Chapter Summaries

Shi Chun stopped Yin Tianlu’s Sword Rain with the Immobility Substance from his gourds, then called Xu Anchang and You Mu to help when the attack resumed. As the two fought their way to him, Xu Anchang used a black banner to swallow Zuo Zisheng’s Sudden Slash, which Zuo recognized as Sky-Shrouding Island’s Boundless Banner.

• Shi Chun raised the Immobility Substance and smashed another gourd, stopping most of Yin Tianlu’s Sword Rain in midair.
• Shi Chun stepped onto the immobilized swords, but Yin Tianlu sent the remaining swords back to attack.
• Shi Chun called out Xu Anchang and You Mu, who joined him and used You Mu’s Six-Path Golden Wheel to kill the Heavenforging Sect disciples pursuing them.
• Zuo Zisheng attacked Xu Anchang and You Mu with the Sudden Slash, which shrank past the Six-Path Golden Wheel before growing to strike them.
• Xu Anchang met the Sudden Slash with his black banner, swallowing the treasure, and Zuo Zisheng identified it as Sky-Shrouding Island’s Boundless Banner.

Shi Chun immobilized Yin Tianlu’s Sword Rain, while Xu Anchang used the Boundless Banner to swallow Yin Tianlu’s Great Umbrella. As Li Hongjiu warned that trouble was coming, Shi Chun found himself trapped inside the frozen sword formation and asked Xu Anchang to open a way out.

• Zuo Zisheng recognized Xu Anchang’s banner as Sky-Shrouding Island’s Boundless Banner after it swallowed his Sudden Slash, frightening the Heavenforging Sect disciples.
• Shi Chun charged into Yin Tianlu’s Sword Rain and immobilized the fifth-grade Magical Treasure from every direction.
• Xu Anchang and You Mu attacked Yin Tianlu’s Great Umbrella, and Xu used the Boundless Banner to swallow it and sever Yin Tianlu’s control.
• Li Hongjiu assured Zuo Zisheng that the group would not escape, while Guang Haoyou vouched for his Martial Uncle’s abilities.
• Shi Chun realized the immobilized Sword Rain had trapped him, and Xu Anchang agreed to use the Boundless Banner to open a gap in the formation.

Shi Chun seized the flying-sword treasures with the Boundless Banner as a monstrous army converged on the gathered sects. Li Hongjiu unleashed his power over the Wind Nest and stopped Shi Chun's attempt to escape by striking the Black Lotus Avatar with repeated thunderbolts.

• Shi Chun ordered Xu Anchang to collect the immobilized flying swords and bowl-shaped Sword Formation with the Boundless Banner, despite Xu Anchang's concern that the sects would retaliate.
• Yin Tianlu protested as Shi Chun's group took the treasures, while Gu Liani and Yuan Yao realized how powerful Shi Chun's hidden support was; Wu Shanshan watched from hiding, grieving over her severed arm.
• Gong Shixi noticed strange lights spreading across the horizon, and glowing monsters of many shapes began swarming toward the sects from every direction.
• As the sects tried to flee the encroaching monsters, Li Hongjiu's command made the Wind Nest's pillars of wind turn violent and prevented Shi Chun and the others from escaping with the Wind Scales.
• Shi Chun launched the Black Lotus Avatar with Xu Anchang and You Mu aboard, but Li Hongjiu commanded it to be struck, and a rapid series of thunderbolts battered the avatar in midair.

Li Hongjiu summoned a vast storm of lightning that destroyed the monsters and ruined the sects’ magical treasures, while Shi Chun endured repeated strikes unharmed. As Shi Chun tried to flee, Li Hongjiu decided to confront him personally.

• Li Hongjiu’s lightning blasted Shi Chun, You Mu, and Xu Anchang from the sky, but Shi Chun survived with little harm.
• The sects fought waves of strange fire monsters while Shi Chun studied the lightning and You Mu and Xu Anchang guarded him.
• Li Hongjiu filled the sky with lightning, slaughtered the monsters, and destroyed the magical treasures held by people across the sects.
• Li Hongjiu struck Shi Chun with more thunderbolts, which stirred his magical essence without harming him.
• Shi Chun tried to flee with You Mu and Xu Anchang, but Li Hongjiu said he would confront Shi Chun himself.

Li Hongjiu cornered Shi Chun in the raging wind and attacked him with a sword propelled by the gale, while Shi Chun dodged and countered with the Immortal-Strangling Sash. When Li Hongjiu kept pursuing him, Shi Chun rose into the air and secretly prepared a trap, leaving their fight unresolved.

• Guang Haoyou and the Treasure-Evolving Sect disciples followed their Martial Uncle as he pursued Shi Chun and his companions through the wind.
• Li Hongjiu blocked Shi Chun, Xu Anchang, and You Mu and demanded that Shi Chun remove his mask.
• Li Hongjiu rode the wind and launched his sword at the three; Xu Anchang and You Mu were knocked down, while Shi Chun dodged the attacks.
• Shi Chun hurled the Immortal-Strangling Sash at Li Hongjiu, but Li Hongjiu evaded it and continued bombarding Shi Chun with his sword.
• Shi Chun realized the wind and flying debris would eventually overwhelm him, activated the Cloud-Treading Boots to rise into the air, and secretly readied Immobility Substance as Li Hongjiu attacked again.

Shi Chun and Li Hongjiu battled inside the tornado, each countering the other's tricks until Shi Chun used the Three Corpses Mirror to engulf Li Hongjiu in darkness. Li Hongjiu broke through the darkness with a colossal lightning sword and sent it crashing toward Shi Chun.

• Li Hongjiu pursued Shi Chun through the tornado and dodged Shi Chun's Immobility Substance and Immortal-Strangling Sash.
• Shi Chun pretended to panic, then used Li Hongjiu's weaponless moment and restricted movement in the wind to ambush him with his saber, tearing his sleeve.
• Li Hongjiu drew clouds into the tornado to obscure the fight, but Shi Chun continued to track and attack him through the mist.
• Shi Chun took out the Three Corpses Mirror and aimed its dark light at Li Hongjiu, plunging him into darkness.
• Li Hongjiu summoned lightning into a giant sword, illuminated the darkness, and unleashed the strike toward Shi Chun.

Li Hongjiu’s Thunder Sword struck Shi Chun but passed through him, triggering the refinement of all the demonic essence stored in his body and revealing a Chaos Azure Lotus manifestation. With his cultivation at the peak of advanced martial upper attainment and lightning unable to harm him, Shi Chun charged Li Hongjiu again, and Li Hongjiu met him in a direct sword fight.

• Li Hongjiu summoned a Thunder Sword and struck Shi Chun as Shi Chun charged upward with his saber.
• The Thunder Sword passed through Shi Chun without injuring him, while a hazy vision of chaos and an azure lotus emerged from his body.
• The strike refined all the demonic essence Shi Chun had absorbed from Xia Fuli, raising his cultivation to the peak of advanced martial upper attainment.
• Shi Chun realized the lightning could not harm him and leaped at Li Hongjiu with his saber.
• Li Hongjiu put aside his surprise and plunged downward to fight Shi Chun directly.

Li Hongjiu and Shi Chun fought at close quarters, and Shi Chun fled after mistaking Li Hongjiu’s counterattack for proof that he knew the same demonic arts. Li Hongjiu stopped his disciples from pursuing, then revealed he had been badly injured and examined a nearby Bare Stone Pedestal.

• Li Hongjiu clashed with Shi Chun, whose Demon-Undoing Hand struck him despite Li Hongjiu’s superior cultivation.
• Shi Chun pursued Li Hongjiu, but their next exchange left Shi Chun staggered and convinced Li Hongjiu knew the Demon-Bathing Art and Demon-Undoing Hand.
• Shi Chun fled, while Xu and You followed him and Li Hongjiu strengthened the winds in his path.
• Li Hongjiu barred the Treasure-Evolving Sect disciples from pursuing Shi Chun, then spat out blood after pressing his palm against a Bare Stone Pedestal.
• Li Hongjiu cut the pedestal with his sword and used a bead of Sandalwood Gold Illumination to inspect its smooth surface.

Li Hongjiu survived the Masked Man’s strange palm strikes and realized they had shown him how to overcome the flaw in his Borrowed Realm, though he still needed to develop the insight into a method. He identified the Masked Man as Shi Chun and faced the arrival of shaken sect members, including Wu Shanshan.

• Li Hongjiu examined the cracked stone and recalled how Shi Chun’s multiplying palm force had injured him before he expelled most of it and bluffed the Masked Man into fleeing.
• Li Hongjiu demonstrated to Guang Haoyou how crushing a stone into dust changed the impact, then realized this principle could help him overcome Borrowed Realm’s limits against powerful attacks.
• Li Hongjiu told his disciples that the Masked Man was likely Shi Chun and said they would beat him until he revealed the secret art for finding divine fire.
• Groups from the various sects approached, including the one-armed Wu Shanshan, and Zuo Zisheng asked Li Hongjiu what had caused the lightning.

Li Hongjiu and the other sect leaders searched for Shi Chun, while Shi Chun realized he might have been tricked into fleeing and regrouped with Tong Mingshan’s party. He then told Zhen'er they would go ask for her hand, leaving their approach to the Earthheart Tower unresolved.

• Li Hongjiu claimed a monster had attacked him, and the sect leaders decided to track down Shi Chun with Wu Shanshan’s help.
• Shi Chun realized Li Hongjiu might have bluffed him and regretted letting Wu Shanshan escape, then led You Mu and Xu Anchang to find Tong Mingshan’s group.
• Shi Chun reunited with Wu Jinliang, Tong Mingshan, and Zhen'er, while Xu Anchang and You Mu kept the details of the encounter to themselves.
• Shi Chun asked Zhen'er whether First Lord and the others would attack if they approached the Earthheart Tower, then agreed to go ask for her hand.

Shi Chun led his party toward the Forbidden Ground’s central region while the sects pursued them and argued over the Secret Art for finding Divine Fire. He sent Zhen'er to propose marriage at the Earthheart Tower, hoping to use its ancient guardians against their pursuers, then planned to escape the Forbidden Ground.

• Gu Liani asked Yuan Yao whether they could still obtain Shi Chun’s Secret Art, and Yuan Yao advised leaving the matter to the sect and Elder Jin.
• Yin Tianlu secretly watched Summer Path Mountain, hoping to verify Shi Chun’s claim about the Secret Art and redeem the Extreme Fire Sect’s failures.
• Gong Shixi warned Zhou Wudao and Xun Lishan that the Bright Mountain Sect’s key figures must die and told them to maintain contact with their informant in the Heavenforging Sect.
• Wu Shanshan and the pursuing sects followed Shi Chun toward the Forbidden Ground’s central region, while more than a dozen minor sects withdrew.
• Shi Chun sent Zhen'er toward the Earthheart Tower to propose marriage and explained to Wu Jinliang that he hoped to use its guardians to eliminate their pursuers.
• Shi Chun told Wu Jinliang they would escape the Forbidden Ground afterward, while leaving Xu Anchang and You Mu behind as representatives if needed.

Shi Chun took Xu Anchang and You Mu’s damaged treasures after hearing how he had fought Li Hongjiu, while Zhen'er visited the Ninth Lord beneath the frozen lake to ask about the First Lord. The story left Zhen'er descending through the lake’s levels as its hidden inhabitants questioned her about the man seeking her hand.

• Xu Anchang and You Mu showed Shi Chun their damaged treasures, and Shi Chun took the Boundless Banner and Six-Path Golden Wheel for himself.
• Xu Anchang and You Mu recounted Shi Chun’s fight with Li Hongjiu, and the Bright Mountain Sect learned how powerful Shi Chun had become.
• Zhen'er landed on the island in the frozen lake and asked the Ninth Lord to let her see the First Lord because someone had come to ask for her hand.
• The Ninth Lord questioned whether Zhen'er's suitor was trustworthy, then let her descend into the lake after a voice from below called for her.
• Voices from the lower levels asked Zhen'er whether the man was young and handsome, and she praised his looks.

Zhen'er visited First Lord at the bottom of the Abyss to ask permission to marry Shi Chun, explaining that he was the Chief of Bright Mountain Sect and that other sects were hunting him. First Lord agreed to receive Shi Chun’s proposal, while the unseen First Lords remained wary of his strength and intentions.

• Zhen'er reached the bottom of the Abyss and told First Lord that she wanted to marry Shi Chun, who was willing to stay with her.
• The First Lords were astonished that Shi Chun practiced no fire-attribute technique and belonged to the small Bright Mountain Sect.
• Zhen'er explained that Shi Chun was the sect’s Chief, ranked above Sect Master Tong Mingshan, and that he would protect her from his disciples.
• Zhen'er told First Lord that rival sects were pursuing Shi Chun because they wanted his method for finding divine fire, then recounted what she knew about him.
• First Lord agreed that Shi Chun could come ask for Zhen'er's hand, and the unseen First Lords decided to wait and judge him when he arrived.

Shi Chun persuaded Zhen'er to return to the Earthheart Tower while he staged preparations for a marriage proposal, intending to avoid the pursuers and the tower’s guardians. As the pursuing sects reached the Strange Mountains, the First Lord wondered whether helping them would cost him Shi Chun’s aid in breaking the formation.

• Shi Chun reunited with Zhen'er, learned that the First Lord had agreed to meet him, and led her toward the Earthheart Tower.
• Near the Frozen Lake, Shi Chun convinced Zhen'er to wait in the tower while he prepared proposal gifts, and she assured him the Ninth Lord would kill any troublemakers.
• Shi Chun told Wu Jinliang to make a noisy, showy gift, and Wu Jinliang proposed carving a stone statue of the couple.
• Zuo Zisheng ordered Gong Shixi's Thousand Rocks Sect to lead the pursuit through the dangerous mountains, with the other sects agreeing.
• After Zhen'er left, the First Lord and an unseen speaker debated whether to help if the pursuers attacked, since helping might drive Shi Chun away from breaking the formation.

Shi Chun lured the factions pursuing his group toward the Forbidden Ground, where its hosts had agreed to let his party move freely. When Gong Shixi’s Thousand Rocks Sect arrived with news that Wu Shanshan was guiding the pursuers, Shi Chun accused him of working against them and demanded he capture Wu Shanshan before Shi Chun would leave.

• The tower’s old monsters decided that the greater undertaking came first and told Ninth to watch Zhen'er.
• Shi Chun’s group waited by Frozen Lake while Wu Jinliang loudly carved a stone, and Shi Chun spotted pursuers approaching.
• Shi Chun told Xu Anchang and the others that the Forbidden Ground’s hosts had agreed to let them move freely while their pursuers would be in danger there.
• Gong Shixi and the Thousand Rocks Sect arrived, explaining that Wu Shanshan was guiding their group and the main force was following behind.
• Shi Chun accused Gong Shixi of helping orchestrate the pursuit and demanded that he capture Wu Shanshan, refusing to leave without her.

Shi Chun coerced Gong Shixi into capturing Wu Shanshan, then took custody of her when the Thousand Rocks Sect delivered her to Frozen Lake. Wu Shanshan awoke in Shi Chun’s hands after his men crippled her joints to keep her under control.

• Shi Chun threatened to stay and die alongside Gong Shixi unless Gong Shixi brought Wu Shanshan to him, and Gong Shixi reluctantly agreed to act.
• Gong Shixi’s group returned to Wu Shanshan’s hiding place, ambushed her and the Four Great Sects’ guards, and carried the unconscious Wu Shanshan back to Frozen Lake.
• Gong Shixi handed Wu Shanshan over to Shi Chun and hurried away with his people, while Shi Chun ordered Xu and You to guard her.
• Shi Chun told Xu and You to keep Wu Shanshan alive but prevent her from speaking or escaping, so they dislocated her jaw and crushed her knee and shoulder joints.
• The pain woke Wu Shanshan from unconsciousness.

Shi Chun exposed Wu Shanshan, had her taken away for questioning, and considered the mysterious carved rock while Zhen'er waited for him by the Frozen Lake. Meanwhile, Li Hongjiu insisted that Gong Shixi lead him to Shi Chun, prompting the other sects to follow as Gong Shixi secretly planned to kill him.

• Shi Chun confronted the injured Wu Shanshan about breaking their agreement, then ordered Wu Jinliang to question her with Xu and You.
• Shi Chun examined Wu Jinliang's carved rock while Zhen'er waited impatiently with Young Man on the island in the Frozen Lake.
• Gong Shixi told the gathered sects that Wu Shanshan had vanished and that mutilated corpses had been found, letting them suspect the area's dangers rather than Shi Chun's group.
• Li Hongjiu decided to visit Shi Chun's lakeshore camp and ordered Gong Shixi to lead the way, despite his disciples' objections.
• Gong Shixi agreed and secretly resolved to kill Li Hongjiu, while Zuo Zisheng and leaders from the other sects sent their groups after them.
• Li Hongjiu told the Treasure-Evolving Sect's disciples to stay behind as the other sects followed Gong Shixi toward the Frozen Lake.

Gong Shixi led the sects to the site where Wu Shanshan had vanished, where they found remains that showed the group accompanying her had been swiftly killed. Meanwhile, Shi Chun’s group tortured Wu Shanshan for information, kept her alive, and prepared an impressive array of magical treasures as the other sects arrived and recognized one of their stolen treasures.

• Gong Shixi and the other sects found the remains of Wu Shanshan’s companions and followed his lead onward.
• Shi Chun’s group brought the badly tortured Wu Shanshan back, and Xu Anchang explained that she had bitten through her tongue rather than reveal anything.
• Shi Chun ordered his companions to keep Wu Shanshan alive and secure, then warned them that the approaching sects had arrived.
• Wu Jinliang and Shi Chun deployed their magical treasures to guard the Bright Mountain Sect members as the surrounding groups descended and encircled them.
• Yin Tianlu’s group recognized their stolen Three-in-One treasure, while Gong Shixi spotted Wu Shanshan beside Shi Chun and reacted with disbelief.

Shi Chun confronted Li Hongjiu and the sects while holding Wu Shanshan, and used Gong Shixi's involvement and the damaged magical treasures to sow suspicion among their enemies. The standoff ended with Shi Chun stopping Wu Jinliang just before he named Li Hongjiu as the source of the heavenly lightning.

• Gong Shixi and the Thousand Rocks Sect found Shi Chun's group still waiting, while Shi Chun focused on Li Hongjiu, who had returned unharmed.
• Li Hongjiu accused Shi Chun of killing Treasure-Evolving Sect disciples, but Shi Chun denied it and said Wu Shanshan had been given to him.
• Shi Chun refused to identify who handed Wu Shanshan over, prompting Li Hongjiu and the other sects to suspect Gong Shixi's group and keep them under watch.
• Zuo Zisheng challenged Shi Chun to oppose all the sects, and Shi Chun asked Wu Jinliang whether he believed they were truly united.
• Wu Jinliang hinted that someone among the sects had destroyed their magical treasures with lightning, and Shi Chun stopped him before he named Li Hongjiu.

Li Hongjiu refused Shi Chun’s demand for justice and charged the Bright Mountain Sect’s magical treasures, revealing strength enough to repel the Black Lotus Avatar’s strike. As Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang sent more treasures and avatars against him, the battle escalated.

• Li Hongjiu threatened Shi Chun over the deaths of his sect’s disciples, while Shi Chun and Wu Jinliang refused to reveal anything and prepared to fight.
• Li Hongjiu drew two swords and charged toward the Bright Mountain Sect’s magical treasures, leaving the gathered sects stunned.
• The Black Lotus Avatar struck with its great sword, but Li Hongjiu entered its shock wave, blocked the attack, and knocked the blade aside.
• Shi Chun realized Li Hongjiu had concealed his strength during their earlier fight and ordered his group to attack with their magical treasures.
• Wu Jinliang sent three avatars’ weapons at Li Hongjiu as the Three Corpses Mirror and Immortal-Strangling Sash also attacked him.