Chapter Summaries

Ji Wuchang agreed to spare Wei Zongyao, Wei Haijing, and Zhang Ziheng in exchange for spirit stones after Li Xueqin intervened, then left with her. The Royal City Imperial Guard covered up the battle, but cultivators continued to speculate about Ji Wuchang’s identity and his connection to the Ninth Princess.

• Li Xueqin offered spirit stones to stop Ji Wuchang from killing Wei Zongyao, Wei Haijing, and Zhang Ziheng, and Ji Wuchang demanded one million low-grade spirit stones for the three of them.
• Li Xueqin gave Ji Wuchang a storage ring and ordered the three men to deliver another five hundred thousand low-grade spirit stones each to her residence.
• Li Xueqin left with Ji Wuchang, while onlookers wondered why the Zuo Family had not appeared and noticed that Li Xiaoyuan was gone.
• The Royal City Imperial Guard arrived, dispersed the crowd, and repaired the damaged square as an Attendant of the dynasty warned cultivators not to discuss the incident.
• Cultivators continued privately speculating about Ji Wuchang, with some suggesting that he was the prince consort chosen by the Ninth Princess.

Ji Wuchang explained to Li Xueqin why he had killed members of the Zuo and Zhang Families and the Royal City Imperial Guard, while she warned him that the Thousand-City Battle would bring powerful enemies. He welcomed the prospect of fighting them, leaving Li Xueqin exasperated as she ordered him to stay at her residence and focus on cultivation.

• Li Xueqin confronted Ji Wuchang about the uproar he had caused in Yingtian Prefecture, and he calmly recounted how his opponents had attacked him first.
• Li Xueqin considered how the Zuo Family's defeat and her allies affected the struggle for the throne, then warned Ji Wuchang that the Queen might hold him responsible for killing royal guards and members of great families.
• Li Xueqin told Ji Wuchang that the Thousand-City Battle in ten days would pit him against powerful families and sects, including members of the Zuo Family in the Nine Stars Sect.
• Ji Wuchang said he welcomed having many enemies to fight and would slaughter anyone who joined forces against him.
• Li Xueqin gave up trying to persuade Ji Wuchang, ordered him to remain at her residence, and told him to focus on cultivation.

Ji Wuchang entered a cultivation chamber while Queen Zuo Chun and Li Shangwang discussed the killing of the Zuo Family ancestor and the Thousand Star Flame. The Nine Stars Sect arrived at the mourning Zuo Family estate, where Zuo Tianwei greeted Elder Dong.

• Ji Wuchang accepted Zhao Lianpeng’s offer and followed him to the cultivation chamber.
• Zuo Chun learned that Li Shangwang could find no trace of the person who killed the Zuo Family’s ancestor and suspected Ji Wuchang had powerful protectors.
• Zuo Chun decided the dynasty would not intervene if the Nine Stars Sect made trouble over the ancestor’s death.
• Dang Huihan, Zuo Yilin, Dong Yiming, and other Nine Stars Sect disciples arrived at the Zuo Family estate.
• Zuo Yilin reunited with Zuo Tianwei, who bowed to greet Elder Dong.

Ji Wuchang broke through to the Six Spirits Realm Sixth Level, perfected Heaven-Treading Steps, and used a Reincarnation Dream Experience Card to learn the Soul Annihilation Technique. Meanwhile, Dong Yiming warned Zuo Tianwei to abandon his feud with Ji Wuchang, leaving the Zuo Family’s next move uncertain.

• Zuo Yilin vowed to avenge her slain younger brother, and Dang Huihan promised to help her kill Ji Wuchang.
• Dong Yiming warned Zuo Tianwei that the person who killed the Zuo Family ancestor was too powerful to oppose and said he would not interfere in the secret-realm contest.
• Ji Wuchang used three years of cultivation to break through to the Six Spirits Realm Sixth Level, then brought Heaven-Treading Steps to grand perfection, strengthening his Azure Dragon Tyrant Leg Art.
• Ji Wuchang used a Reincarnation Dream Experience Card and witnessed an old man combine remnant souls with Divine Soul Spikes to create the Soul Annihilation Technique.
• Ji Wuchang awoke from the dream with the Soul Annihilation Technique in his mind and laughed in delight.

Ji Wuchang completed the Soul Annihilation Technique and learned that the Thousand-City Battle had been moved up because the Thousand Star Flame was becoming unstable. Ji Zhiyi arrived in Yingtian Prefecture to participate and meet Ji Wuchang, while the competition was set to take place in a dangerous newly discovered world.

• Ji Wuchang perfected the Soul Annihilation Technique during five years of cultivation and emerged from seclusion after breaking through.
• Ji Zhiyi, Ji Yunshu, and Ji Zhaojin entered Yingtian Prefecture, where Ji Zhiyi decided to register for the Thousand-City Battle without contacting Ji Boshang.
• Ji Yunshu recognized Ji Bofu but concealed his recognition, while Ji Bofu thought he had mistaken someone for a familiar face.
• Zhao Lianpeng congratulated Ji Wuchang on his breakthrough and told him the Thousand-City Battle would begin in three days instead of on its original date.
• Zhao Lianpeng explained that the Thousand Star Flame had mutated, prompting the Queen to move up the battle so its winner could subdue it.
• Zhao Lianpeng told Ji Wuchang the battle would take place in a newly discovered world containing precious medicinal herbs and more than ten peak sixth-rank ferocious beasts.

Ji Wuchang went shopping with Zhao Lianpeng while Jia Yi recovered from her poison and accepted a new path under Li Xiaoyuan's guidance. At Wu's Treasure Storing Pavilion, Ji Wuchang asked Shopkeeper Wu for the most potent poison he could find.

• Zhao Lianpeng told Ji Wuchang that Zhou Haotian had arrived in Yingtian Prefecture, but Ji Wuchang chose not to visit him before the Thousand-City Battle.
• Ji Wuchang set out to shop with Zhao Lianpeng and four guards from the Ninth Princess's residence.
• Li Xiaoyuan cleared nearly all the bloodline-withering poison from Jia Yi, whose cultivation rose to the Dao Severing Realm Third Level.
• Jia Yi thanked Li Xiaoyuan for saving her, and he promised to teach her a Li Family technique and take her back to the Li Family after the battle.
• Ji Wuchang entered Wu's Treasure Storing Pavilion and asked Shopkeeper Wu for highly poisonous items, then went to wait in a soundproof VIP room.

Ji Wuchang bought corpse poison and supreme resentful demon blood from Shopkeeper Wu, recognizing the blood as a sign that survivors of the Demonic Dao First-Rank Hall were nearby. After paying for information, he left to pursue the injured old man who had sold the blood.

• Shopkeeper Wu showed Ji Wuchang two ordinary poisons, but Ji Wuchang rejected them as useless against cultivators.
• Shopkeeper Wu revealed corpse poison and a sealed drop of supreme resentful demon blood, and Ji Wuchang reacted with killing intent when he recognized it.
• Ji Wuchang bought both items for three hundred thousand low-grade spirit stones.
• Ji Wuchang paid Shopkeeper Wu another hundred thousand low-grade spirit stones for information about the blood's seller.
• Shopkeeper Wu said an injured old man had sold the blood ten days earlier and was staying at 390 Long Source Street.
• Ji Wuchang thanked Shopkeeper Wu and left Wu's Treasure Storing Pavilion with Zhao Lianpeng.

Ji Wuchang infiltrated the home of Duan Ze, a surviving member of the Demonic Dao First-Rank Hall, intending to obtain his Supreme Resentful Demon Blood. Duan Ze asked to reconcile and claimed the hall had been destroyed, and Ji Wuchang agreed to consider peace after receiving a substantial gift and verifying his account.

• Ji Wuchang sensed danger from the veiled Ji Zhiyi outside Wu's Treasure Storing Pavilion, then told Zhao Lianpeng he planned to strike first against the people he suspected were after him.
• Ji Wuchang went alone to Number 390, Long Source Street, slipped through its defensive barrier, and found a Dao Severing Realm First Level old man inside.
• A venomous black snake attacked Ji Wuchang, and the old man, Duan Ze, revealed that he knew Ji Wuchang was there.
• Duan Ze said the Demonic Dao First-Rank Hall had been wiped out, that its members had been forced to attack Ji Wuchang, and that he wanted to settle their grudge.
• Ji Wuchang agreed to consider ending the feud if Duan Ze's gift was worthwhile and said he would investigate the hall's destruction; Duan Ze gave him a storage ring, and Ji Wuchang disappeared after looking inside.

Ji Wuchang prepared more than a hundred flying needles with supreme resentful demon blood, while Ji Yunshu and five Ji Family members plotted to kill him during the Battle of a Thousand Cities. Ji Yunshu suspected Ji Wuchang was undergoing the Ji Family's Dragon Refining and warned that such survivors could become exceptionally powerful.

• Ji Wuchang examined Duan Ze's storage ring, finding supreme resentful demon blood, an ancient map to sect ruins in Heavenly Sword Province, and a jade slip describing it.
• Ji Wuchang infused more than a hundred flying needles with traces of supreme resentful demon blood, completing the new killing move after four hours.
• Ji Yunshu met Ji Long, Ji Botong, Ji Bofu, Ji Yongxing, and Ji Keguan in Yingtian Prefecture and reviewed Ji Wuchang's known strength.
• Ji Yunshu gave Ji Long a small sword containing a trace of a Supreme's presence and ordered the group to kill Ji Wuchang during the Battle of a Thousand Cities.
• Ji Yunshu explained that Ji Wuchang might be undergoing Dragon Refining, a dangerous Ji Family tradition, and described how Ji Zhengjie had returned from it powerful enough to defeat Ji Zhiyi.

Ji Wuchang prepared for the Thousand-City Battle as factions gathered in Yingtian Prefecture, while Ji Boshang and Ji Yongming dealt with threats within the Ji Family. After paying a large sum for the Heavenly Pole Lingzhi, Ji Wuchang saw the approaching secret realm battle as a chance to collect protection fees and rebuild his funds.

• Ji Yunshu told Ji Botong and the others that he had not fought Yu Ling and might not match him until his constitution awakened, then left before Zhiyi grew suspicious.
• Ji Boshang warned Ji Yongming that the Ji Family's branch factions needed to be dealt with and left to confront old enemies following them.
• Two days later, factions and more than a thousand competitors gathered in Yingtian Prefecture for the Thousand-City Battle and the Thousand Star Flame.
• Gan Yue, Xie Zhen, and Bu Yixian asked Ji Wuchang to protect them in the secret realm, and Bu Yixian offered a hundred thousand low-grade spirit stones each.
• Ji Wuchang recalled spending thirteen million low-grade spirit stones to obtain the Heavenly Pole Lingzhi and decided to earn more by collecting protection fees.
• A calm-looking figure approached Ji Wuchang and the gathered competitors.

Ji Wuchang sized up the powerful factions and the Heavenly Star Dynasty’s contenders before Li Xueqin pressured him to secure first place in the Thousand-City Battle. As Hu Baojian arrived to open the training grounds, Ji Wuchang prepared to enter the secret realm and pursue a golden token.

• Ji Wuchang saw Jia Yi had advanced to the Dao Severing Realm fourth level and noticed that the mark between her brows had vanished.
• Gan Yue, Xie Zhen, and Bu Yixian identified the factions gathered for the battle, including the Nine Stars Sect and its formidable leader, Dang Huihan.
• Ji Wuchang spotted Ji Zhiyi and Ji Yunshu, sensed danger from them, and resolved to create more puppet clones inside the secret realm.
• Li Xueqin arrived with the dynasty’s contenders and told Ji Wuchang she would provide the Heavenly Pole Lingzhi only if he helped her secure first place.
• Li Xueqin explained that contestants had to seize one of ten golden tokens and reach the exit to enter the dynasty’s royal secret realm.
• Hu Baojian announced that he would open the training grounds for the Thousand-City Battle.

Ji Wuchang entered the Thousand-City Battle realm and discovered a depleted world where villagers feared cultivators. After protecting the villagers’ hiding place, he reached a town and began investigating why the Heavenly Star Dynasty held its trial in this abandoned star domain.

• Ji Wuchang found a village whose elders mistook him for a murderous immortal cultivator and directed him toward a town northeast of the village.
• After Ji Wuchang left, the villagers fled to a cave and sealed its entrance with a boulder.
• Ji Wuchang explored the cave, found a nearly dried-up spirit pool, and concluded that the realm was likely an abandoned lower plane.
• Ji Wuchang concealed the cave entrance with a barrier and erased the villagers’ footprints before setting off to find the other participants.
• Ji Wuchang reached a large town, sensed tens of thousands of residents and several cultivators, and wondered what hidden reason lay behind the Thousand-City Battle being held there.

Ji Wuchang witnessed a Dao Severing Realm cultivator absorb a strange presence from murdered martial artists and break through, then killed him with the Soul Annihilation Technique. Ji Wuchang escaped to a forest with the man’s nearly shattered remnant soul, while members of the Nine Stars Sect discovered the body and vowed to investigate.

• A Dao Severing Realm Second Level man killed three martial artists and absorbed a strange presence from their bodies, advancing to the Dao Severing Realm Third Level.
• The newly advanced man demanded Ji Wuchang’s storage ring and ordered him to serve, so Ji Wuchang challenged him.
• Ji Wuchang used the Soul Annihilation Technique to crack the man’s Primordial Spirit, then seized the remnant soul and storage ring before vanishing.
• Several cultivators arrived, recognized the dead man as Liao Aohan of the Nine Stars Sect, and discussed how the sect would pursue the killer.
• Ji Wuchang appeared in a forest outside the city and regretted using the technique at full strength, explaining that he had reduced its power to preserve the remnant soul.

After killing Liao Aohan, Ji Wuchang learned that cultivators from the Heavenly Chen Continent were hunting martial artists on the Primordial Chaos Continent to harvest their Martial Dao Law. He reached Jing City and, after killing Liu Chanyan for barring his way into a teahouse near the Zhang Family residence, challenged anyone else to stop him.

• Ji Wuchang searched Liao Aohan's damaged Primordial Spirit, learned the Primordial Chaos Continent's history and the factions' purpose, and watched the spirit shatter.
• Ji Wuchang found that his jade token had not detected Gan Yue, Han Guang, or Jia Yi, then traveled to Jing City.
• Ji Wuchang learned that Zhang Weiyuan was retiring from the martial world on his seventieth birthday and suspected cultivators were waiting to prey on the Zhang Family's guests.
• Ji Wuchang approached the teahouse beside the Zhang residence, where Liu Chanyan insulted him and tried to keep him out.
• Ji Wuchang killed Liu Chanyan with one strike, took his storage ring, and warned the teahouse's cultivators not to block him.

Ji Wuchang killed Guo Zixuan with a flying needle coated in Supreme Resentful Demon Blood, terrifying everyone in the teahouse. He took a seat there while Lü Chenghao silently planned to seek help from Dang Huihan, and people continued arriving at the nearby Zhang Residence.

• Guo Zixuan attacked Ji Wuchang with the Red Oak Sect's Cloud-Intercepting Finger, and Lü Chenghao warned her as he fired Sword Qi at Ji Wuchang.
• Ji Wuchang used his speed and a poisoned flying needle to make Guo Zixuan's body and Primordial Spirit rot away, then gained 899 Fortune Points.
• Lü Chenghao and the other teahouse patrons were too frightened to challenge Ji Wuchang, who entered and claimed a table by the window.
• Lü Chenghao resolved to tell Dang Huihan about Ji Wuchang when he met him, while groups of people from the jianghu arrived at the Zhang Residence.

Cultivators gathered to seize the Zhang estate for its martial dao origin, and Ji Wuchang watched as rival groups converged there. The chapter ended with Zhan Shaohui proposing that his weaker group and Fang Xiaoping’s group divide the estate, despite expecting Fang Xiaoping to refuse.

• Fang Xiaoping proposed that the teahouse group stop admitting cultivators and claim the Zhang estate, and Ji Wuchang agreed.
• Bai Qianqian and Qin Meng arrived, were warned to leave, and departed before heading toward the Zhang estate with another group.
• Fang Xiaoping led more than thirty cultivators toward the estate, while Ji Wuchang sensed another group approaching it.
• The groups met at the estate’s entrance, where Zhan Shaohui identified himself as a member of the Heavenly Leisure Sect and proposed splitting the Zhang estate with Fang Xiaoping’s group.

Li Chengpeng and two royal family cultivators arrived at Zhang Weiyuan’s golden-basin retirement ceremony, where their presence alarmed the Zhang residence and its guests. As the cultivators entered and threatened the gathering, Zhang Weiyuan secretly arranged for Zhang Shou to take the Zhang Family’s three young masters through a hidden passage.

• Li Chengpeng arrived with two Dao Severing Realm cultivators, and Fang Xiaoping recognized him as a talented member of the Heavenly Star Dynasty’s royal family.
• Fang Xiaoping invited Li Chengpeng into the Zhang residence but tried to exclude Zhan Shaohui, who was unwilling to give up the chance to condense martial essence.
• Zhang Weiyuan hurried out to greet the cultivators, realizing that his retirement ceremony would not end peacefully as Li Chengpeng, Fang Xiaoping, and Zhan Shaohui eyed him greedily.
• Li Chengpeng led the group into the Zhang residence and mocked the gathering of more than a thousand martial artists.
• Zhang Weiyuan secretly signaled a trusted servant to evacuate the Zhang Family’s young masters, and Zhang Shou led the three boys through a concealed passage to a courtyard far from the residence.

Fang Xiaoping and the Heavenly Star Dynasty cultivators attacked the gathering at the Zhang Residence, killing martial artists and endangering the children Zhang Weiyuan had been trying to protect. Ji Wuchang stepped in to save the remaining children, but a Dao Severing Realm cultivator ordered him to kneel and kowtow.

• A man killed Zhang Shou and absorbed the peculiar Qi from his body.
• Fang Xiaoping killed Zheng Xiao and absorbed his peculiar Qi when Zheng Xiao tried to leave the gathering.
• Two men returned with three children, and one dropped a child from the air, breaking the boy’s leg before Zhang Weiyuan treated him.
• Ji Wuchang flew forward and demanded that the two men release the children or die.
• One of the men insulted Ji Wuchang and ordered him to kneel and kowtow, while Zhan Shaohui watched with a cold smile.

Ji Wuchang killed Feng Mochen and Gong Yifan while rescuing the Zhang Family children, then faced Zhan Shaohui and four Heavenly Leisure Sect cultivators. As fighting spread through the Zhang Residence, Ji Wuchang struck at a Dao Severing Realm Third Level opponent with the Vajra Sword Art.

• Ji Wuchang killed Feng Mochen with the Jade Shattering Finger, took his storage ring, and rescued the child he had been holding.
• Zhan Shaohui and four Heavenly Leisure Sect cultivators surrounded Ji Wuchang and attacked him.
• Fang Xiaoping ordered his followers to kill the martial artists as people fled, and violence erupted throughout the Zhang Residence.
• Ji Wuchang killed Gong Yifan and lowered the child he had been holding safely to the ground.
• Ji Wuchang vanished from Zhan Shaohui's reach and attacked a Dao Severing Realm Third Level cultivator with the Vajra Sword Art.

Ji Wuchang used the Vajra Sword Art and the Great Seal of Ten Thousand Ferocities to kill Chen Ruoting and the other cultivators who had accompanied Zhan Shaohui. After crippling Zhan Shaohui, he faced six more enemies who had joined forces to attack him.

• Ji Wuchang killed Chen Ruoting with the Vajra Sword Art and devoured his Primordial Spirit with the Great Seal of Ten Thousand Ferocities.
• Ji Wuchang struck Zhan Shaohui with Heart-Treading Steps, cut down two of his split-soul clones, and severed his left foot with an iron chain.
• Ji Wuchang killed Wu Jinxi and the two remaining cultivators who had followed Zhan Shaohui.
• Li Chengpeng confronted Ji Wuchang, while Lü Chenghao and two others called for a joint attack.
• Three more cultivators took positions behind Ji Wuchang, leaving him surrounded by six enemies, including a Dao Severing Realm Fifth Level cultivator.