Chapter Summaries

Qi WuHuo discovered that the Crown Prince was devouring the sleeping Young Prince’s destiny after his own fate had been cut, and used his memories from the Yellow Millet Dream to command the Human Dao Destiny leaking from him. The Crown Prince left shaken, while the Kill the Bandits Sword absorbed half his destiny and completed its momentum.

• The Fourth Prince introduced himself, while the Seventh Prince volunteered to ask Qi WuHuo questions before the Crown Prince claimed the first turn.
• Qi WuHuo recognized that the Crown Prince was swallowing the Young Prince’s destiny to sustain his damaged fate, leaving the boy in a deep coma and threatening his future cultivation.
• While speaking with the Crown Prince, Qi WuHuo observed the Human Dao Destiny leaking from him and used the memories of Master WuHuo to draw that power under his command.
• Qi WuHuo sent the gathered Human Dao Destiny into the Kill the Bandits Sword, and the Crown Prince grew tired as his backlash returned.
• The Crown Prince asked whether he could become Human Emperor, and Qi WuHuo answered that only benevolence and virtue could make one emperor over all under Heaven.
• The Crown Prince left with cold sweat soaking his clothes, and Qi WuHuo found that the Kill the Bandits Sword had absorbed half the Crown Prince’s destiny.

Qi WuHuo met the Fourth Prince, the Seventh Prince, and young Prince Qin, learning their approaches to ruling and recalling their fates in the Yellow Millet Dream. He challenged Prince Qin’s beliefs about imperial authority and taught him that rulers should serve the people, leaving Prince Qin to suspect that he was Master WuHuo.

• The Fourth Prince Li Hui spoke with Qi WuHuo about cultivation and literature, then gave him a token and invited him to visit Capital City.
• The Seventh Prince arrived, discussed the frontier and his war against the Demon Race, then gave Qi WuHuo a token before leaving.
• Qi WuHuo recalled the princes’ divergent fates in the Yellow Millet Dream and judged that neither was suited to lead the dynasty.
• Prince Qin asked whether the realm was truly at peace and deduced that Qi WuHuo had investigated the events in Jinzhou.
• Qi WuHuo rejected the claim that people were guilty for disobeying a ruler and taught Prince Qin that the people were paramount and the ruler should serve them.
• Prince Qin asked whether Qi WuHuo was Master WuHuo.

Prince Qin asked Qi WuHuo to become his teacher so he could avenge his father and Jinzhou, and Qi WuHuo accepted while secretly strengthening his sword with Human Dao Destiny. After Qiong Yu and Qi WuHuo exchanged matching messages about why he chose Prince Qin, Qi WuHuo set out to intercept the Crown Prince’s Hidden Dragon Guard and claim a head.

• Prince Qin asked Qi WuHuo to teach him, and Qi WuHuo accepted after Prince Qin admitted that he wanted to avenge his father and was willing to kill a tyrant.
• Qi WuHuo used Prince Qin’s appointment seal to draw Human Dao Destiny and temper the Kill the Bandits Sword.
• Qi WuHuo dodged the Teacher’s notice by disrupting the fate-energy around himself, then reflected on the princes’ differing strengths.
• Prince Qin secretly studied with Qi WuHuo until Qiong Yu discovered the arrangement and sent a sealed message asking Qi WuHuo why he had chosen her brother.
• Qi WuHuo and Qiong Yu exchanged matching replies that Qi WuHuo was worth hoarding, while Prince Qin joked about having a pigeon feast.
• Qi WuHuo received the Ming Zhen Dao Alliance’s report on the Hidden Dragon Guard’s route and left to intercept them with the Kill the Bandits Sword.

Zhou Nu Chang retrieved the Ode to the Great Roc for the Crown Prince and revealed the cruelty and political purpose behind his guards’ violence. As the procession traveled through sudden rain, Zhou Nu Chang realized they had been influenced and that their secrets had leaked, then sensed an attack closing in.

• Zhou Nu Chang politely collected the Ode to the Great Roc from a retired official and paid him with gold and silver.
• The retired official recalled Zhou Nu Chang’s rise from poverty, his harsh treatment of commoners, and his role in his friend’s execution.
• On the road, Zhou Nu Chang’s guards discussed abusing and killing people, while he explained that the Crown Prince needed reclusive scholars’ support and that the guards served as useful imperial blades.
• Zhou Nu Chang remembered giving his childhood neighbor his savings before she married, then withdrew from the guards’ cruel conversation.
• When sudden rain blurred the road, Zhou Nu Chang realized his subordinates had been influenced and shouted that they were under attack.
• A torrent of rain and killing intent engulfed Zhou Nu Chang and his guards, leaving none of them able to escape.

Qi WuHuo confronted Zhou Nu Chang and the Hidden Dragon Guards, then killed them in revenge for the massacre of Jinzhou’s people. Afterward, he found the Human Dao Destiny scroll the Crown Prince had been seeking inside their carriage.

• Zhou Nu Chang led the Hidden Dragon Guards against Qi WuHuo, but Qi WuHuo used rain and water illusions to wound him and reveal that he was a Daoist True Person.
• Zhou Nu Chang claimed his imperial authority and cursed the people of Jinzhou, so Qi WuHuo stepped forward and killed him with the Kill the Bandits Sword.
• Qi WuHuo slaughtered the remaining Hidden Dragon Guards, then used the rain formation to reveal their souls and the crimes they had committed.
• Qi WuHuo sent sword-like rain against the guards’ souls, and the souls collapsed beneath their guilt and the dead’s resentment.
• Qi WuHuo entered the carriage and discovered the Human Dao Destiny scroll the Crown Prince had sought.

Qi WuHuo uncovered Zhou Nu Chang’s hidden aid to poor children and the grief behind his killings, then killed him and replaced the Ode to the Great Roc with a copy that could challenge the imperial clan’s control of Human Dao Destiny. The Crown Prince fled for the Capital City with the ode, while Qi WuHuo detoured into the mountains to visit an old friend.

• Qi WuHuo found Zhou Nu Chang’s ledger and learned that he had secretly supported thousands of poor children while killing on the Emperor’s orders.
• Qi WuHuo explained to Little Peacock that the Ode to the Great Roc suggested Human Dao Destiny could come from the military, literary achievement, and the people’s livelihood, not only the imperial clan.
• Qi WuHuo copied the Ode to the Great Roc, using the iron-armored cavalry’s resentment to infuse the writing with sword intent, then returned it to the carriage.
• Qi WuHuo thanked Zhou Nu Chang for helping more than three thousand people, burned his ledger, and destroyed his soul with a sword.
• The Crown Prince learned that Zhou Nu Chang and the Hidden Dragon Guards had died, found the veterans’ names carved on a wall, and fled Zhongzhou for the Capital City with the ode.
• Qi WuHuo left the scene and made a detour into the mountains to visit an old friend.

The princes reacted to the Crown Prince’s abrupt departure by returning to the Capital and investigating the upheaval in Jinzhou, while Prince Qin wondered whether Qi WuHuo was behind it. In the mountains, Qi WuHuo rescued Yue Shiru from a mountain demon and destroyed it with a single thunder strike, leaving Yue Shiru to recognize him as a True Person.

• The Fourth Prince decided to return to the Capital with records of the Crown Prince’s actions and investigate the former general of the Black Armored Army.
• The Seventh Prince ordered an investigation into Jinzhou and prepared to return to the Capital, seeing the brothers’ sudden departures as a chance to gain advantage.
• Young Prince Qin speculated to Li Qiongyu that Qi WuHuo might be connected to the events in Jinzhou, and Li Qiongyu said their Teacher was somewhere relaxing.
• Qi WuHuo played his zither while Little Peacock and the little Medicine Spirit played nearby, then put them in his sleeve after sensing cries for help.
• Qi WuHuo intervened when Yue Shiru was pursued by a mountain demon and destroyed the creature with a single thunder strike.
• Yue Shiru introduced himself as a disciple of Luoxia Peak and paid his respects to Qi WuHuo as a True Person.

Qi WuHuo learned that a mountain ghoul had devastated a village and found its survivors grieving after Yue Shiru saved them. After discovering the local Mountain God had refused to help as demonic energy spread, Qi WuHuo confronted him directly.

• Yue Shiru told Qi WuHuo that a mountain ghoul had corrupted villagers, trapped their souls in their bodies, and forced him to burn their corpses before it shattered his ritual sword.
• Qi WuHuo traveled to the ruined village, where survivors mourned their dead and struggled to rebuild, and he dispelled the lingering demonic energy.
• Qi WuHuo vowed that the Jing River Dragon King must die and went to warn the local Mountain Gods about the spreading demonic energy.
• The local divine general demanded a gift, then reported that the Mountain God was in seclusion and refused to meet Qi WuHuo.
• Qi WuHuo unleashed thunder through the leyline and demanded that the Jade Festival Mountain God come out.

Qi WuHuo confronted the Jade Festival Mountain God for neglecting his duty while demonic energy spread and people died. After invoking the Five Thunder Judge Seal and passing its heart-questioning trial, he stripped the Mountain God and his followers of their divine stations and sent them to the Underworld, then introduced himself to Ling Miao Gong.

• Qi WuHuo’s thunder forced the guests at the Jade Festival Mountain God’s residence into their true forms, and the Mountain God hurried to meet him and returned his pill.
• Ling Miao Gong heard that a young Daoist in a Blue Daoist Robe with a sword case had come to Jade Festival Mountain and rushed to the scene.
• Qi WuHuo questioned the Jade Festival Mountain God about the leaking demonic energy, the deaths, and his neglect of his divine duty, using Buddhist mudras to expose his thoughts.
• Qi WuHuo invoked the Five Thunder Judge Seal, passed its heart-questioning trial, and judged the Mountain God and his officials for dereliction of duty.
• Qi WuHuo stripped the Jade Festival Mountain God and the other gods on the mountain of their stations, struck them with seven bolts of thunder, and sent them to the Underworld.
• Qi WuHuo greeted Ling Miao Gong and introduced himself as the Five Thunder Judge of the Central Pole of the North’s Exorcism Department.

Qi WuHuo exposed Jade Festival Mountain God's negligence, and Ling Miao Gong punished the offending divine general before explaining why the gods avoided mortal affairs. After Qi WuHuo defended his choice to confront calamity, he learned that the Jing River Dragon King he had been ordered to execute was Ao Liu, the dragon who had saved his life.

• Qi WuHuo told Ling Miao Gong how Jade Festival had ignored the spreading demonic qi and the deaths of the village Land Gods, and Ling Miao Gong stripped the divine general of his rank and sent him to the underworld.
• Ling Miao Gong agreed to monitor the earth veins and explained that gods and immortals avoided meddling in mortal conflicts, while Qi WuHuo insisted that he had chosen to confront the calamity himself.
• Ling Miao Gong mistook Qi WuHuo for a direct disciple of Great Celestial Venerable Yuqing and then Great Celestial Venerable Shangqing Spirit Treasure, but Qi WuHuo denied both guesses.
• Qi WuHuo asked whether the Jing River Dragon King who had saved his life was named Ao Liu, and Ling Miao Gong revealed that Ao Liu was the current Dragon King.
• Ling Miao Gong told Qi WuHuo that Ao Liu had carefully tested his son before entrusting him with the Jing River, then confirmed that Ao Liu was the Dragon King Qi WuHuo had to execute.

Qi WuHuo learned that his duty as a judge might require him to execute the Jing River Dragon King despite owing him his life, and Ling Miao Gong warned that the choice would test his Dao heart. Ao Liu revealed that he planned to take responsibility for his son’s disaster and promised to return in seven days to face punishment.

• Ling Miao Gong explained to Qi WuHuo that choosing between justice and repaying Ao Liu’s kindness would be a profound tribulation, and Qi WuHuo left with his Dao heart shaken.
• Ling Miao Gong told another Mountain God that choices had no simple right or wrong, and that each person had to bear their consequences.
• Ling Miao Gong confronted Ao Liu, who admitted he had known for half a month that his son’s rainfall had spread the pestilence and planned to accept his son’s punishment.
• Ao Liu revealed that Qi WuHuo was the child he had saved in Jinzhou and said he wanted Qi WuHuo to execute him, believing his death could save his son and strengthen the young judge’s Dao heart.
• Ao Liu asked Ling Miao Gong for seven days to escort his niece and settle other matters, promised to return for punishment, and transformed into a dragon to depart.

Qi WuHuo investigated the Jing River Dragon King’s role in the Jinzhou calamity and realized his rain had saved millions, despite the North Pole Exorcism Department’s order to execute him. Still burdened by the judgment he must deliver, Qi WuHuo sat at the bridge where he had played chess with Ao Liu and faced the Dragon Prince.

• Qi WuHuo left Ling Miao Gong’s residence, reunited with Little Medicine Spirit, and returned to the city with Little Peacock.
• Qi WuHuo watched the sunset with Chao Feng and Jiao Tu, admitting that he faced choices he could not bring himself to make.
• Qi WuHuo questioned whether the North Pole Exorcism Department cared about the truth as he considered his duty to execute the Jing River Dragon King.
• Qi WuHuo examined the Jinzhou records and learned that rain during the calamity had saved more than seven million people, while the Jing River’s water level had reached a record low.
• Qi WuHuo sat beneath the tree where he had once played the Dragon-Slaying Game with Ao Liu, then looked up as the Dragon Prince arrived.

Qi WuHuo played seven Dragon-Slaying games with the young Dragon King, then resolved to repay Old Mr. Ao Liu’s kindness and accept the consequences of his choice. After learning that Ao WuLie had altered a rainmaking formation and put his father at risk, the young Dragon King sealed away the turtle chancellor, then admitted responsibility and changed the official records to name himself Jing River Dragon King.

• Qi WuHuo defeated the white-robed young Dragon King in seven Dragon-Slaying games and left after striking him with the sheathed Kill the Bandits Sword.
• Qi WuHuo understood that he must bear the consequences of killing Old Mr. Ao Liu and decided to repay the old dragon’s kindness first.
• The young Dragon King asked the retired turtle chancellor about altered rainfall and learned that his changed formation could bring severe punishment upon his father and himself.
• The young Dragon King sealed the turtle chancellor in the water palace and told his guards the old turtle wanted to rest.
• The young Dragon King brought gifts to the Penglai Department and asked its chief True Lord to change the Jing River water official’s name.
• Ao WuLie amended the celestial register, accepting responsibility as the Jing River Dragon King.

Yue Shiru delivered Cui Yuanzhen’s letter and learned she had gone to Jinzhou to investigate an old injustice, while Li Qiongyu read a poem that made her tell the young Prince Qin to praise its author more. Yue Shiru reached Refining Yang Temple, and the Seventh Prince began reading a military dossier about Jinzhou.

• Yue Shiru reached Central Province Prefecture City and delivered Cui Yuanzhen’s letter to the young Prince Qin and Cui Shaoqing.
• Yue Shiru told Cui Shaoqing that Cui Yuanzhen had gone to Jinzhou, and Cui Shaoqing abandoned his plan to bring her home.
• Li Qiongyu read the poem copied in Cui Yuanzhen’s letter and told the young Prince Qin he could praise its author more.
• Yue Shiru found Refining Yang Temple and asked to stay there at his elders’ request.
• The Seventh Prince received a dossier on the Jinzhou affair and opened it to read.

The Seventh Prince learned that his father had massacred the Black Armored Army at Jinzhou, then concealed his shock behind a night of revelry. After hearing a Jinzhou ballad and giving aid to its performers, he rode toward the palace with a knife.

• A military spy told the Seventh Prince that the emperor had slaughtered the Black Armored Army, and the prince stopped the spy from killing himself.
• The Seventh Prince hid his anguish, left his residence, and joined the sons of military families for a drinking party at Zui Tian Lou.
• He sang about the Jinzhou massacre, and his zither broke as he played a mournful verse.
• The Seventh Prince stopped to hear a blind old man and a girl sing a Jinzhou ballad, struck a beauty who insulted the song, and gave the performers his cloak and a valuable sword.
• The Seventh Prince took a Jinzhou meal knife and galloped toward the palace.
• A record of Young Lord Wang recounted his rise as a fierce general and stated that, at twenty-two, he took a knife into the forbidden palace.

The Seventh Prince confronted the emperor over the massacre of Jin Province, and the emperor admitted that he had ordered it to secure supreme power. The Seventh Prince’s last hope vanished, and he attacked his father in the hall.

• The Seventh Prince smuggled the Jin Province saber past the Imperial Guards and entered the palace to meet the emperor.
• The Seventh Prince asked how a younger brother, a father, and a ruler should conduct themselves, then accused the emperor of responsibility for Jin Province.
• The emperor admitted ordering the massacre and defended his choice as a bid for power, saying he would make the same decision again.
• The Seventh Prince called the emperor a traitor, unleashed his tiger-shaped fortune, and drove his blade into his father.

The Seventh Prince attacked the emperor after learning the truth about Jinzhou, but the emperor was revealed to be a double serving the white-clad ruler’s scheme. The Fourth Prince agreed to shelter the Seventh Prince’s people, while Qi WuHuo returned to Refining Yang Temple and effortlessly subdued the Pure Yang Sword.

• The Seventh Prince stabbed the emperor, lost his Human Dao Destiny, and was imprisoned after the emperor blamed the Demon Race.
• The white-clad emperor revealed that the wounded emperor was his double and ordered the double to take his own life after praising the Seventh Prince’s resolve.
• The military spy received the Seventh Prince’s Spirit Charm, brought the Jinzhou grandfather and granddaughter to the Fourth Prince, and asked him to protect them.
• The Fourth Prince agreed to shelter them and reflected on whether he had been hiding from confronting their father, then concluded the Seventh Prince had likely been imprisoned.
• Yue Shiru tried to summon the Pure Yang Sword with a jade hook, but the sword attacked him until an arriving Daoist stopped it with a finger.
• The little Daoist greeted the returning man as Martial Uncle Qi, and he introduced himself to Yue Shiru as Qi WuHuo.

Qi WuHuo revealed that he was only sixteen and had reached the Primordial Prenatal Qi stage, while Yue Shiru learned the history of the murderous Refining Yang Sword. When Yue Shiru tried to report a Mountain God's dereliction of duty, the Great Earth God Liu Sheng fled at the sight of Qi WuHuo and finally addressed him as Judge Qi, Five Thunder Judge of the Central Pole of the North.

• Yue Shiru learned that Qi WuHuo was sixteen and had broken through to the Primordial Prenatal Qi stage less than a month earlier.
• Qi WuHuo caught and subdued the Refining Yang Sword when it attacked him, and Yue Shiru explained that it was forged from a fallen piece of the Blood River and had brought slaughter to its owners.
• Yue Shiru set up an altar to report the Jade Festival Mountain God's failure to deal with demonic energy, and summoned Liu Sheng, the Great Earth God of Ward Seventy-Three.
• Liu Sheng saw Qi WuHuo and tried to flee, but Yue Shiru caught him and asked about the Mountain God's dereliction.
• Liu Sheng revealed that the Jade Festival Mountain God and another Mountain God had been slain by the Five Thunder Judge of the Central Pole of the North, then saluted Qi WuHuo as Judge Qi.

Qi WuHuo arranged help for the displaced villagers and guided Prince Qin as the capital’s political upheaval began. He gave Prince Qin a path to seek revenge while protecting Li Qiongyu, then received a letter and military token from an old friend preparing to return to the capital.

• Qi WuHuo reassured the frightened Earth God, then told Yue Shiru he was searching for a place where the villagers could settle and earn a living.
• Qi WuHuo asked Prince Qin to arrange the villagers’ resettlement, and Prince Qin reported that the youngest prince was ill, Seventh Prince had entered the palace, and military leaders were aligning with Fourth Prince.
• Prince Qin wrestled with whether to return to the capital and risk Li Qiongyu’s safety, but Qi WuHuo gave him the authentic Ode to the Great Roc and offered the backing of three retired luminaries.
• Qi WuHuo explained how Prince Qin could gain support outside the court, protect his sister, and exploit the emperor’s concern for his reputation.
• Li Qiongyu announced that she would return to the capital, revealing that she understood Prince Qin’s intentions and had her own reasons to go.
• Qingying delivered Qi WuHuo a letter and a token that let him call upon more than three thousand retired Black Armored Army officers in Central Province.

Qi WuHuo celebrated New Year at Refining Yang Temple before receiving an omen that the Little Medicine Spirit was in mortal danger. He set out to help despite the warning that he might die, and Refining Yang Sword chose him as its wielder.

• Mingxin prepared New Year provisions with the old Daoist, Qi WuHuo, and Yue Shiru as the temple welcomed visitors and shared festive food.
• Qi WuHuo bought a peace knot and jade pendant, then practiced refining qi while Yue Shiru earnestly studied swordsmanship beside him.
• Qi WuHuo saw visions of the Little Medicine Spirit being swallowed and himself being killed, then realized that a dangerous disturbance threatened Central Province and the mountain gods.
• Qi WuHuo warned the old Daoist not to leave the city, but decided to go help the Little Medicine Spirit despite the danger and set aside his peace knot.
• Qi WuHuo summoned Refining Yang Sword, which flew to his hand and cast Lü Chunyang's inscription onto the temple floor, revealing that it had once turned against its master.