Chapter Summaries

After awakening in the Fengyang Kingdom's Heavenly Prison, Zhou Yi discovered that the Longevity Dao Fruit from his cultivation game had cured his frail body and granted him endless lifespan and eternal youth. He decided to stay cautious and build a quiet life in the prison, where he began his new job delivering meals to prisoners.

• Zhou Yi woke in the body of a frail Heavenly Prison guard and learned that his inherited job was to deliver prisoners' meals.
• After calling for a system without success, Zhou Yi saw a golden pill in his mind and learned it was the Longevity Dao Fruit from his previous life's cultivation game.
• Zhou Yi realized the Dao Fruit had erased his congenital weakness and granted him endless lifespan and eternal youth, though he could still be injured or killed.
• After considering the dangers of the cultivation world, Zhou Yi resolved to lie low until he became invincible and chose the Heavenly Prison as a safe place to live.
• Zhou Yi delivered thin porridge to the prisoners, ignored a former Vice Minister of Rites' complaint, and reminded another prisoner to have his family send meal money.

Zhou Yi witnessed the Heavenly Prison’s corrupt officials torture a captured rebel, then secretly treated him with respect and fed him. The prisoner accepted the food after Zhou Yi urged him to preserve his strength, though his execution was still scheduled for a month later.

• Zhou Yi considered learning martial arts while watching the prison staff gamble.
• Niu Su ordered the guards to interrogate a captured thief before his execution.
• Zhang Zhou tortured the prisoner until a clerk forced his bloody handprint onto a confession.
• Old Ye told Zhou Yi that the prisoner, the Flying Rainbow Swordsman, had led starving people to seize grain and killed merchants and a magistrate.
• Niu Xiaowei declared the prisoner a White Lotus Sect rebel and ordered that he be kept alive until his execution in a month.
• Zhou Yi praised the prisoner's aid to disaster victims and carefully fed him after he stopped resisting.

Zhou Yi brought food and wine to the imprisoned Wei Chang, hoping to learn martial arts from him while earning his trust. After half a month of regular visits and a discussion about preserving one’s essence, Wei Chang hinted that he knew secret methods for locking essence, and Zhou Yi asked him to teach one.

• Zhou Yi learned that Wei Chang had been poisoned and promised to bring him food and wine.
• Zhou Yi heard that Chancellor Long’s son had killed a merchant and wiped out the merchant’s family, then delivered meals to the arrogant young nobleman’s guarded cell.
• Zhou Yi brought Pear Blossom White and roast chicken to Wei Chang and admitted he hoped to learn martial arts from him, but Wei Chang refused.
• Zhou Yi continued visiting Wei Chang for more than half a month and settled into his routine in the Fengyang Kingdom.
• Wei Chang observed that Zhou Yi had preserved his primordial yang and mentioned secret methods for locking essence, so Zhou Yi bowed and asked him to teach one.

Zhou Yi failed to cultivate Wei Chang’s mysterious Nameless Incantation, but learned that inner qi cultivation could lead more readily to the Innate realm and received the Return to Origin Skill instead. He promised to look after Wei Chang’s exiled family if he ever became an Innate Grandmaster, and planned to cultivate both inner and outer martial arts.

• Wei Chang offered to teach Zhou Yi the Nameless Incantation to repay his wine deliveries.
• Zhou Yi memorized the incantation and tried to cultivate it, but sensed no ethereal qi.
• Wei Chang suggested the incantation might be linked to immortals, and Zhou Yi suspected it required special talent.
• Wei Chang explained the slow progress of inner qi cultivation and its advantage in reaching the Innate realm.
• Zhou Yi chose inner qi cultivation, and Wei Chang taught him the Return to Origin Skill.
• Wei Chang asked Zhou Yi to look after his wife and children in the northern frontier if Zhou Yi became an Innate Grandmaster, and Zhou Yi agreed.

Zhou Yi watched Wei Chang go to his execution and learned how factional politics shaped the fates of prisoners in the Heavenly Prison. When Vice Minister Liu was unexpectedly released and promoted, Zhou Yi realized he had to be cautious in speech and action.

• Zhou Yi brought Wei Chang his final meal and wine, and Wei Chang refused to escape because poison had already seeped into his marrow.
• Zhou Yi delivered gruel to the former Vice Minister of Rites and spoke with Su Wenhao, who explained that officials’ fates depended on which faction they supported.
• Wei Chang was taken to the execution ground, and Zhou Yi returned to his routine at home and in the Heavenly Prison.
• Chang Ning escorted Su Wenhao toward the Imperial Prison after Su Wenhao allegedly slandered Emperor Chongming’s lifespan.
• Vice Minister Liu received an imperial decree clearing his merits and transferring him to the Ministry of Revenue, prompting Zhou Yi to resolve to be more cautious.

After decades in the Heavenly Prison, Zhou Yi trained in martial arts, recorded his frustrations in a hidden diary, and learned to survive by keeping out of political trouble. When nine bells rang across Shenjing, he realized Emperor Chongming had finally died.

• Niu Xiaowei warned Zhou Yi to watch his words after Su Wenhao died in the Imperial Prison, and Zhou Yi resolved to stay out of others’ affairs.
• Zhou Yi watched a southern rebel general endure torture and die defiantly at the execution grounds, then began writing secret diary entries to vent his anger at the court and Emperor Chongming.
• Over the years, Zhou Yi recorded executions, rebellion, and political turmoil while practicing the Return to Origin Skill and the Five Tiger Strength Fist; he also learned disguise techniques from a prisoner.
• Zhou Yi concluded that his Longevity Dao Fruit would let him outlast Fengyang Kingdom and settled into life as an ordinary Heavenly Prison guard.
• At the morning market, Zhou Yi heard nine bells from the imperial palace and recognized that Emperor Chongming had finally died.

After the emperor died, Heavenly Prison was sealed, and Zhou Yi helped stock supplies while the prison guards celebrated despite the mourning ban. He persuaded Niu Xiaowei to let him take the watchtower key, leaving him free to keep watch from above.

• Zhou Yi returned to Heavenly Prison as the people silently watched the palace, and Lei Siyue announced that the prison was sealed inside and out.
• Chef Liu said he and his son had taken refuge in Heavenly Prison after Dǐngxiāng Restaurant closed, and Zhou Yi confirmed the prison had enough supplies for a month.
• While delivering porridge, Zhou Yi told prisoners the bells had rung nine times, prompting one to grieve over the emperor's death and others to celebrate.
• The prison guards drank and gambled through the night as thousands of Imperial Guards surrounded Heavenly Prison.
• Zhou Yi warned Niu Xiaowei that the prisoners could pose a danger during the dynastic change and offered to watch from the tower, so Niu Xiaowei told him where to find the key.

Zhou Yi watched Chancellor Long’s rebellion against the imperial palace from the Heavenly Prison watchtower with Lei Siyue, who had refused orders to unleash the prison’s guards and prisoners. The emperor’s hidden forces defeated the rebels and executed Long Tu, leaving Zhou Yi expecting a wave of prisoners to arrive at the Heavenly Prison.

• Zhou Yi found Lei Siyue watching the battle and learned that Chancellor Long had attacked the palace with the Five City Garrison, three great gangs, and ten martial academies.
• Lei Siyue explained that Chancellor Long had believed Emperor Chongming dead and planned to put Prince Qin on the throne, while the Brocade Guard’s deputy commander’s attempted coup inside the palace had failed.
• Lei Siyue revealed that he had disobeyed Chancellor Long’s order to forge an imperial decree, attack the capital, and release the prisoners because he expected the emperor to prevail.
• Black-armored cavalry led by a silver-armored Martial Grandmaster charged the rebels, broke their forces apart, and announced that Long Tu had been executed.
• Zhou Yi smiled at the prospect of the defeated rebels arriving at the Heavenly Prison, where prisoners could settle their grievances and grudges.

After the Emperor’s death and Chancellor Long’s rebellion, Zhou Yi took revenge on the imprisoned Young Master Long and helped the wounded Luo Hu settle his family affairs. The chapter ended with Luo Hu killing Vice Minister Liu at Zhou Yi’s request, then taking his own life in another cell.

• Zhou Yi fed Young Master Long a gu insect that gnawed at him, while Young Master Long revealed that his mother’s false intelligence had hastened Chancellor Long’s rebellion.
• Niu Xiaowei told Zhou Yi that Lord Lei had been confined and that he was now in charge of the prison.
• Zhou Yi recognized Vice Minister Liu, learned why Liu had reported Teacher Su, and gave him wine and meat.
• Luo Hu offered Zhou Yi his hidden money, martial manual, and medicine formula in exchange for protecting his pregnant lover and their unborn child.
• Zhou Yi instructed Luo Hu to kill whoever received the last meal before execution, and Luo Hu beat Vice Minister Liu to death.
• After the jailers moved him to another cell, Luo Hu smashed his head against the wall and killed himself.

Zhou Yi reassured Niu Xiaowei about his strength and warned that a new emperor would likely appoint a trusted outsider as Prison Warden. After deciding to delay collecting Luo Hu’s hidden silver and tonic prescription, Zhou Yi caught and killed a shadowy intruder who broke into his home.

• Niu Xiaowei questioned Zhou Yi about Vice Minister Liu’s death, and Zhou Yi said he had honestly delivered meals while offering Niu the silver from Luo Hu’s residence.
• Zhou Yi crushed a teacup lid to show Niu Xiaowei his strength, then warned him that the new emperor might replace the Heavenly Prison’s officials with a trusted confidant.
• Zhou Yi declined Niu Xiaowei’s offer to arrange a marriage and explained that he avoided lasting attachments because he could not grow old with anyone.
• After reviewing his plans, Zhou Yi decided to postpone visiting Luo Hu’s residence and instead practiced boxing and cultivated the Origin Returning Art.
• A shadow entered Zhou Yi’s courtyard, avoided a concealed pit, and broke into his bedroom, where Zhou Yi’s traps immobilized and killed it.
• Zhou Yi buried the intruder and looked forward to sharing the courtyard’s jujubes with his colleagues.

After Li Wu pacified the northern and southern rebellions, he returned to Shenjing with the captured Azure Sky King and Yellow Sky King. Zhou Yi resumed his prison duties, learned the Azure Sky King's voice-transmission technique, and ignored the captive’s offer of a supposed path to the innate realm.

• Zhou Yi attended Zhang Zhou’s funeral and spoke with Niu Xiaowei about the court, the rebellion, and Zhou Yi’s stalled progress in tempering his organs.
• A messenger announced that Li Wu had annihilated the rebels’ main force and captured the two rebel kings alive.
• Five years into Hongchang, Zhou Yi watched Li Wu return triumphantly to Shenjing with the Yellow Sky King and Azure Sky King in prison carts.
• Warden Zheng told Zhou Yi that the two captives were being held in the Heavenly Prison under heavy Black Armor Army guard.
• While feeding the Azure Sky King, Zhou Yi learned the captive’s voice-transmission technique, then left without accepting his offer to teach a supreme divine art.

Zhou Yi avoided the turmoil around Azure Sky King by taking leave from the Heavenly Prison and spending his days at Spring Breeze Pavilion, where he witnessed the arrival of martial artists drawn by rumors of divine arts. When the Heavenly Prison was attacked, the raiders discovered that the captive was Li Wu, who swiftly defeated them and exposed the attack as a trap.

• Zhou Yi visited Yellow Sky King in Cell A-2, denied that he had come to rescue him, and took leave from Warden Zheng.
• Zhou Yi spent more than half a month at Spring Breeze Pavilion, where the Desert North Twins caused a deadly disturbance and the short fat twin abducted Nongyu.
• Zhou Yi heard rumors that Azure Sky King had gained divine arts and watched martial experts gather in Shenjing.
• The Court of Judicial Review caught fire, drawing the Imperial Guards away from the Heavenly Prison.
• Dozens of martial artists stormed the Heavenly Prison, but the short fat man discovered that Cell A-1 held Li Wu rather than Azure Sky King.
• Li Wu freed himself, killed the leading attackers, declared Jiangnan Tianyi Temple and Golden Light Temple guilty of treason, and left the surviving raiders begging for mercy.

After the Heavenly Prison massacre, Zhou Yi grew familiar with Lao Bai and learned the Drifting Reeds Step from him. Half a year later, Zhou Yi spotted a disguised prisoner and asked Lao Bai to watch him; the suspicious man eventually searched A-Class Cell One, which had once held a Martial Grandmaster.

• Zhou Yi visited the damaged Heavenly Prison, where Lao Bai described the flying swords and experts he had witnessed during the prison break.
• Zhou Yi reminded Lao Bai that his secret conversation with the Jiangnan Hero had been reported, then asked him to teach the Drifting Reeds Step.
• Half a year later, Zhou Yi noticed that the frail new prisoner in B-Class Cell Seven was disguised and enlisted Lao Bai to keep watch.
• Lao Bai told Zhou Yi that the disguised prisoner had searched A-Class Cell One for half the night.

Zhou Yi discovered the Azure Sky King's Heaven Devouring Demon Art, learned that it traded lifespan for inner energy, and began secretly using it to strengthen himself in the Heavenly Prison. By the seventh year of Hongchang, a relative of Li Wu had arrived in Cell Block Nine, setting up a new complication.

• Zhou Yi found the Heaven Devouring Demon Art hidden in the torture rack and learned its method and lifespan cost.
• Zhou Yi told Lao Bai the art's name and warned him about its cost, while Lao Bai refused to hear how to cultivate it.
• After learning that a prisoner had escaped and killed Colonel Lu, Zhou Yi began absorbing the inner energy of the condemned Blood Sabre, Yu Sheng.
• Zhou Yi discovered that the Longevity Dao Fruit reversed the aging caused by the demon art, then decided to keep the A-block prisoners well fed so they retained their inner energy.
• In the seventh year of Hongchang, Chef Liu sent Zhou Yi to deliver a food box to a new prisoner in Cell Block Nine, who was from a branch of the Li family.

Zhou Yi learned that Li Wu had asked the Emperor to spare the Li clan except for Li Xiong’s branch, while Li Xiong faced execution with his family. In the Hall of Heavenly Mandate, Zhang Zhengyang urged the Emperor to use Li Wu’s decision to undermine his reputation, but the Emperor insisted that Li Wu was loyal and that he would not betray him.

• Zhou Yi delivered an elaborate meal to Li Xiong and learned from Zhu Xiaowei that Li Xiong had let soldiers rob merchants and slaughtered villagers to claim military merit.
• As public anger spread, Zhu Xiaowei told Zhou Yi that Li Wu had submitted a blood petition asking the Emperor to execute only Li Xiong’s branch of the family.
• Zhou Yi told Li Xiong that his family would be executed, described the fate awaiting his children, and challenged him over his crimes against civilians.
• Zhang Zhengyang told the Emperor Hongchang that Li Wu’s reputation and military power made him dangerous, and explained that he had exposed Li Xiong’s crimes to damage Li Wu’s standing.
• The Emperor Hongchang rejected Zhang Zhengyang’s suspicions and declared that Li Wu had served the state faithfully and that he would not fail him.

Zhou Yi advanced to the Innate realm after years of cultivating in seclusion, then discovered that Wei Chang’s Nameless Incantation could rapidly strengthen his body. He returned to the Heavenly Prison, where Feng Qiao told him everyone had assumed he was dead.

• Li Xiong killed his wife and children in the Heavenly Prison, then took his own life after telling Zhou Yi to pass a message to Li Wu.
• Zhou Yi drained a Buddhist martial artist’s inner force with the Heaven Devouring Demon Art and killed him.
• Li Wu defeated Great Yong’s forces, reclaimed Fengyang Kingdom’s lost territory, and advanced to Soul Suppression Pass.
• After years of absorbing martial artists’ inner force, Zhou Yi reached the five-hundred-year threshold but waited through months of painful cultivation before sensing spiritual energy and breaking through to Innate.
• Zhou Yi used Wei Chang’s Nameless Incantation to draw in spiritual energy and strengthen his body, then decided to return to work.
• Feng Qiao told Zhou Yi that the prison staff had believed he was dead after he disappeared during his secluded cultivation.

After returning to the Heavenly Prison, Zhou Yi celebrated with his colleagues, warned them that General Li’s victories might endanger him as Emperor Hongchang grew old, and used the Earth Listening Art to hunt the prison’s mysterious intruder. He trapped Yu Jie in an empty cell and confronted him, learning that Yu Jie had come to retrieve his ancestral inheritance.

• Zhou Yi returned to work at the Heavenly Prison, where Warden Liu assigned Yu Jie to deliver meals alongside him and Zhu Xiaowei invited the guards to Spring Breeze Pavilion.
• At the gathering, Feng Qiao revealed he had divorced his wife after secretly keeping twins, while Zhou Yi explained that martial-world acquaintances had given him much of his wealth.
• Zhu Xiaowei praised General Li’s military record, and Zhou Yi questioned whether the aging Emperor Hongchang would tolerate a celebrated general with extraordinary honors.
• Back in Cell Block Nine, Zhou Yi used the Earth Listening Art to monitor the Heavenly Prison and waited for the suspected thief.
• At dawn, Zhou Yi trapped the shadowy intruder in an empty cell and attacked with Sword Qi, causing the intruder to reveal himself as Yu Jie.
• Yu Jie begged Zhou Yi to spare him and said he had entered the Heavenly Prison to retrieve his ancestral inheritance as Yu Shitou’s grandson.

Zhou Yi learned that Yu Jie was descended from Yellow Sky King and obtained his booklet on talisman arts. After Yu Jie fled Shenjing, Zhou Yi examined the booklet and found four complete talisman designs.

• Yu Jie revealed that his ancestor Yu Shitou was Yellow Sky King, whose rebellion had been betrayed after the Jiangnan Aristocratic Families poisoned him and Azure Sky King.
• Yu Jie demonstrated a Shadow Talisman and explained that he had only a few remaining talismans and an incomplete inheritance.
• Zhou Yi demanded Yu Jie's talisman booklet, and Yu Jie admitted he had come to the Heavenly Prison seeking the missing parts of the inheritance.
• Yu Jie told Zhou Yi that Yellow Sky King had found the art of talismans in a tomb on Mount Dai, and Zhou Yi let him leave with the booklet behind.
• Zhou Yi followed Yu Jie to a residence, watched him escape Shenjing, and returned to inspect the booklet safely.
• Zhou Yi found designs for the Dust-Cleansing Talisman, House-Protecting Talisman, Shadow Talisman, and Light-Body Talisman.

Zhou Yi spent two years mastering talisman drawing while ignoring offers from the Brocade Guard and the turmoil in the court and jianghu. He finally completed a House-Protecting Talisman, which revealed a courtyard full of ghosts that he destroyed with his true essence.

• Zhou Yi refused the Brocade Guard's offers of a Xiaowei and Little Banner rank and continued practicing talisman arts.
• The Fengyang Kingdom signed a peace agreement with Great Yong, most of the northern border army was disbanded, and the Cang Family was massacred after rumors accused it of possessing a demonic art.
• Zhao Xian became Crown Prince after marrying Zhang Zhengyang's legitimate daughter.
• Zhou Yi completed a House-Protecting Talisman, infused it with true essence, and released an invisible ripple through his courtyard.
• The talisman revealed more than a dozen ghosts, and Zhou Yi destroyed them all with his true essence.

Zhou Yi discovered that the Heavenly Prison was filled with yin souls and met Huang Yuniang, a grievous spirit who asked him to help her avenge her parents on Duke Wei. After Zhou Yi placed her jade hairpin beneath Duke Wei’s bed, Huang Yuniang attacked him in a dream, leaving the duke unconscious as his family sought answers.

• Zhou Yi activated a House-Protecting Talisman in the Heavenly Prison and used his true essence to destroy its lingering souls.
• Huang Yuniang revealed that she was Huang Heng’s daughter, had become a ghost through her jade hairpin, and wanted revenge on Duke Wei for her parents’ deaths.
• Huang Yuniang recited the Qingwei Perfected Being’s Treatise on Nourishing the Spirit, which sharpened Zhou Yi’s perception of spiritual energy.
• Zhou Yi agreed to put Huang Yuniang’s jade hairpin beneath Duke Wei’s bed after she swore not to harm others.
• Huang Yuniang appeared to Duke Wei in a dream and drained his vitality until he became unconscious.
• Imperial Physician Ge found Duke Wei’s pulse normal, while Wei Chang privately asked whether his father might die if he remained unconscious.