Chapter Summaries

Fang Qing erased Fang Zhenya and Fang Yinxuan’s memories and sent them onward, but they fell into a different Secret History where the dead ruled a ruined world. After learning that this future followed a catastrophic end of the epoch, Fang Zhenya decided to enter Wrongful Death City in disguise.

• Fang Qing controlled the Fang family descendants, erased their memories, and let them continue their journey.
• Fang Zhenya and Fang Yinxuan fled Primordial Devil Heaven, fell into another Secret History, and found a world beneath three suns.
• The pair questioned a cultivator in a bone forest and learned that the living had died out after a cataclysm, leaving the dead to inhabit the world.
• Fang Zhenya killed the cultivator to keep their presence secret, and Fang Yinxuan found books describing the deaths of the Golden Core True Lords and the possible fall of Spirit-Ease Grotto-Heaven.
• Fang Zhenya resolved to enter Wrongful Death City and revealed that his Mirage Spring Pearl could disguise them.

Fang Zhenya infiltrated Wrongful Death City, where he discovered a world ruled by ghosts and was captured by a powerful underworld being. In the palace, Attendant Deity Red Sleeve revealed that a Golden Core True Lord was speaking through her and explained that the Year Guardians were awakening, leaving Fang Zhenya to realize he had encountered his Fang Family ancestor, a Water Virtue Year Guardian.

• Fang Zhenya entered Wrongful Death City disguised as a cultivator and traded Blood-Flesh Fruit for books that revealed the world’s cultivation had turned toward yin qi.
• When the Holy Maiden served soup, Fang Zhenya sensed danger and fled, but a seven-fingered hand pursued him into the Great Void and captured him.
• Fang Zhenya was brought before a black palace, where he saw paintings of the fallen White Bone Manifestation Great Compassion Tathagata, Moon-Chasing Xuanlin Primordial Sovereign, and his family’s destroyed Spirit-Ease Grotto-Heaven.
• Attendant Deity Red Sleeve identified Fang Zhenya as a living outsider from another Secret History and explained that Golden Core True Lords could awaken through their counterparts there.
• Fang Zhenya recognized Red Sleeve as the Ninefold Year-Spirit Pure Radiance Primordial Sovereign, who said the Metal Virtue Year Guardian was lost while Lunar Yin and Fire Virtue were awakening.
• The True Lord’s divine power restored Fang Zhenya’s memories, and he realized that the person he had met was his Fang Family ancestor, a Water Virtue Year Guardian.

Fang Qing and his allies entered different layers of Secret History to find support against the Great Sun Year Guardian. Fang Qing met the Lunar Yin Year Guardian and offered to trade for her help, but she asked what she would gain.

• Fang Qing explained that Year Guardians could be called back by the world and sent his will through Secret History, prompting others to enter it.
• The Moon-Chasing Xuanlin Primordial Sovereign ordered Lunar Yin Divine Elixir cultivators into Secret History, while Fang Xianyuan and Fang Daoling left Spirit-Ease Grotto-Heaven.
• Namo White Bone Manifestation Great Compassion Tathagata appeared in the Great Void, converting Gu Hongzi and terrifying the mid-stage Purple Mansion cultivator pursuing him.
• Fang Xianyuan and Fang Daoling found the Secret History where the Metal Virtue Year Guardian had been exiled, and the Moon-Chasing Xuanlin Primordial Sovereign approached the Fire Virtue Year Guardian, who attacked her.
• Fang Qing entered the Lunar Yin Year Guardian's domain and offered compensation in exchange for her help and the Lunar Yin Golden Seat.

Fang Qing battled the Great Sun Year Guardian in the One True Realm as the Lunar Yin Year Guardian considered which Golden Seat to choose. Their clash began to unravel Secret Histories and spread into the distant past.

• Fang Qing promised to revive the Phoenix if the Lunar Yin Year Guardian won, and she agreed to bear witness with Lunar Yin.
• Fang Qing offered the Lunar Yin Year Guardian several Golden Seats, including Temporal Light and Profound Thunder, while she warned that the Great Sun Year Guardian controlled Rooftop Moon and Wall Water.
• Fang Yinxuan watched Wrongful Death City turn translucent, and Attendant Deity Red Sleeve told Fang Zhenya that the Year Guardians' renewed battle could destroy the Secret History.
• Fang Qing and the Great Sun Year Guardian clashed in the One True Realm, where Fang Qing recognized the Great Sun's Furnace-Melting Myriad-Forms Nature.
• The Fire Virtue Year Guardian appeared to aid the Great Sun, but Fang Qing erased the history of his awakening and the Golden Core cultivator crumbled to dust.
• Fang Qing and the Great Sun Year Guardian carried their battle into High Antiquity and then Primordial Antiquity.

Fang Qing fought the Great Sun Year Guardian in Primordial Antiquity and defeated it by capturing the Wall Water Golden Seat. As the Lunar Yin Year Guardian acknowledged his victory, Fang Qing declared that he would make sure the Great Sun Year Guardian could never return.

• Fang Daoling rescued Fang Zhenya and Fang Yinxuan from the collapsing Secret History, while Fang Xianyuan watched a golden peony shine amid the fading spiritual objects.
• Fang Qing pursued the Great Sun Year Guardian into Primordial Antiquity and used Water Virtue to seize eight months from the Metal and Fire Year Guardians.
• Fang Qing used the Causality Golden Seat and Heart Demon Golden Seat to drive the Great Sun Year Guardian further into madness.
• Fang Qing drew the Wall Water Golden Seat out of the Great Sun Year Guardian and sealed it inside the Clear-Turbid Gate, causing the Great Sun Year Guardian to fall.
• The Lunar Yin Year Guardian congratulated Fang Qing, who said he would prevent the Great Sun Year Guardian from ever returning.

Fang Qing reversed the Five Primordials, erased the old world and its Golden Seats, and used the Dao-Born Pearl to create a new world from Water Virtue. He established the Great Wilderness Calendar and planned to devour three great Year Guardians after consolidating his insights.

• Fang Qing traced the river of time back to the source of space and time, then used the Dao-Born Pearl to pass beyond the limits of a Year Guardian.
• He traversed Supreme Ultimate, Grand Simplicity, Grand Beginning, Grand Origin, and Grand Change, reducing the Golden Seats and the old world's history to nothingness.
• Fang Qing used the Breath-Nourishing Dao world as his foundation and reopened heaven and earth, allowing the Golden Seats and their imprints to be reborn in a new world.
• He shaped the new world's Golden Seats around the Water Virtue paths and used nine great true waters to form heaven, earth, and living things.
• Fang Qing declared the first year of the Great Wilderness Calendar and resolved to digest his insights and devour Fire Virtue, Lunar Yin, and the Great Sun to pursue the Dao Fruit realm.

Fang Qing established the [Cold Intercalation] Golden Seat as the orthodox seat of Water Virtue, then watched the world develop into an age of behemoths and ape-men. After spiritual fruits appeared, two Blackwater Tribe hunters ate azure fruits and gained powers over ice, leaving them confident in their strength.

• Fang Qing formed the [Cold Intercalation] Golden Seat and made the Jade Qilin its incarnation, which bore four children associated with the Four Waters.
• Fang Qing sensed that the world's Golden Seats were clean and unclaimed, then sent a wisp of the Blazing-Plume Harmonizing-Heaven Great Sage's True Spirit into the [Wings Fire] Golden Seat.
• After nearly twenty thousand years, Fang Qing found ape-men living in tribes alongside highly social behemoths, as spiritual currents and spiritual objects emerged.
• Zhong and Jing of the Blackwater Tribe entered a cave to find azure spiritual fruits, hoping to gain strength for their tribe.
• Zhong and Jing ate the fruits, survived being frozen into ice sculptures, and gained powers that let them create dark ice and frost.

Chief Zhong transformed the Blackwater Tribe into a slaveholding hierarchy and proclaimed the Jiuli Kingdom, while Fang Qing watched its rise and foresaw its downfall. The new kingdom began expanding under Zhong, who intended to conquer the world.

• Zhong told Jing he would establish ranks, reserve spirit substances for warriors, and enslave conquered tribes, especially hairless people.
• Zhong invented a god and made Jing its priest, declaring himself the god’s chosen king.
• Over the following decades, Zhong’s Blackwater Tribe conquered territory and adopted strange-beast traits, while Jing accepted the abuse of hairless slaves and celebrated children with Gods-and-Devils Blood.
• Zhong welcomed Yan and An from two allied tribes and proclaimed the founding of the Jiuli Kingdom, with himself as its sole king.
• Jing, Yan, and An knelt to Zhong as King of Jiuli, while Fang Qing predicted that the kingdom’s ambition and harsh rule would eventually bring it down.

Zhong founded the Nine Li Kingdom but, fearing death and seeking a lasting legacy, ordered the Heaven-Piercing Tower built with brutal disregard for the wild-folk slaves forced to construct it. As the tower rose, Yuan inspired the abused slaves to imagine claiming power and founding kingdoms of their own.

• After conquering the Giant Beast Tribe, Zhong rejected Priest Jing’s warning and ordered a tower built to reach the heavens, hoping to meet the gods and gain immortality.
• Zhong assigned Jue to oversee the tower and ordered that slaves be killed if their work failed an iron-nail test.
• Jue drove the construction forward by capturing more wild folk, then ordered mixed-furred citizens conscripted when the supply of slaves dwindled.
• At Bell Mountain, an overseeing Innate God and Devil watched a falling stone crush slaves instead of preventing the deaths.
• That night, Yuan denounced the injustice of the slave system and urged the other slaves to seek power and found their own tribes and kingdoms.

King Zhong died after trying to ascend beyond the clouds to meet a god, and the Nine Li Kingdom fell to an attack by the Oceanic Beast Tribe and Hong’s coup. Yuan led the freed slaves south to found the Great Jing Tribe, where a Jade Qilin delivered a bone book bearing the words “Plain King.”

• Hong and Tang plotted to kill Jue, while Yuan learned that the princes had allied with the Oceanic Beast Tribe and prepared to lead the slaves to freedom.
• Zhong ordered winged Gods and Devils to carry him above the clouds, fell to his death, and was mourned by Priest Jing.
• The Oceanic Beast Tribe attacked Xundi, Hong killed Priest Jing, claimed the crown, and declared himself the new king.
• Yuan freed the slaves at Bell Mountain and led them to gather weapons, supplies, and fellow captives before founding the Great Jing Tribe.
• Fang Qing observed that the Nine Li Kingdom had collapsed, that Li led a remnant tribe south, and that Yuan’s humans had established the Great Jing Tribe.
• A Jade Qilin appeared at Yuan’s tent with a bone book as his wife gave birth, and Yuan recognized its first two glyphs as “Plain King.”

Su established Shamanism as a way for humans to wield power and selected children with the aptitude to train as Witch Disciples. The chapter ended with Su revealing his authority as the tribe’s Grand Witch to Yue and the other children.

• Su told Yuan that humans needed their own power and proposed Shamanism, using talismans to identify people who could safely consume spirit fruit.
• Yuan tested the talisman and learned that about one in ten warriors had the aptitude; he killed an eligible Hairy Folk captive and ordered the other captives killed after testing them with spirit fruit.
• Yue was identified as a Shamanism candidate and brought with other children to meet Su.
• Su introduced himself as the tribe’s Grand Witch and walked through the air toward the children, making them kneel in awe.

Su taught the Great Jing Tribe’s children shamanism and used their spirit-sensing practice to discover an approaching Hairy Folk army. He performed a Nuo ritual that unleashed a black wind and wiped out the attackers, leaving the tribe’s future secure for the moment.

• Su taught the children shamanic talismans and gave Yuan a Papermaking Art to prepare for the tribe’s future growth.
• After months of lessons, Su taught the children to borrow spiritual power and communicate with nature spirits; Man and the others saw signs of war.
• Su announced that a Hairy Folk tribe riding giant beasts was approaching, and Yuan first urged the tribe to flee.
• Su asked Yuan to prepare a three-zhang altar and animal sacrifices, then performed a Nuo ritual in shamanic robes and a mask.
• A black wind swept through the Hairy Folk army, stripping its warriors and giant beasts to their bones and killing the golden-haired leader.

Yue recorded the Great Jing Tribe’s history as the East Lord guided its shamans and oversaw its growth into a kingdom. Twenty years later, Yue had become a Spirit Shaman, Man neared the same breakthrough, and Su prepared them for the kingdom’s coming campaign to the south.

• Yue wrote that Su had rejected the title of king and taken the name East Lord after destroying the Chenhai Tribe.
• The East Lord told the Lesser Shamans to master combat and explained the ranks of shamans, including the possible realm of Shaman God.
• Twenty years later, Man returned from conquering the Northern Niao Tribe, while the Great Jing Tribe had grown into a walled kingdom.
• Yue emerged from seclusion as a Spirit Shaman and brought Man to meet the East Lord, who was writing the Qilin Tome.
• The East Lord gave Man a Witch Medicine to aid his breakthrough and assigned Yue to assist the king in a future southern campaign.
• Jie asked to serve the Great Jing Tribe as a Lesser Shaman, and the East Lord agreed.

Yuan led Great Jing’s army south to defeat the Nine Li Tribe, while Yue’s powerful shamanic abilities turned the battle into a rout. The Nine Li capital fell and Li died by fire, leaving Jie and Qi to face the surviving Hairy Folk as they awaited Yuan’s decision.

• Yuan declared that Su would inherit the throne unless he chose to refuse it, then marched against the Nine Li Tribe.
• Li learned that Su was absent and ordered a full attack, while arranging for Black Tapir to flee with the tribe’s priests and treasures if Jiuli lost.
• Yue unleashed thunder, summoned earthen beasts, and spread black mist across the battlefield, routing the Jiuli Army as Great Jing pursued it.
• Li returned to his capital, discovered that Black Tapir and the people had fled, and set himself and the palace on fire rather than be captured.
• Jie and Qi reached the burning capital with their army, and Yue confirmed that Li had died by fire.
• Surviving Hairy Folk pleaded for mercy, but Jie demanded their deaths while Qi urged them to wait for Yuan’s judgment.

After Jiuli fell, Su proposed enfeoffing the Jing Kingdom and accepted Fang Mountain as his fief, appearing to yield the throne to Jie. Three years later, Yuan lay dying as a Giant Beast Tribe attack began, and Yue and Man rose to defend the kingdom.

• A messenger announced Jiuli’s defeat, and Yuan declared that Great Jing would become the Jing Kingdom and establish six imperial armies.
• Su proposed granting lands to royal kin and meritorious ministers, and the court approved the enfeoffment system.
• Yuan granted Su Fang Mountain, which Su accepted, prompting the court to believe he had given up his claim to the throne in favor of Jie.
• Three years later, Man told Su he had become a Spirit Shaman, and Su sent Man and Yue to face the approaching enemy while he went to see Yuan.
• Su told the dying Yuan that the Jing Kingdom would endure for more than five hundred years, while Jie kept vigil outside the hall.
• A Cang Dragon and an Eight-Armed Alligator Dragon attacked; Yue blinded the Cang Dragon with peach resin, and Man hurled the Alligator Dragon beyond the city walls.

Black Tapir and Xun Mu led the Oceanic Beast Tribe and the Hairy Folk in a surprise attack on Jing, but Su used the Qilin Tome to destroy the invaders and save the capital. After Jie succeeded Yuan as king, he punished Xun Mu and set a brutal fate for the Hairy Folk, while Su established that the king would rule and the Shaman Terrace would preside over the rites.

• Black Tapir launched a surprise assault on Jing with the Oceanic Beast Tribe and Xun Mu’s Hairy Folk army.
• Su crowned Jie king, then used the Qilin Tome to freeze Black Tapir, the Giant Beast Kings, and the invading forces.
• Fang Qing revealed that he had sent his old uncle’s True Spirit into the mortal world to temper him through founding a dynasty.
• Jie took the throne, arranged Yuan’s funeral, and ordered Xun Mu boiled for treason.
• Jie ordered the Hairy Folk exterminated, but Su intervened and limited the killing, after which Jie claimed he would cultivate in the palace.
• Su left the court after declaring that the king would rule and the Shaman Terrace would preside over the rites.

Yue and Man continued studying the Qilin Tome as Jing Kingdom prospered under Jie, whose failed attempts to become a Spirit Shaman left his health failing. As a succession struggle approached, Xiahou Qi brought his young son to Jing City to seek a place for him at the Shaman Terrace.

• Su gave Man and Yue the Qilin Tome and told them to take turns studying it to improve their chances of becoming Grand Witches.
• Jie expanded Jing Kingdom and its vassal states, stripped the Jin household of its fief, and assigned the land to three of his sons.
• After decades of studying the Qilin Tome, Yue reached the peak of Spirit Shaman and began shaping her knowledge into a Dark Moon Shaman Codex.
• Man told Yue that Jie was gravely ill after failing three times to advance to Spirit Shaman, and that the coming Grand Tribute Assembly could intensify the succession struggle.
• Xiahou Qi brought his young son to Jing City so the boy could pursue a Dao Path at the Shaman Terrace.

Su surveyed the flourishing Shamanic Way and considered his plans to claim the [Shaman] seat and prepare the Great Sun and other Dao Paths for his true self. At the Shaman Terrace, Yue welcomed Xia Qi’s gifted son Yu, and Su arrived to take them to see Jie off.

• Su assessed the Shaman Terrace’s growing ranks and concluded that he had a chance to achieve Void Manifestation as [Shaman], while planning to rely on his true self for the Great Sun Dao Path.
• Yue oversaw aptitude tests as children flocked to the Shaman Terrace, and a commoner child with top-grade aptitude drew the attention of nobles and sycophants.
• Xia Qi brought his son Yu to the Shaman Terrace and offered Yue a Spirit Shaman-level Water Virtue treasure in hopes that she would look after him.
• Su’s arrival and Dark Shaman Light overwhelmed Xia Qi and Yu, who recognized him as the Grand Witch.
• Su asked Xia Qi which child Yu was, then told him to come see Jie off, leaving Xia Qi trembling and in tears.

Jie named Zhou his successor and entrusted his guidance to Su, but years later Zhou ruled cruelly and prepared to lead the Six Imperial Armies against the Northern Rong. Su foresaw that Zhou’s campaign would end in crushing defeat and said Xia Qi would be sent to contain the damage.

• Su visited the dying Jie, who chose Zhou as king and asked Su to guide him.
• Jie named Zhou heir before the ministers and royal kin, then died; Zhao and Xia Qi were appointed to assist the new king.
• Years later, Yue recorded Zhou’s tyranny as he banished Zhao, moved against Xia Qi, and terrorized the people.
• Zhou decided to lead the Six Imperial Armies against the Northern Rong after they attacked Lü and Qi.
• A blood-red star appeared, and Su predicted Zhou’s defeat and possible capture, ordering Yue to send Yu to his father and appoint Xia Qi as a regional lord.

Spirit Shaman Yue witnessed the Northern Rong ambush Zhou’s unprepared Six Imperial Armies, while Xia Qi’s reinforcements turned the defeat into a Jing victory. After returning to Jing City, Yue joined East Lord Su as public anger over the army’s losses gathered behind them, and they approached the palace.

• Yue warned Zhou that the Northern Rong were about to attack, but he dismissed her warning and continued drinking.
• Yue alerted Xia Qi, who hurried to the battlefield with two armies of vassal troops and prepared to use Zhou’s army as bait.
• The Northern Rong raided the camp and routed Zhou’s forces; as Zhou fled and nearly killed himself, Xia Qi’s troops arrived and encircled the attackers.
• Yue defeated the Northern Rong Heaven-Reaching Shaman, who warned that heaven’s favor would not last, and she collected his transformed eyes.
• Three months later, Yue returned to Jing City and hung a box over the Shaman Terrace’s main gate as mourning spread among the people.
• Su led Yue, Man, and several Spirit Shamans toward the palace as townspeople gathered behind them in an uprising.