Chapter Summaries

Chen Shi'an killed Tao Qianqian after she tried to seduce and ambush him, then agreed to escort Fu Nantian and Fu Yingying to the Hundred Miasma Forest. He urged them to act swiftly against Xu Liang before the missing men raised suspicion.

• Tao Qianqian offered to do anything to stay alive, then attacked Chen Shi'an with three hidden needles.
• Chen Shi'an deflected the needles and killed Tao Qianqian with the Windbreaker Saber.
• Chen Shi'an returned to Fu Nantian, Fu Yingying, and the wounded Zhang Honglin, and learned that Xu Liang was gaining control of the Hundred Miasma Forest.
• Fu Nantian hesitated to ask Chen Shi'an for more help, but Chen Shi'an volunteered to escort him and Fu Yingying onward.
• Chen Shi'an revealed that he was at Third Grade Middle Stage and urged them to settle the conflict quickly before Xu Liang grew suspicious.

Chen Shi'an left Fu Nantian and his daughter in a cave, then entered the Hundred Miasma Forest with Mo Wuyang to find a way to kill Xu Liang. After slipping past two guards, Chen Shi'an emerged into a vast, miasma-free valley where houses and people lay beyond the forest.

• Chen Shi'an accepted Fu Nantian's Jade Pendant, killed Zhang Honglin, and sheltered Fu Nantian and his daughter in a cave.
• Chen Shi'an met Mo Wuyang and followed him into the Hundred Miasma Forest, covering his exposed skin against the poison and mosquitoes.
• Mo Wuyang led Chen Shi'an through a hidden cave passage where the miasma disappeared and warned that guards watched the exit.
• Mo Wuyang drew the two guards away by appearing to be a small beast, and Chen Shi'an slipped past them.
• Chen Shi'an emerged into a vast green valley with houses, distant voices, and no trace of miasma.

Chen Shi'an secretly reached Fu Qianfan and returned the Jade Pendant key to the Martial Saint Treasury, earning his trust. He warned Fu Qianfan that Zhang Honglin had betrayed him and tried to seize the key, leaving Fu Qianfan facing the danger surrounding his father and sister.

• Mo Wuyang waited until nightfall, then led Chen Shi'an through the valley to Fu Qianfan's residence.
• Chen Shi'an showed Fu Qianfan the Jade Pendant and proved he knew how to reveal the treasure map inside it.
• Chen Shi'an explained that he had honored his promise to Fu Nantian and said he expected to choose three treasures after the treasury was opened.
• Fu Qianfan learned that Fu Nantian and his younger sister were outside the Hundred Miasma Forest and asked Chen Shi'an to take him to them.
• Chen Shi'an warned Fu Qianfan that Zhang Honglin had joined Xu Liang and had tried to take the key with help from Zuo Rong and Tao Qianqian.

Chen Shi'an told Fu Qianfan that Fu Nantian's dantian had been crippled and offered to help kill Xu Liang before he could seize Hundred Miasma Forest. After negotiating for thirty percent of the Martial Saint Treasury's spoils, Chen Shi'an headed toward Xu Liang's camp while Fu Qianfan prepared his men; Xu Liang grew suspicious when his three scouts failed to return.

• Chen Shi'an told Fu Qianfan he had killed Zuo Rong and Tao Qianqian, revealed Fu Nantian's injury, and agreed to help eliminate Xu Liang.
• Fu Qianfan explained that Xu Liang was a third-grade late-stage martial artist supported by four ranked subordinates, and Chen Shi'an urged him to assemble his men while Chen went ahead to attack.
• Chen Shi'an asked for forty percent of the Martial Saint Treasury's spoils if he killed Xu Liang, and Fu Qianfan negotiated the share down to thirty percent.
• Xu Liang worried that Zhang Honglin, Zuo Rong, and Tao Qianqian had not returned, but his men argued that Fu Nantian and Fu Yingying posed little threat and urged him to wait.

Chen Shi'an entered the room after the others pursued a shadow and killed Xu Liang and the gaunt old man before searching their bodies. He found a rare disguise art and waited quietly as the pursuers returned, still believing they had chased a demon beast.

• The woman in black and the Yellow-Robed Man suspected Chen Shi'an was the young man accompanying Fu Nantian and Fu Yingying, while the dark-faced man dismissed the possibility and Xu Liang urged caution.
• After a stone struck the window, the dark-faced man, the Yellow-Robed Man, and the woman in black chased a small shadow outside.
• Chen Shi'an entered the room and attacked Xu Liang and the gaunt old man, killing both with his saber techniques.
• Chen Shi'an searched the corpses and found the Hundred Transformations Bone-Shedding Art on Xu Liang.
• The pursuers returned and discussed searching the valley for the creature they thought they had chased, while Chen Shi'an remained hidden by the door.

Chen Shi'an killed Xu Liang's remaining followers in the Hundred Miasma Forest and forced Liu Qingyi to swear loyalty after Wang Lin's oath-breaking attempt killed him. With Mo Wuyang back and Fu Qianfan's forces closing in, Chen Shi'an gathered his spoils, though they left his robes bulging and his handsome image diminished.

• Chen Shi'an killed the returning dark-faced man and confronted the remaining first-rank Martial Artists as Fu Qianfan's forces attacked nearby.
• Wang Lin swore a Martial Dao Oath to serve Chen Shi'an, then tried to ambush him and died when the oath's punishment took effect.
• Liu Qingyi swore loyalty to Chen Shi'an, who spared her and ordered her to help move the bodies.
• Chen Shi'an searched Wang Lin and the dark-faced man for valuables, while Mo Wuyang slipped into the house unnoticed by him.
• Chen Shi'an's collected silver, pills, and other belongings bulged from his robes and spoiled his dashing appearance.

Chen Shi'an burned the house to hide the bodies and learned that Liu Qingyi had joined him to avenge her parents. He promised to help her kill Fang Ao and discovered that, despite her exceptional talent, her cultivation had stalled because she lacked a suitable cultivation method.

• Chen Shi'an had Liu Qingyi carry his spoils while Mo Wuyang slipped away, then set fire to the house containing Xu Liang, Wang Lin, and the other two men.
• Liu Qingyi told Chen Shi'an that Fang Ao, the City Lord of Blackwater Stronghold, had caused her parents' deaths and that she had joined Xu Liang to seek revenge.
• Chen Shi'an promised to help Liu Qingyi take revenge and let her kill Fang Ao if the opportunity arose.
• Liu Qingyi explained that she had undergone marrow-washing and bone-tempering three times using ten Marrow-Washing Pills, though her Liu Family Ancestor had managed four times.
• Liu Qingyi told Chen Shi'an that she had reached Martial Dao entry-rank at eighteen but remained at the late stage of the first rank because she could not find a cultivation method suited to her.

Liu Qingyi revealed that her fire crow body required a fire-attribute cultivation art, while Chen Shi'an helped Fu Qianfan reunite with his family after defeating Xu Liang's faction. The chapter ended with Liu Qingyi visiting Chen Shi'an late at night and blowing out his oil lamp.

• Liu Qingyi told Chen Shi'an that she had a fire crow body and needed a fire-attribute cultivation art to cultivate quickly.
• Fu Qianfan arrived with his men, and Chen Shi'an told him that Xu Liang and his accomplices had been killed and that Liu Qingyi had sworn loyalty to him.
• Chen Shi'an, Liu Qingyi, Fu Qianfan, and four guards went to the valley and brought Fu Nantian and Fu Yingying back to the Hundred Miasma Forest.
• Fu Nantian and his children reunited, and the group later returned after Fu Qianfan's forces had wiped out the remnants of Xu Liang's faction.
• Liu Qingyi came to Chen Shi'an's room late that night, blushed as they spoke, and blew out the oil lamp.

Chen Shi'an refused Liu Qingyi’s attempt to please him and then met with Fu Nantian and Fu Qianfan to discuss opening the Martial Saint Treasury. He warned the Fu family that seeking revenge on Windrise Stronghold would grow more difficult as their rivals gained support and strength.

• Liu Qingyi tried to undress for Chen Shi'an, but he told her to stop and assured her he would not force her to serve him that way.
• Fu Nantian and Fu Qianfan visited Chen Shi'an and said they planned to set out soon to open the Martial Saint Treasury, asking him to keep their plans secret.
• Chen Shi'an asked what the Fu family intended to do after opening the treasury, and Fu Qianfan declared they would avenge Azure Sun Stronghold.
• Chen Shi'an argued that Windrise Stronghold’s main culprits had been executed and warned that the Fu family lacked the strength to take revenge.
• Fu Qianfan insisted the Hundred Miasma Forest would protect them while the treasury helped them grow stronger, but Chen Shi'an warned that their rivals would grow faster with Desolate Suppression City's support.

Chen Shi'an tried to persuade Fu Nantian and Fu Qianfan to ally Hundred Miasma Forest with Windrise Stronghold, warning them that Desolate Suppression City threatened their safety. While cultivating later, he followed the Saintly Dao Stele beneath Fu Qianfan's residence, where it extracted a powerful demon core from a giant snake skeleton.

• Chen Shi'an warned Fu Nantian and Fu Qianfan that Desolate Suppression City could threaten Hundred Miasma Forest and offered to help them ally with Windrise Stronghold and seek revenge on Flowing Stone Stronghold and Blackwater Stronghold.
• Fu Nantian said he and Fu Qianfan needed time to discuss the proposal with the people of Azure Sun Stronghold, and the two left.
• Chen Shi'an began cultivating the Great Evolution Saintly Art and discovered that the Saintly Dao Stele had started moving again.
• The Saintly Dao Stele flew out of Chen Shi'an's room and led him through the silt beneath a lotus pond into a sealed underground cavern.
• The Saintly Dao Stele drew a black demon core from the skull of a giant snake skeleton, and its immense power forced Chen Shi'an back to the cavern's edge.

Chen Shi'an discovered that the Saintly Dao Stele contained an eerie graveyard where he could store and retrieve objects, and that it had stopped absorbing his Mind Power. The next morning, Fu Yingying invited him to meet with her father and eldest brother, leaving him to wonder whether the Fu Family had reached a decision.

• The Saintly Dao Stele absorbed the snake demon's Demon Core, then led Chen Shi'an back to his room.
• Chen Shi'an entered the stele's eerie graveyard with his thoughts and found countless graves bearing illegible writing.
• Chen Shi'an discovered he could store a teacup in the graveyard and bring it back, though the stele no longer responded to his Origin Force.
• Chen Shi'an retrieved his bundle from Liu Qingyi and stored it in the graveyard, then realized the stele had stopped absorbing his Mind Power.
• Fu Yingying told Chen Shi'an that her father and eldest brother had sent her to invite him to discuss something.

After the miasma fog began dispersing, Chen Shi'an urged Fu Nantian and Fu Qianfan to move their people to Windrise Stronghold’s Outer City and cooperate with his forces. Fu Nantian agreed, then raised a personal concern about Fu Yingying’s feelings for Chen Shi'an.

• Fu Nantian told Chen Shi'an that the miasma fog had started churning and thinning around ten the previous night, and Chen Shi'an connected its disappearance to the demonic snake’s destruction.
• Chen Shi'an warned Fu Nantian and Fu Qianfan that Blackwater Stronghold and Flowing Stone Stronghold might invade once the fog vanished, and urged them to evacuate the valley in small groups.
• Chen Shi'an offered to settle the Fu Family in Windrise Stronghold’s Outer City, where his Three-Killing Battalion would help administer the area, and Fu Nantian accepted.
• Fu Nantian ordered Fu Qianfan to organize the migration and select trusted people to accompany him and Chen Shi'an to open the Martial Saint Treasury.
• After Fu Qianfan left, Fu Nantian told Chen Shi'an that Fu Yingying had developed feelings for him and would likely seek him out once the Fu Family moved to the Outer City.

Chen Shi'an reassured Fu Nantian about Fu Yingying and traveled with him and Fu Qianfan to the Heaven-Endowed Mountains to reach Bai Qitian's Martial Saint Treasury. After Mo Wuyang investigated the valley, Chen Shi'an learned that a fourth-level blade-horned sheep was guarding a nearly mature Heavenly Root Grass rather than the treasury.

• Fu Nantian asked Chen Shi'an to reject Fu Yingying gently, and Chen Shi'an promised to protect her reputation in Windrise Stronghold.
• Fu Qianfan began moving people from Hundred Miasma Forest, while Chen Shi'an, Fu Nantian, Fu Qianfan, Liu Qingyi, and their companions secretly set out for the Heaven-Endowed Mountains.
• The party reached the valley containing the Martial Saint Treasury and learned that a powerful demon beast was inside.
• Chen Shi'an sent Fu Nantian and the others to hide, then asked Mo Wuyang to investigate the valley.
• Mo Wuyang returned and identified the demon beast as a fourth-level blade-horned sheep guarding a nearly mature Heavenly Root Grass.

Chen Shi'an and Mo Wuyang planned a surprise attack on the Blade-Horned Sheep to obtain its Demon Core and protect the Heavenly Root Grass. Chen Shi'an struck at the sheep's horn, but the chapter ended with his saber hitting the horn instead of its vulnerable white line.

• Mo Wuyang explained that the Blade-Horned Sheep's horn had a thin white line at its base that could be struck to kill it.
• Chen Shi'an chose to spend the night cultivating before attacking the sheep the next day.
• At noon, Chen Shi'an and Mo Wuyang entered the valley and found the Blade-Horned Sheep guarding the Heavenly Root Grass near the Martial Saint Treasury.
• Chen Shi'an hid behind a boulder while Mo Wuyang lured the sheep toward him.
• Chen Shi'an sprang from cover and swung his Windbreaker Saber at the white line, but the sheep ducked and the saber struck its horn.

Chen Shi'an struggled against the stronger Blade-Horned Sheep until Mo Wuyang distracted it, giving Chen Shi'an a chance to counterattack. After the sheep turned on him again, Chen Shi'an stunned it with Mind Power and launched his strongest saber technique.

• Chen Shi'an's saber strikes failed to hit the Blade-Horned Sheep's weak point, and the beast knocked him down with its tail before chasing him through the woods.
• Mo Wuyang jumped onto the Blade-Horned Sheep, wounded its back, and drew its attacks away from Chen Shi'an with his speed.
• The Blade-Horned Sheep gave up pursuing Mo Wuyang and charged at Chen Shi'an, whom it considered easier to defeat.
• Chen Shi'an blasted the Blade-Horned Sheep's mind with Mind Power, dazing it briefly, then attacked with Leveling Mountain, the first move of the Great Derivation Saber Technique.

Chen Shi'an and Mo Wuyang killed a Blade-Horned Sheep and found Heavenly Root Grass near the Martial Saint Treasury. Chen Shi'an refined its Heavenly Root Spirit Liquid, advancing his cultivation to third grade perfection and strengthening his physique.

• Chen Shi'an struck the Blade-Horned Sheep's weak point, and Mo Wuyang killed it while Chen Shi'an extracted and refined its Demon Core for the Saintly Dao Stele.
• Mo Wuyang led Chen Shi'an to the Heavenly Root Grass by the cliff, where Chen Shi'an found a kirin-shaped mark that matched Fu Nantian's Kirin Jade Pendant.
• When the Heavenly Root Grass ripened, Mo Wuyang urged Chen Shi'an to refine its Heavenly Root Spirit Liquid before it dissipated.
• Chen Shi'an's cultivation advanced from third grade middle stage to third grade perfection, and his strength, speed, and toughness improved.
• Chen Shi'an teased Mo Wuyang about sharing the Spirit Liquid because he had too much power to digest, then stroked his head as Mo Wuyang let him.

Chen Shi'an led Fu Nantian and the others to the valley and helped them open the Martial Saint Treasury, where he was allowed to choose three treasures first. He entered Bai Qitian’s cottage and found a bookshelf of books, leaving the story with him about to inspect them.

• Chen Shi'an told Mo Wuyang not to be greedy when they entered the treasury, and Mo Wuyang chose to stay behind and refine the power he had absorbed.
• Chen Shi'an told Fu Nantian and the others that no Demon Beasts remained in the valley, so the group hurried there to open the treasury.
• Fu Nantian used the Kirin Jade Pendant to reveal an entrance in the cliff, and Chen Shi'an entered the hidden cavern with the group.
• Fu Nantian honored his agreement by offering Chen Shi'an first choice of three treasures, then warned his subordinates not to be greedy or ungrateful.
• Chen Shi'an searched the main cottage, passed over its valuable paintings and calligraphy, and found a small bookshelf in the tea room.

Chen Shi'an explored Bai Qitian's treasury, chose three treasures, and gave Liu Qingyi a fire-attribute cultivation manual. After Fu Nantian's group gathered the remaining items, Chen Shi'an proposed dividing them in a seven-to-three ratio.

• Chen Shi'an found the Sacred Arm Dragon Fist and the Great Sun Heaven-Burning Palm among Bai Qitian's books, along with an erotic album he read twice.
• Chen Shi'an discovered the blunt Thunderclap Saber in the rear room and chose it over the other treasures he found.
• Chen Shi'an selected the Thunderclap Saber, Sacred Arm Dragon Fist, and Great Sun Heaven-Burning Palm, choosing the fist manual to help Gu Qingyao improve her cultivation.
• Chen Shi'an gave Liu Qingyi the Great Sun Heaven-Burning Palm, and she accepted it with delight before studying it.
• Fu Nantian and the others gathered the remaining treasures, and Chen Shi'an proposed that they choose seven items for every three he chose.

Chen Shi'an returned to Windrise Stronghold's Outer City with Liu Qingyi after claiming pills and weapons from the Martial Saint Treasury. He saw that the Three-Killing Battalion had made the Outer City orderly through harsh suppression, then reunited with his subordinates, who reported their cultivation progress.

• Chen Shi'an divided the treasury's spoils, taking most of its Saint Origin Pills and many Blood-Activating Pills, then left Fu Nantian's party outside Hundred Miasma Forest.
• Chen Shi'an revealed his Storage Ring to Liu Qingyi, stored the pills and weapons inside, and hurried with her toward Windrise Stronghold.
• Chen Shi'an and Liu Qingyi reached the Outer City and found clean streets, construction of city walls, and severed heads displayed in the square under the Three-Killing Battalion's guard.
• Chen Shi'an returned to the Three-Killing Battalion's Garrison, where Pi Hou, Du Gang, Zhu Neng, and Iron Bull welcomed him.
• Zhu Neng reported reaching Martial Dao Entry-Rank, and Iron Bull said he had completed marrow-washing and bone-tempering and reached the ninth acquired stage.

Chen Shi'an rewarded his subordinates, learned that Desolate Suppression City had protected Song Yuan and the others, and ordered the Outer City prepared for people from Hundred Miasma Forest. He told Liu Qingyi that he intended to unite the Desolate Ruins and challenge the powers that treated its people as expendable, leaving his ambition clear.

• Chen Shi'an welcomed Liu Qingyi as one of their own, and Pi Hou introduced himself before teasing and laughter broke out among the group.
• Chen Shi'an distributed pills and weapons to Pi Hou, Du Gang, Zhu Neng, and Iron Bull, urging them to train themselves and their subordinates.
• Zhu Neng told Chen Shi'an that people from Desolate Suppression City had stopped them from dealing with Song Yuan, Xiao Yi, and the others.
• Iron Bull reported that Liu Mu and his party had visited Windrise Stronghold and Flowing Stone Stronghold, where four members of the party had remained.
• Chen Shi'an ordered Iron Bull to focus on cleaning up the Outer City and preparing it for the people coming from Hundred Miasma Forest.
• Chen Shi'an told Liu Qingyi that the Desolate Ruins had protected the surrounding kingdoms from demon beasts, yet its people were treated as inferior, so he intended to do something about the injustice.