Chapter Summaries

After the Longevity Immortal God died and Xiao Jingtian was forced to ascend, Yu Huatian dealt with the remaining Song allies, accepting some surrenders and ordering Wang Chongyang to persuade Guo Jing to surrender Wuguan. He refused to spare Zhu Xiawu, revealing that he wanted revenge for Yue Fei, whom Zhu Xiawu had caused to die.

• The divine lightning killed the Longevity Immortal God, while Xiao Jingtian was left half-dead and forced to ascend, leaving Yu Huatian to face the remaining opponents.
• Wei Zhongxian begged Yu Huatian for his life and agreed to serve Ming, hand over the captives, and protect the state.
• Yu Huatian spared Li Chenzhou, Guan Qi, and Xiao Qiushui, then accepted Wang Chongyang's offer to surrender the Quanzhen Sect on the condition that he persuade Guo Jing to open Wuguan within three days.
• Yu Huatian ordered Wang Chongyang, Xiaolongnü, and her husband to leave, but stopped Zhu Xiawu from going with them.
• Yu Huatian told Zhu Xiawu he would not spare him because he had caused Yue Fei's death, and Zhu Xiawu's expression changed abruptly.

Yu Huatian killed Zhu Xiawu for his role in Yue Fei’s murder and explained why he had spared several Song experts so they could help Ming take control of Song’s martial world. After sending his allies back to Wuguan, Yu Huatian set his sights on Shengjing to strike at the Song Imperial Court.

• Yu Huatian revealed that Zhu Xiawu had colluded with Qin Hui and the Jin to murder Yue Fei, then killed Zhu Xiawu and destroyed his primordial spirit.
• Wang Chongyang promised to persuade Guo Jing and his wife to abandon Wuguan and submit to Ming before leaving with Yang Guo and his wife.
• Yu Huatian explained that he had spared Song’s surviving experts so they could help Ming unify Song’s martial world with less resistance.
• Yu Huatian freed Zheng He and Xu Ruowu, then sent them, Sun Chengzong, Sun Chuanting, Ye Gucheng, and the others back to Wuguan.
• Yu Huatian told Dongfang Bubai that they would head to Shengjing to deal with the Song Imperial Court in retaliation for its abduction of Ming’s commanders.

After returning from Jingyan Palace, Wang Chongyang told Guo Jing and the sect leaders that Yu Huatian’s power made Song’s victory impossible and urged them to surrender Wuguan. Guo Jing accepted, ending Song’s plans to resist Ming.

• Guo Jing refused calls from Song generals and sect leaders to attack Ming’s commanderless army, saying they should wait for the contest between the experts to end.
• Wang Chongyang returned to Wuguan with Yang Guo and his wife and urged Guo Jing to open the gates and surrender.
• Yang Guo and Wang Chongyang revealed that one Heavenly Being expert had died, one Union with the Dao expert had died, and another had been forcibly sent to the Immortal Realm after the events at Jingyan Palace.
• Wang Chongyang explained that Yu Huatian, though at the Heavenly Being Ninth Layer, had killed Zhu Xiawu and possessed power comparable to Union with the Dao experts.
• After the sect leaders offered no objections, Guo Jing agreed to surrender rather than sacrifice more lives.

Song Emperor Zhao Gou ordered Wuguan to counterattack the Ming Army after two days, despite Fan Zhongyan’s warnings about Yu Huatian. The court learned that Wuguan had already fallen, and Yu Huatian appeared in the palace alive, leaving the officials terrified.

• Zhao Gou heard Cai Jing and Fan Zhongyan debate whether Great Song should attack while the Ming commanders were missing, then ordered a counterattack if they had not returned in two days.
• A messenger reported that Guo Jing had surrendered Wuguan and that the Ming Army was advancing toward the Capital.
• Zhao Gou ordered the messenger executed for supposedly spreading falsehoods, but an unseen attacker killed the two guards holding him.
• Yu Huatian appeared on Zhao Gou’s throne, struck Cai Jing down with a glance, and introduced himself to Fan Zhongyan as Ming’s Martial King.
• The officials recoiled in fear when Yu Huatian confirmed his identity, and he wondered whether his name was that frightening in Song.

Yu Huatian confronted Zhao Gou in the Song court and urged him to surrender, while Fan Zhongyan agreed to help Ming take over Song peacefully but struggled with Yu Huatian’s offer to join Ming. The confrontation was interrupted when Zhuge Zhengwo arrived with the Four Great Constables.

• Yu Huatian told Zhao Gou that Wuguan had fallen and Guo Jing had surrendered, and demanded a surrender edict.
• Wei Zhongxian confirmed that Song’s frontier army had fallen and God-Catcher was dead, persuading Fan Zhongyan that Song was defeated.
• Fan Zhongyan urged Zhao Gou to surrender to spare the people, then asked Yu Huatian to prevent the Ming Army from harming civilians.
• Yu Huatian promised to protect civilians and invited Fan Zhongyan to join Ming, but Fan Zhongyan asked for time to consider.
• Yu Huatian condemned Zhao Gou for Yue Fei’s execution and threatened to kill him if he continued speaking.
• Zhuge Zhengwo entered the hall with Cold Blood, Emotionless, Iron Hand, and Chasing Life, and Zhao Gou called for the Divine Marquis to save him.

Yu Huatian confronted Zhao Gou in Song’s palace and demanded that he surrender to Ming, drawing out the hidden guardian known as Old Man Wei. Old Man Wei revealed that he could not stop the Longevity Immortal God from consuming Song’s national fortune, leaving Yu Huatian confident that the powerful enemy was beyond the guardian’s strength.

• Yu Huatian demanded that Zhao Gou issue an edict ending the war and surrendering to Ming, but Zhao Gou and Zhuge Zhengwo refused.
• Yu Huatian lifted Zhuge Zhengwo into the air and blasted away the Four Great Constables when they tried to intervene.
• A strange power filled the hall, and Yu Huatian released Zhuge Zhengwo as Old Man Wei appeared.
• Zhao Gou recognized Old Man Wei as the longtime gardener of the Imperial Garden and begged him to save him.
• Old Man Wei said Yu Huatian would not kill Zhao Gou because of the Heavenly Dao, but Yu Huatian claimed he had killed other emperors without backlash.
• Yu Huatian learned that Old Man Wei had been unable to stop the Longevity Immortal God from consuming Song’s national fortune.

Yu Huatian negotiated with Wei Qingqing, the Great Song palace guardian, who agreed not to oppose Ming’s conquest in exchange for Zhao Gou’s life. Zhao Gou agreed to surrender, and Wei Qingqing revealed that he was Zhuge Zhengwo’s long-lost master, the founder of the Free and Unfettered Sect.

• Yu Huatian recognized that Wei Qingqing was a powerful Union with the Dao expert but concluded that Wei Qingqing wanted to avoid a fight and delay ascension.
• Wei Qingqing accepted Ming’s unification of the Divine Land, asking only that Yu Huatian spare Zhao Gou’s life.
• Wei Qingqing condemned Zhao Gou’s rule and urged him to surrender; Zhao Gou agreed after Yu Huatian promised to spare Song’s people and imperial family.
• Yu Huatian ordered Wei Zhongxian to take Zhao Gou to write a surrender edict, while Fan Zhongyan agreed to help Ming take over Song’s territory.
• Yu Huatian refused Cai Jing’s offer to assist and let him leave, intending to leave him to face the people’s anger.
• Wei Qingqing asked Zhuge Zhengwo whether he had forgotten his master, and Zhuge Zhengwo realized Wei Qingqing was his master.

After Zhao Gou surrendered, Ming conquered Great Song and made it Songzhou, while Yu Huatian began organizing its administration and preparing to resume the Western Expedition against Sui. He ordered Songzhou’s troops and martial sects brought under Ming’s authority, then reassured officials that the northern peoples could not invade.

• After Zhao Gou surrendered, Great Song fell into chaos, but its leading martial sects refused to organize resistance and Ming’s army took Shengjing within seven days.
• Zhao Gou presented the imperial jade seal and Great Song’s maps to Yu Huatian, and Ming incorporated the territory as Songzhou.
• Yu Huatian ordered Sun Chengzong and Sun Chuanting to suppress rebellions within three months, while Ma Jinliang was tasked with helping them and reporting to the court.
• Yu Huatian appointed Fan Zhongyan to oversee Songzhou’s civil affairs and declared that martial sects must obey Ming law, register their members, and send representatives when the Western Expedition resumed.
• Fan Zhongyan warned Yu Huatian that the northern borders were vulnerable to invasion, but Yu Huatian said the northern peoples lacked the strength to attack.

Meng Tian led Northern Li’s army deep into Jin territory and vowed to destroy the Jin Kingdom, while Yu Huatian sought Wei Qingqing’s guidance on reaching the Union with the Dao Realm. Wei Qingqing explained its power and the Heavenly Dao’s reason for driving its practitioners from the Divine Land, then hinted that Union with the Dao might not be the limit of martial cultivation.

• Meng Tian marched two hundred thousand Beili soldiers toward Jincheng after conquering nearly a hundred Jin tribes, intending to destroy Jin and subdue the northern tribes.
• Yu Huatian asked Wei Qingqing to explain the Union with the Dao Realm, and Wei Qingqing warned that Yu Huatian’s rapid progress had left his foundation unstable.
• Wei Qingqing explained that Yu Huatian’s unusual Sea of Consciousness and transcendent Sword Dao helped him fight beyond his cultivation realm, while his many martial arts made his path harder.
• Wei Qingqing told Yu Huatian that he had not yet reached Heavenly Being perfection and described Union with the Dao practitioners as beings who could draw on heaven-and-earth energy to preserve their bodies and souls indefinitely.
• Wei Qingqing explained that the Divine Land’s Heavenly Dao drove Union with the Dao experts to ascend because their continued existence consumed the world’s energy, then said breaking through was not as difficult as Yu Huatian imagined.

Wei Qingqing explained the three aspects required to reach the Union with the Dao Realm, leaving Yu Huatian uncertain whether to pursue a martial Dao or continue along the Sword Dao. After learning that Meng Tian had conquered Jin and that Shaolin Temple had sealed its mountain to avoid Yu Huatian’s orders, Yu Huatian prepared to respond to both developments.

• Wei Qingqing explained that the heaven aspect meant perfected internal power, the earth aspect required a perfected personal Dao, and the humanity aspect required a primordial spirit balanced with the physical body.
• Yu Huatian realized that his internal power and primordial spirit had reached the required level, but he remained unsure whether to forge a martial Dao or continue pursuing the Sword Dao.
• Ma Jinliang reported that Meng Tian had captured Jincheng and the Jin emperor, and was preparing to attack Liao.
• Yu Huatian ordered Ma Jinliang to arrange for Yuan Province to take control of Jin and to support Meng Tian if he needed reinforcements.
• Ma Jinliang reported that Shaolin Temple had sealed its mountain after Yu Huatian ordered the Jianghu sects to join the Western Expedition against Sui, and Yu Huatian reacted with cold anger.

Yu Huatian confronted Shaolin Temple with an army of Embroidered Uniform Guards after the sect refused to join his Western Expedition, accusing its monks of concealing corruption and criminality. He exposed Reverend Yideng and Ci'en before turning to Abbot Xuanci over the massacre at Yanmen Pass, leaving Xuanci's alleged role hanging before the assembled sect representatives.

• Yu Huatian led more than a thousand Embroidered Uniform Guards up Mount Shaoshi and told the watching martial artists that Shaolin's fate would warn the rest of the Great Song Martial World.
• Abbot Xuanci and the Shaolin monks debated whether to fight Yu Huatian, while Reverend Yideng urged caution and Xuanji accused him of undermining the sect.
• Yu Huatian arrived at Shaolin Temple and challenged Xuanci's claim that the temple had merely closed its gates, then summoned the hidden representatives of several major sects as witnesses.
• Yu Huatian condemned Yideng for refusing to save an infant and criticized Shaolin for accepting Ci'en, formerly Qiu Qianren, despite his past crimes.
• Yu Huatian rejected Xuanci's defense that Ci'en had redeemed himself through good deeds and accused Xuanci of being the leading elder brother in the massacre at Yanmen Pass thirty years earlier.

Yu Huatian exposed Abbot Xuanci as the leader of the attack that killed Xiao Yuanshan’s wife and child at Yanmen Pass thirty years earlier. As Xiao Yuanshan charged at Xuanci for revenge, Yu Huatian blocked him with Sword Qi, leaving everyone questioning why he intervened.

• Yu Huatian hinted that Xuanci had led the Yanmen Pass attack, and Xuanci admitted he was guilty.
• Xiao Yuanshan revealed himself and recounted how twenty-one Central Plains martial experts ambushed his family, forcing him to hide in Shaolin while he searched for the killers.
• Xuancheng, Shaolin’s Thirteen Ultimates Divine Monk, emerged and offered a thousand disciples and the Eighteen Arhats for the Western Expedition, asking Yu Huatian to spare Shaolin.
• Yu Huatian named Xuanci as the leader of the attack, and Xuanci’s silence confirmed the accusation.
• Xiao Yuanshan charged at Xuanci to avenge his family, but Yu Huatian stopped him with a barrier of Sword Qi.

Yu Huatian crippled Xuanci and exposed his affair with Ye Erniang, turning Shaolin Temple’s crimes into public disgrace. He left Xuanci’s fate to Xiao Yuanshan, promised to reveal that Xiao’s son was alive, and challenged a powerful monk hidden within Shaolin.

• Yu Huatian stopped Xiao Yuanshan from killing Xuanci, then crippled Xuanci when he tried to take his own life.
• Yu Huatian revealed that Xuanci had fathered a son with Ye Erniang and linked his abandonment of them to her crimes against infants.
• Xuanci admitted his deeds and begged Yu Huatian to spare Shaolin Temple, but Yu Huatian declared that his conflict with the temple was not over.
• Yu Huatian tasked Xiao Yuanshan with exposing Shaolin’s true face and promised to tell him where his living son was after he fulfilled the task.
• Xuancheng attacked Yu Huatian, but Yu Huatian struck him down and called for a powerful monk in Shaolin’s depths to come out.

Yu Huatian confronted Shaolin Temple’s hidden Sweeping Monk, whose Union with the Dao cultivation proved far greater than expected. Their battle escalated into a clash of sword and Buddhist power, and the chapter ended with them fighting fiercely above Mount Shaoshi.

• Yu Huatian struck Xuancheng aside, and the Sweeping Monk emerged from Shaolin Temple as heaven and earth reacted to his aura.
• Yu Huatian revealed that he had come for the Sweeping Monk and Shaolin Temple, then attacked after they failed to reach an agreement.
• The Sweeping Monk’s Buddhist light barrier stopped Yu Huatian’s initial palm strike, so Yu Huatian activated his Five Elements Bloodline and drew the Purple Demonic Sword.
• Yu Huatian’s sword strike shattered the Sweeping Monk’s first barrier, but the monk blocked its remaining force and retreated only a few steps.
• Yu Huatian and the Sweeping Monk launched into a fierce aerial battle, each surrounded by their own powerful defensive aura.

Yu Huatian fought the Sweeping Monk, who gained the advantage with a Buddhist Śarīra left by his master. Yu Huatian accepted defeat, took Xuanci into his custody, and left Shaolin; the Sweeping Monk returned to the Sutra Repository after warning the monks not to provoke him.

• Yu Huatian and the Sweeping Monk battled in the sky, and both were injured as the Sweeping Monk eventually drove Yu Huatian back.
• Yu Huatian realized the Sweeping Monk’s power came from a Buddhist Śarīra, and the Sweeping Monk confirmed it had been left by his master.
• Yu Huatian accepted defeat but demanded Xuanci; the Sweeping Monk expelled Xuanci from Shaolin and allowed Yu Huatian to take him.
• Yu Huatian told Xiao Yuanshan that Murong Bo had incited Xuanci to kill his wife, then left Mount Shaoshi with the Embroidered Uniform Guards.
• The Sweeping Monk warned the Shaolin monks not to oppose Yu Huatian and returned to the Sutra Repository to resume sweeping.

Yu Huatian recovered from his clash with Shaolin Temple's Sweeping Monk while the scandal surrounding Xuanci ruined Shaolin's standing and Ming took control of Great Song. A month later, Ma Jinliang identified the Sweeping Monk as the legendary Chan Master Huike, and Yu Huatian prepared to face him again.

• Yu Huatian ordered Ma Jinliang to investigate the Sweeping Monk and the relic, then healed his injuries while resolving to grow stronger.
• News of Xuanci's crimes and Xiao Yuanshan's vengeance spread through the Jianghu, triggering attacks on Shaolin's allies and forcing Shaolin Temple to close its gates.
• Sun Chengzong, Sun Chuanting, and Ming forces subdued rebellions and brought Great Song territory under Ming control.
• Ma Jinliang reported that the Sweeping Monk was likely Chan Master Huike, Bodhidharma's disciple and Shaolin's Second Patriarch.
• Yu Huatian concluded that Huike's relic and martial inheritance explained his strength, then looked toward Mount Shaoshi and anticipated a future confrontation.

Yu Huatian decided to march against Great Sui as planned, intending to meet Yuwen Tuo and later deal with the Li Clan. After learning that the Carefree Sect had ignored his summons, he went to Piaomiao Peak to meet its founder, Xiaoyaozi.

• Yu Huatian ordered Buddhism banned throughout Ming and kept Shaolin Temple sealed until his next visit.
• Ma Jinliang reported that Yuwen Tuo had restored Great Sui’s strength, while the Li Clan had gathered Jianghu factions against the court.
• Yu Huatian rejected a secret attack on the Li Clan and planned to join forces with it to destroy Great Sui before turning against it.
• Ma Jinliang said the Carefree Sect, led by Xuzhu, had not answered Yu Huatian’s summons, so Yu Huatian decided to visit it himself.
• Yu Huatian arrived at Piaomiao Peak and called for Xiaoyaozi to show himself.

Yu Huatian came to Piaomiao Peak to discuss the Carefree Sect’s refusal to join the Western Expedition, but Heavenly Mountain Tonglao mistook his purpose and defied him. After Yu Huatian killed Xuzhu to force Xiaoyaozi to appear, Xiaoyaozi revealed his hostility toward the Buddhist-affiliated successor and rebuked Tonglao for making him the sect leader.

• Yu Huatian arrived at Piaomiao Peak and asked Heavenly Mountain Tonglao to announce his visit to Xiaoyaozi.
• Heavenly Mountain Tonglao refused to support the Western Expedition and challenged Yu Huatian, who seized her by the throat.
• Yu Huatian lifted Xuzhu into the air and killed him when Xiaoyaozi did not appear.
• Xiaoyaozi emerged and pretended to demand an explanation, but Yu Huatian accused him of using him to eliminate Xuzhu.
• Xiaoyaozi rebuked Heavenly Mountain Tonglao for making the Buddhist-affiliated Xuzhu the Carefree Sect’s leader and warned that he could have aided Buddhism’s rise.

Xiaoyaozi reunited with Heavenly Mountain Tonglao, learned about the Primordial Artifacts and revealed an ancient prophecy to Yu Huatian. He said the world was sealed off from the Immortal Realm and that vanished civilizations of antiquity would return when the seal broke.

• Xiaoyaozi condemned Heavenly Mountain Tonglao for allowing the Shaolin disciple Xuzhu to lead the Carefree Sect, then forgave her and promised to restore her body and reunite her with Li Qiushui.
• Xiaoyaozi and Yu Huatian discussed the Western Expedition against Sui, and Yu Huatian recognized that Xiaoyaozi had reached Union with the Dao.
• Xiaoyaozi explained that he had delayed ascending because he worried about the Carefree Sect and sensed that the world held hidden mysteries.
• Yu Huatian told Xiaoyaozi that Yuwen Tuo was the reincarnation of the Kunlun Mirror and wielded the Xuanyuan Sword.
• Xiaoyaozi revealed that an ancient scripture described a seal connecting the world to the Immortal Realm and foretold the return of vanished civilizations when the seal broke.

Yu Huatian learned that Xiaoyaozi suspected an ancient civilization and a dangerous power hidden beyond the Divine Land, then agreed to become the Carefree Sect's leader. Xiaoyaozi warned him that Huike was only an appetizer among the obstacles to unifying the Divine Land.

• Xiaoyaozi told Yu Huatian that myths of the Kunlun Mirror and Xuanyuan Sword might point to a lost ancient civilization, and described a mysterious force blocking his journey north.
• Xiaoyaozi identified the force's likely source as the Kunlun Mountains beyond the Liao Kingdom, and Yu Huatian decided to investigate it himself.
• Xiaoyaozi asked Yu Huatian to join the Carefree Sect and lead it, and Yu Huatian accepted after Xiaoyaozi pointed out that he practiced Carefree Wind Control.
• Xiaoyaozi revealed that the monk who had defeated Yu Huatian at Shaolin Temple was Huike, Bodhidharma's disciple, who had inherited a śarīra.
• Xiaoyaozi warned Yu Huatian that Huike was only an appetizer among the challenges to unifying the Divine Land, leaving Yu Huatian to wonder who in the west was even stronger.