Chapter Summaries

Shen Leyan got lost in the Cloud Radiance Sect mountains, broke through to the Middle Qi Refining Realm, and stumbled upon Peacock Gate assassins pursuing Great Xia's crown prince, Ji Lianyi. After the wounded prince escaped the assassins' domain, Shen Leyan approached him.

• Shen Leyan got lost while trying to reach the Law Enforcement Hall and meditated in the mountains.
• Shen Leyan broke through to the Middle Qi Refining Realm and received the Playing Dead Method from Xiao Du.
• Shen Leyan followed the smell of blood and discovered Peacock Gate assassins attacking Ji Lianyi.
• A Peacock Gate assassin mistook Shen Leyan for a fellow operative and revealed that the group planned to kill Great Xia's crown prince.
• Ji Lianyi escaped the domain badly wounded, and Shen Leyan stepped forward and addressed him as Your Highness.

Shen Leyan tried to get the wounded Ji Lianyi to safety after rescuing him from the Peacock Gate, but the assassins caught up and trapped them in a barrier. Disguised as a Peacock Gate recruit, Shen Leyan was ordered to kill Ji Lianyi and approached him with a dagger.

• Shen Leyan revealed himself to Ji Lianyi, helped him escape the barrier, and gave him a Nine-Turn Soul-Replenishing Pill.
• Ji Lianyi explained that a spy had lured him to the mountain with a false imperial summons, and Shen Leyan carried him toward the Cloud Radiance Sect's Outer Sect.
• When the Peacock Gate assassins drew near, Ji Lianyi urged Shen Leyan to leave for help, but Shen Leyan carried him onward and gave him the Playing Dead Method.
• The assassins' barrier trapped Shen Leyan, who returned to Ji Lianyi and pretended to be a new Peacock Gate recruit.
• The Chief Guardian ordered Shen Leyan to kill Ji Lianyi, and Shen Leyan took the dagger and walked toward him.

Shen Leyan pretended to kill Ji Lianyi to fool the Peacock Gate assassins, then helped him survive when a Confucian Grandmaster’s Haoran Bell disrupted their escape. The assassins fled, and Ji Lianyi received medicine from Ning Weimo, who hinted she had no intention of saving him.

• Shen Leyan and Ji Lianyi staged a fight, and Shen Leyan made Ji Lianyi appear dead before the Peacock Gate Guardian.
• The Guardian accepted the apparent death and led the assassins toward the Cloud Radiance Sect’s formation with Ji Lianyi’s supposed corpse.
• Ning Weimo’s Haoran Bell suppressed the assassins’ cultivation, and Shen Leyan volunteered to cover their retreat so the Guardian would leave with the Saint-Tier Artifact.
• Shen Leyan woke Ji Lianyi after the assassins escaped, and Ji Lianyi revealed that Ning Weimo had come to see whether he had died rather than to rescue him.
• Ning Weimo gave Ji Lianyi medicine and departed after he warned her that Shen Leyan had a Cicada Song Pavilion Token.

After saving Ji Lianyi from an assassination attempt, Shen Leyan worried that Ning Weimo might expose his involvement and endanger him. Lu Yuanyi considered killing Ning Weimo, but Shen Leyan urged him to wait and vowed to become strong enough to protect himself and the Cloud Radiance Sect.

• Shen Leyan returned to Ji Lianyi's residence, declined to get involved in serious business, and left as Ji Lianyi resumed his tyrannical act before the Imperial Guards.
• Shen Leyan woke covered in black sludge and told Lu Yuanyi, Qingli, and Chen Jing how he had encountered Ji Lianyi and helped him escape the Peacock Gate assassins.
• Lu Yuanyi explained that he had erased the memories of the disciples who escorted Shen Leyan back, but Shen Leyan feared Ning Weimo might recognize him and offer him to the assassination's mastermind.
• Lu Yuanyi said Ning Weimo supported the Third Prince and might help the mastermind by silencing Shen Leyan, then declared that killing her would not be difficult.
• Shen Leyan argued that threatening Ning Weimo to keep quiet was wiser than killing her, but Lu Yuanyi warned that a future Immortal-Demon War could leave Shen Leyan unprotected.
• Shen Leyan took the Jiangxue Sword and told Lu Yuanyi he would become strong enough to protect himself and the Cloud Radiance Sect, insisting that Lu Yuanyi stop talking about dying.

Ning Weimo killed the Peacock Gate assassins, while Ji Lianyi concealed his plans and worried about dragging Shen Leyan into danger. As Cloud Radiance Sect’s Apprenticeship Ceremony approached, several elders tried to recruit Shen Leyan, who ended the chapter asking Elder Qian Yun to sell him Hangover Soup.

• Ning Weimo used the Haoran Bell to kill the Peacock Gate assassins after learning from Sect Master Lu that they threatened his beloved disciple’s identity.
• Ji Lianyi rejected the attendant sent by the empress and privately resolved not to involve Shen Leyan in his affairs.
• Shen Leyan prepared for the Apprenticeship Ceremony as Chen Jing recovered, Qingli endured testing applicants, and Zheng Ziheng remained in the capital.
• Qingli and Chen Jing drank Rice Wine at Shen Leyan’s courtyard and fell asleep before the ceremony.
• Elder Yan Shi gave Shen Leyan a Pegasus and supplies in hopes of recruiting him to Beast Taming Peak, and Elder Xuanji offered him divination tools for the Nine Stars Pavilion.
• Elder Qian Yun tried to recruit Shen Leyan to Luoxiang Hall, but Shen Leyan asked him to sell Hangover Soup instead.

Shen Leyan returned the gifts he had received from Elder Yan Shi and Elder Xuanji while hurrying to the Apprenticeship Ceremony, though he accepted a warm jade pendant from Sect Master Lu. He arrived at the Martial Arts Training Ground just before the rites began, where several elders appeared troubled.

• Shen Leyan shared breakfast with Lu Yuanyi, admitted that the elders had given him gifts, and accepted a warm jade peace pendant from him.
• Shen Leyan returned Pegasus and the cart of gifts to Elder Yan Shi, who let him keep riding Pegasus to the ceremony.
• Shen Leyan returned Elder Xuanji's divination artifacts, prompting Xuanji's disciples to complain that their master had refused to lend them those items.
• Shen Leyan rode Pegasus to the Martial Arts Training Ground and joined the ceremony participants just before the gathering time ran out.
• The gathered disciples noticed that Elder Xuanji looked haggard and Elder Yan Shi seemed distracted, while Lu Yuanyi remained calm.

At the Cloud Radiance Sect’s Apprenticeship Ceremony, Shen Leyan won his first match by conserving his strength and outlasting his opponent. The second round began as a four-person free-for-all, leaving Shen Leyan to face the fight alone on Platform Seven.

• Lu Yuanyi’s peace pendant for Shen Leyan irritated the elders, and the sect held its morning sacrificial ceremony before beginning the Apprenticeship Ceremony.
• The Law Enforcement Hall elder announced a points-based tournament with standardized weapons, no healing pills, and no breaks between matches.
• Shen Leyan drew Platform Seven, Number One, and chose an iron sword for his first match against Number Eight, a strong fighter wielding two iron hammers.
• Shen Leyan dodged Number Eight’s attacks until his opponent exhausted himself and surrendered; Chen Jing and Ji Lianyi also won their first matches.
• After Shen Leyan helped Chen Jing recover Spiritual Power, the elder announced a four-person free-for-all, and Shen Leyan chose to fight independently on Platform Seven.
• The second-round incense burned out, and the elder from the Law Enforcement Hall ordered the matches to begin.

Shen Leyan survived the second round of the Apprenticeship Ceremony by outlasting two allied opponents, then entered the Boundless Gate for the third round. Lu Yuanyi concealed Shen Leyan’s screen from the elders and also ordered them to hide the crown prince’s screen.

• Shen Leyan dodged and provoked his two opponents until they fought each other, then defeated the exhausted Thunder-Metal Dual Spiritual Root disciple, who was recruited by a bearded elder.
• The Law Enforcement Hall elder opened the third round, sending the remaining contestants into the Boundless Gate to confront illusions drawn from their deepest fears.
• Worried that the Boundless Gate might reveal visions of the Immortal-Demon War, Shen Leyan entered the black vortex.
• Lu Yuanyi made Shen Leyan’s screen disappear and told the elders he would watch over him.
• Lu Yuanyi also ordered the elders to conceal the screen of the crown prince of Great Xia.

Shen Leyan entered the Boundless Gate and found the Cloud Radiance Sect devastated by a demonic assault, then discovered Bai Licheng was searching for Lu Yuanyi to sabotage his seclusion. He located Lu Yuanyi’s cave and persuaded the Jiangxue Sword to let him in so he could warn the sect master.

• Shen Leyan searched the ruined Cicada Song Pavilion for Lu Yuanyi, then disguised himself and headed down the mountain.
• Shen Leyan overheard Bai Licheng tell a Demon Clan soldier that Lu Yuanyi was still alive and that he would find and kill him.
• Bai Licheng uncovered the Teleportation Array in Cicada Song Pavilion and entered the snowy world of Myriad-Fathom Cliff; Shen Leyan followed him.
• Shen Leyan searched the nearby snowy mountain while Bai Licheng scoured distant peaks and caused an avalanche in frustration.
• Shen Leyan found Lu Yuanyi’s cave and explained the attack and Bai Licheng’s plot to the Jiangxue Sword.
• The Jiangxue Sword opened the cave’s defensive array, and Shen Leyan entered to find Lu Yuanyi meditating.

Shen Leyan woke Lu Yuanyi to warn him that Bai Licheng was coming, but Lu Yuanyi had recovered only thirty percent of his cultivation and Bai Licheng arrived before they could escape. Shen Leyan forced a breakthrough and fought beside the Jiangxue Sword, but Bai Licheng overwhelmed him as Lu Yuanyi began recovering his power.

• Shen Leyan roused Lu Yuanyi from secluded cultivation and warned him that Bai Licheng was tracking them to Myriad-Fathom Cliff.
• Lu Yuanyi revealed that his cultivation had not fully recovered and tried to send Shen Leyan away, but Bai Licheng arrived and surrounded the cave with Other Shore Flowers.
• Shen Leyan and the Jiangxue Sword held off Bai Licheng while Lu Yuanyi attempted to recover his spiritual power.
• Bai Licheng attacked with a sea of Other Shore Flowers and taunted Lu Yuanyi about the Cloud Radiance Sect's casualties and their past.
• Shen Leyan forced a breakthrough, replenished his spiritual power, and fought on, but Bai Licheng struck him into the cave wall and advanced to finish him.
• Outside the Boundless Gate, the Mind-Peering Demon Core panicked at the battle, and Lu Yuanyi ordered Shen Leyan's test to be ended early.