Chapter Summaries

A massive army from the Heavenly Profound Continent advanced into the Northern Domain, where the resurrected Martial Emperor Jiang Wu blocked its path. Jiang Jingyi shielded Jiang Zhenqing from Jiang Wu’s bloodline pressure and challenged Jiang Wu after calling him a puppet.

• Mu Liuxi and True Person Xu sensed the approaching attack, while Grand Elder Hu Cenyin warned that a great terror might have revived.
• Dugu Qingyang led the army over ten thousand strong into the Northern Domain until Jiang Wu and three other figures stopped their advance.
• Jiang Wu invoked his authority as an ancestor and forced Jiang Zhenqing toward kneeling through bloodline suppression.
• Jiang Jingyi arrived, shielded Jiang Zhenqing, and rallied the army by declaring that the Jiang clan bowed neither to heaven nor earth.
• Jiang Jingyi accused Jiang Wu of being a puppet holding the Ancestral Emperor’s memories, and Jiang Wu urged her to return to the Heavenly Profound Continent.
• Jiang Jingyi rejected Jiang Wu’s claim and raised seven streams of dragon qi to test whether he was truly the Ancestral Emperor.

Jiang Jingyi and Jiang Zhenqing fought Jiang Wu, who revealed that his body carried the fortune of ninety-nine chosen bloodlines and wielded nine streams of Imperial Dragon Qi. When Calamity poured from the Northern Domain’s black pillar, Jiang Jingyi shielded the retreating army, and Jiang Wu let them withdraw.

• Jiang Wu overwhelmed Jiang Jingyi’s seven streams of Imperial Dragon Qi with nine, explaining that his body had been fused from the bloodlines of ninety-nine people of fortune.
• Jiang Wu struck Jiang Jingyi with his saber, and Jiang Zhenqing joined the fight, but Jiang Wu held the siblings at bay.
• Dugu Qingyang battled Han Yue and submerged him in the Red Abyss, while revived figures from the past turned the battle against the Heavenly Mystery Imperial Office and the Nine Dust Alliance.
• The black pillar released a flood of Calamity that devoured cultivators, so Jiang Jingyi formed an Imperial Path Domain and ordered the surviving army to retreat.
• Jiang Wu refused to pursue the retreating army, saying they would be spared once they returned to the Heavenly Profound Continent.

After the Northern Domain repelled a disastrous assault, Xiao Muyu told the Yin Luo that Martial Emperor Jiang Wu had appeared with genuine Imperial Dragon Qi and memories, suggesting someone had extracted his will from the Literary Path. She concluded that the Literary Path had been split to seal its power and enlighten the Mandate of Heaven, which might itself have gone abnormal.

• Jiang Jingyi ended her Imperial Path Domain after the army withdrew, then collapsed and learned that more than two thousand people had died in the failed assault.
• Xiao Muyu saw battlefield images in her bronze mirror and recognized that Martial Emperor Jiang Wu had genuine fortune, Dragon Qi, and memories rather than being a puppet.
• Xiao Muyu confronted Ye Wusheng, Qing Hong, and Luo Bazi, who confirmed that neither Jiang Wu's nor the Literary Emperor's soul had entered the Underworld.
• Xiao Muyu argued that someone had intercepted their will fragments from the Literary Path Essence, which could preserve and transmit memories.
• Ye Wusheng explained that Lin Ziqing had split the Literary Path to seal its power and enlighten someone; Xiao Muyu identified the target as the Mandate of Heaven and suggested it had gone abnormal.

Xiao Muyu explained that corrupted destiny and a hidden force were behind the revived Martial Emperor, then tasked Bai Yi with helping uncover their origins while Lin Heng pursued Dao Integration in the Underworld. Bai Yi accepted the mission and went to bargain with the Dugu Clan.

• Xiao Muyu said destiny had gone awry after the Literary Path was split and that a force had used Literary Path essence to create bodies for the Martial Emperor and Literary Emperor.
• Xiao Muyu asked Luo Bazi to have Luo Qi deliver her plan: report the clues to the Heavenly Mystery Imperial Office and the Dugu Clan, then capture a revived one and investigate its memories.
• Luo Qi passed Xiao Muyu's message to Bai Yi, who laughed at Lin Heng's death before agreeing to take charge of the mortal-world mission.
• Bai Yi decided to approach the Dugu Clan's old ancestor and use their recent defeat as leverage to negotiate terms.

Bai Yi tried to claim authority in the Nine Dust Alliance, but Luo Qi proposed a plan using Underworld forces and won the council’s attention. After more than ten days of recovery and planning, Lin Heng left his chamber in Rebirth Prison and was caught trying to touch the meditating Xiao Muyu.

• Bai Yi presented Lin Heng’s jade slip and ruler and claimed he could command the armies, but Yun Yao and Leng Qingqiu dismissed his authority and mocked his plan to pretend to surrender.
• Luo Qi proposed using Underworld agents and imprisoned Baleful Intent dead souls to distract the revived ones while elites infiltrated and captured one alive.
• Meng Yutong approved considering Luo Qi’s plan, and the alliance agreed to rest, recover, and meet that night to discuss details.
• More than ten days later, Luo Bazi replied that the Underworld would cooperate, while Lin Heng still failed to find an opportunity for Dao Integration.
• Lin Heng found Xiao Muyu meditating before a stone statue and reached toward her knee, but she opened her eyes and caught him.

Xiao Muyu showed Lin Heng the recent disasters in the Northern Domain and revealed that Dugu Yueli had been imprisoned by Ghost Ancestor. Lin Heng saw his sister bound and facing a trial by the Dugu ancestors, and grew anxious to help her.

• Xiao Muyu threatened to use her Netherworld cultivation method on Lin Heng after he tried to touch her, then asked about his stalled Dao Integration.
• Lin Heng asked what had happened outside, and Xiao Muyu showed him the Martial Emperor’s attack, the Calamity mist, and the Female Emperor’s sacrifice.
• Xiao Muyu told Lin Heng that a Dugu ancestor and several princes had arrived, then revealed that the ancestor had imprisoned Dugu Yueli.
• Lin Heng saw Dugu Yueli bound in the stone hall while Dugu Gui and the other ancestors confronted her, and protested that she had done nothing wrong by liking her older brother.

Lin Heng watched the Ghost Ancestor threaten to expel Dugu Yueli and cripple her cultivation, but Dugu Wuwu persuaded him to imprison her instead. Xiao Muyu helped Lin Heng project a wandering-soul phantom into the mortal world, where he heard the elders gossiping and found Yueli in her cell just as the Female Emperor arrived.

• The Ghost Ancestor accused Dugu Yueli and Lin Heng of improper relations and threatened to strip Yueli of her status, resources, and cultivation if she stayed with him.
• Lin Heng grew anxious to return, but Xiao Muyu warned that he was too weak to confront the Ghost Ancestor and offered to project his phantom outside.
• Dugu Wuwu argued that Yueli should be imprisoned until Lin Heng returned so they could be punished together, and the Ghost Ancestor agreed.
• Xiao Muyu used the Yin Bronze Mirror to send Lin Heng's consciousness to the mortal world, where he overheard Yun Yao and the others gossiping about him.
• Lin Heng found Dugu Yueli imprisoned underground, heard her grumble that he was to blame and joke about supporting him if his cultivation were crippled, then sensed the Female Emperor approaching.

Jiang Jingyi visited Dugu Yueli in the underground chamber and discussed who among the Inner Court women could be Lin Heng’s female lead. After dismissing the candidates Yueli proposed, Jiang Jingyi began describing the qualities a true female lead needed.

• Jiang Jingyi entered the chamber where Dugu Yueli was imprisoned and said she had come to visit and discuss Lin Heng’s tribulation.
• Dugu Yueli suggested Meng, Mu Li, Yun Yao, and Duan Shuyun as possible female leads, but Jiang Jingyi rejected each of them.
• Dugu Yueli asked whether the Leng sisters or the Su family’s Saintesses could qualify, and Jiang Jingyi dismissed them along with other women in the Inner Court.
• Jiang Jingyi told Dugu Yueli that a female lead needed a broad heart and far-reaching vision, whether she rose from humble beginnings or bore responsibility from a lofty position.

Jiang Jingyi told Dugu Yueli that they alone could become great heroines and offered to secure her release if she would help restrain the other women. Lin Heng’s spirit projection was caught eavesdropping, and after explaining that his soul was trapped in the Underworld, he comforted Dugu Yueli about her punishment.

• Jiang Jingyi argued that Dugu Yueli and she were the only women in the Inner Court capable of becoming great heroines.
• Dugu Yueli doubted she could lead while imprisoned and worried Lin Heng’s supporters would favor him as ruler.
• Jiang Jingyi offered to plead for Dugu Yueli’s release if she would help keep Meng and the others from dominating the Inner Court.
• Jiang Jingyi sensed an eavesdropper and dragged Lin Heng’s spirit projection down from the room’s beam.
• Lin Heng explained that his body was outside while his soul was trapped in the Underworld, and said he had come to check on Dugu Yueli.
• Dugu Yueli tried to hug Lin Heng but passed through his projection, then worried about losing her cultivation and asked him to take her punishment.

Lin Heng teased Dugu Yueli with a provocative plan to defy her clan, then discussed the Northern Domain war with Jiang Jingyi. He argued that the Martial Emperor might be real and may have staged his journey to the Starry Sky Ancient Road, leaving Jiang Jingyi to consider his suspicions.

• Lin Heng suggested Dugu Yueli threaten to take the Lin surname and bear Lin children unless Ancestor stopped obstructing her, and she punched him before running off.
• Jiang Jingyi dragged Lin Heng away from Dugu Yueli and asked what guidance he had about the Northern Domain war.
• Jiang Jingyi admitted that she and Prince Jing could only draw against the Martial Emperor puppet, who had not shown his full strength.
• Lin Heng argued that the Martial Emperor was likely not a puppet because he wielded nine strands of Imperial Dragon Qi.
• Lin Heng proposed that the Martial Emperor might have lied about entering the Starry Sky Ancient Road or had made secret arrangements before his supposed departure.
• Jiang Jingyi threatened Lin Heng when he began joking about the Martial Emperor’s motives, and he begged her to forgive him.

Lin Heng argued that Martial Emperor may have turned to Calamity to escape Fortune backlash, while Literary Emperor had supported Lin Ziqing and would have willingly gone to the Starry Sky Ancient Road. He comforted Jiang Jingyi and nearly kissed her before Dugu Yueli interrupted them, leaving Lin Heng to tease her about a possible child.

• Lin Heng suggested Martial Emperor had become involved with Calamity to avoid dying from Fortune backlash, and Jiang Jingyi was shaken by the possibility.
• Lin Heng argued that Literary Emperor was different because he had supported Lin Ziqing’s methods and that his lack of revival contrasted with Martial Emperor’s return.
• Lin Heng comforted Jiang Jingyi, praised the burdens she had carried as Female Emperor, and said she no longer had to face them alone.
• Lin Heng and Jiang Jingyi were about to kiss when Dugu Yueli appeared between them, and Jiang Jingyi fled after telling him to discuss arrangements through Dugu Yueli and the Nine Dust Alliance.
• Lin Heng teased Dugu Yueli about whether a future child would sit with one group of people or another, then told her to lift her skirt so he could look, and she ordered him to get lost.

After returning to Rebirth Prison, Lin Heng resumed cultivating while the alliance planned a Netherworld passage into the Northern Domain. Dugu Gui led an elite force to Centennial Sword Sect and, after hearing about the resurrected army and the mysterious black pillars, ordered an immediate raid to capture Han Yue.

• Lin Heng returned to Rebirth Prison with the Yin Bronze Mirror and resumed trying to achieve Dao Integration.
• Dugu Gui's council chose a sneak attack through the Netherworld to capture Han Yue alive and search his memories for the origin of the resurrected.
• Dugu Gui and more than twenty Dao Integration experts emerged from a Netherworld passage inside Centennial Sword Sect, alarming the sect.
• Hu Cenyin explained that the Buddhist Incense Society and the Sword Sect's deterrence strategy had kept the sect from being destroyed, then shared intelligence about the resurrected army and its powerful leaders.
• Dugu Gui learned that nine Heaven-Piercing Black Pillars had appeared and were transporting an unknown calamity, then ordered the group to move against Han Yue immediately.

Han Yue tried to escape using a soldier formation, but Lin Tiancheng, Lin Wenyue, and Dugu Xiu trapped him in their combined domains. Martial Emperor Jiang Wu tried to rescue him, but Dugu Gui confronted him, forcing him to withdraw and leaving Han Yue captive.

• Han Yue raised an Immortal Soldier Formation to delay his pursuers, but Lin Wenyue shattered it with a sword art Han Yue recognized as Lin Ziqing’s.
• Lin Tiancheng unleashed his Eye-Blood Divine Sea, and Dugu Xiu, Lin Wenyue, and Han Yue brought forth their domains; Han Yue’s Holy King Deduction collapsed, and he fell into the blood sea.
• Martial Emperor Jiang Wu sent a great hand into the domain to rescue Han Yue, but Dugu Gui appeared and challenged Jiang Wu’s claims of invincibility.
• After a prolonged confrontation, Jiang Wu withdrew rather than risk severe injury, and Han Yue was swallowed by Lin Tiancheng’s domain and captured.
• Lin Tiancheng urged the others to press their advantage, but Dugu Xiu warned them to preserve their strength and avoid complicating their plans.

After Dugu Gui captured Han Yue, Lin Heng worried that the Ancestor would punish him and asked Xiao Muyu to protect him. Xiao Muyu agreed on the condition that Lin Heng bring the Female Emperor to the Underworld to keep her company.

• Dugu Gui and the group returned to the Centennial Sword Sect after capturing Han Yue, and Hu Cenyin praised their swift victory.
• Lin Heng learned of the capture and feared that Dugu Gui would settle his old grievances with him once he emerged from seclusion.
• Lin Heng went to Xiao Muyu as she repaired Rebirth Prison and asked her to help shield him from the Ancestors.
• Xiao Muyu agreed to help Lin Heng but demanded that he bring the Female Emperor to the Underworld to accompany her.

Lin Heng considered Xiao Muyu’s proposal while his allies refined Han Yue with the Human Emperor Banner, only for Han Yue to reveal that he had become Calamity. The crisis was contained, and Jiang Qian sent Lin Heng a theory about Calamity copying the memories of those it devoured.

• Lin Heng hesitated to agree to Xiao Muyu’s proposal to bring the Female Emperor into the Inner Court, and Xiao Muyu assured him she would not harm its people.
• After Dugu Gui and the others captured Han Yue, Lin Heng had the Human Emperor Banner delivered to Luo Qi so she could investigate Han Yue’s memories.
• Bai Yi used the Human Emperor Banner to refine Han Yue, whose body exploded and wounded Lin Tiancheng before Luo Qi entered the banner.
• Han Yue transformed into Calamity inside the banner, forcing Luo Qi to escape and warn everyone; Bai Yi contained the Calamity before it could spread further.
• Jiang Qian suggested that Calamity might copy its victims’ memories as it devoured them, and Dugu Gui’s group agreed to take the banner and her message to Lin Heng.

Dugu Yueli and Dugu Qingyang discussed the devastation of the battlefield, the Dugu Clan’s ambitions, and how Lin Ziqing’s schemes may have ruined Aunt Zixuan’s standing as Kirin Girl. Their conversation ended when Xiao Lan reported that the red fox had carried Xuexue toward the Demon Domain.

• Dugu Qingyang showed Dugu Yueli the battlefield’s destruction and asked why the Dugu Clan had come to the Heavenly Action Continent.
• Dugu Yueli said they had come to contend for heavenly fate, and Dugu Qingyang praised her growing insight.
• Dugu Yueli asked why Aunt Zixuan lost her Kirin Girl status after giving birth to Brother Heng, and Dugu Qingyang blamed Lin Ziqing’s involvement with Lin Zhique.
• Dugu Yueli asked Dugu Qingyang to stop the ancestors from beating Brother Heng, but he refused and warned her not to plead before Ghost Ancestor.
• Xiao Lan arrived and told Dugu Yueli that the red fox had taken Xuexue toward the Demon Domain, leaving Dugu Yueli alarmed.

Lin Heng regrouped with Luo Qi, Bai Yi, and Xiao Muyu after the Northern Domain evacuation and examined the sealed Human Emperor Banner. Xiao Muyu concluded that the Martial Emperor and Medical Ancestor were likely representatives of the First Epoch, whose plans had taken root in the Immortal Realm long ago.

• Lin Heng sent Xiao Lan and the red fox to investigate the Demon Domain while the ancestor stayed behind to guard their base.
• The Northern Domain group returned to the Central Domain through the Netherworld tunnel, and the Centennial Sword Sect evacuated to escape the Martial Emperor's retaliation.
• Xiao Muyu received Luo Qi and Bai Yi, criticized the Netherworld's idle Yin Luo, and led them through the Rebirth Prison passage to Lin Heng.
• Luo Qi gave Lin Heng the Human Emperor Banner, explaining that Han Yue had killed himself and that she had sealed the dangerous calamity inside it.
• Xiao Muyu said the Martial Emperor and Medical Ancestor were likely the schemers and representatives of the First Epoch, which had embedded its plans in the Immortal Realm through the calamity.

Lin Heng explained how the epochs had joined forces against stronger rivals and concluded that the Fourth Epoch needed allies despite its current dominance. He sent Bai Yi to follow Little Cabbage’s instructions and build trust with Sun Hao, while Bai Yi’s suggestion to take Sun Hao to a pleasure house provoked Luo Qi into chasing him.

• Bai Yi questioned whether Lin Ziqing had misjudged the Martial Emperor, and Lin Heng argued that the Martial Emperor had originally stood with the Fourth Epoch before switching sides.
• Lin Heng reconstructed how the First and Fourth Epochs had cooperated to overthrow the demonic beasts, and how the weaker One Dao and Third Epoch Buddhism had now allied against the powerful Fourth Epoch.
• Bai Yi realized that the Fourth Epoch’s strength had made it a target and recognized that the Fifth Epoch had reason to ally with it.
• Lin Heng told Bai Yi to obey Little Cabbage’s orders and get closer to Sun Hao to learn what the Bai Clan was hiding.
• Bai Yi proposed taking Sun Hao for drinks and to visit pleasure houses, so Luo Qi chased him while he called for Lin Heng to save him.

Dugu Yueli crossed the Demon Domains searching for Dugu Xuexue and learned that a mysterious sound was driving great demons to madness and death. After reuniting with Xuexue among the migrating tribes, she agreed to help investigate, and Yu Ling revealed their suspicion that the Ancient Demon Venerable had awakened.

• Dugu Yueli and Xiao Lan found two surviving juvenile bears in the Tusu Demon Domain, who showed that their clan had gone mad and killed itself while they slept.
• Dugu Yueli followed the red fox and Xuexue’s trail south, where Ling Ben explained that a terrifying sound from the Extreme Cold Demon Domain was causing great demons to suffer mental collapse.
• Dugu Yueli caught up with the migrating demon tribes and reunited with Dugu Xuexue, who urged her to help the demons instead of returning to the Central Domain.
• Dugu Yueli agreed to investigate the threat and met Yu Ling, who suspected the Ancient Demon Venerable of the Extreme Cold Demon Domain had awakened.

Dugu Yueli learned that the Ancient Demon Venerable had driven demon tribes south and warned the Great Flame Demon Domain not to enter Immortal Sea Summit. Three to five days later, the Martial Emperor destroyed the Centennial Sword Sect’s location and announced plans to invade the Central Domain, dismissing warnings about Lin Heng.

• Old Ancestor White Eyebrow explained that demon tribes from the Sand Dune Demon Domain had migrated south, and the Great Flame Demon Domain had abandoned its ancestral lands after its chiefs disappeared while investigating.
• Dugu Yueli told Old Ancestor White Eyebrow that Lin Heng was in seclusion, warned the tribe to stay out of Immortal Sea Summit, and set off south with Dugu Xuexue, Xiao Lan, and Yu Ling.
• Dugu Xuexue teased Dugu Yueli about her relationship with Lin Heng and asked whose surname their future child would take, prompting Dugu Yueli to silence her.
• The Martial Emperor flattened the Centennial Sword Sect’s location after Hu Cenyin and the others had escaped with Jiang Qian and the others.
• Xiao Juming warned Jiang Wu that Lin Heng remained a threat, but Jiang Wu dismissed the warning and vowed to capture him.