Chapter Summaries

Yulingzi learned that Chen Shi had ties to Taihua Qing Palace and its ancient Green Goat, then returned home and tested his speed against Chen Tang. Chen Tang ultimately overcame Chen Shi’s rapid sword attacks with a chopstick-phantasm sword, leaving Chen Shi unconscious.

• Yulingzi healed Elder Mei, freed the Sky Listeners, and discovered they had been monitoring Chen Shi for Western Capital.
• Yue Hongyin, Daoist Liao, and Junior Uncle Han revealed that they had watched Chen Shi defeat Yulingzi and explained his connection to Taihua Qing Palace through Chen Yindu and Old Ancestor Green Goat.
• Yue Hongyin and the others brought Yulingzi to Red Mountain Hall, where they found Old Ancestor Green Goat and urged it to return to Qingyang Palace.
• Yue Hongyin reassured Yulingzi that Chen Shi was his junior uncle, while Junior Uncle Han questioned whether the young master could truly become True King.
• Chen Shi attacked Chen Tang with his supremely fast Stabbing Sword Style, forcing Chen Tang out of the main hall and into the courtyard.
• Chen Tang turned his chopsticks into a giant sword that pierced Chen Shi’s sixfold Xiao Lang Force Field, covering him in chopstick-phantasms and knocking him unconscious.

After Chen Shi’s duel with Chen Tang shook Xijing, Qin Su investigated Chen Shi’s sword strike and learned that Chen Shi’s cultivation was advancing faster than the Young Master’s. Fuzheng Pavilion sent Fan Peng to test Chen Tang, but Fan Peng returned shaken, saying Chen Tang’s realm matched his own and that Chen Tang had accommodated him.

• Chen Tang carried the sleeping Chen Shi to bed, remembered his newborn son, and praised him to Black Pot.
• Sky Listeners and Sitianjian officials recorded the duel’s destruction and circulated reports on Chen Shi and Chen Tang to Xijing’s powerful factions.
• Qin Su examined Chen Shi’s sword mark more than a hundred miles from the Chen Mansion and concluded that its range and control were extraordinary.
• Shui Xuanzhi told Fuzheng Pavilion that Chen Shi had a Divine Embryo beyond the top grade, was progressing faster than the Young Master, and that Chen Tang had concealed much of his cultivation.
• Qin Su ordered Fan Peng to test Chen Tang, who encountered several challengers on his usual walk toward the Meridian Gate.
• Fan Peng met Chen Tang beneath the Golden Gateway Arch and later told the others that Chen Tang’s cultivation matched his own, but that Chen Tang had accommodated him.

Chen Shi learned that the Young Master’s allies had used Yulingzi to test him and spread false accusations about him. After comforting Yulingzi, Chen Shi went with him to Qixia Temple to confront the people who had treated him as a pawn.

• Fan Peng’s failed attempt to gauge Chen Shi’s strength left Qin Su and the others shocked by how formidable Chen Shi might be.
• Yulingzi apologized to Chen Shi, explained Green Goat’s connection to Taihua Qing Palace, and warned that Sky Listeners were monitoring Chen Shi.
• Yulingzi told Chen Shi that he had joined the Young Master’s allies in opposing him, then listed the accusations they had spread about Chen Shi.
• Chen Shi explained that Shen Hongniang’s Hongniang Association had helped powerful people arrange illicit affairs and that the Young Master had used Yulingzi and the others to pressure him.
• Chen Shi reassured Yulingzi that he was sincere rather than foolish, then accompanied him into Qixia Temple to confront the Young Master’s allies.
• Chen Shi told Black Pot to have the temple gates closed so Qixia Temple would admit no outside guests.

Chen Shi visited Qixia Temple with Yulingzi, learned about its ancient relics and the mysterious white-clothed ghost immortal, then beat Fankongliu until he confessed to manipulating Yulingzi. After Moon Embracing Hall collapsed, Chen Shi and Yulingzi set out to confront Li Tiangan, Ma Xueqing, and the others.

• Chen Shi offered incense to Qixia Temple’s bronze statues, and Yulingzi explained that they and other village gods could be ancient remnants sustained by worship.
• Yulingzi told Chen Shi that his grandfather had sought missing Daoist deities to restore the great ceremonies, but Chen Shi said his death had interrupted the effort.
• Yulingzi described the white-clothed ghost immortal who had lured people from the small white jade path until Moon Embracing Hall was built over it.
• Fankongliu claimed he would seek justice for Yulingzi, so Chen Shi attacked him and forced him to confess that he had incited Yulingzi to test Chen Shi’s strength.
• Chen Shi let Yulingzi snap Fankongliu’s remaining fingers, then the two escaped as Moon Embracing Hall collapsed.
• Chen Shi and Yulingzi headed to find Li Tiangan, Ma Xueqing, and the others, while Chen Shi anticipated seeing the white-clothed fairy that night.

Chen Shi and Yulingzi discovered that Qixia Temple’s ancient well held a powerful dragon, then entered Morningglow Palace and attacked the noble youths gathered there. After seeing their stolen divine embryos, Chen Shi lost control and transformed through the Thunder Jade Pivot Great Law, declaring that he would kill.

• Chen Shi explained that the ancient well was a dragon-locking well, then pulled its chain until a tremendous force dragged it back into the depths.
• Chen Shi taught Yulingzi to use reason first and force second, then kicked open Morningglow Palace’s doors and attacked the gathered noble youths.
• Chen Shi struck down Li Tiangan, Gu Yan'er, and Ma Xueqing, while Yulingzi followed by snapping their fingers and kicking them.
• Chen Shi fought Jiang Fangshu and noticed that several noble youths possessed second divine embryos, including Yang Sheng’s second-grade Dou Kui divine embryo.
• Chen Shi felt a surge of grief and anger at the stolen divine embryos, transformed into Lei Zu Wen Zhong using the Thunder Jade Pivot Great Law, and declared he would kill.

Chen Shi attacked the aristocratic descendants in Morning Glow Palace and killed them with his thunder techniques while they tried to overwhelm him together. After the Song of Heroes Suppressing Demons ended, Cui Zheng claimed he would rather help Chen Shi, but Chen Shi killed him too.

• Chen Shi killed Jiang Fangshu by smashing through his primordial spirit, then charged at Yang Sheng.
• Chen Shi killed Yang Sheng with a lightning sword strike and defeated Xia Ding Tian, Yan Hao, Gao Yu, Fei Yu'er, and Zhai Jiaojiao as they attacked him together.
• Chen Shi formed twin golden whips from blood-qi and used them to kill the five attackers while the band played the Song of Heroes Suppressing Demons.
• When only Cui Zheng remained standing among the aristocratic descendants, he said he respected Chen Shi and would rather assist him.
• Chen Shi killed Cui Zheng with his golden whip, saying, “I disdain it.”

After Chen Shi and Yulingzi covered up the massacre at Qixia Temple, Yulingzi fled to Gaoshan County and joined the Heavenly Court, while Chen Shi returned to Western Capital. Created Being Xiao Wu then helped erase the remaining evidence and took Chen Shi to replenish his vital energy in a Lesser Heavens he had made from the Li family ancestors’ Void Realm.

• After Chen Shi ordered Yulingzi to leave, Yulingzi killed Li Tiangan, Ma Xueqing, and Gu Yan'er, then destroyed the witnesses’ souls and corpses in the underworld.
• Yulingzi dropped the unconscious Fankongliu into the Dragon Locking Well and used thunder talismans to provoke the Dragon King before he and Chen Shi left Qixia Temple.
• Chen Shi gave Yulingzi a Heavenly Court Token, and Yulingzi went to Gaoshan County, where Yutian City recruited him under the code name Taoist Priest.
• At Western Capital’s gates, Chen Shi learned that Prince Xiao had raided the Divine Machine Battalion and abducted its chief, Jin Hongying.
• Created Being Xiao Wu met Chen Shi, revealed that he had erased the evidence and witnesses at Qixia Temple, and offered to teach him how to defeat Chen Tang.
• Created Being Xiao Wu took Chen Shi to Listenrain Tower and proposed replenishing his vital energy in a Lesser Heavens he had refined from the Li family ancestors’ Void Realm.

Chen Shi explored Created Being Xiao Wu’s Lesser Heavens, learned how it could help him cultivate, and rapidly recovered his strength there. While Xiao Wu went to the Li Family to demand the identity of the person who cut away Chen Shi’s Innate Dao Embryo, the Li ancestors raised questions about the Sky Listener and Despair Slope; Chen Shi emerged the next morning with his Eighth Heavens formed.

• Chen Shi stayed at Chen Wu’s home, while Black Pot returned to the Chen Mansion and watched Chen Tang break his chopsticks before a stool crumbled under Black Pot’s tail.
• Created Being Xiao Wu showed Chen Shi the Lesser Heavens he had refined from two Li Family ancestors’ Void Realms, where Chen Shi saw four suns, moon eyes, and a river of oddly shaped stars.
• Chen Shi and Created Being Xiao Wu discussed how noble families’ Void Realms gave their disciples an advantage, and Xiao Wu praised Chen Shi’s Luo Tian Grand Ceremony before promising to teach him the Zhou Tian Grand Ceremony.
• Created Being Xiao Wu went to the Li Mansion to ask Li Yiran and Li Ganfeng who had cut away Chen Shi’s Innate Dao Embryo, and they instead questioned him about the Sky Listener, the True God from Beyond the Heavens, and Despair Slope.
• Chen Shi meditated in the Lesser Heavens and recovered his depleted vital energy, forming the Eighth Heavens and enlarging his Nascent Soul by morning.
• Chen Shi left the bronze mirror and saw Created Being Xiao Wu playing cuju with children in the alley.

Created Being Xiao Wu told Chen Shi that his Divine Embryo had been contested in a bloody battle, but its fate might be tied to a mysterious force connected to Despair Slope. On the way home, Chen Shi met Eunuch Feng, who pledged to protect him in the coming Palace Examination struggle against Young Master.

• Created Being Xiao Wu explained that the Thirteen Noble Families had fought over Chen Shi’s Innate Dao Embryo, but investigators found no trace of it among them.
• Created Being Xiao Wu described the group’s search into the decline of the True King Era and warned that a hidden force was suppressing their investigations and could mobilize the Sky Listeners.
• Created Being Xiao Wu agreed to teach Chen Shi the Zhou Tian Grand Ceremony that night and asked him to bring him along to fence stolen goods.
• Eunuch Feng introduced himself to Chen Shi and said Chen Yindu had broken his legs during an attack on Xijing eleven years earlier.
• Eunuch Feng backed Chen Shi over Young Master, warned that someone would try to keep Chen Shi from competing for the Palace Examination top scholar, and offered to protect him.
• Eunuch Feng escorted Chen Shi to the Chen Mansion, then explained to his foster sons that he opposed Young Master and wanted to prevent him from becoming the True King.

Chen Shi learned the Zhou Tian Grand Ceremony from Created Being Xiao Wu, then defeated Chen Tang in a spar and insisted on competing for top scholar and killing the Young Master. After the Talisman God Heavenly Mechanism told Chen Tang that his father missed him, Chen Tang agreed to support Chen Shi.

• Chen Shi reassured Chen Tang that Chen Wu had treated him well, then went with Created Being Xiao Wu to Gathering Immortals Tower, where Shao Jing agreed to sell a mountain of treasures and gave them silver.
• Chen Shi studied the remaining talismans of the Zhou Tian Grand Ceremony and watched Created Being Xiao Wu demonstrate how to use the Eight Trigrams to transform Western Capital into a Ghost and God Domain.
• Created Being Xiao Wu urged Chen Shi to comprehend the talismans for himself and return to defeat Chen Tang, and Chen Shi later challenged Chen Tang to a spar and won.
• Chen Shi told Chen Tang he would compete for top scholar and berated him for neglecting Chen Shi and Chen Yindu, declaring that he also intended to kill the Young Master.
• Chen Shi summoned the Talisman God Heavenly Mechanism, which told Chen Tang that his father missed him before attacking him, and Chen Tang tearfully agreed to support Chen Shi's bid for top scholar.

Yan Xianshi and the Thirteen Noble Families tried to make Chen Tang force Chen Shi to give up the top scholar contest, but Chen Tang refused and sent Minister of War Ren Xiao crashing into a hall wall. Chen Shi learned that Chen Wu had left the Western Capital and was entrusted with the Fox Grape Mirror, then vowed to win the top scholar title.

• Yan Xianshi reviewed the duel between Chen Shi and Chen Tang and worried that Chen Shi could threaten the Thirteen Noble Families' plans.
• Xia Canghai, Yan Shuhe, Cui Zhegui, and other cabinet ministers urged Chen Tang to make Chen Shi yield the top scholar position to the young master, but Chen Tang refused them all.
• Ren Xiao demanded that Chen Tang's son give up the contest, and Chen Tang stood firm; Ren Xiao collided with him and was knocked unconscious against Zhongji Hall.
• Chen Shi met Yuan Xiaoye beneath Tingyu Tower and learned that Chen Wu had left to seek secrets, leaving him the Fox Grape Mirror.
• Chen Shi laughed at Chen Wu's message and declared that he would win the top scholar title.

Chen Shi helped provincial graduates cultivate in the Lesser Heavens before confronting the Young Master, who tried and failed to recruit him. On the first day of the metropolitan examination, Chen Shi entered the literary exam and watched the clerks write answers for the candidates while the divine beasts ignored his protest.

• Chen Shi invited Hu Feifei, Tian Yue'e, Huangnian, Fu Xiu, and other provincial graduates to cultivate in the Lesser Heavens, where he promised to help them advance.
• The Young Master approached Chen Shi in the street and urged him to join forces to restore the True King Era, but Chen Shi rejected him and threatened to kill him in the examination.
• Chen Tang helped Chen Shi remove his weapons, treasures, and other forbidden items before escorting him to the Ministry of Rites examination grounds.
• Chen Shi entered the literary examination hall with the Young Master and Zhang You, then chose a question about Great Vigor and ritual propriety.
• Three minor clerks took the candidates' papers and began writing their answers, but Bi'an and Fuxi ignored Chen Shi when he accused them of cheating.

Chen Shi discovered that the literary examination was rigged for noble families, while the martial examination revealed the strength of the humble scholars he had brought to the Western Capital. After Young Master tried to take the hundred-li target for him, Chen Shi struck every target himself and left the examiners stunned.

• Chen Shi learned from Zhang You and Young Master that the literary examination papers were written by minor officials and the results were controlled by the noble families, then he reflected on why Scholar Zhu had hanged himself.
• Chen Tang reassured Chen Shi after the literary examination, and Chen Shi said he understood Scholar Zhu’s despair after seeing the examination’s corruption.
• At the Divine Machine Battalion’s spell examination, scholars Chen Shi had brought from humble backgrounds hit targets at remarkable distances, earning the examiners’ astonishment and repeatedly calling Chen Shi their instructor.
• Hu Feifei hit the hundred-li target, while Young Master used his spell to hit all six targets and claimed he had done it for Chen Shi.
• After the Vice Minister of Rites ordered Chen Shi to retake the examination, Chen Shi sent gravel through every target from the altar and hit all six.

After Chen Shi eclipsed the young master's display at the martial examination, the Fuzheng Pavilion plotted to cripple him in a night raid. As Chen Shi cultivated for the next day's examination, Chen Tang prepared his hidden Heavenly Mechanism box and readied himself for battle.

• Chen Shi struck every target on the mountain with gravel, drawing the provincial graduates' cheers and overshadowing the young master's spell.
• The young master claimed Chen Shi had used the Xu family's Ten Thousand Mile Flying Sword Technique, while Shui Xuanzhi judged that Chen Shi's cultivation and combat power were rapidly approaching his own.
• Fan Peng and the others agreed to raid the Chen Mansion at the hour of zi and heavily injure Chen Shi without provoking the demon in his Sea of Consciousness or Created Being Xiao Wu.
• The boat girl and her daughter offered to descend into the Underworld to search for Chen Shi's mother's soul, while Granny Sha agreed to study Chen Shi's account of Xiao Wu's Ghost and God Domain.
• Chen Shi entered the Fox Grape Mirror to cultivate, while Chen Tang repaired the Talisman God Heavenly Mechanism, shrank it into a doll, and added it to a box containing dozens of others.
• Chen Tang bowed to the sword in the hall and asked his fellow Daoist to join him in battle that night.

Shui Xuanzhi and his allies secretly advanced through Xijing’s inner city to reach Chen Tang, while powerful opponents delayed them along the way. After Chen Tang wounded Shui Xuanzhi with a sword strike and killed Fan Peng, Shui Xuanzhi concluded that only Young Master could contend for Chen Shi; the next morning, Chen Shi noticed the adults were hiding something from him.

• Sitianjian, Gongtian Prefecture, and the Divine Machine Battalion secretly stood down their surveillance and patrols for the night, clearing the way through Xijing’s inner city.
• Shui Xuanzhi, Qin Su, and Fan Peng walked toward the Chen Mansion as Granny Sha, Green Goat, and Hu Xiaoliang confronted them, while Xia Fanghe and Xia Shouying held the three evils back.
• Shui Xuanzhi passed Eunuch Feng Tianhuan, whose adopted sons Yan Shuangtian and Bai Sihai attacked him, then continued past Prince Xiao and Jin Hongying as they faced Divine Machine Battalion commanders.
• At the Chen Mansion, Shui Xuanzhi tested Chen Tang’s strength; Chen Tang’s sword wounded Shui Xuanzhi, and Fan Peng rushed back into the mansion and did not return.
• Shui Xuanzhi left with Qin Su, saying only Young Master could contend for Chen Shi, and Chen Shi went to the Ministry of Rites the next morning after noticing the adults seemed unusually friendly and secretive.

During the metropolitan examination’s essay round, Chen Shi taught Ministry of Rites clerk Cheng Qi the deeper principles of talisman-spell integration, helping him break through to the Body Integration Realm. After Cheng Qi was dismissed, Chen Shi invited him to join Red Mountain Hall, while Zhang You’s strength and lineage prompted warnings about the upcoming martial examination.

• Zhang You told Chen Shi and the Young Master about the strange events on Ganyang Street the previous night, and the Young Master denied knowing about Fuzheng Pavilion’s failed raid on the Chen Mansion.
• Chen Shi chose the Theory of Talisman and Spell Integration, then explained how to derive cultivation methods from talismans to the ghostwriting clerk Cheng Qi.
• Chen Shi demonstrated the Eight Trigrams Body Protection Art, and Cheng Qi understood its principles and broke through from the Void Refining Realm to the Body Integration Realm.
• After the exam, Cheng Qi thanked Chen Shi, learned he had been dismissed from the Ministry of Rites, and accepted Chen Shi’s invitation to join Red Mountain Hall.
• Eunuch Feng warned Chen Shi that Zhang You was a promising heir of the Zhang Family, and Chen Shi declared that he would take first place in the martial examination.

Chen Tang and Eunuch Feng discussed the young master's strength and the risks of the martial combat, while Chen St spent the day studying the Eight Trigrams transformations instead of preparing for the exam. As the final martial examination began, Chen St entered the arena distracted, and the young master prepared to use his family's peerless arts.

• Chen Tang told Eunuch Feng that he had matched the young master at several levels of Spirit Transformation, and Eunuch Feng warned that Chen St would need to rival the sixteen-foot body to win.
• Eunuch Feng proposed ambushing the young master or arranging a match with Zhang You, but Chen Tang refused both plans and predicted the young master would lose in a month.
• Chen St and Granny Sha studied the Wind and Thunder, Mountain and Marsh, and Water and Fire transformations, causing him to rush through the afternoon skill examination and neglect the literary inquiry session.
• The young master impressed the martial examination crowd with the Nine Heavens Dragon Phoenix Descent, while more than a dozen licentiates broke through into the Spirit Transformation Realm.
• Granny Sha arrived after Chen St had entered the Immortal Bridge Blessed Land and announced she had comprehended the Water and Fire Transformation; inside, the young master smiled as he prepared to use his family's peerless arts.

Chen Shi reached the immortal bridge during a rigged martial examination, while Monk Wuchen defeated Monk Wuxiang and the Daoist scions gathered nearby. The Immortal Bridge Blessed Land then collided with the ghost and god domain of Qixia Temple, forcing an urgent evacuation as Chen Shi remained in danger.

• Eunuch Feng and Chen Tang realized the Fifth Army Battalion had altered the Immortal Bridge Blessed Land to guide Buddhist and Daoist scions toward Chen Shi.
• Chen Tang found Chen Shi approaching the immortal bridge, where examiners warned him that stepping onto it would end his examination.
• Monk Wuchen challenged Monk Wuxiang, revealed that Chan Master Rumeng had repaired his golden body's flaw, and defeated him before leaving without attacking Chen Shi.
• Daoist Jin Lu fled when Yulingzi challenged him, while Guo Daozi and Zhang You withdrew after recognizing that the commanders had manipulated their paths toward Chen Shi.
• A white jade bridge and a white-robed female immortal appeared, sending the Immortal Bridge Blessed Land crashing toward the Underworld.
• Xia Fanghe and Xia Shouying ordered an evacuation, but the female immortal's aura killed several Fifth Army Battalion experts as the examiners fled and Chen Shi remained behind.

The Immortal Bridge Blessed Land crashed into the Underworld after Xia Fanghe and Xia Shouying lost control of it, allowing a powerful white-robed female immortal to emerge and fight the ancestors of the Thirteen Noble Families. The nine palaces blasted the blessed land into the Underworld, leaving hundreds of scholars trapped; Chen Shi attained enlightenment by the bridge, where an unconscious, blood-soaked woman fell beside him.

• Chen Tang and Eunuch Feng realized the Immortal Bridge Blessed Land was tilting into the Underworld, where it had collided with Qixia Temple and the white jade path.
• The white-robed female immortal crossed into the blessed land, crushed Fifth Army soldiers and officials with her aura, and defeated Xia Fanghe and Xia Shouying, reducing their cultivation to the Spirit Refining Realm.
• Ma Yu led the ancestors of the Thirteen Noble Families in attacking the female immortal, but she heavily injured several of them as she advanced toward the immortal bridge.
• The nine palaces, including Wenhua and Wuying, struck the blessed land and sent it plunging into the Underworld; Chen Tang and Black Pot followed, while officials learned that six hundred and forty-four scholars remained trapped.
• Granny Sha told Chen Tang that Chen Shi’s soul was intact but that his location was strange; Chen Shi then attained enlightenment in the Wind and Thunder Transformation beside the immortal bridge.
• A blood-soaked woman fell from the immortal bridge, struck the boulder beside Chen Shi, and passed out.

Chen Shi gathered more than two hundred licentiates after the Immortal Bridge Blessed Land was destroyed and fell into the Underworld. Following Hu Feifei’s tracks, the group reached a vast field of Buddha statues whose red eyes watched them pass.

• Chen Shi tried to kill an unconscious, badly injured woman with his transformations and martial arts, but could not harm her; Daoist Jin Lu arrived and explained that the blessed land was being destroyed by a great collision.
• Guo Daozi told Chen Shi that the ancestors of the Thirteen Noble Families had fought a white-clothed fairy at Qixia Temple, and the immortal bridge then crumbled, leaving the group stranded in the Underworld.
• Chen Shi warned the licentiates, gathered those willing to follow him, and put the unconscious woman in his small temple, where his vital energy and blood became unusually pure after circulating around her.
• Chen Shi led more than two hundred licentiates out of the blessed land, while Daoist Jin Lu stayed behind to await rescue; Hu Feifei’s fox prints showed that another group had already gone ahead.
• Chen Shi’s group followed Hu Feifei’s tracks through the Underworld and discovered that the apparent mountain ranges were enormous Buddha statues, whose red eyes lit up as the group passed.