Chapter Summaries

After defeating the Demonic Sect’s forces, Chu Tianshu and his companions captured Sect Leader Qiu and Protector Jin, while news spread of the coming meeting between Layman Tian and the Flowing Cloud Manor Master at Poyang Lake. At Kang Mountain, Miaogao, Miaoji, and Xiahou Yi watched martial-world figures gather before the Flowing Cloud Manor’s great ship arrived, and Miaoji predicted its occupants would meet a grim fate.

• Chu Tianshu examined the damaged Sanqi Divine Sword, then took the Demonic Sect leader alive and joined Lu Shuangyan in searching for Xiahou Feishan.
• Xiahou Feishan returned with Protector Jin captured, explaining that Jin knew the locations of several Demonic Sect treasuries.
• News of the Poyang Lake meeting drew martial artists and potential enemies of Layman Tian and the Flowing Cloud Manor to Kang Mountain.
• Miaogao, Miaoji, and Xiahou Yi identified notable figures among the visitors and discussed the dangers surrounding the gathering.
• A Flowing Cloud Manor tower ship entered Poyang Lake, and Miaoji declared that its people were doomed because their side had once chained ships together there.

Southern Shaolin’s inn was attacked by a killer posing as a troublemaking customer, and Miaogao, Miaoji, and Xiahou Yi fought to stop him. Chu Tianshu arrived and identified the attack as a scheme, leaving the killer under threat as the arranged battle approached.

• A group of sword-bearing customers tried to provoke the monks at the inn, but Miaoji ordered them escorted out by the assembled Southern Shaolin monks.
• As the group reached the door, its leader attacked Miaogao with a hidden projectile and struck at him again, revealing his intent to kill.
• Miaoji knocked Miaogao out of the attack’s path while Xiahou Yi fought the leader, whose powerful strikes broke Xiahou Yi’s short sword and chain.
• Xiahou Yi identified the attacker as Tie Siming, and Chu Tianshu arrived carrying a blue-green saber.
• Chu Tianshu declared that everyone should behave until the arranged battle and warned that Tie Siming would be an example of what not to do.

As Chu Tianshu approached Kangshan Island for his appointed duel, the Flowing Cloud Manor Master used flute music to unsettle the gathered martial artists and draw upon the Mist and Rosy Clouds Realm Layer. Chu Tianshu countered by singing along with the melody, and the two men finally clashed at the island’s reef.

• The Flowing Cloud Manor Master learned that Chu Tianshu had killed Tie Siming and taken the Demonic Sect’s treasured saber, then told Ye Zongsheng to focus on the surfaced remnants and prepare for the duel.
• Before dawn, Chu Tianshu sailed toward Kangshan Island as the Flowing Cloud Manor Master’s flute music began to suppress the gathered martial artists and sink their boats.
• Chan Master Miaokong failed to disrupt the music, while Chu Tianshu recognized that the Flowing Cloud Manor Master was drawing on the Mist and Rosy Clouds Realm Layer.
• Chu Tianshu sang a passage in time with the flute, easing the pressure on the stranded fighters and moving to a reef near the tower ship.
• The Flowing Cloud Manor Master hurled his iron flute at Chu Tianshu, who knocked it away, then charged across the water and attacked him with a shoulder strike.

Chu Tianshu and the Flowing Cloud Manor Master continued their fierce battle on the reef, with the Manor Master using his iron flute and supreme sword techniques to pressure Chu Tianshu. Chu Tianshu broke apart both the Taiji Sword Qi and the Bodhidharma Sword Technique, and the two descended toward the reef again.

• Chu Tianshu deflected the Flowing Cloud Manor Master's charging shoulder strike with a cyan whirlwind, sending him toward a reef.
• The Flowing Cloud Manor Master used his robe to retrieve the iron flute, then wielded it to form a Taiji diagram that canceled Chu Tianshu's palm strike.
• The Flowing Cloud Manor Master launched twelve linked strikes, forming a large Taiji outline from their residual Sword Qi.
• The Flowing Cloud Manor Master used the Bodhidharma Sword Technique to send invisible Sword Qi toward Chu Tianshu's ear, but Chu Tianshu detected it and shattered it with his hair.
• Chu Tianshu's flying strands of hair disrupted the Taiji diagram's field, and the Flowing Cloud Manor Master cut the strands apart as both fighters descended toward the reef.

Chu Tianshu and the Flowing Cloud Manor Master fought across the lake, each revealing formidable techniques and hidden weapons. After their clash, Chu Tianshu challenged the Manor Master's claim to belong to the jianghu and declared that he did.

• Chu Tianshu engulfed himself in colorless flames and attacked the Flowing Cloud Manor Master with a barrage of real and illusory palm strikes.
• The Flowing Cloud Manor Master used the Heavenly Defect Thirteen Forms to fend off Chu Tianshu's attacks, astonishing a Hainan Sword Sect grand elder watching from a boat.
• Chu Tianshu broke the Manor Master's iron flute and struck him with six successive palm attacks, but the Manor Master neutralized the force with his layered internal energies.
• The two men clashed through their billowing sleeves, and the fight ended with the Manor Master's sleeves torn and Chu Tianshu's arms battered by concealed weapons.
• The Flowing Cloud Manor Master said he wished Chu Tianshu had sought supremacy over the realm instead of destroying its order, and Chu Tianshu answered that the Manor Master no longer belonged to the jianghu.

The Flowing Cloud Manor Master unleashed his Fifteenth Death-Claiming Sword, filling the sky with an illusion that separated thoughts from the body and drew Chu Tianshu’s soul out. Chu Tianshu found a way to move by influencing the Qi and blood in his brain, caught the Sword Qi, and struck back with thirteen bursts of the Sky-Spanning Divine Art.

• The Flowing Cloud Manor Master rose above the cliff and formed a vast illusion as he prepared to cut through the jianghu with his sword.
• The Fifteenth Death-Claiming Sword immobilized the martial artists on the lake and began drawing Chu Tianshu’s soul out of his body.
• Chu Tianshu realized the sword had accelerated his thoughts beyond his body’s signals and focused on controlling the Qi and blood in his brain.
• Chu Tianshu’s body lunged into the position of his soul, and he caught the Flowing Cloud Manor Master’s Sword Qi between his palms.
• Chu Tianshu unleashed thirteen bursts of the Sky-Spanning Divine Art, blasting the Flowing Cloud Manor Master and tearing apart the flesh of his arm.

Chu Tianshu defeated the Flowing Cloud Manor Master by breaking his Fifteenth Death-Claiming Sword and tearing apart the venomous dragon that emerged from him. As fighting spread across Poyang Lake, Chu Tianshu reflected on the sword’s nature, then went to sleep in a temple while the battle continued.

• Chu Tianshu shattered the Flowing Cloud Manor Master's sword attack, pulverized him, and tore the venomous dragon that emerged from his body in two.
• Ye Zongsheng fled across Poyang Lake as people attacked Flowing Cloud Manor fighters, and a swordsman from the Five Colors Hall confronted him over the obstruction of Commander Wan's reinforcements.
• Chief Escort Yu and Miaogao and Miaoji joined the fight against Ye Zongsheng, while Chu Tianshu confirmed to Lu Shuangyan that the sword move's dharma spirit had been slain.
• Chu Tianshu discussed the sword's distinctive artistic conception with Lu Shuangyan, then watched Xiahou Feishan pursue the Murong Family head for collaborating with the Japanese pirates.
• Chu Tianshu climbed to a temple on the cliff and fell asleep beside its weapons while the battle continued below.

News of Chu Tianshu’s victory over the Flowing Cloud Manor Master reached the capital, where the emperor celebrated and promised him a title and rewards. The crown prince then fell into a river and remained unconscious, leaving Chu Tianshu suspicious about who had acted before he could reach the capital.

• Zuo Ziqing learned that Chu Tianshu had defeated and killed the Flowing Cloud Manor Master, and the Shaolin abbot reflected that a new generation had surpassed the old.
• Zuo Ziqing hurried to the emperor’s bedchamber, where the imperial brother-in-law had already reported Chu Tianshu’s victory.
• The emperor celebrated the news and declared that he would appoint Chu Tianshu Dharma Master Who Protects the Nation and reward his followers.
• A eunuch reported that the crown prince had fallen from a bridge into the water and had not woken; the emperor vomited blood after hearing the news.
• The next day, Chu Tianshu learned of the crown prince’s accident and wondered who had acted before he could reach the capital.

Chu Tianshu studied the Demonic Sect’s saber manual and provoked the wounded Demonic Sect leader into demonstrating the Eight Linked Forms of the Ruyi Heavenly Demon. After stopping the leader’s attack, Chu Tianshu seized the demonic saber’s Dharma Spirit.

• Chu Tianshu questioned the Demonic Sect leader about his earlier ambush and explained why defeating him by any means brought no loss of reputation.
• Chu Tianshu examined the token that contained the Demonic Sect’s saber manual and learned the history of the treasured saber forged in Thunderstorm Perilous Valley.
• Chu Tianshu provoked the Demonic Sect leader into taking up the saber and demonstrating its art, hoping to see its Saber Intent at full strength.
• The Demonic Sect leader attacked Chu Tianshu with the saber, but Chu Tianshu caught the blade with his left hand and stopped him.
• Chu Tianshu sent the Demonic Sect leader flying and suppressed the demonic saber’s Dharma Spirit in his palm.

Chu Tianshu realized that Lu Shuangyan’s sword art could be reimagined as a power that resisted decay, then gathered the people on Kangshan Island for days of discussion before leaving. The islanders resolved to carry their purpose forward, while Lu Shuangyan hoped Chu Tianshu would return for a sixteenth sword.

• Chu Tianshu examined the Wounding Blade and Decaying Sword Dharma Spirits, then discussed how Lu Shuangyan’s sword could resist decay rather than accelerate it.
• Lu Shuangyan spoke about wanting to remain untainted by the world’s troubles, and Chu Tianshu encouraged him to seek a new Fifteenth Sword and consider raising children.
• Chu Tianshu observed the people on Kangshan Island and proposed that they discuss martial arts, life, and their uncertain ambitions together.
• Chu Tianshu led the Kang Mountain Night Talks for days, and the islanders grew more willing to speak and share their resolve.
• Chu Tianshu left the island before the talks ended, and the people vowed to show their strength in the future.
• Xiahou Feishan joked about surpassing Chu Tianshu’s fame, while Lu Shuangyan hoped Chu Tianshu would return and asked whether there would be a sixteenth sword.

After returning from the Ming Dynasty, Chu Tianshu prepared for Spring Festival and learned that modern technology was being adapted to assist cultivation. Helai then warned him that the Sky-Spanning Divine Art could lead its practitioners toward the deadly realm of Taboo, and explained why breaking through in an Overflow Zone was safer.

• Chu Tianshu returned home after four months away, cleaned the house with magic, and chatted with Lin Baisui, who warned him that his parents might try to arrange blind dates.
• Chu Tianshu spoke with his neighbor about martial arts and learned about External Elixir No. 1, a device that used electricity to assist training.
• Fang Jun told Chu Tianshu that the Chang'an Institute of Science and Technology was developing External Elixirs for different cultivation methods.
• Chu Tianshu called Helai, who explained that the Sky-Spanning Divine Art could lead practitioners to attempt a breakthrough into Taboo, a realm that had killed everyone who tried to reach it for over a thousand years.
• Helai told Chu Tianshu that breaking through in an Overflow Zone was comparatively safer because the chaotic Qi there made the attempt more difficult.

Helai explained to Chu Tianshu why people who reached the forbidden level had perished and warned him to prepare carefully before attempting a breakthrough. After asking about external pills, Chu Tianshu went to the market and found Second Grandpa offering incense on an old bridge.

• Helai explained that people who reached the forbidden level had become entranced by comprehending the Dao and died, and that the force causing this calamity was now weakening.
• Chu Tianshu questioned why cultivation seemed easier, and Helai explained that opening apertures was becoming easier even as breaking through to the forbidden level became harder.
• Helai offered to help Chu Tianshu find an Overflow Zone and said the Special Investigation Bureau could consult a monk skilled in divination.
• Chu Tianshu asked Helai about external pills, and Helai sent him a catalog with a limit of one new product per buyer.
• Chu Tianshu considered ways to raise money as he walked to the market, where he saw Second Grandpa offering incense on a bridge.

Chu Tianshu reunited with Second Master Chu, learned the old bridge he worshipped would be replaced, and discussed the village’s growing interest in martial arts and plans for their pharmacy. At dinner, they met Li Tao, an unusual practitioner applying for a job, who prepared to demonstrate her skills.

• Chu Tianshu met Second Master Chu at the bridge, paid his respects, and heard it would be torn down and rebuilt next year.
• Chu Tianshu and Second Master Chu visited the market and saw teenagers and older villagers practicing with External Elixir No. 1 near the village committee office.
• Second Master Chu discussed pharmacy staffing and said his old friend, a practitioner named Li Tao, had applied for a job and wanted to meet Chu Tianshu.
• Chu Tianshu cooked fish, chicken, and soup while he and Second Master Chu talked about the poor harvest after the cold disaster.
• Li Tao arrived for dinner, introduced herself as a job applicant, and took an amber substance from her basket to demonstrate her skills.

Li Tao demonstrated her sugar-blowing craft to Chu Tianshu and asked to join his pharmacy so she could sell sugar figures and find someone to inherit the tradition. Chu Tianshu agreed to discuss her work over a meal and began considering how to help other practitioners with limited-use skills develop their lineages.

• Li Tao shaped syrup into a detailed Great Sage Equal to Heaven figure while Second Master Chu explained the craft’s legendary connection to Liu Bowen.
• Chu Tianshu sensed the harmless Mind Power in the sugar figure and recognized its mood-lifting and restorative effects.
• Li Tao explained that her lineage had many designs but only modest therapeutic uses, and asked to work at Chu Tianshu’s pharmacy and promote the craft.
• Chu Tianshu agreed to pay Li Tao by the rules and invited her to eat before discussing the arrangement further.
• Chu Tianshu asked Second Master Chu about other practitioners whose skills were not suited to combat, then proposed combining their traditions with martial arts.

Chu Tianshu recruited Second Master Chu to approach his old friends about joining the pharmacy and developed his cultivation through dream battles and training in a small room. As the Spring Festival approached, Second Master Chu reported that most of his friends were interested, but Old Brother Yao urgently asked to meet them that day.

• Chu Tianshu explained Refining Spirit into Qi to Second Master Chu, who agreed to learn it as a demonstration for recruiting his old friends.
• Chu Tianshu reviewed his fight with the Flowing Cloud Manor Master in a dream and defeated the beasts that attacked him.
• Chu Tianshu trained in the storage room by practicing against rebounding internal force, then used the Youdu Token to optimize the Vertical and Horizontal Simple Seal.
• Chu Tianshu spent the next two days cultivating and preparing for the New Year.
• Second Master Chu told Chu Tianshu that most of his old friends were inclined to join, but Old Brother Yao had urgently invited them to his home for a talk.

Chu Tianshu and Second Master Chu went to visit the illusionist Yao Qianshu, who had asked for help with a cultivation problem. Chu Tianshu entered Yao’s upstairs room and found a strange arrangement of copper basins just as their water began to swirl and emit white Qi.

• Second Master Chu explained Yao Qianshu’s Mirage Lineage arts, charitable work, troubled family history, and request for help.
• Chu Tianshu and Second Master Chu crossed the Hailing Yangtze River Bridge and found Yao’s house in a riverside village.
• Yao called them upstairs, but Chu Tianshu suspected something was wrong and floated to a second-floor window to investigate.
• Chu Tianshu entered the room and found Yao seated among copper basins filled with water and partly burned talismans.
• The water in the basins began swirling as white Qi rose, and Yao Qianshu looked panicked.

Chu Tianshu stabilized Yao Qianshu’s soul, then vanished from his home and appeared in a temple where a crowd prayed to Lord Deer for rain. A woman entering the temple saw the three golden flames above Chu Tianshu and called him a Divine Child.

• Chu Tianshu reunited Yao Qianshu’s wavering soul with his body and warned that the Spirit Realm presence still had an unknown cause.
• Yao Qianshu described his strange dreams and recent soul instability, while Second Master Chu found no signs of an overflow or evil presence.
• Chu Tianshu disappeared before Yao Qianshu and Second Master Chu, who decided to report the incident and seek help.
• Chu Tianshu appeared in a temple dedicated to a bronze deer while hundreds of people outside prayed for rain.
• A woman entered carrying water, saw Chu Tianshu’s three golden flames reflected in a puddle, and exclaimed that he was a Divine Child.

Chu Tianshu was mistaken for a divine child by the People of Deer Wilderness and learned that their drought-stricken village worshipped visions of Yao Qianshu as an immortal master. As Lu Touqiu escorted him to Deer Wilderness Village, Chu Tianshu realized the clan chief was hiding his true intentions and confronted him.

• The People of Deer Wilderness treated Chu Tianshu as a divine child after seeing three flames above him, and Lu Touqiu invited him to visit the village.
• Chu Tianshu learned that divine children were associated with strange signs and that the people had mistaken Yao Qianshu's projected Mirage Technique for an immortal master promising rain.
• Chu Tianshu observed the unusual physical abilities of Lu Touqiu and the woman who had guarded the temple.
• Lu Touqiu led Chu Tianshu to drought-stricken Deer Wilderness Village, which had nearly a thousand households.
• Chu Tianshu questioned Lu Touqiu about why he had invited him, then accused him of lying about being content merely to host a divine child.

Chu Tianshu entered the Deer Wilds village, learned about its people and their water-refined huangjing, and accepted the clan chief’s hospitality. As he noticed the Spirit Realm’s blazing sun, villagers outside were suddenly attacked and fled amid a bloody slaughter.

• Chu Tianshu observed the village and its villagers as Lu Touqiu and Lu Yuling escorted him past curious onlookers.
• Chu Tianshu examined the village well and the Spirit Realm’s unusual air before arriving at Lu Touqiu’s large home.
• Lu Touqiu served Chu Tianshu water-refined huangjing, and Chu Tianshu found it safe, nourishing, and exceptionally refined.
• Chu Tianshu noticed the sun had grown fiercer and realized the Spirit Realm’s earlier heat had only been cloudy weather.
• A villager was slashed by a stone blade, and dozens of villagers fled as bloodied bodies lay across the road.

Horse-Faced Jufu attacked the People of Deer Wilderness, but Chu Tianshu arrived and defeated him after discovering his earth-controlling ability. Chu Tianshu held the injured Jufu aloft and questioned why he had left the ground.

• Horse-Faced Jufu chased and killed fleeing villagers, prompting the People of Deer Wilderness to raise their cries and confront him.
• Jufu resisted the villagers’ cries, hurled his great saber into a millstone, and charged the village men.
• A silver needle pierced Jufu’s wrist as Chu Tianshu swooped in and struck him with an earth slab.
• Chu Tianshu realized Jufu could control earth and stone, making the slab turn back into soil when it hit him.
• Jufu used a stone stalagmite to launch himself into the air, but Chu Tianshu caught him with a suction force and smashed him down.
• Chu Tianshu held the crippled Jufu aloft and asked why he had jumped away from the ground.