Chapter Summaries

Key plot points and events

• At the Hall of Benevolent Aid, Li Xiang expertly treats a soldier with a devastating wound. His Physician experience reaches level 10, unlocking Blood-Locking Stitch, a combat technique that seals severe wounds and prevents blood loss.
• Reaching this milestone reveals five possible Physician advancement routes. Li Xiang dismisses Spirit-Plant Physician, Witch Doctor, Alchemist, and Puppetmaster for now, choosing Warrior as his next goal. Its ritual requires surviving an extreme environment while composing martial principles that express both form and intent.
• Qin Zhong summons Li Xiang to the Shocking Heron Martial Hall. Grandmasters Ye Ducheng and Lu Changsheng have agreed that Li Xiang and Qin Zhong will compete in the first- and second-realm Spirit Ruins Blessed Land contests. If Li Xiang wins his division, Lu will share three centuries of knowledge about the Path of Dragon Transformation, and Marshal Zhang will provide additional rewards.
• The contests will include not only human fighters but also young Monsters and Demonfolk, following political agreements and old debts involving the Commander-in-Chief. The competition has become a test of several races’ strength and prestige.
• With half a month remaining, Li Xiang leaves for Blackwater Ancient Town to undertake Warrior’s unlocking ritual in the perilous Blackwater Pool passage, where he can face its Five-Colored Divine Fire and Other-Dimensional Earth Baleful Energy.
• In the rebuilding town, Li Xiang learns from Uncle Zhang that his supposedly missing grandfather sent a letter addressed to him. The news leaves Li Xiang stunned.

Character developments

• Li Xiang’s medical expertise advances, but he remains committed to martial power and survival rather than making medicine his life’s work. He carefully weighs the newly revealed routes and focuses on the one that supports his long-term ambitions.
• The promised Dragon Transformation instruction gives Li Xiang a powerful incentive to win, while the revelation of nonhuman opponents raises the stakes.
• Hua Jingshan recognizes Li Xiang’s exceptional talent and regrets that he will not pursue medicine further, but ultimately encourages him to survive and follow his own path.
• Ye Ducheng shows strong faith in Li Xiang, while Lu Changsheng offers a valuable but conditional reward and emphasizes that Li Xiang must earn it.

Significant themes

• Survival and strength: Li Xiang sees medicine as useful but insufficient to protect himself or change the broader world; he prioritizes power.
• Competing paths and ambition: The Physician routes embody different ways to combine professions, while Li Xiang chooses the route most aligned with his goals.
• Political rivalry and uneasy alliances: The Blessed Land contest reflects tangled histories, debts, and competition among humans, Demonkin, Monsters, and Demonfolk.
• The personal against the extraordinary: Amid world-shaping struggles, the sudden news of Li Xiang’s grandfather introduces a deeply personal mystery.

Character interactions

• Li Xiang and Hua Jingshan share a respectful mentor-student exchange: Hua praises his skills, laments his departure from medicine, and urges him to stay alive.
• Qin Zhong brings Li Xiang into the contest negotiations and conveys the exciting terms.
• Ye Ducheng backs Li Xiang openly and reassures him; Lu Changsheng deals with him bluntly, tying his reward to victory.
• Ye Qingyao offers quiet concern and advises Li Xiang not to pursue progress recklessly.
• Uncle Zhang’s reunion with Li Xiang turns into a startling revelation about the letter from Li Xiang’s grandfather.

Chapter summary: “Understanding Martial Principle!”

Key plot points and events

• Li Xiang retrieves a letter from his grandfather, which Old Zhang had safeguarded. Old Zhang urges him to return to Blackwater Ancient Town and resume the family embalming business, but Li Xiang politely declines, committed to the path he has chosen.
• Before opening the letter, Li Xiang checks it with several Profession abilities and finds no suspicious energy. Its sole message reads: “Yin and yang coexist. The Son of Heaven is no exception. Beware those around you.”
• Li Xiang interprets this as a warning that the Mortal World’s rising Son of Heaven—the Beiyang Commander-in-Chief—may be matched by a corresponding ruler in the Netherworld, possibly Yin Tianzi. He wonders whether someone close to him could be tied to that figure, considers several acquaintances, then decides that speculation without evidence would only unsettle him. He burns the letter.
• Li Xiang heads to the Blackwater Pool passage to unlock the Warrior Profession. His name is on the Beiyang military’s special-access list because of his role in sealing the Two-World Passage, so the guards admit him without charge.
• At the Bagua Furnace Terrain, Li Xiang endures the Five-Colored Divine Fire, intending to use its extreme heat and danger to meet the Warrior ritual’s requirements and forge his own Martial Principle. His abilities let him pass through the outer heat unharmed, astonishing the onlookers and foiling Medicine Cultivators hoping to profit from injured visitors.
• Inside the furnace, he encounters Mu Jingchen, the Divine Sword Manor’s young heir, who has spent half a month trying and failing to claim the Forge God Oz’s inheritance. Li Xiang clarifies that he wants neither the inheritance nor the furnace’s treasures: he means to temper his body.
• Li Xiang enters the furnace’s deadly core and practices Taizu Long Fist repeatedly. The fire burns and renews his body while the pressure fuses his five Martial Forces into a unified force shaped by the Five Elements.
• He identifies his Martial Principle: to make his body a furnace, melt down myriad arts, and use his fists to break the shackles of the Age of Chaos and forge his own path. He then eats the half of a rare Green Apple he has saved to sharpen his insight. The chapter ends as its power begins to explode within his mind.

Character developments

• Li Xiang rejects a return to a safer, familiar life and shows increased discipline and confidence. He remains cautious about his grandfather’s cryptic warning, but refuses to let unsupported suspicions distract him.
• His martial cultivation advances significantly: under the furnace’s extreme conditions, he unifies his five Martial Forces and discovers a personal principle grounded in perseverance, self-reliance, and breaking restraints.
• Mu Jingchen is forced to confront the limits of his own effort. Though disappointed by his failure to claim the divine inheritance, he responds to Li Xiang with courtesy and ultimately admiration.

Character interactions

• Old Zhang and Li Xiang: Zhang expresses the town’s affection and tries to persuade Li Xiang to return; Li Xiang thanks him but declines.
• Li Xiang and Mu Jingchen: Mu warns Li Xiang against approaching the furnace’s core, sharing the costly lesson of his own failed attempt. Li Xiang’s different purpose surprises him, and Mu steps aside with genuine respect.
• Li Xiang and the crowd: Onlookers mock or pity him for entering at the First Realm, while a female Daoist kindly warns him. His effortless passage through the outer flames silences the doubters and exposes the furnace’s continuing danger.

Significant themes

• Yin-yang balance and hidden danger: The letter suggests that the rise of power in the Mortal World may be mirrored by a corresponding force in the Netherworld—and warns that danger may come from those nearby.
• Self-forged destiny: Li Xiang’s Martial Principle rejects dependence on divine inheritance or authority; he aims to break the age’s restraints through his own body, will, and martial path.
• Perseverance through suffering: The furnace’s fire becomes a means of transformation, turning pain and danger into cultivation.
• Ambition versus true purpose: Many seek the furnace’s inheritance or profit from others’ injuries, while Li Xiang enters solely to temper himself.

Key plot points and events

• Li Xiang uses Newton’s Green Apple to enter a brief state of Omniscience. He sees flaws in his fused Five-Element Martial Force, rebuilds his Dragon Force, and refines his personal Martial Principle: “My body is the furnace, smelting all methods. My fists are the blades, cutting through illusion.”
• Forge God Oz notices Li Xiang enduring and absorbing the divine fire. Though Oz briefly hopes to pass on his Artifact Cultivator path, he recognizes that Li Xiang’s self-forging Martial path is fundamentally different. Respecting that difference, Oz secretly sends him a measure of forging essence.
• Over eight days, Li Xiang tempers his body in the Five-Colored Divine Fire and improves his grasp of the Five Elements. On the furnace terrain’s eighth-day eruption, he writes his Martial Principle in his own blood qi, completing the ritual that unlocks the rare Warrior Profession at level 11.
• His new traits, Blood Qi Like a Furnace and Leakless Body, give him exceptionally pure, scorching blood qi and near-total control over the loss or intake of bodily energy. His new abilities, Withered Wood Seals the Acupoints and Thousand Mechanisms, Illusory Bones, allow feats such as stopping bleeding, mimicking death, reshaping his appearance and voice, and extending a limb’s reach in combat.
• Li Xiang tests his disguise ability, then encounters three Third Realm fighters seeking a divine weapon. His unreadable aura unnerves them; he bows to Oz and leaves without conflict.
• After returning from the otherworld, Li Xiang politely deals with the military guards and says goodbye to Old Zhang, then boards a ship for Riverside. On board, his danger-sensing trait detects a familiar, concealed hostile presence. He retreats to his cabin and waits for the would-be attacker.

Character development

• Li Xiang advances from refining his existing techniques to defining a complete personal Martial Principle. He remains disciplined during Omniscience, respects what he cannot yet master, and treats the Warrior Profession as a foundation for forging his own path. His new disguise ability also gives him a practical means of survival and mobility.
• Forge God Oz shifts from detached observer to reluctant benefactor. Though saddened that Li Xiang will not inherit his craft, he respects the young man’s convictions and offers help without trying to redirect him.
• The three intruders move quickly from greed to fear when faced with Li Xiang’s apparently overwhelming, unreadable presence.
• Old Zhang shows genuine affection and concern for Li Xiang, who returns that kindness with gratitude before departing.

Significant themes

• Forging oneself: Li Xiang treats his body and martial path as the material to be tempered, embodying his principle that strength comes from inner transformation.
• Respect between different paths: Oz accepts that Martial Cultivation and Artifact Cultivation cannot be combined without compromising either, yet still chooses to help Li Xiang.
• Discipline and restraint: Li Xiang uses Omniscience on immediate, achievable problems rather than pursuing knowledge beyond his capacity.
• Adaptation and survival: His new bodily control, disguise, and heightened danger sense reinforce the value of versatility in a dangerous world.

Character interactions

• Li Xiang and Oz: Oz observes Li Xiang’s transformation, considers recruiting him, then honors his independent path and quietly aids his breakthrough.
• Li Xiang and the three fighters: They approach seeking treasure but are intimidated by his presence; he neither threatens nor explains himself, simply leaving.
• Li Xiang and the guards: Their official suspicion turns to deference when they recognize his privileged status.
• Li Xiang and Old Zhang: They exchange a warm farewell, with Li Xiang giving thanks for Zhang’s earlier help.
• Li Xiang and the unseen pursuer: Li Xiang senses the threat but conceals his awareness, preparing to meet the attacker on his own terms.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Having just unlocked the Warrior Profession, Li Xiang gains the Leakless Body trait, which contains his blood qi. His new martial insight also deepens his understanding of the Yellow Court Inner Landscape Scripture, raising his Daoist Profession to level 13.
• As he rests aboard a river passenger ship, Li Xiang senses five concealed assassins before they enter his cabin. They attack, but his danger-warning ability and combat instincts let him strike first. He kills four and finishes the fifth, bringing his Blade of the Will advancement progress to 7/10.
• The assassins wear a City God emblem, initially suggesting a possible attempt to frame City God Headquarters. Using his Embalmer ability Revolving Lantern, Li Xiang reads a dead assassin’s memories and learns that Pei Yanlai, a powerful elder of Demon City City God Headquarters, ordered the attack. Pei says Li Xiang has taken something he should not have and is an unpredictable threat.
• Li Xiang returns to the Shocking Heron Martial Hall in Linjiang County, where townspeople and students recognize him as a hero. His master, Hong Tianbao, confirms that his body and cultivation have made a major leap, but warns him not to grow complacent before the coming contest for the Spirit Ruins Blessed Land.
• Li Xiang learns that senior student Qin Zhong has been taken away by Grandmaster Ye for intensive training. The chapter ends when visitors from Demon City City God Headquarters arrive specifically to see Li Xiang.

Character developments

• Li Xiang demonstrates how far he has advanced: he detects danger before it is visible, defeats five elite assassins quickly, and remains composed afterward. He also uses his Embalmer skills strategically to uncover the truth rather than merely treating the dead.
• His perspective on his strength remains pragmatic. He sees his Warrior breakthrough as a step toward survival, not a reason to relax, and mentally vows to remember Pei Yanlai’s attack.
• Hong Tianbao shows pride in Li Xiang’s progress while stressing caution and humility.
• Qin Zhong, though absent, begins a new stage of development under Grandmaster Ye’s demanding training.

Character interactions

• Li Xiang kills the attackers without questioning them, then calmly prepares their bodies. Onlookers mistake this for extraordinary compassion, praising him for honoring even his enemies; in reality, he is soothing the corpses so he can inspect their memories.
• The ship’s captain and passengers respond first with alarm, then admiration, and the captain clears the room to give Li Xiang privacy.
• Back at the martial hall, Li Xiang respectfully greets Hong Tianbao, receives guidance, and asks after Qin Zhong.
• The final arrival of City God Headquarters representatives brings Li Xiang’s newly discovered enemy organization directly into the martial hall.

Significant themes

• Strength and survival: A breakthrough gives Li Xiang greater means to protect himself, but the world remains dangerous.
• Caution and humility: Hong Tianbao warns that greater opponents await, reinforcing the need to stay vigilant.
• Appearance versus reality: The crowd interprets Li Xiang’s corpse-tending as mercy, while his real purpose is investigation. Likewise, the assassins’ emblem appears to be a frame-up but proves genuine.
• Hidden power and information: Li Xiang’s abilities let him uncover what the dead cannot say aloud, turning apparent vulnerability into an investigative advantage.
• Revenge and consequences: Pei Yanlai’s attack creates a debt Li Xiang intends to repay.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Nine Nether Force arrives after a month’s delay. Li Xiang recalls that City God Headquarters had previously sent five Death Soldiers to assassinate him on the river. He hides his anger, recognizing that open retaliation would be foolish while he lacks the power to challenge the organization.
• Lu Zaizhou explains the delay. He says Grandmaster Ye had to confront Headquarters in person before the promised study copy was approved. Elder Pei Yanlai had blocked the request to reserve the sole annual opening for his own grandson, and had secretly ordered Li Xiang’s death so he could not compete for it.
• The wider political struggle comes to light. Headquarters’ ten Powerful Elders are divided among four Pro-Western elders—including Pei Yanlai—four Anti-Western elders, and two neutral elders. Pei’s influence comes partly from controlling resources gained through ties to the Western concessions. Lu warns that Pei may still target Li Xiang covertly.
• Li Xiang receives a one-day copy of the manual. The original is kept under strict security, and the copy cannot be passed to anyone else. Li Xiang takes it to an underground training room and prepares himself before studying.
• Li Xiang rapidly learns the seven surviving volumes. The manual’s first seven volumes cover body tempering, Yin-force cultivation, ghostlike footwork, attacks on the soul, ghost enslavement, bone transformation, and a method for opening an internal passage to the Nine Netherworlds. The other fifteen volumes are lost.
• The manual’s scope astonishes him. Its final volume describes a potentially inexhaustible source of Yin Baleful Intent inside the practitioner’s body—something Li Xiang regards as more like stealing the laws of heaven and earth than ordinary martial arts.
• Li Xiang returns the copy after the allotted day. Lu mistakes his unreadable expression for disappointment and reassures him that even mastering a small part of Nine Nether Force would be an impressive achievement. He then asks how many volumes Li Xiang actually understood; the chapter ends before Li Xiang answers.

Character developments

• Li Xiang demonstrates patience and strategic restraint: he conceals his resentment toward Pei while privately remembering the assassination attempt. His unusual abilities let him absorb the manual at extraordinary speed, though he recognizes that genuine mastery will require years of practice. He is particularly intrigued by how Nine Nether Force could complement his fierce Dragon Force and work alongside his other abilities.
• Lu Zaizhou shows guilt over the delay and concern for Li Xiang’s safety. He is candid about Headquarters’ corruption and factional politics, and offers sincere reassurance rather than belittling Li Xiang.
• Pei Yanlai emerges as a vindictive and powerful antagonist who uses his position and covert violence to advance his family’s interests.
• Grandmaster Ye is established as a formidable ally whose intervention forced Headquarters to honor its promise.

Significant themes

• Restraint and concealed strength: Li Xiang keeps his anger hidden because survival and patience matter more than openly challenging a stronger institution.
• Corruption and factional politics: Formal rules coexist with favoritism, resource control, and ideological power struggles.
• Tradition versus Western influence: Headquarters is divided over whether to preserve the dynasty’s cultivation traditions or adopt Western technology and systems.
• Knowledge, power, and danger: Nine Nether Force offers remarkable abilities but demands severe physical and spiritual risks; its missing volumes also suggest larger mysteries.
• Complementarity and transformation: Li Xiang sees the yielding, yin-based force as a way to balance his powerful, yang-leaning Dragon Force.

Character interactions

• Li Xiang and Lu Zaizhou speak as allies: Lu delivers the manual, explains the political conflict, and warns Li Xiang about Pei; Li Xiang responds with courtesy while concealing his true feelings.
• Li Xiang and the martial hall students interact briefly when he sends them away so he and Lu can discuss Headquarters’ confidential affairs.
• Li Xiang and Pei Yanlai never meet directly, but the assassination attempt and Li Xiang’s restrained resolve establish an ongoing, unspoken conflict.

Plot points and events

• Li Xiang recognizes Nine Nether Force as the demonic martial art created by the first Heavenly Demon. Its later lineages twisted Daoist and Buddhist teachings into demonic paths, and its dangerous techniques were originally meant for demons, not humans.
• When Lu Zaizhou asks how much he grasped, Li Xiang claims he understood two volumes. Lu explains that this matches the record of Yagyu Kanjō, a former Martial Leader and Ye Qingyao’s father. To protect Li Xiang from unwanted attention, Lu promises to report that he showed only modest talent.
• After Lu leaves for Demon City with the manual, Li Xiang fuses the art’s Yin, spectral, and Netherbone forces into his Dragon Force. The resulting power balances hardness with softness and yang with yin. This advances his Boxer profession to level 20 and unlocks the Boxer’s Conviction ritual: defeating ten renowned opponents of the same realm in public duels or influential battles. He decides the Spirit Ruins Blessed Land Contest may let him complete it.
• The next morning, Li Xiang tests his new abilities against Ye Qingyao, using Nether Spring Steps and Yin-infused force to surprise her. She recognizes his rapid mastery but warns that Nine Nether Force’s murderous intent could corrupt him. Li Xiang insists he will wield power without being ruled by it.
• Li Xiang trains Tiger Million, raising his Beast Tamer level to 7 and moving closer to unlocking the Beast-Spirit Walker profession.
• Ye Qingyao reports that Lu Zaizhou and his escort were ambushed and killed on the road to Demon City. The attackers left almost no trace. Li Xiang suspects Pei Yanlai and privately accepts responsibility for the chain of events, marking the suspected killer for revenge.
• The city’s tensions escalate: powerful demons arrive openly and head toward Lu Changsheng’s Dragon Gate Escort Agency, while a procession of Northeast Spirit Mediums enters Linjiang. The Blessed Land Contest is becoming a gathering point for factions and supernatural forces of every kind.
• Ye Ducheng arrives with the battered Qin Zhong, speaks privately with Hong Tianbao, and leaves a warning that blood lies ahead. Hong then calls Li Xiang, Ye Qingyao, and Qin Zhong to follow him to the Spirit Ruins Blessed Land and confront the world’s gathered prodigies—and “monsters.”

Character developments and interactions

• Li Xiang conceals the full extent of his talent, combines demonic techniques with his own Dragon Force, and remains determined to stay in control of the dangerous power. Lu’s death shifts his focus toward revenge, though he keeps his grief restrained.
• Lu Zaizhou shows loyalty and political savvy by offering to downplay Li Xiang’s ability, but his murder turns him into a personal and moral burden for Li Xiang.
• Ye Qingyao acts as Li Xiang’s training partner and moral guide, testing his new techniques while cautioning him against demonic corruption.
• Hong Tianbao and Ye Ducheng respond gravely to an undisclosed development, and Hong takes the group toward the Blessed Land despite the danger.
• Tiger Million remains affectionate toward Li Xiang, while Qin Zhong returns from Ye Ducheng’s harsh training battered but alive.

Significant themes

• Power and moral control: A demonic art can serve a righteous purpose—or corrupt its practitioner—depending on the wielder’s intent.
• Secrecy and survival: Li Xiang and Lu understand that public recognition can attract danger.
• Progress through conflict: Li Xiang’s advancement requires real combat, while the coming contest offers both opportunity and risk.
• Debt and consequence: Li Xiang feels implicated in Lu’s death and follows a personal code of repayment.
• A gathering storm: The arrival of demons, spirit-medium factions, and powerful martial figures signals that the contest will be a wider struggle among old and new powers, not merely a youth tournament.

Plot points and events

• Li Xiang returns to Tiger Family Village, now transformed by the Spirit Ruins Blessed Land’s discovery. The Demon City City God Headquarters and the Beiyang Warlords have turned the once-poor village into a prosperous, heavily guarded hub.
• Li Xiang’s group reaches quarters provided by the Tianjin Warlord. The compound houses representatives of powerful factions competing for access to the Blessed Land.
• The first trial is announced: every contestant must enter a Heart Realm created by a Heart Cultivation Grandmaster using a sacred artifact. Each will face a perfect reflection of themselves, including their abilities and weaknesses. Defeat means disqualification—and possibly being trapped in one’s own Heart Demon.
• Li Xiang recognizes that copying his many Professions would make the trial exceptionally dangerous. He resolves to face the challenge rather than fear it.
• Seeking an edge, he studies Sword Dao True Exposition, Volume One, an inheritance from True Person Lingxu. Its philosophy teaches that the highest swordsmanship lies in forgetting the sword’s form, techniques, and even intent. Li Xiang struggles to grasp this radical principle.
• Late that night, Zhang Yunshang enters Li Xiang’s room by stealth. The chapter ends as he confronts her, wary of her unexplained visit.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Xiang shows sharp perception and confidence: he deduces that Ye Qingyao’s earlier injury came from sparring with Zhang Yunqing, and he chooses to meet the Heart Realm trial head-on. His study of the sword exposition reveals a new effort to transcend reliance on established techniques.
• Qin Zhong jokes about fearing the trial, but Li Xiang points out that his pure-yang dragon force makes him unusually well suited to it.
• Hong Tianbao receives conspicuous respect from Zhang Yunqing, who knows his strength firsthand. Their warm, familiar exchange reveals that Hong is an old friend of Zhang Yunqing’s father and far more powerful than many factions realize.
• Ye Qingyao is also treated respectfully by Zhang Yunqing. When Zhang Yunshang stares intensely at Li Xiang, Ye steps between them, visibly displeased.
• Zhang Yunqing is initially weary of hosting duties but is kept at his post by his capable, iron-willed sister. His deference to Hong and Ye surprises the assembled factions, prompting them to reassess the Shocking Heron Martial Hall.
• Zhang Yunshang’s transplanted Zombie Heart reacts strongly to Li Xiang’s presence, and her gaze suggests an obsessive attachment. Her secret nighttime visit escalates the mystery surrounding her intentions.

Significant themes

• Confronting the self: The first trial turns inner fears, habits, and weaknesses into an adversary, suggesting that personal limitations may be more difficult to overcome than external enemies.
• Transcending form: The sword exposition challenges Li Xiang to move beyond weapons and techniques toward a deeper principle of “sharpness” and intent.
• Power and reputation: The factions’ reactions to Hong Tianbao’s treatment show how authority and perceived strength shape political relationships.
• Entanglement and restraint: Li Xiang avoids Zhang Yunshang’s attention, while Ye Qingyao’s intervention hints at protective concern and possible interpersonal tension.

Concise Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Zhang Yunshang visits Li Xiang late at night. Her transplanted Zombie Heart reacts violently near him, confirming its connection to his past involvement.
• She presents evidence linking Li Xiang to the battle at Blackwater Ancient Town and the Spirit Ruins Blessed Land, including reports of a powerful figure’s return to the Dao and the disappearance of several groups.
• Zhang makes clear that she does not want to learn the dangerous details of the battle. Her real concern is whether the heart inside her threatens her life.
• Li Xiang relays True Person Lingxu’s message: “When the time comes, you will know.” Recognizing that the answer comes from the powerful figure behind Li Xiang, Zhang leaves, reassured enough to stop pressing him.
• Li Xiang burns the documents and turns his attention to the Blessed Land Contest, hoping to gain resources and complete his Boxer advancement ritual.
• At dawn, the contest begins. Before entering the later competitions, candidates must pass the Heart-Questioning Mirror’s trial.
• The first contestants are swiftly defeated. Li Xiang deduces that each contender faces a perfected version of themselves—one who knows their habits and weaknesses. Passing requires breaking through old limits and surpassing oneself.
• Maoshan disciple Lin Xuanshu is the first to succeed, apparently gaining insight and power during the trial. Other renowned young fighters follow and begin passing.
• Li Xiang and Qin Zhong finally enter. Li Xiang is transported into the Heart Realm, where he faces an exact, seemingly flawless version of himself. Their battle begins.

Character developments

• Li Xiang stays guarded and uses humor to unsettle Zhang, but recognizes her intelligence and the danger surrounding her heart. He then demonstrates sharp insight by interpreting the Mirror’s trial.
• Zhang Yunshang shifts from probing and confrontational to controlled and pragmatic. She shows she can investigate effectively while knowing when further knowledge would be too dangerous.
• Qin Zhong is initially cautious, then grows eager to test himself after watching the other fighters.
• Lin Xuanshu proves his exceptional ability by enduring the trial and emerging with a stronger aura and apparent new insight.

Significant themes

• Self-confrontation and growth: The Heart Realm forces contestants to face their own flaws and exceed their former limits.
• Knowledge and danger: Zhang seeks only the information necessary to protect herself, recognizing that some truths are perilous.
• Power and agency: Zhang’s fear of the transplanted heart reflects her vulnerability, while the contest tests whether fighters can take control of their own potential.
• Hidden schemes and uncertainty: The influence of the Upper Four Realms looms over events, but even Li Xiang does not know when its promised reckoning will arrive.

Character interactions

• Li Xiang and Zhang Yunshang engage in a tense exchange of probing, evasions, and reluctant trust. He ultimately offers her a message from True Person Lingxu, and she acknowledges both him and the power behind him.
• Li Xiang explains the Mirror’s rules to Qin Zhong, turning his observations into a warning about the nature of the challenge.
• Lin Xuanshu’s success inspires the other contestants, including Wuneng, Zhang Qichen, Meng Cunzheng, and Yue Jingxing, to enter.
• The chapter ends with Li Xiang confronting his own perfected counterpart in a direct fight for survival and advancement.

Key plot points and events

• Li Xiang enters the Heart Realm and fights a perfect mirror image that reproduces his abilities, techniques, and instincts. Their battle becomes a stalemate because each anticipates the other’s every move.
• He recognizes that the mirror’s boast of invincibility reflects an exaggerated trace of arrogance—not his real motivation, which is simply to survive. He breaks the deadlock by studying the Sword Dao True Exposition during the fight, abandoning his familiar combat patterns.
• Li Xiang awakens the Swordsman profession and gains Clear Sword Heart, allowing him to perceive weaknesses in attacks and defenses. Using this insight, he dismantles the mirror’s supposedly flawless attack and defeats it.
• Rather than being expelled from the trial, Li Xiang wanders into a real peach-blossom sanctuary and discovers a jade stele inscribed with Patriarch Wang’s teachings on Heart Cultivation. He meditates on its doctrine and initially gains sharper, purer mental power.
• The stele’s philosophy clashes with Li Xiang’s martial foundation. As its influence threatens to overwhelm him, his Dragon Force manifests as a human-shaped phantom and forcibly rejects what conflicts with his nature while absorbing the stele’s transcendent Intent.
• Li Xiang realizes he is undergoing a second Dragon Transformation Tribulation—this time a spiritual test—and chooses to face it directly.

Character development

• Li Xiang moves beyond reliance on established abilities and adapts in the midst of danger. His new sword insight lets him fight by reading weaknesses rather than following fixed forms.
• He clarifies his own identity: he is not driven by a desire to be unbeatable, but by a determination to stay alive. He also refuses to let another philosophy erase his martial foundation.
• The mirror image shifts from arrogant confidence to confusion when Li Xiang adopts a style it cannot predict.

Significant themes

• Self-knowledge and identity: The mirror exposes an exaggerated version of Li Xiang, while the struggle forces him to distinguish that distortion from his true motives.
• Adaptation and growth: Li Xiang wins by becoming something his past self—and the mirror—cannot anticipate.
• Competing paths: Heart Cultivation and martial cultivation clash over whether mind or body is fundamental.
• Transformation through struggle: Both the sword awakening and the spiritual tribulation arise from confronting limits rather than avoiding them.
• Self-determination: Li Xiang accepts the trial on his own terms, absorbing what strengthens him while resisting what would remake him.

Character interactions

• Li Xiang’s confrontation with his mirror image is a battle between past capability and present change: the copy can reproduce what he was, but cannot keep up with his newly awakened Swordsman path.
• His encounter with Patriarch Wang’s stele is not a conventional conversation, but a profound ideological confrontation. The stele offers enlightenment, while Li Xiang’s Dragon Force asserts the independence of his martial nature.

Summary

• Li Xiang inherits heart cultivation: Under the jade stele’s pressure, Li Xiang absorbs Patriarch Wang’s Myriad Thoughts Return to One Art. He learns that heart cultivation turns thought into power, but demands absolute harmony between inner intent and outward action. Its strength is balanced by the danger of heart demons and the need to temper one’s character through worldly experience.
• His power evolves: The inheritance helps Li Xiang’s dragon force complete its second transformation, forming dragon veins that link his body, inner landscape, and thoughts. His martial force can now respond almost instantly to thought. His Boxer trait, Rebirth, activates as well, renewing his body and clearing accumulated fatigue.
• Patriarch Wang’s plan stirs: A figure appears on the jade stele, declares that an age of great contention has arrived, and dissolves. Li Xiang realizes it was not Wang’s resurrected soul, but an obsessive thought of his Heavenly Heart, left as an anchor to awaken when the time was right. Its departure triggers a brief, terrifying tremor that powerful figures recognize as evidence of an upper-realm being stirring.
• The world’s powerful take notice: Ye Ducheng and Lu Changsheng debate the disturbance. They rule out Lingxu Bodhisattva and conclude that another extraordinary figure is preparing to revive. At the altar, the gray-robed Heart Cultivation Grandmaster cryptically says the road lies beneath their feet before the tremor ends.
• Li Xiang returns and recovers: Back in the real world, Li Xiang discusses the trial with Qin Zhong, who claims he easily defeated his Heart Realm reflection. Li Xiang notices a fleeting red glimmer in Qin Zhong’s eyes but does not question him. The mirror’s screening continues, eliminating many participants for weak resolve as well as insufficient strength.
• A hidden blessing improves Li Xiang: After Li Xiang sleeps, Lingxu Bodhisattva’s Golden Cicada activates and wraps him in the legendary Gold-Thread Jade Suit, nourishing his body and mind overnight. He wakes with striking mental clarity and suspects the Heart Cultivation inheritance may have enhanced his innate aptitude. He spends the next three days refining his techniques and combining profession abilities.
• The next trial approaches: The first screening ends after three days. War drums summon the participants, and Qin Zhong arrives excitedly to tell Li Xiang that the rules for the second trial have been announced.

Character developments and interactions

Li Xiang gains a major mental and martial breakthrough, while beginning to grasp heart cultivation’s ethical demands and risks. Qin Zhong remains boastful and competitive, but his unexplained red glimmer hints at a deeper secret. Li Xiang and Qin Zhong’s teasing, familiar exchange shows their camaraderie, though Li Xiang respects Qin Zhong’s privacy. The Grandmasters’ discussion establishes that the disturbance may have consequences far beyond the trial.

Significant themes

The chapter emphasizes thought as power, the unity of conviction and action, and the dangers of unchecked obsession. It also contrasts personal cultivation with worldly experience: a sound heart must be tested by life, not secluded from it. Finally, the awakening of ancient forces signals a broader age of contention, in which hidden plans and old legacies are resurfacing.

Chapter Summary

Plot and major events

• Qin Zhong explains the Second Round’s survival rules: contestants must last a day and a night, then stand within a flag’s Formation at the exact deadline. Each flag has an exact capacity; too many or too few people means everyone beneath it is eliminated.
• The five regions impose progressively harsher limits:
  • First Realm: 45 flags, nine people per flag—up to 405 survivors.
  • Second Realm: 36 flags, seven per flag—252.
  • Third Realm: 27 flags, five per flag—135.
  • Fourth Realm: 18 flags, three per flag—54.
  • Fifth Realm: nine flags, one per flag—only nine Grandmasters can advance.
• Monsters count as a separate opposing side. They can claim a flag by driving every human out of its range, while the human camp includes Demonfolk and Demonkin. The contest therefore pits factions against one another as well as contestants within them.
• Li Xiang and Qin Zhong discuss risks and strategies. Li Xiang asks whether Qin Zhong is afraid; Qin Zhong admits he fears death but will fight anyway. Li Xiang says he feels the same.
• At Zhang Yunshang’s meeting, Li Xiang sees how few Tianjin contestants survived the Heart-Questioning Mirror. Tianjin has only three First Realm contestants, creating a serious shortfall for a required nine-person team, while its three Fourth Realm Grandmasters exactly fill one team.
• Zhang Yunshang promises to negotiate with other powers to supply teammates and guarantees those recruits will not betray the Tianjin contestants.
• Lin Xuanshu of Maoshan and Monk Wuneng of Northern Shaolin later ask to recruit Tianjin cultivators for their teams. Lin hopes to recruit Ye Qingyao, but learns she did not enter the contest. He instead selects Haitang, a peak Third Realm Courtesan Cultivator. Wuneng objects that her battlefield methods may make her a liability, but Lin remains firm.
• That night, as Li Xiang meditates before the contest, a stealthy intruder slips into his room. He senses the presence, draws his Ghost-Slaying Blade, and recognizes the return of the thief.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Xiang shows sharp strategic thinking, spotting the importance of the exact team sizes and asking whether Monsters count toward them. He stays composed, studies the gathered contestants, and prepares for the danger ahead.
• Qin Zhong is candid about his fear of death, but his willingness to enter the contest reveals his courage and commitment.
• Zhang Yunshang takes charge of Tianjin’s practical response, offering reassurance and promising to secure reliable allies.
• Lin Xuanshu makes an unexpected choice in selecting Haitang, suggesting he knows something about her value that he does not explain. Wuneng challenges the decision from a tactical standpoint but ultimately defers.
• Li Xiang recognizes Lin Xuanguang and exchanges a quiet greeting with him. He also concludes that Haitang is not Ye Qingyao in disguise, distinguishing their very different auras.
• Guo Bingfu fights for the chance to break through his martial limits; Ge Hunxiao is driven by his determination to save his wife. Li Xiang regards both men with respect.

Significant themes

• Survival through cooperation and competition: Exact formation capacities make alliances necessary, yet the rules encourage betrayal and conflict.
• Escalating selection and sacrifice: Each higher realm allows dramatically fewer survivors, turning the Second Round into a brutal final culling.
• Fear and resolve: Characters acknowledge the danger rather than deny it, choosing whether to face it regardless.
• Hidden strengths and judgment: Haitang’s selection challenges assumptions about which professions are useful in battle, while Li Xiang’s scrutiny shows how much contestants must infer about one another.

Plot points and events

• Haitang visits Li Xiang secretly at night, appearing in alluring dress. He recognizes the danger of her Courtesan Cultivator techniques and uses pain and discipline to resist their influence.
• She explains that the Green Pavilion’s Flower Queen selection is approaching. The contest determines access to powerful inheritances and depends not only on cultivation, but also on the strength of each candidate’s supporters.
• Haitang asks Li Xiang to support her bid. He agrees, expecting that their wider circle—Sun Jingui, John, Lin Xuanshu, and others—will also be invited.
• Haitang offers to stay and “warm his bed” as repayment. Li Xiang refuses politely, citing the risk of being seen by his master or senior sister. Haitang leaves, privately pleased by his restraint.
• The next morning, Li Xiang keeps up his training. His sword practice advances his Swordsman Profession to level 2, deepening his skill with the Ghost-Slaying Blade.
• The Second Round of the trial begins in the Spirit Ruins Blessed Land. Zhang Yunshang assigns Li Xiang a nine-person First Realm team: three Northern Shaolin monks, three Maoshan Daoists, Li Degang, Qian Xing, and Li Xiang himself.
• Li Xiang quickly establishes himself as captain. His team enters the mist-shrouded ruins in formation, but soon encounters another nine-person team in a narrow passage.

Character developments

• Li Xiang shows strong self-control in the face of Haitang’s seduction and continues to prioritize discipline and training. He also demonstrates calm leadership, earning his new team’s cooperation without needing a speech.
• Haitang reveals a serious ambition: she wants to become a Flower Queen and claim the Green Pavilion Founder’s legacy. Her flirtation serves both as repayment and as a subtle test of Li Xiang.
• Li Xiang’s teammates display distinct temperaments: the Shaolin monks are respectful and cooperative; the Maoshan disciples are reserved and guarded; Li Degang is quiet and Qian Xing ingratiating.

Significant themes

• Temptation and self-mastery: Li Xiang’s discipline helps him resist Haitang’s supernatural allure.
• Ambition, influence, and power: The Flower Queen contest rewards not only personal ability but also political backing and powerful connections.
• Cooperation and leadership: Li Xiang’s support for Haitang reflects the group’s mutual-aid bond, while his conduct earns trust within a hastily assembled team.
• Preparation amid danger: Training and careful formation contrast with the sudden violence waiting inside the Blessed Land.

Character interactions

• Haitang and Li Xiang negotiate her request for support; she tests his composure with seduction, and he declines without insulting her.
• Li Xiang responds courteously to the Shaolin monks and accepts the Maoshan Daoists’ formal, distant respect.
• His brief exchanges with Li Degang and Qian Xing help establish the team’s varied dynamics.
• Once inside the ruins, the members follow Li Xiang’s orders and coordinate their positions—until the team’s path is blocked by a rival group.

Key plot points and events

• Li Xiang’s team encounters five Demonfolk and four desert people, led by a young Demonfolk. The leader threatens them into abandoning their claim in the Blessed Land, then proposes a partnership to eliminate other competitors.
• Li Xiang rejects both the threat and alliance. When the enemy attacks, his teammates engage the group while Li Xiang instantly kills the mounted Beast Tamer and a Demonfolk with two precise sword strikes.
• Li Xiang then uses the Soul-Transferring Great Art to stop the young Demonfolk from escaping with his Protective Talisman and kills him. Completing his sword advancement ritual, he breaks through to Tier 1 Swordsman and gains the Blade Soul trait.
• He paralyzes the six remaining enemies with soul attacks, enabling his teammates to finish them off. The entire opposing squad is wiped out.
• After the battle, Li Xiang examines a corpse, ostensibly to close its eyes but actually using his Embalmer ability to view its memories. He learns of the Desert Emperor, a sun-associated ruler worshipped by the desert people, and suspects they are agents of the Sha Kingdom.
• The team finds a flag that marks a safe zone and could secure advancement. Li Xiang destroys it, reasoning that holding a flag too early would draw enemies and that eliminating safe zones will intensify the competition. He orders the group onward into the mist.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Xiang demonstrates overwhelming power, tactical control, and unwavering resolve. His new Blade Soul makes his sword an extension of his will, capable of cutting through intangible forces and frightening opponents’ spirits. His teammates’ reluctant respect turns into wholehearted trust.
• The young Demonfolk leader shifts from condescending confidence to terror after seeing Li Xiang’s strength; his attempted escape fails, and he is killed.
• Li Xiang’s teammates each contribute in the battle: Li Degang and the Shaolin monks fight head-on, the Maoshan Daoists form a protective Three Talents Formation, and Qian Xing attacks from the shadows. Once Li Xiang disables the enemies, they swiftly finish the fight.
• Qian Xing loots the bodies and presents the spoils to Li Xiang, recognizing him as the group’s best chance of survival. The others accept Li Xiang’s authority even when they cannot understand his decision to destroy the flag.

Significant themes

• Strength and survival: The Blessed Land operates by a brutal law in which the strong prey on the weak.
• Identity and loyalty: Li Xiang refuses to cooperate with the Demonfolk, regarding them as enemies despite their partial human ancestry.
• Power and authority: His decisive victories transform him from a nominal leader into the team’s unquestioned protector and commander.
• Strategic sacrifice and controlled chaos: Destroying the flag sacrifices an immediate safe option to reduce the group’s visibility and provoke wider conflict—an unsettling but deliberate strategy.
• A world of strange powers: The Desert Emperor’s appearance in the corpse’s memories reinforces the setting’s blend of spiritual, martial, and mythic traditions.

Key plot points and events

• Outside the Spirit Ruins Blessed Land, spectators watch a stream of contestants being expelled or killed. The early eliminations are unusually frequent, and observers suspect someone is deliberately clearing the competition. A battered Fourth Realm Grandmaster is also forced out, apparently defeated by Zhang Yunqing, the young marshal of the Tianjin Warlord.
• Ye Qingyao and Hong Tianbao discuss the danger facing Li Xiang and Qin Zhong. Their conversation turns to Hong’s tangled romantic past and whether he intends to make his relationship with Ye Qingyao’s mother genuine. Before he can answer, the expelled Grandmaster interrupts them.
• Ye Ducheng and Lu Changsheng identify the defeated Grandmaster’s opponent as Zhang Yunqing. Ye recites a famous verse, revealing that it came from an unnamed person he admires; Lu is intrigued and resolves to meet this mysterious figure.
• Inside the Blessed Land, Li Xiang’s team has been sweeping through the First Realm zone. He kills a group of Demonkin, including a Dragon-Pig Demonfolk noble who escapes by using his Protective Talisman. The spectators outside recognize the noble’s defeat as evidence that a powerful fighter is systematically eliminating contestants.
• Li Xiang gains experience across several professions and advances his Swordsman level. He also discovers that defeating the Dragon-Pig Demonfolk counted toward a challenge requiring him to defeat ten renowned opponents of his own realm.
• Li Xiang’s teammates are stunned by his strength and versatility. He destroys a flag and its protective Formation rather than claiming the safe zone, then leads the group onward, intending to use the contest to advance his Boxer path.
• When Li Xiang senses a new presence in the mist, the team encounters a huge, terrifying creature: a Taotie cub, identified as a Primordial Fiend.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Xiang remains focused and analytical even after overwhelming victories, judging his strength insufficient and carefully reviewing his technique. His power and varied abilities inspire awe in his companions.
• Li Degang begins questioning his own identity as a Body Cultivator after seeing Li Xiang’s bare-handed strength.
• Lin Xuanquan and the other Maoshan Daoists recognize Daoist techniques in Li Xiang’s fighting and assume he must have been taught by the Celestial Master Mansion. Their awe grows into reverence.
• Qian Xing views Li Xiang as a golden opportunity and expects the team to reach the next round under his protection.
• Ye Qingyao is blunt and protective, worrying about Qin Zhong’s recklessness and challenging Hong Tianbao to clarify his intentions toward her mother.
• Hong Tianbao is unusually evasive about his romantic history, but his discussion with Ye is cut short by the appearance of the eliminated Grandmaster.
• Ye Ducheng reveals unexpected literary admiration, while Lu Changsheng shifts from teasing him to serious curiosity about the unnamed person who impressed him.
• Yan Jing, usually composed, is visibly frightened when he recognizes the Taotie cub.

Significant themes

• Escalating competition and ruthless ambition: Contestants are being removed at an alarming rate, while powerful young figures such as Zhang Yunqing and Li Xiang shape the contest through decisive violence.
• Power, talent, and self-doubt: Li Xiang’s extraordinary strength contrasts with his own insistence that he must improve, while his teammates reassess their abilities in light of his.
• Hidden influence and changing political fortunes: The Blessed Land struggle unfolds amid a major shift in the dynasty’s political balance, and influential figures watch for signs of who will shape the future.
• Unexpected depth behind appearances: A feared warrior shows literary sensitivity, and an apparently straightforward contest is revealed to involve deliberate elimination and strategic control.
• Danger beyond human opponents: The arrival of the Taotie cub signals that the threat in the Blessed Land is not limited to rival contestants.

Plot and key events

• Li Xiang’s team encounters Yuan Shi, a First Realm cub of the fearsome Taotie race. While Qian Xing and Li Degang panic, Li Xiang attacks eagerly: defeating a famous opponent of his realm will advance his Boxer’s Conviction ritual.
• Yuan Shi sends a Bone Blade Monster to test Li Xiang. Li Xiang kills it with one overwhelming strike, then meets Yuan Shi in a fierce clash.
• Combining the powers of his multiple Professions, Li Xiang breaks through Yuan Shi’s famed defenses and severs both foreclaws. Yuan Shi concedes defeat and escapes by crushing his Protective Talisman. Li Xiang earns advancement progress, now 2/10, but regrets not killing him.
• Li Xiang then disables and kills Yuan Shi’s remaining Monsters, collecting their bodies—and carefully preserving the severed Taotie claws—as valuable materials. The slaughter also raises his Swordsman level to 4.
• To find more worthy opponents, Li Xiang leads his team through several fights, but only a renowned sect heir advances his ritual progress, bringing it to 3/10. He changes strategy: the team takes a banner and waits for challengers. They hold it until the Blessed Land closes and are transported out safely.
• Afterward, Li Xiang’s teammates thank him for protecting them. He then asks Zhang Yunshang to publicize the survivors—especially First Realm fighters—as famous, peerless prodigies.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Xiang is revealed as a calm, exceptionally powerful and resourceful fighter who combines abilities from many Professions. He treats formidable enemies as opportunities for advancement, yet remains dissatisfied when a target escapes. He is practical about alliances, viewing his teammates’ help and his protection as mutually useful.
• Yuan Shi begins arrogant and condescending, but Li Xiang’s attacks overturn their assumed positions: the Taotie becomes the one fighting for survival. Though forced to flee, he leaves with a threat of revenge.
• The teammates shift from fear and uncertainty to awe and obedience. They rely on Li Xiang to survive and later express sincere gratitude, while Li Xiang dismisses the debt and explains their mutual benefit.
• Zhang Yunshang is surprised by Li Xiang’s strange request. Seeing him unharmed also stirs the unexplained reaction of her Zombie Heart, which she tries to suppress.

Significant themes

• Power and reputation: Li Xiang’s advancement depends not only on victory but on defeating opponents renowned in their realm, making fame itself a resource.
• Arrogance overturned: Yuan Shi’s bloodline prestige and confidence cannot protect him from Li Xiang’s skill and adaptability.
• Pragmatism and survival: Li Xiang values useful opponents, materials, and strategies; his team’s cooperation is transactional as well as protective.
• Ambition without complacency: Even after dominating a Taotie cub, Li Xiang focuses on what fell short and seeks a more efficient way to advance.
• Dark humor: His request to make potential opponents famous is paradoxical—he wants to enhance the reputations of the very people he may later need to defeat.

Chapter Summary

• Li Xiang secures help with his advancement ritual. He asks Zhang Yunshang to use the Tianjin Warlord’s intelligence network and newspapers to publicize the strongest First Realm entrants who reached the Third Round. Their fame will help satisfy the Boxer’s requirement to defeat ten renowned opponents of his realm. Zhang agrees and orders the campaign immediately.
• The publicity campaign makes Li Xiang famous. Within a day, exaggerated stories about the Blessed Land’s survivors spread across Linjiang County and the North. Li Xiang is hailed as a “Martial Ancestor reincarnated” for killing a Taotie cub. Crowds gather outside the Shocking Heron Martial Hall hoping to see him, while Qin Zhong wonders why his own achievement has gone unnoticed.
• Li Xiang steers Qin Zhong away from vanity. He reminds his senior brother that fame without strength is hollow and that fighters survive through their own abilities. Qin Zhong takes the lesson to heart and returns to training his Dragon Force; Li Xiang continues practicing the Xingyi Five Elements Fist.
• The Third Round is announced as a series of lethal arena fights. Ye Qingyao brings the matchups and explains that every fighter must sign a Life-and-Death Agreement. Accidental deaths cannot be avenged by the dead fighter’s faction, even by the Three Teachings’ ancestral seats. Li Xiang recognizes that the Beiyang Commander-in-Chief’s authority is backed by the growing Dynastic Fortune and the prospect of imperial power. Ye Qingyao warns the fighters not to show mercy once they enter the Arena.
• The matchups reveal formidable rivals. Li Xiang’s first opponent is fellow Shocking Heron member Li Degang. Qin Zhong draws Ma Teng, the Northwest Young Spear Champion whom he has wanted to face since Ma Teng lost to Ye Qingyao. Li Xiang notes that only five Third Realm contestants remain, including powerful figures such as Lin Xuanshu, Wuneng, Jian Yi, Tang Qiudie, and Haitang, who receives a bye. He also expects the Grandmaster contests—featuring Ge Hunxiao and Guo Bingfu—to be spectacular.
• Li Xiang prepares, then the tournament begins. Ye Qingyao gives him the day to rest before the fights. He spends the night bringing his body, energy, and spirit to peak condition. The next morning, ten arenas host simultaneous death matches. As the crowd watches, Qin Zhong finds the early bouts unimpressive. The chapter ends when the announcer calls Li Degang and Li Xiang to Arena Nine, drawing every spectator’s attention.

Character Developments and Interactions

• Li Xiang shows strategic foresight by arranging publicity to advance his personal goal, while remaining focused on training and the fight ahead. He treats fame as useful but not a substitute for strength.
• Zhang Yunshang trusts Li Xiang’s request without demanding an explanation and uses her political and media influence to help him.
• Qin Zhong moves from feeling overlooked to recommitting himself to training. His excitement at drawing Ma Teng reveals his competitive pride and appetite for a rematch.
• Ye Qingyao remains stern and practical, but her decision to spare Li Xiang a training session shows concern for his readiness.
• Li Xiang and Ye Qingyao share a quiet understanding: he recognizes her kindness beneath her severe manner.
• Li Xiang and Qin Zhong maintain a supportive senior-junior bond, with Li Xiang offering guidance and Qin Zhong accepting it.

Significant Themes

• Substance over reputation: Public acclaim can help open doors, but only real ability keeps a fighter alive.
• The cost of ambition: The Life-and-Death Agreement makes clear that advancement and power may require lethal choices.
• Power and political authority: The Commander-in-Chief’s control reflects how Dynastic Fortune can turn political ambition into enforceable law.
• Competition and survival: The sharply reduced number of contestants signals that the strongest are willing to eliminate rivals before the final battles even begin.

Chapter Summary

Plot and events

• Yuan Shi, a Taotie cub, spots Li Xiang at Arena Nine and is consumed by resentment over their earlier encounter, in which Li Xiang forced him to sacrifice a claw to survive. Yuan Shi’s protector, the Fifth Realm Grandmaster Yuan Li, recognizes that Li Xiang’s tightly contained aura makes him difficult to assess and warns that humanity’s rising fortunes leave the Demon Race with little power to challenge it directly.
• Maoshan Daoists watch the arena match. Their leader, Lin Xuanshu, predicts Li Xiang will win and privately acknowledges that Li Xiang exceeds his own abilities at the First Realm. The group also mourns their former fellow disciple Lin Xuanguang, who left Maoshan for military life after a major upheaval tied to the mistaken excavation of an old dynasty patriarch’s tomb.
• Li Xiang faces Li Degang, a former teammate from the Spirit Ruins Blessed Land. Knowing the disparity between them but unwilling to retreat, Li Degang asks for the chance to attack first. Li Xiang accepts and stands with his hands behind his back.
• Li Degang launches a powerful Body-Cultivator punch. Li Xiang calmly redirects it with the Horizontal Force of Xingyi Five Elements Fist, then disables Li Degang’s wrist with Splitting Force. He wins without shifting his feet or using his full strength.
• Li Degang concedes, grateful that Li Xiang spared him. The defeat inspires him to leave his comfortable life in Tianjin and travel west to temper his body through hardship.
• Over the next two days, Li Xiang wins all ten of his round-robin matches. He defeats two reputed First Realm opponents, advancing the Book of a Hundred Trades’ Boxer advancement ritual from 3/10 to 5/10. Thirty-two fighters qualify for the elimination tournament; Li Xiang is among eleven undefeated contenders.
• Four Grandmasters representing humanity, Demonkin, Demonfolk, and the Monster race oversee a sealed, fair draw for the elimination bracket. The chapter ends as Li Xiang’s seventh-match opponent is about to be announced.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Xiang displays exceptional control, skill, and restraint. His polished Five Elements technique earns Hong Tianbao’s praise and qualifies him to learn the more advanced Form-Intent Twelve Forms. Ye Qingyao volunteers to teach him, while Hong Tianbao quietly welcomes her involvement.
• Li Degang turns defeat into motivation rather than bitterness, choosing a demanding path of self-improvement.
• Yuan Shi remains fixated on revenge and sees himself as a future savior of the Taotie clan; Yuan Li, shaped by his own past defeat in the human world, urges caution without crushing the younger demon’s hopes.
• Lin Xuanshu admires Li Xiang without jealousy and expresses resignation about Maoshan’s broken fortunes. Hong Tianbao contrasts Li Xiang’s progress with his senior disciple Qin Zhong’s slower training, scolding Qin for neglecting practice.

Significant themes

• Humility and resolve: Li Degang accepts his limits yet fights to preserve his martial heart; Li Xiang’s confidence is expressed through restraint rather than boasting.
• Growth through defeat: Li Degang treats loss as a wake-up call, not an endpoint.
• The shifting balance of power: Yuan Li sees humanity’s rising fortunes and the Demon Race’s diminished position, while Yuan Shi resists accepting that reality.
• Mastery and disciplined foundations: Li Xiang’s victory comes from precise technique and control, not brute force.
• A new stage of conflict: The perfect round-robin record and Grandmaster-supervised draw signal that the tournament’s true, high-stakes battles are beginning.

Chapter summary

• Ayi Guli challenges Li Xiang. At the tournament draw, the Moon-Worshipping Cult’s Ayi Guli openly threatens Li Xiang with a throat-slitting gesture. He remains unruffled. Qin Zhong wonders whether the cult’s Moon God is the legendary Chang’e; the chapter outlines competing theories that Chang’e and the Moon God may be one being—or incarnations severed from an ancient ascender.
• The final matchups are set. Huang Shendu is paired with Gutou, a heavily furred Demonfolk warrior whose apparent connection to a Demonfolk Grandmaster suggests formidable strength. Li Xiang recognizes Huang Shendu’s dangerous position: the City God Headquarters is using him as a weapon, despite the instability of his Ghost Raiser power and the risk that it may consume him.
• Ye Qingyao teaches the Form-Intent Twelve Forms. Back at their courtyard, Ye Qingyao explains that the art was created by a Martial Saint who studied twelve Demonfolk Great Sages and adapted their power into human martial techniques. Its essence is not copying animal movements but grasping their underlying ferocity. She demonstrates the Tiger Form, emphasizing the force and intent behind its pounce.
• Li Xiang rapidly masters the principle. Instead of imitating a tiger’s movements, he channels its savage intent through his own blood qi and Five-Element Martial Force, destroying a heavy iron training target with a single strike. His Book of a Hundred Trades records the insight, strengthening his martial foundation and raising him to level 12. Ye Qingyao is astonished by his talent and urges him to be ready for the next day’s match.
• The tournament begins with Li Xiang versus Ayi Guli. Ayi Guli leaps onto the black-stone Arena and boasts that she, like Li Xiang, won all ten of her earlier fights. Drawing her crescent-shaped blade, Eclipse Moon, she offers him the chance to surrender. Li Xiang stays composed and asks whether she has finished—setting up their fight.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Xiang shows how much his recent ordeals have hardened his composure. He learns the Tiger Form almost immediately, making its principle his own rather than copying its appearance. He enters the Arena confident and unmoved by Ayi Guli’s taunts.
• Ayi Guli is introduced as a fierce, proud fighter whose wildness is matched by genuine ability; her ten victories suggest she is not merely boasting.
• Ye Qingyao acts as a demanding but generous mentor, giving Li Xiang and Qin Zhong access to a powerful, rarely taught technique.
• Qin Zhong provides a lighter, more openly emotional contrast: he fears Ye Qingyao’s tiger-like demonstration, but eagerly joins the lesson and reacts with amazement to Li Xiang’s strike.
• Huang Shendu remains emotionally detached from Li Xiang. Their brief exchange of looks highlights his precarious role as a powerful but expendable tool of the City God Headquarters.

Significant themes

• Mastering essence over appearance: True skill comes from understanding a technique’s intent, not reproducing its outward form.
• Human resistance and inherited violence: The Form-Intent Twelve Forms embody an act of defiance against Demonfolk oppression, turning the enemy’s own power into a human weapon.
• Power and peril: Huang Shendu’s unstable strength and Li Xiang’s intense cultivation both carry risks, while institutional allies may value usefulness over loyalty.
• Composure versus provocation: Ayi Guli’s confrontational bravado contrasts with Li Xiang’s calm self-possession; their Arena match will test both confidence and strength.

Chapter Summary

Li Xiang faces Ayi Guli, a candidate for sainthood in the Moon-Worshipping Cult, in a life-or-death Arena match. She opens with freezing yin-energy saber attacks, but Li Xiang reads the energy’s structure and breaks through it. Their rapid close-quarters duel reveals the contrast between Ayi Guli’s unpredictable, ruthless style and Li Xiang’s adaptable defense, formidable stamina, and mastery of several combat arts.
Ayi Guli admits Li Xiang is stronger than she expected, then begins a ritual dance that gathers yin energy and invokes the Moon God’s power. Spectators explain that she once reached the Third Realm, but deliberately destroyed her Dao Foundation and restarted her cultivation to rebuild it properly. They assume her accumulated experience and foundations will make her victory inevitable. Li Xiang, however, recognizes the ritual from intelligence he gathered beforehand and interrupts it with a powerful attack rather than letting her complete it.
As the fight continues, Ayi Guli is worn down while Li Xiang remains steady and grows more forceful. Desperate to avoid defeat, she burns her vital blood and fights with her remaining strength. Li Xiang then unveils Tiger Form, a killing technique from the Form-Intent Twelve Forms, transforming his presence and overwhelming her with relentless fists. He shatters her bonded saber, leaving her unable to continue. Ayi Guli concedes, and the Arena’s barrier signals the match’s end.
Afterward, Li Xiang’s [Book of a Hundred Trades] records his victory, advances his Swordsman profession to level 5, and grants him the new ability Sword Qi Thunderclap.

Character Developments and Interactions

• Li Xiang demonstrates preparation, tactical judgment, endurance, and a refusal to indulge in ceremonial fairness. His mastery of Tiger Form earns praise from Lu Changsheng, who sees exceptional promise in him.
• Ayi Guli shifts from contempt to respect, then to disbelief and desperation as Li Xiang withstands her attacks and surpasses the foundations she sacrificed so much to rebuild. Her final concession acknowledges the defeat she can no longer reverse.
• The spectators and faction leaders initially underestimate Li Xiang’s chances, particularly after learning Ayi Guli’s history. Their confidence is overturned by the fight’s outcome.
• Lu Changsheng recognizes the significance of Li Xiang’s Tiger Form and publicly assesses his talent as comparable to that of prominent contemporary leaders.

Significant Themes

• Preparation and adaptability: Li Xiang’s prior research lets him counter Ayi Guli’s ritual before it can reach its full power.
• Power versus sacrifice: Ayi Guli’s painful restart and deep experience cannot overcome Li Xiang’s greater resilience and force.
• Composure under pressure: Li Xiang stays controlled while Ayi Guli’s fatigue and frustration mount.
• Growth through conflict: The victory advances Li Xiang’s Swordsman level and unlocks a new ability, turning the duel into a milestone in his development.

Chapter Summary: “Slay the Monsters First, Present a United Front!”

Key plot points and events

• After defeating Ayi Guli, Li Xiang unlocks the Swordsman ability Sword Qi Thunderclap, a technique that compresses sword energy until a strike breaks the sound barrier. He considers combining it with his Xingyi Crushing Force for attacks that damage both body and spirit.
• Li Xiang salutes Ayi Guli and the spectators according to Arena custom, then leaves to bathe and recover while continuing to study his new ability.
• The next notable match pits Xiang Tiange against a young Qiongqi. Though Xiang appears evenly matched with the fierce beast, Li Xiang senses that he is concealing his true strength. Li Xiang’s attempt to read Xiang’s Fortune is blocked, suggesting powerful protection or a hidden backer.
• Xiang Tiange decisively turns the fight by coordinating his sword and saber: he wounds the Qiongqi’s wing with the sword, then severs it with the saber. The beast surrenders, and Xiang honors the opponent and spectators with the customary salutes.
• The First Realm’s final sixteen are announced. They include five humans, alongside competitors from the Demonfolk, Demonkin, and Monster camps. The humans’ equal standing with the Monsters is a troubling sign for the Great Xin Dynasty.
• The remaining contestants are told they may choose their own opponents. Zhang Qilan jokes with Li Xiang, then argues that the human finalists should avoid fighting one another while external rivals remain.
• The five humans independently choose opponents from the Monster camp, creating an unspoken united front. The other camps also select their matchups.
• Li Xiang draws the fifth position and a Metal-aligned arena environment. Zhang Qilan draws the first match and heads into the transforming Arena, promising to demonstrate his skill.

Character developments and interactions

• Li Xiang remains composed after victory, treats Ayi Guli respectfully, and continues refining his abilities. His perceptive judgment of Xiang Tiange’s concealed power proves accurate.
• Xiang Tiange is revealed as a highly disciplined fighter whose sword-and-saber style blends opposing techniques seamlessly. He shows ruthlessness in combat but restraint toward a defeated opponent. His hidden background and possible rivalry with Li Xiang remain unresolved.
• Zhang Qilan first needles Li Xiang, then shows political awareness beneath his irreverent manner by advocating cooperation against outside opponents. Li Xiang finds him more interesting than Zhang Qichen.
• Qin Zhong is surprised by Li Xiang’s prediction that Xiang Tiange will win, underscoring Li Xiang’s confidence and insight.
• Huijue and Huang Shendu, along with Xiang Tiange and Zhang Qilan, join Li Xiang in directing their challenges toward Monsters rather than fellow humans.

Significant themes

• Respect amid violence: Formal salutes and Xiang Tiange’s decision to spare the defeated Qiongqi contrast with the tournament’s brutal combat.
• Concealed strength and hidden identities: Xiang Tiange’s masked Fortune and suppressed power suggest that appearances and public claims cannot be trusted.
• Unity against a greater threat: The human finalists’ choices show a tactical alliance across differing temperaments and affiliations.
• Competition and national anxiety: The balanced representation of humans and Monsters challenges human confidence in their dominance and raises concern about the future of the Great Xin Dynasty.
• Innovation through synthesis: Li Xiang’s plan to combine martial force with sword energy reflects the chapter’s interest in creating strength by uniting different disciplines.