Chapter Summaries

At Héluó Fish Lake, Qin Xuanji and Cao Jinxing exposed Duanmu Nan’s betrayal and confronted Huang Siyuan’s ambush. Cao Jinxing trapped Zhao Li in the Non-Attack Sword Technique’s darkness and brutally defeated him, while Gyuki blocked the attackers threatening Qin Xuanji.

• Qin Xuanji ordered the island’s residents to shelter and warned Duanmu Nan and four Tongyou experts to reconsider their betrayal, but they sided with him and Huang Siyuan.
• Cao Jinxing shot two of the traitorous experts dead, while Qin Xuanji deflected hidden weapons and Duanmu Nan collapsed after his poisons activated.
• Huang Siyuan’s group confronted Cao Jinxing and Qin Xuanji, and Cao Jinxing challenged Zhao Li while Gyuki arrived to protect Qin Xuanji.
• Cao Jinxing used the Non-Attack Sword Technique to engulf Zhao Li in black mist and wound him with illusions and flying sword strikes.
• Cao Jinxing severed Zhao Li’s limbs, pinned him to the ground, and demanded that he repeat his threat against Qin Xuanji.

Cao Jinxing and Qin Xuanji defeated the Huang Family’s ambush, captured Huang Siyuan, and crippled two other attackers before arranging the island’s catch. After learning of the defeat, Huang Baiyuan discovered that the Real Person Pill had surfaced near Cangming Island and led the family’s experts there to seize it.

• Cao Jinxing, Qin Xuanji, Xuan Yuan Fourteen, and Gyuki defeated the ambush, killing Zhao Li and capturing Huang Siyuan while crippling Huang Huaishu and Huang Huaishan.
• Huang Siyuan revealed that the Huang Family had targeted Qin Xuanji to learn where Qin Zhaonan was hiding, and he identified Old Man Hidden Fish and the Azure Sea Clear-Sound Pool.
• Qin Xuanji sent Huang Siyuan and Duanmu Nan away as prisoners, arranged for the catch to be gathered with Captain Raymond’s crew, and Cao Jinxing absorbed the cultivation of Huang Huaishu and Huang Huaishan.
• Huang Baiyuan learned that Huang Siyuan had been captured and Zhao Li killed, then ordered a servant to summon Old Man Hidden Fish from seclusion.
• The Ghost-Clothes Marquis suggested that Cao Jinxing had used Mohist School swordsmanship to defeat Zhao Li, and Huang Baiyuan learned that a sunken ship near Cangming Island held the Real Person Pill.
• Huang Baiyuan ordered every Huang Family member and guest elder at Tongyou or above to accompany him to Cangming Island and catch the Qin Family off guard.

Huang Baiyuan learned of Cao Jinxing’s extraordinary feats and called off the planned attack on Cangming Island, choosing instead to ransom Huang Siyuan and manipulate the Fang and Qin families into conflict. Meanwhile, Cao Jinxing and Qin Xuanji sailed toward Mist-Flow Island and planned a disguised outing to the Sea Market.

• Ghost-Clothes Marquis warned Huang Baiyuan that attacking Cangming Island could endanger Huang Siyuan, who was held by the Qin Family.
• Huang Baichuan read a report detailing Cao Jinxing’s rise to Faxiang, his defeat of three Faxiang experts, and the imperial court’s retaliation against their sects.
• Huang Baiyuan canceled the attack, and Old Man Hidden Fish proposed ransoming Huang Siyuan before revealing the shipwreck’s location to the Fang Family.
• Huang Baiyuan agreed to ransom Siyuan and wait for the Fang and Qin families to weaken each other.
• Cao Jinxing and Qin Xuanji left Rare Beast Island for Mist-Flow Island, leaving Ouyang Shuo in charge of Rare Beast Island.
• Qin Xuanji proposed that she and Cao Jinxing disguise themselves and visit the Sea Market, and Cao Jinxing invited Raymond to continue his stories about the Inquisition.

On Mist-Flow Island, Qin Xuanque, Shi Yi, and Mao Jiahe learned of Cao Jinxing’s feats and examined relics salvaged from a wreck, identifying the vessel as the Han tower ship Yuzhang. They ordered the dangerous excavation to continue while keeping the ship’s discovery and Qin Xuanji’s whereabouts secret.

• Qin Xuanque and Shi Yi read reports of Cao Jinxing killing three Faxiang experts and resolved to protect his recovery without involving Qin Xuanji.
• Mao Jiahe returned with Leng Hongzhi and a chest of salvaged medicine, explaining that disguised pirates had attacked them and damaged the chest.
• Shi Yi identified the pills as Real Person Pills and recognized a small-seal character on the wreck as “Yu,” revealing that the vessel was the tower ship Yuzhang.
• Shi Yi warned Mao Jiahe that Yuzhang was a dangerous weapon and ordered him to proceed carefully with the salvage.
• Leng Hongzhi reported that Gyuki had captured Huang Siyuan and Duanmu Nan, and Qin Xuanque ordered them imprisoned while telling outsiders that Qin Xuanji was in seclusion on the island.
• Shi Yi suspected the Huang Family was behind the pirate attack, and he and Qin Xuanque arranged more help to speed up the excavation and protect the discovery.

Cao Jinxing and Qin Xuanji disguised themselves as Hua Tiegan and Hua Qianshu while sailing to Crouching Flood Dragon Island, where they rescued Gu Xiaoyu from a Mechanical Beast. After learning that the Gongshu Family was blocking access to the island to secure a treasure, they headed toward the sea market with an invitation and a reason to confront the family.

• Cao Jinxing gave Qin Xuanji a masculine face and invented the identities Hua Tiegan and Hua Qianshu for their visit to the sea market.
• Gu Xiaoyu warned Cao Jinxing and Qin Xuanji as a Mechanical Beast shaped like a Tiger Flood Dragon attacked their boat, and Cao Jinxing blocked its strike with his sword.
• Cao Jinxing invited Gu Xiaoyu and his surviving servants aboard, and Gu Xiaoyu explained that the beast was a Mechanical Beast and that the Gongshu Family was preventing people from reaching Crouching Flood Dragon Island.
• Gu Xiaoyu revealed that the Fang Family's salvaged treasures included Sun Quan's Six Swords and suggested the Gongshu Family wanted something from the collection.
• Qin Xuanji spotted a Vermilion Fruit on the treasure list and planned to seek a chance to reach the island, while Cao Jinxing remained curious about the Gongshu Family's target.
• Gu Xiaoyu gave Cao Jinxing and Qin Xuanji an invitation to the Heaven Round, Earth Square Pavilion and declared that he intended to settle accounts with the Gongshu Family.

As Cao Jinxing, Qin Xuanji, and Gu Xiaoyu traveled to Crouching Flood Dragon Island, Gu Xiaoyu deduced that the auctioned Chu Dance Bronze Figure might be the legendary Yan Armor construct Xiangjun. They reached the island’s waters and saw Fang Bingtian fighting the Gongshu Family’s Mechanical Beast, the Tiger Flood Dragon.

• Gu Xiaoyu explained that the Gongshu Family may have attacked him to keep him from recognizing the Chu Dance Bronze Figure’s significance.
• Qin Xuanji connected the bronze figure to Chu Fu and the Yan Armor Art, and Gu Xiaoyu revealed that Chu Fu had secretly created the mechanical construct Xiangjun.
• Gu Xiaoyu said Xiangjun might be the powerful Yan Armor construct the Gongshu Family sought to recover, prompting Cao Jinxing and Qin Xuanji to hurry toward the island.
• The group reached Crouching Flood Dragon Island and saw Fang Bingtian fighting the Tiger Flood Dragon with the Boundless Divine Palm.

Fang Bingtian defeated the Gongshu Family’s mechanical [Tiger Flood Dragon] and entrusted the upcoming sea market to Fang Muchen, who welcomed Gu Xiaoyu, Hua Tiegan, and Cao Jinxing. As the visitors explored Crouching Flood Dragon Island, the Inquisition’s unusually large Judgment Knight Order arrived, led by a mysterious Jiaoren.

• Fang Bingtian shattered the [Tiger Flood Dragon] with two palm strikes, warned Gongshu Qi to tell Gongshu Tang to meet him with sincerity, and let the three Gongshu disciples flee.
• Fang Muchen announced that the sea market would open in three days, gave Cao Jinxing a calling card, and invited Gu Xiaoyu, Hua Tiegan, and Qin Xuanji to explore the island.
• Fang Muchen cast a hexagram, decided to leave the visitors alone, and ordered Fang Jing to watch the Gongshu Family instead.
• Gu Xiaoyu led Cao Jinxing and Qin Xuanji through the crowded docks, where they spotted thirty heavily armored Knights from the Inquisition’s Judgment Knight Order.
• A masked woman in silver armor emerged from the Knights’ ship, revealing Jiaoren features and prompting Cao Jinxing to expect trouble at the sea market.

Cao Jinxing recovered enough to explore Crouching Flood Dragon Island, where he learned Gu Xiaoyu’s qi-watching art and discovered a fire-qi-rich stone at a market stall. Gongshu Yi demanded the stone after Cao Jinxing bought it, and the chapter ended with him ordering his men to beat Cao Jinxing to death.

• Cao Jinxing spent three days healing at Between the Water and Clouds while Qin Xuanji received news about the Huang Family’s ransom and the dangerous excavation of the Yuzhang Tower Ship.
• Gu Xiaoyu told Cao Jinxing that Gongshu Tang had met Fang Bingtian and that Gongshu Qi and Gongshu Yi had arrived on the island.
• Cao Jinxing joined Gu Xiaoyu and Qin Xuanji at the market, secretly mastered the first two stages of the Son of Heaven Qi-Watching Art, and offered to teach Gu Xiaoyu the Nethersea Origin Return Art in return.
• Gu Xiaoyu identified a stone sphere containing dense fire qi, and Cao Jinxing bought it for two hundred taels.
• Gongshu Yi confronted Cao Jinxing and ordered his armored men to attack after Cao Jinxing refused to surrender the stone.

Cao Jinxing evaded and disabled Gongshu Yi’s eight Mechanism Puppets, then Fang Muchen and Fang Xian intervened before Gongshu Yi could escalate the fight. Gongshu Yi agreed to make amends and left with Fang Muchen, while Cao Jinxing and Gu Xiaoyu made plans to sell their goods and study the Nethersea Origin Return Art.

• Cao Jinxing effortlessly dodged the eight Mechanism Puppets’ attacks while Gu Xiaoyu began suspecting his true identity.
• Gongshu Yi ordered the puppets into the Heavenly Net Array, but Cao Jinxing used the Pure Yang Finger to destroy their mechanisms and incapacitate their operators.
• Gongshu Yi called on [Mountain Ghost], but Fang Muchen and Fang Xian arrived and stopped him from attacking.
• Gongshu Qi relayed the family head’s order to prioritize the Cloud-Flying Sea-Covering Ship, so Gongshu Yi apologized to Fang Muchen and agreed to make amends at Crane Tower.
• Cao Jinxing reassured Qin Xuanji and promised Gu Xiaoyu that he would write out the Nethersea Origin Return Art, and they planned to sell their goods.

Cao Jinxing solved the Gongshu Family’s Shudu puzzle and awakened the Yan Armor Bifang, then bound the powerful mechanized bird to himself. Meanwhile, Gongshu Yi planned to seize Xiangjun when the sea market opened the next day.

• Bai Liuli learned that the sea market would open tomorrow and ordered Xia'er to keep everyone ready to secure the White Dragon Pearl and await their predicted opportunity.
• Gu Xiaoyu sold Cao Jinxing’s weapons, and Cao Jinxing gave him the Nethersea Origin Return Art while Gu Xiaoyu shared the Son of Heaven Qi-Watching Art’s cultivation method.
• Cao Jinxing used the Son of Heaven Qi-Watching Art to open the stone sphere and solved its Shudu mechanism, revealing the Yan Armor Bifang.
• Gu Xiaoyu explained that Bifang was powered by a spirit core and made from Fusang Divine Wood, and Cao Jinxing poured his true qi into it to become its master.
• Gongshu Yi told Gongshu Qi that the Gongshu Family would exploit the Fang Family’s market preparations to land on the island and seize Xiangjun.

Cao Jinxing attended the sea market auction with Qin Xuanji and Gu Xiaoyu, hoping to buy two Vermilion Fruits to heal his injuries. After Gongshu Yi provoked Gu Xiaoyu and drove up their price, Cao Jinxing swallowed the fruits and four Immortal Pills, rapidly recovering as the auction moved on to the Bronze Figurine.

• Cao Jinxing controlled Bifang and spent the evening with Qin Xuanji before they attended the auction with Gu Xiaoyu.
• The auction began, and Xia'er bought the White Dragon Pearl for Bai Liuli, who absorbed its water-attribute primordial qi.
• Gu Xiaoyu bid one hundred thousand taels for the Vermilion Fruits, but Gongshu Yi raised the price to two hundred thousand to provoke him.
• Qin Xuanji secured the two Vermilion Fruits for three hundred thousand taels after Gongshu Yi declined to bid higher.
• Cao Jinxing swallowed the Vermilion Fruits and four Immortal Pills, rapidly healing and increasing his cultivation as Gongshu Tang sensed his rising true qi.
• The Bronze Figurine appeared, and Gongshu Yi alerted Gongshu Tang to the auction item.

Cao Jinxing recovered to Tongyou peak during the auction, revealed the Gongshu Family’s Yan Armor hidden inside the Chu Dance Bronze Figurine, and began unlocking its cipher tablet. As Gongshu Yi attacked and Cao Jinxing defeated his puppet, Gongshu Lun led a force onto Crouching Flood Dragon Island, leaving Fang Bingtian to hold the island’s defenses.

• Gu Xiaoyu and a Gongshu proxy drove the bid for the bronze figurine above three hundred thousand taels while Cao Jinxing absorbed the Limitless Elixir and Vermilion Fruit to heal and advance his cultivation.
• Cao Jinxing emerged at Tongyou peak, bid one million taels, and revealed Bifang as proof he could pay; he then used Bifang to break open the figurine and expose the Yan Armor Xiangjun.
• Cao Jinxing began deciphering Xiangjun’s Nine-Palace Disk in front of the Gongshu family, while Fang Muchen and Fang Xian rallied the Fang Family to secure the armor.
• Gongshu Yi sent Mountain Ghost to attack Cao Jinxing, who cut the puppet apart with a single strike of Pure Yang Sword Qi and severed Gongshu Yi’s mechanical arm.
• At the island’s docks, Gongshu Lun brought mechanical beasts, puppets, and armed disciples against Fang Bingtian’s Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams Formation, then sent winged bats and burrowing beasts toward the pavilion as his forces attacked.

Cao Jinxing watched as the Fang and Gongshu families fought over Xiangjun, whose mechanical armor awakened after Bifang decoded Shudu’s code. The Gongshu family’s siege beasts overwhelmed the pavilion, but Bifang thwarted Gongshu Tang’s attempt to claim Xiangjun, leaving the fight unresolved.

• Cao Jinxing revealed that his cultivation had recovered, while Gongshu Tang used the Lord of the Clouds to spread mist and escape the Fang family’s search.
• Bifang finished decoding Shudu’s code, awakening Xiangjun’s Spirit Core and restoring the mechanical armor’s cultivation to Tongyou Peak.
• The Gongshu family attacked with Fire God Cannons, Winged Bats, and Earth-Boring Saburos as Fang Xian and the Fang family fought to protect Xiangjun.
• Bai Liuli reasoned that Cao Jinxing had never intended Fang Muchen to claim the mechanical armor and chose to wait rather than join the battle.
• Gongshu Tang slipped through the fighting and reached Xiangjun, but Bifang blocked his attack with flames, prompting him to roar Cao Jinxing’s name.

Cao Jinxing and Bifang devastated the Gongshu Family’s forces, destroying eighteen puppets and killing four direct descendants, but Gongshu Lun reached Xiangjun while Cao Jinxing was occupied by Cloud-Sky Gouyu. Gongshu Lun began pouring true qi into Xiangjun and summoned his Faxiang, declaring that Cao Jinxing would die.

• The Gongshu Family’s forces broke through the Fang Family’s defenses and charged into the Heaven Round, Earth Square Pavilion to claim Xiangjun.
• Bifang damaged one top-tier puppet from within, then destroyed the remaining seventeen as Cao Jinxing revealed his own Faxiang and cut apart three cannonballs aimed at him.
• Bifang escaped a silk net and killed the four Gongshu direct descendants, leaving Gongshu Tang enraged and Gongshu Yi terrified.
• Cloud-Sky Gouyu attacked Cao Jinxing, forcing him to evade while Gongshu Lun entered the pavilion and pressed a hand to Xiangjun.
• Gongshu Lun poured true qi into Xiangjun as Fang Bingtian arrived, then summoned his Gongshu Zi Faxiang and threatened Cao Jinxing.

Cao Jinxing defeated the Gongshu Family’s machines, secured the Vermilion Fruit, and left the Fang Family’s auction, while the Gongshu Family retreated with Xiangjun. He then revealed that he had secretly taken control of Xiangjun and cursed Gongshu Lun aboard the ship before abducting Gongshu Yi.

• Cao Jinxing used the Great Void Finger to dissolve the Cloud-Sky Gouyu’s armor, severed its controls, and forced it to crash.
• Gongshu Lun ordered a retreat; Fang Bingtian stopped one mechanical snake, while other machines escaped underground with the Gongshu Family.
• Cao Jinxing left the Heaven Round, Earth Square Pavilion with Qin Xuanji and the Vermilion Fruit, saying he would travel to Mist-Flow Island to find a mechanical arts master.
• Aboard the ship, Gongshu Lun learned that Gongshu Yi’s provocation had caused the family’s losses and punished him for it.
• Cao Jinxing revealed himself through Xiangjun, explained that he had taken control of the Yan Armor and placed a Soul-Chaos Cursed Seal on Gongshu Lun, then warned the family not to attack him again.
• Cao Jinxing took Gongshu Yi with him and vanished from the ship.

Cao Jinxing brought the captured Gongshu Yi to the Qin Family to help dismantle the Yuzhang Tower Ship’s mechanisms, while Qin Xuanji received a letter from Liu Zhenyuan urging Cao to return to the Capital City after recovering. At Cangming Island, Shi Yi and the other island masters opened an ice coffin aboard the ship, awakening a Jiaoren.

• Huang Baiyuan decided to keep the sunken ship’s discovery from the Fang Family for now and sent more men to watch Cangming Island.
• Qin Xuanque learned that the Qin Family’s salvage efforts had cost more lives and that no local mechanism masters were available to help.
• Cao Jinxing arrived with the mind-controlled Gongshu Yi, and Qin Xuanque sent him with Shi Yi to dismantle the ship’s traps and retrieve the central cabin’s contents.
• Cao Jinxing received Liu Zhenyuan’s letter and told Qin Xuanji he would meet her father before returning to the Capital City.
• Shi Yi, Yang Jingchen, and Mao Jiahe followed Gongshu Yi through the ship’s traps and opened an ice coffin in the auxiliary cabin.
• The woman in the coffin transformed into a Jiaoren, awakened with a beating heart, and turned her killing intent on the four men.

Ehuang awakened aboard the Yuzhang Tower Ship, subdued Shi Yi and the others, and absorbed the White Dragon Pearls’ Primordial Qi to grow stronger while vowing to revive her lord. Bai Liuli sensed a call from an ancestor, and Cao Jinxing learned that something had changed at the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor.

• Ehuang used the Yin-Yang Puppet Art and Mind-Reading Art to capture Shi Yi, Yang Jingchen, and the other two experts, then learned that sixteen hundred years had passed.
• Ehuang found her lord resting inside a giant clam, pledged to fulfill her wish, and absorbed the energy of forty-eight White Dragon Pearls as her cultivation surged.
• Ehuang’s power stirred storms above Cangming Island, and invisible threads turned the guards and two Huang Family lookouts into puppets.
• Bai Liuli felt a painful bloodline call, reviewed Xia’er’s report on the swords from the Heaven Round, Earth Square Pavilion, and concluded that an ancestor of her people was the opportunity her teacher had meant.
• Cao Jinxing discussed Yan Armor with Qin Xuanji, then read Liu Zhenyuan’s message that something had changed at the Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor.

Qin Xuanji and Qin Xuanque learned that the three island masters were trapped aboard Yuzhang after Leng Hongzhi reported a deadly mechanism and a legendary Li Pearl. Cao Jinxing exposed the report as a trap designed to lure out Gyuki and concluded that they needed reinforcements.

• Qin Xuanji explained that Cao Jinxing was conditioning himself to attempt a genuine Faxiang breakthrough.
• Leng Hongzhi arrived wounded and claimed that a Dragon-Breaking Stone had trapped the island masters in Yuzhang’s main cabin after Second Island Master found a Li Pearl.
• Qin Xuanji and Qin Xuanque suspected Leng Hongzhi’s account was false, and Cao Jinxing confirmed that he had been hypnotized and was lying.
• Cao Jinxing deduced that a powerful enemy, likely connected to the Yin-Yang School, had captured the island masters and was using the Li Pearl story to lure out Gyuki.
• Cao Jinxing concluded that they could not rescue Yuzhang alone and urged them to call for reinforcements.

Cao Jinxing arranged to seek reinforcements while using Xiangjun’s false body to investigate Cangming Island, where he confronted the person behind the trap. Ehuang emerged from the Yuzhang Tower Ship and recognized the power controlling Xiangjun.

• Cao Jinxing told Qin Xuanque to recruit help from the Fang and Huang families, Peach Blossom Island, Penglai Island, Zhang Qingxiu, and Lu Dengfeng.
• Cao Jinxing sent Xiangjun’s false body toward Cangming Island, and Qin Xuanji accompanied him on Gyuki.
• A black-robed man followed them on Whale Shark and discovered that Cao Jinxing was already betrothed to Huang Fangling.
• Cao Jinxing reached the trench and called for the trap’s creator to come out, warning that he would rather destroy the prize than let it be taken.
• Ehuang emerged from the Yuzhang Tower Ship and recognized the power behind Xiangjun.

Cao Jinxing forced Ehuang to release the Qin Family members, then learned that she wanted his help reaching the Black Tortoise beneath Cangming Island’s Guixu. When Ehuang threatened Qin Xuanji and Qin Zhaonan to secure his agreement, Cao Jinxing revealed he had uncovered her hidden leverage aboard Yuzhang and threatened to cripple it.

• Cao Jinxing resisted Ehuang’s threats and bargaining tactics until she severed her puppet threads and freed the Qin Family members.
• Cao Jinxing sent Shi Yi, Yang Jingchen, Mao Jiahe, and Gongshu Yi back toward the surface while he stayed to hear Ehuang’s proposal.
• Ehuang explained that Emperor Wu’s Yuzhang expedition had sought the Black Tortoise, which was believed to dwell beneath Cangming Island in Guixu.
• Ehuang asked Cao Jinxing to help her obtain the Black Tortoise’s heart’s blood or Turtle Shell in exchange for helping him attain Faxiang, and threatened Qin Xuanji and Qin Zhaonan if he refused.
• Cao Jinxing revealed that he had seen through Ehuang’s hidden leverage aboard Yuzhang and threatened to cripple it if she harmed his allies.