Chapter Summaries

Yue Cheng convinced Yin Huju that Huang Xiao had likely held back when he killed Qi Yi and might be strong enough to fight Pang Yi, though they still planned to capture him. While Huang Xiao and his companions lay low at their inn before the Ranking Contest, Chen Jiao arrived looking for a middle-aged man named Huang, unaware that the young expert before him was Huang Xiao.

• Yue Cheng told Yin Huju that Huang Xiao had killed Qi Yi without using his full strength and might be able to fight Pang Yi.
• Yin Huju and Yue Cheng agreed that they still had to capture Huang Xiao and bring him back for the Hall Master's judgment.
• Huang Xiao, Wang Lin, and Cheng Duanjin stayed at the inn as attention focused on Huang Xiao and Cheng Duanjin.
• Huang Xiao worried about Zhangsun Youyue and the whereabouts of Chen Jiao while the Ranking Contest approached.
• Chen Jiao came to the inn two days before the Ranking Contest and asked Huang Xiao whether a middle-aged man surnamed Huang was staying there.

Huang Xiao revealed his identity to Chen Jiao, who had sought him out after hearing about the expert who killed Qi Yi. Huang Xiao asked Chen Jiao for help restoring Demon Phoenix’s strength, and Chen Jiao agreed to keep the bird’s nature secret.

• Huang Xiao proved to Chen Jiao that he was the disguised man they had met on Mist Mountain, and Chen Jiao explained how he had found him.
• Chen Jiao recounted escaping Mist Mountain alone after all his friends died and making his way to the Imperial City.
• Chen Jiao sensed Demon Phoenix’s spiritual awareness and explained that nurturing him could help him become a spirit beast, though becoming a divine beast was nearly impossible.
• Huang Xiao told Chen Jiao that Demon Phoenix had once been a spirit beast weakened by severe injuries and asked how to restore his strength.
• Chen Jiao warned that others might fight over a spirit beast, promised to keep Demon Phoenix’s identity secret, and considered Huang Xiao’s request.

Chen Jiao explained how Huang Xiao could seek gentle fire treasures to heal the injured Demon Phoenix. Huang Xiao learned that a high placement in the Dragon Rankings might let him request such a treasure from the Imperial Court or Heavenly Sword Sect, and decided to aim for the top.

• Chen Jiao said top-grade Beast Immortal Grass could help the Demon Phoenix, but Huang Xiao could not obtain enough of it.
• Chen Jiao explained that raw Heaven and Earth Fire was too violent for the Demon Phoenix's injuries and needed to be gentled by a powerful fire-attribute expert or a rare treasure.
• Huang Xiao considered Mist Mountain and the Rare Treasures Pavilion as possible sources of a suitable treasure, but recognized the difficulties of finding or trading for one.
• Chen Jiao told Huang Xiao that Dragon Rankings competitors could receive rewards from the Imperial Court and Heavenly Sword Sect, and top-ranked contestants could make requests.
• Huang Xiao decided to strive for a top placement so he could request a treasure to help the Demon Phoenix recover.

Chen Jiao accepted Huang Xiao’s money to buy herbs for his experiments, while Liu Zhi visited Huang Xiao before the Ranking Contest with news that it would be held in Dragon Mountain, the forbidden grounds of Imperial Province. Huang Xiao questioned what made the location unusual, since earlier contests had also taken place there.

• Chen Jiao told Huang Xiao that he needed a hundred thousand taels for herbs, and Huang Xiao gave him more than enough money.
• Chen Jiao settled in, but Huang Xiao’s preparations for the Ranking Contest were interrupted by a visit from Liu Zhi, the Eighth Prince.
• Liu Zhi shared additional information about the contest and hinted at a little-known detail.
• Liu Zhi revealed that this Dragon Rankings contest would be held in Dragon Mountain, a dangerous forbidden ground filled with formations, rare herbs, and rumored ancient treasures.
• Huang Xiao asked Liu Zhi why the location was unusual, since previous Dragon Rankings contests had also been held in Dragon Mountain.

Liu Zhi explained that the Longevity Pill Manual, an ancient alchemy text believed to be on Dragon Mountain, had drawn the major powers into a contest restricted by a mysterious formation and an age limit. He asked Huang Xiao to side with the Imperial Court, leaving Huang Xiao aware that his standing among unaffiliated Dragon Rankings experts made him a valuable ally.

• Liu Zhi told Huang Xiao he had come to discuss the Longevity Pill Manual, and Liu Wu mocked Huang Xiao for not knowing about it.
• Huang Xiao insulted Liu Wu’s position as Imperial City Guard Commander, prompting Liu Wu to rise angrily before Liu Zhi ordered him to sit down.
• Liu Zhi said the Longevity Pill Manual was an ancient alchemy text that might reveal how to refine a pill capable of extending life.
• Liu Zhi asked Huang Xiao to side with the Imperial Court and explained that a formation on Dragon Mountain barred Void Martial Realm experts and above from entering.
• Liu Zhi said the major powers had agreed to send only half-step Martial Realm experts under sixty, making the contest one among Dragon Rankings-level fighters.
• Liu Zhi explained that most Dragon Rankings experts already had backers, while unaffiliated contenders near the top—including Huang Xiao—were especially sought after.

Huang Xiao negotiated with Liu Zhi to support the Imperial Court in the coming struggle for the Longevity Pill Manual in exchange for five treasures containing Heaven and Earth Fire, which could help heal Demon Phoenix. The next morning, Huang Xiao and his companions arrived at the Ranking Contest, where Huang Xiao registered for the Dragon Rankings preliminary selection and spotted several familiar rivals, including Sword God Yi.

• Huang Xiao agreed to help the Imperial Court during the struggle for the Longevity Pill Manual after Liu Zhi promised him five Heaven and Earth Fire treasures.
• Liu Zhi sent three medicinal herbs and two pieces of Fire Jade, and Chen Jiao explained that the treasures could help heal Demon Phoenix.
• Huang Xiao told Wang Lin and Cheng Duanjin to compete seriously in the Ranking Contest and promised to judge the risks of helping the Imperial Court carefully.
• Huang Xiao brought Chen Jiao to the Dragon Rankings preliminary selection so he could watch Demon Phoenix while Huang Xiao competed.
• Huang Xiao registered at the Main Arena and noticed Zhangsun Youyue, Li Chaoxun, and the Bishui Palace group, including Sword God Yi.

Huang Xiao watched the Dragon Rankings contest gather its competitors as the Imperial Court's Liu Zhi approached him and the Alliance Guards prepared the initial screening. The old Alliance Guard announced that the Black Steel Pillar test would require a three-inch mark instead of the usual half-inch.

• Huang Xiao observed Sword God Yi's piercing presence and compared his aura with Li Chaoxun's.
• Liu Zhi arrived with Liu Wu and a group of Imperial Court experts, and he openly associated with Huang Xiao.
• Huang Xiao and Liu Zhi watched the Main Arena's Black Steel Pillars being set up for the contest screening.
• An old Alliance Guard announced that the screening would last four hours and that late arrivals would forfeit.
• The old Alliance Guard changed the passing requirement from a half-inch mark to a three-inch mark in a Black Steel Pillar.

The Dragon Rankings raised the entry requirement to leave a three-inch mark on the Black Steel Pillar, excluding most half-step Martial Realm experts. On the Main Arena, Li Chaoxun and Sword God Yi prepared to face off, while Pang Yi arrived and suggested Huang Xiao might be a secret Heavenly Demon Hall expert and Chao Jue a smokescreen.

• The Alliance Guards announced the three-inch requirement and refused to change the rules, leaving most half-step Martial Realm experts unable to compete.
• Huang Xiao decided to enter the Main Arena, and Li Chaoxun and Sword God Yi also took their places there.
• Li Chaoxun challenged Sword God Yi to warm up, while Huang Xiao denied that he had come to confront him and refused Sword God Yi's invitation to join their fight.
• Pang Yi arrived, challenged Li Chaoxun and Sword God Yi, and speculated that Huang Xiao was secretly trained by the Heavenly Demon Hall while Chao Jue served as a smokescreen.
• Chao Jue heard Pang Yi's speculation and felt an inexplicable fear.

Pang Yi unsettled Chao Jue by suggesting Huang Xiao might have been secretly trained by the Heavenly Demon Hall, then judged Huang Xiao only half-worthy of his attention. Pang Yi and Li Chaoxun easily punched through a ten-inch Black Steel Pillar, and Sword God Yi prepared to take his turn as the Ranking Contest drew notice from the crowd.

• Pang Yi suggested that Huang Xiao might be a secretly groomed expert of the Heavenly Demon Hall, frightening Chao Jue and alarming Peng Ku.
• Pang Yi told Huang Xiao he counted as only half a worthy rival because killing Qi Yi had not proved enough, and Huang Xiao answered with a laugh.
• Pang Yi punched through a ten-inch Black Steel Pillar and received a passing mark.
• Li Chaoxun also pierced the pillar with his palm, then said the Ranking Contest would be needed to determine who was superior.
• Sword God Yi stepped forward to make his attempt, saying he had to leave a mark to avoid forfeiting the round.

Sword God Yi pulverized a Black Steel Pillar, prompting Dragon Rankings experts Jia Kong and Yu Du to assess the young contenders. Huang Xiao then passed the test with a casual pat, leaving the crowd confused and the powerful observers astonished.

• Sword God Yi kicked a Black Steel Pillar and reduced it to black steel sand.
• Jia Kong and Yu Du discussed the young experts’ strength and whether they could challenge the Dragon Rankings’ top five.
• Sword God Yi traded remarks with Pang Yi and Li Chaoxun before telling Huang Xiao to try something new.
• Huang Xiao paused before the Black Steel Pillar, lightly patted it, and walked away without an apparent strike.
• The crowd jeered at Huang Xiao, while the powerful observers and Sword God Yi, Pang Yi, and Li Chaoxun reacted with surprise.

Huang Xiao passed the strength test by secretly pulverizing the Black Steel Pillar while leaving an exactly three-inch palm-shaped piece intact, surprising the onlookers and changing how Sword God Yi and the others viewed him. Afterward, Demon Phoenix warned Huang Xiao that it sensed someone watching them, though its weakened state kept it from being certain.

• Huang Xiao left the Black Steel Pillar without an apparent mark and told the man in charge to check it.
• When the man in charge touched the pillar, it crumbled into black steel sand, leaving only a palm-shaped piece exactly three inches thick.
• Sword God Yi, Pang Yi, and Li Chaoxun reconsidered Huang Xiao's strength, while Pang Yi said he would watch him more closely in the Ranking Contest.
• The man in charge declared Huang Xiao had passed, and Chen Jiao praised him as Demon Phoenix hopped onto his shoulder.
• Demon Phoenix told Huang Xiao that it felt watched among the many experts, alarming him because the phoenix was injured and its identity had to remain hidden.

Huang Xiao passed the screening with a striking display of strength, drawing attention from the Imperial Remnant Manor and the people in the Imperial City. As the group waited for the next stage, Demon Phoenix decided to go ahead to Dragon Mountain, leaving Huang Xiao to face the Ranking Contest without his help.

• Huang Xiao dismissed Chen Jiao’s praise of his strength, then left for a teahouse with Chen Jiao, Cheng Duanjin, and Wang Lin to wait for the next stage.
• An Upper Steward of the Imperial Remnant Manor suspected Huang Xiao had killed Xuan Ju but chose to wait until after the Ranking Contest before acting.
• People at the wine shop discussed Huang Xiao’s performance and watched Cheng Duanjin because of his connection to the Saber King.
• Demon Phoenix told Huang Xiao he was leaving the Imperial City ahead of him and going to Dragon Mountain, where he could hide.
• Demon Phoenix warned Huang Xiao that he could not enter the Ranking Contest formation or reliably protect him from Martial Realm experts afterward.

Huang Xiao returned to the Main Arena after spotting Fan Zhongkun, whom he considered a possible ally in the Ranking Contest. The selection results were announced, and the 1,330 successful contestants were ordered to collect Identity Tokens and gather at Dragon Mountain Camp for a three-day contest.

• Huang Xiao recognized Fan Zhongkun in a teahouse and considered joining forces with him if they both entered the Ranking Contest.
• Huang Xiao returned to the Main Arena with Wang Lin and the others, and Chen Jiao noticed Huang Xiao's little bird was missing.
• An Alliance Guards elder announced that 1,330 contestants had passed selection and warned that the Dragon Rankings contest would last three days with no regard for life or death.
• The elder instructed those who passed to collect Identity Tokens and assemble within two hours at Dragon Mountain Camp by Dragon Mountain's southern entrance.

Huang Xiao collected his Dragon Rankings Contest identity token, assessed the contestants, and prepared to head to Dragon Mountain while leaving Chen Jiao behind in the Imperial City. After the contestants left the sealed city, Imperial Palace Guards and Alliance Guards aimed Half-Step Soul-Severing Crossbows at them.

• Huang Xiao received his identity token and realized that many contestants had come for the Longevity Pill Manual, making the contest likely to be especially deadly.
• Huang Xiao told Chen Jiao to stay in the Imperial City and wait for Wang Lin, Cheng Duanjin, and the others, and Chen Jiao agreed to protect himself.
• Huang Xiao recognized Fan Zhongkun among the contestants and concluded that he remained at the Half-Step Martial Realm despite having Void Martial Realm strength.
• The contestants hurried out through the North Gate before the Imperial City was sealed, then set off toward Dragon Mountain Camp.
• Outside the city, Imperial Palace Guards and Alliance Guards raised their Half-Step Soul-Severing Crossbows and aimed them at the contestants.

Imperial Palace Guards and Alliance Guards opened fire on the Dragon Rankings contestants with Half-Step Soul-Severing Crossbows, killing and injuring many. Huang Xiao evaded repeated volleys aimed at him, then saw Chao Jue run into the path of five hundred bolts.

• Two Void Martial Realm experts ordered a thousand crossbows to fire on the Jianghu fighters, and the first volley struck many contestants.
• Huang Xiao saw Zhangsun Youyue, Li Chaoxun, Sword God Yi, and Jiang Liuli escape the volleys with their groups.
• Alliance Guards aimed successive volleys at Huang Xiao, but he dodged them and recognized the attack as a plot connected to the Heavenly Sword Sect.
• The Alliance Guard leader gave up trying to kill Huang Xiao and directed five hundred bolts at the fighters ahead.
• Huang Xiao saw Chao Jue racing forward as a volley of five hundred bolts swept toward him.

After a deadly ambush on the road to Dragon Mountain Camp, Huang Xiao and the surviving Ranking Contest participants confronted an Alliance Guard, who revealed that several major sects had approved the attack. He explained that the next stage would use formation-marked Identity Tokens to determine the final Dragon Rankings, leaving Huang Xiao to examine the powerful formation on his token.

• Chao Jue fought off a volley of crossbow bolts and escaped, while Huang Xiao realized the attack had targeted him specifically.
• The Imperial Palace Guards and Alliance Guards pursued the participants for fifty li before returning to the Imperial City, leaving only a little over eight hundred at Dragon Mountain Camp.
• The participants demanded punishment for the attack, but the old Alliance Guard said several major sects had agreed to it.
• The old Alliance Guard explained that participants could seize others' Identity Tokens to gain their formation marks, and that the number acquired would determine their final rankings.
• Huang Xiao examined his Identity Token, found its hidden formation mark, and suspected that a Martial Realm expert had created it.

The old Alliance Guard explained that Dragon Rankings positions would be decided by the formation marks on each Identity Token, then led the gathered experts into Dragon Mountain. After three shichen navigating its dangerous formations, Huang Xiao sensed that they had reached the destination connected to the tokens.

• The old Alliance Guard warned the contestants against lending their Identity Tokens to others, while the new ranking rules stirred hopes among those who had not expected to compete for first place.
• Brave Crown Marquis Liu Wu asked Huang Xiao to honor his agreement with the Eighth Prince and help secure the Longevity Pill Manual, and Huang Xiao agreed to help where he could.
• Huang Xiao followed the old Alliance Guard into Dragon Mountain and sensed that its many formations had been shaped by immense formations laid by human hands.
• The group traveled for three shichen through Dragon Mountain without triggering its deadly formations, reaching deep into its interior.
• The old Alliance Guard slowed before a wondrous formation, and Huang Xiao's Identity Token trembled as he realized they had arrived.

Huang Xiao entered the Ranking Contest’s final formation, where the loss of an Identity Token’s Formation Mark proved fatal and triggered a battle for tokens. Outside, Alliance Guards discussed the marks’ limits and left the contest’s outcome to the major powers and other observers.

• Huang Xiao entered the formation with the other contestants and saw that participants were beginning to spread out.
• A contestant died after transferring the Formation Mark on his Identity Token, revealing that losing the mark meant death.
• Contestants realized the dead man’s senior brother had gained two Formation Marks and chased him to steal them, sparking widespread fighting.
• The old Alliance Guard watched the contestants enter and said he expected a deadly contest, though he could not see inside the formation.
• A middle-aged Alliance Guard explained that the Formation Marks could protect Half-Step Martial Realm contestants for only three days and that marks for stronger experts could not be refined.
• The middle-aged Alliance Guard told the old man that the Alliance Guards’ task was finished and ordered him to stay out of the contest.

Huang Xiao discovered that losing an Identity Token caused death after three breaths and tested the rule while surviving attacks during the contest. He took shelter for the night with twenty stolen Identity Tokens and his own token in hand.

• Huang Xiao examined a dead junior brother and found that all the man's meridians had been severed after he lost his formation mark.
• Huang Xiao disarmed an attacker, took his Identity Token, and watched him die three breaths later when he tried to reclaim it.
• Huang Xiao spotted people from the Demon and Ghost Factions hunting others and sensed something strange about the group looking at him.
• Huang Xiao left the area, fought off people who attacked him, and collected twenty more Identity Tokens over one shichen.
• Huang Xiao took shelter beneath a rock wall and laid out the twenty stolen tokens while keeping his own Identity Token in his hand.

Huang Xiao gathered Formation Marks on his Identity Token and hid himself inside a simple Illusion Formation while waiting for the major forces to seek the Longevity Pill Manual. At midnight, his Identity Token glowed, and he sensed something in a particular direction.

• Huang Xiao transferred twenty Formation Marks onto his Identity Token, giving it twenty-one, but he could not understand how the mysterious marks worked.
• Huang Xiao reasoned that Identity Tokens might protect anyone who carried a Formation Mark, then decided to test the idea on someone else rather than risk his own life.
• Huang Xiao concluded he had too few clues to find the Longevity Pill Manual and planned to watch Sword God Yi and the other experts for their movements.
• Huang Xiao considered finding a chance to fight Pang Yi and set up a simple Illusion Formation to conceal himself while he waited.
• People passed and fought nearby, but none discovered Huang Xiao inside his formation, and he chose not to compete for Formation Marks.
• At midnight, Huang Xiao's Identity Token began to glow, and he sensed something in a direction ahead.