Chapter Summaries

Kong Changqing told Li Shun that Sun Lang was a hidden sleeper corrupted by an Outer God, and that the court was using him to draw the entity’s attention. The Right Chancellor’s plan also depended on Shentu Xin, whom the court intended to bring back from the Imperial Tomb.

• Kong Changqing explained that Shentu Xin’s imprint remained in the Imperial Tomb’s array and could be used to bring him back at great cost.
• Kong Changqing revealed that Sun Lang was a sleeper connected to an Outer God, and that the Grand Arbiter had detected the corruption but kept it hidden.
• Kong Changqing explained that the court had chosen to monitor Sun Lang rather than kill him, so the Outer God’s influence would remain under observation.
• Kong Changqing told Li Shun that the Right Chancellor’s plan required him to draw the Outer God’s attention because Sun Lang had approached him willingly.
• Kong Changqing said Shentu Xin was another crucial part of the plan.

Kong Changqing explained the court’s plan for Li Shun to confront the Outer God’s influence over Sun Lang in Bing Province, where the lingering power of [Taiyi Xuanpin] might weaken it. He also revealed that the Grand Arbiter had reached Spirit Wandering, a path distinct from the Heaven and Earth Realm, before Li Shun asked which path was stronger.

• Kong Changqing urged Li Shun to help thwart the Outer God and warned him to prioritize his survival if the plan became impossible.
• Kong Changqing revealed that he had recommended Li Shun because the Confucian Sage’s protection might let him survive confronting the Outer God’s will.
• Kong Changqing told Li Shun that he would meet Sun Lang in Bing Province, where [Taiyi Xuanpin]’s lingering imprint could suppress the Outer God’s will.
• Li Shun asked how the Grand Arbiter had recognized the Outer God, and Kong Changqing revealed that she had attained Spirit Wandering.
• Kong Changqing explained that Spirit Wandering meant sending the soul beyond the world to seek the Dao, unlike the inward path of the Heaven and Earth Realm.
• Li Shun wondered which realm was stronger and asked Kong Changqing.

Li Shun traveled toward the Sacred Capital with Zhao Cheng, but they turned back after learning that Fang Xun's shrine had been destroyed. Their search pointed to Shentu Xin and the Jun Family, and they encountered Sun Lang on the road as he claimed he was investigating the same incident.

• Zhao Cheng arrived to escort Li Shun to the Sacred Capital and cultivate him as a core descendant of the Spring-Autumn Brush lineage.
• On their journey, Zhao Cheng learned that Fang Xun's shrine had been smashed, so Li Shun insisted they return to East Mountain Town to investigate.
• Li Shun and Zhao Cheng found the shrine in ruins and learned that a crazed, ghostlike figure had ravaged landmarks across the region.
• Zhao Cheng suspected Shentu Xin was responsible, and Li Shun vowed revenge before searching Former Tomb Commandery for clues.
• When the search failed, Li Shun and Zhao Cheng decided to confront Sun Lang in the Sacred Capital, but Sun Lang met them on the road and said he had come to clear the Jun Family's name.

Sun Lang defended the Jun Family against accusations of destroying East Mountain Town, then used a Jun Family divine art to gather its lingering aura and summon Great Jun. The manifestation drew out the hidden culprit, Shentu Xin, whom Sun Lang recognized as his Senior Brother Shen.

• Sun Lang argued to Li Shun that the Jun Family would not destroy Former Tomb Commandery without cause and that the evidence warranted investigation.
• Zhao Cheng recounted his findings as the three returned to East Mountain Town, where Sun Lang sensed Jun Family aura among the ruins.
• Sun Lang claimed the aura might have been planted but invoked a Jun Family art to identify and track its source.
• Sun Lang sacrificed his life qi to become a vast Great Jun millstone that absorbed Jun Family aura from Former Tomb Commandery.
• The Great Jun manifestation forced the hidden Shentu Xin to appear, and Sun Lang recognized him as Senior Brother Shen.

Sun Lang accused Shentu Xin of betraying Great Jun and revealed a powerful divine ability that nearly killed him. Shentu Xin escaped by exchanging positions and fled north toward Bing Province, with Sun Lang, Li Shun, and Zhao Cheng in pursuit.

• Sun Lang challenged Shentu Xin’s loyalty to Great Jun and accused him of returning from the dead because another school had turned him.
• Shentu Xin attacked Sun Lang, but Sun Lang reappeared and accused him of betraying Great Jun.
• Sun Lang trapped Shentu Xin in an invisible fire that burned his body and soul, declaring it the true Mighty Power of Great Jun.
• Shentu Xin escaped the fire by exchanging his position and restoring his strength.
• Shentu Xin fled north toward Bing Province as Sun Lang, Li Shun, and Zhao Cheng pursued him.
• Li Shun recognized a familiar fluctuation in Shentu Xin’s escape and suspected it was the History School divine ability Heavenly Man’s Writing.

Li Shun and Zhao Cheng pursued Sun Lang and Shentu Xin into Bing Province, where Li Shun recognized the lingering influence of the Outer God Primordial Unity Xuanpin. Sun Lang overcame his hesitation and caught Shentu Xin in Yin Mountain Commandery, where Shentu Xin attacked him with a destructive technique that swept him into Great Jun’s rotation.

• Li Shun judged that Shentu Xin had been recreated by Heavenly Man’s Writing and realized Sun Lang’s Outer God contamination was worsening.
• Li Shun followed Sun Lang and Shentu Xin into Bing Province, sensing the lingering presence of Primordial Unity Xuanpin.
• Li Shun provoked Sun Lang into continuing the pursuit despite his wariness of Bing Province.
• Sun Lang intercepted Shentu Xin in the snowfields of Yin Mountain Commandery, and the two exchanged accusations about their loyalties and unfamiliar divine abilities.
• Shentu Xin compressed the Jun Family’s Liqi into a destructive millstone and swept Sun Lang into Great Jun’s rotation.

Shentu Xin and Sun Lang unleashed Great Jun Assimilation, but an immense power erased the millstone and restored them. As Li Shun and Zhao Cheng battled Shentu Xin with Sun Lang’s help, Shentu Xin turned into a strange sheet of paper and began pulling Sun Lang into its two-dimensional plane.

• Shentu Xin and Sun Lang activated Great Jun Assimilation, but an unseen force consumed the millstone and returned them to the battlefield.
• Li Shun and Zhao Cheng trapped Shentu Xin in a killing formation while Sun Lang struggled against the Outer God’s control.
• Li Shun urged Sun Lang to help capture Shentu Xin, and Sun Lang joined the fight against his senior brother.
• Shentu Xin burned through his remaining life qi, transformed into transparent paper, and began drawing Sun Lang into its flat plane.
• Li Shun realized the paper was not the History School’s Heavenly Man’s Writing and searched for the person behind the divine art.

Li Shun and Zhao Cheng witnessed the Outer God Hunkun Chixiang corrupt the sealing paper’s world and threaten all of Bing Province. Taiyi Xuanpin appeared to confront the Outer God, and the chapter ended as the paper began folding itself.

• Zhao Cheng identified the mysterious sealing art as Sever Reality, Enter Unity, and Li Shun watched Sun Lang writhe within the paper.
• Sun Lang’s skull split open to reveal a bronze mask, and Li Shun recognized the Outer God Hunkun Chixiang within the paper.
• Hunkun Chixiang devoured the laws of Heaven and Earth, corrupting Li Shun and threatening Zhao Cheng and all of Bing Province.
• Zhao Cheng recited the Spring-Autumn Brush Lineage’s founding precept, briefly rousing Li Shun to resist Hunkun Chixiang’s corruption.
• Taiyi Xuanpin appeared, halted the devastation, and faced Hunkun Chixiang as the sealing paper took on her dark robe.
• The sealing paper began folding itself in a way no ordinary person could comprehend.

Li Shun and Zhao Cheng witnessed the Grand Arbiter’s starlight stabilize and carry away the world containing Taiyi Xuanpin and Hunkun Chixiang. After the Heaven Oversight Bureau took them for examination, Li Shun insisted that the Hundred Schools and the Grand Arbiter could resist the Outer Gods, leaving the white-haired elder strangely affected.

• Hunkun Chixiang merged its woven world with the Great Qian World, then drew Taiyi Xuanpin’s phantom into it.
• A colossal hand used the Yin-Yang Brush to create a world around both Outer Gods, and the Grand Arbiter’s starlight stabilized it and carried it away.
• The Heaven Oversight Bureau arrived and escorted Li Shun and Zhao Cheng for isolation and examination; Li Shun realized Zhao Cheng had been corrupted.
• The Heaven Oversight Bureau brought Li Shun to a patterned chamber, where he resisted its truth-inducing effect by withdrawing most of his consciousness into Square Inch.
• A white-haired elder questioned Li Shun about the Spring-Autumn Brush Lineage and the Outer Gods, and Li Shun declared that the Hundred Schools and the Grand Arbiter could resist them.

Li Shun endured the old Daoist’s tests and convinced him that no Outer God had corrupted him. The old Daoist then showed Li Shun how Zhao Cheng had reacted to the same trial.

• The old Daoist summoned a magical book and tested Li Shun with images of Taiyi Xuanpin and Hunkun Chixiang, but Li Shun showed no anger when they shattered.
• The book trapped Li Shun in a featureless white space, where he pretended to grow frantic while remaining calm and aware of time outside.
• The white space broke apart, and the old Daoist concluded that Li Shun had not been corrupted by an Outer God.
• Li Shun asked how a corrupted person would react, and the old Daoist showed Zhao Cheng's interrogation, during which Zhao Cheng's eyes turned bloodred with madness and worship.

After Zhao Cheng failed the trials, Ying Wuxiu explained that he would be imprisoned beneath the Heaven-Watching Tower while Li Shun was cleared of corruption. At the Heaven Oversight Bureau’s Bing Province station, the Right Chancellor praised Li Shun’s resilience as leaders of several schools argued over his training and the Myriad Ages Legacy Book.

• Ying Wuxiu told Li Shun that Zhao Cheng had failed the first two trials and would be suppressed beneath the Heaven-Watching Tower, where he would recite the sages’ classics.
• Ying Wuxiu identified himself as the Heaven Oversight Bureau’s Left Junior Director of Fate and explained the role of the Danger Chamber Watchtower.
• Ying Wuxiu reported to the Right Chancellor that Li Shun showed no signs of corruption, while Zhao Cheng’s soul had fallen.
• The Right Chancellor praised Li Shun’s resilient spirit, and Ling Xuanji offered to train him before the Right Chancellor rebuked her.
• Ying Wuxiu announced that he would escort the Myriad Ages Legacy Book to the capital to replenish its pages, prompting Ling Xuanji and the School of Names representative to trade insults.

The Right Chancellor’s council decided to defend Great Qian while the Grand Arbiter was unable to descend, and assigned Li Shun to serve against the Outer Gods. Dong Chunqiu persuaded the Right Chancellor to send Li Shun to the Imperial Academy first, where Ying Wuxiu began explaining what it was.

• The Right Chancellor revealed that Taiyi Xuanpin’s incarnation remained sealed and learned that Bing Province would recover, while the Grand Arbiter could not descend for three years.
• The leaders of the Hundred Schools agreed to close the Celestial Array, retreat to defense, and gather strength against the Outer Gods.
• The Right Chancellor offered Li Shun a post in the Heaven Oversight Bureau, and Li Shun accepted.
• Dong Chunqiu argued that Li Shun should train at the Imperial Academy first, and the Right Chancellor agreed.
• Ying Wuxiu told Li Shun that the Imperial Academy taught knowledge beyond the mortal world.

Ying Wuxiu explained how the Imperial Academy studies Outer Heavenly Dao Marks, sends students’ souls into other worlds, and guards against Outworld Heavenly Demons. He revealed that students must also undertake Ancient Past Inquiry to seek a Sage’s guidance, leaving Li Shun wondering how the Academy recreates the age before Great Qian’s founding.

• Li Shun asked Ying Wuxiu about Outer Heavenly Dao Marks, and Ying Wuxiu explained their origins and their role in repairing the Great Qian Heavenly Dao.
• Ying Wuxiu described the Imperial Academy’s Outer-Heavenly Trial, in which students send a wisp of their soul into other worlds.
• Ying Wuxiu revealed that the Academy’s soul-traversal method came from an Outworld Heavenly Demon and explained why Great Qian feared such infiltrators.
• Ying Wuxiu told Li Shun that students had to complete Ancient Past Inquiry before graduating, entering the pre-Great Qian era to seek a Sage’s instruction.
• Li Shun asked Ying Wuxiu how Ancient Past Inquiry worked without the Heaven-Piercing Divine Mountain.

Ying Wuxiu explained to Li Shun how Great Qian was protected by the Celestial Array, what the Primordial Ancient Domain was, and why the court’s attempt to annex another world ended in catastrophe. After Ying Wuxiu left, Li Shun waited at the Heaven Oversight Bureau for Dong Chunqiu, reflecting on what he had learned.

• Li Shun asked Ying Wuxiu about Great Qian’s four deadly borderlands, and Ying Wuxiu explained that they were caused by powers from beyond the world eroding Great Qian.
• Ying Wuxiu described the Primordial Ancient Domain and showed how a doorway could connect distant worlds, while annexation meant making a nearby fragment world part of Great Qian.
• Ying Wuxiu revealed that Great Qian’s attempt to annex a neighboring realm drew Taiyi Xuanpin’s attention, leading to its descent and a catastrophe.
• Ying Wuxiu told Li Shun to wait at the Danger Chamber Watchtower until he returned from the Imperial Academy, then departed.
• An attendant led Li Shun to a quiet room, where he waited for Dong Chunqiu and pondered Ying Wuxiu’s explanation.

After learning from Ying Wuxiu how the Chaos threatened Great Qian and the Primordial Ancient Domain, Li Shun sent Shentu Xin’s phantom beyond the Heavenly Dao Severed Sea. He discovered that the void branded travelers’ past selves, and continued toward the Martial World, sensing greater dangers ahead.

• Ying Wuxiu’s explanation helped Li Shun understand that the Chaos Outer Domain’s encroachment threatened Great Qian and the wider Primordial Ancient Domain.
• Li Shun considered whether Great Qian could learn to absorb other worlds like the Demon Beast World, but decided to focus first on exploring beyond the Heavenly Dao Severed Sea.
• Li Shun guided Shentu Xin’s phantom out of the Severed Sea and found himself in a crimson void filled with black lightning and eerie creatures.
• Li Shun saw multiple images of Shentu Xin appear behind the phantom as an unknown force engraved its past into the void.
• Li Shun realized that the branding power resembled what he had encountered in the Primordial Illusion Realm and continued toward the Martial World.

Li Shun explored the dangerous void of the Great Wilderness Ancient Domain before Cheng Yu took him through a hidden passage to the Imperial Academy. Waiting outside its ancient gate, Li Shun recognized its aura as belonging to the Ancient Heavenly Court.

• Li Shun continued exploring the void through Shentu Xin's phantom and learned that shifting time and sudden spatial rifts made the journey deadly.
• After the phantom vanished in a rift, Li Shun relied on the puppet's trace to resume the exploration, while the Martial World remained far away.
• Cheng Yu arrived at the Danger Chamber Watchtower and escorted Li Shun toward the Imperial Academy through a passage in the void.
• Cheng Yu explained that the Imperial Academy was hidden for security and contained rare treasures, including Outer Heavenly Dao Marks.
• At the towering white jade gate, Cheng Yu passed verification and told Li Shun to wait for the Grand Libationer's approval.
• Li Shun recognized the gate's familiar aura as that of the Ancient Heavenly Court.

Li Shun entered the Imperial Academy, where Cheng Yu explained its rules, staff, and purpose of uniting the Hundred Schools against the Outer Gods. After discovering the academy’s ties to the Ancient Heavenly Court and its abundant resources, Li Shun learned that students could request books and treasures through a jade tablet.

• Li Shun recognized the Ancient Heavenly Court’s aura at the Imperial Academy and wondered how Great Qian had transformed the ancient site.
• Cheng Yu brought Li Shun to the chief academic officer, who drew out a wisp of Li Shun’s soul and used it to grant him entry to the academy.
• The chief academic officer warned Li Shun that he could not leave without special circumstances, and Cheng Yu introduced the academy’s hierarchy and feared disciplinary officers.
• Cheng Yu explained that students could study the Hundred Schools because they shared the goal of resisting the Outer Gods, then led Li Shun to his private courtyard.
• Li Shun found that his courtyard held rich Primordial Qi and a jade tablet that let him browse and borrow resources, and he asked whether requests cost contribution points.

Li Shun studied the Imperial Academy’s rules, learning about its history-altering final examination and its origins atop the Ancient Heavenly Court Ruins. At his first class, he confronted a sleeping Confucian scholar and defended his decision to wake him as a matter of duty.

• Li Shun examined his jade token and learned about the academy’s ten-year program, including an Antiquity-Seeking Illusion Realm where students could restart up to three times and graduate by breaking its historical course.
• Li Shun learned that Emperor Gan had discovered the Ancient Heavenly Court Ruins and established the Imperial Academy there.
• Li Shun went to his first class at the Confucian School and found the young scholar asleep behind his desk.
• Li Shun woke the scholar, who scolded him for disturbing his rest.
• Li Shun cited the Sage’s teachings and argued that waking the scholar upheld the academy’s duty to teach and resist the Outer Gods.

Han Qi tested Li Shun’s resolve and asked how he regarded the Confucian Sage, then invited him to choose a school of study at the Imperial Academy. Li Shun became intrigued by the secretive Sole Righteousness lineage and returned to his courtyard with introductory texts to review before deciding.

• Han Qi overwhelmed Li Shun with an illusion of crushing pressure, then praised him for standing firm and introduced himself as his teacher.
• Han Qi asked Li Shun how he regarded the Sage, and Li Shun declared that he would lead the way if no one else would help all beings become Sages.
• Han Qi showed Li Shun several Confucian lineages and explained that students could study branches beyond their own.
• Li Shun noticed a black, murderous sphere, and Han Qi explained that the hidden Sole Righteousness lineage pursued absolute orthodoxy and vengeance.
• Han Qi told Li Shun to read the schools’ introductory texts before choosing, and Li Shun requested them with his jade token after returning to his courtyard.

Li Shun read the Sole Righteousness Scripture and suffered a severe backlash when its doctrines conflicted with the foundation of his cultivation. The next morning, he went to the Confucian School training ground to ask Han Qi about the dangerous branch, where he found another disciple seeking guidance.

• Li Shun read the Sole Righteousness Scripture, whose teachings urged vengeance and the total eradication of evil.
• As Li Shun became immersed in the text, his Liqi ran wild and his Dao foundation grew unstable, forcing him to stop reading and recite the doctrines of the [Spring-Autumn Brush] branch.
• Li Shun realized that the shared Confucian lineage made the conflicting doctrines especially dangerous, and he suspected Han Qi knew how students could safely study the branch.
• Li Shun suppressed his urge to keep reading and put the Sole Righteousness Scripture away, but its contents continued surfacing in his thoughts.
• The next morning, Li Shun arrived at the Confucian School training ground and found a Celestial Phenomenon Realm disciple asking Han Qi for guidance.