Chapter Summaries

Qin Yi and Liusu tested the Veil of Time Illusion Space, finding that half a year of cultivation inside passed in less than half a day outside. Qin Yi moved his cultivation to the Demon City's earth veins, where Liusu argued with him about true souls and appearances.

• Qin Yi and Liusu cultivated inside the Veil of Time Illusion Space for what felt like half a year, while less than half a day passed outside.
• Qin Yi asked An'an whether his cultivation had noticeably drained the surrounding spiritual energy, and Liusu suggested moving the space to richer sources of energy.
• Liusu teased Qin Yi and An'an about their concealed desires, prompting An'an to flee in alarm.
• Qin Yi decided to cultivate in the Demon City's earth veins, and An'an accompanied him while worrying about how the Demon Qi might affect him.
• Inside the Veil of Time Illusion Space, Qin Yi's soul left his body and mocked Liusu with its appearance, so Liusu punched it into a squashed lump.

Qin Yi used a separated soul to test how Demon Power affected his instincts, but his return to his body unleashed a surge of beastly nature and cultivation energy. Cheng Cheng found a way to distract Liusu, while Qin Yi continued cultivating in Demon City as the outside world’s armies expanded.

• After a day cultivating in the earth vein, An'an felt her Qian Yuan Stage stabilize and wondered how Qin Yi was handling Demon Power’s wild influence.
• Inside the Veil of Time Illusion Space, Liusu repeatedly beat Qin Yi’s separated soul and used him as a cultivation seat.
• Qin Yi slipped out in Liusu’s form, fooled An'an into comforting him, and was caught and knocked down by Cheng Cheng.
• The real Liusu came out, beat Cheng Cheng back into her fox form, and returned to the Veil of Time Illusion Space with Qin Yi.
• Cheng Cheng went into the space and distracted Qin Yi, giving Liusu reason to retreat into the stick while Cheng Cheng’s plan succeeded.
• Qin Yi reunited with his body, where accumulated Demon Power surged alongside enough cultivation energy to threaten a breakthrough to the Qian Yuan Third Layer; meanwhile, Da Li’s armies expanded and the difference between Qin Yi’s cultivation time and the outside world widened.

Qin Yi found that the Veil of Time Illusion Space worked better for refining techniques and consolidating his foundation than for cultivation breakthroughs. As he marveled at Ye Ling’s rapid progress, Yu Shang emerged from seclusion with her Kunpeng bloodline awakened and her cultivation greatly advanced.

• Qin Yi realized the Veil of Time Illusion Space’s short, repeated periods were unsuitable for major cultivation breakthroughs but helped him consolidate his foundation and practice techniques.
• Ye Ling stayed in the time space with Qin Yi and cultivated as quickly as he did, prompting him to ask Liusu why she was so talented.
• Liusu explained that Ye Ling’s combined bloodlines and Technique of Branching and Merging Veins made her cultivation especially efficient, then stopped Ye Ling from asking why Qin Yi himself cultivated so quickly.
• An'an told Qin Yi that Yu Shang had emerged from seclusion, and he was astonished to learn she had broken through Qian Yuan and completed its first layer while cultivating immortality and martial arts.
• Yu Shang told Qin Yi that her Kunpeng bloodline had awakened, granting her Kun Peng's Sky Covering Might and a vast, imposing presence.

After reaching their cultivation goals, Qin Yi planned an outing with Yu Shang and the others, but Humble Origins brought news that redirected him toward urgent matters. Qin Yi learned Yang Valley might hold the Breath of the Sun and that Wu Xian was suffering unexplained migraines, so he set out for Dragon Abyss City.

• Liusu teased Yu Shang about understanding the Kunpeng's grand Dao, while Qin Yi defended her.
• Qin Yi suggested the group go for an outing, but a fox messenger arrived to report that Humble Origins had emerged from seclusion with the Thunder God's Body.
• Humble Origins told Qin Yi it had located Yang Valley near the boundary between the East Sea and North Sea, where it sensed Golden Crow Qi.
• Yu Shang said her ancestor had told her that going to the North Sea would benefit her, and Qin Yi chose it as their next destination.
• Humble Origins reported that Wu Xian had suffered migraines and suspended court for three days, despite Xi Lingzi being unable to help her.
• Qin Yi sent Ye Ling to notify her master and left for Dragon Abyss City, while Ye Ling cried that she had not yet watched him bind the feathered people.

Qin Yi and his companions hurried toward Dragon Abyss City as he worried over Li Wuxian’s sudden, unexplained illness. In the Imperial Palace, Xi Lingzi could find no cause, leaving Li Qingjun to demand further investigation while Li Wuxian’s life remained in danger.

• Yu Shang confronted An'an about what she had told Ye Ling, and An'an admitted she had shared Mister's preferences.
• Qin Yi considered whether An'an’s Innate Water Spirit might help Li Wuxian and questioned whether her illness challenged his understanding of Human Emperor fortune and the Heavenly Dao.
• Li Qingjun angrily pressed Xi Lingzi to explain Li Wuxian’s illness, but he said it appeared to stem from her own body and had no clear cause.
• Xi Lingzi suggested the earth veins might be involved, but admitted he was unsure, and Li Qingjun rejected any drastic action without certainty.
• Li Qingjun ordered Xi Lingzi to keep investigating as Li Wuxian’s condition continued to threaten her life.

Li Wuxian weakened as a mysterious force drained her soul, and she feared she would die before seeing Qin Yi again. Qin Yi arrived in time, recognized the threat was not ordinary feng shui, and began isolating her while he investigated the Dragon Vein.

• Li Wuxian told Li Qingjun to kill her if she became another person and reflected on her rule and lack of regrets, while admitting she wanted to see Qin Yi again.
• Qin Yi arrived at the Imperial Palace, and Li Qingjun hurried him to Li Wuxian’s bedside.
• Qin Yi examined Li Wuxian and found her soul fading under a force that resembled Death Qi, rather than an awakening past-life consciousness.
• Qin Yi sensed unusual traces and countless connections around Dragon Abyss City, then ordered An'an and Yu Shang to isolate Li Wuxian from the world.
• Qin Yi prepared to investigate the strongest part of the Imperial Palace’s Dragon Vein and unravel the threads connected to Li Wuxian.

Qin Yi retraced Li Wuxian’s years in the palace to investigate her mysterious decline, finding evidence of witchcraft but learning from Liusu that it might not be the cause of her weakness. Liusu’s unease about Wuxian led Qin Yi to suspect that a temporal pull he had set at Sakya Monastery might be responsible.

• Qin Yi reviewed Li Wuxian’s life at the Imperial Palace and saw how relentlessly she had governed while neglecting rest and cultivation.
• Qin Yi discovered that a eunuch had repeatedly collected Li Wuxian’s hair and nails before leaving the palace, then later died of illness.
• Liusu warned Qin Yi that the witchcraft was likely real but might affect Wuxian’s fortune rather than drain her life, and urged him to keep investigating.
• Liusu admitted that Li Wuxian’s presence gave her an unpleasant feeling, prompting Qin Yi to wonder whether Wuxian was an ancient powerhouse.
• Qin Yi suspected that the temporal pull he had set in Sakya Monastery’s Mountain Protection Array might be the source of Li Wuxian’s crisis.

Qin Yi and Liusu realized the protective array around Li Wuxian might have accelerated the awakening of the Heavenly Emperor within her. Liusu argued they would have to treat Wuxian and the Heavenly Emperor as one, but Qin Yi refused to sacrifice his disciple, leaving them searching for a solution they could both accept.

• Qin Yi recalled setting up the Saga Array to protect Li Wuxian, and he and Liusu suspected its time laws had helped trigger her awakening.
• Liusu explained that testing for another consciousness through Body Seizing would kill Wuxian, while searching her Sea of Souls could not distinguish the Heavenly Emperor from Wuxian herself.
• Liusu warned that separating the Heavenly Emperor's original soul from Wuxian could leave Wuxian an idiot, and that the Heavenly Emperor could not be erased, only weakened and sealed.
• Qin Yi accused Liusu of treating Wuxian as an enemy, and Liusu insisted that they must confront the Heavenly Emperor without holding back.
• Qin Yi rejected Liusu's willingness to kill Wuxian, and the two silently faced their first fundamental disagreement as they sought a compromise.

Qin Yi entered Li Wuxian’s nightmare to investigate the clash between her present and past-life consciousnesses, while Li Qingjun investigated the eunuch who had collected her hair and nail clippings. The dream revealed Li Wuxian’s past-life connection to a proud princess, but their intertwined identities caused her pain and left her thrashing in bed.

• Qin Yi proposed entering Li Wuxian’s nightmare, and Liusu warned that he could learn little beyond confirming his suspicions.
• An’an’s water-spirit nourishment eased Li Wuxian’s pain and extended her life, while Qin Yi asked Li Qingjun to investigate the dead eunuch and his contacts.
• Qin Yi used a time spell to return Li Wuxian’s consciousness to her last nightmare, then entered her dream with Liusu guarding him.
• Li Wuxian dreamed of fighting a beautiful childhood friend whose name was connected to a throne, and struggled to distinguish her past-life identity from her present one.
• Li Wuxian’s confusion worsened her headache, and she began thrashing in bed as sweat streamed into An’an’s water domain.

Li Wuxian’s nightmare revealed fragments of her past life and left her fearing that her memories would overtake her identity. Qin Yi entered her dream to reach her, but she mistook him for an illusion and eagerly embraced him.

• Li Wuxian recalled a sorrowful conversation about the struggle for hegemony, Torch Dragon, and the speaker’s victory over an unnamed opponent.
• Li Wuxian awoke in alarm, afraid that remembering more would make her become the person from her past life.
• Qin Yi entered Li Wuxian’s dream while she was healing in secluded cultivation and bathing.
• Li Wuxian assumed Qin Yi was a dream phantom, rushed to hug him, and asked him to kiss her.
• Qin Yi held back from using his power for fear of harming Li Wuxian’s weakened soul, while her intimate attention pushed her buried memories aside.

Qin Yi entered Li Wuxian’s dream to draw out the Heavenly Emperor’s consciousness, but found himself confronted by Li Wuxian’s advances. He provoked the hidden consciousness by kissing her, and it emerged in anger as the chapter ended with Qin Yi pinning it by a bath.

• Li Wuxian mistook the encounter for a dream and tried to kiss Qin Yi, citing the Jade Maiden Heart Sutra as justification.
• Qin Yi played along with Li Wuxian’s belief that she was dreaming while trying to steer her toward a proper conversation.
• Qin Yi realized he could draw out the Heavenly Emperor’s consciousness by provoking its resistance and decided to kiss Li Wuxian.
• Liusu, An'an, and Yu Shang watched Li Wuxian react in her sleep as the kiss stirred the consciousness within her.
• The Heavenly Emperor’s consciousness shoved Qin Yi away and called him a stinking man, and Qin Yi pounced on her and pinned her by the bath.

Qin Yi tried to provoke the Heavenly Emperor’s hidden consciousness inside Li Wuxian, but his attempts instead angered Li Wuxian and ended in embarrassment. The Heavenly Emperor’s revival remained incomplete, and Li Wuxian woke from the shattered dream crying but looking healthier.

• Qin Yi tried to seize the moment when the Heavenly Emperor surfaced in Li Wuxian, but her consciousness changed back before he could suppress it.
• Li Wuxian mistook Qin Yi’s actions for a dream shaped by her resistance and tried pushing him away to make him more forceful.
• Qin Yi realized Li Wuxian was still herself and withdrew after she cursed him, then returned to his body as Liusu, Yu Shang, and An'an teased him.
• Liusu explained that the Heavenly Emperor was still a subconscious presence that could influence Li Wuxian but could not independently perceive the outside world.
• The Heavenly Emperor prepared to guide Li Wuxian toward recovering her memories, but Li Wuxian burst into tears and woke as the dream shattered.

Li Wuxian awoke from a dream about Qin Yi and tried to hide her embarrassment while he secretly teased An'an. After learning that Li Wuxian's dream might reveal her resistance to intimacy, Qin Yi told Liusu he had found Yao Guang, and Liusu urged him to keep pursuing the matter.

• Li Wuxian woke from a dream in which Qin Yi fled at a crucial moment and complained about his shamelessness.
• Qin Yi hid under Li Wuxian's bed while holding An'an's foot, then emerged and claimed he had been casting a protective spell.
• An'an told Li Wuxian she believed Qin Yi regarded her as his only disciple, and Yu Shang teased them about Qin Yi's motives.
• Li Wuxian wondered whether her dream reflected her own resistance to intimacy with Qin Yi.
• Qin Yi told Liusu that he had found Yao Guang and that she strongly resisted intimacy with him.
• Liusu celebrated the discovery and encouraged Qin Yi to put more effort into pursuing his disciple.

Qin Yi and Liusu worked out why Yao Guang’s instinctive awakening had threatened Li Wuxian and concluded that they needed to stop the witchcraft behind it. They then struggled to devise a way to draw Yao Guang out in Li Wuxian’s dreams, leaving Qin Yi with Liusu’s plan to provoke her through a misleading history lesson.

• Qin Yi questioned why Li Wuxian had faced premature extinction, and Liusu explained that Yao Guang’s awakening had been forced ahead by the Time Law after Li Wuxian stopped cultivating.
• Qin Yi and Liusu concluded that the eunuch’s witchcraft or another influence may have pushed Yao Guang’s subconscious toward a dangerous forced awakening, and that they still needed to break the witchcraft.
• Qin Yi and Liusu considered how to draw Yao Guang out of Li Wuxian’s dreams, but Qin Yi refused to take advantage of his disciple, and they doubted that doing so would make Yao Guang appear.
• Liusu proposed that Qin Yi teach Li Wuxian a distorted account of ancient history that mocked Yao Guang and muddled her recovering memories, then urged him to improvise.

Qin Yi stopped Li Wuxian from reviewing memorials while ill and realized she feared the political turmoil and marriage pressure that news of her illness could bring. When Minister Tang and Attendant Gu came to see her, they urged her to marry and invoked an auspicious event to ward off illness.

• Qin Yi ordered the eunuch to take the memorials away, and Li Wuxian told him to have the Three Departments review them instead.
• Qin Yi scolded Li Wuxian for working through her illness, and she explained that she feared revealing her weakness would destabilize the realm.
• Qin Yi realized Li Wuxian feared that her illness would prompt ministers to pressure her to marry and produce an heir.
• Minister Tang and Attendant Gu arrived to ask after Li Wuxian, and she told them she needed time to recuperate.
• Attendant Gu said National Teacher Lingxu had affirmed that an auspicious event could ward off illness, prompting Qin Yi to suspect Lingxu had joined the marriage-pressure campaign.

After Li Wuxian’s illness made Lingxu fear for her future and Da Li’s stability, he joined the ministers in trying to arrange an heir. He proposed using a secret compass to find her destined match, but its needle pointed at Qin Yi.

• Lingxu realized he could no longer see Li Wuxian’s future and decided she needed to leave an heir to protect Da Li.
• Minister Tang and Attendant Gu urged Li Wuxian to find a husband, but she said their suggestions were making her illness worse.
• Minister Tang threatened to publicly recruit a husband for Li Wuxian, and Qin Yi objected that the spectacle would make her a laughingstock.
• Lingxu arrived and presented a Marriage Affinity Compass as a private alternative to posting a public notice.
• Lingxu activated the compass, whose needle settled on Qin Yi’s shoulder.

Li Wuxian used a marriage compass to test whether Qin Yi was her destined match, then named him an alternative candidate while Qin Yi agreed to help vet other suitors. When the compass’s needle revealed it had actually been following Liusu, Li Qingjun arrived and caught Qin Yi embracing empty air.

• Qin Yi moved around to confirm that the compass needle followed him, and the ministers assumed Li Wuxian had chosen him.
• Li Wuxian called Qin Yi an alternative candidate and asked him to help examine anyone else the compass identified.
• Lingxu predicted the compass could find nine candidates, but its needle began spinning as Liusu circled it.
• Qin Yi realized the compass had been following Liusu, then pulled her into his arms so the needle pointed at him again.
• Li Qingjun entered the hall and saw Qin Yi holding empty air while Liusu watched from his arms.

Li Qingjun saw through Li Wuxian’s attempt to use Qin Yi as a pretext to dodge choosing an Imperial Husband and challenged both of them over their excuses. Qin Yi explained that treating Wuxian’s illness required their souls to touch, and Li Qingjun hurled him into the sky before he could explain further.

• Li Qingjun ordered Lingxu to find outstanding men for Li Wuxian to consider as Imperial Husband candidates, turning Wuxian’s marriage pretext against her.
• Li Qingjun told Li Wuxian she would take Qin Yi away, while Wuxian and Qin Yi both objected and Qin Yi struggled to justify staying.
• Li Wuxian claimed Qin Yi was a smokescreen to discourage the ministers, but Li Qingjun pointed out that the court would expect an heir and rejected the excuse.
• Li Qingjun took Qin Yi outside and demanded to know why he had involved himself in Wuxian’s marriage plans.
• Qin Yi said treating Wuxian’s illness required their souls to touch, and Li Qingjun grabbed his collar and flung him into the sky.

Qin Yi explained the Heavenly Emperor’s connection to Wu Xian and why he had entered her dreams to provoke her awakening, while Li Qingjun weighed the risks and complications. They agreed to keep investigating the witchcraft and trying to draw out the Heavenly Emperor, with Li Qingjun continuing her palace-route investigation and Qin Yi handling Wu Xian’s dreams.

• Qin Yi descended with Liusu and explained to Li Qingjun his dream encounter with Wu Xian, the Heavenly Emperor’s history, and Minghe and Qing Ying’s past lives.
• Li Qingjun realized Wu Xian’s Supreme Clarity reincarnation made the situation far more dangerous, and accepted that provoking the Heavenly Emperor through dreams might be necessary.
• Qin Yi explained that he needed to retain his son-in-law position so Wu Xian would accept intimacy in her dreams and help trigger the Heavenly Emperor’s appearance.
• Li Qingjun confirmed that her investigation into the eunuch’s routes could help provoke the Heavenly Emperor and agreed to continue following those leads.
• Qin Yi offered to have Yu Shang assist Li Qingjun, but Li Qingjun suspected he wanted to send Yu Shang away so he could get closer to Wu Xian.

Qin Yi arranged for Yu Shang to help Li Qingjun investigate while An'an continued treating Li Wuxian, whose soul still depended on the Spirit of Water's Realm. As Li Wuxian questioned what she meant to Qin Yi, An'an devised a new position for her treatment.

• Li Qingjun left the bedchamber furious after finding Li Wuxian flirting with Qin Yi, and Qin Yi discussed Li Wuxian's uncertain feelings with Liusu.
• Qin Yi sent Yu Shang to assist Li Qingjun at the Internal Affairs Office and warned her to call him if she encountered a dangerous enemy.
• Qin Yi told Li Wuxian that Li Qingjun still saw her as family, then praised her as a sovereign when she asked what she meant to him.
• An'an explained that Li Wuxian's soul was being sustained by the Spirit of Water's Realm and that she could not leave it before the root cause was resolved.
• An'an turned Li Wuxian onto her front and instructed her to kneel with her hands behind her back for the treatment.