Chapter Summaries

Qi Yun watched the surviving contenders stalemate over the nine crystal keys while remaining hidden with his improved Clear Breeze Technique. Shen Fan determined that the keys had to be gathered to open one door, and Yue Rong led the effort, revealed as the trueborn son of Black Mountain True Person.

• Qi Yun refined a Law Artifact longsword and used it to increase Basic Sword Qi's progress by less than 20%.
• Over the following days, outer court disciples fought fiercely for the nine crystal keys, knowing that being defeated only teleported them out of the Mirage Thousand-Faced Realm.
• By the ninth day, the remaining contenders avoided taking the keys, fearing they would become targets, while Qi Yun watched them from concealment.
• Shen Fan divined that the nine keys had to be used together to open a single door and find the way to survive.
• Yue Rong set out to gather the keys, and Du Yunian and Shen Fan revealed that he was Black Mountain True Person's biological son and a leading candidate to win the assessment.

Yue Rong seized all nine Crystal Keys by overwhelming the outer residence disciples with the Demon-Devouring Great Law, then killed Shen Fan and Du Yunian when they approached him. He tried to draw out the hidden Qi Yun, but Qi Yun saw through his bluff and attacked as Yue Rong returned to normal.

• Yue Rong transformed with the Demon-Devouring Great Law and defeated the disciples guarding a Crystal Key, killing one and scattering the rest as black feathers.
• With one day left in the assessment, Yue Rong arrived at Qi Yun's location carrying eight Crystal Keys and fought through the remaining cultivators to claim the ninth.
• Du Yunian praised Yue Rong, but Yue Rong killed Shen Fan with a punch and then killed Du Yunian, dismissing his claim that they were allies.
• Yue Rong called out to the concealed Qi Yun, but Qi Yun recognized that he was bluffing and stayed hidden.
• Yue Rong relaxed and released the Demon-Devouring Great Law, and two streaks of pale blue Sword Qi suddenly shot toward his brow.

Yue Rong fought off Song Ping and Song An, who had ambushed him with a combined Sword Qi technique, and killed them despite his exhaustion. After collapsing to one knee, he roared a challenge to any remaining opponents, while Qi Yun watched from hiding.

• Song Ping and Song An emerged from concealment and admitted they had waited for Yue Rong to grow tired before attacking.
• The Song brothers fused their Sword Qi, but Yue Rong blocked their attack with his mirror and countered with a blood saber.
• Yue Rong and the Song brothers exchanged blows, and Yue Rong revealed that he possessed two law artifacts.
• The brothers used Supreme Nether Concealment to evade Yue Rong's saber, but he unleashed a relentless storm of blade light until their concealment failed.
• Yue Rong killed Song Ping and Song An, then dropped to one knee and roared, "Who else!!!"

Qi Yun defeated Yue Rong and claimed all nine Crystal Keys, but after becoming the Human Origin Champion, he was publicly exposed to the resentment of the disciples he had ambushed. True Person Ling restrained him from confronting Black Mountain True Person, and Qi Yun discovered a black feather in his palm.

• Qi Yun appeared before the bloodied Yue Rong, who accepted defeat and tossed him the nine Crystal Keys.
• Qi Yun waited for Yue Rong to die, then used talismans to cleanse the keys before taking them.
• The keys transformed the crystal labyrinth into a wasteland and opened a heavenly gate, which transported Qi Yun to the Jade Blood Hall plaza.
• True Person Ling announced Qi Yun as the Human Origin Champion and explained that Black Mountain True Person had exposed him to the other disciples as punishment.
• True Person Ling stopped Qi Yun from denouncing Black Mountain True Person and urged him to endure the injustice.
• Qi Yun thanked True Person Ling for helping him and found a cold black feather in his palm.

Qi Yun studied the unorthodox Law Technique "Profound Communion and Life Seizure" that True Person Ling had passed to him, hoping it would help him survive Black Mountain True Person’s hostility and gain an advantage in a coming Holy Sect operation. After more than a month of study and renting a Great Wisdom Dharma Lamp, Qi Yun crossed the technique’s threshold and drew a trace of loyalty from the world around him.

• Qi Yun transcribed the teachings from True Person Ling’s black feather and considered the risks of accepting help from Black Mountain True Person’s enslaved servant.
• Qi Yun decided to study "Profound Communion and Life Seizure," reasoning that True Person Ling could have harmed him more directly if he meant him ill.
• Qi Yun spent ten days studying the Law Technique and realized he had grasped only its basic principles without its companion cultivation method.
• Qi Yun rented the Great Wisdom Dharma Lamp and continued studying for over a month, determined to gain an edge in the Holy Sect’s upcoming operation.
• Qi Yun sensed the traces of qualities in the world, drew a wisp carrying loyalty into his palm, and took his first step in mastering "Profound Communion and Life Seizure."

Qi Yun summoned a powerful bronze wolfdog with his new Law Technique and tested its strength before dismissing it. Disguised and concealed by the Clear Breeze Technique, he left his courtyard and entered Ninefold Hall to test his abilities.

• Qi Yun summoned a bronze wolfdog, which obeyed his commands and destroyed a rockery made of jade steel rock.
• Qi Yun judged that the wolfdog could defeat martial cultivators below the Qi Refining Third Layer, then dispelled it and put on a human-skin mask.
• Qi Yun left his courtyard, using the Clear Breeze Technique to avoid notice as he walked through the Seventh Outer Prefecture.
• Qi Yun arrived at Ninefold Hall, paid one piece of Sacred Yuan, and entered to test his Law Techniques.

Qi Yun used Wangcai to fight a resentment fiend in the Ninefold Hall and realized beast taming might help him advance his Law Technique. After learning that Wu Tianming and seven disciples had followed him, Qi Yun lured them into the third space and appeared behind the disciple using the Tracking Compass.

• Outer manor disciples gathered outside the Ninefold Hall to hunt Qi Yun and seize the rewards they believed he had received as Human Origin Champion.
• Qi Yun watched Wangcai tear into a resentment fiend, then killed it and considered pursuing the path of beast taming for his Law Technique.
• Qi Yun's Talisman Spirit Crane warned him that someone had followed him, so he recalled Wangcai and vanished with a technique.
• Wu Tianming and seven disciples entered the third space, spotted what they thought was Qi Yun, and chased him with a Tracking Compass.
• The tracking light failed after the group split up, and Qi Yun silently appeared behind the disciple holding the compass with a kind, approachable smile.

Qi Yun killed Wu Tianming and his seven companions, then returned to his courtyard with their spoils. After refining a Southern Mulberry Bird egg, he saw the Law Technique Panel announce two minor updates.

• Qi Yun searched the dead Qian Qi, took his Sacred Yuan and belongings, and set off to pursue the others.
• Qi Yun confronted the gatekeeping disciple at [Ninefold Hall] and warned him that he would remember him.
• Qi Yun returned to his courtyard and examined the wealth he had taken from Wu Tianming and his companions.
• Qi Yun found a Southern Mulberry Bird egg among the spoils and decided to refine it instead of raising the beast.
• The Law Technique Panel announced two minor updates in succession, surprising Qi Yun.

Qi Yun tested the upgraded Law Techniques, then turned the rumors and schemes against him into a reason to strike openly. As he finished killing a group of disciples in [Ninefold Hall], law enforcement arrived to confront him.

• Qi Yun summoned three white bone skulls and four bronze wolfhounds after his Law Techniques improved.
• Qi Yun decided to stop hiding and retaliate against those plotting against him.
• A report accused Qi Yun of killing fellow disciples, and Li Chong sent two men to investigate [Ninefold Hall].
• Zhou Ming, Feng Changwen, and Chen Wei were the last survivors of a group that had entered [Ninefold Hall] to ambush Qi Yun.
• Qi Yun prepared to finish the three disciples, but three law enforcement officers arrived and questioned whether he was Qi Yun.

Qi Yun rebuffed a Punishment Hall investigation into the deaths of several disciples, then met with Li Chong, captain of the Third Law Enforcement Team. Li Chong left him a covert proposal to join forces against Yue Rong, and Qi Yun was left to consider it.

• Gao Kai confronted Qi Yun over accusations that he had killed fellow disciples, but a soul-search of Zhou Ming and the other two survivors cleared him of the charge.
• Qi Yun hinted that Gao Kai had taken Sacred Yuan, prompting Gao Kai to withdraw and report the matter to the Punishment Hall captain.
• Gao Kai reprimanded Su Xiang for wanting to arrest and soul-search Qi Yun without catching him in the act.
• Li Chong visited Qi Yun and warned him to stop slaughtering people in the Seventh Outer Prefecture, promising no one would provoke him again.
• Li Chong left a message proposing that he and Qi Yun join forces for revenge and ambush Yue Rong.

Qi Yun failed to break through to the Qi Refining Fifth Layer despite repeated attempts, then learned that the Hall of All Dharmas would open in three days. He decided to compete for a place in the hall, where insights on balancing the five organs’ Qi might help him advance.

• Qi Yun attempted to harmonize the Qi of his five organs and form an internal circuit, but his breakthrough failed and depleted his True Qi.
• Qi Yun reflected on his stalled cultivation and the quiet six months since his conversation with Li Chong, then resumed meditating to recover.
• The Great Void Jade Tally informed Qi Yun that the Hall of All Dharmas would open in three days.
• Qi Yun read about the Hall of All Dharmas and realized its cultivation insights might help him reach the Qi Refining Fifth Layer.
• Qi Yun resolved to compete against disciples from all the outer prefectures for a place in the hall and began preparing.

Qi Yun arrived at the Hall of All Dharmas, where Yue Rong revealed he had discarded his reserved place so he could compete with Qi Yun. When a stone stele announced the challenge for entry, Qi Yun suspected the Dharma Enlightenment Bell lay beyond the Holy Sect.

• News spread that the Hall of All Dharmas would open, offering fifty places for Outer Prefecture disciples to compete over.
• Yue Rong mocked Shen Fan and welcomed Qi Yun, acknowledging him as champion and explaining that he had thrown away his reserved place to challenge him again.
• Yue Rong declared that Qi Yun would be his first whetstone on the path to becoming a supreme great devil.
• A hundred-foot stone stele rose before the Hall of All Dharmas and displayed a verse describing how to obtain a Dharma Enlightenment Bell.
• Qi Yun studied the verse and guessed that it meant leaving the Holy Sect.

Ding Tai explained the rules for finding one of fifty Dharma Enlightenment Bells and gave Qi Yun a [Star Guidance] talisman as a privilege for being the previous Human Origin Champion. Qi Yun deduced a bell was hidden in a pool at Clear Spring Mountain and headed out, unaware that disciples were plotting to ambush him for his talisman.

• Ding Tai announced that contestants had to retrieve one of fifty Dharma Enlightenment Bells, with the first to return securing a place in the [Hall of All Dharmas].
• Ding Tai recognized Qi Yun as the previous Human Origin Champion and gave him a [Star Guidance] talisman that could return him to the sect from within five thousand li.
• Yue Rong told Qi Yun that someone in the inner residence seemed to be protecting him, and Qi Yun wondered whether someone had taken a fancy to him.
• Qi Yun recalled the verse clue and deduced that a bell was likely hidden in an old pool at Clear Spring Mountain, nine hundred li west of the sect.
• Several disciples followed Qi Yun and planned to seize his [Star Guidance] talisman once he left the sect gates.

Qi Yun trapped Chu Tiankuang and his four companions in a spreading cloud of corpse qi and attacked them with four bronze wolfhounds. The five fled the puppets, only to realize the mist was following them and that Qi Yun intended to trap them until they died.

• Chu Tiankuang tracked Qi Yun into a clearing, where Qi Yun filled the forest with dense Yin Baleful Intent Corpse Qi.
• Qi Yun sent a bronze wolfhound through the mist, then revealed three more that surrounded Chu Tiankuang and his companions.
• The four wolfhounds relentlessly attacked, draining the five disciples' True Qi and leaving them injured.
• Chu Tiankuang ordered his companions to retreat, and the group fled without the wolfhounds pursuing them.
• The mist continued to grow denser as the five ran, and one disciple realized Qi Yun's cloud was following them.
• Four pairs of crimson eyes appeared in the mist ahead, ready to attack the trapped group again.

Qi Yun used his bronze wolfhounds and corpse Qi fog to wear down Chu Tiankuang’s group before attacking with his newly mastered Iron Sand Method. Chu Tiankuang and the others were overwhelmed by the iron-sand fists, and the chapter ended with Qi Yun’s assault swallowing them in the fog.

• Qi Yun controlled four bronze wolfhounds to attack Chu Tiankuang and his four companions from coordinated, unexpected angles.
• As the wolfhounds took heavy damage, Qi Yun summoned a vast cloud of refined steel sand with the Iron Sand Method.
• Chu Tiankuang killed the last bronze wolfhound and, badly wounded and nearly out of True Qi, began leading his group away.
• Qi Yun launched iron-sand fists at Chu Tiankuang’s group, killing two disciples with the barrage.
• Chu Tiankuang tried to defend himself and demanded to know how many Law Techniques Qi Yun knew, but the iron fists continued to pound him and his group.

Qi Yun killed Chu Tiankuang and his four companions, then found a metal-element spiritual item in their Storage Bags and used it to update [Iron Sand Method]. He left with the stronger technique as other disciples retreated from the area, fearing the unknown attacker.

• Qi Yun used iron sand to retrieve the Storage Bags from Chu Tiankuang and his four companions, then killed Chu Tiankuang when he was still alive.
• Lin Zhen and the other Wuji Sacred Sect disciples found the mangled corpses and fled rather than risk meeting the martial cultivator who had killed them.
• Qi Yun washed the Storage Bags and found little of value until he opened the last one and discovered a golden Buddha on a jade throne.
• Qi Yun refined the metal-element spiritual item and directed its Dao intent into [Iron Sand Method], completing a minor update.

After the Iron Sand Method update removed its mental strain, Qi Yun formed an iron-sand greatsword and briefly flew, but Primordial magnetism true gang drained his True Qi too quickly. As he headed toward Jing'an Town for the struggle over the Dharma Enlightenment Bell, his iron-sand decoy was caught in an ambush while the real Qi Yun remained elsewhere.

• Qi Yun tested the improved Iron Sand Method and discovered he could control intricate iron-sand forms without mental fatigue.
• Qi Yun shaped the iron sand into a greatsword, mounted it, and rose more than ten meters before Primordial magnetism true gang forced him to land.
• Qi Yun decided his abundant True Qi could eventually make sword flight a trump card and set off toward the Dharma Enlightenment Bell struggle.
• Sun Changxing, Li Ran, and their companions sprang a trap on a straw-caped figure they believed was Qi Yun at Jing'an Town, demanding the Star Guidance Talisman.
• The trapped figure collapsed into pitch-black iron sand, and Li Ran confronted Jiang Mingyong about losing track of Qi Yun near a grape grove.

Qi Yun entered Jing'an Town and attacked the people who had tried to capture him, quickly killing Li Ran and Sun Changxing. As he prepared to finish off the remaining attackers, more than a hundred Wuji Sacred Sect disciples gathered in a stalemate beside Old Dragon Pool.

• Qi Yun slipped into Jing'an Town while Li Ran and Jiang Mingyuan argued over their failed plan to capture him.
• Sun Changxing sensed danger and tried to warn the others, but Qi Yun killed him with a Sword Qi strike.
• Qi Yun attacked the group with iron-sand spikes and bone skulls, blinding Li Ran before killing him with Sword Qi.
• Jiang Mingyuan rallied the six survivors, but Qi Yun summoned bronze wolfhounds, an iron-sand double, and three skulls, then ordered that none be left alive.
• More than a hundred Wuji Sacred Sect disciples gathered at Old Dragon Pool, but none dared enter its waters first.

The Outer Prefecture disciples plunged into Old Dragon Pool to search for the Dharma Enlightenment Bell while Du Fei waited to ambush whoever found it. Yue Rong arrived and mistook Fei Nanyun for Qi Yun, while the real Qi Yun watched from a cliff and prepared an attack that he said would bring the Outer Prefectures peace.

• A bald Outer Prefecture disciple proposed a gentleman's agreement, then jumped into Old Dragon Pool, prompting most of the others to follow.
• Du Fei chose to wait on shore and planned to steal the Dharma Enlightenment Bell from whoever returned with it.
• A hidden attacker killed Du Fei, and Yue Rong leaped from a cliff, mistaking the assassin for Qi Yun.
• Yue Rong shattered Fei Nanyun's blade, exposed his identity, and killed him after realizing he had been fooled.
• Qi Yun watched from a cliff in his Fresh Breeze form and raised ten black spheres around Old Dragon Pool.
• Qi Yun pressed his palms together, releasing an invisible fluctuation.

Qi Yun poisoned Old Dragon Pool and the surrounding area with Six Desires Bewitching Powder, driving the outer court disciples into uncontrolled desires and collecting their abandoned Dharma Enlightenment Bells. Yue Rong resisted the poison enough to confront Qi Yun, and their uneasy conversation ended with Yue Rong preparing to fight.

• Qi Yun crushed iron-sand spheres containing Six Desires Bewitching Powder and spread the poison across Old Dragon Pool with the help of three skulls emitting Yin Baleful Intent Corpse Qi.
• Yue Rong succumbed to the powder’s influence and attacked the outer court disciples on the shore, while disciples emerging from the pool swallowed the poison dissolved in its water.
• As the poisoned disciples abandoned their Dharma Enlightenment Bells, Qi Yun used iron-sand tentacles to retrieve them and added more than twenty to his Storage Bag.
• Yue Rong recovered enough to launch a surprise attack on Qi Yun, but Qi Yun evaded the blow with the Clear Breeze Technique.
• Yue Rong explained that his demon body and inherited cultivation made him more resistant to the poison, and Qi Yun acknowledged that Yue Rong had advantages unavailable to outer court disciples.
• Qi Yun offered to share some Dharma Enlightenment Bells and end the conflict, but Yue Rong laughed and readied himself to fight.