Chapter Summaries

Luo Yutian brought the trial survivors to the Sword Mark Stone and explained that only sword arts true to their creator’s own understanding of the Sword Dao could leave a mark. After Chu Yang was badly injured trying, Zong Yan pointed to Nie Yun as someone who might succeed.

• Ye Jianxing explained the Sword Hall’s cultivation zones and the history of its Sword Heart Stones as the group followed Luo Yutian and Ni Xu into the hall.
• Luo Yutian showed the group the Sword Mark Stone, explaining that only eighty-seven people in the sect’s history had left marks upon it.
• Nie Yun spotted Fanyun Swordplay among the marks, while Chu Yang stepped forward to test his own sword art.
• Chu Yang attacked the stone with a Demon Person sword and arm, but its sword lights struck him down before he could carve a mark.
• Luo Yutian explained that a sword art had to embody its creator’s understanding of the Sword Dao, and Zong Yan suggested that Nie Yun might be able to leave a mark.

Nie Yun refused to prove himself at the Sword Mark Stone, then baited Zong Yan into testing it, where Zong Yan was badly injured. The group entered the Sword Hall, where Nie Yun saw the sect’s legendary swords and recognized the Sword God’s Sword as a treasure comparable to his Netherworld Sword.

• Zong Yan, Zhang Yan, Luo Yun, and Yuan Chao mocked Nie Yun and urged him to carve a mark on the Sword Mark Stone, while Elder Luo Yutian and Elder Ni Xu allowed him to try.
• Nie Yun declined, but when Zong Yan called him a coward, Nie Yun challenged Zong Yan to test the stone instead.
• Zong Yan attacked the Sword Mark Stone and was badly injured when its sword intent struck back.
• Nie Yun admitted he had never agreed to take his own turn, and Zong Yan spat blood in anger after Nie Yun’s words and hidden talents provoked him.
• Elder Luo Yutian and Elder Ni Xu led the group into the Sword Hall, where Ye Jianxing explained the histories of the swords displayed along the passage.
• Ye Jianxing pointed out the Sword God’s Sword, and Nie Yun judged it to be a natural divine weapon comparable to his Netherworld Sword.

Nie Yun learned that Thousand Illusions had stolen the Sword God's Sword for Yun Xuan, endured brutal punishment, and escaped with Chen Wenxu's help. As Nie Yun entered the Earth Grade Zone with the other disciples, the sword vanished, and the Sword God Enforcement Team accused them of stealing it.

• Ye Jianxing told Nie Yun that Thousand Illusions had stolen the Sword God's Sword from the demon world for Yun Xuan and was later captured and tortured.
• Ye Jianxing revealed that Chen Wenxu had secretly helped Thousand Illusions escape, ruining his relationship with Yun Xuan and his own prospects.
• Nie Yun vowed to avenge Thousand Illusions for the suffering Yun Xuan had inflicted on him.
• Luo Yutian sent Ying Long to the Heaven Grade Zone and directed Nie Yun and the others to the Earth Grade Zone with Elder Ni Xu.
• Mo Xiang and the Sword God Enforcement Team stopped the group and accused one of them of stealing the Sword God's Sword, which had disappeared from its platform.

Mo Xiang investigated the four non-Sword God Sect finalists for stealing the Sword God's Sword using the sect's Light Seeking Mirror. The mirror revealed Nie Yun's face, and Mo Xiang demanded that he hand over the sword.

• Mo Xiang suspected that an accomplice of the mysterious person from seventy years ago had stolen the Sword God's Sword, while Nie Yun wondered if they meant Thousand Illusions.
• Mo Xiang named Nie Yun, Chu Yang, and two clan disciples as suspects, but promised not to inspect their Storage Dantians.
• Mo Xiang examined the two clan disciples, Chu Yang, and Nie Yun with the Light Seeking Mirror.
• Mo Xiang used a secret technique to reveal the thief's appearance, and the mirror showed Nie Yun's face.
• Mo Xiang turned on Nie Yun with killing intent and demanded that he hand over the Sword God's Sword.

Mo Xiang accused Nie Yun of stealing the Sword God's Sword after the Light Seeking Mirror identified him, and Nie Yun was shocked when the sword was pulled from his Storage Dantian. Mo Xiang took him to the Enforcement Team for interrogation, while Ye Jianxing and Elder Ni Xu could only watch him go.

• Mo Xiang tried to capture Nie Yun, and Chu Yang attacked him to curry favor with the Enforcement Team captain.
• Nie Yun struck Chu Yang down with the Profound Jade Sword, then used Primordial Immeasurable to resist Mo Xiang's cage-like attack.
• Mo Xiang overpowered and restrained Nie Yun, while Ye Jianxing insisted that Nie Yun had never touched the Sword God's Sword.
• Mo Xiang used the Light Seeking Mirror to pull the Sword God's Sword from Nie Yun's Storage Dantian, shocking Nie Yun and the gathered disciples.
• Mo Xiang ordered his subordinates to take Nie Yun to the Enforcement Team for torture and interrogation, while Ye Jianxing protested and Elder Ni Xu feared for Nie Yun's survival.

After the Enforcement Team captured Nie Yun for supposedly stealing the Sword God's Sword, its disciples removed his seal to torment him, giving him a chance to fight back. Nie Yun killed Liu Feng and Brother Wang, then continued battling the remaining enforcers as he tried to escape.

• Mo Xiang ordered the Enforcement Team to take Nie Yun away and warned them to guard against his escape before going to report to the sect master.
• Brother Wang had his men remove Mo Xiang's seal so they could beat Nie Yun, while Nie Yun suspected someone had arranged the events to frame him.
• Nie Yun unleashed the Supreme Sword Art and killed Liu Feng in one strike.
• Nie Yun evaded the other disciples' attacks, stunned Brother Wang with his Immortal Sound Master Talent, and combined the Maha Divine Palm with a hidden sword strike.
• Brother Wang used a talisman jade tablet to block the palm, but Nie Yun pierced his hand and beheaded him.

Nie Yun escaped the Sword God Sect underground after killing Brother Wang and used the black stone fragments to mislead two Void Absorption Realm experts pursuing him. He remained hidden nearby while they chased the decoys, then resumed fleeing from the sect.

• Nie Yun killed Brother Wang and an Enforcement Disciple, then used his Earth Travel Talent to flee underground as the Sword God Sect disciples called for Mo Xiang and the Sect Master.
• Nie Yun avoided the underground seals and raced toward Sword Spirit Peak, but a Void Absorption Realm expert collapsed the earth ahead of him and began pursuing him with Mo Xiang.
• Nie Yun traveled deeper underground but could not escape the experts' soul scans, so he crushed the black stone that blocked soul detection and scattered its fragments with the Purple Splendor Cave Mansion attached to one.
• Mo Xiang and the other Void Absorption Realm expert mistook the fragments for Nie Yun's escape route and split up to pursue them.
• Nie Yun emerged from the cave mansion beneath the pursuers, hid with his Stealth Talent, and waited until they had gone before quietly heading away from the Sword God Sect.

After escaping the Sword God Sect, Nie Yun entered Qianye City in disguise and unexpectedly reached a state of mind merged with nature while observing ordinary life. His calm was interrupted when two immensely powerful strangers approached with killing intent, leaving him trapped between them.

• Nie Yun escaped the Sword God Sect's territory, traveled to Qianye City, and disguised himself before entering.
• Nie Yun planned to rest and refine the Peerless Pill, then felt his anxiety ease as he watched the city's ordinary people.
• Nie Yun unexpectedly entered a state of mind merged with nature and gained new insight into the lives around him.
• Nie Yun sensed a gray-robed middle-aged man approaching with overwhelming killing intent and realized the man's strength surpassed his own.
• Nie Yun sensed a veiled woman approaching from another direction with even stronger killing intent and recognized that both strangers were targeting him.

Nie Yun realized that the masked woman and middle-aged man were Yun Xuan and Mi Hua, who had plotted to frame him and now wanted something he possessed. Trapped by their reversed-space technique, he tried to escape with Blazing Fire but was stopped in midair.

• Nie Yun recognized Bai Xin and Purple Cloud as Mi Hua and Yun Xuan and deduced that Yun Xuan had arranged for the Sword God's Sword to be planted in his Storage Dantian.
• Nie Yun concluded that Mi Hua and Yun Xuan had manipulated events at the Sword God Sect to set up an ambush far from his supposed master’s protection.
• Mi Hua and Yun Xuan trapped Nie Yun in reversed space, separating him from the surrounding market and preventing him from moving.
• Mi Hua and Yun Xuan argued over the thing Nie Yun possessed, then agreed to compete for it by their own means.
• Nie Yun erupted into Blazing Fire and broke a crack in the spatial barrier, but Mi Hua halted him in midair before he could escape.

Trapped between Mi Hua and Yun Xuan, Nie Yun injured himself to break their spatial confinement, then unexpectedly comprehended the Heart Sword realm and used the Four Seasons Swordplay to escape briefly. Mi Hua dragged him back and suppressed him, but Nie Yun's desperate resolve broke his bottleneck in the Domain Realm.

• Mi Hua confined Nie Yun while fighting Yun Xuan, and Nie Yun detonated compressed Blazing Fire Qi to crack the spatial cage at the cost of severe injuries.
• Mi Hua and Yun Xuan struck together, captured Nie Yun, and dragged him between them until his disguise failed and he revealed his true appearance.
• Nie Yun's killing intent merged with the Essence of Martial Skill, helping him comprehend the Heart Sword realm and master Autumn Wind's Chill.
• Nie Yun unleashed the Four Seasons Swordplay to cut through the mana binding him and burrowed underground with his Earth Walker Master Talent.
• Mi Hua pulled Nie Yun from the earth and pinned him beneath overwhelming pressure while Yun Xuan pondered his Heart Sword breakthrough.
• Nie Yun's fierce unwillingness triggered a breakthrough in his Qi Sea, shattering his mid-stage Fourth Layer of the Secret Realm bottleneck.

Under pressure from Mi Hua and Yun Xuan, Nie Yun broke through to the late stage of the Domain Realm and fought back with Supreme Sword Arts, but Mi Hua defeated him. Old Drunkard and his child arrived, shattered the experts’ spatial lockdown, and left Mi Hua immobilized while the child slapped and inspected his face.

• Nie Yun broke through to the late stage of the Domain Realm, doubling his mana, and attacked Mi Hua with the Dust Breaking Absolute Kill Sword Art and the Great Sorrow Seven Immortal Sword.
• Mi Hua easily broke Nie Yun’s sword light and sent him crashing into the ground before proposing that he and Yun Xuan fight over who would take Nie Yun.
• Yun Xuan accepted Mi Hua’s challenge, and the two locked down the surrounding space as Nie Yun vowed to become stronger if he escaped.
• Old Drunkard arrived with a child and shattered the spatial lockdown with his wooden boards and a single sentence.
• Old Drunkard mistook Mi Hua for the sect master of the Mishin Sect, and the child grabbed and slapped Mi Hua’s face while Mi Hua remained unable to move.

Old Drunkard stopped Mi Hua and Yun Xuan from attacking Nie Yun, then tried to sell both of them fortune readings. After they left, Nie Yun invited the old man to drink, while the boy remained entranced by Yun Xuan’s voice.

• Old Drunkard waved his banner and released Mi Hua, who left after Old Drunkard mocked him about his wife.
• Old Drunkard tried to read Yun Xuan’s fortune, but she recognized that attacking Nie Yun was futile and departed.
• The boy became entranced by Yun Xuan’s voice, and Old Drunkard scolded him for being distracted by a beauty.
• Nie Yun thanked Old Drunkard for saving him and invited him to a tavern for Snow Fruit Wine.
• Nie Yun and Old Drunkard found the boy still dazed, and Nie Yun and the boy reacted in disbelief when Old Drunkard called himself upright and serious.

After surviving Mi Hua and Yun Xuan’s attack with help from the Old Drunkard and his companion, Nie Yun left Qianye City and began refining the Peerless Pill. The chapter ends as he starts the pill’s purification stage inside the Purple Splendor Cave Mansion.

• Nie Yun drank with the Old Drunkard and the youth at Qianye Tower, then passed out and woke safely in the inn after they had left.
• Nie Yun learned that Mi Hua and Yun Xuan had stopped pursuing him, then flew out of Qianye City and vowed to avenge their attempt on his life.
• Nie Yun hid the Purple Splendor Cave Mansion outside the city and decided to refine the Peerless Pill to raise his soul to the peak of the Spirit Level.
• Nie Yun prepared the ingredients and used his Crimson Flame Pill Fire to form a flame cauldron and begin refining the Peerless Pill.

Nie Yun attempted to refine a Peerless Pill, but the Poison Hand King’s thought emerged from the Peerless Poison Embryo and tried to seize his body. As his soul was corroded, Nie Yun grasped the essence of the Thunderous Golden Body and began to unleash its power.

• Nie Yun purified the ingredients for the Peerless Pill, rested, and began fusing them in his flame cauldron.
• The Peerless Poison Embryo awakened, devoured the fused ingredients, and revealed that the Poison Hand King planned to revive and seize Nie Yun’s body.
• Nie Yun attacked the Poison Hand King with his Immortal Sound, Blood Pupil, and Blazing Fire talents, but a soul-defense spirit weapon blocked his attacks.
• The Poison Hand King’s poisonous thought began corroding Nie Yun’s soul, leaving him close to being devoured.
• Nie Yun realized the Thunderous Golden Body could counter the Poison Hand King, entered a state of cultivation, and unleashed thunder from his thoughts.

Nie Yun killed Poison Hand King's consciousness, completed a Peerless Pill whose awakened strength approached the Void Absorption Realm, and swallowed it to advance his soul to the spirit-grade peak. He discovered and erased Soul Imprints left by Yun Xuan and Mi Hua, while they sensed the loss of their marks.

• Nie Yun used the Thunderous Golden Body to destroy Poison Hand King's consciousness and raised his physical strength.
• Nie Yun completed the Peerless Pill, captured it after it broke free, and found that it had reached half a step into the Void Absorption Realm.
• Nie Yun swallowed the pill and endured its powerful Soul Force until his soul reached the spirit-grade peak and could extend over ten million kilometers.
• Nie Yun discovered Soul Imprints left by Yun Xuan and Mi Hua and burned them away with his soul.
• Yun Xuan and Mi Hua sensed that their Soul Imprints had been erased and turned pale.

After narrowly escaping Mi Hua, Nie Yun used the Blazing Flame Fire Bamboo Shoot to cultivate the Spirit Rhinoceros Body Refining Technique. At Mishin Sect, Mi Hua reunited with his younger sister Mi Jing and warned her not to pursue Nie Yun because his master was too powerful to oppose.

• Nie Yun left the area before absorbing the Blazing Flame Fire Bamboo Shoot to advance the Spirit Rhinoceros Body Refining Technique without worsening the conflict between his two body-refining methods.
• Mi Hua returned to Mishin Hall, still shaken by his encounter with Nie Yun’s master and unsure whether the expert was Huayun Sect’s Elder Nan.
• Mi Lin told Mi Hua that Mi Jing had emerged from seclusion and was waiting for him.
• Mi Jing greeted Mi Hua, learned he had failed to capture Nie Yun, and eagerly asked about Nie Yun and his master.
• Mi Hua recounted Nie Yun’s abilities, realized that he might possess at least eight dantians, and warned Mi Jing not to provoke him because his master could overpower Mishin Sect.

Mi Hua explained how bloodline resonance let him track Nie Yun, then abruptly entered life-and-death seclusion after sensing something alarming. Mi Jing tricked Mi Lin and left the sect to find Nie Yun, while Nie Yun completed the fifth level of the Spirit Rhinoceros Body Refining Technique and manifested demon wings.

• Mi Hua told Mi Jing that his Soul Imprint in Nie Tong let him sense Nie Yun’s general direction through bloodline resonance and confirmed that the Tianji Sword was with Nie Yun.
• Mi Hua ordered Mi Lin to take Mi Jing to Phantom Rain Pavilion, then abruptly entered seclusion and barred anyone from contacting him.
• Mi Jing fooled Mi Lin by claiming she was going to the Library Pavilion, then slipped out of the sect to capture Nie Yun.
• Mi Hua’s sudden seclusion puzzled the Mishin Sect, but his established authority kept the news from causing unrest beyond the sect.
• After three days of cultivation with the Blazing Flame Fire Bamboo Shoot, Nie Yun reached major completion of the fifth level of the Spirit Rhinoceros Body Refining Technique, gained ten million elephant strength, and manifested demon wings.

Nie Yun strengthened his body and soul, gained control of Mi Honggang's corpse, and found the fourth hall of the Purple Splendor Cave Mansion empty. He returned secretly to the Sword God Sect, intending to study the Sword Dao before taking revenge, and approached the Sword Hall in disguise.

• Nie Yun's Spirit Rhinoceros Body Refining Technique grew demon wings, while his soul reached the peak of the Spirit Level and his Heart Sword state of mind greatly increased his combat power.
• Nie Yun took control of Mi Honggang's corpse but discovered that each use of its peak Void Absorption Realm strength consumed ten thousand Peerless Spirit Stones.
• Nie Yun opened the fourth hall of the Purple Splendor Cave Mansion with Autumn Wind's Chill, but found it completely empty.
• Nie Yun decided to return to the Sword God Sect and make Yun Xuan and the sect pay for their treatment of him and Thousand Illusions.
• Nie Yun entered the Sword God Sect underground, heard that Yun Xuan was in a bad mood, and chose to seek the Heaven Grade Zone of the Sword Hall instead of confronting her.
• Nie Yun avoided patrols, disguised himself, and approached the Sword Hall.

Disguised as Elder Ni Xu, Nie Yun infiltrated the Sword Hall and tried to sneak into the Heaven Grade Zone to sense its Sword Dao Qi. Yun Xuan’s arrival forced Gan Qing to block her, and her attack sent him flying toward Nie Yun’s hiding place.

• Nie Yun disguised himself as Elder Ni Xu and told Gan Qing that a Disguise Master had infiltrated the sect, turning the Enforcement Disciple into an unwitting lookout.
• Nie Yun used his Concealment Master talent to creep along the hall’s wall toward the Heaven Grade Zone entrance.
• Just as Nie Yun prepared to dash inside, Yun Xuan arrived at the Sword Hall.
• Remembering Nie Yun’s warning, Gan Qing asked Yun Xuan to show the Sect Master's Seal before entering the Heaven Grade Zone.
• Yun Xuan struck Gan Qing with a powerful force, sending him flying toward the wall where Nie Yun was hiding.

Nie Yun narrowly avoided being exposed when Yun Xuan investigated the wall, then discovered his Earth Walking Qi had changed and could let him pass through walls. He entered the Heaven Grade Zone and found Ying Long undergoing a trial before a statue he believed depicted the Sword God Sect’s founding ancestor.

• Gan Qing crashed into the wall where Nie Yun was concealed, and Yun Xuan noticed something strange and approached to inspect it.
• Nie Yun’s desperate wish to hide caused him to merge completely into the wall, and Yun Xuan found nothing unusual before entering the Heaven Grade Zone.
• Nie Yun discovered that his Earth Walker Master dantian had turned dark green and that his Earth Walking Qi now let him travel through walls as well as underground.
• Nie Yun passed into the Heaven Grade Zone and saw powerful Supreme Sword Arts engraved along the passage walls, though he could not learn their full techniques.
• Nie Yun recognized the Heaven-Piercing Sword Spirit Great Array concealing the passage and spotted Ying Long kneeling beneath a statue during a trial.