Chapter Summaries

Dugu Qingxiao fought the Sword Fiend with his Black-and-White Endgame Sword Domain, but the Sword Fiend shattered the domain and destroyed his body and Primordial Spirit. Xu Taiping feared that his Second Senior Brother would have to use Nirvana Power after all.

• Zhao Qian warned Xu Taiping that Dugu Qingxiao had used Nirvana Power before the battle and that Xu had to stop him after his third use.
• Fairy Lingyue identified Dugu Qingxiao's sword art as the cursed Avīci Sword, which could drag its cultivators into the Yellow Springs and the Hungry Ghost Path.
• The Sword Fiend overwhelmed Dugu Qingxiao, who used his Primordial Spirit to wield his sword and repel one strike.
• Dugu Qingxiao formed his Black-and-White Endgame Sword Domain, turning both fighters' powers into stones on a Go board and challenging the Sword Fiend to play.
• The Sword Fiend summoned enormous flaming Sword Shadows that shattered Dugu Qingxiao's domain and cut off his head, causing his True Body and Primordial Spirit to explode.

Dugu Qingxiao was beheaded and his body and primordial spirit were destroyed, but he revived through the Three Truths Crossing Dharma Red Lotus Sword’s stillness-nirvana true intent. As his power surged, the Sword Fiend recognized him as an inheritor of the Avīci Sword and prepared to draw his silver sword.

• The Sword Fiend broke through Dugu Qingxiao’s Sword Domain and beheaded him with blazing Sword Shadows.
• The Sword Chief Ranking did not announce the next cultivator, and another sword strike destroyed Dugu Qingxiao’s body and primordial spirit.
• Xu Taiping told everyone that Dugu Qingxiao’s Sword Inquiry was not over as a red lotus began blooming where he had fallen.
• The Sword Fiend’s twelve Sword Shadows failed to break the lotus, and Dugu Qingxiao’s face appeared within it, still alive and more than twice as powerful.
• Xu Taiping confirmed that Dugu Qingxiao was using the Three Truths Crossing Dharma Red Lotus Sword’s stillness-nirvana true intent.
• Dugu Qingxiao rose as the lotus fully bloomed, and the Sword Fiend recognized him as an inheritor of the Avīci Sword before raising his silver longsword.

Dugu Qingxiao fought the Sword Fiend with the Youlong Sword, using the Red Lotus Sword Shadows to force him to defend rather than attack. Fairy Lingyue suspected Dugu Qingxiao had entered the Sword Inquiry intending to die repeatedly by the Sword Fiend’s hand and unleash Sixfold Nirvana Power, leaving Xu Taiping wondering why.

• Cui Tiegu and A Meng recognized the Youlong Sword as a Dragon Clan divine weapon and feared it would restore the Sword Fiend’s full strength.
• Dugu Qingxiao used eighteen phantom lotuses to defend against the Sword Fiend’s attacks, but the Sword Fiend shattered them and pressed his assault.
• Dugu Qingxiao countered with Red Lotus Sword Shadows, forcing the Sword Fiend to turn and defend as the lotuses multiplied under the True Intent “The Dao Gives Birth to One.”
• Fairy Lingyue told Xu Taiping that the Sword Fiend was holding back because he feared A Meng, Cui Tiegu, and the others behind Dugu Qingxiao.
• Fairy Lingyue suspected Dugu Qingxiao sought death in the Sword Inquiry so the Sword Fiend would kill him repeatedly, letting him unleash Sixfold Nirvana Power and plunge into the Yellow Springs.

Sword Fiend revealed the third level of sword qi manifestation and used his Thousand Raven Calamity to consume Dugu Qingxiao’s red lotus sword qi, greatly increasing his power. As Dugu Qingxiao invoked the Avīci Sword again, the onlookers discussed its fatal cost and the Mad Monk’s rumored motive for creating it.

• Sword Fiend broke through to the third level of sword qi manifestation, and A Meng and Cui Tiegu explained how cultivation foundations could create vast differences in combat strength.
• Sword Fiend beheaded Dugu Qingxiao with a strike, then used Thousand Raven Calamity to scatter and consume the red lotus sword shadows of Violent Rain Red Lotus Kill.
• The fire ravens grew to goshawk size after devouring the sword qi lotuses, doubling Sword Fiend’s aura and revealing a devouring ability.
• Dugu Qingxiao unleashed another red lotus, and Cui Tiegu warned Liu Gu that using the Avīci Sword more than three times in succession would turn its wielder into a ghost.
• A Meng called the Avīci Sword a hungry ghost curse, while Cui Tiegu shared rumors that the Mad Monk had put greed and wrath into it to become a Buddha; Xu Taiping sensed he had understood something.

Xu Taiping learned that Dugu Qingxiao intended to descend into the Yellow Springs and kill Mad Monk to break the Avīci Sword’s curse, but Fairy Lingyue estimated his chances at only ten or twenty percent. As Xu Taiping resolved to confirm Dugu Qingxiao’s intentions, Sword Fiend revealed a Divine-Human Variant Bone.

• Yun Ye asked Cui Tiegu where he had learned about Mad Monk, but Cui Tiegu avoided answering.
• Fairy Lingyue confirmed that Mad Monk had left the Avīci Sword to use Sword Cultivators’ killing power to eradicate his greed and anger, and that Mad Monk’s true body hid in a fragment of the Yellow Springs.
• Fairy Lingyue told Xu Taiping that killing Mad Monk was the only way to break the Avīci Sword’s curse and that Dugu Qingxiao had only a ten-to-twenty-percent chance of succeeding.
• Dugu Qingxiao was beheaded again after his third Nirvana, and Zhao Qian urged Xu Taiping to persuade him to withdraw from the Sword Inquiry.
• As Dugu Qingxiao returned through another Red Lotus, Xu Taiping decided to ask him directly about his plan, but Sword Fiend revealed a body covered in golden runes and a Divine-Human Variant Bone.

Sword Fiend repeatedly cut down Dugu Qingxiao’s Nirvanic Annihilations, threatening to leave him a mindless wandering ghost. Xu Taiping called out to awaken his Second Senior Brother, who returned to the Sword Platform and began his sixth Nirvanic Annihilation.

• Sword Fiend killed Dugu Qingxiao and his Red Lotus forms before they could recover, while Fairy Lingyue warned Xu Taiping that his Second Senior Brother might lose the ability to wield nirvana power.
• Fairy Lingyue told Xu Taiping to use the Mysterious Wasteland Art and call Dugu Qingxiao’s name to try to wake him.
• Xu Taiping shouted that Dugu Qingxiao should return and save him from Sword Fiend, and an enormous Red Lotus appeared as his Second Senior Brother wielded nirvana power for the fifth time.
• Dugu Qingxiao emerged from the cleaved Red Lotus, seized Sword Fiend’s Youlong Sword, and reassured Xu Taiping before vowing to slay the demon.
• Dugu Qingxiao’s body burst apart and a still larger Red Lotus bloomed, beginning his sixth Nirvanic Annihilation as Heavenly Pillar Peak trembled under his power.

After unleashing his sixth Nirvanic Annihilation, Dugu Qingxiao overwhelmed Sword Fiend and destroyed him with the Extreme Law, Heavenly Sword. He then challenged the Nine Abysses scum gathered at the Sword Champion Assembly.

• Dugu Qingxiao revealed the power of his sixth Nirvanic Annihilation, and Xu Taiping and Cui Tiegu understood his resolve to face the Mad Monk in the Yellow Springs.
• Dugu Qingxiao asked Sword Fiend to move their fight elsewhere, evaded his strike, and pursued him across the mountains with devastating sword attacks.
• Sword Fiend transformed into his thousand-zhang Demon God body and attacked Dugu Qingxiao with over a hundred swords.
• Dugu Qingxiao invoked the Great Emperor and unleashed the Extreme Law, Heavenly Sword, annihilating Sword Fiend and the mountains below.
• After contemplating the strike, Dugu Qingxiao challenged the Nine Abysses scum to come meet their deaths.

Dugu Qingxiao defeated four Demon Emperors in succession, then vanished into the Netherworld’s Yellow Springs despite Xu Taiping and Ziyan’s pleas. As the Yellow Springs’ ghostly hands dragged his red lotus toward a black pool, he transformed into a sword and cut through them, thrusting toward the pool.

• Dugu Qingxiao slew Scorpion Shadow, completing his fourth consecutive victory after killing Sword Fiend, Wu E, and 𫊸 Yun.
• Dugu Qingxiao told Xu Taiping to protect Linglong and the Azure Profound Sect, and asked him to slay Su Chan after he was gone.
• Ziyan called out that she would wait another sixty years for Dugu Qingxiao, but he told her not to wait and disappeared.
• Hundreds of ghostly hands seized Dugu Qingxiao’s red lotus and dragged it toward a black pool in the Yellow Springs.
• Fairy Lingyue warned that Dugu Qingxiao might be imprisoned under the Yellow Springs’ laws, but he transformed into a sword and cut through the ghostly hands toward the pool.

Dugu Qingxiao struck through the Yellow Springs from within, while the Sword Inquiry continued with Liu Gu of the Xiaoyao Sect facing a new challenge. Liu Gu revealed a hidden, murderous presence within him, and a warning identified it as Huang Xiao, the Yellow Immortal who had once nearly slaughtered the True Martial Cultivation World.

• Dugu Qingxiao cleaved open the Yellow Springs with his sword strike before the Netherworld gate slammed shut, and Fairy Lingyue told Xu Taiping that he had retained his sanity and cultivation.
• The Nine Abysses named Demon Emperor Meng Gu as its next challenger, while the Sword Chief Ranking named Liu Gu of the Xiaoyao Sect for True Martial Heaven.
• A Meng warned the others not to underestimate the remaining Demon Emperors, and Cui Tiegu urged Liu Gu to concede if he could not win.
• Liu Gu revealed that he had promised someone inside him the chance to kill freely, then leaped onto the Sword Platform as A Meng and the others sensed murderous intent.
• A message warned A Meng to kill Liu Gu before the madman inside awakened and identified that presence as Huang Xiao, the Xiaoyao Sect Ancestor's junior brother and the Yellow Immortal.

Xu Taiping and the others learned that Liu Gu was possessed by a remnant soul of the notorious Yellow Immortal, who had survived inside a gu insect. On the Sword Platform, Liu Gu attacked Meng Gu, but Meng Gu’s gu insects blocked his strike and covered the arena.

• A Meng told Xu Taiping and the others that Wuyazi had warned him Yellow Immortal was possessing Liu Gu, and explained Yellow Immortal’s history of atrocities and survival.
• Xu Taiping suggested Yellow Immortal might help against Meng Gu, while A Meng and Cui Tiegu warned that Yellow Immortal could instead seek to escape and plunge Zhenwu into chaos.
• Liu Gu faced Meng Gu on the Sword Platform, traded taunts with him, and drew his saber to strike.
• Meng Gu shielded himself with a pagoda of black gu insects, which withstood Liu Gu’s slash.
• The Sword Platform collapsed beneath Liu Gu as jade-white gu insects emerged and spread across the arena, prompting him to realize Meng Gu had released them during their conversation.

Liu Gu unleashed his blade domain against Meng Gu, but Meng Gu’s moths devoured the domain and overwhelmed him. As Meng Gu tried to turn Liu Gu into a moth, a terrifying presence emerged through Liu Gu and addressed him as its son.

• Liu Gu destroyed the swarming Gu Insects with a powerful avalanche of blade qi and opened his blade domain against Meng Gu.
• Liu Gu’s blade domain tore apart Meng Gu’s body, but the fragments became black moth clones that devoured the domain’s power.
• Meng Gu reformed from the moths, struck Liu Gu down, and sent moths into his mouth to transform him.
• Meng Gu sensed a powerful aura from Liu Gu and retreated as Liu Gu chewed the moths and asked, “My son, how do you want him to die?”

Xu Taiping and the others discovered that Yellow Immortal was residing in Liu Gu and calling him his son. Meng Gu then unleashed five ancient divine-weapon swords against Liu Gu, leaving Zhenwu’s side considering a sacrificial strategy to counter him.

• Xu Taiping questioned why Yellow Immortal had called Liu Gu his son, and the group realized Yellow Immortal was hiding inside Liu Gu’s body.
• Liu Gu scolded Yellow Immortal for calling him his son in public, and Yellow Immortal agreed to keep the name private.
• Meng Gu surrounded Liu Gu with flaming spears formed by Gu insects, then released a Divine Weapons Gu that manifested as the Seven-Star Immortal Sword.
• Meng Gu released four more Divine Weapons Gu, which became the ancient divine swords Floating Cloud, Frost Moon, Dragon Sparrow, and Dry Light.
• Gao Nu identified Meng Gu’s five swords as ancient divine weapons, and Ye Qingnu concluded that Zhenwu’s cultivators might have to trade pieces to defeat him.

During the Sword Inquiry, Liu Gu, possessed by Yellow Immortal, overwhelmed Meng Gu by taking control of his gu insects and the five Divine Weapons. Meng Gu unleashed a soul attack to turn the crowd against Yellow Immortal, and the chapter ended as the stolen gu began returning to Meng Gu.

• A Meng and Cui Tiegu prepared to stop Yellow Immortal from escaping after the Sword Inquiry.
• As Meng Gu’s five Divine Weapons prepared to strike Liu Gu, the two men switched places through clouds of black moths, leaving Meng Gu trapped in the Fire Spear Cage.
• Liu Gu took control of Meng Gu’s flame gu and then called the five Divine Weapons, which reverted to gu insects and flew into his hand.
• Meng Gu summoned the gu insects hidden on his body and used the scent of his bleeding body to induce the crowd to devour him.
• A Meng broke the crowd’s enchantment with a sword strike, and Yun Ye identified the scent as a Divine Soul Attack.
• Lin Qingnu noticed that the gu insects Yellow Immortal had taken were crawling back toward Meng Gu.

Liu Gu, possessed by Yellow Immortal, defeated Demon Emperor Meng Gu by drawing away and consuming his Gu Insects, then conceded when Madam Yu trapped him in her age-accelerating Demon Domain. Zhenwu’s next challenger was Gao Nu, who eagerly accepted his turn and strode onto the Sword Platform.

• Yellow Immortal used a drop of his blood to lure away every Gu Insect from Meng Gu, then had the insects devour Meng Gu’s body.
• Cui Tiegu, Xu Taiping, and Lin Qingnu recognized that Liu Gu’s Gu arts had been chosen to counter Meng Gu.
• Madam Yu arrived on the Sword Platform in a nine-story tower and revealed a Demon Domain that rapidly aged Liu Gu.
• Yellow Immortal conceded to Madam Yu, and the Sword Chief Ranking named Gao Nu as Zhenwu’s next challenger.
• Gao Nu thanked the Great Emperor and advanced toward the Sword Platform with his fighting spirit high.

Gao Nu refused to abandon his revenge for his daughter and fought Madam Yu on the Sword Platform, despite the danger posed by her Demon Domain. After Madam Yu trapped him inside it, Gao Nu invoked an Immortal-Inviting Formation and called for Immortal Bu Xueting to descend and slay the demon.

• A Meng and the others urged Gao Nu to let them avenge his daughter, but Gao Nu explained his grief and chose to fight Madam Yu, using a technique that likely shortened his life.
• Xu Taiping learned from Fairy Lingyue that Liu Gu’s five Divine Weapon Gu could help him refine five Demon-Sealing Swords, and Fairy Lingyue said she had invited Wuyazi to tea.
• Madam Yu attacked Gao Nu with blood-red Claw Shadows, but his Natal Treasures—a bamboo hat and straw rain cape—helped him withstand her strikes and evade her.
• Madam Yu expanded her Demon Domain to envelop Gao Nu, who used his blood to form a low-tier Immortal-Inviting Formation.
• Gao Nu drew his saber and called upon Immortal Bu Xueting to descend and help him slay Madam Yu.

Bu Xueting answered Gao Nu’s summons and confronted Madam Yu on the Sword Platform, overwhelming her demon domain with his great river sword domain. He shattered her nine-story tower, leaving the spectators to acclaim him as a true sword cultivator.

• Bu Xueting arrived on the Sword Platform, astonishing the spectators and prompting speculation that the Sword Chief Ranking had arranged his appearance.
• Madam Yu unleashed her red-mist demon domain, causing Gao Nu to rapidly age, but Bu Xueting’s great river sword domain swallowed it.
• Bu Xueting dispersed Madam Yu’s red mist with a wave, displaying a strike that fused at least six true intents.
• Bu Xueting transformed the river’s waves into nine water dragons, which shattered Madam Yu’s nine-story demon tower.
• A spectator shouted that Bu Xueting was a true sword cultivator, voicing the admiration of the sword cultivators watching.

Bu Xueting faced Madam Yu’s Demon God body, which used unrestrained chaos qi to batter his Great River Sword Domain. When Bu Xueting finally drew Dragon Roar, his restored sword domain spread across Heavenly Pillar Peak and thousands of li beyond, revealing that he was a half-immortal.

• A Meng and Cui Tiegu praised Bu Xueting’s sword strike as the bearing of True Martial Heaven’s old sword cultivators.
• Madam Yu emerged as a gigantic Demon God and fired chaos qi that shattered Bu Xueting’s water dragons and broke apart his Great River Sword Domain.
• Bu Xueting stabilized his damaged sword domain, but Madam Yu filled it with hundreds of holes using chaos-filled bubbles.
• A Meng explained that Demon Emperor-level beasts could briefly wield the Nine Abysses’ power at the cost of being erased by the Heavenly Dao Edict.
• Xu Taiping sensed that Bu Xueting’s true strength exceeded what they had imagined as Madam Yu lunged to bite him.
• Bu Xueting drew Dragon Roar, restored and vastly expanded his sword domain, and Lin Qingnu identified him as a half-immortal.

Madam Yu unleashed a mountain-sized chaos sphere at Bu Xueting, but he sealed it with a wave of Sword Qi and overwhelmed her with his Great River Sword Domain. After draining four mountains to enlarge her Demon God body, Madam Yu launched a vast barrage of chaos spheres at him.

• Madam Yu spat a mountain-sized five-colored chaos sphere at Bu Xueting, but he froze it inside a wave of Sword Qi before its chaos energy could spread.
• Cultivators watching through the Spirit Mirror recognized that Bu Xueting had fused at least six mysterious true intents into his spell.
• Bu Xueting sent waves through his Sword Domain that repeatedly hurled Madam Yu into the air and drove her far beyond the Sword Platform.
• Madam Yu drained the spiritual energy and vitality from four mountains, enlarging her Demon God body until it nearly matched Mount Taiyue's main peak.
• Madam Yu fired four mountain-sized chaos spheres and thousands of smaller ones at Bu Xueting.

Bu Xueting defeated Madam Yu with a sword domain that summoned Kunpeng, but Madam Yu revealed that he had abandoned his chance to become a half-immortal by leaving Ten Thousand Evils Peak early. Xu Taiping asked Fairy Lingyue what the half-immortal’s seat meant for True Martial Heaven.

• Bu Xueting summoned Kunpeng from his sword domain, which swallowed Madam Yu’s chaos spheres and tore apart her Demon God body.
• The Peng Bird brought Madam Yu back to the Sword Platform, and Bu Xueting withdrew his sword domain as the spectators marveled at his strength.
• Madam Yu declared that Bu Xueting had nearly become a half-immortal and had left Ten Thousand Evils Peak before completing the final half-year of cultivation.
• Lin Qingnu and Fairy Lingyue explained that Bu Xueting had abandoned fengshan, the final step toward claiming a half-immortal’s seat.
• Xu Taiping asked Fairy Lingyue what being half a step from fengshan meant and why the half-immortal’s seat mattered to True Martial Heaven.

Xu Taiping learned that Bu Xueting’s descent from Ten Thousand Evils Peak had cost him his chance to become a half-immortal, potentially weakening the Shangqing Realm in its war with Nine Abysses. He recognized that Bu Xueting had chosen a different path, while Madam Yu revealed how Nine Abysses had engineered the trap.

• Fairy Lingyue explained that Bu Xueting had abandoned Fengshan by leaving its site, giving up a chance to become a half-immortal who could help turn the war between the Shangqing Realm and Nine Abysses.
• Yun Ye and other cultivators questioned Bu Xueting’s choice, while Xu Taiping decided he would also have descended and said Bu Xueting had chosen a broader Dao true to his heart.
• Fairy Lingyue praised Xu Taiping for stepping beyond the Demon Mother and True Martial Great Emperor’s chessboard, and Lin Qingnu voiced his approval.
• Bu Xueting seized Madam Yu and handed her to Gao Nu, who realized that his and Nannan’s encounters with Bu Xueting had been part of Nine Abysses’ scheme.
• Madam Yu confirmed that Nine Abysses had spent decades selecting Gao Nu and his daughter as candidates to disrupt Bu Xueting’s Fengshan.