Chapter Summaries

Dongfang Yueming perfected and fused the Body Tempering martial arts into the Body Technique and Weapon Technique, then left the manual repository after Chi Xiaoyu broke through to perfection in the third level of the Blood Replacement Realm. He reached the Trial Valley registration point, where the Heavenly Wolf Gate offered applicants interest-free loans for the registration fee.

• Dongfang Yueming perfected the Venomous Snake Dagger Technique and other weapon arts, then fused them into the Weapon Technique.
• Dongfang Yueming stopped the attendant from entering as Chi Xiaoyu broke through to the third level of the Blood Replacement Realm at Ultimate Perfection.
• Dongfang Yueming left the manual repository for Trial Valley, while the attendant switched to fawning over Chi Xiaoyu and she departed.
• Dongfang Yueming arrived at the Trial Valley registration point and saw that applicants needed to pay one hundred white crystal coins.
• A middle-aged man from the Heavenly Wolf Gate offered applicants interest-free loans, which would be forgiven if they passed the first stage of the trial.

Dongfang Yueming registered for Trial Valley’s first round under the name Dongfang Ri and quickly defeated Zhang Meng, taking five identity tokens. After Wang Gang backed away from challenging him, Lang Xiaotian demanded that Dongfang hand over the tokens.

• The Heavenly Wolf Gate offered loans to trial participants, requiring those who failed the first round to serve the gate to repay their debts.
• Dongfang Yueming paid the registration fee, signed up as Dongfang Ri, and entered the first-round arena, where participants had to collect ten identity tokens by winning one-on-one fights.
• Zhang Meng challenged Dongfang Yueming, but Dongfang dodged his first strike, snapped his saber with two fingers, and sent him flying with a palm strike.
• Dongfang Yueming took Zhang Meng’s five identity tokens, and Wang Gang, who had planned to attack the winner, backed away after seeing Dongfang’s strength.
• Lang Xiaotian, the son of a Heavenly Wolf Gate elder, approached Dongfang Yueming and demanded that he hand over the tokens.

Dongfang Yueming faced Lang Xiaotian in the arena and overcame his sword qi and Grandmaster-level martial art with his saber skill and Heaven-Overwhelming Palm. Lang Xiaotian was left severely injured, while the crowd watched in disbelief.

• Dongfang Yueming dismissed Lang Xiaotian, who leaped into the arena and attacked him with his sword.
• Dongfang Yueming calmly blocked Lang Xiaotian's sword strikes and cut through his projected sword qi with Light Snow.
• Chi Qing and Qiang Feng watched Dongfang Yueming's fight, praised his martial comprehension, and left the martial arts field.
• Lang Xiaotian unleashed a beginner-stage Grandmaster-level martial art, summoning an illusory giant wolf to attack Dongfang Yueming.
• Dongfang Yueming used the Heaven-Overwhelming Palm to smash the giant wolf apart and sent Lang Xiaotian crashing down, too injured to continue fighting.

Dongfang Yueming defeated Lang Xiaotian in the first trial, but Lang Xiaotian vowed revenge and seized tokens from other students. The survivors entered the second trial, where Dongfang Yueming encountered a seemingly unkillable apparition in the deadly, disorienting fog.

• Dongfang Yueming took Lang Xiaotian's tokens and left, then gave his name as Dongfang Ri when Lang Xiaotian demanded it.
• Lang Xiaotian threatened the remaining students into handing over their tokens and vowed to make Dongfang Ri suffer in the next trial.
• After seven days, fewer than a tenth of the contestants passed the first trial and gathered at the gorge for the second trial, which required them to survive the passage through it.
• Dongfang Yueming checked his cultivation status and entered the gorge, where thick fog disoriented him and concealed the other martial artists.
• Dongfang Yueming saw a martial artist swallowed by the fog, then fought the same figure when it reappeared and attacked him; each time Dongfang Yueming struck, it dissolved and returned.

Dongfang Yueming, Lang Xiaotian, Wei Meng, and Hou Liang escaped an illusion in the canyon fog, believing its attacks could not hurt them. When the fog surged again and the returned martial artists killed a trainee, Wei Meng stopped Hou Liang from fleeing as the group fell into chaos.

• Dongfang Yueming realized the martial artist and deadly fog were illusions meant to frighten him, causing them to vanish and the fog to clear.
• Lang Xiaotian fought through the phantoms, while Wei Meng realized their attacks were harmless and persuaded Hou Liang to keep moving.
• The trainees emerged from the fog and gathered, with Hou Liang dismissing Dongfang Yueming and Lang Xiaotian preparing to confront him.
• The fog thickened again, swallowed trainees near the canyon’s edge, and sent them back as violent figures who attacked the others.
• A returned martial artist killed a trainee, proving the attacks were real this time, and the panicked crowd fled as Wei Meng held Hou Liang back.

The martial artists discovered that the mist monsters could be wounded, but the monsters wore down those who fled and attacked once they were exhausted. As the remaining fighters struggled against increasingly powerful monsters, Wei Meng offered Dongfang Yueming a Grandmaster-level martial art and a force-condensing method in exchange for his help.

• Lang Xiaotian and Dongfang Yueming wounded mist monsters, revealing that they could be harmed, while Wei Meng urged the survivors to fight together.
• A fleeing martial artist realized the monsters were exhausting their prey before attacking, then was killed when he could no longer fight.
• The remaining martial artists battled monsters of varying strengths, but the creatures regenerated quickly and more powerful ones joined the fight.
• Wei Meng called for the fighters to unite, but they remained focused on protecting themselves as the battle worsened.
• When a monster lunged at her, Wei Meng offered Dongfang Yueming a Grandmaster-level martial art and a good-quality Internal Force Realm force-condensing method for his help, and he agreed to the terms.

Dongfang Yueming helped the martial artists defeat the mist monsters, earning their gratitude and rewards as the group began working together. After setting out again, they reached a massive stone wall filled with dark, narrow passages, where two groups were waiting.

• Dongfang Yueming rescued Wei Meng and other martial artists from the mist monsters, while Lang Xiaotian joined the fight out of jealousy.
• The survivors coordinated their attacks and defeated the last mist monster as the canyon’s mist dispersed.
• Wei Meng gave Dongfang Yueming the Red Flame Hand and Red Flame Force Condensation Method, and the other martial artists presented their promised rewards.
• The group rested briefly, then continued onward and found the corpses of martial artists who appeared to have died after exhausting their true qi.
• The group reached a huge stone wall lined with narrow, dark passages and found two groups waiting before it.

Dongfang Yueming and the other trainees entered the final trial’s narrow passages, where he found a Gray Mist Pearl and learned it could turn its holder into a Mist Phantom that hunts others. The trainees gathered in an underground cavern and argued over who would enter the deeper passages first, while their leaders watched without intervening.

• Dongfang Yueming cautioned his group about the narrow passages, and the trainees rested before entering them the next morning.
• Dongfang Yueming defeated a mist monster and collected the Gray Mist Pearl it left behind.
• Dongfang Yueming found an inscription explaining that only three people could pass the trial and that anyone with a Gray Mist Pearl could become a Mist Phantom and hunt others.
• Dongfang Yueming reached a cavern where the scattered trainees had gathered, and Chi Qing proposed that they advance in groups.
• Trainees from Wei Dao's and Chi Qing's groups argued over who should enter the deeper passages first as Wei Dao, Lang Po, Chi Qing, and Qiang Feng watched.

Dongfang Yueming destroyed a powerful mist monster with one punch, while a monster disguised as Hou Liang slaughtered martial artists and sought Wei Meng. The disguised Hou Liang later rejoined Wei Meng and Dongfang Yueming, who continued into the fog together, unaware of the danger among them.

• Dongfang Yueming killed a peak Qi Refining Perfection mist monster with a single punch, astonishing the martial artists who witnessed it.
• A monster disguised as Hou Liang infiltrated a group fighting a mist monster, killed several martial artists by draining their life essence, and went searching for Wei Meng.
• Survivors gathered with Dongfang Yueming and Wei Meng, shared reports of monsters impersonating companions, and then split up to enter different passages.
• Dongfang Yueming chose the same passage as Wei Meng, and the disguised Hou Liang later caught up with them and claimed he had been lost alone.
• Wei Meng moved closer to Dongfang Yueming, and Hou Liang watched her with jealousy and venom.

Dongfang Yueming and the surviving martial artists fought their way through the mist-filled caverns, where former companions had become monsters. After Dongfang Yueming killed a martial artist empowered by a Gray Mist Pearl, he realized the bead caused a voluntary, incomplete transformation, unlike the irreversible corruption that turned others into mist puppets.

• Hou Liang tried to ambush Dongfang Yueming, who struck him apart and watched his body dissolve into white mist.
• The survivors concluded that people swallowed by fog in the canyon had returned as mist monsters, then destroyed a disguised monster together.
• A silent martial artist crushed a Gray Mist Pearl, transformed, and killed the companion who had been speaking.
• The transformed martial artist attacked Dongfang Yueming, who killed him with a single Body Technique punch.
• Dongfang Yueming noticed the dead man's corpse retained flesh and bones, unlike the pure-mist remains of Hou Liang and the impostor, and deduced that the Gray Mist Pearl enabled a temporary path toward corruption.

Chi Qing and Lang Po revealed that they had used Gray Mist Pearls to gain power by killing their companions, then confronted the survivors in the circular stone hall. Wei Dao demanded that Wei Meng return with him for punishment, leaving the hall’s factions poised for conflict.

• Chi Qing killed a companion and absorbed his essence blood through the gray mist, then dismissed Qiang Feng’s condemnation and headed deeper into the passage.
• The survivors gathered in the circular stone hall, where Chi Qing concealed his gray mist and taunted Lang Po about the final stage.
• Lang Po crushed a Gray Mist Pearl and transformed into a monster, shocking Lang Xiaotian and the other survivors.
• Wei Dao demanded that Wei Meng return with him to face punishment at the ancestral hall.
• Chi Qing proposed that he, Lang Po, and Wei Dao join forces, but Wei Dao insisted that he only wanted Wei Meng.

Chi Qing’s proposal triggered a bloody fight in the stone hall, while Dongfang Yueming questioned the purpose of the trials. He concluded that the supposed second trial might actually be a final ritual intended to sacrifice everyone, leaving the survivors terrified.

• Lang Po attacked Lang Xiaotian, who crushed a gray mist bead and transformed into a monster to fight back.
• Chi Qing slaughtered the independent cultivators as Lang Po and Lang Xiaotian battled.
• Dongfang Yueming held back from intervening after Qiang Feng warned him that doing so would make him a target.
• Chi Qing turned to attack Dongfang Yueming, who questioned whether the second trial was truly meant to select candidates for the Battle of the Flood Dragon Gate.
• Dongfang Yueming suggested that the trial was either never meant to produce three winners or was actually the third trial, a bloody ritual requiring everyone’s lives as sacrifices.

Dongfang Yueming fused the Crimson Flame Fist Technique and Heaven-Overwhelming Palm into a new martial art, then exposed the Trial Valley master's scheme and killed him. He took an ancient manual and left the hall, suspecting the monsters’ families had knowingly traded their heirs’ lives for benefits.

• The master of Trial Valley appeared and declared that only the three people left standing could live.
• Dongfang Yueming spent his points to perfect the Crimson Flame Fist Technique and Heaven-Overwhelming Palm, then fused them into the Sea-Burning Raging Flame Palm.
• As the melee began, Dongfang Yueming explained that the trial was meant to leave three monsters as offerings, not three humans.
• Dongfang Yueming struck the black-robed old man, shattered his shield, and killed him with a second palm.
• Dongfang Yueming searched the corpse, took an ancient manual, and left the hall while suspecting the monsters’ families had known the truth about Trial Valley.

After Dongfang Yueming escaped the Trial Valley, the Nirvana Sect and the three great sects branded him a villain and issued a region-wide wanted notice. He decided to return to the Great Xia Dynasty and challenge its surrounding sects, while the missing Gao Hu slaughtered three patrolmen and used their blood essence to reach Qi Refining Realm Perfection.

• Dongfang Yueming fled as three Martial Dao Grandmasters arrived, and Wei Meng told them he had killed the black-robed Nirvana Sect deacon.
• Three days later, the three great sects issued a wanted notice accusing Dongfang Ri of massacring geniuses and offering rewards for his capture or death.
• Dongfang Yueming read the notice in a remote tavern, decided to return to the Great Xia Dynasty and the Earth Spirit Sect, and planned to gain strength by challenging nearby sects.
• Gao Hu ambushed and killed three Qi Refining Realm patrolmen, then used a strange piece of iron to absorb their blood essence.
• Gao Hu absorbed the patrolmen's blood essence, broke through to Qi Refining Realm Perfection, and believed the Internal Force Realm was within reach.

Dongfang Yueming boarded a return voyage from the Cloud Water Dynasty to the Great Xia Dynasty, keeping his identity and strength concealed. After a smooth start to the journey, a sea Ferocious Beast horde appeared, leaving the boat’s passengers facing an imminent threat.

• Dongfang Yueming waited to board while members of the Bai family cut ahead of the line and insulted the other travelers.
• Dongfang Yueming boarded the colossal boat, and a Grandmaster warned passengers against fighting as the return voyage began.
• During the first three uneventful days, a Qi Refining martial artist tried to befriend Dongfang Yueming and warned him about the Bai family’s strength.
• An urgent alarm rang, and the passengers saw a sea Ferocious Beast horde surging toward the boat.

Dongfang Yueming and the martial artists aboard the ship fought off a swarm of Black-Scaled Sea Serpents, but a Purple-Horned Demon Serpent emerged from the depths and threatened the entire ship. The chapter ended as the Grandmaster and everyone on deck faced the demonic beast’s overwhelming presence.

• The ship’s Grandmaster ordered all martial artists at the Qi Refining Realm or above to defend against the approaching sea serpent swarm, and Wang Pangzi asked Dongfang Yueming to watch each other’s backs.
• The Black-Scaled Sea Serpents attacked the ship, and the martial artists fought them off as Bai Feng redirected a serpent toward Wang Pangzi.
• Dongfang Yueming saved Wang Pangzi by killing the serpent with a two-finger strike, then gave Bai Feng a calm, warning look.
• Black-Scaled Savage Serpents joined the fight, and Bai Zhanxiong battled them while Bai Feng boasted about his father’s strength.
• As the defenders began to push back the swarm, Dongfang Yueming sensed something wrong and saw the Grandmaster watching the depths.
• A Purple-Horned Demon Serpent rose from beneath the ship, shaking it with its immense aura and overwhelming everyone on deck.

A Purple-Horned Demon Serpent attacked the ship, and the resident Grandmaster was badly injured when its mental attack left him open to a counterstrike. Dongfang Yueming intervened and wounded the serpent, allowing the Grandmaster to drive it away; the ship’s passengers survived, while the Grandmaster wondered who Dongfang Yueming was and why he was traveling to the remote continent.

• The Purple-Horned Demon Serpent attacked the ship, and the Grandmaster confronted it with his Mountain and River Sword Intent.
• The serpent used Mental Intimidation to disrupt the Grandmaster, then struck him onto the deck and left him wounded.
• Dongfang Yueming approached the Grandmaster and struck the serpent with his Sea-Burning Raging Flame Palm, severely damaging it.
• The Grandmaster followed up with Mountain and River Break, but the serpent escaped into the sea using Water Escape.
• The passengers cheered as the danger passed, and the Grandmaster thanked Dongfang Yueming and asked about his journey.
• Dongfang Yueming sat down to rest without answering, leaving the Grandmaster curious about his identity and purpose.

After the battle, Bai Zhanxiong and Bai Feng suspected Dongfang Yueming was the wanted fugitive Dongfang Ri and considered how to deal with him. Dongfang Yueming ignored their plotting and planned to use his points to perfect both force condensation methods the next day.

• Bai Zhanxiong and Bai Feng recognized Dongfang Yueming's water-and-fire Martial Dao True Intent and suspected he was the wanted Dongfang Ri.
• Bai Feng urged his father to act against Dongfang Yueming, but Bai Zhanxiong decided to wait until the ship was safer and strike without warning.
• Bai Zhanxiong told Bai Feng that his own first-level-perfected inner force could let him hold Dongfang Yueming off, though he might not win a direct clash.
• Dongfang Yueming reviewed his system panel and concluded that his Sea-Burning Raging Flame Palm had exceeded his expectations.
• Dongfang Yueming planned to spend his points to perfect both force condensation methods the next day.

Dongfang Yueming advised Wang Pangzi on his sword technique, then used the system to perfect two force-condensation methods and fuse them into the Sea-Burning Force Condensation Method. With his Inner Force at its legendary limit, he set his sights on the Earth Spirit Sect after returning to Great Xia.

• Wang Pangzi thanked Dongfang Yueming for saving his life and asked him for advice about his Wind-Chasing Sword Technique.
• Dongfang Yueming told Wang Pangzi to focus on a steady foundation and directing his true qi into his sword, helping him loosen his cultivation bottleneck.
• An attendant told Dongfang Yueming that the Grandmaster had arranged a room for him on the ship's upper level, while Bai Feng watched resentfully.
• The next morning, Dongfang Yueming spent system points to perfect the Heaven-Overwhelming Force Condensation Method and the Red Flame Force Condensation Method.
• The Origin Page fused the two techniques into the Sea-Burning Force Condensation Method, bringing Dongfang Yueming's Inner Force to its legendary limit.
• Dongfang Yueming resolved to pursue a Grandmaster technique and begin with the Earth Spirit Sect when he returned to Great Xia.

Bai Zhanxiong and Bai Feng asked the Grandmaster to help capture the man they suspected was Dongfang Ri, but he left the Bai family to act alone. Realizing the Grandmaster intended to use them to test their target, Bai Zhanxiong decided to attack in three days near the reef-strewn waters.

• Bai Feng urged Bai Zhanxiong to act before the ship reached the remote continent, fearing their target was growing stronger.
• Bai Feng and Bai Zhanxiong told the Grandmaster that the man might be Dongfang Ri and asked him to help capture the wanted criminal.
• The Grandmaster told Bai Zhanxiong to gather the Bai family's Inner Force experts and handle the capture themselves.
• Bai Zhanxiong concluded that the Grandmaster meant to use the Bai family to gauge their target's strength and claim the advantage afterward.
• Bai Zhanxiong resolved to attack in three days near the reef-strewn waters, and Bai Feng agreed.