fan killed him.
• Chen Fan formed the Killing Dao Domain and felt the backlash of Great Qian's Son of Heaven aura.
• Chen Fan killed Uncle Chen, then killed the terrified Crown Prince Liu Lun.

Chen Fan defeated Liu Wei, learned how the Transplanting Flowers and Grafting Trees Divine Formation worked, and took control of its jade key and Origin Crystals. In the imperial palace, Empress Dowager Zhao learned that Liu Wei’s and the Crown Prince’s life lamps had gone out and called for the Zhao clan head.

• Chen Fan recovered, refined Liu Wei’s jade, and learned that the formation replaced a person’s foundation and talent rather than absorbing them.
• Chen Fan opened the formation’s energy core with the jade and took its hundreds of thousands of Origin Crystals.
• Chen Fan raised the Dragon-Suppressing Stele and used the Sun-Covering Mirror in an attempt to obscure the heavenly secrets.
• Empress Dowager Zhao felt uneasy after hearing thunder beneath a clear sky and snapped her brush.
• A eunuch reported that Liu Wei’s and the Crown Prince’s life lamps had gone out, and Empress Dowager Zhao ordered him to summon the Zhao clan head.

Chen Fan escaped the secret realm after killing the Great Qian Emperor, then confronted Cheng Caiying and imprisoned her in the Star Hall instead of killing her. He took the mechanism flying vessel and headed for Clear River Commandery to recover and contact others, while Cheng Caiying and Miss Cai Die remained confined in the Star Hall.

• Chen Fan failed to conceal the karmic burden of killing the Great Qian Emperor, then used the core jade to control the cavern puppets and stored them in the Star Hall.
• Chen Fan emerged at Heavenly Blade Gorge and told Cheng Caiying that the Crown Prince had found an opportunity and could not leave yet.
• Chen Fan asked Cheng Caiying whether she had known the Crown Prince's plans; she attacked, and Chen Fan overwhelmed her and imprisoned her in the Star Hall.
• Chen Fan stored the mechanism flying vessel in the Star Hall and flew toward Clear River Commandery on the Bloodstained Butterfly while recovering his strength.
• Cheng Caiying met Miss Cai Die inside the Star Hall, but Du Jun warned her not to leave, so she sat down and remained there.