Chapter Summaries

Bu Xueting killed Madam Yu and vowed to sacrifice three million Demon Cultivators to reclaim the Half-Immortal seat, while Gao Nu pledged to fight alongside him. The Nine Abysses empowered Su Chan through the self-sacrifice of Zhou Yi and Lang Dang, setting Su Chan up as the next challenger.

• Bu Xueting revealed that the Great Dao mattered more to him than his lost Half-Immortal seat and vowed to kill three million Demon Cultivators to ascend again.
• Bu Xueting urged Gao Nu to kill Madam Yu, and Gao Nu beheaded her as her body dissolved into chaos energy.
• As Bu Xueting's power began to fade, Gao Nu agreed to fight alongside him again.
• Zhou Yi conceded to Gao Nu, then sacrificed himself in black flame to empower Su Chan.
• Lang Dang also conceded and sacrificed himself, raising Su Chan's aura to match Bu Xueting's former Half-Immortal power.
• The Demon Mother's Jade Edict announced Su Chan as the Nine Abysses' next Sword Inquiry challenger.

Su Chan and Bu Xueting agreed to settle their challenge with a single sword strike, and Su Chan’s Whale-Slaying Sword overwhelmed Bu Xueting’s Sword Qi river. The exchange left Yun Ye wondering why Bu Xueting had chosen a direct contest, until a sudden sight revealed the reason.

• Fairy Lingyue explained that the Demon Mother had sacrificed two Demon Emperors to raise Su Chan’s power, while Xu Taiping and the others hoped Bu Xueting could suppress it.
• Bu Xueting and Su Chan exchanged words before agreeing that the loser of one strike would withdraw.
• Bu Xueting transformed into a river of Sword Qi and charged at Su Chan from a distance.
• Su Chan used the Whale-Slaying Sword with Taotie, devouring more than half of Bu Xueting’s Sword Qi river.
• A Meng and Cui Tiegu judged Bu Xueting outmatched, while Yun Ye questioned why he had chosen a direct clash.

Bu Xueting used Ephemeral Bloom to make Su Chan’s cultivation drain over time, then left the fight to Zhenwu’s remaining challengers. Lin Qingnu was chosen to face Su Chan while his strength was still at its greatest.

• Su Chan swallowed most of Bu Xueting’s Sword Qi, but Bu Xueting’s sword still struck him with the Ephemeral Bloom True Intent.
• Fairy Lingyue explained to Xu Taiping that Ephemeral Bloom rapidly drained its victim’s cultivation and could not be recovered for a day or two.
• Su Chan provoked A Meng while secretly attacking Bu Xueting, but Gao Nu conceded and the Sword Chief Ranking stopped the fight.
• Bu Xueting revealed that Su Chan’s cultivation would fall to the Heaven Questioning Realm after all five epiphyllum blossoms withered, then departed for Outer Heaven.
• A Meng and Lin Qingnu both requested the next challenge, and the Sword Chief Ranking selected Lin Qingnu.
• Lin Qingnu told A Meng to wait until Su Chan had lost some strength, then challenged Su Chan to Sword Inquiry.

Lin Qingnu recalled how the Taihao Sect forced him to enter the Sword Champion Assembly to prove he was not Lin Qinggu, then fought Su Chan on the Sword Platform. Su Chan’s manifested taotie bit away half of Lin Qingnu’s divine-human variant bone body, leaving the duel’s outcome uncertain.

• The Taihao Sect elders demanded that Lin Qingnu kill the strongest Sword Inquiry Cultivator at the assembly or claim the championship, and Lin Qingnu secured their promise to free two other prisoners if he won.
• Su Chan called Lin Qingnu a clone of Lin Qinggu, and Lin Qingnu angrily denied it before attacking with his sword.
• Su Chan swallowed much of Lin Qingnu’s sword light, but Lin Qingnu revealed his divine-human variant bone body and fought him with the Immortal Weapon Windfeather.
• Lin Qingnu and Su Chan exchanged over a hundred blows above Mount Taiyue Immortal Abode, while their clash flattened several mountain peaks.
• Su Chan unleashed the extreme law Sword Swallows Mountains and Seas, manifesting a taotie that bit away half of Lin Qingnu’s divine-human variant bone body.

Su Chan used his Sword Qi Taotie to overwhelm Lin Qingnu, but Lin Qingnu invoked Divine Intent, Spring Breeze of Success, Ashes Rekindled, and trapped Su Chan again. Su Chan remained surrounded by Lin Qingnu’s renewed Sword Qi Vortex.

• A Meng judged that Su Chan’s Sword Dao had likely reached the Half-Step Sword Saint level after seeing him summon a Taotie through Sword Qi Manifestation.
• Su Chan’s Taotie swallowed Lin Qingnu’s ruined body and the two peaks behind him, but Lin Qingnu burst free as sword light and struck Su Chan.
• Su Chan blocked Lin Qingnu’s attack and used another Taotie to swallow most of Lin Qingnu’s Sword Qi Vortex.
• Lin Qingnu invoked Divine Intent, Spring Breeze of Success, Ashes Rekindled, and drew spiritual power from the surrounding peaks to restore the golden vortex around Su Chan.
• Su Chan sliced through the vortex and broke through it, but Lin Qingnu raised another vortex outside it and trapped him again.

Lin Qingnu used his defensive Spring Breeze Divine Intent to trap Su Chan and wear down his strength, despite the risk of damaging his cultivation. Su Chan accused him of lacking the courage to challenge him, while the onlookers realized Lin Qingnu might be weakening Su Chan for someone else.

• Lin Qingnu repeatedly restored his Sword Qi tornado with Spring Breeze Divine Intent, but the backlash weakened his aura and threatened to make him fall in realm.
• Cui Tiegu revealed that Lin Qingnu had comprehended both an offensive and a defensive divine intent, though he could use only one at a time.
• Su Chan's night-blooming cereus phantom blossomed and withered during his assault, and his aura weakened noticeably.
• Yun Ye wondered whether Lin Qingnu had chosen to wear down Su Chan for the other contenders rather than try to win the Sword Inquiry himself.
• Cui Tiegu noted that Lin Qingnu had wagered on claiming the Sword Champion's seat, making his apparent strategy seem inexplicable.
• Su Chan accused Lin Qingnu of abandoning the courage he had shown when resisting the Taihao Sect and refusing to compromise.

Lin Qingnu broke free of Lin Qinggu’s influence by choosing to fight Su Chan according to his own wishes, but his effort to hold Su Chan back exhausted him. Cui Tiegu intervened to save Lin Qingnu and invoked Zhenwu sword intent, unleashing a force that engulfed Heavenly Pillar Peak.

• Lin Qingnu told Su Chan that fighting to help Zhenwu would sever his karma with Lin Qinggu, then used Spring Breeze Divine Intent to repair the sword qi tornado.
• Su Chan repeatedly tore holes in the tornado, forcing Lin Qingnu to spend his vitality sealing them until his cultivation fell two realms and he dropped from the Sword Platform.
• Cui Tiegu entered the fight, caught Lin Qingnu, and hurled him toward Xu Taiping and the others as Su Chan attacked.
• Cui Tiegu pledged to sever his path to immortality and asked the True Martial Great Emperor for Zhenwu sword intent.
• Cui Tiegu’s Sword Qi Barrier knocked Su Chan away, and his surging sword intent spread across Heavenly Pillar Peak, making many cultivators feel compelled to kneel.

Cui Tiegu used the divine intent within his flying sword Zhen Gang to resist Su Chan, then borrowed the True Martial Great Emperor’s Zhenwu Sword Intent. The borrowed intent spread across more than a thousand li, leaving Cui Tiegu’s sword intent powerful enough to match Su Chan’s as the battle continued.

• Cui Tiegu told A Meng that he understood the True Martial Great Emperor’s intention, then used Zhen Gang’s divine intent to block Su Chan’s Taotie sword strike.
• A Meng explained that Zhen Gang had nurtured the divine intent “One man guards the pass, ten thousand cannot break through” on the Heaven-Demon Battlefield.
• Su Chan’s Taotie sword intent began swallowing Zhen Gang’s divine intent, prompting the onlookers to wonder why Cui Tiegu had used it despite knowing the danger.
• Cui Tiegu said he would save his contest with A Meng for the next Sword Champion Assembly, then released the Zhenwu Sword Intent he had borrowed.
• The Zhenwu Sword Intent spread across more than a thousand li, creating immense pressure that overwhelmed weaker cultivators and made Cui Tiegu’s sword intent a match for Su Chan’s.

Cui Tiegu’s Zhenwu Sword Intent failed to defeat Su Chan, who survived the attack and damaged the Sword Chief Ranking’s protective barrier before Cui conceded. The Sword Chief Ranking chose A Meng to face Su Chan next, while Cui revealed that the ranking had selected Xu Taiping and Yun Ye as candidates to inherit the True Martial Great Emperor’s legacy.

• Cui Tiegu’s sword strike made two of Su Chan’s flowers wither, but Su Chan transformed into his Demon God body and destroyed Cui’s sword light without losing strength.
• Cui Tiegu conceded, but Su Chan attacked him anyway, cutting a sword mark into the Sword Chief Ranking’s golden barrier before it stopped the strike.
• Cui Tiegu told A Meng to take his turn, and the Sword Chief Ranking named A Meng of the Pure Yang Sword Sect as the next challenger.
• A Meng explained that the Sword Inquiry sought a worthy sword for True Martial Heaven and the Shangqing Realm, while Cui Tiegu reminded Xu Taiping and Yun Ye that the assembly existed to find a successor to the True Martial Great Emperor.
• Cui Tiegu revealed that the Sword Chief Ranking had chosen Xu Taiping and Yun Ye, and that after Su Chan’s final flower bloomed, they would face its final test for the legacy.

The Sword Inquiry was revealed to be a struggle over the True Martial Great Emperor’s inheritance as well as a test to save True Martial Heaven. Yun Shiliu arrived to support Yun Ye, while Xu Taiping reflected on why he and A Meng had come to face Su Chan; A Meng then stepped onto the Sword Platform to challenge her.

• Cui Tiegu revealed that the Sword Chief Ranking intended to use the ten Demon Emperors of the Nine Abysses to choose an heir to the True Martial Great Emperor’s true inheritance.
• Yun Shiliu broke through the Nine Prefectures’ barrier and arrived at the Sword Inquiry, where Yun Ye recognized her as his aunt and learned she would help him claim the inheritance.
• Yun Shiliu assured Liu Chuxuan and the Nine Prefectures’ elders that she had come to help True Martial Heaven win the Heaven-Demon War.
• Cui Tiegu warned Xu Taiping that the Azure Profound Sect was too weak to contend for the inheritance, but Xu Taiping said he cared more about facing Su Chan than claiming it.
• Xu Taiping said A Meng challenged Su Chan because of who Su Chan was, and that the same was true of his own wish to fight her.
• A Meng leaped onto the Sword Platform and pointed his sword at Su Chan.

A Meng challenged Su Chan at the Sword Champion Assembly, determined to prove himself Su Chan’s opponent through the Sword Inquiry. Su Chan took the upper hand in their opening exchange, then pressed his attack as A Meng recovered in midair.

• A Meng demanded that the spectators focus on the Sword Inquiry and summoned pure Sword Qi around himself.
• A Meng asked Su Chan whether he had ever regarded him as an opponent, and Su Chan replied that they could be friends or enemies but never equals.
• A Meng vowed to make Su Chan take back his words and launched a diving sword strike from above the Sword Platform.
• Su Chan shattered A Meng’s Sword Intent with a slash backed by a Sword Qi taotie, which devoured part of A Meng’s hawk-shaped Sword Qi.
• A Meng’s Sword Qi hawk re-formed and caught him as Su Chan pursued him with another powerful slash.

Su Chan overwhelmed A Meng and appeared poised to kill him, but A Meng revealed a hidden technique he had saved specifically for Su Chan. A vast Sword Domain spread across Heavenly Pillar Peak as A Meng announced his one sword, “A Common Man’s Fury.”

• Su Chan shattered A Meng’s Sword Intent, wounded him, and broke the Immortal Weapon in his hand.
• Xu Taiping and Cui Tiegu discussed how A Meng’s reliance on swordsmanship had left him vulnerable, and Xu Taiping realized A Meng had long known of that weakness.
• Su Chan drove A Meng into the Sword Platform and prepared a finishing blow as spectators expected A Meng’s defeat.
• A Meng released a milky-white light, forcing Su Chan to retreat across the Sword Platform.
• A Meng unleashed a vast Sword Domain filled with broken swords and declared that its sole sword was “A Common Man’s Fury.”

A Meng trapped Su Chan within his Common Man Sword Domain and rendered Su Chan’s attacks ineffective. As Su Chan gathered power for a stronger attack, Xu Taiping gained a new insight into sword domain power.

• A Meng’s battlefield Sword Domain drew Xu Taiping and the onlookers into the fight, where Su Chan raised a single-plank bridge and attacked A Meng with sword light.
• A Meng blocked Su Chan’s attacks with a gravestone inscribed “The grave of A Meng, a common man.”
• A Meng raised a second gravestone bearing the words “The grave of Su Chan, traitor to Zhenwu,” and explained that his methods could not harm him until he unleashed his Common Man’s Fury.
• Xu Taiping sensed a new understanding of sword domain power, while Cui Tiegu wondered if A Meng’s domain had prompted an imminent breakthrough.
• A Meng’s growing domain closed Su Chan’s chasm, and Su Chan stopped attacking and gathered sword intent into a towering Taotie phantom and Sword Shadow.

Xu Taiping sensed the life and Sword Intent behind A Meng’s strike, triggering a powerful Divine Intent Resonance in his Divine Soul. A Meng defeated Su Chan, but as he awaited his end, he saw Xu Taiping shining with a sword radiance that reached the heavens.

• Cui Tiegu urged Xu Taiping to use his mind to sense A Meng’s Sword Intent, and Xu Taiping grasped the experiences behind it.
• Xu Taiping’s Sword Intent grew similar to A Meng’s, and his Divine Soul began producing a resonance that stunned Cui Tiegu.
• Cui Tiegu suspected Xu Taiping possessed the legendary Emptiness Daoheart, but Undying Night Soul threatened to destroy him if he acted on wicked thoughts.
• A Meng’s white sword light overwhelmed Su Chan’s black sword light, and his strike destroyed the final night-blooming cereus flower on Su Chan.
• As A Meng’s body crumbled and he awaited Liberation by Violence, Xu Taiping’s dazzling sword radiance caught his attention.

A Meng’s sword strike surpassed Su Chan’s and perfected his sword heart, but seeing Xu Taiping comprehend and surpass his Sword Intent shook his conviction. Xu Taiping answered A Meng’s doubts by arguing that the pursuit of extreme law mattered because each generation passed its knowledge on, leaving Xu Taiping with an extreme law sword strike shaped by the sacrifices of his predecessors.

• A Meng won his contest of extreme law against Su Chan, perfecting his sword heart even as Liberation by Violence threatened to cast him into the mortal world.
• A Meng saw Xu Taiping wield a superior extreme law Sword Intent and suspected the Great Emperor had arranged his challenge to let Xu Taiping witness the strike.
• Su Chan urged A Meng to abandon the Heavenly Dao’s path and choose another great path, nearly extinguishing his resolve.
• A Meng asked Xu Taiping whether his strike deserved to be called extreme law, and Xu Taiping said it did not because no law could have an ultimate limit while time continued.
• Xu Taiping told A Meng that generations of humans had advanced by pursuing and passing on their arts, and that this inheritance gave meaning to their pursuit of extreme law.

Xu Taiping helped A Meng restore his Dao Heart, and A Meng revealed that he was the Half-Immortal Liu Sui before returning to the Kunlun Ruins. Though A Meng urged Xu Taiping to withdraw, Xu Taiping refused, and the Sword Chief Ranking named Yun Ye as Zhenwu’s next challenger.

• Xu Taiping’s words helped A Meng complete his Dao Heart, and A Meng thanked him for reforging it.
• A Meng revealed that he was Liu Sui, a Half-Immortal who had spent six hundred years in Shangqing as A Meng, and promised to aid Zhenwu cultivators and fight beside them if the Heaven-Demon Battlefield reopened.
• A Meng warned Xu Taiping that he could not defeat Su Chan and offered to take him to the Kunlun Ruins, but Xu Taiping refused to retreat from the Sword Inquiry.
• Fairy Lingyue asked Xu Taiping whether A Meng had spoken to him privately, and Xu Taiping confirmed it without sharing details.
• While Xu Taiping contemplated the sword insights he had gained, the Sword Chief Ranking announced Yun Ye of the Three Sovereigns Dao Palace as Zhenwu’s next challenger.

Yun Ye entered the Sword Inquiry to face Su Chan, backed by the Three Sovereigns Dao Palace’s Heavenly Dao Edict and the hopes of True Martial Heaven. Xu Taiping insisted he would fight if Yun Ye fell, and the chapter ended as Yun Ye launched his first attack on Su Chan.

• Yun Shiliu explained that the Heavenly Dao Edict’s power would weaken with time and warned Yun Ye not to underestimate Su Chan.
• Yun Ye vowed to slay Su Chan and walked onto the Sword Platform as spectators placed their hopes in him.
• Liang Zhu asked whether Xu Taiping could still fight if Yun Ye lost, but Zhao Qian urged her not to risk another Azure Profound Sect disciple.
• Xu Taiping told Zhao Qian he would face Su Chan if Yun Ye failed, and Zhao Qian promised the Azure Profound Sect would remain a refuge for him.
• Yun Ye and Su Chan revealed peak Heaven Questioning Realm auras, and Yun Ye drew his sword and charged at Su Chan.

Yun Ye challenged Su Chan on the Sword Platform, using the true intent “As It Was” and the Extreme Law sword technique Stars Fall and Clouds Scatter to force Su Chan to reveal his origin demon seed power. The Three Sovereigns Dao Palace then used the Three Sovereigns Seal to forbid Nine Abyss Demon Cultivators from using that power, and Su Chan dismissed the new rule as a waste of the Heavenly Dao Edict.

• Yun Ye used “As It Was” to restore his sword strike and overcome Su Chan’s Sword Domain, then attacked again with a sword technique that transformed his light into a hand.
• Su Chan turned into a colossal Taotie and swallowed Yun Ye’s sword-light hand, but Yun Ye unleashed Extreme Law: Stars Fall and Clouds Scatter from within its mouth.
• Su Chan summoned a black tree through Taotie and his origin demon seed power, blocking Yun Ye’s falling-star swords and remaining unharmed.
• The Three Sovereigns Seal declared that Nine Abyss Demon Cultivators could not use origin demon seed power during the Sword Inquiry, making Su Chan’s black tree vanish.
• Yun Ye invited Su Chan to settle the contest with their swords, and Su Chan replied that banning his origin demon seed power had wasted the Heavenly Dao Edict.

Yun Ye challenged Su Chan to prove himself the strongest young Sword Cultivator and unleashed the Extreme Law, Three Powers Immortal-Slaying Sword. The six blazing swords descended on Su Chan, leaving the duel’s outcome unresolved.

• Yun Ye told Su Chan that he had searched for the Sword Cultivator from his dreams for over fifty years, but that surpassing Su Chan mattered more than identifying him.
• Su Chan declared himself the foremost Sword Cultivator of the younger generation, and Yun Ye vowed to take that title from him with his next strike.
• Yun Ye drove Su Chan toward Taiyue Mountain and attacked him with swords formed from its rocks, plants, and trees, while Su Chan countered with his Taotie Sword Qi.
• Yun Ye used Yin God's power to absorb Su Chan's Sword Qi taotie and create golden hands that trapped Su Chan and drew six mountain peaks into enormous swords.
• Yun Ye invoked the Extreme Law, Three Powers Immortal-Slaying Sword, transforming the six mountain-peak swords into blazing steel blades that fell toward Su Chan.

Su Chan overcame Yun Ye’s Extreme Law Three Talents Immortal-Slaying Sword with his Taotie transformation and unleashed Sword Returns to the Great Void. The Three Sovereigns Seal saved Yun Ye from death, and the Sword Chief Ranking called Xu Taiping to challenge Su Chan next.

• Yun Ye’s sword strikes shattered Su Chan’s Taotie phantom, and the spectators expected Su Chan to lose.
• Su Chan transformed into an armored Taotie form and blocked Yun Ye’s first five swords with a black disc-shaped halo.
• Su Chan shattered the five embedded swords, declared his Dao superior, and formed a black sword called Sword Returns to the Great Void.
• Yun Ye’s final sword was ground away, and Su Chan’s black sword engulfed Yun Ye, but the Three Sovereigns Seal rescued Yun Ye and cast him from the Sword Platform.
• Su Chan turned toward Xu Taiping, and the Sword Chief Ranking named Xu Taiping as Zhenwu Qingxuan’s next sword challenger.