Chapter Summaries

Wang Hao defeated Black Mountain Old Devil and his senior brother, but a Western Regions attacker wounded him with a sinister palm and escaped after sacrificing an arm. The attacker grafted on the senior brother’s arm and began transforming, revealing that he practiced the Beast Taming Palace’s Myriad Beasts Devil Cultivation Method.

• Black Mountain Old Devil and his senior brother lured Wang Hao toward the edge of the battle and unleashed their strongest attacks, but Wang Hao evaded them and struck both with Impermanence Sword Qi.
• The man from the Western Regions struck Wang Hao with a silent palm while Eunuch Chen and the others kept the Confucian School fighters engaged.
• Wang Hao trapped the attacker in his sword light, but the man severed his own arm to escape with the wounded senior brother, leaving Black Mountain Old Devil behind.
• Wang Hao stayed to heal his injuries as the old woman blocked his pursuit, and the man from the Western Regions used a Secret Method to graft the senior brother’s arm onto his shoulder.
• The man from the Western Regions transformed the grafted arm, and Wang Hao recognized the Myriad Beasts Devil Cultivation Method and identified him as a member of the Beast Taming Palace.

Wang Hao used the enhanced Imperial Dragon Divine Fist and Shock Force to defeat the mutated man from the Western Regions, then turned to fight the old woman who had aided him. The old woman met Wang Hao’s attack with a desperate, full-strength blow.

• Wang Hao recognized that the man from the Western Regions had used a Secret Method to seize the power of the Myriad Beasts Devil Cultivation Method and mutate his body.
• Wang Hao abandoned Impermanence Swordsmanship and used the enhanced Imperial Dragon Divine Fist to fight the man from the Western Regions.
• Wang Hao infused his punches with Shock Force, cracked the man’s mutated arm, and broke it despite the man’s recovery Secret Method.
• Wang Hao crippled the man from the Western Regions and handed him to the ten Eastern Depot experts, who bound and knocked him unconscious.
• Wang Hao attacked the old woman for covering for the man, and she answered with a fierce strike powered by all her cultivation.

Wang Hao defeated the old woman after evading her Divine Sense attack, then watched the Confucian School’s ancient swords break Eunuch Chen’s formation. He encouraged Eunuch Chen and his companions to continue training in the Ten Strong Martial Arts as the two sides’ clash remained unresolved.

• The old woman’s crane-headed staff struck Wang Hao with a Divine Sense attack, but his True Spirit Sword Intent restored his awareness before she could finish him.
• Wang Hao used the Impermanence Movement Method and Sword Qi to cripple the old woman, and Eastern Depot experts shackled and dragged her away.
• The Confucian School’s eight members powered up their ancient swords and used the Eight Extremes Sword Formation to break through Eunuch Chen’s Ten Directions Certain Kill Great Formation.
• Wang Hao reassured Eunuch Chen and his companions, then urged them to master the Ten Strong Martial Arts so their formation could grow stronger.

Wang Hao tested the Confucian School’s Eight Extremes Sword Formation while Eunuch Chen and the others empowered him with the Ten Directions Certain Kill Great Formation. After learning its secrets and turning the fight against the eight Confucian School members, he faced their Shatter the Firmament attack.

• Wang Hao ordered Eunuch Chen and the other nine to reform the Ten Directions Certain Kill Great Formation, then challenged the Confucian School’s Eight Extremes Sword Formation and bluffed that they had lost Master Kong’s Eight Rows Sword Formation.
• Wang Hao entered the Eight Extremes Sword Formation and used the Ten Directions Certain Kill Great Formation’s support to fight the eight Confucian School members while studying their techniques.
• Wang Hao’s attacks exposed flaws in the formation, so the eight Confucian School members unleashed Suppress Heaven and Earth, but Wang Hao emerged outside with only a cut in his sleeve.
• Wang Hao conjured sixteen figures and attacked the eight Confucian School members from outside their formation, leaving them bloodied and on the defensive.
• The Confucian School members unleashed Shatter the Firmament, combining their eight streams of Sword Qi into a giant eight-colored blade that shattered two of Wang Hao’s illusory figures and struck the ground.

Wang Hao survived the Confucian School’s Shatter the Firmament strike, forcing its eight sword-wielding heirs to retreat. He refused to pursue them, then hinted at a future plan to obtain their ancient swords and began explaining divine weapons to Zhu Yijun, Princess Shaoyang, and the others.

• Wang Hao praised Shatter the Firmament after dodging its attack, while the eight Confucian School heirs fled after exhausting much of their strength.
• The Confucian School heirs suspected Zhu Yanzu had used an overseas secret method to raise ten imperial women to the Innate Realm and resolved to report their suspicions to their ancestors.
• Eunuch Chen and the other nine urged Wang Hao to pursue the retreating heirs, but Wang Hao refused to risk provoking the Confucian School’s Peak Xiantian Grandmasters.
• Zhu Yijun questioned Wang Hao’s decision to let the heirs escape, and Wang Hao said he would expose their unfinished divine weapons to the Tribulation Lords of the Ten Directions.
• Princess Shaoyang and the others asked Wang Hao about divine weapons, and he began explaining their rarity and spirituality.

After returning to Jinling, Wang Hao interrogated the defeated Western Regions fighters, collected their martial arts manuals, and began planning how to draw out more hidden experts. He then heard weapons clashing in the temporary palace and went to see the Third Prince and Eunuch Chen’s group practicing.

• The martial artists who witnessed Zhu Yanzu’s victory left in awe, while the Mount Song and Mount Tai Sword Sects feared the consequences of his strength.
• Wang Hao hypnotized the Western Regions man and the old woman to learn about their martial inheritances, then killed them.
• Wang Hao examined dozens of manuals, including five Innate ultimate techniques, and considered upgrading the arts to attract secluded experts seeking powerful techniques.
• Wang Hao decided to postpone upgrading the manuals until his Qi Refinement cultivation reached the Innate Realm.
• Wang Hao heard weapons clashing near a palace gate and went to watch the Third Prince and Eunuch Chen’s group practice.

Wang Hao discovered that Eunuch Chen and the others had developed breasts through Celestial Person Transformation, prompting Princess Shaoyang to ask to practice the Sunflower Manual. He agreed to assess her constitution and consider modifying the method, while Zhu Yijun mistook her embarrassment for proof that she had fallen for Wang Hao.

• Wang Hao entered the palace arena and found Eunuch Chen and the others sparring while brocade-clad youths cheered for them, leaving Princess Shaoyang resentful at being overshadowed.
• Zhu Yijun explained that Jinling's influential families had sent the youths after they saw Eunuch Chen and the others fight outside the city.
• Wang Hao noticed the women's chests had begun to develop, and Zhu Yijun said the change followed their gathering big-breasted palace maids.
• Princess Shaoyang asked Zhu Yijun to let her practice the Sunflower Manual, and Wang Hao agreed to consider modifying it after examining her constitution.
• Princess Shaoyang mistakenly began to undress for the examination, but Wang Hao told her to hold out her wrist instead.
• Zhu Yijun decided that his sister had fallen for Wang Hao and planned to discuss marrying her off with their father.

Wang Hao discovered that Princess Shaoyang Zhu Yunlu’s balanced Yin and Yang constitution suited the Dao Classic, a supreme art he planned to create and use to draw out Taoist sects. After considering Zhu Yijun’s Six Yang Physique, Wang Hao found a different cultivation system for him and began introducing the story of Yin Shang and King Zhou.

• Wang Hao examined Zhu Yunlu and said her constitution suited the Dao Classic, which he intended to create from Taoist teachings.
• Wang Hao told Zhu Yunlu he would invite an overseas Taoist inheritor to the Central Plains and urged her to cultivate the Body Tempering True Scripture until she developed Innate Qi.
• Zhu Yijun asked Wang Hao to assess his constitution, and Wang Hao identified him as having a Six Yang Physique.
• After considering Zhu Yijun’s strengths and weaknesses, Wang Hao decided on a cultivation system suited to him.
• Wang Hao asked Zhu Yijun what he knew about Yin Shang and King Zhou, beginning another tale.

Wang Hao told Zhu Yijun and Zhu Yunlu that Qi and Blood Martial Dao had once rivaled Qi cultivation before its inheritance was driven from the Central Plains. He offered Zhu Yijun the Blood Sacrifice Instruction while warning that the path would make him grow several zhang tall, and Zhu Yunlu agreed on his behalf.

• Zhu Yunlu recognized the legend of King Zhou of Shang dragging nine oxen and holding up a beam, and Wang Hao claimed the oxen had been powerful exotic beasts.
• Eunuch Chen revealed that a giant black python lived in the lake near the old ancestor's temporary palace, and Wang Hao said modern exotic beasts had weakened bloodlines.
• Wang Hao described the ancient rivalry between Qi and Blood Martial Dao and Qi refiners, claiming that Great Shang had preserved the former before Zhou severed its inheritance in the Central Plains.
• Wang Hao said remnants of Great Shang might survive overseas and offered Zhu Yijun the Blood Sacrifice Instruction to awaken his Bloodline Power.
• Wang Hao warned that advanced Qi and Blood Martial Dao cultivation would make Zhu Yijun grow two or three zhang tall, and Zhu Yunlu agreed that he should pursue the inheritance despite his dismay.

Wang Hao and his companions returned to the Great Ming capital after a voyage during which Zhu Yijun and Zhu Yunlu prepared to awaken their Bloodline Power. The Wheel-Turning King welcomed them after reaching the Innate Realm, while Wang Hao kept Eunuch Chen and the others’ identities secret.

• At the port in Jinling, young men in brocade reluctantly bid farewell to Eunuch Chen and the others, and the fleet departed for the capital.
• Wang Hao explained the Blood Sacrifice Instruction and the original Bloodline Power awakening method to Zhu Yijun, and Zhu Yunlu chose the original method for them to use after she strengthened her external cultivation.
• Zhu Yunlu trained with Wang Hao’s Body Tempering True Scripture while Zhu Yijun took medicinal decoctions and practiced a body-refining method; Eunuch Chen and the others also trained in the Foundation Establishment arts.
• More than half a month later, the fleet reached the capital, where the Wheel-Turning King welcomed Wang Hao and revealed that he had reached the Early-stage Innate Realm through his own efforts.
• The Wheel-Turning King asked about the ten beauties accompanying Wang Hao, but Wang Hao deferred explaining their identities until they met Emperor Mingde and the old ancestor.

Wang Hao explained his plans for Zhu Yunlu and Zhu Yijun to Zhu Yuanzhang, securing Zhu Yuanzhang’s help in arranging Yunlu’s chance to inherit the Dao Classic. He then proposed that Yijun inherit the Qi and Blood Martial Dao, leaving Zhu Yuanzhang, Emperor Mingde, and the Wheel-Turning King unfamiliar with the art.

• Zhu Yuanzhang recognized Eunuch Chen and the other eunuchs after they had transformed into women, and they corrected Wang Hao by saying Chen’s new name was Chen Yushuang before withdrawing.
• Zhu Yuanzhang questioned Wang Hao’s interest in Zhu Yunlu, and Wang Hao explained that her balanced Yin and Yang Qi made her suited to the Dao Classic.
• After examining Zhu Yunlu, Zhu Yuanzhang agreed to ask Zhang Sanfeng to teach her and help her pursue the Dao Classic.
• Wang Hao said Zhu Yijun should inherit the Qi and Blood Martial Dao so Great Ming could build an invincible army and steady the realm.
• Zhu Yuanzhang, Emperor Mingde, and the Wheel-Turning King were surprised by the unfamiliar name Qi and Blood Martial Dao.

Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Zhu Yijun to train in Qi and Blood Martial Dao, while Zhu Yijun negotiated a marriage to all thirteen of Wan Sanqian’s daughters. Wang Hao urged the court to delay marriage until age eighteen, and Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Emperor Mingde to enforce the policy across the realm and consider linking it with the spread of martial arts.

• Zhu Yuanzhang decided the Old Zhu Household would learn Qi and Blood Martial Dao and ordered Zhu Yijun to endure brutal training.
• Zhu Yijun asked Emperor Mingde for a marriage edict to Wan Sanqian’s daughters, and Emperor Mingde agreed to issue one for all thirteen.
• Wang Hao argued that people should marry at eighteen, citing cultivation benefits, women’s health, safer childbirth, and improved offspring potential.
• Zhu Yuanzhang accepted Wang Hao’s reasoning and ordered Emperor Mingde to publicize and enforce the age-eighteen marriage policy throughout the realm.
• Emperor Mingde asked whether the policy should be combined with the plan to spread martial arts, and Wang Hao reacted with interest.

Wang Hao discovered that the Black Python had developed mutated Innate Qi in its eyes after Zhu Yuanzhang refined it, and realized its sun-and-moon affinity could help Zhu Yunlu inherit the Dao Classic. He asked Zhu Yuanzhang for a large piece of green jade so he could carve an Ancestral Dragon image for the python to visualize.

• Wang Hao admired Zhu Yuanzhang's plan to spread martial arts throughout the realm, while Zhu Yuanzhang acknowledged the Old Zhu Household lacked enough loyal people to carry it out.
• Wang Hao teased Zhu Yijun about Zhu Yuanzhang's order concerning his thirteen brides, and Zhu Yunlu suggested that he marry them and raise them until they were older.
• The Wheel-Turning King explained that the Black Python emerged each morning to absorb the sun and moon's essence, and Wang Hao questioned how such energy could exist in their world.
• Wang Hao examined the Black Python and identified mutated Innate Qi in its gold and silver eyes; Zhu Yuanzhang explained that he had once refined the python with his own Innate Qi.
• Wang Hao realized the Black Python could help Zhu Yunlu obtain the Dao Classic's inheritance and asked Zhu Yuanzhang to fetch a large piece of green jade.
• Wang Hao planned to carve the Ancestral Dragon's form into the jade so the Black Python could visualize it and potentially evolve toward its ancestral dragon form.

Wang Hao carved an Ancestral Dragon statue for the Black Python and brought the Old Zhu Household’s younger generation together to identify those with strong cultivation potential. He selected more than ten thousand youths and began sorting them by aptitude, starting with the rarest white-stone recipients.

• Wang Hao carved a green Ancestral Dragon statue and told Zhu Yunlu to let the Black Python visualize it so it could develop its divine dragon bloodline.
• Wang Hao asked Emperor Mingde and the Wheel-Turning King to take him to the gathered descendants of the Old Zhu Household before he went to investigate the missing Sword Immortal and Sword God.
• At the imperial estate, Wang Hao used Xiao Mengmeng’s Treasure-Seeking Function to identify more than ten thousand talented youths among the hundred thousand gathered.
• Wang Hao claimed the youths had a ten percent success rate, then distributed stones to the selected boys and girls and dismissed everyone who received none.
• Wang Hao called forward the youths who had received white stones, which marked the highest level of aptitude.

Wang Hao selected nine gifted descendants of the Old Zhu Household and urged the family to train them, while entrusting Zhu Ruoxue to Zhu Yunlu before hurrying away. Zhu Yuanzhang arranged for the youngsters’ training, ordered Wang Hao named Prince Carefree, and tasked Emperor Mingde with pushing Chu Xianhe to break through.

• Wang Hao identified the nine white-stone candidates’ talents and singled out a callused, saber-wielding boy who had comprehended Saber Intent and might reach the Shattering Realm.
• Emperor Mingde ordered an investigation into the boy, but Wang Hao advised that the boy should resolve his own grudge and suggested he learn from the Sword Immortal.
• Wang Hao left Zhu Ruoxue in Zhu Yunlu’s care, then bade farewell to Zhu Yuanzhang, Emperor Mingde, and the Wheel-Turning King before hurrying away.
• Zhu Yuanzhang put the Wheel-Turning King in charge of training the selected descendants and fifty Innate experts, and ordered him to prevent internal rivalries and disloyalty.
• Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Emperor Mingde to maintain supplies, expand the Brocade Guard, announce Wang Hao as Prince Carefree, and press Chu Xianhe to reach the Innate Realm within six months.

Wang Hao settled on an island to refine his alternate identities and study the Longevity Dao Art, then discovered that he had received National Fortune and Fortune from people who learned his martial arts. Xiao Mengmeng explained how Fortune worked and warned that Wang Hao could use it only twice in this world before risking the attention of its Heavenly Mandate.

• Wan Sanqian furiously attacked Zhu Yijun after learning he planned to marry all of Wan Sanqian's daughters, while Zhu Yijun calmly defended himself with his Gang Shield.
• Wang Hao and Xie Feng sailed east and settled temporarily on an island so Wang Hao could prepare his alternate identities and deduce their swordsmanship.
• Wang Hao studied the Longevity Dao Art's Spirit Meditation Method and recognized that it could help him develop a true visualization method for cultivating Divine Sense.
• Xiao Mengmeng told Wang Hao that he had received National Fortune and additional Fortune from people learning martial arts he created.
• Xiao Mengmeng explained that Fortune sustained the system and could help Wang Hao in a crisis, but using it more than twice risked exposing him to the world's consciousness and Heavenly Mandate.

Wang Hao, posing as Ye Gucheng, arranged a martial arts exchange and a purge of corrupt Central Plains forces before the Wheel-Turning King brought Zhu Wudao to him for training. Wang Hao accepted Zhu Wudao as a student and gave him an enormous replica Masamune blade alongside his mother’s saber.

• Wang Hao told Xie Feng to rank local evildoers and offer martial arts manuals as rewards for dealing with them, then hold an exchange at the Mount Tai Sword Sect.
• The Wheel-Turning King arrived with Zhu Wudao and asked Wang Hao to train the youth; Wang Hao agreed and allowed the Wheel-Turning King to accompany them.
• The Wheel-Turning King and Xie Feng discussed cooperating to clear corrupt martial forces around Mount Tai.
• Wang Hao asked Zhu Wudao about his worn saber, learned it had belonged to his mother, and gave him a replica Masamune blade made by Wang Hao.
• Zhu Wudao accepted the huge blade and held it with his mother’s saber, while the Wheel-Turning King wondered how he could wield it.

Wang Hao posed as Ye Gucheng and accepted the Mount Tai Sword Sect’s invitation, warning the sect to punish those who had attacked him. As he traveled to Mount Tai and tested Zhu Wudao, he learned the boy was blind; near the mountain, his search revealed a hidden peak-level Xiantian Grandmaster.

• Daoist Tianmen welcomed Wang Hao as Ye Gucheng, and Wang Hao warned the Mount Tai Sword Sect’s attackers to kill themselves publicly before Wang Hao came for them.
• Wang Hao declined the carriage and used his lightness skill to race toward Mount Tai while Daoist Tianmen’s party followed and sent word to the sect.
• Wang Hao carved the first level of Flying Immortal Steps into a tree and challenged Zhu Wudao to learn it, then discovered Zhu Wudao was blind and abandoned the test.
• Zhu Wudao’s companions read him the technique and helped him practice while Xie Feng and the Wheel-Turning King began sweeping through the region’s martial forces.
• Wang Hao reached Mount Tai and used Xiao Mengmeng’s Treasure-Seeking Function, which detected a peak-level Xiantian Grandmaster nearby.

Wang Hao arrived at the Mount Tai Sword Sect and met its Taoist experts, including a Peak Xiantian Grandmaster. He impressed them with his Divine Sense and Sword Intent, then claimed his Pangu Heaven-Opening Diagram could be exchanged for their cultivation techniques.

• A Peak Xiantian Grandmaster sensed someone watching him and sent Yuzhenzi to welcome the awaited guest at the mountain gate.
• Yuzhenzi and the Mount Tai Sword Sect disciples welcomed Wang Hao, who criticized their weak cultivation before heading to the summit.
• Wang Hao sensed the Taoist experts in the hall and introduced himself as Ye Gucheng, lord of White Cloud City.
• The white-haired old Daoist noticed Wang Hao's powerful Divine Sense and Sword Intent and asked how he had cultivated them.
• Wang Hao described the Pangu Heaven-Opening Diagram and claimed White Cloud City had lost its methods for advancing Divine Sense cultivation.
• The old Daoist offered ten Innate supreme techniques and his Wuji Dao Art to see the diagram, while the middle-aged Daoist objected.

Wang Hao rejected the Taoist School’s offer of martial arts and arranged a duel with Daoist Qingsong for one month later, while preparing to demonstrate the Pangu Heaven-Opening Diagram. He began explaining the Spirit Sea and Innate Divine Sense, leaving Daoist Qingsong angry as he challenged Wang Hao’s account of the Middle Dantian.

• Wang Hao declined an exchange for the Pangu Heaven-Opening Diagram and explained that White Cloud City's ancestor had already spread its first part.
• Wang Hao challenged Daoist Qingsong to a sword fight, but postponed it for a month after saying Qingsong’s heart was in turmoil.
• The white-haired old Daoist accepted the explanation and asked Wang Hao to draw the diagram on ink and a large jade disc.
• Wang Hao sat down and began explaining the three great Dantians and the Spirit Sea to the Taoist masters.
• Daoist Qingsong disputed Wang Hao’s claim that the Middle Dantian represented the heart, and Wang Hao continued his explanation of refining essence into Qi.