Chapter Summaries

Ning Chen and Xia Xinyu married in a grand ceremony at the imperial palace, attended by rulers and powerful guests from across the world. After sharing the ceremonial wine, Ning Chen returned to Heavenly Edict Hall to receive congratulations and invited the assembled dignitaries to speak.

• Xia Xinyu prepared for the wedding with Qing Ling, while Ning Chen set out from the Zhiming Marquisate amid a procession welcomed by the people.
• Ning Chen and Xia Xinyu entered Heavenly Edict Hall as guests from the dynasties and the four great divine lands gathered for their wedding.
• Ning Chen and Xia Xinyu completed the wedding bows, refusing to kneel to Heaven and Earth but kneeling to honor their elders.
• Ning Chen and Xia Xinyu shared ceremonial wine in Weiyang Palace, and Ning Chen left her to return to the guests.
• Ning Chen exchanged toasts with Mingyue, Su Feiyan, Zhao Liusu, and Wan Hongzhu before inviting the assembled great figures to raise their questions.

At his wedding feast, Ning Chen explained two possible paths to immortality, including his untested idea of destroying the Dragon Gate by force. After the guests departed, he joined Xia Xinyu in their bridal chamber, and they began their married life together.

• Ning Chen told the gathered sect leaders that he had not entered the Immortal Ascension Realm and described crossing the Dragon Gate as the established path to immortality.
• Ning Chen proposed that one might break the Dragon Gate’s laws by force, then cautioned that the idea was only his deduction.
• The visiting leaders thanked Ning Chen, and the wedding banquet continued before guests from the Four Domains and officials departed.
• Wan Hongzhu asked Ning Chen to visit Yuheng Sacred Land, and Ning Chen agreed before watching the imperial city in silence.
• Ning Chen went to Weiyang Palace, lifted Xia Xinyu’s bridal veil, and shared the prepared wedding meal with her.
• Xia Xinyu helped Ning Chen change, and Ning Chen embraced his wife as they began their life together.

Ning Chen paid respects to the Empress Dowager with Xia Xinyu, then killed attackers in the nearby maple forest. When dead warriors attacked Mingyue at the Honglu Temple, he rescued her and the wounded Zijing and took them to the marquisate, discovering that Zijing had been poisoned.

• Ning Chen and Xia Xinyu visited the Empress Dowager’s tomb, where Ning Chen spoke of their marriage and Great Xia’s well-being.
• More than thirty attackers ambushed Ning Chen in the maple forest, and he killed them before ordering the guards to dispose of the bodies quietly.
• Thirteen dead warriors attacked the Northern Mongol Emperor at the Honglu Temple, while three of them fought Zijing as she shielded Mingyue.
• Ning Chen arrived at the Guest Reception Courtyard, defeated the three dead warriors, and ordered the head of the Ministry of Justice to uncover their master.
• Ning Chen examined Zijing, found that she had been poisoned, and took her and Mingyue to the marquisate despite the Imperial Enshriners’ objections.

Xia Xinyu treated Zijing’s poison while Mingyue told Ning Chen that the Ling family likely plotted against her to provoke war between Northern Meng and Great Xia. That night, Bai Ye attacked Ning Chen to avenge the commoners sacrificed thirty years earlier, and Ning Chen defeated him but spared his life.

• Xia Xinyu said Zijing’s poison could be cured, though she would need a long recovery and must not fight during it.
• Ning Chen explained that Mingyue was Northern Meng’s last surviving imperial heir, and Mingyue suspected the pro-war Ling family had arranged the attack on her.
• A messenger delivering a letter attacked Ning Chen, revealing himself as Bai Ye and accusing him of sacrificing countless commoners thirty years earlier.
• Bai Ye fought Ning Chen with the sword he had honed for thirty years, then used a forbidden art to reach completion and pierced Ning Chen’s shoulder.
• Ning Chen drew the Star Soul Sword and defeated Bai Ye with one slash, then spared him and told him to remember his face.

Ning Chen let Bai Ye live and offered to teach him swordsmanship, while Mingyue learned the cost of protecting those she cared about. After Xia Xinyu returned from the palace, she told Ning Chen that Chi'er wanted him to attend the next morning’s court.

• Ning Chen defeated Bai Ye, gave him healing pills, and allowed him a month to attack before offering him a chance to learn swordsmanship.
• Xia Xinyu decided to visit the palace over the tensions caused by Mingyue’s assassination, while Ning Chen told her to let Chi'er decide how to respond.
• Ning Chen took Mingyue and Bai Ye to the Ministry of Justice, ordered the chief to keep the assassins’ confessions secret, and let Mingyue question them alone.
• Mingyue killed the three assassins, then broke down as Ning Chen comforted her and told her that growing up meant learning to protect others.
• Ning Chen watched Bai Ye study his sword techniques, and Xia Xinyu returned to say Chi'er had invited him to the next morning’s court.

Ning Chen attended court as Great Xia debated the assassination attempt on the Northern Mongol Emperor and whether to go to war. He supported peace, warned that the Barbarian Dynasty might benefit from the conflict, and left Xia Chi and the Martial Marquises to safeguard Great Xia.

• Ning Chen arrived at Heavenly Edict Hall, where Xia Chi delayed court until the Marquis of Knowing Fate took his seat.
• Great Xia's ministers argued over whether Northern Mongolia had staged the assassination or whether Great Xia should retaliate.
• Marquis Dongzhi proposed that internal turmoil in either dynasty could explain the attack and urged Great Xia to preserve peace.
• Marquis Anling, Kong Yu, and Ning Chen supported Marquis Dongzhi's opposition to war.
• Ning Chen warned Marquis Dongzhi to consider the Barbarian Dynasty as another possible beneficiary of the attack.
• Ning Chen advised Xia Chi to prioritize his people's peace and departed the hall.

After leaving the Zhiming Marquisate, Ning Chen and Xin Yu settled in a remote city and began living quietly among ordinary people. When they visited their student Xiao Wen’s sick mother, Ning Chen noticed the family’s heirloom sword, which Xiao Wen offered as payment for medicine.

• Ning Chen ended Bai Ye’s month of sword instruction and warned him that he would have only one chance to defeat him before Bai Ye left.
• Yang Hong arrived through the Dragon Gate to escort Mingyue back to Northern Mongol, and Mingyue departed with Zijing.
• Ning Chen and Xin Yu left the marquisate and settled in a remote city, where Ning Chen taught at a private school and Xin Yu tended a medicinal garden.
• Ning Chen agreed to examine Xiao Wen’s sick mother and brought Xin Yu to the boy’s home after dinner.
• Xin Yu examined Xiao Wen’s mother while Ning Chen noticed a sword on the wall; Xiao Wen offered the heirloom as payment, but could not draw it from its sheath.

Ning Chen and Xin Yu spent five years living quietly in Sunset City while caring for Xiao Wen and his dying mother. When thousands of soldiers arrived with a powerful official, Ning Chen and Xin Yu feared that unrest would reach their home, but chose to wait and help Xiao Wen prepare to leave for his studies.

• Xin Yu treated Xiao Wen's mother and learned that her illness would likely give her only five or six more years to live.
• Ning Chen and Xin Yu learned that Xiao Wen's family descended from generals and that his father had died suppressing a rebellion.
• Five years later, soldiers arrived in the ancient city, and Ning Chen helped Su Mei and her husband gather tofu after a carriage overturned their stall.
• Xin Yu told Ning Chen that Xiao Wen's mother was near death and planned to send Xiao Wen away to study with her savings.
• Ning Chen and Xin Yu decided to give Xiao Wen money for his studies and remain in the city for now, despite the arrival of the soldiers.

Ning Chen and Xin Yu saw Xiao Wen off to study, then spent a day shopping together. At a cloth shop, a fan-wielding young man demanded every bolt of fabric, and Ning Chen guessed the newcomer was a woman in disguise.

• Xiao Wen's mother sent him away to study, and Ning Chen and Xin Yu gave him travel money and encouragement.
• After Xiao Wen left, his mother coughed up blood, and Xin Yu helped her inside while Ning Chen comforted Xin Yu about her medical skills and their marriage.
• Ning Chen invited Xin Yu to shop with him, and the next day they bought rouge and face powder before visiting a cloth shop.
• Xin Yu chose a bolt of Yueyang Silk, while Ning Chen failed to distinguish the fabrics and embarrassed himself in front of the proprietress.
• A young man with a paper fan demanded all the cloth in the shop, and Ning Chen told Xin Yu he was certain the newcomer was a woman.

Ning Chen and Xin Yu were forced to leave Sunset City after Zhao Guoer threatened them, while Zhao Hongyun secretly arranged for them to be dealt with. As they traveled southwest, Ning Chen entered a snow-covered bamboo forest alone, where armed figures attacked him.

• Zhao Guoer attacked Ning Chen and Xin Yu at a cloth shop, then later tested Ning Chen with her sword and ordered the couple to leave the city within a month.
• Xin Yu and Ning Chen cared for Xiao Wen’s dying mother, who called for her absent child before she died; they buried her three days later.
• Mu Chengxue reached immortality at Heavenly Sound Pavilion, but the Pavilion Master ordered her to continue pushing the Sound Mill for another seventy years.
• Zhao Hongyun learned that Ning Chen and Xin Yu’s origins were unknown, ordered his subordinate to deal with them, and told her to keep the matter from Zhao Guoer.
• Ning Chen and Xin Yu left Sunset City; thirty li from the city, Ning Chen entered a bamboo forest alone while Xin Yu waited behind.
• Armed figures emerged from the bamboo forest and attacked Ning Chen with their weapons.

Ning Chen punished Zhao Hongyun for ordering an attack on him, crippling the official and his daughter before leaving the investigation to a Dark Dragon Guard. Back home, he and Xin Yu agreed to remain in Sunset City for a month and discussed traveling beyond Great Xia to explore the Outer Heavens.

• Ning Chen killed fifteen assassins in a bamboo grove and told Hong Ling to deliver a warning to her master.
• Zhao Guoer learned the assassins had died, then hurried with Hong Ling to Sunset City and warned Zhao Hongyun that Ning Chen was dangerous.
• Ning Chen confronted Zhao Hongyun at the City Lord's Mansion, immobilized the guards, sealed Zhao Guoer's cultivation, and crippled Zhao Hongyun.
• A Dark Dragon Guard recognized Ning Chen as the Marquis of Knowing Fate, and Ning Chen ordered him to report Zhao Hongyun's conduct to the court for investigation.
• Ning Chen returned to Xin Yu, and they agreed to stay for a month before traveling through the Four Domains and possibly visiting the Outer Heavens.

Ning Chen investigated the secret mining of a Dark Silver Ore Vein and confronted Marquis Yuanwu at his military camp. He defeated Yuanwu with a single sword strike, then left the rest of the matter to Marquis Dongzhi and Liu Zong.

• Liu Zong told Ning Chen that Zhao Hongyun had confessed Marquis Yuanwu’s role in concealing the Dark Silver Ore Vein and killing the messenger five years earlier.
• Ning Chen agreed to accompany Marquis Dongzhi and Liu Zong, saying Great Xia could not tolerate a rebellious Martial Marquis.
• Ning Chen entered Marquis Yuanwu’s guarded military camp, where Yuanwu dismissed his guards and met him outside the command tent.
• Ning Chen confronted Yuanwu about the murdered messenger and warned him to abandon his rebellion.
• Yuanwu challenged Ning Chen to prove his strength, and Ning Chen wounded him with a single sword strike that stopped just short of his heart.
• Ning Chen sheathed his sword, left the rest to Marquis Dongzhi and Liu Zong, and walked out of the camp.

Ning Chen returned to Yuheng Sacred Land with Xin Yu and helped Xiao Wuming break through the Dragon Gate into the Immortal Ascension Realm. After battling Heaven’s punishment and returning unharmed, Ning Chen left Xiao Wuming to stabilize his new realm and guided Wan Hongzhu and Jian Shui’er about their own cultivation.

• Ning Chen and Xin Yu arrived at Yuheng Sacred Land, where Xiao Wuming, Wan Hongzhu, and Jian Shui’er welcomed them.
• Ning Chen asked Xiao Wuming to summon the Dragon Gate and attempt to enter the Immortal Ascension Realm again.
• Ning Chen damaged the Dragon Gate with Star Soul, weakening its laws and allowing Xiao Wuming to ascend to immortality.
• Ning Chen fought off Heaven’s lightning punishment with Sword Art, Primal Chaos, and returned safely to the others.
• Ning Chen told Jian Shui’er she was not ready to attempt ascension and agreed with Wan Hongzhu that she should build her foundation first.
• Xin Yu told Jian Shui’er that Ning Chen’s realm was difficult to define but seemed to be Xiantian Great Perfection, despite Heaven preventing his own ascension.

Ning Chen and Xin Yu left Yuheng Sacred Land and traveled to the Ancient Land of Western Buddhism to visit the Changling Venerable Lady. Nu Chang welcomed Xin Yu but trapped Ning Chen in a formation, and the chapter ended with her still teasing him after he escaped.

• Ning Chen told Xin Yu they would leave Yuheng Sacred Land, while Jian Shui'er and Wan Hongzhu regretted his departure and wondered about his past and hidden secrets.
• Xin Yu told Wan Hongzhu something privately before she and Ning Chen departed, then the two traveled for six months to the Ancient Land of Western Buddhism.
• Ning Chen and Xin Yu visited the ruins by the Old Water Pavilion, and Ning Chen explained his objections to false Buddhists who exploited the people.
• Ning Chen and Xin Yu reached Changling Ancient Land, where Nu Chang appeared and took Xin Yu away, leaving Ning Chen trapped in a formation.
• Ning Chen escaped after more than half a day and joined Xin Yu and Nu Chang at a stone table, where Nu Chang continued mocking him.

Ning Chen and Xin Yu traveled through Changling and the Central Province, choosing a peaceful life together despite Nu Chang’s offer to help him restore his cultivation. After Ning Chen sent the Zhao Family the Po Shang Bow and Star Soul Iron Mother without meeting them, he and Xin Yu set out for the Northern Plains.

• Nu Chang showed Xin Yu Changling’s forbidden ground and explained the toll its accelerated time took on those who cultivated there.
• Nu Chang offered to help Ning Chen reach the Immortal Ascension Realm, but Ning Chen refused so he could spend his remaining time with Xin Yu.
• Ning Chen and Xin Yu traveled through the Ancient Land of Western Buddhism and then the Central Province, where sects grew alarmed at his return.
• Zhao Liusu ordered the Zhao Family not to pursue Ning Chen, and later received the Po Shang Bow and Star Soul Iron Mother from him.
• Ning Chen explained to Xin Yu that he avoided visiting the Zhao Family to prevent further entanglements, then continued with her toward the Northern Plains.

Ning Chen visited the Heavenly Sound Pavilion with Xin Yu to thank the Pavilion Master and learn how she had extended his life, but she refused to reveal the price or the person who had asked her to help. After leaving the valley, Ning Chen invited Xin Yu to see the Outer Heavens, then noticed strands of white hair appearing in her dark hair.

• Ning Chen and Xin Yu entered Heavenly Sound Valley and met the Heavenly Sound Pavilion Master, who welcomed Ning Chen after thirty years.
• Ning Chen reassured Wu Qingman that he no longer held a grudge, then asked the Pavilion Master how she had extended his life and what price the deed required.
• The Pavilion Master explained that Ning Chen’s unusual circumstances had let her replenish some of his lifespan, but said a mortal’s lifespan could not be changed and refused to reveal the secret price.
• Mu Chengxue suffered backlash while pushing the Sound Mill in the Forbidden Heaven Space, and the Pavilion Master suppressed her injuries as Mu Chengxue said Ning Chen had arrived.
• The Pavilion Master told Wu Qingman that Ning Chen’s cultivation had dispersed and his borrowed hundred years were nearly all he had left; she also said Xin Yu had even less lifespan remaining.
• Ning Chen and Xin Yu left the valley, and Ning Chen invited her to see the Outer Heavens before noticing white strands in her hair.

Ning Chen and Xin Yu traveled to Tianfu Star, where Ning Chen sought help with spatial formations and met Mu Changge, who challenged him to a sword spar. Their battle ended abruptly when Xin Yu collapsed, leaving Ning Chen injured and rushing to her side.

• Ning Chen and Xin Yu arrived at Tianfu Star to seek Tianxiang’s guidance about traveling through the Outer Heavens.
• Chao Tianxi explained the cost and risks of using long-distance spatial formations, and Mu Changge emerged from seclusion.
• Mu Changge challenged Ning Chen, and they exchanged increasingly powerful sword techniques as Chao Tianxi and the others watched.
• Xin Yu suddenly spat blood and collapsed during their final exchange, distracting Ning Chen and causing him to take the force of Mu Changge’s sword.
• Ning Chen rushed to catch the unconscious Xin Yu while Mu Changge regretted that the distracted battle had no meaningful victor.

Ning Chen and Xin Yu traveled to the Purple Star Emperor Planet to obtain a Heavenly Boat for their journey, as Xin Yu’s remaining time was short. After buying one at Hundred Rivers Tower, they drew the attention of Prince Qi and other powerful observers, who sent people to follow them.

• Ning Chen told Chao Tianxi and Mu Changge that he would take Xin Yu to the Purple Star Emperor Planet to find a Heavenly Boat, and the couple departed from Heavenly Prefecture.
• Seven months later, Ning Chen and Xin Yu arrived at Hundred Rivers Tower and waited on its eighth floor for the auction’s Heavenly Boat.
• Ning Chen bid thirty thousand Immortal Jade for the Heavenly Boat, silencing the other bidders, and won it without making another bid at the auction.
• Prince Qi sent Yun Ji to secretly follow Ning Chen, while the figure on Hundred Rivers Tower’s ninth floor also ordered someone to learn his identity.
• Ning Chen took Xin Yu to Cloud Inn to rest, and scouts reported their lodging place to their masters.

Ning Chen and Xin Yu traveled west while King Qi, Lin Yuzhen, pursued the Heavenly Boat and tested Ning Chen’s strength. Lin Yuzhen’s challenge ended without resolving the dispute, as Xin Yu stepped in to address her.

• King Qi, revealed as Lin Yuzhen, watched Ning Chen and Xin Yu leave Cloud Inn and ordered her people to follow them without provoking them.
• After half a month of travel, Ning Chen killed a spying attacker with a fallen leaf and revealed that he had known the followers were there.
• Lin Yuzhen offered forty thousand Immortal Jade for Ning Chen’s Heavenly Boat, but he refused to part with it.
• Hundred Rivers Old Ancestor learned that Lin Yuzhen was King Qi and ordered Hundred Rivers Tower to withdraw from the matter.
• Lin Yuzhen challenged Ning Chen to prove he could keep the Heavenly Boat, and the two exchanged powerful attacks before Xin Yu approached and objected to forcing him.

After nearly ten years away, Ning Chen and Xin Yu returned to Great Xia, where Xin Yu’s health continued to fail. They spent the New Year with Xia Chi and Qing Ling before Xin Yu died beside Ning Chen at sunset, leaving their future together to the next life.

• Lin Yuzhen apologized to Ning Chen and Xin Yu at Thousand Li Mountain, then told Ning Chen that Buddha and the afterlife were linked to the All Heavens Starfield.
• Ning Chen and Xin Yu traveled through the Outer Heavens for seven years and returned to the Eastern Divine Continent a year later, with Xin Yu’s hair completely white.
• Ning Chen brought the exhausted Xin Yu back to the Zhiming Marquisate, where she slept for much of the ten days before the New Year.
• Ning Chen and Xin Yu attended Xia Chi’s New Year banquet, and Xin Yu urged him to protect Great Xia before visiting Qing Ling at Weiyang Palace.
• Xin Yu told Qing Ling she had no regrets, then returned to the marquisate with Ning Chen and asked to watch the sunset.
• Ning Chen showed Xin Yu a portrait he had painted of her as a young woman, and Xin Yu died in his arms after saying they would meet again in the next life.