Chapter Summaries

The Three Princes failed to kill the Grand Princess, then used their forces to push for the Fifth Prince’s accession and arrest opposing ministers. After hearing of the crisis, Fang Yue returned to the capital and began planning to assassinate Prince Guangxin at an upcoming banquet.

• The Grand Princess strengthened palace defenses and survived an assassination attempt, but a guard betrayed her and wounded her before loyal guards killed him.
• The Three Princes plotted another attack while the Grand Princess recovered and urged her ministers to prepare for a fair selection of the next ruler.
• A month later, the Three Princes nominated the Fifth Prince as emperor and surrounded the palace; when ministers opposed them, they ordered the arrest of those who resisted.
• Fang Yue heard reports of the crisis at a Wine House, where a mysterious man suggested killing Prince Guangxin to fracture the Three Princes’ alliance.
• Fang Yue returned to the capital, gathered old friends, and planned to assassinate Prince Guangxin at a banquet scheduled for three days later.

As the Grand Princess sought support against the Three Princes, a mysterious man helped them plot to discredit her and trap Fang Yue. Traveling in disguise toward Great Chu's Imperial Capital, Fang Yue intervened when Mountain Eagle's bandits attacked a caravan, stopping the attack just as the caravan was about to fall.

• The Grand Princess rallied ministers to gain public and factional support, while the Three Princes secretly agreed to a mysterious man's plan to undermine her and lure Fang Yue into a trap.
• Fang Yue traveled in disguise with a merchant caravan, where Zhou Huai'an and his sister questioned why their brother had brought the scholar along.
• Mountain Eagle and his bandits ambushed the caravan, and Zhou Huai'an's sister suspected Fang Yue had revealed their route.
• Zhou Huai'an identified himself as a disciple of Heaven-Earth Mountain, but Mountain Eagle attacked anyway, and the two sides fought.
• A caravan guard stabbed Zhou Huai'an from behind, leaving him wounded as the bandits pressed their advantage.
• Fang Yue caught Mountain Eagle's descending broadsword and ordered the bandits to stop, cowing them with his presence.

Fang Yue protected a caravan from Mountain Eagle's bandits, then tracked them down and killed them after learning they had been hired by someone from the Imperial Capital. After reaching the capital, he investigated the Three Princes and discovered a secret chamber in one prince's residence containing a letter written in Demon Race script.

• Fang Yue gave Zhou Huai'an medicine after Mountain Eagle's bandits withdrew from the caravan.
• Fang Yue tracked Mountain Eagle to a remote valley, learned the bandits had been hired by a mysterious person from the Imperial Capital, and killed the bandits despite promising to spare them.
• Fang Yue returned to the caravan and traveled with it to the Imperial Capital of Great Chu, where he parted ways with its leaders.
• Fang Yue gathered rumors about the Three Princes and heard that one would visit Great Buddha Temple to offer incense on the fifteenth.
• Fang Yue secretly surveyed a prince's residence and discovered a concealed entrance to a secret chamber beneath its garden.
• Fang Yue searched the chamber and found a letter written in Demon Race script.

Fang Yue discovered a letter revealing Prince Guangxin’s plot with the Demon Race to break the seal at Great Buddha Temple, then followed the prince there to stop him. As the abbot refused to help, Prince Guangxin demanded the seal node’s location, leaving the temple’s fate uncertain.

• Fang Yue deciphered a secret letter in Prince Guangxin’s mansion and learned that the Three Princes planned to help the Demon Race break the seal in exchange for power and wealth.
• Fang Yue escaped the mansion guards and later watched Prince Guangxin’s procession travel to Great Buddha Temple.
• Fang Yue and the Mysterious Person found a weak point in the temple’s barrier, and Fang Yue used a secret treasure to enter alone.
• The Mysterious Person secretly decided to search for another entrance after Fang Yue went inside.
• Prince Guangxin demanded that the abbot help him break the seal, but the abbot refused to aid him.
• Prince Guangxin threatened the abbot, who warned that the seal node was protected by powerful Buddhist Dharma Restrictions.

Prince Guangxin tried to break the Demon Realm Seal so he could command the Demon Race, while Fang Yue pursued him and tried to stop him. The seal was breached and a Demon Race Vanguard emerged, leaving Fang Yue facing a Great Demon King alone.

• The abbot led Prince Guangxin to the seal node after warning him that breaking it could destroy Great Buddha Temple.
• Fang Yue ambushed Prince Guangxin, but Prince Guangxin trapped him in a Five Elements Mountain Suppression Array.
• Fang Yue found the array’s weakness, shattered it, and pursued Prince Guangxin through the temple and into a hidden passage.
• Prince Guangxin lured Fang Yue to the Demon Realm Seal and attacked it while Fang Yue tried to stop him.
• The seal broke, and a Demon Race Vanguard emerged and attacked Prince Guangxin instead of obeying him.
• After the Vanguard struck down Prince Guangxin, Fang Yue prepared to fight it, knowing it was a Great Demon King on his level.

Fang Yue and the abbot sealed the Demon Realm fissure for one year, but the abbot died after warning that a permanent solution was needed. After entering the Great Chu Imperial City and meeting the Great Wei Grand Princess, Fang Yue learned that the princes were plotting against them and devised a plan to turn their rumors to his advantage.

• Fang Yue held off the Great Demon King while the abbot sealed the fissure, then helped defeat the demon after the abbot joined the fight.
• The abbot died after revealing that the seal would last only one year and urging Fang Yue to find a stronger method.
• Prince Cheng and the other prince agreed to cooperate with a Great Wei Special Envoy to trap and kill Fang Yue.
• Fang Yue secretly met the recovered Great Wei Grand Princess and pledged to help her ascend the Great Chu throne.
• The two princes spread rumors that Fang Yue and the Grand Princess planned to rebel and sent spies to watch them.
• Fang Yue proposed pretending to prepare for rebellion so the princes would lower their guard while he and the Grand Princess watched for an opportunity to strike.

Fang Yue lured Zhao Meng out of the military camp with a martial competition, then attacked him at Yihong Tower after Zhao Meng celebrated his victory. Masked swordsmen intervened, and Fang Yue was left fighting several attackers as Zhao Meng began to sober up.

• Fang Yue learned from the Grand Princess that Zhao Meng was a powerful general and Sun Qian a cunning strategist, then gathered information about Zhao Meng's movements.
• Fang Yue organized a martial competition to draw Zhao Meng out of the military camp, and Zhao Meng entered, won every match, and claimed first place.
• Zhao Meng celebrated at Yihong Tower with his subordinates, while Fang Yue waited for an opening to attack.
• Fang Yue moved to kill the drunken Zhao Meng, but a masked swordsman blocked him and fought him inside Yihong Tower.
• Several more masked fighters surrounded Fang Yue, and he fought to break through before Zhao Meng and his subordinates could recover from their drunkenness.

Fang Yue fought Zhao Meng’s masked Grandmasters and was stopped from killing Zhao Meng by a mysterious Shadow Figure, who proposed using him to lure out the Venerable Lord. Fang Yue and the Grand Princess began investigating the Venerable Lord and the Strange Mark, while Prince Cheng ordered a search for the killer and strengthened his defenses.

• Zhao Meng urged the masked men to kill Fang Yue, but Fang Yue identified their unfamiliar martial arts as resembling those of the Great Wei Dynasty and overwhelmed them.
• As Fang Yue moved to seize Zhao Meng, the Shadow Figure intervened and persuaded him to spare Zhao Meng so they could use him to draw out the Venerable Lord.
• The Shadow Figure offered clues to the Venerable Lord’s hideouts and the severed head of Prince Cheng’s chief strategist, then revealed that the Venerable Lord sought to overthrow the Great Chu and Great Wei Dynasties.
• The City Guard found a Strange Mark at the battle site as the Shadow Figure watched, while Prince Cheng learned his strategist had been killed and Zhao Meng had disappeared.
• Fang Yue told the Grand Princess what had happened, and they agreed to investigate the Strange Mark and monitor the Shadow Figure while preparing for the Venerable Lord.
• Prince Cheng ordered his subordinates back to the barracks and instructed an armored subordinate to investigate the Strange Mark, reinforce defenses, and watch Fang Yue and the Shadow Figure.

Fang Yue learned from a Great Chu imperial patriarch that the strange mark was linked to the Upper Realm and that Upper Realm power had helped give rise to the Demon Race. He captured Prince Cheng and moved against Prince Li, who secretly allied with three Great Demon Kings and demanded that they kill Fang Yue.

• Fang Yue searched the Great Chu Imperial Palace's Scripture Repository for records about the strange mark and met an imperial patriarch who connected it to the Upper Realm and the Demon Race's origins.
• Fang Yue told the Grand Princess what he had learned, and they agreed that they first needed to deal with the two princes amid the looming Demon Race crisis.
• Fang Yue led a surprise raid on Prince Cheng's Mansion and captured Prince Cheng.
• Fang Yue began infiltrating Prince Li's mansion alone while Prince Li met with three Great Demon Kings.
• Prince Li agreed to cooperate with the demons in exchange for their help claiming the throne and killing Fang Yue.

Prince Li allied with the Demon Race and lured Fang Yue into a trap in his residence, where the prince, his aides, and three Great Demon Kings attacked him. Fang Yue fought back and exploited the demons’ assault, but he remained surrounded and under pressure.

• Prince Li told his subordinates about his alliance with the Demon Race and ordered them to summon Fang Yue so he could kill him.
• Fang Yue entered Prince Li’s hall, accused him of treason, and dodged poisoned blades before fighting off the prince’s aides.
• Three Great Demon Kings emerged and joined Prince Li and his aides in attacking Fang Yue.
• Fang Yue redirected the demons’ sphere attack, wounded one Great Demon King, and briefly took him hostage, but the other two attacked anyway.
• The demons struck Fang Yue into a pillar, then pursued him with Demonic Fire and Ice Spikes as he evaded their attacks.
• Fang Yue pretended to stumble, drawing the demons into a denser barrage, then kicked off the ground and shot forward just before their attacks hit.

Fang Yue fought the two vulture Great Demon Kings while pursuing Prince Li through the estate. After the Demon Kings interrupted his attempt to kill Prince Li, Fang Yue defeated Prince Li and killed him, though the two Great Demon Kings remained alive.

• Fang Yue escaped the collapsing hall and used the bamboo grove to attack the two Great Demon Kings, who transformed into enormous vultures and pursued him.
• Fang Yue evaded the vultures’ attacks and slipped into a side hall to confront Prince Li, wounding several of his trusted subordinates.
• A vulture Great Demon King saved Prince Li from Fang Yue’s sword, and both Demon Kings attacked Fang Yue in the side hall.
• Fang Yue blocked the attacks, countered with Sword Qi, and wounded one Great Demon King before charging at Prince Li.
• Fang Yue cut Prince Li’s leg, rejected his plea for mercy, and pierced his throat with his sword.

Fang Yue killed Prince Li and two Great Demon Kings, but the battle left him gravely injured and without most of his vital energy. A month later, he set out with the Grand Princess and elite guards to find rare medicines for his recovery, and their journey began with a fight against Spirit Wolves.

• Fang Yue killed Prince Li, prompting two Great Demon Kings to attack him in a rage.
• Fang Yue destroyed a Demon Core and trapped the Great Demon Kings in an array, killing them before collapsing from his wounds.
• The Grand Princess found Fang Yue near death and cared for him while he remained unconscious for a month.
• A physician prescribed three Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Ginseng plants, five Deep Sea Spirit Pearls, and one Hengshan Snow Ganoderma to restore Fang Yue's vital energy.
• Fang Yue joined the Grand Princess's guards on their search for the medicines, and the group was surrounded by Spirit Wolves in the mountains.
• Fang Yue spotted a gap in the Spirit Wolf King's attack rhythm and killed it with a sword strike.

Fang Yue defeated a guardian's Go test to obtain three Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Ginseng plants, then returned to the Imperial Capital as Great Chu and Great Wei reconciled and his medicine was prepared. While Fang Yue recovered, the Demon Race ordered covert guards to disrupt his healing, leaving his recovery under threat.

• Fang Yue and the guards defeated a giant spiked pangolin by striking its eyes and belly, then reached the valley holding the Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Ginseng.
• An elderly guardian of Medicine God Valley challenged Fang Yue to a game of Go, and Fang Yue won by using a strategy recalled from his previous life.
• The guardian allowed Fang Yue to harvest the three Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Ginseng plants, and Fang Yue returned to the Imperial Capital of Great Chu a month later.
• Fang Yue learned that the Grand Princess had become the Empress of Great Wei and discussed the Demon Race's attacks with her.
• The Deep Sea Spirit Pearl arrived, and Master Shen Yishi began refining medicine while Fang Yue recuperated.
• The Honored Master ordered covert guards to ambush near the Imperial Capital and disrupt Fang Yue's recovery.

Han Chengzhi pressured Lin Zhen and the Tianyang Chamber of Commerce to locate the wounded Fang Yue. Lin Zhen used a fake Blood Spirit Grass delivery to track an imperial palace eunuch to a secluded courtyard, which his men suspected was connected to Fang Yue.

• The Lord decided Fang Yue had to be killed while he was gravely wounded, and the Empress of Great Chu ordered tighter security around his residence.
• Han Chengzhi used the Lord's Command Token to make Lin Zhen help find Fang Yue, and threatened the chamber when Lin Zhen hesitated.
• Lin Zhen and his stewards spread word that the Tianyang Chamber of Commerce had rare Blood Spirit Grass, hoping to draw out someone connected to Fang Yue.
• Eunuch Liu Xi arrived seeking the medicine, and Lin Zhen kept him waiting while Han Chengzhi prepared the operation.
• After Eunuch Liu Xi took the Blood Spirit Grass that night, Lin Zhen's men followed him to a secluded courtyard and watched him hand the medicine inside.

An alchemist’s attempt to refine a healing pill for Fang Yue was sabotaged through tampered Blood Spirit Grass, and the resulting explosion gave Han Chengzhi an opening to attack. Fang Yue stabilized his injuries with the one pill that survived, then confronted Han Chengzhi inside the royal residence.

• Lin Zhen’s men waited outside a courtyard, expecting the tampered Blood Spirit Grass to make the alchemist’s pill furnace explode.
• The furnace erupted despite the alchemist’s efforts, injuring him and destroying most of the pills, while Lin Zhen’s men mistook the blast for proof their plan had worked.
• Han Chengzhi ordered Lin Zhen to create panic in the city while he used the distraction to infiltrate the royal residence and assassinate Fang Yue.
• Fang Yue learned the Blood Spirit Grass had been tampered with, received the single surviving healing pill, and sensed that an enemy was targeting him.
• Han Chengzhi searched the residence for Fang Yue, and Fang Yue appeared at a room’s doorway with his sword, saying he had been waiting for him.

Fang Yue drove off Han Chengzhi, then accepted the Empress of Great Chu’s risky dual cultivation method to heal his injuries. Han Chengzhi broke through her room restrictions and attacked, but Fang Yue countered him; as Han Chengzhi began to turn illusory, Fang Yue rushed to stop his escape.

• Fang Yue frightened Han Chengzhi into fleeing, then returned to his room to consider how to heal his still-serious injuries.
• The Empress of Great Chu visited Fang Yue and proposed dual cultivation to restore his damaged meridians and vital essence.
• Fang Yue and the Empress of Great Chu began dual cultivation, while Han Chengzhi secretly tried to break through the room’s restrictions.
• Han Chengzhi forced his way into the room but struck the Empress of Great Chu’s invisible barrier and was thrown to the ground.
• Fang Yue fought Han Chengzhi, dispersing his summoned evil ghosts with Sword Qi.
• Han Chengzhi began turning illusory to escape, and Fang Yue charged toward him.

After Fang Yue recovered, he traced Han Chengzhi’s demonic technique to the long-lost Shadowy Evil Sect and followed rumors of Black Mist to a corrupted forest near Great Wei’s border. He found an eerie black pool surrounded by drained animal bones, while Han Chengzhi’s master sent agents to hunt Fang Yue’s family.

• Han Chengzhi escaped Fang Yue, sent a report to his master, and vowed revenge, while his master ordered subordinates to find Fang Yue’s family and prepared to travel to Great Chu.
• Fang Yue recovered with the Great Chu Empress’s help, described Han Chengzhi’s demonic power, and returned to Great Wei to investigate its source.
• Lin Yu consulted the Sky Supervision Department’s archives and told Fang Yue that the technique resembled that of the Shadowy Evil Sect, which had once been linked to a mysterious Black Mist valley.
• Fang Yue followed reports of Black Mist to a forest near Great Wei’s border, where he killed an evil-corrupted wolf and pressed deeper into the woods.
• Fang Yue followed mournful cries to a black, foul-smelling pool surrounded by animal bones that appeared drained of their essence.

Fang Yue fought his way through the evil forest, uncovered the Shadowy Cave’s location, and found the Shadowy Evil Sect forcing thousands of people to build a hall. He suspected a rune-carved stone pillar controlled the laborers’ restriction and approached it while avoiding the guards.

• Fang Yue killed a black-scaled monster and reached a Mountain Folk settlement, where the leader told him about a protective glowing stone and black-robed strangers searching the forest.
• The leader poisoned Fang Yue’s wine and admitted he planned to trade Fang Yue’s head to the Venerable Lord, but Fang Yue purged the poison and killed him.
• A young Mountain Folk revealed that the Venerable Lord lived in Shadowy Cave, deep in the forest, and Fang Yue set off toward it.
• Fang Yue cut through a barrier of attacking black vines and discovered thousands of exhausted people laboring under the watch of Black Robed Figures.
• Fang Yue spotted a rune-carved black stone pillar that he suspected controlled the restriction and approached it after evading a passing guard.

Fang Yue broke the stone pillar’s rune formation and fought the Lord, defeating his black bird and python before their battle turned into a fierce close-range duel. The Lord claimed Han Chengzhi had gone to capture Fang Yue’s family, but Fang Yue refused to surrender and continued fighting.

• Fang Yue used wood-element vital energy to break the earth-linked runes, destroying the black bird that the Lord had sent after him.
• The Lord attacked Fang Yue with a black vortex, and Fang Yue blocked it with a powerful sword strike.
• Fang Yue found the python’s weakness and stabbed its belly, making it dissolve into black smoke.
• The Lord threatened Fang Yue’s family and said Han Chengzhi had gone to capture them, but Fang Yue refused to submit.
• The Lord and Fang Yue exchanged fierce saber and sword attacks as Fang Yue evaded the Lord’s strikes.

Fang Yue escaped the collapsing valley, returned home, and defeated Han Chengzhi and his men when they threatened his village. He then went to the Sky Supervision Department of Great Wei to seek a way to reach the Great Grandmaster realm, finding incomplete clues to a Sacred Land in the Mysterious Land.

• Fang Yue and the Venerable Lord’s duel was interrupted by the valley’s collapse, and both fled; Fang Yue then hurried home to check on his parents.
• Fang Yue reunited with Chen Shi and Father Fang, while the Venerable Lord ordered Han Chengzhi to capture his family.
• After Fang Yue left the village, Han Chengzhi arrived with his men and attacked the villagers, prompting Fang Yue to return and confront him.
• Fang Yue wounded Han Chengzhi and killed his subordinates, then treated the injured villagers before deciding to seek greater strength.
• Fang Yue reached the Sky Supervision Department of Great Wei and found incomplete records suggesting a Sacred Land in the Mysterious Land might help him break through to the Great Grandmaster realm.