Chapter Summaries

Li Shun, Li Qing, and Duan Jiuzhang investigated the famine caused by the Owl God Seizing Food Tribulation and hurried to Yunguan County to force officials to distribute grain. They found the county offices deserted and bloodied, while every prisoner had disappeared from the jail.

• Li Shun and Li Qing bought scarce food and gave it to Han Kuang and his starving mother, while Duan Jiuzhang promised the crisis would pass.
• Li Shun reported that Yunguan's people were starving and the county offices had shut themselves away; Duan Jiuzhang explained how tribulation qi warped people's judgment and warned the disaster could soon kill nearly everyone.
• Li Shun learned that Feng Guan's connection to him had drawn him into the tribulation, and Duan Jiuzhang explained that opportunities and fortune counted as food to the Owl God.
• Li Shun stopped Li Qing from trying to feed every starving person and said they had to make the authorities open the granaries.
• The three entered Yunguan's government offices, found the officials dead, and discovered that every prisoner had vanished from the broken-open jail.

After discovering a massacre at Yunguan County’s prison and granary, Duan Jiuzhang secured the city’s remaining grain and created a temporary sanctuary while hunting the hidden culprit. Li Shun and Li Qing were left to guard the granary as Duan Jiuzhang searched for the tribulation-crossing cultivator behind the calamity.

• Li Shun, Li Qing, and Duan Jiuzhang found the prison gate smashed open and its remaining prisoners dead or missing.
• Duan Jiuzhang opened the granary, where a flood of blood and corpses revealed a taunting message from the hidden culprit.
• Duan Jiuzhang searched Yunguan County for the enemy but found only a lingering aura of calamity, then ordered the brothers to seize all remaining grain.
• Li Shun and Li Qing collected grain from the county’s shops and merchants, while Duan Jiuzhang decided to ration it and give survivors seven days to reach safety.
• Duan Jiuzhang vanished to hunt the culprit and planted a golden ear of wheat that temporarily shielded the city from Owl God Devours Food.
• Li Shun and Li Qing stayed to guard the granary, and Li Shun wondered whether the enemy belonged to the Agricultural School.

Li Shun and Li Qing struggled to keep Yunguan City supplied while Duan Jiuzhang was missing and the protective wheat withered. Zuo Yan emerged victorious, entered the Creation Stage by consuming the county’s people, and left only four survivors beside the granary.

• Li Qing warned Li Shun that the granary had only two days of food left and asked what they would do if Duan Jiuzhang did not return.
• The calamity clouds pressed toward Yunguan City as the golden wheat and its protective warmth faded.
• Duan Jiuzhang fell gravely wounded into the city, and Zuo Yan revealed that he had poisoned Duan Jiuzhang’s foundations and planned to harvest the residents’ life essence.
• Zuo Yan drained the people of Yunguan County to enter the Creation Stage while Duan Jiuzhang was too wounded to stop him.
• After reaching the Creation Stage, Zuo Yan killed the remaining residents one by one, leaving only four people alive before the granary.

In the first reflection, Zuo Yan killed Li Qing, Duan Jiuzhang, Li Shun, and all life in Yunguan County despite Duan Jiuzhang’s desperate sacrifice. Time then reversed to the second reflection, where Li Shun tried to flee with Li Qing but an invisible force crushed them near the county border.

• Zuo Yan forced Duan Jiuzhang to watch as he blew Li Qing apart, while Li Shun defied him without fear.
• Duan Jiuzhang burned through his lifespan and understanding to free himself, hurl Li Shun away, and attack Zuo Yan.
• Zuo Yan stopped Duan Jiuzhang’s attack, killed Li Shun, and extinguished every living being in Yunguan County.
• Time reversed to the second reflection, and Li Shun told Li Qing what had happened and decided they had to leave Yunguan County.
• Li Shun and Li Qing rode through the night, but Moonlit White’s clouded mind led them back to Yunguan County, so they abandoned the horses and fled on foot.
• As the brothers neared the county border, an invisible force crushed them into a cloud of blood.

Li Shun repeatedly used Three Reflections Upon Myself to escape Zuo Yan, but each attempt led to the same slaughter in Yunguan County. After Zuo Yan ascended to the Creation Realm, Li Shun invoked a Sage, whose judgment erased Zuo Yan and restored the dead, though Li Shun collapsed unconscious.

• Li Shun and Li Qing tried to flee Yunguan County, but Zuo Yan captured them, forcing Li Shun to reset time with Three Reflections Upon Myself.
• Li Shun enlisted Duan Jiuzhang to confront Zuo Yan, but Zuo Yan intercepted them, defeated Duan Jiuzhang, and was about to kill Li Shun.
• Li Shun reset time again, then allowed events to unfold until Zuo Yan ascended and began killing the survivors.
• Li Shun invoked Square Inch Arises in the Mind and Casting the Elephant into the Human World, summoning a Sage whose judgment declared Zuo Yan had failed his tribulation and perished.
• The Sage vanished, and the people killed in Yunguan County returned to life; Li Qing found Li Shun unconscious.
• In Sacred Capital, several figures discussed Zuo Yan's failure and turned their attention to Fang Xun.

Li Shun recovered from borrowing Sage’s body, but the Heavenly Man Book stone statue seized much of his territory in the Square Inch Space. His glimpse of the History School divine art also revealed that someone in Sacred Capital had plotted to lure him to Yunguan County, and he vowed to settle the debt.

• Li Shun’s use of the Heavenly Man’s Writing nearly shattered his soul, while the Heavenly Man Book stone statue reclaimed territory in the Square Inch Space.
• Li Shun regained his consciousness and learned that the School of Totality had preserved his memories of wielding the Sage’s power.
• Li Shun recalled erasing Zuo Yan and restoring Feng Guan with the divine art, while recognizing its limits against people bound by deep Causality.
• Li Shun sensed that someone in Sacred Capital had used Feng Guan to lure him to Yunguan County and suspected Duan Jiuzhang had been part of the plan.
• Li Shun memorized the hidden threads of Causality and vowed to uncover the plot and settle the debt.

After the Owl God Seizing Food Tribulation, Li Shun reunited with Feng Guan, whose fate he had secretly changed, and Duan Jiuzhang offered Feng Guan a path to study in Spirit Commandery. Duan then hinted that heavenly beings could alter what was fixed, explained why he had intervened to save Yunguan’s people, and left Li Shun with a mysterious slip bearing the character “People.”

• Li Qing condemned the court’s cold response to the calamity and Duan Jiuzhang’s unacknowledged service.
• Feng Guan tearfully apologized to Li Shun for ignoring his advice, and Li Shun recalled how he had changed Feng Guan’s deadly fate.
• Li Shun advised Feng Guan to leave remote Yunguan County, and Duan Jiuzhang offered to recommend him to study under Cheng Yuzhao in Spirit Commandery.
• After sending Li Qing and Feng Guan away, Duan Jiuzhang told Li Shun that a friend had said, “When heavenly beings write, even what is fixed may be changed,” but did not press him about it.
• Duan Jiuzhang said he had intervened because the people of Yunguan were suffering, then left Li Shun a yellowed slip bearing the character “People.”

Li Shun left Yunguan County with Li Qing and headed for Kuaiji Commandery to absorb Heaven-and-Earth Mystic Yellow Qi and reclaim control of Square Inch Space. Meanwhile, Fang Xun faced a covert political campaign in East Mountain as Yin Fengshuo’s praise drew hostile officials to scrutinize his administration.

• Duan Jiuzhang gave Feng Guan a letter of recommendation for Spirit Commandery and handed Li Shun a wheat-shaped token holding one strike at his full strength.
• Li Shun and Li Qing left Yunguan County, and Li Shun told his brother they were going to Kuaiji Commandery rather than returning to Former Tomb Commandery.
• Li Shun resolved to seek the Heaven-and-Earth Mystic Yellow Qi associated with Qian Yuan, fearing the Heavenly Man Book Stone Statue was influencing his thoughts and behavior.
• Yin Fengshuo praised Fang Xun as a model administrator and sent more than a hundred officials to East Mountain, where they recorded evidence against him while obstructing his work.

Fang Xun faced Yin Fengshuo’s political attacks while sensing a greater tribulation gathering over East Mountain. When Heavenly Dao Severed Qi resurfaced in a sealed well, Fang Xun concealed it, unaware that it was growing more dangerous beneath the surface.

• Fang Han was accused of taking bribes to prioritize wealthy merchants’ settlement, and Fang Xun imprisoned him despite believing he had been framed.
• Sun Chengyou announced that he was returning to the Sacred Capital, leaving Fang Xun without his strongest local ally and warning him to endure Yin Fengshuo’s attacks.
• Fang Xun focused on the tribulation aura over East Mountain, suspecting that he and Li Shun had fallen into calamity at the same time.
• Zheng Zhi reported that black mist had emerged from a dried well in an abandoned courtyard in East Mountain Town.
• Fang Xun found that a damaged seal was temporarily containing the Heavenly Dao Severed Qi, then used Shentu Xin’s phantom to bury it and ordered Zheng Zhi to keep silent.
• The Heavenly Dao Severed Qi continued to grow more violent beneath the well, unbeknownst to Fang Xun.

Li Shun visited Qian Yuan Shrine in Shangyu County to collect Heaven-and-Earth Mystic Yellow Qi and learned that Qian Yuan’s statue showed him compassion instead of bringing heavenly punishment. After leaving, Li Shun and Li Qing investigated the shrine’s abusive incense seller and discovered he was Qian Yuan’s descendant.

• Li Shun and Li Qing reached Shangyu County and read about Qian Yuan’s lifelong work improving the region’s waterways.
• Li Shun paid for incense despite the seller’s exorbitant price and Li Qing’s protest.
• Li Shun collected one wisp of Mystic Yellow Qi from Qian Yuan’s statue without attracting heavenly punishment, and the statue sent him images and information.
• Li Shun stopped Li Qing from confronting the incense seller and said they should learn who backed him.
• The next day, Li Shun and Li Qing discovered that the incense seller was a descendant of Qian Gong.

Li Shun exposed Shangyu County magistrate Xu Jingde for allowing Qian Gong’s shrine to be exploited, and the court dismissed Xu and punished the Qian Family descendants. The court then appointed Li Shun acting magistrate of Shangyu, where he learned that his master, Fang Xun, had run into trouble.

• Li Shun used Mystic Yellow Qi to reclaim territory in the Square Inch Space, then concluded he needed more of it.
• Li Shun suspected Shangyu’s magistrate was letting Qian Gong’s descendants disgrace the shrine, and he wrote a denunciation to the Censorate.
• The court dismissed Xu Jingde, ordered offerings at Qian Gong’s Shrine to be free, and sent the Qian Family descendants to ten years of hard labor.
• Kong Zhao told Li Shun that the court had appointed him acting magistrate of Shangyu until a replacement arrived.
• Li Shun asked whether something had happened to Fang Xun, and Kong Zhao confirmed that Fang Xun was in trouble and the school could not help him for now.

Li Shun took up the post of acting magistrate of Shangyu County for three months and began reviewing its affairs while Li Qing patrolled the streets. After seven days, Li Shun returned to Qian Yuan Shrine to check whether restoring the shrine’s offerings had brought him a share of its benefits.

• Kong Zhao told Li Shun he would serve as acting magistrate for three months and gave him a jade pendant before leaving Shangyu County.
• Li Shun met Shangyu County’s officials, who had prepared the case files and pledged to cooperate with him.
• Li Shun appointed Li Qing temporary patrol officer, and Li Qing began patrolling the county the next day.
• Li Shun carefully reviewed the county’s files for seven days as the uproar over the change of magistrate faded.
• Li Shun returned to Qian Yuan Shrine, focused on Qian Yuan’s statue, and noticed a difference in the gathered Mystic Yellow Qi.

Li Shun received two strands of Mystic Yellow Qi from Qian Yuan and learned why the gift escaped heavenly notice. He used the Qi to comprehend Threefold Self-Reflection, discovering its possible rewind limits before the stone statue’s resistance stopped his progress.

• Li Shun realized Qian Yuan had been near the threshold for losing his Mystic Yellow Qi and had voluntarily given him two strands after Li Shun preserved the shrine’s incense offerings.
• Li Shun concluded that voluntarily bestowed Mystic Yellow Qi avoided heavenly punishment and that Qian Yuan concealed its loss from Great Qian’s authorities.
• Li Shun considered the origins of Mystic Yellow Qi and questioned why Great Qian did not cultivate more incense offerings and worthy ministers.
• Li Shun used the two strands of Mystic Yellow Qi to advance his comprehension of Threefold Self-Reflection, but the damaged stone statue struck back when his progress reached five percent.
• Li Shun learned that Threefold Self-Reflection could rewind one day normally, three days by exhausting his strength, or up to seven days at an enormous price, though he still could not rewind beyond one day.

Li Shun and Li Qing saw apparitions of the Three Elders on Three Elders Peak, and Li Shun sensed Heaven-and-Earth Mystic Yellow Qi leading into a cave. The discovery gave Li Shun a chance to break through Heaven’s Gate, and the brothers found an enormous pangolin paying respects to three skeletons.

• Li Shun and Li Qing admired the peaceful scenery from Three Elders Peak and discussed Elder Wei.
• The Three Elders appeared in the clouds, prompting the visitors to bow, while Li Shun detected Mystic Yellow Qi descending toward the valley.
• Li Shun and Li Qing followed the qi into a cave, where Li Shun realized he had found his chance to break through Heaven’s Gate.
• Li Shun weighed the benefits and risks of advancing early but resolved to seize the opportunity.
• The brothers reached the cave’s depths and found an enormous pangolin bowing reverently to three skeletons.

Li Shun discovered that the three glowing skeletons in the cavern belonged to disciples of the Confucian Sage and brought them into Square Inch Space, where their recitation began restoring the phantom Sacred Words Slip. After bringing the pangolin into the same region, he sensed Heaven-and-Earth Mystic Yellow Qi gathering there.

• Li Shun bowed to the three skeletons and saw a vision of the Three Elders creating Shangyu Plain before dying in a cavern.
• Li Shun released his Confucian Lizheng, and the skeletons knelt to the Confucian Sage's stone statue before he brought them into Square Inch Space.
• The Three Elders' remains recited the Sacred Words Slip, causing its phantom to begin solidifying.
• Li Shun brought the pangolin into the same region of Square Inch Space, where it resumed attending the Three Elders.
• Li Shun sensed Heaven-and-Earth Mystic Yellow Qi gathering within Square Inch Space.

Li Shun honored the Three Elders of Shangyu with a memorial carved into Three Elders Peak, causing the Mystic Yellow Qi gathered from their remains to grow. After breaking through to the Grand Simplicity Realm, he prepared to use Lifespan Borrowing again.

• Li Shun used Threefold Self-Reflection to repeat the day and secretly took the Three Elders' remains and the pangolin into Square Inch Space.
• Li Shun consulted Kong Zhao, then had craftsmen carve his tribute to the Three Elders into Three Elders Peak.
• Li Shun and Li Qing paid their respects at the finished memorial, and word of it spread among Shangyu's people.
• Visitors to Three Elders Peak helped the Mystic Yellow Qi from the Three Elders' remains grow denser, though slowly.
• Li Shun spent a day breaking through from the Mortal Embryo Realm to the Grand Simplicity Realm, then turned his attention to using Lifespan Borrowing again.

Li Shun borrowed only fifty years from Heaven and set aside further attempts, then went to Three Elders Peak to confront Cheng Rang, who challenged his account of the Three Elders’ role in Shangyu. Cheng Rang’s arguments swayed the crowd and ended by questioning whether Li Shun’s claim diminished the court’s authority.

• Li Shun borrowed fifty years from Heaven and realized his weakened yearning for longevity had reduced the result.
• Li Shun considered using the Jun Family’s secret art to burn through his lifespan, then used Threefold Self-Reflection to reset the day.
• Li Qing told Li Shun that Cheng Rang was threatening to destroy the cliff memorial on Three Elders Peak after debating him.
• Li Shun arrived at the summit, where Cheng Rang argued that Shangyu’s ancestors had settled the land before the Three Elders arrived.
• Cheng Rang claimed generations of commoners and officials had built Shangyu’s prosperity, then argued that settlements and county rule would have arisen without the Three Elders.

Li Shun turned Cheng Rang’s public accusation into a charge of inciting rebellion, then staged Li Qing’s injury to provoke Cheng Rang into resisting arrest and fleeing. Afterward, Li Shun reflected on how his Grand Simplicity Realm abilities had influenced Cheng Rang’s actions.

• Li Shun defended the Three Elders’ sacrifices as a duty of state and accused Cheng Rang of trying to sow chaos among the people.
• Li Shun ordered Li Qing to arrest Cheng Rang, then secretly told Li Qing to pretend to be injured when they clashed.
• Li Shun called Cheng Rang a rebel after Li Qing fell bleeding, and the frightened spectators fled the summit.
• Cheng Rang revealed his Legalist chains and bound Li Qing, who broke free and attacked until Cheng Rang trapped him again with a net of law.
• Cheng Rang fled, and Li Shun stopped Li Qing from pursuing him, saying the charges of rebellion and resisting arrest had now stuck.
• Li Shun privately reflected that his Grand Simplicity Realm abilities and Think Without Learning had influenced Cheng Rang.

After Cheng Rang attacked Li Shun, Li Shun reported the incident and Kong Zhao explained that court figures had sent Cheng Rang to cause him trouble. Cheng Rang was branded a rebel and forced by Su Zhenhan to take poison, while Su vowed revenge against Li Shun.

• Zhang Mu rushed to Three Elders Peak, heard Li Shun’s account, and agreed to report Cheng Rang as a dangerous criminal and request a joint pursuit.
• Li Shun told Kong Zhao how he had provoked Cheng Rang and used Li Qing’s feigned defeat to turn the confrontation in his favor.
• Kong Zhao explained that Cheng Rang had acted at the behest of people angered by Duan Jiuzhang’s praise of Li Shun, and told Li Shun to identify Cheng Rang as a rebel.
• Wanted notices for Cheng Rang spread across Yang Province, and Cheng Rang panicked in hiding after learning the court had issued a reward notice.
• Su Zhenhan gave Cheng Rang poison and threatened his family to prevent him from revealing their plans; Cheng Rang drank it and died.
• Su Zhenhan mourned Cheng Rang briefly, then turned his grief into hatred for Li Shun and vowed revenge.

Li Shun learned that Cheng Rang had killed himself and discovered that the Three Elders’ recognition by the court had increased the people’s faith and the flow of Mystic Yellow Qi. Meanwhile, Yin Fengshuo’s schemes cornered Fang Xun with relentless work, damaging rumors, and new problems in refugee relief.

• Li Shun told Li Qing that Cheng Rang’s death had ended the immediate turmoil but warned that the people behind him would not let their defeat go unanswered.
• Li Shun realized that the court’s implicit endorsement of the Three Elders had strengthened public faith and more than doubled the rate at which Mystic Yellow Qi gathered.
• Yin Fengshuo gave Fang Xun an exhausting two-month deadline to survey and redistribute farmland and resettle millions of refugees, but Fang Xun’s puppet body kept him clear-minded and tireless.
• Rumors accusing Fang Xun of corruption, cruelty in Cold Mountain, and betraying Li Shun spread across East Mountain and became accepted as truth.
• As Fang Xun’s reputation collapsed, Yin Fengshuo’s next move caused serious problems with supplies and food for the refugees.