Chapter Summaries

Xu Taiping and his companions entered burning Hongling Town and decided to rescue its civilians despite suspecting Eight Heroes Valley was trying to exhaust their magic. As Dongfang Yuejian began preparing the Cloud Rain Art, Xu Taiping confronted a band of bandits while Gu Yu stayed behind to help Xuanzhi.

• Xuanzhi, Gu Yu, and Dongfang Yuejian stopped to save the townspeople, and the Battle Merit Ledger announced penalties for civilian deaths and rewards for lives saved.
• Dongfang Yuejian explained that she could use Xuanzhi's Eight-Tone Withered Wood Fish to cast Cloud Rain Art, though it would exhaust their remaining power, and Xu Taiping agreed to rescue the civilians.
• A dozen bandits from Eight Heroes Valley charged toward them, and Xu Taiping told Dongfang Yuejian and Xuanzhi to continue preparing the spell while he held them off.
• Xu Taiping's battle intent frightened the bandits' horses and threw all sixteen riders to the ground.
• The bald bandit rallied his men and led them in a group attack against Xu Taiping.

Xu Taiping slaughtered Eight Heroes Valley bandits and crossbowmen while protecting his companions, then learned that a Dragon-Slaying Person was backing the valley. After Dongfang Yuejian completed her formation, Xu Taiping destroyed the archers, and she claimed he had barely shown his true strength.

• Xu Taiping killed the sixteen Eight Heroes Valley bandits who confronted him, leaving Gu Yu awed by his saber technique.
• Dozens of crossbowmen fired repeated volleys at Xu Taiping, and he used Blade Qi and a Fireball Talisman to destroy their arrows and attack them.
• A Fierce Wind Talisman dispersed the fireballs, leading Xuanzhi to realize that a Dragon-Slaying Person was backing Eight Heroes Valley.
• Dongfang Yuejian completed her Cloud Rain Art, freeing Xu Taiping to charge the crossbowmen and kill more than thirty of them with a Scarlet Blade Gang slash.
• Gu Yu asked whether this was Xu Taiping's true combat strength, and Dongfang Yuejian said it was not even one ten-thousandth of his full power.

Xu Taiping and his companions fought through Eight Heroes Valley’s ambushes and reached the burning ancestral hall, where Mo Yu threatened a mother and daughter to force Gu Yu into a deadly duel. Gu Yu accepted a one-against-eight fight with the valley’s elders, but Xu Taiping demanded that someone test blades with him first.

• Xu Taiping cut down the bandits ambushing the group as Dongfang Yuejian and Xuanzhi helped clear their path, while he told Gu Yu to save his strength for the ancestral hall.
• The group reached the ancestral hall, where Gu Yu identified the eight elders who had once terrorized him, and Xu Taiping killed a bandit who tried to stop them.
• Mo Yu introduced himself as the current Valley Lord of Eight Heroes Valley and wounded a woman in front of her daughter to deter the visitors from interfering in his dispute with Gu Yu.
• Mo Yu demanded that Gu Yu fight the eight elders to the death, and Gu Yu accepted after seeing the little girl’s distress.
• Xu Taiping agreed to the one-against-eight fight but insisted that someone test blades with Gu Yu first.

In the Immortal Burial Ruins, Xu Taiping’s exhausted group entered the ancestral hall and faced the Eight Evils, while onlookers realized a Dragon-Slaying Person had engineered the ambush. Mo Yu threatened a mother and daughter to force Gu Yu into fighting, and Xu Taiping’s response left the fight’s terms unsettled.

• Duan Xiaoyu, Zhu Huai, Jiang Cuicui, and Lu Rushuang concluded that a Shangqing Realm Dragon-Slaying Person had set the bandit ambush for Xu Taiping’s group.
• Xu Taiping, Xuanzhi, Dongfang Yuejian, and Gu Yu entered the ancestral hall after their strength had been worn down by the fire and the bandits.
• Mo Yu wounded a woman in front of her daughter and threatened to kill them if anyone intervened in his grievance with Gu Yu.
• Zhang Moyan, Xiahou You, and Zhu Huai explained that Mo Yu was trying to make Gu Yu fight the Eight Evils so Xu Taiping’s group would lose its chance to restore their cultivation and pursue the Chief position.
• Gu Yu agreed to fight, but Xu Taiping stepped in and told Mo Yu that Gu Yu would face all eight only after one opponent came out to let him test his blade.

Xu Taiping accepted Mo Yu’s one-against-eight challenge but arranged for Gu Yu to first test blades with Gou Yinhai under strict limits. Gu Yu embraced his chance to start his life anew and stepped forward to avenge his teacher and the people of Red Carp Library.

• Mo Yu accepted Xu Taiping’s terms and asked the Eight Evils to choose an opponent for Gu Yu.
• Zhu Huai and Jiang Cuicui explained that martial artists in the Immortal Burial Ruins lived longer and that their realm rankings differed from those in the Shangqing Realm.
• Xu Taiping told Gu Yu not to use the Seven-Kill Blade or his divine-human variant bone power outside his saber arm, and promised to avenge him if he lost.
• Gu Yu resolved not to return to his former life and declared that he would defeat Gou Yinhai to avenge Teacher Red Carp and the people of the library.
• Gu Yu drew his saber and faced Gou Yinhai in the courtyard.

Gu Yu awakened his own gang qi during the test of the blade and defeated Gou Yinhai, but Mo Yu stopped the fight and threatened the bound women and children in the ancestral hall. Xu Taiping urged Gu Yu to proceed with the one-against-eight fight and put out the fire from sixty years ago.

• Gu Yu fought Gou Yinhai with his saber, and Gou Yinhai repeatedly blocked his attacks with an axe.
• As Gou Yinhai prepared a gang-qi-powered strike, Gu Yu recalled Xu Taiping's teaching and condensed gang qi from his own qi and blood power.
• Gu Yu's gang-qi-infused saber cut through Gou Yinhai's axe and sent him crashing to the ground.
• Mo Yu struck Gu Yu back and declared the test of the blade over, while Dongfang Yuejian accused Eight Heroes Valley of unfairness.
• Mo Yu revealed bound women and children in the pine-oil-soaked ancestral hall as leverage against Xu Taiping and his group.
• Xu Taiping ignored Mo Yu's threat and told Gu Yu to go put out the great fire from sixty years ago.

Gu Yu faced the Eight Evils, who mocked him with the truth about their attack on his academy and Teacher Red Carp. He unleashed hidden golden gang qi and divine-human variant bone power, killed the one-armed villain, and surrounded the remaining seven with his Seven-Kill Blade Drawing Stance.

• Gu Yu carefully straightened his clothes and bid farewell to Xu Taiping, Dongfang Yuejian, and Xuanzhi before approaching the Eight Evils.
• One-Eye reminded Gu Yu of the attack on his academy, and the villains cruelly described setting it on fire and tormenting Teacher Red Carp.
• As a one-armed villain struck at him, Gu Yu broke the attack with golden gang qi and killed him with a flurry of blade ghosts.
• Gu Yu released divine-human variant bone power, and One-Eye ordered the other villains to retreat.
• Gu Yu drew his saber in the Seven-Kill Blade Drawing Stance, creating seven figures that surrounded the remaining villains as he roared for their deaths.

Gu Yu avenged his teacher by killing the villains, then overcame his old helplessness and saved the women and children trapped in the burning ancestral hall. The companions’ cultivation restraints lifted, revealing three Jiang Clan members hiding in Gu Yu’s home, and Xu Taiping chose to wait and see what they would do.

• Gu Yu used the Seven-Kill Blade to slaughter the villains and, with Xu Taiping’s approval, killed their one-eyed leader despite his offer to reveal who had ordered the attack.
• A little girl cried for help as Valley Lord Mo Yu set fire to the ancestral hall, and Gu Yu rushed inside to shield her and the others with a golden Life-Bound Divine Ability.
• Xu Taiping told Gu Yu he had succeeded, and Gu Yu wept as he said he had avenged his teacher and saved everyone.
• The cultivation restraints on Xu Taiping, Dongfang Yuejian, and Master Xuanzhi broke, allowing them to sense three Jiang Clan members hiding in Gu Yu’s home.
• Xu Taiping told Dongfang Yuejian to wait and see what the three Jiang Clan members intended to do.

Gu Yu killed the Eight Evils and revealed abilities that led the spectators to conclude he possessed an innate divine-human variant bone physique. Xu Taiping then attacked the Jiang Household members hiding near Hongling Town, exposing them as the force behind Eight Heroes Valley and preparing to settle accounts with them.

• Gu Yu slaughtered the Eight Evils and destroyed the ancestral hall while protecting Hongling Town's women and children with his Life-Bound Divine Ability.
• Xiahou You, Zhu Huai, and Jiang Cuicui concluded that Gu Yu had an innate divine-human variant bone physique, possibly nurtured by Chenglong Heaven's use of Dragon Clan fortune.
• Xiahou Qingyuan questioned whether Xu Taiping had known about Gu Yu's physique, while Xiahou You suspected Xu Taiping's actions had a deeper purpose.
• Xu Taiping unleashed a vast blade strike against the Mud-Walled Small Courtyard and trapped three earth-yellow masses of light trying to escape.
• Xu Taiping identified the Jiang Household as his target, and Duan Xiaoyu realized they were the Dragon-Slaying Persons behind Eight Heroes Valley.

Xu Taiping, Xuanzhi, and Dongfang Yuejian worked together to trap three members of the Jiang clan, while observers discussed the team’s strength and the coming struggle for cultivation opportunities. Dongfang Yuejian then carried the group toward the Mud-Walled Small Courtyard to confront the captured Jiang clan members.

• Xu Taiping’s Blade Qi broke through the Jiang clan members’ escape attempt, and Xuanzhi trapped them inside his Vajra Demon-Subduing Circle.
• Xuanzhi struck the three earth-yellow halos down with a Buddha hand, and Dongfang Yuejian pinned them with her Luo River God Nails.
• Observers praised the team’s strength, and Lu Rushuang explained that Xuanzhi had broken through to the Arhat Realm and gained the accumulated Buddhist fortune of hundreds of thousands of years.
• Jiang Cuicui warned that Gu Yu would need fortuitous opportunities to advance quickly enough for the Dragon-Slaying Assembly, while Xiahou You and Zhu Huai discussed the Jiang clan’s motives.
• Dongfang Yuejian summoned wind and clouds to carry Xu Taiping’s group and Gu Yu toward the Mud-Walled Small Courtyard to confront the captured Jiang clan members.

Xu Taiping confronted Jiang Jiuxuan, Jiang Li, and Du He after catching them trespassing in Gu Yu’s courtyard, and the Ranking Spirit warned all Dragon-Slaying teams to obey her rules. Du He surrendered the stolen goods, and Xu Taiping opened his Storage Ring, revealing a pile of treasures.

• Xu Taiping entered Gu Yu’s courtyard and found Jiang Jiuxuan, Jiang Li, and Du He pinned beneath the Luo River God Nails.
• Gu Yu condemned the three for trespassing, and Xu Taiping asked the Ranking Spirit whether he could detain them for questioning.
• The Ranking Spirit allowed Xu Taiping to hold the three for up to five days and threatened all nineteen Dragon-Slaying teams with expulsion or eternal imprisonment for breaking her rules.
• Du He rebuked Jiang Jiuxuan, admitted his miscalculation, and handed Xu Taiping his Storage Ring.
• Xu Taiping erased the Divine Soul Mark from Du He’s Storage Ring, causing its treasures to spill onto the ground.

Xu Taiping and his companions forced Du He, Jiang Jiuxuan, and Jiang Li to surrender their treasures, then released them after searching their belongings. With their cultivation restored, Xu Taiping's party prepared to descend into Gu Yu's old well, where they believed a treasure and a Demon Snake awaited.

• Gu Yu recognized treasures taken from his home and accused Du He, Jiang Jiuxuan, and Jiang Li of stealing them.
• Xu Taiping and Dongfang Yuejian claimed that treasures were missing and searched the three men's rings, bags, and other storage items.
• Du He, Jiang Jiuxuan, and Jiang Li surrendered their belongings, and Dongfang Yuejian freed them from the Luo River God Nails after the search.
• At the Spring Rain Pavilion, Chu Xiaoxiao and the others laughed about the Jiang Household's humiliation and anticipated the next viewing day.
• Xu Taiping's party discussed the treasure in Gu Yu's old well and decided to descend immediately, prepared to face the Demon Snake.

Dongfang Yuejian gave Gu Yu Water-Repelling and Earth-Escaping Talismans before he descended into the old well to seek the underground opportunity. Gu Yu reached the underground river, where a gigantic catfish demon confronted him for trespassing in Yuanlingzi's Immortal Abode.

• Dongfang Yuejian drew Water-Repelling and Earth-Escaping Talismans on Gu Yu's palms and told him to wait for her in the underground river.
• Gu Yu leaped into the well, and the Water-Repelling Talisman let him breathe as he reached the bottom.
• The Earth-Escaping Talisman carried Gu Yu through the ground and into the underground river.
• Gu Yu rejoiced at his newfound freedom before spotting an enormous catfish swimming toward him.
• The catfish demon accused Gu Yu of trespassing in Yuanlingzi's Immortal Abode and disturbing the Upper Immortal's cultivation.

Gu Yu and Dongfang Yuejian fought their way through the Underground River Passage, where newly appeared Catfish Demons attacked them in the name of Upper Immortal Yuanling. As a giant Catfish Demon prepared an attack that could collapse the passage, Dongfang Yuejian began casting a spell and relied on Gu Yu to protect her.

• Dongfang Yuejian entered the river, wounded two Catfish Demons with her Water-Control Technique, and shielded herself and Gu Yu inside a crystalline water sphere.
• Dongfang Yuejian and Gu Yu learned that Xu Taiping and Xuanzhi were fighting Bloodthirsty Bat Demons and a Rock-Armored Demon Serpent in the Karst Cave.
• A giant Catfish Demon bound Dongfang Yuejian and Gu Yu with its whiskers, but Dongfang Yuejian cut through the whiskers and the attacking demons to clear their way toward the exit.
• The giant Catfish Demon sucked water from the passage and gathered a huge water bubble, prompting Dongfang Yuejian to remove their barrier and begin casting while Gu Yu guarded her with his saber.

Gu Yu and Dongfang Yuejian fought their way through the underground river, where Dongfang Yuejian used the Heaven-Cold Lamp’s borrowed power to freeze a deadly water attack. After they escaped, they found Xu Taiping confronting a gigantic Rock-Armor Python Demon whose aura had grown powerful.

• Gu Yu killed a Catfish Demon with the Seven-Kill Blade, then cut down five more as they charged him.
• A huge Catfish Demon fired a water ball, and Dongfang Yuejian froze it and the passage with the Heaven-Cold Lamp’s borrowed divine power.
• Dongfang Yuejian carried herself and Gu Yu toward the exit, freezing the underground river behind them as they went.
• Xuanzhi told them that the Bat Demons were mostly under control and that Xu Taiping was fighting the Rock-Armor Giant Python.
• After Gu Yu and Dongfang Yuejian surfaced, Xuanzhi destroyed a fireball with the Great Arhat Buddha Hand.
• Gu Yu and Dongfang Yuejian saw Xu Taiping facing a colossal Three-Headed Rock-Armor Python Demon, and Dongfang Yuejian questioned how its aura had grown so powerful.

Xu Taiping faced the Three-Headed Rock-Armored Demon Serpent while Xuanzhi explained how it and the Bloodsucking Bat Demons had awakened after Gu Yu entered the Underground River Passage. Xu Taiping unleashed his full Blade Force, leaving the serpent trapped and Gu Yu newly inspired to seek immortality.

• Xuanzhi told Dongfang Yuejian and Gu Yu that the Demon Serpent had awakened and drawn power from the Earth Vein Underground River as Gu Yu descended, while Xuanzhi and Brother Taiping had been occupied clearing out the Bloodsucking Bat Demons.
• Gu Yu recounted what he and Dongfang Yuejian had encountered, and they suspected his arrival had lifted a restriction in the river; Xuanzhi reassured him that the serpent posed little threat.
• The Three-Headed Rock-Armored Demon Serpent raised its scales and bombarded Xu Taiping with fireballs, weakening the barrier formed by his Blade Qi Thunderclap.
• Xu Taiping drew the Water-Cutting Blade and released a vast Blade Force that filled the Karst Cave, filling Gu Yu with awe and inspiring him to seek immortality.
• Xu Taiping's Blade Force turned the fireballs back toward the serpent and pressed its rock armor shut, trapping it in Blade Qi Thunderclap.

Xu Taiping defeated the Three-Headed Demon Snake, but its body repeatedly regained its aura and regenerated. As Xu Taiping prepared to destroy the remains with Thunderflame, Gu Yu cut off a snake tail that began rapidly rotting.

• The Three-Headed Demon Snake fired beams at Xu Taiping, who dodged them and severed all three of its heads with his blade.
• Master Xuanzhi shielded Gu Yu from falling stalactites, and Dongfang Yuejian carried Gu Yu and Xuanzhi to Xu Taiping by wind.
• Xu Taiping said the Bronze Gate likely concealed their fortuitous opportunity, but the Demon Snake's body began regenerating before they could approach it.
• Xu Taiping hacked the Demon Snake's body into pieces, and Dongfang Yuejian confirmed its aura had vanished before it recovered again.
• Xu Taiping asked Dongfang Yuejian, Xuanzhi, and Gu Yu to wait while he prepared to use Thunderflame, but a snake tail lunged at him.
• Gu Yu warned Xu Taiping and severed the attacking tail with a full-force slash, after which the tail began to rot.

Xu Taiping and the others discovered that Gu Yu was the one able to open the Bronze Gate, though its knocker burned him and the gate released Blood Infants when he struck it. The gate began opening as the Blood Infants emerged, leaving the group preparing to face them.

• After the Demon Snake's body rotted, Xu Taiping and Dongfang Yuejian suspected Gu Yu could break the cavern's restriction and open the Bronze Gate.
• Xu Taiping knocked on the gate, causing a blood web and Blood Infants' gourds to appear, but the gate did not open for him, Dongfang Yuejian, or Xuanzhi.
• Xu Taiping enclosed the group in a wall of 𩙥 Flame, and Gu Yu grasped the burning knocker; his brief touch made the gate move before it shut again.
• When Xu Taiping promised the opportunity beyond the gate could help Gu Yu cultivate and become an immortal, Gu Yu endured the pain and struck the gate again.
• The Bronze Gate began opening, the blood gourds fell, and Dongfang Yuejian warned that the Blood Infants were coming.

Blood Infants poured from the Bronze Gate’s Blood Webs and rapidly overwhelmed Xu Taiping’s 𩙥 Flame Barrier, forcing him to spend his true essence to keep the group safe. Gu Yu continued opening the gate, while Xu Taiping suspected the Blood Cultivator behind it was deliberately exhausting him.

• Blood gourds fell from the Bronze Gate, releasing tortured Blood Infants that attacked Xu Taiping’s group and consumed spiritual power from his 𩙥 Flame Barrier.
• Xu Taiping warned that the rapidly multiplying Blood Infants could breach the barrier within dozens of breaths, and Dongfang Yuejian suspected their Blood Cultivator was nearby and might still be alive.
• Gu Yu endured the pain and knocked the Bronze Gate open another sliver, though he still needed to strike it about a dozen more times.
• Xuanzhi spotted another Blood Web on the cavern ceiling, and its falling gourds released more Blood Infants that swarmed the barrier.
• Xu Taiping ate a Yaoguang Fruit to replenish his true essence and expand the barrier, then suspected the Blood Cultivator was deliberately wearing him down.

Gu Yu opened the Bronze Gate through sheer determination and found his own Dao Heart as Xu Taiping watched. A Blood Cultivator’s attack burst from the doorway, and Yuanlingzi warned the four intruders to leave or die.

• Xu Taiping and Dongfang Yuejian suspected the Blood Cultivator was behind the Bronze Gate and offered to help hold off the Blood Infants while Gu Yu opened it.
• Gu Yu refused to stop despite his burned hands, insisting he would not hold the three Upper Immortals back and wanted to become someone who truly slayed dragons.
• Dongfang Yuejian and Xuanzhi recognized that Gu Yu had formed a Dao Heart, while Xu Taiping watched him continue knocking without surprise.
• The Blood Infants broke through the outer layer of Xu Taiping’s flame barrier, but Gu Yu shattered the gate’s restrictions and opened the Bronze Gate.
• A blood-mist tongue lunged at Gu Yu, and Xu Taiping blocked it with a flame barrier before Yuanlingzi threatened the four intruders from behind the gate.