Chapter Summaries

Wang Defu reported the Little Merman’s assassination with the God-Killing Arrow to White Water Long Affection, whose leaders moved to seize the Hongxi Merchant Guild’s business while warning against provoking Qin Yang. As Qin Yang continued toward Li Capital, Shen Xingluo urged him not to make a public reckoning, prompting Qin Yang to devise a plan involving Junior Brother Zhang.

• Wang Defu hurried back to his branch and told the Great Proprietor that the Little Merman had been targeted with the Illusion Feather Bow and God-Killing Arrow.
• The Great Proprietor summoned White Water Long Affection’s leaders, and Longyang Jun reported the arrow attack and the Heavenly Order Guard’s investigation.
• The Sect Master ordered the group to absorb the Hongxi Merchant Guild’s business and warned Qingtian Jun not to provoke Qin Yang.
• Qin Yang continued toward Li Capital with Little Seventh and the sleeping Ugly Donkey, planning to contact Verdant Grandma and pursue the fake Qin Yang.
• Shen Xingluo intercepted Qin Yang and warned him not to strike the Heaven-Shaking Drum or turn the matter into a public crisis.
• Qin Yang considered using Junior Brother Zhang’s identity to carry out the plan instead.

Qin Yang helped Wen Yubo remove his exile Golden Seal, then reunited with Zhang Zhengyi and recruited him to impersonate Qin Yang while Qin worked in secret. Qin Yang entered Li Capital and sounded the Heaven-Shaking Drum at the Court of Judicial Review, leaving Shen Xingluo and the city rushing toward the wrong court.

• Shen Xingluo used his official seal to erase Wen Yubo's exile Golden Seal, allowing Wen Yubo's cultivation to surge into the Spirit Platform Realm.
• Zhang Zhengyi arrived aboard Qin Yang's flying vessel, received the jade bottle Qin Yang had set aside for him, and agreed to impersonate Qin Yang in exchange for rich soup.
• Qin Yang explained that he wanted Zhang Zhengyi to draw attention while he secretly hunted the person trafficking children under Qin Yang's identity.
• Qin Yang entered Li Capital, passed the Ministry of Justice, and went to the Court of Judicial Review.
• Qin Yang beat the Court of Judicial Review's Heaven-Shaking Drum, prompting Shen Xingluo to realize the drum was not at the Ministry of Justice.

Zhang Zhengyi impersonated Qin Yang and struck the Court of Judicial Review’s Heaven-Shaking Drum, but the court dismissed his grievance and sent him away. The real Qin Yang entered Li Capital, killed Zhang Zhengyi for using his identity, and surrendered himself to the City Guard Army, which sent him to the Ministry of Punishments.

• Zhang Zhengyi, disguised as Qin Yang, struck the Court of Judicial Review’s Heaven-Shaking Drum and was brought before the Minister of Justice.
• The Minister of Justice told Zhang Zhengyi to return the next day or go to the Ministry of Punishments, and Zhang Zhengyi left the court disappointed.
• The real Qin Yang entered Li Capital, and the city gate officials realized that two people using his identity had entered the city.
• Qin Yang found Zhang Zhengyi, killed him, and fed his remains to the dragon-donkey.
• Qin Yang turned himself in to the City Guard Army, whose captain received instructions to send him directly to the Ministry of Punishments.

Qin Yang failed to get himself imprisoned after the Ministry of Justice cleared him, so he left Li Capital and revived Zhang Zhengyi at their temporary manor. As the seafolk army advanced and the God-Killing Arrow incident returned to court, the Emperor Ying tasked the Great Emperor Princess with investigating, while Qin Yang waited for the culprit behind the scheme to act again.

• The Ministry of Justice declared Qin Yang a hero, awarded him five hundred Spirit Stones and a banner, and let him leave, ruining his plan to sit in prison.
• Qin Yang used Ugly Donkey to bring Zhang Zhengyi's mangled body out of its storage space and helped him revive; Zhang Zhengyi then described an ancient ruin that might be a tomb of one of the Twelve Human Teachers.
• At the grand court assembly, Luo Liang urged a thorough investigation into the God-Killing Arrow and the approaching seafolk army, and he spent hours accusing Zhao Wang and the Ministry of Works of possible negligence.
• The Emperor Ying dismissed court and summoned the Great Emperor Princess, giving her authority to investigate the incident.
• The Minister of Justice warned Luo Liang not to attack people recklessly before the matter was settled, revealing that he had recognized the Heaven-Shaking Drum petitioner was not Qin Yang.
• Qingluan told Qin Yang that the Great Emperor Princess would lead the investigation, and Qin Yang concluded that the Emperor Ying had chosen her because he distrusted the princes and expected the hidden culprit to make another move.

Qin Yang investigated the Hongxi and Evergreen Merchant Guilds and received a visit from Tian Kangtai of the Tian Clan, who asked him to pass a message to the Second Sword Lord. The information Tian Kangtai left revealed the guilds’ hidden connections, and Qin Yang began questioning Wen Yubo about the Wen Clan’s past.

• Qin Yang deduced that the Hongxi Merchant Guild had prepared to withdraw well before the current attacks, while the Evergreen Merchant Guild appeared to be a broad alliance with competing leaders.
• Qin Yang reviewed Mo Yang’s surveillance of Wang Defu and sent Zhang Zhengyi to retrieve valuables and information hidden by Oil Mouse.
• Tian Kangtai visited Qin Yang with lavish gifts and asked him to persuade the Second Sword Lord to return to the Tian Clan before its ancestor died.
• Tian Kangtai gave Qin Yang information showing that the Crown Prince secretly controlled the Hongxi Merchant Guild and that the Evergreen Merchant Guild was an alliance linked by the Joyous Union Sect.
• Qin Yang realized the Second Sword Lord had ties to the Tian Clan and suspected his wife was from the Wen Clan, so he asked Wen Yubo about the Wen Clan’s calamity and a woman named Ruo Yan.

Qin Yang passed the Second Sword Lord news about the Tian Clan and Wen Ruo Yan, prompting him to return to the ancestral residence. There, the Second Sword Lord discovered the Tian Clan’s Old Ancestor was gravely wounded and learned the old man’s final wishes, leaving him determined to find a way to save him.

• Wen Yubo told Qin Yang that Wen Ruo Yan had mastered a One Word Art before the Wen Clan’s downfall, and Qin Yang realized her ability was likely the Thinking Art.
• Qin Yang summoned the Second Sword Lord, passed on Tian Kangtai’s message, and gave him half of his remaining thick soup.
• Wen Yubo inferred that the Second Sword Lord was Tian LuanYu and concluded that Qin Yang had helped secure favor with both the Tian Clan and the Second Sword Lord.
• Qin Yang warned Wen Yubo not to ask how Duke Xian of State died, and Wen Yubo understood that Qin Yang had secretly arranged his death.
• The Second Sword Lord visited the Tian Clan’s Old Ancestor and found him being kept alive by a blood-red tree despite a missing heart.
• The Old Ancestor asked the Second Sword Lord not to investigate his attacker and urged him to protect the Tian Clan when it faced disaster; the Second Sword Lord then thought of asking Qin Yang for Dark Night Udumbara to save him.

Second Sword Lord brought Qin Yang to see the gravely injured Tian Family Old Ancestor, whose body was being sustained by a Hundred Vein Banyan after his veins and heart had been destroyed. The Old Ancestor offered to answer three of Qin Yang’s questions in exchange for one answer, and Qin Yang asked what secret he had truly concealed.

• Second Sword Lord asked Qin Yang for help saving the Tian Family Old Ancestor, and Qin Yang agreed to examine him in secret.
• Second Sword Lord teleported Qin Yang to the Old Ancestor’s residence, where Qin Yang recognized the Hundred Vein Banyan sustaining the dying man.
• The Tian Family Old Ancestor dismissed Second Sword Lord so he could speak with Qin Yang alone and proposed answering three questions in exchange for one answer.
• The Old Ancestor asked Qin Yang what he thought of Second Sword Lord, and Qin Yang realized the Old Ancestor hoped to bind Second Sword Lord and his wife to the Tian family.
• Qin Yang praised the Old Ancestor’s strategy, then asked what news he had truly concealed.

Qin Yang learned that Tian Family Old Ancestor had crippled himself to protect the Tian Clan after refusing the Former Dynasty Great Emperor’s offer. He realized the Former Dynasty’s schemes might involve him, then learned the snake-marked man had visited Tian Family Old Ancestor and offered to return when the elder was ready to die.

• Tian Family Old Ancestor revealed that he had inflicted his fatal injury on himself, and Qin Yang tried to leave before learning more.
• Tian Family Old Ancestor called Qin Yang “loyal to two masters,” prompting Qin Yang to return and hear his explanation.
• Tian Family Old Ancestor explained that he had rejected the Former Dynasty Great Emperor’s envoy and sacrificed himself to protect the Tian Clan from Emperor Ying’s suspicion and the Former Dynasty’s demands.
• Qin Yang connected the disclosure to the Former Dynasty’s recent schemes and asked Tian Family Old Ancestor about a man with a snake-shaped mark between his brows.
• Tian Family Old Ancestor confirmed that the snake-marked man had visited him but refused to identify him, and Qin Yang promised to return to see him off.

Qin Yang advised Wedding Dress to continue investigating the God-Killing Arrow case despite Emperor Ying's apparent motives, while he waited for the hidden forces to make their next move. A month later, new intelligence arrived suggesting that rumors about the arrow's possible origins were spreading.

• Qin Yang left Tian Family Old Ancestor after learning that the old man would soon meet someone and could not reveal his secrets.
• Qin Yang told Second Sword Lord that Tian Family Old Ancestor had done much for the Tian family and urged him to spend time with his ancestor.
• Wedding Dress visited Qin Yang and described the stalled investigation into the God-Killing Arrow; Qin Yang warned that Emperor Ying had sent her to investigate because she was likely to find nothing and lose her newly gained prestige.
• Qin Yang told Wedding Dress to keep investigating and promised that clues would eventually appear, while concealing that Little Seventh was still alive.
• After a month, Wen Yubo brought Qin Yang intelligence about rumors listing several possible origins of the God-Killing Arrow.

Qin Yang connected the God-Killing Arrow conspiracy to the Former Dynasty Great Emperor and helped Jiayi expose a possible way to reforge powerless arrows. The Crown Prince discovered that his supposed collectible was an illusion, while a masked attacker arrived at Qin Yang’s residence.

• Qin Yang reasoned that someone could have used the Northern Border Kill Word Tablet during its chaotic period to complete the final step of forging God-Killing Arrows.
• At court, Jiayi requested authority to inspect everyone for missing powerless God-Killing Arrows, and Zhao Wang and the Crown Prince offered to cooperate.
• The Crown Prince found that the God-Killing Arrow in his treasure vault was only an illusion and suspected Qin Yang had helped Jiayi uncover the matter.
• A powerful attacker struck Qin Yang’s residence, and the Puppet Master intercepted the blow while Qin Yang recognized the attacker’s mosaic-covered face and undersized shorts.

The Puppet Master defeated the attacker who came for Qin Yang, but destroyed the enemy so completely that no corpse remained. Qin Yang realized the attacker had been a Dharma Manifestation, while the surviving master behind the attack decided not to provoke him further.

• The mosaic-faced burly man overwhelmed the Puppet Master with a devastating strike and broke through the residence’s defenses.
• The Puppet Master trapped the attacker in corrosive black liquid, transformed into a giant centipede-like puppet, and detonated Destruction Balls, annihilating him.
• Qin Yang learned the attacker had been a Dharma Manifestation and questioned the Puppet Master about leaving a corpse behind.
• A beautiful married woman reported that her Dharma Manifestation had been completely destroyed, leaving her cultivation and consciousness badly damaged.
• The snake-marked man gave the woman pills to help her recover and ordered his group to stop probing Qin Yang and continue their other objectives.

After General Huang’s failed assassination of Qin Yang, Qin Yang learned that Huang may have been a reincarnated dharma manifestation created through a dangerous life-creation method. With the Huang clan beginning to stir, Qin Yang considered using an alter ego to confront them while hiding his true identity.

• Little Seventh praised Black Shadow until she asked why he had been suppressed by Qin Yang, prompting Black Shadow to rage at Ugly Chicken for telling her.
• Qin Yang asked Black Shadow how someone could make a dharma manifestation indistinguishable from a real person and explained General Huang’s assassination and the investigation.
• Black Shadow identified the method as the Reincarnation Method, in which a dharma manifestation seed was nurtured inside a female cultivator until it became a flesh-and-blood person.
• Qin Yang suspected General Huang had sought freedom from whoever controlled him and that his death had disrupted a major plan connected to the Former Dynasty Great Emperor.
• The Puppet Master finished reinforcing Qin Yang’s residence with deadly defenses, and Wen Yubo warned that the Huang clan might retaliate.
• Qin Yang considered adopting an alter ego to provoke the Huang clan without endangering his real identity, then asked whether anyone had seen the dead fatso.

Qin Yang persuaded Zhang Zhengyi to remain at his guarded compound by promising him a Strange Fruit, while Jiayi’s investigation and the Emperor Ying’s orders put the Crown Prince under growing pressure. The chapter ended with Zhao Wang learning that the Crown Prince’s God-Killing Arrow was missing and preparing to use the revelation against him.

• Qin Yang convinced Zhang Zhengyi to stay at the compound and promised him a Strange Fruit in return.
• Jiayi continued investigating the missing treasures, and the Emperor Ying ordered that powerless God-Killing Arrows be confiscated during inspections.
• Xie Yao secretly left the Eastern Palace and offered Zhao Wang information in exchange for safe passage out of the Divine Dynasty.
• Xie Yao told Zhao Wang that the Crown Prince had secretly met General Huang, that a God-Killing Arrow was missing from the Crown Prince’s collection, and that the Crown Prince had sought ways to extend his lifespan.
• Zhao Wang concluded that exposing the missing arrow could ruin the Crown Prince and resolved to seize the opportunity.

Zhao Wang helped the Great Emperor Princess corner the Crown Prince, who had his remaining confidants killed or silenced. Meanwhile, Zhang Zhengyi mistook the Princess’s gifts and visits for proof that she loved Qin Yang, while Qin Yang learned that the Tian Family Old Ancestor knew a woman possessed the Dharma Aspect secret art and offered him his great-granddaughter.

• Zhao Wang let the Great Emperor Princess lead the investigation while his proposals blocked the Crown Prince’s ways to conceal the God-Killing Arrow scandal.
• The Crown Prince ordered Mister Qiu to silence three confidants, and each of them died or disappeared before a hidden shadow departed.
• Yijia left palace gifts for Qin Yang, and Zhang Zhengyi pocketed them while deciding that the Great Emperor Princess was secretly in love with his senior brother.
• Zhang Zhengyi questioned Qingluan and the Puppet Master about the Princess, then became convinced Qin Yang was preparing to marry into the imperial family.
• Qin Yang questioned the dying Tian Family Old Ancestor about the owner of the Dharma Aspect secret art and deduced that the person was a woman.
• The Tian Family Old Ancestor offered Qin Yang his two-hundred-and-eighty-year-old great-granddaughter, and Qin Yang objected to marrying someone three times his age.

Qin Yang used the Thinking Art to infer that Tian Family Old Ancestor was trying to draw him closer to the Tian family, but the old man decided he did not want to die that day. Qin Yang left after agreeing to visit again, while Tian Family Old Ancestor began making plans to keep him connected to the clan.

• Qin Yang used the Thinking Art to read Tian Family Old Ancestor’s reactions and recognized how profound his own Divine Gate foundation was.
• Tian Family Old Ancestor recovered some spirit and considered how to tie Qin Yang to the Tian family, including finding him a suitable match.
• Qin Yang asked why Tian Family Old Ancestor had not died yet, and the old man told him to leave because he did not feel like dying that day.
• Tian Family Old Ancestor invited Qin Yang to visit whenever he wanted answers, and Qin Yang agreed before leaving.
• Second Sword Lord tearfully asked whether the ancestor had died, then urged Qin Yang to keep his sword talisman and let him protect him.
• Qin Yang returned to the residence and fell asleep, while the Tian family patriarch visited Tian Family Old Ancestor and received orders to list unmarried women under a hundred.

After waking from a three-day sleep, Qin Yang discovered that his cultivation arts had fused into a personal system, while the investigation into the Crown Prince’s missing God-Killing Arrow exposed a phantom and pushed Li Capital toward open conflict. The chapter left Zhao Wang reeling after a Ministry of Works insider stole fifty genuine God-Killing Arrows.

• Qin Yang woke to find his cultivation arts had fused, and Zhang Zhengyi delivered him a Four-Legged Two-Eared Cauldron from Jiayi.
• Jiayi investigated the Crown Prince’s treasure vault, where the stored God-Killing Arrow proved to be an illusion, and Zhao Wang sent her the defected Xie Yao as a witness.
• Luo Liang burned his memorial condemning the Crown Prince after recalling Old Ghost Fu’s warning, but the Crown Prince was still denounced in court and feigned ignorance to preserve his position.
• A Ministry of Works cultivator killed a Heavenly Order Guard Outer Marquis during a shipment, then stole fifty genuine God-Killing Arrows.
• Zhao Wang learned that the stolen shipment had been real and realized the theft would implicate him and that the crisis had become catastrophic.

Zhou Wang was blamed for the theft of fifty God-Killing Arrows, while Qin Yang realized that the serpentine-marked Former Dynasty Great Emperor had engineered the theft to trap both Zhou Wang and the Crown Prince. Qin Yang warned Wedding Dress that the Crown Prince was likely finished and asked her to investigate female Dharma Manifestation Realm cultivators connected to General Huang.

• Zhou Wang suspected the Crown Prince had framed him for the theft, then ordered the Ministry of Works to search for the missing God-Killing Arrows and the traitor.
• The defecting Ministry of Works Cultivator hid in a brothel, sacrificed himself at an underground altar, and sent the storage ring containing at least fifty God-Killing Arrows away in a flash of Blood Light.
• At court, ministers panicked over the missing arrows, and the Heavenly Order Guard took over the investigation as the Wedding Dress matter was set aside.
• After recovering from his earlier mental fog, Qin Yang concluded that the serpentine-marked Former Dynasty Great Emperor had taken the arrows and intended to leave both the Crown Prince and Zhou Wang bearing the blame.
• Qin Yang invited Wedding Dress to his residence, predicted the Emperor Ying would depose the Crown Prince, and asked her to have Purple Phoenix compile a list of female Dharma Manifestation Realm cultivators who had crossed paths with General Huang.

Qin Yang tried to learn about the Black Hand by visiting Tian Family Old Ancestor, but their contest of patience ended without him asking his questions. Meanwhile, Zhang Zhengyi impersonated Qin Yang to meet Jiaqing, then returned battered and swollen after she saw through him and beat him.

• Jiaqing used imperial records to give Qin Yang a list of elderly female cultivators and records of the Great Ying imperial family's history.
• Qin Yang brought treasure soup to Tian Family Old Ancestor and listened as the old man praised his cooking, but he left without asking about the Black Hand.
• Tian Family Old Ancestor reconsidered his plans to secure Qin Yang's support for the Tian Clan and began contemplating a major decision.
• Zhang Zhengyi posed as Qin Yang when Jiaqing visited and asked her whether she had considered getting married.
• Qin Yang returned to find Zhang Zhengyi swollen from Jiaqing's beating, and Zhang Zhengyi kept quiet about what had happened.

Qin Yang narrowed the suspects connected to the imperial events to three, then killed Zhang Zhengyi to restore his body and transformation art after he had become a painful, shapeless ball. When Wen Yubo reported that the missing God-Killing Arrows remained unaccounted for and a key corpse had been found, Qin Yang arranged to obtain it; two days later, he received the corpse and a puzzling talisman from Bridal Robe.

• Qin Yang processed the imperial records and reduced the possible suspects to three, then checked on his slowly simmering precious soup.
• Qin Yang killed Zhang Zhengyi and carefully restored his body, allowing him to revive and recover from the condition that had crippled his transformation art.
• The Puppet Master sensed Zhang Zhengyi's death and revival and wondered why the divine ability seemed familiar, though he could not remember it.
• Wen Yubo told Qin Yang that the Heavenly Order Guard had found the dead defector but still could not locate the fifty missing God-Killing Arrows.
• Qin Yang asked Azure Luan to contact Bridal Robe and obtain the corpse; Bridal Robe sent Shen Xingluo to retrieve it and included a spirit talisman.
• Two days later, Qin Yang received the corpse and Bridal Robe's talisman, which he studied in confusion before examining the body.

Qin Yang studied the recovery talisman Qingluan had sent, then used Corpse Touching on the dismembered Heavenly Order Guard and obtained a resentful memory, an incomplete control art, and a remnant soul. He tried returning the remnant soul to the corpse to see whether it could animate the body, hoping to learn whether his skill had a flaw before he went home.

• Qingluan delivered Qin Yang a talisman, which he recognized as a powerful recovery item and stored away.
• Zhang Zhengyi peeked over the wall to inspect the gift, and Qin Yang scolded him for acting like a thief.
• Qin Yang reassembled and prepared the dismembered Heavenly Order Guard's corpse, then used Corpse Touching and saw a black shadow possess the guard and force him to kill before he died in an underground chamber.
• Qin Yang obtained a memory clouded by resentment, an incomplete Remnant Thought secret art, and a remnant soul formed from the guard's shattered divine soul and lingering resentment.
• Qin Yang placed the remnant soul onto the corpse, watched the mist seep in and out as the body changed slightly, and waited to see whether it could animate the corpse and reveal a flaw in his skill.