Chapter Summaries

Jiayi took charge of the Crown Prince’s funeral rites, while Qin Yang sounded out the Tian and Huang clans and helped lead the procession from Li Capital. As people vanished in a strange fog, Qin Yang exposed the white fox monster responsible and demanded to know who had sent it and why.

• The Emperor Ying assigned Jiayi to preside over the Crown Prince’s funeral, and she rekindled the eternal lamp beside his coffin as the still-living Crown Prince watched from within.
• Qin Yang persuaded Tian Family Old Ancestor to promise future help without confronting the former dynasty, then warned the Huang Clan that its time as a fence-sitter was limited.
• The Huang Clan Head declined to meet Qin Yang but later decided to visit Tian Family Old Ancestor privately, while Qin Yang joined the Ministry of Rites and helped organize the funeral procession.
• After the procession left Li Capital, a dense fog appeared each night and swallowed most of its members, leaving only about ten people carrying the coffin.
• Qin Yang revealed that the fog was a white fox monster and that the missing people were his clones, then threatened it with Ugly Chicken’s power until it agreed to answer his questions.

Qin Yang recruited the white fox that had obstructed the funeral procession, then continued escorting the Old Crown Prince toward Great Ying’s Dragon Vein Ancestral Court as the Former Dynasty’s forces began their attack. Jiayi’s group was trapped by the Myriad Image Heavenly Net, but Wedding Robe broke through and killed the masked woman before confronting Snake Mark Man.

• Qin Yang learned that Snake Mark Man had hired the white fox with Light Spirit Water, then offered it Heaven One True Water and protection in exchange for helping him and identifying its employer.
• The white fox accepted Qin Yang’s offer, took the unconscious procession members away, and agreed to continue cooperating with him.
• Qin Yang resumed the funeral procession with disguised incarnations carrying the Black Stone Coffin, while the Old Crown Prince reflected on Qin Yang’s kindness and they neared the Dragon Vein Ancestral Court.
• Snake Mark Man and the Void Scripture inheritor launched their plan: the Void Scripture inheritor attacked Wei Xingchao, who revealed that a subordinate had been disguised as him, while Former Dynasty cultivators clashed with the Heavenly Order Guard.
• Jiayi and her companions were trapped beneath the Myriad Image Heavenly Net by a masked Pu Luo Sect woman, who used Joyous Union Sect sorcery against them.
• Wedding Robe summoned the Flying Luan Token as a flaming sword, broke the net, and killed the masked woman despite being struck by Snake Mark Man’s hand; Snake Mark Man acknowledged her mastery of the Flying Luan Three Methods.

Qin Yang foiled the former dynasty’s attempts to ambush him and secretly tamper with the Crown Prince, whom he kept alive and away from the Dragon Vein Ancestral Court. As Jiayi defeated Cheng Zhi’s plan to delay her, she revealed that the Crown Prince had never been dead, leaving the former dynasty’s conspiracy exposed.

• Jiayi escaped the Snake Mark Man’s attack, then fought him inside his Little Seven Tribulations Array as Great Emperor Princess Ying Ying.
• Qin Yang disrupted an earth-qi array, turned its power against its hidden cultivators, and caught the God-Killing Arrow with one hand.
• The Puppet Master chased the archer while Qin Yang continued toward the Dragon Vein Ancestral Court, where the injured Xu Zhengqiang warned him of advancing rebels.
• Qin Yang recognized that Xu Zhengqiang was an impostor and killed him after a blood-colored snake entered the Crown Prince’s body from the coffin.
• The Crown Prince woke, and Qin Yang chose not to bring him into the Ancestral Court; Yan Hui then saw the snake gnawing at the Crown Prince’s fortune and realized the former dynasty meant to undermine Great Ying.
• Jiayi broke out of the array, told Cheng Zhi that the Crown Prince had never been dead, and flew away as his plan failed.

Cheng Zhi learned that the Old Crown Prince had survived, disrupting the Restoration Plan to infiltrate Great Ying through the Dragon Vein Ancestral Court. Qin Yang helped the Old Crown Prince leave, detoxified the bridal gown and her companions, and left Wei Xingchao confused about the Crown Prince’s disappearance.

• Cheng Zhi realized the Old Crown Prince’s survival had derailed the Restoration Plan, though he still hoped the blood snake could infiltrate Great Ying after the Crown Prince eventually died.
• The Puppet Master reported that the black-arrow attacker had killed himself, then disguised the Old Crown Prince so he could leave unnoticed.
• The Old Crown Prince asked Qin Yang to warn the bridal gown to support Zhao Wang over Zhou Wang if she had to choose, then departed using Escaping Smoke.
• The bridal gown arrived poisoned and injured, and Qin Yang used his Wood Grafting ability to detoxify her and then Blue Phoenix and Purple Phoenix.
• Wei Xingchao demanded to know where the Crown Prince had gone, but Qin Yang snapped back while Jia Yi and the others left, leaving Wei Xingchao without answers.

Qin Yang arranged for the white fox to deliver a letter to his sister-in-law at Mount Kui, then returned to Li Capital with the recovered Ministry of Rites officials. After the Emperor Ying beat Wei Xingchao for mishandling the investigation and appearing to target the Great Emperor Princess, Qin Yang explained the political danger and helped defuse the conflict; Wei Xingchao understood and sent him gifts in thanks.

• Qin Yang gave the white fox a letter for his sister-in-law at Mount Kui and sent it off to serve as her guide and companion.
• Qin Yang persuaded the Ministry of Rites officials to describe themselves as having helped him lure out the enemy, and they returned with him to Li Capital.
• Wedding Dress reported the Crown Prince’s apparent death and the Joyous Union Sect’s involvement to the Emperor Ying, while Wei Xingchao’s inquiries yielded little information.
• The Emperor Ying struck Wei Xingchao and ordered him to receive eighty strokes of the Court Rod after Wei Xingchao reported that he knew little and had offended the Great Emperor Princess.
• Qin Yang watched Wei Xingchao’s punishment, then explained that his questioning had looked like an attempt to undermine the Great Emperor Princess and had angered the Emperor Ying.
• Wei Xingchao recognized that Qin Yang had helped avert a worse political crisis and sent Xu Zhengqiang to deliver gifts and acknowledge the favor.

Qin Yang sheltered Zhang Zhengyi after he escaped into Desperate Estate, then learned Zhang had stolen the Yan Luo Clan head’s coffin. The coffin yielded a blue memory of precise bodily control, which Qin Yang began practicing as the Yan Luo Clan pursuers returned without realizing the coffin was missing.

• Xu Zhengqiang brought Qin Yang wine and gifts from Wei Xingchao, and Qin Yang told him about the events at the Dragon Vein Ancestral Court.
• Qin Yang stayed out of Li Capital’s succession turmoil and cultivated the White Jade Divine Gate at Desperate Estate.
• Zhang Zhengyi crossed Desperate Estate’s warning boundary, where the puppets dismembered him, while the Yan Luo Clan pursuers approached by flying vessel.
• Qin Yang let the Yan Luo Clan leader enter, returned Zhang Zhengyi’s storage ring, and sent the pursuers away without revealing the stolen coffin.
• Qin Yang reassembled Zhang Zhengyi, who admitted stealing the Yan Luo Clan head’s crystal coffin; Qin Yang recovered blue muscle memory from the corpse and began practicing minute control.
• The Yan Luo Clan leader discovered the coffin was absent from the returned storage ring and suspected another thief had taken it, while Qin Yang noticed pain near his Spirit Root.

Qin Yang used information from Golden Pig to investigate a Former Dynasty secret and prepare to act against the Joyous Union Sect. He spread rumors linking the sect to an attempted attack on Great Ying, leaving the Heavenly Order Guard struggling to contain the alarm across the sect’s network of marital ties.

• Zhang Zhengyi and Golden Pig traded boasts, but Golden Pig refused to join him in searching ruins and instead tattled to Qin Yang that Zhang wanted to abduct it.
• Golden Pig weakened its seals by placing a hind leg in Qin Yang’s Treasure Cauldron, while Qin Yang read its written intelligence and ordered it to keep recording what it knew.
• Qin Yang learned of a Thief Sect heir who had escaped the Great Ying prison and an ancient painting hidden by a former Profound Mirror Division official’s descendant.
• Qin Yang decided to pursue the ancient painting’s trail in the Eastern Sea while targeting the Joyous Union Sect in the Eastern Border, where Jiayi was also headed on her patrol.
• Qin Yang ordered his subordinates to spread rumors that a high-ranking Joyous Union Sect member had helped obstruct the Crown Prince’s funeral procession and had been executed.
• Xu Zhengqiang confronted Qin Yang about the rumors, and Qin Yang admitted spreading them to make the Joyous Union Sect investigate itself.

Qin Yang’s campaign against the Joyous Union Sect drew the brother-in-law alliance into an emergency meeting, where its leaders decided to seek a way to appease him and the Great Emperor Princess. When Longyang Jun visited Qin Yang with gifts, Qin Yang rejected a businesslike settlement and demanded that the alliance hand over everyone connected to the former dynasty, alive or dead.

• Qin Yang used low-grade resources to spread news about the Joyous Union Sect’s role in the attack, and the rumors spread too quickly for the sect to contain.
• The black-gowned Sect Master reprimanded Qingtian Jun and warned the alliance that the Emperor Ying might have staged the Crown Prince’s funeral procession as a trap.
• The white-robed man explained that Qin Yang had spread the news and urged the alliance to appease him; Longyang Jun volunteered to visit Qin Yang.
• Longyang Jun brought Qin Yang gifts and asked how the Joyous Union Sect could make amends, but Qin Yang said only the Great Emperor in Li Capital could decide the princess’s fate.
• Qin Yang told Longyang Jun that he had spread the news to give the alliance a chance to act and demanded that it hand over everyone connected to the former dynasty, alive or dead.

Qin Yang traveled to Zong Island to investigate the secret left by Zong Chenxi, the former number two of the Profound Mirror Division. He discovered that the Zong Family’s sea burials concealed a passage through the Blue Cave, and entered the hidden burial place.

• Qin Yang rejected Longyang Jun’s request for help and sent him away with the alliance’s gifts.
• Qin Yang learned that Jia Yi would patrol the realm for Emperor Ying and left Desperate Estate for the Eastern Sea.
• Qin Yang reached Zong Island and used Wen Yubo’s information to investigate Zong Chenxi’s secret at the Zong Family’s underwater ancestral grounds.
• Qin Yang followed the Blue Cave’s currents and watched an eyeless giant python swallow a coffin and offerings before carrying them through an underwater tunnel.
• Qin Yang followed the python to a hidden chamber, watched the coffin sink into a stone wall, and stepped through the wall himself.

Qin Yang entered the Zong Family’s hidden ancestral ground, defeated its awakened dead, and learned that the ancient painting lay within the Burial River. After traveling through the river, he emerged in a world transformed by sunrise and discovered he was in a place the tree demons called the Illusory Sea.

• Qin Yang entered the ancestral ground and found hundreds of powerful ominous beings rising from ancient bronze coffins.
• Qin Yang posed as a Profound Mirror Division agent, but Zong Chenxi saw through his story and ordered him to retrieve an item from the Yin River.
• Qin Yang summoned the Puppet Master and defeated the ominous beings, including Zong Chenxi, then learned from their Skill Books that the ancestral ground was inside an ancient painting and that the Burial River led onward.
• Qin Yang refined the Burial River into his water body and drifted downstream for seven days before emerging in a world filled with Yin Qi and deathly aura.
• The rising sun transformed the dead world into a verdant landscape, and Qin Yang met tree demons who argued over whether he was human or a monster.
• The tree demons identified their home as the Spirit Sea, then one recalled that humans called it the Illusory Sea.

Qin Yang crossed a series of dangerous illusions in the Illusory Sea and trapped Mountain Mirage into revealing itself, though he failed to learn how to leave. As day turned to night and the landscape transformed into a deathly world, Mountain Mirage panicked and begged to be sent back.

• Qin Yang avoided a forest of poisonous Illusory Beasts and crossed a rift through the ridge, where he was trapped in a sealed basin of dissolving black rain.
• Qin Yang used a ritual vessel to drain the black water, then taunted the hidden creature until it revealed its name was Mountain Mirage.
• Mountain Mirage opened a crack in the stone wall and tried to drive Qin Yang out with phoenix winds, but Qin Yang anchored himself with Ten Thousand Year Sand and demanded directions out of the Illusory Sea.
• At sunset, the landscape transformed into a world filled with Yin Qi and death qi, and Mountain Mirage cried out that it regretted trying to eat Qin Yang and begged him for help.

Qin Yang escaped Mountain Mirage’s illusion and explored Death World, where he discovered what appeared to be the Former Dynasty Great Emperor’s mausoleum. After a patrol army pursued him, he raced back to Mountain Mirage as sunrise approached.

• Qin Yang tried to leave Mountain Mirage, but Mountain Mirage trapped him with an illusion that made him believe stone walls were pushing him forward.
• Qin Yang knocked himself unconscious, breaking the illusion, and then headed south with the Puppet Master after waking.
• Qin Yang found the Great Yin Immortal Palace, suspected it was the Former Dynasty Great Emperor’s mausoleum, and decided not to approach it.
• A giant black-boned bird and a terracotta army attacked Qin Yang after a general declared that trespassers in the Emperor’s Mausoleum would die.
• Qin Yang fled with the Puppet Master and asked Mountain Mirage to open his mouth before sunrise, while the pursuing army closed in.

Qin Yang escaped the Death Army with Mountain Mirage and reached the edge of Illusory Sea’s Death Forbidden Land, where he began mapping the terrain and considering how to reach the Great Yin Immortal Palace. Illusory Sea’s elders discovered him and realized he must have entered through an unknown passage from the forbidden land.

• Mountain Mirage hid Qin Yang and the Puppet Master inside his body, then used a mountain and Foul White Mist to stop the pursuing Death Army until sunrise erased it.
• Mountain Mirage spat Qin Yang and the Puppet Master out, and Qin Yang fled the Foul White Mist before departing south after an angry exchange with Mountain Mirage.
• Qin Yang surveyed the Death Forbidden Land, concluded that the Great Yin Immortal Palace lay beyond the tomb-guarding army, and spent more than half a day drawing detailed maps.
• A huge eyeball reported Qin Yang’s presence to Second Elder and Third Elder, who viewed an illusion of him mapping the land.
• Illusory Sea Setsuna identified Qin Yang as the new Captain of the Netherworld Ship, and Second Elder concluded that he had entered through an unknown passage from the forbidden land.

Qin Yang negotiated with the Illusory Sea Clan, then helped its members explore the Death World while secretly mapping a route to the Great Yin Immortal Palace. When the clan elders turned against him, he used his prepared route through Burial River to infiltrate the palace as the Illusory Sea Setsuna and the Third Elder were trapped by the Death Army.

• The Second Elder sent Illusory Sea Setsuna to contact Qin Yang, who asked the clan to help him leave the Illusory Sea.
• Qin Yang explained his route between the Illusory Sea and Death World, and the Second Elder asked him to bring clan members there to investigate the forbidden land.
• For several days, Qin Yang guided Illusory Sea Setsuna and the Third Elder into the Death World while completing a detailed map of the Great Yin Immortal Palace and its surroundings.
• The elders and Illusory Sea Setsuna decided the clan's safety required them to explore the palace, despite knowing their actions would break their promise to Qin Yang.
• A bone bird destroyed the clan members' Safe Zone, and Qin Yang realized they had another route back through the palace and set out to infiltrate it.
• Qin Yang transformed into water and entered Burial River, triggering the terracotta army to awaken and leaving Illusory Sea Setsuna and the Third Elder exposed to the Death Army.

Qin Yang used the Burial River ghosts to break through the Great Yin Immortal Palace, defeated its zombie guardian, and escaped through a hidden painting that revealed Illusory Sea was a world created inside a painting. He returned to Death World, then used sunrise to reappear in Illusory Sea with Illusory Sea Setsuna, concealing his discovery and escape route.

• Illusory Sea Setsuna and the Third Elder fled the awakened Death Army toward the Immortal Palace while Qin Yang hid in the Burial River and recruited its ghosts by offering them release.
• Qin Yang drove a wave of ghosts into the palace, used Drought Demon essence blood to make the Old Eunuch lose control, and dragged him into the sea eye after the Puppet Master broke his fangs.
• Qin Yang escaped through a painted archway and emerged beneath Zong Island, where he found and refined a table bearing the Ten Thousand Miles of Mountains and Rivers Painting.
• Qin Yang realized Illusory Sea existed within the painter's work, sealed the Death World exit, and returned to wait for sunrise with a plan to conceal the Table Painting.
• Illusory Sea Setsuna returned alone with the dead Third Elder, and Qin Yang brought him through sunrise to Illusory Sea while pretending they had escaped together.
• Illusory Sea Setsuna told the Second Elder that a powerful ghost had led the Burial River into the Immortal Palace and that the Third Elder had died escorting him out.

Qin Yang escaped the Illusory Sea Clan, learned the Former Dynasty Great Emperor could potentially be revived, and freed ghosts trapped in the Burial River. Meanwhile, Second Elder and Illusory Sea Setsuna followed Qin Yang’s map into the Burial River and drifted into darkness after it vanished beneath them.

• Illusory Sea Setsuna persuaded Second Elder not to kill Qin Yang, and Qin Yang gave him a detailed map and promised to keep the Death World secret.
• Qin Yang returned to his formation, killed the old eunuch, and used Corpse Touching to learn that the Former Dynasty Great Emperor might revive if the Great Yin Divine Dynasty’s fortune returned.
• Qin Yang buried the old eunuch and freed helpful ghosts from the Burial River, allowing those who wished to die to destroy themselves with a God-Killing Arrow.
• Second Elder and Illusory Sea Setsuna found the Blue Cave and entered the Zong Family’s ancestral land by following Qin Yang’s map.
• Second Elder and Illusory Sea Setsuna rode a piece of divine wood along the Burial River, unaware that the river had vanished beneath them and left them adrift in darkness.

Qin Yang cleared the ghosts from the Burial River and briefly awakened the Black Jade Divine Gate, but failed to open it before the ghosts vanished inside. He then returned to Five Elements Mountain, where Shan Qian tested his cultivation and asked about unrest and politics in Li Capital.

• Qin Yang and his allies helped the Burial River ghosts leave, while the Demon Head guarded the freed ghosts gathered in the sea eye.
• The Black Jade Divine Gate opened a crack after absorbing the influence of millions of ghosts, and Qin Yang tried to force it wider with his strength.
• The Black Shadow stopped Qin Yang from pushing himself further, and the gate closed after the ghosts entered it; the Black Shadow explained its connection to the Ancient Underworld.
• Qin Yang stored the Table Painting, beat the unharmed Puppet Master, and traveled toward Five Elements Mountain to check on Wedding Robes's patrol.
• Shan Qian tested Qin Yang's body tempering, criticized Ge Lou for neglecting his divine soul cultivation, and agreed to give Wedding Robes face.
• Qin Yang told Shan Qian that the former dynasty would not restore its country or restart a war, and Shan Qian asked which prince Qin Yang supported before withdrawing the question.

Qin Yang decided to use Jiayi’s inspection tour to confront the Joyous Union Sect over the attack on her and Ji Tianxing, while keeping Five Elements Mountain’s support informal. Shan Qian sent Chang Qiuyu to prepare, and Qin Yang set out with Jiayi and the Puppet Master for a supposedly friendly negotiation.

• Qin Yang discussed Ji Tianxing’s training and his encounter with a demoness from the Joyous Union Sect with Shan Qian.
• Qin Yang told Shan Qian he planned to visit the Joyous Union Sect in support of Jiayi, and Shan Qian declined to formally join him while hinting that Five Elements Mountain had already struck a demonic stronghold.
• After Qin Yang left, Shan Qian ordered Chang Qiuyu to handle the matter, and Chang Qiuyu sent people to watch the inspection party.
• Qin Yang told Jiayi that they would stop at the Joyous Union Sect and asked her to make the Eastern Border garrison appear to be gathering without actually mobilizing it.
• Qin Yang departed with Jiayi and woke the Puppet Master, ordering him to get to work.

Qin Yang went to the Joyous Union Sect to keep it and its alliance of in-laws from being drawn into the conflict between Great Ying and the former dynasty. After destroying the sect’s Peach Blossom Road by accident, he offered its leaders a way to avoid choosing sides, and they began considering his proposal.

• Qin Yang and the Puppet Master traveled to Bo Rang Province, where Qin Yang decided to disrupt the struggle over the Joyous Union Sect and its alliance of in-laws.
• Qin Yang ordered the Puppet Master to encircle the sect, then the Puppet Master accidentally detonated a self-destruct puppet in the Peach Blossom Road and burned the forest.
• Qin Yang waited at the mountain gate and told Longyang Jun he wanted to speak with someone able to make decisions for the sect and its alliance.
• The Joyous Union Sect Master invited Qin Yang inside after hearing his request, and Qin Yang warned that the sect risked destruction whichever side it chose.
• Qin Yang offered to let the sect blame its surrender of former-dynasty supporters on Great Ying’s pressure, giving it a chance to avoid committing to either side.
• After Qin Yang left, the Joyous Union Sect Master and a man in white agreed that his proposal offered a chance to escape their predicament, and the man revealed his killing intent.

Qin Yang waited outside the Joyous Union Sect while its leaders debated whether to protect Qingtian Jun and her former-dynasty allies. The sect abandoned Qingtian Jun, who died during the meeting, and Qin Yang left with the corpses after warning the sect master against further scheming.

• Qin Yang waited outside the sealed Joyous Union Sect, and Han Anming arrived to find out what was happening; Qin Yang kept him drinking until he passed out.
• At the sect assembly, a son-in-law revealed that his faction had severed ties with the sect, weakening support for the hardliners who wanted to uphold their rules.
• The sect voted overwhelmingly to abandon Qingtian Jun and those who had sided with the former dynasty, while the sect master arranged for their followers to be killed.
• Qingtian Jun threatened the sect and began to raise her power, but the old auntie killed her with an emeici before she could self-destruct.
• The sharp-faced sect master brought Qingtian Jun's corpse to Qin Yang, who collected the bodies and left with Han Anming.
• Peach trees sprang up across the scorched land, reminding the sect master that Qin Yang had kept his promise to compensate the Joyous Union Sect with a peach grove.