Chapter Summaries

Nie Yun used a mirror-and-ink trap to mark the Ten Thousand Year Corpse King’s fleeing will, then pursued the trail with Clan Head Wen Tao and Clan Head Hao Long. They entered Soul Severing Cliff on the way to the Eagle Sorrow Realm, where Nie Yun remained unaffected by the hypnotic winds as the two clan heads struggled to endure them.

• Nie Yun prepared a formation at the Wen Family residence with Gui Ling’s help and hid in the Storage World while the clan heads waited for the Ten Thousand Year Corpse King.
• After a crash alerted them to her arrival, Nie Yun found the hall empty and revealed a black trail left by the Corpse King’s will.
• Nie Yun explained that the mirrors had frightened the Corpse King into fleeing and that ink fused with her Corpse Qi would let them track her for a day.
• Nie Yun, Clan Head Wen Tao, and Clan Head Hao Long followed the trail out of Ancient Wasteland City toward Soul Severing Cliff.
• The three entered Soul Severing Cliff, where the strange winds made the clan heads dizzy while Nie Yun remained unaffected.

Nie Yun and the two clan heads entered the Eagle Sorrow Realm and found the Ten Thousand Year Corpse King, who appeared as Miss Wen and used an illusion to turn Clan Head Wen Tao against Clan Head Hao Long. Nie Yun located her true body inside a coffin and destroyed her with one sword strike, leaving a strange sphere behind.

• Nie Yun warned Clan Head Wen Tao and Clan Head Hao Long that the vanished black thread meant the Corpse King was nearby.
• The Corpse King appeared disguised as Miss Wen and attacked the group, prompting Clan Head Hao Long to strike back.
• Clan Head Wen Tao blocked Clan Head Hao Long, believing the illusion was his daughter Ping'er, while Nie Yun identified the Corpse King's hidden position.
• Nie Yun used the Netherflame Movement Technique to reach a boulder, break it open, and expose the Corpse King's coffin in a cavern.
• The Corpse King attacked Nie Yun with eight illusory Ghost Claws, but he used the Exquisite Pearl Pagoda to identify the real attack and countered with the Star Sword.
• Nie Yun killed the Corpse King with the eighth move of the Great Evolution Tianji Sword, and a fist-sized sphere fell from her ashes.

Nie Yun stored the Ten Thousand Year Corpse King's Corpse Core and questioned Clan Head Wen Tao about why the Corpse King had targeted the Wen Family. Wen Tao revealed a mysterious bead from an ancient tomb, and Gui Ling recognized it as possibly the Illusion Realm Pearl.

• Nie Yun took the Corpse Core from the slain Ten Thousand Year Corpse King, stored it, and headed back without searching Eagle Sorrow Realm.
• Nie Yun confronted Clan Head Wen Tao, who revealed a black bead he had found in an ancient corpse's mouth in Eagle Sorrow Realm when he was young.
• Wen Tao explained that the bead had flashed before he fell into the Illusion and fought Clan Head Hao Long unconsciously.
• Nie Yun examined the bead but found no unusual energy or aura, then asked Gui Ling to identify it.
• Gui Ling drew the bead into the Storage World and said it seemed to be the Illusion Realm Pearl.

Nie Yun learned that the Illusion Realm Pearl was an Illusion Realm Beast’s crystal core and refined it after Wen Tao’s blood activated it, raising his Illusion Dantian to fifth place. Gui Ling then said Nie Yun could not use the Corpse King’s Corpse Core but suggested that his younger brother Nie Tong might.

• Gui Ling explained that the Illusion Realm Pearl was an Illusion Realm Beast’s crystal core, which could help its refiner comprehend the Illusionary Dao if they had the right bloodline.
• Nie Yun tested Wen Tao’s blood on the pearl, and it glowed and created an illusion.
• Wen Tao gave the pearl to Nie Yun in gratitude for saving his family and daughter.
• Nie Yun absorbed the pearl into his Illusion Dantian, which advanced to fifth place among his dantian.
• Gui Ling said the Corpse King’s Corpse Core was incompatible with Nie Yun’s medical Dao, but that Nie Tong might be able to use it.

Nie Yun and Nie Tong left the Eagle Sorrow Realm with the Corpse Core and Illusion Realm Pearl, then traveled with Clan Head Wen Tao toward Sword Spirit Mountain. After several days of cultivation, Nie Yun strengthened his Illusionary Dao domain and Nie Tong advanced toward forming a Sword Realm; they reached the mountain at the chapter’s end.

• Nie Tong decided to save the Corpse Core for after he condensed his Sword Realm, when it could help him break through further.
• Nie Yun left the Eagle Sorrow Realm with Clan Head Wen Tao and Clan Head Hao Long after resolving the Wen and Hao families’ troubles.
• Clan Head Wen Tao offered to take Nie Yun to Sword Spirit Mountain, where he had once entered the Sword Spirit Tower and learned a sword art.
• During the five- or six-day journey, Nie Yun expanded his Illusionary Dao domain to fifteen meters and learned to create phantom clones, while Nie Tong’s Sword Realm grew more solid.
• Clan Head Wen Tao announced that Sword Spirit Mountain lay ahead, and Nie Yun and the others went to look.

Nie Yun and his companions reached Sword Spirit Mountain, where entering the Sword Spirit Tower required costly, time-limited talismans. While they waited to buy theirs, the famous swordsman Pei Yang arrived to challenge the tower again, and the official demanded he sign a life-and-death agreement.

• Clan Head Wen Tao explained that visitors had to climb Sword Spirit Mountain on foot and buy Tower Entry Talismans, each costing ten thousand Divine Stones for seven days.
• Nie Yun declined Clan Head Wen Tao’s offer to pay for their talismans, saying he could afford them himself.
• While the group waited in line, people discussed Pei Yang’s swordsmanship and his previous attempt to reach the fifth tower.
• Pei Yang arrived and bought three Tower Entry Talismans, prompting the crowd to expect he would stay for more than twenty days.
• The official handed Pei Yang a life-and-death agreement and told him to sign it before proceeding.

Nie Yun and his companions began climbing toward the Sword Spirit Tower after signing life-and-death contracts. Along the mountain path, Nie Yun saw that the sword-move annotations were deliberately misleading cultivators, and Gui Ling suggested they were meant to test the firmness of their beliefs.

• Clan Head Wen Tao explained that entrants had to sign life-and-death contracts before attempting the dangerous trials, and Pei Yang imprinted his Soul Imprint on one before setting out.
• Nie Yun paid for four tower-entry talismans, signed contracts for the group, and followed the crowd up the mountain path.
• Nie Yun noticed that cultivators were arguing over misleading annotations beside simple sword carvings, while Pei Yang led the line ahead.
• Nie Yun recognized one carving as a fierce thrust intended to lure an enemy into mutual destruction and suspected someone had deliberately written the confusing annotations.
• Gui Ling proposed that the annotations tested whether cultivators could stand firm in their beliefs instead of being swayed by hearsay.

Nie Yun and his companions climbed the mountain past sword inscriptions and reached a Trial Sword Stone that tested Sword Dao comprehension. Nie Yun ignored the first Sword Mark Stele and continued onward, while the cultivators at the next stele tested their sword arts.

• Nie Yun reflected that conviction mattered as much as talent in cultivation and noticed that followers of Pei Yang had stopped to study sword moves along the path.
• Clan Head Wen Tao explained that the first Sword Mark Stele held masters’ understanding of the Sword Dao, but Nie Yun and Nie Tong showed little interest and continued climbing.
• Nie Yun dismissed the first stele as inferior to the Great Evolution Tianji Sword left by Great Emperor Lu Xi, while other cultivators scorned him for leaving without studying it.
• Nie Yun reached a larger Sword Mark Stele on the mountainside and saw cultivators releasing sword qi before a translucent stone.
• Clan Head Wen Tao identified the stone as a Trial Sword Stone that absorbed sword qi and displayed colors from red, the lowest comprehension, to purple, the highest.

Pei Yang returned to the Trial Sword Stone and revealed deep green, stunning the crowd before declaring himself dissatisfied and heading back toward the mountaintop. Nie Yun declined to test his own sword intent and asked Nie Tong whether he wanted to try.

• Clan Head Wen Tao told Nie Yun that he had once produced deep orange on the Trial Sword Stone.
• Fu An tested his sword and produced light yellow, drawing the crowd’s admiration.
• Pei Yang returned to the Trial Sword Stone and produced deep green, surpassing his previous deep-yellow result.
• Pei Yang dismissed the deep-green result as disappointing and continued toward the mountaintop.
• Nie Yun declined to test his sword intent and asked Nie Tong if he wanted to try.

Nie Yun and Nie Tong continued up the mountain until they reached a stele bearing sword marks left by Yun Luzi. After Nie Yun judged the marks merely not bad, Pei Yang and Zi Chong mocked him for his supposed ignorance.

• Nie Tong refused to go to the Trial Sword Stone without Nie Yun, and the brothers continued up the mountain with Clan Head Wen Tao following them.
• Clan Head Wen Tao urged the group to stop at the final Sword Mark Stele, explaining that Yun Luzi had carved its marks and was renowned for killing eighteen Perfected Emperor Realm experts with one strike.
• Nie Yun studied the two marks and recognized that Yun Luzi had carved them with his fingers, but said Yun Luzi had not formed a complete Sword Realm.
• Nie Yun told Wen Tao that the sword marks were not bad but had not inspired him much.
• Zi Chong mocked Nie Yun, and Pei Yang dismissed him as an arrogant fool who lacked understanding of the sword marks.

Nie Tong severed Zi Chong’s arm after Zi Chong demanded an apology from Nie Yun, and the group continued toward the Sword Spirit Tower. Pei Yang restrained Zi Chong from confronting them immediately, then planned to kill Nie Yun and Nie Tong inside the tower, where Clan Head Wen Tao could not follow.

• Nie Yun ignored the crowd’s mockery of his remark about Yun Luzi’s Sword Mark and continued up the stairs with Nie Tong and Gui Ling.
• Zi Chong blocked Nie Yun and demanded an apology, but Nie Tong cut off Zi Chong’s arm with a flash of sword radiance.
• Nie Yun led Nie Tong and Gui Ling onward while Clan Head Wen Tao worried that their actions would make it difficult to find allies for the Sword Spirit Tower’s first three levels.
• Zi Chong asked Pei Yang why he had not intervened, and Pei Yang explained that Clan Head Wen Tao was a Perfected Emperor Realm expert.
• Pei Yang and Zi Chong planned to attack Nie Yun and Nie Tong inside the Sword Spirit Tower, where Wen Tao could not enter, and followed them up the stairs.

Nie Yun learned the Sword Spirit Tower’s entry restrictions and reached its summit with Clan Head Wen Tao. There, Pei Yang began recruiting a team to enter the tower, leaving Nie Yun’s group to seek companions of their own.

• Clan Head Wen Tao warned Nie Yun that the tower barred cultivators above the mid Emperor Realm, prohibited magical treasures and divine weapons, and posed a danger from Pei Yang and Zi Chong.
• Nie Yun dismissed the warnings, confident that his Fusion Domain would remain effective inside the tower.
• Nie Yun and Wen Tao reached the summit, where Nie Yun admired the Sword Spirit Tower and heard stories of Sword Dao masters who had gained insight by studying it from outside.
• Pei Yang arrived with Zi Chong and began recruiting a team, drawing many cultivators who hoped his experience would keep them safe on the first three floors.
• Wen Tao worried that Pei Yang would recruit all the suitable companions, so Nie Yun told him to ask around for people willing to team up with them.

Nie Yun struggled to recruit a team for the Sword Spirit Tower after Zi Chong persuaded the cultivators to join Pei Yang instead. As the deadline approached, Nie Yun accepted the young and weak Yong Xian into his group, leaving Clan Head Wen Tao alarmed.

• Clan Head Wen Tao announced that Nie Yun was forming a team, but Zi Chong warned the cultivators that a great family's descendants would protect only themselves.
• The cultivators rejected Nie Yun and chose to team up with Pei Yang, while Nie Yun remained unconcerned and Clan Head Wen Tao warned him about the tower's dangers.
• Yong Xian, a young orphan at the mid King Realm, asked to join Nie Yun's team despite the crowd mocking his weakness.
• Nie Yun questioned Yong Xian about his fear of the tower, then accepted him after seeing his determination.
• Clan Head Wen Tao nearly fainted when Nie Yun agreed to take Yong Xian along.

Nie Yun entered the Sword Spirit Tower with Nie Tong and Yong Xian after striking Zi Chong and warning Pei Yang to stay out of his way. Inside, they learned the tower’s rules and the first trial, and Nie Tong volunteered to face it alone as Yong Xian warned him of the danger.

• Nie Yun slapped Zi Chong for interfering and threatened Pei Yang when he challenged him.
• Nie Yun, Nie Tong, and Yong Xian entered the Sword Spirit Tower, while Pei Yang and a crowd of others followed after vowing to make Nie Yun pay.
• The three read the tower’s rules, chose the provided Emperor Realm swords, and learned that only sword techniques could be used.
• Yong Xian explained that the first Combat Platform tested sword-strike speed by firing arrows from every direction for the time it took an incense stick to burn.
• Nie Tong volunteered to face the first trial alone, and Yong Xian warned him that one person could not easily defend against arrows from all sides.

Nie Tong cleared the Sword Spirit Tower’s first arrow trial alone, calmly deflecting the escalating barrage for an entire incense stick. Yong Xian was left stunned and terrified by the brothers’ strength as Nie Yun led them toward the second floor.

• Nie Tong stepped onto the Combat Platform and precisely knocked aside the first arrows with his sword.
• As the arrows grew faster and denser, Nie Tong deflected them all with a single flowing sword arc.
• Yong Xian was overwhelmed by the thunderous clashes and vomited while Nie Tong continued fighting unharmed.
• After the arrow formation stopped, Nie Tong descended from the platform without a speck of dust or sweat.
• Nie Yun told Yong Xian to get up and led the group toward the second floor, while Yong Xian decided joining the brothers had been the right choice.

Nie Yun and Yong Xian entered the second level of the trial, where ten metal puppets tested their swordsmanship. Nie Yun broke their combined attack with a transformed version of the sword art from the stele and cleared the level, leaving the group ready to continue.

• After clearing the first level, Nie Yun and his companions climbed to the second level, where Yong Xian memorized the sword art carved on a stone stele.
• Yong Xian explained that the second level required defeating ten metal puppets with swordsmanship, and Nie Yun stepped forward to face them.
• Nie Yun recognized that the first puppet's move countered the stele's sword art, then effortlessly broke its attack and drew out the other nine puppets.
• The ten puppets combined their sword art into a powerful formation, making Yong Xian fear that Nie Yun would be overwhelmed.
• Nie Yun used the stele's sword move with a sudden refinement to shatter the combined sword momentum, then defeated all ten puppets and cleared the second level.

Nie Yun, Nie Tong, and Yong Xian reached the Sword Spirit Tower’s third floor, where they learned that the trial required crossing an eight-hundred-li passage filled with Eagle Beasts. They met Pei Yang and Zi Chong’s battered, greatly reduced group, and Yong Xian explained how the brothers had cleared the first two floors alone, which Pei Yang dismissed as a joke.

• Nie Tong explained that Nie Yun had combined a puppet’s sword strike with the stele’s technique to break the second-floor formation.
• Yong Xian warned the brothers that the third floor tested endurance with an eight-hundred-li passage full of Eagle Beasts, but Nie Yun and Nie Tong chose not to rest.
• Pei Yang, Zi Chong, and fewer than ten survivors arrived at the third floor, wounded after losing most of their original group.
• Pei Yang questioned how the three had survived the first two trials without injury, and Yong Xian said Nie Tong had cleared the first floor alone while Nie Yun had cleared the second.
• Pei Yang laughed coldly and called Yong Xian’s explanation a joke.

Nie Yun, Nie Tong, and Yong Xian entered the third level of the Sword Spirit Tower, where Nie Tong effortlessly protected the group from the Eagle Beasts. Seeing his swordsmanship, Pei Yang realized Yong Xian’s claims about their earlier trials might have been true and feared the power of the young swordsman.

• Yong Xian argued that Nie Yun had passed the Arrow Rain Formation and Puppet Formation alone, but the others mocked him.
• Nie Yun led Nie Tong and Yong Xian into the third level without resting, while Zi Chong and the others dismissed them as reckless.
• Pei Yang wondered how the three had passed the first two trials so easily, despite Zi Chong’s suggestion that they had used unusual methods.
• The group saw Nie Tong calmly walk through the Eagle Beasts, killing each with a precise sword thrust while protecting Nie Yun and Yong Xian.
• Pei Yang recalled mocking Nie Tong and feared that the young swordsman could kill him with ease.

Nie Yun and Nie Tong escorted Yong Xian through the Eagle Beast trial, then reached the fourth floor, where they had to derive swordsmanship from a sword trace and use it against a puppet. Nie Yun created a sword art from the trace, while Nie Tong said he had already made one and went ahead.

• Nie Tong slaughtered Eagle Beasts for hours until they fled, allowing the group to reach the end of the third floor.
• Nie Yun told Yong Xian to memorize the sword moves on the third-floor stele, and Yong Xian decided to stop advancing with the pair.
• Nie Yun explained that the fourth floor required each person to proceed alone and encouraged Yong Xian to try the trial before turning back if he failed.
• Nie Yun and Nie Tong entered the fourth floor and read that they had to derive swordsmanship from a sword trace and defeat a puppet with it.
• Nie Yun studied the trace and created a sword art, while Nie Tong said he had already created one and walked ahead.

Nie Yun and Nie Tong continued through the Sword Spirit Tower while people outside mourned the many dead and wondered why the brothers’ bodies had not appeared. The eighth floor lit up, and the crowd assumed Pei Yang had reached it and rushed to the tower entrance to greet him.

• Nie Yun destroyed the puppet with sword traces and went up the staircase after Nie Tong had already passed the trial.
• The Sword Spirit Tower transported the corpses of failed challengers to the stone platform, where grieving relatives and friends identified them.
• Wen Tao worried that Nie Yun and Nie Tong, both only at the Perfected King Realm, might have died inside the tower.
• The crowd noticed that Yong Xian and the two young masters had no corpses among the dead and wondered if they were still alive.
• The fourth through eighth floors lit up in succession, and the crowd credited Pei Yang with reaching the eighth floor.
• People hurried to the tower entrance, hoping to be the first to greet Pei Yang when he emerged.