Chapter Summaries

Su Chan and Witch Su Xue watched Yu Dan challenge Xu Taiping and plotted to expose the strange power behind Xu Taiping’s strength, hoping to provoke suspicion and harvest malice. Su Chan also revealed that he had obtained a decree to begin a war, and Yu Dan’s challenge rang out again as the chapter ended.

• Su Xue swallowed a magpie while hiding with Su Chan in a nest in Liuxian Town, and Su Chan warned that Fairy Lingyue’s companion would soon find them.
• Su Chan and Su Xue watched the Sword Inquiry and discussed how Xu Taiping’s strength suggested he had used an unfamiliar Demon Seed power to undo the Bone-Shattering Curse.
• Su Chan explained that he planned to make Xu Taiping reveal impossible fluctuations in his True Essence so the Nine Prefectures would suspect him and halt the Sword Inquiry.
• Su Chan showed Su Xue a message saying more malice was needed to pierce the Cease War Stele and allow Mother’s decree to descend.
• Su Chan said Xu Taiping’s fall from the heroes’ standing would bring malice from the Five Heavens, then confirmed he had obtained the decree to begin a war.
• Yu Dan’s challenge to Xu Taiping rang out again from the Sword Champion Assembly.

Xu Taiping faced Yu Dan on the Sword Platform while trying to delay revealing his mortal-bone identity until Fairy Lingyue could locate Su Chan. He unleashed a slash with all his abilities raised to the Ultimate Realm, killing Yu Dan and cutting through his Sword Domain.

• Fairy Lingyue told Xu Taiping that Su Chan was trying to force him to reveal his strength, and asked him to delay exposing his mortal-bone identity while she searched for Su Chan near Taibai Street.
• Xu Taiping agreed to buy Fairy Lingyue time and accepted Yu Dan's challenge on the Sword Platform.
• Yu Dan unleashed a Geng Metal Sword Domain and attacked Xu Taiping with golden Sword Shadows, shattering Xu Taiping's defenses.
• Xu Taiping raised his physique, True Essence, qi and blood, and blade techniques to the Ultimate Realm, then struck Yu Dan with a lightning-flickering slash that cut Yu Dan and his Sword Domain in two.

Xu Taiping defeated Yu Dan in the Sword Inquiry, but the spectators remained concerned that his methods or rising power would lead the Nine Prefectures to stop him. As Mei Junhao prepared for the next match, Dugu Qingxiao received a warning from Zhao Linglong that Taiping would die if he continued.

• Xu Taiping struck Yu Dan off the Sword Platform, drank Hidden Immortal Wine, and was declared the winner of the Sword Inquiry.
• Mu Yun praised Xu Taiping's killing power, while Zhang Moyan insisted that a true blade cultivator like him could not have turned demonic.
• Zhao Qian and Dugu Qingxiao feared the Nine Prefectures would end the contest unless Xu Taiping explained how he lifted the Bone-Shattering Curse, while Wu Mo said she would accept him losing the Sword Inquiry.
• Elder Fu Yuan announced Mei Junhao of the Six Wu Sect as the next participant, and Mei Junhao flew onto the Sword Platform.
• Dugu Qingxiao received Zhao Linglong's message warning him that Xu Taiping would die if he continued the Sword Inquiry.

Xu Taiping accepted Mei Junhao’s challenge despite warnings from Zhao Qian and Dugu Qingxiao, then kept winning as opponents repeatedly challenged him and his strength dwindled. Liu Zijin appeared for the next Sword Inquiry, but instead of immediately issuing a challenge, she asked Xu Taiping whether he remembered her.

• Zhao Linglong predicted that Mei Junhao would challenge Xu Taiping, then passed out after transmitting her message to Dugu Qingxiao.
• Dugu Qingxiao asked Zhao Qian to warn Xu Taiping, but Xu Taiping told the Sect Master to trust him and accepted Mei Junhao’s challenge.
• Xu Taiping won his fifth Sword Inquiry, and the spectators debated whether he or the challengers were concealing something.
• Liu Ziang challenged Xu Taiping, who won a grueling seventh Sword Inquiry after both fighters exhausted their True Essence and strength.
• Liu Zijin arrived for the next Sword Inquiry, smiled at Xu Taiping, and asked whether he still remembered her.

Liu Zijin met Xu Taiping on the Sword Platform and asked why he had killed Lu Chen for her, but his answer left her disappointed. Rather than challenge him, she thanked him for saving her and challenged Zhou Zaidao of the Eight Views Dao Palace.

• Zhao Qian and Dugu Qingxiao recognized Liu Zijin and feared she would choose Xu Taiping for Sword Inquiry, while the Azure Profound Sect prepared to bring Xu Taiping back to Qingxuan.
• Xu Taiping greeted Liu Zijin, who asked why he had killed Lu Chen; he cited Liu Qingmei and his Dao Heart, leaving Liu Zijin disappointed.
• Liu Zijin thanked Xu Taiping publicly for saving her and declared that she would not stand by while he was in trouble.
• Liu Zijin challenged Zhou Zaidao, the strongest cultivator in the Sword Inquiry group, to Sword Inquiry.

Liu Zijin challenged Zhou Zaidao instead of Xu Taiping, disrupting Su Chan’s plan to force Xu Taiping to reveal his true strength. As Zhou Zaidao entered the Sword Platform and threatened Liu Zijin, Xu Taiping left the platform badly injured and called him an idiot.

• Su Chan realized someone had dispelled his Branch-Folding Power from Liu Zijin and worried that her challenge to Zhou Zaidao would give Xu Taiping time to recover.
• Mu Yun, Mu Yuchen, and the others wondered why Liu Zijin had thanked Xu Taiping before challenging Zhou Zaidao, and Chu Tiancheng recounted her tragic past.
• Mu Yuchen speculated that Xu Taiping might have been the person who killed Lu Chen, while Xuanzhi responded with a brief prayer.
• Zhao Qian watched Xu Taiping limp off the Sword Platform and sighed with relief and concern.
• Zhou Zaidao threatened to kill Liu Zijin as he passed Xu Taiping, and Xu Taiping paused to call him an idiot.

Liu Zijin began her Sword Inquiry against Zhou Zaidao, whose hidden power and defensive techniques made him a formidable opponent. She survived his flying sword striking her throat, revealing skin hardened like Moon-Soul Stone.

• Mu Yun judged Zhou Zaidao the strongest younger disciple after Luo Cheng and doubted Liu Zijin could defeat him.
• Xu Taiping reflected that Liu Zijin had spent nearly two hundred years nurturing her resolve as a pure Martial Artist.
• Zhou Zaidao accepted Liu Zijin's challenge, and the Sword Inquiry began after three bell tolls.
• Xu Taiping sensed Liu Zijin's fierce Martial God aura and Zhou Zaidao's concealed strength, bolstered by the Demon Cultivator's soul within him.
• Liu Zijin charged Zhou Zaidao and shattered several layers of his Body-Protecting Golden Light, but his flying sword struck her throat and bounced off her Moon-Soul Stone-like skin.

Liu Zijin overwhelmed Zhou Zaidao with See the Mountain Fist, but Zhou used Immortal Caressing the Crown to summon a golden bell that drove her back. Liu then shattered the bell with her third punch, revealing the power of See the Mountain Fist’s No More Than Three Fists True Intent.

• Liu Zijin knocked away Zhou Zaidao’s flying sword, pinned him with her True Intent, and broke through his layers of Body-Protecting Golden Light with successive punches.
• Liu Zijin shattered Zhou Zaidao’s strengthened arms and struck him into the Sword Platform, then brought down a mountain-like Fist Shadow as he lay there.
• Zhou Zaidao rang his bell repeatedly and used Immortal Caressing the Crown to summon a divine maiden and a golden bell phantom that knocked Liu Zijin back.
• Mu Yun explained that Zhou Zaidao had used the Eight Views Dao Palace’s origin law to cast the Golden Bell Art, while Zhang Moyan identified Liu Zijin’s technique as See the Mountain Fist.
• Liu Zijin struck the golden bell phantom three times, and her final punch shattered it through the See the Mountain Fist True Intent No More Than Three Fists.

Liu Zijin used her martial arts to destroy Zhou Zaidao’s summoned Golden-Armored Divine Generals, but Zhou immobilized her with the Body-Fixing Art and injured her. Xu Taiping realized Zhou’s extraordinary ability came from the powerful demon soul possessing him, leaving Liu Zijin in danger.

• Xu Taiping confirmed that Liu Zijin had not been implanted with branch-folding power and had rebuilt her strength through the Martial Dao.
• Zhou Zaidao summoned three Golden-Armored Divine Generals with the Decree the Spirit Token, but Liu Zijin destroyed them with a series of powerful kicks.
• Liu Zijin rushed Zhou Zaidao, but he used Immortal Caressing the Crown to cast the Body-Fixing Art and freeze her leg.
• Liu Zijin’s qi and blood dispersed when her body was immobilized, causing her to spit blood.
• Xu Taiping recognized that the demon soul possessing Zhou Zaidao was behind his exceptional abilities and urged Liu Zijin to admit defeat.

Liu Zijin broke Zhou Zaidao’s Body-Fixing Art and fought back with surging qi and blood, then planted a battle banner that amplified her battle intent. She turned the tide against Zhou’s summoned Thunder-Armored Divine General, leaving the spectators astonished by the banner’s power.

• Zhou Zaidao used Immortal Caressing the Crown to heal his wounds and restore his aura, then prepared to attack the immobilized Liu Zijin.
• Liu Zijin shattered Zhou Zaidao’s Body-Fixing Art, kicked him away, and punched his flying sword back despite the sword qi stripping flesh from her arm.
• Liu Zijin pursued Zhou Zaidao, punched through his Golden Bell Body-Protection Technique, and planted a battle banner in the Sword Platform.
• Zhou Zaidao summoned a powerful Thunder-Armored Divine General, which drove Liu Zijin back with its blows.
• Liu Zijin’s battle intent rose as the banner shuddered, and her next punch knocked the Thunder-Armored Divine General backward.

Liu Zijin fought Zhou Zaidao with overwhelming battle intent, but his ninth use of Immortal Caressing the Crown raised him to the Heaven Questioning Realm and left her gravely wounded. Cui Tiegu rescued Liu Zijin, and the Sword Chief Ranking announced Xu Taiping as the next Sword Inquiry participant, prompting Cui Tiegu to demand that he kill Zhou Zaidao.

• Liu Zijin defeated the Thunder-Armored Divine Generals, and Zhang Moyan explained that she had survived a battlefield encirclement alone to gain the battle intent of a thousand troops.
• Liu Zijin shattered Zhou Zaidao's protective golden light, but Zhou rang his bell for the ninth time and rose to the Heaven Questioning Realm.
• Zhou Zaidao knocked Liu Zijin back with golden light and struck her with immense sword shadows, yet she kept charging with her battle banner.
• Xu Taiping prepared to intervene, but Cui Tiegu broke onto the Sword Platform and shattered the incoming sword shadow with one palm.
• Cui Tiegu gathered the gravely wounded Liu Zijin, who agreed to return with him after glancing at Xu Taiping.
• The Sword Chief Ranking announced Xu Taiping's Sword Inquiry, and Cui Tiegu warned him to kill Zhou Zaidao or be killed himself.

Xu Taiping challenged Zhou Zaidao despite the danger of facing him while his Immortal Caressing the Crown power remained active. As Zhou accepted and the Sword Platform erupted in a violent rumble, Dugu Qingxiao turned to see what Xu Taiping had done.

• Zhang Moyan explained that Cui Tiegu had laid a Dao Heart Trap by provoking Xu Taiping to challenge Zhou Zaidao.
• Xu Taiping chose Zhou Zaidao as his opponent, having decided on him from the moment his name appeared on the Sword Chief Ranking.
• Fairy Lingyue told Xu Taiping she had narrowed down Su Chan's hiding place, allowing him to use his full strength and even draw the Demon-Sealing Sword.
• Zhou Zaidao accepted the challenge and unleashed an aura comparable to a minor-attainment Heaven Questioning Realm cultivator.
• Dugu Qingxiao hurried to arrange help, but Liang Zhu stopped him and pointed out Xu Taiping as a violent rumble came from the Sword Platform.

Xu Taiping revealed overwhelming strength in his duel with Zhou Zaidao, surviving a storm of sword attacks and wounding him with a single strike. When Xu Taiping began torturing Zhou to expose the demonic beast within him, an Eight Views Dao Palace elder and Liu Chuxuan intervened, leaving Xu Taiping prepared to reveal the truth about his power.

• Dugu Qingxiao saw Xu Taiping's immense qi and blood power and feared the Nine Prefectures would accuse him of using demonic methods to break the Bone-Shattering Curse.
• Zhou Zaidao unleashed thousands of Sword Shadows, but Xu Taiping transformed and endured the attack without injury.
• Xu Taiping used his mountain spirit blade domain and Dragon-Slaying strike to break Zhou Zaidao's defenses and slash his chest open.
• Zhou Zaidao accused Xu Taiping of harboring a demon seed, but Xu denied it and struck him with Baxia attacks to torment the demonic beast inside him.
• An Eight Views Dao Palace elder and Liu Chuxuan rushed onto the Sword Platform and ordered Xu Taiping to stop, prompting him to prepare to tell the truth.

Xu Taiping exposed Zhou Zaidao’s demon seed and restrained him before the Eight Views Dao Palace elder could intervene. The elder identified himself as Wu Guang, the Mysterious Female True Lord, and confronted Liu Chuxuan on the Sword Platform.

• Zhou Zaidao tried to tempt Xu Taiping to merge with the demon seed, but Xu Taiping questioned whether the seed had already consumed much of him.
• A golden branch sealed Zhou Zaidao’s demon seed power, and Xu Taiping used his blade domain and mountain spirit power to pin him down before he could send a message.
• The Eight Views Dao Palace elder ordered Xu Taiping to stop, but Xu Taiping argued that their sword inquiry had not ended and the elder was breaking the rules.
• Liu Chuxuan arrived and urged the elder to calm down; the elder introduced himself as Wu Guang of the Eight Views Dao Palace.
• Mu Yun recognized Wu Guang’s title as the Mysterious Female True Lord, while Ji Ye asked him about the elder.

The Mysterious Female True Lord accused Xu Taiping of demonic corruption and demanded that the Nine Prefectures end the Sword Inquiry. Zhao Qian and Meng Qingqiu arrived to defend their disciple, and Xu Taiping agreed to prove he had not fallen to demonic corruption.

• Zhang Moyan told Chu Tiancheng how the Mysterious Female True Lord had helped defeat a demon grotto in Chenglong Heaven.
• The Mysterious Female True Lord demanded that Liu Chuxuan lift the Sword Chief Ranking restrictions and stop the Sword Inquiry, but Liu asked him to let the Nine Prefectures handle the matter.
• Zhao Qian and Meng Qingqiu landed on the Sword Platform, and Meng Qingqiu cut through its restrictions with a single slash.
• Zhao Qian confronted the Mysterious Female True Lord and insisted Qingxuan would handle its own disciple's affairs.
• Liu Chuxuan proposed that the Nine Prefectures determine whether Xu Taiping had a demon seed or had used Nine Abysses power to break the Bone-Shattering Curse.
• When the Mysterious Female True Lord refused to let Zhao Qian speak with him, Xu Taiping agreed to prove he had not fallen to demonic corruption.

Xu Taiping’s sect and the Nine Prefectures agreed he could return to Qingxuan while they postponed investigating suspicions about him. Before he could leave, True Lord Xuanpin revealed a Moonshadow Stone showing Xu Taiping alongside the Azure-Eyed Evil Lord, leaving Meng Qingqiu horrified.

• Zhao Qian demanded evidence from Liu Chuxuan and refused to let the Nine Prefectures take Xu Taiping without it.
• Liu Chuxuan said the Nine Prefectures would let Xu Taiping return to the Azure Profound Sect and investigate after the Sword Champion Assembly.
• Meng Qingqiu arrived to escort Xu Taiping back to Qingxuan, while Fairy Lingyue told him that Su Chan had sent evidence to True Lord Xuanpin.
• Zhou Zaidao threatened to expose a Moonshadow Stone showing Xu Taiping joining forces with the Azure-Eyed Evil Lord and pointed to human bones in the Golden Court Inner Grotto-Heaven.
• True Lord Xuanpin projected the Moonshadow Stone before the assembly, and Meng Qingqiu confronted Xu Taiping in disbelief.

The Mysterious Female True Lord presented evidence that Xu Taiping had spent fifty years in a demon grotto and was the only survivor of a group of missing sect elites, casting doubt on his innocence. Xu Taiping answered by bringing out the Treading the Sea Army's stone stele and preparing to reveal who had protected everyone from the shadows.

• Liu Chuxuan crushed the Mysterious Female True Lord's Moonshadow Stone and confirmed its images and aura fluctuations were genuine, showing Xu Taiping fighting alongside the Azure-Eyed Evil Lord.
• Xu Taiping admitted that he had joined forces with the Azure-Eyed Evil Lord, while Zhao Qian argued that this did not prove Xu Taiping had ties to the Nine Abysses.
• The Mysterious Female True Lord showed a second Moonshadow Stone depicting a demon grotto and used the Eight Views Lamp to reveal the corpses of missing cultivators who had entered it fifty years earlier.
• The Mysterious Female True Lord accused Xu Taiping of causing the other cultivators' deaths, and Xu Taiping acknowledged that he alone had survived.
• Xu Taiping took out the Treading the Sea Army's stone stele and said he would show the crowd who had protected them from the shadows.

Fairy Lingyue confronted Su Chan about his plot to make Xu Taiping fall into demonic cultivation, while the Spirit Mirror showed Taiping facing the dead cultivators’ allies on the Sword Platform. The chapter left Taiping surrounded and accused after he placed the Treading the Sea Army’s stone stele on the platform.

• Fairy Lingyue repeatedly burned Su Chan’s head, but the Return to Dust Incense restored him each time.
• Su Chan admitted that he had used the Eight Views Lamp’s revelations to plan a trap that would lead Xu Taiping into demonic cultivation.
• Su Chan explained that the Night Demon Lineage treated falling and leading others to fall as forms of cultivation.
• Fairy Lingyue told Su Chan that every fall was willing, then praised Taiping’s sincere heart as the difference between them.
• Xu Taiping took out the Treading the Sea Army’s stone stele and slammed it onto the Sword Platform as numerous cultivators arrived to confront him.
• Mu Yun and Mu Yuchen accused Xu Taiping of killing Great Elder Lou, while the House Master of the Pearl Relic House and Chu Yinan also joined the gathering.

Xu Taiping faced accusations that he had succumbed to demonhood and killed Great Elder Lou, while the Azure Profound Sect stood between him and the Nine Prefectures. He began revealing why the Bone-Shattering Curse had failed: he had always been only a mortal bone.

• Chu Yinan drew his sword and accused Xu Taiping of causing Sword Immortal Qionghua’s death, while Zhao Qian and Meng Qingqiu defended Xu Taiping.
• Liu Chuxuan demanded that Zhao Qian hand Xu Taiping over to the Nine Prefectures, but Zhao Qian insisted Qingxuan would handle its own disciple.
• Xu Taiping asked to speak and denied having ties to the Nine Abysses, succumbing to demonhood, or killing Great Elder Lou and the others.
• Mu Yuchen challenged Xu Taiping to explain how he had broken the Bone-Shattering Curse and gained strength beyond the Heaven Gazing Realm.
• Xu Taiping declared that the curse had no effect because he had always been only a mortal bone.

Xu Taiping revealed his Mortal Bone aura to prove his claim, stunning the Sword Platform and its observers. As Liu Chuxuan arranged a spirit-stone test, the Mysterious Female True Lord questioned how Xu Taiping had crossed the Mortal Bone cultivation barrier, and his answer about the Meridian-Opening Marrow-Cleansing Soup surprised her.

• Xu Taiping released his unrefined true essence, revealing the aura of a Mortal Bone and silencing those who had doubted him.
• Liu Chuxuan ordered a spirit stone brought to verify Xu Taiping's root bone, while Zhao Qian and Meng Qingqiu affirmed their trust in him.
• The Mysterious Female True Lord asked how Xu Taiping had overcome the Gate Opening Realm, and Zhao Qian told him he did not have to answer.
• Xu Taiping said he had used the Meridian-Opening Marrow-Cleansing Soup, prompting Meng Qingqiu to ask whether it was the soup used to prolong the lives of the dying.
• The Mysterious Female True Lord asked how much Xu Taiping had diluted each dose, and he responded in confusion that he had not diluted it.