Chapter Summaries

Li Wei relived a childhood memory of defending Li Cheng before the story returned to Gu Jinzhi and Zeng Yi as the lotus’s power transformed the capital. The chapter ended with an urgent report that sixty thousand bandits had surrounded Fengzhou and a request for Madam to lead a campaign against them.

• Li Wei rushed to defend Li Cheng from bullies at the orphanage, was beaten, and told Li Cheng he treated him well because he was his underling.
• The lotus’s vital breath pushed Gu Jinzhi and Zeng Yi to the peak of the Third Order, leaving them worried about the unprecedented breakthrough.
• Gu Jinzhi told the court that the Empress’s cultivation caused the celestial signs and ordered officials not to spread panic.
• Reports revealed that spring and flowers had returned across the area around Yujing City, drawing crowds of worshippers and halting the city’s daily routines.
• Zeng Yi reported that the troops remained loyal, while he and Gu Jinzhi questioned the scale of the celestial upheaval.
• Wei Xun delivered an urgent report that sixty thousand roving bandits had surrounded Fengzhou and requested Madam’s aid.

Li Wei tried to feed and reassure Li Cheng, who asked to be sent to an orphanage and wondered why Li Wei treated him so well. Meanwhile, Gu Jinzhi left the capital with the Floating Cloud Iron Cavalry to aid Fengzhou, entrusting Jiang Xue’s protection to Zeng Yi.

• Li Wei shared rice with Li Cheng at a fast-food restaurant, despite having little food for himself.
• Li Cheng asked Li Wei to take him to an orphanage, but Li Wei refused and promised to care for him.
• Li Cheng worried that Li Wei had spent his savings on his medical treatment, and Li Wei boasted that he would marry Jiang something-or-other Xue and take Li Cheng to America for treatment.
• Su Mo reported to Gu Jinzhi that the army had too few firearms and cannons to make a decisive difference.
• Gu Jinzhi explained that the rebels’ alliance might involve the Great Dream Bodhisattva and said he would not abandon Min Zimo or Jiang Xue.
• Zeng Yi promised to protect Jiang Xue, and Gu Jinzhi rode south with more than thirteen thousand Floating Cloud Iron Cavalry as the capital’s people saw him off.

Li Wei struggled to understand her grief after completing her mother's household registration, while Min Zimo fought through the eighth day of the siege and feared Fengzhou would soon fall. The chapter left Min Zimo hoping Miss Jiang would arrive before the bandits attacked again.

• Li Wei signed the paperwork for her mother's household registration and kept the clipped corner of her mother's identity card as a memento.
• Li Wei broke down in tears, but Li Cheng's question about why she was sad made her wonder whether she should grieve her mother's death.
• Min Zimo repelled two of Peng Lianhu's third-tier generals, killing one and wounding the other, then continued defending the wall.
• The bandits withdrew at dusk, leaving Fengzhou's defenders exhausted and surrounded by the dead and wounded.
• Fu Man asked Min Zimo whether his letter had reached Madam, but Min Zimo remained silent and studied the growing earthen platform outside the city.
• Min Zimo recovered his strength and hoped Miss Jiang would arrive before Fengzhou fell in another assault.

Li Wei struggled through a nightmare of overlapping voices while Min Zimo ordered Fengzhou’s defenders to abandon the burning outer city and retreat into the inner city. Gu Jinzhi led the Floating Cloud Iron Cavalry to Fengzhou, where they charged the besieging bandits at dawn.

• Li Wei endured a dark nightmare filled with voices and fragmented memories before stumbling through a wicker gate into the night.
• Min Zimo ordered the defenders to abandon Fengzhou’s outer city, burn its supplies and homes, and fortify the inner city.
• Gu Jinzhi led the Floating Cloud Iron Cavalry south of Fengzhou, where they armored up and waited for dawn to attack.
• Scouts reported that Fengzhou’s inner city still resisted but remained surrounded by bandits, and Mao Dayou urged Gu Jinzhi to destroy the enemy camps and supplies.
• At sunrise, Gu Jinzhi rallied the cavalry and led their charge down the hill toward the bandits surrounding Fengzhou.

Min Zimo and the defenders of Xuan City received a dramatic morale boost when Great Jing reinforcements sounded their horns and appeared on the horizon. In a separate vision, Li Wei realized that she was simply herself before the courtyard dissolved into white light.

• Min Zimo killed an enemy general who had severed Fu Man’s arm, but more rebels climbed the wall during the delay.
• Yang Chengdong pulled Xu Yuncheng away from the fighting, and they briefly reflected on their past failure to unite.
• Great Jing cavalry arrived from the southeast, and the surviving defenders cheered as their fighting spirit returned.
• Li Wei awoke in a courtyard beside Li Cheng, and the siblings teased and played together on the swings.
• When Li Cheng repeatedly asked why she was there again, Li Wei questioned who she was and concluded that she was simply herself.
• The courtyard and everything in it faded and shattered as white light engulfed Li Wei.

Peng Lianhu sacrificed Jiao Ping and his guards to complete his transformation into a colossal six-armed female figure on a blood lotus. Gu Jinzhi recognized the Great Dream Bodhisattva and ordered a retreat, but the army was trapped beneath her overwhelming pressure.

• Peng Lianhu killed Jiao Ping and absorbed the blood of his personal guards as he claimed to have become immortal.
• A blood cocoon formed around Peng Lianhu and burst, revealing a giant six-armed figure rising on a blood-red lotus platform.
• Gu Jinzhi and Mao Dayou led the Floating Cloud Iron Cavalry through the bandit army's eastern formation.
• Gu Jinzhi saw the giant and realized the cavalry's bloody charge had helped usher the Great Dream Bodhisattva into the world.
• Gu Jinzhi ordered the army to retreat, but the Bodhisattva's pressure brought down the horses and immobilized the soldiers.

A radiant lotus blossomed over Jianji Hall, rejuvenating the people of Yujing and revealing a woman who Zeng Yi urged to save Gu Jinzhi and Min Zimo. In Fengzhou, the Great Dream Bodhisattva attacked the two captives, but a blinding light stopped His strike and made Him cry out, “Martial... Immortal???”

• The lotus above Jianji Hall began to bloom, and Zeng Yi felt a strange itch as he watched.
• Lu Zhenyan, Wen Boyuan, Shi Weizhen, and Xia Heng regained their youth as the lotus’s light spread across Yujing and healed people throughout the city.
• The lotus fully opened and revealed a woman, whom Zeng Yi begged to hurry to Fengzhou and save Gu Jinzhi.
• The Great Dream Bodhisattva rose over Fengzhou, killed nearly one hundred thousand of Peng Lianhu’s soldiers, and summoned Gu Jinzhi and Min Zimo before Him.
• The Great Dream Bodhisattva threatened to kill Gu Jinzhi and Min Zimo and swung His blade at them.
• A dazzling white light dispelled the blood-red clouds and halted the Great Dream Bodhisattva’s strike, prompting Him to recognize a Martial Immortal.

Li Wei destroyed Dàmèng and healed the Jing Army, then spent three years helping Great Jing prosper with Gu Jinzhi. As the pair departed the Sky-Gazing Mirror, replacement versions of them remained on the throne, and Li Wei realized she was destined to keep contending with the scholars and gentry for ages.

• Li Wei’s white light annihilated Dàmèng and his blood lotus, freed Gu Jinzhi and Min Zimo, and restored the wounded Jing Army as the battlefield hailed her as Heavenly Mother Madam.
• Li Wei wondered why Dàmèng had yielded only a modest amount of Abyss Essence after she returned to Jianji Hall in Yujing City.
• Three years later, Lu Zhenyan reported Great Jing’s advances in railways, schools, industry, and revenue before asking whether Li Wei and Gu Jinzhi would return to the Heavenly Palace.
• Gu Jinzhi confirmed their departure, named Prince Ding as successor, and urged Lu Zhenyan to support the new ruler and continue the New Policies.
• When time froze, Li Wei and Gu Jinzhi left their bodies and flew away, but new versions of them appeared on the throne as the world resumed.
• The new Li Wei told Lu Zhenyan that she would have to contend with the scholars and gentry for ten thousand or even eighty thousand years.

After three years in the Sky-Gazing Mirror, Min Zimo, Su Mo, and Zeng Yi each faced the test’s offer to ask one question before leaving. Their questions about Jiang Xue and Shen Yaochi received answers that left them with very different reactions.

• Min Zimo waited in his courtyard to leave the Sky-Gazing Mirror, then asked whether he could repay Jiang Xue for her kindness and was told no repayment was necessary.
• Su Mo stopped work on his unfinished water-cooled heavy machine gun and asked whether Jiang Xue and Gu Jinzhi could grow old together; the answer was no, and he celebrated.
• Zeng Yi, who had taken up fortune-telling after leaving palace service, asked whether he could win Shen Yaochi over and was told that he could in dreams.

Li Wei returned to the Jiang family home two days before her wedding to Gu Jinzhi, weighing her new system progress and saving her points for the Western Frontier. She reunited with Jiang Yunshu and Tang Zhou, learned Jiang Yao was abroad and Jiang Han was away, and was told the Gu family had sent wedding items for her to try.

• Li Wei left Gu Jinzhi at the Jiang family gate, teased him with a small wave, and watched him wave back as her car drove away.
• Li Wei checked her system panel, saw her Abyss Essence had risen to 63,488, and decided to save her Experience Points until her enlistment and arrival at the front line.
• Li Wei returned to Jiang Family Manor, greeted Jiang Yunshu and Tang Zhou as her parents, and asked the steward to arrange a guest room for Gu Yan.
• Jiang Yunshu told Li Wei that Jiang Yao had gone to Britain to study, while Tang Zhou said Jiang Han was staying in his school dormitory and had to return to carry Li Wei to the wedding car.
• The steward reported that the Gu family had sent wedding ceremony items, including Madam Gu’s Phoenix Crown and Robe, for Li Wei to try on.

Gu Jinzhi learned that the Sky-Gazing Mirror had told him to wait for the flowers to bloom, and he planned to train with the Emergency Response Unit after his wedding. In the Unknown Land, Yun Sheng agreed to arrange for Yun Xi to obtain a pill, then asked whether someone had influenced her feelings for Gu Jinzhi.

• Gu Jinzhi told Gu Litong that the Sky-Gazing Mirror had answered, “Wait quietly for the flowers to bloom, and their fragrance will come.”
• Gu Litong said he had sent the Jiang Family the wedding items, including his late wife's wedding dress, and urged Gu Jinzhi to have a child before leaving for the Western Frontier.
• Gu Jinzhi refused to risk tying Jiang Xue to a child before he could rebuild his foundation and return safely from the battlefield.
• Gu Jinzhi asked to train for half a month with the Rift Investigation Bureau's Emergency Response Unit after the wedding, and Gu Litong agreed to arrange it.
• Yun Sheng agreed to help Yun Xi obtain a pill naturally within seven days, then asked whether the mysterious Senior had influenced her love for Gu Jinzhi.
• The Senior teased Yun Sheng that his granddaughter was simply a hopeless romantic.

Li Wei visited Jiang Xinyue after wedding preparations, and Jiang Xinyue questioned her about accepting the upcoming marriage to Jin Zhi. Jiang Xinyue recognized Li Wei’s state as “See True Self” and explained it, leaving Li Wei wondering how to complete the realm.

• Li Wei finished trying on her wedding attire and makeup, then met Jiang Xinyue in her courtyard that evening.
• Jiang Xinyue asked whether Li Wei still resisted the wedding and whether she would allow Jin Zhi to share her bed; Li Wei listed the forms of intimacy she would accept and rejected kissing and the final step.
• Jiang Xinyue identified Li Wei’s state as “See True Self” and said it was a crucial step toward proving the Dao and becoming a Martial Immortal.
• Jiang Xinyue explained that “See True Self” meant shedding identities and expectations to reach one’s truest self, and Li Wei connected the idea to her past sense of fragmentation.
• Li Wei asked whether her cultivation of “See True Self” was incomplete and how she could improve it, and Jiang Xinyue called her a shameless show-off.

Li Wei received materials for four more forms of the Nine Moon Reflection Swords from Jiang Xinyue, then used Abyss Essence to master two techniques. She learned how the sword styles built on the first form and tested their effects, ending with the powerful Taiyin Command nearly draining her blood-qi.

• Jiang Xinyue gave Li Wei a tablet containing sword-form materials and explained that the upper three swords required Grandmaster-level soul-infusion, while four lotus seeds for the Four Seasons Sword Array would mature in ten days.
• Li Wei opened the five files and learned the materials before they could self-destruct, adding the new sword forms to her combat-method panel.
• Li Wei spent 2,220 Abyss Essence to raise Pale Soul Splitting Light and Taiyin Command to Great Accomplishment, while the middle three swords remained unavailable until she reached the fourth tier.
• Li Wei realized the later styles grew from the foundation of Cold Pond Sinking Jade and integrated into her Frost Moon Sword Intent as specialized techniques.
• Li Wei tested Taiyin Command, whose piercing force consumed nearly 1,000 blood-qi in one unenhanced thrust, and aimed it outside to spare her bedroom.

Gu Jinzhi asked Zeng Yi to check whether anyone had tampered with Jiang Xue’s biometric records, then stopped him from making the call. He revealed that his eldest aunt might be in the Imperial Capital and could attack him, and asked Zeng Yi to lend him a grandmaster for protection until he enlisted.

• Gu Jinzhi asked Zeng Yi to have his Third Uncle check Jiang Xue’s biometric records for recent tampering, then changed his mind and told Zeng Yi to forget the request.
• Zeng Yi told Gu Jinzhi that the Zhang Family had sent eight or nine women to try to get into his bed and that grandmasters were taking turns beating Zhang Yansheng.
• Gu Jinzhi asked Zeng Yi to lend him a grandmaster to protect him until he enlisted.
• Gu Jinzhi said his eldest aunt might already be in the Imperial Capital and could make a move against him.

On her wedding day, Li Wei left the Jiang Family Manor in a lavish procession to marry Gu Jinzhi, while Jiang Han revealed that he knew she was not really his sister. The chapter ended with Gu Jinzhi riding beside her Phoenix Sedan Chair as the procession headed for the Gu family old residence.

• Li Wei completed her Hairpin Ceremony as the Jiang Family's White Lotuses showered her with praise.
• Jiang Han returned to the manor, avoided Li Wei, and later carried her out for the wedding; he accused her of not being his sister, and she asked him to keep it secret and thanked him for helping her.
• Jiang Xinyue gave Li Wei her wedding admonitions, and Jiang Yunshu and Tang Zhou helped straighten her wedding clothes.
• Gu Jinzhi took Li Wei from Jiang Han and carried her to the wedding car as the Jiang Family saw them off.
• Near the Gu family old residence, Gu Jinzhi carried Li Wei into a sixteen-man Phoenix Sedan Chair, then mounted a white horse as Zeng Yi and the others bore the sedan toward the residence.

After her wedding to Gu Jinzhi, Li Wei discovered that the public had dubbed her the “Little Bodhisattva” and added the title to her martial arts ranking, leaving her mortified. Gu Jinzhi comforted her by pointing to a future tournament where she could earn a new title, but realized he would be stationed at the Western Frontier Death Line by then and unable to cheer her on.

• After the wedding ceremony, Li Wei checked the Heavenly Machine Network and found a crowd of her former rescue-operation allies gathered outside the Gu residence under a banner naming her fan club the “Little Bodhisattva Fan Club.”
• Li Wei saw that the Heavenly Machine Network had placed Jiang Xue at the top of the Lower Third Order ranking and listed “Little Bodhisattva” as her title, then despairingly rolled across the bridal bed.
• When Gu Jinzhi returned to the bridal room, Li Wei showed him the comments praising her as the Little Bodhisattva and complained that she had no face left to meet people.
• Gu Jinzhi suppressed his laughter, reminded Li Wei that they had married that day, and told her she could earn a new title at the National Martial Arts University Invitational Tournament.
• Li Wei resolved to gain an impressive title on the battlefield, while Gu Jinzhi realized he would be stationed at the Western Frontier Death Line before the tournament and could not attend to support her.

On their wedding night, Li Wei defused the awkwardness with a bizarre song before Gu Jinzhi gave her a mysterious bead identified as the Blood of an Unknown Expert. Li Wei realized it was his life-saving trump card, and Gu Jinzhi was left stunned by her deduction.

• Li Wei punched Gu Jinzhi and grew uneasy when their bridal-chamber silence made her wonder whether he had improper intentions.
• Li Wei sang an eerie wedding song to break the tension, and Gu Jinzhi begged her to stop.
• Gu Jinzhi produced a golden bead from his fingertip and pressed it to Li Wei’s lips, telling her to keep it secret.
• Li Wei checked her system and saw the item labeled Blood of an Unknown Expert.
• Li Wei inferred that Gu Jinzhi had given her his life-saving trump card, leaving him baffled.

Li Wei returned the Martial Immortal True Blood to Gu Jinzhi, leaving him deeply hurt as their relationship grew more strained. The next morning, she joined Grandmaster Gu Litong to fish, where he warned her not to listen to her mother-in-law.

• Li Wei pushed the Martial Immortal True Blood through her meridians and returned it to Gu Jinzhi, who was left silent and distressed.
• Li Wei reflected that she had chosen the Western Frontier for her own reasons and did not want to accept Gu Jinzhi's heavy feelings or the Gu Family's gifts.
• Gu Jinzhi stayed motionless by the bed while Li Wei fell asleep; by morning, he had left without sleeping beside her.
• Gu Yan brought Li Wei fresh clothes and told her that Grandmaster Gu Litong wanted her to accompany him in the back courtyard instead of serving tea to the elders.
• Li Wei met Gu Litong beside a pond, tried fishing under his guidance, and heard him warn her not to listen to her mother-in-law.

While fishing with Gu Litong, Li Wei learned that he suspected Liang Qiushi planned to injure Gu Jinzhi and send Li Wei to Western Xinjiang in his place. Gu Litong then remembered his late wife, and his grief overwhelmed Li Wei before she hurried away from the pond.

• Li Wei pretended not to understand Gu Litong's warning, but he confronted her about the betrothal gifts and Liang Qiushi's possible scheme.
• Gu Litong reasoned that Liang Qiushi wanted to injure Gu Jinzhi so Li Wei would serve in his place, but believed the plan would fail because Gu Jinzhi had protection.
• When Gu Litong asked what she and Liang Qiushi had traded, Li Wei truthfully denied making any deal, leaving him to suspect that she had been deceived.
• Gu Litong remembered his late wife and wept, while Li Wei felt his sorrow and left the pond after he told her to go play by herself.
• Gu Yan asked Li Wei what had happened, and Li Wei briefly asked where Old Gu was before hurrying away alone.

Zhang Yansheng and Zhang Pengcheng left for the western frontier after Zhang Pengcheng was beaten, while Liang Qiushi gave up her schemes against Gu Jinzhi and prepared to send Liang Chunhua home. At a university dormitory, Lu Feifei recognized the bride in a viral wedding video as her former classmate Li Wei, and a roommate secretly reported the discovery.

• Zhang Yansheng told Zhang Pengcheng to train harder after his fight with Min Zimo and Su Mo, then explained they would wait in the western frontier for Gu Jinzhi.
• Liang Qiushi told Liang Chunhua to return to Dongming because Gu Jinzhi would guard against them and could find a Grandmaster to protect himself.
• Liang Qiushi urged Liang Chunhua to break through to the Grandmaster realm, while Liang Chunhua worried about Gu Jinzhi going to the western frontier.
• Lu Feifei recognized the bride in a wedding video as Li Wei, her former high-school seatmate, though her roommates insisted the bride was Jiang Xue.
• A quiet roommate stepped away and messaged someone that she had something to report.