Chapter Summaries

At Zhao Li’s succession ceremony, he reunited with Ye Yunsheng and struggled to hide his feelings, while Lin Lan teased him and urged him to speak plainly. After the ceremony’s formalities ended, Zhao Li addressed the guests and promised to refine a pill for anyone who supplied the ingredients.

• Zhao Li was stunned to see Ye Yunsheng again, and she congratulated him before declining his invitation to walk with her until later.
• Lin Lan noticed Zhao Li’s unusual reaction and teased him about Ye Yunsheng, then encouraged him to ask her directly about her feelings.
• Zhao Li realized Ye Yunsheng had come to the ceremony without being invited and took this as a reason to feel hopeful.
• Elder Wu finished reading the gift list and concluded the succession ceremony after nearly four hours of proceedings.
• Zhao Li addressed the guests and promised to refine one pill of up to seventh grade for anyone who prepared the medicinal ingredients.

At Danyuan Sect’s succession ceremony, Zhao Li offered to refine Seventh-Grade Pills for the gathered guests, but Qin Hao publicly mocked him and challenged him to a match. Qin Hao invoked his father, Qin Wushuang, as his authority, while Zhao Li remained unimpressed and faced his challenge.

• Zhao Li offered to refine Seventh-Grade Pills for guests who supplied the ingredients, drawing excitement from the crowd.
• Qin Hao mocked Zhao Li as an unqualified sect master and accused him of using Danyuan Sect’s Reputation to deceive everyone.
• Zhao Li calmly listened to Qin Hao, then asked who he was when Qin Hao claimed he was speaking for Zhao Li’s own good.
• Qin Hao introduced himself as Qin Wushuang’s son and repeated that his father was known as the Wushuang Venerate.
• Zhao Li acted puzzled by Qin Hao’s appeal to his father, angering Qin Hao, who challenged him to a fight.

Qin Hao challenged Zhao Li to a public spar, hoping to humiliate the Danyuan Sect, but Zhao Li revealed his strength and effortlessly dispersed Qin Hao's powerful sword technique. Qin Hao was left stunned as the crowd realized the fight would not be the one-sided victory they expected.

• Zhao Li asked Lin Lan about Qin Wushuang, and Lin Lan explained that he had destroyed his former sect and become ruler of Great Qin.
• Qin Hao challenged Zhao Li to a spar, and Zhao Li accepted after mocking his reliance on Qin Wushuang.
• Zhao Li walked through the air, surprising the crowd and showing that he was qualified to lead the sect.
• Qin Hao summoned the Return to the Void Sword and sent it crashing toward Zhao Li.
• Zhao Li said “Disperse,” and the giant sword dissolved into energy, leaving Qin Hao to roar that it was impossible.

Zhao Li defended the Danyuan Sect during its ceremony, defeating Qin Hao and Qin Wushuang and making the gathered guests wary of challenging the sect. After the ceremony ended, Lin Lan praised Zhao Li and predicted his name would spread across the Eastern Region.

• Qin Hao accused Lin Lan of secretly interfering after Zhao Li dispersed his Return to the Void Sword with a word.
• Zhao Li displayed his overwhelming sword power, warned the crowd against making enemies of the Danyuan Sect, and ordered Qin Hao to work for the sect for one year.
• Qin Wushuang arrived and attacked Zhao Li, but Zhao Li's giant sword severed his meridians and left him helpless.
• Zhao Li ended the ceremony, reaffirmed his promises to the guests, and had the Danyuan Sect disciples take Qin Hao and Qin Wushuang away.
• Lin Lan praised Zhao Li's display and said his reputation would likely spread throughout the Eastern Region.

Zhao Li left the ceremony to spend time with Ye Yunsheng, and the two confessed their feelings as they walked through Danxia Peak. After he accepted her proposal to make him her lord, they went to Danyuan City together, beginning a youthful outing hand in hand.

• Zhao Li left Lin Lan in charge of the sect and went to meet Ye Yunsheng.
• As they walked through the forest, Zhao Li hinted that Ye Yunsheng was the beauty he wanted beside him, and she asked whether offering a nation as a betrothal gift would let her take him as her lord.
• Zhao Li told Ye Yunsheng to come home with him, and she accepted by taking his hand.
• Zhao Li and Ye Yunsheng strolled through Danyuan City, where he bought her a wooden hairpin after haggling with a vendor.

Zhao Li brought Ye Yunsheng to the Zhao Clan and introduced her to his mother, Han Xiangyu, who welcomed her warmly. As Han Xiangyu asked how they had come together, Ye Yunsheng recalled how Zhao Li had saved and supported her, revealing why her feelings for him had endured.

• Zhao Li and Ye Yunsheng decided not to wait another twenty years and walked together to the Zhao Clan.
• Zhao Li brought Ye Yunsheng home and introduced her to Han Xiangyu as his daughter-in-law.
• Han Xiangyu welcomed Ye Yunsheng, sent Zhao Li to find his father and help prepare dinner, and asked whether Zhao Li had ever bullied her.
• Ye Yunsheng assured Han Xiangyu that Zhao Li had treated her well and began remembering how he had saved, taught, and supported her.
• Ye Yunsheng recalled that Zhao Li had become her teacher, friend, soulmate, and the object of her reverence, admiration, and love.

Ye Yunsheng and Han Xiangyu grew closer, and Ye Yunsheng thanked Zhao Li for changing her life as they spent the night together. When Zhao Li’s warning method was triggered, he and Ye Yunsheng went to the Mountain Gorge, where they discovered its fog had vanished and the gorge had become another world.

• Han Xiangyu embraced Ye Yunsheng and told her that the place was her home.
• Ye Yunsheng thanked Zhao Li for helping her survive, grow strong, and fulfill her ideals, and asked him to tell her the stories he had written.
• Zhao Li and Ye Yunsheng spent the night on the rooftop, and the next morning Zhao Li sensed that his method on Zhao Yannian had been triggered.
• Zhao Li took Ye Yunsheng to the Mountain Gorge, where he healed the unconscious Zhao Yannian with a pill.
• Zhao Li sensed something strange about the gorge, and he and Ye Yunsheng realized it had become another world.

Zhao Li investigated a strange stone in a Ruins-like realm and became trapped in an illusion shaped by his imagination. Ye Yunsheng struck the stone to wake him, and Zhao Li returned to his true self, shaken by how completely the illusion had ensnared him.

• Zhao Li and Ye Yunsheng explored the river and found a breathing Strange Stone beneath a waterfall.
• Zhao Li touched the stone with his Soul Power and saw an illusion of monkeys, a golden-furred monkey, and an Old Man in Eight Trigrams Robes.
• Zhao Li experimented with the illusion, but gradually lost track of the fact that he was dreaming and accepted the monkey's rise to power.
• Ye Yunsheng found Zhao Li unresponsive and struck the Strange Stone with her palm.
• The heavenly palace in Zhao Li's illusion collapsed, and he woke up beside Ye Yunsheng, realizing he had been trapped despite believing he was lucid.

Zhao Li and Ye Yunsheng discovered that the Illusion Spirit Stone had developed a young consciousness and could defend itself with energy barriers. After learning it called itself Qitian, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, they began questioning the spirit, which was close to reaching the Emperor Realm and had imprinted Zhao Li as its first mental imprint.

• Zhao Li recognized the Strange Stone as an Illusion Spirit Stone and explained its dangerous ability to create illusions from nearby Spiritual Imprints.
• Ye Yunsheng struck the Illusion Spirit Stone with a massive Dou Qi hammer, but it raised Energy Barriers and survived the blow.
• Zhao Li and Ye Yunsheng heard the stone’s young consciousness plead for them not to hit it.
• The stone introduced itself as Qi, Qitian, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, and admitted it could not yet transform into a monkey.
• Ye Yunsheng questioned the Stone Spirit, and Zhao Li learned it had lived alone on the mountain, was close to the Emperor Realm, and had imprinted his mental imprint first.

Zhao Li left the ruins with the Illusion Spirit Stone, then investigated Ye Yunsheng’s rapidly advancing cultivation and discovered how an energy core could be strengthened. He realized this revealed a path to breaking through to Dou Sheng and called Ye Yunsheng his lucky star.

• Zhao Li coaxed the Illusion Spirit Stone into taking a little monkey form and bringing its True Form along with him.
• Ye Yunsheng broke the barrier and told Zhao Li she had reached perhaps Nine-Revolving Dou Venerate after advancing rapidly through the Primordial Chaos Scripture.
• Ye Yunsheng showed Zhao Li how Cold Qi continuously entered and transformed her energy core, while Zhao Li noticed his own core was not being reinforced.
• Zhao Li tested channeling Dou Qi into his energy core and confirmed that he could strengthen it himself.
• Zhao Li understood the cultivation path leading to Dou Sheng and told Ye Yunsheng she was his lucky star.

Zhao Li refined his plan to upgrade his dantian and accelerate his cultivation, while deciding to train Qitian before risking soul tempering with the Illusion Spirit Stone. He went to see Lin Lan early in the morning, leaving the reason for his visit unstated.

• Zhao Li decided to postpone using the Illusion Spirit Stone to temper his soul and focus on teaching Qitian first.
• Zhao Li reviewed his dantian modification and estimated that he could reach Dou Sheng within a little over ten years if he continued steadily.
• Zhao Li urged Qitian to learn how to take human form before gathering more Spiritual Imprints, then meditated while Qitian fell asleep again.
• At dawn, Zhao Li ended his cultivation, put away Qitian, and headed to Danxia Main Peak.
• Zhao Li noticed that Qin Wushuang and his son were missing, then went to Lin Lan's residence, where Lin Lan asked why he had come so early.

Zhao Li gave Lin Lan a Foundation Establishment Elixir formula and raised suspicions that someone within Danyuan Sect had helped Qin Wushuang and his son escape. He questioned the sect’s elders with an illusion formation, then revealed that he could let others witness an elder’s experience inside it.

• Zhao Li gave Lin Lan the Foundation Establishment Elixir formula and asked him not to reveal it publicly.
• Zhao Li told Lin Lan that Qin Wushuang and his son could not have escaped without help, and Lin Lan allowed him to handle the matter as he saw fit.
• Zhao Li gathered the elders and stewards of Danyuan Sect and challenged anyone who had betrayed the sect to enter his Heart-Questioning Formation.
• Elder Wu entered the formation and relived the Succession Ceremony before Zhao Li awakened him.
• Zhao Li linked his Soul Power with Elder Wu’s so everyone could see a phantom replay of the elder’s experience.
• Elder Wu described what he had experienced, leaving the gathered elders fearful and uneasy.

Zhao Li exposed and punished three Danyuan Sect elders for wrongdoing, then reflected on the safer, ordinary life he hoped to create for everyone. After sharing a meal and a quiet evening with Ye Yunsheng in the Nameless Valley, he agreed to return with her to the Great Li Dynasty the next day.

• Zhao Li pressured the Danyuan Sect members to confess, and three people admitted to releasing Qin Wushuang and Son, abusing disciples, or selling sect secrets.
• Zhao Li left the investigation's aftermath to Elder Wu and the others, then hoped his warning would help the sect improve.
• Zhao Li visited Ye Yunsheng in the Nameless Valley, where they shared a meal and promised to hope for peaceful days for others as well as themselves.
• Ye Yunsheng assured Zhao Li she would face whatever came with him, and they shared a tender meal together.
• After Zhao Li played the Bamboo Flute that night, Ye Yunsheng asked him to return with her to the Great Li Dynasty, and he agreed to leave the next day.

Zhao Li and Ye Yunsheng toured Tianfeng City in disguise, where Ye Yunsheng hoped to learn what Zhao Li thought of the Great Li Dynasty’s progress. Their inspection exposed how the Mu Family and local officers undermined her laws, and Ye Yunsheng confronted the officers over their handling of an assault.

• Zhao Li and Ye Yunsheng traveled to Great Li and privately inspected Tianfeng City, where Zhao Li praised the order Ye Yunsheng had established.
• Ye Yunsheng admitted that strict laws had not stopped secret opposition and unrest, and Zhao Li urged her to stay true to her purpose.
• A man was thrown from a restaurant window, but Zhao Li stopped Ye Yunsheng from intervening as patrol officers arrived.
• Mu Xinyi threatened Lu Renjia through a transmitted message, and Lu Renjia claimed he had fallen by accident to protect his sister.
• Mu Xinyi bribed the officers with food and wine, and they accepted his version of events without investigating.
• Ye Yunsheng challenged the officers for reaching a verdict without evidence and failing to uphold Great Li's laws.

Ye Yunsheng defended the Great Li Law, but Mu Xinyi and the officers threatened her until Zhao Li intervened. Zhao Li brutally restrained Mu Xinyi and demanded he write a will, then faced Mu Deji when the Mu Family arrived.

• Ye Yunsheng argued that the law required evidence, while Zhao Li comforted her and reflected on the limits and influence of her work.
• Mu Xinyi pressured Lu Renjia to retract his complaint, then joined the lead officer in threatening Ye Yunsheng and demanding that she apologize over a meal.
• Zhao Li forced Mu Xinyi and the officers to their knees, injured Mu Xinyi's hand, and ordered him to write a will.
• Zhao Li taunted Mu Xinyi for defying the Great Li Law and waited for his elders to arrive.
• Mu Deji confronted Zhao Li and invoked Great Li, and Zhao Li replied that Mu Xinyi had refused to write his will.

Zhao Li exposed the Mu Family’s crimes to Tianfeng City, killed its members, and reflected with Ye Yunsheng on why people still distrusted Great Li’s law. After touring the realm together, they reached the imperial capital, where Zhao Li asked Ye Yunsheng to support him so he would not have to work anymore.

• Mu Deji refused to cooperate, so Zhao Li made Tianfeng City’s residents witness the Mu Family’s crimes through an illusion and killed the family members.
• Zhao Li told the people that laws could protect them as well as restrain them, then discussed with Ye Yunsheng why people might trust obedience more than Great Li’s law.
• Zhao Li and Ye Yunsheng traveled through more than half of Great Li, and Ye Yunsheng saw that most places were better than Tianfeng City, including the Golden Lion King’s territory.
• After half a month, Zhao Li and Ye Yunsheng arrived at the imperial capital and entered the Imperial Palace.
• Zhao Li leaned close to Ye Yunsheng and asked her to support him because he no longer wanted to work hard.

Zhao Li settled into Phoenix Grace Pavilion and reassured Ye Yunsheng that she could rely on him as she ruled Great Li. Three days later, he joined her in the Hall of Purity, where his teasing and complaints over her memorials distracted her from her work.

• Ye Yunsheng led Zhao Li through the palace and installed him in Phoenix Grace Pavilion, where he told her to come to him if anything troubled her.
• Lin Feng celebrated his breakthrough to Dou Zong and asked his master, Venerable Tianfeng, to propose a marriage for him; Venerable Tianfeng agreed.
• After three days, Zhao Li found Ye Yunsheng overwhelmed by memorials in the Hall of Purity and suggested that other people handle them.
• Zhao Li read several absurd memorials aloud and teased Ye Yunsheng about getting Great Li a Crown Prince.
• Ye Yunsheng told Zhao Li to get out, then began reading a memorial upside down as he pointed it out.

Lin Feng and Venerable Tianfeng came to the palace to propose marriage to Ye Yunsheng, but Zhao Li revealed their relationship and stopped Lin Feng's attack. Venerable Tianfeng apologized for his disciple's behavior, while Lin Feng remained defiant.

• Ye Yunsheng received Lin Feng and Venerable Tianfeng in the imperial palace's Side Hall.
• Venerable Tianfeng proposed that Ye Yunsheng marry his disciple Lin Feng, who claimed he was worthy of her.
• Zhao Li mocked Lin Feng, embraced Ye Yunsheng, and was met with her acceptance.
• Lin Feng attacked Zhao Li with his sword, but the blade stopped just short of Zhao Li's forehead.
• Venerable Tianfeng stopped Lin Feng, apologized to Ye Yunsheng and Zhao Li, and offered to make amends.
• Lin Feng objected to his master's apology, and Venerable Tianfeng ordered him to shut up.

After Zhao Li forced Venerable Tianfeng to rein in Lin Feng, Ye Yunsheng announced Zhao Li as her betrothed husband and named him Imperial Advisor of Great Li. The officials learned that seeing Zhao Li would now be equivalent to seeing the emperor.

• Zhao Li threatened to deal with Lin Feng himself if Venerable Tianfeng could not control him, and Venerable Tianfeng promised to keep his disciple away from Ye Yunsheng.
• Ye Yunsheng warned Lin Feng to conduct himself wisely, and Zhao Li teased her about calling her his wife.
• After three days, Ye Yunsheng gave Zhao Li an Emperor's Robe and brought him to court.
• Ye Yunsheng announced before the assembled officials that Zhao Li was her betrothed husband and appointed him Imperial Advisor of Great Li.

Ye Yunsheng appointed Zhao Li as Imperial Advisor, and Zhao Li punished Prince Jingyang and Prince Xuanyuan for insulting her by declaring their principalities and Feng Principality abolished. Enraged that Lin Feng had spread rumors about Ye Yunsheng, Zhao Li searched for him but found no trace, while Ye Yunsheng dismissed the ministers and waited for Zhao Li to return.

• Ye Yunsheng confirmed Zhao Li's appointment as Imperial Advisor despite the ministers' objections.
• Prince Xuanyuan insulted Ye Yunsheng, and Zhao Li made Prince Jingyang and Prince Xuanyuan disappear before declaring Jingyang, Xuanyuan, and Feng Principalities abolished.
• Zhao Li realized Lin Feng had spread rumors about Ye Yunsheng and went to Feng Royal City to find him.
• Zhao Li confronted Venerable Tianfeng, learned Lin Feng was missing, and searched nearby kingdoms without finding him.
• Ye Yunsheng told the remaining ministers the loss of the three principalities did not matter and dismissed the court.