Recaps

Li Shun studied Imperial Tomb Commandery’s secrets and Great Qian’s map, concluding that the empire’s territory might be a vast human-made formation. At dawn, he discovered that his true body had died for no apparent reason and wondered whether Li Qing had uncovered his secret.

• Li Shun questioned Zheng Zhi about the Yin-Yang Secret Art and learned that Imperial Tomb Commandery’s unusual nature made its flow of time easier to alter.
• Li Shun studied a map of Great Qian’s Nine Heavens, provinces, and commanderies, noting the four ominous lands surrounding its borders.
• Li Shun suspected that Great Qian’s territory had been deliberately arranged like a colossal formation.
• Li Shun read the archives about spiritual objects and realized that a Guardian could potentially embezzle them if their numbers stayed within Heavenly Calculation.
• Li Shun lost all sensory connection with his true body and confirmed that it had died while he slept, leaving him to wonder whether Li Qing had discovered something was wrong.

Li Shun investigated his own murder and discovered that Threefold Self-Reflection had sent him back to the moment he first entered the Imperial Tomb. In the new cycle, Elder Wei gave him a protective Sword Branch, which saved him from an attacker bearing his own face.

• Li Shun questioned Li Qing about his murder, suspected him, and noticed he lied about the missing ginkgo branch.
• Li Shun secretly followed Li Qing to Elder Wei's residence and wondered whether Elder Wei had killed him.
• Li Shun activated Threefold Self-Reflection but returned to his first arrival in Imperial Tomb Commandery instead of the start of the day.
• Li Shun revisited Elder Wei, who gave him a Sword Branch and said it could protect him in a crisis.
• Li Shun pretended to sleep with the Sword Branch in hand, and it shielded him when a double with his face attacked.
• Li Shun called for Little Dumpling to save him.

Li Qing defeated a Lifespan-Seizing Shadow that had attacked Li Shun, then learned Li Shun had secretly borrowed two hundred years of lifespan through a time-reversing divine ability. Li Qing explained that Imperial Tomb Commandery takes a share of borrowed lifespan and sends increasingly powerful shadows after borrowers, leaving Li Shun facing a deadly threat he did not expect to erupt so soon.

• Li Qing woke to Li Shun's scream and fought until the shadow resembling Li Shun collapsed into black mist.
• Li Qing asked how much lifespan Li Shun had borrowed, and Li Shun admitted he had borrowed two hundred years while falsely reporting fifty-five.
• Li Shun told Li Qing about the damaged statue's [Three Reflections Upon Myself] ability and said they were in its second reflection.
• Li Qing identified the attacker as Heaven's Lifespan Demand and explained that Imperial Tomb Heaven intercepted borrowed lifespan before it reached the borrower.
• Li Qing said Imperial Tomb's Lifespan-Seizing Shadow returned after seven days, grew stronger each time it was driven back, and would pursue its target until death.

Li Shun and Li Qing sought Elder Wei’s help concealing Li Shun’s borrowed lifespan, and Elder Wei revealed his knowledge of the Threefold Self-Reflection. A fragment of the Book of Imperial Exegesis left Li Shun wondering about the Four Sages, Emperor Gan’s power, and whether the emperor could perceive the time reversal.

• Li Qing told Li Shun that Elder Wei had raised him and taught him to pursue Emperor-Slaying.
• Li Shun and Li Qing visited Elder Wei, who agreed to teach Li Shun how to conceal his borrowed lifespan but told him to ask again next time.
• Elder Wei reacted to the Threefold Self-Reflection and gave Li Shun a fragment describing the Four Sages entering the capital in Year Ninety-Nine of the New Calendar and Emperor Gan suppressing them.
• Elder Wei urged Li Shun and Li Qing to work together before dismissing them.
• Li Shun returned home and wondered whether the Threefold Self-Reflection was one of the Four Sages and whether Emperor Gan could perceive the time reversal.

Li Shun and Li Qing discussed the risks of revealing the Threefold Self-Reflection and how Li Qing’s Emperor-Slaying conviction shaped his cultivation. Li Shun sought a path into Confucian cultivation and prepared to test his second Reflection in the Imperial Tomb.

• Li Qing warned Li Shun not to reveal the Threefold Self-Reflection secret during a future Reflection, fearing torture could make him expose it.
• Li Qing explained that abandoning his Emperor-Slaying intent would halt his cultivation, and Li Shun considered the principles and branches of the Hundred Schools.
• Li Qing warned Li Shun that his long lifespan and lack of strength made him vulnerable, so he needed to find a way to cultivate independently.
• Fang Xun wrote Dong Chunqiu asking permission to accept Li Shun as a disciple, then sent the letter to the Censorate in the Sacred Capital.
• Li Shun decided Confucian cultivation suited him and entered the government warehouse to prepare for testing his second Reflection.

Li Shun used rare spiritual plants to strengthen his divine consciousness and expand the Square Inch Space, then arranged to buy a nearby home. He left Li Qing with a warning to keep his judgment clear despite his ambition to overthrow the emperor.

• Li Shun tested the stolen spiritual plants and found that the Five-Leaf Lingzhi and other treasures strengthened his divine consciousness, allowing him to open a fifth plot and begin a sixth in the Square Inch Space.
• Li Shun realized time reversal followed the Great Qian World’s day, giving him seven days in Imperial Tomb Commandery, and considered the limits of controlling multiple puppets.
• Li Qing questioned Li Shun’s renewed energy, and Li Shun asked him to find a separate home nearby.
• Li Shun gave Li Qing thirty golden coins to negotiate for the neighboring house, and Li Qing returned with its deed after buying it for two hundred thousand.
• Li Qing revealed that someone had traded Li Shun away for labor in the past, and Li Shun urged him not to blame everything on Great Qian’s rule or let his Emperor-Slaying intent cloud his reason.

After Fang Xun’s recommendation secured him entry into the Censorate’s Spring-Autumn Brush lineage, Li Shun began cultivating with Fang Xun’s memories and quickly reached the Mortal Embryo Realm. He ended the chapter testing a character that drew Primordial Qi and strengthened his body.

• Li Shun received the Censorate’s letter accepting him as a registered disciple under Fang Xun, along with the Taixu Brush, and dismissed the one-year cultivation requirement.
• Fang Xun publicly accepted Li Shun as his disciple before the officials in the yamen, prompting envy and admiration.
• Li Shun shut himself away and recited the Confucian classic Subtle Words of Spring and Autumn using Fang Xun’s memories.
• Li Shun sensed Primordial Qi, learned how the Hundred Schools refined it into Liqi, and condensed a Spring-Autumn Brush in his dantian within moments.
• Li Shun advanced from an ordinary person to a Mortal Embryo Realm cultivator and wrote the character “Strength” in the air, drawing Primordial Qi that greatly increased his physical power.

Li Shun discovered that burning Life Qi dramatically accelerated his cultivation, then used it to advance through the Mortal Embryo Realm. He stopped before the Earth Pass and realized his Life Qi was far more efficient than it should be, recalling the bluish-purple aura from borrowing two hundred years of lifespan.

• Li Shun realized Life Qi could amplify Liqi and accelerate cultivation, then burned some to draw in Primordial Qi of Heaven and Earth.
• Using Fang Xun's cultivation experience and his tempered Thought Furnace, Li Shun reached the complete lower grade of the Mortal Embryo Realm.
• Li Shun answered the questions of the Human Pass and advanced to the middle grade of the Mortal Embryo Realm.
• By nine o'clock that night, Li Shun reached the middle grade's completion and stopped before the Earth Pass rather than attempting it immediately.
• Li Shun calculated that burning one year of Life Qi gave him nearly a year of arduous cultivation, then recalled the bluish-purple aura he had seen while borrowing two hundred years of lifespan.

Li Shun discovered that his purple-and-cyan Life Qi strengthened his cultivation and quickly advanced his Mortal Embryo Realm. While searching East Mountain Town for the karmic connection blocking his Earth Pass, he found no one, then realized the Square Inch Space shielded him from the Spring-Autumn Brush lineage’s influence.

• Li Shun used the Strength Character Formula and found that his Life Qi reinforcement gave him strength comparable to a high-grade Mortal Embryo Realm cultivator.
• Li Qing entered after hearing the cultivation commotion, and Li Shun explained his rapid progress and warned that the Censorate might uncover his borrowed lifespan.
• Li Shun sensed that someone in East Mountain Town was connected to his Earth Pass and suspected Jiang Chongguang, so he ordered a town-wide search.
• Li Shun searched East Mountain Town using his Earth Pass sense but found no clue to the karmic entanglement.
• Li Shun entered the Square Inch Space and realized it blocked the Spring-Autumn Brush lineage’s influence, leaving him able to regard its teachings as ordinary writing.

Li Shun discovered that Square Inch could preserve his original state and synchronize his puppets with his cultivation, then tried to claim the space occupied by two stone statues. The statues resisted, leaving him injured and suggesting that he had entered Square Inch as an outsider.

• Li Shun realized that Square Inch preserved his fundamental state, and [Li Shun] transformed into a youthful puppet with cultivation synchronized to Li Shun’s body.
• Li Shun found that the synchronized puppet could grow Cold Mountain Grass much faster, though its yield still fell short of his needs.
• Li Shun concluded that Square Inch was his heart and moved [Li Shun] and the Cold Mountain Grass from the central core to the fifth clearing.
• Li Shun tried to expand his territory into the two sections occupied by the stone statues, but their forces resisted and injured him.
• After recovering, Li Shun saw a hazy vision of two wounded figures fighting over something and realized that he had been the newcomer.

Li Shun realized that the Heavenly Man Book Stone Statue had planted a false past in his mind to challenge his control of the Square Inch Space. He repelled it, learned more about the statues’ powers, and, after two days of cultivation, gained a better grasp of the Heavenly Man Book.

• Li Shun recalled a fabricated scene in which the two statues fought over the Square Inch, and the space he controlled began to shrink.
• He recognized that the complete stone statue had tampered with his memories and ordered the Square Inch Space to suppress both statues.
• Li Shun’s territory expanded, reclaiming one-fifth of the area held by the statues, and the false memories became like a story he had read rather than his own past.
• Li Shun identified the complete statue’s power as the Heavenly Man Book, which could turn falsehood into reality and create causes from nothing.
• Li Shun concluded that he had not fully subdued either statue and decided to begin by mastering Threefold Self-Reflection.
• After two days of secluded cultivation, Li Shun gained a better grasp of activating the Heavenly Man Book, though its use still risked detection.

Li Shun tested the Heavenly Man Book by planting fabricated childhood memories in Li Qing and assessed the ability’s limits. After a scarlet meteor destroyed his courtyard, he found Jiang Chongguang there and realized Jiang was tied to his Earth Pass and breakthrough.

• Li Shun used the Heavenly Man Book to plant childhood memories in Li Qing and found the ability worked best when the memories fit and were added gradually.
• Li Shun watched constables search for Jiang Chongguang and Han Sushu, who had left convincing paper figures to mislead them.
• Li Shun sensed a threat approaching through a tear in the sky and protected himself as a scarlet meteor struck his courtyard.
• Jiang Chongguang emerged from the crater, and Li Shun realized he was connected to his Earth Pass and chance to break through.
• Jiang Chongguang recognized Li Shun as the laborer who had reported him, so Li Shun claimed he was Jiang Chongguang’s brother.

Jiang Chongguang fought Li Shun, then began to believe Li Shun might be his long-lost brother after the Heavenly Man Book manipulated his memories. He took Li Shun to a mountain cave, where a question about their parents exposed the deception and left Li Shun facing Jiang Chongguang’s wrath.

• Jiang Chongguang attacked Li Shun with his hammers, but Li Shun used the Taixu Brush and the Heavenly Man Book to defend himself and cloud Jiang Chongguang’s senses.
• Li Shun persuaded Jiang Chongguang that they might be blood brothers, stirring memories of Jiang Chongguang’s childhood and separation from his older brother.
• Jiang Chongguang recalled that Han Sushu had vanished during an infiltration of Imperial Tomb Commandery and wondered whether she could help him assess Li Shun.
• When East Mountain Town constables approached, Jiang Chongguang grabbed Li Shun and escaped to a cavern hidden in the mountains.
• Fang Xun arrived at the ruined courtyard and decided that Li Qing’s absence gave him a chance to learn more from Jiang Chongguang.
• Jiang Chongguang demanded the names of their parents, and Li Shun’s silence convinced him that Li Shun had impersonated his brother, so he raised a hammer to kill him.

Li Shun convinced Jiang Chongguang that he belonged to the History School and revealed that Zhou Xunzhen had manipulated events in Cold Mountain County. As Jiang Chongguang swore revenge, someone wearing Han Sushu’s appearance arrived and announced plans to burn the underground palace to the ground.

• Li Shun revealed that his memory-altering ability was the History School divine ability [Heavenly Man Book], and Jiang Chongguang refused to kill him because the History School had preserved Great Xiang’s history.
• Li Shun argued that Jiang Chongguang had attacked him first and told him Zhou Xunzhen had used [Greed-for-Wealth Ruins-the-Seal] to manipulate events and advance to the Creation Stage.
• Jiang Chongguang recalled that he had kidnapped the family of Fang Xun’s son’s wet nurse to learn the county yamen’s layout, then vowed to avenge his uncle by confronting Zhou Xunzhen.
• A newcomer who looked and sounded like Han Sushu appeared, admitted he was borrowing Han Sushu’s skin, and declared that he had come to burn the underground palace.

A powerful figure posing as Han Sushu trapped Jiang Chongguang and Li Shun in a treasure-filled chamber after Jiang tried to attack him. Li Shun identified the man as a member of the Jun Family and concluded that the family had used Han Sushu to gain access to the Imperial Tomb; the impostor’s plan to burn the tombs remained underway.

• Jiang Chongguang charged at "Han Sushu," but the man immobilized him and hurled him into the rock wall.
• "Han Sushu" sealed Jiang Chongguang and Li Shun inside a chamber stocked with rare treasures until his plan succeeded.
• Jiang Chongguang exhausted himself trying to break through the stone wall while Li Shun ate the treasures and asked about their captor.
• Jiang Chongguang recognized the captor as a member of the Jun Family, and Li Shun recalled the outlawed faction’s beliefs and hostility toward the Twelve Longevity Method.
• Li Shun reasoned that the Jun Family wanted to burn Emperor Gan’s tombs and had relied on Han Sushu to enter the heavily guarded Imperial Tomb.

Li Shun learned that Great Qian’s instability stemmed from Emperor Gan having no heirs, then befriended the trapped Jiang Chongguang and began dissolving the sealed wall. The wall started to fade, but the effort left Li Shun looking old and depleted.

• Li Shun inferred that a Jun Family heir had infiltrated the Imperial Tomb, while Fang Xun sent Dong Chunqiu a report about the intruder.
• Li Shun questioned Jiang Chongguang and learned that the legitimate heir of Great Xiang had been sheltered by descendants of the fallen kingdoms.
• Li Shun explained that Emperor Gan’s lack of heirs and the disappearance of other imperial bloodlines threatened to plunge Great Qian into chaos.
• Jiang Chongguang revealed that he and Han Sushu had used a hidden storehouse inside the Imperial Tomb, but he did not know where Sushu was after the Jun Family heir’s trap.
• Li Shun loosened the sealed wall by countering its Life Qi with his own, explaining the Jun Family sealing method to Jiang Chongguang.
• The stone wall began to fade as Li Shun’s appearance took on an air of age and decline.

Li Shun and Jiang Chongguang escaped the collapsing cave as the Jun Family successor ignited the Imperial Tomb’s countless burial effigies, unleashing a catastrophe across the realm. Trapped inside, they watched the successor condemn Emperor Gan and the Hundred Schools before sacrificing himself as the Imperial Tomb burned.

• Li Shun spent nearly all his remaining lifespan breaking the seal, and Jiang Chongguang carried him out as the mountain collapsed.
• Li Shun and Jiang Chongguang saw the Imperial Tomb engulfed in fire and ash as the burial effigies burned and the realm began to collapse.
• Jiang Chongguang discovered that the route out of the Imperial Tomb had been sealed, leaving them trapped amid the destruction.
• The Jun Family successor appeared and denounced Emperor Gan for building the Imperial Tomb and the Hundred Schools for helping him.
• The Jun Family successor condemned the burial effigies as false protection, then burned with the Imperial Tomb in a blaze of Life Qi.

After Shentu Xin destroyed the Imperial Tomb, golden hands turned the world like a page, resetting it to June fifteenth. Li Shun recovered his memories in Square Inch Space and concluded that the reset shortened his second reflection, though he remained uncertain what happened to outsiders caught in it.

• Shentu Xin died after declaring that the future of Mystic Yellow would belong to someone, and the Imperial Tomb began collapsing.
• Golden hands tore through the sky and turned the Imperial Tomb world like a page, causing Li Shun to lose consciousness.
• Li Shun awoke in East Mountain Town on June fifteenth, the day before Shentu Xin had burned the tomb, but could not initially recall what followed the golden hands’ arrival.
• Li Shun entered Square Inch Space, recovered his missing memories, and connected the Imperial Tomb’s reset to the Heavenly Man Book and the History School’s power to write immortality.
• Li Shun reasoned that the reset erased two days only inside the Imperial Tomb Realm, so his second reflection should end on June seventeenth instead of June nineteenth.
• Li Shun wondered what had happened to outsiders such as Shentu Xin and Jiang Chongguang, who had entered during the days that were reset.

Li Shun observed Imperial Tomb Commandery’s reset and learned from Elder Wei how the Heavenly Man Book and Threefold Self-Reflection worked. Elder Wei revealed that the Hundred Schools’ divine abilities held loopholes for those who adopted another school’s principles, leaving Li Shun to consider the consequences of unifying their paths.

• Li Shun noticed that Imperial Tomb Realm had reset while Square Inch Space and his sixth plot of land remained unchanged, so he chose to follow his original path until he understood the changes.
• Li Shun became Fang Xun’s disciple again and cultivated until he sensed that the opportunity to break through had shifted far beyond Imperial Tomb Commandery.
• Jiang Chongguang did not break the seal, and Shentu Xin did not burn Imperial Tomb, confirming that the Heavenly Man Book had erased the catastrophe and killed Shentu Xin.
• Li Shun visited Elder Wei, who explained that the Hundred Schools had collectively built the Heavenly Man Book and that its reset had crushed Shentu Xin, an intruder absent from its earlier pages.
• Elder Wei explained that the Heavenly Man Book could not erase his memories, while Threefold Self-Reflection could because he rejected Confucian principles.
• Elder Wei told Li Shun that Sages had left loopholes in their divine abilities for those who adopted another school’s beliefs, then questioned which school such a Sage would belong to.

Li Shun returned to the final reflection and asked Wei Wuqi for a way to avert the Heaven's Lifespan Demand. Wei Wuqi taught him the method of Empty Boat, Self-Erasure, warning that practicing it meant he could never act without losing all his progress.

• Li Shun learned from Wei Wuqi that the Sages of the Hundred Schools belonged to the Heaven and Earth Realm, and that Emperor Gan may have been best suited to unite their teachings.
• Li Shun prepared for the final reflection, then experienced the world turning back once more on June seventeenth.
• Li Shun followed his plan in East Mountain Town, reunited with Li Qing, mourned Xiao Yuan, and received the Sword Branch from Wei Wuqi.
• Li Shun visited Wei Wuqi before the Heaven's Lifespan Demand and experienced the Sword Branch's killing intent as an objective law of Heaven and Earth.
• Wei Wuqi explained Empty Boat, Self-Erasure, which required Li Shun to abandon every fixation and never act again without losing his cultivation.
• Li Shun accepted Wei Wuqi's method without hesitation.

Li Shun learned Wei Wuqi’s Empty Boat, Self-Erasure art and discovered that Wei Wuqi openly sought to slay the emperor, prompting speculation about his past and the ban on swords. Li Shun quickly mastered the art, then reflected that Square Inch Space—not any puppet body—was the source of his immortality, leaving him resolved to take greater risks.

• Wei Wuqi taught Li Shun Empty Boat, Self-Erasure and admitted that he cared only about Emperor-Slaying.
• Li Shun inferred that Wei Wuqi followed the sword path and might have caused Emperor Gan to abolish swords after surviving an attempt to slay him.
• Li Shun returned home, told Li Qing he needed to cultivate a secret art, and asked him to stand guard.
• Li Shun reached the introductory stage of Empty Boat, Self-Erasure after an hour of cultivation.
• In Square Inch Space, Li Shun concluded that his consciousness could persist without relying on Li Shun’s puppet body and resolved not to be overly cautious.

After cultivating Elder Wei’s tribulation-avoiding method, Li Shun hid his lifespan borrowing from Li Qing and planned to become Fang Xun’s disciple. As the brothers investigated the human figurines and Li Shun considered the Imperial Tomb’s hidden purpose, Fang Xun received a conditional approval from the Censorate and a cryptic response about the reported disturbances.

• Li Shun told Li Qing he had borrowed two hundred years of lifespan and warned him to keep it secret; Li Qing promised and learned that Imperial Tomb Heaven took thirty percent of borrowed lifespan.
• Fang Xun wrote to Dong Chunqiu, reporting suspected criminals in East Mountain Town and asking to accept Li Shun as a disciple.
• Li Shun had Li Qing buy the neighboring courtyard, saying Fang Xun would likely accept him as a disciple and could change the neighbor’s labor assignment.
• Li Shun and Li Qing visited Xiao Yuanzi’s figurine, where Li Shun pondered the figurines’ stored Life Qi and the purpose Emperor Gan might have for it.
• The Censorate told Fang Xun to admit Li Shun as a registered disciple, with direct acceptance conditional on reaching the Grand Simplicity Realm within a year, and replied to his report, “A gentleman’s thoughts do not exceed his station.”

After interpreting Dong Chunqiu’s warning, Fang Xun and Li Shun realized that the Imperial Tomb calamity was tied to the Hundred Schools’ rivalries and decided not to interfere. Fang Xun secretly gathered treasures while Li Shun cultivated, but Jiang Chongguang’s arrival forced the two together and ended with Jiang discovering that his looted treasures were gone.

• Fang Xun understood Dong Chunqiu’s letter as a warning to stay out of the Imperial Tomb calamity, then publicly took Li Shun as his disciple.
• Fang Xun entered the East Mountain Town storehouse and transferred its treasures into his Square Inch Space before searching Jiang Chongguang’s underground palace for more.
• Li Shun found that Empty Boat, Self-Erasure hindered his cultivation but still reached the Mortal Embryo Realm’s completion and sensed that his breakthrough opportunity remained in East Mountain Town.
• Jiang Chongguang fell into Li Shun’s courtyard on June 16, recognized a resemblance to someone from his childhood, and carried Li Shun away toward the underground palace.
• Jiang Chongguang found the underground palace entrance disturbed and discovered that his treasures had been stolen.

Jiang Chongguang discovered that Fang Xun had stolen his treasures and learned that Shentu Xin had used Earth-Seeking Mystic Kudzu to probe the underground palace. He set out to confront Fang Xun, but after apparently killing him in East Mountain Town, he faced the town’s constables and the approaching Imperial Tomb Blood Guards.

• Jiang Chongguang used a paper talisman to view the restrictions’ record and saw Fang Xun’s group carrying off his treasures.
• The talisman showed Shentu Xin, disguised as Han Sushu, spreading Earth-Seeking Mystic Kudzu through the underground palace, and Li Shun explained how it could survey underground and ignite clay figurines.
• Jiang Chongguang returned to East Mountain Town with Li Shun, who declared that he had taken Fang Xun as his master and would die before allowing Jiang Chongguang to attack him.
• Jiang Chongguang spotted Fang Xu leading constables and charged, smashing him into a heap of mangled flesh with his hammers.
• The constables formed a battle formation around Jiang Chongguang, while a streak of blood-red light revealed the approaching Imperial Tomb Blood Guards.

Jiang Chongguang escaped the Imperial Tomb and rescued Han Sushu, who explained that Shentu Xin had infiltrated the tomb to set it ablaze. As the Imperial Tomb fell into chaos, Li Shun collected Shentu Xin’s ashes and saw his figure appear in the Square Inch Space.

• Jiang Chongguang fled the Imperial Tomb after fighting the Blood Armored Guards and followed a paper crane to Han Sushu.
• Jiang Chongguang freed Han Sushu with his Life Qi and told him about the impostor in the Imperial Tomb.
• Han Sushu identified the impostor as Shentu Xin, explained the tomb-burning plot, and told Jiang Chongguang that the Great Xiang Witch Soul would remain in the tomb.
• Han Sushu said unrest was emerging across Great Qian, then explained how Jiang Chongguang could counter the Blood Armored Guards.
• Shentu Xin burned the Imperial Tomb with his Life Qi flames, and Li Shun stored a wisp of his tribulation ash in the Square Inch Space.
• Shentu Xin’s illusory figure appeared on the newly opened sixth plot of land in the Square Inch Space.