Chapter Summaries

Key Plot Points and Events

• Ye Zhuo (disguised as Duan Yu) faces Murong Fu, who seeks to kill him.
• Ye Zhuo, with his advanced martial skills, easily defeats Murong Fu using the Six Meridian Divine Sword and Northern Mysterious True Qi.
• Murong Bo attempts to save Murong Fu but is also injured. Murong Fu is killed.
• Ye Zhuo captures Wang Yuyan and announces his intention to found his own sect, taking her as his disciple.
• Duan Zhengchun tries to convince Ye Zhuo to inherit the imperial lineage, but Ye Zhuo insists on using his new name, Ye Zhuo.

Character Developments

• Ye Zhuo: Reveals his true strength and decides to found his own sect, taking Wang Yuyan as his first disciple. He also insists on using his new name, Ye Zhuo.
• Duan Zhengchun: Realizes Ye Zhuo's true power and tries to convince him to inherit the imperial lineage.
• Murong Fu: Dies at the hands of Ye Zhuo.
• Murong Bo: Injured by Ye Zhuo and has his face covering removed, revealing his true appearance.
• Wang Yuyan: Captured by Ye Zhuo and is to be his first disciple.

Significant Themes

• The power of martial arts and inner power.
• The importance of a true master-disciple relationship.
• The struggle for power and influence within the martial world.

Character Interactions

• Ye Zhuo vs. Murong Fu: Ye Zhuo demonstrates his superior martial skills and defeats Murong Fu.
• Ye Zhuo vs. Murong Bo: Ye Zhuo injures Murong Bo and removes his face covering.
• Duan Zhengchun and Ye Zhuo: Duan Zhengchun tries to convince Ye Zhuo to inherit the imperial lineage, but Ye Zhuo insists on using his new name.
• Ye Zhuo and Wang Yuyan: Ye Zhuo captures Wang Yuyan and decides to take her as his first disciple.

Key plot points and events

• After completing the quest to kill Murong Fu, capture Wang Yuyan, and found a sect, Ye Zhuo receives the Perfect Nine Yang Scripture. He masters it instantly and uses his Northern Mysterious True Qi to bypass its usual breakthrough requirements, giving him effectively limitless true qi.
• A new quest targets Sweeper Monk, criticizing his calls for mercy while ignoring the innocent victims of the martial world’s violence. Ye Zhuo carries Wang Yuyan away and drains the inner power of Bao Butong and the other Murong Clan fighters.
• Ye Zhuo defeats Murong Bo with an astonishing mix of martial arts he has copied or mastered, including the Dragon-Subduing Skill, Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms, and Xu Zhu’s Ice Talisman. He drains Murong Bo’s power, killing him and wiping out the Murong family.
• At the Scripture Pavilion, Xiao Yuanshan reveals Xu Zhu’s identity and the aftermath leaves Xu Zhu bereft. Xiao Feng confronts his father for killing the adoptive family who raised him.
• Sweeper Monk arrives and tries to end the cycle of vengeance by restraining Jiumozhi and Xiao Yuanshan with his Three-Foot Qi Wall. Xiao Feng attacks; Ye Zhuo joins him and shatters the wall, badly wounding Sweeper Monk. Ye Zhuo rejects the monk’s moral authority and prepares to continue attacking.

Character developments and interactions

• Ye Zhuo becomes even more overwhelmingly powerful, combining immense reserves of true qi with instant mastery of observed techniques. He sees himself as enforcing justice for the dead, though his ruthless methods mirror the violence he condemns.
• Xiao Feng remains committed to loyalty and justice. He refuses to excuse Xiao Yuanshan’s killing of his adoptive parents, then joins Ye Zhuo in attacking Sweeper Monk.
• Xu Zhu is devastated by the revelations about his identity and the deaths surrounding him. His compassion contrasts with Ye Zhuo’s brutality.
• Xiao Yuanshan shows little remorse over Murong Bo’s death, further angering Xiao Feng.
• Sweeper Monk attempts to impose peace through restraint and forgiveness, but Ye Zhuo challenges both his strength and his right to preach mercy.
• Murong Bo dies after Ye Zhuo drains his inner power; the Murong Clan is effectively destroyed.

Significant themes

• Justice versus forgiveness: The chapter questions whether calls to end vengeance are meaningful when past victims have not received justice.
• The cycle of violence: Attempts to settle old grudges produce more deaths and grief, especially for Xiao Feng and Xu Zhu.
• Power and morality: Ye Zhuo’s vast strength lets him decide who deserves punishment, but his merciless actions complicate his claim to be defending the wronged.
• Appearance versus reality: Sweeper Monk’s image of benevolent wisdom is challenged by Ye Zhuo, who accuses him of playing the “good guy” without addressing earlier injustices.

Plot points

• Ye Zhuo rejects the Sweeper Monk’s appeal to abandon violence, arguing that the monk’s words cannot answer for the innocent victims of years of war. He reveals that he has chosen the name Ye Zhuo and kills the monk with six streams of sword qi.
• Ye Zhuo drains the Sweeper Monk’s immense cultivation, leaving him a skeleton. Xiao Feng and Xu Zhu try to restrain Ye Zhuo, but he announces he will master Shaolin’s Seventy-Two Supreme Arts and found a sect.
• Xiao Feng leaves with Xiao Yuanshan to settle old grudges, planning to reunite with his brothers in three days. Xu Zhu also departs to join Plum, Orchid, Bamboo, and Chrysanthemum and take up his role as head of the Carefree Sect and master of the Soaring Eagle Palace.
• Left alone with Jiumozhi, Ye Zhuo receives the Nine Yin Manual as a quest reward. A new quest then directs him to seize Jiumozhi’s internal energy; when Jiumozhi resists, Ye Zhuo kills him and gains the Muscle-Tendon Changing Classic.
• Ye Zhuo masters Shaolin’s Seventy-Two Supreme Arts with astonishing speed, along with his other major manuals and techniques. A new quest calls for him to announce the founding of a Demon Cult, with Tai Chi Sword as the reward.

Character developments and interactions

• Ye Zhuo fully embraces his chosen identity and increasingly treats killing and absorbing powerful opponents as a means to an end. His strength has grown so great that mastering vast martial arts collections takes moments.
• Xiao Feng is disturbed by the murderous aura he sees in Ye Zhuo and fears his younger brother is becoming demonic. Xu Zhu, by contrast, regards the Sweeper Monk’s death as acceptable and does not condemn Ye Zhuo.
• Jiumozhi admires Ye Zhuo’s extraordinary power and hopes to study Shaolin arts alongside him, but Ye Zhuo instead drains his energy and kills him when he resists.
• The three brothers part with different priorities: Xiao Feng pursues old grudges, Xu Zhu assumes his new responsibilities, and Ye Zhuo remains to pursue power and found a sect.

Significant themes

• Justice versus mercy: Ye Zhuo challenges the Sweeper Monk’s call to lay down the “butcher’s knife,” insisting that victims of violence deserve answers too.
• Power and moral decline: Others interpret Ye Zhuo’s actions as signs of a demonic path, while he sees them as justified or practical.
• Ambition and transformation: By taking a new name, mastering many arts, and planning to found a Demon Cult, Ye Zhuo deliberately breaks from his former identity.

Key plot points and events

• After Ye Zhuo kills Jiumozhi and the Sweeper Monk at Shaolin, the monks decide not to challenge him. They believe powerful heroes and factions will eventually fade, leaving Shaolin dominant again.
• Outside the temple, Ye Zhuo publicly announces that he has founded the Demon Cult and intends to kill treacherous people throughout the martial world. The crowd is too frightened to oppose him.
• The system rewards Ye Zhuo for completing the quest with the perfected Tai Chi Sword. He instantly masters its principles through his accumulated martial insight, though he considers the Dog-Beating Staff Technique—his next reward—of little practical use.
• A new quest requires him to take Wang Yuyan, Mu Wanqing, and Zhong Ling as disciples. He accepts Zhong Ling first and later takes the other two.
• Grieving Murong Fu’s death, Wang Yuyan attempts suicide. Ye Zhuo stops her by striking her and leaving her paralyzed from the waist down, explaining that he is preventing her from harming herself.
• As Duan Zhengchun delivers instructions for Duan Yu to travel to Western Xia, Xiao Feng and Xu Zhu prepare to depart. Ye Zhuo travels with Zhong Ling and Wang Yuyan; Mu Wanqing arrives and joins them. The system confirms that all three women have become his disciples, rewarding him with the perfected Dog-Beating Staff Technique.

Character developments and interactions

• Ye Zhuo openly embraces his new identity as Demon Cult Leader. He remains confident and pragmatic, treating the discipleship quest as an obligation and Wang Yuyan’s suicide attempt as something to control, rather than responding gently to her grief.
• Zhong Ling initially resists becoming Ye Zhuo’s disciple because she fears it will end her romantic hopes. Ye Zhuo tells her his sect permits its members to fall in love, leaving her embarrassed but reassured.
• Wang Yuyan is devastated by Murong Fu’s death and sees little reason to live. Her despair contrasts with Ye Zhuo’s claim that he is trying to keep her safe.
• Mu Wanqing reacts jealously to Ye Zhuo carrying Wang Yuyan. She is startled when he implies she has called him “her Ye,” and both she and Zhong Ling become shy at his teasing.
• Duan Zhengchun tries to dissuade Ye Zhuo from founding a cult with such a threatening name, but Ye Zhuo refuses to back down.

Significant themes

• The fleeting nature of fame and power: The Shaolin monks expect celebrated heroes and great factions to disappear with time, while their own institution endures.
• Fear and hypocrisy in the martial world: People who bully the weak avoid confronting genuine strength; reputations and rivalries often matter more than justice.
• Power and control: Ye Zhuo’s formidable abilities let him dictate events, including the fate of a suicidal Wang Yuyan and the formation of his cult.
• Shifting identities and relationships: Ye Zhuo’s new name and role alter how others relate to him, while romance and discipleship become entangled through his unconventional sect.

Plot and events

• Ye Zhuo masters the Dog-Beating Staff Technique and receives a quest to travel to Western Xia and destroy the First-Rank Hall; the reward is the perfected Shenzhao Scripture.
• He travels with Xu Zhu, Mu Wanqing, Zhong Ling, Wang Yuyan, and the four maids. At the Western Xia capital, Ye Zhuo mentions that the princess loves someone called “Menglang.” Xu Zhu suspects this may be his beloved Menggu and leaves to investigate, planning to meet Ye Zhuo after the consort-selection gathering.
• Ye Zhuo rejects the idea of marrying the princess: he has come to test himself against Western Xia’s martial experts and says he intends to found the Demon Cult.
• He enters the First-Rank Hall and challenges all its fighters. His Lion’s Roar knocks out or injures most of them.
• Ye Zhuo presses onward to a secluded courtyard, where the Hall’s hidden elder tries to deter him with claims that remaining still makes him untouchable. Ye Zhuo overwhelms him with the Dragon-Subduing Skill and kills him with sword qi, eliminating the Hall’s last reserve of strength.

Character developments and interactions

• Ye Zhuo shows confidence in his overwhelming power and treats the challenge as a test rather than a contest for the princess’s hand. He is impatient with boasts and wastes little time defeating the Hall.
• Xu Zhu is immediately shaken by the name “Menglang” and follows the possibility that the princess may be his lost Menggu.
• Mu Wanqing initially assumes Ye Zhuo wants to marry the princess and becomes less troubled when she learns otherwise. Her affectionate response to his attempt to have her call him “Brother Ye” adds a light romantic note.
• Zhong Ling questions Ye Zhuo’s motives and is startled by his plan to take on the entire Hall.
• The hidden elder relies on intimidation and a theory of combat built around timing and comparable strength, but his confidence collapses when confronted with Ye Zhuo’s vastly superior power.

Significant themes

• Overwhelming strength versus technique and rhetoric: The elder’s theories and threats prove useless against a decisive gap in power.
• A declining martial world: The narration emphasizes that vitality and internal energy fade with age, while lost medicines and spiritual resources make lasting strength harder to sustain.
• Ambition and self-making: Ye Zhuo’s plan to found the Demon Cult frames the attack as part of building a larger power, not merely winning a fight.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• After completing the quest to subdue the Western Xia First-Rank Hall, Ye Zhuo receives the perfect version of the Shenzhao Scripture and masters it immediately.
• A new quest orders him to invade the Western Xia palace and kill its emperor. When the emperor’s army attacks him with arrows, Ye Zhuo protects himself and his companions with a vast qi barrier, then disables the archers with his Lion’s Roar.
• He forces his way through the palace troops and kills the emperor with the Six Meridian Divine Sword. The quest rewards him with the Primordial Unity Skill, which he also rapidly masters.
• Ye Zhuo then receives a quest to kill Duan Yanching at Mantuo Manor. After eating at the palace, he visits Xu Zhu to say goodbye. Xu Zhu tells him that the First-Rank Hall has been destroyed and the emperor assassinated, unaware that Ye Zhuo did both. Ye Zhuo admits the truth, but insists their friendship remains intact, then rides away.

Character developments and interactions

• Ye Zhuo displays overwhelming confidence and power, treating the palace siege as little more than an inconvenience. He is also blunt and irreverent, even toward the crying Wang Yuyan, and casually separates political killings from personal friendship.
• Zhong Ling remembers Ye Zhuo as a weak scholar and is startled by how dramatically he has changed.
• Mu Wanqing stays vigilant and protective, keeping her sword ready despite Ye Zhuo’s qi barrier.
• Wang Yuyan is frightened by the attack and astonished by Ye Zhuo’s strength. She reflects on martial arts, longevity, and her own fear of aging.
• Xu Zhu remains loyal to Ye Zhuo and is relieved to see him, but is left stunned by Ye Zhuo’s confession. The Western Xia princess is distressed by the news.

Significant themes

• Escalating power: Ye Zhuo’s abilities have advanced so far that conventional armies cannot challenge him.
• The gap between legend and reality: Wang Yuyan’s reflections on martial arts and immortality reveal how much she still longs for youth and beauty, despite the world’s grand myths.
• Friendship amid violence: Ye Zhuo treats Xu Zhu’s family loss as separate from their brotherhood, suggesting that personal bonds can persist even after brutal political acts.
• Humanity beneath idealization: Ye Zhuo rejects the idea of women as untouchable “fairies,” viewing them instead as ordinary people with individual desires and flaws.

Plot and key events

• At Mantuo Manor, Li Qingluo’s attempt to punish Duan Zhengchun and his former lovers backfires. Duan Yanching captures her along with the others.
• Ye Zhuo arrives just as Dao Baifeng is dying. He prevents her from revealing the truth about his parentage, but Duan Zhengchun and several women die by suicide. Ye Zhuo saves Li Qingluo from doing the same, declares her his new disciple, and carries her and Wang Yuyan away.
• Ye Zhuo kills Duan Yanching, completing his quest and earning the perfected Purple Dawn Divine Skill. His next quest is to return to Dali, take the throne, and declare the Demon Cult the world’s greatest sect.
• Ye Zhuo returns to Dali and becomes emperor after the funeral. He launches technological reforms—using the Shadowkhan as labor—and reorganizes the army. Dali rapidly begins to prosper.
• After completing the quest and earning the perfected Eternal Youth and Everlasting Spring Technique, Ye Zhuo adapts it for women. He takes Wang Yuyan, Li Qingluo, Mu Wanqing, and Zhong Ling to Everlasting Spring Valley, where they drink its springwater and continue practicing.
• A new quest directs Ye Zhuo to the Khitan border to prevent Xiao Feng’s suicide.

Character developments and interactions

• Ye Zhuo acts decisively to alter the expected course of events, though his interruption leaves Dao Baifeng’s intended revelation unfinished. He becomes Dali’s emperor, pursues national development, and takes Li Qingluo as a disciple despite her objections.
• Li Qingluo shifts from captor to captive and is left devastated by the deaths around her. Ye Zhuo saves her and later helps her recover.
• Wang Yuyan, Mu Wanqing, and Zhong Ling witness the deaths in despair; they later become Ye Zhuo’s students in the Everlasting Spring Skill.
• Duan Zhengchun and the women connected to him die by suicide after Dao Baifeng’s death. Duan Yanching is killed by Ye Zhuo.
• Ye Zhuo’s uncle yields the throne and enters a monastery; the Shadowkhan become both the workforce behind Dali’s reforms and part of its military system.

Significant themes

• Fate and intervention: Ye Zhuo’s arrival changes events, but not without tragic consequences.
• Power and responsibility: His martial abilities serve both personal goals and the broader transformation of Dali.
• Reinvention and ambition: The Demon Cult’s new public prominence contrasts with Dali’s practical modernization.
• Youth and immortality: The Everlasting Spring technique links longevity to both disciplined practice and access to the valley’s springwater.

Key plot points

• A month after leaving seclusion, Ye Zhuo and the Demon Cult’s four chief disciples have mastered the Eternal Youth and Everlasting Spring Skill. Meanwhile, Dali has rapidly industrialized with the Shadowkhan’s help, building steam engines, machine tools, trains, and steel warships.
• At the Khitan border, Ye Zhuo arrives with Xu Zhu to stop Xiao Feng from killing himself. Ye Zhu demonstrates overwhelming power, first killing thousands of soldiers with a single palm and then wiping out twenty thousand with the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms.
• Xu Zhu captures the Khitan king. Xiao Feng explains that his loyalty to both the Khitan and Han people—and his debt to the king—makes him willing to die to end the war. Ye Zhu stops him from taking his life.
• Ye Zhu threatens both armies with further destruction and shatters a mountain with one palm. Terrified, the Khitan and Han leaders agree to end the war.
• Completing his quest, Ye Zhu receives the perfected Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill and quickly masters its thirteenth level. A new quest tasks him with conquering the world and founding a “Martial Arts Demon Kingdom.”
• Though Xiao Feng and Xu Zhu celebrate the prospect of lasting peace, Ye Zhu announces that he intends to conquer the world and make people build him a pyramid—an ominous plan the others do not understand.

Character developments

• Ye Zhuo is revealed to be far beyond an ordinary Peak Expert: despite being a Martial Arts Grandmaster, his strength approaches or exceeds the legendary Martial Arts Myth. He uses that power to impose peace, then turns his attention to global conquest.
• Xiao Feng remains committed to preventing bloodshed, even at the cost of his life, but Ye Zhu rejects his sacrifice and forces him to live.
• Xu Zhu shows compassion and loyalty, especially toward Xiao Feng, and is relieved when the war ends.
• The Khitan and Han leaders abandon their conflict out of fear of Ye Zhu’s demonstrated power.

Significant themes

• Power as a tool for peace—and domination: Ye Zhu ends a war by making continued resistance seem hopeless, but his proposed world conquest raises questions about whether imposed peace is truly peace.
• Sacrifice versus intervention: Xiao Feng sees self-sacrifice as a way to stop the conflict; Ye Zhu believes he can prevent it without letting Xiao Feng die.
• Transformation and ambition: Dali’s sudden industrial progress parallels Ye Zhu’s expanding influence, while the new quest shifts the story from regional conflict to world conquest.

Character interactions

• Ye Zhu and Xu Zhu arrive as allies, with Ye Zhu relying on Xu Zhu to capture the Khitan king while he handles the battlefield.
• Xiao Feng’s intention to die brings him into conflict with Ye Zhu, who disarms him and refuses to let him sacrifice himself.
• Xu Zhu and Xiao Feng are stunned by Ye Zhu’s power, while their relief at the war’s end contrasts with Ye Zhu’s casually announced plans for conquest and pyramid-building.

Key Plot Points and Events

• Ye Zhuo, Xiao Feng, and Xu Zhu reach Soaring Eagle Palace.
• Ye Zhuo reveals his plan to conquer the world, causing Xiao Feng and Xu Zhu to protest.
• Ye Zhuo knocks out Xiao Feng and Xu Zhu, leaving them unconscious for a decade.
• Ye Zhuo cultivates various martial arts in a cave, then begins his world conquest.
• In one year, Ye Zhuo conquers the world, renaming it the Demon Kingdom.
• Fifty years later, Ye Zhuo enters the Buddhist path with his disciples and servants.

Character Developments

• Ye Zhuo: Becomes emperor, conquers the world, and enters the Buddhist path.
• Xiao Feng: Protests against Ye Zhuo's plan, becomes unconscious for a decade.
• Xu Zhu: Also protests, becomes unconscious, and later becomes the Wine-Fighting Monk.

Significant Themes

• Ambition vs. Pacifism: Ye Zhuo's ambition contrasts with Xiao Feng and Xu Zhu's desire for peace.
• Power and Responsibility: Ye Zhuo's immense power raises questions about his intentions and the consequences of his actions.
• Time and Change: The passage of fifty years shows the changes in the world and the characters.

Character Interactions

• Ye Zhuo and Xiao Feng/Xu Zhu: Their differing views on war and conquest lead to conflict.
• Ye Zhuo and his disciples/servants: They follow Ye Zhuo into seclusion, showing loyalty and devotion.
• Xu Zhu and the Western Xia princess: Their relationship is mentioned but not explored in detail.

Key plot points and events

• Over the centuries after Ye Zhuo founded the Demon Kingdom, martial arts flourished, then declined. The legendary Demon Ancestor and his sworn brothers faded into myth.
• A master swordsman known as the Sword Demon rose to fame, while the appearance of the Nine Yin Manual later sparked deadly competition. The Mount Hua contest established the Five Greats, with Wang Chongyang recognized as the Central Divinity.
• At the Quanzhen Sect, Wang Chongyang plans to preserve his insights from the Nine Yin Manual. The Wine-Drinking Monk reveals that he has read it and combined it with Carefree Sect techniques, creating a foundation for a future art that could provide continuous inner strength.
• Ye Zhuo arrives with four disciples and two masked attendants, reunites with the Wine-Drinking Monk, and learns that he has seen their eldest brother. The brothers reflect on their long lives and the people they have outlived.
• Ye Zhuo identifies the present as the Shooting the Condors Era, a period when martial arts have declined. He explains that Wang Chongyang’s injuries and ailments—not merely his cultivation—are limiting his life, and that they can be treated.
• Wang Chongyang asks about higher martial realms. The Wine-Drinking Monk explains the Grandmaster realm and the still higher Mythic Realm, including their power and extended lifespans, while noting that even a Myth cannot escape death forever.

Character developments and interactions

• Ye Zhuo remains youthful and immensely powerful after centuries of secluded cultivation. His reunion with his brother is joyful, but he is also clear-eyed about the decline of martial arts and the limits of even the highest realm.
• The Wine-Drinking Monk (Xu Zhu) is now a Mythic Realm master with a greatly extended lifespan. His delight at seeing Ye Zhuo contrasts with his sadness over lost loved ones and his longing to meet the woman he once loved again.
• Wang Chongyang shifts from confident master of the Five Greats to a humbled student. Hearing the brothers discuss realms unknown to him forces him to question the martial histories he trusted and recognize how much knowledge has been lost.
• The reunion between Ye Zhuo and Xu Zhu is warm and affectionate. Their conversation leaves Wang Chongyang awestruck, while Ye Zhuo and Xu Zhu treat his questions seriously and offer him a clearer understanding of his condition and the martial hierarchy.

Significant themes

• The erosion of history: Great figures and achievements become legends, then are dismissed as exaggerations.
• The decline of martial arts: Later generations inherit fragments of knowledge but lose access to earlier heights of mastery.
• Longevity and loneliness: Extraordinary lifespans bring power but also force the brothers to outlive friends and loved ones.
• Limits of power: Even the Mythic Realm cannot defeat mortality; life ends when lifespan and vitality are exhausted.

Key plot points

• Wang Chongyang asks whether reaching the Martial Arts Grandmaster realm could extend his life. Xu Zhu explains that it requires mastering the Nine Yin Manual, reaching the state where “No-Move Triumphs Over Moves,” and creating a martial art of his own.
• Ye Zhuo receives the Jade Maiden Manual as a quest reward and is then tasked with saving Wang Chongyang and helping him become a Grandmaster. Since Lin Chaoying is already dead, Ye Zhuo gives Wang the Muscle-Tendon Changing Classic instead, urging him to use it alongside the Nine Yin Manual.
• Wang quickly learns the healing manual, recovers from his old injuries, and plans to seek Duan Huangye’s One Yang Finger before confronting Ouyang Feng.
• A month later, Wang feigns death and kills Ouyang Feng with a single One Yang Finger strike, exploiting its advantage over the Toad Technique. The death of one of the Five Greats alters the course of the coming eras.
• Duan Huangye visits Ye Zhuo and says he intends to devote himself to martial arts, even becoming a monk. Ye Zhuo gives him the Six Meridian Divine Sword manual. Seven days later, Duan Huangye becomes a monk, leaving another vacancy among the Five Greats.
• Ye Zhuo’s quest to help Wang Chongyang reach Grandmaster is completed, and he receives the perfect Taixuan Manual.

Character developments and interactions

• Wang Chongyang begins resigned to his short life but regains hope after receiving the healing manual. His recovery strengthens his confidence that he can eventually become a Grandmaster, though his immediate plan remains to learn the One Yang Finger and defeat Ouyang Feng.
• Ye Zhuo is surprised by the new quest but supports Wang with powerful manuals and advice. He is frustrated by Wang’s slow progress, yet ultimately helps set him on the path to greater mastery. He also supports his grandson’s decision to pursue martial arts.
• Xu Zhu leaves after drinking with Ye Zhuo for a day and night, saying he wants to seek out an old friend. Ye Zhuo reflects that Xu Zhu could pursue martial arts further but prefers to spend his remaining time experiencing the world.
• Duan Huangye, Ye Zhuo’s grandson, chooses martial cultivation over his previous path and receives the Six Meridian Divine Sword from Ye Zhuo.

Significant themes

• Mortality and the desire to live: Wang Chongyang fears death and seeks more time, while Xu Zhu accepts life’s limits despite his extraordinary abilities.
• Mastery through self-creation: Grandmaster status demands not only learning existing techniques but transcending them and creating an original martial art.
• Changing history: Ye Zhuo’s interventions and Wang’s killing of Ouyang Feng reshape the familiar events and lineages of the coming martial-world eras.
• The pursuit of martial arts: The characters make different choices about how much of their lives to devote to cultivation, from Wang’s renewed ambition to Duan Huangye’s decision to become a monk.

Key events

• After a sudden enlightenment into the Taixuan Manual, Ye Zhuo conceives a way to combine internal arts, body-tempering, mental cultivation, and other supreme techniques into a path to lasting youth and longevity.
• He declares that martial arts has realms beyond Martial Arts Myth, names the highest realm martial dao longevity, and records his system in the Martial Dao Longevity Art. He makes dozens of copies and releases them into the martial world.
• A quest directs him to teach Hong Qigong the true Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms, then leave the martial world and begin wandering. Its reward is a perfect Dragon Saber.
• Wang Chongyang returns to Quanzhen Sect and finds Ye Zhuo gone, with only the bamboo slips left behind. Though he cannot understand the highest teachings, he recognizes that Grandmaster is not the ultimate realm.
• News of the Longevity Formula spreads rapidly. Its broad teachings inspire martial artists, overshadowing the Nine Yin Manual. Huang Yaoshi, despite usually refusing to study additional arts, is stirred by the prospect of advancing toward longevity.
• In Yangzhou, Hong Qigong recognizes Ye Zhuo’s unusual breathing and hidden power as connected to the new art. Ye Zhuo takes him—and Mu Wanqing and the others—far away in an instant, demonstrating his extraordinary abilities.

Character developments and interactions

• Ye Zhuo advances beyond Martial Arts Grandmaster, transforming his Northern Mysterious true qi into longevity true qi. With roughly four hundred years’ worth of energy and the seventh level of the Heaven and Earth Great Shift, his movement is astonishingly powerful. He treats his accomplishments casually and plans to teach Hong Qigong before departing.
• Wang Chongyang is humbled by teachings beyond his comprehension and becomes convinced that higher realms exist.
• Huang Yaoshi shifts from dismissing other martial arts to seriously contemplating the possibility of reaching Grandmaster, Myth, and longevity.
• Hong Qigong reassesses his own knowledge after studying the Longevity Formula, including his incomplete mastery of the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms. He recognizes Ye Zhuo as someone far beyond ordinary Grandmasters and is astonished by Ye Zhuo’s speed.
• Ye Zhuo and Hong Qigong meet, and Ye Zhuo invites him to speak away from the teashop. Ye Zhuo’s effortless journey with Hong Qigong and his companions makes the gap between their abilities unmistakable.

Significant themes

• The pursuit and transmission of longevity: Ye Zhuo turns personal enlightenment into a method intended to open a path for future generations.
• Limits and transcendence: Even legendary experts may fall short of Myth, while Ye Zhuo reveals further realms beyond it.
• Knowledge as inspiration: The Longevity Formula prompts even independent masters to reconsider their assumptions and ambitions.
• Power and humility: Ye Zhuo’s remarkable achievements contrast with his understated manner, while others struggle to grasp the scale of his cultivation.

Key plot points and events

• Hong Qigong witnesses Ye Zhuo’s extraordinary power and concludes he has reached the legendary realm of a Martial Arts Myth. He asks Ye Zhuo to teach him.
• Ye Zhuo explains that the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms Hong knows were adapted from an original set of twenty-eight. The revision suited the immense inner strength of its creator, but proved too difficult for later practitioners and gradually weakened.
• Ye Zhuo teaches Hong the original twenty-eight palms and the Dragon-Subduing Skill, along with their formulas. Comparing them with his own version, Hong understands why the eighteen palms are so challenging and sees a better way to pass the art on to future Beggar’s Gang disciples.
• After thanking Ye Zhuo for helping both him and the gang, Hong records a cryptic account of meeting a Martial Arts Myth who used the Heaven and Earth Great Shift.
• Ye Zhuo completes his quest to teach Hong and begin traveling, earning a perfect Dragon Saber, which he gives to Tatsumaki. He then sets out with his companions; a new quest directs him to practice the Jade Maiden Manual with Huang Rong in exchange for the Heavenly Sword.

Character developments and interactions

• Hong Qigong moves from awe at Ye Zhuo’s power to genuine insight into his own signature art. His joy comes less from receiving a stronger technique than from understanding its history and how it should be taught.
• Ye Zhuo acts as teacher and benefactor, sharing the lost foundations of the palms, then resumes his wandering without seeking repayment.
• Tatsumaki protests that the Dragon Saber is too heavy, while Ye Zhuo hints that another weapon will soon appear.
• Fubuki, Wang Yuyan, Mu Wanqing, and Zhong Ling talk with Ye Zhuo about their long lives, martial arts, and family history. Zhong Ling’s question about a newly ordained emperor leads to Li Qingluo revealing that she is the emperor’s mother and grandmother.
• The scene contrasts Ye Zhuo’s detachment from worldly status with his companions’ continued curiosity about descendants and family ties.

Significant themes

• Martial arts evolve—and can decline: A technique perfected for one master may become inaccessible to later generations; recovering its original foundations can restore its intended purpose.
• Knowledge should be shared: With powerful teachings already circulating, Ye Zhuo and Hong see little value in preserving martial arts as secrets.
• Understanding matters more than acquisition: Hong’s greatest reward is grasping the reason behind his art’s difficulty.
• Freedom versus worldly attachment: Ye Zhuo chooses travel and experience over status, legacy, or family ambition.

Plot points and events

• Ye Zhuo travels to the Mount Wuliang cave, where Li Qingluo and Wang Yuyan recognize the ancient portrait as their grandmother, Li Qiushui. Ye Zhuo marvels at how closely the women across three generations resemble one another.
• Over the years, Ye Zhuo helps Wang Yuyan, Li Qingluo, Mu Wanqing, Zhong Ling, Tatsumaki, and Fubuki practice the Jade Maiden Manual. After Ye Zhuo’s intense seven-day retreat, the women refine their accumulated true qi and reach the technique’s Perfect Subtlety Stage.
• Ye Zhuo advances beyond Martial Arts Longevity: more than four centuries’ worth of Longevity True Qi condenses into a Golden Core. He survives the ensuing lightning, fire, and other trials, then absorbs it, transforming his qi into Innate Qi.
• He theorizes that the next stage is the Martial Dao Primordial Spirit, which could lead to becoming a Heavenly Immortal—or, as he muses, a Martial God. He returns to the ground and takes his disciples out into the mortal world.
• In a bustling market, Huang Rong tries to trip Ye Zhuo with a chicken bone. His companions catch her with psychic powers and carry her away. Ye Zhuo confronts her and orders her to practice the Jade Maiden Manual with him.

Character developments

• Ye Zhuo becomes markedly more powerful, reaching the Martial Arts Golden Core Realm and beginning to map out what may lie beyond it. He remains confident and dismissive of the idea that he should ascend early.
• The women studying under him achieve a major breakthrough, though Mu Wanqing notes that the Jade Maiden Manual is dangerous if practiced incorrectly.
• Wang Yuyan understands the significance of Ye Zhuo’s Golden Core but feels anxious about her own mortality and wishes for eternal youth.
• Huang Rong is introduced as playful, clever, and mischievous, but she is quickly outmatched by Tatsumaki and Fubuki.

Significant themes

• Progress through cultivation: The chapter presents successive stages of martial advancement, from Longevity to Golden Core and the proposed Primordial Spirit.
• The cost and danger of power: The Jade Maiden Manual can cause severe harm if mishandled, while Ye Zhuo’s breakthrough involves spectacular trials.
• Immortality and mortality: Ye Zhuo’s long life contrasts with Wang Yuyan’s worry about aging and her desire to attain Longevity herself.
• Crossing the extraordinary into the ordinary: Divine-scale cultivation unfolds alongside a comic encounter in an everyday market.

Character interactions

• Li Qingluo draws Wang Yuyan’s attention to the portrait, and both recognize their family resemblance to the woman depicted.
• The disciples praise Ye Zhuo for guiding their cultivation; Mu Wanqing also reflects on the technique’s risks.
• Zhong Ling questions Ye Zhuo about his flight, while Wang Yuyan interprets his Golden Core and reflects on what it means.
• Huang Rong attempts to embarrass Ye Zhuo, but Tatsumaki and Fubuki restrain her. Ye Zhuo then addresses her directly and demands that she practice the Jade Maiden Manual.

Key plot points and events

• Ye Zhuo brings Huang Rong to a pavilion overlooking the town, where he and his companions practice the Jade Maiden Manual. Huang Rong’s strength rises sharply, but Ye Zhuo’s immense mastery leaves her far behind.
• After seven hours, Ye Zhuo’s power has increased dramatically, as have the cultivation levels of Huang Rong and the others. At dawn, the system announces the mission complete and rewards Ye Zhuo with the Heavenly Sword, which he entrusts to Tatsumaki and Fubuki.
• A new mission appears: practice the Jade Maiden Manual with Mu Nianci and greatly increase her cultivation. Its reward is the Perfect Edition of the Sunflower Manual. Ye Zhuo is initially wary, then learns it has no drawbacks and would increase his attack and movement speed.
• Ye Zhuo reflects on his ambition to keep exploring martial arts beyond his own system, including legendary techniques he has not yet learned.
• He transports his companions to meet Mu Nianci. In a village, Mu Nianci, Guo Jing, and Yang Kang talk about how their lives might have differed under another set of circumstances. Their conversation is interrupted by Ye Zhuo’s arrival; Guo Jing notices a beautiful woman in white, while Yang Kang sees Ye Zhuo.

Character developments

• Huang Rong sheds her beggar disguise and gains substantial power, but realizes how vast the gap is between her abilities and Ye Zhuo’s. Her curiosity about her father’s strength also reveals her uncertainty about how Ye Zhuo compares with the famed masters.
• Ye Zhuo remains confident in his overwhelming strength, yet is still driven to seek new techniques and higher realms. He treats the Sunflower Manual as a possible means to advance further.
• Mu Nianci, Guo Jing, and Yang Kang are shown as close companions raised together, imagining how fate might have separated them. Their settled childhood lives contrast with the alternative histories they discuss.

Significant themes

• Ambition and the pursuit of mastery: Ye Zhuo sees martial advancement as an ongoing journey, not a finished achievement.
• Fate and alternate lives: The friends wonder whether different circumstances would have changed their relationships and identities.
• Power and humility: Huang Rong’s rapid improvement is overshadowed by Ye Zhuo’s extraordinary abilities, emphasizing the scale of his strength.
• A changing world: The Supreme Demon Kingdom has unified the world, while technological progress has stagnated and martial conflict persists.

Character interactions

• Ye Zhuo’s bold, teasing approach surprises Huang Rong, who is initially wary but becomes impressed by his knowledge and strength.
• Huang Rong questions Ye Zhuo about the relative power of her father, Huang Yaoshi, and the other legendary masters.
• Ye Zhuo entrusts the Heavenly Sword to Tatsumaki and Fubuki, then brings the group to meet Mu Nianci.
• Guo Jing, Yang Kang, and Mu Nianci share an affectionate, speculative conversation about their childhood and possible futures before Ye Zhuo’s arrival changes the scene.

Key plot points and events

• Ye Zhuo arrives seeking Mu Nianci. Yang Kang and Guo Jing try to protect her, but Ye Zhuo easily passes them. His arrival disrupts the relationships and destinies that might otherwise have unfolded: Guo Jing feels a connection to Huang Rong has been cut short, and Yang Guo’s future is said to be erased.
• Ye Zhuo takes Mu Nianci aboard his ship and trains her intensively. She rapidly reaches the level of a Peak Expert, though initially she struggles to sustain it; continued practice strengthens her foundation.
• Ye Zhuo receives the perfect-edition Sunflower Manual as a quest reward. Because it has none of the usual sacrifice required by the art, he studies it to improve his speed.
• A new quest directs him to travel to the East Blue, find the last of the Five Greats, and challenge the Eastern Heretic. Its reward is the perfect-edition Embrace Origin Force.
• After more than ten days at sea, Ye Zhuo’s party reaches Peach Blossom Island. Huang Rong explains its elaborate formations and powerful weapons, but Ye Zhuo walks through them unharmed.

Character developments and interactions

• Mu Nianci goes from wary captive to willing student, impressed by Ye Zhuo’s skill and agreeing to travel with him. Her rapid progress makes her feel she has entered a world beyond her former limits.
• Yang Kang instinctively shields Mu Nianci and is enraged when Ye Zhuo sends her skyward with a palm strike. He calls her his younger sister, despite the chapter’s framing of her as a beauty he had wanted to pursue.
• Guo Jing also tries to protect Mu Nianci, but Ye Zhuo’s arrival unsettles him and awakens a desire to explore the wider world.
• Huang Rong teases Mu Nianci for receiving so much of Ye Zhuo’s instruction, while warning her not to underestimate Ye Zhuo’s strength. She introduces Peach Blossom Island with pride.
• Wang Yuyan and Mu Wanqing blush when Huang Rong points out that Ye Zhuo has neglected their training. The women’s differing personalities remain part of the group’s dynamic.

Significant themes

• Fate and disrupted destinies: Ye Zhuo’s arrival severs possible relationships and alters the futures of familiar martial-world figures.
• Power, training, and perseverance: Mu Nianci’s sudden advancement is only sustainable when supported by patient cultivation and a stronger foundation.
• The pursuit of martial progress: Ye Zhuo treats manuals as practical tools, comparing speed-focused techniques with arts that cultivate internal strength and composure.
• Detachment and exploration: Ye Zhuo presents himself as a traveler who has let go of many attachments and is content to seek new experiences across worlds.

Key plot points and events

• Ye Zhuo visits Peach Blossom Island to take peach-blossom wine and announces that Huang Rong has become a disciple of his Demon Cult.
• Huang Yaoshi attacks. Ye Zhuo uses Huang Rong as a shield, then defeats Huang Yaoshi with a single strike of One Yang Finger, claiming he used only a tiny fraction of his strength.
• To prove the vastness of the gap between them, Ye Zhuo summons a spectacular display of clouds and ocean, making the waters seem to fall from the heavens.
• Wang Chongyang, Hong Qigong, and Master Yideng appear. Huang Yaoshi realizes that Martial Arts Grandmasters are far stronger than he had believed, while Wang Chongyang is thrilled to learn that still-higher realms may be attainable.
• Huang Yaoshi asks about legendary masters Xiao Feng and Xu Zhu, then wonders whether Finger Flicking Divine Power could rival the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms. Xiao Feng answers with an angry challenge.

Character developments

• Huang Yaoshi is forced to confront both his pride and his limited understanding of martial arts. The display awakens his desire to pursue higher realms, though he remains irreverent and quick with jokes.
• Ye Zhuo is revealed as overwhelmingly powerful, far beyond the realms Huang Yaoshi and even the Grandmasters can readily comprehend. He also treats social conventions casually, including the matter of Huang Rong’s discipleship.
• Wang Chongyang gains renewed hope: Martial Arts Longevity is real, and the existence of higher realms gives him a goal to pursue.
• Hong Qigong and Master Yideng are shown to have advanced greatly through their combined experience and study of powerful techniques.
• Xiao Feng’s sudden entrance sets up a likely confrontation over the relative strength of two famous martial arts.

Significant themes

• The endless ascent of martial arts: Each newly revealed level makes previous limits seem small, while hinting that even greater heights remain.
• Pride versus aspiration: Huang Yaoshi’s pride has kept him from studying certain manuals, but witnessing Ye Zhuo’s power begins to unsettle that resistance.
• The gap between legend and reality: Martial Arts Longevity shifts from theory to something Huang Yaoshi and Wang Chongyang must reckon with firsthand.
• Power and convention: Ye Zhuo’s actions disregard ordinary social expectations, underscoring how detached he is from worldly rules.

Character interactions

• Ye Zhuo and Huang Yaoshi clash over Huang Rong’s discipleship, with Ye Zhuo’s effortless victory forcing Huang Yaoshi to reconsider his assumptions.
• Ye Zhuo’s display astonishes Huang Yaoshi and inspires Wang Chongyang, while the three Grandmasters provide a living measure of how far Huang Yaoshi still has to climb.
• Huang Yaoshi’s teasing comparison of martial arts provokes Hong Qigong, and Xiao Feng’s arrival turns the debate into a direct challenge.

Key plot points and events

• Xiao Feng, Xu Zhu, and Ye Zhuo reunite after a century apart, joined by Xiao Feng’s fellow martial artist, Dugu Qiubai.
• While sharing wine with several famous masters, the brothers discuss their progress into the Martial Arts Longevity Realm and the possibility of advancing further.
• Ye Zhuo explains that a Golden Core might bring near-immortality, while a Martial Dao Primordial Spirit could reveal karma and reincarnation—but these ideas remain speculative.
• The gathering turns to the “Martial Arts Barrier”: when a fighter pursues strength while neglecting their state of mind, they risk demonic cultivation and madness.
• Dugu Qiubai arrives, an exceptional swordsman who can wield anything as a sword. He is revealed to be an admirer of Ye Zhuo.

Character developments

• Xiao Feng has accepted the long life that separates him from A’Zhu and A’Zi, but still deeply mourns and remembers them.
• Xu Zhu likewise longs for Menggu, while his years of wandering have made him more open and conversational.
• Ye Zhuo is now a powerful guide to the others, though his theories about ultimate cultivation and reincarnation are not certain.
• Dugu Qiubai is established as a formidable, unconventional swordsman—and a nervous fan when meeting Ye Zhuo.
• Wang Chongyang, Huang Yaoshi, and the other masters are stirred by the possibility of higher realms and renewed hopes of seeing lost loved ones.

Significant themes

• Longevity and loss: A longer life gives the brothers more time to pursue their paths, but cannot erase grief or guarantee reunion.
• Cultivation of body and mind: Strength alone can lead to ruin; spiritual balance matters.
• The limits of knowledge: Golden Cores, Primordial Spirits, karma, and reincarnation offer possible horizons, but remain uncertain.
• Fellowship and remembrance: The brothers’ reunion and shared drink offer warmth amid centuries of change and separation.

Character interactions

• Xiao Feng and Xu Zhu greet Ye Zhuo with affection, restoring the bond between the three sworn brothers.
• The brothers’ stories prompt the gathered masters to consider their own lost loves and hopes.
• Xiao Feng explains the Martial Arts Barrier in response to Hong Qigong’s question, and his account earns the group’s serious attention.
• Xu Zhu reveals that Ye Zhuo killed the Sweeper Monk with one palm strike, intensifying the others’ awe of him.
• Dugu Qiubai addresses the brothers respectfully but becomes visibly nervous before Ye Zhuo, whom he admires.

Key plot points and events

• Ye Zhuo masters Embrace Origin Force, reaches the Subtlety Realm, and receives the perfect Reverse Nine Yin technique. At a gathering with the Five Greats and other legendary martial artists, he gives them the Martial Arts Golden Core Formula and announces that he will leave; as history turns, what was united will divide.
• Ye Zhuo sails east and settles in Wano Country. With Tatsumaki’s help, he subdues the land and makes it the site of his Great Sun Palace, intended as a cultivation retreat.
• Over the centuries, Ye Zhuo withdraws from public life while the palace and his vast mausoleum continue to be built. The martial world passes to new generations, political order fragments, and society increasingly favors martial arts over technology. A later steampunk age emerges, while Ye Zhuo and the old legends fade from memory.
• Ye Zhuo eventually condenses a Golden Core, tempers his body with Primordial Qi, and fuses his souls and spirits to attain the Martial Dao Primordial Spirit Realm. He explains that breaking through space can lead to another world—and is dangerous.
• A quest notification signals that the Return of the Condor Heroes Era has finally begun.

Character developments and interactions

• Ye Zhuo moves from unmatched martial artist to long-term recluse, focused on cultivation and building his palace. His power advances beyond the Golden Core to the Primordial Spirit, while his departure reshapes the world around him.
• Dugu Qiumo accepts that he admires Ye Zhuo’s martial path rather than Ye Zhuo personally, and his own sword energy grows impressive, though still inferior to Ye Zhuo’s feat of parting the sea.
• Huang Yaoshi, Hong Qigong, and the other great masters part on friendly, teasing terms before vanishing from public life.
• Li Qingluo, Wang Yuyan, Mu Wanqing, Mu Nianci, Huang Rong, Zhong Ling, Tatsumaki, and Fubuki live and train in the Great Sun Palace. The women joke about Ye Zhuo’s strength and compare their cultivation; Huang Rong recognizes his breakthrough, while Zhong Ling asks him about it. Ye Zhuo cautions them against crossing into space.

Significant themes

• Impermanence and division: Power and political unity give way to fragmentation, while even celebrated figures are eventually forgotten.
• Legacy and memory: Ye Zhuo’s influence persists in the world’s transformations, even as his name and the earlier martial legends fade into fragments.
• Cultivation versus progress: Reliance on inner power displaces technological development, producing an unusual martial-world society and, eventually, a steampunk era.
• The limits of power: Ye Zhuo’s ascent is extraordinary, but even he treats new frontiers—such as crossing space—as perilous rather than automatically safe.

Key plot points and events

• After completing the previous quest, Ye Zhuo receives the perfected Reverse Nine Yin, studies it, and gains further insight into balance and opposing forces.
• His next quest is to give Yang Nianci martial arts manuals and take Li Mochou as a disciple.
• Li Mochou attacks a manor while trying to sever her emotional ties and advance her martial arts. She is about to kill Yang Nianci when Ye Zhuo intervenes.
• Ye Zhuo overwhelms Li Mochou with his power, forces her to kneel, and declares that she will be his disciple. He gives Yang Nianci several manuals—the Nine Yin Manual, Reverse Nine Yin, the Toad Technique, and Dugu Nine Swords.
• Yang Nianci reveals that his father is Yang Kang. Mu Nianci recognizes their family connection, embraces him as her nephew, and leaves reassured that her brother is well.
• Ye Zhuo receives the perfected Dark Frost Divine Palm and then a new quest: teach Li Mochou everything he knows and demonstrate that greater masters exist.
• The group travels to a mountain cave. Ye Zhuo begins meditating, while Li Mochou is stunned by the beauty of his eight female companions. When he says he will practice the Jade Maiden Manual with her, she is shocked because it is a secret art of the Ancient Tomb Sect.

Character developments

• Ye Zhuo remains overwhelmingly confident and treats martial arts manuals and quests with casual ease. He takes Li Mochou under his control as a disciple and intends to teach her humility.
• Li Mochou is introduced as proud, violent, and determined to overcome heartbreak by cutting herself off from love. Her defeat abruptly places her in the role of Ye Zhuo’s student.
• Mu Nianci discovers that Yang Nianci is her nephew and finds comfort in learning that Yang Kang is alive and well.
• Yang Nianci receives powerful manuals and learns that his name reflects his father’s long-standing longing for Mu Nianci.

Significant themes

• Mastery and humility: Ye Zhuo’s effortless defeat of Li Mochou shows how limited her power is beside truly formidable masters.
• Balance and transformation: Reverse Nine Yin emphasizes the interplay of opposing forces—hardness and softness, yin and yang, life and death.
• Love, grief, and letting go: Li Mochou believes abandoning her emotional past will make her stronger; Yang Nianci’s name likewise marks the end of Yang Kang’s fixation on his sister.
• The decline of martial arts: Ye Zhuo reflects that later generations’ celebrated techniques arose in a weaker era, suggesting the martial world’s standards had fallen.

Character interactions

• Ye Zhuo confronts and subdues Li Mochou, then appoints himself her master.
• He equips Yang Nianci with martial arts manuals, while Mu Nianci recognizes and comforts her nephew.
• At the cave, Li Mochou compares herself unfavorably with Ye Zhuo’s companions and is startled by his proposal to practice the Ancient Tomb Sect’s Jade Maiden Manual with her.