Chapter Summaries

Xu Taiping followed Blade Ghost into the Profound Elixir Palace’s Blade-Testing Pavilion, hoping to cultivate his blade techniques toward the ultimate realm. Blade Ghost chose Beiguo Xiao as the cultivator Xu Taiping would possess to enter the palace, and Xu Taiping agreed.

• Blade Ghost explained that treasures in the Profound Elixir Palace’s Blade-Testing Pavilion and Fist-Inquiry Pavilion could help Xu Taiping reach the ultimate realm in blade or fist techniques.
• Xu Taiping left an Origin Beginning Clone in the Demon-Suppressing Coffin and told Venerable Jiaye he was entering seclusion before Blade Ghost drew him into the Tenth Layer Blade Domain.
• Blade Ghost took Xu Taiping spirit traveling at immense speed across the heavens and arrived at the Profound Elixir Palace in Chenglong Heaven.
• Blade Ghost told Xu Taiping he needed to possess a cultivator to enter the Blade-Testing Pavilion and introduced Beiguo Xiao as his chosen target.
• After Beiguo Xiao farted while lounging with an illustrated book, Xu Taiping lost his remaining guilt and agreed to possess him.

Xu Taiping, borrowing Beiguo Xiao’s body, arrived at the Profound Elixir Palace and discovered that someone had tampered with the ground to make him slip. His fall led him into Li Xueqing, who revealed that she had broken off her engagement with Beiguo Xiao and warned him to stop pursuing her.

• Xu Taiping and Blade Ghost observed the Profound Elixir Palace’s unused Spirit-Gathering Formation platforms as they traveled toward the cultivation grounds.
• A young man and woman mocked Beiguo Xiao, suggesting he had come to see Senior Sister Qingxue.
• Xu Taiping slipped after dismounting his spirit crane and crashed into a group of female disciples, accidentally touching Li Xueqing and drawing a slap.
• Blade Ghost confirmed that someone had tampered with the ground, leading Xu Taiping to suspect Beiguo Xiao had enemies in the Profound Elixir Palace.
• Li Xueqing told Beiguo Xiao that their engagement had ended and warned him to stop pestering her.

Xu Taiping tried to enter the Martial Champion Pagoda while inhabiting Beiguo Xiao, but Beiguo Xiao’s tangled relationships drew the attention of several Profound Elixir Palace disciples. As Yan Yu urged him to return and cultivate, Beiguo Xiao’s voice suddenly spoke in Xu Taiping’s mind, leaving Xu Taiping startled.

• Blade Ghost admitted he had misjudged Beiguo Xiao and explained that they could not switch their arrangements, so Xu Taiping agreed to make do.
• Fu Liu gave Li Xueqing a pair of Cloudgold Gloves, and Xu Taiping and Blade Ghost recognized Fu Liu as Beiguo Xiao’s rival in love.
• Jiang Ping told Xu Taiping to stop pestering Li Xueqing, and Xu Taiping snapped at him before Yan Yu intervened.
• Fu Liu warned Jiang Ping not to cause trouble, while Blade Ghost and Xu Taiping decided they should leave and return in fifteen days rather than train under scrutiny.
• Yan Yu urged Xu Taiping to return with her and focus on cultivation, but Beiguo Xiao’s voice suddenly told Xu Taiping not to agree.

Xu Taiping agreed to help Beiguo Xiao pass the Martial Champion Tower trials after learning that Beiguo Xiao wanted to remain at Profound Elixir Palace and see Li Xueqing. When Beiguo Xiao’s first trial exposed his hidden pain over being treated as a joke, Xu Taiping took control and effortlessly lifted the iron mountain, shocking the tower’s onlookers.

• Beiguo Xiao revealed that he had awakened because of a treasure and begged Xu Taiping to help him reach the sixth floor so he could stay at Profound Elixir Palace and see Li Xueqing.
• Xu Taiping examined Beiguo Xiao’s heart-guarding mirror, and Blade Ghost judged that its karmic aura supported Beiguo Xiao’s honest intentions.
• Xu Taiping relinquished control to Beiguo Xiao and agreed to take over only during the trials.
• Elder Zhang told Beiguo Xiao that first-time trial candidates had to lift the iron mountain for three breaths before going upstairs.
• Beiguo Xiao failed to hold up the mountain and admitted to Xu Taiping that his talent had been stolen when he was six and that he did not want to live like a joke.
• Xu Taiping took control and lifted the iron mountain one-handed, leaving the disciples in the tower in an uproar.

Beiguo Xiao used his family’s influence to explain his show of strength, while Xu Taiping prepared to train in the Martial Champion Tower. After watching a disciple fail the second floor’s movement challenge, Xu Taiping decided he wanted to try its highest rank.

• Beiguo Xiao told Xu Taiping that the Profound Elixir Palace would overlook his actions because the Beiguo Household was its ally, and promised to handle any explanations.
• Beiguo Xiao claimed his strength came from being the eldest son of the Beiguo Aristocratic Clan, quieting Yan Yu’s questions and the crowd’s doubts.
• On the second floor, the elder explained that the movement challenge required disciples to catch incoming stones and arrows from rune-inscribed pillars.
• A Profound Elixir Palace disciple blocked the incoming attacks but was struck by a fast sword strike, so the elder ordered him to leave and train for another half month.
• Xu Taiping said the four-pillar Profound-rank challenge would be easy and asked to attempt the Heavenly Tribulation; Beiguo Xiao agreed to arrange it.

Xu Taiping took control of Beiguo Xiao to face the Profound Rank Four Pillars trial on the Martial Champion Tower's second floor. Beiguo Xiao passed the challenge by using extraordinary speed and reflexes to destroy the arrows and a surprise sword strike, while Jiang Ping arrived too late to see the fight.

• Beiguo Xiao volunteered to try the Profound Rank Four Pillars difficulty, and Xu Taiping took control of his body.
• The four pillars fired hundreds of arrows, and Beiguo Xiao shattered them with a single punch.
• As the pillars launched arrows at varying speeds, Beiguo Xiao's afterimages intercepted them across the platform.
• A sword strike attacked Beiguo Xiao from behind, but he destroyed it with a punch and passed the trial.
• Jiang Ping and his sister arrived after the fight and saw Beiguo Xiao accepting the crowd's praise.

Beiguo Xiao challenged the Martial Champion Tower’s heaven-rank eight pillars, while Xu Taiping secretly wielded the Spring-Slaying Blade through him. After Xu Taiping cut down the pillars’ combined assault, Beiguo Xiao claimed the second floor’s Martial Champion seat, shocking the Profound Elixir Palace disciples.

• Jiang Ping learned that Beiguo Xiao had passed the profound-rank four-pillar trial and doubted he could face the heaven-rank eight pillars.
• Beiguo Xiao borrowed Yan Yu’s Spring-Slaying Blade, and Xu Taiping prepared to fight through him using a modified Wind-Listening Stance.
• The eight pillars unleashed a barrage of attacks, and Xu Taiping’s hundreds of blade-wielding afterimages cut them all down.
• An elder announced that Beiguo Xiao had become the first outer sect disciple in thirty years to defeat the heaven-rank eight pillars and could claim the second floor’s Martial Champion seat.
• The Profound Elixir Palace disciples erupted in disbelief at Beiguo Xiao’s unexpected achievement.

Beiguo Xiao faced accusations of cheating after winning the second-floor challenge, then agreed to let the Wordless Ancient Stele test his Qi and Blood Power. He prepared to ascend to the third floor with Xu Taiping’s reassurance, while Jiang Ping wagered he would call Beiguo Xiao Dad if the stele proved him innocent.

• Beiguo Xiao ignored the crowd’s accusations, while Xu Taiping learned he was memorizing the names of those insulting him.
• Elder Zhou defended Beiguo Xiao and said the eight stone pillars would have exposed any deception.
• Xu Taiping urged Beiguo Xiao to get upstairs, and Beiguo Xiao challenged Jiang Ping to provide evidence of cheating.
• Jiang Ping proposed that Beiguo Xiao prove his innocence before the Wordless Ancient Stele on the third floor.
• Beiguo Xiao worried the stele might detect Xu Taiping’s aura, but Blade Ghost assured Xu Taiping it could not detect him.
• Jiang Ping promised to call Beiguo Xiao Dad if the Wordless Ancient Stele proved he had not cheated.

Beiguo Xiao prepared to challenge the Wordless Ancient Stele on the third floor of Martial Champion Tower, while Xu Taiping offered to raise his Qi and Blood Power to the Great Sage Realm. Beiguo Xiao worried that revealing such strength would draw dangerous attention, but he stepped beneath the stele and entrusted the next move to Xu Taiping.

• Blade Ghost explained that the Wordless Ancient Stele tested disciples' Qi and Blood Power and challenged them with mountain spirit pressure.
• Xu Taiping told Beiguo Xiao he could try to raise his Qi and Blood Power to the Great Sage Realm, and Beiguo Xiao hesitated over the risks of revealing it.
• Elder Liu urged Beiguo Xiao to decide quickly and warned that the stele would expose cheating or an unusually powerful physique.
• Elder Liu activated the stele and explained that a challenger had to turn more than sixty of its ninety-nine rows red to qualify for its challenge.
• Beiguo Xiao stood beneath the stele, faced it, and asked Xu Taiping inwardly to handle what came next.

Xu Taiping took control of Beiguo Xiao and proved his Martial God Realm qi and blood to the Wordless Ancient Stele, then led him to seize the Martial Champion titles on four floors in succession. The chapter left Xu Taiping and Blade Ghost entering the sixth floor's Blade-Testing Pavilion, where Li Xueqing had just lost to its Profound Rank Blade-Sharpening Boy.

• Xu Taiping made Beiguo Xiao touch the Wordless Ancient Stele, which accepted his qi and blood and stained eighty-one rows of inscriptions red.
• Beiguo Xiao made Jiang Ping call him father, then vowed to win another Martial Champion title.
• Beiguo Xiao became the third-floor Martial Champion by enduring the stele's Heaven Rank mountain spirit power for thirty breaths.
• Beiguo Xiao seized the fourth- and fifth-floor Martial Champion titles, while Xu Taiping and Blade Ghost lamented that the trials had not pushed his techniques to their limits.
• Xu Taiping and Blade Ghost followed Beiguo Xiao to the sixth-floor Blade-Testing Pavilion, where the keeper elder announced that Li Xueqing had failed against the Profound Rank Blade-Sharpening Boy.

Xu Taiping learned that the four Blade-Sharpening Boys could copy and surpass blade techniques, making them a test that might push him toward the Ultimate Realm. Meanwhile, Beiguo Xiao arrived on the sixth floor and was confirmed to have passed the trials on the first five floors, earning the right to challenge the puppets before Li Xueqing.

• Blade Ghost explained that the four Blade-Sharpening Boys could deduce and improve opponents’ blade techniques, and Xu Taiping understood why they could help him advance.
• Beiguo Xiao asked after Li Xueqing, then clashed with Jiang Yan and Fu Liu when they challenged his motives and told him not to disturb her.
• A disciple announced that Beiguo Xiao had claimed the Chief position on four floors and had come to challenge the Blade-Sharpening Boys.
• Jiang Ping confirmed that Beiguo Xiao had passed the trials and taken the Chief position from the second through fifth floors.
• The sixth-floor elder confirmed Beiguo Xiao had qualified and offered him the chance to challenge the Blade-Sharpening Boys before Li Xueqing.

Li Xueqing challenged a Profound Rank Blade-Sharpening Boy and drew with it, while Beiguo Xiao watched and revealed why he wanted to pass the Sixth Floor. He asked Xu Taiping to help him reach the Inner Sect so he could seek reconciliation with Li Xueqing.

• Beiguo Xiao declined to take the platform first, and Li Xueqing leaped up to challenge the Profound Rank Blade-Sharpening Boy.
• Li Xueqing and the puppet traded blade attacks, then unleashed enormous opposing strikes that shattered together in a draw.
• Beiguo Xiao approached Li Xueqing after her bout, but Fu Liu blocked him and urged him to prepare for his own challenge.
• Xu Taiping asked Beiguo Xiao why he wanted to pass the Sixth Floor, and Beiguo Xiao explained that he hoped to reconcile with his childhood fiancée, Li Xueqing.
• Beiguo Xiao told Xu Taiping he would accept even the loss of his body if Xu Taiping helped fulfill his wish.

Xu Taiping took control of Beiguo Xiao and entered the Blade-Testing Pavilion’s final challenge, intending to face the Heaven Rank Blade-Sharpening Boy. He chose the Yellow Tier Blade-Sharpening Boy for practice and destroyed it with a single strike, stunning the onlookers.

• Beiguo Xiao agreed to risk his life so Xu Taiping could wield his body, and Xu Taiping revealed that he ultimately planned to challenge the Heaven Rank Blade-Sharpening Boy.
• Xu Taiping possessed Beiguo Xiao and accepted the Sixth Floor elder’s warning before stepping onto the platform.
• Beiguo Xiao’s choice to challenge the Yellow Tier Blade-Sharpening Boy drew boos and scorn from Fu Liu, Jiang Yan, and Li Xueqing.
• Xu Taiping drew Beiguo Xiao’s blade and unleashed a torrent of blade force that shattered the Yellow Tier Blade-Sharpening Boy before it could draw its weapon.

Beiguo Xiao shattered the Blade-Sharpening Boy's Yellow Tier puppet body with one slash, then rejected Elder Niu's warning and chose to face the Profound Rank puppet. The Profound Rank puppet appeared on the platform and unleashed a fierce pressure.

• The Profound Elixir Palace disciples questioned whether the Yellow Tier puppet had been damaged, but Elder Niu insisted that every puppet was intact and personally refined by the Palace Master.
• Jiang Yan mocked Beiguo Xiao and urged him to challenge the Profound Rank puppet, while Fu Liu and the others suspected the Beiguo Household had arranged protection for him.
• Elder Niu advised Beiguo Xiao to stop and return later, but Beiguo Xiao calmly insisted on continuing the challenge.
• Elder Niu activated the Jade Jue, summoning the Blade-Sharpening Boy's Profound Rank puppet onto the platform opposite Beiguo Xiao.
• The Profound Rank puppet released a fierce pressure that bore down on everyone nearby.

Beiguo Xiao defeated the Blade-Sharpening Boy’s Profound Rank puppet body with one slash, then declared that it had been too weak to withstand him. He accepted Fu Liu’s challenge to face the Earth Rank puppet, despite Elder Niu warning that most challengers were carried out injured or dead.

• The Blade-Sharpening Boy’s Profound Rank puppet body unleashed a wave-like saber attack, but Beiguo Xiao cut it apart and beheaded it with one slash.
• The disciples and onlookers erupted in shock, while Jiang Yan struggled to accept Beiguo Xiao’s victory.
• Beiguo Xiao asked Elder Niu whether the Profound Rank puppet was truly so weak that it could not endure one slash, angering the elder and the disciples.
• Fu Liu challenged Beiguo Xiao to face the Earth Rank puppet, and Beiguo Xiao immediately agreed.
• Elder Niu warned Beiguo Xiao that eight or nine out of ten challengers to the Earth Rank puppet were carried out of the Martial Champion Tower.

Xu Taiping, controlling Beiguo Xiao's body, challenged and destroyed the Blade-Sharpening Boy's Earth Rank puppet body with a single ordinary blade move. He remained disappointed that the fight had not brought him to the ultimate realm of blade techniques and decided to request the Heaven Rank puppet body next.

• Xu Taiping ignored Elder Niu's warnings and called on the Blade-Sharpening Boy to send out the Earth Rank puppet body.
• The Earth Rank puppet body rose, unleashing a terrifying aura that drove back the Profound Elixir Palace disciples.
• Xu Taiping revealed overwhelming strength and used a thunder-dragon blade strike against the puppet.
• The puppet copied Xu Taiping's blade technique, but its counterstrike shattered, and Xu Taiping cleaved it in two with an ordinary blade move.
• Elder Niu and the others realized Xu Taiping could have threatened everyone in the pavilion, while Fu Liu fell silent.
• Xu Taiping worried that the Heaven Rank puppet might also be too weak and resolved to ask the Blade-Sharpening Boy to bring it out.

Xu Taiping, controlling Beiguo Xiao's body, challenged the Blade-Sharpening Boy's Heaven Rank puppet and proved able to overpower its attacks. The Profound Elixir Palace Master instructed Elder Niu to release the puppet's True Body if it could no longer hold out, leaving Elder Niu horrified by the order.

• Beiguo Xiao challenged the Blade-Sharpening Boy's Heaven Rank puppet and called its power disappointing.
• The Heaven Rank puppet attacked, but Beiguo Xiao blocked its strike despite drawing his blade later.
• Beiguo Xiao's aura surged beyond the puppet's, and he easily blocked its improved follow-up attack.
• Elder Niu received a message from the Profound Elixir Palace Master, who told him to crush the Jade Jue if the puppet could no longer hold out.
• Elder Niu realized that crushing the Jade Jue would release the Blade-Sharpening Boy's True Body and questioned whether the Palace Master truly intended it.

Xu Taiping, fighting as Beiguo Xiao, overwhelmed the Blade-Sharpening Boy's Heaven Rank puppet body and forced the Profound Elixir Palace to release the Blade-Sharpening Boy's true body. The true body revealed Blade Qi Manifestation, and the Blade-Testing Pavilion erupted as Li Xueqing wondered whether Beiguo Xiao was still the person she knew.

• The Palace Master of the Profound Elixir Palace told Elder Niu to release the Blade-Sharpening Boy's true body and welcome the expert believed to be guiding Beiguo Xiao.
• Xu Taiping broke through the Heaven Rank puppet body's blade techniques and sent it flying, showing Elder Niu and Elder Zhu the gap in their blade insight.
• Elder Zhu crushed the Jade Jue and informed the Palace Master that he had released the Blade-Sharpening Boy's true body.
• The puppet body shattered as the Blade-Sharpening Boy's aura surged, and Xu Taiping recognized his Blade Qi Thunderclap while Blade Ghost warned that his true body had likely been released.
• The Blade-Sharpening Boy grew to eight zhang tall and formed purple-gold feathers from his blade qi, prompting the Profound Elixir Palace disciples to identify him as the true body.
• Fu Liu looked grim as Li Xueqing watched Beiguo Xiao face the Blade-Sharpening Boy and wondered whether he was still the Beiguo Xiao she knew.

Beiguo Xiao unleashed his full blade intent and matched the Blade-Sharpening Boy’s aura, but lost their first exchange and was badly wounded. Xu Taiping and Beiguo Xiao chose to continue, believing that defeating the Blade-Sharpening Boy could reveal the ultimate realm of their blade techniques.

• Beiguo Xiao manifested his blade intent, force, and qi as a battlefield, while the Blade-Sharpening Boy encompassed it with his own battlefield and military formations.
• The Blade-Sharpening Boy charged and struck Beiguo Xiao, whose counterattack merged his battlefield into his blade; their clash shattered the platform and injured nearby disciples.
• The Blade-Sharpening Boy emerged unscathed, while Beiguo Xiao suffered severe wounds and was driven back.
• Xu Taiping told the Blade Ghost that the Blade-Sharpening Boy’s techniques could guide him to the ultimate realm, and the Blade Ghost warned that the next strikes would be lethal.
• Xu Taiping offered to end the trial, but Beiguo Xiao refused to back down; Xu Taiping renewed his resolve as battlefield ruins appeared with gravestones bearing their names.

Xu Taiping fought the Blade-Sharpening Boy with Burning Blade and endured increasingly powerful counterattacks. After discovering that the boy refined his technique by adjusting how he fused blade intent, blade force, and blade qi, Xu Taiping tried to apply that insight but was knocked flying.

• Xu Taiping unleashed his Burning Blade, and its grief-filled blade intent drove the Blade-Sharpening Boy back and wounded him.
• The Blade-Sharpening Boy copied Xu Taiping's strike and countered with greater killing power, then rapidly attacked again.
• As the Blade-Sharpening Boy's successive strikes wounded him, Xu Taiping realized the boy's technique grew stronger through repeated adjustments to the fusion of blade intent, blade force, and blade qi.
• Xu Taiping struck back with Burning Blade, but the Blade-Sharpening Boy's counter sent him flying backward.