Chapter Summaries

After Yan Hui defeated Zhou Lang, she grew anxious over Chen Jin’s recovery and unexpected progress, while Chen Jin celebrated advancing to the fifth round with Huang Mengliang and Ye Tong. The chapter ended with Ye Tong returning Chen Jin’s Azure Spirit Magic Sword for his next match.

• Yan Hui regretted not striking Chen Jin earlier and feared the hidden tricks he might still possess.
• Yan Hui snapped at Liu Chen, then apologized, leaving him convinced that Chen Jin was behind her distress.
• Ye Tong prepared a celebratory meal for Chen Jin, and Huang Mengliang remarked that Chen Jin seemed happier than before.
• Huang Mengliang reflected on Chen Jin’s surprising progress through the first four rounds and hoped he could regain his confidence.
• Ye Tong returned the Azure Spirit Magic Sword to Chen Jin so he could face his fifth-round opponent with a good sword.

Chen Jin declined Ye Tong’s offer of a magical sword and returned to cultivating, while the fourth round of the Sword Competition continued. At the drawing ceremony, Yan Hui drew Chen Jin as her opponent, and she struggled to steady herself before their match.

• Chen Jin told Ye Tong that he could not refine a new magical sword before the battle and asked her to keep making soup instead.
• Chen Jin returned to closed-door cultivation, where his progress refining the Slay Evil Sword had improved.
• Five days later, the fourth round ended, and the victors gathered to draw their next opponents.
• Yan Hui drew Chen Jin’s name and briefly suspected the pairing was part of a conspiracy before convincing herself it was coincidence.
• Yao Wuya announced that Yan Hui would face Chen Jin, and the gathered disciples reacted with excitement and surprise.

Chen Jin and Yan Hui faced each other in the fifth-round sword match, with the Lower Court crowd watching amid rumors about their past. The match began after both remained silent, and Chen Jin waited calmly for his chance at revenge.

• Huang Mengliang heard that Chen Jin had drawn Yan Hui and wondered how strong Chen Jin had become.
• Disciples gathered at the arena, where Ma Long presided and Xue Hongmei and the injured Qin Jianyuan watched from the elders' seats.
• Yao Wuya criticized the rumors surrounding Chen Jin and focused on preparing for the Upper Court envoys.
• Yan Hui entered to cheers, and Chen Jin took his place opposite her without showing emotion.
• Yan Hui's planned taunts failed when Chen Jin remained calm, and the bronze bell signaled the start of their match.

Yan Hui attacked Chen Jin with her superior cultivation, but Chen Jin used successive defensive talisman formations to avoid a direct clash and wear down her Sword Qi. The match continued as Yan Hui recognized his attrition strategy.

• Yan Hui opened the match with a fierce Sword Qi attack, while Chen Jin raised an earth-attribute talisman formation to defend himself.
• The elders and disciples judged that Chen Jin was outmatched, and Xue Hongmei praised Yan Hui as Qin Jianyuan defended his disciple.
• Xue Hongmei and Qin Jianyuan bickered until Ma Long urged them to watch the match.
• Yan Hui broke through Chen Jin's first formation, but Chen Jin formed a metal-attribute defensive formation and continued evading her attacks.
• Ma Long and Yan Hui realized that Chen Jin was trying to wear down Yan Hui's Law Power and Sword Qi.

Yan Hui pressed Chen Jin in their sword match, breaking through his defenses and eventually shattering his sword. Just as the onlookers believed the outcome was decided, Chen Jin leaped at her with a brilliant cold gleam flashing.

• Yan Hui broke Chen Jin’s metal-element talisman formation and attacked, but he countered with his ice sword intent and a water-element talisman formation.
• Chen Jin used Water Escape to evade Yan Hui, drawing Ma Long’s praise and Xue Hongmei’s criticism.
• Yan Hui advanced with overwhelming sword momentum, suppressing Chen Jin’s magical consciousness and breaking his sword.
• As Xue Hongmei and Huang Mengliang expected Chen Jin to lose, he leaped at Yan Hui with a cold gleam flashing.

Chen Jin revealed his flying sword and killed Yan Hui during their Sword Competition match, shocking the spectators and elders. When Xue Hongmei tried to avenge her disciple by killing Chen Jin, Qin Jianyuan stopped her blade with two fingers.

• Chen Jin charged Yan Hui, revealed a flying sword, and used a blood-red talisman to slow her before beheading her onstage.
• Ma Long arrived too late to stop Yan Hui's death, and the venue fell silent as the spectators and elders reeled from the first apparent death in the Sword Competition.
• Ye Tong and Huang Mengliang wondered whether Chen Jin had killed Yan Hui by accident, while Liu Chen was shaken by her death and suddenly found his thoughts clearing.
• Xue Hongmei retrieved Yan Hui's head, then attacked Chen Jin in fury, demanding that he pay with his life.
• Qin Jianyuan caught Xue Hongmei's sword between two fingers before it reached Chen Jin, leaving her and Ma Long astonished.

After Chen Jin killed Yan Hui in the Sword Competition, the elders brought him to the council courtyard to question him. He explained that he had formed an ice soul sword seed, but Xue Hongmei rejected his claim that Yan Hui’s death was accidental.

• Grand Elder Yao Wuya ended the Sword Competition, ordered the disciples to return to their lodgings, and sealed the Lower Court’s mountain.
• Yao Wuya brought Chen Jin to the council courtyard, where all seven elders questioned him about killing Yan Hui.
• Chen Jin said Yan Hui’s sword momentum had suppressed him, so he feigned weakness before striking with sword light from his sword seed.
• Chen Jin revealed that he had dispersed his damaged cultivation and formed an ice soul sword seed with help from Qin Jianyuan, who confirmed his account and described facing a Xuanming Old Turtle.
• Yao Wuya asked Chen Jin to manifest his sword seed, and Chen Jin showed the elders its cold, faintly glowing presence.
• Chen Jin claimed he had killed Yan Hui accidentally because he lacked control, and Xue Hongmei rose in anger to call his explanation nonsense.

After Yan Hui died in a sword-platform duel with Chen Jin, the elders debated whether Chen Jin had deliberately killed her or made an unintended mistake. They agreed to question his heart, while Chen Jin waited under guard in the side hall.

• Xue Hongmei accused Qin Jianyuan of claiming Yan Hui deserved to die, and Yao Wuya sent Chen Jin to await orders in the side hall.
• Chen Jin bowed to the shrine, sat on a rush cushion, and fell asleep as the acolytes guarded the door.
• Ma Long recounted that Yan Hui had pressured Chen Jin during the duel, but Chen Jin's final attack came too quickly for him to intervene.
• Xue Hongmei argued that Chen Jin had planned Yan Hui's death, while Qin Jianyuan maintained that Chen Jin had fought to win and that the death was accidental.
• Ma Long and Sun Yiming supported questioning Chen Jin's heart, and Yao Wuya approved the inquiry despite Qin Jianyuan's protest.

Chen Jin resisted a Heart Questioning illusion that tried to make him regret killing Yan Hui, insisting that his conscience was clear. The technique failed, ending the elders’ investigation into Yan Hui’s assassination.

• Qin Jianyuan told Chen Jin that the elders had unanimously decided to subject him to Heart Questioning and urged him to confess what he was hiding.
• Chen Jin noticed that the Qin Jianyuan before him cast no shadow, then recognized the questioning as an illusion that probed his memories and decisions.
• The illusion made Chen Jin reconsider how he had killed Yan Hui, but he reaffirmed that avenging himself at the Sword Competition had been the right choice for him.
• Chen Jin declared that he had done nothing wrong, and the patriarch’s illusion crumbled as dawn broke.
• Yao Wuya and the others saw the Heart Questioning treasure shatter, while Xue Hongmei realized the investigation into Yan Hui’s assassination was over.

After the Heart-Questioning Mirror shattered, the elders sentenced Chen Jin to exile and ended the Sword Competition. Qin Jianyuan saw Chen Jin off as he left the mountain to visit home, while Liu Chen hurried after him.

• Yao Wujian and the elders received the Upper Court's order to exile Chen Jin for ten years, and decided to end the Sword Competition after the disciple's death.
• Qin Jianyuan told Chen Jin about the exile and encouraged him to go forward without fear or regret; Chen Jin said he planned to visit home and leave immediately.
• Chen Jin said goodbye to Huang Mengliang and Ye Tong, asking Huang Mengliang to pick the peaches in his courtyard when they ripened.
• The Lower Court lifted its mountain closure as Chen Jin passed the gate, where Old Ye wished him a safe journey.
• Liu Chen hurried after Chen Jin as he reached the foot of the mountain.

Chen Jin left Stream Mountain for his hometown after learning Yuan Bai had fled into the mountains, and he carved “Gao City” into the old banyan tree as a message. Weeks later, Yuan Bai returned, recognized the characters as a message from Chen Jin, and began memorizing them so it could learn where he had gone.

• Liu Chen asked Chen Jin what Yan Hui had really been and vowed to challenge him fairly one day.
• Chen Jin searched around Xi Prefecture for Yuan Bai and learned that people had driven it into the deep mountains.
• Chen Jin heard that the Yan Household was doomed and that Stream Mountain had become desolate, then carved “Gao City” into the banyan tree before leaving for home.
• Weeks later, Yuan Bai returned to Stream Mountain in the rain and found Chen Jin’s message carved into the tree.
• Yuan Bai recognized the characters as Chen Jin’s message and carefully memorized them so it could ask someone what they meant.

A disguised swordsman exposed a white-browed Daoist’s illusion of a pear tree and killed him before the travelers could eat the tainted fruit. After the others left, the swordsman revealed himself as Chen Jin and stopped the frightened scholar from leaving.

• A white-browed Daoist planted a pear core and used magic to make it appear to grow into a fruit-laden tree, enticing the travelers to eat.
• A coarse-clothed swordsman warned everyone not to eat the pears and shattered the illusion, revealing rotten wood and filth.
• The Daoist attacked the swordsman, who killed him, and the travelers fled before cautiously returning to retrieve their belongings.
• The swordsman ordered the travelers to bury the corpse and clean the pavilion, then allowed them to leave.
• The fair-faced scholar remained behind, and the swordsman revealed his aged face as Chen Jin before pressing him back down as he tried to leave.

Chen Jin sheltered Ning Sanlang, questioned him about Gao City, and gave him water infused with a potent pill. After the rain began as Chen Jin had predicted, Ning Sanlang suspected he had met an immortal, but Chen Jin had disappeared.

• Chen Jin persuaded Ning Sanlang to rest in the pavilion and asked him about his name and Gao City's troubles.
• Ning Sanlang told Chen Jin what he knew about the county and drank water Chen Jin offered him.
• The medicinal water restored Ning Sanlang's strength but caused him to urgently relieve himself.
• Ning Sanlang thanked Chen Jin and left for the city after Chen Jin allowed him to go.
• Thunder and heavy rain arrived, prompting Ning Sanlang to return to the pavilion and suspect Chen Jin was an immortal, but Chen Jin had vanished.