Chapter Summaries

Black Sha abandoned assassination and became a celebrated storyteller in Haotian City, while Ma Liang and Chu Xinghe escorted Yue Ling back to the Great Liang Kingdom. Yue Ling reunited with her master, Xu Wannian, and introduced Ma Liang as an impostor and Chu Xinghe as Wuming.

• Black Sha signed an exclusive storytelling contract with the Book Soul Restaurant, drew huge crowds with his tales, and became famous through the Haotian Mirror.
• Ma Liang, Chu Xinghe, and Yue Ling reached the docks near the Great Liang Kingdom's capital, where Yue Ling dismissed Ma Liang but refused to pay Chu Xinghe his three spirit stones.
• Ma Liang persuaded Yue Ling to let him and Chu Xinghe accompany her into the capital, and Chu Xinghe covered his face to conceal his identity.
• Yue Ling summoned the capital's golden-armored knights, revealed herself, and was welcomed as the princess by the knights and her master, Xu Wannian.
• Yue Ling introduced Ma Liang to Xu Wannian as someone impersonating Lord Ma Liang and told him to call Chu Xinghe Wuming.

Xu Wannian was stunned when Yue Ling returned safely after he had feared she was dead, and she credited her escape from further attacks to hiring a man who resembled Ma Liang. When a gust blew off Wuming’s hood, Xu Wannian recognized Chu Xinghe and dismissed the idea that Chu Xinghe’s disguise could have frightened the assassins.

• Xu Wannian examined Yue Ling and marveled that she had returned completely unharmed after he had lost contact with her in Tuyang Town.
• Yue Ling told Xu Wannian that she had hired Ma Liang, Chu Xinghe, and Wuming in Tuyang Town, after which she had faced no more assassination attempts.
• Xu Wannian doubted that a lookalike could have deterred the assassins and wondered whether the man beside Yue Ling might actually be Ma Liang.
• A gust of wind blew Chu Xinghe’s hood off, and Xu Wannian decided that Chu Xinghe looked far too fake to have protected Yue Ling.

Yue Ling returned to the Great Liang Kingdom and learned that her father remained unconscious, while Xu Wannian described how the Vast Heaven Holy Land and Imperial Preceptor Wei Wuji appeared to be undermining the kingdom. Chu Xinghe doubted Xu Wannian’s explanation and decided to investigate directly by sweeping away the hidden forces behind the crisis.

• Xu Wannian escorted Yue Ling into the palace, where she examined her unconscious father and pleaded for more powerful apothecaries to be found.
• Chu Xinghe recognized that Yue Ling’s father was a living corpse whose soul had been destroyed, but he and Ma Liang kept the truth from Yue Ling.
• Ma Liang asked Xu Wannian about the Vast Heaven Holy Land, and Xu Wannian explained that the ruler collapsed after taking a pill from its chamber of commerce, which had since abandoned the capital.
• Xu Wannian blamed Imperial Preceptor Wei Wuji for seizing control, diverting the border army, and allowing the Great Chang Kingdom to capture thirteen cities while Yue Ling’s pursuers tried to stop her reclaiming authority.
• After Xu Wannian left, Ma Liang and Chu Xinghe rejected his theory that the Vast Heaven Holy Land simply sought to annex the kingdom, and Chu Xinghe chose to investigate the people behind the plot directly.

Zhao Yue Ling brought Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang before the Great Liang court, where they openly claimed their identities and challenged Imperial Preceptor Wei Wuji’s rule. After Chu Xinghe warned Wei against swearing an oath, purple lightning struck and killed him, leaving the court stunned.

• Zhao Yue Ling presided over court and faced Wei Wuji, who asserted that he was only temporarily holding the kingdom’s power and had the officials praise his service.
• Zhao Yue Ling introduced Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang, who identified themselves as members of the Vast Heaven Holy Land, provoking the officials to accuse them of impersonation.
• Chu Xinghe challenged Wei Wuji over his failure to defend Great Liang’s cities and urged him to return power to Zhao Yue Ling.
• Wei Wuji swore that he was loyal and innocent, and Chu Xinghe warned him not to swear carelessly.
• Purple lightning crashed through the court roof and blasted Wei Wuji into ash; Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang then joked about his death.

Chu Xinghe proved his identity by killing Wei Wuji with Thunder Shadow, forcing the Great Liang court to recognize Yue Ling as its rightful ruler. Yue Ling realized how Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang had protected her from repeated assassination plots, then blushed when Ma Liang teased her about confessing her feelings.

• Chu Xinghe summoned Thunder Shadow and reduced the peak ninth-rank Wei Wuji to ashes, convincing the court that he was the real Chu Xinghe.
• The Great Liang officials apologized to Yue Ling and admitted that, had they known Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang were escorting her, they would have held her enthronement ceremony instead of summoning court.
• Yue Ling realized that the dangers she had faced on her journey had been assassination attempts that Chu Xinghe and Ma Liang had secretly thwarted.
• Yue Ling remembered hiring Chu Xinghe for five spirit stones, trying to reclaim part of his fee, and confessing that she liked Ma Liang.
• Ma Liang winked at Yue Ling, making her blush, while the officials concluded that the two had a romantic relationship.

Chu Xinghe confronted Qin Xiangqian over the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce’s unexplained withdrawal from the Great Liang Kingdom and held its leaders responsible. Qin Xiangqian kept his post temporarily under observation, while he and the vice presidents lost their positions and privileges.

• Chu Xinghe ordered Ma Liang to summon Qin Xiangqian to the imperial court within half an hour.
• Qin Xiangqian arrived and Chu Xinghe commanded him and everyone in the court to kneel.
• Chu Xinghe questioned Qin Xiangqian about the chamber’s branch withdrawing from the Great Liang Kingdom and blamed him for failing to know about it.
• Chu Xinghe stripped Qin Xiangqian of the presidency but let him remain temporarily in charge while his conduct was observed.
• Chu Xinghe stripped all vice presidents of their positions, demoted them to branch presidents, and barred them from resources or promotions for five years.

Chu Xinghe investigated why the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce had withdrawn from the Great Liang Kingdom, exposing that Grand Deacon Xu Wen had ordered the move without Qin Xiangqian’s authorization. The chapter ended with Qin Xiangqian punishing himself and the responsible officials, while Lu Feng was expelled from the Vast Heaven Holy Land.

• Chu Xinghe questioned Qin Xiangqian about the Vast Heaven Chamber of Commerce’s withdrawal from the Great Liang Kingdom, and Qin summoned chief steward Lu Feng.
• Qin demanded proof that he had authorized the withdrawal, and Lu Feng said Grand Deacon Xu Wen had personally given him the order.
• Lu Feng explained that he had obeyed Xu Wen and concealed the unauthorized withdrawal because he feared losing his position.
• Ma Liang judged that Lu Feng had crossed the Vast Heaven Holy Land’s rules by treating himself as Xu Wen’s trusted aide and meddling outside his authority.
• Qin Xiangqian stripped Lu Feng and the deputy stewards of their positions, expelled Lu Feng, and requested his own expulsion for failing to control his subordinates.

Qin Xiangqian accepted Chu Xinghe’s punishment of Lu Feng and asked to be expelled himself, but Ma Liang invoked the Vast Heaven Holy Land’s rule against punishing someone twice for one offense. As Qin Xiangqian tried to find the missing Xu Wen, he told Shen Chun to use a soul lamp to locate him, with Chu Xinghe present.

• Qin Xiangqian demanded the maximum punishment for Lu Feng and asked to receive the same expulsion, but Ma Liang reminded him that Chu Xinghe had already punished him and the Holy Land could not punish him twice for the same offense.
• Chu Xinghe ordered Qin Xiangqian to find Xu Wen, and Ma Liang privately warned him not to repeat his mistake.
• Qin Xiangqian realized Chu Xinghe had protected him by handling the matter in the Great Liang Kingdom rather than reporting it to the Holy Land for a full investigation.
• Qin Xiangqian failed to reach Xu Wen and learned from Shen Chun that Xu Wen could not be contacted, possibly because he was in seclusion.
• Qin Xiangqian told Shen Chun that Chu Xinghe was present and ordered him to use the soul lamp to locate Xu Wen, so Shen Chun arranged the search.

Chu Xinghe rescued Grand Deacon Xu Wen, learned that Xu Wen had been imprisoned and impersonated by a man called Lu Shu, and punished Xu Wen for his carelessness. Chu Xinghe traced Lu Shu to the Great Chang Kingdom and contacted the Phantom Evil Lord, but they confused each other by talking about unrelated schemes.

• Shen Chun used Soul Lamp Position Lock on Chu Xinghe's order, and Qin Xiangqian's people found Xu Wen imprisoned in an illusion array in the Great Liang Kingdom.
• Chu Xinghe used Evil Repeller to wake Xu Wen, who recalled that his friend Lu Shu had ambushed and imprisoned him.
• Chu Xinghe stripped Xu Wen of his deacon's position and demoted him to steward, forbidding him to leave the Vast Heaven Holy Land.
• Chu Xinghe learned that Xu Wen's last reported location had been the Great Chang Kingdom and set out there with Ma Liang and the others.
• Chu Xinghe contacted the Phantom Evil Lord about Lu Shu, while the Phantom Evil Lord mistakenly thought Chu Xinghe was asking about the Earth Sha Evil Lord's earth-vein activities.

Chu Xinghe enlisted the Phantom Evil Lord to investigate Lu Shu, who had impersonated Xu Wen and caused trouble in the Great Liang Kingdom. The Phantom Evil Lord traced the strange influence controlling Xu Wen to the Great Chang Kingdom, and Chu Xinghe led the group there to trap Lu Shu.

• Chu Xinghe told the Phantom Evil Lord about Lu Shu, and the Phantom Evil Lord denied that his clan or An Ying was responsible.
• The Phantom Evil Lord examined Xu Wen and identified the trace on him as the Power of Bewitchment rather than the Thousand Illusions Phantom Art.
• The Phantom Evil Lord drew a spiritual trace from Xu Wen and used it to point toward the Great Chang Kingdom.
• Chu Xinghe asked the Phantom Evil Lord to help capture Lu Shu and took him, Ma Liang, and the others to the Great Chang Kingdom.
• Ma Liang surrounded the capital with layers of ghosts, preventing anyone from escaping.

Chu Xinghe and the Phantom Evil Lord searched the Great Chang Kingdom for the hidden instigator of its war with the Great Liang Kingdom. The Phantom Evil Lord exposed Lu Shu as a member of the Demon Race, leaving Chu Xinghe bewildered about who he was.

• The Phantom Evil Lord marveled that the citizens of the Great Chang Kingdom revered Chu Xinghe instead of fearing him as Ma Liang's souls surrounded the capital.
• Prince Chen She offered to compensate the Great Liang Kingdom, but Chu Xinghe explained that he had come to find the person who caused the war.
• The Phantom Evil Lord used Chen She's memories to identify the people who had proposed the war, then seized officials across the capital.
• The Phantom Evil Lord broke Lu Shu's disguise, revealed his horns, sealed his cultivation, and threw him before Chu Xinghe.
• Lu Shu laughed that Chu Xinghe would not have found him without the Phantom Evil Lord, while Chu Xinghe wondered why a Demon Race member was his enemy.

Yuan Ying explained how he had saved and rebuilt the Ape Clan by abandoning revenge and joining Chu Xinghe’s spirit beast plan. Lu Shu revealed that his body was only an empty shell and that he had activated soul-sacrificing formations in thirteen cities, but Chu Xinghe remained confident he could find and kill Lu Shu’s true body.

• Yuan Ying rebuked Yuan Bao for pursuing revenge against Chu Xinghe and warned that it would destroy the Ape Clan.
• Yuan Ying persuaded Ming Han to let the Ape Clan join the spirit beast breeding plan, helping it recover and stabilize.
• Lu Shu blamed Chu Xinghe for the destruction of his clan and boasted that he had planned for his capture.
• The Phantom Evil Lord discovered that Lu Shu’s soul had been separated from his body, leaving only an empty shell behind.
• Lu Shu revealed that he had activated Ancient Soul Origin Formations in thirteen Great Liang Kingdom cities to sacrifice millions of souls and empower himself.
• Chu Xinghe calmly asked whether finding and killing Lu Shu’s true body would be enough, leaving Lu Shu stunned.

Chu Xinghe revealed that Lu Shu had hidden his original soul inside Xu Wannian in the Great Liang Kingdom while leaving a crippled body in the Great Chang Kingdom. He explained how Lu Shu’s plan to sacrifice millions through the Ancient Soul Origin Formation depended on Yue Ling, then confronted Xu Wannian as Lu Shu and calmly drank tea.

• The Phantom Evil Lord failed to trace Lu Shu’s original soul through the crippled body, and Lu Shu boasted that his soul was beyond discovery.
• Chu Xinghe guessed that Lu Shu’s original soul was in Xu Wannian’s body in the Great Liang Kingdom, then appeared before Xu Wannian and exposed him.
• Chu Xinghe explained that Lu Shu had arranged the war between the kingdoms to disguise the Ancient Soul Origin Formation and had sought to obtain Yue Ling’s Extreme Yin Soul.
• Chu Xinghe identified Lu Shu’s efforts to keep Yue Ling alive until the formation was ready, including the Spirit-Seeking Mark placed on her by Xu Wannian.
• Chu Xinghe said he had deliberately let Lu Shu lure him to the Great Chang Kingdom so he could capture the crippled body without letting it escape.
• Chu Xinghe poured tea, said it was good, and left Xu Wannian staring at him in shock.

Chu Xinghe revealed that Xu Wannian was Lu Shu and explained how he had uncovered Lu Shu’s plan to kill Yue Ling. As Lu Shu denied the accusations, Elder He and the other major figures of the Vast Heaven Holy Land arrived, revealing they had been watching from the start.

• Chu Xinghe accused Xu Wannian of being Lu Shu, arguing that his survival and influence in the Great Liang Kingdom made sense only if he controlled Wei Wuji and the court.
• Chu Xinghe explained that he had pretended to leave for the Great Chang Kingdom while secretly leaving his Divinity in the Great Liang Kingdom to catch Lu Shu targeting Yue Ling.
• Xu Wannian insisted Chu Xinghe’s claims were speculation, but Chu Xinghe said suspicion alone was enough for him to kill Lu Shu.
• Elder He arrived and said there could be evidence, then the Grand Elder, Elder Yu, the Great Sage, and Holy Lord Gu Mingchao appeared.
• Elder He revealed that the Vast Heaven Holy Land’s major figures had been watching in the Great Liang Kingdom and that his Fate Divinity had also identified Xu Wannian as Lu Shu.

Chu Xinghe stopped Lu Shu from sacrificing the people of thirteen cities and rejected his attempt to escape death by offering a soul sphere and swearing a Heavenly Dao Contract. He killed Lu Shu, leaving the people’s fate unresolved after their souls were taken by the formations.

• Chu Xinghe brought Lu Shu’s captured remnant to the Great Liang Kingdom, where Lu Shu activated all thirteen Ancient Soul Origin Formations.
• The formations froze thirteen cities and tore millions of souls from their bodies, gathering them into a sphere in Lu Shu’s hand.
• White Tiger Holy Venerable explained that destroying the formations or killing Lu Shu would doom the people, while leaving them active would extract their souls.
• Elder He described the Lu Shu Clan’s benevolent traditions, and Lu Shu offered Chu Xinghe the soul sphere while vowing through a Heavenly Dao Contract to do good.
• Chu Xinghe rejected Lu Shu’s offer, called out his attempt to bewitch him, and killed him with a strike to the forehead.

Chu Xinghe rejected Lu Shu’s soul sphere and killed him, resisting the Power of Bewitchment that had tempted even Zheng Yu. Ma Liang’s soul search revealed that Lu Shu had gained his powers in the Land of Bewildered Spirits, where a mysterious voice had helped him escape, leaving Chu Xinghe and Elder He wondering whether the land had changed.

• People across the Four Continents watched as Lu Shu offered Chu Xinghe a soul sphere containing souls from thirteen cities, but Chu Xinghe killed Lu Shu with one strike.
• Zheng Yu explained to Martial Emperor City’s disciples that Lu Shu’s Power of Bewitchment had tempted even him, while Chu Xinghe had resisted it and avoided a trap meant to damage his Dao heart.
• Chu Xinghe seized Lu Shu’s soul and ordered Ma Liang to search it for the source of his powers.
• Ma Liang’s search revealed that Lu Shu had found a temple and gained his powers in the Land of Bewildered Spirits, then escaped after hearing a desperate voice calling for help.
• Chu Xinghe recognized the voice from his own time in the Land of Bewildered Spirits, and Elder He wondered whether the merging of the Four Continents had changed the supposedly inescapable place.

Chu Xinghe and the White Tiger Holy Venerable planned to use the Spirit-Reversing Samsara Grand Formation to return millions of souls to their bodies before seven days passed. Though the operation had only a narrow chance of success and required enormous resources, Chu Xinghe refused to gamble with innocent lives, and Gu Mingchao sent the Vast Heaven Holy Land’s resources to the Great Liang Kingdom.

• Elder He suspected something in the Land of Bewildered Spirits had enabled Lu Shu to escape with treasures and cultivation, so he resolved to investigate quietly.
• Chu Xinghe asked the White Tiger Holy Venerable whether the Formless Samsara Grand Formation could return the souls from thirteen cities to their bodies, but White Tiger said there was not enough time to match millions of souls safely.
• White Tiger explained that the Spirit-Reversing Samsara Grand Formation might save them, but it required immense resources and the combined effort of Chu Xinghe, White Tiger, and Ma Liang’s army of specters.
• Chu Xinghe rejected any thought of deliberately wasting resources or risking failure because millions of innocent lives depended on the formation succeeding.
• Gu Mingchao ordered the Civil Engineering Department to transport the resources needed for the Spirit-Reversing Samsara Grand Formation to the Great Liang Kingdom, leaving the Phantom Evil Lord and other evil lords baffled by the Vast Heaven Holy Land’s choice.

Chu Xinghe, the White Tiger Holy Venerable, and Ma Liang activated the Spirit-Reversing Samsara Grand Formation and began restoring the souls of the people in the Great Liang Kingdom’s thirteen cities. As the people returned to life and the formation consumed the Vast Heaven Holy Land’s resources, Chu Xinghe saw the Misfortune Compass spinning wildly and believed he had finally earned a reward.

• The Four Continents learned that the Vast Heaven Holy Land had committed to saving millions of people, honoring Chu Xinghe’s vow to bestow blessings upon all living beings.
• Chu Xinghe, the White Tiger Holy Venerable, and Ma Liang spent three days completing the enormous Spirit-Reversing Samsara Grand Formation, while experts and backup materials gathered in the Great Liang Kingdom.
• The White Tiger Holy Venerable activated the formation, which spread across all thirteen cities and broke apart the mass of souls as Ma Liang’s ghost army guided them toward their bodies.
• Bai Yu prepared a manuscript criticizing Chu Xinghe, then wrote another after the Vast Heaven Holy Land’s efforts made his planned attack difficult.
• The souls found their bodies, and people across the thirteen cities awoke and thanked the Vast Heaven Holy Land for restoring their lives.
• Chu Xinghe noticed the Misfortune Compass spinning as the formation consumed the sect’s resources and celebrated the possibility of an unexpected reward.

Chu Xinghe celebrated as the Spirit-Reversing Samsara Grand Formation restored the souls of the people from the Great Liang Kingdom’s thirteen cities, believing he had finally used the Misfortune Compass to his advantage. As he prepared to close the formation, the Compass spun backward and a black soul sphere reappeared, drawing down the Power of the Heavenly Dao and transforming into a vast yin-yang taiji diagram.

• The people of the Great Liang Kingdom’s thirteen cities returned to their bodies, while Chu Xinghe believed saving them had also consumed the Vast Heaven Holy Land’s resources and made the Misfortune Compass spin faster.
• Leader Bai, also known as Bai Yu, finished a six-hundred-thousand-character manuscript intended to ruin Chu Xinghe’s reputation for never making the sect suffer a loss.
• After the last soul returned, the White Tiger Holy Venerable handed control of the Spirit-Reversing Samsara Grand Formation to Chu Xinghe and left to rest.
• Chu Xinghe slowly operated the formation to keep it consuming resources, but the Misfortune Compass stopped and then began spinning backward.
• Ma Liang spotted the vanished soul sphere reappearing as a pure-black sphere inside the formation.
• A bolt of the Power of the Heavenly Dao struck the black soul sphere, and white light merged with it to form a gigantic yin-yang taiji diagram.

A yin-yang diagram sought to enter Chu Xinghe but was blocked by his existing Divinity, then fused with Ma Liang as a Heaven-Bestowed Divinity Seed. Ma Liang discovered it was the seed of the Samsara Divinity, which could grow with him into a true Divinity.

• A yin-yang diagram descended toward Chu Xinghe, but the starlight of his Divinity prevented it from entering him.
• The diagram turned toward Ma Liang, passed through his ghosts, and fused with his body as he began to resist.
• Elder He told Ma Liang not to resist and identified the diagram as a Divinity.
• The Great Sage explained that the souls' belief from millions of people in thirteen cities had combined with the Power of the Heavenly Dao to create a Divinity Seed.
• Azure Dragon explained that the seed could grow with Ma Liang, while White Tiger could not advance enough to benefit from it.
• Ma Liang saw a vision of light and darkness forming a cycle and realized the seed would become the Samsara Divinity.