Chapter Summaries

Lin Heng tried to justify his interest in Dugu Yueli to Meng Yutong, but their argument turned into another intimate contest aboard the Cloud Boat. Dugu Yueli overheard them and set up a sound barrier, while Meng Yutong continued testing Lin Heng’s limits.

• Lin Heng told Meng Yutong that pursuing Dugu Yueli could benefit the Dugu Clan and produce an exceptional heir.
• Meng Yutong tried to slap Lin Heng, but he caught her hands and turned their quarrel into an intimate encounter.
• Dugu Yueli woke to the sounds from the next cabin, blushed, and decided to isolate the noise.
• Lin Heng and Meng Yutong tested their strength without enhanced physiques, and Meng Yutong teased him when he asked to rest.

Lin Heng’s group followed traces of the Old Lin Family into the Plateau Forbidden Zone and realized the Shadow Alliance was monitoring them. Deep beneath the Forbidden Zone, the Alliance’s leaders discussed Lin Heng, the Female Emperor, and Prince Jing while deciding how he might serve their plans.

• Luo Qi led the Cloud Boat to a battlefield where Lin Heng confirmed the dead were not his relatives and Luo Qi determined the Female Emperor had disappeared earlier than expected.
• Lin Heng’s group sensed they were being watched and debated whether the Shadow Alliance had lured them there or was connected to Prince Jing and the Buddhist and Daoist factions.
• The Shadow Alliance’s leaders watched the Cloud Boat through a crystalline elemental crystal from their base beneath the Plateau Forbidden Zone.
• The Alliance leaders discussed Lin Heng’s unusual abilities and whether they could capture or deceive him to pressure the Female Emperor.

Wen Zhou revealed why he betrayed Jiang Jingyi: after centuries of serving her and building the Shadow Alliance, he could not bear that she had given her heart to a young man. He laid out a plan to trap Lin Heng and the others while he tried to persuade Jiang Jingyi, leaving Murong Ziyan stunned by his confession and the claim about Jiang Jingyi’s love.

• An old strategist proposed deceiving Jiang Jingyi about Lin Heng, but the others dismissed his idea.
• Wen Zhou ordered the group to cooperate with Prince Jing and said Lin Heng and his companions would soon be trapped for half a month.
• Wen Zhou entered a palace modeled after Jiang Jingyi’s residence, brushed Murong Ziyan aside, and greeted the imprisoned Female Emperor.
• Jiang Jingyi asked Wen Zhou why he had betrayed her, and he declared that he was answering her question.
• Wen Zhou confessed that he had built the Shadow Alliance for centuries hoping to earn Jiang Jingyi’s regard, then erupted over hearing that she loved a young man.
• Murong Ziyan realized Wen Zhou had feelings for Jiang Jingyi and wondered who the young man was.

Jiang Jingyi rebuked Wen Zhou for his treason and made clear that she chose Lin Heng for his youth, Immortal Body, and suitability as her partner. Wen Zhou vowed to imprison her, while Jiang Jingyi revealed that she had suspected the Shadow Alliance was leaking information and Murong Ziyan realized she had badly offended Lin Heng.

• Murong Ziyan learned that Lin Heng was Jiang Jingyi’s lover, then Jiang Jingyi struck her down when she questioned why her harem could hold only one person.
• Jiang Jingyi reprimanded Wen Zhou for challenging her and reminded him that she had once spared his life despite his family’s disgrace.
• Wen Zhou demanded to know why Jiang Jingyi preferred Lin Heng, and she cited his youth, Immortal Body, service, and powerful bloodline.
• Wen Zhou vowed to keep Jiang Jingyi imprisoned and declared that Prince Jing would take control of Heavenly Profound.
• Murong Ziyan asked what they should do, and Jiang Jingyi explained that she had suspected the Shadow Alliance was leaking her whereabouts to her elder brother.
• Jiang Jingyi blamed Lin Heng for her disappearance and confirmed that she had spent those days with him, leaving Murong Ziyan afraid that Lin Heng would punish her for trying to make him a eunuch.

Lin Heng rescued Lin Lingdong and several Old Lin Family members from the Buddhist Incense Society’s Buddha statues, then learned that their group had been scattered in an illusion array. The Heavenly Fate Chessboard revealed an unexplained black piece that might signify misfortune, and Lin Heng decided to find the Female Emperor and investigate it.

• Lin Heng learned that the attackers were cleaning up after the Medical Path, then slew the Buddha statues and drove off two red-robed monks who vanished as Spiritual Bodies.
• Lin Heng freed Lin Lingdong and five other Old Lin Family members from a rock cave and learned that their ancestor had lured away a giant Buddha statue and abandoned them.
• Lin Lingdong explained that an illusion array had scattered their group and that four other family members, including their ancestor, were missing.
• Bai Yi read the Heavenly Fate Chessboard’s black piece as a sign of withering fortune, leading Lin Heng to suspect it represented a Child of Misfortune.
• Lin Heng resolved to find the Female Emperor and investigate the black piece, then defended her when Lin Lingdong called her old.

Lin Heng and his companions found Jiang Zhenqing in the Plateau Forbidden Zone, where he claimed the Shadow Alliance and the Buddhist Incense Society had trapped him and the Female Emperor. Suspecting Jiang Zhenqing’s story was fabricated, Lin Heng refused to abandon the imprisoned Female Emperor and set out to save her.

• Wen Zhou watched Lin Heng’s group depart for Purple Source and resolved to seize the opportunity he believed Lin Heng possessed.
• Lin Heng’s group found Jiang Zhenqing unconscious among several Shadow Alliance members and revived him with a pill and Wood Force.
• Jiang Zhenqing claimed that false intelligence had caused the Nine Dust Alliance’s losses and said the Female Emperor had pursued him into the Plateau Forbidden Zone before being suppressed by Calamity.
• Dugu Yueli demanded an explanation from Jiang Zhenqing, while Lin Heng suspected his account was a performance and thought the Female Emperor had been imprisoned through his machinations.
• Jiang Zhenqing urged everyone to withdraw, but Lin Heng declared that he would save the Female Emperor and moved to act.

Lin Heng rejected Jiang Zhenqing’s attempt to draw the group out of the Plateau Forbidden Zone and agreed to search for the Female Emperor with Bai Yi while the others gathered support. After the Cloud Boat left, Lin Heng flew northwest as Bai Yi peppered him with questions about his relationship with the Female Emperor.

• Lin Heng revealed that he and the Female Emperor had privately pledged themselves to one another, shocking Bai Yi, Dugu Yueli, and Luo Qi.
• Jiang Zhenqing argued that they should return for reinforcements, but Lin Heng insisted on searching for the Female Emperor without delay.
• Luo Qi and Bai Yi proposed splitting up so Lin Heng and Bai Yi could search while the others gathered helpers, and Meng Yutong supported their plan.
• Lin Heng agreed to the plan and watched Jiang Zhenqing board the Cloud Boat, while privately suspecting that Prince Jing was trying to stall or lure him away.
• Once the Cloud Boat disappeared, Lin Heng flew northwest with Bai Yi, then slapped Bai Yi a thousand meters away after he kept teasing him about the Female Emperor.

Wen Zhou taunted Jiang Jingyi and Murong Ziyan while Lin Heng and Bai Yi entered a trap, and Jiang Jingyi revealed that she was waiting for her brother to seize power so she could depose him. As the Immortal Clans struggled against repeated defeats, the Song Clan Ancestor proposed a final plan to reverse their fortunes.

• Wen Zhou showed Jiang Jingyi and Murong Ziyan images of Lin Heng and Bai Yi entering the Plateau Forbidden Zone, then claimed the Medical Path had prepared a death trap for Lin Heng.
• Jiang Jingyi refused Wen Zhou’s offer and told Murong Ziyan she was waiting for Lin Heng to rescue her while her brother Jiang Zhenqing moved to seize the throne.
• Over the following days, Lin Heng and Bai Yi became lost in a trapping formation, while Meng Yutong joined the Old Lin Family and Jiang Zhenqing consolidated the forces from the Heavenly Profound Continent.
• The six Immortal Clan leaders gathered at the Sky Dome Ancient Castle and worried that Lin Heng’s strength had undermined their plans despite their claimed advantage.
• The Song Clan Ancestor rebuked the other leaders for their despair and announced that he had one final plan to turn the situation around.

Song Xixuan proposed a false-surrender plan to preserve the immortal clans, while Jiang Zhenqing tried to seize command and push the exhausted allied forces into a new offensive. The chapter ended with Jiang Zhenqing and Dugu Wuwu drawing their weapons against each other.

• Song Xixuan argued that the immortal clans could not be wiped out without leaving the Human Race vulnerable to the Demon Race, and proposed pretending to surrender.
• Song Xixuan outlined a bitter-flesh stratagem centered on Qi and Xiao’s clans, and the gathered ancestors judged the plan feasible.
• Jiang Zhenqing sought to take unified command and urged the allied forces to attack the immortal clan lands despite their exhaustion.
• Dugu Wuwu challenged Jiang Zhenqing’s plan, warning that it would endanger the army and defied his claim to authority.
• Jiang Zhenqing drew his Dragon-Slaying Sword, and Dugu Wuwu drew his saber as Dugu Feng and Shen Yeting watched.

Dugu Wuwu’s camp agreed to follow Dugu Yueli’s instructions while Lin Tiancheng’s family let Jiang Zhenqing walk into a trap. Meanwhile, Lin Heng and Bai Yi escaped their predicament and confronted Wei Shouchen, who was holding the Female Emperor and demanded Lin Heng’s Immortal Body origin.

• Dugu Wuwu read Dugu Yueli’s message and, after hearing Dugu Hongxuan’s reasoning, agreed to comply with her plan and stay away from Jiang Zhenqing.
• Lin Tiancheng and Wenyue recognized Xiao's Immortal Clan and Qi's Immortal Clan’s apparent defection as a ruse, but chose not to warn Prince Jing.
• Xiao's Immortal Clan and Qi's Immortal Clan ambushed Jiang Zhenqing, who was rescued by Dugu Yueli and the Old Lin Family after three Supremes overwhelmed him.
• Lin Heng and Bai Yi emerged from the yellow sands and encountered Wei Shouchen, who revealed that his side had captured the Female Emperor and demanded Lin Heng’s Immortal Body origin in exchange for her release.
• Lin Heng mocked Wei Shouchen’s threat and claimed he would trade the Female Emperor for the Jiang Dynasty’s realm, while Bai Yi praised him and the scene was broadcast across the sky screen.

Lin Heng and Bai Yi confronted Wei Shouchen, who used a strange structure made of Silent Parasol vines to block Lin Heng’s attack and revealed that the Female Emperor was hidden inside it. Lin Heng entered the structure to find her, while Bai Yi followed after learning that he could not count on reincarnation if he died.

• Jiang Jingyi watched Lin Heng’s defiant remarks without intervening, while she seethed over her brother Prince Jing and the Show-off in the Inner Court.
• Wei Shouchen accused Lin Heng of pretending not to care about the Female Emperor, and Lin Heng attacked him with the Nine Heavens Sword.
• The structure behind Wei Shouchen blocked Lin Heng’s strike, and Lin Heng recognized its vines as Silent Parasol and linked them to the Wei Family’s Eternal Mulberry.
• Lin Heng confronted Wei Shouchen over betraying his trust, while Bai Yi urged him to stop wasting time and demanded that Wei Shouchen reveal his schemes.
• Wei Shouchen opened a black door in the structure and claimed the Female Emperor was hidden beneath the bunker, then disappeared inside.
• Lin Heng entered the structure, and Bai Yi followed after angrily rejecting Lin Heng’s claim that they could reincarnate if they died.

Lin Heng and Bai Yi entered a strange domain while Lin Heng considered how Calamity, Silent Parasol, and the epochal cycles were connected. Elsewhere, Jiang Jingyi explained that Lin Heng had likely noticed a problem within the Shadow Alliance, while Murong Ziyan continued to doubt his abilities.

• Lin Heng teased Bai Yi about being unable to reincarnate, then led him through a dark space toward an apparent exit.
• Lin Heng and Bai Yi entered a three-colored domain where they could control their bodies but could not see or sense them normally.
• Jiang Jingyi and Murong Ziyan watched the pair struggle through the maze-like domain and discussed how the Female Emperor had been captured as bait.
• Jiang Jingyi said Lin Heng had likely noticed a problem within the Shadow Alliance, but Murong Ziyan rejected the idea and argued that he owed his success to others.
• Jiang Jingyi warned Murong Ziyan that her antagonism toward Lin Heng could leave her at his mercy.

Lin Heng broke free of an illusion and rescued Bai Yi inside the Shadow Alliance’s vast underground fortress. As they headed south to search for the Female Emperor, Lin Heng suspected the Shadow Alliance’s betrayal began after Jiang Jingyi publicly appeared, though Prince Jing might also be involved.

• Lin Heng saw through the illusion of his wives and shattered it, then dragged Bai Yi out before the false space collapsed.
• Lin Heng slapped Bai Yi awake, and the two found themselves in a sprawling underground stone fortress.
• Bai Yi used the Heavenly Fate Chessboard to confirm they had reached the Female Emperor’s location, but could not pinpoint her exact position.
• Lin Heng chose the southern passage and said they needed to capture Shadow Alliance members alive to learn what was happening underground.
• Bai Yi wondered why the Shadow Alliance had betrayed them, and Lin Heng reasoned that either Jiang Jingyi or Prince Jing might be responsible.
• Lin Heng concluded the Shadow Alliance’s information failures began after the Female Emperor appeared, making her disappearance a further sign that the betrayal was tied to her.

Lin Heng and Bai Yi discovered a chamber filled with beating hearts and confronted Zhao Zigong, who revealed himself as Zhao Wanqing’s father and described the Medical Path’s conspiracy. Zhao Zigong began explaining that the Medical Ancestor had never died, leaving the purpose of the plot and the identity of the man resembling Long San unresolved.

• Lin Heng and Bai Yi entered a vast chamber where human hearts beat along the walls.
• Zhao Zigong arrived with Wei Shouchen and a burly man who looked exactly like the supposedly dead Long San.
• Lin Heng recognized Zhao Zigong as Zhao Wanqing’s father, and Wei Shouchen said the Medical Path had hidden its plans from the Female Emperor and Lin Heng.
• Zhao Zigong explained that Governor Wen had joined the conspiracy after Lin Heng’s affair with the Female Emperor was exposed, and Wei Shouchen threatened to turn Lin Heng into a puppet and the Female Emperor into an emperor furnace.
• Zhao Zigong told Lin Heng that the Medical Ancestor had not died and had pioneered the search for longevity.

Zhao Zigong revealed that the Hedong Calamity consumed the Dao and could be used to pursue longevity, then urged Lin Heng to surrender the origin of his Immortal Body. Lin Heng refused and provoked Zhao, but Bai Yi’s attack was interrupted by a lightning strike, leaving him unconscious as Zhao and his allies mocked Lin Heng.

• Zhao Zigong explained how the Calamity spread through Hedong Land, consumed cultivators’ lifespan and Dao, and was being used as a means to achieve longevity.
• Zhao Zigong offered to spare Lin Heng if he surrendered the origin of his Immortal Body and joined their cause.
• Lin Heng rejected Zhao’s offer, condemned him for abandoning Xin Shao and Wan Qing, and said he would find Xin Shao another good match after Zhao died.
• Bai Yi joked along with Lin Heng and blocked Zhao Zigong’s claw attack with the Heavenly Fate Chessboard.
• Bai Yi charged Zhao Zigong and the others, but a bolt of lightning struck him and knocked him unconscious after the chessboard hit his head.
• Zhao Zigong, Wei Shouchen, and the burly man laughed at Bai Yi and mocked Lin Heng for keeping him as a lackey.

Lin Heng and Bai Yi were captured after the Medical Path used a powerful thunder artifact, but Jiang Jingyi suspected Lin Heng had deliberately let himself be taken. Wen Zhou blamed Jiang Jingyi and threatened Lin Heng, while she vowed to punish the Heavenly Action Continent if Lin Heng died.

• Lin Heng defended himself against Wei Shouchen and the others, but their Thunder Derivation Supreme Treasure shocked him unconscious.
• The burly Martial Path man approached Lin Heng, and Wei Shouchen bound him with the Immortal Binding Rope while Zhao Zigong questioned how easily they had captured him.
• The group dragged Lin Heng and Bai Yi deeper into the bunker to claim credit for their capture.
• Wen Zhou taunted Jiang Jingyi over Lin Heng's capture, and she slapped him before threatening to slaughter everyone on the Heavenly Action Continent if Lin Heng died.
• Murong Ziyan asked what they should do, and Jiang Jingyi said Lin Heng had likely let himself be captured on purpose, though she was unsure about Bai Yi.

Xiao Changsheng prepared a sacrifice to revive the supreme lord, but the ritual required the Female Emperor. In the Central Domain, Dugu Qingyang’s white-haired ancestor killed Song Xixuan and silenced the heavens’ mourning, then turned a threatening gaze on the two Lin Clan ancestors.

• Xiao Changsheng revealed that the ten captives could not be sacrificed without the Female Emperor’s participation, and the assembled factions discussed their plans for her.
• The Heavenly Mystery Imperial Office’s forces broke through the Song Clan’s ancestral land, where Song Xixuan prepared to self-detonate rather than surrender.
• Dugu Qingyang’s white-haired ancestor stopped Song Xixuan’s self-detonation and crushed him to death despite his pleas.
• The white-haired woman ordered the heavens to stop mourning Song Xixuan, and the blood clouds and wailing dispersed.
• Lin Tiancheng and Lin Wenyue recognized the woman as a practitioner of the Heavenly Conduct Dao and worried that she might attack them.

The Taoist Nun confronted the Lin family over Lin Heng’s ties to them, then learned that the Female Emperor had disappeared and went to the front to question Jiang Zhenqing. Jiang denied involvement and left after arguing that the Female Emperor had no reason to return to the Jiang family.

• The Taoist Nun confronted Lin Tiancheng and Lin Wenyue about their family ties to Lin Heng and temporarily set aside the dispute to hear what had happened to him.
• Dugu Wuwu and others mocked the situation until an unseen slap sent Dugu Wuwu flying.
• Lin Wenyue gave the Taoist Nun a jade slip containing memories of the events, and she learned that the Female Emperor had gone missing while Lin Heng was trying to rescue her.
• The Taoist Nun arrived at Bai Qi’s advance position, where she encountered Jiang Zhenqing and the kneeling Dugu Clan members.
• The Taoist Nun questioned Jiang Zhenqing about the Female Emperor’s disappearance, but he denied abducting her and said she had become one of the Dugu Clan’s people before leaving.

Dugu Zixuan revealed that the Female Emperor was Lin Heng’s Dao partner, making her part of the Dugu family by marriage. The Taoist Nun heard how the couple got together and began imagining their descendants bringing the Tianxuan Dynasty under the Dugu surname.

• The Taoist Nun asked Dugu Zixuan and the others to explain why Prince Jing had called the Female Emperor part of the Dugu Clan.
• Dugu Zixuan explained that the Female Emperor was Lin Heng’s Dao partner and therefore her daughter-in-law.
• Dugu Feng rejected the news, but Yun Yao suggested that he hated the Female Emperor because she had cuckolded him, and he laughed until he fainted.
• Shen Yeting dragged Dugu Feng away, while Dugu Zixuan told the Taoist Nun how Lin Heng and the Female Emperor had become a couple.
• The Taoist Nun imagined the Female Emperor’s descendants changing their surname to Dugu and eventually bringing the Tianxuan Dynasty under Dugu rule.

As the war in the Central Domain neared its end, Bai Yi woke in an underground fortress and found himself and Lin Heng bound for sacrifice. Facing Zhao Zigong and the others, Bai Yi tried to save himself by betraying Lin Heng and offering to make Zhao his adoptive father, just as Lin Heng woke and mocked him.

• Yu Wei died at Vast Mountain, and the Taoist Nun left Dugu Zixuan and the others to finish capturing the remaining clans.
• Bai Yi woke in the underground fortress and discovered Lin Heng bound beside him.
• An ox-masked guard told Bai Yi that the captives would be sacrificed on the Alliance Master's order.
• Zhao Zigong said Bai Yi would be sacrificed first because his foundation was weak, though his fortune was still useful.
• Bai Yi offered to betray Lin Heng and claimed he had helped lure him into the trap.
• Bai Yi called Zhao Zigong a potential adoptive father, and Lin Heng woke to mock him.