Chapter Summaries

Ayu tried to escape the Green Tiger Stronghold bandits, but they captured him and used Dahei to pressure him into leading them into Golden Summit Village. When Ayu’s mother called for him from the foot of the mountain, the bandits planned to use her to force his cooperation.

• Ayu escaped down the hillside with Dahei, but a bald bandit riding a leopard captured them and brought them back to the slope.
• The bald bandit said the bandits needed Ayu to help them enter Golden Summit Village without alerting its guards.
• Ayu refused to lead the bandits into the village, so the bald bandit tortured Dahei to make him comply.
• Ayu’s mother called for him from the foot of Golden Summit Mountain, and Ayu shouted for her not to come up.
• The bandits blocked Ayu’s warning with sound-blocking talismans and planned to use his mother to force him to lead them into the village.

Ayu was beaten by the bandits as they used him to lure his mother up the hill, and he repeatedly begged the immortal to save her. Once the Grand Formation was ready, Xu Taiping rushed in disguised as the Old Daoist and broke the one-eyed bandit's leg.

• Ayu bit the bandit holding the crossbow and tried to flee, but the bald bandit caught him and kicked him down.
• The bandits discussed using Ayu to threaten his mother while Ayu pleaded with the immortal to save her.
• Xu Taiping watched with Zhai Mo until Elder Zhang reported that the Earth-Traveling Earth-Diving Formation was ready.
• Ayu's mother called to him from the foot of the hill, and Ayu shouted for her to stay away before the one-eyed bandit kicked him again.
• Xu Taiping appeared in front of Ayu and caught the one-eyed bandit's kick, then broke the bandit's leg as he screamed.

Xu Taiping and Zhai Mo defeated the Green Tiger Stronghold bandits and rescued Ayu and the others. After Yuzhu treated Ayu, Elder Zhang discovered that the injured black dog could recover by eating Spirit Fruit.

• Xu Taiping released the one-eyed bandit, then stopped a crossbow bolt with an invisible barrier and killed the bandits who attacked him.
• The bald second-in-command fled and ordered the Leopard King to stop Xu Taiping, but Xu Taiping killed the beast with one punch.
• Zhai Mo blocked the bald bandit's escape and struck him down, then killed the two remaining bandits who begged for mercy.
• Yuzhu treated Ayu with acupuncture, and Xu Taiping learned that the boy should recover.
• Elder Zhang fed Spirit Fruit to the injured black dog and discovered that it healed rapidly, prompting Xu Taiping to consider using their supply to feed spirit pets.

Xu Taiping and his companions rescued Ayu and earned Evil Punishment Tokens that let them act against evil or defend themselves without a request from the tower’s inhabitants. When Devil Master Tianxing pursued them, Xu Taiping devised an ambush, turning the fleeing group into hunters.

• The black dog carried Ayu home after Xu Taiping gave it a Spirit Fruit, and Ayu briefly woke to invite Xu Taiping and Yuzhu to visit.
• The Tower Spirit rewarded Xu Taiping, Zhai Mo, Yuzhu, and Elder Zhang with Evil Punishment Tokens, a ten-percent increase in cultivation power, and Essence-Replenishing Pills.
• Elder Zhang explained that each Evil Punishment Token allowed its holder three opportunities to punish evil, uphold good, or defend themselves at full strength.
• Devil Master Tianxing approached beneath a blood-red robe, and Xu Taiping decided to use his token to ambush him.
• Xu Taiping sent a clone toward the mountaintop while Elder Zhang and the others hid in the formation with the destructive talismans they had given him.

Xu Taiping used a clone to lure Devil Master Tianxing and discovered that Tianxing had seen through it. Tianxing deduced where Xu Taiping’s real body was hiding, leaving Elder Zhang preparing to escape with an Earth-Escape Formation.

• Elder Zhang and Zhai Mo explained that the Mysterious Wasteland Tower did not restrict cultivators recognized by a faction, and Xu Taiping realized Tianxing had allied with an evil faction.
• Tianxing’s forces fired lightning-wreathed arrows to stop Xu Taiping’s clone from climbing higher, and Elder Zhang deduced they intended to capture him alive.
• Xu Taiping moved his clone to a flat area and drew its saber, but a burly man punched it down and identified it as Rusty Lion.
• Tianxing recognized that Xu Taiping had sent a clone, prompting Elder Zhang to prepare the Earth-Escape Formation.
• Xu Taiping kept the clone from dispersing, but Tianxing deduced that his real body was hiding near the western slope and challenged him as Young Master Rusty Lion.

Devil Master Tianxing located Xu Taiping and his companions on Golden Summit Mountain, then trapped them inside a blood prison. Xu Taiping endured the destruction of his clone to lure Tianxing into approaching, but Tianxing recognized that he was waiting for a particular moment.

• Devil Master Tianxing inferred Xu Taiping's hiding place from his clone's reaction and ordered Demon Cultivators to surround the western slope of Golden Summit Mountain with a blood prison.
• Elder Zhang told Xu Taiping that their Earth-Traveling Earth-Diving Formation had spared them from being trapped without a way out, while Xu Taiping worried about Tianxing's perception.
• Devil Master Tianxing ordered a burly subordinate to destroy Xu Taiping's clone, but repeated punches failed to make it dissipate.
• Xu Taiping endured the pain and kept his clone intact, hoping to bait Devil Master Tianxing into inspecting it.
• Devil Master Tianxing stopped the burly subordinate and said Xu Taiping might be waiting for reinforcements or a particular moment.

Xu Taiping endured his clone’s mutilation to make Devil Master Tianxing lower his guard and question how the clone could attack him. He then unleashed a barrage of talismans that blasted apart half of Tianxing’s body, leaving Tianxing furious as he realized Xu Taiping had tricked him.

• The burly man repeatedly slashed Xu Taiping’s clone, but Xu Taiping endured the pain without dispelling it.
• As thunder rolled over Golden Summit Mountain, Devil Master Tianxing decided to kill the clone and cut it apart with his Thousand Silk Blade.
• Xu Taiping’s clone reassembled and punched Tianxing, distracting him with the mystery of how it could attack inside the Mysterious Wasteland Tower.
• Xu Taiping activated dozens of True Fire Talismans and Fierce Wind Talismans, along with several Flying Sword Talismans, and blasted apart half of Tianxing’s body.
• Tianxing realized Xu Taiping had endured the pain and staged the attack to catch him undefended.

Xu Taiping and his companions escaped Devil Master Tianxing by using an Earth-Traveling Earth-Diving Formation and headed underground toward Seven Sages Town. They arrived beside a hot spring, where Xu Taiping unexpectedly appeared before a furious, bathing girl.

• Tianxing attacked Xu Taiping and the others, but Xu Taiping escaped with Zhai Mo, Elder Zhang, and Miss Yuzhu using an Earth-Traveling Earth-Diving Formation.
• Tianxing learned from Qingluo’s Jade Disc that Xu Taiping had escaped to Seven Sages Town and set out to pursue him.
• Xu Taiping asked Elder Zhang whether he should contact Nanxing, then sent her a message through his Jade Slip.
• Nanxing began warning Xu Taiping not to come, but her message cut off as a rune glow pulled the group out of the underground passage.
• Xu Taiping and his companions appeared beside a hot spring, where a wet-haired girl accused him of being a filthy lecher.

Xu Taiping and his companions reunited with Gongshu Nanxing in a hot spring, where she explained how she had evaded pursuers with Xue Luo’s help. Their brief relief ended when Xue Luo’s sister arrived, threatening to discover the outsiders hiding there.

• Gongshu Nanxing emerged from the hot spring and explained to Xue Luo that Xu Taiping and his companions were outsiders from Beyond the Domain.
• Xue Luo angrily ordered the men to close their eyes, then sat back in the pool while Gongshu Nanxing and Xue Luo dressed.
• Gongshu Nanxing told Xu Taiping and Elder Zhang that pursuers had followed her into Seven Sages Town and that Xue Luo had hidden her in the hot spring.
• Xue Luo’s sister knocked and entered the courtyard with a key, and Xue Luo feared she would kill her if she found the outsiders.
• Xu Taiping offered to knock Xue Luo’s sister unconscious and prepared a Soundproofing Talisman.

Xue Luo hid Xu Taiping and his companions in her hot spring pool to keep them from being discovered by her sister. The chapter ended as her sister began undressing to bathe, while Xue Luo tried to stop her.

• Xue Luo refused Xu Taiping’s suggestion to deal with her sister and told the group to hide in her pool instead.
• Yuzhu put Zhai Mo and Elder Zhang into her Qiankun Bag, while Xu Taiping and the others slipped into the hot spring.
• Xue Luo’s sister arrived and urged her to think about her future, insisting she could not win the Iron Armor Arena.
• When the steam blew away, Xue Luo hid Xu Taiping by stirring the water, accidentally landing on his head in the process.
• Xue Luo declared that she would win the Iron Armor Arena, then hurriedly told her sister not to undress completely.

Xuanyuan Xueluo told her sister that she wanted to join the army to fulfill her childhood ambition of becoming Ningyuan Kingdom's First Goddess of War. She explained that she had recruited powerful fighters to help the Sun Family defend its Iron Armor Token at the Iron Armor Arena.

• Xueluo's sister described the battle scars she had suffered while fighting the Guifang Demonic Soldiers and protecting the border, and urged Xuanyuan Xueluo to choose a safer path.
• Xuanyuan Xueluo insisted that she wanted to join the army and become Ningyuan Kingdom's First Goddess of War.
• Xueluo's sister asked about Xuanyuan Xueluo's plan to help the Sun Family keep its Iron Armor Token at the Iron Armor Arena.
• Xuanyuan Xueluo explained that the Three Qi Brothers owed her a favor after she helped free them from prison.
• Xuanyuan Xueluo said she had also recruited four Martial Artists at the Martial Arts Grandmaster Realm to help defend the arena.

Xu Taiping and his companions learned that their final trial required them to help a Seven Sages Town faction win an Iron Armor Token, but Xuanyuan Xueluo refused their offer to defend the Sun Family. After they agreed to serve as her personal guards, she learned that the Qi Family's Three Brothers had withdrawn because the Zhou Family offered them more.

• Xuanyuan Xueluo's sister left the hot spring, and Xu Taiping emerged from beneath Xuanyuan Xueluo, embarrassing her.
• The Tower Spirit announced that Xu Taiping and the others had to help a faction win an Iron Armor Token to complete their fourth-floor trial.
• Xuanyuan Xueluo refused Xu Taiping's offer to help defend the Sun Family because she had already settled on her defenders.
• Xuanyuan Xueluo asked Xu Taiping and his companions to serve as her personal guards until the Iron Armor Arena began, and they agreed.
• The Qi Family's Three Brothers told Xuanyuan Xueluo they would not help her because the Zhou Family had offered them too much.

Xuanyuan Xueluo confronted the Qi brothers in Gathered Worthies Tower after they agreed to abandon the Sun Family’s defense of the arena in exchange for the Zhou Family’s help entering the Vermilion Bird Battalion. The chapter ended with the Azure Dragon Armor receiving rewards that strengthened their cultivation and revealed the Azure Dragon Token’s future power.

• Xuanyuan Xueluo demanded to know what the Zhou Family had offered the Qi brothers, and Qi Wen admitted they had been promised recommendations for the Vermilion Bird Battalion.
• Xu Taiping and Elder Zhang inferred that the character Qi Wu wrote referred to a young prince, while Xuanyuan Xueluo angrily recognized the person behind the offer.
• Xuanyuan Xueluo let the Qi brothers withdraw from defending the Sun Family’s Iron Armor Token but demanded repayment for the expenses she had covered for them.
• Xu Taiping realized that Xuanyuan Xueluo was using the debt to recover her losses from the young prince behind the brothers.
• The Tower Spirit announced rewards for Gongshu Nanxing, Zhai Mo, and Yuzhu, and said the Azure Dragon Token could rise to yellow tier once all Azure Dragon Armor received rewards.
• Xu Taiping and Elder Zhang gained cultivation, with Xu Taiping advancing to minor attainment in Gazing into the Nether and reaching middle attainment in the Martial Arts Grandmaster Realm in Qi and Blood.

Xu Taiping and Elder Zhang learned more about the Azure Dragon Token’s power while escorting Xuanyuan Xueluo after she collected a debt from the Qi brothers. Xuanyuan Xueluo planned to rely on Bai Yunfei to defend the Sun Family’s Iron Armor Token, but learned that he had been gambled away to the Zhou Family.

• Elder Zhang told Xu Taiping that the Azure Dragon Token could raise its warriors’ power together and might eventually revive fallen subordinates.
• The Tower Spirit warned Xu Taiping and Elder Zhang not to reveal anything about the world outside the tower to its inhabitants.
• Xuanyuan Xueluo demanded that the Qi brothers repay their debt by the following evening or face a report to the authorities.
• Xu Taiping and Elder Zhang offered to fight in the Iron Armor Arena, but Xuanyuan Xueluo refused and said Bai Yunfei would help defend the Sun Family’s token.
• Xuanyuan Xueluo received a message that the Sun Family’s third young master had lost Bai Yunfei in a wager to the Zhou Family’s eldest young master.

Xuanyuan Xueluo confronted the Celebrating Cloud Gambling House after Sun Can lost Bai Yunfei in a wager, and Xu Taiping and Elder Zhang protected her. Zhou Liang intervened on the gambling house’s behalf, but Bai Yunfei’s response suggested he had sided with the Zhou Family while trying not to offend Northern Garrison Manor.

• Xu Taiping kicked Sun Can away from Xuanyuan Xueluo, then received her praise and an additional cultivation reward from the Tower Spirit.
• Xuanyuan Xueluo learned Sun Can had wagered Bai Yunfei and beat him for gambling at the Zhou Family’s house.
• Xuanyuan Xueluo slapped the gambling house manager after he challenged her, and Xu Taiping and Elder Zhang moved to shield her.
• Zhou Liang arrived and rebuked the manager for failing to recognize Northern Garrison Manor’s third young lady, prompting him to kneel and apologize.
• Xuanyuan Xueluo demanded that Bai Yunfei go with her, but Bai Yunfei directed her to settle the matter with Zhou Liang, and Xu Taiping suspected he had joined the Zhou Family’s scheme.

Xuanyuan Xueluo challenged Zhou Liang to gamble for the Contract Deed after learning Sun Can owed Qingyun Gambling House five hundred thousand taels. Xu Taiping discovered that the fortune from the Golden Scale Ranking let him beat rigged dice and prepared to keep gambling, possibly to help Xuanyuan Xueluo.

• Zhou Liang showed Xuanyuan Xueluo the Contract Deed and said Sun Can had pawned Bai Yunfei's chance to fight in the Iron Armor Arena.
• Sun Can urged Xuanyuan Xueluo to stake another thousand taels, and she challenged Zhou Liang to win back the deed at the gambling table.
• Zhou Liang revealed Sun Can owed Qingyun Gambling House five hundred thousand taels, and Xuanyuan Xueluo began gambling with a thousand-tael note.
• Xu Taiping won twice at another table by betting on small, despite the attendant's rigged dice, and realized his Golden Scale Ranking fortune worked in gambling.
• Xu Taiping considered helping Xuanyuan Xueluo, then bet all his winnings on small for another round.

Xu Taiping won six rounds of big-or-small by luck, then joined Xuanyuan Xueluo’s Pai Gow game after she lost most of her silver to Zhou Liang. He chose to challenge Zhou Liang with dice, leaving the outcome undecided.

• Xu Taiping won six consecutive rounds at the low-stakes table and refused the croupier’s invitation to gamble for higher stakes.
• Elder Zhang told Xu Taiping that Xuanyuan Xueluo had lost nine thousand taels to Zhou Liang.
• Xuanyuan Xueluo ran out of silver and demanded more from Elder Zhang, but Xu Taiping offered to take her place and gamble with their money.
• Sun Can tried to claim Xu Taiping’s seat, and Xuanyuan Xueluo knocked him away before Xu Taiping sat down.
• Xu Taiping chose to play big-or-small with Zhou Liang by shaking dice.

Xu Taiping beat Zhou Liang at dice despite appearing inexperienced, prompting Zhou Liang to accuse him of using an unknown trick. Zhou Liang then challenged Xu Taiping to guess whether a handful of silver pieces was odd or even, wagering three hundred thousand taels against one of Xu Taiping’s hands.

• Xuanyuan Xueluo prohibited the use of Qi and Blood or True Essence and placed a detection Talisman on the table before the dice game.
• Zhou Liang rolled forty-six points, but Xu Taiping rolled forty-seven and won the round.
• A young dealer told Zhou Liang that Xu Taiping had won six earlier rounds by betting on low, and Zhou Liang suspected him of cheating.
• Zhou Liang challenged Xu Taiping to guess whether his handful of silver pieces was odd or even, offering three hundred thousand taels if Xu Taiping guessed correctly and threatening to take one of his hands if he guessed wrong.

Xu Taiping accepted Zhou Liang’s gamble on Xuanyuan Xueluo’s commission, staking both hands for a total of six hundred thousand taels. He chose odd and silently left the outcome to the Golden Scale Ranking.

• Xuanyuan Xueluo rejected Zhou Liang’s proposal, while Xu Taiping and Elder Zhang sensed a Demonic Beast’s aura in the gambling house.
• Zhou Liang reminded Xuanyuan Xueluo that gambling houses had to close for the five days before the Iron Armor Arena began.
• Xu Taiping asked Xuanyuan Xueluo to commission him, and she agreed to pay him while warning him not to cling to her afterward.
• Xu Taiping offered Zhou Liang another three hundred thousand taels for his other hand, and Zhou Liang accepted after receiving a woman’s voice transmission.
• Xu Taiping asked Xuanyuan Xueluo whether she preferred odd or even, then chose odd and left the gamble’s result to the Golden Scale Ranking.

Xu Taiping won Zhou Liang’s odd-or-even wager and earned a Wealth-Attracting Token, while Elder Zhang warned that demon cultivators were about to attack. Xu Taiping used the token to summon the All Beings Equal Bracelet, which could suppress an opponent’s cultivation to his own realm.

• Xuanyuan Xueluo tried to stop Xu Taiping from betting on odd, but he refused to change his answer.
• Zhou Liang secretly used blood qi to crush a piece of silver, but accidentally broke it into three, leaving an odd total and making Xu Taiping the winner.
• The Tower Spirit rewarded Rusty Lion with ten years of cultivation and a Wealth-Attracting Token, while the other Azure Dragon Armor members received five years each.
• Elder Zhang told Xu Taiping that his divination had shown great misfortune and warned that demon cultivators in the gambling den were likely to attack.
• Xu Taiping activated the Wealth-Attracting Token and chose the All Beings Equal Bracelet from among his original treasures.