Chapter Summaries

Xu Taiping faced Zhu Xuejian in a Sword Inquiry as cultivators across the Five Heavens watched to judge his strength. He overwhelmed her with a mighty slash, stopping just short of killing her and revealing that the Golden Scale Champion’s power remained formidable.

• Zhu Xuejian challenged Xu Taiping, while Zhao Linglong and Huang Que discussed the crowds watching and the rumors about Xu Taiping’s Bone-Shattering Curse.
• Zhu Xuejian mistook Xu Taiping’s polite invitation for an insult and launched an all-out sword strike.
• Xu Taiping drew Water-Cutting and shattered Zhu Xuejian’s Sword Intent with a powerful slash that pinned her in place.
• Xu Taiping halted his saber just before Zhu Xuejian’s forehead, stunning the spectators and prompting Zhu Yuan to recognize the Golden Scale Champion’s strength.
• In Peerless Nether Heaven, Mu Yun and Ji Ye praised Xu Taiping’s terrifying ability as a saber cultivator.

Xu Taiping defeated Zhu Xuejian with ease, then accepted Du Ziyin and six Yellow Maple Valley disciples’ request to challenge him together. Their plan aimed to restore Yellow Maple Valley’s reputation and wear down Xu Taiping before their eldest senior brother’s match.

• Zhu Xuejian thanked Xu Taiping for his instruction after his effortless attack overwhelmed her, and he recalled his blade qi with a flick of his wrist.
• The spectators recognized that Xu Taiping’s martial skill and ultimate intent had advanced greatly, while Liu Chuxuan lamented that the Bone-Shattering Curse had hindered his future.
• Du Ziyin asked Xu Taiping to face him and six Yellow Maple Valley disciples together, and the crowd condemned the request as shameless.
• Huang Que explained that Du Ziyin wanted to reclaim Yellow Maple Valley’s reputation, drain Xu Taiping’s true essence, and expose his trump cards.
• Xu Taiping agreed to Du Ziyin’s group challenge.

Xu Taiping accepted Du Ziyin’s challenge against all seven Yellow Maple Valley disciples, who used the Heavenly Gang Seven-Star Sword Formation to attack him. As the formation pressured him with successive Sword Shadows, Xu Taiping began preparing his Ultimate Realm blade strike.

• Xu Taiping agreed to fight all seven Yellow Maple Valley disciples, despite concern from Liu Chuxuan, Zhao Qian, and Zhao Linglong.
• Du Ziyin led the seven disciples in forming the Heavenly Gang Seven-Star Sword Formation around Xu Taiping.
• Xu Taiping evaded the formation’s attacks with the Endless Horizon movement technique and the Power of Lightning Flash, then countered one disciple’s strike.
• Fairy Lingyue urged Xu Taiping to use the battle to test his Ultimate Realm blade strike and deter future challengers.
• Xu Taiping sheathed his blade, took the opening posture of the Demon-Slaying Blade’s Chaotic Cicada Stance, and released a powerful surge of blood qi and True Essence.

Xu Taiping used his ultimate blade strike to break the Heavenly Gang Seven-Star Sword Formation and defeat Du Ziyin and the other Yellow Maple Valley disciples. The Azure Cloud Ranking singled him out for an invitation, while Shen Li challenged him to a Sword Inquiry, leaving Xu Taiping eager to test his inherited art against a Heaven Gazing Realm opponent.

• Xu Taiping unleashed his Ultimate Realm Chaotic Cicada Stance, shattered the seven-star formation, and recalled his blade phantoms before they could harm the spectators.
• Liu Chuxuan praised Xu Taiping's advancing blade arts, and Zhao Qian persuaded him to consider helping Xu Taiping enter the True Martial Sword Champion Assembly in hopes of curing the Bone-Shattering Curse.
• Mu Yun told Ji Ye that the Bone-Shattering Curse had no cure, then received a message that the Azure Cloud Ranking had singled out Xu Taiping and requested his invitation to the Azure Cloud Assembly.
• Shen Li challenged Xu Taiping to a Sword Inquiry, and Mu Yun noted that the Yellow Maple Valley disciple had reached the Heaven Gazing Realm.
• Xu Taiping accepted Shen Li's challenge and looked forward to testing the Tiger Roar, Dragon Roar, Gold-Shattering Art against a stronger opponent.

Xu Taiping faced Shen Li on the Sword-Suppressing Sword Platform, breaking through his sword strikes while Shen Li unleashed the Great Dao True Intent of Boiling Stone and Melting Gold. The flames melted Xu Taiping’s travel token and rusted his Water-Cutting Blade, leaving him to continue the fight with an ordinary spirit-treasure-grade saber.

• Zhu Yuan reassured Zhu Xuejian that Shen Li’s Heaven Gazing Realm cultivation and Great Dao True Intent gave him an advantage over Xu Taiping.
• Huang Que worried that Xu Taiping had revealed his strongest blade strike, while Zhao Linglong insisted Shen Li might not withstand it.
• Xu Taiping considered the dangers of fighting a Heaven Gazing Realm expert without outside help and recalled what he had learned about Great Dao True Intent.
• Shen Li attacked with sword light, then summoned two fire dragons with Boiling Stone and Melting Gold.
• Xu Taiping broke through Shen Li’s sword strikes, but the flames melted his travel token and rusted his Water-Cutting Blade.
• Xu Taiping put away the damaged Water-Cutting Blade and drew an ordinary spirit-treasure-grade saber.

Xu Taiping’s blade domain failed to withstand Shen Li’s “Boiling Stone and Melting Gold” true intent, leaving him unable to use his weapons or artifacts. Just as Shen Li launched another attack and Zhao Qian moved to stop the Sword Inquiry, Xu Taiping released a strange soul pressure that stunned the spectators.

• Xu Taiping discovered that Shen Li’s true intent destroyed Spirit Weapons and shrank his blade domain until Shen Li’s flying sword broke it.
• Zhao Qian, Liu Chuxuan, Huang Que, and Zhao Linglong recognized how badly Xu Taiping was disadvantaged, while Zhu Yuan celebrated Yellow Maple Valley’s legacy.
• Xu Taiping stored his treasures, pinned up his hair, and declined Shen Li’s offer to end the contest by summoning two Mysterious Origin Avatars.
• Shen Li attacked Xu Taiping with “Gale and Sudden Rain,” and Zhao Qian prepared to intervene.
• The Sword-Suppressing Sword Platform shook as soul pressure spread from Xu Taiping, and Zhao Qian and Liu Chuxuan recognized it.

Xu Taiping unleashed a Soul Art that shattered Shen Li’s Sword Intent and the true intent of boiling stone and melting gold. The tiger-and-dragon attack struck Shen Li’s Divine Soul, causing his cultivation to plummet.

• As Shen Li’s Sword Intent broke through Xu Taiping’s Blade Qi, Zhao Qian and Liu Chuxuan sensed Xu Taiping’s rising Soul Pressure and realized he had cultivated a powerful Soul Art.
• Xu Taiping and his two Mysterious Origin Avatars assumed Raging Dragon Realm physiques and roared, releasing golden sound waves that shattered Shen Li’s Sword Intent and Sword Shadows.
• Xu Taiping’s sound waves broke Zhu Yuan’s phantom flood dragons and the true intent of boiling stone and melting gold.
• Shen Li summoned his Life-Bound Flying Sword and formed a giant Sword Shadow, but Xu Taiping’s golden sound waves shattered it and struck Shen Li with tiger and dragon phantoms.
• Xu Taiping’s attack shattered the little figure in Shen Li’s Niwan, and Shen Li’s cultivation fell from Transformation to Spirit Refining and then Profound Connection.

After Xu Taiping’s Soul Art shattered Shen Li’s true intent, Mu Yun and Ji Ye realized he had rapidly advanced his Primordial Spirit cultivation, likely through the Mysterious Wasteland Tower. Mu Yun discovered that Xu Taiping was probably Rusty Lion and decided to enter the tower with Ji Ye to seek a share of Xu Taiping’s martial fortune.

• Zhu Yuan, Mu Yun, and Ji Ye recognized that Xu Taiping had used a Soul Art to shatter Shen Li’s true intent, and Ji Ye concluded that Xu Taiping had reached the third stage of the Spirit Refining Realm in less than three months.
• Mu Yun suspected Xu Taiping had strengthened his divine soul in the Mysterious Wasteland Tower, and he and Ji Ye set out to investigate.
• Xu Taiping learned from Fairy Lingyue that the Tiger Roar, Dragon Roar, Gold-Shattering Art shattered the Primordial Spirit figure in the Niwan Palace, and she warned that his display might connect him to Rusty Lion.
• Mu Yun found reports that Rusty Lion and several minor cultivators had swept through the Mysterious Wasteland Tower’s first three floors, and he concluded Rusty Lion was Xu Taiping.
• Mu Yun invited Ji Ye to enter the Mysterious Wasteland Tower with him so they could find Xu Taiping and claim a share of his martial fortune.

Xu Taiping learned why Yellow Maple Valley had apologized and confirmed to Zhao Qian that he had entered the Mysterious Wasteland Tower. Zhao Qian promised Qingxuan’s support and offered to stop future Sword Inquiries, but Xu Taiping chose to continue accepting them.

• Zhao Qian gave Xu Taiping Yellow Maple Valley’s apology letter and explained that its Elders had deposed Zhu Yuan for forcing Shen Li to inherit the valley’s True Intent.
• Xu Taiping learned that Zhu Yuan had hoped Shen Li would qualify for the Azure Cloud Assembly and win an Everlasting Spring Pill to extend his life by sixty years.
• Zhao Qian asked whether Xu Taiping had entered the Mysterious Wasteland Tower, and Xu Taiping confirmed that he had.
• Xu Taiping withheld the truth about his Mortal Bone as Zhao Qian pledged to have Elder Black Dragon guard the Moon Perching Pavilion during his trials.
• Zhao Qian offered to refuse future Sword Inquiries after Qingxuan received its share of the rewards, but Xu Taiping insisted they continue.

Xu Taiping arranged to accept more Sword Inquiries to gain training and fund rare materials for the Earth Fruit, then completed its Fifth Seed Burning. He discovered it had produced a lotus seed, and Fairy Lingyue explained its powerful potential.

• Xu Taiping proposed scheduling Sword Inquiries around his training, with private matches that helped Qingxuan and gave challengers a chance at the Azure Cloud Assembly.
• Xu Taiping asked Zhao Qian to gather expensive materials for his Life-Bound Immortal Weapon and pills, and Zhao Qian said he might need to accept more Sword Inquiries to cover the cost.
• Zhao Linglong told Xu Taiping and Zhao Qian that White Rainbow had awoken, and they hurried to the sickroom.
• Xu Taiping completed the Earth Fruit's dangerous Fifth Seed Burning with Fairy Lingyue's guidance.
• Xu Taiping found a lotus seed in the ashes, and Fairy Lingyue said it could yield at least five treasures, with lotus root that could nourish the divine soul and possibly grant Great Dao True Intent.

Xu Taiping learned that the Earth Fruit contained the Great Dao True Intent of Lotus Root Broken, Yet Its Fibers Remain, which could reveal connections and causes. Before he and Fairy Lingyue could plan where to plant it, Ye Chensha summoned them to the Abyssal Pavilion with news that several cultivators who had traveled with Xu Taiping had been assassinated; an illusory street scene from Jade Soul City ended with a flash of treasure-light.

• Fairy Lingyue explained the Earth Fruit’s True Intent and warned Xu Taiping that planting it would require careful preparation.
• Ye Chensha reported that several of the nine Mysterious Wasteland Heaven cultivators who had traveled with Xu Taiping were reportedly assassinated by the Nine Abysses.
• Xu Taiping worried about Nanxing, Zhai Mo, Elder Zhang, and the others before he and Fairy Lingyue were pulled into the Yin-Yang Mirror and sent to the Abyssal Pavilion.
• At the Abyssal Pavilion, Ye Chensha showed them an image from Jade Soul City, where their stationed cultivator had sent back a scene from Blue Sparrow Street.
• As Xu Taiping and Fairy Lingyue studied the apparently ordinary street scene, a flash of treasure-light appeared at its western end.

Ye Chensha showed Xu Taiping and Fairy Lingyue the aftermath of the Nine Abysses’ attacks on five cities, where tens of thousands of civilians died in retaliation for the climbers’ actions in the Mysterious Wasteland Tower. After learning the identities of the dead, Xu Taiping asked to see Gongshu Nanxing’s body.

• Xu Taiping watched a projection of Jade Soul City reduced to ruins and heard a child trapped beneath a beam saying they had caught the demonic beast.
• Ye Chensha revealed that Nine Abysses troops had attacked five cities, killing nearly ten thousand civilians in Jade Soul City and tens of thousands more elsewhere.
• Xu Taiping grew furious at the slaughter, and Ye Chensha explained that the attacks were retaliation against the climbers who had killed Demon Cultivators in the tower.
• Ye Chensha identified Sun Li, Zheng Zhun, Liu Haoyu, Zhai Yang, and Gongshu Luo as climbers killed in the attacks.
• Xu Taiping asked Ye Chensha to show him Gongshu Nanxing’s body, and Ye Chensha agreed.

Ye Chensha warned Xu Taiping and Fairy Lingyue that the Nine Abysses had sent the deadly Devil Master Tianxing and acquired a map to locate Young Master Rusty Lion in the Mysterious Wasteland Tower. The chapter left Xu Taiping asking whether the map could be used more than once.

• Ye Chensha showed the assassination of Gongshu Luo, and Xu Taiping thought her body resembled Miss Nanxing’s.
• Fairy Lingyue asked why Ye Chensha had used his monthly chance to send them a message, and he revealed that Devil Master Tianxing had been sent after Young Master Rusty Lion.
• Ye Chensha explained how Tianxing used women’s resentment to grow stronger and had helped bring about Sandboat City’s fall.
• Ye Chensha warned that the Nine Abysses possessed a map that could reveal the approximate location of anyone whose name had appeared in the Mysterious Wasteland Tower.
• Xu Taiping asked Ye Chensha whether the map could be used more than once.

Xu Taiping prepared to enter the Mysterious Wasteland Tower after Ye Chensha warned him about its dangers and restrictions. Upon arriving, he reunited with Elder Zhang, who began explaining a betrayal in Mysterious Wasteland Heaven before Gongshu Nanxing appeared and said the person who died was not her.

• Ye Chensha told Xu Taiping that the tracking map worked only once and that he had to hide within an hour, and he explained that unauthorized action on the tower’s fourth floor would result in expulsion.
• Xu Taiping and Fairy Lingyue kept their planned entry date, and two and a half months later Fairy Lingyue gave Xu Taiping ten concealment talismans and urged him to return safely.
• Xu Taiping activated the Mysterious Wasteland Ring and arrived in the palace hall, where he met Elder Zhang.
• Xu Taiping asked Elder Zhang about the unrest in Mysterious Wasteland Heaven, and Elder Zhang said the Nine Abysses’ attack targeted their group and that someone had betrayed them.
• Gongshu Nanxing appeared in the hall, and when Xu Taiping and Elder Zhang stared at her in shock, she said the one who died was not her.

Xu Taiping, Elder Zhang, and Gongshu Nanxing discussed the Nine Abysses’ plans to ambush them on the Mysterious Wasteland Tower’s fourth floor and prepared ways to evade detection. Xu Taiping revealed that their escape from the first encirclement depended on Elder Zhang, leaving him about to explain why.

• Gongshu Nanxing revealed that her twin sister had been killed after taking her place to lure out a demon seed, and Elder Zhang comforted her by explaining that souls taken into the tower would later be reincarnated.
• Nanxing warned that the Nine Abysses had exposed its demon seeds to target the group and would likely ambush them on the fourth floor.
• Elder Zhang reported that Devil Master Tianxing had reached the third floor and would probably hunt Xu Taiping on the fourth.
• Xu Taiping revealed that the Nine Abysses had a Soul Artifact that could locate their landing area, then gave Elder Zhang and Nanxing Heaven-Covering Talismans that hid them for a short time.
• Elder Zhang worried that the group could not escape far enough before being detected, and Xu Taiping said Elder Zhang held the key to evading the first encirclement.

Xu Taiping planned to evade the Nine Abysses by combining a Concealment Formation with an Earth-Element Underground-Escape Formation, using Nanxing to guide the group underground. After Yuzhu and Zhai Mo arrived, the Tower Spirit urged them onward, and Xu Taiping led everyone toward the fourth floor.

• Xu Taiping asked Elder Zhang to prepare a Concealment Formation and an Earth-Element Underground-Escape Formation to help them escape the Nine Abysses' pursuit.
• Xu Taiping explained that Nanxing could guide them with the talisman because the Nine Abysses would assume she was dead and could not track her.
• Xu Taiping and Elder Zhang checked whether their treasures and artifacts could support both formations.
• Yuzhu and Zhai Mo arrived, and Zhai Mo was surprised to find Nanxing alive.
• The Tower Spirit shook the hall to summon them, and Xu Taiping led the group toward the fourth floor carrying Red Cloud.

Xu Taiping and his companions entered the fourth floor of the Mysterious Wasteland Tower and found themselves near Golden Summit Mountain in the Ningyuan Kingdom. As Elder Zhang and Yuzhu began concealing their group from the Nine Abysses, Xu Taiping prepared to approach a nearby shepherd boy if they needed help.

• Xu Taiping, Elder Zhang, Nanxing, and the others arrived on a peaceful hillside where a boy read while tending sheep, chickens, and ducks.
• Elder Zhang and Yuzhu went to Golden Summit Mountain to set up an array before the Cloud-Covering Talisman's effect expired.
• Elder Zhang gave Gongshu Nanxing a blood-drawn talisman and directed her to meet them in Seven Sages Town, while Xu Taiping gave her a Voice Transmission Jade Slip.
• Gongshu Nanxing raced down the mountain toward Seven Sages Town using Heavenly Shadow Step.
• The Tower Spirit told Xu Taiping and Zhai Mo that they had three days to fulfill a Ningyuan Kingdom citizen's request or leave the tower, and promised rewards if they succeeded.
• Xu Taiping agreed to speak with the shepherd boy if necessary and told Zhai Mo he would approach him himself.

Xu Taiping disguised himself as an old Daoist to approach the boy from Golden Summit Village and test how he might persuade him to ask for help. After showing the boy an apparent immortal art, Xu Taiping offered to teach it, but the boy firmly refused.

• Xu Taiping learned that Elder Zhang needed another cup of tea to finish setting up the formation, then asked Zhai Mo to guard the others while he approached the boy.
• Xu Taiping disguised himself as an old Daoist and pretended to stumble so the boy would help him up the mountain.
• The boy kindly helped Xu Taiping and offered him water, while his dog Dahei followed along.
• Xu Taiping turned the boy's water gourd into gold and then restored it, claiming to have used an immortal art.
• Xu Taiping offered to teach the boy the Touching Stone into Gold Technique, but the boy firmly refused.

Xu Taiping met Ayu while trying to recruit him to learn immortal arts, but the boy refused and went home for dinner. Xu Taiping and his companions concealed themselves on Golden Summit Mountain and prepared to evade a search by the Nine Abysses Demon Cultivators.

• Xu Taiping tried to tempt Ayu with the Touchstone Immortal Arts, but Ayu refused because he believed turning stones into gold would deceive people and said he wanted to study.
• Ayu left to answer his mother's call for dinner and promised to return, while Xu Taiping waved goodbye.
• Elder Zhang completed a concealment formation on Golden Summit Mountain, and Xu Taiping ordered him and Yuzhu to set up an Earth-Traveling Earth-Diving Formation despite its cost.
• Gongshu Nanxing told Xu Taiping that a Demon Cultivator treasure seemed to have detected his location, but the cultivators believed she was dead and had not discovered her.
• Gongshu Nanxing promised to guide Xu Taiping and the others to a concealed location, warning that the patrol would reach the mountain in at least half an incense stick's time.

Xu Taiping and Zhai Mo watched Ayu search for his unseen grandfather, then saw bandits attack Ayu and Dahei. Xu Taiping held back while Elder Zhang finished sealing a formation node, and urged Ayu to buy time until he could save him.

• Xu Taiping reassured Zhai Mo that they would return to Golden Summit Mountain after escaping the Nine Abysses' pursuit and help Ayu and his mother.
• Ayu came up the mountain with salted pork rice for his grandfather, searched for him, then headed down with Dahei when he could not find him.
• Bandits from Green Tiger Stronghold shot Dahei, who shielded Ayu and took more arrows while barking at the attackers.
• Xu Taiping restrained himself from intervening after Zhai Mo warned him not to act rashly, and learned from Elder Zhang that the formation would be sealed in half a cup of tea.
• Xu Taiping urged Ayu to stay alert and run, asking him to buy time so he could save him.