Chapter Summaries

Mang founded Great Xia and ruled for centuries with the True Martial Talisman's aid, while Fang Xing watched from within it and continued seeking a way to escape. After Mang’s sons rebelled and he eventually reached old age without breaking through, he begged Fang Xing to save him, but Fang Xing remained confident that he would endure until the world advanced.

• Mang proclaimed the founding of Great Xia, and Fang Xing sensed the outside world more clearly while observing the Twelve Princes’ mutations from consuming Ferocious Beast Bloodlines.
• Mang granted fiefs to his princes and generals, and his sons Zhong and Jing later rebelled to seize his throne and secret to Ageless Longevity.
• Xia Emperor Mang defeated the rebellion alone, exiled Zhong and Jing, and stripped other rebels of their fiefs.
• More than two hundred years later, Xia Mang confronted Fang Xing in the True Martial Talisman, demanding to know why he could not break through martial arts.
• Fang Xing explained that Xia Mang’s flawed foundation had left him at a dead end, and Xia Mang knelt and begged his teacher to save him.
• Fang Xing refused to be intimidated and trusted that the world’s growth would eventually allow martial arts to flourish and bring him a chance to escape.

Fang Xing discovered that Great Xia had fallen after the True Martial Talisman became burial goods, and he waited in an ancient tomb for a chance to reenter the world. When three tomb raiders entered the tomb, they dismissed its ancient contents as worthless and approached the coffin.

• Fang Xing entered seclusion after handing the new Human Emperor Hei the True Martial Talisman's functions and learned that Hei's successors had ruled Great Xia until the dynasty collapsed.
• Fang Xing discovered that the True Martial Talisman had become a burial object and realized an unknown number of years had passed since Great Xia's fall.
• An earthquake damaged the tomb, and several days later the Jiangchuan Three Dogs—Mai Long, Du Sha, and Gou San—entered to rob it.
• The three grave robbers examined damaged murals depicting the tomb owner's life and found that the earthquake had destroyed part of the story.
• Du Sha grabbed the stone coffin lid and tried to open it.

Mai Long, Du Sha, and Gou San betrayed and killed one another over a hidden Stone Slip and Silver Notes in an ancient tomb. Gou San escaped with the spoils, returned home under the name Xun Lao Liu, and planned to send his son to the Five Birds Sect while Fang Xing watched from the True Martial Talisman.

• Mai Long returned to the tomb alone to search the coffin, but Du Sha caught him and killed him after revealing his Silver Vein Realm strength.
• Du Sha found a Stone Slip in the coffin and took Mai Long's Silver Notes, but Gou San arrived and killed Du Sha with his Golden Thread Realm palm.
• Gou San took the Stone Slip and all the Silver Notes, then buried the tunnel entrance with Mai Long and Du Sha inside.
• Gou San left the area, removed his Human Skin Mask, and returned home as Xun Lao Liu after more than half a month.
• Xun Lao Liu told his wife he had saved five hundred taels to send Xiao Hu Zai to the Five Birds Sect, while Fang Xing watched and decided not to recruit him yet.

At White Deer Academy, Xun Black Tiger struggled to sense his Qi-Blood before his first assessment, while Fang Xing watched from inside the True Martial Talisman. Fang Xing revealed the talisman’s power and offered to help Xun Black Tiger break through his bottleneck.

• Instructor Xiong explained Five Birds Sect’s ranks and taught the new students the White Deer Stance and the basics of building Qi-Blood.
• After more than two months of training, Xun Black Tiger still could not sense his Qi-Blood, with his assessment only ten days away.
• Zhao Da Niu told Xun Black Tiger that Yuchi Gang and other aristocratic youths had advanced quickly, and that Ye Fengchun had also broken through.
• That night, Xun Black Tiger entered a stone hall inside the True Martial Talisman and encountered Fang Xing.
• Fang Xing explained that the True Martial Talisman could help Xun Black Tiger overcome martial arts bottlenecks and invited him to try.

Xun Black Tiger confirmed that training in the True Martial Talisman made him stronger in the outside world, then learned that he could become its host by swearing an oath against Pangu Wu. Fang Xing passed on Xia Mang’s Ancient Martial Arts and offered Fierce Beast flesh to help him begin cultivating, leaving Xun Black Tiger poised to train both Ancient and modern martial arts.

• Xun Black Tiger tested his progress outside the True Martial Space and discovered that he could manipulate Qi-Blood after practicing inside the talisman.
• Fang Xing warned Xun Black Tiger to keep the talisman secret and made him swear the True Martial Oath against Pangu Wu before accepting him as its host.
• Fang Xing taught Xun Black Tiger Ancient Martial Arts created by Xia Mang, and the memories sharpened Xun Black Tiger’s instincts and combat techniques.
• Fang Xing explained the Twelve Body Anomalies and advised Xun Black Tiger to use Ancient Martial Arts to strengthen his foundation while keeping modern martial arts as his main path.
• When Xun Black Tiger worried that Ancient Martial Arts required rare Fierce Beast flesh, Fang Xing offered to provide some as a catalyst for his cultivation.

Xun Black Tiger trained at White Deer Academy, where he began taking Copper Lead Pills and witnessed the expulsion of failed apprentices, including his friend Zhao Da Niu. After Zhao Da Niu left the academy, Xun Black Tiger intensified his training in True Martial Space and awakened the powerful Qilin Blood body anomaly.

• Xun Black Tiger and Jiang Da Yan demonstrated that they could circulate Qi-Blood, and Yu Jiaotou taught them how to digest Copper Lead Pills while warning of their dangers.
• Xun Black Tiger learned from Ye Fengchun that Yuchi Gang had already broken through the Copper Gate Pass and become a Nine Ranks martial artist.
• Xun Black Tiger brought a Copper Lead Pill into True Martial Space and swallowed it while Fang Xing explained its effects and risks.
• On the final day of the three-month deadline, Xiong Instructor exposed and expelled an apprentice who had tried to fake Qi-Blood control with a Blood Burst Pill.
• Zhao Da Niu failed to advance, gave Xun Black Tiger his private savings, and left White Deer Academy.
• Xun Black Tiger trained fiercely in True Martial Space and awakened Qilin Blood, one of the Twelve Body Anomalies, which amplified his strength but could provoke murderous frenzy.

Five months after joining White Deer Academy, Xun Black Tiger reached the Ninth Rank Bronze Gate Realm with Fang Xing's help and prepared to seek better training resources. Fang Xing urged him to attract an instructor's patronage as he began cultivating toward the Middle Three Ranks.

• On the training field, Xun Black Tiger and Ye Fengchun practiced Circulating Dispersion, and Ye Fengchun marveled at Xun Black Tiger's progress tempering his body.
• Xun Black Tiger secretly relied on Qilin Blood and the Gluttonous Stomach body anomaly, aiming to surpass even martial-bone geniuses who entered the Five Birds Sect directly.
• Inside the True Martial Talisman, Fang Xing struck Xun Black Tiger with finger force until his skin was tempered and he broke through to Ninth Rank Bronze Gate Realm after five months at White Deer Academy.
• Xun Black Tiger celebrated becoming a Martial Artist Lord and planned to apply to Instructor Yu for Gold Mercury Pills, but worried about their price and poison as well as his increased appetite.
• Fang Xing advised Xun Black Tiger to announce his breakthrough and seek an instructor's investment, while warning him that he could not handle Jiang Yuyan.

Xun Black Tiger entered Ninth Rank and gained a residence, medicinal meals, and access to martial arts at White Deer Academy, but Yu Jiaotou warned him that his humble background left him without the resources of aristocratic families. He resolved to rely on the True Martial Talisman, then received a thousand taels from his father, whose strength and knowledge of Gold Mercury Pills raised new questions.

• Xun Black Tiger told Yu Jiaotou he had Entered the Ranks, and she confirmed he had reached Ninth Rank as Ye Fengchun and the other apprentices looked on.
• Yu Jiaotou brought Xun Black Tiger to Director Zhang Kaitai, who granted him a villa, special medicinal meals, a Gold Mercury Pill every five days, and permission to learn martial arts techniques.
• Yu Jiaotou explained that instructors favored martial-family heirs such as Yuchi Gang and Situ Yanyan, whose wealth bought them better cultivation resources, and advised Xun Black Tiger to build his foundation before joining the Five Beasts Army.
• Xun Black Tiger returned to his courtyard and resolved to use the True Martial Talisman to overcome the advantages of aristocratic families.
• More than ten days later, Xun Lao Liu visited Xun Black Tiger and gave him clothes containing one thousand taels in silver notes, warning him not to sell Gold Mercury Pills privately.
• Xun Black Tiger realized his father knew martial arts and was powerful, but hesitated to ask about the True Martial Talisman because of his oath to keep it secret.

Two years later, Fang Xing reviewed the Dragon Tiger Rankings and prepared to spread the True Martial Dao while Xun Black Tiger and his classmates faced their graduation assessment. After learning that the target was his own father, Howling Sky Dog Gou San, Xun Black Tiger asked Fang Xing about the connection, and Fang Xing revealed that Gou San had unearthed the True Martial Talisman from an ancient tomb.

• Fang Xing studied the Dragon Tiger Rankings, judged the listed experts weaker than himself, and decided to begin laying the groundwork for spreading the True Martial Dao.
• At White Deer Academy, Xun Black Tiger had completed Seventh Rank, while Yuchi Gang, Situ Yanyan, and the other students gathered for their graduation assessment.
• Director Zhang Kaitai assigned the students to capture or kill Howling Sky Dog Gou San, offering direct admission to anyone who succeeded and allowing others to qualify through useful contributions.
• That night, Xun Black Tiger asked Fang Xing about the assessment target, and Fang Xing told him that the True Martial Talisman had been a burial object that Gou San took from an ancient tomb.
• Xun Black Tiger questioned why Fang Xing had not hidden the truth, and Fang Xing explained that he was glad Gou San had freed him from the grave.

Xun Black Tiger searched Feng Lian City for his father, Howling Sky Dog Gou San, while avoiding suspicion from the instructors. When he joined the fight against a masked decoy, the instructors discovered the real Gou San had escaped using a disguise, and Yu Jiaotou went after him.

• Fang Xing told Xun Black Tiger that the sect would not test his loyalty unless his talent made him worth recruiting, and Xun worried that his father’s stolen-goods operation was at risk.
• Xun Black Tiger and Ye Fengchun watched a stolen-goods outlet in Feng Lian City, where Xun openly hoped his father would recognize him and realize something was wrong.
• After a firework signaled a suspect’s appearance, Xun Black Tiger and Ye Fengchun rushed to a fight outside a coffin shop, where a gray-clad man was battling Yuchi Gang and Situ Yanyan.
• Ye Fengchun accidentally struck Yuchi Gang with a Flying Locust Stone, while Xun Black Tiger joined the fight and helped wound and bring down the gray-clad man before collapsing with light injuries.
• Xiong Instructor revealed that the dead man wore a Human Skin Mask resembling Gou San, and Yu Jiaotou left to pursue the real Howling Sky Dog Gou San.

Xun Black Tiger broke through to Sixth Rank Inner Strength and rescued his father, Xun Lao Liu, from Yu Jiaotou before she could expose him as Howling Sky Dog Gou San. He returned to the inn and pretended to sleep, while Yu Jiaotou began investigating the masked Ancient Martial Arts expert who had defeated her.

• Xun Lao Liu tried to leave South City Gate, but Yu Jiaotou recognized him as Howling Sky Dog Gou San and defeated him.
• At the inn, Xun Black Tiger's Water Bear Body healed his injury, and he broke through to Sixth Rank Inner Strength.
• Xun Black Tiger sensed his father was in danger, masked himself, and rushed to South City Gate, where he drove Yu Jiaotou back with his Qilin Blood and Bamboo Node Skin.
• Xun Black Tiger carried Xun Lao Liu to safety and returned to the inn without revealing his identity.
• Yu Jiaotou asked Xiong Instructor to investigate the powerful Ancient Martial Arts expert who had attacked them.
• The next morning, Ye Fengchun told Xun Black Tiger that Yu Jiaotou and Xiong Instructor had been beaten and forced to beg for mercy.

Xun Black Tiger returned home after being praised as a promising martial artist, but he told his father he would not join the Five Birds Sect because doing so would conflict with his conscience. He and Xun Lao Liu decided to leave Chu Province with his mother, while Fang Xing warned him that a wandering martial hero still had to manage everyday necessities.

• Ye Fengchun inferred that Xun Black Tiger had defeated Yu Jiaotou, and Xiong Instructor approved half a month of leave while encouraging him to join the Five Birds Sect.
• Xun Black Tiger returned to his village, where his mother welcomed him with a feast and he later followed Xun Lao Liu out into the wilderness.
• Xun Lao Liu praised Xun Black Tiger's lightness skill, said he would retire from life as the Howling Sky Dog, and gave him the Toad Fishing Strength manual.
• Xun Black Tiger refused to join the Five Birds Sect because his father's grave-robbing made him feel he could not honestly swear loyalty to it.
• Xun Black Tiger and Xun Lao Liu agreed to leave Chu Province with Xun Black Tiger's mother, and Fang Xing reminded him that roaming the martial world required practical means to survive.

Xun Black Tiger studied his father’s martial arts manual and prepared to leave his village with his family, while Fang Xing offered him a new Inner Strength technique and warned him about the dangers tied to his inherited martial arts. The chapter ended with Xun Black Tiger departing for the city, uncertain when he would see his childhood home again.

• Xun Black Tiger read the ranks of martial arts and his father’s notes on underhanded tricks in the “Toad Fishing Strength” manual.
• Fang Xing told Xun Black Tiger that the True Martial Talisman could help him surpass the first rank and offered to teach him the newly created “Turtle Breathing Art.”
• Fang Xing warned Xun Black Tiger that the Twelve Body Anomalies might reveal a connection to Great Xia’s imperial family and the True Martial Talisman.
• Xun Lao Liu led Xun Black Tiger and his mother out of their village, telling curious villagers that they were following Black Tiger to the city.
• Xun Black Tiger looked back at his childhood village and wondered when he might return.

After ten years away, Xun Black Tiger returned to his hometown and found Jiang Yuyan and the Five Birds Sect confronting the Black Wolf Eighteen Riders. When he learned the bandits had looted nearby villages, he swiftly slaughtered them and demanded to know whether they had robbed Eight Families Village.

• Xun Black Tiger stopped at a roadside tea stall, where he recognized Jiang Yuyan among the Five Birds Sect disciples.
• A group of rough men provoked the Five Birds Sect by mocking its failure to recognize Nie Renlong and Xun Black Tiger, and a fight broke out.
• Xun Black Tiger noticed that the beef was laced with a spice that weakened internal energy as the men revealed themselves as the Black Wolf Eighteen Riders and attacked the poisoned disciples.
• Jiang Yuyan killed the shopkeeper's wife, and the Black Wolf Eighteen Riders crippled most of the Five Birds Sect group with concealed weapons and Power Dissipating Powder.
• Xun Black Tiger heard that the bandits had swept through nearby villages, recognized Jiang Yuyan, and killed the Black Wolf Eighteen Riders with overwhelming speed.
• Xun Black Tiger seized the old leader and demanded to know whether the bandits had robbed Eight Families Village, then killed him when he answered defiantly.

After finding his hometown destroyed, Xun Black Tiger reunited with Jiang Yuyan and killed Zhen Dharma Protector when the Five Birds Sect expert attacked him. He agreed to take Jiang Yuyan with him, but then sensed a terrifying presence awakening in the north, where Pangu Wu had introduced Contamination.

• Xun Black Tiger arrived at his scorched hometown and worried about the danger martial artists posed to ordinary people.
• Jiang Yuyan caught up with Xun Black Tiger, thanked him, and reminisced about their former companions.
• Zhen Dharma Protector tried to recruit Xun Black Tiger, then attacked him after he refused and accused him of involvement in the Howling Sky Dog incident.
• Xun Black Tiger caught Zhen Dharma Protector's blade between two fingers and killed him with a strike to the chest.
• Jiang Yuyan proposed joining Xun Black Tiger to survive, and he agreed to take her with him.
• Xun Black Tiger sensed a terrifying presence in the north, while Fang Xing realized Pangu Wu had introduced Contamination into the world.

Lotus Reverend embraced the Black Sun Star Calamity Scripture and devastated Great Black Temple, becoming the martial world's most feared devil. In Ling Province, Xun Black Tiger learned the Black Tortoise True Skill and discovered that the mad Lotus Reverend was likely his fated enemy.

• Lotus Reverend left seclusion, declared martial arts a lesser path, and forced Lotus Heart Abbot to hear his Pangu Wu scripture, leaving him blind and deaf.
• Lotus Reverend vanished after killing seven pursuing Dharma-protecting elders and slaughtering many warrior monks, earning the title of the martial world's number one devil.
• Jiang Yuyan taught Xun Black Tiger the Five Birds Sect's techniques, and Fang Xing developed them into the Black Tortoise True Skill.
• A Hundred Herbs Hall clerk told Xun Black Tiger that Lotus Reverend had gone mad, betrayed Great Black Temple, and killed many experts, including the Four Holy Monks.
• Xun Black Tiger asked Fang Xing whether Lotus Reverend was his fated enemy, and Fang Xing said the madness came from Pangu Wu's Poison.

In 1150, as the Black Lotus Sect’s Demon Army marched south, Xun Black Tiger prepared to confront Black Lotus Reverend and asked Fang Xing how to counter the sect’s supernatural influence. Fang Xing gave him the True Martial Visualization Method, setting Xun Black Tiger on his way to face the sect and leaving Fang Xing hoping the method might eventually let him act beyond the True Martial Talisman.

• Jiang Yuyan worried about the advancing Demon Army while caring for her children at Hundred Herbs Hall, where Xun Black Tiger had kept their family safe.
• Xun Black Tiger told Jiang Yuyan he would leave to deal with the Pangu Wu Demonic Disciples, who were searching for him and his inheritance.
• Inside the True Martial Talisman, Fang Xing explained that Black Lotus Reverend was the source of the sect’s Contamination and that defeating him could cause the sect to collapse.
• Fang Xing taught Xun Black Tiger the True Martial Visualization Diagram, warning that its true form had to bear the practitioner’s own face or it could make them a puppet.
• Xun Black Tiger recognized the diagram’s power to cultivate the spirit and help martial artists reach the First Grade Imperishable realm, then Fang Xing sent him away.
• Fang Xing reflected that a practitioner who strayed far enough while visualizing True Martial might let him sense the world beyond the talisman and perhaps walk outside it.

Xun Black Tiger joined a righteous alliance at Fengling Ferry to ambush Black Lotus Reverend, but he suspected Tian Ni’s intelligence was a trap. Tian Ni revealed her allegiance to Pangu Wu, and Black Lotus Reverend descended upon the island as the battle began.

• Xun Black Tiger arrived at the river island with martial artists from several sects, who gathered to strike Black Lotus Reverend during his crossing.
• Du Qiankun said Tian Ni had supplied the plan, while Xun Black Tiger warned that she might have been corrupted by the Black Lotus Sect’s god-worship ritual.
• A giant eagle carried Tian Ni and Black Lotus Reverend over Zhuge Wu’s Eight Gates and Hidden Armor formation, and Tian Ni killed Chao Lao after declaring herself devoted to Pangu Wu.
• Monk Qing Yong and Zhuge Wu attacked Tian Ni, but she fought them off as Black Lotus Reverend dropped from the eagle and crushed the lower-ranked martial artists with his spiritual pressure.
• Xun Black Tiger remained standing under Black Lotus Reverend’s pressure, shocking Du Qiankun and Nie Renlong.

Xun Black Tiger revealed the Void Realm and killed Black Lotus Reverend with a single palm, then saved Tian Ni from madness by imparting his True Martial Visualization Diagram. The battle ended with Tian Ni devoted to Xun Black Tiger and asking to serve him.

• Black Lotus Reverend asked Xun Black Tiger to explain the realm beyond First Grade, and Xun Black Tiger named it the transcendent Void Realm and demonstrated physical flight.
• Black Lotus Reverend attacked with Black Lotus Thousand Wishes, but Xun Black Tiger shattered the technique with Void Palm and killed him.
• As Black Lotus Reverend reverted to Lotus Reverend, he warned them to beware Lotus Heart before his head exploded; Xun Black Tiger burned the corpse and took three Sariras.
• Fang Xing explained that Pangu Wu could cultivate more poisoned followers over the coming millennia, and suggested Xun Black Tiger pass down the True Martial Dao Tradition.
• After Black Lotus Reverend died, Tian Ni became a Martial Madman, so Xun Black Tiger implanted his True Martial Visualization Diagram into her Sea of Consciousness and restored her sanity.
• Tian Ni bowed to Xun Black Tiger and asked permission for Tianxin to serve at his side.

Ten years after defeating Black Lotus Reverend, Xun Black Tiger established True Martial Mountain and considered passing the True Martial Talisman to his son so his family could benefit from it. He chose not to pursue immortality or wait for a future golden age, and prepared to reveal the talisman’s secret to his family.

• In 1150 of the Nine Provinces Calendar, Xun Black Tiger defeated Black Lotus Reverend, and the Black Lotus Sect was destroyed after its forces became Martial Madmen.
• Over the next ten years, Xun Black Tiger founded True Martial Mountain, which grew into one of the Nine Great Sects, while Heavenly Heart Fairy served as its protector.
• Xun Black Tiger reflected on the limits of his cultivation and decided that Ao Er should inherit the True Martial Talisman, which his family could share.
• Fang Xing suggested Xun Black Tiger could freeze himself and awaken in a future martial arts golden age, but Xun Black Tiger declined and accepted his limited lifespan.
• Fang Xing entered deep seclusion within the True Martial Talisman to comprehend the True Martial Great Dao.
• Xun Black Tiger gathered Jiang Yuyan and their children and began explaining the True Martial Talisman and the secret behind his rise.