Arc 56Chapters 1376–1400
No recap yet.
No recap yet.
Xu Taiping and Dugu Qingxiao destroyed Lü Qianshou and his primordial spirit, then Xu Taiping set out alone for Green Ox Village. He revealed to Fairy Lingyue that Tower Master Song and the other masterminds were there searching for the True Martial Black-Eagle Banner.
Xu Taiping told Fairy Lingyue that the True Martial Black-Eagle Banner was a node in the True Martial Barrier and that he planned to face the treasure seekers using the Lotus Eye’s method, “Bow Upon Seeing the Banner.” Beneath Green Ox Village, six black-clad figures opened a hidden palace, claimed its mural techniques for Wang You Valley, and found the banner; Song Tianshu of the Faceless Tower stepped into its golden ripples to test its power.
Song Tianshu and five other experts entered the hall to seek the True Martial Great Emperor’s treasures, but the Black-Eagle Banner unleashed waves and lightning of heavenly might against them. Song Tianshu used his Jade-Green Bracelets to summon a Jade Cauldron that blocked the lightning, though he warned the others to keep resisting as the banner’s power waned.
Xu Taiping entered the Main Hall despite the Black-Eagle Banner’s deadly Heavenly Might, while six cultivators watched and expected him to die. When he bowed to the True Martial Great Emperor, the golden waves parted and let him approach the banner, leaving the six men stunned.
Xu Taiping approached the True Martial Black-Eagle Banner after the Lotus Eye explained that it had once been awakened by Zhao Xuantan, one of the Four Divine Generals. As Song Tianshu and his allies attacked, the banner shielded Xu Taiping, leaving him to seize it before its remaining Heavenly Might ran out.
Xu Taiping pulled the Black-Eagle Banner from its platform and unleashed its vast heavenly might, driving away Song Tianshu’s Sword Qi. As six Shangqing Realm experts launched their strongest attacks, Xu Taiping raised the banner and saw a vast Human Race army assemble behind him on a battlefield.
Xu Taiping used the Black Eagle Flag to destroy the attackers’ bodies and learned from Lotus Eye that Zhao Xuantan had sacrificed his cultivation to stop a calamity resembling the Great Void Calamity. Lotus Eye went back to sleep after warning Xu Taiping to stay alive and telling him to visit his grandfather’s grave, where someone important awaited him.
Xu Taiping found his grandfather Xu Zhian’s grave in Green Ox Village and learned from Fairy Lingyue that the True Martial Great Emperor’s underground formation nodes moved to evade discovery. After making a headstone and telling his grandfather about his years of cultivation, Xu Taiping felt lighter.
Xu Taiping paid his respects at his grandfather Xu Zhian’s grave before a bamboo-hatted boy emerged from a hidden cave and revealed he was descended from Xu Erniu. The boy said his father had disappeared while pursuing one of the men who set a fire, and Xu Taiping used the Lotus Eye Curse Seal to investigate his fate.
Xu Taiping discovered that his great-grandnephew Xu Chengling possessed a likely supreme-grade Heavenly Spirit Bone and learned that Xu Chengling’s father had gone to confront arsonists. Xu Chengling delivered his father’s stone to Xu Taiping, who recognized it as a Moonshadow Stone’s Mother Stone.
Xu Taiping and Xu Chengling viewed the Moonshadow Stone recording of Xu Taichong’s final moments and learned that a white-robed cultivator had killed him while pursuing the Great Liang princess. After Xu Chengling was overcome by the sight, Xu Taiping carried him and set out with Fairy Lingyue for the Imperial City's ruins.
Huang Que verified Great Liang survivors while discussing the arsonists with Dugu Qingxiao, then discovered that the martial artist Xu Taichong was a renowned chivalrous man and likely a relative of Xu Taiping. Xu Taichong offered a lead on the Imperial Clan arsonists, but said it could only be revealed if an Imperial Clan descendant had survived.
Xu Taichong, who was secretly an impostor from Wang You Valley, accompanied Huang Que and Dugu Qingxiao to meet the Great Liang Kingdom’s Little Princess. After revealing that he knew their plan and admitting his involvement in the arson, he was interrupted by a report that Senior Brother Taiping requested an audience.
Xu Taiping confronted Lü Qiu, a Wang You Valley disciple accused of arson and murder, and prepared to prove his guilt before the Five Heavens. The chapter ended with Xu Taiping claiming that the evidence was recorded on the Moonshadow Stone.
Xu Taiping refused to release Lü Qiu and invoked the Nine Prefectures’ procedure for addressing the Five Heavens, claiming he had evidence of Lü Qiu’s crimes. As cultivators across the Five Heavens watched, Xu Taiping accused Lü Qiu of helping twelve arsonists slaughter Great Liang’s people and declared that he would be executed.
Xu Taiping exposed Lü Qiu’s crimes through the Moonshadow Stone and killed him after he tried to escape. The chapter ended with Xu Taiping asking Xu Chengling whether he wanted to avenge his father, and the boy agreeing.
Xu Chengling struggled to avenge his father, Xu Taichong, by striking Lü Qiu with his father's saber, while Xu Taiping defended the child’s right to revenge before Wang You Valley. After admitting that the saber blows were for his father, Xu Chengling summoned true fire to avenge the people of Green Ox Village, astonishing the observers.
Xu Chengling revealed a heavenly fire variant bone and avenged his family by burning Lü Qiu to ashes, while Xu Taiping learned through Lotus Eye that Xu Chengling’s journey to the Three Sovereigns Dao Palace would lead to disaster. Before leaving the ruins, Xu Taiping discovered that the little princess had witnessed the torture and deaths of 318 members of the Imperial Clan, and promised to avenge them.
Half a year later, Xu Taiping waited at Heavenly Hero Ferry for Xu Chengling’s party from the Three Sovereigns Dao Palace, hoping to prevent the dangers foreseen by the Lotus Eye. As he searched for a four-fingered assassin and the Immortal-Locking Formation’s nodes, a wealthy woman tried to buy Little Monkey Ping'an, and Xu Taiping refused.
Xu Taiping refused to sell his treasure to Tang Yueru and learned that she and her domineering son, Liu Cheng, planned to have the Liu Clan intercept him outside the teahouse. As the storyteller finished his tale, the storyteller’s granddaughter came to Xu Taiping’s table to ask for a tip.
Xu Taiping left the Gathering Wind Tower after Fang Lian'er warned him that the Liu Clan might ambush him, but the Liu Clan retaliated by attacking her grandfather. As Xu Taiping went to help the wounded storyteller, Tang Yueru threatened him over Ping'an, and he contacted Brother Mu Yun for aid.
Mu Yun agreed to help Xu Taiping after learning that the Liu Clan was hunting his friend at Heavenly Hero Ferry, and Xu Taiping revealed that he was the friend. After saving Fang Lian’er’s grandfather, Xu Taiping confronted the Liu Clan mother and son and challenged them at their residence.
Xu Taiping followed Tang Yueru and Liu Cheng to the Liu residence, where Mu Yun sent a devastating sword strike crashing down from the sky. The estate lay in ruins, and Mu Yun asked Xu Taiping how Guangling Pavilion's sword compared with Azure Profound Sect's.
Xu Taiping used Guangling Pavilion’s Lou Shiyi to frighten the Liu Clan into stopping its bullying, then remained in Heavenly Hero Ferry to avoid alerting the hidden assassins. When Fang Lian’er brought him tea, the Lotus Eye showed him a vision of a four-fingered monster hunting her, leading him to suspect the ambushers targeting the Three Sovereigns Dao Palace were demons.
Xu Taiping learned that the Nine Abysses Demon Seed behind the hide-and-seek power was called Yellow Hound, and Mu Yun warned him of its deadly Hunting Power. The chapter ended with Xu Taiping asking how to survive if Yellow Hound had already unleashed it.