Chapter Summaries

Zhou Qiubai spared the defeated Titan Giant Ape and made it lead him and his companions to the Lake of Life, where he met the Sky Azure Bull Python. He told the python that he had not killed Xiao Wu, leaving the reason for his visit unresolved.

• The Titan Giant Ape asked Zhou Qiubai to kill it, but he refused and said it might be useful alive.
• Zhou Qiubai ordered the Titan Giant Ape to take the group to the Lake of Life to speak with its brother, Da Ming.
• At the lake, the Titan Giant Ape called for Da Ming, and the Sky Azure Bull Python emerged from the water.
• The Sky Azure Bull Python threatened the humans unless they released Er Ming, but Zhou Qiubai said their fight had been a bet and Er Ming had lost.
• The Sky Azure Bull Python offered Zhou Qiubai a soul ring if that was his purpose, but Zhou Qiubai said he first needed to explain that he had not killed Xiao Wu.

Zhou Qiubai explained Xiao Wu’s sacrifice to the Sky Azure Bull Python, which allowed him and his companions to pass the Lake of Life. Beyond it, he confronted Beast God Di Tian, revealing that he knew why Di Tian had appeared.

• Zhou Qiubai told the Sky Azure Bull Python that Xiao Wu had willingly sacrificed herself for Tang San and said the python should judge Tang San for itself.
• After sensing a faint fluctuation beneath the lake, the Sky Azure Bull Python invited Zhou Qiubai and his companions to enter, persuading Er Ming not to attack them.
• The Sky Azure Bull Python warned Zhou Qiubai that Spirit Beasts would remember Xiao Wu’s choice for generations, and Zhou Qiubai continued across the Lake of Life.
• Zhou Qiubai recognized the Black-Robed Man on the path as Beast God Di Tian, and Dantai Canglan held back from attacking.
• Di Tian questioned how Zhou Qiubai knew of him, and Zhou Qiubai said the Sky Azure Bull Python’s invitation—and something at the bottom of the lake—had brought Di Tian out.

Zhou Qiubai told Di Tian that his first soul ring had formed by accident when he was near death, leaving him unable to explain how to create one. He then began explaining that humans and Spirit Beasts were trapped in a cycle of killing, while Di Tian listened and the gathered ferocious beasts watched.

• Di Tian questioned Zhou Qiubai about his first soul ring, and Zhou Qiubai said it had formed naturally while he was dying.
• Di Tian accepted that Zhou Qiubai did not know how to create a soul ring and reflected on his long wait for someone to understand the process.
• Xiong Jun charged in and accused Di Tian of associating with humans, but backed down after Di Tian threatened him.
• Bi Ji and the other ferocious beasts gathered as Di Tian asked Zhou Qiubai to share his views on Spirit Beasts, soul rings, and the war with humans.
• Zhou Qiubai told Di Tian that humans killed Spirit Beasts for soul rings while Spirit Beasts killed humans for survival and revenge, creating a cycle neither side could escape.

Zhou Qiubai persuaded Di Tian that the God Realm’s rules kept Spirit Beasts from becoming gods to ensure no one escaped its control, and Di Tian agreed to help him challenge those shackles. A hundred-thousand-year-old Swordback Dragon then arrived to bid farewell, having decided to leave rather than wait to die.

• Zhou Qiubai told Di Tian and the other ferocious beasts that Spirit Beasts and humans alike were prisoners of the God Realm’s rules.
• Di Tian swore upon his Dao heart to help Zhou Qiubai grow and declared that Zhou Qiubai and his companions would receive protection in the Star Dou Forest.
• Di Tian explained that the God Realm feared powerful beings beyond its control and treated humans as pieces in its plans for gathering faith and selecting new gods.
• A hundred-thousand-year-old Swordback Dragon came to Di Tian and said it had decided to leave after hearing Zhou Qiubai’s words.

Swordback Dragon rejected the chance to give its cultivation to Yang Guyun and instead challenged Zhou Qiubai to prove his strength. Zhou Qiubai’s sword fight impressed the dragon, but the battle remained unresolved.

• Swordback Dragon explained that it would rather give its cultivation to someone than face a deadly heavenly tribulation, but Yang Guyun refused and accepted Di Tian’s terms to seek a seventh soul ring himself.
• Swordback Dragon challenged Zhou Qiubai, promising its cultivation if he convinced it in a fight.
• Di Tian stopped Xiong Jun from advancing by casually cutting down an ancient tree with a claw strike.
• Zhou Qiubai drew the White Clothes Sword and attacked Swordback Dragon with quick, unpredictable sword strikes.
• Swordback Dragon countered with its tail and flying bone blades, but Zhou Qiubai found a gap in its defense and targeted the weak scales at its nape.

Zhou Qiubai used the water of the Lake of Life to defeat the Swordback Dragon with a precisely controlled sword strike. The Swordback Dragon admitted defeat, and footsteps sounded at the edge of the clearing.

• The Swordback Dragon praised Zhou Qiubai's skill, then unleashed its full strength and asked him to show his strongest move.
• Zhou Qiubai synchronized with the world around him and raised a suspended mirror of water from the Lake of Life.
• Zhou Qiubai spun thousands of water threads into a curtain and struck the Swordback Dragon, cracking its scales without harming its body.
• The Swordback Dragon admitted defeat, and its shattered scales fell away as footsteps approached the clearing.

Yang Guyun returned with his opponent's soul ring as Zhou Qiubai completed his seventh soul ring from Swordback Dragon, which left behind a Hundred Thousand Year Spirit Bone and golden rain across Star Dou Forest. After leaving Di Tian and the fierce beasts, Zhou Qiubai headed north with Dantai Canglan, believing the time had come for his next move.

• Yang Guyun returned to the clearing and revealed that his opponent had yielded, then sat down to tend his wounds.
• Swordback Dragon gave its life to become Zhou Qiubai's seventh soul ring and left behind a dark silver right arm Spirit Bone, which Zhou Qiubai refused.
• Swordback Dragon's scales became golden motes that spread across Star Dou Forest, and Di Tian told the beasts to remember the rare sight.
• Di Tian sensed that his lord was beginning to wake, but kept it from Zhou Qiubai as the humans and most of the beasts departed.
• Dantai Canglan asked Zhou Qiubai where they would go, and Zhou Qiubai looked north and said it was almost time, thinking Xue Ye would soon be dying.

After leaving Star Dou Forest, Zhou Qiubai and his companions continued on while the Spirit Beasts retreated into their nests. In Heaven Dou Palace, Xue Ye revealed that he had seen through Qian Renxue’s disguise and gave her an abdication edict, leaving her to stop the poisoning before he had formally abdicated.

• Shui Bing'er straightened Zhou Qiubai’s collar, and the group left Star Dou Forest as its Spirit Beasts withdrew.
• Xue Ye told Qian Renxue, disguised as Xue Qinghe, that her perfect performance had exposed her as an impostor.
• Xue Ye revealed that Xue Beng was also pretending to be a wastrel and explained how he had once concealed his own ambition.
• Xue Ye placed an abdication edict before Qian Renxue and advised her to leave her ministers some weaknesses to hold onto.
• Qian Renxue bowed to Xue Ye, left the bedchamber, and told She Long there was no need to continue poisoning him.
• She Long warned Qian Renxue that Xue Ye had not formally abdicated yet.

As Xue Qinghe’s succession approached, Xue Beng and Xue Xing accepted that resistance would lead to their downfall, while Qian Renxue reflected on Xue Ye’s affection. Heaven Dou City prepared for the ceremony, and Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun arrived without being stopped at the gates.

• Qian Renxue said Xue Qinghe had already decided to succeed Xue Ye and reflected that Xue Ye had been half a good father.
• News of Xue Qinghe’s imminent ascension spread, and crowds brought gifts to the East Palace.
• Xue Xing told Xue Beng that the court supported Xue Qinghe and that rebellion would give Xue Ye grounds to eliminate them.
• Xue Beng accepted that he had no chance and left Xue Xing’s study in despair.
• Heaven Dou City prepared for the rare succession ceremony as officials and representatives gathered.
• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun entered Heaven Dou City without queuing, and a veteran guard explained their reputations to his deputy.

Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun returned to Heaven Dou City and visited Dugu Bo, who explained why he had refused to involve himself in the imperial family’s struggle. They discussed Xue Qinghe’s calculated rise to power ahead of the succession ceremony, after which he would become Emperor Qinghe.

• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun passed through Heaven Dou City and visited Dugu Bo at his residence.
• Dugu Bo said Yanyan was staying at Heaven Dou Royal Academy to avoid nobles seeking to curry favor with him before the succession ceremony.
• Dugu Bo explained that he had considered helping Xue Xing but chose not to become a weapon in the imperial family’s conflicts.
• Dugu Bo revealed that he had recognized Xue Qinghe’s slow poison against Xue Ye and believed it showed Xue Qinghe had retained a measure of filial concern.
• Zhou Qiubai said Xue Qinghe would be able to act openly after the ceremony, and Dugu Bo agreed he would then be called Emperor Qinghe.

Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun stayed with Dugu Bo, who learned about their recent strength and saw Zhou Qiubai’s Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone. The next morning, they arrived in Heaven Dou City for Xue Qinghe’s enthronement ceremony, which began as the imperial gates opened.

• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun told Dugu Bo about their experiences in the east and their rise to Soul Saints.
• Zhou Qiubai showed Dugu Bo a Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone and offered it to him, but Dugu Bo refused it.
• Zhou Qiubai said he planned to use the soul bone as bait for an auction in Heaven Dou City.
• Dugu Bo stayed behind while Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun went to the imperial square for Xue Qinghe’s enthronement.
• At seven in the morning, the imperial gates opened and a procession of ceremonial knights rode onto the crimson carpet.

Xue Qinghe rode through Heaven Dou's capital to the succession platform, where the people celebrated her impending coronation even as she struggled with confusion and sorrow over leaving her identity behind. Xue Ye began the succession ceremony by acknowledging that age had left him unable to lead the empire.

• Xue Qinghe rode a white unicorn through the capital as officials and crowds watched her, noticing her strained smile and vacant expression.
• Xue Beng asked Xue Xing why Xue Qinghe seemed sad on the day she gained the throne, and Xue Xing agreed that she truly was sad.
• Meng Shenji quietly reminded Xue Qinghe to focus, and she resumed her composed public demeanor.
• Zhou Qiubai watched Xue Qinghe make the slow journey to the platform, reflecting that this was her last appearance as Crown Prince before becoming Emperor Qinghe.
• Xue Qinghe dismounted and faced the throne, unable to feel joy despite the end of her long mission in Heaven Dou.
• Xue Ye listened as the Minister of Rites read the succession edict, then rose unassisted and said he was too old to lead the empire toward a glorious future.

Xue Ye abdicated after forty-seven years of rule, and Xue Qinghe completed the succession ceremony and became Emperor Qinghe. As Xue Ye left the imperial city, Xue Qinghe began her reign by appointing Ning Fengzhi Imperial Preceptor.

• Xue Ye declared his abdication and transferred the throne to Xue Qinghe.
• Xue Qinghe completed the succession rites, changed into imperial robes, and proclaimed herself emperor.
• Xue Qinghe addressed Xue Ye before he chose to walk away from the succession platform without looking back.
• Xue Qinghe issued her first imperial decree, appointing Ning Fengzhi Imperial Preceptor.
• The Ministry of Rites and City Guard began clearing the square as officials bowed to the new emperor.

After watching Emperor Qinghe’s succession ceremony, Zhou Qiubai learned that Tang San’s Tang Sect had been forced out of Heaven Dou City. He revealed that he and Yang Guyun had killed Tang Hao and taken the Clear Sky Sect’s inherited Spirit Bones, leaving Dugu Bo stunned.

• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun returned from watching the succession ceremony and discussed Xue’s performance.
• Zhou Qiubai asked Dugu Bo why the Strength Clan had not attended, and Dugu Bo explained that Tang San’s Tang Sect had been rejected from establishing itself in Heaven Dou City and moved outside the city.
• Dugu Bo warned Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun to avoid Tang San, but Yang Guyun said it was already too late.
• Zhou Qiubai produced two Clear Sky Sect inherited Spirit Bones and told Dugu Bo that they had come from Tang Hao.
• Zhou Qiubai said he and Yang Guyun had killed Tang Hao, and Yang Guyun revealed that they had burned his body until nothing remained.

Zhou Qiubai decided to auction Tang Hao’s two Spirit Bones to provoke Clear Sky Sect and draw hidden factions into the open. Meanwhile, Tang San faced the sorry state of Tang Sect’s base and its lack of resources, money, and builders.

• Zhou Qiubai told Dugu Bo he would auction Tang Hao’s two Spirit Bones while reserving the Swordback Dragon’s Hundred Thousand Year Spirit Bone for Yang Wudi.
• Zhou Qiubai explained that the auction would anger Clear Sky Sect and reveal which factions were stirring beneath the continent’s calm surface.
• Dugu Bo understood Zhou Qiubai’s plan and tacitly approved, then left Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun to find their own guest rooms.
• At Tang Sect’s crude base, Tang San studied his blueprint and struggled with the loss of the Defense Clan, which left him without builders or a way to develop the sect.
• Tai Tan hurried toward Tang San with a complicated expression as Tang San prepared to discuss Tang Sect’s next steps.

Tang San learned that two Spirit Bones said to have come from Tang Hao would be auctioned in Heaven Dou City, and he struggled to accept that his father was dead. With the auction three months away and the Tang Sect too poor to compete, he concluded that the Clear Sky Sect would have to provide the money.

• Tai Tan told Tang San that two complete Spirit Bones over fifty thousand years old, allegedly taken from Tang Hao, would be auctioned in three months.
• Tang San rejected the news at first, then became furious and grieved as he recognized that Tang Hao was likely dead.
• Tang San realized the Tang Sect could not raise enough money to bid for the Spirit Bones, even if it sold all its assets.
• Tai Tan proposed using his Blacksmith Association connections in Gengxin City to obtain materials on credit and produce hidden weapons for sale.
• Tang San concluded that the Tang Sect could not afford the Spirit Bones, but the Clear Sky Sect could.

Tang San decided to contact Tang Yuehua so Clear Sky Sect could pursue its inherited Spirit Bone at auction. Meanwhile, the new emperor's decree ended the slave trade at Heaven Dou Grand Auction House, leaving freed captives and women raised there uncertain about their futures.

• Tang San told Tai Tan to go to Moonlight Pavilion and contact his aunt, Tang Yuehua, about the Spirit Bone auction.
• A Royal Knights deputy commander delivered the emperor's decree banning the buying and selling of people across the Heaven Dou Empire.
• The Heaven Dou Grand Auction House's manager accepted the decree and ordered the enslaved people released, with authorities arranging settlement for those who had been abducted or trafficked.
• Abducted women fled the Auction House as staff called after them to collect their travel permits.
• Women raised at the Auction House stayed behind, unsure where to go, and the manager offered them regular jobs with market-rate wages.

After Xue Qinghe issued the Slave Abolition Decree, Heaven Dou officials and nobles began enforcing it, shutting down trafficking operations and freeing imprisoned commoners. The Cui Clan and several allies plotted to resist, but the Xie Clan head warned that their isolation suggested the new emperor had no need to confront every noble house.

• The Heaven Dou Grand Auction House’s person in charge arranged wages and rooms for the women left behind after the slave trade was stopped.
• Xue Qinghe’s decree reached the noble circle, and slave brokers’ petition against it was returned without effect.
• Heaven Dou Royal Knights shut down seventeen brokerages and thirty-two detention sites, rescuing more than a thousand imprisoned commoners as noble families dismissed their slaves.
• The Cui Clan head gathered dissatisfied nobles to plan a joint petition against the decree.
• The Xie Clan head pointed out that most noble houses had not joined the resistance and questioned why only a few families had gathered.

Patriarch Xie warned the nobles that the Royal Knights had surrounded Cui Residence, where Patriarch Cui was arrested and his clan punished for slave trafficking. Afterward, Xue Qinghe reflected on the purge’s benefits as Qian Renxue made clear she intended to strengthen her rule over Heaven Dou.

• Patriarch Xie urged the nobles to look outside as the Royal Knights broke into Cui Residence and sealed off the grounds.
• The deputy commander read an imperial decree stripping the Cui Clan of its titles and property and sentencing its adult men to exile, its female relatives to the Music Bureau, and its underage descendants to the Secluded Court.
• The deputy commander ordered the other nobles present to be investigated for their involvement in slave markets and servant trading.
• Zhou Qiubai and Yang Guyun discussed how Xue Qinghe’s purge weakened the great clans and strengthened imperial power.
• Xue Qinghe heard the Royal Knights’ report, and Qian Renxue said the purge would help her consolidate Heaven Dou under her rule.

Qian Renxue explained how her slave abolition decree and purge of Heaven Dou nobles helped centralize power for Spirit Hall, then learned that Tang Hao’s two inheritance Spirit Bones would be auctioned. Xue Ye praised Xue Qinghe’s ruthless reforms, while Xue Xing summoned Xue Beng to his residence.

• Qian Renxue told Pufferfish that the Slave Abolition Decree had exposed noble opposition and helped her seize their power and resources for Spirit Hall.
• Pufferfish reported that the Heaven Dou Grand Auction House would offer two Clear Sky Sect inheritance Spirit Bones, each over fifty thousand years old, which Qian Renxue suspected had belonged to Tang Hao.
• A black-clad man told Xue Ye that the confiscated noble assets exceeded fifty million Gold Soul Coins, nearly two years of the imperial treasury’s revenue.
• Xue Ye recognized Xue Qinghe’s decisive reforms as a success and suspected that he might have allied with Spirit Hall.
• Xue Xing summoned Xue Beng to his residence, where Xue Beng lounged casually in the study.