Chapter Summaries

At a lavish dinner, Gu Qingzhou explained that he wanted to serve in the Ministry of Works to help disaster victims and urged He An to consider Ding Wenruo’s feelings, though He An remained devoted to Han Chanjuan. Fan Dazhi became captivated by the mysterious musician Linu, while He An returned to Watermill Head Village and reunited with Chanjuan.

• At the Brilliant Pavilion, Gu Qingzhou told his companions about the suffering he had witnessed and his wish to work in the Ministry of Works for the people.
• Gu Qingzhou urged He An not to hurt Ding Wenruo, but He An insisted that he and Han Chanjuan loved each other.
• Fan Dazhi met the veiled musician Linu, then watched her perform “Ambush from Ten Sides” and became infatuated with her.
• He An thought about visiting home after paying respects at the Knowledge and Practice Institute, while Chanjuan waited anxiously for him at Watermill Head Village.
• He An returned to the village, and Chanjuan ran to embrace him as Aunt Xue and the old stick-in-the-mud watched.
• Fan Dazhi entered the kitchen and gazed dreamily at a painting that reminded him of Linu.

Qu Yong delivered Lin Shan’s gift to Yun Ying, submitted his refined gold, and entered the Sword Cavern with the other disciples. Remembering his teacher’s words, he focused on the seventh stele and began to perceive its sword imagery more deeply.

• Qu Yong forged iron cloud fir and refined gold while Lin Shan asked him to give Yun Ying a celadon box as thanks for saving him.
• Qu Yong delivered the box to Yun Ying at the Forging Hall, where she accepted it and rebuked Dongfang Jian for dismissing Lin Shan’s gift.
• Tong Xiaohan inspected the disciples’ refined gold, and Qu Yong qualified to enter the Sword Cavern with twenty-one others.
• Patriarch Qiu opened the cavern and warned the disciples not to strain their divine sense as they studied the nine steles.
• After failing to gain insight and recalling Lu Zhengqing’s inscription, Qu Yong chose the seventh stele and contemplated its depiction of the immortal fighting the Nine-Infant.

Qu Yong used the Great Void Star-Guiding Art to awaken the Sword Cavern’s hidden legacy, gaining profound sword insights and manifesting the Heaven-Seeking Sword Formation. Patriarch Qiu and Elder Xiao recognized him as the heir to the sword Dao, while sect master Dongfang Shikai welcomed the arrival of the heir he had awaited.

• Yun Ying’s advice helped Qu Yong stop forcing his divine sense to seize the sword intent, briefly allowing him to condense sword qi.
• After failing to comprehend the mural, Qu Yong used the Great Void Star-Guiding Art to trace the stele’s engraved lines and stirred the river of stars within the Sword Tomb Barrier.
• The sword immortal appeared in the mural and revealed dark gold writing, which spread across the cavern’s steles before streaming into Qu Yong’s meridians.
• Qu Yong manifested Myriad Swords Return to the Origin and the long-lost Heaven-Seeking Sword Formation, causing nine steles to shine and the Sword Cavern to shake.
• Elder Xiao and Patriarch Qiu celebrated Qu Yong’s awakening, and Patriarch Qiu sensed that the buried broken-sword fragment had grown warm between Qu Yong’s brows.
• Dongfang Shikai watched the disturbance from Buried Sword Peak and declared that the Sword Cavern’s heir had arrived and his Dao was no longer alone.

Yun Ying met with the Black-Clothed Man, who threatened her and gave her a year to uncover information, so she planned to exploit Qu Yong and Dongfang Jian. Meanwhile, black-clothed attackers massacred fishermen near Yangkou Town, and Mo Daiyan’s Vertical Sword Sect party was overwhelmed at sea by experts from Unknown Island and a forbidden technique.

• The Black-Clothed Man demanded news from Yun Ying, threatened her, and gave her one year to make progress.
• Yun Ying suggested using Qu Yong’s sword intent and Dongfang Jian’s jealousy to find an opportunity, then returned to her lodgings and struggled with her situation.
• Black-clothed figures attacked Liu Ergou’s fishing boat and slaughtered fishermen across the sea.
• After Liao Chen and the county officials sent to investigate failed to return, Emperor Liu asked the Vertical Sword Sect to intervene, and Mo Daiyan led sixteen cultivators to Yangkou Town.
• Mo Daiyan’s group fought the attackers from Unknown Island, but a golden palm shattered their formation and poison and sorcery killed or incapacitated the sword cultivators.
• Mo Daiyan recognized the Black-Clothed Leader’s chained skeletons and synchronized movements as the forbidden art Impure World Reincarnation.

The Vertical Sword Sect learned that Mo Daiyan and sixteen disciples had been killed by people from Unknown Island, possibly allied with the People from Beyond the Heavens. Patriarch Peng explained the sect’s ancient connection to those realms and recounted how its founder, Shangguan Cangqiong, discovered a broken sword that led him to establish the sect.

• Two purple-robed attackers helped the black-clad men kill Mo Daiyan and all sixteen Vertical Sword Sect cultivators, though Mo Daiyan sent a Message Jade Slip before he died.
• Dongfang Shikai sensed the attack and descended the mountain, while the elders gathered at Buried Sword Peak and learned he had already gone to confront the enemy.
• Patriarch Peng arrived and ordered the elders to guard their mountain gates, identifying Unknown Island as the likely enemy and suggesting it had joined forces with the People from Beyond the Heavens.
• Patriarch Peng revealed that the People from Beyond the Heavens had given him his facial scar and cost him an arm, and that the Sword Cavern’s steles held twenty-six names, including Qiu Jianlai’s.
• Patriarch Peng recounted how Shangguan Cangqiong found a broken sword that taught him sword arts and led him to found the Vertical Sword Sect.

Patriarch Peng revealed the Vertical Sword Sect’s origins as a blood-hued lunar halo heralded an invasion. Dongfang Shikai destroyed a raiding party at sea, while the sect’s elders defended the peaks from another attack and drove the surviving invaders through a spatial fissure.

• Patriarch Peng explained that a celestial broken sword lay buried beneath Buried Sword Peak and praised Dongfang Shikai’s sword talent before ordering the elders to guard their peaks when a blood-red halo appeared.
• Black-clothed men and Ghost-Faced Spiders slaughtered Yangkou Town and tried to escape by sampan with their plunder.
• Dongfang Shikai destroyed the raiders at sea with his sword, then sensed a powerful force approaching the Vertical Sword Sect and flew north.
• Patriarch Qiu and Xiao Buyi organized the sect’s Mountain-Guarding Sword Formation against seventy-two bat-winged attackers, but Chang Zusheng’s sword turned on him and weakened the formation.
• The black-clothed leader summoned the Flower-Picking Holy Maiden, whose Soul-Binding Threads attacked the disciples, but Patriarch Qiu disrupted her manifestation and Xiao Buyi’s sword formation struck it down.
• The surviving attackers fled through a spatial fissure after the Holy Maiden’s manifestation detonated an arm, and Patriarch Qiu warned their master to stay away from the sect.

The Upper Realm’s Immortal Venerable ordered Yamamoto Doichi to find the final map piece and warned his followers against intervening in the world below. At the Vertical Sword Sect, Patriarch Qiu prepared to sacrifice himself to strengthen the sect after Patriarch Peng forged the Soaring Dragon Sword.

• The Immortal Venerable learned that a Great Luo Golden Immortal’s avatar had been destroyed by a sword cultivator and ordered Yamamoto Doichi to find the final piece of the map.
• Dongfang Shikai returned to the sect, and Patriarch Qiu explained that he had spared the messenger to keep the Upper Realm from calculating the world’s changing fortunes.
• Patriarch Qiu revealed that the battle had exhausted his remaining vitality and urged the sect to strengthen its disciples through the Sword Cavern.
• Patriarch Qiu summoned the elders to Sword-Forging Peak, where Patriarch Peng forged a sword from nine nether black iron and the body of the slain intruder.
• Dongfang Shikai named the new blade the Soaring Dragon Sword, and Patriarch Qiu burned his essence blood to awaken the Swordstone Vein and gather twelve sword wheels around himself.

Patriarch Qiu sacrificed himself to reforge the Heavenly Question Sword, exposing a spy from Unknown Island, while disciples in the Sword Cavern began comprehending sword intent. At court, Emperor Chen decided to send Dragon Gate Academy and the Knowledge and Practice Institute to the Sword Tomb Secret Realm, and Cui Yizhong demanded an investigation into the smuggling of black gold ore to Han Zongwang.

• Patriarch Qiu passed his sword insights to Dongfang Shikai and the elders, then sacrificed himself to reforge his broken sword into the Heavenly Question Sword.
• The Heavenly Question Sword struck down the Discipline Hall Chief, revealing him as a disguised agent planted by Unknown Island.
• Fan She and several other disciples comprehended sword intent in the Sword Cavern as Dongfang Jian struggled to concentrate.
• Tong Huan urged Emperor Chen to send the Knowledge and Practice Institute to the Eastern Yang Kingdom's Sword Tomb Secret Realm, and Emperor Chen chose to send both it and Dragon Gate Academy.
• Cui Yizhong reported that someone had smuggled a hundred thousand dou of black gold ore to Han Zongwang and called for a thorough investigation.

Emperor Chen discussed Unknown Island and the Mysterious Map Fragments with Tong Huan before an infiltrator escaped his guards. At the Vertical Sword Sect, Qu Yong avoided Dongfang Jian’s challenge and discovered a new sword formation through the Analects.

• Emperor Chen angrily dismissed Cui Yizhong over the black gold ore affair, then reassured Tong Huan that the Dragon Hidden Guards were investigating it.
• Tong Huan urged Emperor Chen to guard against Unknown Island, and Emperor Chen explained the search for the Mysterious Map Fragments before a hidden intruder fled using Shadow-Escape Art.
• Dongfang Jian practiced his sword intent while Yun Ying warned Qu Yong that he intended to challenge him with the Opening Sun Sword and his Three Sights Sword Art.
• Qu Yong told Yun Ying he would not fight Dongfang Jian and said that swords knew no rank, though their paths diverged.
• Qu Yong studied the Analects, realized that sword intent did not lie in slaughter, and formed the String-Song Sword Formation from its characters.

Fan Dazhi confronted Fan Youfu about his mother's death and his hidden identity before leaving Watermill Head Village with He An. They found Han Chanjuan gone, while more than a hundred Imperial Guards had arrived to take her back to the Great Han Palace, and the two boys set off for the Knowledge and Practice Institute in the Capital.

• Fan Dazhi accused Fan Youfu of letting his mother die and revealed that he knew his father was really named Fan Changfeng, but Fan Youfu refused to explain who he was.
• He An and Han Chanjuan sat by the river, where she saw the lash scars on his back and vowed to kill those who had hurt him before he stopped her.
• More than a hundred Imperial Guards arrived at Han Chanjuan's courtyard and demanded she return to the Great Han Palace, threatening to slaughter the villagers if she refused.
• Fan Dazhi left home carrying his mother's old hair cords, then joined He An at Han Chanjuan's empty courtyard after she and Aunt Xue had departed.
• He An and Fan Dazhi hired a carriage toward the Capital after learning the Knowledge and Practice Institute had reportedly closed, and Dazhi said he was saving money to marry Miss Linu.

Wei Zhilin divined that Li Xingzhi was safe, and the Knowledge and Practice Institute learned it must send disciples to compete in the Sword Tomb Secret Realm. The chapter ended as Dongfang Jian challenged Qu Yong and unleashed his sword art against the courtyard.

• Wei Zhilin used yarrow divination and concluded that Li Xingzhi was unharmed, prompting him and Cheng Zi Ya to celebrate in the rain.
• Feng Shaotang reported that the court had ordered the Knowledge and Practice Institute to send disciples to the Sword Tomb Secret Realm and compete with the Dragon Gate Academy for the Vertical Sword Sect's Forging Art.
• Wei Zhilin recalled that Li Xingzhi had defeated Dongfang Shikai with a single sword strike, while Cheng Zi Ya urged him to recount the duel.
• Wei Zhilin explained the dangers and opportunities of the Sword Tomb Secret Realm and named He An and Fan Dazhi as suitable candidates.
• Dongfang Jian challenged Qu Yong from a cliff and attacked the courtyard with Witness Heaven and Earth, the opening move of the Three Visions Sword Art.

Qu Yong defeated Dongfang Jian with the Cangwu Sword and was recognized as the Vertical Sword Sect’s Twenty-Seventh Sword. Meanwhile, He An parted ways with Fan Dazhi on the road to the sect, leaving him a protective jade pendant.

• Qu Yong used the Cangwu Sword to counter Dongfang Jian’s Three Visions Sword Art and defeated him, stopping his blade inches from Dongfang Jian’s throat.
• Dongfang Jian refused to accept the defeat and ran toward Buried Sword Peak, while Qu Yong’s breakthrough caused a wondrous display across Sky Dome Mountain.
• Patriarch Peng declared that Qu Yong was the successor Qiu Jianlai had awaited, and the Sword Cavern’s tablets revealed Qu Yong as the twenty-seventh name.
• Yun Ying and the other disciples realized that Qu Yong had joined the legendary line of Sword Masters, stirring an uproar throughout the Vertical Sword Sect.
• He An urged Fan Dazhi to cultivate carefully, gave him a jade pendant for protection, and continued alone toward the Vertical Sword Sect.

Fan Dazhi visited the Brilliant Pavilion to see Miss Linu, unaware that Cui Zhixia was plotting to capture and torment him. The chapter ended with Fan Dazhi entranced as Miss Linu appeared to play for him.

• Fan Dazhi dreamed that Miss Linu confessed her love for him, but woke before Jia Huaigang could punish him for consorting with a courtesan.
• Fan Dazhi gathered his silver and went alone to the Brilliant Pavilion, where he paid the waiter to invite the zither player from his previous visit.
• Cui Zhixia recognized Fan Dazhi and ordered an attendant to have Jian Xiaolang capture him when he left the Knowledge and Practice Institute, keeping him alive for torment.
• Bi Yunfei assured Cui Zhixia that he remained his ally despite having severed ties with the Knowledge and Practice Institute.
• Miss Linu entered Fan Dazhi's room with the Scorched-Tail Ancient Zither, and Fan Dazhi gazed at her in rapture.

Fan Dazhi fell for Linu at the Brilliant Pavilion and promised to buy her freedom after hearing her story. After returning home, Linu revealed to Zhu Qiqi that she had deliberately charmed the honest, gullible man.

• Linu played the zither and sang for Fan Dazhi, who became captivated by her.
• Fan Dazhi persuaded Linu to share his meal, and she told him about her hardship in the Pleasure Quarter.
• Fan Dazhi promised to buy Linu's freedom, and they talked together late into the night.
• Linu returned to her home and told Zhu Qiqi that Fan Dazhi had fallen for her and wanted to free her.
• Linu and Zhu Qiqi teased each other and playfully tussled on the bed.

Bi Yunfei was summoned by Zhao Delu, threatened with punishment for his crimes, and appointed Palace Censor in exchange for serving the emperor’s plans. The chapter ended with Fan Dazhi still desperate to earn enough silver to free Linu, after failing to obtain ink bamboo for making brushes.

• Bi Yunfei was abducted and brought to Zhao Delu, who confronted him with evidence of his embezzlement and threatened him with death.
• Zhao Delu revealed the emperor’s edict appointing Bi Yunfei Palace Censor and warned him to abandon his petty schemes while serving the emperor.
• Zhao Delu ordered Bi Yunfei to interrogate Su Qiu and later travel to the Eastern Yang Kingdom to seek the Forging Technique in the Vertical Sword Sect’s Sword Tomb Secret Realm.
• Bi Yunfei left the palace at dawn, shaken by the emperor’s knowledge of his secret cultivation.
• Fan Dazhi woke worried about freeing Linu and recalled that he had failed to break off ink bamboo for making brushes, nearly getting caught by the Academy Head.

Fan Dazhi sought help and a way to earn money after learning Gu Qingzhou had gone to repair flood-damaged dikes, then visited the Brilliant Pavilion. Bi Yunfei treated him warmly, gave him two thousand taels, and concealed his true intention to make Fan suffer for Cui Zhixia.

• Fan Dazhi failed to break the ink bamboo, fled when the Academy Head returned, and learned Gu Qingzhou had gone to provide disaster relief after the Huai River flooded.
• Fan Dazhi worried over his dwindling savings and went to the Brilliant Pavilion, where Bi Yunfei intercepted him before Cui Zhixia's men could act.
• Bi Yunfei bought Fan Dazhi an extravagant meal, claimed he had left the institute to support his mother, and warned him that Cui Zhixia might seek revenge.
• Bi Yunfei left two thousand taels beneath Fan Dazhi's plate, moving him to tears with gratitude.
• Bi Yunfei rejoined Cui Zhixia's men outside and declared that he would make Fan Dazhi regret ever being born.

Fan Dazhi offered Linu money toward buying her freedom, and she told him how much more she expected to need. In the Ministry of Justice prison, Bi Yunfei tortured Su Qiu and used a strange divine sense to search his memories, emerging shocked by what he discovered.

• Fan Dazhi gave Linu his savings and promised to find the remaining money to buy her freedom.
• Linu estimated that another thirty or forty thousand taels would probably be enough, and she shared a tender meal with Fan Dazhi.
• Bi Yunfei ordered the jailers to take Su Qiu down from the torture rack, then tried to persuade him to confess.
• Su Qiu rejected Bi Yunfei’s questioning and endured hours of torture without yielding.
• Bi Yunfei invaded Su Qiu’s consciousness and drained his true qi while forcing his memories to surface.
• After absorbing Su Qiu’s memories, Bi Yunfei recovered from the ordeal and was left deeply shocked.

Bi Yunfei absorbed Su Qiu’s True Qi and uncovered clues implicating the emperor in the Former Emperor’s death, then prepared to leave the capital while guarding against a possible imperial trap. Meanwhile, Tong Chen traveled toward the Vertical Sword Sect’s Sword Tomb Secret Realm, where a sudden murderous aura stopped him in a bamboo gully.

• Bi Yunfei used the Origin-Devouring Great Art to absorb Su Qiu’s True Qi and learned through the Soul-Searching Art that the reigning sovereign might have caused Qin Prefecture’s fall and the Former Emperor’s death.
• Bi Yunfei examined the Great Chief Yellow Yang Art booklet sent by Zhao Delu and worried about the emperor’s intentions.
• Linu and Zhu Qiqi teased each other about Fan Dazhi, then agreed that Linu should keep close to him while they investigated the Knowledge and Practice Institute.
• Bi Yunfei gave Zheng Qi money and instructed him to take Bi Yunfei’s mother away and care for her, then burned a letter addressed to Wei Zhilin.
• Bi Yunfei killed a spying rat with the Three Pure Ones Sect’s Nine Lin-Bing Seals and recognized the technique’s power.
• Tong Chen traveled toward the Sword Tomb Secret Realm, dismissed Cui Zhixia’s reputation, and felt a murderous aura as the bamboo around him suddenly fell still.

A black-robed man killed Tong Chen and took his identity to infiltrate the Three Pure Ones Sect as the Vertical Sword Sect’s envoy arrived. Meanwhile, Emperor Chen issued relief and land decrees before learning that Su Qiu had died after confessing to Bi Yunfei, and he reacted with anger at Bi Yunfei’s audacity.

• The black-robed man defeated Tong Chen with the Nine Lin-Bing Seals, drained his cultivation, and burned his body to ashes.
• The black-robed man transformed into Tong Chen using his memories and Jade Pendant, then prepared to meet the Vertical Sword Sect’s reception envoy.
• Emperor Chen inspected the harvest, ordered new wheat stored for disaster relief, and decreed that land near Dragon Gate Mountain be distributed to the people.
• Emperor Chen issued further decrees granting grain and tax relief, converting surrendered weapons into farm tools, and building a tower to measure tax reductions.
• Zhao Delu reported that Su Qiu had implicated Zhantai Ming in Qin Prefecture’s fall and had died after Bi Yunfei struck him during an angry outburst.
• Emperor Chen read Bi Yunfei’s report and condemned him for letting Su Qiu die.

Su Qiu escaped the Ministry of Justice after surviving Bi Yunfei’s Soul-Searching Art, while the Vertical Sword Sect gathered martial artists for the Sword Tomb Secret Realm. Xiao Buyi announced that only the two hundred people who killed the most Unknown Island Fiends would be allowed to enter, sending the gathered cultivators toward the Eastern Sea.

• Emperor Chen dismissed Zhao Delu after hearing that Lord Bi wanted to go to the Vertical Sword Sect, then smiled coldly to himself.
• Su Qiu crawled out of the Ministry of Justice’s drainage channel and slipped away, recalling Wei Zhilin’s warning about wicked scholars.
• He An waited among the crowds at the Vertical Sword Sect and noticed Cui Zhixia watching him with a venomous gaze.
• Xiao Buyi explained that the Sword Tomb Secret Realm suppressed cultivators according to their cultivation and warned visitors to obey the Vertical Sword Sect’s rules.
• Xiao Buyi knocked several sword-flying cultivators from the sky for violating the sect’s no-flying rule.
• Xiao Buyi ordered the gathered cultivators to sail to the Eastern Sea and declared that only the top two hundred killers of Unknown Island Fiends could enter the secret realm.