Chapter Summaries

Gong Zi defeated Lian Zhou after Gu Shen’s Iron Armor helped him withstand Paper Scissors, and the judges ruled the armor was ordinary protective gear rather than a second Sealed Item. As Zhu Wang challenged the ruling, Paper Scissors suddenly attacked Gong Zi again.

• Lian Zhou’s Paper Scissors struck Gong Zi’s Iron Armor, but the armor held and damaged the Sealed Item’s blade.
• Gong Zi’s Phoenix Bell blocked Paper Scissors while Gong Zi held back a punch that could have killed Lian Zhou, then declared that Lian Zhou had lost.
• Han Dang accused Gong Zi of breaking the rule against bringing two Sealed Items into the match.
• Gu Shen said the Iron Armor was ordinary steel, and Zhou Wei examined it and ruled that it was not a Sealed Item.
• Zhu Wang challenged Zhou Wei’s ruling, and Paper Scissors suddenly rose from the ground and attacked Gong Zi’s forehead.

Lian Zhou’s attempt to kill Gong Zi was stopped, and the Safety Committee arrested him while warning Zhu Wang that he could face an investigation. Gong Zi won the Rookie Competition, successfully contemplated the Fire Seed Dream, and ended the chapter by challenging Bai Xiu.

• Lian Zhou attacked Gong Zi with the Paper Scissors, but Zhou Wei knocked it away and struck Lian Zhou unconscious.
• Zhou Wei declared Lian Zhou mentally unstable and suspected of using forbidden methods, then had Safety Committee agents take him away and warned Zhu Wang of a possible investigation.
• Zhu Wang acknowledged Gong Zi as the Rookie Competition champion and left the Dojo with Han Dang.
• Gong Zi began contemplating the Fire Seed Dream and kept the azure flame burning for forty minutes before it went out.
• Gong Zi’s extinguished spark reignited, revealing that he had successfully comprehended the Fire Seed Dream and strengthened his spiritual power.
• Gong Zi challenged Bai Xiu to battle.

Gong Zi challenged Bai Xiu after comprehending Fire Seed Dream, choosing to face the genius he had long feared. Bai Xiu accepted and defeated him decisively, leaving the spectators to reckon with the vast gap between them.

• Gong Zi challenged Bai Xiu, explaining that he would not avoid him while pursuing the Throne of God.
• Bai Xiu initially refused, saying a fight would not be fair, but then accepted after noticing Gu Shen.
• Zhou Wei enclosed the arena in his domain as Gong Zi summoned Garuda and attacked Bai Xiu with a storm of punches.
• Bai Xiu used Perfect Flash to evade Gong Zi’s attacks without striking back, while Gu Qilin explained the technique to Gu Shen.
• Bai Xiu vanished from in front of Gong Zi and touched the back of his neck, breaching Garuda’s domain and ending the fight.
• Bai Xiu withdrew his fingers, bowed, and thanked Gong Zi after defeating him while matching his Seventh Layer strength.

After losing to Bai Xiu, Gong Zi thanked Gu Shen for making the fight possible and celebrated his championship with friends. Bai Lu delivered Bai Xiu’s wish to fight Gu Shen someday, while Gong Zi revealed he planned to leave Nagano to train.

• Bai Xiu defeated Gong Zi, who recognized the vast gap between them, and left the venue as the Rookie Competition ended.
• Gong Zi thanked Gu Shen for Iron Armor and for helping persuade Bai Xiu to accept his challenge.
• At the Gong Family banquet, Bai Lu told Gu Shen that Bai Xiu had begun secluded cultivation and wanted to fight him in the future; Gu Shen said he would accept once he caught up.
• Mu Nan brought Gu Shen to a table with their Spring Rain Temple friends, where Gu Shen met Mu Nan’s twin sister, Mu Ya.
• Mu Nan revealed that Gong Zi planned to leave Nagano to train, and Gong Zi appeared and jokingly put him in a headlock.

After Gong Zi won the Rookie Competition, his friends celebrated with him and learned that a marriage contract with a Northern Continent noble stood between him and Ya. Gong Zi revealed his plan to travel north and cancel the contract himself, while Gu Shen left the banquet with Gao Tian and a sleeping Li Qingsui.

• At the banquet, Luo Pangzi said the Council of Elders was still considering Gong Zi’s relationship with Yi Yueya, while Gong Zi discussed leaving Nagano to train.
• Spirit revealed that Gong Zi was bound by a twenty-year-old marriage contract to the daughter of the Duan Yang Duke of Forward City, and Ya said she would wait for him.
• The Gong Family announced Gong Zi as its designated successor, and he returned to the banquet after completing his speech and social obligations.
• Gu Shen shared Lion's Awakening Wine with Gong Zi, who confessed that he planned to go to the Northern Continent and cancel his marriage contract himself.
• Gong Zi asked Gu Shen to divine his future with Ya, but Gu Shen said the Divination Technique could not predict everything.
• Gu Shen left the banquet and found Gao Tian waiting beside the car with Li Qingsui asleep inside; Gao Tian reflected that Nagano was both a source of freedom and a gilded cage for the Five Great Families.

Gu Shen promised Gao Tian that he would help Li Qingsui if Gao could no longer protect her, then spent a year quietly cultivating and observing Nagano. As the chapter leaves off, he had helped Shen Li overcome his loss of control, the Li family’s search for the final Bronze Figure Lantern continued, and Gu Shen had accepted his role as a spectator.

• Gao Tian told Gu Shen that Li Qingsui had been named heir despite her youth and asked him to help her if he could no longer protect her; Gu Shen agreed.
• After Gong Zi left Nagano, Gu Shen reflected on the limits and burdens of seeing the future and chose to live as a spectator rather than claim knowledge he did not possess.
• Over the following year, Gu Shen helped Shen Li control Iron Eater by using the jade finger to absorb the ominous shadow behind Shen Li’s loss of control.
• The Li family recovered two of the three missing Bronze Figure Lanterns, while Ling’s consciousness manifested more strongly through God Child after the lanterns were placed.
• Gu Shen consulted the Tomb Keeper about Ling’s growth and accepted that a god’s form and development could not be predicted by human standards.
• Gu Shen continued cultivating as the black flowers on the God Mountain dwindled and the mist gradually cleared.

One year after restoring Shrine Mountain’s summit, Gu Shen confronted the Li family’s attempt to terminate the Lamp Seeking plan and promised Li Qingci that she would see the critically ill family head again. At the family head’s hospital, Gu Shen exposed Li Xuan’s false account of their clash, leaving the elders’ claims discredited.

• Gu Shen consumed the last black flower on Shrine Mountain, while Li Qingci celebrated the summit’s recovery and their progress toward finding the final Bronze Figure Lantern.
• Li Xuan arrived as the Li family’s Fourteenth Elder and announced that the Council of Elders had terminated the Shrine Mountain plan; Gu Shen stopped him from pushing past Li Qingci and forced him to apologize.
• Li Xuan explained that the Grand Elder and a majority of the Council had approved the plan’s termination, and Gu Shen ordered him to leave Shrine Mountain’s talisman plaque behind.
• Gu Shen told Li Qingci he would let her see the critically ill family head one last time, then went to the hospital and faced the Li family elders guarding the room.
• Gu Shen said he could establish a Mental Link and used Chu Ling’s preserved footage to reveal that Li Xuan had attacked first and begged for mercy, contradicting the story he had told the elders.

Gu Shen used a Mental Link to let Li Qingci speak with her dying father, who gave Gao Tian instructions to protect Li Qingsui and urged Gu Shen to look after Li Qingci. After the family head died and was buried, Gu Shen struggled to focus on his training until Master Chino encouraged him to visit Li Qingci.

• Gao Tian took Gu Shen into the hospital room, where Gu Shen established a Mental Link between Li Qingci and the Li Family head.
• After the link, the Li Family head learned that the Lamp Seeking plan had been suspended and told Li Qingsui to be kind without becoming soft-hearted.
• The Li Family head asked Gao Tian to remain by Li Qingsui's side, then told Gu Shen that Li Qingci deserved to see the world beyond Shrine Mountain and thanked him for helping her.
• The Li Family head died, and Li Qingsui led the funeral procession to his burial at Qingzhong.
• Gu Shen watched the funeral from the Inner Tomb before returning to the Four Seasons Wilderness to train, but he struggled to concentrate.
• Master Chino explained that some people's threads of fate were bound together and urged Gu Shen to go see Li Qingci.

After Li Quhu’s funeral, Li Qingsui asserted herself as family head and clashed with the Council of Elders over the Lamp Seeking plan. Gu Shen and Gao Tian backed her, but the Second Elder warned Gu Shen that his powerful allies might not always protect him.

• Li Qingsui stayed at her father’s grave and made the Council of Elders wait with her in the rain, insisting they call her Family Head.
• The Second Elder told Li Qingsui that the Council had voted against restarting the Lamp Seeking plan and demanded access to Shrine Mountain.
• Gu Shen joined Li Qingsui and challenged the Second Elder’s arguments against the plan, pointing out that Li Quhu had approved its expenses.
• The Second Elder questioned Gu Shen’s right to interfere in Li family affairs, and Gao Tian warned him not to cross his limits.
• The Second Elder said future proposals would follow the rules and Council votes, then warned Gu Shen that his great wall of support might someday collapse.

After the Li family’s Lamp Seeking plan was suspended, Gu Shen asked Lu Nanzhi to help the Ancient Text Society search discreetly for the final Bronze Figure Lantern, which could allow Source Code to enter the real world. As Gu Shen considered how to mobilize the society, Chu Ling woke from another dream with a vision of an old city and men in white hemp robes.

• Li Qingsui reviewed footage of the Council of Elders and concluded that its opposition had made restarting the Lamp Seeking plan difficult.
• Gu Shen comforted Li Qingsui and promised to find the final lamp himself if the Li family could not.
• Gu Shen met Lu Nanzhi in the Conference Room and asked to use the Ancient Text Society’s reach to search for the lamp without attracting attention.
• Gu Shen told Lu Nanzhi that finding the lamp could give Source Code a chance to be born in the real world, and Lu Nanzhi asked for time to consider helping.
• Chu Ling woke from another dream and told Gu Shen she had seen an old city and many men wearing white hemp robes with strange badges.

After the Li Council of Elders blocked the Lamp Seeking plan, Gu Shen asked Lu Nanzhi to consider mobilizing the Ancient Text Society to find the final Bronze Figure Lantern without drawing attention. The chapter left Gu Shen startled when Chu Ling woke from another dream and described an old city and men in white hemp robes.

• Li Qingsui studied footage of her father's funeral and concluded that the Council of Elders had slipped out of her control, though she saw hope in a solemn minority.
• Li Qingsui told Gu Shen that restarting the Lamp Seeking plan would be difficult, and Gu Shen promised to find the final lamp himself.
• Gu Shen contacted Lu Nanzhi through the Conference Room and asked her to help find the Li family's remaining Bronze Figure Lantern without attracting attention.
• Gu Shen revealed that the lamp could allow Source Code to enter the Real World, and Lu Nanzhi asked for time to consider the request.
• Chu Ling told Gu Shen she had dreamed of an old city and men wearing white hemp robes with strange emblems.

Chu Ling’s dream led Gu Shen to Tin Silver City, where he entered under an assumed identity to search for the final lamp. As he began his search, he confronted how Deep Sea’s information balancing concealed Southern Continent’s poverty and unrest, then followed a second clue to the city’s major auction house.

• Chu Ling’s dream showed Gu Shen a city of Storm God’s Throne believers, and the database identified it as Tin Silver City in Southern Continent’s Inland State.
• Gu Shen told Lu Nanzhi he had found the final lamp’s location, and she arranged for him to travel with Cui Zhongcheng.
• Cui Zhongcheng explained how Deep Sea’s balancing altered people’s view of the world and warned that outsiders needed a convincing identity to enter Tin Silver City.
• Gu Shen entered Tin Silver City as Amir, saw the sharp contrast between its impoverished and prosperous districts, and discussed balancing with Chu Ling.
• Gu Shen hired twenty slum residents to search discreetly for lamps, then went to the Holy Image Auction House to pursue a second clue.

Gu Shen used the Holy Image Auction House to search Tin Silver City for the Lamp of Anger, but his meeting with Crescent Church officer Zhou drew suspicion. When Zhou confronted him at his hotel, her hypnosis failed and they fought; Gu Shen knocked her unconscious and removed her Storm badge, hoping the Storm God's Throne would not notice.

• Gu Shen bought several auction items, hypnotized Holy Image's boss, and asked him to find the Lamp of Anger discreetly.
• Zhou questioned Gu Shen at the auction house and later suspected him despite finding nothing wrong with his file.
• Zhou visited Gu Shen's hotel room under the pretense of delivering a gift and tried to hypnotize him, but he was unaffected.
• Gu Shen fought Zhou, knocked her unconscious, and removed her Storm badge after its spiritual power erupted.
• Gu Shen wondered whether the Crescent Church had uncovered his false identity and hoped the Storm God's Throne would not hear Zhou's call for help.

Gu Shen hypnotized Zhou and learned that an anonymous email had exposed his identity, then discovered Xiao had sent it to draw him into a negotiation. Xiao offered information about the Bronze Figure Lantern in exchange for answers, and Gu Shen began by asking what the ancient Stone Slab taken by the Evening Bell Church said.

• Gu Shen stopped searching Zhou's memories when her spiritual power became unstable, learned about the anonymous email, erased her memories, and sent her home.
• Chu Ling traced the email to a temporary Deep Sea Authority bug, and Xiao appeared in the hotel manager's shell, admitting he had sent it.
• Gu Shen and Xiao argued over their rivalry until Xiao threatened to detonate explosives planted in the hotel, then proposed negotiating instead.
• Xiao showed Gu Shen a photograph of a Bronze Figure Lantern and said he knew where it was, while warning that Gu Shen's search in Tin Silver City could attract attention.
• Gu Shen agreed to exchange questions with Xiao and used their intertwined flames to monitor each other's mental fluctuations.
• Gu Shen asked Xiao what was written on the ancient Stone Slab taken by the Evening Bell Church.

Gu Shen and Xiao traded evasive answers about the Ancient Text Stone Slab, the lamps, and the tomb before agreeing to raid Crescent Church’s underground chambers. They entered the church together, where Chu Ling began decoding the strong-logic defenses, and Xiao revealed that the Lamp of Anger was in Secret Chamber No. 13.

• Xiao said the Ancient Text Stone Slab described a Forbidden Art but claimed he could not decipher its full contents, while Gu Shen learned that the tomb’s owner had left the coffin alive.
• Gu Shen admitted the lamps were ordinary antiques that could carry mental power, then confiscated a wisp of Xiao’s Bloodfire when their questioning ended.
• Xiao revealed that a lamp was stored beneath Crescent Church and proposed taking it while Lanweier was away, asking for the other Sealed Items in return.
• Twenty-one hours later, Gu Shen met Xiao at Crescent Church and followed him into the underground passage as Chu Ling mapped the chambers.
• Chu Ling encountered the strong-logic defense system, and Xiao said he had dealt with the other guard and identified Secret Chamber No. 13 as the lamp’s location.

Gu Shen outmaneuvered Xiao during the theft of Crescent Church’s Sealed Items, escaped the sealed underground complex, and planted clues that sent the Church hunting for a false culprit. He left Tin Silver City disguised as a poor youth and carrying his father’s corpse, then met Xiao in the forest beyond the city.

• Gu Shen searched Chamber No. 13 for the Lamp of Anger while Xiao secretly transferred Crescent Church’s Sealed Items through a spatial sack.
• Xiao trapped Gu Shen underground, took the Bronze Figure Lantern, destroyed the sack, and killed his host body before Gu Shen could stop him.
• Gu Shen broke through the chamber doors with an Iron Axe, planted a faint trace of Bloodfire on Xiao’s corpse, and confirmed that the stolen items had been sent to a location about twenty kilometers away.
• Lanweier found the ransacked Church and reported the theft, prompting a citywide search that gathered clues about a foreign priest seeking the lamp.
• Gu Shen left Tin Silver City in an abandoned ox cart under the guise of taking his father’s corpse home, then encountered Xiao in a forest and revealed that he was still alive.

Gu Shen ambushed Xiao outside Tin Silver City, recovered the Lamp of Anger and the stolen Sealed Items, and left Xiao’s Bloodfire to be exposed to Lanweier and the Storm God’s Temple. On the return flight, Cui Zhongcheng revealed that Hua Banner had canceled its weapons deal with the Southern Continent, and Gu Shen offered to take responsibility for the fallout.

• Gu Shen killed Xiao’s disguised body, seized his Bloodfire, and recovered the Lamp of Anger and the Sealed Items hidden on the ox cart.
• Gu Shen shattered Xiao’s Bloodfire and revealed that he had left a gift behind to draw attention to Xiao’s survival.
• Several days earlier, Gu Shen had used information from Cui Zhongcheng to arrange for Lanweier to discover evidence linking the impostor Amir to Xiao.
• Lanweier identified Xiao as a surviving S-rank fugitive and decided to alert the Storm God’s Temple, while Gu Shen and Cui Zhongcheng returned to the Eastern Continent with the Sealed Items.
• Cui Zhongcheng told Gu Shen that Hua Banner had canceled its Southern Continent deal, and Gu Shen promised to handle the consequences in the case report.

Li Qingci dreamed that Shrine Mountain was being destroyed, then faced three Li Family Council of Elders members investigating Li Qingsui’s Lamp Seeking plan. Gu Shen defended her and claimed the lamps could awaken the Goddess in the well, but the Second Elder dismissed him as broken-brained and left with the other elders.

• Li Qingci woke from a dream of Shrine Mountain’s destruction, sensed outsiders approaching, and went to confront them.
• The Second Elder told Li Qingci that the elders had come to investigate Li Qingsui’s Lamp Seeking plan, but she refused to let them enter the shrine.
• Gu Shen arrived and slapped the vajra-like elder after he attacked, then argued that his standing made the strike justified.
• Gu Shen invited the elders to climb the mountain and warned them about the deadly black flowers, so they stayed at its foot and demanded an explanation of the plan.
• Gu Shen said the lamps would remove the black flowers and hatch the Goddess in the well, but the Second Elder called him broken-brained and departed with the others.

Gu Shen placed the fourth lantern, completing the ritual and stabilizing Chu Ling’s link to the Divine Embryo. Chu Ling began developing emotions and a body within the well, while Li Qingci learned that the Li family would have to wait longer for her birth.

• Gu Shen told Li Qingci that the Council of Elders opposed Li Qingsui becoming the true family head and presented the final lantern, the Lamp of Anger.
• Gu Shen placed the Lamp of Anger in the shrine, and the four lanterns connected Chu Ling to the Divine Embryo through the well.
• Chu Ling awoke as a hazy mass of light in the well, able to sense the world and move slightly but still unable to leave her embryonic state.
• Chu Ling received emotions from the lantern, returned to 00 Me’s carriage, and thanked Gu Shen before worrying that she had failed to be born.
• Gu Shen told Li Qingci that the Divine Embryo existed and was incubating, and Li Qingci said the family could wait and received Chu Ling’s thanks.

Bai Lu worried about Bai Xiu, who had remained secluded for a year after the tundra assassination, while Bai Zesheng secretly served the God of Wine's Throne, who had settled in Snow Forbidden City. The Throne summoned Bai Zesheng for a new mission, leaving him poised to act.

• Bai Lu visited the alley near Bai Xiu's courtyard and learned from Bai Zesheng that Bai Xiu's mental state was stable and the family head maintained contact with him.
• Bai Zesheng revealed that the tundra assassination case had not truly ended and that he had concealed his role by faking his severe bleeding in Inta.
• Bai Zesheng left the alley unseen by Wind Eye and went to a remote courtyard where Mr. Jin welcomed him inside.
• Bai Zesheng met the God of Wine's Throne, who reproached him for fearing Gu Changzhi and assured him there was no need to fear anyone while the Throne was present.
• The God of Wine's Throne told Bai Zesheng that he had a task for him.