Chapter Summaries

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.

Li Shun discovered that Shentu Xin’s shadow had become a half-puppet and uncovered its [Life-Qi Furnace] trait, which let him use a puppet’s traits to reshape another puppet. He applied the trait to Fang Xun and left him changed after briefly summoning him into the real world.

• Li Shun collected Shentu Xin’s ash in Square Inch Space, but the Heavenly Man Book reversed time before he could gather enough to make a complete puppet.
• Li Shun found that Shentu Xin’s shadow had no memories, could not speak, and occupied a puppet slot despite being nearly useless in reality.
• Li Shun meditated on Shentu Xin’s shadow and discovered the [Life-Qi Furnace] trait within it.
• Li Shun realized Square Inch Space could use a puppet’s traits to reshape his body, though he decided the Life-Qi Furnace’s shortened lifespan did not suit him.
• Li Shun transferred the [Life-Qi Furnace] trait to Fang Xun, who vanished and reappeared in East Mountain Town with a changed bearing.

Li Shun realized that the Life Qi Furnace trait could let his puppets unleash extraordinary power, and he began planning to collect rare constitutions to forge his own body. In Langya Commandery, Jiang Chongguang and Han Sushu discussed the Imperial Tomb’s restoration and waited for Luo Qiwu to arrive.

• Li Shun withdrew the Life Qi Furnace trait from Fang Xun and realized it could empower puppets without permanently harming them.
• Li Shun reconsidered his plans for Jiang Chongguang and resolved to seek other people with rare traits so he could forge a perfect body.
• News spread across Great Qian that Shentu Xin had burned the Imperial Tomb, though a History School divine ability had restored it to the previous day.
• At a teahouse in Langya Commandery, Jiang Chongguang learned from Han Sushu that he would have died if he had remained in the Imperial Tomb during its restoration.
• Han Sushu spotted the person they were waiting for, and Jiang Chongguang saw Luo Qiwu, the governor’s son, arrive in golden armor on a striking black horse.

Han Sushu and Jiang Chongguang planned to seize Luo Qiwu’s Earth-Stealing Blacksteed to reach the Great Xiang Witch Soul hidden in the Cloud Dream Marsh beneath Emperor Gan’s Mausoleum. A disaster released corrosive black mist across Langya Replica Commandery, and Fang Xun discovered that his puppet body could absorb it into Square Inch Space before approaching figures interrupted him.

• Han Sushu told Jiang Chongguang that the Earth-Stealing Blacksteed carried true dragon blood and could help them reach the Great Xiang Witch Soul in the Cloud Dream Marsh beneath Emperor Gan’s Mausoleum.
• Han Sushu urged Jiang Chongguang to move at once, as an earthquake split Langya and black mist erupted from underground, draining liqi and burning anyone it touched.
• Han Sushu pointed Jiang Chongguang toward the escaped blacksteed after they heard a faint dragon’s cry, and they chased it through the chaos.
• Zheng Zhi reported the disaster to Fang Xun and Li Shun, who ordered nearby towns evacuated and the crisis reported to their superiors.
• Fang Xun tested the black mist on himself, spirit plants, and Shentu Xin’s phantom, then realized it rapidly broke down the power forming his puppet body.
• Fang Xun drew the mist touching his finger into Square Inch Space, but stopped when he sensed several figures approaching.

Guo Guanyu and the Mohist School contained the heavenly Dao severed qi that had destroyed Langya Replica Commandery, then rebuilt the commandery. Li Shun discovered that exposing Shentu Xin's phantom to the qi had produced [Unbreakable Body], and he opened Square Inch Space's seventh clearing.

• Guo Guanyu suppressed and absorbed the black mist, which Guo Shaoshang identified as heavenly Dao severed qi from a fissure linking Great Qian to the Heavenly Dao Severed Sea.
• Guo Shaoshang and the Mohist School disciples rebuilt Langya Replica Commandery in just over thirty days, while Fang Xun offered his help with future transplanting.
• Li Shun examined Shentu Xin's phantom after its month in the severed qi and found that it had developed [Unbreakable Body].
• Li Shun returned Shentu Xin to the black qi and realized that its presence had helped him open Square Inch Space's seventh clearing.

Li Shun cultivated toward his next breakthrough while Fang Xun learned why Black-Robed Envoys were inspecting the Imperial Tomb and how the tomb had altered his memories. Zhao Cheng revealed that Duanmu Qiuche needed Lu Tinglan’s armor to attempt a breakthrough, and that Li Shun’s tomb-guarding clan ancestry could let him enter the Burial Mound.

• Li Shun continued cultivating after the Earth Pass vanished and prepared for the Heaven Pass required for his next major breakthrough.
• The sun disappeared for a seven-day inspection of the Imperial Tomb, and Fang Xun reunited with Zhao Cheng in East Mountain Town.
• Zhao Cheng showed Fang Xun a report that Shentu Xin had set fire to the Imperial Tomb and explained that the tomb could preserve a person’s body while erasing their memories.
• Zhao Cheng told Fang Xun that Duanmu Qiuche sought Lu Tinglan’s armor to revisit the battlefield and overcome the obstacle to his breakthrough.
• Zhao Cheng explained that only a member of the tomb-guarding clan could enter the Burial Mound, and Fang Xun realized that his disciple Li Shun qualified.