Chapter Summaries

Lianshan Xin arranged surveillance on Dai Yueying and warned Du Jiu about the Thousand Faces Demon before learning the Nine Heavens would let his family take over President Qu’s medicinal herb business. He persuaded Lianshan Jingcheng to accept the deal, leaving his father furious and chasing him out of Spring Revival Hall with a stick.

• Lianshan Xin asked Qi Wenbin to watch Dai Yueying because he suspected something was wrong with her.
• Lianshan Xin warned Du Jiu that the Thousand Faces Demon might have infiltrated the Nine Heavens and urged him to report the concern to Third-Place Qi.
• Du Jiu told Lianshan Xin that the Heavenly Sword had ranked his merit first and offered Lianshan Jingcheng President Qu’s medicinal herb business in exchange for half its annual profits.
• Lianshan Xin explained the offer to Lianshan Jingcheng and insisted that his father accept the Nine Heavens’ backing.
• Lianshan Jingcheng beat Lianshan Xin out of Spring Revival Hall with a stick, then lamented to He Miaojun about their son.

Lianshan Xin impressed Heavenly Sword with his insight into the Demon Cult’s infiltration and was assigned to investigate its agents within White Deer Grotto Academy under Qi Shiyun. Heavenly Sword also rewarded him with the Qi Condensation Pill he had long sought, leaving him poised to break through his martial bottleneck.

• Heavenly Sword praised Lianshan Xin for persuading Qi Shiyun to help raise funds for the Nine Heavens’ plans in Jiangzhou.
• Heavenly Sword invited Lianshan Xin to study the sword under him, but Lianshan Xin declined, and Heavenly Sword lamented that he had failed to learn the Falling Goose Sword’s basics in half a month.
• Lianshan Xin explained that the Demon Cult might infiltrate the Nine Heavens to destroy it from within, citing a passage from the Great Nirvana Sutra.
• Heavenly Sword and Qi Shiyun discussed the danger posed by people Thousand Faces had placed in high offices, and Qi Shiyun recommended that Lianshan Xin first investigate Demon Cult agents at the academy.
• Heavenly Sword placed Lianshan Xin directly under Qi Shiyun and gave him the Qi Condensation Pill as a reward for his merit.

Qi Shiyun guided Lianshan Xin toward the qi condensation realm and explained how the Qi Condensation Pill let him condense qi before opening his blocked meridians. After warning him that accepting the Celestial Master’s pill tied him to dangerous factions and obligations, she watched as he swallowed it anyway.

• Qi Shiyun took Lianshan Xin to the Seclusion Room and offered to guard him as he advanced to the qi condensation realm.
• Qi Shiyun explained that immortal cultivators could wield mysterious methods and recounted how she had once slain a fifth-realm grandmaster.
• Qi Shiyun told Lianshan Xin that the Qi Condensation Pill let him condense qi first and then force open his meridians.
• Qi Shiyun warned Lianshan Xin that the pill came from the Celestial Master and that his ties to the Celestial Master, Heavenly Sword, and the Chosen of Heaven lineage could draw him into a maelstrom.
• Lianshan Xin swallowed the Qi Condensation Pill despite Qi Shiyun’s warning.

Lianshan Xin endured the Qi Condensation Pill’s painful transformation and successfully opened his meridians, while Qi Shiyun revealed the Dragon Aiders’ method of advancing their cultivation by supporting an imperial dragon. The chapter left Lianshan Xin wondering whether he could become emperor and bring Qi Shiyun greater rewards.

• Qi Shiyun watched as Lianshan Xin endured the Qi Condensation Pill’s surging dragon energy and guided it with the Basic Cultivation Method.
• After an hour, Lianshan Xin completed the Meridian Opening Realm and Qi Shiyun washed the grime from him with a rain-summoning technique.
• Qi Shiyun explained that the Chosen of Heaven were called the Dragon Aiders and benefited from raising a true dragon emperor.
• Lianshan Xin realized the lineage supported imperial claimants as cultivation material, and Qi Shiyun described failure as rebellion and success as kingmaking.
• Lianshan Xin asked whether Qi Shiyun could gain more by making him emperor, but she dismissed the idea as a dangerous fantasy.

Lianshan Xin learned how the Dragon Aiders lineage relied on fortunate people and imperial bloodlines to cultivate, while Qi Shiyun explained their shared interests and his future path. He left determined to repay her kindness and hoped to reach grandmaster soon enough to guide other Chosen One Sons of Heaven.

• Qi Shiyun warned Lianshan Xin not to consider rebellion, and he clarified that he had only raised it as a hypothetical.
• Lianshan Xin accepted Qi Shiyun’s explanation that relying on fortunate people was a practical way for their lineage to cultivate.
• Qi Shiyun told Lianshan Xin that his fortunes and survival also affected her cultivation, making them fellow travelers on the same path.
• Lianshan Xin thanked Qi Shiyun for guiding him into cultivation and promised to remember her kindness.
• Qi Shiyun explained that Lianshan Xin had to reach the Astral Transformation Realm before he could guide other Chosen One Sons of Heaven.
• Lianshan Xin said he could catch up with Qi Shiyun if he advanced one realm each year, and she teased him to keep dreaming.

Qi Shiyun explained how the Chosen of Heaven Lineage advanced through dangerous political upheaval and tasked Lianshan Xin with investigating the Demon Cult’s roots in White Deer Grotto Academy. She also revealed that marrying a hidden princess in Jiangzhou could speed his cultivation, while killing her would bring catastrophic consequences.

• Lianshan Xin asked Qi Shiyun for a shortcut to breakthrough, and she explained that the lineage cultivated faster by involving itself in major struggles and court upheavals.
• Qi Shiyun said replacing the Jiangzhou Governor would not be enough for her next breakthrough and identified Jiangzhou’s officialdom and martial world as her true concerns.
• Qi Shiyun ordered Lianshan Xin to investigate the Demon Cult’s Thousand Faces network hidden within White Deer Grotto Academy.
• Qi Shiyun told Lianshan Xin that marrying a princess born with the dynasty’s providence could help him reach Grandmaster, and revealed that a hidden princess was believed to be in Jiangzhou.
• Lianshan Xin asked whether killing the princess could advance him even faster, and Qi Shiyun warned that it might bring him to True Intent Realm but would lead to the extermination of all nine branches of his clan.

Lianshan Xin questioned Qi Shiyun about the princess and learned more about the emperor’s past before leaving to visit Qi Wenbin and Dai Yueying. Qi Wenbin revealed evidence suggesting Dai Yueying was connected to the Demon Cult, leaving Lianshan Xin wondering whether his teacher was a cult follower.

• Lianshan Xin joked about marrying and killing the princess, and Qi Shiyun warned him that the plan could bring disaster upon his Nine Clans.
• Qi Shiyun told Lianshan Xin that the emperor had once seduced a Demon Cult enchantress while roaming the martial world.
• Lianshan Xin left the cultivation chamber after an hour and went to see Qi Wenbin before classes began at the White Deer Grotto Academy.
• Qi Wenbin admitted Dai Yueying had evaded his surveillance but showed Lianshan Xin a Maitreya Buddha statue he had found in her home.
• Du Jiu explained that the Demon Cult used Maitreya worship to conceal its followers, and Qi Wenbin described the court’s covert investigations into Maitreya worship.
• Lianshan Xin wondered whether Dai Yueying was a Demon Cult follower and whether other cultists were close to him.

Lianshan Xin and Du Jiu searched the Dai residence and confirmed that Teacher Dai had ties to the Demon Cult after uncovering a hidden message. The letter revealed the cult’s harsh treatment of Dai Yongzhen and warned him to protect Yueying.

• Lianshan Xin agreed to inspect the Dai residence with Qi Wenbin and Du Jiu, and they decided not to notify the others.
• Lianshan Xin, Qi Wenbin, and Du Jiu found that Teacher Dai and Dai Yueying were both away and searched the rear courtyard.
• Du Jiu found blank paper in Teacher Dai’s bedroom and explained that its secret writing could be revealed by heating it.
• Du Jiu roasted the paper and uncovered a letter from the Demon Cult criticizing Dai Yongzhen for complaining about his delayed allowance and warning him to take care of Yueying.
• Lianshan Xin concluded that he had been right to seek advancement and riches through the Imperial Court rather than the Demon Cult.

Lianshan Xin learned that Teacher Dai belonged to the faction of Blood Guanyin, a Demon Cult elder, and suspected that Dai Yueying was connected to her. He resolved to turn the danger surrounding him into a chance to advance his cultivation and change his fate.

• Lianshan Xin discussed Teacher Dai's faith in the Demon Cult with Du Jiu, who explained that its followers worshipped Maitreya and feared death little.
• Qi Wenbin found a portrait of a woman in red in the cellar, and Du Jiu identified her as Blood Guanyin, one of the Demon Cult's Four Great Elders.
• Du Jiu described Blood Guanyin's power and beauty, while Lianshan Xin reasoned that Teacher Dai had admired her and that Dai Yueying might be connected to her.
• Lianshan Xin recalled that Dai Yueying's letter had asked someone to care for her, but admitted he had no proof for his suspicions.
• Lianshan Xin decided that the trouble could become an opportunity to improve his standing and cultivation, and resolved to seize the chance to change his fate.

Lianshan Xin confronted his former teacher Dai Yongzhen, exposed how the Demon Cult’s leaders hoarded wealth while ordinary disciples went unpaid, and broke Dai’s faith in the cult. Lianshan Xin’s talent then revealed that Dai had once volunteered to raise a child for the feared Blood Guanyin, who spared him after he pleaded for one look from her.

• Lianshan Xin, Du Jiu, and Qi Wenbin confronted Dai Yongzhen at his home, and Lianshan Xin urged his former teacher to surrender.
• Dai Yongzhen admitted he served the Demon Cult and defended its cause, while Lianshan Xin mocked his unpaid allowance and his defiant pride.
• Lianshan Xin told Dai that the Qu Family’s wealth showed the Demon Cult’s leaders were prospering while ordinary disciples tightened their belts.
• Dai Yongzhen’s faith faltered as he realized the cult’s higher-ups had likely deceived him about their finances.
• Lianshan Xin’s talent revealed Dai kneeling before Blood Guanyin, offering to raise her child and protect her in exchange for a single look.

Lianshan Xin pressured Dai Yongzhen into revealing five names in Blood Guanyin's chain of contacts, including Jiang Haoran, whom Lianshan Xin wanted to expose for harming a commoner's child. Dai Yongzhen handed over the list and died after Lianshan Xin told him he could die.

• Lianshan Xin and his allies warned that Blood Guanyin would kill anyone below the Dharma Form Realm who learned of her portrait, then Lianshan Xin threatened Dai Yongzhen through Dai Yueying.
• Lianshan Xin promised to protect Dai Yueying if Dai Yongzhen named his contacts, and Dai Yongzhen agreed to write down what he knew.
• Lianshan Xin insisted that Dai Yongzhen include Jiang Haoran, explaining that the governor's son had injured a seven-year-old boy with his horse and escaped meaningful punishment.
• Dai Yongzhen wrote down five names, including Jiang Haoran, and praised Lianshan Xin's upright character before handing him the list.
• Lianshan Xin asked whether the Demon Cult Leader, Peacock Wisdom King, was a man or a woman; Dai Yongzhen said he was a man, and Lianshan Xin told his former teacher he could die.

Lianshan Xin let Dai Yongzhen choose his own death and then confronted Dai Yueying after learning her father was dead. He discovered that she had joined the Demon Cult under Thousand Faces, leaving her loyalties and her strange attraction to him unresolved.

• Lianshan Xin offered Dai Yongzhen the chance to take his own life, and Dai Yongzhen asked him to care for Dai Yueying.
• Du Jiu told Qi Wenbin to trust Lianshan Xin’s judgment, and the two restrained Dai Yueying when she returned home.
• Qi Wenbin tossed Dai Yueying into Lianshan Xin’s arms, and Lianshan Xin brought her inside to see her dead father.
• Lianshan Xin questioned Dai Yueying and concluded that she belonged to the Demon Cult and knew about her alluring constitution.
• Lianshan Xin threatened Dai Yueying until she admitted that Thousand Faces was her master, then she unexpectedly asked him to squeeze her neck again.

After Dai Yueying accepted her father's death and used her alluring constitution to plead for her life, Lianshan Xin weighed the risks of killing her against the danger of keeping her alive. She offered herself as his slave and cultivation aid, but her extreme submission only made him more wary of what she might do if she ever gained the upper hand.

• Lianshan Xin reminded Dai Yueying that he had driven her father to his death, but she thanked him for leaving her father’s corpse intact after his identity as a Demon Cult agent was exposed.
• Lianshan Xin considered the political risks of killing Dai Yueying and the danger of trusting her if he spared her.
• Lianshan Xin tested Dai Yueying’s illness by choking and slapping her, and she said the pleasure outweighed the pain because of her constitution.
• Dai Yueying explained that her master believed her constitution could help someone of Lianshan Xin’s cultivation level improve, and she begged him not to kill her.
• Dai Yueying offered to become Lianshan Xin’s slave and said he was the first man she had loved, but Lianshan Xin grew colder and questioned what would happen if she later turned the tables on him.

Lianshan Xin questioned Dai Yueying about her origins and suspected that Blood Guanyin was her mother, possibly making her a princess of Great Yu. After a Demon Cult disciple was caught trying to implicate Lianshan Xin’s father, Xin decided Dai Yueying had crossed his line and killed her.

• Lianshan Xin questioned Dai Yueying about her mother and concluded that Blood Guanyin might be her birth mother.
• Dai Yueying offered to submit to Lianshan Xin, take poison, cut ties with her father, and even bear Xin a child to prove her loyalty.
• Du Jiu reported that their men had caught an injured Demon Cult disciple seeking treatment from Lianshan Xin’s father, apparently at a woman’s instruction.
• Lianshan Xin questioned the disciple, ordered him killed, and returned to Dai Yueying.
• Lianshan Xin told Dai Yueying to help him cultivate, then stabbed her in the heart and slit her throat.

After killing Dai Yueying, Lianshan Xin discovered that his true qi was transforming into the dangerous Dragon-Slaying True Intent and prepared to conceal the killing while advancing his cultivation. Meanwhile, Qi Shiyun unexpectedly gained a surge of fortune and glimpsed a breakthrough into the Domain Realm, unaware that Lianshan Xin had caused it.

• Lianshan Xin left Dai Yueying and Teacher Dai's bodies behind and decided to enter secluded cultivation to master Dragon-Slaying True Intent.
• Lianshan Xin ordered Du Jiu and Qi Wenbin to dissolve the bodies and told them not to report the matter through the usual chain of command.
• Du Jiu and Qi Wenbin obeyed Lianshan Xin and were awed by the sharp aura leaking from him.
• Qi Shiyun felt her fortune surge, saw through the barriers to the Domain Realm, and wondered which of her Chosen One Sons of Heaven had helped her.
• Heavenly Sword noticed Qi Shiyun's sudden signs of a breakthrough and marveled at her potential.

After killing Dai Yueying, Lianshan Xin returned home to master the growing Dragon-Slaying True Intent and broke through toward the true intent realm. He discovered that the Dragon Aiders lineage had once been the more defiant Dragon Subjugation Lineage, which subdued the true dragons of the mortal world.

• Lianshan Xin worried about how Qi Shiyun would react to Dai Yueying's death and decided she had reason to keep the killing secret.
• Lianshan Xin confirmed that Dai Yueying and Dai Yongzhen had dissolved in water, then rushed home to cultivate the Dragon-Slaying True Intent.
• Lianshan Jingcheng and He Miaojun saw Lianshan Xin hurry into his room and wondered whether he was breaking through to the true intent realm.
• Lianshan Xin mastered the power enough to project true qi as a dragon and trap it in his palm.
• Lianshan Xin realized that Dai Yueying's death had opened a new path of cultivation and that Qi Shiyun's version of the lineage's history was incomplete.
• Lianshan Xin learned that the original lineage was called Dragon Subjugation and had subdued the true dragons of the mortal world.

Lianshan Xin mastered the Dragon Subduers Immortal Art and realized that advancing further would require him to keep slaying dragons, despite the danger to his family. He resolved to hide his true inheritance, join the Nine Heavens, and pursue his parents’ family histories and debts of gratitude and vengeance.

• Lianshan Xin commanded a divine dragon to appear and disperse, confirming his mastery of the true Dragon Subduers Immortal Art.
• Lianshan Xin recognized that his Dragon-Slaying true intent required him to keep slaying dragons, though the Great Yu Immortal Dynasty made that path dangerous.
• Lianshan Xin considered the scattered survivors of the He Clan and the nameless Wandering Healer who had saved his father, resolving to investigate both histories.
• Lianshan Xin decided to conceal his inheritance within the Nine Heavens, outwardly cultivate the Dragon Aiders lineage, and wait for a chance to slay another dragon.
• Lianshan Xin left seclusion and reassured He Miaojun and Lianshan Jingcheng that he had only reached the peak of Qi Condensation, half a step from True Intent.

Lianshan Xin told his parents that Teacher Dai and Dai Yueying had been exposed as Demon Cult fiends and warned them to stay alert. After boasting about his cultivation and assuring them the Nine Heavens could protect them, he left Spring Revival Hall and spotted a familiar figure tied to his family’s past.

• Lianshan Jingcheng worried that Lianshan Xin’s rapid cultivation would damage his foundation, but Lianshan Xin insisted his training under the Celestial Master and Third-Place Qi made him exceptional.
• Lianshan Xin told He Miaojun and Lianshan Jingcheng that Teacher Dai and Dai Yueying had been exposed as Demon Cult fiends and had committed suicide.
• Lianshan Xin warned his parents that the Demon Cult might target their family and urged them to be vigilant around visitors and patients.
• He Miaojun worried about Lianshan Xin’s safety, but he boasted that ordinary Demon Cult disciples could not defeat him, prompting her to send him away.
• Lianshan Xin left Spring Revival Hall and stopped when he saw a familiar figure who had burdened his family for more than a decade.

Lianshan Xin received Huang Jingji’s apology and gifts after becoming a Nine Heavens member, then decided to use the money to host free banquets for the neighbors. He left Lianshan Jingcheng touched but still protesting that he and his wife had not lived hard lives.

• Huang Jingji knelt outside the Spring Revival Hall, thanked Lianshan Xin for saving him, and apologized for his past offenses.
• Lianshan Xin reassured Huang Jingji that President Qu had paid for his crimes and that he held no grudge over the Thorn Gang’s protection payments.
• Lianshan Xin asked Lianshan Jingcheng whether he wanted to forgive Huang Jingji, and Lianshan Jingcheng said he bore no resentment.
• Lianshan Xin refused to accept Huang Jingji’s gifts personally and proposed using them to fund two days of open banquets for the neighbors.
• Lianshan Xin urged Lianshan Jingcheng to enjoy the family’s improved fortune, while Lianshan Jingcheng insisted that he and his wife had not suffered.

Lianshan Xin accepted Huang Jingji’s invitation to visit the Thorn Gang after Huang offered a Heavenly Mountain Snow Lotus and sought help with his household troubles. Seeing the gang as a possible foothold in Jiangzhou, Lianshan Xin set out with Huang for the gang’s headquarters.

• Huang Jingji gave Lianshan Jingcheng a gift and asked Lianshan Xin to visit the Thorn Gang on behalf of the Golden Scale Alliance’s Helmsman.
• Huang Jingji explained that his wife was the Helmsman’s daughter and that he had angered his father-in-law by keeping a mistress who had borne him a son.
• Huang Jingji offered Lianshan Xin a fifty-year-old Heavenly Mountain Snow Lotus and pledged to follow him in exchange for help with his domestic troubles.
• Lianshan Xin considered the Thorn Gang a potential foothold for advancing his plans in Jiangzhou.
• Lianshan Xin told Ninth Brother to notify the academy and agreed to go with Huang Jingji to the Thorn Gang Headquarters.