Chapter Summaries

Zhou An traveled to the Town Region Blade Sect for its disciple tournament while considering how to restore the Bizarre Assembly’s consciousness. When Green Yellow Temple’s Hui Wu tried to humiliate him on the road, Zhou An subdued the monks and made them pull his carriage to the sect.

• At the Town Region Blade Sect, Si Kong Zhen told Si Kong Teng to side with Zhou An over Green Yellow Temple, then Si Kong Teng’s guards dragged away the ranting Kong Xun.
• Zhou An set out with Zong Shan Yin and the Demon Suppression Division after treating them to breakfast, and considered whether his Sacred Spirit Demonic Body could restore the Bizarre Assembly’s senses.
• Zhou An found Hui Wu and Green Yellow Temple monks blocking the official road; when they ignored his order to move, he threatened to arrest them.
• Hui Wu refused to yield, so Zhou An poisoned him and ordered the monks to pull his carriage toward the Town Region Blade Sect.
• At the sect’s mountain gate, Si Kong Zhen and the gathered guests watched Hui Wu and the Green Yellow Temple monks arrive pulling Zhou An’s carriage.

Zhou An attended the Town Region Blade Sect’s disciple competition, demonstrated overwhelming strength, and stayed overnight at the sect. When Kong the Madman appeared and spoke of the same bizarre place connected to a crack, Zhou An brought him inside and prepared to treat his madness.

• Monk Hui Wu endured pulling Zhou An’s carriage while Zhou An claimed the monks had volunteered, and Old Man Si Kong escorted Zhou An into the Town Region Blade Sect.
• Zhou An joined the banquet, then demonstrated his blade technique by splitting the clouds above the competition grounds before the disciple competition began.
• After the competition, Zhou An accepted Old Man Si Kong’s offer to stay overnight, and Black Jade grew jealous of the female disciples who had admired him.
• During their late-night meal, Black Jade revealed that she had read copied books about matters between husband and wife, embarrassing Zhou An with her questions.
• Kong the Madman arrived outside Zhou An’s courtyard, babbling about a hundred-meter giant and other sights matching what Black Jade had seen beyond the crack.
• Zhou An brought Kong the Madman into his room and concluded that he could cure his madness.

Zhou An cured Kong Xun and learned that a hidden key and ancient maps could reveal the Spirit Connection Space, then entered it using a garment Black Jade embroidered with Silk Weaving. He found the space barren and sensed a group of hostile people rushing toward him.

• Zhou An used the Sacred Spirit Demonic Body to clear Kong Xun’s madness, and Kong Xun recovered and explained that he had entered the rift’s vicinity through the Spirit Connection Space.
• Kong Xun revealed that a spirit pattern from ancient ruins let him enter the Spirit Connection Space in advance, where he saw the rift and went mad after attempting to absorb its power.
• Zhou An recognized the landmarks Kong Xun described from maps found in ancient tombs and concluded that the maps depicted the Spirit Connection Space.
• Black Jade used Silk Weaving to reproduce Kong Xun’s spirit pattern on a garment, giving Zhou An a single-use way to enter the Spirit Connection Space.
• Zhou An sent Kong Xun to the capital through the Demon Suppression Division, then used divination and the embroidered garment to enter the Spirit Connection Space.
• Zhou An used Thousand Mile Eye in the barren space and spotted a large group of people approaching with killing intent.

Zhou An entered the Spirit Connection Space, where Black Jade killed a bandit gang and he discovered a ruin linked to an ancient era. After learning the Demon Suppression Division was using the bandits to lure a major target connected to the Barbarian Kingdom, Zhou An was left seeking the details of that plan.

• Zhou An ordered Black Jade to spare the twin-hooked bandit leader, and she killed the rest of the Spirit Connection Realm ambushers with her Eight Unique Skills.
• Zhou An questioned the surviving leader, learned that bandit groups had spread through the Spirit Connection Space, and then killed him despite promising to spare him.
• Zhou An followed a glowing spirit pattern to an abandoned Ancient City, where Black Jade destroyed a powerful strange entity and Zhou An collected its book, written in an ancient script.
• Zhou An returned to the Demon Suppression Division and asked He Sheng whether it knew about the Spirit Connection Space bandits.
• He Sheng told Zhou An that the Demon Suppression Division and other nations knew about the bandits and were preparing to hook a big fish connected to the Barbarian Kingdom.

Zhou An deciphered an experimental log revealing the Spirit Connection Space’s origins and the ancient conflict that ended with Green Robe’s sacrifice. At Green Yellow Temple, Abbot Ci Yuan and Indulgence each pursued schemes involving Zhou An, but Ci Yuan secretly planned to warn him and turn the plot against them.

• Zhou An learned that the Barbarian Kingdom had organized bandit groups in the Spirit Connection Space to gather people for an expedition to the Ancient City and uncover White King’s secret.
• Zhou An deciphered the ancient book and discovered that the Spirit Connection Space was created through deadly experiments, then became a battlefield over whether to preserve or destroy it; Green Robe died imposing the rule that only Spirit Connection Realm cultivators could enter.
• Zhou An burned the deciphered records, resolved to focus on raising his skills until he reached the Spirit Connection Realm, and returned home with Black Jade.
• Abbot Ci Yuan reprimanded Monk Hui Wu for antagonizing Zhou An and ordered him to avoid Zhou An in the future.
• Abbot Ci Yuan’s reincarnated senior brother chose to travel to Huaixi Capital during the Qing Huang Dharma Assembly and seize Zhou An’s body, while Ci Yuan secretly plotted to kill him and use the conflict to eliminate Indulgence’s operatives.
• After an Indulgence monk proposed helping him resist aging, Abbot Ci Yuan decided to send Zhou An a warning and revealed that the Chief Commander’s plan had set several schemers against one another.

Abbot Ci Yuan revealed that he served as a covert agent of the Demon Suppression Division and that the Chief Commander had ordered a plan to eliminate his reincarnated senior brother. After grinding Body Forging to Level 7, Zhou An received orders to disrupt Green Yellow Temple’s Dharma assembly, where he exposed and killed Indulgence members before confronting Cixin.

• Abbot Ci Yuan reflected on the Demon Suppression Division’s plan to kill his reincarnated senior brother while preventing Green Yellow Temple from becoming strange.
• Zhou An completed Wok Suppression Art Level 7, spent his stored proficiency on Body Forging, and discovered that hammering himself raised the skill.
• Zhou An received a confidential letter identifying Cixin and Indulgence members as targets at Green Yellow Temple’s Dharma assembly, then arranged a trap with He Sheng.
• Cixin planned to seize Zhou An’s body at the assembly, but Zhou An arrived after raising Body Forging to Level 7 and used Eight Trigrams Arithmetic to identify hidden Indulgence members.
• He Sheng and the disguised Demon Suppression Division members killed the identified Indulgence members, and Zhou An challenged the remaining Cixin to fight.

Zhou An defeated Cixin, learned why Ci Yuan had abandoned him, and destroyed Indulgence’s hidden network across Huaixi Capital. He returned to grinding skills while Yu Hang survived an assassination attempt and advanced to the Innate Realm.

• Zhou An fought Cixin in the sky, shattered his Qinghuang Buddha Country, and defeated him despite Cixin’s hidden Demon Subduing Pestle attack.
• Zhou An explained that Ci Yuan had chosen to protect the common people, and Cixin understood his mistake before dying and turning to ash.
• Zhou An used Eight Trigrams Arithmetic to locate Indulgence members, then flew through Huaixi Capital and killed them before returning to the Demon Suppression Division.
• Zhou An tried copying books to improve Read a Thousand Scrolls, found that it no longer worked, and decided to ask scholars for advice.
• Yu Hang survived an assassination attempt in Sky City Prefecture, entered the Innate Realm, and prepared to continue to Biwen Prefecture.

After uncovering a plot by Biwen Prefecture’s families to use a Dream Controller against him, Yu Hang had Qi Silu send him into a dream so he could investigate the strange shadow he had repeatedly seen there. In the dream, Yu Hang finally blocked the shadow and saw it clearly.

• Yu Hang recovered from the assassination attempt and decided to travel to Biwen Prefecture rather than summon Zhou An.
• Ye Wei and the Biwen families agreed to have Qi Silu use Dream Alteration on Yu Hang, but Qi Silu secretly served Indulgence and had already altered the families’ dreams to make them trust him.
• Yu Hang arrived in Biwen Prefecture, accepted the Ye Family’s banquet invitation, and arranged for constables and the Demon Suppression Division to seize the families and Qi Silu after staging an attack on himself.
• Yu Hang identified Qi Silu as a Dream Controller connected to Indulgence and forced him to help enter a dream.
• Yu Hang entered his familiar empty dream, gained the ability to move, and blocked the darting shadow so he could finally see it clearly.

Yu Hang learned from Bai Yuan that he had inherited the ancient Scholar’s talent and was warned to prepare for the remaining underground rifts. Zhou An discovered that taking notes improved Read a Thousand Scrolls, while the Heaven Sword Sect remained trapped inside a Strange Village.

• Bai Yuan told Yu Hang that he was a fragment of memory and talent left behind by the Greatest Scholars, and explained how ancient experts had entered the sky rifts to seal them.
• Bai Yuan warned Yu Hang that underground rifts still remained and urged him and the other inheritors to cultivate quickly; Yu Hang returned from the dream and ordered the Indulgence Dream Controllers imprisoned and their collaborators punished.
• Zhou An visited Pei Jing Ling and learned that Spirit Connection Realm Scholars advanced by recording insights from books in their Spirit Connection Space.
• Zhou An gained proficiency in Read a Thousand Scrolls by writing down an insight, then returned home to grind the skill.
• Sect Leader Qin learned that the Heaven Sword Sect had been trapped for ten days by a Strange Village that blocked people of their professions, and urged his sect to find a way out while seeking its ancient secrets.

Sect Leader Qin led the Heaven Sword Sect into Strange Village to seize its supposed ancient treasures, only to discover that the villagers were powerful fugitives who slaughtered his group. After Black Jade sensed something connected to the Eight Unique Skills near the Heaven Sword Sect, Zhou An learned that Strange Village had appeared there and decided to investigate it.

• Sect Leader Qin persuaded the Heaven Sword Sect Elders and elite disciples to explore Strange Village while concealing his true motives from the rest of the sect.
• The Heaven Sword Sect group entered Strange Village, where villagers offered them ancient books before revealing their identities as powerful members of the Hundred Techniques of the Miscellaneous Sect and killing them.
• Black Jade sensed a connection to the Eight Unique Skills in the direction of the Heaven Sword Sect, so Zhou An asked He Sheng to investigate.
• Zhou An received an urgent letter from Yu Hang explaining that inherited talents had caused many of his past troubles, then burned the letter and resumed his training.
• He Sheng reported that Strange Village had appeared near the Heaven Sword Sect, and Zhou An decided to go there with Black Jade to investigate its connection to the Eight Unique Skills.

Zhou An entered the Strange Village seeking the Eight Unique Skills, but discovered it concealed the surviving legacy of the Hundred Techniques of the Miscellaneous Sect. As the village replayed the massacre that destroyed its inhabitants, he found the child he had met earlier hiding behind the mysterious banyan tree.

• Zhou An used Eight Trigrams Arithmetic to judge the trip mostly auspicious and decided to investigate the Strange Village alone.
• After Black Jade sensed a strong presence, Zhou An entered the village and followed a child's directions to a western village where supposed fugitives were hiding.
• A disguised swordsmith and more than a hundred Spirit Connection Realm experts attacked Zhou An, but he defeated them and learned they were heirs to the Hundred Techniques of the Miscellaneous Sect left behind by Xiao He Yun.
• Zhou An realized Black Jade had sensed the Hundred Techniques rather than the Eight Unique Skills, but the villagers refused to teach him before the Strange Village shifted into a memory of the massacre that killed them.
• After the historical scene ended, Zhou An found no legacy among the ruins and went toward the concealed banyan tree, where the child reappeared holding the candied hawthorn skewer.

Zhou An exposed an Indulgence Protector disguised as Gu Xiaoyun, found the Hundred Techniques of the Miscellaneous Sect with Black Jade, and defeated the Strange Village. He followed the Protector’s straw effigy connection toward eleven fleeing Indulgence Protectors and confronted them.

• Zhou An realized the child Gu Xiaoyun was a disguise and revealed that the real Gu Xiaoyun’s corpse lay inside the Banyan Tree.
• The old man revealed himself as Indulgence’s first leader and sought the Hundred Techniques of the Miscellaneous Sect, but Black Jade sensed the hidden books beneath the tree.
• Zhou An and Black Jade retrieved the books, and Black Jade memorized them instantly before the Strange Village transformed and attacked.
• Zhou An fought and destroyed the Strange Village, then traced golden threads from the old man’s straw effigy to eleven Indulgence Protectors.
• The eleven Protectors fled, but Zhou An caught up with them and declared that the time he had granted them to live was over.

Zhou An killed eleven Indulgence guardians and returned to Huaixi Capital, where he tried to improve Stirring Wind and Waves by seeking guidance from the Yang Family. He learned the family head was away transporting divine medicines, and the chapter ended as attackers rose from the river to assault the Yang Family fleet.

• Black Jade used six of the Eight Unique Skills to kill the eleven Indulgence guardians, and Zhou An failed to deduce further clues about Indulgence.
• Zhou An reported the Heaven Sword Sect matter to He Sheng, then urged Black Jade to study the Hundred Techniques of the Miscellaneous Sect for ways to comprehend the Eight Unique Skills.
• After days of training, Zhou An raised Read a Thousand Scrolls to level seven and chose to focus next on improving Stirring Wind and Waves.
• Zhou An tried shaping a water dragon and using water to heal a cut, but neither method increased his proficiency, so he asked He Sheng to find someone skilled in water-related trades.
• He Sheng directed Zhou An to the Yang Family, but its family head and most experts were away on a trade voyage, so Zhou An left and returned to the Demon Suppression Division.
• The Yang Family Head transported divine medicines toward Huaixi Capital when more than a hundred underwater attackers surrounded the fleet and launched an assault.

Tyrant Blade Xu Nian rescued the Yang Family’s merchant ships from Chi Chan, then the story followed Zhou An as he learned how to improve his water affinity by sensing the separation between himself and water. After grinding Stirring Wind and Waves at a lake, Zhou An returned home and found Xu Nian inside, doing something that sharply contradicted his domineering presence.

• Chi Chan led more than a hundred Wild Buddhist Sect attackers in an attempt to seize the Yang Family’s Divine Medicine, but Xu Nian emerged from the merchant ship and killed him with a tyrannical blade strike.
• Xu Nian took the Sharira formed from Chi Chan’s death and explained that he had acted at Eunuch Wei’s request; the Yang Family Head continued the journey to Huaixi Capital.
• Zhou An visited Yang Wu to ask how to improve water affinity, and Yang Wu advised him to enter water and cultivate until the barrier between himself and the water disappeared.
• Zhou An tested Yang Wu’s advice in a lake, sensed a separation around his body, and gained Stirring Wind and Waves proficiency when the separation around his left arm diminished.
• Zhou An and Black Jade returned home in the evening, where Zhou An saw Xu Nian inside and was surprised by what the old man was doing.

Xu Nian visited Zhou An, gave him Chi Chan’s Sharira, and warned him that the Barbarian Kingdom might target him through the Spirit Connection Space. As the White King’s Ancient City appeared, Zhou An learned that the danger was drawing closer, and his divination showed an ominous result.

• Xu Nian introduced himself as the Overlord Blade, shared a meal with Zhou An, and praised the unusual human-dissection blade technique Zhou An used.
• Xu Nian told Zhou An that the White King had appeared in the Spirit Connection Space and that the Barbarian Kingdom might be planning to deal with him there.
• Lei Xue met the White King, received a wooden box containing the results of his research, and ordered her subordinates to send people to die in the Ancient City as a diversion for her plan against Zhou An.
• Zhou An spent several days grinding Stirring Wind and Waves until Zong Shan Yin told him the White King’s Ancient City had been discovered and that half of the Demon Suppression Division’s Spirit Connection Realm experts would enter the Spirit Connection Space.
• Zhou An failed to calculate the hidden secret, agreed to remain behind and oversee the Demon Suppression Division, then divined whether the matter would bring him fortune or misfortune and saw a shining black result.

Zhou An used Eight Trigrams Arithmetic to turn an omen of great misfortune into great fortune by planning to summon the Bizarre Assembly, then waited for the danger to arrive. He and the Bizarre Assembly defeated Lei Xue, who had brought residual power from the Ancient City to attack him, and the Bizarre Assembly offered to help uncover the people behind the plot in exchange for Zhou An cultivating the Sacred Spirit Demonic Body further.

• Zhou An found that both staying outside and entering the Spirit Connection Space led to great misfortune, but calculating with the Bizarre Assembly’s help turned the omen into great fortune.
• Zhou An ordered He Sheng to prepare a secluded pool at the Demon Suppression Division and decided to remain there with Black Jade while awaiting the danger.
• White King studied the ancient wall’s remains in the Spirit Connection Space, planning to absorb their residual power and use it to grow stronger.
• As the Spirit Connection Space descended into chaos, Zhou An spent his stored proficiency on Flying Dragon Movement, then used Eight Trigrams Arithmetic to locate the source of his newly arrived danger.
• Zhou An and Black Jade found Lei Xue preparing to attack him with residual power from the Ancient City, and the Bizarre Assembly appeared and took control of the power.
• The Bizarre Assembly helped Zhou An defeat Lei Xue and offered to reveal information about the people behind the attack if he cultivated the Sacred Spirit Demonic Body further.

Zhou An learned the location of the force behind the attacks and pursued White King through the Spirit Connection Space. White King broke into the All-Sage Realm to fight him, but Zhou An matched his power as the space began forcing White King out.

• Bizarre Assembly killed Lei Xue, gave Zhou An an aura that could guide him to the culprit, and disappeared as the Sharira's effect faded.
• Black Jade made a spirit pattern that let Zhou An return to the Spirit Connection Space, where he followed the aura toward its source.
• Zhou An's arrival startled Spirit Connection Realm experts across the Spirit Connection Space and helped Great Chu's Demon Suppression Division restore order.
• Zhou An found White King in the Ancient City and attacked before White King could finish explaining the city's secrets.
• White King, unable to withstand Zhou An's relentless attacks, drew on the city-wall carvings to break through to the All-Sage Realm, sacrificing part of their power.
• Zhou An matched White King's All-Sage Realm Qi Sphere, and White King prepared to leave as the Spirit Connection Space rejected him; Zhou An declared that he would not let him escape alive.

Zhou An and Black Jade killed White King in the Spirit Connection Space, then Zhou An explored the ruined Ancient City and uncovered a hidden underground Black Palace. After defeating a Scholar-like bizarre at the palace entrance, Zhou An faced an even stronger presence emerging from within.

• Black Jade used six of the Eight Unique Skills to disrupt White King, allowing Zhou An to defeat him and reduce his body to ashes.
• A white bead formed from White King's remains, and Zhou An collected it before examining the Ancient City's reliefs and learning they held the bones of heroes who had fought the bizarre.
• Zhou An sensed the heroes' cries from the reliefs, bowed to them, and searched the Ancient City for its secrets.
• Zhou An broke a damaged formation at the city's center and descended a hidden staircase into an underground chamber containing a concealed Black Palace.
• A humanoid Scholar bizarre attacked Zhou An from the Black Palace, and Zhou An destroyed it with one saber strike.
• Zhou An sensed a force stronger than White King enveloping the underground chamber as an elderly figure emerged from the Black Palace.

Zhou An uncovered that the One-Armed Old Man was a murderous prisoner who had lured him toward a sealed room with a false offer of ancient talents. He summoned the Bizarre Assembly to confront the old man, leaving the One-Armed Old Man shocked that she had regained her reason.

• Zhou An followed the One-Armed Old Man into the Black Palace and learned that its reliefs held the remains of ancient heroes.
• The One-Armed Old Man asked Zhou An to enter a sealed room, offering him a talent from the reliefs, but Zhou An refused and exposed the old man's deception.
• The One-Armed Old Man revealed that he had opposed the creation of the Spirit Connection Space and had secretly used ordinary people as test subjects before Green Robe imprisoned him.
• After the One-Armed Old Man threatened Zhou An and his family, Zhou An had Black Jade summon the Bizarre Assembly and restore her clarity with White King's bead.
• The Bizarre Assembly's rationality neutralized the reliefs' power, and she turned her murderous gaze on the One-Armed Old Man, who stared in disbelief.

Zhou An and the Bizarre Assembly killed the One-Armed Old Man, then Zhou An entered the Black Palace’s inner chamber and discovered tombstones recording the lives of fallen heroes. A vision revealed the Years Calligraphy writer and the origins of the Black Palace, ending as Green Robe arrived dragging the One-Armed Old Man.

• The One-Armed Old Man tried to bargain with Zhou An, then fled toward a room before the Bizarre Assembly attacked and turned him to ash.
• The Bizarre Assembly warned Zhou An that she could not enter the room, but said he could because he was neither bizarre nor a prisoner; she then vanished as her consciousness faded.
• Zhou An sent Black Jade into his shadow and entered the room, where he found tombstones bearing portraits and records written in Years Calligraphy.
• Zhou An explored deeper and found a skeleton holding a jade brush; approaching it triggered a vision of the old man who had written the tombstone records.
• The vision showed the old man recording the lives of the dead and grieving as the middle-aged relief carver Xu Chenming died and became a relief.
• Time passed as the old man continued making tombstones, until Green Robe entered the Black Palace dragging a One-Armed Old Man by the collar.