Chapter Summaries

Lu Feng and Chen Hu faced hostility from guards resentful that they had joined Commandant Su’s residence without taking the assessment, but Chen Hu defeated one of them and was welcomed by Inspector Li Mu. Lu Feng accepted twelve missions in Black Mountain Forest and set out, while Zhao An learned Chen Hu—not Lu Feng—had defeated his men and reconsidered why the newcomers had been recruited.

• Chen Hu told Lu Feng that his attempt to break through had failed, then decided to wait for Lin Shan to take a mission and planned to report to Inspector Li Mu.
• A group of demon-slaying guards confronted Lu Feng and Chen Hu at the main hall, accusing them of entering Commandant Su’s residence through the back door.
• Chen Hu challenged a burly guard and defeated him with one punch, revealing his Late Ming Jin strength and driving the others away.
• Inspector Li Mu introduced himself, praised Chen Hu, and took him back to the residence to meet the others.
• Lu Feng accepted twelve Black Mountain Forest missions, including two to slay second-tier demonic beasts, and left the bureau to complete them.
• Zhao An heard that Chen Hu had defeated his subordinate and wondered whether Chen Hu’s strength had earned them places at Commandant Su’s residence.

Lu Feng killed Zhao An, gained a new Nei Jin technique, and reached Black Mountain Forest to hunt demon beasts. There, he followed a suspicious woman toward a wolf demons’ lair, where two guards waited in ambush.

• Zhao An pursued Lu Feng toward Black Mountain Forest, but Lu Feng doubled back and killed him, gaining the Gale Slash technique.
• Lu Feng searched Zhao An’s storage bag, found pills, gold, and a vulgar picture book, then continued toward the forest.
• Lu Feng arrived at Black Mountain Forest and encountered a terrified woman who claimed wolf demons had taken her parents.
• Lu Feng suspected the woman was hiding something but followed her, hoping she would lead him to demon beasts.
• The woman led Lu Feng to the wolf demons’ lair, where two wolf demons watched from the shadows and spotted them.

Lu Feng exposed the demon slave’s trap and entered the wolf demon den, where he killed the silver wolf demon king and freed a captive Demon-Slaying Guard. He and the rescued man blocked the den’s escape route as Lu Feng cut down the fleeing demons.

• Lu Feng killed two wolf demons hiding outside the cave and followed the woman inside.
• A chained Demon-Slaying Guard warned Lu Feng that the woman was a demon slave and that the cave held a powerful wolf demon king and dozens of demons.
• Lu Feng killed an attacking first-tier wolf demon, revealing his Mid Nei Jin cultivation to the silver wolf demon king.
• The silver wolf demon king attacked Lu Feng, but Lu Feng killed him with a single saber stroke.
• Lu Feng freed the captive guard and ordered him to block the cave entrance while Lu Feng fought the demons trying to escape.
• Lu Feng cut down the wolf demons one by one as they charged him.

Lu Feng slaughtered the wolf demons and the human women who had betrayed their own, then joined forces with Xiao Huaishan to hunt demons in the Black Mountain Forest. After they returned to the Demon-Slaying Bureau, Xiao Huaishan learned Lu Feng belonged to Commandant Su’s manor and explained why Su Ying held such an unusual position.

• Lu Feng killed the wolf demons and then slew the women who begged him for mercy, while Xiao Huaishan struck their corpses in anger.
• Lu Feng introduced himself to Xiao Huaishan and asked him to guide the way through the Black Mountain Forest in exchange for a share of the demon beasts they killed.
• Xiao Huaishan warned Lu Feng that his Demon Mark could attract third-tier demon beasts in the forest’s depths, so Lu Feng agreed to hunt a nearby snake demon lair instead.
• Lu Feng cleared the snake demon cave with Xiao Huaishan, raised his Demon Points to 42300, and left the forest with him before nightfall.
• Xiao Huaishan accompanied Lu Feng near Commandant Su’s manor and learned that Su Ying was a commandant because of her talent and her father’s authority as chief of the Northern Demon-Slaying Bureau.

Lu Feng and Xiao Huaishan turned in demonic beast corpses at the mission counter, where Xiao exchanged his merit points for a Meridian-Unblocking Pill and Lu Feng earned four thousand points. Lu Feng exchanged most of them for two cultivation techniques and returned to his residence to cultivate.

• Yan Jun mocked Xiao Huaishan, but the deacon confirmed Xiao had turned in five first-tier demonic beast corpses.
• Xiao exchanged five hundred merit points for a Meridian-Unblocking Pill and thanked Lu Feng for his help.
• The deacon registered Lu Feng's four completed missions, twelve first-tier demonic beast corpses, and second-tier silver wolf demon for a total of four thousand merit points.
• Lu Feng exchanged three thousand merit points for the Golden Bell Shield and Cold Plum Jin manuals, leaving one thousand points.
• Xiao Huaishan left to cultivate with the Meridian-Unblocking Pill, while Lu Feng returned to his empty courtyard and entered the secret chamber.

Lu Feng used Demon Points to perfect three techniques and strengthen his Innate Primordial Qi, then spent three days practicing his new abilities. He was assigned to investigate demonic beasts killing disciples in the Fire Saber Sect’s territory and prepare to leave with four demon slayers.

• Lu Feng raised Gale Slash, Golden Bell Shield, and Cold Plum Jin to perfection, gaining a devastating attack, greater defense, and a lethal internal strike.
• Lu Feng spent his remaining Demon Points improving Innate Primordial Qi to 57%, but remained at Mid Nei Jin despite nearing a breakthrough.
• Lu Feng practiced combining his perfected techniques for three days before Xiaolian summoned him to meet Deputy Commandant Qin.
• Qin Shuang ordered Lu Feng to accompany four demon slayers to the Fire Saber Sect’s territory, investigate the deaths of more than ten disciples, and kill the demonic beasts.
• Lu Feng learned the group would depart the next morning, then Xiaolian followed him to his quarters.

Xiaolian told Lu Feng that Qin Shuang had sent him on the Fire Saber Sect mission to keep him beyond Zhao Long’s reach after Zhao An’s death. Lu Feng then raced with his companions to Nanxi City, revealing a perfected lightness skill, and the group arrived in half a day.

• Xiaolian told Lu Feng that Zhao An was dead and that Zhao Long, a Grandmaster, could not interfere in the Fire Saber Sect mission’s jurisdiction.
• Lu Feng realized Qin Shuang was protecting him and resolved to become strong enough to face Grandmasters himself.
• Zhou Si led Lu Feng, Liu Yong, Zhu Lin, and Luo Fang toward Nanxi City, while Liu Yong doubted Lu Feng could keep up.
• Lu Feng outpaced Liu Yong and the others with his perfected lightness skill, shortening the journey to half a day.
• At Nanxi City, Zhou Si introduced herself and the others, praised Lu Feng’s movement technique, and he explained that he had practiced it because he lacked other cultivation methods in Lin'an City.

Lu Feng and the others visited the Fire Saber Sect to investigate reports of demonic beasts eating people, but Sect Leader Zhu Ren denied knowing anything about the attacks. Lu Feng obtained a map of nearby beasts and proposed splitting up to search for clues.

• Zhou Si led Lu Feng, Liu Yong, Zhu Lin, and Luo Fang to the Fire Saber Sect outside Nanxi City.
• Zhu Ren welcomed the demon-slaying guards into his modest sect hall and denied that demonic beasts had killed anyone in his territory.
• Lu Feng asked Zhu Ren for a map of nearby demonic beasts, then told Zhou Si he would investigate the beasts while she stayed at the sect.
• Zhou Si offered to accompany Lu Feng, and Zhu Lin, Luo Fang, and Liu Yong agreed to the plan to divide their efforts.
• Zhu Ren gave Lu Feng a sheepskin map marked with several nearby beasts, and he arranged simple accommodations for the group.

Lu Feng and Zhou Si searched South Rear Mountain while the rest of the Demon-Slaying Bureau investigated the Fire Saber Sect. Lu Feng slaughtered demons at seven lairs, and the absence of any first-rank beasts led him to suspect someone had cleared them out or driven them away.

• Zhou Si assigned Lu Feng to scout alone, gave him a communication jade talisman, and planned to investigate the sect with Zhu Lin, Luo Fang and Liu Yong.
• Lu Feng studied a map of nine demon beast lairs and resolved to kill every demon beast in the area.
• A disciple told Zhu Ren that the Demon-Slaying Bureau had split up and that clues had been planted to implicate the ape demons; Zhu Ren ordered him to keep the sect’s people silent and wondered who had alerted the Bureau.
• Lu Feng and Zhou Si explored South Rear Mountain together, where Lu Feng killed more than a dozen unranked goat demons and then cleared six more lairs for over thirteen thousand Demon Points.
• After finding no first-rank demon beasts in any of the seven lairs, Zhou Si questioned the coincidence, and Lu Feng considered that the beasts might have left or been cleared out.

Lu Feng and Zhou Si found the ape demon lair and discovered a second-tier ape demon inside. After Lu Feng killed the guards and young ape demons, Zhou Si engaged the powerful ape demon while Lu Feng cleared the cavern, leaving their fight unresolved.

• Lu Feng and Zhou Si spent the night in a tree before continuing their search at dawn.
• Lu Feng and Zhou Si found the ape demon lair and sensed a second-tier beast inside.
• Lu Feng killed the two first-tier ape demons guarding the entrance and followed the fleeing young ape demons into the cave with Zhou Si.
• The golden-gray ape demon attacked Lu Feng and Zhou Si with sharpened hairs, and Zhou Si charged it while Lu Feng killed the young ape demons.
• Lu Feng finished clearing the young ape demons and turned to watch Zhou Si's fight with the golden-gray ape demon.

Lu Feng rescued Zhou Si from a golden-gray ape demon and revealed a perfection-level saber technique before killing it. He offered Zhou Si the demon as compensation for her injury, but she refused.

• Lu Feng killed the lesser ape demons, enraging the golden-gray ape demon and worsening Zhou Si’s disadvantage.
• The ape demon struck Zhou Si’s shoulder and sent her flying, and Lu Feng caught her and drove the beast back.
• Lu Feng used his perfection-level movement and saber techniques to evade the ape demon and steadily wound it while Zhou Si treated her injury.
• Lu Feng unleashed Gale Slash and decapitated the golden-gray ape demon, earning 10,000 Demon Points.
• Lu Feng offered Zhou Si the ape demon as compensation, but she refused to take it.

Lu Feng and Zhou Si searched South Rear Mountain again but found no first-tier demonic beasts, then returned to the Fire Saber Sect to compare findings with Zhu Lin and Luo Fang. Their investigation revealed that the sect’s violent cultivation technique could cause Qi deviation, and Lu Feng set out to inspect the room of a disciple who had recently died from it.

• Lu Feng gave Zhou Si the second-tier ape demon’s corpse and stayed on South Rear Mountain to investigate the suspicious lack of first-tier demonic beasts.
• After Zhou Si healed, she and Lu Feng searched the mountain again, found only scattered minor demons, and returned to the Fire Saber Sect.
• Zhou Si told Zhu Lin and Luo Fang about the demon nests, her fight with the ape demon, and Lu Feng killing the second-tier beast.
• Luo Fang reported that the Fire Saber Sect had over eighteen thousand disciples below Ru Jin, only eight Ming Jin disciples, and a violent cultivation technique that could cause Qi deviation without medicinal pills.
• Luo Fang revealed that a Ming Jin disciple had died from Qi deviation and been buried on the rear mountain; Lu Feng asked to inspect the disciple’s former room.
• Zhou Si arranged for Lu Feng and herself to search the room again while Luo Fang and Zhu Lin questioned ordinary disciples.

Lu Feng and Zhou Si found evidence that Zhu Qi had written the report about the Fire Saber Sect, raising suspicion that he was killed after discovering a secret. Although Liu Yong claimed the mission was complete after killing an ape demon, Lu Feng suggested there was a way to investigate the suspicious coincidences further.

• Lu Feng noticed that Luo Fang and Zhu Lin had not asked what kinds of demonic beasts had attacked people, so Zhou Si sent them to investigate while she and Lu Feng searched Zhu Qi's room.
• Lu Feng and Zhou Si found Zhu Qi's cultivation notes and recognized the handwriting as closely matching the report sent to the Demon-Slaying Bureau.
• Luo Fang, Zhu Lin, and Liu Yong returned with accounts confirming that ape demons had attacked townspeople, and Liu Yong presented a slain ape demon as evidence that the mission was complete.
• Zhou Si pointed out that the ape demons were the only creatures in the rear mountain with high-ranked members, and that they were also the only beasts attacking the town, making the evidence suspicious.
• Liu Yong argued that Zhu Qi's death had no proven connection to the attacks, but Lu Feng said there was a way to proceed.

Lu Feng spent all his Demon Points to advance Innate Primordial Qi and break through to Nei Jin Perfection. The next day, he secretly followed Fire Saber Sect disciples to a village and discovered that they brought two taels of silver to the families of deceased disciples.

• Lu Feng assigned the investigation tasks with Zhou Si, Luo Fang, Zhu Lin, and Liu Yong before returning to his room.
• Lu Feng used 32,800 Demon Points to raise Innate Primordial Qi to 89.8% and break through to Nei Jin Perfection.
• At dawn, Lu Feng followed four Fire Saber Sect disciples from a side gate instead of going straight to the villages.
• Lu Feng watched the disciples enter a village inhabited only by elderly people and visit Auntie Zhang.
• The disciples gave Auntie Zhang two taels of silver, and Lu Feng realized the sect sent that amount to the family whenever a disciple died.

Lu Feng learned that Zhang Huai had already reached Ming Jin before he died, and that the sect leader may have been involved in his death. He offered Li Ming and the other disciples an Iron Wire Fist manual in exchange for answers.

• Auntie Zhang received and took the Qi-Nourishing Pill Zhang Huai had left for her.
• Liu Xiang questioned whether Zhang Huai had truly died from qi deviation, and Li Ming revealed that Zhang Huai had secretly broken through to Ming Jin.
• Li Ming said Zhang Huai had discovered that disciples could break through by switching from the flawed Fire Flame Art to another Ming Jin art, and suspected the sect leader had arranged his death.
• Lu Feng appeared, promised not to repeat their conversation, and offered the four disciples an Iron Wire Fist manual in exchange for answers.
• Li Ming agreed to answer Lu Feng's questions.

Lu Feng investigated the Fire Saber Sect’s past and learned that Zhu Ren’s secret might be inside Fragrant Virtue Hall. He and the others entered the hall at night, where Liu Yong confronted an injured Zhu Ren outside a stone door.

• Lu Feng questioned Li Ming and learned that disciples who suffered Qi deviation while practicing the Fire Flame Art self-destructed, and that only Zhu Ren could approach Fragrant Virtue Hall.
• Li Ming and the other disciples received the Iron Wire Fist cultivation art from Lu Feng and decided to find somewhere safe to break through to Ming Jin.
• Lu Feng visited nearby villages and heard that young people joined the Fire Saber Sect to protect their families from demonic beasts.
• Zhou Si reported that Zhu Ren had acted normally, and Lu Feng told the group what he had learned about Fragrant Virtue Hall.
• Liu Yong rushed into Fragrant Virtue Hall, injured its gatekeeping disciples, and confronted Zhu Ren by a stone door as Lu Feng and the others arrived.

Zhou Si and the others entered Xiangde Hall’s secret passage to search for demonic beasts, but Zhu Ren disappeared at a fork. Lu Feng found a cave full of monkey demons and human remains, killed several demons, and turned toward the cave’s depths as footsteps approached the entrance.

• Zhu Ren opened the secret chamber and led the group down its stone steps, then vanished when the passage split.
• Zhou Si divided the group between the two paths, and Lu Feng later split from her at another fork.
• Lu Feng found a cave where monkey demons played among trees hung with human heads and heard them discuss Zhu Ren and the Demon-Slaying Bureau.
• Lu Feng killed several first-rank monkey demons while two others fled deeper into the cave.
• Footsteps sounded from the cave entrance as Lu Feng looked toward the cave’s depths.

Lu Feng killed the second-tier monkey demon in its cave after it tried to flee and attack a captive Fire Saber Sect disciple. The disciple survived, and Lu Feng turned to face him after collecting the demon’s points.

• Lu Feng killed the two first-tier monkey demons and fought the second-tier monkey demon, wounding it with Cold Plum Jin.
• Lu Feng questioned the second-tier monkey demon about Zhu Ren, but it ambushed him and fled deeper into the cave.
• Lu Feng found the demon forcing a black-and-red pill into a chained Fire Saber Sect disciple, then stopped it from biting the man.
• Lu Feng killed the second-tier monkey demon with a perfected Cold Plum Jin strike and finished it with his saber.
• Lu Feng pulled his saber from the stone pillar and turned to look at the injured Fire Saber Sect disciple.

Lu Feng rescued Gan Ping, a Ming Jin disciple imprisoned for three years, and learned that Zhu Ren received demonic beast essence blood in exchange for bringing captives to the caves. With Gan Ping as his guide, Lu Feng moved on to attack the ox demons, where the second-tier demon king had just awakened.

• Gan Ping told Lu Feng that Zhu Ren had captured him three years earlier and that the monkey demons planned to eat him after he reached Nei Jin.
• Gan Ping revealed that Zhu Ren received a drop of demonic beast essence blood whenever he delivered a Ming Jin disciple, and that eight second-tier demon kings commanded at least one or two hundred first-tier beasts in the caves.
• Gan Ping offered to guide Lu Feng through the caves and explain the demons' weaknesses, and Lu Feng accepted.
• Gan Ping described the ox demon king's strength and its vulnerable spot near its nose as they approached the ox demons' cave.
• Lu Feng entered the cave and drew the Six Harmonies Saber, alerting the first-tier ox demons and waking their king.

Lu Feng cleared the ox demon cave and then charged into a rat demon lair after finding Zhou Si badly wounded and poisoned. Zhou Si ordered Gan Ping to retrieve the heads of the two demon kings Lu Feng had slain while Lu Feng faced the swarm alone.

• Lu Feng killed the first-tier ox demons, then beheaded the second-tier ox demon king with Gale Slash.
• Gan Ping led Lu Feng toward the rat demon cave and warned him about its second-tier rat king, numerous demons, and poisonous attacks.
• Zhou Si stumbled out of the cave wounded and poisoned, and Lu Feng caught her and told her to treat her injuries.
• Lu Feng entered the rat demon cave and killed two pursuing rat demons before charging into the swarm.
• Zhou Si asked Gan Ping to retrieve the heads of the two demon kings, and he ran back to get them.