Chapter Summaries

Ren Dongju arrived to protect the Wild Ox Sect, and Huang Xiao offered him the Bronze Key to escape the danger of possessing it. Ren Dongju refused to take it by force and explained that he had come to ask about the Longevity Daoist’s cultivation site, leaving Huang Xiao’s offer unresolved.

• Wang Renyu, Zhuang Chen, and Gao Yin bowed to Ren Dongju, who said he had come because Senior Kui Yong had been close to the Wood Demon Sect.
• Wang Renyu and the others prepared to leave, and the Jianghu onlookers stopped pursuing Huang Xiao and his companions.
• Huang Xiao asked the departing seniors to bear witness as he offered the Bronze Key to the Wood Demon Sect.
• Ren Dongju refused to seize the key, explaining that he had come to protect Huang Xiao and ask about the Longevity Daoist’s cultivation site.
• Ren Dongju acknowledged that possessing a Bronze Key put Huang Xiao’s life in danger, and Huang Xiao said he lacked the strength to keep it.

Huang Xiao gave the Bronze Key to Ren Dongju and the Wood Demon Sect in exchange for protection and treasures. Ren Dongju revealed that eight keys were left by Senior Longevity Daoist and corresponded to eight great formations, whose secret remained unknown until they were opened.

• Huang Xiao offered the Bronze Key to Ren Dongju, and Ren promised an exchange of rare treasures and protection from anyone who tried to take it.
• Ren Dongju took the key and revealed that eight Bronze Keys existed, with five already owned and two still missing.
• Ren Dongju accompanied Huang Xiao and the Wild Ox Sect to Wild Ox Peak, while Bi Hu and his siblings agreed to put revenge aside and focus on growing stronger.
• Ren Dongju told Huang Xiao and the others that Senior Longevity Daoist had left the eight Bronze Keys, which corresponded to eight great formations, and that their secret would be revealed only after the formations were opened.

Ren Dongju told Huang Xiao where several Bronze Keys had been and revealed that one missing key had once belonged to the Creation Sect. After Huang Xiao described the Central Desert cultivation site, Ren Dongju said at least a hundred of Longevity Daoist’s sites had already been found, but all had disappointed the seniors.

• Ren Dongju explained that the Demon, Blood, Alliance, Ghost, and Evil Domains each held a Bronze Key, while two keys remained unaccounted for.
• Ren Dongju said one missing key had vanished when the Creation Sect declined, and Huang Xiao suspected Xuan Yuanxiang’s surviving force had it.
• Huang Xiao asked whether all eight keys were needed to unlock the secret, and Ren Dongju said he remained interested in finding the others.
• Huang Xiao described the Central Desert underground cultivation site to Ren Dongju while withholding the Bronze Key on its stone gate.
• Ren Dongju said he would visit the Central Desert, then revealed that at least a hundred of Longevity Daoist’s cultivation sites had been discovered before, with no rewards found.

Ren Dongju explained that Golden and Silver Keys could strengthen Spirit-Gathering Divine Formations, while the eight Bronze Keys were meant to open eight great formations. Huang Xiao and the others learned that their Silver Keys could attract powerful enemies, but Ren Dongju’s arrival had disrupted those enemies’ plans.

• Huang Xiao asked why the powerful seniors had ignored Senior Longevity Daoist’s cultivation site, and Ren Dongju said repeated fruitless searches for Bronze Key clues had worn them out.
• Ren Dongju explained that Golden and Silver Keys strengthened Spirit-Gathering Divine Formations, with Golden Keys raising formations up to the third tier and Silver Keys raising them as high as the fourth.
• Lu Mu excitedly commented on the keys’ value as a formation master, then apologized for speaking out of turn; Ren Dongju reassured him and praised his formation skills.
• Ren Dongju explained that the keys could not raise a formation to the fifth level, and Huang Xiao realized why Bi Hu and others coveted the Silver Keys.
• Huang Xiao asked whether Bronze Keys could raise a formation to the fifth level, and Ren Dongju said their true purpose was to open the eight great formations.

Ren Dongju explained how the Silver Key could strengthen the Wild Ox Sect’s Spirit-Gathering Divine Formation and offered Huang Xiao support. Huang Xiao asked him to collect extraordinary different flames to awaken his damaged saber’s Saber Soul, and Ren Dongju agreed to help.

• Ren Dongju told Huang Xiao that Lu Mu could use the Silver Key to raise the Wild Ox Sect’s Spirit-Gathering Divine Formation to the Third Layer Tier.
• Huang Xiao said the sect would soon set up a formation with Lu Mu’s help, and Ren Dongju offered to provide other assistance.
• Huang Xiao asked Ren Dongju to collect extraordinary different flames, including the God-Slaying Flame, and Ren Dongju said he would do his best.
• Ren Dongju offered to find Huang Xiao a Divine Weapon or have one forged, but Huang Xiao explained that he wanted to use different flames to awaken his saber’s dormant Saber Soul.
• Ren Dongju agreed to seek help from people in the Wood Demon Sect and to look for different flames for Huang Xiao.

Ren Dongju told Huang Xiao about the unique Iron Key, whose existence was confirmed but whose location and purpose remained uncertain, then left to return to the Wood Demon Sect. After the crisis ended, Huang Xiao returned four Silver Keys to Ke Zhenyi and Liu Wangtai, but they urged him to keep them in return for resolving the danger.

• Ren Dongju said he would choose suitable rewards for Huang Xiao and the others in exchange for the Bronze Key.
• Ren Dongju revealed that Senior Longevity Daoist had mentioned a unique Iron Key, though its material and purpose were uncertain and no one knew where it was.
• Ren Dongju advised the group to watch for genuine keys, then left for the Wood Demon Sect.
• Ke Zhenyi and Liu Wangtai expressed relief that the crisis had passed.
• Huang Xiao returned the four Silver Keys to Ke Zhenyi and Liu Wangtai, but Ke Zhenyi asked him to keep them as repayment for resolving the crisis.

Huang Xiao accepted Silver Keys from Ke Zhenyi and Liu Wangtai after surrendering his Bronze Key to protect the Wild Ox Sect. He revealed that the materials for a second tier Spirit-Gathering Divine Formation were already secured, and Liu Wangtai and Ke Zhenyi sought access to the formation.

• Liu Wangtai offered Huang Xiao his Silver Keys to make up for the lost Bronze Key, and Huang Xiao accepted them.
• Liu Wangtai explained that the keys were of limited use to him without a Spirit-Gathering Divine Formation, while Ke Zhenyi considered what his Heavenly Art Sect could afford to build.
• Lu Mu confirmed that the Wild Ox Sect planned to construct a second tier Spirit-Gathering Divine Formation, and Huang Xiao said its materials were ready.
• Huang Xiao revealed that he had recovered the materials Qi Heng had gathered for a second tier formation and brought them back to the Wild Ox Sect.
• Liu Wangtai offered his remaining gold and silver keys in exchange for occasional use of the formation, and Huang Xiao agreed to let him use it without asking for the keys.

Ke Zhenyi offered most of his Golden Keys to Huang Xiao in exchange for access to the Wild Ox Sect's Spirit-Gathering Divine Formation. Lu Mu explained the limits of upgrading the formation and began preparations, determined to earn access to Huang Xiao's higher-level formation manuals.

• Ke Zhenyi offered Huang Xiao all but one of his Golden Keys and requested shared use of the Wild Ox Sect's formation because the Heavenly Art Sect could not afford its own second tier formation.
• Lu Mu agreed to help Ke Zhenyi improve a first layer level formation, and Huang Xiao accepted Ke Zhenyi's keys.
• Huang Xiao recognized that Ke Zhenyi and Liu Wangtai had offered their keys partly to strengthen their ties with him after his connection with Ren Dongju became apparent.
• Lu Mu explained that even nine Silver Keys could not raise a second tier formation beyond the third layer tier, and Ke Zhenyi declined to sell the surplus keys.
• Huang Xiao entrusted the formation to Lu Mu and prioritized stability over speed.
• Lu Mu left to prepare, confident he would receive the remaining second tier instructions and resolved to prove his worth to obtain higher-level manuals.

Huang Xiao and Huo Lian discussed the secret behind the keys and the value of holding their Bronze Key. Over the next six months, the Wild Ox Sect grew stronger with Lu Mu’s improved Spirit-Gathering Divine Formations, while conflicts over keys raged across the domains.

• Huo Lian and Huang Xiao speculated about the unique key’s material and agreed that their Bronze Key was valuable even if they could not pursue the secret key.
• Lu Mu completed improved second-tier and third-tier Spirit-Gathering Divine Formations, which Huang Xiao made available to sect members and trusted allies for cultivation and breakthroughs.
• Huang Xiao allowed Meng Hengjing and the others to use the formations, and they became more willing to accept their position under his control.
• Huang Xiao arranged for senior members of the Heavenly Art Sect to use the third-tier formation in exchange for weapons at favorable prices.
• Huang Xiao’s cultivation advanced enough for him to barely use the twelfth stage of Heavenly Demon Disintegration, bringing his strength close to newly advanced Ancient Realm late-stage experts.
• The Wild Ox Sect remained peaceful while the domains fought over Golden and Silver Keys, and Ke Zhenyi and Liu Wangtai recognized that Huang Xiao had spared them a desperate flight from pursuit.

Rumors of the Iron Key spread across the Jianghu, prompting Huang Xiao and the others to decide not to join the hunt. Then the injured Mu Fucheng arrived seeking refuge, and the wooden box he entrusted to Huang Xiao contained an Iron Key.

• Huang Xiao, Liu Wangtai, Ke Zhenyi, and Huo Lian discussed the sudden Iron Key rumors and agreed not to risk leaving Inkstone Mountain to search for keys.
• Huang Xiao explained that the Guangjin Consignment House was selling hundreds of dubious Iron Keys daily, while bloody battles broke out across the Jianghu over the rumors.
• Gao Tianhe reported that Mu Fucheng had arrived alone at the mountain's foot with serious injuries, and Huang Xiao ordered him brought up.
• Mu Fucheng handed Huang Xiao a small wooden box before collapsing, and Huang Xiao sent him to rest after confirming his injuries were not fatal.
• Huang Xiao opened the box in front of the others, revealing an Iron Key.

Huang Xiao and Huo Lian tested the fake-looking Iron Key with their Bronze Key and discovered that the map from Mu Fucheng’s box resonated with it instead. They suspected the map was connected to the real Iron Key and might reveal its location.

• Huang Xiao found an old map beneath the Iron Key in Mu Fucheng’s Wooden Box, and the others judged the key to be fake.
• Huang Xiao and Huo Lian agreed to wait for Mu Fucheng to wake before asking why he had given them the box.
• Huang Xiao proposed that their Bronze Key might help distinguish a real Iron Key from a forgery.
• Huo Lian brought out the Bronze Key, and he and Huang Xiao detected a resonance while testing it with the box.
• Huo Lian identified the map as the source of the resonance, and Huang Xiao wondered whether it showed where the real Iron Key was.

Huang Xiao and Huo Lian discovered that the Bronze Key had revealed a map pointing to a red-marked destination in the Extreme Cold Mountains, and they planned to question Mu Fucheng without exposing what they had seen. When Mu Fucheng awoke, he explained that he had traded away his keys to survive and vowed to take revenge on the former friends who betrayed him.

• The map faded and transformed after Huang Xiao and Huo Lian examined it, revealing the Frozen Snowfield and a destination in the Extreme Cold Mountains.
• Huo Lian and Huang Xiao decided to seek more information from Mu Fucheng while concealing the map and asking only about the Iron Key.
• Mu Fucheng awoke the next afternoon as Huang Xiao, Ke Zhenyi, and Liu Wangtai visited him, and Huang Xiao assured him that the Wild Ox Sect would protect him from the people gathered outside.
• Mu Fucheng said he had traded away all his keys for chances to escape and survive.
• Mu Fucheng declared that he intended to take revenge on the trusted friends who had attacked him for the keys.

Mu Fucheng explained that the Iron Key he gave Huang Xiao might be genuine, since he had received it over thirty years earlier from a dying man whose ancestors cast the original keys later refined by Senior Longevity Daoist. Huang Xiao accepted the Key and Map, and the group agreed to keep their possible connection to the secret concealed.

• Huang Xiao accepted that Mu Fucheng might have given him a fake Iron Key, while Mu Fucheng explained that he had obtained it more than thirty years ago.
• Mu Fucheng said he had saved a badly injured man, who left him a Wooden Box containing the Key and a Map he had never deciphered.
• Mu Fucheng revealed that the man's ancestors had cast the original keys before Senior Longevity Daoist refined them, making the Iron Key potentially genuine.
• Mu Fucheng said he had offered the Key and Map to repay Huang Xiao for protection because he had nothing else to give.
• Huang Xiao accepted the Key, and Ke Zhenyi, Huo Lian, and the others warned that they must keep its possible significance secret.

Huang Xiao learned that Zhu Fengmu’s clansmen lived in the Frozen Snowfield and decided to seek them out, hoping to verify the Iron Key and find a way to restore his saber soul. Despite Ke Zhenyi’s warnings about the dangers and the key’s consequences, Huang Xiao remained determined to awaken the Minghong Saber Soul and Demon Phoenix.

• Mu Fucheng said Zhu Fengmu had mentioned clansmen in the Frozen Snowfield, and Huang Xiao recognized that this matched the newly revealed map.
• Huang Xiao asked about the Zhu Family and said he wanted to visit the Frozen Snowfield to determine whether the key was genuine.
• Ke Zhenyi warned Huang Xiao that pursuing the key could bring disaster, while Huo Lian left the decision to Huang Xiao.
• Huang Xiao said the Zhu Family’s forging skills might help restore his saber soul and insisted he would awaken the Minghong Saber Soul and Demon Phoenix at any cost.

Huang Xiao decided to travel alone to the Frozen Snowfield to ask the Zhu Family about the Saber Soul Revival Method, while the Wild Ox Sect weighed how to protect itself from people coveting its Silver Keys. When Jianghu fighters began assaulting the sect’s formation, Mu Fucheng stepped forward to explain who had taken his keys.

• Huang Xiao planned to leave for the Frozen Snowfield, and Ke Zhenyi and Liu Wangtai chose not to accompany him.
• Huang Xiao warned that the Wild Ox Sect could become a target once powerful forces controlled more Silver Keys, and he proposed handing over a few keys to ease the pressure.
• Huo Lian and Ke Zhenyi cautioned that the sect had to set limits so others would not keep demanding more, while Liu Wangtai objected to giving up any keys.
• Jiang Deng reported that the Jianghu fighters had made a move, and Huang Xiao took the others to see them assaulting the formation at the foot of the mountain.
• Mu Fucheng stepped forward and began addressing the crowd, which had demanded that he hand over his Silver Keys.

Mu Fucheng revealed that he had traded away his keys to survive and exposed Yao Feng as one of the men who took a Silver Key from him. After Yao Feng died and the Jianghu crowd demanded two keys from Huang Xiao, Huang Xiao tossed two Silver Keys to their spokesman, who caught them.

• Mu Fucheng said he had surrendered his keys in exchange for a chance to survive.
• Mu Fucheng accused Yao Feng and Wu Cong of taking his Silver Keys, then provoked the crowd into attacking Yao Feng.
• The crowd killed Yao Feng and fought over his Silver Key, while Mu Fucheng thanked Huang Xiao for his help.
• Huang Xiao confronted the crowd as they demanded two Silver Keys, claiming they belonged to Mu Fucheng.
• Huang Xiao tossed two Silver Keys toward the crowd, and their spokesman caught both.

After two Silver Keys drew the Jianghu pursuers away from the Wild Ox Sect, Huang Xiao traveled to the Frozen Snowfield with the Bronze Key and Supreme Ghost Stele. Ren Dongju confronted him there, worried about the danger he faced, and Huang Xiao explained that he was seeking the Zhu Family’s help to awaken his Saber Soul without revealing his interest in the Iron Key.

• The pursuers chased after the man who had taken both Silver Keys, leaving the Wild Ox Sect, and Huang Xiao reassured Mu Fucheng that losing the keys was worthwhile.
• Huang Xiao left Huo Lian to guard the Wild Ox Sect and set out for the Frozen Snowfield carrying the Bronze Key and Supreme Ghost Stele.
• A month later, Ren Dongju met Huang Xiao at the Frozen Snowfield and scolded him for traveling while so many people targeted him.
• Huang Xiao told Ren Dongju he was searching for the Zhu Family to seek a way to awaken his Saber Soul, while keeping his plans for the Iron Key secret.

Ren Dongju warned Huang Xiao about the dangers of the Frozen Snowfield, gave him a Wood Demon Sect Identity Token, and assured him of protection after Huang Xiao surrendered two Silver Keys. After Huang Xiao left, Ren Dongju revealed that he had also been testing whether Huang Xiao possessed a genuine Iron Key, unaware that Huang Xiao had concealed the keys and map in a box that blocked their auras.

• Huang Xiao told Ren Dongju he wanted to seek out the flames needed to awaken his saber soul himself, despite the risks.
• Ren Dongju approved Huang Xiao's decision to hand over two Silver Keys, which eased pressure on the Wild Ox Sect and gave the Wood Demon Sect a reason to keep protecting it.
• Ren Dongju warned Huang Xiao about the dangers of the Frozen Snowfield and gave him an Identity Token containing the Wood Demon Sect Master's force for protection.
• After Huang Xiao left, Ren Dongju admitted he had brought a Bronze Key to check whether Huang Xiao's Iron Key was genuine, but it had not reacted.
• Ren Dongju suspected Huang Xiao might still be hiding a genuine Iron Key, while Huang Xiao's keys and map remained undetected inside the aura-sealing box.

Huang Xiao crossed the Frozen Snowfield in search of the Zhu Family and the Extreme Cold Mountains, finding the region harsh, sparsely populated, and filled with erratic spiritual energy. He finally encountered five Ancient Realm experts fighting, and watched three old men threaten Zhou Kemo and Sun Lanbing.

• Huang Xiao used the Identity Token’s force as reassurance and continued north through the Frozen Snowfield, unable to find anyone who could direct him to the Zhu Family.
• After more than half a month of travel, Huang Xiao noticed that the spiritual energy of heaven and earth changed unpredictably across the snowfield.
• Huang Xiao spotted five Ancient Realm experts fighting and cautiously approached to observe them.
• Huang Xiao saw three old men overwhelm Zhou Kemo and Sun Lanbing, who relied on a Combined Strike Method to defend themselves.
• Zhou Kemo offered to leave, but the old men demanded that Sun Lanbing stay with them while they let him go.

Huang Xiao intervened when three old men attacked Zhou Kemo and Sun Lanbing over their cultivation grounds. After Huang Xiao killed the eldest and the couple defeated the other two, Zhou Kemo explained that their grounds were a natural Spirit-Gathering Divine Formation, which caught Huang Xiao’s interest.

• Huang Xiao rushed in and knocked the eldest away just as he was about to kill Zhou Kemo.
• Huang Xiao fought the eldest while Zhou Kemo and Sun Lanbing gained the upper hand against Second Brother and Third Younger Brother.
• Huang Xiao said he had intervened because he could not stand the three old men, then killed the eldest as the other two tried to flee.
• Zhou Kemo and Sun Lanbing killed the two remaining old men after Huang Xiao’s victory.
• Zhou Kemo offered Huang Xiao their cultivation grounds, explaining that they formed a natural Spirit-Gathering Divine Formation, and Huang Xiao became interested.