Chapter Summaries

Ye Tianyi defended Zhou Zixue by revealing the hidden ailments of several imperial experts and demonstrating his medical skill. He left the princes wondering whether he had concealed his true abilities for years, comparing himself to the famous Ye Tianyi of the Nine Provinces Empire.

• Consort Lin accused Zhou Zixue of making excuses, and Ye Tianyi challenged her claim that he knew nothing about medicine.
• Ye Tianyi identified Venerable Zhang's hidden ailment and promised to treat him, then exposed Poison Venerable's poisoned body and the National Teacher's sealed cultivation.
• Ye Tianyi revealed Consort Lin's infertility, forcing her to acknowledge his medical skill while the other consorts questioned her.
• Lei Minghao and Lei Tiancheng remarked on Ye Tianyi's unexpected medical abilities, and Ye Tianyi asked whether anyone had heard of Ye Tianyi from the Nine Provinces Empire.
• Ye Tianyi described how Ye Tianyi had hidden his talent to avoid being silenced and asked whether he himself had been doing the same.

As the Imperial Throne Election began, Ye Tianyi’s remarks made the crowd wonder whether the Fourth Prince had been hiding his abilities, though he brushed the idea off as a joke. The National Teacher announced a competition judged by 210 voters, and the first round began with the candidates revealing their cultivation; First Prince Lei Lingyi impressed the crowd with his Domain Realm Stage Seven strength.

• Ye Tianyi suggested he might have been hiding his abilities like Ye Tianyi, then laughed and dismissed the comparison as a joke.
• First Prince Lei Lingyi praised the Fourth Prince’s medical skills but questioned whether he could truly cure the poisoned experts.
• The Empress Dowager declared the Imperial Throne Election open, and the National Teacher summoned the seven Princes, Young Master Lei Feng, and the Princess to compete.
• The National Teacher announced that 210 people would vote on the candidates after several rounds, with a final discussion still required before choosing the Emperor.
• The National Teacher began the first round by asking the candidates to reveal their cultivation realms and attributes.
• First Prince Lei Lingyi revealed that he had reached Domain Realm Stage Seven at age twenty-five, drawing praise from the crowd.

The princes and Lei Yuyin revealed their strength and hidden attributes during the imperial succession assessment, while Ye Tianyi waited until last to surprise everyone with his own abilities. The chapter ended as he demonstrated multiple attributes, including a Time Attribute, leaving the court stunned.

• Lei Tiancheng revealed that he possessed Thunder and Fire attributes, surprising Lei Lingyi and the court.
• The Third, Seventh, and Fifth Princes displayed their abilities, while Lei Yuyin revealed her Domain Realm Fourth Order cultivation and Thunder-Wind dual attributes.
• Lei Jinming concealed his earlier reputation as a good-for-nothing by revealing Domain Realm Fourth Order cultivation and Thunder-Gold dual attributes.
• Ye Tianyi displayed Law Domain Realm Seventh Order cultivation, then revealed Thunder and Fire attributes, followed by Ice and Wind attributes.
• Ye Tianyi froze the flame atop a candle and announced that he also possessed a Time Attribute.

At the imperial succession gathering, Fourth Prince Lei Tianming revealed five attributes, including the Time Attribute, shocking the court and winning powerful supporters. The Empress Dowager acknowledged his extraordinary talent but ordered the second round to begin because talent alone could not decide who would become Emperor.

• Lei Tianming revealed five attributes, including the Time Attribute, leaving the princes, experts, and Empress Dowager astonished.
• The National Teacher confirmed that no one in history had possessed five attributes, while Poison Venerable and Venerable Zhang declared their support for Lei Tianming.
• A Heavenly Dao Realm expert warned that the Imperial Throne could not be claimed through strength and talent alone.
• The Empress Dowager praised Lei Tianming, Sixth Prince Lei Jinming, and Princess Lei Yuyin, then instructed the National Teacher to begin the second round.

The Imperial Examination’s second round forced the princes to feed poisoned wine to women close to them, testing whether they could sacrifice personal feelings. Ye Tianyi complied, then gave the woman an antidote, while Lei Yuyin lost her chance at the throne by refusing to kill her maid.

• The National Teacher and Empress Dowager announced that each contender had to make a bound woman drink deadly poison or lose eligibility for the Imperial Throne.
• Lei Tiancheng forced poisoned wine down his concubine’s throat, and she soon began convulsing as several princes chose to withdraw.
• Lei Yuyin refused to poison her maid and gave up her qualification to compete for the throne.
• Ye Tianyi fed poisoned wine to his pleading concubine, satisfying the Empress Dowager’s requirement.
• Ye Tianyi gave the woman a medicinal pill after she swallowed the poison.

Ye Tianyi passed the Empress Dowager’s test by making her drink the poisoned wine and then saving her, arguing that an Emperor could be compassionate without being ruled by emotion. His actions won him support, but the First Prince challenged him over his past killings as the final assessment began.

• Ye Tianyi untied the rescued concubine and argued that he had obeyed the test’s rules while showing compassion for the people.
• The Empress Dowager approved of Ye Tianyi’s reasoning, and the National Teacher and many nobles began to favor him for the throne.
• Lei Lingyi challenged Ye Tianyi by pointing out that he had previously killed servants and commoners.
• Poison Venerable and Venerable Zhang defended Ye Tianyi, while the First Prince insisted that his past actions contradicted his words.
• Lei Yuyin told Zhou Zixue to support Ye Tianyi, and the National Teacher announced the final assessment.

Ye Tianyi and the Second Prince entered a simulated war assessment to test their troop command, with the Second Prince expecting to defeat him. The battle began with Ye Tianyi sending his army on a detour and leaving his city gates open, baffling the observers.

• The National Teacher explained that each prince would command five hundred thousand virtual troops in a battle between the Thunder Ling Empire and the Nine Provinces Empire.
• Ye Tianyi volunteered to compete against the Second Prince, and both entered Virtual Chambers while the others left to watch the mirror image.
• The National Teacher predicted the Second Prince would win, citing his exceptional command skills and confidence.
• Ye Tianyi appeared in Northern Prefecture Sky City, quickly finished planning, and signaled that he was ready.
• When the battle began, Ye Tianyi sent all but a few of his troops on a detour toward the Thunder Ling Empire and left his city gates open, while the Second Prince sent most of his army straight toward the city.

Ye Tianyi used the Empty City Stratagem to defeat Lei Tiancheng in a military simulation without losing a soldier. The National Teacher and the others praised Ye Tianyi’s command of strategy.

• Ye Tianyi led his army away from Northern Prefecture Sky City, leaving the gates open and the city nearly empty as Lei Tiancheng approached.
• Ye Tianyi invited Lei Tiancheng to enter, but Lei Tiancheng suspected an ambush and stopped his troops from charging through the gates.
• Ye Tianyi arranged for a soldier’s halberd to appear behind the gate, reinforcing Lei Tiancheng’s suspicion that the city concealed an ambush.
• Lei Tiancheng refused to attack, and the simulation declared the Nine Provinces Empire the winner when time ran out.
• The National Teacher praised Ye Tianyi’s stratagem, and Ye Tianyi named it the Empty City Stratagem.

Ye Tianyi defeated the Second Prince, First Prince, and Sixth Prince with the Empty City Stratagem, then faced Lei Feng in a troop formation contest. He transformed his smaller army through a series of formations and left Lei Feng’s army trapped in the Ambush from Ten Sides Formation.

• Lei Tiancheng conceded his loss to Ye Tianyi but warned that Ye Tianyi would not be so lucky next time.
• Ye Tianyi challenged every prince and defeated Lei Lingyi and the Sixth Prince with the Empty City Stratagem.
• Ye Tianyi faced Lei Feng with only three hundred thousand troops against Lei Feng’s five hundred thousand and began with the One-Word Long Snake Formation.
• Ye Tianyi repeatedly transformed his formation while the two armies fought, keeping casualties nearly even despite Lei Feng’s numerical advantage.
• The Military Advisor declared Lei Feng’s army defeated as Ye Tianyi’s formations advanced through the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation and the Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Formation.
• Ye Tianyi’s army settled into the Ambush from Ten Sides Formation, stunning the generals and military advisors watching.

Ye Tianyi won the military formation contest and emerged as the likely next Emperor, prompting rival princes and influential figures to make their moves. As the night before the succession announcement began, the First, Second, and Sixth Princes plotted to kill him while several powerful visitors offered him gifts and support.

• Ye Tianyi's formations defeated Lei Feng's five hundred thousand troops, and the Great General praised his command of the army.
• The National Teacher announced that the imperial family would decide the new Emperor overnight and reveal the result the next morning.
• Lei Yuyin planned to ask Ye Tianyi to clear her mother's name, while the First, Second, and Sixth Princes plotted to kill him that night.
• The Poison Venerable gave Ye Tianyi a seventh-rank Antidote Pill and agreed to stay at his residence while Ye Tianyi promised to refine an antidote for him.
• The National Teacher and Zhang Tianshi visited Ye Tianyi with gifts, and Zhang Tianshi gave him a spirit talisman to help him through the night's danger.

Ye Tianyi hosted imperial family members and the Eight Great Families as he prepared to become Emperor, while Lei Yuyin discovered that he was likely an impostor rather than Lei Tianming. Zhou Zixue then visited him, and Ye Tianyi greeted her with a provocative remark.

• The National Teacher and Celestial Master Zhang asked Ye Tianyi to treat them, and he agreed to let them stay at his manor.
• The Family Heads of the Eight Great Families visited Ye Tianyi with gifts and offers of support, while imperial family members hid upstairs.
• Lei Yuyin asked Ye Tianyi to clear her mother's name, then recognized his scent from a previous encounter and suspected he was not Lei Tianming.
• Lei Yuyin decided not to expose Ye Tianyi because she cared only about clearing her mother's name.
• Zhou Zixue came to see Ye Tianyi, and he teased her about changing outfits.

Ye Tianyi tried to persuade Zhou Zixue to become his consort, promising both to take her away from the Thunder Ling Empire and to let her live freely. He brought her before the royal family and publicly declared his intention to marry her.

• Ye Tianyi offered to make Zhou Zixue his consort, but she warned him about the ridicule and asked only for protection after he became Emperor.
• Ye Tianyi said he would not take the throne and promised to take Zhou Zixue out of the Thunder Ling Empire if she agreed to go with him.
• Zhou Zixue doubted his promise until Ye Tianyi wrote and fingerprinted a guarantee, then followed him upstairs.
• Ye Tianyi summoned Poison Venerable, the National Teacher, and other royal family members as witnesses.
• Ye Tianyi announced that he had fallen in love with Zhou Zixue and hoped to take her as his consort.

Ye Tianyi secured the imperial family's approval to make Zhou Zixue his Imperial Concubine while secretly preparing a pill to control powerful people. In Ye Tianyi's room, Lei Yuyin told Zhou Zixue that he was not the Fourth Prince.

• The imperial family members agreed that Ye Tianyi could take Zhou Zixue as his Imperial Concubine, then left the pair alone.
• Zhou Zixue went upstairs, believing Ye Tianyi's guarantee would eventually secure her freedom.
• Ye Tianyi began refining the Sub-Mother Heavenly Meteor Pill, which could kill those who took its child pills if he died or chose to kill them.
• Ye Tianyi told Zhang Tianshi that he would treat his ailment and remove Poison Venerable's poison, but that the National Teacher's seal might take longer to address.
• Lei Yuyin confronted Zhou Zixue with a sword, then lowered it when she recognized her; after learning Zhou had come to serve Ye Tianyi, Lei proposed they cooperate.
• Lei Yuyin asked whether she could trust Zhou Zixue and revealed that Ye Tianyi was not the Fourth Prince.

Ye Tianyi cured Venerable Zhang and Poison Venerable, then gave the royal experts pills that boosted their cultivation before leaving to prepare for his coronation. Little Chili and Zhou Zixue ambushed him in his room and revealed that they knew he was disguised as the Fourth Prince.

• Ye Tianyi cured Venerable Zhang's hidden ailment, triggering a breakthrough, and then cured Poison Venerable as well.
• Ye Tianyi promised to treat the National Teacher after the coronation and refined pills to strengthen the empire's Heavenly Dao and Saint Ruler experts.
• Assassins entered the Prince's residence, but more than twenty hidden royal guards appeared to confront them.
• The National Teacher and the others tested Ye Tianyi's Sub-Mother Heavenly Meteor Pills, felt their cultivation rise, and prepared to distribute the remaining pills.
• Little Chili and Zhou Zixue attacked, tied up Ye Tianyi, and accused him of impersonating the Fourth Prince after showing him a damaged piece of clothing.

Lei Yuyin and Zhou Zixue mistakenly accused Ye Tianyi of attacking Lei Yuyin and tied him up, then nearly killed him when they feared he would retaliate. Ye Tianyi burned through the ropes and used Pink Spray on both women.

• Lei Yuyin recognized the scent on Ye Tianyi’s clothes and accused him of breaking into her chambers, but rubbing his face and tugging his hair revealed no disguise.
• Lei Yuyin and Zhou Zixue panicked after realizing they had tied up the Fourth Prince and debated whether to kill him or ask his forgiveness.
• Ye Tianyi said he forgave them, but Lei Yuyin doubted him and drew her sword after he cursed her.
• Zhou Zixue stopped Lei Yuyin from stabbing Ye Tianyi and apologized, while Ye Tianyi demanded to be untied.
• While Lei Yuyin went crazy and Zhou Zixue hesitated, Ye Tianyi burned through the ropes and sprayed Pink Spray at both women.

Ye Tianyi decided to control Zhou Zixue and Lei Yuyin rather than kill them after they had tried to kill him. He revealed his identity to Zhou Zixue, who recognized him as Ye Tianyi and accepted that he had taken them captive.

• Ye Tianyi confronted Zhou Zixue and Lei Yuyin for developing killing intent toward him, then accepted Zhou Zixue's apology but said it would not change what he planned to do.
• Ye Tianyi forced Zhou Zixue and the sleeping Lei Yuyin to swallow Sub-Mother Heavenly Meteor Pills and told Zhou Zixue the pills could kill them at his command.
• Ye Tianyi threatened Zhou Zixue with the poison and said he would restore her freedom if she behaved.
• Zhou Zixue criticized Ye Tianyi for taking the Princess, whom she believed was his younger sister, so Ye Tianyi removed his disguise.
• Zhou Zixue recognized Ye Tianyi and said the Thunder Ling Empire would suffer a crushing defeat against the Nine Provinces Empire, then told him she did not blame him for taking her.

Ye Tianyi secured Zhou Zixue and Lei Yuyin’s cooperation by promising to spare them and clear Lei Yuyin’s mother’s name. As he planned his takeover of the Thunder Ling Empire, the two women agreed not to oppose him but plotted to expose his actions to his girlfriend.

• Zhou Zixue told Ye Tianyi she did not blame him, and he asked her to keep Lei Yuyin from disrupting his plans.
• Lei Yuyin woke, recognized Ye Tianyi, and agreed to behave after he promised to clear her mother’s name if she cooperated.
• Ye Tianyi considered how to defeat the remaining experts and the empire’s forty-million-strong army before his system’s five days ran out.
• Zhou Zixue persuaded Lei Yuyin that helping Ye Tianyi made sense because they both hated the royal family and wanted something from him.
• Zhou Zixue and Lei Yuyin decided they could get revenge by telling Ye Tianyi’s girlfriend what he had done.

Ye Tianyi was proclaimed the new Emperor of the Thunder Ling Empire and completed his ascension ceremony. He ended the chapter by ordering the First Prince and the Second Prince arrested.

• Ye Tianyi took Zhou Zixue and Lei Yuyin to the Imperial Palace for the coronation.
• The National Teacher announced that the Fourth Prince had been chosen as the New Emperor.
• Ye Tianyi donned the Dragon Robe, sat on the Imperial Throne, and received the Imperial Jade Seal as the crowd hailed him.
• After the ceremony, Ye Tianyi ordered the imperial family and the Eight Great Families to arrest the First Prince and the Second Prince.

Ye Tianyi seized control at court by executing the First Prince, the Second Prince, and four officials, while restoring Lei Yuyin’s mother’s name and elevating Zhou Zixue to Imperial Concubine. He then welcomed Chang Tian and his followers into the Thunder Ling royal family and arranged to distribute pills that would kill them.

• Ye Tianyi accused the First Prince and Second Prince of plotting his assassination, presented fabricated confessions, and had Poison Venerable and Venerable Zhang execute them.
• Ye Tianyi cleared Lei Yuyin’s mother of the charge of plotting against the Emperor, named four officials as conspirators, and ordered their execution.
• Ye Tianyi announced that Zhou Zixue would become his Imperial Concubine, and she went to stand beside him.
• Ye Tianyi granted Chang Tian and his followers membership, rights, and resources in the Thunder Ling royal family.
• Ye Tianyi asked the National Teacher to distribute a Sub-Mother Heavenly Meteor Pill to Chang Tian and the others, intending to kill them.

Ye Tianyi secured Chang Tian and the other experts’ loyalty by giving them Sub-Mother Heavenly Meteor Pills, then declared that he would step down if the Thunder Ling Empire failed to defeat the Nine Provinces Empire. He left the court burdened with imperial work and prepared for the next stage of his plan, while Zhou Zixue understood that the empire’s leaders were heading for trouble.

• Ye Tianyi pressured Chang Tian into taking a Sub-Mother Heavenly Meteor Pill, which increased Chang Tian’s cultivation, and Chang Tian urged the others to take theirs as well.
• Ye Tianyi announced that the Thunder Ling Empire would soon attack the Nine Provinces Empire and vowed to leave the throne if the campaign failed.
• Zhou Zixue recognized that Ye Tianyi had no intention of keeping the throne and that the others’ confidence in him would lead them into trouble.
• Ye Tianyi spent the following day handling imperial affairs and discussions, though he said the Nine Provinces Empire had already won and he was prolonging matters to reduce its losses and complete his mission.
• Ye Tianyi rested with Little Chili and Zhou Zixue, then used Lei Yuyin’s mother to threaten her after she expressed gratitude while admitting that she hated him.