Chapter Summaries

Gu Chenfeng, Su Wanyue, and Shangguan Bingxin entered a plaza of ancient statues tied to the Sacred Fire Sect and fought through its guardians. After defeating the bluestone statues, they faced nine stronger silver statues, and Gu Chenfeng drew his Six Harmonies Great Spear as the battle began.

• Gu Chenfeng rescued Su Wanyue and Shangguan Bingxin from an explosion, then the three discovered a plaza filled with stone statues and a cracked light screen leaking Source Qi.
• Shangguan Bingxin and Su Wanyue identified the plaza’s trial as likely connected to the Sacred Fire Sect’s artifact refining and puppetry.
• The trio triggered the restriction and defeated nearly a hundred bluestone statues whose strength rivaled Late Source Qi Realm martial artists.
• Nine silver statues awakened with power rivaling Mid-Stage Source Sea Realm martial artists, and Shangguan Bingxin urged the group to defeat them before the black statue awakened.
• Gu Chenfeng summoned and assembled his Six Harmonies Great Spear as the trio prepared to fight the silver statues.

Gu Chenfeng, Su Wanyue, and Shangguan Bingxin defeated the nine Silver Stone Statues, then faced the much stronger Black Stone Statue guarding the restriction. As the trio struggled to break through its defenses, Gu Chenfeng drew its attention and exposed the crystal in its brow for the others to attack.

• Gu Chenfeng used the Tiger-Subduing Spear Technique to destroy three Silver Stone Statues, while Su Wanyue and Shangguan Bingxin defeated the other six.
• The Black Stone Statue awakened and approached, its strength nearing the Source Core Realm, and the three chose to fight it rather than retreat.
• The Black Stone Statue shattered their combined attack and repeatedly drove them back with its speed, powerful spear strikes, and durable body.
• Su Wanyue warned that the prolonged battle would exhaust them, and Shangguan Bingxin said they could not reach the statue’s weak point.
• Gu Chenfeng drew the Black Stone Statue’s attention with his spear and used the Third Form, Black Tiger Devours the Moon, to expose the crystal in its brow.
• Gu Chenfeng told Su Wanyue and Shangguan Bingxin to strike the exposed weak point.

Gu Chenfeng, Su Wanyue, and Shangguan Bingxin defeated the black stone statue and opened the passage beyond the plaza. When the statue began to recover, Gu Chenfeng risked a counterattack to pry the white crystal from its brow, and the three continued onward to discover what treasure lay ahead.

• Su Wanyue and Shangguan Bingxin restrained the black stone statue while Gu Chenfeng struck the crystal between its brows with his Mountain-Splitting Great Axe, breaking it and sending the statue through the cracked barrier.
• The three entered the passage, but the statue began regenerating and attacked them with its fists.
• Gu Chenfeng shoved Su Wanyue and Shangguan Bingxin out of danger, then fought the statue at close range and pried the white crystal from its brow with his family's Dragon Claw Hand.
• Su Wanyue and Shangguan Bingxin caught Gu Chenfeng as he flew back from the passage, and he showed them the crystal he had taken.
• Gu Chenfeng, Su Wanyue, and Shangguan Bingxin entered the passage again and headed toward the treasure beyond.

Gu Chenfeng, Su Wanyue, and Shangguan Bingxin discovered a high-quality source crystal vein and an ice soul spirit spring hidden in an underground forest. As they soaked in the spring to strengthen their bodies, cultivation, and spiritual power, a mysterious force began spreading beneath the water.

• Gu Chenfeng, Su Wanyue, and Shangguan Bingxin emerged into an underground forest containing a rich source crystal vein and many aged spiritual herbs.
• The three followed powerful energy fluctuations to a milky-white ice soul spirit spring, which Su Wanyue and Shangguan Bingxin recognized from their knowledge of Heavenly Treasures.
• Shangguan Bingxin explained the spring’s benefits, and the three agreed to soak in separate areas divided by protruding source crystal ore.
• Gu Chenfeng entered the spring and felt its energy refine his body, purify his source qi, and rapidly strengthen his spiritual power.
• Gu Chenfeng’s extrasensory perception briefly reached Su Wanyue and Shangguan Bingxin, but he withdrew it, and the two women dismissed their suspicions as an illusion.
• The three focused on absorbing the spring’s energy while a mysterious force silently spread beneath the water.

While unconscious in the Ice Soul Spirit Spring, Gu Chenfeng, Shangguan Bingxin, and Su Wanyue were drawn into a shared dream. Gu Chenfeng lived an alternate life as a scholar, official, general, husband, and father, until he uncovered cracks in that world and tried to break it apart.

• In the Ice Soul Spirit Spring, Shangguan Bingxin, Su Wanyue, and Gu Chenfeng succumbed to the energy vortices and fell unconscious as an unusual light enveloped them.
• At Profound Heaven Abbey, a veiled woman sensed that a girl's inner demon tribulation had arrived early and sent Spiritual Power toward the Imperial Capital's western outskirts.
• Gu Chenfeng awoke in a thatched cottage as a poor licentiate, then dreamed of a beautiful fairy who awakened his abilities and changed his fate.
• Gu Chenfeng passed the imperial examinations, married Shangguan Bingxin, became a famed general, and later married a Gu maiden who resembled Su Wanyue.
• As Gu Chenfeng's headaches worsened, he noticed signs that his happy family life was an illusion and heard a strange voice recite a verse.
• Gu Chenfeng opened cracks in the world with Spiritual Power and shouted, "Break!"

Gu Chenfeng and the two women escaped an illusion created by the Ice Soul Illusion Heart Lotus, which revealed itself as a nine-hundred-year-old spirit herb nearing maturity. As the lotus sealed the spring inside a barrier, an unfamiliar woman spoke, leaving Gu Chenfeng on guard.

• Gu Chenfeng broke free of the lotus’s illusion and used his Spiritual Power to awaken Shangguan Bingxin and Su Wanyue before they reached its light.
• The three retreated from the spring, realized they had shared an illusion of a life together, and felt awkward about what they had experienced.
• The spring surged with energy, improving Gu Chenfeng’s cultivation and physique and advancing Shangguan Bingxin and Su Wanyue to the late Source Sea Realm.
• A nine-petaled lotus emerged, and Su Wanyue and Shangguan Bingxin identified it as a nine-hundred-year-old Ice Soul Illusion Heart Lotus that had lured them in to absorb their vital essence.
• The lotus drew in the surrounding spiritual energy and formed a barrier around the spring to protect itself as it neared maturity.
• An unfamiliar woman’s voice answered Gu Chenfeng, and he tensed in alarm.

A stunning Daoist nun appeared in Gu Chenfeng’s family mineral vein, recognized his unusual cultivation, and tried to divine the secret behind his altered fate. A mysterious force destroyed her incarnation, leaving her to wonder who stood behind Gu Chenfeng.

• The Daoist nun appeared before Gu Chenfeng and his hypnotized companions, then claimed she would return to take the maturing Ice Soul Illusion Heart Lotus.
• The Daoist nun identified Gu Chenfeng’s Warrior Realm physique and Divine Sense, while Gu Chenfeng hid his true secrets and repeated a cover story about a Heavenly Treasure.
• The Daoist nun judged Gu Chenfeng’s explanation mostly false, restrained him, and attempted to divine his fate.
• A supreme Divine Sense fluctuation destroyed the Daoist nun’s incarnation as she probed Gu Chenfeng’s altered destiny.
• At Profound Heaven Abbey, the Daoist nun recovered from the backlash and wondered whether Gu Beiwu or someone else was protecting Gu Chenfeng.

Gu Chenfeng, Su Wanyue, and Shangguan Bingxin escaped the Ice Soul Illusion Heart Lotus’s illusion, harvested the Underground Forest’s spirit medicines, and left the cavern. They agreed to reunite when the lotus matured in a year, while a mysterious presence deep within the Gu Lineage’s Source Crystal Vein stirred.

• The Daoist Nun’s divination talisman burned to ashes after Leng Xingye’s aura disrupted her, and Su Wanyue and Shangguan Bingxin woke up.
• Gu Chenfeng, Su Wanyue, and Shangguan Bingxin harvested the cavern’s spirit medicines and divided them, with Gu Chenfeng taking sixty percent.
• Gu Chenfeng heard the aged voice’s cultivation formula again without the headaches and wondered whether he could comprehend it later.
• Gu Chenfeng told Yan Sihai to take the Four Directions Gate’s elites back, then exchanged the White Crystal for Shangguan Bingxin’s Qilin Jade Pendant.
• Su Wanyue offered to bring her Lifebound Gu to Gu Chenfeng, and the three agreed to work together when the Ice Soul Illusion Heart Lotus matured in a year.
• After the three parted ways, mysterious azure eyes opened inside the Gu Lineage’s Source Crystal Vein, and an unseen speaker said that others would no longer be able to stay still.

After seven days of cultivation, Gu Chenfeng reached the five-star source sea realm and continued practicing a mysterious body-tempering formula he had learned in the underground cavern. While inspecting the expanding Phantom Martial Divine Ruins, he discovered an eerie mass of black clouds at its boundary.

• Experts across Great Li sensed traces of a hidden treasure near the ore vein and resolved to claim it.
• Gu Chenfeng advanced to the five-star source sea realm, but his physical progress stalled after the Ice Soul Spirit Spring’s effects weakened.
• Gu Chenfeng learned from an ancient scroll that innate body cultivators followed distinct realms, but the Gu residence had no innate body-tempering technique.
• Gu Chenfeng practiced the mysterious introductory formula on the Enlightenment Platform, sensing a deep transformation in his blood and marrow but failing to deduce the full technique.
• Gu Chenfeng inspected the Phantom Martial Divine Ruins and spotted an eerie black cloud at its boundary, the first unusual energy there besides the Enlightenment Platform.

Gu Chenfeng encountered his sealed heart demon in the Phantom Martial Divine Ruins and resisted its offer of power before returning to cultivation and training. His sparring with Gu Yanshuang ended in a clash that left them evenly matched.

• Gu Chenfeng sensed a black mist in the Phantom Martial Divine Ruins and discovered a blood-chain-bound heart demon that tempted him to break its seal and merge with it.
• Gu Chenfeng resisted the heart demon’s influence, withdrew his spiritual sense, and designated the mist as a danger zone.
• Gu Chenfeng returned to the Enlightenment Platform, continued studying the nameless formula, and sparred with Ding Si to practice spear and axe techniques.
• Gu Chenfeng trained with Gu Yanshuang using the Tiger-Subduing Spear Technique and found her transcendent mastery and killing intent kept him suppressed.
• Gu Chenfeng and Gu Yanshuang exchanged their strongest spear techniques in the Training Room and landed evenly matched.

Gu Chenfeng and Gu Yanshuang sparred, and she explained how her Profound Baleful True Fire and accumulated killing intent strengthened her spear technique. Before leaving to patrol for Barbarian Tribe spies ahead of the Former Emperor’s memorial ceremony, Gu Yanshuang discussed Gu Chenfeng’s training and offered support; he surprised her by giving her source crystals and pills.

• Gu Yanshuang praised Gu Chenfeng’s Tiger-Subduing Spear Technique and explained that her Profound Baleful True Fire and the killing intent gained from battle made her strikes more powerful.
• Gu Yanshuang admired Gu Chenfeng’s progress and told him she wanted to help find a Xiantian Body-Refinement Technique and prepare him to lead the Lineage.
• Gu Yanshuang said she would patrol outside the city to hunt Barbarian Tribe spies before the Former Emperor’s memorial ceremony, and explained the spies’ threat to the ceremony and Great Li’s people.
• Gu Yanshuang offered to help with Gu Chenfeng’s cultivation expenses, but he asked about her salary and then gave her five hundred low-grade source crystals and bottles of two kinds of Third-Grade Pills.

Gu Chenfeng returned his family heirloom to Gu Yanshuang and promised to shoulder the Gu Lineage’s burdens while helping her uncover her origins. After cautiously tracking the weakened Huangfu Lineage, he was invited by Shangguan Bingxin to meet her elders about an important matter.

• Gu Chenfeng gave Gu Yanshuang Source Crystals, Third-Grade Pills, and her crystal bracelet, and promised to protect her and help uncover her origins.
• Gu Yanshuang misunderstood Gu Chenfeng’s suggestion about becoming family, struck his forehead, and left for duty after he clarified he meant she could remain his sworn elder sister.
• Gu Chenfeng continued cultivating and gathering information, remaining wary despite the Huangfu Lineage’s recent setbacks.
• Gu Chenfeng delivered pills to the Myriad Treasures House, learned Liu Fuyan had passed her assessment, and bought ingredients before visiting the Thousand Beauties Pavilion, where Su Wanyue remained in seclusion.
• Shangguan Bingxin personally invited Gu Chenfeng to the Shangguan Lineage, saying her elders wanted to meet him about an important matter.

Shangguan Bingxin brought Gu Chenfeng to meet her master, the Jade Pivot True Person, who was both a Supreme Elder of the Azure Sky Sect and the Imperial Preceptor of Great Li. After their surprising reunion, she offered to take him as her disciple, leaving Gu Chenfeng to answer.

• Gu Chenfeng agreed to accompany Shangguan Bingxin to meet an elder, though he initially thought he was being taken to meet her parents.
• Shangguan Bingxin led Gu Chenfeng to a secluded residence, where he used his divine sense to inspect the grounds and found a study concealed by a formation.
• Gu Chenfeng entered the study and recognized Shangguan Bingxin's master as the powerful woman he had met in the mine cavern.
• Shangguan Bingxin introduced her master as the Jade Pivot True Person, a Supreme Elder of the Azure Sky Sect and the Imperial Preceptor of Great Li.
• The Jade Pivot True Person praised Gu Chenfeng's talent in body cultivation and spiritual power and offered to take him as her disciple.

The Female Imperial Preceptor offered to take Gu Chenfeng as her disciple, but he refused to protect the secrets of the Phantom Martial Divine Ruins and the Heaven-Opening Creation Art. Before departing for the imperial ceremony, she warned him away from something beneath the Gu Lineage's mine, then sensed a fight involving Barbarian Tribe Martial Artists near the capital.

• The Female Imperial Preceptor offered Gu Chenfeng her protection and an Azure Sky Sect Innate Body-Tempering Technique if he became her disciple alongside Shangguan Bingxin.
• Gu Chenfeng refused, fearing that the Female Imperial Preceptor would discover his hidden treasures and secrets.
• The Female Imperial Preceptor warned Gu Chenfeng that he could not yet protect the Gu Lineage and cautioned him not to become an obstacle to Shangguan Bingxin.
• Gu Chenfeng declared that he wanted to shoulder his lineage's burdens and try to become a Grandmaster, earning the Female Imperial Preceptor's approval.
• Before leaving for the Late Emperor's sacrificial ceremony, the Female Imperial Preceptor warned Gu Chenfeng not to approach something beneath the Gu Lineage's mine.
• The Female Imperial Preceptor sensed martial artists fighting a hundred li west of the Imperial Capital, including Barbarian Tribe Martial Artists.

Gu Chenfeng rushed west with Shangguan Bingxin and Gu Lineage fighters after learning that Barbarian Tribe warriors were battling his eldest sister’s Tiger Guard. Along the way, he uncovered a Huangfu Lineage ambush and realized his eldest sister was in danger.

• The female Imperial Preceptor told Gu Chenfeng that the ceremony prevented the Imperial Capital’s experts from intervening outside the city, though Imperial Guard reinforcements were on their way.
• Gu Chenfeng left with Shangguan Bingxin and ordered Ding Si to gather Gu Lineage fighters before riding toward the western outskirts.
• Several hundred Gu Lineage guards joined Gu Chenfeng outside the western gate, and the group rode west.
• At a narrow road between two hills, Gu Chenfeng exposed masked attackers hiding in the woods by smashing a nearby boulder.
• The masked men charged and declared that their master had ordered them to leave no survivors; Gu Chenfeng recognized them as Huangfu Lineage deathsworn and realized his eldest sister was in danger.

Gu Chenfeng fought through Huangfu Lineage ambushes as he raced to reach Gu Yanshuang, who battled three powerful Barbarian Tribe warriors in a forested basin. When three Imperial Guard commanders arrived, they turned their murderous intent on her.

• Gu Chenfeng and Shangguan Bingxin led the Gu Lineage warriors in defeating masked Huangfu Lineage death sworn and continued toward the western battlefield.
• Gu Yanshuang pursued three Barbarian Tribe warriors who had abducted civilians, but they killed their hostages and revealed themselves as her enemies.
• The three Barbarian Tribe warriors attacked Gu Yanshuang with Source Core Realm strength, but she held them to a draw with her fiery spear techniques.
• Commander Zhang, Commander Chen, and Commander Du arrived, and Gu Yanshuang recognized them as fellow Imperial Guard commanders.
• The three commanders ignored Gu Yanshuang's request for help and instead locked onto her with murderous intent.

Gu Yanshuang was ambushed by three Imperial Guard commanders and three Barbarian Tribe experts, who sought to frame her and the Gu Lineage for treason. As she fought back with mutated blue flames, Huangfu Yun watched from afar, confident that his plan would destroy the Gu Lineage and strengthen the Huangfu Lineage.

• Commander Zhang accused Gu Yanshuang of colluding with the Barbarian Tribe, then joined two other Imperial Guard commanders and three Barbarian Tribe experts in attacking her.
• Gu Yanshuang unleashed her Mystic Baleful Power, turning her flames blue and resisting the six attackers’ combined pressure.
• A Barbarian Tribe expert revealed that forged evidence would also accuse Gu Lingxiao of treason, prompting Gu Yanshuang to fight desperately to protect Gu Chenfeng and the Gu Lineage.
• Huangfu Yun watched the battle from a distant peak and recalled his grandfather’s plan to exploit the Barbarian Tribe’s coming invasion to expand Huangfu influence and reopen their smuggling routes.

Gu Chenfeng and his allies fought through Huangfu Lineage defenses as they raced to aid his eldest sister. With the final bridge blockade ahead, Gu Chenfeng joined his spear to the Mountain-Splitting Axe and charged the Death Warriors.

• Huangfu Yun learned Gu Chenfeng was approaching with Shangguan Bingxin and ordered the Death Warriors to kill him.
• Gu Chenfeng’s party was slowed by traps and ambushes until Yan Sihai’s Four Directions Gate disciples and Su Wanyue’s Gu insects helped them break through.
• Su Wanyue and Shangguan Bingxin refused to turn back, and Gu Chenfeng agreed to continue with them and their forces.
• The reinforced party advanced to within ten li of the battlefield, where Gu Chenfeng sensed his eldest sister fighting powerful enemies.
• Hundreds of Huangfu Lineage Death Warriors blocked the bridge, and Gu Chenfeng charged them with the Mountain-Splitting Axe assembled around his spear.

Gu Chenfeng charged across the bridge and overwhelmed the masked death warriors with his battle-axe and innate-stage body cultivation. After repelling a Nine-Star Source Sea Realm attacker, he reached the riverbank, where a concealed Source Core Realm figure appeared and was revealed as Huangfu Yun.

• Gu Chenfeng leaped over a hammer-wielding Three-Star Source Sea Realm warrior and cleaved him in two, then cut down the masked warriors blocking the bridge.
• Gu Chenfeng’s golden Astral Qi and formidable physical defense let him withstand attacks as he fought several Source Sea Realm experts, including a Six-Star warrior.
• Gu Chenfeng struck down a fully charged attack from a Nine-Star Source Sea Realm death warrior, startling Shangguan Bingxin, Su Wanyue, and Ding Si, who realized he had previously held back.
• As Gu Chenfeng reached the riverbank, an inky projectile from the woods knocked him backward and left his hand numb.
• Gu Chenfeng sensed the attacker was at the Source Core Realm, recognized the familiar aura beneath the figure’s black robes, and identified Huangfu Yun.

Gu Chenfeng confronted Huangfu Yun on the battlefield and fought him despite Huangfu Yun’s source core realm advantage. As Huangfu Yun unleashed his supreme technique, Gu Chenfeng prepared a powerful axe form, leaving their clash unresolved.

• Gu Chenfeng and Huangfu Yun met on the stone bridge, where Huangfu Yun declared that he intended to kill Gu Chenfeng and Commander Gu.
• Gu Chenfeng charged Huangfu Yun with the Mountain-Splitting Great Axe, and their first clash showed that Gu Chenfeng could withstand a source core realm attack.
• Huangfu Yun attacked with his Chain Blades while Gu Chenfeng combined his Blood Qi and Source Qi to fight back, shocking Ding Si and the surrounding warriors.
• Huangfu Yun intensified his assault, but Gu Chenfeng defended steadily until Huangfu Yun’s Source Qi began to falter.
• Huangfu Yun unleashed Thousand Ink Shadows Kill, and Gu Chenfeng abandoned defense, channeled his power into his axe, and began the Mountain-Piercing Form.