Chapter Summaries

Lian Youming infiltrated Sea Island and set fire to its opium factory while Hongmen attacked the island’s defenses. After killing the guards around the underground entrance, he confronted two escaped prisoners who recognized him.

• Lian Youming climbed the cliffs and discovered a guarded factory and an underground entrance, confirming he had reached the prison site.
• Speedboats approached Sea Island, and Hongmen announced its attack as gunfire broke out between the attackers and the island’s defenders.
• Lian Youming slipped into the factory, killed several martial artists, and set the stored opium ablaze.
• The smoke disoriented the armed guards, and Lian Youming shot his way through the remaining defenders around the underground entrance.
• Two escaped prisoners recognized Lian Youming as he faced them with a rifle.

Lian Youming defeated two elders guarding a sealed passage, then entered the underground facility as reinforcements approached. He squeezed through a food hatch into an iron cell, where glowing eyes opened in the darkness and the outer gate slammed shut.

• Lian Youming overpowered the two elders, killing the gray-haired elder and leaving the long-haired elder behind.
• After an explosion sounded at the island perimeter, Lian Youming took a key and grenades and entered the passage before the Hidden Killing Society reinforcements arrived.
• Lian Youming hurried deeper into the passage and found a pried-open food hatch in one of the iron doors.
• Lian Youming compressed his body to squeeze through the hatch, where he encountered a foul stench and a pair of glowing green eyes.
• The outer gate slammed shut behind Lian Youming.

Lian Youming entered a prison cell and confronted a chained, dangerous man while a powerful guard searched nearby. As chaos erupted among the prisoners, he spotted a carving called the Vajra Tripitaka, and the chained man suddenly attacked him with a stone ball.

• Lian Youming found a white-haired prisoner bound by chains, stone balls, and nails through his shoulder blades, and thanked him for saving him.
• The prisoner questioned Lian Youming about his martial arts and the Hongmen, then threatened to kill and eat him after learning he had come to rescue people.
• A formidable master searched the cells, and Lian Youming concealed his presence until the man passed; he recognized the guard's voice as Mr. Corpse.
• Lian Youming noticed the prisoners were inhaling raw opium and discovered a carving labeled Vajra Tripitaka, which the chained man described as a Buddhist spiritual art.
• The chained man proposed that Lian Youming help him escape, but Lian Youming refused to be intimidated and warned him to stay put.
• The prisoners began screaming and rattling their doors amid the commotion, and the chained man hurled a huge stone ball at Lian Youming.

Lian Youming fought the strange man chained to an iron chair, then agreed to help free him and the other prisoners. As he planned an escape and studied the Yama-Subduing Demon Venerable carving, he saw its thirty-six arms moving through a strange sequence of Buddhist seals.

• The strange man hurled a stone ball at Lian Youming and fought him with chains, while Lian Youming used his martial arts to resist.
• Lian Youming and the strange man locked hands on the chains, then argued over whether Lian Youming would free the prisoners; Lian Youming promised he would.
• The strange man told Lian Youming that another visitor, Yang Cuo, had promised to rescue them but had disappeared.
• Lian Youming considered how to escape with the prisoners and decided to prepare while waiting for Xu Tian and his group to return with Li Yinhuan's map.
• The strange man identified the wall carving as the Yama-Subduing Demon Venerable, and Lian Youming saw its thirty-six arms move through a sequence of Buddhist seals.

Lian Youming studied the Yama-Subduing Demon Venerable and discovered how to use the Six-Syllable Mantra with Buddhist hand seals to enter a visualization state. He confronted the deity’s apparition and dispelled it with a punch, leaving the stone image and the young man on the floor appearing identical.

• After noticing the restrained man silently practicing visualization, Lian Youming examined the deity’s changing hand seals and tried copying them.
• Lian Youming combined the Six-Syllable Mantra with the Lotus Mudra and felt his breath and muscles harmonize as distracting thoughts vanished.
• Lian Youming realized that each hand-seal variation formed the deity’s spiritual intent, then imitated its thirty-six arms and thirty-two expressions.
• The Yama-Subduing Demon Venerable appeared to step down from the wall, but Lian Youming shouted at it and punched through the apparition.
• The apparition vanished, and Lian Youming saw that the stone image and the young man on the floor looked exactly alike.

Lian Youming survived a perilous attempt to visualize the Yama-Subduing Demon Venerable and learned more about Busu’s past, while remaining wary of the strange man’s motives. When a storm created an opening, Busu told him where to find a woman who had mastered the Daoist Sect’s Elixir Skill, and Lian Youming escaped the hidden passage to search for her.

• Lian Youming recovered from visualizing the Yama-Subduing Demon Venerable, and Busu warned him to guard his thoughts while explaining the method’s power.
• Lian Youming refused Busu’s invitation to join the Buddhist School and declared that he would follow his own path.
• Busu described witnessing a battle between Mystic Connection masters, including the White Lotus Saint Son and the One-Eyed Expert, and said he had received two supreme techniques afterward.
• Lian Youming remained suspicious of Busu, suspecting that his stories were meant to win trust and conceal his designs.
• When a storm shook the prison, Busu asked Lian Youming to remove the Pulse Gate Nail, but Lian Youming said he would first find his sect elder.
• Busu directed Lian Youming past seven iron gates to a woman who had mastered the Daoist Sect’s Elixir Skill, and Lian Youming slipped out through the darkened passage.

Lian Youming rescued his Sixth Martial Uncle, Xuanling, from the Hidden Killing Society’s prison and learned that other powerful prisoners could help them escape. As he freed another prisoner, Li Fangchen, he recognized him as the legendary Wudang Sword Immortal Li Jinglin.

• Mr. Corpse was distracted by a tremendous Lion’s Roar, allowing Lian Youming to slip through the secret passage and enter Xuanling’s cell.
• Xuanling identified herself as Lian Youming’s Sixth Martial Uncle, and he removed her Pulse Gate Nails and tore the hooked claws from her back.
• Xuanling recovered enough to break free of her chains and urged Lian Youming to rescue the remaining prisoners, including the person who had used the Lion’s Roar.
• As Mr. Corpse approached, gunfire and shouts about Li Da drew him away from the cells.
• Lian Youming entered the opposite cell, freed Li Fangchen, and asked if he was the Wudang Sword Immortal Li Jinglin.

Lian Youming freed the imprisoned martial artists and blasted open the island’s gate, setting them against Mr. Corpse’s forces. He and Li Da moved to hold Mr. Corpse off while the weakened captives fought his reinforcements.

• Lian Youming freed Li Jinglin and the other imprisoned martial artists, including the sinister Mangus, giving them elixirs to restore their strength.
• Lian Youming used grenades and a powerful shoulder strike to destroy the gate, allowing the thirteen captives to escape and kill the guards.
• Mr. Corpse returned and dismissed the escaped martial artists, then summoned pill-strengthened fighters to confront them.
• Lian Youming reunited with Li Da and proposed they hold Mr. Corpse back while the other captives fought his men.
• Lian Youming and Li Da faced Mr. Corpse and challenged him to come forward.

Lian Youming and Li Da confronted Mr. Corpse in the storm, hoping to exploit his hidden injury, but his mastery of Wild Bull Power turned the fight against them. Li Da was driven back bleeding as Mr. Corpse revealed that he had opened five meridians.

• Mr. Corpse chased Lian Youming and Li Da while Mangus fed on a guard’s corpse and the two sides began fighting elsewhere on the island.
• Li Da told Lian Youming that Mr. Corpse had a hidden injury near his heart meridians, and the two stopped to face their pursuer.
• Lian Youming used Coiling Silk Force and Taiji Cloud Hands to withstand Mr. Corpse’s Bagua Palm while Li Da targeted his injured ribs.
• Li Da stimulated his heart and unleashed a rapid barrage of punches, but Mr. Corpse evaded them by controlling his muscles and bones.
• Mr. Corpse used Wild Bull Power to form five dragons and snakes of qi beneath his suit, dispersing Li Da’s attacks and sending him staggering back with blood at his mouth.

Lian Youming and Li Da fought Mr. Corpse, exploiting his hidden injury and forcing him to reveal his strength. The chapter ended as Mr. Corpse unleashed the power of seven meridians and the two fighters charged him again.

• Lian Youming clashed with Mr. Corpse's Wild Bull Power, while Li Da attacked the vulnerable area beneath Mr. Corpse's armpit.
• Lian Youming used the Six-Syllable Great Bright Mantra and his Yama-Subduing Demon Venerable Visualization Method to restrain Mr. Corpse as Li Da struck his hidden injury and drew blood.
• Lian Youming slammed Mr. Corpse into the ground, but Li Da had to knock him away when he aimed a finger at Lian Youming's chest.
• Mr. Corpse recognized Lian Youming's martial lineage, and Lian Youming declared that he was both the Taiji Demon and Liu Wudi.
• Mr. Corpse revealed that he could wield seven meridians' energy, and Lian Youming and Li Da charged him together.

Lian Youming and Li Da fought Mr. Corpse, whose seven opened meridians empowered his martial arts and mantra, and struggled to overcome his injured but overwhelming strength. Lian Youming forced a Wax-Sealed Pill into Mr. Corpse’s mouth, but the battle’s outcome remained uncertain as he was kicked away.

• Lian Youming and Li Da attacked Mr. Corpse, but his seven strands of internal qi neutralized their blows and his Six-Syllable mantra wounded them with sound strikes.
• Lian Youming answered with a roar and a Blood Sword, while Li Da joined the fight with a great iron spear and they targeted Mr. Corpse’s vital points.
• Lian Youming burned his vital essence to strengthen his Elixir Skill and fought alongside Li Da, who recognized that Mr. Corpse’s heart meridian was damaged.
• Mr. Corpse drove the pair back with another mantra syllable and launched tiny jade swords, but Lian Youming broke one and Li Da knocked another aside.
• Lian Youming and Li Da charged again, and Lian Youming thrust his sword into Mr. Corpse’s mouth before slipping a Wax-Sealed Pill inside and striking his throat.
• Mr. Corpse kicked Lian Youming in the chest and sent him flying sideways.

Lian Youming and Li Da poisoned and wounded Mr. Corpse, forcing him to retreat, then joined the survivors from the dungeon. As the group prepared to escape by boat, they met several legendary martial artists who had been imprisoned for decades.

• Lian Youming poisoned Mr. Corpse and, with Li Da's help, wounded him badly enough to make him flee.
• Lian Youming and Li Da reached the dungeon, where seven of the thirteen Foresight Martial Artists had survived the battle and gained their freedom.
• Mangus fled, while two Ryukyu survivors accepted Li Da's elixirs and decided to follow him.
• Li Da introduced himself as Divine Spear Li Shuwen's disciple, and Li Jinglin shared how he had lost a duel to the White Bone Daoist.
• Xuanling spoke wistfully of his old friend Seventh, and Lian Youming learned that the white-haired senior belonged to Wang Wu the Great Saber’s lineage while another senior came from Shaolin's Black Tiger Gate.
• Li Da told the group he had left a boat and urged everyone to escape the island.

Gu Feiyan found Mr. Corpse gravely poisoned after his battle with Liu Wudi and gave him medicine while reflecting on the White Lotus Sect’s lost supreme art. On the passenger ship, the returning martial artists reunited with Xu Tian, and Xuanling recognized him as Third Master Xu’s grandson.

• Mr. Corpse spat out blood and jade swords as poison weakened him and threatened to dissipate his cultivation.
• Gu Feiyan revealed that she had watched the battle and gave Mr. Corpse two bottles of elixirs instead of killing him.
• Gu Feiyan told her companions that the White Lotus Sect’s complete supreme art had resurfaced and that its creator may have reached the Land-Road Immortal realm.
• Li Yinhuan asked Xu Tian whether Chen and the others had returned, and Xu Tian’s anxiety eased when Li Da, Lian Youming, Xuanling, and the others arrived.
• Xuanling recognized Xu Tian as Third Master Xu’s grandson, and Xu Tian welcomed the returning elders with relief.

Lian Youming learned that a Mystic Connection martial artist intended to overturn China and had once fought his way toward Four-Nine City, leaving him determined to grow stronger despite the danger. As the ships reached the tournament site and the competitors gathered, the Martial Arts Tournament was announced to be beginning.

• Lian Youming told Li Da he would keep pursuing his path rather than join the military, and Li Da warned him about the rival whose intent was to change heaven and the Way.
• Li Da revealed that five Foresight Martial Artists had confronted the unknown Mystic Connection martial artist near Beijing, leaving two elders dead before the attacker fled.
• Hundreds of vessels arrived carrying competitors, including Gu Feiyan, whose martial arts used Esoteric Buddhist energy channels rather than Neijiaquan or Daoist Golden Core arts.
• The tournament organizers announced that the prize money had been raised to ten million US dollars, and Yang Cuo, Situ Wudi, and Situ Qingqing joined Lian Youming and Li Da.
• The ships anchored at an unfamiliar harbor and were linked by rope ladders and floating bridges before an announcement declared the Martial Arts Tournament was about to begin.

Lian Youming joined the international martial arts tournament aboard a passenger ship, where Gu Feiyan’s extraordinary presence and apparent ability to read minds shocked him. As the tournament began, he realized her Buddhist supernatural power might make her strong enough to challenge the White Lotus Sect Master.

• Xu Tian gave the injured Lian Youming treasured Baji Sect medicine and yellow rice wine, and Lian reaffirmed his resolve to become invincible.
• Lian Youming and his companions boarded the main passenger ship, where organizers announced a 64-team tournament and began drawing lots.
• Lian Youming received number nine, while Gu Feiyan received number one and Li Da received number five; Lian wondered how the prize money would be split if he and Li Da met in the final.
• Gu Feiyan asked Lian how she was inferior to her younger sister, convincing him she had read his thoughts.
• Feng Xiong identified mind-reading as one of the Buddhist School’s six supernatural powers, and Lian considered that Gu Feiyan might rival the White Lotus Sect Master.
• The tournament officially began amid thunderous cheers.

At the Martial Arts Tournament, Lian Youming learned more about Gu Feiyan’s Mind-Reading ability from Master Xuanling while the opening fights began. Elsewhere, Mr. Corpse was visited by the White Bone Taoist, who had emerged ahead of time and nearly completed Pure Yang Body Transformation.

• Master Xuanling explained how Gu Feiyan used Mind-Reading and described his own method for cultivating Divine Mobility.
• Gongyang Ming stepped forward to fight a burly red-haired white man as the tournament’s opening battles began.
• Mr. Corpse recovered in a medicinal tub aboard a luxury passenger ship and wondered whether Gu Feiyan had noticed Lian Youming’s ability to draw jin from thunder.
• The White Bone Taoist appeared in Mr. Corpse’s cabin, revealed that he had nearly completed Pure Yang Body Transformation, and said he had come to see the world a hundred years later.
• A face familiar to Lian Youming appeared in a mirror beside the White Bone Taoist.

Lian Youming and the others watched the brutal Martial Arts Tournament and recognized that Gu Feiyan planned to fight ten opponents alone. The Remnants of the Old Era returned when Gan Xuansu confronted the group, and he and Lian Youming agreed to meet in the ring.

• A powerful Black Man killed his opponent with a single punch, while Gongyang Ming defeated his opponent by throwing him out of the ring.
• Lian Youming realized Gu Feiyan had registered alone so she could fight ten opponents, and he suspected Li Da and Yang Cuo also meant to risk everything in the tournament.
• The group watched Hockney, a British pastor with Foresight, evade the attacks of Muay Thai king Kuntai.
• Gan Xuansu arrived with a group of formidable fighters and asked whether Liu Wudi was with Lian Youming's party.
• Lian Youming's glare cowed one of Gan Xuansu's men, then he and Gan Xuansu clashed with their spiritual auras before the Hidden Killing Society's guards stopped them.
• After learning Lian Youming was known as the Taiji Demon, Gan Xuansu left and promised to meet him in the ring.

Lian Youming and the other spectators watched the tournament reveal dangerous fighters and ties between the Remnants of the Old Era and the Bai Clan. When Gu Feiyan fought a Bai Clan martial artist, her uncanny ability to anticipate his thoughts left Lian Youming stunned.

• Xuanling Perfected Person praised Lian Youming, while Xu Tian and the others agreed that the Remnants of the Gan Clan should be eliminated.
• Terry, Gongyang Ming, Hockney, and other powerful fighters won bouts as spectators watched and wagered on the bloody matches.
• Li Zhenguo volunteered to fight Group Seventeen, and Lian Youming approved after finding no notable experts among them.
• Gu Feiyan entered the ring against Group Twenty-Seven, whose Muslim fighters were identified as members of the Bai Clan and as allies of Gan Xuansu.
• A Bai Clan fighter used the Toad-Fishing Skill and Xingyi Pounding Fist, but Gu Feiyan evaded every attack and seemed to move in step with his thoughts.
• Lian Youming realized Gu Feiyan's technique might be Mind-Reading and watched her with shock.

Gu Feiyan revealed Divine Eye as well as Mind-Reading, defeating a powerful Muslim fighter with a single strike and alarming Lian Youming’s group. After the first round ended, the remaining teams drew lots, and Lian Youming’s team was matched against the American king of killers and his nine sinister teammates.

• The Muslim fighter used Shaolin’s Mad Demon Staff Technique against Gu Feiyan, but she waited until his momentum peaked before breaking his staff and striking his Jade Pillow Acupoint, killing him.
• Lian Youming and the other spectators saw a glow between Gu Feiyan’s brows, and Li Jinglin and Xu Tian identified it as Divine Eye, which let her perceive openings in an opponent’s force and momentum.
• The defeated fighter’s Muslim teammates forfeited, while Lian Youming and Xu Tian discussed the threat Gu Feiyan could pose if she continued to grow stronger.
• The tournament’s first round ended after battles continued until late that night, leaving thirty-two teams to draw lots for their next matches.
• Lian Youming’s team drew Group Nine against Group Thirteen, whose lineup included the American king of killers and nine men with vicious, sinister Qi Dynamics.

Lian Youming learned Xuanling Perfected Person’s method of fighting imagined opponents through visualization and tried it himself. He summoned Xue Hen in his mind and began a battle beneath the stars, while a mysterious onlooker wondered if the practice would make him lose his mind.

• Lian Youming worried about facing powerful opponents, and Xuanling Perfected Person offered to teach him an unusual combat method.
• Xuanling Perfected Person demonstrated how to visualize an opponent until an imagined figure appeared to fight him.
• Lian Youming realized he could use his reflection in the water to visualize himself and transform it into Xue Hen.
• Lian Youming challenged the imagined Xue Hen as a mysterious figure on a nearby yacht watched and questioned his sanity.