Chapter Summaries

Wang Hao prepared for his duel with Han Long, then faced him before the Blood Robe Tower’s leaders and Hou Shangxing. The fight began with Han Long revealing his Mid-Stage Super-First-Rate cultivation and the borrowed Revolving Wheel Sword, leaving Wang Hao in immediate danger.

• Wang Hao trained the External Training Golden Bell Shield and Lightning Straight-Line Step while waiting to fight Han Long.
• Zhao Dachui told Wang Hao that the hall masters and tower master were waiting, and that Hou Shangxing had arrived to watch.
• Wang Hao mocked Hou Shangxing by mistaking him for Han Long’s father, provoking his anger before Han Long entered the training ground.
• Wang Hao sensed that Han Long had reached the Mid-Stage Super-First-Rate level, and Han Long credited Wang Hao with helping him gain a breakthrough opportunity.
• Han Long thrust at Wang Hao with the Revolving Wheel Sword, and the weapon’s tip sank into Wang Hao’s greatsword.
• Zhao Fengxue and Lu Weilou confronted Ye Qingqian and Hou Shangxing over the borrowed sword as Han Long’s attack put Wang Hao at risk.

Wang Hao fought Han Long, adapted to his Torrential Rain Swordsmanship, and exposed a flaw that let him knock Han Long back. Han Long then revealed the Primordial Four Aspects Art, prompting Zhao Fengxue to accuse Fu Lin, Ye Qingqian, and the others of secretly training him, while Wang Hao remained confident he would win.

• Wang Hao and Han Long traded rapid sword blows as Wang Hao used the fight to improve his Ten Stances of Bloody Battle and study Han Long's Torrential Rain Swordsmanship.
• Wang Hao spotted a flaw in Han Long's technique and struck through it, forcing Han Long to retreat and acknowledge that Wang Hao had seen through his swordsmanship.
• Wang Hao urged Han Long to use his full strength, and Han Long unleashed the Primordial Four Aspects Art.
• Zhao Fengxue recognized traces of Fu Lin, Ye Qingqian, and the other two men's power in Han Long and accused them of secretly training him, but they blocked Zhao Fengxue from intervening.
• Zhao Fengxue warned Wang Hao that Han Long's Grandmaster-level method made him dangerous, but Wang Hao refused to concede and declared that he would win.

Wang Hao used the Dao Comprehension Function to withstand Han Long’s full-strength assault and broke through the Ten Stances of Bloody Battle to Transcendent Mastery. He defeated Han Long, who was killed by Zhao Fengxue, while the onlookers began to recognize Wang Hao’s exceptional combat talent and Sword Intent.

• Wang Hao activated the Dao Comprehension Function and fought Han Long’s Four Seasons Sword Instruction on equal terms, astonishing the observers.
• Hou Shangxing and the others considered killing Wang Hao, but Elder Chu warned them to leave the younger generation to settle their own affairs.
• Wang Hao used the battle to cultivate the Ten Stances of Bloody Battle and reached Transcendent Mastery, sensing the Ziwei Soft Sword’s Acquired Spirituality.
• Han Long unleashed his killing move, but Wang Hao used Two Armies Facing Off to knock away his sword and smash his right arm.
• Han Long fled toward Hou Shangxing for help, but Zhao Fengxue killed him with a thrown longsword, and Hou Shangxing did not intervene.

After Wang Hao revealed Sword Intent and killed Han Long, Zhao Fengxue and Lu Weilou sent him away from the capital on a mission to avoid the danger surrounding him. Before leaving, Wang Hao visited Elder Chu, who explained how martial arts reached Transcendent Mastery and warned that Wang Hao still needed a brutal battle to make the Ten Stances of Bloody Battle truly his own.

• Hou Shangxing left after learning Wang Hao had cultivated Sword Intent, while Zhao Fengxue and Lu Weilou worried that Wang Hao’s talent had drawn dangerous attention.
• Zhao Fengxue sent the Revolving Wheel Sword to Elder Chu for safekeeping, angering Ye Qingqian, and Lu Weilou took Wang Hao to the Blood Wind Hall headquarters.
• Zhao Fengxue gave Wang Hao a mission to hunt Tian Boguang and ordered him to leave that day until he reached Super-First-Rate and gained Grandmaster Realm combat strength.
• Wang Hao brought Elder Chu jars of wine at the Martial Repository Pavilion, where Elder Chu praised his rapid breakthrough to Transcendent Mastery and explained how a martial art’s creator influenced its later practitioners.
• Elder Chu revealed that Dugu Qiubai had created the Ten Stances of Bloody Battle especially for Wang Hao, then warned him that he needed a brutal battle to imprint his own identity on the swordsmanship.

Wang Hao escaped the capital’s pursuers and traveled to Baoding Prefecture to hunt Tian Boguang, whom he intended to kill for repeatedly violating women. He found Tian in a restaurant and began questioning him, while Tian grew wary and prepared to strike.

• Wang Hao disguised himself, left the capital with Little Wangcai, and evaded dozens of Super-First-Rate experts who pursued him.
• Wang Hao sheltered in a cave, where he roasted a black bear and watched four wolves flee after failing to bite through his Golden Bell Shield.
• Wang Hao explained that Little Wangcai had awakened a bloodline ability that greatly strengthened his sense of smell, though the husky remained timid around wolves.
• Wang Hao traveled to Baoding Prefecture to pursue Tian Boguang, whose repeated violations of women had prompted the Blood Robe Tower’s assignment.
• Wang Hao recognized Tian Boguang in a restaurant and invited him to share a meal, then admitted he had come to find him.
• Tian Boguang became wary and reached for his saber as Wang Hao asked why he had changed his order from a jar of Fen liquor to a pot.

Wang Hao confronted Tian Boguang over his plan to abduct the wife of Golden Sword Manor’s master and his record of abusing women, then fought him in the street. Tian Boguang escaped, but Wang Hao sent Little Wangcai to track his scent.

• Tian Boguang told Wang Hao that he planned to take the wife of Golden Sword Manor’s master to Ox Pen Mountain and give her seven chances to escape.
• Wang Hao mocked Tian Boguang’s plan to savor the woman’s fragrance after a day of running without access to water, then questioned him about a northern flower thief who abused and killed his victims.
• Tian Boguang realized Wang Hao had come for him, drew his saber, and attacked; Wang Hao met him with a longsword and fought using the Ten Stances of Bloody Battle.
• After Wang Hao held off his Wild Wind Fast Saber, Tian Boguang broke away and disappeared into the night.
• Wang Hao ordered Little Wangcai to memorize Tian Boguang’s scent and track him.

Wang Hao finally caught and killed Tian Boguang outside Hangzhou, then sold the bandit's saber and settled in for a meal with Wangcai. News of Japanese pirates on Peach Blossom Island killing a ship's crew caught his attention and left him poised for a new lead.

• After pursuing Tian Boguang for over a month, Wang Hao rejected his offer of payment and condemned him for violating women.
• Tian Boguang attacked, but Wang Hao used the Lightning Straight-Line Step and Sword Intent to kill him with one strike.
• Wang Hao checked his improved cultivation status, took Tian Boguang's saber, and entered Hangzhou with Wangcai.
• At a pawnshop, Wang Hao received only fifty thousand taels for the saber, then bathed, changed clothes, and feasted with Wangcai at a restaurant.
• Wang Hao considered raising Wangcai as a mount when he overheard someone complain that Japanese pirates on Peach Blossom Island had robbed a cargo ship and killed everyone aboard.

Wang Hao met Lin Zhennan’s family and learned that more than ten thousand wokou had gathered on Peach Blossom Island, possibly planning to raid Hangzhou. He recruited Lin Zhennan to help seize the wokou’s ships and agreed to strike that night.

• Lin Zhennan told Madam Lin that the Fuwei Escort Agency’s ship had been seized and its crew slaughtered by wokou on Peach Blossom Island.
• Wang Hao approached the Lin family in disguise, and Wangcai frightened Lin Pingzhi before Wang Hao explained that he knew the family through Lin Zhennan’s father-in-law.
• Lin Zhennan described the wokou’s growing numbers and recent massacres, and said the wokou Grandmasters were barred from Great Ming’s coastal regions by an old agreement.
• Wang Hao proposed attacking the wokou and asked Lin Zhennan to seize their ships while he dealt with the fighters.
• Lin Zhennan agreed to meet Wang Hao at the docks at dusk, and Wang Hao left with Wangcai after the dog frightened Lin Pingzhi again.

Wang Hao joined Lin Zhennan’s plan to attack the Japanese raiders on Peach Blossom Island, then swam ashore and began slaughtering them. As the raid unfolded, he used the battle to deepen his mastery of the Ten Stances of Bloody Battle.

• Lin Zhennan reassured Madam Lin that he had decided to support Wang Hao’s plan and would lead the Fuwei Escort Agency’s men to cut off the raiders’ escape by sea.
• Wang Hao spent fifty thousand taels on medicinal ingredients, then Lin Zhennan sailed with him and Wangcai toward Peach Blossom Island under cover of night.
• Wang Hao told Lin Zhennan that his people were already on the island, then swam ashore with Wangcai while Lin’s party waited by the harbor.
• Wang Hao spotted the raiders abusing captured women and charged into their camp, killing them with the Shameless Greatsword and setting fire to their shacks.
• Wang Hao continued fighting as stronger raiders arrived, killing nearly a thousand in under fifteen minutes and advancing his mastery of the Ten Stances of Bloody Battle.

Wang Hao fought off waves of Japanese pirates on Peach Blossom Island while using the pressure to strengthen his Ten Stances of Bloody Battle. Lin Zhennan’s men captured or scuttled the pirates’ ships, and after a sudden Sword Intent rang out from the island, Lin Zhennan sent scouts to learn how Wang Hao’s battle was going.

• A red-clad Japanese pirate chief sent more than a hundred First-Rate pirates to surround Wang Hao, who took wounds but continued growing stronger under the pressure.
• A panicked messenger reported that Central Plains forces had taken or destroyed the Japanese pirates’ ships, so the chief led his men to the landing and found the remaining ships anchored ten li offshore.
• Lin Zhennan and his escorts held the ships at sea, leaving the Japanese pirates stranded on Peach Blossom Island, while Lin Zhennan had Uncle Cheng treat his saber wound.
• After a two-hour standoff, a piercing sword cry and powerful Sword Intent sounded from the island, prompting the Japanese pirate chief and his experts to rush back toward the battle.
• Lin Zhennan sent Old Cheng and several escorts in a small boat to check the battle and assess Wang Hao’s forces.

Wang Hao broke through in the Ten Stances of Bloody Battle while fighting the Japanese pirates, then used the pirate leader’s mistaken belief that his allies had abandoned him to shape the battlefield. He and the leader clashed in a stalemate, but the leader realized Wang Hao’s endurance could outlast him.

• Wang Hao unleashed ten consecutive Sweeps Away a Thousand Troops, killing dozens of First-Rate pirates and revealing his breakthrough in the Ten Stances of Bloody Battle.
• The pirate leader told Wang Hao that his comrades had withdrawn their ships and left him to die, and Wang Hao pretended to be angered and seek escape.
• Wang Hao maneuvered the pirate leader into ordering his Super-First-Rate subordinates to hold a perimeter, reducing the pressure on him as he faced the leader.
• Wang Hao and the pirate leader praised each other’s martial skill, then charged into a fierce clash between the Ten Stances of Bloody Battle and the leader’s strange swordsmanship.
• After a quarter of an hour, the pirate leader realized Wang Hao could keep fighting far longer and feared that running out of internal force would leave him doomed.

Wang Hao defeated the Japanese pirate leader despite a coordinated ambush, then slaughtered the pirates after they were trapped by a fire set by their captives. He stopped the blaze from consuming Peach Blossom Island and promised the rescued women a way to live and fight back against the Japanese pirates.

• Wang Hao agreed to decide the fight in one strike, but the Japanese pirate leader and a dozen Super-First-Rate pirates attacked him together; Wang Hao killed the leader and drove off the surviving experts.
• Wang Hao survived the wounds by using the Thousand Faces Divine Technique to protect his organs, then killed thousands of pirates as they attacked him.
• The women set fire to the peach grove and shantytown, trapping the pirates; after four hours, Wang Hao had defeated them all and cleared a firebreak to protect Peach Blossom Island.
• The rescued women finished off the fallen pirates, thanked Wang Hao, and wept when he apologized for arriving too late.
• When the women said they had no homes to return to and wanted to die, Wang Hao urged them to live, offered to form a navy against the Japanese pirates, and promised to create martial arts for them.

Lin Zhennan found that Wang Hao had single-handedly slaughtered the wokou on Peach Blossom Island and agreed to help him obtain supplies while claiming credit for the victory. Wang Hao then searched for the Eastern Heretic's inheritance, but a trap dropped him and Wangcai into a sealed pit.

• Lin Zhennan found Old Cheng and the other escorts terrified, and they told him Wang Hao had killed all the wokou alone.
• Lin Zhennan inspected the battlefield, confirmed the wokou had been killed by one weapon, and met Wang Hao there.
• Wang Hao asked Lin Zhennan to trade the island's plunder for medicinal ingredients and iron, and to claim credit for the deaths.
• Wang Hao followed Xiao Mengmeng's directions to a hidden staircase beneath the Eastern Heretic's wife's grave.
• Wang Hao and Wangcai fell through a trap onto sword blades, and a huge stone sealed the passage above them.

Wang Hao survived the traps beneath Peach Blossom Island and found Huang Yaoshi’s hidden chamber, where he discovered martial arts manuals and a crystal coffin prepared for the Eastern Heretic and his wife. He honored Huang Yaoshi’s burial wish, but Wangcai destroyed most of the Nine Yin True Scripture, leaving Wang Hao furious.

• Wang Hao and Wangcai emerged from the deadly trapped passage into a ventilated chamber beneath Peach Blossom Island.
• Wang Hao found Huang Yaoshi’s collection of martial arts manuals, including the Blue Sea Tide-Rising Song and the Nine Yin True Scripture.
• Wangcai triggered a mechanism that raised a crystal coffin containing Huang Yaoshi’s wife, and Wang Hao inferred that the empty space beside her had been reserved for Huang Yaoshi.
• Wang Hao placed Huang Yaoshi’s wedding robes in the coffin, drove Wangcai out, and sealed the coffin and its mechanism.
• Wang Hao discovered Wangcai chewing the Nine Yin True Scripture, grabbed the dog, and tried to recover the swallowed fragments.

After leaving Huang Yaoshi’s tomb with his recovered manuals, Wang Hao strengthened his resolve to defeat Hongjun and the Heavenly Dao and reunite with his family. He settled at Huang Yaoshi’s former residence, organized the women there for future training, and spent two days committing the tomb’s knowledge to memory.

• Wang Hao sealed Huang Yaoshi’s tomb, vowed not to share the Eastern Heretic’s fate, and learned that Xiao Mengmeng had protected his family on Earth and given his brother a winning lottery ticket.
• Wang Hao returned to Huang Yaoshi’s former residence and appointed Yushu to lead the women and record their skills.
• Yushu presented the register, and Wang Hao promised to create a martial arts inheritance suited to women after learning that none of them had practiced martial arts.
• Wang Hao found three women with medical knowledge in the register and told Yushu to arrange their training with medical teachings from the tomb.
• Wang Hao studied the secret manuals and bamboo slips for two days until he had memorized them all.

Wang Hao studied the Eastern Heretic’s inheritance, used its sword arts to improve his own technique, and created the Foundation Establishment Sword Art for Yushu and the other women. He then had Yushu copy the manuals without identifying details so he could send them to Dongfang Bai, leaving him with plans to earn Fortune Points while avoiding her suspicion.

• Wang Hao comprehended the Eastern Heretic’s manuals and discovered that the Blue Sea Tide-Rising Song and Thirty-Six Heavenly Gang Strikes were Xiantian-level arts, though most of the inheritance was unsuitable for his external cultivation.
• Wang Hao incorporated several sword arts into the Ten Stances of Bloody Battle, raising its progress from 10/100 to 30/100 at a cost of six hundred Fortune Points.
• Wang Hao spent more than a thousand Fortune Points developing the peak first-rate Foundation Establishment Sword Art, a dual-sword technique that could also be used in a group formation and adapted by its cultivators.
• Yushu brought Wang Hao food and prepared his bath, then massaged his shoulders while he relaxed in the tub.
• Wang Hao told Yushu to copy the manuals without their names or identifying details and deliver them in ten days, intending to send the inheritance to Dongfang Bai for Fortune Points while keeping its origins secret.

Wang Hao taught Yushu and the other women the Foundation Establishment Sword Art, then trained to refine his use of Explosive Force and considered pursuing the Nine-Character True Art. When Yushu brought him martial arts manuals she had copied overnight, Wang Hao noticed that the handwriting differed between the fronts and backs of the pages and suspected she had extraordinary potential.

• Wang Hao demonstrated the eighty-one stances of the Foundation Establishment Sword Art and trained the women until they had memorized ten stances.
• Wang Hao sent the women to recover in a medicinal bath, then practiced an improved Two Armies Facing Off that incorporated Explosive Force.
• Wang Hao damaged the Shameless Greatsword while training and decided he would need to collect martial arts manuals to send to Dongfang Bai for Fortune Points.
• Yushu brought Wang Hao dozens of manuals she had copied overnight, despite his having asked her to complete them over ten days.
• Wang Hao noticed that the handwriting on the fronts and backs of the manuals differed, and Yushu confirmed that she had copied them alone.

Wang Hao discovered Yushu’s rare ability to divide her attention and urged her to train while managing Peach Blossom Island. When Lin Zhennan arrived with supplies, Wang Hao asked him to find Zhou Xueyi, a skilled naval tactician, and planned to kill the traitor Feng Lun who had caused her father’s death.

• Yushu explained that she could write with both hands at once, and Wang Hao recognized her talent for dividing her attention.
• Wang Hao told Yushu to train harder, manage Peach Blossom Island, and rest with lingzhi slices.
• Lin Zhennan secretly arrived with supplies, and Wang Hao asked him to find a woman who could teach the island’s women naval tactics.
• Lin Zhennan described Zhou Xueyi’s background and said Feng Lun, now the prefect of Hangzhou, had betrayed her father.
• Wang Hao agreed to deal with Feng Lun and told Lin Zhennan to bring Zhou Xueyi to Peach Blossom Island without requiring her to marry him.
• Lin Zhennan assigned Old Cheng to accompany Wang Hao to Hangzhou and help him avoid attracting attention.

Wang Hao and Old Cheng infiltrated Feng Lun’s residence and used Wangcai to track the corrupt prefect, who was secretly allied with the wokou. They found Feng Lun confronting a masked woman, Zhou Xueyi, and Wang Hao launched a sudden attack that left the old guard facing his crushing guandao strike.

• Old Cheng told Wang Hao that Feng Lun slept in a different room each night and revealed evidence that the prefect was in league with the wokou.
• Wang Hao used Feng Lun’s jade cushion to guide Wangcai through the residence, while Old Cheng helped them evade the guards.
• Hearing another assassin’s attack, Wang Hao and Old Cheng rushed into the inner courtyard and found a masked woman fighting Feng Lun’s guards.
• Feng Lun recognized the masked woman as Xueyi, threatened her, and ordered his guards to capture her after she warned Wang Hao they had fallen into a trap.
• Wang Hao killed the guard attacking him with a sweeping guandao strike and then swung at Feng Lun, forcing the old guard to block the blow.

Wang Hao and Zhou Xueyi confronted Feng Lun in his residence, where Wang Hao defeated the guards and captured the prefect. Feng Lun led Wang Hao to a treasure chamber, then tried to trap him inside; Wang Hao killed him and hacked through the sealed iron door to escape.

• Wang Hao wounded the old guard and drove him and Feng Lun into a room, then killed most of the guards who tried to stop him.
• Zhou Xueyi helped keep two middle-aged guards from escaping, and Wang Hao defeated them before Old Cheng intercepted Feng Lun and the old guard at the secret passage.
• Feng Lun begged for his life and offered Wang Hao a million taels of silver, but Wang Hao demanded rare treasures instead and followed him to a secret chamber.
• Wang Hao found a treasure room filled with chests, including ten chests of gold, while Feng Lun tried to trigger a hidden mechanism; Wang Hao killed him before he could escape.
• Wang Hao discovered that the chamber had sealed itself behind a thick iron door and hacked through it with his great guandao.