Chapter Summaries

Xu Xuan learned the history and dangers of blood qi, prepared the Mani Jewel for the planned assault on Mount Dapan, and resolved to reclaim the mountain. Meanwhile, Xu Fayan arrived at Horse-Tethering Road, where Liu Fanqing saw him as a chance to advance his own prospects.

• Tiantuo identified Xu Xuan’s blood pellet as a Turbid Yin Pearl and explained how corrupted blood qi brought punishment from altar thunder.
• Xu Xuan used the White Jade Dao Altar to draw the Mani Jewel from his body and prepared to attack Mount Dapan at noon the next day.
• Xu Xuan assigned Wang Xiwei to guard their home grounds while he, Fan Qingzhu, Liang Yong, and Wen Si’an prepared for the assault.
• Liu Fanqing brooded over his stalled cultivation and resentment toward Liu Xiaowen as he patrolled Horse-Tethering Road.
• Wang Qiyun introduced Liu Xingfang and Xu Fayan as reinforcements from Green Luo, and Liu Fanqing decided to cultivate Xu Fayan’s favor.
• Xu Fayan silently crushed ants beneath his foot while Liu Fanqing watched him with a hopeful smile.

Zhang Yangjia challenged Puzhi after the monk beat him for questioning the temple’s treatment of villagers, and lightning killed Puzhi before Xu Xuan’s group arrived. At Lotus Temple, Xu Xuan’s companions tested its defenses with spells, and Xu Xuan’s lightning attack engulfed the temple.

• Zhang Yangjia confronted Puzhi over his cruel treatment of the villagers, and Puzhi broke Zhang Yangjia’s knee before beating him with a staff.
• A bolt of lightning killed Puzhi, and Xu Xuan descended from the Unmoored Boat and healed Zhang Yangjia with a pill.
• Xu Xuan’s group approached Lotus Temple, where Cishan and six warrior monks defended the vow-power formation.
• Fan Qingzhu, Liang Yong, and Wen Si’an attacked the temple’s defenses with water, black-gray fire, and a thunder-summoning spell.
• Xu Xuan sent three streams of Great Thunder-Prayer Radiance into Wen Si’an’s clouds, and lightning engulfed the temple.

Xu Xuan and Liang Yong killed Cishan despite the temple’s devotion, but his remains trapped their group aboard the Unmoored Boat. Xu Xuan’s Mani Jewel subdued the skeleton, allowing him to destroy the temple and return Dapan to the Great Red Abbey.

• Cishan drew on the temple’s devotion to withstand Xu Xuan and Liang Yong, but Xu Xuan’s sword qi and Liang Yong’s Bone Pagoda overwhelmed him and split his head open.
• A glazed skeleton emerged from the temple and seized the Unmoored Boat with a golden hand seal, preventing Xu Xuan, Liang Yong, Fan Qingzhu, and Wen Si'an from escaping.
• Xu Xuan and Liang Yong used Constant Light and the Bone Pagoda to weaken the skeleton’s grip, but four monks killed themselves and their blood restored its power.
• Xu Xuan summoned the Mani Jewel, whose moonlight dissolved the skeleton’s red radiance and ended its hold on the flying boat.
• Xu Xuan destroyed the temple with a lightning-charged sword strike, returning Dapan to the Great Red Abbey.

Xu Xuan reclaimed Dapan, organized the return of Great Scarlet's rule, and recovered several treasures from the ruined Lotus Temple. He recruited Liang Yong as the abbey’s Dharma protector in exchange for the Mani Jewel, which Liang Yong used to transform his Nine-Fire Pagoda, while Xu Xuan wondered about Black Wind Valley.

• Xu Xuan used the Mani Jewel to dissolve the glazed skeleton, then instructed Zhang Luogu to help restore Great Scarlet's rule and investigate Buddhist influence in Dapan.
• Xu Xuan, Liang Yong, Fan Qingzhu, and Wen Si'an divided the Lotus Temple's remaining treasures, including the Five-Colored Glazed Lotus and the Dharma Master's finger bone.
• Xu Xuan and Liang Yong combined their yin and yang pearls into the Mother-Child Blood River, which could detect the surviving Blood River Sect remnant.
• Liang Yong agreed to join Xu Xuan's abbey as its Dharma protector in exchange for the Mani Jewel, and explained that his Bone Pagoda was the Nine-Fire Pagoda from Sindhu.
• The Mani Jewel and the Dharma Master's finger bone merged into Liang Yong's Nine-Fire Pagoda, awakening its ancient power, while Xu Xuan considered the abbey's growing strength and wondered what was happening in Black Wind Valley.

Wen Si'an considered how to restore Dapan’s spirit fields and guide her timid disciple Jiang Zhoudu, while Xu Xuan purified the Five-Colored Glazed Lotus and uncovered a mysterious red radiance. After the sword canon destroyed the radiance, Tiantuo suspected it had been a Heavenly Demon.

• Shi Yuanyu told Wen Si'an that Dapan’s spirit fields needed extensive restoration and more trained Spirit Planting disciples, prompting Wen Si'an to consider establishing a Spirit Planting hall.
• Jiang Zhoudu reported to Wen Si'an that she had learned the Minor Cloud-Rain Spell, and Wen Si'an sent her to Frostreturn Peak to seek Gao Xia and take on tasks.
• Xu Xuan brought the Five-Colored Glazed Lotus onto his Dao Platform, which stripped away its Buddhist power and restored its pure white form.
• A vivid red radiance emerged from the lotus, but the Profound-Enshrining Sword Canon released Sword Intent that burned it to ash and allowed Xu Xuan to turn farther into the scripture.
• Tiantuo suspected that the destroyed red radiance had been a Heavenly Demon.

Xu Xuan learned from Tiantuo about heavenly demons, the Great Void, and the Sword Canon’s requirements, then returned to find the monastery expanding its spiritual resources and plans. He and Wang Xiwei discussed new halls and other reforms, while Xu Xuan wondered how Fa Yan and Xing Fang were faring at Horse-Tethering Road.

• Xu Xuan read the Sword Canon’s entries on cultivation, subduing demons, and the clear qi granted for destroying demonic beings.
• Tiantuo explained that heavenly demons came from the Great Void, described the ancient realms, and warned Xu Xuan that the Lotus Temple’s connection to them endangered his monastery.
• Xu Xuan returned to the hall with the Unsullied Pure Lotus and arranged for incense devotion to sustain it.
• Wang Xiwei told Xu Xuan that Dapan and Green Plain Town had stabilized, and presented plans for the Fire-Waiting Hall and Spring Sprout Hall.
• Xu Xuan proposed establishing halls to manage scriptures and qi gathering, while Wang Xiwei suggested forming a battalion from the battle-tested disciples at Horse-Tethering Road.
• Xu Xuan wondered what the disciples stationed at Horse-Tethering Road thought of Fa Yan and Xing Fang.

Liu Xingfang guarded a checkpoint on Horse-Tethering Road, where he displayed his swordsmanship and rebuffed Jiang Zhouyi’s disparagement of Zhou Du. At a neighboring checkpoint, Xu Fayan asked Liu Fanqing to lead him to monsters so he could test a talisman, whose image concealed a strange sheep-like fetus.

• Liu Xingfang guarded a checkpoint with Qi Xiuyu and Jiang Zhouyi while reflecting on his sword and his ambitions to cultivate Sword Qi.
• Liu Xingfang killed two centipede-like evil creatures with Gangyin, drawing praise from Jiang Zhouyi.
• Jiang Zhouyi spoke dismissively of her younger clanswoman Zhou Du, prompting Liu Xingfang to defend Zhou Du and ask about Jiang Zhouyi’s cultivation.
• Liu Fanqing suspected Xu Fayan’s surname and aptitude hinted at a connection to the abbey master, then tried to win his favor.
• Xu Fayan asked Liu Fanqing to take him somewhere with more monsters so he could test a talisman, and Liu Fanqing led him outside the formation.

At the Little Baleful Wind Formation, Xu Fayan used Liu Fanqing’s fall among the monsters to test a new sheep-aspect talisman and secretly drained the slain creatures’ remains. After Liu Fanqing returned safely, Xu Fayan argued with Liu Xingfang that cultivation and power mattered more than winning the loyalty of weaker disciples.

• Xu Fayan waited with Liu Fanqing at the formation’s boundary while Liu Fanqing tried to recruit him into a faction of outer disciples.
• The hill collapsed beneath Liu Fanqing, and monsters swarmed him as Xu Fayan watched from safety.
• Xu Fayan used an Evil-Warding Double-Pupil Talisman to kill weaker monsters, then dropped a fortune-qi talisman to help Liu Fanqing escape.
• After Liu Fanqing lost consciousness, Xu Fayan activated the sheep-aspect talisman, absorbed blood qi into a pearl, and dragged Liu Fanqing back to the checkpoint.
• Liu Fanqing woke, credited Xu Fayan with saving him, and thanked him before Xu Fayan left.
• Liu Xingfang questioned Xu Fayan’s recklessness, and Xu Fayan argued that cultivation and strength mattered more than tending to weaker disciples’ feelings.

Wang Xiwei established the Fire-Waiting Hall and began training its first artifact-refining disciples, while Wen Si'an and Shi Yuanyu organized spirit-plant cultivation at Spring Sprout Hall. Feng Chiquan exchanged a cultivation method for a high-grade saber and left Green Luo safely, heading southeast to avoid the northern fighting.

• Wang Xiwei tested Guan He and Xu Chenming, accepted them into the Fire-Waiting Hall, and planned to recruit more artifact-refining disciples.
• Wen Si'an and Shi Yuanyu oversaw Spring Sprout Hall as its thirty-six disciples and mortal workers began developing Dapan's spirit fields.
• Feng Chiquan asked Liu Xiaowen to exchange his secret silver hidden water and Long Radiant Candle Method for a high-grade offensive artifact.
• Liu Xiaowen consulted Xu Xuan and gave Feng Chiquan the Punish Evil saber in exchange for the cultivation method.
• Feng Chiquan left Green Luo with the saber and flew southeast, deciding to avoid the fierce fighting in the north.

Liu Xingfang and Xu Fayan broke through to Qi Refining, and Xu Xuan gave each disciple gifts suited to their cultivation before discussing which Green Luo peak they would oversee. Xu Fayan received the [goat-spirit earth-nurturing] inscription at the Founders' Hall, while [Sword Rises from the Deep Abyss] began awakening on Xu Xuan's Spirit Platform.

• Liu Xingfang emerged from seclusion first, and Xu Xuan gave him the Chongyang Sword Exegesis and spirit water while warning him to guard the sect's secret inheritance.
• Liu Xingfang chose Rainbow-Crossing Peak, and Xu Xuan sent him back to Frostreturn Peak while he considered how to accommodate Xu Fayan's choice.
• Xu Fayan emerged after dusk, and Xu Xuan gave him three spiritual materials for cultivating his earth spells and forging a magical artifact.
• Xu Fayan chose Mist-Hidden Peak, explaining that he preferred its scenery, and Xu Xuan led him to the Founders' Hall.
• As Xu Fayan offered incense, Xu Xuan transferred the [goat-spirit earth-nurturing] inscription to his Spirit Platform and explained its powers and secrecy.
• [Sword Rises from the Deep Abyss] brightened on Xu Xuan's Spirit Platform, and hazy sword qi stirred the sword embryo in his Qi Sea.

Xu Xuan discovered that [Sword Rises from the Deep Abyss] let him enter the [Sword Abyss] and draw sword intent from ancient inheritances. He returned with two strands of sword intent, empowered Constant Light, and entered seclusion close to breaking through to the ninth level of Qi Refining.

• Xu Xuan examined [Sword Rises from the Deep Abyss] and learned that the [Cave-Transmuting Sword Casket] could store and nourish nine strands of sword intent.
• With Tiantuo accompanying him through a trace of consciousness, Xu Xuan followed a new heavenly path into the [Sword Abyss], where the [Profound-Enshrining Sword Canon] manifested sword intent from ancient names.
• Xu Xuan returned with the sword intent of a True Lord and his master stored in the sword casket, and Tiantuo warned that revealing the True Lord's strand could draw a True Person's attention.
• Xu Xuan found that Constant Light absorbed the sword intent and advanced from middle foundation establishment grade to upper grade, with further seals still hidden within it.
• Xu Xuan left Constant Light in the sword casket and entered seclusion, intending to break through to the ninth level of Qi Refining.

Xu Fayan received the upper-grade Qi Refining artifact Mountain Stand from Wang Qiyun and reflected on his slow, resource-intensive cultivation. When Liu Xingfang visited to discuss their new peaks, Xu Fayan challenged him over whether he was fit to represent their master at next year’s Hollow Sword Gate Sword Trial Assembly.

• Wang Qiyun forged Xu Fayan a blunt, heavily weighted ruler called Mountain Stand, and Xu Fayan praised its craftsmanship.
• Wang Cheng Yan visited his father, greeted Xu Fayan, and watched Wang Qiyun return to artifact refining.
• Xu Fayan studied Mountain Stand and considered how his seal inscription and earth-virtue cultivation required steady accumulation and rare spiritual materials.
• Liu Xingfang told Xu Fayan that Rainbow-Crossing Peak and Mist-Hidden Peak were ready and asked why Xu Fayan had chosen Mist-Hidden Peak instead of Rainbow-Crossing Peak.
• Xu Fayan invoked next year’s Sword Trial Assembly and challenged Liu Xingfang to prove he could shoulder the responsibility of representing their master.

Liu Xingfang and Xu Fayan settled their dispute in a fierce sword-and-spell spar, which Liu Xiaowen stopped before assigning them to serve under Protector Liang at Horse-Tethering Road. Afterward, Xu Fayan said he had never meant to compete with Liu Xingfang and hinted that one mistake could leave him no chance to start over.

• Liu Xingfang and Xu Fayan fought at the Karma-Punishment Ground, with Liu Xingfang using Gangyin, Panpo, and Tribulation-Origin Swordfall against Xu Fayan's Mountain Stand and Mysterious Sheep Pacifying Origin Light.
• Xu Fayan began to gain the upper hand as his magical power outlasted Liu Xingfang's, but Liu Xiaowen arrived and separated them.
• Liu Xiaowen ordered both junior brothers to report to Protector Liang at Horse-Tethering Road after they moved out from their spiritual peaks.
• Xu Fayan told Liu Xingfang he had never meant to contend with him and said that some people could not recover from one wrong step.
• Liu Xingfang urged Xu Fayan to persevere, but Xu Fayan sent him away with a talisman reading "See yourself out," and Liu Xingfang prepared for the move.

Xu Xuan broke through to the qi refining ninth level and discovered that his nature root had been granted through the favor of his Dao lineage. After leaving seclusion, he learned that calamity had struck the Hollow Sword Gate, and recalled the Dharma Sword Star River.

• Xu Xuan broke through to the qi refining ninth level as his life foundation divided into an Armored Deity and a Purple-Crimson Thunder Dragon.
• Xu Xuan experienced a vast thunder marsh, where a dragon-headed, ox-bodied Thunder Beast struggled to cross and a gaze from the primordial chaos watched him.
• Tiantuo explained that Xu Xuan's nature root came through his Dao lineage's favor and would make his future immortal foundation unusually complete and powerful.
• Xu Xuan left his cave abode and found Liu Xiaowen waiting to congratulate him on his breakthrough.
• Liu Xiaowen gave Xu Xuan a confidential letter from the Hollow Sword Gate, and Xu Xuan learned that calamity had befallen the sect and remembered the Dharma Sword Star River.

Qi Wen and Elder Xiang discussed the Hollow Sword Gate’s internal turmoil as Liang Xilan challenged the sect’s decision to invite Great Scarlet disciples to its Sword Pool ceremony. Xu Xuan agreed to attend with Liu Xiaowen and Xing Fang, leaving preparations underway for the spring sword test and his search for the Gate’s sword intent.

• Qi Wen and Elder Xiang discussed the Qi, Liang, and Yuan households’ ambitions, their suspected dealings with the Wu Clan, and the mysterious conduct of Liang Xilan and Yuan Zhi.
• Qi Du told Qi Wen and Elder Xiang that Liang Xilan was furious about Great Scarlet disciples receiving Sword Pool tempering slots and was making a scene on Heavenly River Mountain.
• Qi Wen said the sect master’s decision would stand and proposed inviting Xu Xuan to witness the ceremony so Liang Xilan would face a cultivator who had mastered Sword Qi.
• Xu Xuan decided to attend the sword-testing ceremony with Liu Xiaowen and Xing Fang, both to support them and to assess the Hollow Sword Gate’s situation.
• Xu Xuan planned to seek a strand of the Gate’s sword intent and considered his future obligations, the Demon Calamity, and a path toward the Purple Mansion.
• Xu Xuan inspected Constant Light and promised Cinnabar Thunder he would find Shock Thunder spiritual treasures in the grotto-heaven to raise it to Foundation Establishment grade.

At the Guarding the Azure camp on Horse-Tethering Road, Liang Yong slaughtered monsters and advised Liu Xingfang about thunder cultivation, while the disciples trained and stood watch. Xu Fayan considered the Foundation Establishment treasure talisman and the Duan Clan, deciding he would likely need to reach Foundation Establishment before pursuing the matter.

• Liang Yong charged into the monster horde, killed most of the creatures, and returned to the formation after Liu Xingfang called him back.
• Liang Yong told Liu Xingfang that Divine Thunder suited sword cultivation and explained how it differed from Shock Thunder.
• Liu Xingfang resolved to advance his cultivation before testing his sword the following spring and accepted that his progress might lag behind Xu Fayan's.
• Liu Fanqing regretted choosing the Rainfall Spirit-Walking Art and hurried to take his turn watching the Checkpoint after Xu Fayan reminded him.
• Xu Fayan considered the Gen Earth Foundation Establishment treasure talisman and its connection to the Duan Clan, deciding to wait until Foundation Establishment before making plans.

Xu Xuan brought Liu Xiaowen and Liu Xingfang to the Hollow Sword Gate for its Great Wilderness Sword Pool trial, where he discovered signs of blood-qi cultivation and a connection to the Profound-Enshrining Palace. Liang Xilan challenged him over the outsiders’ invitation, and the chapter ended as their swords clashed above Ascending Stars Mountain.

• Xu Xuan arrived with Liu Xiaowen and Liu Xingfang at the Hollow Sword Gate and noticed strange security and a bloody glow near one of its mountains.
• Qi Wen explained that entrants to the Great Wilderness Sword Pool had to cross swords to earn its tempering, and Xu Xuan agreed to let his disciples participate.
• Liang Xilan confronted Xu Xuan, objecting to outsiders receiving places in the Sword Pool and insulting his cultivation and master.
• Xu Xuan recognized that Liang Xilan’s aura was impure and suspected she had used blood qi, then accepted her challenge to a duel.
• Liang Xilan used a cosmic-star movement technique, but Xu Xuan tracked her with the [Heavenly Drum] and struck with [Great Thunder-Prayer Radiance] and [One Qi Pierces the River].

Xu Xuan defeated Liang Xilan and learned that she may be using a gu worm tied to the Wu Clan, while the Hollow Sword Gate’s factions and Witch South connections raised further suspicions. The Great Wilderness Sword Pool opened the next day, and the disciples entered for its final refinement as Xu Xuan secretly examined its sword intent.

• Xu Xuan defeated Liang Xilan in their sword contest, and she conceded before warning that their disciples would be tested in the Sword Pool.
• Qi Wen told Xu Xuan that Liang Xilan had changed, that disciples had gone missing near Crane Cloud Mountain, and that the Wu Clan might be colluding with her; he also explained the Hollow Sword Gate’s inheritance and factions.
• Tiantuo detected a gu worm in Liang Xilan’s qi sea that nourished her but could beguile her, leading Xu Xuan to suspect a connection between the Wu Clan, the Wilderness of Witches, and the Hollow Sword Gate.
• The next day, Qi Wen opened a passage through the Sword Pool, and Yuan Lu, Qi Wen, Liu Xiaowen, Liu Xingfang, Liang Yuanming, and Wei Yan entered for the sword trial.
• Yuan Zhi said the Sword Pool was nearing exhaustion but would offer abundant refinement, while Xu Xuan secretly activated the Cave-Transmuting Sword Casket to inspect its sword intent.

Xu Xuan discovered that a living Purple Mansion Sword Immortal was secretly controlling the Great Wilderness Sword Pool, while the disciples entered its treacherous inner realm. The chapter ended with Yuan Lu revealing that the Liang and Yuan Households planned to take over the Hollow Sword Gate and were using the Blood Gu Method to advance through the sacrifice of people.

• Xu Xuan sensed a golden Hook Snake bearing Metal Virtue Sword Intent at the sword pool's core and realized a living Purple Mansion Sword Immortal was watching the Hollow Sword Gate through a Divine Ability.
• Yuan Zhi and Liang Xilan argued over their branches' disciples, while Yuan Zhi said the sword pool had been obtained from elsewhere rather than refined by the sect.
• Liu Xingfang used Panpo to find his way through the disorienting sword pool realm, while Qi Wen and Liu Xiaowen fought off Sword Phantoms as they tried to advance.
• Yuan Lu told Liang Yuanming that the Liang and Yuan Households meant to seize control of the Hollow Sword Gate, and he reassured her that the Blood Gu Method worked by feeding people to Gu Worms.

Wei Yan, Liu Xingfang, and the others entered the changing Great Wilderness Sword Pool despite the danger, while Xu Xuan's descending golden thread reached Qi Wen. The chapter left Xu Xuan sensing and seeing deeper into the pool through the thread.

• Wei Yan and Liu Xingfang met at the Sword Pool's center, then Yuan Lu and Liang Yuanming joined them.
• Liu Xiaowen and Qi Wen emerged injured after fighting sword phantoms that mimicked their forms and abilities.
• Yuan Lu urged everyone to continue, and Qi Wen agreed despite Wei Yan's concerns.
• The Sword Pool's center opened, and Qi Wen, Wei Yan, Yuan Lu, and Liang Yuanming entered the gray passage.
• Sword phantoms poured out behind Liu Xiaowen and Liu Xingfang, forcing them to enter the passage as well.
• Xu Xuan's golden thread extended into the pool and settled on Qi Wen's shoulder.