Chapter Summaries

Dongfang Bubai led the Sun Moon Holy Cult in an attack on Shaolin Temple to steal its Great Restoration Pill and took the Sinew Transformation Scripture as well. As he tried to escape, Bushe Sword Monk struck him down, leaving him surrounded and gravely wounded.

• Xue Qianxun warned Dongfang Bubai that Shaolin was too dangerous, but he refused to seek Yu Huatian’s help and pressed on with the raid.
• Dongfang Bubai learned that Shaolin’s Great Restoration Pill was kept in the Dharma Academy and ordered his followers to distract the warrior monks while he took it.
• The Sun Moon Holy Cult set fires and stormed Shaolin Temple, where Master Tianhong, Chan Master Tianjing, Master Tianfeng, Wuhua, Yun Zheng, and Tie Zhongtang confronted them.
• Dongfang Bubai broke into the Dharma Academy, killed one guard, wounded another, and stole the Great Restoration Pill and the Sinew Transformation Scripture.
• Bushe Sword Monk cut down Dongfang Bubai as he fled, and Master Tianhong and the others surrounded him while he prepared to fight back.

Shaolin and Lei Dapeng argued over who would take Dongfang Bubai, who was injured and refusing to submit. Yu Huatian arrived in time to save him and confronted the Shaolin monks after they attacked.

• Shaolin's leaders decided to imprison Dongfang Bubai and make him atone for killing monks and stealing the Sinew Transformation Scripture and Great Restoration Pills.
• Lei Dapeng arrived and demanded Dongfang Bubai, whom he wanted to take back to marry his son, while Shaolin insisted on keeping him.
• Sword Monk Bushe struck Dongfang Bubai, and Lei Dapeng moved to seize him as Dongfang prepared to kill himself rather than be taken.
• Yu Huatian arrived with a golden dragon-shaped palm strike that blasted Lei Dapeng away, then accepted the Sinew Transformation Scripture and let Dongfang Bubai take a Great Restoration Pill.
• Sword Monk Bushe charged to reclaim the pill, but Yu Huatian's sword momentum sent him flying, and Yu challenged the Shaolin monks for attacking one of his people.

Yu Huatian killed Bushe Sword Monk and Lei Dapeng after they threatened Dongfang Bubai, then demanded that Shaolin surrender its martial texts and cripple its martial arts. When Shaolin refused, he attacked the assembled monks and Tie Zhongtang, while a hidden heavenly being still had not appeared.

• Yu Huatian killed Bushe Sword Monk with one strike after the monk attacked him again.
• Yu Huatian killed Lei Dapeng when he tried to flee after admitting he had pursued Dongfang Bubai.
• Master Tianhong offered Shaolin’s Great Restoration Pill and Sinew Transformation Scripture, but Yu Huatian demanded all of Shaolin’s martial texts and that its monks cripple their own martial arts.
• Master Tianhong and the Shaolin monks refused Yu Huatian’s demands, so he attacked them, and Tie Zhongtang and Yun Zheng joined the fight.
• Yu Huatian noticed Tie Zhongtang’s strength and wondered why the hidden heavenly being in Shaolin had not appeared.

Yu Huatian forced Shaolin's hidden Heavenly Being, Wuxiang, to emerge and demanded that Shaolin surrender its martial arts and disarm its warrior monks. When Wuxiang refused, Yu Huatian defeated him in two powerful sword strikes, leaving Shaolin's fate uncertain.

• Yu Huatian's Heaven-Slaying Sword overwhelmed Master Tianhong and the other Shaolin fighters, but Wuxiang appeared and stopped the strike with a golden Buddha's hand.
• Wuxiang identified himself and asked Yu Huatian to end the attack, while Yu Huatian accused Shaolin of exploiting its Buddhist reputation and demanded its martial arts texts and the disarming of its warrior monks.
• Yu Huatian revealed that he was the Ming's West Depot Eunuch and said he acted for the Central Plains and Huaxia people; Wuxiang refused his demands and asked him to withdraw.
• Yu Huatian attacked Wuxiang with eight layers of Sword Qi, breaking his golden swastika seal and forcing him backward.
• Wuxiang tried to interrupt Yu Huatian's next strike, but Yu Huatian's sword broke through his palm imprints and protective energy, sending him crashing into the ruins.

Yu Huatian fought Wuxiang Monk and Shaolin’s Great Grandmasters after Shaolin rejected his terms, while the Sun Moon Holy Cult battled the monks. The Embroidered Uniform Guard arrived as Shaolin’s defenders drove the cult’s disciples beyond the mountain gate.

• Wuxiang Monk accepted Yu Huatian’s terms, but Master Tianhong and the other Shaolin elders refused to cripple their cultivation and prepared to fight.
• Master Tianhong, Chan Master Tianjing, Master Tianfeng, and other elders formed the Vajra Demon-Subduing Formation with Wuxiang Monk to oppose Yu Huatian.
• Yu Huatian attacked the formation while Wuxiang Monk used his domain and Shaolin techniques to hold him back; Tie Zhongtang and Yun Zheng left the temple.
• Shaolin’s monks forced the Sun Moon Holy Cult’s disciples beyond the mountain gate while Dongfang Bubai remained behind to heal his injuries.
• The Embroidered Uniform Guard arrived and surrounded Shaolin Temple.

Yu Huatian destroyed Great Qing's Shaolin Temple, absorbed Wuxiang Monk's vital energy, and reached the limit of the Great Grandmaster realm. A reward gave him Black Tortoise True Skill, but its breakthrough method conflicted with his incomplete body, so he resolved to devise his own route to the Heavenly Realm.

• Yu Huatian defeated Wuxiang Monk and the Shaolin elders, wiping out Great Qing's Shaolin Temple.
• Ma Jinliang reported Shaolin's enormous fortune and collected martial arts manuals, and Yu Huatian ordered the treasure hidden for the benefit of Great Qing's commoners.
• Yu Huatian used a Diamond Draw and obtained Black Tortoise True Skill, then absorbed its martial knowledge.
• Yu Huatian discovered that Black Tortoise internal cultivation required a circulation route his incomplete body could not use, and resolved to create his own way to open the Bridge of Heaven and Earth.
• Yu Huatian drew four gold-tier rewards and received two drops of White Tiger Blood, ten Great Restoration Pills, and Demonic Saber.

Dorgon identified Yu Huatian as the likely force behind Shaolin Temple’s destruction and the turmoil in Great Qing, but saw an opportunity to let him weaken the Jianghu before the Qing court moved against him. The chapter left Dorgon and Sengge Rinchen agreeing on this strategy.

• News spread that Dongfang Bubai had killed the Thunderwhip Elder and that Shaolin Temple had been destroyed, prompting rumors that Yu Huatian was behind the upheaval.
• Sengge Rinchen reported Shaolin Temple’s destruction to Dorgon and said the temple had left no evidence behind.
• Dorgon reasoned that Yu Huatian and his subordinates had secretly entered Great Qing and were directing the Jianghu conflicts and rebellions.
• Sengge Rinchen warned that Yu Huatian was destabilizing Great Qing on two fronts to prepare for a Ming invasion.
• Dorgon revealed that he intended to let Yu Huatian eliminate troublesome Jianghu forces before the Qing court dealt with him.

Dorgon planned to use Yu Huatian to bring the Great Qing Jianghu under control, while secretly positioning an Aisin-Gioro descendant to lead the southern rebels. Meanwhile, Yu Huatian reached the Iron Sword Sect and began cultivating new techniques as the factions prepared to resist his advance.

• Dorgon told Sengge Rinchen he would let Yu Huatian unify the Jianghu before replacing him, and ordered E'erdou to lead fifty thousand troops south to contain the rebels.
• Dorgon revealed that he would help a young man of Aisin-Gioro blood become Coalition Alliance Leader and promised him control of the south after the turmoil ended.
• A black-robed former Ming imperial prince agreed to assist the young man in return for Dorgon's promise of status in Great Qing.
• Yu Huatian defeated Daoist Master Musang, who recognized his purpose and submitted along with the Iron Sword Sect.
• Yu Huatian planned to fuse the Black Tortoise True Skill techniques and entered seclusion at the Iron Sword Sect.
• The factions, alarmed by Yu Huatian's destruction of Shaolin Temple and his northward campaign, began seeking ways to resist the Sword Sect.

With the northwestern martial world falling under the Sword Sect’s control, Yun Zheng and Tie Zhongtang decided the Iron-Blooded Banner Sect had to rally the Jianghu against it. They called for a Demon-Slaying Assembly, but feared Yu Huatian could defeat any alliance, and Yun Jiuxiao unexpectedly suggested Yun Zheng might hold him off.

• Yun Jiuxiao reported that four palaces of the Five Elements Demon Palace had been destroyed and that the Sword Sect had brought nearly all the northwestern forces under its rule.
• Tie Zhongtang proposed allying with the Divine Water Palace and the other Great Qing Jianghu forces to resist the Sword Sect.
• Yun Zheng backed Tie Zhongtang and ordered Elder Zhao to summon martial artists to the Banner Sect for a Demon-Slaying Assembly.
• Tie Zhongtang warned that the Imperial Court and Yu Huatian posed additional threats, and Yun Zheng agreed that Yu Huatian’s Heavenly Being strength could overwhelm them.
• Yun Jiuxiao insisted they needed someone who could hold Yu Huatian off, then pointed to Yun Zheng, who protested that he was too weak.

Yun Jiuxiao revealed the Banner Sect’s cruel tradition and told Yun Zheng that his mother was the Empress of the Sun of Changchun Island, whose aid might be their only hope against Yu Huatian. As the sect’s Demon-Slaying Assembly drew little support, Zhu Zao, Chu Liuxiang, and Uncle Yao set out for the northwest, while Zhu Zao lamented that their friends Lu Xiaofeng and his companions might now stand on the opposing side.

• Yun Jiuxiao explained that Banner Sect rules had separated fathers from their wives and children for generations, and revealed that Yun Zheng’s mother was the Empress of the Sun, while Tie Zhongtang’s parents had died in an ambush.
• Yun Jiuxiao urged Yun Zheng to seek his mother’s help against Yu Huatian, and Yun Zheng decided to go to Changchun Island; Tie Zhongtang agreed to seek an alliance with the Water Mother Empress at the Divine Water Palace.
• News of the Banner Sect’s Demon-Slaying Assembly spread, but many factions refused to attend after recalling the losses suffered by those who had aided the Gold Palace, while some northwestern factions chose to join the effort.
• Uncle Yao announced that he would return to the Banner Sect, and Zhu Zao and Chu Liuxiang decided to accompany him because Tie Zhongtang was their friend and fellow student of the Night Emperor.
• Chu Liuxiang proposed recruiting allies before going northwest, and Zhu Zao realized that Lu Xiaofeng and his companions might become their enemies because one of them was allied with the Sword Sect.

Ye Gucheng planned to use the Banner Sect’s demon-slaying assembly to gather Great Qing’s Jianghu factions and bring them under his control. Meanwhile, Yu Huatian emerged from seclusion with a new supreme technique and strengthened martial arts, then swallowed two drops of White Tiger Essence Blood.

• Ye Gucheng persuaded Murong Qiudi and Lian Chengbi to let the Banner Sect gather the factions so they could strike them together, while anticipating that the Great Qing Imperial Court would stay out of the conflict.
• Lu Xiaofeng warned that the assembly might draw out Great Qing’s top experts, and Ye Gucheng suggested that Yu Huatian would handle opponents beyond their reach.
• At the Iron Sword Sect, Ma Jinliang and Dongfang Bubai waited for Yu Huatian to emerge while Daoist Master Musang worried about the coming assembly.
• Yu Huatian awakened from seclusion and revealed Ten Strongest Annihilation, a technique that formed nine True Qi phantoms to fight alongside him with ten martial arts.
• Yu Huatian reviewed his strengthened martial arts and swallowed the two remaining drops of White Tiger Essence Blood.

Yu Huatian refined two drops of White Tiger Essence Blood, evolving his White Tiger Bloodline and increasing his physical strength. He headed for the Banner Sect’s Demon-Slaying Assembly, intending to unify Great Qing’s martial world and challenge the plans of Dorgon.

• Yu Huatian used the Sunflower Sword Canon and his Black Tortoise Bloodline to suppress the White Tiger Essence Blood’s ferocity and complete his bloodline’s evolution.
• Ma Jinliang told Yu Huatian that the Banner Sect had called a Demon-Slaying Assembly, and Yu Huatian ordered his group to prepare to leave.
• Nearly a hundred ranked factions and several secluded experts gathered at the Banner Sect to oppose Ming’s martial world interfering in Great Qing.
• Yu Huatian sailed toward the Banner Sect with the Embroidered Uniform Guard disguised as martial artists, while Ma Jinliang reported that Ye Gucheng and the others were on their way.
• Yu Huatian ordered Ma Jinliang to prepare reinforcements and declared that after the battle he would unify Great Qing’s martial world and deal with the Qing dynasty.

Yu Huatian arrived before the Great Banner Alliance and condemned its martial artists for tolerating Qing rule, then offered some former allies a chance to withdraw. Zhuo Donglai led the Great Escort Agency out, but the remaining factions stayed, and Yu Huatian ordered his followers to attack.

• Yu Huatian arrived with Dongfang Bubai, Lian Chengbi, and other allies, and the Five Elements Ancestor identified him as a Great Grandmaster.
• Yu Huatian denounced the Great Qing martial world for leaving the Central Plains under foreign rule, and rebuked the Five Elements Ancestor and the Empress of the Sun for refusing to resist.
• Yu Huatian offered Fang Baoyu, Meng Xinghun, Zhan Bai, and Yu Peiyu a chance to leave, but they refused.
• Zhuo Donglai withdrew the Great Escort Agency from the alliance, and Sima Chaoqun followed him.
• After the remaining martial artists refused to withdraw, Yu Huatian ordered his followers to kill, and Dong Tianbao charged into battle.

The Great Banner Alliance’s Demon-Slaying Assembly erupted into battle as Yu Huatian’s forces fought their opponents across the field. Yu Huatian crushed ten Great Grandmasters with one strike and challenged the Five Elements Ancestor and the Empress of the Sun to attack him together.

• Lian Chengbi attacked Xiao Shiyilang, while Ye Gucheng fought Xue Yiren and Ximen Chuixue sought out Fang Baoyu.
• Yan Shisan discovered that Xue Xiaoren had been pretending to be a fool, then faced him and a group of assassins led by Red One Point.
• Lu Xiaofeng and the others engaged several experts, while Old Man Tianji fought Water Matriarch Yin Ji, Dongfang Bubai fought Yu Peiyu, and the West Depot forces attacked the Great Banner Alliance’s disciples.
• Yu Huatian overwhelmed Lei Xiaodiao and Hua Shuangshuang with his aura, then ten Great Grandmasters attacked him together.
• Yu Huatian merged nine shadow selves into himself and struck down all ten Great Grandmasters with one blow, then drew the Heavenly Fury Sword and dared the Five Elements Ancestor and the Empress of the Sun to face him together.

Yu Huatian fought the Five Elements Ancestor, discovering that his five elements power might help perfect Yu Huatian’s martial path. After the Five Elements Ancestor called the Sun Empress and the others to attack, Yu Huatian turned on them and killed Qiu Sihe Shi with one strike.

• The Five Elements Ancestor attacked Yu Huatian with his five elements power, and Yu Huatian shattered the attack and rushed to seize the cultivation method.
• Yu Huatian broke the Five Elements Ancestor’s fire dragon and defenses with his sword, then demanded the five elements cultivation method in exchange for sparing him.
• The Five Elements Ancestor called on the Sun Empress, Tie Zhongtang, and the others to attack Yu Huatian, but their assault failed to break his Deathlessness defense.
• Yu Huatian turned toward the Sun Empress and the ten great grandmasters, then flashed among them and killed Qiu Sihe Shi with a single sword strike.

Yu Huatian fought the assembled masters, killing Hu Fei, Miao Renfeng, and Hua Shuangshuang while shrugging off most of their attacks. After injuring the Empress of the Sun, he pursued Li Buyi and began draining his energy.

• Yu Huatian wounded Tie Zhongtang, then seized Hu Fei and drained his True Qi as Miao Renfeng tried to rescue him.
• Yu Huatian shattered Miao Renfeng with an eightfold-stacked Heaven-Slaying Sword and killed the drained Hu Fei.
• The Five Elements Ancestor, the Empress of the Sun, and the remaining fighters joined forces against Yu Huatian, but their attacks failed to exhaust or seriously injure him.
• Yu Huatian killed Hua Shuangshuang with Sword Qi, enraging Lei Xiaodiao.
• Yu Huatian knocked the Five Elements Ancestor away and injured the Empress of the Sun with a palm strike.
• Yu Huatian pursued Li Buyi, shattered his binding light, and unleashed Long-Distance Energy Absorption.

Yu Huatian killed Li Buyi, Gu Wanfeng, the Sun Empress, Zhuo Sanniang, Sun Yubo, and Shen Xingnan as they fled the Banner Sect battle. He returned to the Banner Sect, where Yun Jiuxiao planned to save Tie Zhongtang and Yun Zheng, but Yu Huatian arrived before they could escape.

• Yu Huatian killed Li Buyi and Gu Wanfeng after they tried to fight him.
• The remaining fighters fled, but Yu Huatian captured Five Elements Ancestor and pursued the Sun Empress through the sky, killing her with Ten Strongest Annihilation and the Heaven-Slaying Sword.
• Yu Huatian caught and killed Zhuo Sanniang, then pursued and killed Sun Yubo and Shen Xingnan.
• Yun Jiuxiao returned to the Banner Sect with the wounded Tie Zhongtang and decided to send Tie Zhongtang and Yun Zheng away to preserve the sect's legacy.
• As an elder set out to retrieve Yun Zheng, Yu Huatian arrived and told Yun Jiuxiao there was no need to go.

Yu Huatian prepared to kill Yun Jiuxiao, but the Night Emperor intervened and urged him to stop. Yu Huatian rejected his appeal and attacked the Night Emperor with the Fifteenth Sword.

• Yu Huatian cornered Yun Jiuxiao and refused to spare him, while Yun Jiuxiao accepted that he would have to fight to the death.
• The Night Emperor appeared, restrained Yu Huatian with his domain, and asked him to spare Yun Jiuxiao and Tie Zhongtang.
• Yu Huatian condemned the Night Emperor for intervening only after the Demon-Slaying Assembly had failed and argued that he intended to unify Qing's martial world to drive out the Manchu Tartars.
• The Night Emperor declared that he would stop Yu Huatian, explaining that destroying the martial world would leave the people of the Central Plains more vulnerable to the Qing Imperial Court.
• Yu Huatian broke free of the Night Emperor's domain and unleashed the Fifteenth Sword, prompting the Night Emperor to warn that the attack could destroy the hall.

Yu Huatian defeated the Night Emperor with the Fifteenth Sword but spared him the final blow when he agreed to join forces against the Great Qing. The two headed to the continuing battlefield to stop the fighting.

• Yu Huatian’s Fifteenth Sword shattered the Night Emperor’s defenses and hurled him into the mountains, while Yun Jiuxiao shielded the unconscious Tie Zhongtang from the sword’s aftershock.
• The Night Emperor survived and, despite his severe injuries, argued that Yu Huatian’s plans to unite the Jianghu and overthrow the Great Qing would bring disaster.
• Yu Huatian insisted that he could overcome the Mongols and the powerful guardian in the Qing Palace, then offered to stop killing if the Night Emperor joined his campaign against the Great Qing.
• The Night Emperor refused at first, but Yu Huatian threatened to unleash the Fifteenth Sword again, and the Night Emperor agreed to cooperate.
• Yu Huatian and the Night Emperor flew toward the ongoing battlefield to stop the fighting.

After stopping the battle, Yu Huatian demanded that Great Qing’s martial world submit to him, with the Night Emperor backing his ultimatum. He killed two grandmasters who objected, leaving the surviving fighters frightened and silent.

• The Night Emperor arrived at the battlefield and stopped the fighting, while Chu Liuxiang and Zhu Zao recognized him as their master and father.
• Yu Huatian arrived, and the Night Emperor did not challenge him; Yu Huatian ordered both sides to suspend the fighting.
• Yu Huatian declared that he would rule Great Qing’s martial world and offered the fighters a choice between submission and death.
• When the leader of the Five Tigers Gate objected, Yu Huatian killed him with Invisible Sword Qi, then killed another man who argued that the fighters could overwhelm him together.
• The Night Emperor warned the fighters that resistance was pointless and revealed that the Empress of the Sun and other supreme experts were dead, while the Five Elements Ancestor had been captured with his acupoints sealed.
• The surviving fighters fell silent as they realized that no one among them could match Yu Huatian.