Chapter Summaries

Chu Xisheng arrived at Tongfu Inn, where Lu Chen challenged him to fight after Zhou Liangchen revealed that Chu had defeated him with one slash. Lu Chen ultimately backed down and postponed the contest until the Ninth-Rank Secret Realm, while Chu gained more Martial Dao Points.

• Lu Chen challenged Chu Xisheng to exchange moves, and Chu prepared to use Qin Muge's Character Card if necessary.
• Zhou Liangchen warned Lu Chen that Chu had defeated him with one slash, shocking the guests and increasing Chu's Yazi Saber Intent and Martial Dao Points.
• Lu Chen reconsidered after sensing Chu's power, then faced jeers from the crowd when he tried to postpone their fight.
• Lu Chen said they could settle who was stronger after entering the secret realm and went upstairs without drawing his saber.
• Chu realized Lu Chen had backed down, and his Martial Dao Points rose from 103 to 111.

Chu Xisheng arrived at the inn and learned which Azure Cloud prodigies could challenge him in the Secret Realm contest, while Lu Chen plotted to have someone test his strength. The chapter ended as a disguised Eighth-Rank Lower Martial Cultivator offered Chu Xisheng soup and sent a sharp mental attack through the bowl.

• After Lu Chen withdrew, Zhou Liangchen warned Chu Xisheng that Lu Chen would seek revenge, while Chu Xisheng saw that the gathered youths’ hostility had raised his Yazi Saber Intent to moderate intensity.
• Lu Chen told his old servant to find a way to test Chu Xisheng, then decided to spread rumors about Chu Xisheng’s strength so someone else would challenge him.
• At the banquet, Zhou Xiangshan identified Lu Chen, Ying Haobai, Zhuo Baiyun, and Li Manshan as the leading competitors and explained that the Zhou family’s fighters would follow Chu Xisheng into the Secret Realm.
• After Zhou Xiangshan left, Zhou Liangchen recognized that a supposed Zhou family retainer delivering soup was an Eighth-Rank Lower Martial Cultivator, but he did not warn the guards.
• Chu Xisheng reached for the sea cucumber soup and felt a sharp mental will surge through the bowl toward him.

Chu Xisheng used his Yazi Saber Intent to withstand a blue-robed man’s surprise attack, then spent Martial Dao Points to raise it to the fourth layer and overwhelm the attacker. He left the inn with Zhou Liangchen, worried that he had too few points left for the Secret Realm.

• The blue-robed man attacked Chu Xisheng with a mental assault and a short saber, but Chu Xisheng’s Yazi Saber Intent destroyed the teacup and resisted the attack.
• Chu Xisheng spent 95 Martial Dao Points to raise his Yazi Saber Intent to the fourth layer as the blue-robed man’s saber neared his brow.
• Chu Xisheng’s manifested Yazi Saber Intent crushed the man’s mental awareness and forced him to his knees, bleeding and unable to move.
• Chu Xisheng asked Zhou Liangchen to handle the attacker and take him to his room, while onlookers—including Lu Chen—recognized Chu Xisheng’s overwhelming strength.
• Chu Xisheng received five Martial Dao Points, leaving him with 26, and worried that his depleted points would jeopardize his Secret Realm trip.

After an assassin attacked Chu Xisheng, the Zhou Family apologized with enchanted equipment, money, and supplies while preparing for the ninth-rank secret realm contest. Chu Xisheng practiced his Yazi saber intent overnight, then joined Zhou Xiangshan on the way to the contest as the story left him surprised by what he saw on the mountain summit.

• Zhou Liangchen told Chu Xisheng he had refused his uncle’s offer to send girls to warm Chu’s bed, and Chu played along with his dislike of women.
• Zhou Xiangshan gave Chu Xisheng the assassin’s Divine-Concealing Chain, 2,500 taels, and supplies, while Chu warned that he was not strong enough to guarantee a top-ten finish.
• Zhou Xiangshan learned that a Sea Serpent Gang incense master was reluctant to act against the gang, and he threatened to have the man sent to the bottom of the sea if he refused.
• Zhou Xiangshan heavily guarded Chu Xisheng overnight as rival factions watched the inn, while Chu practiced Yazi saber intent in the dream realm and raised his martial dao points to 36.
• After breakfast, Chu Xisheng followed Zhou Xiangshan to the mountain where the secret realm contest would take place and was surprised by the scene at the summit.

Chu Xisheng arrived at the entrance to the ninth-rank secret realm, where his growing saber intent drew wary attention from rival factions. As the realm’s opening approached, the gathered contestants were ordered to sign a Life-and-Death Contract.

• Chu Xisheng saw the vast, mist-covered valley hidden beyond the mountain summit and realized the Divine Ao Rogue Person’s secret realm held immense power.
• Chu Xisheng noticed his Yazi Saber Intent had reached high intensity while Zhou Xiangshan guarded him amid the suspicious crowds.
• Zhou Xiongba and Du Lingxian arrived with other powerful figures, greeted Chu Xisheng, and joined the gathering before the valley.
• Lu Zhe praised Chu Xisheng’s strength, and Zhou Xiongba warned the factions that attacking him together could benefit their rivals.
• A scarlet-robed official unfurled a floating scroll and ordered everyone to sign a Life-and-Death Contract before entering the secret realm.

Zhou Xiongba, Chu Xisheng, and the other contestants signed the Life-and-Death Contract for the secret realm. Si Wufa forced the officials to admit his martial nephew, Si Huangquan, after the masked fighter killed a contestant, and the chapter ended as the Academician sent the contract into the realm and received hundreds of silver lights in return.

• Zhou Xiongba and his wife signed the Life-and-Death Contract, and Chu Xisheng added his fingerprint after the other contestants.
• The Divine Secrets Academician explained the contract’s rules and warned that contestants could not seek revenge after the secret-realm contest.
• Si Wufa arrived and demanded that his martial nephew be added to the entrant list; Si Huangquan killed a Water Cloud Palace cultivator, then defeated Shadowless Sword Zhuo Baiyun in a brief clash.
• The Divine Secrets Academician reopened the contract, and Si Wufa and Si Huangquan added their names.
• Zhou Xiangshan identified the masked fighter as Iron Asura Si Huangquan, while Chu Xisheng privately worried that he could not withstand him.
• The Academician sent the contract into the secret realm, and hundreds of streaks of silver light flew back into his hand.

A white marten named Bai Xiao Zhao took a Transformation Pill and reshaped herself to resemble Chu Xisheng before rushing toward Divine Ao Rogue Person’s secret realm. As the ninth-rank cultivators entered, Chu Xisheng and Si Huangquan arrived at the entrance together, where dust and stones erupted.

• A woman in white explained that Divine Ao Rogue Person had left an opportunity for demons and gave Bai Xiao Zhao a Transformation Pill so she could enter the secret realm in human form.
• Bai Xiao Zhao chose Chu Xisheng as her appearance reference, transformed into a girl resembling him, and hurried toward the secret realm before adjusting to her new body.
• The Martial Discourse Tower Master distributed the tokens and warned the cultivators that they could activate them to escape danger.
• Zhou Xiangshan identified the tokens as valuable crimson refinement silver and told Zhou Liangchen and the other Zhou Family cultivators to compete only if they could do so safely.
• Chu Xisheng and Si Huangquan reached the valley entrance at the same time, and dust and stones burst into the air.

Chu Xisheng’s Saber Intent forced Si Huangquan to abandon a confrontation outside the Ninth-Rank Secret Realm, but Chu’s newly redeemed Character Card stopped working as soon as he entered. The chapter left him inside the realm without the protection he had expected.

• Chu Xisheng’s Yazi Saber Intent erupted against Si Huangquan, and their clash wounded both men before Si forced Chu several steps back.
• Si Huangquan drew his Twin Butterfly Sabers, but Chu redeemed the Qin Muge 11-Year-Old Character Card as protection against his attack.
• Si Huangquan sensed danger from Chu, sheathed his sabers, and entered the Secret Realm, while onlookers praised Chu for making him retreat.
• Chu Xisheng saw that he had earned a large Martial Dao Points reward and followed Si into the Secret Realm.
• Chu discovered that regional restrictions had disabled the Qin Muge Character Card upon entry, leaving him without its protection.

Chu Xisheng studied the Enlightenment Steles in Divine Ao Rogue Person’s trial and suspected that one diagram concealed a complete sword move, but he struggled to decipher it before time ran out. To improve his chances of earning the trial’s rewards, he spent his remaining Martial Dao Points to redeem the Qin Muge Age Ten Character Card.

• Chu Xisheng and Zhou Liangchen entered the plaza and learned that they had two hours to comprehend the Enlightenment Steles for rewards.
• Si Huangquan, Zhuo Baiyun, Li Manshan, and Zhou Liangchen quickly marked steles, while Chu Xisheng remained seated to investigate hidden nuances in the sword diagram.
• Chu Xisheng deduced that the diagram contained further sword movements and a True Essence circulation route, drawing puzzled looks from the other cultivators and spectators.
• As his Martial Dao Points fell and time dwindled, Chu Xisheng raised Light-Cloud Movement to the fourth level and Wind-Thunder Martial Intent to the second level.
• Chu Xisheng secured his gains and spent his remaining thirteen Martial Dao Points to redeem the Qin Muge Age Ten Character Card.

After using Qin Muge’s Character Card, Chu Xisheng quickly understood the hidden ultimate move in the central stele’s picture and demonstrated it before the gathered martial artists. He then cut matching scars into the other Comprehension steles and returned to the central one while Si Huangquan was still studying.

• Chu Xisheng used Qin Muge’s Character Card and gained insight into Qin Muge’s cultivation, talents, and martial arts, which also let him resolve the picture’s remaining mysteries and condense its seven movements into two.
• Chu Xisheng discovered his Martial Dao Points had fallen to −42, then went to the central stele and struck it with Empty Cave Brings Wind, which left no mark.
• Chu Xisheng unleashed Wind-Thunder Martial Intent and revealed the ultimate move Wind’s Lasting Trace, cutting a ten-inch scar into the stele and silencing the crowd.
• The tower master declared Chu Xisheng the most perceptive among the young martial artists, while Chu Xisheng regained Martial Dao Points as the crowd’s impression of him improved.
• Chu Xisheng recognized the other steles’ pictures as incomplete variations of Trace of Wind and cut a ten-inch scar into each of the nine Comprehension steles.
• Chu Xisheng returned to the central stele after seven quarter-hours and found Si Huangquan still studying the eighth stele.

Chu Xisheng won the Secret Realm’s greatest rewards after comprehending the complete sword move, gaining a stronger talent and the Wind-Thunder Armlet. He learned that Lu Chen and others might be plotting against him, then set out with Zhou Liangchen and the Zhou Family to follow them deeper into the Secret Realm.

• Si Huangquan realized he had missed the hidden secret in the first illustration, while the bell ended the hour-long examination.
• Divine Ao Rogue Person awarded silver to those who comprehended at least five steles and Spirit Heaven Pills to those who reached seven.
• Chu Xisheng chose the Wind-Thunder Armlet after comprehending nine steles, then received foreign True Essence that advanced his Wind-Chasing, Lightning-Pursuing Hands to Tier Three.
• Zhou Liangchen told Chu Xisheng that Lu Chen and others seemed to be plotting against him and that someone had tried to ambush him with Locust Needles.
• Chu Xisheng dismissed the threat and led Zhou Liangchen and the Zhou Family along the path deeper into the Secret Realm.

Chu Xisheng reached the four paths and found hundreds of Martial Cultivators preparing to surround him, but he advanced into their midst rather than retreat. When five spearmen attacked, he killed them with one saber strike, leaving the plaza stunned.

• Chu Xisheng and Zhou Liangchen arrived at four mist-shrouded paths marked gods, ghosts, demons, and devils, where Divine Ao Rogue Person’s trial challenged them to cross all four within two hours.
• Mu Ling began reading the qi while the gathered Martial Cultivators watched, and Chu Xisheng sensed that more than three hundred Ninth Rank Martial Cultivators harbored killing intent toward him.
• Chu Xisheng warned Zhou Liangchen that a battle might break out, but Zhou Liangchen and the Zhou Family’s eight Martial Cultivators refused to withdraw.
• Chu Xisheng walked toward the crowd, while Lu Chen and Ying Haobai each hesitated to lead an attack against him.
• Five spearmen suddenly attacked Chu Xisheng, but his Yazi Saber Intent stunned nearby fighters and his Empty Cave Brings Wind strike killed all five with one stroke.

Chu Xisheng entered the Demon Character Path after Zhou Liangchen urged him to ignore Mu Ling’s warning, while Si Huangquan fought off a crowd and escaped into the Path of the Gods. The other factions learned that the Demon Character Path might contain powerful demons and chose to enter the Ghost Character Path together.

• Chu Xisheng intimidated the gathered Martial Cultivators, passed through the crowd, and waited in vain for the Azure Cloud Prodigies to challenge him.
• Mu Ling warned Chu Xisheng that the Demon Character Path was dangerous, but Zhou Liangchen urged him onward, and Chu Xisheng entered it with the Zhou Family members.
• Si Huangquan broke through attacks from dozens of Martial Cultivators, including Zhuo Baiyun, and disappeared into the Path of the Gods.
• Mu Ling explained that demons in the Demon Character Path might have grown terrifying over the centuries, while the Ghost Character Path was less favorable to spirits.
• Ying Haobai and the other factions entered the Ghost Character Path together, intending to preserve their strength against Chu Xisheng and Si Huangquan.

Mu Ling and Zhuo Baiyun discovered that the five people Chu Xisheng had killed were missing their vital energy and spirit, but found no clues before entering the Ghost path. In the Demon Character Path, Chu Xisheng sensed an unseen watcher and found his group surrounded by enormous snakes and saber-toothed tigers.

• Mu Ling examined the five bodies and found their vital energy and spirit had vanished.
• Zhuo Baiyun suspected Chu Xisheng's saber technique but accepted Mu Ling's explanation that he had used an orthodox technique, then urged them to enter the Ghost path.
• Mu Ling felt an icy gaze watching him near the God stele before entering the path.
• Chu Xisheng led Zhou Liangchen and the others along the misty ancient road in the Demon Character Path, sensing hidden danger and warning the group.
• The group spotted enormous pythons hanging from the trees and discovered giant saber-toothed tigers blocking the road behind them.

Chu Xisheng led Zhou Liangchen’s group through a road crowded with powerful demonic beasts, hoping to reach safety without provoking them. When giant crocodiles blocked their crossing, a companion discovered that his token could not take him out of the Secret Realm.

• Chu Xisheng fought off a saber-toothed tiger and realized the beasts were far stronger than their ranks suggested.
• Chu Xisheng spotted giant spiders above the group and led everyone onward while the surrounding beasts watched them.
• Zhou Liangchen offered to cover Chu Xisheng’s retreat, but Chu Xisheng said they should use their tokens to leave if danger arose.
• Chu Xisheng’s group reached a narrow stone bridge, where giant crocodiles emerged from the river and roared at them.
• Zhou Liangchen caught a man who nearly fell from the bridge, and the man reported that his token had failed to remove him from the Secret Realm.

Chu Xisheng led Zhou Liangchen and the others through the Demon-Character Ancient Road after their tokens failed, while demonic beasts surrounded them without attacking. They reached a plaza bearing a huge “Kill” stele, and people outside the secret realm saw their passage and credited Chu Xisheng with getting them through safely.

• Zhou Liangqiu discovered that the party's tokens could not activate, leaving them unable to exit the secret realm.
• Chu Xisheng hid his fear, urged the Zhou Family party to keep moving, and claimed the beasts were holding one another in check.
• A young girl atop a giant snake forbade it from eating Chu Xisheng, saying he had done her a kindness and promising to take it to Li Mountain.
• Chu Xisheng's party continued through the gorge as more demonic beasts gathered around them, then emerged onto a white marble plaza with a towering stele inscribed with “Kill.”
• The mist cleared, allowing the people outside to see the party had crossed the gorge; Zhou Xiongba and others concluded Chu Xisheng had helped them pass safely.

After escaping the Demon Character Path, Chu Xisheng integrated the ultimate move Trace of Wind into his Wind-Chasing Blade, but learned that his fame gains were limited by his foundational cultivation. At the training ground, the groups from the Ghost Character Path and God Character Path arrived, and Chu Xisheng asked whether their Secret Realm tokens were still valid.

• Chu Xisheng spent 30 Martial Dao Points to integrate Trace of Wind into his Wind-Chasing Blade, gaining nine moves that could flow seamlessly into the ultimate move.
• Chu Xisheng learned that people perceived his strength as Eighth-Rank Upper, so his fame could only be exchanged for Martial Dao Points at eighty percent until his foundational cultivation advanced.
• Zhou Liangchen pointed out strange blood-red runes covering the plaza, and Chu Xisheng recognized that they seemed to form a formation.
• Lu Chen, Ying Haobai, Li Manshan, Zhuo Baiyun, and hundreds of others emerged from the Ghost Character Path, while Mu Ling was puzzled that Chu Xisheng and the Zhou Family group had survived the Demon Character Path intact.
• Si Huangquan emerged from the God Character Path and grew wary of Chu Xisheng's strength.
• Chu Xisheng asked the assembled groups whether their Secret Realm tokens were still valid.

The Secret Realm tokens failed, trapping more than four hundred cultivators inside the White Jade Plaza as the Divine Ao Rogue Person announced a two-hour trial of killing and survival. With Chu Xisheng drawing hostile attention, Zhou Liangchen offered to share his family's rewards with allies willing to fight alongside them.

• Ying Haobai forced three Ninth Rank Martial Cultivators to test their Secret Realm tokens, and they discovered the tokens could no longer help them leave.
• Chu Xisheng asked about the blood-colored Magic Array, but Mu Ling and the other Spellcasters could not identify it.
• The Divine Ao Rogue Person sealed the White Jade Plaza, revealed a ranking led by Chu Xisheng, and announced that participants would earn points by killing one another until two hours passed or only one hundred remained.
• Chu Xisheng realized the failed tokens had left everyone trapped, and he noticed the Azure Cloud Prodigies and others turning murderous looks toward him.
• Lu Chen proposed that his group and Si Huangquan's join forces to kill Chu Xisheng, while Chu Xisheng answered with a cold challenge.
• Zhou Liangchen offered to share seventy percent of his family's Spirit Medicine and Secret Realm cultivation slots with as many as fourteen families that helped his side.

Zhou Liangchen’s offer fractured the factions’ alliance, but blood beads suddenly released a mist that drove the gathered fighters into a frenzy. Chu Xisheng’s group retreated to a defensible corner, where he killed two attackers as the chaos spread.

• Zhou Liangchen offered five percent of the secret realm’s herb yield and cultivation slots to anyone who helped the Zhou Clan, making Lu Chen’s allies reconsider their loyalties.
• As the factions hesitated to fight, Zhuo Baiyun noticed five blood-colored beads, which exploded and covered the marble square in bloody mist.
• Chu Xisheng told Zhou Liangchen’s group to retreat to the southeastern corner, used talismans to prepare for danger, and had them cover their faces with wet cloth.
• Fighters within the mist began attacking one another, and Chu Xisheng concluded that the mist made people lose their reason and become bloodthirsty.
• Two frenzied fighters charged Chu Xisheng’s group, and Chu Xisheng cut off both their heads.

The blood mist drove fighters in the White Jade Plaza into a frenzy, and Chu Xisheng and Zhou Liangchen killed those who charged their corner. As the mist thinned, Si Huangquan confronted Chu Xisheng, who wounded him before noticing that Si Huangquan had risen to second place on the kill ranking.

• Zhou Liangchen ordered the Zhou Family members to take pills and cover their faces as the blood mist provoked slaughter across the plaza.
• Chu Xisheng and Zhou Liangchen killed ten frenzied attackers who charged their southeastern corner.
• Li Manshan arrived with his senses restored, and Chu Xisheng observed that the blood mist and the fighting were both fading.
• Si Huangquan charged Chu Xisheng, who struck him with two saber moves and cut into his metal body.
• Chu Xisheng saw that Si Huangquan had reached 202 kills, behind Chu Xisheng's 214.