Chapter Summaries

Chu Tianshu gathered and compressed the plague poison into fragments to temper his Sword Intent, but the longsword repeatedly broke apart. He planned to destroy the plague poison before dawn, while in the capital Cao Ying and Daoist Yuanzai prepared a spell to investigate the disaster at Guanlin.

• Chu Tianshu explained that the plague victims remained confused but could recover, and he handed the captured old Daoist to Huo Ming and Adjutant Yang for interrogation.
• Chu Tianshu used ritual objects to gather the patients’ evil poison and pieced it into a black longsword, enduring the despair that accompanied his cultivation as the sword repeatedly shattered.
• After exhausting that day’s accumulated poison, Chu Tianshu asked Miss Mei for a preserved plum and ordered defenses around the prison before announcing he would end the plague poison at the third quarter of the hour of the rat.
• In the capital, Daoist Yuanzai told Cao Ying that Junior Brother Yuanli had encountered calamity at Guanlin and that the young marshal’s safety was uncertain.
• Cao Ying agreed to help Yuanzai cast a spell that night to glimpse what had happened at Guanlin.

Yuanzai used the Five Rampancies Sect’s divine heart borrowing a path to investigate Yuanli’s disappearance and reached Luoyang Prison, where Chu Tianshu had lured out the Plague God’s half-body. The chapter ended as Chu Tianshu cut the apparition apart and its divine might surged in retaliation.

• Cao Ying and Yuanzai performed a rite at the Temple of Heaven, summoning the Five Chang Gods and sending Yuanzai’s soul along their divine path.
• Yuanzai found traces of Yuanli’s blood at Guanlin Temple and followed the plague poison to Luoyang Prison.
• Chu Tianshu used his blood to draw the Rainbow Half-Body out of the prison’s seventy-seven patients as Miss Mei and the other sorcerers waited outside.
• Yuanzai flew into the prison and saw the iridescent Plague God’s half-body rising before Chu Tianshu.
• Chu Tianshu swiftly slashed the Plague God’s half-body into dozens of pieces, provoking a burst of its divine might.

Chu Tianshu destroyed the Plague God's half-body, but Yuanzai interfered and rushed to the eastern cells to extract Yuanli's soul. Chu Tianshu pursued him and arrived just as Yuanzai prepared to escape with it.

• Chu Tianshu trapped the Plague God's scattered fragments and cut them apart with a second flurry of sword strikes.
• Yuanzai struck the boundary between Chu Tianshu's and the Plague God's oppressive presences, disrupting Chu Tianshu long enough for the remaining fragments to flee.
• Chu Tianshu pulled the fragments back and destroyed the last of the Plague God's body, then realized Yuanzai was heading east.
• Yuanzai reached Yuanli's cell, pulled Yuanli's weakened soul from his body, and prepared to escape underground.
• Chu Tianshu entered the cell as his Four-Leaf Seal collapsed and swung the Sanqi Divine Sword at Yuanzai's wrist.

Chu Tianshu fought Yuanzai’s spirit form in the prison, severing his arm and striking him with a long-range sword attack, but Yuanzai escaped back to his body. As Chu Tianshu sensed the blue Qi around him stirring, Yuanzai revived at the ritual altar and grabbed Cao Ying, urgently calling for help.

• Yuanzai used ritual stomps and his Dharma artifacts to fight Chu Tianshu, while Huo Ming fired three bullets that failed to pierce Yuanzai’s crown.
• Chu Tianshu severed Yuanzai’s left forearm and blocked the fragments from his self-destroyed artifacts, but Yuanzai fled through the bars and walls.
• Chu Tianshu sent a white Weapon Soul strike through several obstacles and pierced Yuanzai’s spirit form in the warden’s office.
• Yuanzai deflected the weakened strike with his crown, wrapped himself in his cloak, and escaped as Chu Tianshu’s sword returned to him.
• The blue Qi around Chu Tianshu began to circle him, while Yuanzai’s battered spirit form returned to his body at the capital’s ritual altar.
• Yuanzai opened his eyes, gripped Cao Ying’s sleeve, and urgently called for help.

Yuanzai returned from Luoyang gravely injured after losing the Five Rampancies Army and Horse Office Main Seal, and he told Cao Ying that his son had died in Guanlin. In Bashu, Liu Yanqi felt the old Ghost King stirring, while Chu Tianshu discovered a new power within himself in Luoyang.

• Cao Ying used five headless roosters to placate the Five Chang Gods after Yuanzai returned from Luoyang injured.
• Guo Baozhi removed the Dharma seal from Yuanzai with his jade pendant, then gave him medicine and helped him recover.
• Yuanzai told Cao Ying that the Young Marshal had died in Guanlin and warned him not to seek revenge rashly.
• Liu Yanqi felt pain around his scarred right eye and realized the Ghost King had survived and was regaining strength.
• Cai Shanjun planned to alert the organizations in likely locations and send word to Luoyang as Bashu prepared to move troops into Shaanxi.
• Chu Tianshu rose from meditation in Luoyang and sensed an unfamiliar power within himself.

Chu Tianshu tested the Nanhua True Interpretation and learned how it extracted and returned primordial Qi, while Huo Ming shared intelligence about the Cao Family, Sun Ce’s Origin Canon, and a curse made with Yu Ji’s bones. The chapter ended with Chu Tianshu realizing the Cao Family had also targeted Guanlin Temple to steal Guan Yu’s Origin Canon.

• Chu Tianshu experimented with the Nanhua True Interpretation, extracting primordial Qi from water, stone, and steel and using it to restore or destroy objects.
• Chu Tianshu discovered that the Sanqi Divine Sword could absorb some Nanhua Primordial Qi and grow stronger, though his internal force could not fuse with it.
• Huo Ming told Chu Tianshu that the Cao Family had bought Renault tanks and arranged for sorcerers to carve protective talismans inside them.
• Huo Ming reported that the Cao Family was developing Liaodong’s industry and that Han Prefecture remained ahead in grenade production.
• Huo Ming revealed that the Cao Family had used Yu Ji’s bones to curse the inheritor of Sun Ce’s Origin Canon.
• Chu Tianshu connected the Cao Family’s grave robbing to Yuanli and his companions digging at Guanlin Temple for Guan Yu’s Origin Canon.

Chu Tianshu learned that the Sun Family would search Jiangdong for Yu Ji’s corpse, then saw the prison survivors begin recovering their memories. After poisoning Liu Xueya with medicine extracted from the patients’ discarded herbal dregs, Chu Tianshu used the Plague God’s traits to further optimize the Nine-Nine Tribulation Ash Sword Manual.

• Huo Ming explained that the Five Rampancies Sect’s holy maiden had joined with the Cao Family and likely set up Yu Ji’s corpse and curse altar near the Sun Family residence.
• The seventy-seven prison survivors began weeping as their memories and emotions returned, and Huo Ming urged Chu Tianshu to move them somewhere safer rather than involve them in killing Liu Xueya.
• Chu Tianshu extracted medicinal properties from the discarded dregs and gave them to Liu Xueya, causing him to suffer a severe reaction from the concentrated poison.
• Chu Tianshu left Liu Xueya alive in agony and checked the Zhongping Plague God’s traits.
• Chu Tianshu combined the Plague God’s traits with those of other evil spirits to optimize the Nine-Nine Tribulation Ash Sword Manual.

Chu Tianshu practiced his optimized Nine-Nine Tribulation Ash Sword Manual while the patients trained in Taiji at Liu Xueya’s residence. He later learned that Sun Feng'an was traveling to Luoyang and might arrive that day.

• Chu Tianshu had the recovered patients practice Taiji at Liu Xueya’s residence while he waited for the right time to cultivate.
• Chu Tianshu used Nanhua Primordial Qi from the earth to assemble and temper a sword with his Sword Intent, practicing for three hours.
• Chu Tianshu went to the prison, where Yuanli, Miss Mei, other sorcerers, Huo Ming, and Adjutant Yang worked to reproduce spells without worshipping the Five Chang Gods.
• A clerk told Chu Tianshu and Huo Ming that Jiangdong had thanked headquarters and that Sun Feng'an was coming to Luoyang, possibly that day.

Chu Tianshu studied the Luoyang sorcerers’ Pear God Canon Inquiry and used it to question the Nanhua Origin Canon through a vision of the spiritual veins. He discovered that mastering the canon required focusing on refining Qi from metal and iron.

• Chu Tianshu ordered guards to watch Luoyang’s gates and station for Sun Feng'an, then turned his attention to the Five Rampancies method of stealing Origin Canons.
• Miss Mei presented the Luoyang sorcerers’ findings, and Huo Ming proposed adding the sorcerers to Han Prefecture’s Military Academy as instructors; Chu Tianshu and the sorcerers agreed.
• Miss Mei explained the Pear God Canon Inquiry, a folk technique said to question spiritual veins and seek heroic stories and Origin Canons.
• Chu Tianshu arranged for the sorcerers to perform the inquiry while he served as its principal participant and relied on his Refining Spirit into Qi method to control any disturbance.
• Chu Tianshu entered a vision of vast spiritual veins and received fragments of the Nanhua Origin Canon’s teachings.
• Chu Tianshu concluded that he needed to focus on refining Qi from metal and iron to master the Nanhua Origin Canon.

Sun Feng'an visited Luoyang and asked Chu Tianshu to help him draw out and destroy his enemies in Jiangdong, offering an alliance and famous swords in return. As Xu Laohu rode toward Luoyang to kill Sun Feng'an, Miss Cao stopped him and urged him to wait, saying that killing both Sun Feng'an and Chu Tianshu would be worth a war with Jiangdong.

• Sun Feng'an entered Luoyang and observed its orderly streets, public health campaigns, and transformed prison system.
• Sun Feng'an met Chu Tianshu and revealed that he had come to use his apparent illness as bait to lure out dangerous enemies in Jiangdong.
• Sun Feng'an offered Chu Tianshu a full alliance with Jiangdong and every famous saber and sword he could find in exchange for support.
• Huo Ming described Xu Laohu's history and his long conflict with Sun Feng'an, as Xu Laohu headed toward Luoyang with nearly a hundred riders.
• Miss Cao intercepted Xu Laohu and told him to wait, arguing that killing Sun Feng'an and Chu Tianshu would justify provoking a war with Jiangdong.

Xu Laohu and a force of martial artists, sorcerers, and scripture preachers gathered at Miss Cao’s summons to target Sun Feng'an and Chu Tianshu in Luoyang. After Miss Cao revealed Chu Tianshu’s growing power, the assembled experts embraced the mission, and she prepared to lead them west.

• Xu Laohu waited another day and a half as scripture preachers and martial artists arrived at the hillside.
• Ma Bucheng introduced himself to Xu Laohu, while the gathered experts wondered why the Cao Family had assembled such a large force.
• Miss Cao named Sun Feng'an and Chu Tianshu as their targets and described Chu Tianshu’s victories in Yu Province.
• Miss Cao warned that the sect master had sensed the Origin Canon’s power gathering in Chu Tianshu and urged the experts to act before he grew stronger.
• The Thousand-Drunken Old Man and the old man on the bench pledged their support, and Xu Laohu roused his men for the fight.
• Miss Cao removed her gloves, revealing crawling red talismans, and ordered the force to make Luoyang lively that night.

Chu Tianshu fought off a coordinated attack on Luoyang, using his speed and martial arts to counter gunmen and mortar fire. After turning the shells back on the attackers, he returned to the city as Sun Feng'an and Huo Ming arrived in the eastern district.

• More than thirty ninjas blasted open Luoyang’s eastern gate with mortars while over a hundred armed riders entered the city and scattered.
• Chu Tianshu reached the eastern district, where hidden gunmen fired on him from rooftops as they changed positions.
• Chu Tianshu spotted the gunmen and killed several by hurling broken roof tiles through their cover.
• The ninjas bombarded Chu Tianshu on the city wall, but he slowed the impact-fused shells with a Four-Leaf Seal and flung them back outside the city.
• The returned shells detonated the attackers’ ammunition, and Chu Tianshu plunged back into the city as Sun Feng'an and Huo Ming arrived.

Sun Feng'an fought Yu Ji’s reanimated skeleton while Huo Ming and Chu Tianshu battled gunmen across Luoyang’s eastern district. Chu Tianshu then faced the assassin Laughing Guest, who attacked with an iron bench.

• Sun Feng'an met Yu Ji’s skeleton on a bridge and traded blows with it, but could not destroy it.
• Huo Ming evaded gunfire, killed several gunmen with curved shots, and deduced that an unseen force was directing them using a map and magic.
• Chu Tianshu killed twelve gunmen, then landed in a street and was attacked by Laughing Guest with an iron bench.
• Laughing Guest’s bench nearly struck Chu Tianshu’s leg, but Chu Tianshu withdrew his hand and launched a renewed attack.

Chu Tianshu unleashed his strongest fighting form and defeated Bench Fighter, Ma Bucheng, and Thousand-Drunken Old Man. He confronted Xu Laohu on the city wall and declared that he would kill him in Luoyang before searching for the person who cast the spell.

• Chu Tianshu struck Bench Fighter through the iron bench and sent him crashing into the city wall.
• Chu Tianshu caught Ma Bucheng’s saber, shattered it and his arm, then tore out a pillar and hurled it at Thousand-Drunken Old Man.
• Thousand-Drunken Old Man broke apart the pillar with Drunken Mantis, but Chu Tianshu seized him and carried him to the city wall.
• Chu Tianshu met Xu Laohu on the wall and said he would bury him in Luoyang, keeping Thousand-Drunken Old Man alive to help find the spellcaster.

Chu Tianshu defeated Xu Laohu with his Three Raging Wave Fists, destroying his soul and killing him. He then confronted Thousand-Drunken Old Man, who offered to lead him to the ritual altar in exchange for a quick death.

• Xu Laohu attacked Chu Tianshu with the Roaring Tiger True Interpretation and a barrage of sound-driven Bai Mei Fist punches, but Chu Tianshu blocked them all.
• Chu Tianshu struck Xu Laohu's elbow and forearm, then landed three powerful punches that shattered Xu Laohu's soul and killed him.
• Thousand-Drunken Old Man asked whether Chu Tianshu had used an Origin Canon, and Chu Tianshu said he had used martial arts and warned that he would question him by force.
• Chu Tianshu rebuked Thousand-Drunken Old Man for abandoning martial arts and relying on tonics, prompting the old man to offer directions to the ritual altar in exchange for a quick death.
• Chu Tianshu lifted Thousand-Drunken Old Man and unsealed his right hand, and the old man pointed the way.

Chu Tianshu confronted the dying Cao Ying at a ritual platform outside Luoyang and reversed the altar, disrupting the gunmen’s attack in the eastern district. As he kept Cao Ying alive and pressed her with predictions of failure, she revealed the Cao Family’s plan involving the Qingcheng Ghost King and the Pear God, but the chapter ended before she disclosed their chosen time and place.

• Cao Ying learned from the deaths of scripture masters and the breaking of her life-bound beads that Chu Tianshu had defeated the killers and was eliminating her ninjas.
• The six remaining scripture masters fled, while Cao Ying stayed behind and drank blood wine from a lead cup.
• Chu Tianshu arrived carrying Thousand-Drunken Old Man, confronted Cao Ying, and identified that she had poisoned herself with the ritual wine.
• Chu Tianshu cracked the three-tiered platform and extinguished its candles, causing gunmen in Luoyang’s eastern district to suffer sudden eye pain.
• As Cao Ying weakened, Chu Tianshu kept her alive and taunted her with her repeated failures until she revealed that the Cao Family planned to use the Qingcheng Ghost King to awaken the Pear God and claim the Three Gods’ power.
• Cao Ying insisted the plan would succeed and began to reveal the time and place they had chosen, but the chapter ended before she finished.

Guo Baozhi and Cao Ying completed a ritual on Mount Little Qingliang that restored the Ghost King’s Divine Power of Sorrow and Joy and weakened the Five Chang Gods. Yuanzai then revealed that the Holy Maiden and all twelve scripture teachers had died in Luoyang, prompting Cao Ying to report the disaster and receive instructions to seek peace talks.

• Guo Baozhi saw the black jade pendant’s true form and realized that the Ghost King had regained the Divine Power of Sorrow and Joy.
• Cao Ying and Guo Baozhi discussed how their ritual had restrained the Five Chang Gods while leaving their foundation intact.
• Yuanzai arrived and accused Cao Ying of killing the Holy Maiden and all twelve scripture teachers, whose life lamps had gone out.
• Cao Ying sent an urgent message to Liaodong, and Lord Cao replied that Ying'er had been instructed to prioritize her safety.
• Lord Cao sent a second telegram stating that the three-god plan was complete and ordering an announcement to invite peace talks.

After defeating Cao Ying and destroying the ritual platform, Chu Tianshu discovered that her mask depicted the Nuo God Fangxiang and considered how to separate the Nuo Gods’ power from the Five Rampancies. In Rongcheng, Liu Yanqi nearly stepped down because of his worsening condition, but news of Cao Bokun’s proposed peace talks convinced him the Cao Family was plotting and he should keep fighting.

• Chu Tianshu questioned Cao Ying until she died, then examined her black iron mask and recognized its four-eyed figure as the Nuo God Fangxiang.
• Sun Feng'an arrived carrying Yu Ji’s skeleton and told Chu Tianshu the city had been pacified; Chu Tianshu ordered Thousand-Drunken Old Man to write down his kung fu manuals before dying.
• Liu Yanqi told Cai Shanjun that his recurring eye pain had weakened him and that he planned to step down while seeking a chance to deal with the Ghost King.
• The chief of staff reported that the Cao Family was preparing peace talks and urged the rebels to build momentum against its coming public campaign.
• Liu Yanqi rejected the idea of relaxing, suspecting Cao Bokun was using peace talks to conceal a major setback and plot; Cai Shanjun ordered a telegram sent to Luoyang to ask what had happened.

After Xu Laohu’s attack on Luoyang, Chu Tianshu and Sun Feng'an discussed the Cao Family’s proposed peace talks and Jiangdong’s political position. Huo Ming then reported that the military governor and Marshal Liu had arrived together in Luoyang, while Chu Tianshu was still waiting for Sun Feng'an’s promised collection of famed swords and sabers.

• Luoyang residents spread fantastical stories about the battle and Chu Tianshu’s and Sun Feng'an’s roles in defeating the attackers.
• Sun Feng'an told Chu Tianshu that the capital had proposed peace talks between Han Prefecture and Jiangdong and that the Cao Family’s supporters were blaming anyone who refused.
• Chu Tianshu and Sun Feng'an considered how Han Prefecture’s achievements and Jiangdong’s dealings with Dongying affected public opinion and foreign relations.
• Chu Tianshu asked when Sun Feng'an’s promised swords and sabers would arrive, and Sun Feng'an said his brother would send a collection within a day or two.
• Huo Ming told Chu Tianshu that the military governor and Marshal Liu had arrived in Luoyang together.

Chu Tianshu reunited with Cai Shanjun and learned that the Cave God Lady was formed from sacrificed heroes and had nearly perished fighting the Ghost King of Qingcheng. Cai Shanjun warned that the Cao Family’s plan to bring three ghost gods together would spread their influence, and Chu Tianshu prepared to act on an idea.

• Liu Yanqi warmly praised Chu Tianshu, then spoke with Sun Feng'an while Cai Shanjun arrived and gave Chu Tianshu flower cakes.
• Cai Shanjun revealed that the Cave God Lady’s Yin Qi came from the souls of Wu Clan Stronghold’s sacrificed heroes, who had joined together after the old ghost god was worn away.
• Cai Shanjun explained that the Cave God Lady had fought the Ghost King of Qingcheng during the Battle of Bashu, where the Rainbow Cloud Flute was destroyed and she was nearly erased.
• Cai Shanjun said Liu Yanqi’s injured right eye hurt whenever the Ghost King showed signs of recovering, and that Chu Tianshu’s news confirmed the Ghost King’s recovery was connected to the capital.
• Cai Shanjun warned that the Cao Family’s plan to make three gods stand together would expose people to several ghost gods’ influences and cause widespread calamity.
• Chu Tianshu said he had an idea and took the mask from his waist.