Recaps

Chen Sanshi learned about the Mystic Elephant Realm, hunted powerful beasts in the Luotian Mountain Range, and forged an enhanced bow and arrows. His archery then reached a breakthrough that made every shot within three hundred paces impossible to dodge.

• Emperor Longqing granted Chen Sanshi the First Rank Grand Pillar of the State title and planned to send him east with Black Armored Army soldiers, while he bestowed the title Crouching Dragon on Xu Wencai.
• Rong Yanqiu explained the Mystic Elephant Realm and demonstrated Gang Qi, prompting Chen Sanshi to test how his True Dragon Force could overcome it.
• Chen Sanshi hunted through the Luotian Mountain Range, collected Ghost Vein Wood and Intermittent Grass, and withdrew after encountering a powerful Black Bear strange beast.
• Chen Sanshi learned weapon forging from Old Pang and made twelve arrows capable of storing force, along with a bowstring from Fierce Beast sinew.
• Chen Sanshi tested his upgraded Iron-Tire Bow, whose arrows shattered a boulder, then trained until his Archery skill reached Perfect and automatically locked onto targets within three hundred paces.

Xu Wencai received a third-rank appointment and the title of Mr. Sleeping Dragon, then secretly assured Chen Sanshi that their public falling-out was a ruse. Chen Sanshi broke through to Meridian Opening and was ordered east with an elite force; the chapter ended as he killed a pursuing Taoist with a single arrow.

• Xu Wencai received an Imperial Decree naming him Vice Commissioner Commander of the Youzhou Commanderies, granting him the title of Mr. Sleeping Dragon, and ordering him to leave within ten days.
• Xu Wencai's former comrades resented his apparent decision to distance himself from them, while he privately sent Chen Sanshi a letter explaining that the break was staged so he could gain military authority.
• Chen Sanshi broke through to Meridian Opening, refined medicine with greatly reduced toxins, and promised to help his men advance their cultivation.
• Chen Sanshi learned of Xu Wencai's appointment and burned the letter after discovering its promises to secure him twenty thousand troops.
• Lu Ji told Chen Sanshi to select twenty attendants and depart for Laizhou to lead three thousand Black Armored Army soldiers in the eastern expedition against Qing.
• Chen Sanshi rode out to confront two Taoists following him and killed one with a Force-infused arrow from two hundred paces away.

Chen Sanshi left Liangzhou for the Eastern Territory, where he exposed the Incense God Cult’s role in coercive sacrifices and burned a Dragon King Temple. The chapter ended with him spotting Yunxiaozi and another cultist meeting Cao Fan aboard the ship, raising questions about the cult’s ties to powerful backers.

• Chen Sanshi killed two Witch God Cultists who attacked him, discovered a Disguise Technique booklet, and prepared to leave Liangzhou with his family’s safety entrusted to Rong Yanqiu.
• Chen Sanshi gathered his chosen soldiers and joined the southbound voyage to the Eastern Territory, while Wen Zhi and Shao Yujing suspected that Sun Xiangzong knew about the Witch God Cult’s activity in Liangzhou.
• After more than a month on the Tongtian River, Chen Sanshi learned that local people were being forced to sacrifice their children and found an Incense God Cult burner inside the Dragon King Temple.
• Disguised as Scabby Head, Chen Sanshi absorbed the temple’s incense, killed its cultists, and set the Dragon King Temple on fire, halting the ongoing sacrifice.
• Yunxiaozi and Lingxuzi identified Scabby Head as the arsonist and boarded the ship carrying Cao Fan, Pei Tiannan, and Chen Sanshi.
• Chen Sanshi recognized Yunxiaozi and another Incense God Cultist entering Cao Fan’s cabin and wondered whether the cult had ties to the emperor or another powerful patron.

Chen Sanshi arrived at the Laizhou front and persuaded Meng Quji to let him try winning over Qing’s defenders by releasing surrendered soldiers and ending city massacres. Granted command over the forces outside Yongle Prefecture, he set off with the Black Armored Army to secure Zhaotong Prefecture’s surrender.

• Chen Sanshi and Fang Qingyun assessed the siege of Yongle Prefecture, and Chen Sanshi trained three thousand Black Armored Army soldiers in formations from the Heavenly Book.
• At Meng Quji’s war council, Chen Sanshi proposed releasing twenty thousand surrendered soldiers through Ghost Gate Canyon and stopping city massacres to weaken resistance among Qing’s defenders.
• Fang Qingyun backed Chen Sanshi’s plan, and Meng Quji granted him temporary command over all forces outside Yongle Prefecture, with orders to win Zhaotong Prefecture’s surrender within two months.
• King Li Gong dismissed the threat posed by Chen Sanshi’s arrival and told the defenders of Qing’s other cities to hold their positions.
• Cui Congyi and Sha Wenlong learned that Chen Sanshi had authority over their forces and ordered them to stop attacking Zhaotong Prefecture.
• Chen Sanshi departed with three thousand Black Armored Army soldiers to persuade Deng Feng, Zhaotong Prefecture’s defending general, to surrender.

Chen Sanshi began a five-part plan to make Laizhou’s cities surrender through the force of momentum, releasing captured soldiers and using both pressure and reassurance while the defenders awaited reinforcements. He seized Meizi County’s attention by offering grain and safe surrender, and the chapter ended with its people demanding to see him.

• Chen Sanshi rejected Xia Cong’s proposal to take Songlin Prefecture first and explained that he needed to win time by creating a general trend of surrender across Laizhou.
• Chen Sanshi ordered besieging forces to leave routes open for scouts, then directed Zhu Qi to release surrendered soldiers along public roads and retain two thousand loud-voiced men.
• Cui Congyi and Sha Wenlong obeyed Chen Sanshi’s order to ease the siege of Zhaotong Prefecture, while Deng Feng urged the city’s defenders and civilians to keep resisting and dismissed reports that surrendered soldiers were being released.
• Li Gong learned that Qing reinforcements and Southern Xu troops were approaching, and he ordered Deng Feng to hold Zhaotong Prefecture while reviewing Chen Sanshi’s background.
• Chen Sanshi chose to take Meizi County rather than Xinghua Prefecture, and his troops arrived after Du Baizong had taken the county’s remaining grain.
• Chen Sanshi’s army urged Meizi County to surrender and promised to protect its civilians and distribute grain, prompting Wang Feng and the people on the walls to demand that Chen Sanshi appear.

Chen Sanshi used Meizi County to build support for Great Sheng, then led the Black Armored Army south as city after city surrendered without a fight. By the end, twenty-six Laizhou prefectures had submitted, more than fifty thousand enemy soldiers had been captured, and Meng Quji’s camp learned that Chen’s campaign was approaching Zhaotong Prefecture.

• Chen Sanshi persuaded Meizi County to surrender, distributed grain, spared the defenders, and sent County Magistrate Li to persuade neighboring officials.
• Chen Sanshi ordered the army to rest in Meizi County for ten days and used the time to cultivate, opening and widening all twelve main meridians.
• Meng Quji and his officers debated Chen Sanshi’s strategy as they learned that Daqing and Southern Xu forces threatened to arrive at Green Ridge Mountain.
• After the ten-day rest, Chen Sanshi marched south, and the counties and prefectures along his route opened their gates or fell into internal disorder and surrendered.
• Meng Quji’s camp received reports that twenty-six prefectures had surrendered and more than fifty thousand enemy troops had been captured as Chen Sanshi neared Zhaotong Prefecture.

Chen Sanshi’s campaign to seize Laizhou reached its final test at Zhaotong Prefecture, where Deng Feng refused to surrender despite the collapse of the surrounding cities. As Qing reinforcements approached, Chen revealed his fifth step: having surrendered soldiers sing Qing songs from all four sides of the city, though the result remained unknown.

• Fang Qingyun concluded that Chen Sanshi had forged his own military path, which he named Momentum, while Chen’s army advanced through Laizhou as twenty-seven prefectures surrendered.
• Chen Sanshi explained how surrender spread through divided garrisons and popular support, then targeted Zhaotong Prefecture and considered the growing mystic energy in his Mystic Pearl.
• Deng Feng rallied Zhaotong’s soldiers and civilians to resist, while Chen Sanshi intimidated Sha Wenlong in the military camp and ordered him to urge the city to surrender.
• Chen Sanshi bypassed Zhaotong and spread the impression that the other eight holdout prefectures had surrendered, while sending two thousand surrendered soldiers back to surround the city.
• As Qing reinforcements neared, Chen Sanshi ordered his forces to prepare siege weapons but forbade an attack, then revealed that the two thousand surrendered soldiers would sing Qing songs around Zhaotong at dawn.

Chen Sanshi used surrendered Qing soldiers’ songs and the truth about Zhaotong’s empty granaries and nonexistent reinforcements to undermine Deng Feng’s defense. Zhaotong Prefecture surrendered at dawn, and Deng Feng was captured after trying to kill himself.

• Deng Feng reassured Zhaotong’s soldiers and civilians that reinforcements would arrive, though Song Hongbiao knew the promise was false and the city’s provisions were nearly gone.
• Chen Sanshi had Qing prisoners sing songs of homesickness through the night, stirring the people inside Zhaotong and revealing how many Qing soldiers had surrendered.
• Chen Sanshi confronted Deng Feng at the walls, exposed the shortages and isolation of Zhaotong, and warned that the Great Sheng army would attack after dawn.
• When no reinforcements appeared at dawn, Zhaotong’s soldiers and civilians rebelled against Deng Feng’s orders, opened the gates, and surrendered to Chen Sanshi.
• Deng Feng tried to take his own life, but Chen Sanshi ordered Sha Wenlong and Cui Congyi to restrain him and have him taken into custody.

Chen Sanshi exposed the Crown Prince's plan to stage a rebellion at Ziwei Mountain and slaughtered the Incense God Cult followers at Zhaotong's Guanyin Temple. After Emperor Longqing ordered the army to risk holding Hulao Pass, Chen Sanshi tried to persuade the captured Deng Feng to join him by challenging his loyalty to Qing, leaving Deng stunned by Chen Sanshi's claim that he had never professed loyalty to Great Sheng.

• Chen Sanshi arranged the troops after Zhaotong Prefecture surrendered, while Cao Fan returned to Meng Quji and reported Deng Feng's capture.
• Meng Quji and Fang Qingyun debated whether to defend Hulao Pass, and the Crown Prince and Emperor Longqing decided to risk holding it to recover the three provinces.
• Chen Sanshi entered the Guanyin Temple for Bestowing Children, killed eight Incense God Cult followers, and learned from Yunxiaozi and Lingxuzi that the cult served the Crown Prince and planned a meeting near Ziwei Mountain.
• Chen Sanshi absorbed the incense offerings Yunxiaozi gave him, then cultivated the Sword Qi Technique before confronting Deng Feng about surrendering.
• Chen Sanshi argued that Deng Feng's service to Qing conflicted with his vow to bring peace to the people, and Deng Feng countered by condemning Great Sheng for Ten Days in Yunzhou.
• Chen Sanshi asked Deng Feng whether he had ever claimed to be loyal to Great Sheng, leaving Deng Feng shocked and asking what he meant.

Chen Sanshi won Deng Feng over to his cause and led three thousand Black Armored Army soldiers toward Hulao Pass to face Southern Xu’s hundred-thousand-strong army. As Southern Xu’s commanders debated the battle and ordered their advance, the Crown Prince uncovered the human cost of his secret path and ordered tax relief for the people.

• Chen Sanshi challenged Deng Feng’s loyalty to the Qing royal family and gave him seven days to decide whether to join him in sweeping away the realm’s corruption.
• Chen Sanshi prepared to defend Hulao Pass, received orders to hold it for one hundred days with three thousand soldiers, and arranged for Sha Wenlong and Fang Qingyun to accompany him.
• Deng Feng chose to help Chen Sanshi without pledging loyalty to Great Sheng, and Chen Sanshi’s forces set out for Hulao Pass with him.
• The Crown Prince learned that the Evil God Path required human sacrifices, ordered an investigation into illicit taxes, and decreed five years of tax exemption in places affected by sacrifices.
• Li Gong learned that only three thousand Sheng soldiers would defend Hulao Pass and urged Fan Shuzhen to attack quickly.
• Fan Shuzhen, You Jingzhi, and Ran Jingxuan discussed the campaign and ordered the Great Xu army to advance toward Hulao Pass while Peng Yunheng searched Ziwei Mountain.

Chen Sanshi rode alone to the Southern Xu vanguard and used his white horse and force-storing bow to kill hundreds of cavalry, including Lang Jiping, while escaping every attempt to catch him. His attack shattered the vanguard’s morale, and Ran Jingxuan ordered the troops reorganized before they tried to take Hulao Pass.

• Chen Sanshi took command of Hulao Pass, learned that it had fewer than three hundred defenders and scant provisions, and sent Zhao Kang to scout the approaching Southern Xu army.
• Li Gong learned that Southern Xu had seized parts of Lingzhou and ordered Fan Shuzhen to take Hulao Pass, while discussing Ziwei Mountain, Gu Xinlan, and Deng Feng.
• After learning that more than one hundred thousand Southern Xu troops were gathering, Chen Sanshi rejected a defensive strategy and rode alone to challenge their vanguard.
• Lang Jiping led five hundred cavalry to surround Chen Sanshi, but Chen escaped on Qianxun and killed Lang Jiping and most of the pursuing riders with his bow and spear.
• Chen Sanshi attacked Fan Jiaxiao’s reinforcements, killed more cavalry, and retreated after frightening the vanguard into taking shelter behind shields.
• Ran Jingxuan recognized the damage to Southern Xu’s morale, ordered Peng Yunheng to join the vanguard, and delayed an assault while the army rested and reorganized.

Chen Sanshi and Fang Qingyun lured Fan Jiaxiao’s Southern Xu vanguard into an ambush, using a storm and a deceptive show of numbers to surround them. As the enemy began to break out, Chen Sanshi invoked the mysterious pearl and ordered the Eighteen Underworld Soldiers Rolling Thunder Formation.

• Chen Sanshi returned to Hulao Pass after hunting Southern Xu patrols, then ordered preparations for a strike and continued killing enemy scouts around their camp.
• Chen Sanshi broke through to Minor Accomplishment in the Meridian Opening Realm, while Fang Qingyun arranged an attack using twenty disguised riders and a staged force of thirty thousand.
• Fan Jiaxiao led more than ten thousand Southern Xu troops after Chen Sanshi’s riders into Silver Pine Gorge, where Fang Qingyun’s troops ambushed them amid a torrential storm.
• Fan Jiaxiao’s forces found themselves surrounded by apparent enemy troops, and Deng Feng revealed overwhelming strength while Sha Wenlong engaged the vanguard.
• Fang Qingyun called off further pursuit once their objective was achieved, but Chen Sanshi chose to continue and activated the mysterious pearl before ordering the Eighteen Underworld Soldiers Rolling Thunder Formation.

Chen Sanshi used the Heavenly Book Array and lightning to rout Southern Xu’s vanguard, capture Fan Jiaxiao, and raise Sheng’s morale. As Southern Xu’s hundred-thousand-strong army gathered against Hulao Pass, Chen and Deng Feng rode out to confront Peng Yunheng and lure the enemy into a larger trap.

• Chen Sanshi’s formation and two lightning strikes broke the ten-thousand-strong Southern Xu vanguard; Deng Feng slaughtered fleeing soldiers, and Chen captured Fan Jiaxiao while Qianxun subdued his Green Horse.
• Chen Sanshi ordered the surviving Southern Xu soldiers to escape with their story of heavenly thunder, then gave the Green Horse to Deng Feng and led the army back toward Hulao Pass.
• Fan Shuzhen and Ran Jingxuan weighed reports of the defeat and prepared their hundred-and-ten-thousand-strong army to attack Hulao Pass, while Meng Quji continued harassing Li Gong at Yongle Prefecture.
• Chen Sanshi reached Great Accomplishment in Troop Command and ordered the garrison to drill the Heavenly Book Array as Peng Yunheng challenged Hulao Pass with two hundred cavalrymen.
• Chen Sanshi and Deng Feng rode out to pursue Peng Yunheng; Deng revealed himself as an ally, and Peng’s signal summoned Southern Xu’s generals and troops to surround them.
• Chen Sanshi and Deng Feng fought toward the Southern Xu camp as Chen shot down Peng’s cavalry, beginning his plan to frighten the enemy’s hundred thousand troops into defeat.

Chen Sanshi and Deng Feng killed Peng Yunheng and nearly a thousand Southern Xu soldiers, weakening the hundred-thousand-man army before it advanced on Hulao Pass. Chen Sanshi arranged negotiations that drew Fang Qingyun, Deng Feng, Sha Wenlong, and Wang into the enemy camp, then ordered the three-thousand-man garrison to prepare for a decisive battle.

• Deng Feng defeated and killed Peng Yunheng while Chen Sanshi slaughtered the cavalry, and the two riders routed Southern Xu's vanguard before escaping.
• Fan Shuzhen and Ran Jingxuan concluded that Hulao Pass held roughly fifteen thousand troops and decided to wait for its provisions to run low before attacking.
• Chen Sanshi proposed trading Lan Province and Mo Province for two months of peace and the return of Fan Jiaxiao, then arranged for Fang Qingyun, Deng Feng, Sha Wenlong, and Wang to negotiate in the enemy camp.
• Ran Jingxuan accepted the negotiators but ordered a trap prepared around the Main Military Tent in case talks failed.
• The four men entered Southern Xu's hundred-thousand-man camp, and Chen Sanshi ordered Xia Cong to prepare the Hulao Pass garrison for a decisive battle at dawn.

Chen Sanshi led three thousand Black Armored Army soldiers out of Hulao Pass and used the Nine Heavens Heavenly Soldier Formation to conceal their charge against Southern Xu’s hundred-thousand-man army. While the Sheng generals stalled Fan Shuzhen in negotiations, the attack threw Southern Xu’s vanguard into panic, and Fan Shuzhen turned on the negotiators when he realized he had been deceived.

• Chen Sanshi prepared Hulao Pass’s three thousand soldiers for a decisive battle, while Meng Quji learned of the plan too late to stop him.
• Fan Shuzhen and Ran Jingxuan demanded further concessions from Fang Qingyun during overnight peace negotiations, unaware that Chen Sanshi was preparing to attack.
• Chen Sanshi formed the Nine Heavens Heavenly Soldier Formation, drawing the vast fog around his army and leading the concealed soldiers toward Southern Xu’s camp.
• Chen Sanshi’s army burst from the fog and routed Southern Xu’s unprepared vanguard, as the soldiers mistook the black-armored troops for heavenly soldiers.
• A deputy general warned Fan Shuzhen that Sheng had attacked; Fan Shuzhen accused Fang Qingyun of deception and ordered his men to attack the negotiators.

Chen Sanshi led three thousand Black Armored soldiers to rout Southern Xu’s hundred-thousand-strong army at Hulao Pass, killing You Jingzhi and capturing Fan Shuzhen and Fan Jiaxiao. After exposing and killing Sha Wenlong, Chen returned to Laizhou as Meng Quji learned that Southern Xu had been defeated and the road to Yongle Prefecture was open.

• Fang Qingyun played his jade flute to repel You Jingzhi and help Wang Zhi escape while the battlefield descended into chaos.
• Chen Sanshi’s Black Armored Army used the Heavenly Book Array and blood mist to break Southern Xu’s formations and rout its army.
• Chen Sanshi killed You Jingzhi with the Sword Qi Technique, then joined his senior brothers to defeat Fan Shuzhen, Ran Jingxuan, and Sha Wenlong’s forces.
• Ran Jingxuan admitted Southern Xu had lost to only three thousand soldiers, and Deng Feng killed him; Fan Shuzhen and Fan Jiaxiao surrendered and agreed to gather their remaining troops for Great Sheng.
• Chen Sanshi intercepted Sha Wenlong’s secret message, exposed his accusations, and killed him with the purple sword.
• Chen Sanshi led the army back to Laizhou and toward Yongle Prefecture, while Zhan Tai Ming told Meng Quji that Chen had defeated Southern Xu’s hundred thousand soldiers.

Chen Sanshi helped secure the recovery of the Three Prefectures, then learned that Ziwei Mountain might conceal the Grand Ancestor's legacy treasure and a path to the immortal realm. As the Emperor prepared to travel there for the Fengshan ceremony, the Twelfth Prince Cao Zhi arrived at Chen Sanshi's residence with the Brocade Guard.

• Meng Quji and Zhan Tai Ming learned that Chen Sanshi's three thousand troops had defeated the hundred-thousand-strong southern Xu army at Hulao Pass, and Meng Quji ordered Yongle Prefecture surrounded.
• Chen Sanshi's forces helped capture Yongle Prefecture, while Li Gong fled with a small group before they were surrounded in the mountains; the Qing Kingdom later sought peace and returned the Three Prefectures.
• Chen Sanshi rested in Taihu Prefecture, trained, provided porridge for starving residents, and prepared to secure Ziwei Mountain for the Fengshan ceremony.
• Liao Shizhong of Immortal Seeking Tower told Chen Sanshi that the Emperor and Crown Prince sought a hidden treasure left by the Grand Ancestor, possibly on Ziwei Mountain, and asked him to watch for it.
• Emperor Longqing ordered preparations for the Fengshan ceremony and announced that he would travel southeast to Ziwei Mountain.
• Cao Zhi, the Twelfth Prince and commander of the Brocade Guard, visited Chen Sanshi and greeted him with deference; Chen Sanshi sensed that Cao Zhi possessed spiritual energy.

Chen Sanshi discovered a sealed chamber beneath Ziwei Mountain and learned from Fang Qingyun that it might hold Cao Xie's relics, then sought Cao Fan's help to open it. Cao Fan asked the disguised Chen Sanshi to kill Chen Sanshi, and he accepted while taking Cao Fan's jade pendant as collateral.

• Cao Zhi visited Chen Sanshi, forced a sworn-brotherhood pact, and warned him that the Fourth and Eighth Princes planned to move against the Crown Prince at the Fengshan ceremony.
• Chen Sanshi disguised himself and approached the Incense God Cult, demanding medicine for an injured friend as the price of negotiating with them.
• The Mysterious Pearl led Chen Sanshi through an underwater cavern to a sealed stone door on Ziwei Mountain, but its red restriction resisted his attacks.
• Chen Sanshi told Fang Qingyun about the chamber, and Fang Qingyun explained that Cao Xie's relics might lead to the immortal realm and urged caution around Immortal Seeking Tower.
• Cao Fan and Yan Maoxing's allies tried to draw Chen Sanshi into their court schemes, while Chen Sanshi avoided promising support to either side.
• Disguised as Great Hero Zhang, Chen Sanshi accepted Cao Fan's medicine and incense power, then agreed to kill Chen Sanshi in exchange for a share of Cao Xie's relics and took Cao Fan's jade pendant as collateral.

Chen Sanshi explored the secret chamber beneath Ziwei Mountain with Eunuch Lao, but Cao Xie’s animated statues drove them away before they could claim its treasures. At court, Emperor Longqing praised Chen Sanshi before assassins attacked the imperial party, and the revealed attacker was Li Gong, King Tang of Qing Kingdom.

• Chen Sanshi tested the jade pendant Cao Fan had given him and discovered it could absorb and unleash flames, then cultivated his Sword Qi Technique.
• Chen Sanshi and Eunuch Lao entered the chamber beneath the deep pool and read the statues’ account of Cao Xie’s life before Chen Sanshi decapitated the emperor’s wooden likeness.
• The Dragon Abyss Sword activated the statues, which attacked Chen Sanshi and Eunuch Lao; the two escaped after Eunuch Lao shut the stone door.
• Chen Sanshi gave Wang Zhi medicine that might restore his ability to practice martial arts, then attended the imperial court gathering on Ziwei Mountain.
• Emperor Longqing praised Chen Sanshi while descending the mountain and told him that his master was dying and might need help.
• Four assassins attacked Emperor Longqing’s party; Chen Sanshi feigned injury while Huang Hong and others fought them, and the masked Martial Saint was revealed as Li Gong, King Tang of Qing Kingdom.

After an assassination attempt and a border rebellion shook Ziwei Mountain, Emperor Longqing stripped the Crown Prince of responsibility for overseeing the state and ordered Chen Sanshi to lead the mountain's defense. That night, Chen discovered the Crown Prince's followers were preparing a coup, and learned that Lü Ji and Meng Quji had joined them.

• Li Gong led masked assassins in an attack that killed the Seventh Prince and several officials before escaping, while Chen Sanshi shielded Emperor Longqing and was wounded.
• At court, ministers accused one another of treason, and Emperor Longqing suspended the Crown Prince from overseeing the state without directly convicting him.
• A report announced that Zhan Tai Ming had rebelled with Qing Kingdom forces, so Emperor Longqing ordered Fan Tianfa to suppress the uprising and assigned Chen Sanshi to defend Ziwei Mountain.
• Chen Sanshi transformed into Zhang Laizi and went to a secret meeting, where Crown Prince supporters revealed plans to act before the Fengshan ceremony.
• Lü Ji and Meng Quji arrived at the meeting as allies, and the conspirators gathered to discuss their planned coup.

Chen Sanshi prepared for a planned uprising on Ziwei Mountain, achieved Great Accomplishment in the Meridian Opening Realm, and uncovered Cao Zhi’s connection to Immortal Seeking Tower. As the Crown Prince’s brothers moved against him, Prince Qin and Prince Qi entered his bedchamber and forced medicine on him.

• The Black-robed Monk finalized the uprising’s assignments, while Lu Ji insisted that the conspirators spare Chen Sanshi and lure him away instead.
• Chen Sanshi trained during the seven days before the revolt, opened the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, and gained the True Dragon Force trait at Great Accomplishment in the Meridian Opening Realm.
• Emperor Longqing summoned Chen Sanshi, questioned his loyalty, reflected on his reign, and offered him a reward for his military service.
• Eunuch Lao invited Chen Sanshi to help retrieve the Grand Ancestor’s relic, and Chen Sanshi discovered that Cao Zhi was listening nearby and working with Immortal Seeking Tower.
• Chen Sanshi mastered the Sword Qi Technique’s Ten Thousand Swords Descend spell, while Prince Qin and Prince Qi decided to kill the Crown Prince before the uprising began.
• Prince Qin and Prince Qi entered the Crown Prince’s bedchamber with Imperial physicians, subdued his eunuch, and ordered the physicians to force medicine on the Crown Prince.

Chen Sanshi infiltrated the palace amid a rebellion, then joined Cao Fan and Eunuch Lao in retrieving the Grand Ancestor's relics. After the Immortal Seeking Tower turned on them, Chen Sanshi used the jade pendant's strange fire to drive them off, took the relics, and vanished as the rebels surrounded the Old Emperor, who calmly addressed them.

• Chen Sanshi disguised himself as Scabby Head and entered the palace while Pan Cheng's conspirators killed Zhu Jianliang and the Zhendong Army attacked the Imperial Guard.
• Meng Quji led the rebellion against the Imperial Guard, and Yan Maoxing confronted him before Jiang Yuanbo and Meng Quji began fighting.
• Chen Sanshi persuaded Cao Fan to retrieve the Grand Ancestor's relics with him and Eunuch Lao, and Cao Fan's blood disabled the wooden statues guarding the treasure.
• Cao Fan and Eunuch Lao failed to draw the Dragon Abyss Sword, while Chen Sanshi realized the sword was connected to someone else and hurried everyone out of the secret chamber.
• The Immortal Seeking Tower tried to seize the relics, but Chen Sanshi unleashed the jade pendant's strange fire, killing several attackers before taking the box's contents and slipping away.
• The rebels gathered outside the Old Emperor's bedchamber, and Emperor Longqing opened his eyes and asked what important matter had brought his ministers there.

Emperor Longqing resisted a forced abdication in the bedchamber, while his guards fought the conspirators and Chen Sanshi entered the palace amid the rebellion. The Crown Prince revealed himself as the Incense God Cult's leader, fused with a shrine through the Evil God Path, and demanded that his father die after Longqing refused to abdicate.

• The Black-robed Monk and his allies demanded Emperor Longqing abdicate for the Crown Prince, but Longqing challenged their motives and rejected their accusations about his rule.
• The Black-robed Monk listed seven alleged crimes, including the planting of spirit grain and the Ten Days in Yunzhou, before the conspirators demanded Longqing's abdication by force.
• Huang Hong, Changsun Xusheng, Lu Ji, and the twelve masked deathsworn fought the conspirators, while Longqing used the Imperial Jade Seal of Stabilizing the Realm to turn the battle in his side's favor.
• Chen Sanshi arrived with the Black Armored Army, detained Yan Maoxing and Gao Bo, and then secretly watched the bedchamber fight; Yan Liang persuaded Meng Quji to question the rebels' motives.
• After the Black-robed Monk was defeated, the Crown Prince appeared and again demanded that Longqing abdicate, then used the Evil God Path to fuse with the shrine and declared that he would have his father die.

Chen Sanshi helped Emperor Longqing defeat the palace coup, then disguised himself as Zhang Laizi to eliminate Cao Fan and the fleeing Crown Prince's allies. The rebellion collapsed, Meng Quji agreed to join Deng Feng in following Chen Sanshi, and Chen Sanshi ended the chapter with a Parchment Scroll in his possession.

• Meng Quji confronted Gao Bo over the deaths of the border soldiers in Yunzhou, then rushed toward the Ziwei Palace after declaring he would side with neither faction.
• The Crown Prince attacked Emperor Longqing with Incense Divine Power, but Emperor Longqing fought back, and the Dragon Abyss Sword emerged from the mountain and subdued the Crown Prince.
• Chen Sanshi fought the Fragrant Incense Master, killed him, and escorted the injured Emperor Longqing to safety as the Black Armored Army entered the palace.
• Deng Feng persuaded Meng Quji to abandon his suicidal charge and join Chen Sanshi's cause, while the Crown Prince's faction fled and Lingxuzi died.
• Chen Sanshi secretly killed Yunxiaozi and the other fugitives, revealed that he had been Zhang Laizi, killed Cao Fan, and found a Parchment Scroll among the corpses.

After the Incense God Cult rebellion, Chen Sanshi learned that Cao Xie had left him a genuine immortal cultivation method and a jade token for the approaching opening to the Cultivation World. The court rewarded Chen Sanshi with an earldom and command of the new Hongze Camp; he returned to Liangzhou with three thousand soldiers and learned a formidable female guest had kept Lan Jie'er from welcoming him.

• Chen Sanshi read Cao Xie's Five Elements Art and learned that the End of the World passage to the Cultivation World opened every fifty years, with the next opening approaching.
• Deng Feng brought Meng Quji to Chen Sanshi, who accepted the Martial Saint into his service and promised to help protect Meng Quji's family.
• At the court assembly, Chen Sanshi received the title Earl Wu Yi, became General of the Nation and Main General of the Elite Camp, and was ordered to establish Hongze Camp.
• Emperor Longqing gave Lu Ji the Crown Prince's ritual artifacts and permission to use the northern temples, while Lu Ji's request to marry Sun Li was refused.
• Chen Sanshi returned to Liangzhou with three thousand Black Armored Army soldiers and reunited with his family, then learned that a formidable female guest had prevented Lan Jie'er from meeting him.