Chapter Summaries

Qin Yang escaped the Sea of Thoughts with Wedding Dress, Azure Phoenix, and Purple Phoenix, then erased their memories of it before the tide turned back and destroyed everything inside. As they headed toward Li Capital, Qin Yang planned to undermine the Emperor Ying by bringing down the Great Ying Divine Dynasty.

• Qin Yang ordered the Puppet Master to carry him away from the mist and told the women that he had to erase their memories of the Sea of Thoughts for their safety.
• Qin Yang used the Fisherman's Slumber Calming Song to erase the women's memories, severed his own memories into a dream, and stored the recovered items in the Sea Eye.
• Qin Yang and the others crossed beyond the tide's reach before sunrise, and Qin Yang renamed the Puppet Master Mo Yang.
• Wedding Dress, Azure Phoenix, and Purple Phoenix awoke with no memory of the Sea of Thoughts, while Qin Yang told them they had been poisoned and rescued by him.
• The greater tide swept through the Sea of Thoughts, dispersing the Emperor Ying and the Blood Lama as the world returned to chaos.
• Qin Yang planned to weaken the Emperor Ying by bringing down the Great Ying Divine Dynasty, then recorded his plans as the group approached Li Capital.

Qin Yang left Wedding Garment and the others near Li Capital and traveled to Mount Kui with the Puppet Master to search for the Feng Shui Master's mausoleum and clues about the Beast Hide. The Puppet Master summoned a mechanical rat to lead them, and the search began.

• Wedding Garment joined Qin Yang to watch the sunrise, and he advised her not to force herself to recover forgotten memories.
• Qin Yang parted from Wedding Garment and the others before Li Capital, then headed toward Mount Kui to investigate the Feng Shui Master's writings and mausoleum.
• The Puppet Master explained that the Feng Shui Master had buried himself at Mount Kui and that several ancient masters had helped prepare the mausoleum.
• The Puppet Master revealed that he wanted to find proof that his ancient self had truly existed, and Qin Yang agreed to help search for the mausoleum.
• The Puppet Master created a mechanical rat that could track traces of his mechanisms and puppet constructs, then followed it into the mountains.

Qin Yang and Mo Yang found the Feng Shui Master's mausoleum, where Qin Yang received an ancient-script inheritance and learned the One Line Sky secret art. As Qin Yang studied on the way to Li Capital, Kuang Tianmin was struck by a grave curse when he tried to accept the Minister of Justice’s seal, and the Emperor Ying appointed Shen Xingluo instead.

• Qin Yang and Mo Yang followed the Mechanical Treasure Hunting Mouse into a mountain and found the entrance to the Feng Shui Master's mausoleum.
• Mo Yang opened the Endless Killing Array, and Qin Yang received a Jade Slip containing the Feng Shui Master's knowledge of ancient scripts.
• Qin Yang and Mo Yang left without entering the tomb, but cultivators who followed them ignored Qin Yang's warning and were killed by the tomb guardians and the Endless Killing Array.
• Qin Yang studied the Beast Hide and understood the One Line Sky secret art as he traveled toward Li Capital.
• Kuang Tianmin collapsed when he took the Ministry of Justice's great seal, and Wei Xingchao identified the Heaven and Earth characters on his back as a grave-robbing curse.
• The Emperor Ying rejected Kuang Tianmin's appointment and ordered Shen Xingluo to return to Li Capital as the new Minister of Justice.

The Emperor Ying appointed Shen Xingluo, one of Jiajia’s former subordinates, as Minister of Justice, stirring speculation about his intentions toward Jiajia and the Great Yan Divine Dynasty. On the way to Li Capital, Qin Yang and the Puppet Master faced an envoy from Great Yan who tried to claim the Puppet Master as a treasure, then continued toward the city after Qin Yang deterred them.

• The Emperor Ying appointed Shen Xingluo as Minister of Justice, prompting the Crown Prince and others to speculate about the move’s meaning for Jiajia and Great Yan.
• Shen Xingluo visited Jiajia, who gave him official robes and told him to assume his post while working with some restraint.
• Jiajia asked Purple Phoenix about the surviving members of their old group and learned that Great Yan’s envoy was the Eighteenth Imperial Grandson.
• Qin Yang told the Puppet Master he could not learn the Clone Technique and reminded him of their agreement to serve as Qin Yang’s bodyguard for three hundred years.
• At the northern lakes, a Great Yan delegation used Dragon Marrow Crystal to identify the Puppet Master and tried to persuade him to surrender himself.
• Qin Yang disrupted the brocade-clad envoy’s control of the water veins, warned the delegation off, and then set out with the Puppet Master for Li Capital.

Qin Yang entered Li Capital openly, used his injuries to convince Han Anming he had come to recuperate, and secured a residence with the Heavenly Order Guard’s help. As the Eighteenth Imperial Grandson investigated Qin Yang and the mysterious treasure, Qingluan explained the Great Yan delegation’s intentions, and Qin Yang warned the Puppet Master not to start trouble near them.

• Qin Yang entered Li Capital in his original body, and the city gate official sent word of his arrival to the Great Emperor Princess Residence and the Ministry of Justice.
• Qin Yang met Han Anming on a commercial street, showed him his severe injuries, and persuaded him to find a quiet residence for him.
• Qin Yang bought a small estate that the Heavenly Order Guard had seized, then settled in and reasoned that Han Anming had come to investigate his purpose in Li Capital.
• The Eighteenth Imperial Grandson ordered his subordinate to investigate Qin Yang and the unidentified man associated with a peerless treasure, while suspecting the Great Emperor Princess had engineered their earlier encounter.
• Qingluan told Qin Yang that Murong Jiayue, the Eighteenth Imperial Grandson, had come as the Great Yan envoy to bring the Great Emperor Princess back with him.
• Qin Yang urged the Puppet Master to visit the market near the Court of State Ceremonial but warned him not to fight Murong Jiayue’s party in the city.

Qin Yang advised Shen Xingluo on handling Li Capital’s political rules and asked him to review the wrongful exile of Scarface and other branded subordinates. When the Puppet Master fought the Great Yan delegation, Shen Xingluo arrested both sides, leaving Qin Yang to go deal with the fallout.

• Qin Yang welcomed Shen Xingluo, who admitted that his work as Minister of Justice had been obstructed, and Qin Yang advised him to punish officials who abused procedure and keep the Great Yan delegation in check.
• Qin Yang asked Shen Xingluo to investigate Scarface’s exile and remove the Golden Seal if the case proved wrongful, and Shen agreed.
• Qingluan arrived expecting to rescue Qin Yang from Shen Xingluo, but found them drinking together; Qin Yang urged her to tell the Great Emperor Princess to recover and avoid meeting anyone.
• The Puppet Master fought the Eighteenth Imperial Grandson and the Great Yan delegation near the Court of State Ceremonial, and Shen Xingluo trapped both sides in Light Cages and jailed them.
• Zhou Wang laughed at Shen Xingluo’s arrest of the delegation, while Qin Yang learned what had happened and decided to go to the Ministry of Justice himself.

Qin Yang helped Shen Xingluo turn the prison incident into a justification for his actions, leading the Emperor Ying to expel the Great Yan envoy delegation rather than punish Shen. After the delegation left Li Capital, Qin Yang sent the Puppet Master to follow them and prepare to exploit the Eighteenth Imperial Grandson’s danger from the Great Yan Crown Prince.

• Murong Jiayue realized Zhou Wang’s advice meant he should target Shen Xingluo rather than pressure the Emperor Ying directly, while Qin Yang arranged for the Puppet Master to fake his death in prison and secretly escape.
• At court, Shen Xingluo said he had intervened because he recognized the Seven Killings Evil Codex’s killing aura, and Qin Yang’s explanation led officials to suspect a Great Yan plot.
• The Emperor Ying declared Shen Xingluo had done nothing wrong and ordered the Great Yan envoy delegation expelled from the realm, threatening war if they resisted.
• Murong Jiayue left Li Capital quickly, fearing the Great Yan Crown Prince would use the delegation’s disgrace to kill him and blame Great Ying.
• Qin Yang sent the Puppet Master, carrying an avatar, to follow the delegation and collect killing aura while waiting to see whether the Great Yan Crown Prince would act against Murong Jiayue.

Qin Yang and the Puppet Master followed the envoy delegation toward the border, where Lei Laowu attacked it and Blood Phoenix drove him off. As the Eighteenth Imperial Grandson reached the border buffer zone, Qin Yang’s approach became clear, leaving Half-Face to face both the ambushers and the arriving threat while the prince prepared a golden talisman.

• Qin Yang explained that he and the Puppet Master were keeping their distance because the Dragon Marrow Crystal could reveal their proximity, and they continued tailing the delegation as Heavenly Order Guard agents followed it too.
• After a month, Lei Laowu unleashed a thunderstorm that erased the delegation’s traces, but Blood Phoenix struck him down, tore off part of his face, and forced him to flee.
• Qin Yang and the Puppet Master watched Blood Phoenix from afar, then hurried toward the border, while Wei Xingchao met an elderly man in the buffer zone and the two silently blocked each other’s path.
• The envoy delegation emerged near the border and Half-Face prepared to attack its ambushers, but the Eighteenth Imperial Grandson’s Dragon Marrow Crystal brightened as Qin Yang approached.
• Half-Face estimated his odds at fifty percent against Qin Yang and the ambushers together, or thirty percent if he also had to protect the prince, who took out a glowing golden Beast Hide talisman.

Murong Jiayue escaped the slaughter by using the Golden Talisman and an earth-escape technique, while Qin Yang and the Puppet Master followed him through the buffer zone. After locating the wounded prince, Qin Yang changed his plan and decided to attempt planting a thought in him before deciding whether to let him live.

• Murong Jiayue activated the Jade Carriage formation and burrowed underground, while Half-Face was killed by the Black-Clothed Men’s self-destructive attacks.
• The old man from Great Yan and Wei Xingchao agreed to settle their standoff with a Go game after discovering that Murong Jiayue had escaped.
• Qin Yang and the Puppet Master reached the battlefield, gathered materials, and tracked the Black-Clothed Men and Murong Jiayue toward Great Yan.
• The Puppet Master’s water mirror revealed Great Yan’s experts searching the border, and Qin Yang deduced that Murong Jiayue would try to escape west.
• The Puppet Master found a fresh underground tunnel, and Qin Yang confirmed that Murong Jiayue was hiding nearby to heal his injuries.
• Qin Yang decided to try planting a thought in Murong Jiayue and sealed the Puppet Master in a storage ring before heading off.

Qin Yang captured Murong Jiayue, planted the desire to clear his deposed father's name, and sent him back to Great Yan with a promise to pressure Great Ying’s border. After deciding Jiayi could best take the throne and help defeat Emperor Ying, Qin Yang asked whether she wanted to become Empress, and she agreed to act against her brother.

• Qin Yang and the Puppet Master captured the wounded Murong Jiayue and entered his dreams, where Qin Yang planted the goal of clearing his deposed father's name.
• Qin Yang took Murong Jiayue’s Dragon Marrow Crystal and secured his promise to have Great Yan press its army against the border before sending him home.
• After reviewing the clone’s memories, Qin Yang decided that Jiayi should take the throne and summoned her clone to the Great Emperor Princess Residence.
• Qin Yang showed Jiayi the memories she had forgotten and asked whether she wanted to become Empress; Jiayi agreed if it meant bringing down Emperor Ying.
• Qin Yang explained that Murong Jiayue’s promise would give Great Ying a reason to restore Jiayi’s title and put her back in command of the army.

Qin Yang’s plan came to fruition when Great Yan sent an army to the border, prompting Emperor Ying to restore Jiayi’s title and appoint her to command the three armies. Jiayi accepted the mission and asked Qin Yang to accompany her to the Northern Border.

• Qin Yang tested Jiayi’s battlefield bearing and urged her not to volunteer to restore the Flying Luan Three Guards if Emperor Ying sent her to the front.
• Murong Jiayue helped Great Yan blame Great Ying for the Eighteenth Imperial Grandson’s attempted assassination, and Great Yan sent eight hundred thousand troops to the border.
• At court, Zhao Wang and the Crown Prince backed the proposal for Jiayi to lead the defense, and Emperor Ying summoned her.
• Emperor Ying restored Jiayi’s title, gave her treasures, and appointed her to command the three armies against Great Yan.
• Jiayi asked Qin Yang to accompany her north, explaining that she trusted his knowledge of the Northern Border and wanted him close by.

Qin Yang traveled to the Northern Border with Yijia, buried Half-Face, and obtained the Bloody Killing Dao from his corpse, deciding not to cultivate it. As Yijia trained her troops through small clashes with Great Yan, Qin Yang noticed killing aura drifting east and sent Mo Yang to investigate.

• Qin Yang brought the Puppet Master from Li Capital to the Northern Border and buried Half-Face in a coffin, then used Corpse Touching to obtain the Bloody Killing Dao.
• Qin Yang studied the dangerous method, chose not to cultivate it, and suggested that the Puppet Master use its techniques to refine bloody killing aura into Destruction Balls.
• Qin Yang and the Puppet Master hid from Great Ying scouts while waiting for Yijia and the army to arrive.
• Yijia reached the Northern Border, and Great Yan's commander withdrew after hearing that she was leading Great Ying's forces.
• Yijia told Qin Yang that her troops lacked experience and resolve, so she used small clashes to train them rather than beginning a full-scale war.
• Qin Yang noticed killing aura drifting east from multiple battlefields and sent Mo Yang to investigate.

Qin Yang learned that an elusive killer likely practiced the Shadow Kill Dao and stayed in camp while he recovered by eating huge quantities of fierce beast meat. The Puppet Master later confirmed the killer was real and dangerous, leaving Qin Yang resolved to take precautions.

• The Puppet Master failed to trace the battlefield’s vanishing killing intent, and Qin Yang asked Jiayi about Great Yan’s methods involving killing.
• Jiayi explained the Shadow Kill Dao and concluded its practitioner was probably targeting her, so Qin Yang stayed in camp.
• Qin Yang ate hundreds of fierce beasts daily, exhausting the camp’s meat stores until Qingluan confirmed he was following the rules and allowed him to continue.
• The Puppet Master reported that the killer had destroyed one of his puppets and escaped, warning that a fully prepared strike could threaten Qin Yang.

Qin Yang exposed Liu Huotou as the Shadow Killing Path assassin who tried to kill Jiayi, then learned the Great Yan Crown Prince had sent him. After Liu Huotou’s death, Qin Yang found his memories suggested other cultivators had died while learning the path, leaving the source of the battlefield’s vanishing killing aura unexplained.

• Qin Yang discovered that newly delivered ferocious beast meat contained Morning Glory Evening Poison, but he used Grafting Flowers onto Trees to expel it.
• Liu Huotou attacked Jiayi with the Shadow Killing Path, but Qin Yang’s preparations caused his strike to miss and left him unable to escape.
• Qin Yang explained how he identified Liu Huotou and learned that the Great Yan Crown Prince had sent him; Liu Huotou then accepted his death.
• Qin Yang killed Liu Huotou, used Corpse Touching to obtain two Skill Books, and told Jiayi who had ordered the assassination.
• Qin Yang studied Liu Huotou’s memories and learned that others had attempted to cultivate the Shadow Kill Path, though only Liu Huotou had succeeded, leaving the battlefield’s missing killing aura unexplained.

Jiayi suppressed a mutiny by exposing and executing spies, then led Great Ying’s army against Great Yan. As the battle began, a mysterious Seven Kill Stele appeared on the battlefield, and Qin Yang identified its method as Self-Sacrificing and Forgetful of Death, warning that it might conceal a dangerous conspiracy.

• Jiayi ordered the arrest of those spreading rumors, and her forces exposed and executed hundreds of spies and mutineers.
• Jiayi restored military discipline and marched the army into the buffer zone to confront Great Yan.
• Jiayi led the first assault in person and beheaded a Great Yan general, while Qin Yang tracked the battlefield’s gathering killing aura.
• A massive vortex drew in the armies’ killing aura, and a towering stone stele bearing the character “Kill” descended amid lightning.
• Qin Yang identified the inscription as the Self-Sacrificing and Forgetful of Death method and warned Jiayi that soldiers should not cultivate it.
• Jiayi learned that Demon Country’s stele remained in its temple, but the armies had no clear lead about who brought the new stele to the battlefield.

Qin Yang discovered that the Kill Word Tablet’s Self-Sacrificing and Forgetful of Death method concealed a sacrificial trap that could restore an ancient figure’s life force, and he warned Jiayi against letting the soldiers keep cultivating it. As the battle intensified and a Minister of War arrived from Li Capital, Qin Yang suspected Emperor Ying might be behind the scheme and planned to test the Emperor’s intentions.

• Qin Yang found that he could not loot anything from the corpses of soldiers who had cultivated the Kill Word Tablet’s method, and he realized the tablet threatened his corpse-touching skill.
• Qin Yang told Jiayi that the tablet’s method made cultivators fearless of death, but Jiayi explained that the soldiers would not stop fighting or abandon the tablet merely because it was dangerous.
• After studying the Demon Script, Qin Yang discovered that Self-Sacrificing and Forgetful of Death concealed two separate methods: one sacrificed later cultivators to the first, while the other let its master persist beyond fatal injuries.
• Qin Yang consulted Black Shadow, who said the Seven Kill Stele had been aimed at the human race and that someone was using sacrifices to reignite the life force of a being who had not fully died.
• Qin Yang urged Jiayi to feign defeat and let Great Yan take the tablet, but Jiayi said the battle had grown too intense and that orders from Li Capital forbade Great Yan from seizing it.
• Qin Yang advised Jiayi to make a show of resisting the arriving Minister of War while reporting the strange circumstances, and he resolved to test whether Emperor Ying was using the tablet as a backup plan.

Qin Yang explained that Zou Hongshen’s interference in the Northern Border campaign was likely a test from the Emperor Ying and possibly an attempt by the Crown Prince to undermine Jiayi. After Qingluan attacked Zou Hongshen, Jiayi used her injuries as a reason to relinquish command, leaving Zou in charge while protecting herself from blame.

• Qin Yang told Qingluan that Zou Hongshen’s conduct likely reflected the Emperor Ying’s suspicions and might also serve the Crown Prince’s interests.
• Qingluan attacked Zou Hongshen after he angered her, but Jiayi blocked her strike and was injured.
• Jiayi apologized for Qingluan, then declared herself too injured to command and left Zou Hongshen to control the campaign.
• Jiayi met Qin Yang in the Cookhouse Soldiers’ camp, where he said her retreat would leave Zou and the Emperor Ying responsible for the campaign’s consequences.
• Qin Yang reflected that the Kill Word Tablet had likely been prepared to enable someone’s resurrection and that he had begun to identify a suspect.

Qin Yang suspected the Demon Country was behind the Kill Word Tablet plot and told Jiayi to expose the danger of the Self-Sacrifice and Forgetful of Death methods if nothing else happened. Meanwhile, Qingluan completed her military cudgel punishment unharmed as Zou Hongshen settled into command.

• Qin Yang ruled out Great Ying and Great Yan as likely conspirators and concluded that the Demon Country was the strongest suspect.
• Qin Yang told Jiayi to reveal the trap hidden in the two methods if no new trouble arose, and Jiayi agreed despite worrying that the information might expose him.
• Jiayi ordered Qingluan to receive military cudgel punishment, but General Wu and his officers arranged for two weak soldiers to carry it out without truly harming her.
• Qingluan endured the punishment without using True Essence and left unharmed after the officers formally recorded that they had followed military rules.
• Zou Hongshen took his seat in the commander's tent while Qin Yang and Jiayi began reviewing suspected Demon Country experts, and Qin Yang crossed Purple Firmament Dao Lord off the list.

Qin Yang sent Wedding Dress to warn Zou Hongshen that the Kill Word Tablet concealed a sacrificial technique, but Zou dismissed the warning and continued the campaign. After Wedding Dress and Zou sent separate memorials, Emperor Ying reviewed them and ordered that further news from the front be reported immediately.

• Qin Yang rejected the idea of investigating the listed powerhouses' tombs and asked Wedding Dress to warn Zou Hongshen about the Kill Word Tablet.
• Wedding Dress told Zou Hongshen that the tablet contained a Self-Sacrificing Technique and urged him to restrain the fighting, but Zou rejected the warning and wrote a memorial presenting himself as cautious and capable.
• Wedding Dress submitted her own memorial, and the opposing armies continued fighting while Great Ying gained ground north of the Kill Word Tablet.
• A rumor spread that everyone who had begun cultivating the tablet's killing-path method had died, disrupting the army's advance, but Zou ordered the original plan to continue.
• Emperor Ying read both memorials, consulted records of the Self-Sacrificing Technique, and told Liu Jin to report any further news from the front immediately.

Rumors about a sacrificial method in Self-Sacrificing and Forgetful of Death threatened to drive Jiajia and Zou Hongshen into an open split. Qin Yang defused the confrontation by exposing doubts about the dead soldier’s accusation, then sealed the corpse in a Bronze Coffin to investigate who was behind the plot.

• Rumors spread through the army that learning Self-Sacrificing and Forgetful of Death led to soldiers’ deaths, and Zou Hongshen suspected Jiajia after tracing the gossip to the Cookhouse Soldiers.
• Jiajia denied spreading the rumor, and Qin Yang warned that someone might be exploiting the tension between her and Zou Hongshen.
• Zou Hongshen’s men caught a timid Cookhouse Soldier spreading a second rumor that blamed Qin Yang, and the soldier died after being beaten during questioning.
• When the dying soldier named Qin Yang, Jiajia stood between him and Zou Hongshen, who insisted on taking Qin Yang away for investigation.
• Qin Yang questioned the accusation’s credibility and reminded Zou Hongshen that a public feud with Jiajia would benefit their enemies, prompting Zou Hongshen to withdraw and apologize.
• Qin Yang placed the corpse in a Bronze Coffin and waited, hoping to discover who had engineered the rumors.