Chapter Summaries

Jiang Shu traveled to Azure Sky Prefecture, learned about the wider Martial Dao world and the approaching Hundred Dynasty War, and trained to refine High-Grade Medicinal Pills. He left seclusion in disguise and brought the Yanding Merchant Guild thirty bottles of Qi Gathering Pills to auction.

• Jiang Shu refused to meet Zhao Yuanchang, who waited outside with a whip to beg for forgiveness, and Chou Hai realized Jiang Shu's strength exceeded what he had thought.
• A month later, Jiang Shu arrived in Azure Sky Prefecture with Chu Xisheng and resolved to delay his journey to the state capital while he pursued his own plans.
• Jiang Shu learned that the Hundred Dynasty War was less than two years away and decided he needed to reach the top of the Dragon-Tiger Rankings and enter the Rebirth Realm.
• At the Danxia Merchant Guild, Jiang Shu spent half a month refining pills and eventually succeeded in producing High-Grade Medicinal Pills.
• Jiang Shu changed his appearance, entered the Yanding Merchant Guild, and offered thirty bottles of Qi Gathering Pills for auction.

Jiang Shu attended the Yanding Merchant Guild auction to sell Qi Gathering Pills and find a suitable weapon, but the Little Five Elements Sword Formation drew him into a fierce bidding war. As a first-class private room bid four hundred and eighty bottles of Essence Great Elixirs, Jiang Shu countered with an offer of fifty bottles of Qi Gathering Pills.

• Jiang Shu sold thirty bottles of Qi Gathering Pills to the Yanding Merchant Guild and received access to a second-class private room.
• The auction began, and Jiang Shu's Qi Gathering Pills sold for one hundred and thirty thousand taels of gold.
• Jiang Shu watched bidders compete for Mysterious Earth Gold Sand and other treasures while waiting for a weapon worth buying.
• The Yanding Merchant Guild presented the damaged Little Five Elements Sword Formation, explaining that its unstable Treasure Patterns could unleash one-third of its original power for a limited number of uses.
• Jiang Shu bid three hundred bottles of Essence Great Elixirs for the sword formation, but guests continued raising the price until a first-class private room offered four hundred and eighty bottles.
• Jiang Shu countered by ordering a bid of fifty bottles of High-Grade Medicinal Pills, Qi Gathering Pills.

Jiang Shu bought the Little Five Elements Sword Formation, spent a month refining pills and cultivating, then traveled to the state capital to study the Little Dragon-Tiger Rankings. He learned Zhao Zhongming had drawn with Chu Xisheng and was warned to watch a rankings challenge before facing the state-capital geniuses.

• Jiang Shu outbid the third-floor guest for the Little Five Elements Sword Formation, bonded with it, and tested how its five blades boosted his combat power.
• Jiang Shu refined Qi Gathering Pills for a month, advanced to the late Blood Exchange Realm, and improved his Four Symbols True Strength and Four Seasons Swordplay beyond major mastery.
• Yu Ya'er tried to recruit Jiang Shu to the Yanding Merchant Guild, but he declined; after he left, she changed her appearance and prepared to return to the state capital.
• Jiang Shu went to the Danxia Merchant Guild and learned that Chu Xisheng had drawn with Zhao Zhongming, who was now ranked twenty-second on the Little Dragon-Tiger Rankings.
• Manager Jiang told Jiang Shu about a rankings challenge in Azure Sky Prefecture in three days and suggested he watch Young Master Tang challenge Young Master Ouyang.

Jiang Shu watched Tang Yujian defeat Ouyang Jun before confronting Tang for insulting him and challenging Zhao Zhongming. After defeating Tang in a single move, Jiang Shu announced he would travel to the state capital to fight Zhao Zhongming and entered the Little Dragon-Tiger Rankings at eighty-first place.

• Zhao Zhongming dismissed Jiang Shu’s abilities and told Zhao Chengxuan that Tang Yujian would probe the situation in Azure Sky Prefecture.
• Tang Yujian challenged Ouyang Jun in the Prefecture City and defeated him, taking eighty-first place on the Little Dragon-Tiger Rankings.
• Jiang Shu watched the duel from the Danxia Merchant Guild and judged that Tang Yujian and Ouyang Jun were not his match.
• Tang Yujian went to the guild and insulted Jiang Shu, warning him not to go to the state capital.
• Jiang Shu leaped down and defeated Tang Yujian in a single move, then declared that he would travel to the state capital and formally fight Zhao Zhongming.
• The Sky Patrol Guard placed Jiang Shu at eighty-first on the Little Dragon-Tiger Rankings, and news of his victory spread throughout Cloud State.

Jiang Shu learned that Zhao Zhongming had turned his challenge into a life-and-death wager, and accepted as his ship approached the Cloud State capital. The chapter ended with Jiang Shu standing at the prow, ready to face Zhao Zhongming.

• News spread across Cloud State that Jiang Shu had defeated Tang Yujian in one move and planned to challenge Zhao Zhongming.
• Zhao Zhongming declared a life-and-death wager with Jiang Shu, intending to kill him to protect the Zhao Family and his cousin.
• Chu Xisheng recognized Jiang Shu as someone he had met before and arranged to watch the battle.
• A Sky Patrol Guard Millenary Commander told Jiang Shu that Zhao Zhongming had accepted his challenge and demanded a life-and-death wager.
• Despite Vice President Jiang's warning, Jiang Shu accepted the wager and headed toward the Cloud State capital.

Jiang Shu fought Zhao Zhongming in a life-and-death duel on the river outside Cloud State's state city. After Zhao shattered his battle blade, Jiang Shu revealed his Formation Disk and Five Elements Swordplay, killed Zhao, and entered the city as the new twenty-second-ranked genius on the Little Dragon-Tiger Rankings.

• Zhao Zhongming confronted Jiang Shu on the river and challenged him to a life-and-death duel, which Jiang Shu accepted.
• Jiang Shu's Four Seasons Swordplay clashed with Zhao Zhongming's spear techniques, but Zhao gained the advantage and shattered Jiang Shu's Alloy Battle Blade.
• Jiang Shu revealed a Formation Disk and five Treasure Blades, then used his limit-breaking Five Elements Swordplay against Zhao's forbidden technique and ultimate spear strike.
• Jiang Shu pierced Zhao Zhongming's brow, severed his head, and crossed the waves to the pier.
• Jiang Shu told Zhao Chengxuan that his cousin had talked too much, causing Zhao Chengxuan to collapse in terror.
• Jiang Shu entered Cloud State's state city and rose to twenty-second place on the Little Dragon-Tiger Rankings.

After Jiang Shu defeated Zhao Zhongming, he entered Cloud State's state city and avoided immediate involvement with the Danxia Merchant Guild while its Great Elder chose to court him. Jiang Shu met Chu Xisheng to learn about the Liang Family, and Chu revealed that its mid-stage Rebirth Realm expert was secretly weakened by a serious injury.

• Azure Sky Prefecture martial artists recognized Jiang Shu's Little Five Elements Sword Formation and speculated about his backing and strength after he defeated Zhao Zhongming.
• Vice President Jiang returned Jiang Shu's bundle and offered to take him to the Danxia Merchant Guild, but Jiang Shu declined and entered the state city on his own.
• The Danxia Merchant Guild's Great Elder forbade retaliation against Jiang Shu and arranged for him to receive an additional cultivation method or martial art and its resources.
• After spending ten days exploring the state city, Jiang Shu invited Chu Xisheng to Taihe Restaurant and asked what he knew about the Liang Family.
• Chu Xisheng told Jiang Shu that the Liang Family's mid-stage Rebirth Realm expert had suffered a serious spirit injury and now fought at roughly the initial stage.

Jiang Shu learned how aristocratic families protected their descendants’ essence blood and plotted to obtain the drop stored by the Liang Family so he could open Liang Tingbo’s Storage Bag. After months of cultivation, he broke the limit of the Four Symbols Viscera Transformation Force and formed Qilin True Force, leaving him ready to pursue his next breakthrough.

• Chu Xisheng explained the Liang Family’s power, how Storage Bags were reclaimed, and how aristocratic families used stored essence blood to track assassins.
• Jiang Shu visited the Danxia Merchant Guild’s president and Great Elder, obtained a Superior Grade Cultivation Method and two Top-Grade Martial Arts, and chose to focus on breaking the limit of his Four Symbols Viscera Transformation Force.
• Jiang Shu resolved to obtain Liang Tingbo’s essence blood by finding a suitable Liang Family descendant to impersonate and enter the Ancestral Hall.
• Jiang Shu planned to reach the Aperture Opening Realm before returning to Fusang and confronting its military forces.
• After months of cultivation, Jiang Shu broke the limit of the Four Symbols Viscera Transformation Force, forming Qilin True Force that tempered his spleen and governed longevity.

After nearly three years of preparation, Jiang Shu reached the point where he could cultivate the Crimson Palace Thunder Method Aperture Training Chapter and set his sights beyond the rankings. He disguised himself and recruited Liang Yuanzhou for a plan against the Liang Family, leaving Liang Yuanzhou tempted by pills and the chance to reclaim his standing.

• Jiang Shu refined his body and reviewed the Crimson Palace Thunder Method, a Superior Grade technique that required a pure-yang virgin and could lead toward the Five Thunders Great Handprint Divine Ability.
• Jiang Shu decided that his goals were to reach Aperture Opening and Mortal Shedding, compete in the Hundred Dynasty War, and enter the True Martial Sect.
• Jiang Shu disguised himself and went to the Liang Family courtyard, where Liang Yuanzhou confronted him after he demonstrated his strength.
• Jiang Shu told Liang Yuanzhou that the Liang Family had withheld resources from him and given them to Liang Yuanhong, urging him to challenge Liang Yuanhong at the family competition.
• Jiang Shu gave Liang Yuanzhou Chao Yuan Pills and Marrow Cleansing Pills, promising more resources if he agreed to act against Liang Yuanhong.
• Liang Yuanzhou weighed the risks and benefits, then began convincing himself that he would accept so he could reclaim the glory he believed belonged to him.

Jiang Shu secretly returned to the state capital, broke through to the Aperture Opening Realm by opening 108 apertures, and killed Liang Yuanzhou after discovering his reluctance to help with the Liang Family feud. He disguised himself as Liang Yuanzhou and entered the Liang Family on the eve of the Grand Competition.

• Jiang Shu defeated Chu Xisheng in a sparring match, then left the state capital aboard a giant ship before secretly returning in disguise.
• Jiang Shu watched Liang Yuanzhou and concluded that he was deliberately slowing his cultivation to avoid confronting Liang Yuanhong at the Grand Competition.
• Jiang Shu broke through the Great Dream Sleep Dan Art and entered the Aperture Opening Realm, opening 108 apertures and reaching Hundred Apertures Gathering Spirit.
• Liang Yuanzhou reached the Blood Exchange Realm and told Jiang Shu he would try to avenge him at a later Grand Competition.
• Jiang Shu overwhelmed and killed Liang Yuanzhou, then used a corrosive pill to dissolve the body and copied his appearance, clothes, and martial arts.
• Jiang Shu, disguised as Liang Yuanzhou, entered the Liang Family the day before the Grand Competition.

Jiang Shu disguised as Liang Yuanzhou infiltrated the Liang Family Ancestral Hall, stole Liang Tingbo’s blood essence, and obtained his Storage Bag. After learning the Storage Bag held a map to the Nether Lightning Old Man’s Tomb Estate, Jiang Shu prepared to flee and discovered the Ancient Forbidden Technique Thunder Roc Nether Qi Wings.

• Jiang Shu used Liang Yuanhong’s help to reach the Liang Family’s Blood Essence Secret Chamber, then killed Liang Yuanhong and Uncle Qin to enter it.
• Jiang Shu tested jade bottles until Liang Tingbo’s blood essence opened the Storage Bag, then took its contents and refined it as his own.
• Jiang Shu killed Old Han with a Corpse Corroding Pill and returned to the tavern with the stolen items.
• Jiang Shu read Liang Tingbo’s account of finding the Nether Lightning Old Man’s Tomb Estate and memorized the map before hiding the beast hide again.
• Jiang Shu packed his pill furnace and Little Five Elements Sword Disk, then opened the Jade Slip and found the Ancient Forbidden Technique Thunder Roc Nether Qi Wings.

Jiang Shu discovered the Thunder Roc Nether Qi Wings technique and fled Liang Yuewu’s attack by traveling between worlds, leaving his whereabouts unknown. Months later, Jiang Yan Yue still worried about her missing brother, while five soldiers were killed near Tokyo Tower by sabers erupting from the ground.

• Liang Tingtao investigated the disappearance of Liang Zhengqin and Liang Zhenghan, and Liang Yuewu identified Liang Yuanzhou as the likely culprit before tracking his aura.
• Jiang Shu studied the Thunder Roc Nether Qi Wings technique and considered visiting Nether Lightning Old Man's Tomb Estate in Hidden Abyss City.
• Liang Yuewu attacked Jiang Shu’s room aboard the ship, but Jiang Shu escaped using Two Worlds Travel.
• Jiang Yan Yue attended a class about training in Heaven and Earth Secret Realms and privately worried about Jiang Shu’s disappearance in Fusang.
• At the Tokyo Tower restricted zone, five sabers burst from the ground and killed five patrolling soldiers.

Jiang Shu returned to Xuanxing in Fusang and fought off soldiers as the Sixth Brigade, Fighter Jets, and tanks closed in around him. Fusang officials broadcast the confrontation to discredit Martial Dao, while the news of Jiang Shu's return spread to the Xia Kingdom Martial Dao forum.

• Jiang Shu arrived in Fusang, killed two groups of soldiers with his Hundred-Step Divine Fist and Treasure Blades, and used protective barriers to stop bullets.
• Jiang Shu revealed his original appearance as Fighter Jets and tanks surrounded him, and he prepared the Little Five Elements Sword Formation.
• The Fusang Prime Minister ordered the confrontation broadcast to Fusang martial artists and declared that Jiang Shu would die beneath the military's firepower.
• Fusang martial artists watched the Sixth Brigade encircle Jiang Shu and celebrated his apparent defeat.
• A Xia Kingdom Martial Dao forum post announced Jiang Shu's return and his confrontation with the Sixth Brigade.

Jiang Shu returned to Tokyo and fought off Fusang’s forces, destroying Fighter Jets with his Treasure Blades before being driven into a ground assault by the Sixth Brigade. He activated the Little Five Elements Sword Formation and unleashed its Origin Qi blades against the tanks, armored vehicles, and soldiers.

• Jiang Shu rose above the artillery on his Treasure Blades and hurled three of them into a Fighter Jet, splitting it apart and announcing his return.
• Jiang Shu redirected incoming missiles with threads of Origin Qi, destroyed more Fighter Jets, and fell toward the ground as his Origin Power dwindled.
• The Sixth Brigade’s officer ordered tanks and thousands of soldiers to fire on Jiang Shu, forcing him to evade their bombardment.
• Jiang Shu summoned the Little Five Elements Sword Formation with a drop of essence blood and gathered the surrounding Origin Qi into its Formation Disk.
• Jiang Shu’s gigantic Origin Qi blades cleaved shells in midair, crushed tanks and armored vehicles, and cut down hundreds of soldiers.

Jiang Shu devastated Fusang’s Sixth Brigade with his Little Five Elements Sword Formation, then hid in Tokyo while recovering and cultivating. Three days later, Fusang announced that its half-year lockdown would be lifted, signaling that Jiang Shu could return home.

• Jiang Shu destroyed much of the Sixth Brigade and disappeared into Tokyo’s crowds, leaving Fusang’s leaders to order a manhunt and aid for the wounded.
• Xia Kingdom’s Martial Artist Alliance recognized Jiang Shu as a Gang Jin Martial Saint, and the leadership ordered the seas guarded to secure his return.
• Jiang Shu concealed himself in an abandoned house, recovered from his injuries, and continued cultivating the Crimson Palace Thunder Method Aperture Training Chapter.
• After three days, Tokyo Television announced that Fusang would lift its territory-wide lockdown and allow foreign tourists to return home.

Jiang Shu used Stealth Step to leave Fusang and return to Xia Kingdom, where a girl recognized his appearance as Martial Saint Jiang. He reached Jicheng and surprised his worried parents by coming home hungry.

• Jiang Shu boarded a cruise ship out of Fusang using Stealth Step and considered how he could use Xia Kingdom’s resources to obtain Thunder Roc essence blood.
• On the ship, Jiang Shu spoke with Xiao Yun, who later sketched his original face and prompted her father to recognize him as Martial Saint Jiang.
• Jiang Shu left the cruise ship unnoticed at Donghai International Cruise Port and traveled toward Jicheng.
• At home in Pillow Water Residence, Jiang Yongyi and Xu Lizhi worried about their absent son while Jiang Yongyi planned to buy food.
• Jiang Shu opened the door, greeted his parents after half a year away, and asked whether there was food.

Jiang Shu returned home, rested with his parents, and went to see Ye Zhenzhen, whose unusual attraction to Heaven and Earth Origin Qi caught his attention. He agreed to help Ye Zhenzhen's friend Lu Jinli escape her contract by contacting Starlight Entertainment's chairman, Song.

• Jiang Shu reassured Jiang Yongyi and Xu Lizhi that he would stay home with them before traveling to Shengjing for the conference.
• Jiang Shu enjoyed Xu Lizhi's fried noodle soup and learned that Ye Zhenzhen had fainted from exhaustion while managing Shu Yan Pharmaceutical Company.
• Jiang Shu visited Ye Zhenzhen and met her friend Lu Jinli, who was bound by a contract with Starlight Entertainment.
• Ye Zhenzhen asked Jiang Shu to help free Lu Jinli, and Jiang Shu recognized Chairman Song as someone he had met on a cruise ship.
• Jiang Shu gave Ye Zhenzhen Song's phone number, and she called him; Song answered and asked who was calling.

Lu Jinli rejected Song Mingcheng’s lavish offer to stay with Starlight Entertainment, while Jiang Shu explained Ye Zhenzhen’s awakened Spirit Body and offered to train her in exchange for her protecting and teaching his parents. Ye Zhenzhen accepted by undressing before him, offering her body as a pledge of allegiance.

• Song Mingcheng recognized Lu Jinli as the lucky koi from the cruise ship and offered her a major promotion, but she declined so she would not disadvantage Ye Zhenzhen’s secret crush.
• Lu Jinli left Ye Zhenzhen’s home, leaving Jiang Shu and Ye Zhenzhen alone together.
• Jiang Shu explained that Ye Zhenzhen had awakened a Spirit Body, making her sensitive to Origin Qi and putting her health and lifespan at risk unless she advanced in martial arts.
• Ye Zhenzhen learned that Jiang Shu could live for at least five hundred years, while her own lifespan depended on reaching a high martial arts realm.
• Jiang Shu offered Ye Zhenzhen cultivation methods and resources if she kept them secret, avoided marriage and children for now, and stayed with his parents to teach and protect them.
• Ye Zhenzhen accepted and undressed, presenting her body as a pledge of allegiance to Jiang Shu.

Jiang Shu refused Ye Zhenzhen’s advances and began teaching her the Innate Guidance Technique, then traveled with his family to Shengjing for a gathering. At a special Research Institute, he learned that Heaven and Earth Secret Realms concealed Cosmic Ruins and that a Grade A Ruin had yielded a cultivation method that might lead beyond the end of Martial Dao.

• Jiang Shu declined Ye Zhenzhen’s offer, explained that he wanted things to happen naturally, and taught her the first Thirty-Six Forms of the Innate Guidance Technique.
• Jiang Shu spent time with his parents, cooked for them, took his father fishing, and picked up Jiang Yan Yue from Jiangnan Academy.
• On the drive to Shengjing, Jiang Shu teased Jiang Yan Yue about her ambition to become a Young Girl Grandmaster and told her to train more if she was not good enough.
• After arriving in Shengjing, Jiang Shu left his family at a hotel and went with Minister Xiao to a special Research Institute.
• Minister Xiao revealed that Heaven and Earth Secret Realms concealed Cosmic Ruins and that the Cosmic Battleship in the Institute came from a Grade A Ruin.
• Minister Xiao told Jiang Shu that researchers had recovered a cultivation method suspected to come from another Cosmos, possibly offering a path beyond the end of Martial Dao.

Wang Yan explained the differences between Xia Kingdom’s Martial Dao and the cultivation paths of the Great Jing Dynasty, then revealed the stages of Mind Cultivation found in a secret realm. Jiang Shu left convinced that he would continue pursuing Martial Dao and Mind Cultivation, even as other nations favored genes and Mechas.

• Minister Xiao explained that Shattering the Void, Seeing the Divine and Indestructible was the pinnacle of physical cultivation and described how opened Apertures governed the body.
• Jiang Shu met Shang Sigou and the Dan Jin Grandmasters, then listened as Wang Yan arrived and warned that Martial Saints remained vulnerable to missile strikes from great nations.
• Wang Yan revealed a Crystal Meditation Orb and described three stages of sleep, followed by Samadhi and the still-mysterious Embryonic Breathing.
• Jiang Shu recognized that his talent for Mind Cultivation had helped drive his rapid progress, while the Grandmasters studied the Meditation Method fragments.
• Jiang Shu told Wang Yan he did not take offense at his warning and affirmed that he would keep pursuing power through Martial Dao rather than easier paths like genes and Mechas.