Chapter Summaries

Zhou Chongshan defeated Chu Qing with a concealed Spirit-Disrupting Array and challenged Qin Tiexin to settle the Zhou Household dispute in the combat final. Qin Tiexin refused to concede, and Nangong Yao supplied him with healing medicine and law artifacts before his fight with Zhou Chongshan the next day.

• Zhou Chongshan used a Spirit-Disrupting Array to disrupt Chu Qing's control of his puppets, destroyed them, and knocked Chu Qing unconscious with a single punch, advancing to the final.
• Zhou Chongshan identified himself as Zhou Xian's older cousin and offered to settle the dispute with Qin Tiexin through their final; Qin Tiexin said he would leave the Flowing Cloud Sect if he lost, while refusing to apologize.
• Nangong Yao visited Qin Tiexin and told him her master would accept him as a registered disciple, but urged him to protect himself and avoid risking serious injury against Zhou Chongshan.
• Qin Tiexin insisted that he would win, and Nangong Yao left him pills, armor, a heavy sword, a spirit-restoring ring, and speed-boosting boots.
• Qin Tiexin swallowed the Jade Dew Rejuvenation Pill, recovered quickly, and prepared to face Zhou Chongshan in the final.

Qin Tiexin and Zhou Chongshan began the tournament final, trading earth techniques and basic spells before colliding with a powerful saber and sword strike. Both remained standing across the damaged arena, with the showdown still underway.

• The arena was prepared under a protective dome as Qin Tiexin and Zhou Chongshan entered, while Golden Core elders watched from a cloud platform.
• Luo Ling confronted Elder Zhao over Zhou Chongshan’s earlier soul attack against Qin Tiexin, and Nangong Yao quietly tried to calm her.
• Zhou Chongshan used earth techniques and laid formation nodes while Qin Tiexin disrupted them with basic fire and water techniques.
• Qin Tiexin charged through an earth spike and struck with Suppress the Mountain, and Zhou Chongshan met the saber with his Dust Peak Sword.
• The collision damaged the arena and sent Qin Tiexin flying, but both fighters recovered and faced each other as the final continued.

Qin Tiexin fought through Zhou Chongshan’s Spirit-Stagnating Array and a barrage of earth techniques, escaping its range despite suffering severe wounds. With his spiritual power flowing freely again, he charged at Zhou Chongshan for a final blow, leaving the duel unresolved.

• Qin Tiexin pressed Zhou Chongshan with repeated Suppress the Mountain strikes, while Zhou retreated and secretly formed an array.
• Zhou Chongshan activated the Spirit-Stagnating Array, slowing Qin Tiexin’s spiritual power and attacking him with earth techniques.
• Qin Tiexin endured Zhou Chongshan’s spells and charged toward a sparsely guarded corner of the arena, seeking to escape the array.
• Zhou Chongshan trapped Qin Tiexin between earth walls and falling spikes, but Qin shattered a wall and broke beyond the array’s range at the cost of more wounds.
• Qin Tiexin’s spiritual power began circulating normally again, and he charged at Zhou Chongshan for a final attack.

Qin Tiexin defeated Zhou Chongshan in the Flowing Cloud Sect tournament final, winning the combat crown despite suffering devastating injuries. After the award ceremony was postponed for emergency treatment, the sect celebrated him as the first disciple to win both the artifact-refining and combat tournaments.

• Qin Tiexin and Zhou Chongshan unleashed their strongest techniques, destroying the platform and leaving both fighters gravely injured.
• Qin Tiexin forced himself to stand before the officiating elder finished counting, while Zhou Chongshan remained down, and the elder declared Qin Tiexin the victor.
• The disciples erupted in celebration, and Luo Ling taunted Elder Zhao before rushing to retrieve her disciple.
• Luo Ling caught Qin Tiexin when he collapsed, and Nangong Yao gave him a Rejuvenation Pill as medical hall disciples carried Zhou Chongshan away.
• The officiating elder postponed the award ceremony, and Luo Ling and Nangong Yao took Qin Tiexin to her courtyard for treatment.
• News spread that Qin Tiexin had won both tournament crowns as a Qi Refining Fourth Layer disciple.

After recovering from the tournament, Qin Tiexin refused True Person Luo Ling’s offer to exchange Edgeless for a powerful saber and Spirit Stones. Luo Ling recognized his bond with the broken blade, explained the Dao of unity between person and artifact, and accepted him as her disciple.

• Qin Tiexin awoke at Luo Ling Peak with his injuries bandaged and Edgeless broken in two beside his bed.
• Nangong Yao brought Qin Tiexin to True Person Luo Ling at the Heart-Forging Hall.
• True Person Luo Ling offered Qin Tiexin the Blazing Prairie Saber and five hundred Spirit Stones in exchange for Edgeless.
• Qin Tiexin refused the trade, saying Edgeless was half of him and that Spirit Stones and Law Artifacts were not his Dao.
• True Person Luo Ling praised his sincerity, explained the path of unity between person and artifact, and asked him to become her disciple.
• Qin Tiexin knelt before True Person Luo Ling with Edgeless, accepted her as his Master, and returned down the mountain with Nangong Yao to recover.

Qin Tiexin received his tournament rewards, became an inner disciple under True Person Luo Ling, and moved to Luo Ling Peak. Old Wu reacted with intense distress when Qin mentioned his new master, leaving Qin determined to uncover their history.

• Qin Tiexin received spirit stones, merit points, and a Library Pavilion token for winning the tournament, while several sect representatives tried to recruit him until Nangong Yao announced he had become True Person Luo Ling's disciple.
• Nangong Yao accompanied Qin Tiexin to collect his inner disciple supplies and showed him his new cave abode on Luo Ling Peak.
• Qin Tiexin said farewell to the menial disciples and shared one hundred grains of Spirit Crystal with them before leaving the courtyard.
• Qin Tiexin visited Old Wu and told him that True Person Luo Ling had taken him as a disciple, prompting Old Wu to react with shock and painful emotion.
• Nangong Yao brought Qin Tiexin introductory artifact-refining texts and explained how a cultivator developed unity with a Law Artifact.
• Qin Tiexin studied his broken blade in his new cave abode and wondered what had happened between Old Wu and Luo Ling.

While recovering, Qin Tiexin studied artifact refining and learned more about Luo Ling Peak, its disciples, and the superior sect. After Nangong Yao told him that Master would assign him duties the next morning, Qin Tiexin began cultivating and sensed that the Qi Refining fifth layer was near.

• Qin Tiexin read An Introduction to Artifact Nature and connected its principles and Luo Ling's annotations to the Resonance Forging Method and his own experience with Edgeless.
• Nangong Yao stopped Qin Tiexin from trying to reforge Edgeless before his injuries had healed, then explained the Artifact Refining Hall's elders and the conflict between Luo Ling and Elder Zhao's factions.
• Nangong Yao told Qin Tiexin that Xu Yi was training at the superior sect, Chen Xi was his second senior brother, and the superior sect accepted cultivators who met one of three demanding conditions.
• Nangong Yao said she would take Qin Tiexin to the Heart-Forging Hall the next morning to pay respects to Luo Ling and receive his duties.
• After Nangong Yao left, Qin Tiexin cultivated with Spirit Stones and sensed that he was close to reaching the Qi Refining fifth layer.

Qin Tiexin visited Luo Ling at the Heart-Forging Hall, where she showed him how to refine an artifact barehanded and explained her lineage’s path toward unity of person and artifact. He left with a saber she had made for him and a Jade Slip containing the Vajra Hammer Fist, which he could begin practicing at the Body Tempering Seventh Layer.

• Qin Tiexin climbed to the Heart-Forging Hall and told Luo Ling that his injuries were no longer serious, though he still could not circulate his power at full strength.
• Luo Ling gave Qin Tiexin three hundred Lower-Grade Spirit Stones as compensation from Elder Zhao for his dirty tricks during the artifact-refining competition and Zhao Yan’s use of a soul Law Artifact.
• Luo Ling demonstrated barehanded artifact refining by combining Azure Pattern Steel and adamantine, shaping the metal into a short saber, merging four Spirit Runes, and quenching the finished weapon.
• Qin Tiexin tested the saber and was shocked by how naturally it fit his grip, then admitted he did not understand the process.
• Luo Ling explained that Qin Tiexin’s next step was to discard the hammer and refine with his body, then gave him the Vajra Hammer Fist Jade Slip for training once he reached the Body Tempering Seventh Layer.
• Qin Tiexin said he understood a little as he looked from the saber to the Jade Slip.

Luo Ling taught Qin Tiexin that artifact refinement required customizing weapons to their users, and gave him a short saber made for him. Qin Tiexin returned to his cave abode resolved to heal, study artifact materials, and gradually learn to forge without a hammer.

• Luo Ling explained that Qin Tiexin's short saber was custom-made to match his fighting habits and described how an artifact refiner learned to see the fit between a person and a weapon.
• Luo Ling contrasted her focus on high-quality customized artifacts with Elder Zhao's emphasis on standardized mass production, and Qin Tiexin agreed that a weapon suited to its owner could be more effective.
• Luo Ling gave Qin Tiexin the short saber, advised him to find a suitable body-refining cultivation method, and told him to return after recovering to repair Edgeless.
• Qin Tiexin returned to his cave abode and reflected on Luo Ling's lesson about unity between person and artifact and on the possibility of forging without a hammer.
• Qin Tiexin put away the Vajra Hammer Fist jade slip and saber, then began rereading An Introduction to Artifact Nature while recovering.

As he prepared to repair Edgeless, Qin Tiexin realized he needed to preserve the saber’s identity rather than redesign it. During a visit to the Discarded Artifact Pavilion, Old Wu told him how the Spirit Creek Sect’s destruction, his injuries, and his own decision to leave had separated him from Luo Ling; Qin Tiexin returned to Luo Ling Peak resolved not to interfere.

• Qin Tiexin studied artifact forging and compared Edgeless with his short saber, then discarded a redesign that made Edgeless look like a different weapon.
• Qin Tiexin visited Old Wu at the Discarded Artifact Pavilion, and Old Wu invited him to ask what he wanted.
• Old Wu recalled meeting Luo Ling as a fellow artifact-forging genius and described their shared work and growing affection.
• Old Wu told Qin Tiexin that the Spirit Creek Sect had been destroyed, so he left Luo Ling to pursue revenge without knowing who the enemy was.
• Old Wu explained that an injury crippled his cultivation and that he returned to the Flowing Cloud Sect under an assumed name, believing Luo Ling deserved a better future without him.
• Qin Tiexin told Old Wu he was not a cripple, then left and decided the past was not his to address for now.

Qin Tiexin recovered and broke through to the Qi Refining fifth layer, while Luo Ling and Nangong Yao guarded his cave abode. When Luo Ling saw the return-to-true spirit metal he was about to use for rune practice, she reacted with shock and asked where it came from and whether he had more.

• Qin Tiexin visited Old Wu, who urged him to focus on his studies and cultivation.
• After his injuries healed, Qin Tiexin used four Lower-Grade Spirit Stones to break through to the Qi Refining fifth layer.
• Luo Ling sensed Qin Tiexin's breakthrough and set up formations around his cave abode, then stood guard with Nangong Yao.
• Qin Tiexin took out a return-to-true spirit metal ingot to practice engraving Spirit Runes.
• Luo Ling caught Qin Tiexin's wrist, stared at the ingot, and asked where he had gotten it and whether there were more pieces.

Qin Tiexin revealed that Old Wu was in the Flowing Cloud Sect, leading Luo Ling to reunite with Wu Zhen after two hundred years apart. Wu Zhen moved to Luo Ling Peak as a guest elder, and Qin Tiexin began a new stage of training and work to restore Edgeless.

• Luo Ling recognized the return-to-true spirit metal in the forty-nine ingots and pressed Qin Tiexin to tell her who had given them to him.
• Qin Tiexin told Luo Ling that the senior named Wu lived in the Discarded Artifact Pavilion, and she immediately took him there.
• Luo Ling confronted Wu Zhen, asked why he had never come to find her, and urged him to return; Wu Zhen agreed.
• Wu Zhen moved to Luo Ling Peak as a guest elder and martial uncle in charge of instruction, while Luo Ling assigned Qin Tiexin to repair Edgeless and continue his artifact-refining studies.
• Qin Tiexin settled into a new cave abode and placed the broken pieces of Edgeless on his forging platform, sensing a faint pulse from the blade.

Qin Tiexin brought Edgeless and a Primordial Molten Core to Luo Ling and Wu Zhen, hoping to reforge the broken saber by letting it assimilate the core’s materials. After Luo Ling told him to decide what kind of saber he wanted and treat reforging as part of himself, Qin Tiexin began considering Edgeless’s past and understood that he needed to give it a new form rather than simply restore it.

• Qin Tiexin showed Luo Ling and Wu Zhen Edgeless’s broken blade and explained his plan to use a Primordial Molten Core as reforging material.
• Wu Zhen identified the core’s mixed metals, while Qin Tiexin described Edgeless’s mysterious ability to absorb metals and its current weight of four thousand jin.
• Luo Ling agreed that Edgeless might assimilate the core and asked Qin Tiexin to consider the saber’s weight, balance, durability, and connection to his fighting style.
• Luo Ling assigned Qin Tiexin to plan and carry out the reforging himself as his entrance examination, while she and Wu Zhen agreed to provide support without intervening.
• Back in his cave abode, Qin Tiexin reflected on Edgeless’s history and realized that reforging it meant giving it a new form, not merely repairing it.

Qin Tiexin studied Edgeless’s flaws, tested his strength, and designed a new form and Spirit Rune array for the reforged saber. After Luo Ling approved his plans and agreed to teach him Vajra Hammer Fist, he returned to the broken blade and imagined how it would be remade.

• Qin Tiexin recorded how Edgeless handled and worked with Wu Zhen to calculate changes to its balance, grip, and dimensions.
• Qin Tiexin studied weapon design with Wu Zhen and measured his strength at the Strength-Testing Pavilion, where he demonstrated 12,800 jin of physical strength.
• Qin Tiexin practiced Heavy Mountain Saber Technique with his heavy sword, then examined the custom saber Luo Ling had made for him and resolved to tailor Edgeless to himself.
• Qin Tiexin designed a new array combining Thousand Jun, Toughness, and Spirit Devouring, and Luo Ling advised him to add a buffer triangle to prevent the runes from collapsing.
• Qin Tiexin asked Luo Ling to teach him Vajra Hammer Fist; she assigned him one day to practice and scheduled the reforging for the hour of the dragon two days later.
• Qin Tiexin returned to his cave abode and envisioned Edgeless’s new dimensions, weight, materials, and Spirit Runes as he touched the broken blade.

Qin Tiexin began reforging the broken Edgeless with Luo Ling’s Spirit Fire and the essence of the Primordial Molten Core. After his first three hammer strikes fused the blade sections and spiritual materials, he prepared to continue the work.

• Luo Ling showed Qin Tiexin the Azure Nether Spirit Fire and explained that it could melt Edgeless.
• Wu Zhen asked Qin Tiexin how he planned to strike, then watched with Luo Ling as he began forging alone.
• Qin Tiexin heated Edgeless’s broken sections with the Primordial Molten Core essence until they softened and formed a glowing billet.
• Qin Tiexin used a twelve-hundred-jin hammer to strike the billet three times at key points.
• Edgeless’s fractures disappeared as its sections and the Primordial Molten Core essence began to fuse into one.

Qin Tiexin forged the Primordial Molten Core into Edgeless, then shaped the unified metal into a massive edged saber. After resting to recover, he prepared to make the final adjustments to its center of gravity by hand.

• Qin Tiexin hammered Edgeless and the Primordial Molten Core together until their materials fused completely and the saber blank weighed sixty-three hundred jin.
• Luo Ling and Wu Zhen assessed Qin Tiexin’s forging skill as he reheated the blank and began shaping it.
• Qin Tiexin used progressively smaller hammers to form the saber’s handle and blade, then forged a thick cutting edge.
• Qin Tiexin finished Edgeless’s initial shape and rested to recover before adjusting its center of gravity with the Vajra Hammer Fist technique.

Qin Tiexin used barehanded forging techniques to correct Edgeless’s center of gravity while holding the blazing, six-thousand-three-hundred-jin blade. He achieved a perfect balance, but his palm was badly burned before Luo Ling pulled the blade from his hand and quenched it.

• Qin Tiexin covered his right hand with Spiritual Qi, lifted the heated Edgeless from the furnace, and used his Divine Sense to locate its center of gravity.
• Qin Tiexin repeatedly punched the blade with the Suppress the Mountain Hammer technique, reducing the balance error while his Spiritual Qi dwindled and his palm burned.
• Wu Zhen worried that Qin Tiexin was pushing too far, while Luo Ling silently prepared to intervene and signaled Wu Zhen not to interrupt.
• Qin Tiexin spent his remaining spiritual power on one final punch, bringing Edgeless’s center of gravity into perfect alignment.
• Luo Ling pulled Edgeless from Qin Tiexin’s blistered hand and plunged it into the spirit spring quenching trough, filling the Heart-Forging Hall with steam.

Qin Tiexin completed the reforging of Edgeless and inscribed it with three Spirit Runes, restoring the saber to the level of a Middle-Grade Law Artifact. Luo Ling praised his work, pointed out his weaknesses, and sent him to study a short-saber technique; he left the Heart-Forging Hall carrying Edgeless.

• Luo Ling treated Qin Tiexin's burned hand, and he tested the newly reforged Edgeless, finding its weight and balance suited him perfectly.
• Qin Tiexin practiced with Edgeless, then used the Buffer Triangle method to inscribe the Thousand Jun, Toughness, and Spirit Devouring runes.
• Luo Ling and Wu Zhen examined Edgeless and confirmed its runes were stable, though it only barely qualified as a Middle-Grade Law Artifact.
• Qin Tiexin identified his shortcomings in cultivation, endurance, fine control, and safety, and Luo Ling advised him to learn a close-quarters short-saber technique.
• Luo Ling gave Qin Tiexin a Library Pavilion token and told him to keep Edgeless close; he left the hall carrying the saber on his shoulder.
• Wu Zhen called Qin Tiexin a born craftsman, and Luo Ling agreed that he was a fine disciple.

Qin Tiexin tested Edgeless by destroying a ninth-level Qi Refining puppet with one strike, then searched the Library Pavilion for a short saber technique suited to him. He found no continuation of the Primordial Unity Instruction and kept looking through the second floor's martial techniques.

• Qin Tiexin struck the ninth-level Qi Refining puppet with Edgeless, breaking its arm guards and chest in one blow.
• The deacon inspected the damaged puppet and recorded Qin Tiexin's result while nearby disciples recognized him.
• Qin Tiexin searched the first-floor short saber techniques but rejected them as unsuitable for his physique or fighting habits.
• A senior brother explained that the second floor held better techniques and let Qin Tiexin use his token to enter.
• Qin Tiexin searched the second-floor cultivation methods for a continuation of the Primordial Unity Instruction but found none.
• Qin Tiexin began examining the second-floor martial techniques and had not yet found a short saber technique.

Qin Tiexin chose the Inch Steps · Blood Vortex Thrust martial technique and began mastering its basic strength-control method and opening attack. After a day of practice, he successfully performed Burst Step Straight Thrust once, though the remaining forms were still ahead of him.

• Qin Tiexin discovered that Inch Steps · Blood Vortex Thrust combined close-range footwork with precise saber thrusts, complementing his Edgeless Heavy Saber and Mountain-Shaking Steps.
• Qin Tiexin redeemed the technique with his tournament reward token and received a copied Jade Slip from the Foundation Establishment Realm steward.
• Qin Tiexin returned to Luo Ling Peak and spent the afternoon practicing the first level, trying to release just enough physical strength to move one inch.
• Qin Tiexin took up Luo Ling's short saber and repeatedly practiced Burst Step Straight Thrust, correcting his timing, strength, and saber trajectory.
• Qin Tiexin completed his hundredth attempt with a steady, straight thrust that sank two inches into a bluestone, successfully performing the first movement once.