Chapter Summaries

After killing Zhang Xinhu, Zhou Wuji concealed his death and took his Five Tigers treasures. Back at Hidden Dragon Temple, he studied the martial art and decided to cultivate the Five Tigers Fist alongside his Daoist arts.

• Zhou Wuji put Zhang Xinhu’s body in the Five Yin Pouch and took the Five Tigers Diagram, Tiger Wing saber, fist manual, and two True Yang Pearls.
• Zhou Wuji returned to Hidden Dragon Temple, then burned Zhang Xinhu’s body in a pit deep in Mount Siming and discovered gold foil containing annotations to the Five Tigers Fist Manual.
• Zhou Wuji buried the remains, returned to the temple, changed clothes, and replaced his bamboo splint while Shangxin slept nearby.
• Zhou Wuji memorized the fist manual and gold foil, then studied the Five Tigers Diagram and considered practicing the Five Tigers Fist.
• Zhou Wuji decided to cultivate the Five Tigers Fist to Seventh-Rank Transforming Force using his Origin Profound Spirit, believing it would strengthen his body and complement his Daoist arts.

Zhang Huai and Zhang Yunfeng investigated Zhang Xinhu’s unexplained disappearance and suspected powerful outsiders, while the Zhang Household’s wealth and influence began to shift. Zhou Wuji recovered in secret, received alchemical instruction and pills, then used Zhang Xinhu’s fate to improve his Iron Tiger Fist.

• Zhang Huai inspected Zhang Xinhu’s training room, found no signs of a struggle, and ordered Zhang En to hide the disappearance while keeping him informed.
• Zhang Yunfeng and Wu Di inspected the room, blamed a Northern Pole Sect expert, and ordered Wu Di to watch for a chance to kill Zhou Wuji.
• Daoist Yizhen suspected Zhou Wuji might be involved but chose not to investigate, while Wuzheng celebrated Zhang Xinhu’s disappearance and brought Zhou Wuji two alchemy books.
• The lower court rewarded Zhou Wuji with Three Revolutions Purple Gold Pills, and after more than a month he claimed to have recovered and stopped pretending to be badly injured.
• Zhou Wuji opened the Northern Emperor's Book of Heavenly Punishment, used two low-level fates to train in the Iron Tiger Fist, and reached the proficient level.

Zhou Wuji improved his Five Tigers Fist but remained at Hidden Force, so he planned to hunt monsters once his injuries healed. While Wuzheng kept him from entering the mountains, Zhou Wuji learned pill refining and quickly proved remarkably talented, leaving the chapter with him producing excellent Golden Flower Pills.

• Zhou Wuji trained the Five Tigers Fist, gaining strength but realizing he still lacked the technique and physical foundation to reach Transforming Force.
• Zhou Wuji decided he needed to kill monsters for Origin Mystic Essence and asked Wuzheng to let him gather medicinal ingredients in the mountains, but Wuzheng refused because he had not recovered from his injuries.
• Wuzheng taught Zhou Wuji pharmacology and pill refining, and Zhou Wuji memorized the Pill Scripture Pharmacology and Compendium of a Hundred Herbs.
• Zhou Wuji refined Grain Avoidance Pills and used Origin Profound Spirit to raise his Grain Avoidance Pill Technique to proficiency.
• Zhou Wuji assisted Wuzheng in refining Golden Flower Pills, controlled the furnace heat, and produced several dozen excellent pills.

Zhou Wuji learned Wuzheng’s seven pill recipes and then entered the Siming Mountains to hunt monsters. Meanwhile, Wu Di arranged to lure Zhou Wuji into a trap and ordered Jin Chuan to seize a cave abode discovered by tomb robbers.

• Wuzheng refined seven kinds of pills, and Zhou Wuji mastered their recipes with the help of Origin Profound Spirit, becoming able to consistently produce second-revolution pills.
• As the temple grew busy with New Year rituals, Zhou Wuji refused to accompany Wuzheng and left for the Siming Mountains to hunt monsters.
• Wu Di learned that Zhou Wuji had entered the mountains and, fearing their feud and Zhou’s strength, sought a way to have someone else kill him.
• Jin Chuan suggested telling Fang Boxiong that Zhou Wuji had taken the Yin-Yang Hundred Spirits Banner and luring him to White Bamboo Village during the New Year.
• Jin Chuan reported that tomb robbers had found a former cultivator’s cave abode, and Wu Di ordered him to force the villagers to open it and seize its treasures.

Zhou Wuji received New Year gifts from Wuming, prepared a thoughtful reply, and celebrated at Hidden Dragon Temple. Meanwhile, an excavation cave collapsed, and Jin Chuan secretly took a strange bronze figurine before ordering his agents to leave no survivors.

• Zhou Wuji returned to Hidden Dragon Temple and received Wuming’s letter and a chest of fine clothing from Wuzheng.
• Zhou Wuji mastered Slender Gold script, wrote Wuming a New Year letter with a poem, and sent Shangxin to deliver it.
• Zhou Wuji bought ingredients to make Fine Jade Paste, then joined Wuzheng and the temple residents in New Year ceremonies and celebrations.
• Jin Chuan and several agents spent New Year’s Eve guarding an excavation when a cave-in killed two workers and trapped another.
• Jin Chuan secretly took a bronze figurine from a dead worker and ordered his agents to kill the trapped man and leave no survivors.

Zhou Wuji refined Two-Turn Fine Jade Paste, learned about powerful figures and political customs in Yunyang Prefecture, and assessed his wealth ahead of his move to the Lower Court. The chapter ended when a villager from White Bamboo Village begged him to deal with another powerful monster.

• Zhou Wuji successfully refined Two-Turn Fine Jade Paste with Wuzheng's help, impressing his senior brother with his talent.
• Wuzheng warned Zhou Wuji about the Four Great Vajra of Golden Leaf Temple and named several powerful figures in Yunyang Prefecture.
• Wuzheng explained that seventh-rank register conferral required an assessment by the Heavenly Master's Manor and hinted that Zhou Wuji would need to offer the assessors benefits.
• Zhou Wuji inventoried his money and valuables, decided to recover and sell monster remains in the future, and concluded that he could afford the costs ahead.
• A villager from White Bamboo Village rushed in and begged Zhou Wuji to save the village from another powerful monster.

Zhou Wuji rode toward White Bamboo Village after Zhang Laoyao reported a bear demon had killed two households. At the village, Zhou Wuji killed the bear demon with a single sword strike, while Jin Chuan and Fang Boxiong watched their scheme unfold.

• Zhang Laoyao told Zhou Wuji that a bear demon had attacked White Bamboo Village, and Zhou Wuji set out to investigate with a Yin Thunder Pearl from Wuzheng.
• Zhou Wuji left Zhang Laoyao at Old Cang Village and continued alone toward White Bamboo Village through the night.
• Jin Chuan and Fang Boxiong lured the bear demon into a pit, where villagers tried to kill it with spears and burning oil.
• The bear demon escaped the pit and badly injured the villagers who attacked it.
• Zhou Wuji arrived and pierced the bear demon's eye with his sword, killing it instantly.
• Fang Boxiong praised Zhou Wuji's swordsmanship but dismissed it as less important than cultivation and Law Techniques.

After killing a bear demon, Zhou Wuji was trapped in a spell domain by Fang Boxiong and Jin Chuan, who had set an ambush for him. Fang Boxiong summoned a Sixth-Rank Ghost Soldier, and Zhou Wuji resolved to kill the Devil Cultivator.

• Zhou Wuji killed the bear demon and noticed a powerful presence concealed in the white bamboo grove.
• Jin Chuan fired a heavy crossbow at Zhou Wuji while Fang Boxiong’s demonic art hid the surroundings and restricted Zhou Wuji’s senses.
• Zhou Wuji used his Six Yang Dharma Eye to detect Fang Boxiong and Jin Chuan, and assessed the strength of the Devil Cultivator.
• Fang Boxiong summoned a Sixth-Rank Ghost Soldier from the Mystic Yin Mirror after revealing that the lost Hundred Spirits Banner had once been intended as its food.
• Zhou Wuji recognized the Ghost Soldier as a grave threat and decided to kill Fang Boxiong.

Zhou Wuji used the Northern Emperor's Book of Heavenly Punishment to strengthen his body and master the Five Tigers Fist, then defeated the Sixth-Rank Devil Cultivator Fang Boxiong by breaking through his Law Techniques with swordsmanship and Qi and Blood. After killing Fang Boxiong, Zhou Wuji spared the unconscious Jin Chuan, who awoke and begged for his life.

• Zhou Wuji resisted the Sixth-Rank Ghost Soldier's attack and rushed toward Fang Boxiong while Jin Chuan fired a crossbow bolt at him.
• Zhou Wuji converted the bear demon into Origin Mystic Essence, raising his body’s strength, then used Origin Profound Spirit to bring the Five Tigers Fist to great mastery.
• Zhou Wuji destroyed the Ghost Soldier twice with the Seven Star Sword, while Fang Boxiong strengthened it and then summoned the Great Darkness Heavenly Mother to engulf Zhou Wuji in darkness.
• Zhou Wuji threw the Seven Star Sword to cut the Yin Yang Dharma King Banner, then destroyed the Ghost Soldier with the Heart Tiger Thunder Sound and stunned Jin Chuan and Fang Boxiong.
• Zhou Wuji drew the Tiger Wing Saber and killed Fang Boxiong with a slash through the Mystic Yin Mirror, then struck him again to ensure he was dead.
• Zhou Wuji recovered the Mystic Yin Mirror and questioned Jin Chuan, who woke, saw Fang Boxiong’s body, and kowtowed as he begged Zhou Wuji to spare him.

Zhou Wuji interrogated and knocked out Jin Chuan, then used his healing arts to save several wounded villagers. After returning to his room, he examined Jin Chuan’s bronze figurine, which sprang to life and wrapped itself around his arm.

• Jin Chuan blamed Wu Di and Zhang Yunfeng for ordering the ambush, then offered Zhou Wuji the bronze figurine to spare his life.
• Zhou Wuji took the figurine from Jin Chuan’s pack and knocked him unconscious before returning to White Bamboo Village.
• Zhou Wuji treated five badly injured villagers by setting their broken bones, using the Rejuvenation Technique, and giving them Purple Gold Pills.
• Zhou Wuji arranged for the bear demon’s remains to compensate the families of villagers who had died.
• Zhou Wuji probed the bronze figurine with his Sword Intent, but it split into tendrils and clamped around his hand and arm.

Zhou Wuji destroyed the evil spirit inside the bronze figurine, learned the Heavenly Puppet Technique, and gained control of the Heavenly Puppet. He used it to possess the unconscious Jin Chuan and planned to target Wu Di while investigating Zhang Yunfeng; when Jin Chuan woke, Zhou Wuji gently demanded to know where he had found the figurine.

• Zhou Wuji used the Seven Stars Demon-Slaying Sword to destroy the evil spirit inside the bronze centipede and discovered that the bronze book contained the Heavenly Puppet Technique.
• Zhou Wuji spent fate weight cultivating the technique until he could control the Heavenly Puppet and make it transform, though maintaining it consumed True Qi and Divine Sense.
• Zhou Wuji made the Heavenly Puppet possess the unconscious Jin Chuan and tested his control over Jin Chuan's body.
• Zhou Wuji decided that Wu Di had to die and resolved to investigate whether Zhang Yunfeng was also targeting him.
• Jin Chuan woke at dawn, and Zhou Wuji asked him where he had obtained the bronze figurine while Jin Chuan worried that telling the truth might get him killed.

Zhou Wuji used Jin Chuan to lure Wu Di into an ambush at the Ironclad Guard station. He killed Wu Di with the Heavenly Puppet’s controlled attack and left Jin Chuan staring at the aftermath.

• The villagers thanked Zhou Wuji for defeating the bear demon, and the village head gave him the demon’s gallbladder.
• Zhou Wuji met Jin Chuan and ordered him to lure Wu Di out, promising him a chance to take over the Ironclad Guard in Siming County.
• Zhou Wuji and Jin Chuan traveled to the county city, where Jin Chuan entered Wu Di’s courtyard while Zhou Wuji followed unseen.
• At Zhou Wuji’s command, the Heavenly Puppet forced Jin Chuan to present the Seven Star Sword to Wu Di and attack him.
• The Heavenly Puppet struck Wu Di, and Jin Chuan’s sword cut off his head; Jin Chuan stared in shock at the body and bloodied hanging scroll.

Zhou Wuji killed Wu Di by controlling Jin Chuan with the Heavenly Puppet, then killed Jin Chuan as he fled and returned to Hidden Dragon Temple. As news of Wu Di’s death spread, Zhang Yunfeng decided to investigate Siming County, while Zhang Banshan urged him to kill Zhou Wuji if he got the chance.

• The guards found Wu Di dead and Jin Chuan bloodied, and they sounded the alarm as Jin Chuan stole Wu Di’s money and Purple Blood Ginseng before escaping the station.
• Zhou Wuji killed Jin Chuan with the Night Rain Sword’s Sword Intent, buried his body in the mountains, and took the Heavenly Puppet Scripture, the Heavenly Puppet, and Wu Di’s valuables.
• Zhou Wuji returned to Hidden Dragon Temple and told Wuzheng that he had dealt with the bear demon, while Wuzheng later learned in town that Jin Chuan had supposedly killed Wu Di.
• Zhang Yunfeng received news of Wu Di’s death and planned to investigate Siming County, while Zhang Banshan urged him to kill Zhou Wuji if an opportunity arose.

Zhou Wuji destroyed the Mystic Yin Mirror and its Ghost Soldier, then learned why Zhang Yunfeng wanted him dead. When Zhang Yunfeng arrived to investigate Wu Di’s murder, Chen Dagou accused Zhou Wuji and unleashed a Gu attack on him.

• Zhou Wuji shattered the Mystic Yin Mirror, killed its sixth-rank Ghost Soldier, and saved the resulting Origin Profound Qi for a future register conferral.
• Wuzheng warned Zhou Wuji that Zhang Yunfeng would come and explained the growing conflict between the Northern Pole Sect’s lower court and the Zhang Household.
• Zhang Yunfeng arrived in Siming County with Chen Dagou, who examined Wu Di’s corpse and determined that the killer had used seventh-rank martial skill.
• Zhou Wuji and Wuzheng joined the gathering at the guard station, where Zhang Yunfeng introduced Chen Dagou as someone who could identify the murderer.
• Chen Dagou pointed at Zhou Wuji and accused him of killing Wu Di, then unleashed a misty-white snake made of tiny insects that lunged at him.

Chen Dagou attacked Zhou Wuji with the White Dragon Gu, but Zhou Wuji and Wuzheng turned the assault against him, and the Gu killed Chen Dagou before Zhou Wuji destroyed it. Zhang Yunfeng left after accusing them, while Wuzheng appealed to the county magistrate to uphold justice.

• Chen Dagou released his seventh-rank White Dragon Gu at Zhou Wuji, while Wuzheng prepared a thunder technique to intervene.
• Zhou Wuji used the Five Yin Pouch to trap the Gu and Chen Dagou, then struck Chen Dagou’s Divine Sense with the Night Rain Sword’s intent.
• Wuzheng’s Demon-Subduing Thunder Sound knocked Chen Dagou unconscious and wounded the White Dragon Mother Gu, which escaped his chest and killed him.
• Zhou Wuji trapped the mother Gu again and destroyed it with the Seven Star Sword as the people in the hall retreated.
• Zhang Yunfeng accused Wuzheng and Zhou Wuji but left without pursuing the matter, and Wuzheng asked the county magistrate to uphold justice.

After the clash with Zhang Yunfeng and the death of a Five Dragons Gang gu master, Zhou Wuji returned to Hidden Dragon Temple and focused on improving his alchemy and strength. He consumed a hundred-year-old purple blood ginseng, raising his Body stat and preparing for the threats he expected from the Five Dragons Gang and Zhang Yunfeng.

• Zhou Wuji thanked Yang Shuling with red flower honey, and Yang Shuling proposed that his grandson Tie Ying become Zhou Wuji's disciple once Tie Ying mastered hidden force.
• Wuzheng identified the dead gu practitioner as likely belonging to the Five Dragons Gang and urged Zhou Wuji to stay in the temple while the lower institute handled the danger.
• Wuzheng taught Zhou Wuji how to identify and prepare medicinal ingredients, and Zhou Wuji quickly absorbed his lessons through practice and study.
• Zhou Wuji reviewed the gu insect and gu master's entries in the Northern Emperor's Book of Heavenly Punishment, then decided to save the gu insect's origin mystic essence and keep the gu master's fate weight for later.
• Zhou Wuji ate a small piece of hundred-year-old purple blood ginseng and practiced the Five Tigers Fist to absorb its medicinal potency, increasing his Body stat by three points.
• Zhou Wuji concluded that the ginseng could bring his Body stat near five hundred and resolved to use his Qi and blood to kill the master outright if he faced gu insects his Five Yin Pouch could not counter.

Zhang Yunfeng negotiated with Chen Dalu to enlist the Five Dragons Gang against Zhou Wuji, while Chen Dalu dispatched Chen Hui to Siming County and used the Azure Dragon Gu to force Yang Shuling to lure Zhou Wuji out. The chapter ended with Yang Shuling facing a choice between helping Chen Hui and risking his grandson’s life or protecting Zhou Wuji.

• Zhang Yunfeng visited Old Dragon Island, agreed to pay Chen Dalu five thousand taels of gold, and asked him to kill Zhou Wuji.
• Chen Dalu dismissed Chen Hui’s concerns about the Cloud Dragon Lower Court and ordered him to take two men to Siming County, with Xue Feihua and Xue Feixia’s help, to target Zhou Wuji.
• Chen Dalu told Chen Yong that he had suspended the blood sacrifices during Yizhen’s visit and urged him to resume refining the black flood dragon’s remnant soul into a mother Gu.
• Yang Shuling discovered that his grandson Yang Tie Ying had been poisoned, and Chen Hui revealed that the Azure Dragon Gu would kill him without an antidote.
• Chen Hui demanded that Yang Shuling invite Zhou Wuji out, then demonstrated the Gu’s power by killing an attendant, leaving Yang Shuling unable to decide what to do.

Zhou Wuji continued refining pills at Hidden Dragon Temple and received an invitation to Yang Tie Ying’s birthday banquet, which he suspected concealed a motive. After absorbing the last of his hundred-year-old Purple Blood Ginseng, he greatly strengthened his body and ended the chapter confident he could face whatever Yang Shuling had planned.

• Zhou Wuji refined Purple Qi Pills while Shangxin brought Yang Ping, who invited him to Yang Tie Ying’s birthday banquet celebrating the young man’s development of Hidden Force.
• Zhou Wuji accepted the invitation but suspected Yang Shuling’s public celebration contradicted his earlier warning to keep his grandson’s progress quiet.
• Zhou Wuji finished refining the pills, sealed them away, and took the final section of his hundred-year-old Purple Blood Ginseng.
• Zhou Wuji used Heart Tiger Fist Intent to absorb the ginseng’s potency without wasting it, raising his physique to five hundred and his lifespan to one hundred and two.
• Zhou Wuji estimated that his strength now rivaled or surpassed Zhang Xinhu’s and resolved to overcome whatever Yang Shuling might be planning.

Zhou Wuji discovered that devil cultivators had taken over the Yang Household and seized Yang Tie Ying, then entered the residence under the protection of his Heavenly Puppet. He killed one guard and confronted Azure Dragon Envoy Chen Hui, whose defeat remained unresolved as Zhou Wuji’s blade struck toward his brow.

• Zhou Wuji suspected the Five Dragons Gang had coerced Yang Shuling and went with Wuzheng to investigate the Yang Household at night.
• Zhou Wuji used his Six Yang Dharma Eye to locate several devil cultivators and hidden-force martial artists gathered near the Yang residence.
• Zhou Wuji entered the Yang Household and found Chen Hui holding Yang Tie Ying hostage, while Yang Shuling remained in the courtyard nearby.
• Zhou Wuji transformed the Heavenly Puppet into an azure bronze garment and entered the main building, where Chen Hui released Gu insects.
• Zhou Wuji killed an eighth-rank guard with a White Eyebrow Needle and deflected Chen Hui’s flying shuttles with his sword.
• Chen Hui recognized Zhou Wuji and tried to call for help, but Zhou Wuji’s sword cry disrupted his power before a blade flashed toward his brow.

Zhou Wuji subdued Chen Hui, cleared the Gu worms from Yang Tie Ying, and killed the Five Dragons Gang’s Azure Dragon Envoy after learning his companions’ strength. He then set out with Wuzheng and the Yang grandfather and grandson to attack the nearby Devil Cultivators before they could escape.

• Zhou Wuji killed the martial artist, removed most of the Gu worms from the room, and had Wuzheng treat Yang Tie Ying.
• Wuzheng’s incantations and pills cured Yang Tie Ying, who woke and fetched his grandfather, Yang Shuling.
• Yang Shuling explained that Chen Hui had used Gu worms to coerce him, and warned Zhou Wuji that Chen Hui likely had accomplices.
• Zhou Wuji bluffed Chen Hui into revealing that more than ten enemies, including two Seventh Rank Devil Cultivators, were nearby, then killed him and destroyed the green Gu worm that emerged from his body.
• Zhou Wuji, Wuzheng, Yang Shuling, and Yang Tie Ying equipped themselves and quietly approached the nearby courtyard to attack the Devil Cultivators.