Chapter Summaries

Ling Zhantian told Chu Yunfei he intended to revoke his imperial son-in-law status and urged him to leave the palace, while Chu Yunfei made clear he had acted only for Ling Xueyao's sake. After Chu Yunfei departed, Ling Changkong challenged the emperor's decision, and Ling Zhantian revealed that Chu Yunfei had ruined a plan he had pursued for twenty years by helping Ling Xueyao reach the Divine Sea Realm.

• Ling Zhantian warned Chu Yunfei about the Blood Baleful Intent Tower and explained that he wanted to end Chu Yunfei's imperial son-in-law status to avoid conflict with the seven sects.
• Chu Yunfei refused compensation and said he had saved Ling Zhantian only because Ling Xueyao cared for her father, then reproached the emperor for failing her filial devotion.
• Ling Zhantian asked Chu Yunfei not to tell Ling Xueyao about their conversation and advised him to leave the capital once he lost the imperial family's protection.
• Chu Yunfei left without agreeing to keep the conversation secret and said that more people wanting his life would make little difference.
• Ling Changkong emerged from the shadows and criticized Ling Zhantian for driving out the man who had saved him, Ling Xueyao, and the imperial family.
• Ling Zhantian said Chu Yunfei had ruined his twenty-year plan by enabling Ling Xueyao to break through to the Divine Sea Realm.

Ling Zhantian explained why he planned to force Chu Yunfei out of the palace while preparing for the Holy Academy’s arrival in half a year. Outside the hall, Chu Yunfei concealed the emperor’s real intentions from Ling Xueyao, then asked whether she would be sad if he left.

• Ling Zhantian told Ling Changkong that the Blood Baleful Intent Tower’s leader had broken through and that Chu Yunfei’s secrets made him a target, so he could not keep Chu Yunfei in the palace.
• Ling Changkong accepted Ling Zhantian’s decision and reported that the Crimson Flame Lion’s injuries would likely remain incurable without a seventh-grade pill from the Jade Firmament Sect.
• Ling Zhantian ordered Zhou Xuancheng to watch the princes and have Shen Qianyue keep Ling Xueyao inside the palace until further notice.
• Ling Xueyao met Chu Yunfei outside the hall, and he teased her by claiming Ling Zhantian planned to decree their marriage soon.
• Ling Xueyao recognized that Chu Yunfei was hiding what her father had said and pressed him for the truth.
• Chu Yunfei asked Ling Xueyao whether she would be sad if he left.

Ling Xueyao feared Chu Yunfei was being forced to leave the palace, so he told her he had received a secret mission from Ling Zhantian. As Chu Yunfei prepared to depart immediately, Ling Xueyao gave him supplies and spirit stones, leaving him to tease her about trying to keep him.

• Ling Xueyao embraced Chu Yunfei and said she would leave the palace with him rather than let him go alone.
• Chu Yunfei reassured Ling Xueyao with a fabricated story that Ling Zhantian had assigned him a confidential mission, and promised he would return within half a month.
• Ling Xueyao agreed to stay and care for her recovering father, but urged Chu Yunfei to contact her if he faced danger.
• Chu Yunfei decided to leave the palace immediately, and Ling Xueyao brought him to her chambers to prepare supplies.
• Ling Xueyao gave Chu Yunfei five million mid-grade spirit stones, pills, and her storage ring, prompting him to ask if she was trying to keep him.

Chu Yunfei left the palace after accepting spirit stones from Ling Xueyao, who kissed him goodbye and watched him depart. As he headed into the imperial city, he explained why she was safer in the palace, while Ling Xueyao began to suspect that Ling Zhantian had invented the mission that sent him away.

• Chu Yunfei accepted Ling Xueyao's spirit stones but declined her imperial formation token, then said goodbye to her at the courtyard entrance.
• Ling Xueyao kissed Chu Yunfei and told him to return safely, and he left through the palace's east gate as concealed followers began tracking him.
• Chu Yunfei told Xiaoxiao Dragon that Ling Xueyao was safer in the palace and planned to find a place to cultivate while waiting for Qin Yangui.
• Ling Xueyao realized Ling Zhantian's urgent mission for Chu Yunfei might have been fabricated and hurried to confront her father.
• Ling Xueyao entered the great hall and asked Ling Zhantian why he had done this.

Ling Xueyao confronted Ling Zhantian after discovering that he had forced Chu Yunfei to leave the palace to protect Great Qian from his enemies. Their argument over Chu Yunfei’s safety and Ling Xueyao’s choice of husband ended with Ling Zhantian forbidding her from mentioning Chu Yunfei again.

• Ling Xueyao tested Ling Zhantian by claiming Chu Yunfei had told her everything, and Ling Zhantian realized she was trying to draw out the truth.
• Ling Zhantian admitted he had forced Chu Yunfei to leave because the four great sects and the Blood Baleful Intent Tower threatened him, and keeping him in the palace would endanger Great Qian.
• Ling Xueyao accused her father of betraying Chu Yunfei despite his having saved them, while Ling Zhantian argued that Chu Yunfei’s inheritance and enemies threatened the entire imperial family.
• Ling Xueyao revealed she had reached the Divine Sea Realm and declared Chu Yunfei the man she had chosen as her husband.
• Ling Zhantian accused Chu Yunfei of taking advantage of his unconsciousness, called him unworthy of Ling Xueyao, and forbade her from mentioning him again.

Ling Xueyao defied Ling Zhantian’s demand that Chu Yunfei leave the palace, so he ordered her confined and cut off from the outside world. As Shen Qianyue escorted her back to her chambers, she secretly prepared to contact Chu Yunfei and find a way to reach him.

• Ling Xueyao told Ling Zhantian that she had chosen Chu Yunfei willingly and would stay with him even if it cost her life.
• Ling Zhantian summoned Shen Qianyue and ordered him to confine Ling Xueyao and prevent her from sending messages.
• Ling Xueyao told her father she hated him and vowed that confinement would not stop her from going to Chu Yunfei.
• Ling Zhantian watched the hall doors close and hinted that Chu Yunfei’s Myriad Poison Tyrant Body could replace the missing Flawless Spirit Physique.
• Shen Qianyue admitted that Ling Zhantian had ordered him to keep Ling Xueyao from leaving, and refused to bring Chu Yunfei back.
• Ling Xueyao returned to her chambers while secretly holding a green jade communication talisman, intending to contact Chu Yunfei.

Wen Jiao learned that the Heavenly Sword Sect leadership planned to move against Chu Yunfei after the Seven Sects Grand Competition. She ordered the spirit boat to speed toward the imperial capital, determined to reach him before the sect could act.

• Wen Jiao hurried toward the imperial capital while recalling how Chu Yunfei had cured her and feeling jealous of his closeness with Ling Xueyao.
• Uncle Yao told Wen Jiao that Chu Yunfei had defeated the Holy Sons of three sects, while she worried about his enemies and his imperial son-in-law status.
• Wen Jiao received an urgent secret message from Wen Buqi warning that the Heavenly Sword Sect would target Chu Yunfei after the Seven Sects Grand Competition.
• Wen Jiao concluded the sect leadership might act before Chu Yunfei could prepare and ordered Uncle Yao to push the spirit boat beyond its safe speed.
• Uncle Yao activated the spirit boat’s formations, and Wen Jiao raced toward the imperial capital, hoping Chu Yunfei would wait for her.

Chu Yunfei left the imperial capital alone, intending to lure out the Divine Sea Realm cultivators following him and refine their remains to advance his cultivation. The Cangyun Sect learned of his departure, and Chen Xuanhai set out to capture him while Qin Hao stayed behind to recover.

• Chu Yunfei deliberately let the Cangyun Sect, Puppet Sect, and other watchers follow him out of the eastern gate, planning to use them to draw out powerful cultivators.
• Chu Yunfei told Xiaoxiao Dragon that refining a Divine Sea Realm corpse could help him advance from the sixth to the seventh level of the Heavenly Origin Realm.
• The Cangyun Sect's watchers reported that Chu Yunfei had left the palace alone, with no Divine Sea Realm experts or imperial Attendants nearby.
• Qin Hao wanted to join the pursuit and avenge his severed arm, but Chen Xuanhai ordered him to recover and promised to bring Chu Yunfei back.
• Chen Xuanhai, a Divine Sea Realm sixth-layer cultivator, left the Cangyun Sect's residence to pursue Chu Yunfei.

Yue Chenzhou sent Han Kui to kill Chu Yunfei after Chu Yunfei left the imperial capital, while Qi Yuanshan warned that the departure might be a trap. In the barren mountains, Han Kui and Chen Xuanhai confronted Chu Yunfei, who calmly judged Chen Xuanhai's Divine Sea Realm sixth-layer strength as enough for him.

• Han Kui told Yue Chenzhou that Chu Yunfei had left the palace alone, and Yue assigned Han Kui to bring back Chu Yunfei's head.
• Qi Yuanshan voiced his suspicions, but Yue Chenzhou trusted Han Kui's strength and dismissed the danger.
• A hundred li east of the capital, Chu Yunfei let Chen Xuanhai of the Cangyun Sect and Han Kui follow him into the barren mountains.
• Chen Xuanhai and Han Kui revealed themselves, then argued over who would take Chu Yunfei and claim his belongings.
• Chen Xuanhai demanded that Chu Yunfei surrender and return to the Cangyun Sect, but Chu Yunfei calmly assessed his strength and said it should be enough.

Chu Yunfei endured Han Kui’s poison corpse battle puppet before revealing that his Myriad Poison Tyrant Body absorbed its poison and restored his strength. He then unleashed the Great Heaven-Burning Art, raising his power to the Divine Sea Realm fourth level and turning to face Han Kui and Chen Xuanhai.

• Han Kui summoned his poison corpse battle puppet, which struck Chu Yunfei with its weapons and drove him backward.
• Han Kui released a cloud of corpse poison, but Chu Yunfei’s Myriad Poison Tyrant Body absorbed it and used it to recover and grow stronger.
• Han Kui ordered the battle puppet to attack with brute force while Chen Xuanhai prepared to join the fight.
• Chu Yunfei activated the Great Heaven-Burning Art, combining Spirit Burning, Blood Burning, and Soul Burning to raise his cultivation to the Divine Sea Realm fourth level.
• Chu Yunfei faced the horrified Han Kui and Chen Xuanhai and declared that it was his turn to attack.

Chu Yunfei destroyed Han Kui’s battle puppet and overwhelmed Han Kui and Chen Xuanhai when they joined forces against him. He killed Han Kui with the Sea-Overturning Ninefold Sword and turned to face Chen Xuanhai, declaring that he was next.

• Chu Yunfei destroyed Han Kui’s poison corpse battle puppet with a single sword strike.
• Chen Xuanhai and Han Kui joined forces, attacking Chu Yunfei with the Cangyun Sea-Overturning Palm, puppet threads, and a second battle puppet.
• Chu Yunfei’s sword strike shattered their attacks, injured Chen Xuanhai, and destroyed Han Kui’s second puppet before Chu Yunfei charged Han Kui.
• Chen Xuanhai struck Chu Yunfei from behind, but Chu Yunfei blocked the palm with a dark golden shield and pressed his attack on Han Kui.
• Chu Yunfei cut Han Kui in half with the fourth form of the Sea-Overturning Ninefold Sword, killing him.
• Chu Yunfei turned toward the pale Chen Xuanhai and said that he was next.

Chu Yunfei killed Han Kui and overwhelmed Chen Xuanhai, who burned his lifespan to raise his cultivation to the Divine Sea Realm seventh level. Chu Yunfei then unleashed the full Great Heaven-Burning Art, revealing that he had held back and reached the Divine Sea Realm fifth layer as he prepared to finish Chen Xuanhai.

• Chu Yunfei killed Han Kui, leaving Chen Xuanhai shocked by the Heavenly Origin Realm junior’s power.
• Chen Xuanhai tried to defend until Chu Yunfei’s secret art wore off, but Chu Yunfei’s Sea-Overturning Ninefold Sword shattered his shield and wounded him.
• Chen Xuanhai burned thirty years of his lifespan and his source blood essence to raise his cultivation to the Divine Sea Realm seventh level.
• Chu Yunfei unleashed the full Great Heaven-Burning Art, burning his spiritual power, blood, and soul to rise to the Divine Sea Realm fifth layer.
• Chu Yunfei pointed the Abyss-Devouring Sword at the horrified Chen Xuanhai and asked if he was ready to die.

Chu Yunfei killed Chen Xuanhai by forcing out the fifth form of the Sea-Overturning Ninefold Sword, then collected the two elders’ corpses and storage rings despite his severe injuries. He sensed someone watching from a dark ridge and challenged them to reveal themselves.

• Chen Xuanhai fled toward the imperial capital, but Chu Yunfei intercepted him and forced him to fight.
• Chu Yunfei unleashed the fifth form, Sea-Overturning Void Shattering, and pierced Chen Xuanhai’s chest, killing him.
• The Great Heaven-Burning Art expired, leaving Chu Yunfei exhausted and with cracked meridians; Xiaoxiao Dragon rebuked him for forcing out an unmastered sword form.
• Chu Yunfei took Han Kui and Chen Xuanhai’s storage rings and collected their corpses and nearby blood essence into the Divine Cauldron of Heavenly Mandate for refinement.
• Chu Yunfei looked toward a pitch-black ridge and challenged the hidden observer to come out.

After defeating Chen Xuanhai, Chu Yunfei faced a black-robed attacker whose cultivation reached the ninth layer of the Divine Sea Realm. Despite being gravely wounded, he absorbed Origin Divine Liquid from the Divine Cauldron of Heavenly Mandate and burned his power again, rising to the sixth layer of the Divine Sea Realm as he challenged his new enemy.

• Chu Yunfei sensed a hidden presence on the ridge, swallowed pills from Ling Xueyao's storage ring, and forced the concealed black-robed man to reveal himself.
• The black-robed man attacked without warning and struck Chu Yunfei, hurling him through two mountaintops and leaving him badly injured.
• Xiaoxiao Dragon identified the attacker as a ninth-layer Divine Sea Realm expert and urged Chu Yunfei to flee, but Chu Yunfei refused.
• Chu Yunfei drew two drops of Origin Divine Liquid refined from Han Kui and Chen Xuanhai, healing his wounds and advancing to the seventh level of the Heavenly Origin Realm.
• Chu Yunfei activated the Great Heaven-Burning Art again, surged to the sixth layer of the Divine Sea Realm, and challenged the black-robed man to attack him.

Chu Yunfei recognized the black-robed assassin as Ling Zhantian by the damage Soul-Devouring Nether Poison had left on his divine soul. He rejected Ling Zhantian’s excuses and attacked, while the emperor revealed his desire to capture Chu Yunfei and seize his secrets.

• Ling Zhantian attacked Chu Yunfei with a massive palm, and the two fought through dozens of exchanges in the night sky.
• Chu Yunfei noticed Ling Zhantian’s wounded divine soul and identified him as the Great Qian emperor who had suffered from Soul-Devouring Nether Poison.
• Chu Yunfei exposed Ling Zhantian’s identity, and Ling Zhantian removed his disguise and asked how he had been recognized.
• Ling Zhantian asked why Chu Yunfei did not question his reason for the assassination, but Chu Yunfei cursed him and charged with the Abyss-Devouring Sword.
• Ling Zhantian met Chu Yunfei’s attack with the Imperial Dao Dragon Sword and resolved to capture him and take his secrets.

Chu Yunfei fought Ling Zhantian despite his injuries and exposed the emperor’s weakness, but Ling Zhantian unleashed his imperial technique and pierced Chu Yunfei’s chest. As Ling Zhantian approached to extract his soul, Chu Yunfei smiled and warned him that what came next would change his smug expression.

• Chu Yunfei used Ling Xueyao’s communication talisman to realize she had suspected his fabricated mission, then taunted Ling Zhantian about how she would react to his actions.
• Ling Zhantian declared that Great Qian’s interests came before his daughter and attacked Chu Yunfei with Imperial Dragon Splits the Heavens.
• Chu Yunfei’s five-layer sword strike split three golden dragons and cut Ling Zhantian’s shoulder, wounding him for the first time.
• Ling Zhantian unleashed Nine Dragons Suppress the Mountain, piercing Chu Yunfei’s left lung and sending him crashing into a crater.
• Ling Zhantian approached to extract Chu Yunfei’s divine soul, but Chu Yunfei smiled and warned him to keep his smug face for what came next.

Chu Yunfei burned part of his myriad poison tyrant body origin to add a fourth fuel to the Great Heaven-Burning Art, pushing himself to the Divine Sea Realm eighth level at the cost of his body falling apart. He unleashed a perfected Sea-Overturning Ninefold Sword strike that shattered Ling Zhantian’s dragon manifestation and left the Great Qian emperor badly defeated.

• Chu Yunfei sacrificed a third of his myriad poison origin and forced it into the Great Heaven-Burning Art, astonishing Xiaoxiao Dragon.
• The fourth burning momentum shattered Ling Zhantian’s incoming sword light and raised Chu Yunfei’s power to the Divine Sea Realm eighth level.
• Xiaoxiao Dragon warned that Chu Yunfei had only ten breaths before his body would be destroyed, and Chu Yunfei charged Ling Zhantian with the Abyss-Devouring Sword.
• Chu Yunfei unleashed Sea-Overturning Void Shattering Slash, while the sword intent awakened powerful cultivators in the imperial capital.
• Ling Zhantian used his essence blood and Great Qian’s fortune to summon a golden dragon, but Chu Yunfei’s sword strike severed it and broke the Imperial Dao Dragon Sword.
• The attack hurled Ling Zhantian through several rock walls and into rubble, leaving the Great Qian emperor defeated.

Chu Yunfei gravely wounded Ling Zhantian, but Ling escaped with an ancestral spatial talisman before Chu Yunfei collapsed from the backlash of his secret art. As pursuers approached, Chu Yunfei fled into a secluded valley, where a spirit boat arrived and its crew recognized him.

• Chu Yunfei charged at the wounded Ling Zhantian, who crushed the Ancient Great Spatial Shift Escape Light Talisman and vanished with his Imperial Dao Dragon Sword.
• After his Great Heaven-Burning Art ended, Chu Yunfei suffered devastating injuries, and Xiaoxiao Dragon urged him to flee before imperial experts arrived.
• Chu Yunfei escaped into the mountains with the Divine Movement Art, then collapsed after traveling two hundred li.
• A speeding azure spirit boat descended over the valley as Chu Yunfei reached for the Abyss-Devouring Sword, expecting pursuers to attack.
• A gray-robed old man on the spirit boat recognized Chu Yunfei and called out to the young miss.

Wen Jiao found Chu Yunfei gravely wounded after his battle and took him away toward the Jade Firmament Sect for treatment. Divine Sea Realm experts arrived at the battlefield afterward, discovered pure Imperial Dao Dragon Qi in the blood, and suspected the imperial clan elder or Emperor Ling Zhantian had been involved.

• Uncle Yao and Wen Jiao reached Chu Yunfei by flying boat, and Wen Jiao broke down at the sight of his injuries.
• Chu Yunfei briefly regained consciousness, murmured to Wen Jiao, and then lost consciousness completely.
• Uncle Yao diagnosed Chu Yunfei with destroyed meridians, displaced organs, depleted blood and Qi, and severe damage to his soul.
• Wen Jiao gave Chu Yunfei fifth-grade pills and ordered Uncle Yao to take him to the Jade Firmament Sect instead of the imperial capital.
• Several Divine Sea Realm experts, including Zhou Xuancheng, arrived at the battlefield and found blood bearing an Imperial Dao Dragon Qi signature.
• The experts wondered whether Ling Changkong or the newly awakened Ling Zhantian had fought there.

Zhou Xuancheng denied the imperial family’s involvement after the sect elders discovered evidence that Chen Xuanhai and Han Kui had died. Deep in the palace, the badly wounded Ling Zhantian confessed to Ling Changkong that Chu Yunfei had defeated him and escaped.

• Zhou Xuancheng denied that the imperial family had sent an expert into the mountains, but a Cangyun Sect elder found Chen Xuanhai’s robe and reported that his life slip had shattered.
• Qi Yuanshan found Han Kui’s broken puppet thread and concluded that Han Kui had died, then suspected Zhou Xuancheng and the imperial family had lured the sect elders into a trap.
• The Heavenly Sword Sect elder sent word to his sect master, and the gathered Divine Sea Realm experts hurried back toward the imperial city.
• Ling Zhantian staggered into the palace’s forbidden cavern, where the Crimson Flame Berserk Lion slept, and took two sixth-grade lifesaving golden pills to treat his grave injuries.
• Ling Changkong found Ling Zhantian and learned that he had attacked Chu Yunfei but failed to kill him; Ling Zhantian said Chu Yunfei had reached the Divine Sea Realm eighth level and nearly killed him.