Chapter Summaries

Su Chan continued torturing Xu Taiping in front of the Five Heavens, trying to destroy the human cultivators’ resolve, while the Heartless Demon Emperor forbade Li Yezhu from intervening and demanded Xu Taiping die publicly. Just as Su Chan moved to deliver the final blow, Xu Taiping summoned the Rusty Lion Sword and unleashed a vast golden sword shadow.

• Li Yezhu and the Old City Lord of Thousand Mechanisms City demanded that Su Chan release the Heartless Demon Emperor and Xu Taiping, but Su Chan refused and struck Xu Taiping with the Sword Mountain.
• The Heartless Demon Emperor ordered Li Yezhu and the Seventh Demon Abyss not to interfere, declaring that Xu Taiping must die before the Five Heavens.
• Su Chan turned the Sword Mountain into countless black swords that pierced Xu Taiping and destroyed his golden bull demon protection.
• Zhang Moyan explained that Su Chan meant to shatter the Dao hearts of the human race by making them watch Xu Taiping die helplessly.
• As Su Chan approached with the Taotie Sword, Xu Taiping raised a fist and lost his left arm to a black sword.
• Xu Taiping summoned the Rusty Lion Sword and enveloped it in a hundred-zhang golden sword shadow as his voice declared that he still had one sword.

Xu Taiping used his final Hidden Sword Art strike against Su Chan, whose black sword gates absorbed its power with Wuji's Unrestricted Method. Xu Taiping identified the character that unraveled Su Chan's swordsmanship, and his golden sword shadow shattered the gates and rushed toward Su Chan.

• Xu Taiping's Rusty Lion Sword charged at Su Chan, breaking apart the black swords that tried to block it.
• Su Chan gathered his black swords into a taotie-shaped gate that withstood Xu Taiping's strike and began devouring its golden sword qi.
• As Su Chan's gate continued to drain the strike, the wounded Xu Taiping recognized the character Dá as the key to unraveling Su Chan's swordsmanship.
• Xu Taiping's golden sword shadow wrote the character Dá, causing Su Chan's black gates to explode apart.
• The golden sword shadow rushed toward Su Chan, who had no way to escape.

Su Chan broke Xu Taiping’s Hidden Sword Art with the Character Deciphering method and pressed his attack while Xu Taiping was nearly defeated. Encouraged by the cultivators watching and the jade bracelet’s power, Xu Taiping realized he had hidden one final sword in their memories of his feat at the Mysterious Wasteland Tower, and prepared to draw it.

• Su Chan used the Character Deciphering method to shatter Xu Taiping’s Hidden Sword Art and revealed that Lü Daoxuan had taught him part of the art.
• Su Chan mocked Xu Taiping’s lack of progress and unleashed a black sword light that overwhelmed Rusty Lion and the Water-Cutting Blade’s defenses.
• Xu Taiping struck back despite his near-death state, but Su Chan’s sword light sent him crashing through rubble.
• Liang Zhu and the watching cultivators shouted for Xu Taiping to strike again, recalling his feat of opening the Heavenly Gate in the Mysterious Wasteland Tower.
• The jade bracelet restored Xu Taiping’s hearing, and he realized he had hidden a sword in the cultivators’ memories of that feat.

Xu Taiping called on the spectators to lend him their swords, drawing on the sword intent he had hidden in everyone who witnessed his strike in the Mysterious Wasteland Tower. Their swords helped him resist Su Chan’s black sword light, and Fairy Lingyue realized she could choose whether to return the sword he had hidden within her.

• Xu Taiping unleashed another sword strike and called for everyone to lend him a sword.
• Liang Zhu and the Azure Profound Sect disciples offered their swords, followed by Sect Master Zhao Qian and the Peak Lords.
• Zhang Moyan realized Xu Taiping had hidden his sword in the memories of those who watched his earlier strike, and he, Chu Tiancheng, and the others sent their swords to Xu Taiping.
• The gathered swords joined the Rusty Lion Sword, allowing Xu Taiping’s golden sword to contend with Su Chan’s black sword light, though Su Chan crushed half of it.
• Fairy Lingyue summoned the sword Xu Taiping had hidden within her and considered whether to return it.

Fairy Lingyue and nearby cultivators sent their sword strikes to Xu Taiping, but the few willing offerings could not stop Su Chan’s sword shadow from breaking his growing blade. As Xu Taiping’s strike neared collapse, Baili Yuan and Cangzhu pledged to help cultivators across the Five Heavens send him their swords.

• Fairy Lingyue and the Mysterious Female True Lord joined their sword strikes with Xu Taiping’s, and spectators in the stands sent him thousands more.
• Xu Taiping’s sword shadow grew to eighty zhang and pierced Su Chan’s black sword shadow, but he knew it was still too weak.
• Zhang Moyan, Chu Tiancheng, Mu Yun, and Master Xuanzhi watched as selfish messages and a shortage of offerings left Xu Taiping’s sword shadow cracking under pressure.
• Baili Yuan, Palace Master of the Three Sovereigns Dao Palace, offered Xu Taiping his sword and promised to open a passage from Peerless Nether Heaven to Youyun Heaven.
• Cangzhu, Pavilion Master of the Abyssal Pavilion, offered his sword and promised to open a way for anyone across the Five Heavens who wished to help.

The Abyssal Pavilion offered its vacant Thirteenth Seat to Xu Taiping, but the Heartless Demon Emperor threatened anyone who sent him a sword with the Nine Abysses Blood Pupil Brand. As Xu Taiping’s Sword Shadow began to falter, Zhang Tianze and the Sea-Calming Tower vowed to protect those branded and sent three hundred thousand soldiers’ swords.

• Almost all of the Abyssal Pavilion’s Thirteen Seats offered swords to Xu Taiping, and Cangzhu announced that he would receive the vacant Thirteenth Seat.
• Yun Shiliu realized that Xu Taiping had inherited the Overlord’s Breath, the condition for becoming the Abyssal Pavilion’s Thirteenth Seat.
• The Heartless Demon Emperor threatened to brand anyone who offered Xu Taiping a sword, causing cultivators to withdraw and Xu Taiping’s Sword Shadow to crack.
• Swords from Youyun Heaven arrived in time to slow the Sword Shadow’s collapse.
• Zhang Tianze and three hundred thousand Sea-Calming Army soldiers offered swords to Xu Taiping, and Zhang promised the Sea-Calming Tower would protect anyone bearing the Blood-Eye Brand.

As cultivators and great powers across the Five Heavens pledged to aid Xu Taiping, their offered swords began gathering to support him against Su Chan. Xu Taiping struggled to hold his ground, then realized his sword strike might surpass Senior A Meng’s as he attained sword enlightenment.

• Thousand Mechanisms City and other cities of Mysterious Wasteland Heaven vowed to shelter cultivators marked by the Nine Abysses Evil Curse.
• The great Buddhist temples of Youyun Heaven, followed by rulers and powers across the Five Heavens, pledged protection and offered Xu Taiping their swords.
• Fairy Lingyue watched the sword shadows gather and hoped Xu Taiping’s gamble on human goodness would succeed.
• Su Chan’s black sword light repeatedly broke apart Xu Taiping’s golden sword shadow while Cangzhu prepared to send the offered swords to True Martial Heaven.
• Xu Taiping told Fairy Lingyue he understood the mystery of Senior A Meng’s strike and believed his own sword strike could surpass it, then released a much greater sword intent.

Xu Taiping received a surge of true essence through the Listening Wind Tower jade bracelet, which seemed to connect him with Buyu, and used it to withstand Su Chan’s overwhelming sword strike. He revealed the Sea-Swallowing Seal attributed to Ancient Buddha Kasyapa, then drove his growing golden sword shadow into Su Chan’s black canopy.

• As Xu Taiping’s sword intent rose and azure dragons formed behind him, Su Chan shattered his golden sword shadow with a thousand-zhang black sword.
• The Listening Wind Tower jade bracelet summoned a slender hand wearing an identical bracelet, and its true essence helped Xu Taiping block Su Chan’s sword; Xu Taiping recognized Buyu and promised to speak with her later.
• Xu Taiping’s Mysterious Origin Avatar formed the Sea-Swallowing Seal, which Yun Shiliu identified as a Buddhist Dharma personally transmitted by Ancient Buddha Kasyapa.
• The avatar’s Dharma Ring swallowed Su Chan’s sword strike before shattering, giving Xu Taiping time to restore and enlarge his golden sword shadow.
• With more swords from True Martial Heaven cultivators joining his attack, Xu Taiping’s golden sword shadow pierced Su Chan’s black canopy and left a bright fissure.

Xu Taiping used a Sword Domain forged from the sacrifices of past heroes and the arriving golden-armored warriors to defeat Su Chan’s demonic army and pierce him with the Rusty Lion Sword. Before Xu Taiping could withdraw his sword, a rotting giant dragon emerged from the Land of Chaos and lunged at him while he was too exhausted to dodge.

• Xu Taiping’s Sword Intent shattered Su Chan’s giant black sword, and his Sword Domain summoned the Treading the Sea Army and the spirits of fallen heroes.
• Xu Taiping led the fallen cultivators and soldiers into battle against Su Chan’s demonic cavalry, but their smaller force was overwhelmed.
• A Sword Light sent from Youyun Heaven and the other three realms entered Xu Taiping’s Sword Domain and became over a hundred thousand golden-armored warriors.
• The golden-armored warriors broke Su Chan’s formation, and Xu Taiping’s sword pierced Su Chan’s body.
• A rotting giant dragon emerged from the Land of Chaos and lunged at the exhausted Xu Taiping before he could pull out his sword.

Xu Taiping escaped the Chi Dragon’s attack, and Lü Daoxuan appeared and cut through the Demon Mother’s barrier and the beast with a single sword strike. Lü Daoxuan then gave Fairy Lingyue a Bronze Coffin and asked her to hide Xu Taiping inside it so he could evade Nine Abysses’ pursuit.

• Nine Abysses summoned a Chi Dragon, which charged at Xu Taiping, but his Mysterious Origin Avatar shoved him clear and exploded against the beast.
• Fairy Lingyue prepared to use the Confucian Sect Sacred Treasure against the Chi Dragon, but Lü Daoxuan appeared and told her not to intervene.
• Lü Daoxuan cut through the Demon Mother’s barrier and the Chi Dragon with a single sword strike.
• Fairy Lingyue questioned Lü Daoxuan’s origins, and he warned her that he could not explain everything but that she could trust him.
• Lü Daoxuan produced a Bronze Coffin and asked Fairy Lingyue to place Xu Taiping inside after he erased the traces of his appearance from the River of Time.

Lü Daoxuan erased the Chi Dragon and the traces of his intervention, then warned Fairy Lingyue to hide Xu Taiping in the bronze coffin. After three years of sleep in the Netherdark Demon Grotto, Xu Taiping awoke.

• Lü Daoxuan told Fairy Lingyue that the bronze coffin could conceal Xu Taiping from the Nine Abysses and seal his misfortune for three years.
• Lü Daoxuan revealed a cryptic warning about the Taixuan Scripture and a reckless swordsman, then erased the Chi Dragon and restored the scene to the moment Xu Taiping struck Su Chan.
• Su Chan warned Xu Taiping to run and knocked him away just before Yin Demon Beasts tore him apart.
• The Demon Mother's Barrier shattered, and Fairy Lingyue sealed Xu Taiping inside the bronze coffin and took him to the Netherdark Demon Grotto.
• Three years later, Little Monkey Ping'an and Bai Yu heard Xu Taiping knocking from inside the coffin and realized he had awakened.

Xu Taiping awoke in a bronze coffin in the Netherdark Demon Grotto and found Lü Daoxuan suffering behind the Bronze Gate. As they shared wine and began to discuss the nine bronze coffins, Fairy Lingyue arrived to join them.

• Xu Taiping climbed out of the bronze coffin, regained his strength, and recognized the Netherdark Demon Grotto.
• Lü Daoxuan spoke to Xu Taiping from behind the Bronze Gate, congratulated him on becoming True Martial Sword Champion, and accepted his wine.
• Xu Taiping and Lü Daoxuan passed the wine gourd back and forth and agreed to talk about the nine bronze coffins.
• Fairy Lingyue arrived and asked to listen, and Lü Daoxuan welcomed her to join them.

Xu Taiping learned he had slept for three years in the bronze coffin and watched Fairy Lingyue’s memories reveal that Lü Daoxuan had saved him from the Chi Dragon. As a fierce battle sounded beyond the Bronze Gate, Fairy Lingyue admitted she could not explain how Lü Daoxuan appeared outside it or why he seemed unlike Recluse Sansan.

• Xu Taiping greeted Fairy Lingyue and learned that three years had passed while he slept in the bronze coffin, though he could sense no trace of that time.
• Fairy Lingyue examined Xu Taiping and suspected the bronze coffin had concealed the passage of time from his body and divine soul.
• Chains beyond the Bronze Gate tightened as Lü Daoxuan asked to rest before answering Xu Taiping’s questions, and sounds of battle erupted beyond the gate.
• Fairy Lingyue told Xu Taiping that a Demon Seed might be causing the commotion, but Lü Daoxuan had always managed to suppress it.
• Fairy Lingyue shared her memories, showing Xu Taiping that Lü Daoxuan had severed the Chi Dragon’s head and erased the Power of Time to save him.
• Xu Taiping learned that Fairy Lingyue believed Lü Daoxuan and Recluse Sansan were the same person, yet still felt they were somehow different.

Xu Taiping learned that the Nine Abysses had made him a target in the next Heaven-Demon War contest, while Fairy Lingyue delivered the True Martial Sword Champion Token and a Scroll of Time. The scroll was part of a trial for Xu Taiping to become the Abyssal Pavilion's Thirteenth Seat, though Fairy Lingyue warned that this trial would be different.

• Fairy Lingyue told Xu Taiping that the Azure Profound Sect would soon be sealed behind its sword formation for at least sixty years, but its disciples welcomed his presence and could train in two Grotto-Heaven Secret Realms.
• Fairy Lingyue showed Xu Taiping the decree naming the Chenglong Heaven Dragon-Slaying Gathering a hundred years later as the third Heaven-Demon War contest, with victory going to whoever severed the True Dragon Head.
• Fairy Lingyue gave Xu Taiping the True Martial Sword Champion Token, which allowed him to enter the True Martial Great Emperor's Treasury once and claim a treasure.
• Fairy Lingyue gave Xu Taiping the previous Abyssal Pavilion Thirteenth Seat's Scroll of Time and explained that Heavenly Lord Cangzhu intended it as a trial for Xu Taiping to assume the vacant seat.
• Fairy Lingyue said Overlord's Breath was a key qualification for the seat and explained that the usual trial involved gaining the previous Thirteenth Seat's approval inside the scroll, but this trial would be different.

Xu Taiping learned why Heavenly Lord Cangzhu wanted him to enter the dangerous Scroll of Time trial and heard Lü Daoxuan reveal that he knew how the previous Thirteen Seats holder died. Lü Daoxuan then asked Xu Taiping and Fairy Lingyue to enter the bronze coffin to help him seal an awakened Earth Calamity Demon Seed, leaving them in a strange vision with Lü Daoxuan beside the Bronze Gate.

• Fairy Lingyue explained that the previous holder of the Abyssal Pavilion's Thirteen Seats had died inside the Scroll of Time, and Xu Taiping initially refused the trial.
• Fairy Lingyue revealed that Heavenly Lord Cangzhu offered a hundred years of protection for the Azure Profound Sect's Mountain Gate if Xu Taiping resolved any one of three problems tied to the previous holder.
• Lü Daoxuan rejected the offer of protection, then told Fairy Lingyue to have Heavenly Lord Cangzhu offer a different reward.
• Lü Daoxuan revealed that one of his clones had witnessed the previous holder's death and asked Xu Taiping and Fairy Lingyue to help seal an awakened Earth Calamity Demon Seed in the First Demon Abyss.
• Lü Daoxuan instructed Xu Taiping and Fairy Lingyue to lie inside the empty bronze coffin, and they did so before seeing an old man beside the Bronze Gate who appeared to be Lü Daoxuan.

Xu Taiping and Fairy Lingyue found Lü Daoxuan chained at the Bronze Gate, where he reclaimed the Ink Qilin Sword and explained how he had used himself as bait to recover it. Lü Daoxuan faced the many-armed figure’s next attack with the sword, leaving its streaks of sword radiance suspended as white seal-script characters.

• Xu Taiping recognized Lü Daoxuan by the True Martial Back Tai Shang Mantra Flower Coin, but he could not move closer as Lü was struck by a Five-Colored Radiance palm.
• Lü Daoxuan seized the attacking figure’s wrist, dragged its headless body from the light, and summoned Xu Taiping and Fairy Lingyue’s swords to cut it apart.
• Lü Daoxuan took the Ink Qilin Sword from the fallen figure and told Fairy Lingyue it had been forged by the True Martial Great Emperor and lost in the Netherdark Demon Grotto.
• Lü Daoxuan explained that he had used himself as bait after sensing Ink Qilin on the awakened Earth Calamity Tier Demon Seed, and said he had reclaimed the sword.
• Dozens of radiant arms attacked Lü Daoxuan with sword light, but he drank from Xu Taiping’s wine gourd and swept Ink Qilin, transforming the incoming light into hovering white seal-script characters.

Lü Daoxuan shielded Xu Taiping and Fairy Lingyue from the Netherdark Demon Grotto’s deadly Gang Wind and explained how Taiping had rekindled his will to fight fate. After the wind passed, Taiping and Fairy Lingyue waited at the Bronze Gate as Lü Daoxuan began explaining the nine Bronze Coffins.

• Lü Daoxuan shattered his sword-qi calligraphy, clearing the cave entrance and revealing the Gang Wind formed from Nine Nether Dark Baleful Intent.
• Lü Daoxuan warned Xu Taiping and Fairy Lingyue not to resist the Gang Wind, then stood in front of them as it tore his flesh and exposed his bones.
• Xu Taiping offered to share the burden, but Lü Daoxuan refused and told him how watching Taiping fight against impossible odds had restored his desire to challenge fate.
• Lü Daoxuan declared that he had drawn his sword for those who would come after him, even if he could not change the world.
• Xu Taiping and Fairy Lingyue returned to the Bronze Gate, where Lü Daoxuan began telling them about the nine Bronze Coffins.

Lü Daoxuan told Xu Taiping and Fairy Lingyue that the Azure Profound Sect and its nine Bronze Gates and Coffins descended from the Taixuan Sect. He warned them that the Great Void Calamity would inevitably return to the Shangqing Realm and began explaining the inherited tools they would need to prepare.

• Xu Taiping recounted Martial Aunt Ruoshuang's account of the Azure Profound Sect's origins and its duty to guard the Netherdark Demon Grotto.
• Lü Daoxuan confirmed that Ruoshuang had shared all she could, then said the Great Void Calamity had already struck the Shangqing Realm in past outbreaks and would return.
• Fairy Lingyue learned that earlier cultivators had sealed those outbreaks by sacrificing their Dao Ascension, leaving the current generation too weak to stop the calamity.
• Lü Daoxuan revealed that the nine Bronze Coffins and nine Bronze Gates came from the Taixuan Sect, whose methods had once driven the Nine Abysses into retreat.
• Lü Daoxuan explained that the Taixuan Demon-Sealing Gates and Demon-Suppressing Coffins could both seal demonic beasts and help Azure Profound Sect disciples fight them inside the grotto.

Lü Daoxuan explained the Taixuan Demon-Suppressing Coffins’ powers to Xu Taiping and Fairy Lingyue, revealing that the Bronze Coffin could halt the Power of Time and free its occupant from Heavenly Dao constraints. He ended by claiming that, with sufficient materials, the coffin could slay enemies in the River of Time.

• Lü Daoxuan asked Xu Taiping and Fairy Lingyue to refill his wine gourd and spoke hopefully about drinking with Zhao Qian after he regained his freedom.
• Lü Daoxuan explained that the Five Elders of the Taixuan Sect forged nine Demon-Suppressing Coffins with rare materials, and that the closed coffins could withstand powerful attacks and conceal their occupants.
• Lü Daoxuan revealed that the coffins could stop the Power of Time, and that the material used to protect Xu Taiping from the Nine Abysses three years earlier had been the last portion.
• Fairy Lingyue explained that stopping the Power of Time rendered Heavenly Dao Edicts ineffective and could greatly increase a cultivator’s potential and comprehension.
• Fairy Lingyue clarified that the Liuguang Candle altered time without removing its user from time, unlike the Bronze Coffin.
• Lü Daoxuan revealed that, with enough materials, the Bronze Coffin could slay enemies in the River of Time, astonishing Xu Taiping.

Lü Daoxuan explained how his Origin Beginning Clones and the Demon-Suppressing Coffins allowed his Great Dao to coexist with theirs and gave him multiple chances at rebirth. He revealed that the Lü Daoxuan who delivered the coffins was his first clone, Number One, created six hundred years earlier to enter the River of Time and temper himself.

• Lü Daoxuan confirmed that the different versions Xu Taiping had met were his Origin Beginning Clones.
• Lü Daoxuan and Fairy Lingyue explained that the forbidden Origin Beginning Clone art was incomplete without its missing final chapter.
• Xu Taiping guessed that the Demon-Suppressing Coffins let Lü Daoxuan conceal his clones from the Heavenly Dao and avoid backlash.
• Lü Daoxuan explained that each coffin could preserve a clone as another body and allow him to be reborn there if his divine soul survived.
• Lü Daoxuan reassured Xu Taiping that a clone kept inside a coffin remained free of worldly impurities until it merged with the true body.
• Lü Daoxuan revealed that the visitor from six hundred years earlier was his first clone, Number One, whom Zhou Ang had advised him to send into the River of Time to temper himself.