Chapter Summaries

Shen Tang learned that the damaged Four Pillars of the World could only be repaired if humanity restored its Qi Yun and the planet beneath them agreed to spare them. She tried pleading with the planet, and Jimò Qiu said it had agreed, though perhaps too readily.

• Gu Chi urged Shen Tang to eat and explained that he was willing to live or die alongside her.
• Jimò Qiu revealed that the National Seal belonged to Shen Tang’s Third Highness, who had placed Shen Tang in a coffin that could take her to the Four Pillars of the World.
• Jimò Qiu explained that the broken pillars needed Qi Yun to be repaired, but the Central Allied Army’s slaughter had angered the planet and obscured humanity’s hope.
• Shen Tang tried persuading the planet not to destroy humanity and suggested letting people leave for another world instead.
• Jimò Qiu noticed that the planet had accepted Shen Tang’s plea, but said it had agreed too readily.

Shen Tang learned that her binding promises and the restoration of the Four Pillars of the World could cost her enormous amounts of merit and Qi Yun, while Jimò Qiu proposed using the Investiture of the Gods to help stabilize them. The Investiture revealed that the listed gods would contribute their True Spirits to the task, and Shen Tang realized the remaining challenge was finding the coffin needed to restore physical bodies.

• Shen Tang learned from Jimò Qiu that her promises were binding contracts, and she recalled losing fifty thousand gold after promising to spend it to save lives.
• Jimò Qiu explained that Qi Yun sustained worlds and that restoring the Four Pillars would require a substantial contribution, prompting Shen Tang to fear her merit account would be emptied.
• Jimò Qiu suggested using the True Spirits on the Investiture of the Gods, and Shen Tang saw familiar names including Qi Shan and Ning Yan appear on the list.
• The Investiture explained that the 365 Orthodox Gods would each contribute part of their True Spirit to stabilize the Four Pillars and bear a share of Heaven’s responsibility.
• Shen Tang accepted that she would need to pay the restoration costs and concluded that finding the coffin was the remaining task.

Shen Tang traced the coffin tied to Yun Da’s pact and traveled to his grave, believing it might hold the key to stopping the world’s destruction. When she and her companions opened the grave, they found that both the coffin and Yun Da’s body were missing.

• Shen Tang reasoned that the coffin might have passed from the Shen Clan through Zheng Qiao and the Vassal Lords before reaching Yun Da, and Gongxi Chou suggested tracing its whereabouts backward.
• Yun Ce and Xianyu Jian recalled that Yun Da had been buried in a plain coffin matching Shen Tang’s description, so Shen Tang decided to investigate his grave in person.
• Shen Tang left her avatar Wu You in command and ordered Ning Yan to search the old records while she traveled north with Gongxi Chou, his brother, Yun Ce, and Xianyu Jian.
• Yun Ce led the group to Yun Da’s grave, where they met a junior disciple who had recently come to pay his respects.
• Shen Tang’s party opened the grave and discovered that both Yun Da’s coffin and his body had been taken.

Shen Tang’s search for Yun Da’s missing coffin led her to suspect the Central Branch, while her allies debated how to avert the coming destruction. After Jimò Qiu was punished for hinting at a way forward, Shen Tang realized the crisis might be her own Perfection Ritual and that its answer could already be in her hands.

• Yun Ce found Yun Da’s grave empty, opened A Muqing’s lavish tomb in alarm, and then helped restore the soil at Shen Tang’s request.
• Shen Tang learned that strangers with Central Continent accents had come looking for something, and she suspected the Central Branch had taken Yun Da’s coffin.
• Shen Tang returned to Kang’s army, reported that someone had taken the coffin, and then rested before discussing possible next steps with Chu Yao.
• Chu Yao asked Jimò Qiu whether there was another way to enter the Four Extremes, and Jimò Qiu coughed blood after offering a guarded hint.
• Shen Tang recognized that Heaven had restricted Jimò Qiu from revealing more and concluded that the calamity might be her Perfection Ritual.

Shen Tang learned that the Good Thought had killed Zixu’s incarnation and stolen his True Spirit, then suffered a severe backlash. At the victory banquet, the Good Thought killed Zixu’s incarnation in public, but Shen Tang’s allies hid the truth and learned that the Good Thought was far stronger than Shen Tang.

• Shen Tang realized she had never understood the Way of the Feudal Lord, then collapsed after learning that Zixu had been killed and his True Spirit stolen.
• Wuyou told Shen Tang that the Good Thought had also attacked him and Mengyuan before, and Shen Tang recognized her as the culprit.
• The Good Thought killed Zixu’s incarnation at the victory banquet, suppressed the gathered generals, and vanished after ordering the musicians and dancers to continue.
• Xiahou Yu and He Shu revealed that the dead figure was Shen Tang’s incarnation, then secured the branch company and forced witnesses to swear secrecy.
• Tan Ting arrived and identified the attacker as the Good Thought, while Luo Sha warned that she vastly outmatched Shen Tang.

While Shen Tang’s allies worried over her battle against her good side, the woman in blue killed Alliance Leader Zhao after discovering his plan to wipe out the continent and establish a new human race. She then set out to clean house, while the news of Zhao’s death threatened to destabilize the Central Allied Army.

• Tan Ting, He Shu, Xiahou Yu, and Luo Sha worried that Shen Tang’s good side would kill her, but Luo Sha refused to leave the territory and abandon its uneasy allies.
• Tan Ting drank with He Xin and He Shu while they worried that the continent’s struggle for unification was repeating the collapse of the State of Wu.
• Luo Sha told them that the leader of the Central Allied Army had been killed, and Xiahou Yu planned to exploit the news to stir rebellion among the allied rulers.
• Alliance Leader Zhao revealed his plan to abandon the continent, save a thousand chosen young people, and rule a new human race from an island east of the Eastern Sea.
• The woman in blue confronted Zhao, killed him, destroyed his True Spirit, and left to clean house; afterward, a shadow told Lin Su that she seemed to have a good temper.
• Shen Tang objected to that description and said she was not used to hearing the woman in blue speak without her fake voice.

Shen Tang prepared her ministers for the possibility that she might die fighting her hostile benevolent side, revealing a magically conceived Crown Prince and assigning four officials to govern in her absence. She also set Kang’s plans for the Central Continent and Qu Kingdom before leaving the ministers to face an uncertain future.

• Shen Tang learned that her benevolent side might be able to exist independently and ordered her ministers to prepare for her possible death.
• Shen Tang named Chu Yao, Qi Shan, Qin Li, and Gu Wangchao to assist in governing and revealed that Jimò Qiu’s wooden staff was nurturing a Crown Prince from their mingled blood.
• Shen Tang told her ministers the Crown Prince would be born in a month and confirmed that she intended to keep the land from sinking by reaching the Land of the Four Extremes.
• Shen Tang authorized the massacre of the Central Continent’s Noble Families, ordered the redistribution of spoils, and planned personnel transfers to bring the region under Kang’s control.
• Shen Tang said Kang would fight Zhai Le if he resisted but accept his surrender, and asked Chu Yao to repay her old debt to Zhai Le if anything happened to her.

Qian Yong, Wei Shou, and the other ministers struggled with Shen Youli’s decision to leave her newborn heir in their care while they organized titles and fiefs for Kang’s officials. The chapter ended with Qi Shan discovering that Shen Youli had secretly named the month-old heir Shen De, courtesy name Ru Gui, and granted him the title of Prince Yuan.

• Qian Yong and Wei Shou mourned Shen Youli’s decision to entrust her child to them and worried about the dangers of succession.
• Chu Yao, Qin Li, and Gu Chi showed Qi Shan Shen Youli’s lists of officials and their recorded merits so they could decide how to grant titles.
• Qin Li explained the proposed ranks, fiefs, and inheritance rules, and Qi Shan raised concerns about the cost and the shortage of ducal titles.
• The four regents signed a confidential decree increasing the numbers of dukes and commandery dukes while reducing the additional titles’ benefits and limiting inheritance to one generation.
• Qi Shan discovered that the decree named Shen De, courtesy name Ru Gui, as Prince Yuan, and Chu Yao and the others admitted they had only just learned of the heir.

Qi Shan learned that Shen Tang had chosen Shen Rugui as Crown Prince and left him among the regents, then saw the unborn heir and proposed that Gongxi Chou impersonate Shen Tang while she was away. Meanwhile, Shen Tang struggled through the mountains toward the Gongxi Clan's Clan Land to activate the Investiture of the Gods.

• Qi Shan demanded to know who Shen Rugui was, and Qin Li revealed that Shen Rugui was Shen Tang's child and that the four ministers had been named regents.
• Qi Shan collapsed after accusing Shen Youli of betraying him, and Fang Yan warned that another bout of rage could endanger his life.
• After waking, Qi Shan calmly visited the developing Crown Prince and learned that the child was a girl due to arrive in twenty-six days.
• Qi Shan proposed that Gongxi Chou appear as Shen Tang to conceal her absence while the army brought the central region into the fold.
• Shen Tang worried about leaving Kang State without her, then hacked through the mountains with the Investiture of the Gods as she headed for the Gongxi Clan's Clan Land.

Shen Tang reached the woman guarding the sealed cave and borrowed the Investiture of the Gods, learning more about the old conflict and the danger to the Four Pillars. At the road leading to the Four Pillars, her good part appeared and attacked her.

• Shen Tang opened the yin-yang stone door with Civil and Martial Qi and asked the woman inside to lend her the Investiture of the Gods.
• The woman revealed that another part of Shen Tang had already visited and warned her not to give Shen Tang special treatment.
• The woman told Shen Tang that Yun Da had once found a way to end the chaos, then admitted she had allowed a later visitor to sabotage the Four Pillars as revenge.
• Shen Tang unfurled the Investiture of the Gods, creating a road through the clouds to the land of the Four Pillars.
• Shen Tang's good part emerged from the clouds, formed a blade, and struck at her.

Shen Tang confronted the woman in blue, learned that their conflict was a battle of wits over reuniting the fragments of Shen Youli, and agreed to fuse with her while protecting Kang Country. As their fusion began, Shen Tang glimpsed a collapsing world and heard her companions arguing below, then recognized Jimò Qiu as he called out to her.

• The woman in blue overwhelmed Shen Tang in a brief fight, while the melon-watching woman explained that the two were meant to battle with words because they were parts of the same Shen Youli.
• The woman in blue and the melon-watching woman criticized Shen Tang for spending merit and fortune on her bonds with Yuan Liang and Wuhui, but Shen Tang insisted those choices were hers and defended them.
• Shen Tang demanded that the winner repair the collapsing sky and spare Kang Country’s people, then the woman in blue began merging with her.
• The melon-watching woman struggled to force the two fragments together as the sky sank, and Shen Tang heard voices from a military camp where Qi Yuanliang blamed Chu Wuhui and Shen Youli for the disaster.
• Shen Tang recognized Jimò Qiu among the panicked figures, called him Shaobai, and Jimò Qiu looked up and addressed her as Your Highness.

Jimò Qiu’s explanation that Shen Tang had returned but was everywhere convinced her allies that she had died, until the repaired Four Pillars and clear skies proved otherwise. The chapter revealed Shen Tang’s origins as a sentient vine and showed her repairing the Four Pillars while confronting the memories and feelings behind her emotional tribulation.

• Jimò Qiu told the grieving camp that Shen Tang had returned and was everywhere, but his vague explanation led Qi Shan and the others to believe she had died.
• A distraught minister tried to kill herself, and Qin Li announced that the group’s mission was disbanded until Jimò Qiu clarified that Shen Tang was alive and repairing the Four Pillars.
• The sky cleared as Shen Tang’s allies received good news, and a giant flower opened to reveal Shen Tang in a young girl’s form.
• Shen Tang returned to her true form, used her roots and merit cement to repair the Four Pillars, and worked alongside Third Old.
• Shen Tang remembered how she had become sentient and feared Heaven would discard her, while Third Old discussed Heaven’s control and Shen Tang’s attachment to the little people.

Shen Tang repaired the Pillars while keeping in touch with Jimò Qiu, as the Kang Kingdom stabilized its forces and expanded across the Central Continent. Months later, Shen De grew into an unusually capable toddler and ran into a blue-clad stranger, who picked her up.

• Shen Tang and Third Old spent nearly half a year repairing the Pillars, while Shen Tang gradually reunited her three minds and sent Jimò Qiu a Divine Oracle to reassure him.
• Jimò Qiu used a Divine Statue to let Shen Tang rebuke officials spreading rumors, and the political situation settled as Lin Feng stabilized the branch office and the two armies joined forces.
• Shen Tang told Jimò Qiu and the others that she was still repairing the Pillars and would return when she was done.
• Shen De grew rapidly, and Chu Yao and the others arranged early lessons while Gongxi Chou guarded her and she chased a python after tearing off part of his braid.
• Qin Li took Shen De outside to play, but she ran away, collided with a wall, and was picked up by a smiling blue-clad figure.

Shen Tang returned from repairing the Four Pillars and reunited with Qin Li and her rapidly grown daughter, Shen De. After choosing to return to mortal affairs, she let Luan seal away all her power and rank, then explained that Xiong had helped her get back to Kang.

• Shen Tang met Qin Li and Shen De, learned that the child was her daughter Ru Gui, and accepted her as her mother.
• Shen Tang reassured Qin Li that she was genuinely herself and explained that she had completed her work repairing the Four Pillars.
• Luan blocked Shen Tang from returning to mortal affairs unless she became a mortal, and Shen Tang crossed his boundary despite the warning.
• Luan sealed away Shen Tang's rank and power, charging her two hundred billion merit points, while Shen Tang angrily protested.
• After Luan and Third Old left, Shen Tang told Qin Li that Xiong had helped her travel back to Kang.

Shen Tang returned to Kang after the righteous panda helped her through the mountains, and she reunited with her anxious allies. Having spent all her merit to repair the Four Pillars and sealed away her powers, she took charge of the rear while her companions prepared to conquer the Qu Kingdom and lift her restrictions.

• Shen Tang recalled how the righteous panda had carried her through the rugged mountains, repaying a kindness from their earlier meeting.
• Qin Li briefed Shen Tang on Kang’s stable government and the troubles rumors about Gongxi Chou’s impersonation had caused at the front.
• Chu Yao and Kang Shi welcomed Shen Tang, who explained that her powers were sealed and that she had become an ordinary person after spending her merit to mend the Four Pillars.
• Shen Tang asked Kang Shi to remain by her side because his battlefield misfortune could endanger her fragile body, and her allies agreed he should be kept from the front.
• Chu Yao and Wei Cheng concluded that Shen Tang’s restrictions would likely end when the Qu Kingdom fell, and Shen Tang took charge of the rear while her allies pledged to protect her.

Shen Tang reunited with her officials and struggled to adjust to her restored memories, her fragile body, and her relationship with Jimò Qiu and Shen De. The chapter ended with her sending Qi Shan a blood-written message from far away, causing his arm to bleed.

• Chu Yao arranged a banquet to welcome Shen Tang back, and she reassured Jimò Qiu that she would not send him away.
• Shen Tang remembered her past with Shaobai and comforted Jimò Qiu, then met Shen De and worried that the child’s habit of repeating words meant something was wrong with her intelligence.
• Xiahou Yu and the other officials arrived, and Shen Tang’s return prompted a camp-wide feast for the soldiers.
• Shen Tang decided to summon Qi Shan herself by carving a message into her arm, despite Chu Yao’s objections and his call for an Xinglin Physician.
• Qi Shan’s arm began bleeding in his distant camp after Shen Tang sent the message, and he realized that the old friend he had thought dead was alive.

Qi Shan learned that Shen Tang had returned and immediately let go of his resentment, while Lin Feng urged Zhai Le to surrender and offered him a duke’s title and a fief. Zhai Le’s court debated whether to accept, and Lin Feng claimed victory was certain because she could use Scatter Beans to Create Soldiers.

• Qi Shan read the words “Return. Worry not” carved into his arm, reassured the court, and refused to explain his sudden emotional reaction.
• Fang Yan treated Qi Shan’s deliberately reopened wound and heard him say he would forgive Shen Tang as long as she returned.
• Qi Shan asked whether there was news from Lin Feng, who had been sent to negotiate with Qu.
• Lin Feng presented Shen Tang’s surrender terms to Zhai Le, offering him a duke’s rank and a fief of ten thousand households.
• Zhai Le’s officials argued over whether Qu should surrender or fight, while Zhai Le listened in silence.
• Zhai Le asked Lin Feng if she was certain she could win, and Lin Feng answered that her ability to Scatter Beans to Create Soldiers made defeat impossible.

Lin Feng undermined Zhai Le’s resolve to resist Kang by declaring that Shen Tang would honor the same generous terms whether Qu surrendered or fought, leaving Qu’s ruler to weigh his country’s fate. Zhai Le sought counsel from Yu Hai and then went to ask his secluded parents to see him.

• Zhai Le’s jealous cousin tried to provoke Lin Feng, who argued that Kang’s people and resources could overwhelm Qu Country.
• When a Qu official drew his sword on her, Lin Feng calmly guided it back into its sheath and declared that Shen Tang’s promise would stand whether Zhai Le surrendered or fought.
• Lin Feng warned Luo Sha that her speech might provoke an assassination attempt, while Yu Hai explained how it had shattered Qu’s morale and could force Zhai Le to stake his family’s lives to rally the country.
• Yu Hai told Zhai Le he would support whatever choice he made, and Zhai Le ordered that Lin Feng be watched and kept alive while he considered his options.
• Zhai Le changed into plain clothes and went alone to his secluded parents’ home, asking them to receive him.

Zhai Le visited his estranged parents and uncle, seeking guidance about whether to fight the State of Kang, and his uncle urged him to choose his own survival over the State of Qu. Meanwhile, Yu Hai confronted Lin Feng over her suspected plan to provoke Zhai Le into war and began considering how to win her over.

• Zhai Le knelt outside his parents’ mountain home, and his father finally brought him inside after hearing him threaten to disown himself.
• Zhai Le reunited with his sick mother and apologized to her, then knelt before his uncle and admitted he might not be able to defend the State of Qu.
• Zhai Le’s uncle told him that Zhai Huan had entrusted the State of Qu to him to keep him and his cousins alive, and urged him to follow his own heart.
• Luo Sha returned from dealing with intruders as Lin Feng handled her dagger, and Yu Hai arrived to accuse her of intending to frame Zhai Le and force a war.
• Lin Feng denied wanting to hurt herself, asserted that only the State of Kang could unite the realm, and Yu Hai began devising a way to bring her to his side.

Zhai Le chose to negotiate Qu Country’s surrender, while Shen Tang returned to Kang Country and resumed ruling. She put the Investiture of the Gods to use and agreed to ally with the Panda Righteous Warrior, leaving their plans for the Demon Race in motion.

• Yu Hai warned Zhai Le that Shen Youli might be absent from Kang Country, but Zhai Le refused to risk his clan and soldiers on a chance at victory.
• Zhai Le told Lin Feng he would negotiate only with Shen Tang and demanded proof of Kang Country’s sincerity.
• Lin Feng returned to Qi Shan, who revealed that Shen Tang had come back and agreed to let Zhai Le meet her.
• Shen Tang used the Investiture of the Gods to send captured True Spirits into reincarnation, intending to turn them into workers after they regained their memories.
• The Panda Righteous Warrior proposed that she and Shen Tang join forces, and Shen Tang agreed to become the Demon Race’s Demon Master.