Chapter Summaries

Illegal miners entered the Cold Mountain mine as Li Shun scattered his midges across the county, while Fang Xun and Cheng Yishu fought to the death outside the city. Yu Niang’s suicide explosion killed Fang Xun, ending his seal over the mines and causing Cold Mountain County to collapse into ruins.

• Sun Wu led laborers into the forbidden mine to search for Cold Mountain Grass, and more people joined the illegal mining party.
• Li Shun sensed danger, withdrew his consciousness into the Square Inch space, and released all forty-seven midges to scatter across Cold Mountain County.
• Fang Xun killed Cheng Yishu, then tried to reassure Yu Niang, who accused him of planning to silence Huan'er.
• Yu Niang clamped onto Fang Xun and exploded, fatally destroying his lower body; as he died, his mind cleared and he realized he had been manipulated.
• Sun Wu and the miners found Cold Mountain Grass seedlings, but the mine collapsed and crushed the people inside.
• Fang Xun's death broke his seal over the mine tunnels, triggering the collapse of the mountain and the sinking of Cold Mountain County into ruins.

Zhou Xunzhen used the greed-fueled calamities that destroyed Cold Mountain County to overcome the Heaven's Lifespan Demand tribulation, regain his youth, and advance to the Creation Realm. Yin Fengshuo and Shen Chongguang discussed the county's destruction before departing, unaware that gnats still swarmed over the ruins.

• Zhou Xunzhen's Jixia Bookshop reappeared amid the snow, and its books burned as scenes of Cold Mountain County's greed and disasters played in the flames.
• Zhou Xunzhen climbed through the fire, completed his tribulation, and transformed into a sixteen-year-old after Heaven granted him another lifetime.
• Two officials congratulated Zhou Xunzhen, who gave them a golden page and offered them help through Jixia Academy before vanishing.
• Yin Fengshuo and Shen Chongguang discussed Cold Mountain County's destruction, and Yin said Fang Xun had been executed and he would face only a minor penalty.
• Yin Fengshuo and Shen Chongguang departed, while gnats continued flying over the snow and ruins unnoticed.

After losing his body in the Cold Mountain disaster, Li Shun realized Zhou Xunzhen’s scheme may have fueled his own ambition and used Threefold Self-Reflection to revisit the day before the catastrophe. He tracked Fang Xun, Cheng Yishu, and Yu Niang to witness their deadly fight, then sent a midge into the dying Fang Xun.

• Li Shun reviewed his memories of Zhou Xunzhen and suspected the man’s scheme had stirred ambition in him and brought disaster to Cold Mountain.
• Li Shun activated Threefold Self-Reflection and returned to the first day of the first month, Year 573 of the New Calendar.
• Li Shun sent midges to follow Fang Xun, Cheng Yishu, and Yu Niang, then left the city disguised as a laborer to find them.
• Li Shun’s midges witnessed Fang Xun kill Cheng Yishu, after which Yu Niang exploded and left Fang Xun near death.
• A midge entered Fang Xun’s mouth and spread a cool breath through him, briefly clearing his mind.

Li Shun saved the dying Fang Xun by turning him into a puppet, then used Fang Xun’s memories to uncover the rules of borrowed longevity and the hidden forces behind Cold Mountain’s calamity. As Zhou Xunzhen advanced into the Creation Realm, Li Shun identified Yin Fengshuo’s role in the plot, only for Zhou Xunzhen to appear beside him.

• Midges kept Fang Xun barely alive until Li Shun arrived and asked whether he wanted to live and take revenge.
• Li Shun brought Fang Xun into the Square Inch space, where his injuries were restored and he became a puppet.
• Fang Xun’s memories revealed that cultivators could borrow longevity at each of seven realm breakthroughs, with the first borrowing being the greatest and every borrowing eventually requiring repayment.
• Li Shun suspected Emperor Gan had borrowed two hundred years initially, meaning the world’s assumptions about his remaining lifespan could be wrong.
• Zhou Xunzhen advanced into the Creation Realm as Li Shun concluded that the calamity in Cold Mountain County had been caused by the Heaven’s Lifespan Demand and aided by Yin Fengshuo.
• Zhou Xunzhen quietly appeared beside Li Shun and studied him with keen interest.

Li Shun used Fang Xun’s memories and a staged display of grief to seek a survivable punishment after Cold Mountain County was destroyed. Fang Xun was stripped of his office and sent to guard the tombs in East Mountain Town, which Li Shun saw as a safe place to lie low.

• Zhou Xunzhen vanished after examining Fang Xun and Li Shun, and Li Shun considered why the tribulation transfer and his puppet body made the encounter survivable.
• Fang Xun searched the ruins of Cold Mountain County, found three sticks of Divine-Communing Incense, and used one to contact his master, Dong Chunqiu.
• Fang Xun kowtowed until he was near death, prompting Dong Chunqiu to speak with him through the incense.
• The court stripped Fang Xun of his post as Cold Mountain County Magistrate and demoted him to guard the tombs in East Mountain Town.
• The incense smoke healed Fang Xun somewhat, and Li Shun recognized East Mountain Town as a safe place to hide.

Li Shun used the third reflection to prepare for the Cold Mountain calamity, hide underground, and ensure Fang Xun became a puppet. Fang Xun survived and drew Zhou Xunzhen away, and after the events repeated, he dug Li Shun out of the snow.

• Shen Qinghe told Fang Xun to travel to East Mountain and capture the thieves threatening the Imperial Tomb, while warning him not to let them break through.
• In the third reflection, Li Shun stole Fang Xun's hidden bed and treasures, then reinforced his underground hiding place with Cold Mountain Grass roots.
• After the calamity began, Li Shun turned Fang Xun into a puppet and returned to the Square Inch Space.
• Fang Xun appeared alive before Zhou Xunzhen, who left to confront him; Yin Fengshuo and Zhou Chongguang abandoned their plans and departed.
• Fang Xun repeated his visit to Cold Mountain and received Shen Qinghe's decree, then heard cries for help in the snow and dug Li Shun out.

Li Shun discovered that cultivating Cold Mountain Venerable produced silver, which could delay Heaven's Lifespan Demand, and suspected the Cold Mountain Soul might produce gold. The next morning, he and Fang Xun left Cold Mountain for East Mountain, where Li Shun looked ahead to a future shaped by the Square Inch Space.

• Fang Xun invited Li Shun to travel with him to East Mountain Town, where Fang Xun was being demoted to garrison commander, and Li Shun agreed.
• Inside the Square Inch Space, Li Shun compared newly drawn silver with the metal produced while cultivating Cold Mountain Venerable and confirmed they were the same substance.
• Li Shun recalled that gold and silver could delay Heaven's Lifespan Demand and realized that cultivating Cold Mountain Venerable might let him produce silver.
• Li Shun suspected the Cold Mountain Soul could produce genuine gold, but lamented that Changle Marquis had taken it away.
• The next morning, Li Shun and Fang Xun set out for East Mountain, and Li Shun left Cold Mountain after twenty-seven years there.

Li Shun and Fang Xun reached Tomb Commandery, a sealed-off realm where time passed nearly seven times faster than outside. There, Li Shun confronted a crowd protesting the former warden’s dismissal and revealed himself to Li Qing, who recognized him as his brother.

• Li Shun and Fang Xun passed through Cold Mountain Commandery’s checkpoint, and Li Shun sensed the Cold Mountain Soul might still be lurking there.
• After more than a month of travel, Li Shun and Fang Xun entered Tomb Commandery through its towering pass and learned that its time flowed nearly seven times faster than the outside world.
• A Tomb Commandery official told Fang Xun that East Mountain Town’s residents were demanding the return of their dismissed former warden.
• Fang Xun went to East Mountain Town, where Li Qing rallied the residents and challenged the new warden’s absence.
• Li Shun stepped between Fang Xun and Li Qing, slapped Li Qing twice, and called him by his childhood nickname, Little Dumpling.
• Li Qing recognized Li Shun and addressed him in disbelief as his brother.

Li Shun returned to Imperial Tomb Commandery and reunited with Li Qing, who told him how he and Xiao Yuan had survived after Li Shun was taken away. Elder Wei refused to teach Li Shun but gave him a mysterious ginkgo branch, and the brothers left with Li Qing expressing his disdain for the tomb-guarding life imposed by the Court.

• Li Shun found Xiao Yuan’s funerary figurine and learned from Li Qing that she had died at age one hundred and thirty-two after failing to advance further in cultivation.
• Li Qing explained that Elder Wei had taken him and Xiao Yuan in, granted them the Twelve Longevity Method, and helped them survive after Li Shun was taken away.
• Li Shun met Elder Wei, whose gaze briefly made Li Shun feel exposed, and Elder Wei refused to teach him because their paths did not align.
• After Li Qing pleaded on Li Shun’s behalf, Elder Wei shaped a branch from a ginkgo tree and gave it to Li Shun as a meeting gift.
• Li Qing told Li Shun he had chosen not to start a family because he did not want children destined to guard Emperor Gan’s tomb and become human figurines.
• Li Shun noticed that Li Qing held little reverence for the Great Qian Court, an attitude he considered unthinkable among the tomb-guarding clan.

Li Shun took charge of East Mountain Town and learned that its tomb-raiding crisis was entangled with court officials’ efforts to test Emperor Gan, who had not appeared for a century. He resolved to strengthen the town’s defenses without capturing the thieves, while a labor levy prompted him to consider whether faster time could benefit his puppet cultivation.

• Li Qing recognized Li Shun’s unusual strength, avoided asking about his secrets, and spent the night sharing a meal and conversation with him.
• Li Shun reviewed East Mountain Town’s backlog and learned that it governed thirteen uninhabited commanderies surrounding Emperor Gan’s tomb.
• Li Shun identified Jiang Chongguang and Han Sushu as the tomb raiders and concluded that court officials might be allowing them to breach the tomb to create a reason to test Emperor Gan.
• Li Shun decided to reinforce East Mountain Town’s defenses and divert Jiang Chongguang and Han Sushu rather than capture them or let them reach the central tomb.
• Li Shun reviewed an order requiring two hundred laborers to be sent out and considered investigating whether faster time could improve his cultivation of Cold Mountain Grass.

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.