Chapter Summaries

Meteor Gods and Devils attacked Chu Tianshu with a lantern formation and a concentrated Meteor Palm Strike, but Chu used his Heavenly Eye and Mountain Collapse Combat Calculation to guide a sword through the attack and pierce his opponent. Chu seized the sword hilt and declared victory.

• Meteor Gods and Devils calmed himself, raised thousands of lanterns into the sky, and sent them speeding toward the garden ruins.
• Chu Tianshu took Granny Putuo's sword and prepared to face Meteor Gods and Devils as the southern martial artists hesitated around them.
• Meteor Gods and Devils used the lantern formation to obscure Chu's vision, then struck him with a Meteor Palm Strike.
• Chu Tianshu opened his Heavenly Eye and filled the sword's weak points with Grand Void Inner Force before throwing it through the palm strike.
• Chu Tianshu caught the sword and pierced Meteor Gods and Devils through the right palm and shoulder, then declared that he had won.

Chu Tianshu defeated the Meteor Gods and Devils and the Jiangnan martial world experts, then decided to use the captives to test his strength. Yu Danxia and Diba Deng arrived and found him alive, just in time to help move the prisoners.

• Chu Tianshu used a series of techniques to defeat the Meteor Gods and Devils and knock out the dozen or so Jiangnan martial world experts.
• Chu Tianshu decided the Meteor Gods and Devils would serve as a training post while he sought to break through Double Flawlessness.
• Chu Tianshu pierced Sikong Baili and the abbot of Wolf Mountain, declared them unworthy of treatment, and buried them alive beneath the soil.
• Yu Danxia and Diba Deng arrived at the ruined residence and found Chu Tianshu standing among the defeated experts.
• Chu Tianshu told Yu Danxia and Diba Deng they had arrived in time to help move the captives.

Han Baiyu reached an abandoned monastery near Hang Prefecture with her gravely wounded guardian sealed inside a silkworm cocoon. As she weighed whether to wait or act amid the upheaval in Hang Prefecture, she felt her guardian’s life nearly extinguished.

• Senior Chu’s disciplined forces took control of Hang Prefecture’s residences and yamen, easing local residents’ fears by refraining from looting.
• Tingyue and the other Water Moon Sword Sect nuns hid at an abandoned monastery and waited for the Heavenly Maiden while worrying that Granny Putuo had been captured.
• Han Baiyu arrived and heard Tingyue’s account of the upheaval in Hang Prefecture, then carried a huge white cocoon inside the monastery.
• Han Baiyu explained that Shaolin monks and an old beggar had attacked them on the road, leaving her guardian gravely wounded; the man inside the cocoon reassured her and said he would survive.
• Han Baiyu calmed herself with dry rations and considered her disrupted plans, while sensing that her guardian’s life was close to extinguished.

At Spirit-Calming Hall, Chu Tianshu used the Meteor Gods and Devils’ attacks to temper himself and broke through to Double Flawlessness in Qi and force. He left the captive sealed again and encountered a skilled young woman outside the residence.

• Sun Liang and Diba Deng watched grain being distributed at Spirit-Calming Hall, then Diba Deng brought Sun Liang to share his fruitwood beggar’s chicken with Chu Tianshu.
• Chu Tianshu gave half a chicken to the Meteor Gods and Devils, then challenged him to attack while refusing to strike back.
• The Meteor Gods and Devils bombarded Chu Tianshu with meteor forces, and Chu Tianshu adjusted to each impact until he caught and chewed a starburst without using internal force.
• Chu Tianshu attained Double Flawlessness in Qi and force, praised the Meteor Gods and Devils for helping him cultivate, and sealed his acupoints again.
• Chu Tianshu appeared at the residence gate and asked a young woman in blue-green clothes what business had brought her there.

Han Baiyu offered Chu Tianshu a hidden weapons storehouse in exchange for his help healing an injured friend, but Chu discovered the supplies had appeared in the cellar without being carried in. Their exchange of familiar phrases revealed that both had transmigrated, and Chu introduced himself as the Martial Display Token Master of Youdu.

• Han Baiyu visited Chu Tianshu and offered a proposal to address his shortage of troops and military supplies.
• Han Baiyu led Chu Tianshu to a secret storehouse beneath a ruined hall near Lingyin Temple, where he found weapons, armor, and other supplies.
• Chu Tianshu agreed to help Han Baiyu’s injured friend, and she said she would bring him from her sect in a couple of days.
• Chu Tianshu inferred from the stone tiles that the supplies had appeared in the cellar without being transported through the hall.
• Han Baiyu and Chu Tianshu exchanged familiar phrases, realized they were both transmigrators, and Chu introduced himself as the Martial Display Token Master of Youdu.

Han Baiyu told Chu Tianshu about her past life and the incomplete token that let her trade and store goods, then brought him to the badly injured Zhang Yining. Chu Tianshu learned that Zhang Yining had transformed the Heavenly Silkworm Demonic Art into the life-preserving Heavenly Silkworm Divine Art, and Han Baiyu asked him to save Zhang.

• Han Baiyu described her death in 2002, her transmigration, and how her token later enabled trades and protected stored supplies from spoiling.
• Han Baiyu explained that the rebels had bought military equipment in Yu Province after officials mistook her token's ability for Five Ghosts Transport.
• Han Baiyu led Chu Tianshu to an abandoned courtyard, where he found Zhang Yining sealed inside a silkworm cocoon with devastating injuries.
• Han Baiyu recounted how Zhang Yining survived poison, starvation, and the temptation to consume a companion's corpse by beholding the sun and drinking moonlight.
• Chu Tianshu questioned whether Zhang Yining might be connected to Zhang Sanfeng, and Han Baiyu urged him to save Zhang Yining.

Chu Tianshu tried to save Zhang Yining by guiding his Grand Void Inner Force through a silver needle, but discovered that the Beggars' Sect's Seven Stars Soul-Chasing Palm had concealed a deadly poison inside Zhang Yining. Zhang Yining found the resolve to endure by recalling his wish to save others who suffered as he had, and Chu Tianshu began forcing his inner power through him.

• Chu Tianshu examined Zhang Yining through the cocoon and inserted a silver needle to channel his unusual inner force into Zhang Yining's brain.
• As Chu Tianshu treated him, seven blue marks appeared on Zhang Yining's face, and Zhang Yining identified the poison as the Seven Stars Soul-Chasing Palm combined with other martial arts.
• Chu Tianshu recognized the hidden attack as a scheme linked to Yang Muren and told Zhang Yining that he needed a powerful reason to keep living so he could withstand the treatment.
• Han Baiyu worried that she might not be the most important person to Zhang Yining, while Zhang Yining recited the True Martial Precious Proclamation and recalled his childhood suffering.
• Zhang Yining resolved that people like the children who had suffered with him should be saved even without reciting the proclamation, and Chu Tianshu drove the silver needle into him and unleashed his Grand Void Inner Force.

Chu Tianshu used his internal force to treat Zhang Yining’s silkworm cocoon while sending the Sanqi Divine Sword to Yu Danxia with orders to rescue Putuo and deal with the prisoners. As Busha and Yang Muren sensed their poison being driven out, they prepared to hunt down whoever was treating Zhang Yining.

• Chu Tianshu drove his internal force into Zhang Yining’s cocoon, and Han Baiyu worried that the treatment’s power would alert Busha and Yang Muren.
• Chu Tianshu sent the Sanqi Divine Sword to Yu Danxia with instructions to kill Meteor, release Putuo, handle the prisoners using Putuo’s information, and bring the sword to him.
• Busha recalled how jealousy had rekindled his cultivation and led him to seek out heroes, including Zhang Yining, while Yang Muren revealed his interest in Zhang Yining’s Heavenly Silkworm Demonic Art.
• Busha and Yang Muren agreed to hunt Zhang Yining and his companions, with Yang Muren asking Busha to help him find someone who knew the Dragon-Subduing Divine Palms.
• Busha and Yang Muren sensed that someone was driving out their combined poison, and Yang Muren swore to kill that person before the day ended.

Han Baiyu gathered allies and raised the Blazing Fire Pearl Flag formation around the courtyard to guard Chu Tianshu while he treated a poisoned friend. Yang Muren and Monk Busha failed to break through directly, so Busha summoned Shaolin and Beggars' Sect disciples to use Buddha statues as vessels for their power and force a path into the mist.

• Granny Putuo introduced Wang Daozi and Liu Qingsi as trusted allies, and Han Baiyu gave them Ice Jade Pills while Sun Liang distributed pieces of the Ten-Thousand-Year Ginseng Emperor.
• Han Baiyu assigned the group to wield the eight main flags and raised a vast mist around the courtyard, concealing the formation's defenders.
• Yang Muren attacked the formation with a mud sphere carrying his palm force, but a scarlet flag absorbed it, and the formation turned him back toward Monk Busha.
• Yang Muren proposed joining forces to push through the fog, but Monk Busha instead called on Buddha to help break the formation.
• Shaolin and Beggars' Sect disciples raided Huiyin Goryeo Temple, carried off its Buddha and guardian statues, and poured their internal force into them as they advanced into the mist.

Shaolin and the Beggars' Sect used Buddha statues filled with their internal force to break through the mist formation, but Monk Busha overwhelmed the defenders in battle. As Yang Muren reached the courtyard, Chu Tianshu drove him back with ricocheting sword rays and emerged to face the remaining enemies.

• Han Baiyu realized that the Buddha statues could hold the attackers' combined internal force and clear the mist as they advanced.
• Liu Qingsi destroyed one statue, but Monk Busha caught his spear and gravely wounded him and Granny Putuo with his supreme techniques.
• Diba Deng, Wang Daozi, Sun Liang, and Han Baiyu combined their attacks to force Monk Busha backward, though several defenders were injured.
• Yang Muren bypassed the formation and attacked Yu Danxia at the courtyard gate, but Chu Tianshu stopped her from using a suicidal counterattack.
• Chu Tianshu unleashed sword rays from his acupoints and drove Yang Muren out through the courtyard gate.
• Chu Tianshu left the silkworm cocoon, emerged into the courtyard, and warned the enemies that they had little time left.

Chu Tianshu used a strange heartbeat to unsettle the gathered Shaolin and Beggars' Sect experts, then exploited Yang Muren's distraction to kill him with the Mountain Collapse Divine Palm. The other fighters were left stunned as Chu Tianshu's clash with Monk Busha remained unresolved.

• The Shaolin and Beggars' Sect fighters scattered from the Buddha statues when Chu Tianshu emerged, but stayed nearby to watch the battle.
• Chu Tianshu sent his heartbeat through the ground, making the gathered experts mistake it for their own and then feel a disturbance in their chests.
• Yang Muren glanced toward the fighters, wondering whether Chu Tianshu had controlled them, and lost focus for an instant.
• Chu Tianshu lunged at Yang Muren with the Mountain Collapse Divine Palm, breaking his hands and striking his chest.
• Yang Muren exploded into ash, leaving the gathered experts stunned by Chu Tianshu's single-move kill.

Chu Tianshu fought Monk Busha as the old monk animated Shaolin statues and used reversed versions of their supreme techniques to counter Chu Tianshu’s calculations. Chu Tianshu adapted to Busha’s attacks and killed him, ending the battle with Busha’s head destroyed.

• Monk Busha ordered Vairocana Buddha and the other surviving statues to attack Chu Tianshu, and Chu evaded their techniques while studying them.
• Chu Tianshu realized Busha had sent fragments of his power and thoughts into the statues, then shattered the statues by striking the weaknesses in their techniques.
• Monk Busha emerged from the Skanda statue and reversed the supreme techniques, injuring Chu Tianshu’s left fist and revealing that the statues’ attacks had been a trap.
• Monk Busha seized Chu Tianshu with a reversed Dragon Claw Hand, but Chu countered his claws, escaped by shedding skin from his hand, and severed Busha’s right hand.
• Chu Tianshu fought Busha in close quarters, pursued him after their clash, and smashed Busha’s head with a punch.

Chu Tianshu killed Monk Busha and drove the surviving sect disciples from the battlefield, then treated the wounded and explained that the cocooned Protector had dissolved into liquid as part of the Heavenly Silkworm Divine Art. The Protector was expected to recover, and Chu Tianshu and Han Baiyu settled on informal ways to address each other.

• After Chu Tianshu killed Monk Busha, hundreds of sect disciples fled, and his Sanqi Divine Sword cut down fewer than a hundred of those who shouted or looked back.
• Han Baiyu explained that the Beggars' Sect and Shaolin's internal struggles had made their experts especially alert to danger, then asked about Chu Tianshu's injuries.
• Chu Tianshu healed the exposed flesh on his left hand with his Heavenly Eye and carried Monk Busha's corpse into the courtyard, where he treated the wounded.
• Han Baiyu discovered that the Protector in the silkworm cocoon had no heartbeat or breath, and Chu Tianshu said he had turned into liquid to heal and could reshape his body.
• Han Baiyu asked how she should address Chu Tianshu, and he urged her to call him Big Brother Chu; she settled on calling him Big Brother Chu or Old Chu and herself Little Han or Baiyu.

At White Deer Manor, Han Shantong resisted Liu Futong’s calls to rebel, fearing the court and the Shaolin monk Busha. News that one fighter had killed both Busha and the Beggars’ Sect chief Yang Muren made Han Shantong reconsider waiting as the struggle between the court and the rebels threatened to engulf them.

• Liu Futong urged Han Shantong to lead the White Lotus Sect in rebellion, but Han Shantong said the time was not right and feared Busha’s return to strength.
• Han Shantong recalled how he had stolen the Muscle-Tendon Changing Classic and the Marrow-Cleansing Classic from Shaolin, provoking Busha and leaving him with a strange illness.
• Liu Futong told Han Shantong that their followers would accept the risk of rebellion rather than endure discrimination and die without acting.
• Han Shantong received a message reporting that Yang Muren and Busha had died in battle in Suzhou and Hangzhou at the hands of the same person.
• Han Shantong noted that Heavenly Maiden Han had been on the battlefield and warned that the court’s coming confrontation with the rebels could leave the White Lotus Sect with no place if they waited for a victor.

Chu Tianshu welcomed the Resolute Sect, a few hundred rebels who had come to join his forces, while continuing to strengthen his organization and train himself. An unknown fighter infiltrated the Spirit-Calming Hall and attacked Zhang Yining, mistaking his gesture for an opening.

• Yu Danxia told Chu Tianshu that Jing Chao of the Resolute Sect had arrived, and Chu Tianshu ordered that the group be warmly welcomed.
• Diba Deng explained that the Resolute Sect had fled Taiyuan after its rebel leader died and internal strife broke out; Chu Tianshu let the weary newcomers rest before meeting them.
• Chu Tianshu used the treasures on his table to temper his soul-body and told Diba Deng that Han Baiyu had already planted spies in Dadu.
• Chu Tianshu ordered Diba Deng to give the selected young martial artists a medicinal bath with Yaksha blood that night.
• A faceless intruder reached the Spirit-Calming Hall, confronted Zhang Yining, and attacked when Zhang pinched his earlobe.

Zhang Yining defeated Han Shantong’s water avatar in a martial contest, but Han Shantong questioned the rumors about Zhang’s strength. Chu Tianshu then appeared, confirmed that he had killed Busha and Yang Muren, and invited Han Shantong to discuss an alliance and a favor.

• Han Shantong formed a water avatar and challenged Zhang Yining, who trapped his water body and turned Han’s Mani Pearl Divine Finger attack back on him.
• Han Shantong acknowledged Zhang Yining’s skill but questioned whether he could have defeated the Shaolin and Beggars’ Sect experts without Han Baiyu’s help.
• Chu Tianshu appeared behind Han Shantong, forced him back to the ground, and admitted that he had eliminated Busha and Yang Muren.
• Chu Tianshu explained how Han Shantong’s soul and true body projected the avatar from underground, and revealed why Han could not detect him.
• Chu Tianshu warned Han Shantong that he could track his true body and offered to teach him ways to conceal his incarnation in exchange for help with a small matter.

Han Shantong struggled with the humiliation of being outmatched, then became absorbed in Chu Tianshu and Zhang Yining’s discussions of martial arts. He arrived at the Spirit-Calming Hall eager to challenge Zhang Yining’s views, leaving Chu Tianshu and Zhang Yining pleased that their conversation had drawn him in.

• Han Shantong turned back toward the Spirit-Calming Hall after Chu Tianshu threatened to track his avatar, and Liu Futong followed him.
• Han Shantong learned that Han Baiyu had found flaws in the White Lotus Sect’s rules and marveled at her knowledge of law and medicine.
• As his avatar listened to Chu Tianshu and Zhang Yining discuss martial arts, Han Shantong became engrossed and hurried toward the hall.
• Han Shantong struck Liu Futong’s arm aside when he tried to interrupt him, insisting that they had reached a crucial point.
• Han Shantong entered the hall and argued passionately with Zhang Yining about yin and yang, claiming his experience as a woman gave him authority.

Liu Futong reconsidered his future in the White Lotus Sect after Diba Deng encouraged him to support their cause. Meanwhile, Chu Tianshu learned Zhang Yining intended to confess his feelings to Han Baiyu and decided to take Han Shantong to investigate Dadu, leaving Zhang Yining to manage affairs at home.

• Liu Futong worried that changes to the White Lotus Sect’s rules could cost him influence, but Diba Deng reminded him that his skills and connections could still earn him a place if their cause succeeded.
• Liu Futong felt encouraged by Diba Deng’s words and decided to give their undertaking a try.
• Chu Tianshu and Zhang Yining discussed the White Lotus Sect and Han Baiyu’s possible departure, and Zhang Yining resolved to tell her how he felt.
• Zhang Yining gave Chu Tianshu the Heavenly Silkworm Divine Art manual, and they discussed the limits of Han Shantong’s Great Art of Transformation.
• Chu Tianshu decided to take Han Shantong near Dadu to investigate, while Zhang Yining stayed behind to respond to events.

Chu Tianshu and Han Shantong reached the twin cities of Dadu and explored how unrest might take root in Great Yuan. Han Shantong discovered that Yan Tiemu'er was being held in the Jade Pool Hall, and Yan feared Great Yuan was facing a disastrous breach.

• Chu Tianshu and Han Shantong surveyed Dadu and discussed beginning a rebellion in both the north and south as Great Yuan approached its sixtieth year.
• Han Shantong sent his soul underground and heard at the Poor Men's Market that servants from Yan Tiemu'er's residence had stopped hiring workers and that the residence seemed unusually quiet.
• Han Shantong reported the rumors to Chu Tianshu, who warned him that Yan Tiemu'er could extend his life and told him to investigate cautiously.
• Han Shantong found Yan Tiemu'er's concubines planning to enter the palace because they feared they had been abandoned or were in danger.
• Han Shantong entered the palace and sensed Yan Tiemu'er standing in a blood-filled pool, restrained by thirteen figures and weakened by poison.
• Yan Tiemu'er wondered why the emperor and Bayan had stopped visiting, then warned that Great Yuan was about to suffer a disastrous breach.

Han Shantong discovered that Yan Temür had been imprisoned by the court and urged Chu Tianshu to attack Dadu, but Chu Tianshu questioned the situation and investigated before acting. Han Shantong overheard the emperor and Bayan discuss the standoff with the Thirteen Wings, while Chu Tianshu watched Dadu and weighed whom to kill first.

• Han Shantong learned that Yan Temür was imprisoned and excitedly urged Chu Tianshu to kill the emperor, Bayan, and the corrupt officials.
• Chu Tianshu questioned why the court had turned against Yan Tiemu'er and why Bayan had not helped the Thirteen Wings, then went ahead to investigate Dadu.
• Han Shantong’s incarnation found the emperor speaking with Bayan and confirmed that the thirteen fighters facing Yan Tiemu'er were the Thirteen Wings of the Nation.
• Bayan explained that Yan Tiemu'er could counter practitioners of the Heavenly Book of the Blood Dao, while the emperor refused to release him because he feared the monster in the imperial prison.
• The emperor sought guidance from the Buddha, and Bayan left to speak with Yan Tiemu'er and Canglang at Jade Pool Hall.
• Chu Tianshu watched Dadu from a snow cloud and considered whom to kill first, wary of disrupting the balance at Jade Pool Hall.