Chapter Summaries

Fang Yue escaped the Black Mountain Sect dungeon with help from a mysterious voice, then searched the sect’s treasure vault and began eliminating its Protector Elders. After killing two, he headed for the third as the underground cavern erupted into commotion.

• Fang Yue learned from passing guards that the sect’s defenses were lax, but a mysterious voice warned him about the dungeon’s traps and offered a safe route in exchange for Yu Hongye’s head.
• Fang Yue escaped the dungeon, disguised himself as a Black Mountain Sect disciple, and searched the treasure vault for manuals and information about the sect.
• Fang Yue memorized the sect’s layout and guard arrangements, then set out to eliminate the three Protector Elders while Yu Hongye was away.
• Fang Yue ambushed and killed the first Protector Elder after foiling his attempt to self-destruct his Nascent Soul.
• Fang Yue killed the second Protector Elder in a single attack and headed toward the third, but the Black Mountain Sect’s underground cavern erupted into commotion.

Fang Yue fought through the Black Mountain Sect’s cave, defeating the Protector’s corpses and disciples as he pressed his mission forward. After the Golden Armored Corpse self-destructed and injured him, Fang Yue overpowered the Protector, leaving him badly wounded on the ground.

• Fang Yue reached the cave’s core and clashed with the Black Mountain Sect’s last Protector.
• The Protector summoned ordinary corpses, but Fang Yue cut them down with his wind attacks.
• The Protector summoned the unfinished Golden Armored Corpse, which battled Fang Yue while Black Mountain Sect disciples arrived to help.
• Fang Yue attacked the disciples, killing several as the Protector drove the Golden Armored Corpse to unleash its full power.
• The Golden Armored Corpse self-destructed and injured Fang Yue, but he survived the blast.
• Fang Yue countered the Protector’s attacks and blasted him to the ground, severely wounded.

After Fang Yue defeated the Black Mountain Sect’s last Protector, Xu Ling revealed her past and offered to help him uncover the sect’s secrets in exchange for help finding her family’s killer. A ring led them to Yu Hongye, where their battle began and grew more dangerous as he summoned refined corpses.

• Fang Yue knocked away the Protector’s Self-Destruct Talisman and killed him, causing the Black Mountain Sect’s remaining disciples to surrender or flee.
• Xu Ling told Fang Yue that she had joined the Black Mountain Sect to avenge her family, and Fang Yue agreed to help her find the enemy responsible.
• Xu Ling led Fang Yue to the Corpse Raising Ground, where they found special refined corpses and discovered a rune-covered ring that could reveal clues about the sect’s upper ranks.
• Fang Yue and Xu Ling followed the ring’s runes to an altar, where they found Yu Hongye performing a ritual and attacked him.
• Yu Hongye fought Fang Yue and Xu Ling to a standstill, then summoned numerous refined corpses to aid him.

Fang Yue and Xu Ling battled Yu Hongye and his corpse refiners, using an ancient rune formation to withstand his attacks before defeating him. Yu Hongye revealed that the Black Mountain Sect's treasure lay in a secret chamber, and they entered it cautiously.

• Fang Yue and Xu Ling charged toward Yu Hongye but were trapped in the corpse refiners' assault.
• Xu Ling spotted a faint glimmer, and Fang Yue led them through the encirclement to an ancient rune formation that repelled the corpse refiners.
• Yu Hongye attacked the formation, but Fang Yue and Xu Ling defended themselves and launched a coordinated counterattack.
• Fang Yue and Xu Ling endured Yu Hongye's strikes and defeated him, exhausting the power of his ring.
• Yu Hongye revealed that the Black Mountain Sect's treasure was inside a nearby secret chamber, and Fang Yue and Xu Ling entered it carefully.

Fang Yue received the Black Mountain Sect’s inheritance, but Xu Ling activated a mechanism that threatened him before he destroyed it and left her behind. He returned home, reunited with his parents, and began studying the sect’s Cultivation Manual while enjoying a quiet stay with his family.

• Fang Yue touched the pearl on the Altar, triggering the Black Mountain Sect’s inheritance ritual, and the pearl’s power surged into him.
• Xu Ling activated a concealed mechanism, causing boulders to fall toward Fang Yue during the inheritance.
• Fang Yue shattered the mechanism and stopped the boulders, then left the secret chamber as Xu Ling found a hidden passage and continued toward her mission.
• Fang Yue returned to his hometown, where Chen Shi and Father Fang welcomed him home.
• Fang Yue studied the Black Mountain Sect’s Cultivation Manual and spent peaceful time with his parents, who urged him to consider finding a wife.

Fang Yue broke through to Great Grandmaster while cultivating in a snowy valley, then agreed to another blind date after his mother Chen Shi kept trying to find him a match. At the farewell pavilion, he discovered that his new date was Zhu Linlang, the Great Wei Empress he had met during his cultivation journeys.

• Fang Yue reassured Chen Shi that he would consider marriage once he had settled down, then spent three months studying and helping his parents at home.
• Fang Yue cultivated the Black Mountain Sect's techniques, the True Spirit Sect's Sixth-Turn True Spirit Art, and the Soldier God Art, breaking through to Great Grandmaster.
• Chen Shi arranged a blind date, and Fang Yue rejected the first woman's demands for a residence, jewelry, and control of their household.
• After Fang Yue told Chen Shi about the failed date, she arranged another meeting, and he agreed to attend.
• Fang Yue went to the farewell pavilion and found Zhu Linlang waiting for him.

Fang Yue reunited with Zhu Linlang before she continued toward Chu State on a peace mission, then grew suspicious that she was in danger and pursued her across the Hundred Thousand Mountains. He entered the mountains after a tribal elder falsely directed him away from her route, while the elder sent word of Fang Yue's arrival to Great Chu.

• Fang Yue and Zhu Linlang reunited, exchanged assurances, and Zhu Linlang departed with her army for Chu State.
• After Zhu Linlang left, Fang Yue suspected she faced danger and gathered information about rising tensions between Great Wei and Chu State.
• Fang Yue rode to the border and learned from a tribal elder that Zhu Linlang's army had entered the Hundred Thousand Mountains.
• The elder misdirected Fang Yue toward a dangerous mountain path, and Fang Yue set off into the mountains without knowing he had been deceived.
• The elder ordered a messenger hawk to carry a secret letter about Fang Yue to Great Chu's envoy.

Fang Yue was ambushed by the Chu army and defeated its three renowned martial arts masters, then pursued them to their camp in search of Zhu Linlang. He infiltrated the guarded camp and followed the sound of weeping to a secluded tent.

• Fang Yue doubted the tribal elder's directions but continued toward Chu State to find Zhu Linlang.
• Shentu Ba received a message branding Fang Yue a Great Wei spy and sent disguised soldiers and Lei Zhentian, Yun Feiyang, and Kuang Zhan to capture him.
• The Chu soldiers surrounded Fang Yue, and the three masters challenged him to surrender.
• Fang Yue defeated all three masters but spared their lives and followed them toward the Chu army's camp.
• Fang Yue slipped into the guarded camp and heard weeping from a secluded tent.

Fang Yue freed a maidservant of the Grand Princess from the military camp, then learned that the Marquis of Champion was marching toward the Great Wei border with a mysterious treasure to threaten the Empress of Great Wei. An intelligence agent offered to help Fang Yue oppose him, and Fang Yue agreed to consider working together.

• Fang Yue helped the Grand Princess's maidservant escape the military camp by distracting the guards.
• The Marquis of Champion learned that Fang Yue might be a Great Grandmaster and ordered his army to prepare to march toward the Great Wei border.
• Fang Yue went to a border city and heard that the Marquis of Champion was leading an army against the Empress of Great Wei.
• A Great Chu Dynasty intelligence agent told Fang Yue that the Marquis of Champion possessed a treasure that could greatly enhance his cultivation and proposed an alliance.
• Fang Yue agreed to consider cooperating with the intelligence agent against the Marquis of Champion.

Fang Yue traveled to Jingbian City to find Zhu Linlang and uncovered that her maid was imprisoned in the city dungeon. After Yang Chan secretly ordered an ambush for Fang Yue, Fang Yue rescued the maid and reached the dungeon exit with her, but Zhu Linlang’s whereabouts remained unknown.

• The middle-aged man gave Fang Yue a Jade Pendant and promised to send him intelligence about Yang Chan and the Empress of Great Wei.
• Yang Chan learned that Fang Yue was heading to Jingbian City, ordered deathsworn to ambush him, and sent a Secret Letter there concerning Zhu Linlang.
• Fang Yue entered Jingbian City, questioned local tea drinkers, and learned that an envoy of the Empress of Great Wei had been imprisoned in the city dungeon.
• Fang Yue found an abandoned passage into the dungeon and discovered a woman claiming to be the Empress’s maid, imprisoned on espionage charges.
• Fang Yue led the maid through the dungeon and reached the exit with her in the middle of the night.

Fang Yue rescued a maid from a dungeon and learned that Zhu Linlang had sent envoys to Jingbian City for peace talks, unaware that Yang Chan had planted the maid as a spy. After surviving Yang Chan’s ambush and five Great Grandmaster-level pursuers, Fang Yue reached Great Chu, where Black-Clad Knights confronted him.

• Fang Yue brought the maid to a safehouse, where she told him about Zhu Linlang’s peace mission and the envoys’ detention in Jingbian City.
• Yang Chan visited the safehouse after Fang Yue left and ordered the maid to report Fang Yue’s questions and movements to him.
• Fang Yue headed for the border but was caught in a collapsing valley trap, then fought five Great Grandmaster-level experts sent by Yang Chan.
• Fang Yue escaped the five pursuers by fleeing toward Great Chu and crossed the border, unaware that Yang Chan’s spies had tracked him.
• Black-Clad Knights intercepted Fang Yue on a grassland, and he charged at them after retreating into a forest and turning to fight.

Fang Yue escaped Yang Chan’s Great Grandmaster pursuer after a fierce battle, then searched for herbs to treat his injuries. Meanwhile, Yang Chan tracked down Zhu Linlang and entered her valley with an elite force, but her traps gave her time to flee along a prepared route.

• Fang Yue fought Yang Chan’s trusted Great Grandmaster subordinate, using a feint to escape into the mountains.
• Fang Yue evaded the pursuer, found medicinal herbs, and began treating his injuries in a concealed spot.
• Yang Chan determined Zhu Linlang’s location and led an elite force toward the valley where she was hiding.
• Zhu Linlang set traps and planned an escape route through the valley’s terrain.
• Yang Chan and his men slowed to deal with the traps, allowing Zhu Linlang to flee along her planned route.

After recovering from his wounds, Fang Yue followed Black-Clad Knights to a hidden village tied to Yang Chan and discovered a guarded warehouse and a secret research site. He confronted four black-clad men there, who demanded to know why he had entered.

• Fang Yue used herbs and origin energy to heal more than half of his injuries, then resumed searching the mountains.
• Fang Yue secretly followed Black-Clad Knights to a hidden village and found that its orderly layout and trained villagers suggested a connection to Yang Chan.
• Fang Yue entered a warehouse through a window and found it stocked with herbs, weapons, armor, ores, and Gems.
• Fang Yue restrained a young thief and forced him to reveal that the village was Yang Chan's base and that strange researchers sometimes worked underground.
• The young man led Fang Yue to a hidden courtyard, where Fang Yue entered a house and found four black-clad men with glowing herbs and unfamiliar ores.

Fang Yue fought the four Black-clothed Men guarding the Marquis of Champion’s secret base, found the mechanism to its hidden chamber, and opened a glowing Jade Box after defeating them. Meanwhile, Yang Chan abandoned his attempt to capture Zhu Linlang and rushed to the base, where he identified the intruder as Fang Yue.

• Fang Yue evaded the four Grandmasters’ sword attacks while searching for a way into the secret chamber.
• Fang Yue knocked down a candlestick, opened a hidden passage, and escaped into the chamber as the Black-clothed Men pursued him.
• Fang Yue found a glowing Jade Box on a rune-covered Stone Platform, defeated the Black-clothed Men, and opened the box.
• Yang Chan received a Secret Letter reporting the intrusion and ordered some Black-Clad Knights to keep watch over Zhu Linlang while he went to the secret base.
• Yang Chan found the base’s Stone Gate open and Black-Clad Knights dead, followed Fang Yue’s trail, and recognized him as the intruder.

Fang Yue discovered that the Jade Book could strengthen him but also erode his vital energy, then recovered from his injuries and prepared to lure Yang Chan into a decisive fight. Yang Chan instead targeted Zhu Linlang, who leaped from a cliff rather than be captured, leaving his men searching for her.

• Yang Chan pursued Fang Yue with the Black-Clad Knights, while Fang Yue examined the Jade Book and realized its power could corrupt his vital energy and control others.
• Fang Yue bought rare medicinal herbs, refined a healing pill, and spent several days recovering until his strength returned to its peak.
• Fang Yue decided to use the Jade Book to lure Yang Chan out and settle their conflict.
• After failing to find Fang Yue, Yang Chan sent the Black-Clad Knights to capture Zhu Linlang and use her as leverage.
• Wounded and surrounded near a cliff, Zhu Linlang fought the Black-Clad Knights, then jumped from the cliff rather than become Yang Chan's pawn.
• Yang Chan raged at his knights and ordered them to search for Zhu Linlang, dead or alive.

Yang Chan ordered a search for Zhu Linlang and spread word of their impending betrothal, while his agents lured critics into a trap and had them arrested. Fang Yue followed a warning to a hidden border meeting, where Great Chu’s Imperial Guards asked him to help rescue Zhu Linlang and uncover Yang Chan’s conspiracy.

• Yang Chan ordered his Black-Clad Knights to seal escape routes and find Zhu Linlang, then announced that the Great Wei Empress would become betrothed to him to lure Fang Yue.
• Ten days later, Yang Chan’s agents drew people discussing the betrothal into a courtyard, where soldiers arrested them as rebel ministers and traitors.
• Fang Yue received a note warning him that Yang Chan was plotting something and directing him to meet allies at the border, so he left the inn and traveled there in secret.
• At a hidden valley, a Great Chu Imperial Guard explained that the group suspected Yang Chan planned to control Great Wei through marriage and had gathered to rescue Zhu Linlang.
• Fang Yue demanded to know what support the Imperial Guards would provide, and they said they had operatives in Town North City, clues about Yang Chan’s conspiracy, and a plan to draw away his Great Grandmasters.

Fang Yue secured Great Chu’s help and entered Town North City to rescue Zhu Linlang, while Official Chen secretly planned to let him die. Elsewhere, Chu Qingping rescued the wounded Zhu Linlang and escaped pursuing Black-Clad Knights; Fang Yue infiltrated the Marquis of Champion’s Residence and reached the guarded courtyard where Zhu Linlang was held.

• Fang Yue negotiated with Official Chen for intelligence, supplies, and a request to view the Spring and Autumn Undying Cicada, which Chen agreed to submit for approval after the operation.
• Official Chen told a soldier that he intended to let Fang Yue die in Town North City so Great Chu would not have to honor the promise.
• Chu Qingping found the unconscious Zhu Linlang in a stream, hid her from pursuing Black-Clad Knights, poisoned the searchers, and fled downstream with Zhu Linlang by boat.
• Fang Yue entered Town North City, studied the intelligence and maps, and collected supplies from a secret Great Chu Imperial Guard stronghold.
• Fang Yue infiltrated the Marquis of Champion’s Residence, found the courtyard where Zhu Linlang was held, subdued its guards, and disguised himself as one of them.

Fang Yue escaped an explosive trap and fought through Yang Chan’s martial masters while demanding proof that Zhu Linlang was being held. A Black Robed Grandmaster joined the battle, and Fang Yue faced him despite his injuries, with the fight still unresolved.

• Fang Yue subdued two guards, entered a room, and escaped after its iron walls sealed and explosives detonated.
• More than a dozen martial masters surrounded Fang Yue, and Chen Jizong threatened him with the Empress of Great Wei’s safety to demand the Jade Book.
• Fang Yue rejected Chen Jizong’s claims and fought his way through the martial masters, doubting that Yang Chan had captured Zhu Linlang.
• A Black Robed Grandmaster arrived and demanded the Jade Book, then battled Fang Yue as the surrounding martial masters backed away.
• Fang Yue fought the uninjured Black Robed Grandmaster despite being wounded, but knew he could not sustain the clash for long.

Fang Yue fought the Black Robed Grandmaster through his severe injuries, while Yang Chan watched and planned to eliminate him. Meanwhile, Great Chu Imperial Guard agents stole a mysterious beast-hide map from Yang Chan’s residence, but Yang Chan caught them and killed all but their general.

• Fang Yue endured the Black Robed Grandmaster’s attacks, suppressed his injuries with vital energy, and counterattacked with renewed force.
• Yang Chan watched Fang Yue’s battle and considered him a dangerous obstacle to his plan to unify Great Wei and Great Chu.
• Great Chu Imperial Guard experts infiltrated Yang Chan’s residence and stole a beast hide marked with an ancient map.
• Yang Chan confronted the agents as they tried to escape and killed all of them except their general.

Yang Chan pursued an Imperial Guard commander to recover the beast hide, only to encounter the supposedly dead Wei Ya, who revealed that the hide held power central to his plan. As Yang Chan and Wei Ya fought over it, Fang Yue defeated the Black Robed Grandmaster and arrived at their battle, not yet knowing who the combatants were.

• Yang Chan chased the Imperial Guard commander through Town North City until the exhausted commander dropped the beast hide and was pinned by Yang Chan.
• Wei Ya appeared and revealed he had survived for three years, claiming the beast hide contained a secret that could change the balance of power and that Yang Chan was part of his plan.
• Yang Chan and Wei Ya clashed, but a mysterious force surged from the beast hide and nullified their attacks; they resumed fighting while Yang Chan kept the commander restrained.
• Fang Yue found an opening in the Black Robed Grandmaster's defense, wounded him, then struck deep into his chest and killed him.
• Fang Yue sensed a battle between Great Grandmasters, hurried to the battlefield, and watched Yang Chan and Wei Ya fight without recognizing them.