Chapter Summaries

Zhou An saved Xin Yuan from Divine Melting Powder and learned that the Wild Taoist Sect planned a major operation against him after the Hunting of the Weird. As Zhou An prepared to compete for the leader’s position, Black Jade began to awaken another of the Eight Unique Skills.

• Zhou An devoured the Divine Melting Powder harming Xin Yuan, and Yuan Qingyi gave Xin Yuan a divine medicine that restored his soul enough for him to wake.
• Xin Yuan revealed that his elder brother, Xin Ming, was a Wild Taoist Sect agent in the Surveillance Division who had poisoned him after Xin Yuan uncovered his dealings.
• Xin Yuan warned Zhou An that the Wild Taoist Sect planned a major operation against him after the Hunting of the Weird; Zhou An and the National Teacher both failed to calculate its details.
• Ye Shuang gave Zhou An a talisman capable of unleashing her strongest strike, then watched him leave for the imperial palace, where he prepared for the leader competition.
• The Demonic Swordsman urged Ouyang Ming to challenge Zhou An first and secretly kept a pill that would intensify his madness for use if Zhou An proved powerful.
• Black Jade sat in meditation as her aura of taboo intensified, and Zhou An stood guard while she began to comprehend another of the Eight Unique Skills.

Black Jade comprehended the seventh Eight Unique Skill, reaching the All-Sage Realm, while Zhou An fished a sealed letter from a Great Qi courier and brought it to Eunuch Wei. The National Teacher began breaking its restrictions, and the next day Zhou An arrived at the selection arena, where Ouyang Ming and the Demonic Swordsman awaited him.

• Black Jade comprehended the Spirit Communication Divine Medicine, reached the All-Sage Realm, and absorbed Zhou An's reference book to speed up comprehending the final Eight Unique Skill.
• Zhou An cast his fishing line and hooked a secret letter from the Black Robed Man, who abandoned his mission and fled after losing it.
• Zhou An showed the restricted letter to Eunuch Wei, who identified Great Qi's restrictions and took it to the National Teacher, who said he would need five days to break them.
• Zhou An and Black Jade attended the imperial palace's leader-selection arena the next day, where Zhou An saw Ouyang Ming and the Demonic Swordsman among his rivals.

Zhou An defeated Ouyang Ming and killed the Demonic Swordsman after dispelling his temporary power, then returned to grinding proficiency. The National Teacher deciphered Zhou An’s secret letter, and the Xingwu Emperor summoned Zhou An to read it, leaving the letter’s contents about to be revealed.

• Ouyang Ming challenged Zhou An and lost after Zhou An’s blade shattered his gauntlets and stopped short of his brow.
• The Demonic Swordsman took a pill and activated his Sword Intent, but Zhou An dispelled his temporary enhancements and killed him with a barrage of blade lights.
• Zhou An returned to grinding the Butcher Dismembering Human Knife Technique while the National Teacher deciphered the secret letter and brought it to the Xingwu Emperor.
• After reading the letter, the Xingwu Emperor summoned the Prime Minister, Eunuch Wei, and the Chief Commander, and ordered them to wait for Zhou An.
• Zhou An arrived at the Imperial Study, picked up the deciphered letter, and began reading it.

Zhou An and the Xingwu Emperor planned how to respond to Great Qi’s secret alliance with the Barbarian Kingdom, then Zhou An led the Hunting of the Weird into Xin County. At Xin Pavilion, the Flame Sect’s Bai Feng revealed that he had come to question Black Jade.

• Zhou An learned that Great Qi had promised to support the Barbarian Kingdom, and he and Xingwu Emperor planned to mislead Emperor Fengteng while turning Great Qi and Indulgence against each other.
• Zhou An departed with Black Jade and the All-Sage Realm experts to begin the Hunting of the Weird, organizing the teams from Xin County.
• While exploring Xin County, Zhou An met a young blade practitioner, improved his technique, and inspired him to aim to become the second Zhou An.
• At Xin Pavilion, Zhou An met Bai Feng, the Eight-Fingered Old Man and Flame Sect master, who said he had come not for Zhou An but to ask Black Jade a question.

Zhou An rejected the Miscellaneous Sect’s plan to make Black Jade its new Master and learned that her Eight Unique Skills had been exposed. After his saber technique underwent a qualitative change, he led the Hunting of the Weird into Great Yue, where he confronted Miscellaneous Sect members targeting Black Jade.

• Bai Feng told Zhou An that most of the Miscellaneous Sect wanted Black Jade to become its new Master, but Zhou An refused and warned Bai Feng against endangering her.
• Bai Feng revealed that the Indulgent Leader had exposed Black Jade’s Eight Unique Skills and warned Zhou An that Great Qi and Great Yue might target her.
• In Great Qi, the Indulgent Leader used a stolen letter to secure Emperor Fengteng’s agreement to ally against Great Yue and Great Chu, and to help kill Zhou An when the time came.
• After many days of training, Zhou An’s Armor Piercing Demon Suppressing Blade reached level nine and gained the Defense Break attribute, and he led sixty All-Sage Realm experts toward Great Yue.
• In a Great Yue border county, Zhou An sensed Miscellaneous Sect members surrounding a street and gave them three breaths to leave before he killed them.

Zhou An slaughtered attackers who ambushed him, then continued the Hunting of the Weird toward Great Qi while the Skill-Seizing Alliance plotted to release a dangerous Weird against him. Near the border, he discovered that all the local weird had vanished, followed his Eight Trigrams Arithmetic to a clearing, and prepared to fight a gigantic Weird surrounded by Absolute Comprehension Realm auras.

• Zhou An killed more than a hundred attackers with one saber strike, reassured the Great Yue experts that he would only kill enemies, and led the group onward.
• Alliance Leader Ran rallied the Skill-Seizing Alliance to pursue the Eight Unique Skills, killed a member who objected to endangering ordinary people, and ordered the group to use the Mass Grave Weird against Zhou An.
• Zhou An spent his stored proficiency on the Wok Suppression Art, then reached a border county where Zheng Quan reported that there were no weird anywhere nearby.
• Zhou An used Eight Trigrams Arithmetic to locate the source of the disturbance, and the group followed him as thunder, rain, and a powerful Weird aura appeared.
• Zhou An found countless arms emerging from the earth and forming a gigantic sphere, then charged it with his Sacred Spirit Demonic Body and Armor Piercing Demon Suppressing Blade.

Zhou An defeated the White-Clad Sword God, then tracked down and slaughtered Alliance Leader Ran and the Miscellaneous Sect before returning to the border county. There, he discovered that the newly exposed ancient battlefield was producing strange winds and that something was approaching from within its depths.

• Zhou An’s Armor Piercing Demon Suppressing Blade shattered the giant bizarre creature and revealed the White-Clad Sword God, whom Zheng Quan identified as a genius from the Era of Hundred Kingdoms.
• The White-Clad Sword God’s sword qi broke Zhou An’s Body Forging and shattered half his body, but the Sacred Spirit Demonic Body’s Substitute Death restored him.
• Zhou An fought the White-Clad Sword God in a clash of blade and sword, then pierced his chest and destroyed him along with the bizarre longsword.
• Zhou An followed the Eight Trigrams threads to the Miscellaneous Sect’s hideout, killed Alliance Leader Ran and the gathered members, and collected their Inner Cores.
• Zhou An returned to the border county and learned that his battle had opened the ancient battlefield; sensing the deep pit, he detected something strange approaching from below.

Zhou An claimed the Great Territory Dynasty Jade Seal and learned that the Wild Buddhist Sect and Wild Taoist Sect planned to seize it to establish their own kingdoms. In Great Qi, he uncovered a plot against him and confronted Qin Meng, who claimed to be protecting Black Jade but revealed knowledge suggesting ties to Indulgence.

• Zhou An took the Great Territory Dynasty Jade Seal without resistance and stored it in his Pink Money Bag, while Zheng Quan warned him about the risks of keeping it.
• Buddha learned that Zhou An had obtained the Imperial Seal and planned to gather the Wild Buddhist Sect's leaders and seek cooperation with the Wild Taoist Sect to seize it.
• Zhou An arrived in Great Qi and observed that its people were poorer than those in Great Chu and Great Yue, then traveled onward after the first county passed without incident.
• A Demon Suppression Division operative warned Zhou An that Great Qi was planning to target him through covert schemes.
• Zhou An exposed a disguised watcher, who identified himself as Qin Meng, Sect Master of the Thousand Shadow Gate, and said he had come to protect Black Jade.
• Qin Meng told Zhou An that Great Qi had joined forces with Indulgence, prompting Zhou An to question whether Qin Meng was one of Indulgence's upper ranks.

Zhou An uncovered the slaughter of Purple Cloud County and followed the Wild Buddhist Sect and Wild Taoist Sect’s threat to Verdant Mountain. Facing their combined formation, he called on Black Jade to begin a counterattack.

• Qin Meng revealed that Indulgence was colluding with Great Qi’s emperor, and Zhou An sent him to inform Xingwu Emperor.
• Zhou An and Zheng Quan reached Purple Cloud County, dispelled an array, and found the town full of corpses.
• Zhou An discovered the lone surviving girl had been secretly marked; she turned into blood, and a letter blamed him and demanded the Great Territory Dynasty Jade Seal.
• Zhou An left Zheng Quan to bury the dead and took Black Jade to Verdant Mountain, where the Wild Buddhist Sect and Wild Taoist Sect awaited him.
• The two sects activated a powerful Taoist-Buddhist formation, and Zhou An told Black Jade to begin as its phantom prepared to attack.

Zhou An summoned the Bizarre Assembly to punish the Wild Taoist Sect and Wild Buddhist Sect for the destruction of Purple Cloud County, then learned that the rift was growing unstable. As he continued the Hunting of the Weird, Indulgence sought an alliance with the two sects, offering the Great Territory Jade Seal in exchange for the Exquisite Painting to use against him.

• Black Jade threw an Inner Core to restore the Bizarre Assembly's consciousness, and Zhou An asked her to torture the Wild Taoist Sect and Wild Buddhist Sect instead of killing them quickly.
• The Bizarre Assembly warned Zhou An that the rift was becoming unstable and suggested someone might be acting secretly; Zhou An decided to report the matter to Emperor Fengteng.
• The Bizarre Assembly's weird entities tortured the captured Taoists and monks to death, and Zhou An collected five Inner Cores before returning with Black Jade to Verdant Mountain.
• Zhou An returned to Purple Cloud County, learned that Zheng Quan had buried the civilians, and ordered the group to resume the Hunting of the Weird at a faster pace.
• The Indulgent Leader told Emperor Fengteng that Zhou An was difficult to kill and claimed his state of mind was a fatal weakness.
• After the Taoist-Buddhist Vajra's defeat, the Taoist Master and Buddha received Zongxing Fist Celestial, who offered the Great Territory Jade Seal in exchange for borrowing the Exquisite Painting to deal with Zhou An.

Fist Venerable secured Taoist Master and Buddha’s agreement to help Indulgence kill Zhou An in exchange for the Great Territory Dynasty Jade Seal and the Exquisite Painting. After advancing Celestial Craft Divine Calculation and continuing the Hunting of the Weird, Zhou An was trapped in the Exquisite Painting and faced Indulgent Leader’s empowered avatar, but his new Greater Momentum ability diverted the first deadly strike as the Bizarre Assembly arrived.

• Fist Venerable persuaded Taoist Master and Buddha to cooperate with Indulgence, and they gave him the reunited Exquisite Painting.
• Zhou An transformed Eight Trigrams Arithmetic into Celestial Craft Divine Calculation, gained Greater Momentum, and began raising Wok Suppression Art by flipping Black Jade.
• Zhou An and his companions reached Three Diligence Prefecture, where the busy streets turned into a mountain forest that was revealed as the Exquisite Painting.
• Indulgent Leader confronted Zhou An and explained that the painting and over a thousand Spirit Connection Realm members empowered his avatar to wield his true body’s power.
• Zhou An used Greater Momentum to make Indulgent Leader’s fatal finger strike veer aside, damaging the Exquisite Painting as the Bizarre Assembly descended.

Zhou An summoned the Bizarre Assembly, who killed the Indulgent Leader and destroyed the Exquisite Painting, devastating the Wild Taoist Sect and the Wild Buddhist Sect. After the Hunting of the Weird ended, Zhou An went to Great Qi’s palace to choose a treasure, where Emperor Fengteng summoned him to the Imperial Study.

• Zhou An summoned the Bizarre Assembly, who took Black Jade’s Inner Core and killed the Indulgent Leader after learning he had stirred up the rift and marked Zhou An with the Eight Unique Skills.
• The Bizarre Assembly destroyed the Exquisite Painting, causing a devastating backlash that killed or gravely injured members of the Wild Taoist Sect and the Wild Buddhist Sect.
• Emperor Fengteng learned that Zhou An was unharmed and arranged for him to choose a treasure and then come to the Imperial Study.
• The Hunting of the Weird reached its final stage, and Zhou An advanced his Wok Suppression Art to level eight before setting out for Great Qi’s capital with the others.
• At the palace, Zhou An was told Emperor Fengteng wished to see him; after checking for danger, he entered the Imperial Study.

Zhou An rejected Emperor Fengteng’s offer to join Great Qi, then discovered that remnants of Great Feng were using stolen National Luck to seize the Great Territory Dynasty Jade Seal and target him. As the Jade Seal began to tremble and his divination showed great misfortune, Zhou An deduced who was behind it and headed for the Spirit Connection Space to seek help.

• Emperor Fengteng offered Zhou An high office and rewards if he joined Great Qi, but Zhou An refused and returned to his courtyard.
• After Zhou An left, Emperor Fengteng revealed his intent to use the situation to kill him and strengthen Great Qi.
• Beneath the palace lake, Meng Yun gathered Great Feng’s surviving ministers and decided to use their stolen National Luck to seize the Great Territory Dynasty Jade Seal and restore Great Feng.
• Meng Yun and the ministers activated the broken jade, sending their gathered National Luck skyward as Emperor Fengteng watched and anticipated Zhou An’s death.
• Zhou An noticed the Great Territory Dynasty Jade Seal trembling, used the Celestial Craft Divine Calculation, and deduced that Great Feng’s remnants were behind the threat.
• Zhou An recognized that he could seek help from a powerful backer in the Spirit Connection Space and began heading there.

Zhou An entered the Spirit Connection Space, where Old Yang took the Great Territory Dynasty Jade Seal and explained how the Indulgent Leader had marked Zhou An with Resentful Energy. After Old Yang redirected that energy to aid Black Jade, Zhou An returned to find Meng Yun attacking him with borrowed Ascension Realm power, only for an unknown voice to intervene.

• Old Yang sensed the activated Great Territory Dynasty Jade Seal, pulled Zhou An and the seal into the Black Palace, and explained that the National Luck backlash would destroy the Former Dynasty Remnants.
• Old Yang found hidden Resentful Energy on Zhou An, identified its connection to the Eight Unique Skills, and transferred it to Black Jade to help her merge them.
• Meng Yun crushed Great Feng's fragmented National Luck, drained the hundred or so Former Dynasty Remnants, and temporarily reached the Ascension Realm.
• Emperor Fengteng sensed Meng Yun's power but chose not to intervene, deciding to let him pursue Zhou An.
• Meng Yun tracked Zhou An to the residence and attacked him and the All-Sage Realm experts with a vast palm of dark clouds.
• As Meng Yun's attack neared, an unseen speaker demanded to know who had given him the nerve to touch one of theirs.

Eunuch Wei killed Meng Yun, warned Emperor Fengteng about Great Yue’s planned campaign against the Barbarian Kingdom, and took Zhou An north to meet an old acquaintance. The chapter ended as a woman hidden within a vast array of formations complained that Eunuch Wei had finally retrieved her token.

• Eunuch Wei arrived and destroyed Meng Yun’s attacks before killing him and sending his head to Emperor Fengteng.
• Eunuch Wei told Emperor Fengteng that Great Yue would soon send troops against the Barbarian Kingdom, then received a token connected to an old appointment.
• Zhou An chose an Inner Core from the treasury and left Great Qi with Eunuch Wei and Black Jade.
• Eunuch Wei led Zhou An to a forest protected by hundreds of thousands of formations and explained that its resident was the world’s foremost formation master.
• A voice from within the formations complained that Eunuch Wei had finally retrieved her token from her brother.

Eunuch Wei brought Zhou An to meet Yue Ming, who agreed to use her Hundred Arrays Heart Refining formation to address a flaw in Zhou An’s heart that Indulgent Leader could exploit. Zhou An entered the formation and found himself in An Ding County, but after confronting his aunt, the illusion shifted to a place that shocked him.

• Eunuch Wei reunited with Yue Ming, and Zhou An learned that they had once been lovers before their separation in the resistance against Great Feng cost Eunuch Wei his manhood.
• Eunuch Wei revealed that Indulgent Leader had planted a seed in Zhou An’s heart and that Zhou An’s emotional distance from others could become a dangerous weakness.
• Yue Ming explained that her Hundred Arrays Heart Refining formation could draw out Zhou An’s inner flaw, and Zhou An entered the cave and sat at its formation core.
• Zhou An found himself in his childhood home in An Ding County and saw his aunt holding a dagger.
• Zhou An swung his sword at his aunt, but the illusion shattered and changed into a new, initially blurred scene that left him stunned.

After waking in a hospital with amnesia, Zhou An experienced strange apparitions and a sudden recovery before returning to a life that felt unfamiliar. A double revealed that Zhou An’s memories and inner barrier had created a Heart Demon, and Zhou An recovered his memories as their battle began.

• Zhou An woke in the hospital with fractures and amnesia, learned that his company planned to dismiss him, and saw a pale hand and other frightening entities in his ward before suddenly recovering.
• Zhou An left the hospital, returned to his unfamiliar home, and went about his day while feeling that someone was missing and watching news of recent murders.
• A second Zhou An appeared at his door, attacked him, and brought him into a white space filled with figures he had encountered before.
• The double claimed those figures had died by Zhou An’s hand and explained that Zhou An’s alienation from that world had created the Heart Demon, which intended to replace him and remake the world.
• The Heart Demon attacked with a black saber, prompting Zhou An to recover memories of Ye Shuang, Yu Hang, Black Jade, Eunuch Wei, and others, then transform his kitchen knife into a matching saber.
• Zhou An and the Heart Demon clashed and summoned their twenty-meter Sacred Spirit Demonic Bodies.

Zhou An defeated the personality born from his estrangement from the world by accepting it, resolving the trial within his mind. He left with Eunuch Wei for Great Chu as preparations to dispatch troops against the Barbarian Kingdom drew near, then asked whether Yue Ming was Emperor Fengteng’s younger sister.

• Zhou An realized his opponent was another personality rather than a Heart Demon and took control of their mindscape.
• Zhou An shared wine with the other personality and convinced him to be accepted rather than destroyed, ending his sense of separation from the world.
• Zhou An emerged from the cave with Black Jade, and Eunuch Wei and Yue Ming recognized that he had passed Hundred Arrays Heart Refining.
• Yue Ming told Eunuch Wei that her lifespan was limited, and Eunuch Wei said he might come to find her one day.
• Zhou An and Eunuch Wei left for Great Chu, where Eunuch Wei warned that the campaign against the Barbarian Kingdom was approaching.
• Zhou An asked Eunuch Wei whether Yue Ming was Emperor Fengteng’s younger sister, and Eunuch Wei stopped in midair and sighed.

Zhou An returned to Great Chu, strengthened the Wok Suppression Art into World in the Pot, and learned that Great Yue would attack the Barbarian Kingdom in one month. Black Jade comprehended all Eight Unique Skills and said that fusing them would raise her strength, with the Bizarre Assembly being the safest place to begin.

• Eunuch Wei told Zhou An that his pursuit of peace outweighed his past love, and the two returned to Great Chu.
• Zhou An collected the Inner Core in Great Yue, went to Huaixi Capital, and reviewed He Sheng's report on the Demon Suppression Division.
• Zhou An returned home to grind proficiency and received a secret letter stating that Great Yue would attack the Barbarian Kingdom in one month and that Yu Hang and Ye Shuang had reached the Full Saint Realm.
• Zhou An used his stored proficiency on Body Forging, then transformed the Wok Suppression Art into World in the Pot and learned that its Refinement attribute worked with Sealing.
• Black Jade comprehended the final Eight Unique Skill and explained that fusing the skills would increase her strength; she said the Bizarre Assembly was the safest place to start.

Zhou An sought the Bizarre Assembly’s help with Black Jade’s fusion of the Eight Unique Skills, but refused to sever their connection and instead planned to find Old Yang. In the Spirit Connection Space, Black Jade sensed that Old Yang was in trouble and pointed Zhou An toward him.

• Black Jade transformed and brought Zhou An to the Bizarre Assembly, where an Inner Core restored the Bizarre Assembly’s human emotions after a fierce battle with strange beings from the rift.
• The Bizarre Assembly explained that Black Jade had to release her strange side to fuse the Eight Unique Skills, but staying with her there would consume Zhou An’s limited Inner Cores.
• The Bizarre Assembly offered to sever Black Jade’s connection with Zhou An, but Black Jade refused, so Zhou An proposed using Old Yang’s qi to help her fuse the skills in the rift.
• The Bizarre Assembly agreed to let Zhou An try his plan and gave him a black box containing half the power of one of her streets as protection.
• Zhou An and Black Jade entered the Spirit Connection Space, where Black Jade sensed that someone was affecting Old Yang and pointed out where he was.