Chapter Summaries

Po Xiong and Nü Duo learned that the Dragon Prince had set out for the Great Wilderness Sea, while Han Weiyan proposed preparations to welcome him. Xu Xuan decided to make a serious attempt to establish himself in the Southern Nether Celestial Pool, then learned that Xu Fayan's horns had grown back.

• Nü Duo warned Po Xiong that merfolk were becoming harder to capture and told him the Dragon Prince had left the Boiling Sea.
• Po Xiong panicked about the Dragon Prince's arrival, but Nü Duo convinced him to stay and observe the other factions.
• Han Weiyan arrived on behalf of the Han Household of Elephant Earth Island and said the Great Wilderness Sea should prepare to welcome the distant guest.
• Tiantuo warned Xu Xuan that the factions would oppose his attempt to establish himself in the Southern Nether Celestial Pool, but Xu Xuan chose to try anyway.
• Xu Xuan cautioned Fa Yan to keep Zhang Yiwan and Qi Zhengyi from learning too much about his seal script.
• Xu Fayan showed Xu Xuan that two small, murky-yellow horns had grown back on his head.

Xu Xuan used the Ginseng-Sheep Embryo-Nurturing Furnace to suppress the growing 𫅗 Sheep nature in Xu Fayan, then led his forces aboard the Netherglow into the Great Wilderness Sea. The chapter ended when a group of Coral Merfolk asked him to uphold justice for their tribe.

• Xu Xuan sent Xu Fayan into the Ginseng-Sheep Embryo-Nurturing Furnace, which refined the abnormal signs in his body and brought his cultivation techniques to full mastery.
• Tiantuo warned Xu Xuan that Xu Fayan’s 𫅗 Sheep nature might erupt when he reached Foundation Establishment, and suggested finding a demonic cultivation method to contain it.
• Xu Xuan set out aboard the Netherglow with the Azure Dew Guard and Flamefeather Guard to seize territory in the Great Wilderness Sea.
• Xu Xuan’s forces killed a giant sea octopus with poisonous water, fire formations, and Mo Xi’s spear.
• A dozen Coral Merfolk approached Xu Xuan and asked the noble blood of Mist Marsh to seek justice for their tribe.

Xu Xuan accepted the Coral Merfolk as Mist Marsh’s former retainers and ordered an investigation into the powers that had persecuted them. He turned the ship toward Yaksha territory to demand repayment for what he declared Mist Marsh’s stolen property.

• Lan Yan told Xu Xuan that the Coral Merfolk were nearly extinct and begged him to shelter the survivors.
• Xu Xuan weighed the political risks with Yang Yuanxin and Lu Lian, then decided to take in the merfolk and ordered Lu Lian to summon them and record their persecutors.
• Xu Xuan welcomed the gathered Coral Merfolk and declared their bodies and tear-pearls Mist Marsh property, while explaining that he would collect debts rather than seek revenge.
• Lu Lian gave Xu Xuan a register of the powers that had harmed the Coral Merfolk, and he chose the nearby Yaksha as his first destination.
• Xu Xuan ordered the ship toward Yaksha territory and revealed his draconic might to the Great Wilderness Sea.

Xu Xuan confronted the yakshas over their capture of Coral Merfolk, but Nü Duo claimed the Great Wilderness Sea belonged to the dead Dragon Prince Guangyu through an approved sea offering. Han Weiyan interrupted with a Purple Mansion Spirit Artifact and invited Xu Xuan to a gathering on Elephant Earth Island, leaving Xu Xuan and Yang Yuanxin hinting that they possessed a comparable artifact.

• Xu Xuan summoned the yakshas and accused them of abducting and killing Coral Merfolk, while Lu Lian demanded spiritual treasures as compensation.
• Nü Duo argued that the yakshas could not pay because the Great Wilderness Sea had become Dragon Prince Guangyu's territory through a sea offering.
• The Great Wilderness Sea recognized Xu Xuan as its master, and his pressure overwhelmed the yakshas until Han Weiyan arrived with a Purple Mansion Spirit Artifact.
• Han Weiyan invited Xu Xuan and the other leaders to a banquet on Elephant Earth Island, and Xu Xuan accepted before postponing judgment of the yakshas.
• Yang Yuanxin told Xu Xuan that they also possessed a Purple Mansion Spirit Artifact.

Han Qingfeng prepared the Han Household to receive Xu Xuan, recognizing that his bloodline and arrival could threaten the Great Wilderness Sea’s existing powers. As Xu Xuan waited offshore, he learned why Yang Yuanyi’s breakthrough might take decades, while an ancient token in his Consciousness Sea briefly illuminated.

• Han Weiyan told Han Qingfeng that Xu Xuan had accepted the invitation and that representatives from the Great Wilderness Sea’s factions would attend the banquet.
• Han Qingfeng warned Han Weiyan that Xu Xuan’s arrival had echoed the phenomenon caused by the Sun Lake Dragon Prince, and urged him to follow the Southern Sea powers’ rules while relying on their support.
• Han Qingfeng reflected that Xu Xuan seemed intent on claiming the Great Wilderness Sea, then went to supervise the preparations and welcome him.
• Aboard the warship, Xu Xuan and Yang Yuanxin discussed how his bloodline resonated with the Southern Nether Celestial Pool and why Yang Yuanyi’s advancement might take at least thirty years.
• Yang Yuanxin explained that Yang Yuanyi’s flawed [Yang Essence Upholder] Immortal Foundation drew directly from Greater Yang, and that ancient events had made cultivation difficult.
• As Xu Xuan looked toward Gen Earth, the token in his Consciousness Sea briefly glowed with the words [Fish-Gill Marshal, Subdue the Waves, Dispatch the Nether].

Xu Xuan arrived at Elephant Earth Island to claim the Great Wilderness Sea for the South Mist Dragon Palace clans and confront those responsible for past wrongs. After he demanded compensation for the Coral Merfolk, the Phantom Yu lineage’s Ying Qian challenged his authority and questioned why Mist Marsh had returned.

• Han Qingfeng welcomed Xu Xuan to Elephant Earth Island and allowed his forces to occupy the northern shore.
• Xu Xuan examined six ancient steles and learned about the surviving lineages of South Mist, including the mysterious Ba Serpent.
• Han Qingfeng introduced Xu Xuan to the leaders and representatives of the Great Wilderness Sea’s clans.
• Xu Xuan demanded that the gathered clans account for the slaughter of the Coral Merfolk and threatened to attack if they refused.
• Han Qingfeng summoned Ying Qian, and she claimed authority over the former draconic subjects and challenged Xu Xuan’s return.

Xu Xuan challenged Han Qingfeng’s claim that the Great Wilderness Sea belonged to Dragon Prince Guangyu and faced the arrival of Yue Heng, a powerful envoy from the Heavenly Pool. As Xu Xuan and Yue Heng prepared to fight, Demon King Shangguang watched from the Great Void after speaking with Dragon King Haoxuan.

• The black fish demon denounced Ying Qian, and Xu Xuan threatened her before discovering that Dragon Prince Guangyu had no soul claim over the Great Wilderness Sea.
• Xu Xuan exposed Han Qingfeng’s claim as false, severed Ying Qian’s head, and handed her still-living body over to Lu Lian.
• Yue Heng arrived and ordered Han Qingfeng, the Withered Daoist, Monk Kongyu, and Yaksha to attack the forces outside, then challenged Xu Xuan to apologize to the Heavenly Pool.
• Xu Xuan sent Yang Yuanxin and Lu Lian to command the troops before confronting Yue Heng over the sea.
• Demon King Shangguang and Dragon King Haoxuan watched the battle from the Great Void and discussed Xu Xuan, Mist Marsh, and Shangguang’s plans to ascend to the seat of Bing Fire.

Xu Xuan battled Yue Heng across the Great Wilderness Sea, using lightning, sword formations, and fire arrows against Yue Heng’s earth and killing-intent defenses. After Xu Xuan shattered Yue Heng’s stone shell, Yue Heng emerged as a mottled jade figure and prepared to reveal the might of his Jade-Saint Spirit lineage.

• Yue Heng used [Wu-Yi Inert Stone Mysterious Radiance] to petrify Xu Xuan’s Thunder Marsh, but Xu Xuan broke through the radiance and struck Yue Heng with Mu Ming.
• Xu Xuan assumed a three-headed, six-armed form and fought Yue Heng, who wielded a divine mountain, a ridged mace, and a bloodstained banner.
• Xu Xuan’s [Heavenly Drum] dispersed Yue Heng’s killing intent, and his four Dharma Swords trapped Yue Heng in a heavenly prison before Yue Heng broke free and healed himself.
• Xu Xuan activated [Heavenly Tribulation and Earthly Punishment Sword Formation] and fired nine bing-fire arrows coated in lightning, stripping away Yue Heng’s protections.
• Xu Xuan’s full sword formation shattered Yue Heng’s stone body and divine mountain, but Yue Heng’s aura rose as he emerged from his shell as a mottled jade man.

The battle on Elephant Earth Island turned against Yue Heng when Xu Xuan’s hidden power as the sea’s true master awakened. After the South Mist clans acknowledged Mu Youdu as their lord, Xu Xuan killed Yue Heng and destroyed the Han Household, leaving the Great Wilderness Sea under his rule.

• Mu Hei refused to remain neutral and led aquatic beings to join the battle, while Hidden Rosy Clouds kept the South Mist clans hidden until the right moment.
• Mu Hei’s forces attacked the yakshas as Lu Lian and the Azure Horned Serpents defended the Mistlight Treasure Ship, and Yang Yuanxin kept Han Qingfeng at an impasse.
• Yue Heng reclaimed the power of the five mountains he had refined, reached the Vow Power Diamond realm, and struck Xu Xuan down beneath the sea.
• Hidden Rosy Clouds and the surviving South Mist clans swore allegiance to Mu Youdu and renamed the Great Wilderness Sea Mingdu.
• Xu Xuan returned in his true dragon form, killed Yue Heng with a sea-splitting sword strike, and destroyed the Han Household and its cultivators.

Xu Xuan defeated the Han Household’s forces and claimed the Great Wilderness Sea as Mingdu, then established his palace and accepted an invitation from Dragon Prince Lanqing. He arrived at the Vast Origin Palace, where Lanqing welcomed him inside.

• Xu Xuan’s sea-enhanced power was challenged by Formed Jade’s petrifying magic, but a crimson attack severed the jade hand and sent its power back to Heaven Lake.
• Hidden Rosy Clouds explained that Dragon King Sun Lake had waited for a pureblood dragon like Xu Xuan to claim the sea, and she described the surviving clans under her command.
• Xu Xuan claimed the Han Household’s treasures, obtained the Six-Scale Stele and the Peak-Joining Mountain-Refining Method, and ordered that Withered Daoist, Monk Kongyu, and the Yaksha be held for ransom.
• Using the Hengyue seal and Yang Yuanxin’s Bingyang Banner, Xu Xuan joined Elephant Earth Island with Star-Prison Island and built the Mingdu palace.
• After Hidden Rosy Clouds reported that Dragon Prince Lanqing had invited him to meet, Xu Xuan traveled east and entered the Vast Origin Palace, where Lanqing called for him to come inside.

Xu Xuan met Dragon Prince Lanqing, who explained the old ties and conflicts between South Mist and the Eastern Sea, including the dragons’ failed attempt to establish an immortal dynasty. After Xu Xuan left, Lanqing and the turtle minister suspected his origins were extraordinary and considered how other dragon lineages might act against him.

• Dragon Prince Lanqing welcomed Xu Xuan to the Vast Origin Water Palace and said Dragon King Haoxuan had summoned him to discuss old affairs between their lineages.
• Lanqing recounted the True Dragon’s fall, South Mist’s retreat into a Grotto-Heaven, and the Eastern Sea’s failed plan to establish an immortal dynasty after the Returning Daoist killed Dragon Lord Mandate Return.
• Lanqing explained that Dragon King Guangze’s friendship with Tiantuo had estranged South Mist from the Eastern Sea and warned Xu Xuan that some dragon lineages might oppose him.
• Xu Xuan thanked Lanqing for the explanation and departed for the Mingdu Sea.
• After Xu Xuan left, Lanqing and the turtle minister reviewed his past and suspected he had been born from Ren Marsh and released by Mist Marsh for a larger purpose.
• Lanqing identified Dragon King Bright Thunder as the force behind Dragon Prince Guangyu’s sea offering and told the turtle minister to inform Dragon King Haoxuan.

Several months later, Xu Xuan oversaw the Nether Sea’s affairs and learned that Demon King Shangguang was leaving to seek the Constant Light Venerable Position. Xu Xuan entered seclusion to pursue a breakthrough, leaving Yang Yuanxin to govern the Nether Sea while she worried about the Golden Crow’s motives.

• Yang Yanxiang and the demon generals refined the Netherglow warship, restoring it toward the Purple Mansion Tier.
• Xu Xuan ordered the unreclaimed Yakshas enslaved for underwater mining and placed them under Lan Yan’s command.
• Yang Yuanxin told Xu Xuan that Demon King Shangguang would enter seclusion at Sun Valley for fifty to a hundred years to seek the Constant Light Venerable Position.
• Yang Yuanxin explained how Venerable Positions connected related Dao lineages and advised Xu Xuan to break through to Purple Mansion at Flame-Offering Mountain.
• Xu Xuan entrusted the Nether Sea’s affairs to Yang Yuanxin and Lu Lian, then entered seclusion beneath the sea.
• Yang Yuanxin worried that the Golden Crow’s sudden summons might conceal a threat to Demon King Shangguang and the Fire Crows.

Xu Xuan oversaw the alchemy competition and the sacrificial rites, bestowing secret seal scripts on several disciples before advising Zhang Yiwan and Qi Zhengyi on their cultivation paths. Afterward, he questioned Tiantuo about the methods tied to the seal scripts and learned that his first meeting with Tiantuo had been both chance and inevitable.

• Zhang Yiwan and Qi Xiuyu both refined flawless Fetal Breath-quality Qi-Healing Powder and were promoted to True Disciples.
• During the sacrificial rites, Xu Xuan bestowed secret seal scripts on Liu Xingfang, Wen Si'an, Wang Cheng Yan, Qi Zhengyi, and Zhang Yiwan, and discovered that only Liu Xingfang's name appeared in the Immortal Register.
• Xu Xuan advised Qi Zhengyi to cultivate the Heaven-Overawing Method and join Guarding the Azure Camp, while Zhang Yiwan agreed to cultivate the alchemy-oriented Long Radiant Candle Method.
• Xu Xuan asked Tiantuo where to find cultivation methods for the seal scripts, and Tiantuo pointed him toward the Northern Sea and the lineage of the True Lord of Upper Successive Union.
• Xu Xuan asked whether Tiantuo's first meeting with him had been chance or inevitable, and Tiantuo answered that it had been both.

Xu Xuan and Wen Si'an discussed the requirements and dangers of reaching Purple Mansion, while Xu Xuan also investigated the ambitions of Zhu Yucheng and the unusual histories of his disciples. The chapter ended with a fierce presence arriving at the sect gates and the [Peaceful Sword Sect] requesting Xu Xuan's presence.

• Wen Si'an told Xu Xuan she was nearing the ninth level and explained the powers of her dragon-serpent Dharma body, while Xu Xuan warned that her bloodline could bring danger.
• Xu Xuan outlined the cultivation method, resources, and secluded abode needed to attain divine abilities, and he and Wen Si'an concluded that she would likely have to break through within the sect.
• Xu Xuan and Wen Si'an discussed Zhu Yucheng's apparent ambition to unify the Plainlands and the possibility that he sought to break through to Purple Mansion.
• Xu Xuan met Liu Xingfang and Qi Zhengyi, learned that Qi Zhengyi had reached Qi Refining and comprehended spear momentum, and ordered a suitable artifact made for him.
• Xu Xuan discovered that Liu Xingfang had reached the seventh level of Qi Refining and mastered sword qi.
• A fierce aura approached the sect gates, where a messenger said the [Peaceful Sword Sect] requested Xu Xuan's presence.

Xu Xuan met Lü Guan of Peaceful Mountain, who invited him to visit the sect and witness the final sword strike of the Yuejue lineage. Xu Xuan agreed to travel with him, hoping to clarify his sword lineage and find a path through the pressures facing him.

• Lü Guan revealed that Peaceful Mountain wanted Xu Xuan to leave an inscription of his sword intent and determine whether his sword Dao came from Fengxuan or the Thunder Palace.
• Lü Guan invited Xu Xuan to the Li-Liao frontier to witness the last surviving Yuejue sword strike before visiting Peaceful Mountain.
• Tiantuo urged Xu Xuan to attend because the strike might reveal the Yuejue Book of Life and Death, an inheritance said to enable a sword cultivator to form a golden core in a day.
• Xu Xuan accepted Lü Guan's invitation, and Lü Guan said he would return for him in ten days.
• Xu Xuan considered the risks facing his human and dragon bodies, then prepared to use the journey to learn the immortal sects' intentions and find a way to escape his predicament.

Xu Xuan and Lü Guan traveled through war-ravaged Heavenwater and met Ru Su, Tip-Feng Mountain’s armored True Person, who questioned their plans to visit the Six Prefectures. After Ru Su gave them passage tokens, Xu Xuan discovered that he had secretly written the name of Wen Fufeng’s sword-path immortal foundation in Xu Xuan’s palm, leaving Xu Xuan wondering about their connection as his sword intent stirred on the journey north.

• Xu Xuan and Lü Guan found Heavenwater deserted after the Song Clan moved its Ancestral Land, and Tantai Yiyu invited them to Tip-Feng Mountain at Ru Su’s request.
• Tantai Yiyu explained how Tip-Feng Mountain’s naturally sentient disciples differed from spirits created through Hearing the Nether arts.
• Ru Su appeared as living golden armor, recognized Xu Xuan as Wen Fufeng’s disciple, and questioned why he and Lü Guan were traveling toward the Six Prefectures.
• Lü Guan told Ru Su they planned to meet the King of Misty Mountain, and Ru Su gave both men tokens to ensure safe passage north.
• After Ru Su vanished, Xu Xuan saw the words “Free and Unfettered Journey” form in his palm, and his sword intent and Cave-Transmuting Sword Casket began to stir as he traveled north.

Xu Xuan and Lü Guan reached Sword Pass, where they witnessed the devastation left by war and learned how military formations let armies wield power approaching that of Diamonds. Prince Shiqing invited Xu Xuan to join his father’s service and pursue a guaranteed path to Purple Mansion, but Xu Xuan refused to abandon the Great Red Abbey.

• Xu Xuan and Lü Guan discussed the abandoned mortals and ruined settlements in the Six Prefectures as they traveled toward Sword Pass.
• At Sword Pass, Xu Xuan observed the Li and Liao armies clash through powerful military formations, and Lü Guan explained how those formations worked.
• Mei Fengming invited Xu Xuan and Lü Guan to meet Prince Shiqing, and they accepted the invitation.
• Song Shiqing learned that Xu Xuan had mastered altar thunder and sword intent, then urged him to leave his sect and serve the King of Misty Mountain.
• Xu Xuan refused Song Shiqing’s offer, saying he could not abandon his sect.

Song Shiqing discussed the Imperial House’s plans to appoint gods and watched Xu Xuan as he and Lü Guan waited near Sword Pass to see Yuejue swordsmanship. Gongsun Xi brought them aboard the Vermilion Heaven, where they met Elder Yuan and other notable sword cultivators for a gathering over the Yuejue Sword Book.

• Song Shiqing told Xu Xuan and Lü Guan that Elder Yuan would demonstrate Yuejue swordsmanship in about ten days, then ordered his people to keep watching Xu Xuan.
• Song Shiqing and Mei Fengming discussed the Imperial House’s investiture plans, their own candidates for divine positions, and the risks facing Xu Xuan and other sword cultivators.
• Xu Xuan and Lü Guan observed the Li Axe Army near Sword Pass, and Lü Guan explained that its Foundation Establishment soldiers had been raised through flawed secret methods and fought through linked formations.
• Gongsun Xi invited Xu Xuan and Lü Guan aboard the Vermilion Heaven to meet Elder Yuan, and Tiantuo identified her as the ancient Western River Sword Immortal manifested anew.
• Xu Xuan and Lü Guan entered the pavilion and met Song Shiyi, the Yu Hua Sword, and Elder Yuan, who said the Yuejue Sword Book might fall to one of them.

Xu Xuan and Li Shangmi competed with flying swords, and Xu Xuan won their wager, earning a Greater Yang spell and learning the Thunder Palace’s history. Elder Yuan then revealed that the Song Clan and Liao Imperial House planned to use Yuejue to kill Prince Lingyou, who housed a banished Lesser Yin immortal, and left to confront him.

• Xu Xuan and Li Shangmi’s opposing lineages stirred their swords to action, and they agreed to wager a Greater Yang spell against a Thunder Palace secret art.
• Xu Xuan’s Cinnabar Thunder narrowly outlasted Li Shangmi’s sword, and Li Shangmi gave Xu Xuan the Great Sun Baleful-Mara Radiant Body and recounted the Thunder Palace’s history.
• Elder Yuan announced that the Liao army would attack in three days, when Yuejue’s Sword Scripture would manifest in the Great Void.
• After Xu Xuan and the others left, Elder Yuan told Gongsun Xi that the Song Clan and Liao Imperial House both wanted Prince Lingyou dead because a banished Lesser Yin immortal dwelled within him.
• Elder Yuan departed with a bronze sword case to face the threat, while Gongsun Xi wondered who would be chosen by the locked Celestial Pivot.

Liu Qi learned that King Lingyou had withdrawn and was free to act for himself as the Li-Liao battle erupted. Xu Xuan and Gongsun Xi entered the fighting in pursuit of the Yuejue Book of Life and Death, but its appearance unleashed a power that erased the battlefield and everyone on it.

• King Lingyou restored Liu Qi, released him from Yelü Xieji’s orders, and told him to decide his own fate after imparting the True-Qi Feathered Transcendence Path.
• The Li army attacked the Liao formation, and Liu Qi held a hill while killing any Li soldiers who approached.
• Xu Xuan learned that Tiantuo sought the Yuejue Book of Life and Death for a chance at reincarnation, then rode to the battlefield with Gongsun Xi, who revealed that she had recovered her sword intent.
• Xu Xuan and Gongsun Xi fought through the Liao formation, and Xu Xuan faced Liu Qi, whose spirit talisman suppressed Xu Xuan’s sword abilities.
• Xu Xuan used a Thunder Palace spell against Liu Qi, but the Purple Mansion cultivators’ clash forced both armies to withdraw as the Yuejue Book began to manifest.
• An aged hand presented a bronze sword casket, which opened and caused the Great Void and battlefield to collapse, erasing Xu Xuan and both armies.