Chapter Summaries

Xu Taiping entered the Empty and Still Realm of the Dao Heart and resonated with the Blade-Sharpening Boy’s divine intent, instantly mastering the ultimate realm of the Burning Blade Style. After knocking the Blade-Sharpening Boy back, Xu Taiping stood motionless, radiating an aura that made Elder Niu wonder whether he was about to ascend to the realm of a Blade Immortal.

• Xu Taiping and the Blade-Sharpening Boy shattered each other’s Blade Forces, and the watching Profound Elixir Palace disciples expected Xu Taiping to lose.
• Xu Taiping’s heart lake became still, and his divine soul entered the Empty and Still Realm of the Dao Heart, allowing him to sense the Blade-Sharpening Boy’s aura.
• Xu Taiping resonated with the Blade-Sharpening Boy’s divine intent and instantly acquired his comprehension of the Burning Blade Style’s ultimate realm.
• The Blade-Sharpening Boy attacked again, but Xu Taiping’s blade shadow struck first and broke his Blade Force, sending him flying backward.
• Xu Taiping stood with his eyes shut as the disciples felt a terrifying blade aura, and Elder Niu wondered if he was witnessing a Blade Cultivator ascend to Blade Immortal.

Xu Taiping unleashed an incomplete ultimate-realm Burning Blade Style that overwhelmed the Blade-Sharpening Boy and nearly destroyed the Martial Champion Tower, revealing power beyond an ordinary Blade Immortal’s strike. As Beiguo Xiao approached Li Xueqing afterward, the Lotus Eye showed Xu Taiping a vision of Beiguo Xiao’s previous life and raised the possibility that he was reclaiming a lost Dao Seal.

• The Blade-Sharpening Boy drew his blade, but Xu Taiping’s incomplete ultimate-realm strike shattered his flaming attack and sliced through him before the Palace Master contained the resulting pillar of fire.
• The Old Palace Master identified Xu Taiping’s attack as an incomplete ultimate-realm strike beyond the Blade Cultivator Realm, and Xu Taiping learned that it had consumed nine units of divine essence.
• Xu Taiping confirmed with the Blade Ghost that his strike could break the seal on the Demon Emperor’s Jiao Demon God’s Body, though a complete execution would likely burn him to ashes.
• Beiguo Xiao stopped Li Xueqing and Fu Liu, saying he wanted to ask Li Xueqing a few questions rather than make things difficult for her.
• The Lotus Eye showed Xu Taiping a divine figure resembling Beiguo Xiao and identified it as Beiguo Xiao’s previous life, prompting Xu Taiping to wonder whether he was an Exiled Immortal reclaiming his Dao Seal.

Beiguo Xiao asked Li Xueqing to give him another chance after proving his strength, while Xu Taiping suspected her answer might reveal how to unravel Beiguo Xiao’s Dao Seal. Li Xueqing rejected him and declared that Fu Liu was the Dao companion she desired, leaving Beiguo Xiao’s Dao Heart on the verge of collapse.

• The Old Palace Master let Beiguo Xiao speak with Li Xueqing despite Elder Niu’s concerns.
• Beiguo Xiao asked Li Xueqing whether she still saw him as an ignorant wastrel and pleaded for another chance.
• Li Xueqing acknowledged Beiguo Xiao’s talent but said she felt no romantic attachment to him.
• Fu Liu urged Li Xueqing to use harsher words against Beiguo Xiao, and she agreed.
• Li Xueqing told Beiguo Xiao that he was a good man but that Fu Liu was the Dao companion she desired.

Li Xueqing publicly chose Fu Liu as her Dao companion, and the rejection caused Beiguo Xiao’s Dao heart and body to collapse. After Beiguo Xiao stabbed himself with the Spring-Slaying Blade, a powerful golden aura erupted from his corpse, and the Old Palace Master welcomed the return of the Heavenly Journey Ancestor.

• Li Xueqing took Fu Liu’s hand and left Beiguo Xiao, whose Dao heart collapsed and whose cultivation and life force began to dissipate.
• The Old Palace Master refused Elder Niu’s request to intervene, while Xu Taiping and the Blade Ghost wondered whether Beiguo Xiao was a reincarnated great cultivator.
• Beiguo Xiao became a shriveled figure and said his obsession with Li Xueqing had lasted ten thousand years before stabbing himself with the Spring-Slaying Blade.
• Yan Yu caught Beiguo Xiao as he collapsed, and he told her he would remember and repay her kindness before his head drooped.
• A powerful aura surged from Beiguo Xiao’s body, bursting his Dharma Robe and sending golden flames through the Blade-Testing Pavilion’s roof.
• The Old Palace Master calmed the panicking disciples and identified himself as Jiang Xuanfeng as he welcomed the Heavenly Journey Ancestor’s return.

Feng Tianxing returned to life by absorbing the Profound Elixir Palace’s mountain and river spiritual qi, then recognized Xu Taiping and offered to befriend him. Xu Taiping was left stunned by the offer from an ancestor whose cultivation might reach the Dao Integration Realm or beyond.

• Jiang Xuanfeng and Niu Changqing identified Beiguo Xiao’s corpse as Feng Tianxing’s reincarnated form as it absorbed the palace’s spiritual qi.
• Feng Tianxing rebuilt his body, drew in the immortal abode’s remaining spiritual qi, and grew to an enormous size with a physique beyond the Great Sage Realm.
• Jiang Xuanfeng, Niu Changqing, and the Profound Elixir Palace disciples bowed and welcomed Feng Tianxing back.
• Feng Tianxing detected Xu Taiping’s presence, thanked him for undoing the seal and helping him transcend his tribulation, and promised the Profound Elixir Palace would repay him.
• Feng Tianxing asked Xu Taiping’s name and said he wished to befriend him, leaving Xu Taiping astonished.

Xu Taiping revealed his identity to Jiang Xuanfeng and Feng Tianxing, who invited him to visit the Profound Elixir Palace and promised him a great opportunity. Feng Tianxing then announced that he was leaving for the Shangqing Upper Realm and the Purple Jade Alchemy Chamber, the Profound Elixir Palace’s sacred ground.

• Xu Taiping told Jiang Xuanfeng that he was the True Martial Sword Champion from the Azure Profound Sect.
• Jiang Xuanfeng informed Feng Tianxing that Xu Taiping had helped him survive his tribulation.
• Feng Tianxing welcomed Xu Taiping as a friend and invited him to visit the Profound Elixir Palace before the Dragon-Slaying Gathering.
• Feng Tianxing asked Yan Yu to accompany him as he left the Profound Elixir Palace for the Shangqing Upper Realm.
• Feng Tianxing named the Purple Jade Alchemy Chamber as his destination, shocking the Profound Elixir Palace disciples.

Feng Tianxing prepared to enter the Purple Jade Alchemy Chamber and take Yan Yu with him to face the coming calamity, while refusing Li Xueqing’s attempt to reclaim Beiguo Xiao. He ascended to the Upper Realm with Yan Yu, leaving Li Xueqing pursuing him and Xu Taiping asking Blade Ghost about his memories of love.

• Feng Tianxing told Jiang Xuanfeng that he planned to retrieve pills, treasures, and ripe Ten-Thousand-Year Purple-Green White True Fruits so he could recover his strength for the coming calamity.
• Feng Tianxing promised Jiang Xuanfeng a pill of comparable effect and invited Yan Yu to accompany him to the Purple Jade Alchemy Chamber.
• Li Xueqing pleaded with Feng Tianxing to acknowledge himself as Beiguo Xiao, then revealed she wanted him to take her to the chamber and give her a White True Fruit.
• Feng Tianxing told Li Xueqing that Beiguo Xiao had been killed by her own hands, then departed for the Upper Realm with Yan Yu.
• Li Xueqing chased after Feng Tianxing, while Xu Taiping and Blade Ghost discussed her cries before Xu Taiping asked whether Blade Ghost remembered anyone he had loved.

Xu Taiping replenished his divine essence at Jiaye Hall and learned that his Buddhist seals and bracelet could wield their powers beyond the Thousand Buddha Kingdom. Dongfang Yuejian and Xuanzhi then reported that Duan Xiaoyu and four youths were trapped in ice with Demon Emperor Jiao, whose seal could only be broken by a full-strength Dao Integration Realm cultivator.

• Blade Ghost recalled a beautiful woman from his shattered memories and agreed to make a divine soul likeness for Xu Taiping.
• Xu Taiping said he would strengthen himself for the Chaotic Stars Assembly so the tragedy that left his chest scar would not happen again.
• Abbot Jiaye restored Xu Taiping’s divine essence with buddha fate power and returned his repaired All Beings Equal Bracelet.
• Abbot Jiaye explained that accumulated buddha fate power could let Xu Taiping use the bracelet’s power and his Dhyana and Fearless Seals outside the Thousand Buddha Kingdom.
• Dongfang Yuejian and Xuanzhi told Xu Taiping that Duan Xiaoyu and four youths were sealed in ice with Demon Emperor Jiao at Starfall Lake, and that only a full-strength Dao Integration Realm strike could break the seal.

Xu Taiping learned that Elder Jiaye had opened a safe passage between Jiaye Temple and the Withered Stone Sea, then watched a Spirit Mirror broadcast of cultivators trying to free Duan Xiaoyu and the others from Demon God Qingnü’s ice. Elder Sword Immortal Zheng Zimo’s powerful strike left the ice untouched, and Xu Taiping’s claimed seventy-to-eighty-percent chance of breaking the seal remained unexplained.

• Xu Taiping thanked Master Xuanzhi and Dongfang Yuejian for returning to Jiaye Temple, and Elder Jiaye explained that a new passage connected the temple to the Withered Stone Sea.
• Dongfang Yuejian asked about Xu Taiping’s confidence in breaking Demon God Qingnü’s seal, then showed him a Spirit Mirror broadcast of the frozen block and explained that it had been brought out of Starfall Lake.
• Xu Taiping watched as Elder Sword Immortal Zheng Zimo unleashed a towering crimson sword strike against the ice.
• Zheng Zimo’s strike failed to damage the block, and Dongfang Yuejian told Xu Taiping that he could now see why his confidence seemed so extraordinary.

Xu Taiping revealed that his physique had reached the Great Sage Realm, convincing Dongfang Yuejian and Master Xuanzhi that he could attempt to break the freezing power over Demon God Qingnü's remnant body. As they prepared to take the Dragon-Slaying Stele near Starfall Lake, Abbot Jiaye gave Xu Taiping a scripture page that could restore his Divine Essence and Divine Soul Power.

• Xu Taiping said he intended to break the ice around Demon God Qingnü's remnant body with sheer combat strength, but Dongfang Yuejian and Master Xuanzhi doubted he could do so.
• Xu Taiping revealed his Great Sage Realm dragon whale physique, and Dongfang Yuejian and Master Xuanzhi believed he could try to break the freezing power without attracting the Heavenly Dao Edict's punishment.
• Xu Taiping asked Dongfang Yuejian and Master Xuanzhi to move the Dragon-Slaying Stele near Starfall Lake so he could avoid another attack from an Upper Realm expert.
• Abbot Jiaye stopped the group and gave Xu Taiping a page of the Manjushri Bodhisattva Heart Mantra, which could restore his expended Divine Essence and Divine Soul Power.

Xu Taiping waited in the Dragon-Trapping Tower for Dongfang Yuejian and Master Xuanzhi to bring the Dragon-Slaying Stele to Starfall Lake, while two Yin Gods began instinctively devouring each other. Watching the lake through a spirit mirror, he saw the Heartless Demon Emperor intervene after Jiang Cuicui failed to break the ice seal.

• Xu Taiping learned that Yin God Su Yan and the Wolf-Headed Yin God were instinctively devouring each other, but Lotus Eye said they could not be separated and the struggle would take six months or a year.
• Dongfang Yuejian told Xu Taiping that she and Master Xuanzhi had taken the Dragon-Slaying Stele out of the Wilderness and would hide it near Starfall Lake while watching the battle.
• Xu Taiping used a spirit mirror to view Starfall Lake and saw that the enormous block of ice remained intact.
• Jiang Cuicui struck the ice with her saber, but her attack left only a long mark and failed to break it.
• The Heartless Demon Emperor declared that the Nine Abyss would act, then summoned a black hand that pulled the enormous block of ice out of the ground.

Xu Taiping watched Yun Shiliu, the Three Sovereigns Dao Palace’s sword wielder, fight the Heartless Demon Emperor as the Nine Abysses’ interest in the Celestial Palace Star Map became clear. Yun Shiliu forced open the Emperor’s crushing palm, but a new black hand appeared holding an enormous obsidian sword.

• Xu Taiping and the Lotus Eye considered why the Nine Abysses had intervened and recognized that the Celestial Palace Star Map could be important to both the Nine Abysses and the Shangqing Cultivation World.
• Yun Shiliu severed the Heartless Demon Emperor’s first enormous black hand with a sword strike.
• Yun Shiliu cut down another black palm, but the Heartless Demon Emperor crushed a five-colored gemstone and used its power to shatter her sword light and seize her.
• Yun Shiliu’s sword qi broke through the Heartless Demon Emperor’s Palm-Heart Thunder and gradually forced his black palm open.
• Another gigantic black hand emerged holding an enormous obsidian longsword.

Yun Shiliu lured the Heartless Demon Emperor into a sword seal, then Xiahou Qingyuan arrived and wounded the demon emperor with a spear infused with righteous qi. Xiahou Qingyuan ended the chapter by formally declaring that the Jade Balance Mountain Xiahou Clan was at war with the Nine Abysses.

• The Heartless Demon Emperor attacked Yun Shiliu with an obsidian sword, and Xu Taiping prepared to intervene if Dongfang Yuejian and Xuanzhi had reached Starfall Lake.
• Yun Shiliu used Heaven-Sealing Moon-Locking to bind the Heartless Demon Emperor with a net of sword light and chains.
• The Heartless Demon Emperor said he would break the seal within half an incense stick, but Yun Shiliu claimed she had a way to slay him.
• Xiahou Qingyuan arrived and struck the Heartless Demon Emperor's chest with a spear, channeling righteous qi into a bloody wound.
• Xiahou Qingyuan declared that the Jade Balance Mountain Xiahou Clan formally declared war on the Nine Abysses.

Xiahou Qingyuan and Yun Shiliu tried to wear down the Heartless Demon Emperor, but he revealed a demon seed power that let him borrow Demon God Qingnü’s ice-sealing ability. As the attackers withdrew, Xu Taiping prepared to enter Starfall Lake and rescue Duan Xiaoyu and the others.

• Xiahou Qingyuan repeatedly struck the Heartless Demon Emperor’s Demon God body with a Great Dao Divine Weapon, and Xu Taiping realized the assault was meant to lure powerful figures from the Nine Abysses.
• The Heartless Demon Emperor covered himself in solid ice and revealed that one of his demon seed powers let him borrow nearby demonic beasts’ powers.
• Yun Shiliu ordered Xiahou You to evacuate the cultivators before the Heaven-Sealing Moon-Locking Seal expired.
• Xu Taiping told Dongfang Yuejian to bury his Dragon-Slaying Stele near the ice and leave, then said he would go break Demon God Qingnü’s ice-sealing power and rescue Duan Xiaoyu and the others.
• After Dongfang Yuejian and Master Xuanzhi watched the remaining confrontation through the Spirit Mirror, Xu Taiping sent word that he was about to come out and asked them to watch for powerful auras descending from the sky.

Dongfang Yuejian and Xuanzhi prepared to support Xu Taiping while monitoring the battle at Starfall Lake for powerful auras from Outer Heaven. When Yun Shiliu lent his sword intent to Xiahou Qingyuan, Xu Taiping chose that moment to strike, and Dongfang sent the Dragon-Slaying Stele toward the battlefield.

• Xuanzhi sensed the surroundings for powerful auras while Dongfang Yuejian created a clone of him and sent it underground toward the Dragon-Slaying Stele.
• Dongfang Yuejian warned Xu Taiping to wait for the right moment, but he decided to strike once no powerful aura appeared and asked her to hurl the stele to Starfall Lake.
• Yun Shiliu wrapped Xiahou Qingyuan's Great Dao Divine Weapon in his sword light and lent him his sword intent for a joint attack on the Heartless Demon Emperor.
• Xu Taiping told Dongfang Yuejian that it was time, and she ordered her hidden clone to carry the Dragon-Slaying Stele toward Yun Shiliu and the others.

Xiahou Qingyuan unleashed a near-Ultimate Realm spear strike against the Heartless Demon Emperor, but the Emperor’s extreme cold shattered the strike and froze Xiahou Qingyuan. Yun Shiliu warned everyone to stay away, just as a burly monk carrying a stone stele rushed toward the danger.

• Xiahou Qingyuan gathered Yun Shiliu’s Sword Qi into his Great Dao Divine Weapon and formed a towering Ice-Sand Dharma Aspect that drove his spear strike into the Heartless Demon Emperor’s chest.
• The Heartless Demon Emperor’s extreme cold froze Xiahou Qingyuan’s spear shadow, shattered it, and trapped Xiahou Qingyuan in ice despite his attempt to escape.
• The Heartless Demon Emperor mocked Xiahou Qingyuan and taunted Yun Shiliu, who warned everyone not to approach because they could not break the ice-sealing power.
• Xiahou You halted with the cultivators she had brought to help, then saw a burly monk carrying an enormous stone stele rush toward the center of the ice-sealing power.
• Xiahou You shouted for the monk to turn back before he reached the dangerous area.

A monk carrying a stone stele charged through the Heartless Demon Emperor’s freezing power, but his body was destroyed after he hurled the stele. Xiahou You recognized it as the Dragon-Slaying Stele, and Xu Taiping emerged from it, leaving the onlookers stunned by his arrival.

• Xiahou You tried to intercept the monk, but Zheng Zimo protected her from the freezing blasts and warned that he could not save the monk.
• The monk endured the extreme cold, hurled the stone stele toward the Heartless Demon Emperor, and perished as his body was stripped to a skeleton.
• Xiahou You suspected the stele was Xu Taiping’s Dragon-Slaying Stele and used her Spirit Mirror to confirm it.
• Five-Colored Radiance flowed over the stele, and Xu Taiping strode out carrying a black coffin.
• Zheng Zimo recognized Xu Taiping of the Azure Profound Sect and exclaimed in disbelief at his arrival.

Xu Taiping charged into the Withered Stone Sea and endured Demon God Qingnü’s extreme cold without protective measures. He revealed a Great Sage Realm physique, smashed through the waves of snow, and continued advancing as his power grew.

• Cultivators watching through Spirit Mirrors questioned whether Xu Taiping could break the ice-sealing power, and Xiahou You rebuked them for criticizing him from safety.
• Xu Taiping weathered a surge of extreme cold through his physique alone, while Zheng Zimo prepared to rescue him if necessary.
• When a towering wave of wind and snow crashed toward Xu Taiping, he revealed a physique more than thirty zhang tall and smashed the wave apart.
• Xu Taiping punched through the oncoming wind and snow, carving a hollow more than a hundred zhang long in the snowfield.
• Xu Taiping resumed sprinting as crimson dragon scales covered most of his body and his Qi and Blood Power continued to rise, prompting cultivators to identify his physique as beyond the Great Sage Realm’s Ultimate Realm.

Xu Taiping reached the ice imprisoning Duan Xiaoyu and the others after shattering a fused ice storm with one punch, but his first Baxia strike could not break the seal. Ignoring calls to rescue Xiahou Qingyuan first, he prepared to unleash the ultimate-realm Burning Blade Style, leaving everyone uncertain whether he could break the ice.

• Xu Taiping shattered the fused ice and snow storm with a single punch, and Zheng Zimo and Xiahou You praised his Great Sage Realm physique.
• Xiahou Qingyuan and Yun Shiliu urged Xu Taiping to save Xiahou Qingyuan first, but Xu Taiping continued toward the ice imprisoning Duan Xiaoyu and the others.
• The Heartless Demon Emperor mocked the humans for fighting separately and warned that none of the rescuers would leave alive.
• Xu Taiping struck the ice with the Baxia Form, leaving only a shallow crack, and endured the seal's freezing backlash with his Great Sage physique.
• Xu Taiping ignored further pleas to join forces and began preparing the ultimate-realm Burning Blade Style, prompting Xiahou Qingyuan to call him unreasonable.

Xu Taiping faced the merged ice-sealing powers of Demon God Qingnü and broke through them with a Heaven Shocking Realm Ultimate Realm slash. The ice melted, freeing Demon Emperor Jiao as onlookers realized Xu Taiping had mastered Ultimate Realm blade techniques.

• Xiahou You and Old Sword Immortal Zheng Zimo debated whether Xu Taiping could have mastered the Heaven Shocking Realm's Ultimate Realm power.
• The merged currents of extreme cold became a sky-covering blizzard that surged toward Xu Taiping.
• Xu Taiping's protective blade qi split the blizzard, and he drew the Water-Cutting Blade to prepare his attack.
• Xu Taiping used Burning Blade Style to cleave Demon God Qingnü's ice-sealing mass in two and melt it, freeing Demon Emperor Jiao.
• A cultivator watching through the Spirit Mirror announced that Xu Taiping had mastered the Heaven Shocking Realm's Ultimate Realm blade techniques.