Chapter Summaries

Ji Xiu arrived at the Heavenly Saber Sect’s Ancestral Hall as Dao Hall Street’s masters pressed Chen He over the Heavenly Saber Plaque. He accepted the challenge to lead the Heavenly Saber Martial Hall, but Li Lin arrived with an arrest warrant before the challenge could begin, only for Gu Baichuan to intervene.

• Ji Xiu faced the gathered masters, and Chang Pan Shi recognized him as the youth who had defeated his disciple Li Jing in Anning County.
• Chen He declared that Duan Chenzhou had left the Heavenly Saber Sect and that the plaque no longer belonged to the sect, while the master of Fist Mountain Martial Hall offered Ji Xiu a place in his school.
• Ji Xiu refused the offer and announced that he would sit in command of the Heavenly Saber Martial Hall, accepting every Visiting Card from challengers below the Strength Threshold.
• Li Lin arrived with Northern Garrison Envoys and ordered Ji Xiu arrested on suspicion of colluding with a Guardian General of the Central Yellow Sect.
• Gu Baichuan arrived on a giant eagle, challenged Li Lin to prove the charge, and greeted Ji Xiu as his former archery student and friend.

After Gu Baichuan stripped Li Lin of his post for pursuing Ji Xiu without evidence, Zhao Jiu and other witnesses defended Ji Xiu’s record and ties. Ji Xiu then chose to leave for the Heavenly Saber Martial Hall, and Chen He entrusted him with the ancestral spirit saber Long Day.

• Gu Baichuan rebuked Li Lin for acting without investigating the allegations against Ji Xiu and demoted him from Hundred Household Officer to Banner Officer.
• Zhao Jiu burst into the courtyard and cited Ji Xiu’s achievements in Anning County, while Cai Ling'er and Ye Ningzhi offered to testify for him.
• Li Lin recognized the witnesses’ powerful connections and fell silent as Gu Baichuan ordered the Cavalry Inspectors to take him away.
• Ji Xiu told Chen He that he would go despite the debts hanging over him, and Chen He agreed that Ji Xiu had proven his own path.
• Chen He entered the Ancestral Hall and presented Ji Xiu with Long Day, the spirit saber once wielded by Wang Xuanyang.

Lu Yu and the other youths from Anning County arrived at Jiangyin Prefecture and learned that Ji Xiu had reclaimed the foremost place on Dao Hall Street. As sixty-three Great Masters gathered to confront him, Xiao Mingli heard that he had settled his troubles without borrowing her influence and set out to see him herself.

• Feng Zhengming brought Lu Yu, Lu Hongyu, Wei Zhi, and Xu Heng to Wind and Cloud Martial Hall and explained the hierarchy of Jiangyin's martial halls.
• The newcomers learned that Duan Chenzhou had recently become a Great Master, defeated the rival hall masters, and claimed the leading place for Heavenly Saber Martial Hall.
• Feng Hao and the other Great Masters assembled on Dao Hall Street as Ji Xiu approached alone, carrying his saber and a martial hall plaque.
• Lu Hongyu and the others recognized Ji Xiu as he reached the foremost place on Dao Hall Street beneath the gathered Great Masters' pressure.
• Shi Popo told Xiao Mingli that Ji Xiu had settled his troubles without using the Marquis Residence's influence, and Xiao Mingli decided to go see him.

Ji Xiu faced the pressure of Jiangyin Prefecture’s sixty-three Great Dao Halls as he sought to inherit Duan Chenzhou’s mantle and claim the seat of Heavenly Number One. By turning the experts’ hostile gazes into a trial, he awakened Divine Soul Thought and reached the Great Dao Hall, where challengers immediately stepped forward.

• Feng Hao warned Ji Xiu that the hall masters and their inheritors would oppose his claim, while Ji Xiu greeted Lu Hongyu, Wei Zhi, and other old acquaintances.
• Ji Xiu continued down Dao Hall Street under the combined Martial Dao Will of the experts until the pressure nearly overwhelmed him.
• Rather than retreat, Ji Xiu sat cross-legged and used the experts’ gazes to establish his Dao Foundation and cultivate Divine Soul Thought.
• Ji Xiu rose with his divine soul solidified, resisted the experts’ pressure, and strode past the remaining halls toward the Heavenly Number One Great Dao Hall.
• Ji Xiu asked whether he had proved himself worthy of inheriting his master’s mantle, and fighters from the Daoist Temples rushed forward to challenge him under the hall’s rules.

Ji Xiu defeated Du Yan of Water Fire Hall with the Great Five Decays Sky Saber and challenged the Purple Haze Hall over its old injuries to the Heavenly Saber line. When the Purple Haze Hall master tried to intervene after his inheritor screamed, a powerful young woman arrived and invoked the rules of the life-and-death pact to stop him.

• The Ordination Master advanced to the Divine Soul Thought realm as Ji Xiu stood beneath the Heavenly Saber Martial Hall plaque and faced the assembled halls.
• Du Yan challenged Ji Xiu with the Bronze Gold Earth Fire Hammer, but Ji Xiu matched his strike and burned away his immortal garment with the Great Five Decays Sky Saber.
• Ji Xiu declared Du Yan defeated and challenged the other halls, while Zhou Baima identified the saber art and warned that it could burn away a martial foundation.
• Ji Xiu called out the Purple Haze Hall over its vendetta against Duan Chenzhou's line and challenged the inheritor who had broken Yu Zhai's legs.
• The Purple Haze Hall master leapt out to threaten Ji Xiu, but a young woman arrived in a wheelchair and said the inheritor had accepted a life-and-death pact and the master must not bully the young.

Ji Xiu defeated the Purple Haze Hall's True Inheritance, but Hall Master Zhou Changming was stopped from retaliating when Xiao Mingli intervened and reminded him of her authority. Grateful for Ji Xiu's gifts, Xiao offered him access to the Northern Cang Marquis Residence's Treasure Pavilion and a place to stay, while Ji Xiu resolved to repay her by finding a way to help her legs.

• Ji Xiu used Tribulation Fire Burning Clothes to break the Purple Haze Hall inheritor's immortal garment and severely injure his foundation.
• Zhou Changming moved to confront Ji Xiu, but Xiao Mingli arrived and warned him that she could take his life; Zhou apologized and backed down.
• Xiao Mingli offered Ji Xiu access to the Marquis Residence's Treasure Pavilion in return for the Jade Marrow Cold Lotus and Mystic Scale Dragon Carp.
• Ji Xiu accepted Xiao Mingli's offer and promised to seek spirit objects or spirit fish that might restore her body.
• Xiao Mingli invited Ji Xiu to stay at the Northern Cang Marquis Residence, and he agreed, deciding he would try to help her legs in return.

After Ji Xiu’s clash on Dao Hall Street, local halls and trades turned to the Black Market to plot against him, while Jiang Li discovered the bounty and recognized one of its hunters as Duan Chenzhou. Ji Xiu arrived with Xiao Mingli and Shi Popo at the Northern Cang Marquis Residence, where the chapter left him facing its gates.

• Feng Hao learned Feng Zhengming had offended Ji Xiu, then made Lu Yu, Lu Hongyu, Wei Zhi, and Xu Heng his personal disciples and told them to bring Ji Xiu gifts.
• Zhou Changming raged over his disciples’ defeats and proposed using the Black Market to target Ji Xiu, while Huang Ai put on a mask and left to pursue business in secret.
• Three Heavenly Kings urged Chen Jing to seek help from the Huantian Bandits, but Chen Jing warned that acting in Jiangyin Prefecture could bring trouble from Luo Daocheng.
• At the Jiangyin Black Market, Jiang Li found a bounty on Ji Xiu posted by Chen Jing, Huang Ai, Zhou Changming, and others, and saw that Duan Chenzhou had accepted it.
• Jiang Li declined to interfere with the bounty and asked the Black Market Master to tell her what had happened over the years.
• Ji Xiu followed Xiao Mingli and Shi Popo to the Northern Cang Marquis Residence and looked up at its imposing gates.

Ji Xiu entered the Northern Cang Marquis Residence and learned from Li Xuanyi why Xiao Mingli’s legs could not be healed. Xiao Mingli gave him a Nirvana Flower, which he refined in the Cold Jade Spirit Pool, completing the Cloud Net Scroll.

• Li Xuanyi led Ji Xiu to a tower near the core of the Marquis Residence’s Blessed Land and explained how spiritual sites accelerated cultivation.
• Li Xuanyi told Ji Xiu that Xiao Mingli had once been a prodigy but was crippled by an ancient lineage’s spell, and that healing her required a Pill Dao National Expert and rare Heavenly Materials.
• Li Xuanyi revealed that Xiao Mingli had taken a Nirvana Flower from her private treasury to help Ji Xiu advance his aura cultivation.
• Xiao Mingli offered Ji Xiu the Cold Jade Spirit Pool as a place to refine the flower, and he swallowed it whole despite its fierce fire nature.
• Ji Xiu refined the Nirvana Flower, astonishing Xiao Mingli, and completed the Cloud Net Scroll at 1000/1000.

After Ji Xiu absorbed the Nirvana Flower, Xiao Mingli encouraged his ambition to become a Prefecture Official and gave him access to the Northern Cang Marquis Residence’s Scripture Depository. The chapter ended with news that a legitimate daughter of the Xie Family had arrived to see Xiao Mingli, who agreed to meet her despite suspecting she intended to humiliate her.

• Ji Xiu absorbed the Nirvana Flower’s medicinal properties and completed his astral art, impressing Xiao Mingli.
• Ji Xiu told Xiao Mingli he planned to take the Prefecture Official examination, and she urged him to catch spirit fish for her Cold Jade Spirit Pool.
• Xiao Mingli shared what she knew about other Dao Talismans, including one held by the old Martial Saint of Dragon Elephant True Sect, and warned Ji Xiu against seeking it.
• Xiao Mingli gave Ji Xiu the key to the Northern Cang Marquis Residence Scripture Depository and explained its martial treasury, spellbooks, and Divine Soul Martial Domain.
• Li Xuanyi told Xiao Mingli that Ji Xiu reminded her of herself when she was young.
• Shi Popo reported that a legitimate daughter of the Xie Family had come to Jiangyin Prefecture to see Xiao Mingli, and Xiao Mingli agreed to meet her.

Ji Xiu entered the Northern Cang Marquis Residence’s Scripture Depository and discovered the Dao-Method-level Divine Talisman Fire, whose demanding conditions matched his abilities. As assassins watched the residence and a bounty hunter plotted to strike him, Ji Xiu began advancing the method.

• Zhao Jiu and Cai Ling'er set out for the Northern Cang Marquis Residence to tell Ji Xiu that his wanted notice had been revoked and he had received a Prefecture Academy quota.
• Li Changsu revealed himself as the Heavenly Dipper bounty hunter Heavenly Darkness Star and planned to have lower-ranked hunters test Ji Xiu before joining Heavenly Sword and Heavenly Killing to kill him.
• Duan Chenzhou watched the Marquis Residence from afar and vowed to attack the other bounty hunters rather than let their rules restrain him.
• Ji Xiu entered the Scripture Depository with Xiao Mingli's token, studied the ranks of Dao arts and techniques, and found the incomplete Dao Method Divine Talisman Fire.
• Ji Xiu judged that his body could meet the method's cultivation requirements and used his Primordial Dao Talisman to advance it, igniting Golden Core fire within the Scripture Depository.

Ji Xiu cultivated Divine Talisman Fire and repeatedly faced Xiao Mingli’s peak spear intent in the Scripture Depository, completing the first decay of the Great Five Decays Sky Saber. When he emerged, he found the second decay available for prepayment and learned that his younger sister Ji Wei had arrived in the prefecture.

• Ji Xiu cultivated entry-level Divine Talisman Fire and discovered that he could wield its true fire through a thought.
• Ji Xiu entered the Divine Soul Martial Domain, where Xiao Mingli’s spear intent clashed with his saber intent and greatly advanced his Great Five Decays Sky Saber.
• Ji Xiu remained secluded in the Scripture Depository for over half a month, while Zhao Jiu and Cai Ling'er’s visiting requests went unanswered.
• Ji Xiu withstood a trace of Xiao Mingli’s Martial Saint peerless art and completed Tribulation Fire Burning Clothes, which could wound even Three Limits martial artists and Qi Sea masters.
• Ji Xiu saw that the second decay, Jeweled Crown Drooping, was available for prepayment when he emerged and touched Long Day.
• Li Xuanyi told Ji Xiu that Ji Wei had arrived in the prefecture and was staying at Flying Immortal Temple, then asked whether he wanted her brought to the Marquis Manor.

Ji Xiu declined Xiao Mingli’s offer to bring Ji Wei to the Northern Cang Marquis Residence, then left to visit his sister at Flying Immortal Temple. Outside, three Heavenly Dipper blade catchers plotted to kill him, but Duan Chenzhou turned his saber on Li Changsu.

• Ji Xiu explained that a wandering Divine Soul had taken Ji Wei as a disciple and that Fan Nansong was her Dao protector, so he wanted her to continue her cultivation at Flying Immortal Temple.
• Xiao Mingli suggested Ji Wei could introduce Ji Xiu to her True Person master, but Ji Xiu refused to take another master and said he needed to settle his obligations first.
• Ji Xiu left the Northern Cang Marquis Residence to visit Ji Wei and catch spirit fish for Xiao Mingli, while hidden Earthly Fiend blade catchers alerted the bounty hunters.
• Heavenly Sword Star, Heavenly Darkness Star Li Changsu, and Heavenly Killing Star agreed that Heavenly Sword Star would lure Fan Nansong away while Heavenly Killing Star killed Ji Xiu.
• Heavenly Sword Star entered Flying Immortal Temple, and Duan Chenzhou removed his mask and drew his saber behind Li Changsu, declaring that he had come to collect him.

Ji Xiu reunited with Ji Wei at Flying Immortal Temple, where he also reclaimed the Azure Horn Spirit Deer he had raised. After Heavenly Sword Star attacked him, Duan Chenzhou killed the hired assassins and revealed himself to be Ji Xiu’s supposedly dead master.

• Ji Xiu found the Azure Horn Spirit Deer being treated as Flying Immortal Temple’s guardian spirit beast, and it ran to him when it recognized him.
• Qin Yu welcomed Ji Xiu and explained that Ji Wei had hurried to Jiangyin Prefecture because she was worried about him and needed to learn a true method.
• Heavenly Sword Star attacked Ji Xiu at the temple, but Fan Nansong drove him outside with a barrage of talismans.
• Duan Chenzhou appeared carrying Heavenly Darkness Star’s severed head and killed Heavenly Sword Star with a single saber strike.
• Ji Xiu reunited with Ji Wei and then recognized Duan Chenzhou, staring at his supposedly dead master in disbelief.

Ji Xiu reunited with Duan Chenzhou, learned that the Jiangyin Black Market had placed a huge bounty on his head, and asked for the final Ascended Immortal Garment scroll after revealing his perfected true force and Divine Soul Thought. At the Black Market, Jiang Li withdrew the bounty after two assassins died and prepared to leave, while Ji Xiu’s claim that he had comprehended a Dao law stunned Fan Nansong.

• Ji Xiu recognized Duan Chenzhou, who explained that the Heavenly Sword Star and Heavenly Darkness Star had been black-market assassins sent after Ji Xiu, whose bounty rivaled that of a Sect Master.
• Duan Chenzhou reassured Ji Xiu that he would protect him, but Ji Xiu resolved to become strong enough to face Qi Refining Experts himself.
• Ji Xiu revealed that he had perfected Supreme Pure true force and possessed Divine Soul Thought, shocking Duan Chenzhou, Fan Nansong, Ji Wei, and the Azure Horn Spirit Deer.
• Duan Chenzhou gave Ji Xiu the Rainbow Skirt Scroll, the final volume of the Ascended Immortal Garment, and Ji Xiu asked Fan Nansong about Dao Law Seeds.
• Ji Xiu told Fan Nansong that he had comprehended a Dao law-grade Immortal Art, leaving Fan Nansong stunned.
• Jiang Li learned that the two assassins had died, withdrew Ji Xiu’s bounty, ordered the families behind it to pay the full amount, and left for the Northern Cang Marquis Residence.

Ji Xiu learned that his Dao Law could complicate his chances of joining Ji Wei’s sect, but discovered that Jiangyin Prefecture Academy had cultivation rooms that could help him advance it. He left Flying Immortal Temple for the safer Northern Cang Marquis Residence, while Ji Wei watched him go and wondered about his romantic prospects.

• Fan Nansong recognized the power of Ji Xiu’s Divine Talisman Fire and explained that learning a Dao Law before taking a master could hinder his admission to the Ten Thousand Methods Sect.
• Ji Wei asked Fan Nansong whether Ji Xiu could join her sect, but Duan Chenzhou urged her not to bind her brother to her path and said the martial way had its own inheritance.
• Ji Xiu thanked Fan Nansong and asked where he could cultivate his Dao Law; Fan Nansong said Jiangyin Prefecture Academy had Divine Soul cultivation rooms that a top Prefecture Student could access.
• Ji Xiu decided to seek first place in the academy’s Five Threshold assessments and return to the Northern Cang Marquis Residence, where he could cultivate more safely.
• Ji Xiu declined Ji Wei’s invitation to stay with her, promising to expand his business into Jiangyin once he had secured his position.
• Ji Wei watched Ji Xiu leave with the Azure Horn Spirit Deer and wondered when he would bring home a sister-in-law.

Ji Xiu and Duan Chenzhou went to Eastern Suburb Wharf so Ji Xiu could use his Searching Mountains and Expelling Seas Dao Talisman to catch spirit fish for Xiao Mingli. Duan Chenzhou introduced him to his old friend Qi Zhao and wagered that Ji Xiu would catch a spirit fish, offering Qi Zhao the chance to join Ji Xiu’s future enterprise if he succeeded.

• Duan Chenzhou explained that he had no fixed home and could no longer support Ji Xiu’s cultivation, while Ji Xiu recounted how Xiao Mingli had supplied him with valuable resources.
• Duan Chenzhou insisted that Ji Xiu should repay Xiao Mingli’s kindness by going to sea with him, despite the dangers posed by the black market and its hunters.
• Duan Chenzhou led Ji Xiu to Eastern Suburb Wharf and revealed that its boss, Qi Zhao, had helped fake Duan Chenzhou’s death and conceal his escape.
• Qi Zhao explained how he and Duan Chenzhou had become friends through their shared history and Wang Xuanyang’s rescue of Qi Zhao’s family.
• Duan Chenzhou declared that Ji Xiu would catch a spirit fish that night and wagered that Qi Zhao would be the first to join Ji Xiu’s future major business if he did.

Ji Xiu plunged into the Eastern Cang Sea and returned with a Fifth-Grade Glass Trout, proving his mastery of the water and advancing the Searching Mountains and Expelling Seas Dao Talisman to great completion. Back at the Northern Cang Marquis Residence, he prepared to refine the Rainbow Skirt Scroll and advance to the peak of the Strength Threshold.

• Qi Zhao gave Ji Xiu his iron token and permission to use the boats, spirit nets, and bait at Eastern Suburb Wharf.
• Ji Xiu leaped into the sea without equipment, while Duan Chenzhou assured the worried boat captains that his disciple could cross the water unaided.
• Qi Zhao challenged Duan Chenzhou to a wager over whether Ji Xiu could catch a spirit fish, offering to take Ji Xiu as his own disciple if he failed.
• Ji Xiu returned across the waves carrying a Glass Trout and followed by schools of valuable fish, winning the wager and giving his catch to Qi Zhao.
• Ji Xiu's Dao Talisman reached great completion, granting him the Water Avoidance gift.
• Ji Xiu returned to the Northern Cang Marquis Residence and activated the Rainbow Skirt Scroll, beginning the transformation that would advance his immortal garment.

Ji Xiu used the Primordial Dao Talisman to advance the Rainbow Skirt Scroll and form a Dao Grade Immortal Garment, drawing astonishment from the Marquis’s residence. As Xie Zhinan arrived to meet Xiao Mingli, Ji Xiu prepared to give Xiao Mingli a Glass Trout in gratitude for her help.

• Ji Xiu completed the Rainbow Skirt Scroll, reached the pinnacle of the Strength Threshold, and manifested a rainbow-colored Blood Qi Wolf Smoke that onlookers recognized as a Dao Grade Immortal Garment.
• Xiao Mingli realized Ji Xiu was cultivating the Xie Clan’s Ascended Immortal Garment, while Li Xuanyi warned that the Xie Clan might lure him away with its limit-breaking method.
• Xiao Mingli said she would teach Ji Xiu the inheritance herself if he wanted it, then set out with Li Xuanyi to meet the arriving Xie family woman.
• Xie Zhinan arrived at the Northern Cang Marquis Residence, recognized the Immortal Garment phenomenon, and planned to bring its talented cultivator back through a marriage alliance.
• Ji Xiu caught the Glass Trout he had brought back and decided to give it to Xiao Mingli in gratitude for her assistance.

Xie Zhinan tried to persuade Xiao Mingli to return to the Jade Universe Xie Family and accused her of secretly teaching the clan’s Immortal Garment Art to Ji Xiu. Ji Xiu stood by Xiao Mingli, but the arrival of Xie Zhinan’s elder aunt revealed that the aunt herself had taught him the art.

• Xie Zhinan offered Xiao Mingli treasures and promised treatment if she recognized her ancestors and returned to the Xie clan, but Xiao Mingli rejected the offer and told her to leave.
• Xie Zhinan accused Xiao Mingli of privately teaching the Xie Family’s Immortal Garment Art to Ji Xiu and threatened to report her to Jade Universe Mountain.
• Ji Xiu arrived with a Glass Trout, dismissed the Xie treasures as defective goods, and told Xie Zhinan that his cultivation art had nothing to do with Xiao Mingli.
• Xie Zhinan warned Ji Xiu that his art was stolen and urged him to join the Jade Universe Xie Family, but he declined and supported Xiao Mingli.
• Xie Zhinan’s elder aunt arrived and declared that she had taught Ji Xiu the art, saying she could shelter him.

Xie Fuyun revealed her connection to Duan Chenzhou and offered to teach Ji Xiu the complete Ascended Immortal Garment and help him forge a treasure body. Ji Xiu accepted her visiting card while declining to leave his master, as Duan Chenzhou felt an unexplained chill at the Jiangyin Black Market.

• Xie Fuyun arrived and stopped Xie Zhinan from challenging Ji Xiu, then told Xie Zhinan to apologize to him.
• Shi Popo recognized Xie Fuyun, who explained that she had inherited the Xie Family Ancestral Blood and come to Jiangyin Prefecture to see an old friend's descendant.
• Xie Zhinan apologized to Ji Xiu and left, unsettled by Xie Fuyun's support for him.
• Xie Fuyun revealed that she had once offered Duan Chenzhou an opportunity, and Ji Xiu persuaded her that his master had avoided her out of shame over his fall from prominence.
• Xie Fuyun offered to take Ji Xiu into her school, teach him the complete Ascended Immortal Garment, and help him cultivate a treasure body; Ji Xiu accepted her Xie Family Letter but stayed loyal to Duan Chenzhou.
• At the Jiangyin Black Market, Duan Chenzhou felt a sudden chill while considering the bounty on Ji Xiu, then noticed that a Bounty List had been removed.