Chapter Summaries

Ye Weiming made Zuo Zimu sign a document about his attempt to trade innocent children for his son, Zuo Shanshan, rather than letting him escape with a simple debt. Zuo Zimu protested the investigation, but Ye Weiming said they had Duan Zhengming’s authority to investigate in Dali.

• Ye Weiming explained to Sanyue that killing Zuo Zimu would bring little reward and leave them with the dilemma of what to do with Zuo Shanshan.
• Ye Weiming sent Sanyue the text of a document, and she quickly wrote it while Zuo Zimu assumed he was signing an ordinary IOU.
• Sanyue handed Zuo Zimu the document, which recorded that he had offered innocent children to Ye Erniang and tried to gouge out a girl's eyes to save his son.
• Zuo Zimu objected to being treated as a suspect and questioned whether the Divine Constable Bureau had jurisdiction in Dali.
• Ye Weiming said they were investigating at Duan Zhengming’s request and told Zuo Zimu not to worry about their authority.

Ye Weiming forced Zuo Zimu to sign a blood-sealed document and used it to make him promise a generous repayment. After Zuo Zimu fled, Ye Weiming and Sanyue continued onward and heard a familiar Buddhist greeting from ahead.

• Ye Weiming threatened to expose Zuo Zimu's crimes unless he signed a document, and Zuo Zimu signed it in blood.
• Sanyue secured the document, and Ye Weiming returned Zuo Shanshan to Zuo Zimu while warning him they would remain in Dali for about three days.
• Ye Weiming hinted that the document could be entrusted to a storyteller, terrifying Zuo Zimu into promising a generous gift before leaving with his son.
• Sanyue praised Ye Weiming for making Zuo Zimu submit, and Ye Weiming predicted that he would bring them valuable things.
• A familiar voice called out to Ye Weiming and Sanyue with a Buddhist invocation from ahead.

Ye Weiming and Liuyun discovered that Evil Overtakes Merit required challengers to play fifty moves of chess using finger force on a stone board. After Ye Weiming proved he could make precise marks on the stone and last the match, four approaching players recognized him, leaving both groups frozen in a tense standoff.

• Liuyun told Ye Weiming that he and his friends had reached Evil Overtakes Merit, whose identity and strength they could not assess, and that the leader had set a stone-chess test instead of attacking them.
• Liuyun explained that Duan Xiyang Wuyu had a chess expert available, but they still needed someone with enough finger force to play on the stone board.
• Ye Weiming tested the nearby stele, first failing to mark it and then shattering a corner with full strength before finding that seventy percent of his internal strength gave him precise control.
• Ye Weiming said he could sustain the required force for about seventy moves, and an approaching player was relieved that he could save a Nine-Flower Jade Dew Pill.
• Four players arrived, and Ye Weiming and the newcomers recognized one another as both groups fell silent.

Ye Weiming and Sanyue met Duan Xiyang Wuyu, Mountains and Rivers Meet, Foodie Little Fairy, and Sheng Tian Banzi, then formed a team to face Evil Overtakes Merit in Myriad Tribulation Valley. After Sheng Tian Banzi identified the enemy as Duan Yanqing and revealed his history, Foodie Little Fairy asked whether they could simply return and complete the quest.

• Ye Weiming calmed Duan Xiyang Wuyu, Mountains and Rivers Meet, and Foodie Little Fairy, then introduced himself and Sanyue as members of the Divine Constable Bureau.
• Sheng Tian Banzi revealed that he was One Saber Chop Chop Chop's older brother and explained how the Four Great Evils' names could be distinguished.
• The seven players chose Liuyun as their leader and entered the Myriad Tribulation Valley instance, planning for Ye Weiming to play chess against Evil Overtakes Merit with Sheng Tian Banzi advising him.
• The team found Duan Yanqing beside the Stone Chessboard and saw that his boss attributes were hidden.
• Sheng Tian Banzi shared Duan Yanqing's history and his ties to Dali's throne and Western Xia's First Rank Hall, prompting Foodie Little Fairy to ask if they could return and turn in the quest.

Ye Weiming played Duan Yanqing at Go to fulfill the NPC’s challenge, relying on Sheng Tian Banzi to call out moves while he stalled to conserve internal energy. The game continued past twenty moves, and Sheng Tian Banzi believed he could eventually defeat Duan Yanqing.

• Foodie Little Fairy suggested handing over the quest directly, and Sheng Tian Banzi explained that they needed to complete the prerequisite first.
• Duan Yanqing challenged the group to keep from losing for fifty Go moves in exchange for revealing his identity and letting them return to their assignment.
• Ye Weiming asked Sheng Tian Banzi where to play, then used his internal energy to carve a first move into the board and persuaded Duan Yanqing to accept it.
• Ye Weiming waited until the last moment before each move to recover energy, while Sheng Tian Banzi directed his plays through the Team Channel.
• After more than twenty moves, Sheng Tian Banzi said Duan Yanqing played around professional fifth-dan level and claimed he could defeat him within a hundred and fifty moves.

Ye Weiming and his teammates defeated Duan Yanqing at Go in twenty-five moves, earning a perfect evaluation and learning his identity. After Duan Yanqing revealed that Duan Yu was imprisoned nearby, Ye Weiming used the remaining questions to learn Duan Yanqing’s plans and ask what would make him release Duan Yu.

• Ye Weiming followed Sheng Tian Banzi’s guidance, and Duan Yanqing conceded after twenty-five moves on the Stone Chessboard.
• Duan Yanqing revealed that he was the former Crown Prince Yanqing of Dali and offered to answer three questions because Ye Weiming had won decisively.
• Duan Xiyang Wuyu asked where Duan Yu was, and Duan Yanqing said he had imprisoned him in a sealed stone chamber in Myriad Tribulation Valley.
• Sheng Tian Banzi told the team that Duan Yanqing was Duan Yu’s biological father, though he did not know it, and had imprisoned Duan Yu and Mu Wanqing as part of his revenge against the Duan brothers.
• Ye Weiming asked Duan Yanqing how he planned to deal with Duan Yu and what it would take for him to release him.

Ye Weiming and the other players learned Duan Yanqing’s three demands for releasing Duan Yu and planned to report them to Emperor Duan Zhengming. As they left Myriad Tribulation Valley, they discussed recruiting Dao Baifeng’s help, then encountered a young girl who asked whether they had come to save Brother Duan.

• Duan Yanqing offered Duan Zhengming three paths: yield the throne, kill Duan Yanqing by surprise, or have Duan Yu defeat him with the One Yang Finger.
• Ye Weiming promised to relay Duan Yanqing’s demands to Emperor Duan Zhengming, and Duan Yanqing departed for Myriad Tribulation Valley.
• The players abandoned their investigation and headed out of the valley after seeing Duan Yanqing’s remarkable movement technique.
• Sheng Tian Banzi asked Ye Weiming how they might handle the likely rescue quest, and Ye Weiming proposed winning over Dao Baifeng with Sanyue’s and Liuyun’s abilities.
• A young girl blocked the players’ way out of the valley and asked if they had come to save Brother Duan.

Ye Weiming and his teammates learned that Duan Yu and Mu Wanqing were suffering from the effects of Yin Yang Harmony Powder and debated how to buy time for their rescue. With no antidote or easy solution available, Ye Weiming looked for a teammate to take the blame for proposing an uncomfortable remedy.

• Sheng Tian Banzi identified Zhong Ling as Duan Yu's sister and explained that Duan Zhengchun's romantic partners had all borne daughters.
• Ye Weiming told Zhong Ling that his group could not defeat Duan Yanqing and asked whether other outsiders had entered Myriad Tribulation Valley.
• Zhong Ling reported that several players were in the valley, including a woman in bright red clothes, and revealed that Duan Yu and Mu Wanqing were poisoned with Yin Yang Harmony Powder.
• Ye Weiming explained that poison resistance would not counter the drug and that the pair needed a specialized antidote or another way to suppress its effects.
• Ye Weiming ruled out his teammates one by one and settled on Duan Xiyang Wuyu as the person who should shoulder the blame.

Ye Weiming’s group left Myriad Tribulation Valley and returned to Dali City, where Duan Zhengming gave him the “Soaring Dragon, Regret” manual. Ye Weiming discovered that he could not interpret or learn from it, and received a new mission to rescue Duan Yu before Song Bingyi would reveal the manual’s secret.

• Duan Xiyang Wuyu instructed Zhong Ling to relay his unconventional detoxification advice to Duan Yu and Mu Wanqing, then hurried out of Myriad Tribulation Pine Forest.
• Zhong Ling gave Ye Weiming a bamboo whistle so the group could contact her, and Ye Weiming led the others back toward Dali City.
• Ye Weiming and his companions met Duan Xiyang Wuyu at the city gates and split up to report to the Dali palace and Prince of Zhennan’s Estate.
• Duan Zhengming gave Ye Weiming the “Soaring Dragon, Regret” manual after hearing about Duan Yanqing, but Ye Weiming failed to interpret its strange stick-figure illustrations.
• Duan Zhengming assigned Ye Weiming the seven-star mission to help rescue Duan Yu, with the manual’s interpretation depending on his performance and Duan Yu’s survival.

After receiving a quest to unseal Soaring Dragon, Regret, Ye Weiming prepared to rescue Duan Yu and Mu Wanqing, while three opposing players in Myriad Tribulation Valley plotted to use the Four Great Evils against his group. The chapter left Ye Weiming at a pharmacy buying ingredients and the rival players preparing to sacrifice Yun Zhonghe to secure their rewards.

• Ye Weiming concluded that Soaring Dragon, Regret was a coded manual and that Duan Yu might be in danger if rival players sabotaged the quest.
• Ye Weiming asked Sanyue to help Liuyun question Dao Baifeng, and Sanyue headed to Prince of Zhennan's Estate.
• Ye Weiming went to West Market to buy ingredients for a Fossil Softening Pill as preparation for the rescue.
• In Myriad Tribulation Valley, a scholar-robed player and Dugu Xingyun argued over the One Yang Finger manuals before a red-robed player proposed using the Four Great Evils against Ye Weiming's group.
• The red-robed player suggested arranging Yun Zhonghe's death to spark a feud and help the three players secure three One Yang Finger manuals.

Ye Weiming prepared Fossil Softening Pills and improved his movement techniques before gathering his allies for a nighttime rescue mission at Myriad Tribulation Valley. The group reached the surrounding pine forest, where Zhong Ling’s cry for help came from ahead.

• Ye Weiming refined twenty Fossil Softening Pills as a precaution against Duan Yanqing’s possible chessboard trial.
• Ye Weiming used insights and Cultivation Points to raise Ladder Cloud Ascending Technique to level nine and Thousand Miles in an Instant to level eight, then improved Tai Shan's Secret with Polearm Mastery Insights.
• Ye Weiming sent carrier pigeons to Sanyue, Liuyun, Sheng Tian Banzi, Duan Xiyang Wuyu, and others, and received confirmation that everyone was prepared.
• Ye Weiming and the group gathered outside the city and traveled toward Myriad Tribulation Valley to rescue Duan Yu without relying on NPCs.
• At the pine forest surrounding Myriad Tribulation Valley, Ye Weiming blew Zhong Ling’s bamboo whistle, and Zhong Ling called for help from within the forest.

Ye Weiming and his teammates pursued Yun Zhonghe after he abducted Zhong Ling, and Ye used Ah Hong to catch up with the fleeing rapist. Yun Zhonghe turned to fight, and Ye Weiming landed the first strike without being hit.

• Zhong Ling cried for help as Yun Zhonghe carried her out of Myriad Tribulation Valley, and Ye Weiming rushed to intercept them.
• Ye Weiming taunted Yun Zhonghe with Tai Shan's Secret, but Yun Zhonghe fled faster while carrying Zhong Ling.
• Ye Weiming summoned Ah Hong, whose aerial pursuit forced Yun Zhonghe to stop, set Zhong Ling down, and seal her acupoints.
• Yun Zhonghe charged at Ye Weiming with his Iron Claw Steel Staff, and Ye dodged his attacks and cut his left temple for 50,524 damage.

Ye Weiming and his teammates cornered the level 85 Yun Zhonghe, combining coordinated attacks to inflict heavy damage. The chapter ended with Ye Weiming summoning his knocked-away sword to strike Yun Zhonghe between the legs, leaving the rogue screaming in pain.

• Ye Weiming fought Yun Zhonghe while Liuyun distracted the rogue with a Buddhist lecture and Zhong Ling remained behind him.
• The rest of the team arrived, and Ye Weiming finally attacked Yun Zhonghe after allowing dozens of openings to pass.
• Yun Zhonghe knocked away Ye Weiming’s sword and launched a lethal counterattack, but Ye Weiming blocked with Shocking the Hundred Li as Sanyue struck Yun Zhonghe’s knees with poisoned nails.
• Ye Weiming’s palm strike blasted Yun Zhonghe backward, and Duan Xiyang Wuyu, Mountains and Rivers Meet, and Foodie Little Fairy attacked him in succession.
• Yun Zhonghe forced back the three attackers and prepared to escape, but Ye Weiming used Sword Summon to send his golden sword into Yun Zhonghe’s lower vital point.

Ye Weiming and his teammates overwhelmed Yun Zhonghe after Liuyun agreed to recite a “Sutra of Rebirth” for him, and Foodie Little Fairy unexpectedly landed the killing blow. The system announced Yun Zhonghe’s permanent death and awarded the seven participants; Ye Weiming suspected Foodie Little Fairy had used an instant-kill effect.

• Ye Weiming’s sword attack crippled Yun Zhonghe, and the team sealed his acupoints and battered him.
• Yun Zhonghe begged Liuyun to save him by converting to Buddhism, but Liuyun began chanting a sutra wishing him an early reincarnation.
• Liuyun briefly slipped into singing a Chinese lyric before resuming his Sanskrit chant as the teammates continued attacking Yun Zhonghe.
• Foodie Little Fairy’s Golden Crow Saber strike hit Yun Zhonghe for 98,982 damage and killed him instantly.
• The system announced Yun Zhonghe’s permanent death and awarded the seven participants, and Ye Weiming asked Foodie Little Fairy whether she had an instant-kill skill or item.

Ye Weiming and his teammates defeated Yun Zhonghe and received valuable loot, including the Zhi Ma Poetry Collection. A system announcement revealed that rival players had killed Hua Hegen, forcing the group to head toward Myriad Tribulation Valley without relying on the NPC rescue plan, while Zhong Ling remained in distress after her acupoints were unsealed.

• Foodie Little Fairy shared the system prompt showing that she had landed the instant kill on Yun Zhonghe.
• Duan Xiyang Wuyu, Mountains and Rivers Meet, Sanyue, Foodie Little Fairy, Sheng Tian Banzi, and Liuyun revealed their rewards from Yun Zhonghe.
• Ye Weiming revealed the Zhi Ma Poetry Collection, then collected Yun Zhonghe's corpse and several combat insights.
• A system announcement reported that Jiang Jin Jiu, Dugu Xingyun, and I'm Looking For Something had killed Hua Hegen, eliminating a key NPC from the rescue plan.
• Ye Weiming and the others decided to return to Myriad Tribulation Valley and help if the rival players faced danger.
• Duan Xiyang Wuyu unsealed Zhong Ling's acupoints, and she sat up, flushed and incoherent with heat.

Foodie Little Fairy cured Zhong Ling of the Yin Yang Harmony Powder and received a Lightning Ferret and a pet shoulder bag as thanks. Ye Weiming explained how quest rewards could reflect duplicated NPC possessions, while Foodie Little Fairy proudly showed off her new pet.

• Ye Weiming explained that Zhong Ling had been drugged with Yin Yang Harmony Powder and that system restrictions prevented her clothes from coming undone.
• Foodie Little Fairy gave Zhong Ling the antidote, restoring her to normal, and Zhong Ling rewarded her with a gold-grade Pet Shoulder Bag and a Lightning Ferret.
• Sheng Tian Banzi questioned why Zhong Ling could give away the ferret, which the original story said should have died to the Mang Gu Zhu Ha’s poison.
• Ye Weiming explained that players could not freely access Duan Yu’s earlier adventures and that NPCs could duplicate former possessions as quest rewards.
• Foodie Little Fairy took out the ferret and celebrated her prize while Ye Weiming privately wished he had obtained the Yin Yang Harmony Powder and its antidote.

Ye Weiming’s group prepared to return to Myriad Tribulation Valley after defeating Yun Zhonghe, but Duan Yanqing and the other two Great Evils arrived to confront them. Sanyue recited a verse that left Duan Yanqing shaken, and he struggled to ask about Guanyin Bodhisattva.

• Ye Weiming asked Liuyun and Dong Liu to escort Zhong Ling to Myriad Tribulation Valley while the others went ahead.
• Duan Yanqing, Ye Erniang, and Yue Lao San arrived and blocked the group, demanding to know whether they had killed Yun Zhonghe.
• The three Great Evils revealed their formidable BOSS attributes, and Ye Weiming’s group readied their weapons.
• Duan Yanqing accused the group of killing Yun Zhonghe after he pursued Zhong Ling.
• Sanyue recited, “Outside Tianlong Temple, beneath the Bodhi Tree, a ragged beggar, Long-Haired Guanyin,” and Duan Yanqing reacted with shock and asked about Guanyin Bodhisattva.

Sanyue revealed to Duan Yanqing that Dao Baifeng was the Long-Haired Guanyin and hinted that Duan Yu was his son, prompting him to rush toward Myriad Tribulation Valley. Ye Erniang and Yue Lao San then prepared to fight the others, but a white-robed figure stepped forward to confront Ye Erniang.

• Sanyue used her four-line verse to make Duan Yanqing believe she had news from the Long-Haired Guanyin, then clarified that she was only delivering a message.
• Sanyue privately told Duan Yanqing that the woman from his past was Dao Baifeng, Princess Consort of Duan Zhengchun and Duan Yu's mother.
• Sanyue told Duan Yanqing that Duan Yu wore a gold medallion bearing his birth date and time, and Duan Yanqing hurried toward Myriad Tribulation Valley.
• Ye Erniang and Yue Lao San argued over their rankings and agreed to compete by killing their opponents.
• As Ye Weiming prepared to summon help, a white-robed figure stepped forward and blocked Ye Erniang.

Liuyun and Sanyue defused the confrontation with Ye Erniang and Yue Lao San, allowing the group to continue toward Myriad Tribulation Valley. On the way, Ye Weiming spotted Ba Tianshi being chased by three players and nearing defeat.

• Liuyun faced Ye Erniang and offered to take three blows rather than let her and his companions fight.
• Ye Erniang stopped her cleaver before striking Liuyun and agreed to leave, but warned that Yue Lao San might still attack.
• Sanyue confronted Yue Lao San, who fled rather than face his master, and Ye Erniang also departed.
• Ye Weiming sent Liuyun and Sheng Tian Banzi to escort Zhong Ling while the rest of the group hurried to Myriad Tribulation Valley.
• Ye Weiming saw Ba Tianshi being pursued by three players, with his health below a quarter.

Ye Weiming intervened as Jiang Jin Jiu and two teammates pursued the wounded Ba Tianshi, then recognized Jiang Jin Jiu by his unusual swordsmanship. Jiang Jin Jiu explained that their missions had collided and attacked Ye Weiming.

• Ye Weiming saw Ba Tianshi fleeing from three players and noticed that the red-clad pursuer was rapidly wearing down his health with sword strikes and hidden weapons.
• Ye Weiming fired a Steel Bullet at the red-clad player, then closed in and clashed swords with him, forcing him back.
• Ye Weiming recognized the red-clad player as Qi Qi, now named Jiang Jin Jiu, and recalled how he had escaped the Qingcheng Sect and joined the Xingxiu Sect.
• Jiang Jin Jiu warned Ye Weiming that his teammates would arrive first and said he would have to defeat him because their missions had collided.
• Jiang Jin Jiu transformed into a red afterimage and stabbed toward Ye Weiming's throat.