Chapter Summaries

Fang Yun examined his recovery and the changes in his Literary Palace before searching the Blue-Earth Mountains for emperor spirit bones. He uncovered the ancient demon Flowing Current and set off riding within its protective waters.

• Fang Yun confirmed that his wounds had healed and assessed his weakened treasures and resources.
• Fang Yun sensed that the Literary Palace starry sky had gained new powers and decided to investigate after reaching the Governance of the State Realm.
• Fang Yun continued into the Blue-Earth Mountains and used the Ancient Demon Inheritance diagram to uncover a buried lake.
• Fang Yun infused the lake with sacred qi until it formed the ancient demon Flowing Current.
• Fang Yun climbed onto Flowing Current, whose water enveloped the Marquis Wu Chariot and carried him through the forest.

Fang Yun tested Flowing Current, found no other Emperor Spirit Bones, and headed toward Blood Tree. At Two Worlds Mountain, the mortally wounded Wei Huangan sealed his strength and spirit into a Literary Treasure Brush before dying.

• Fang Yun used Flowing Current to search the Blue-Earth Mountains for the other Emperor Spirit Bones but found only remains or nothing at all.
• Fang Yun decided not to use Flowing Current to enter a Fierce Tree Diagram and headed toward Blood Tree instead.
• As Great Demon Kings joined the battle at Two Worlds Mountain, Wei Huangan was carried from the battlefield after fighting through repeated battles and suffering mortal wounds.
• Wei Huangan asked for an unfinished Great Scholar Literary Treasure Brush and infused it with his Literary Qi, sealing his War Poetry into it.
• Wei Huangan died with a smile, and a Great Scholar retrieved the newly formed Literary Treasure Brush and recited Tao Yuanming's "Elegy."

Wei Huangan unexpectedly retained literary qi after appearing to die, prompting the Great Scholars to take him away under a gag order. As the Literary Star’s power grew, Li Zhiliang advanced on the battlefield and manifested a mysterious Yellow River Pot, while the human Sages began investigating the new power.

• Wei Huangan awoke beneath the covering and revealed that his literary qi remained, astonishing the Great Scholar.
• The Great Scholar confirmed Wei Huangan still possessed literary qi and summoned other Great Scholars, who took him away and ordered the matter kept secret.
• Li Zhiliang advanced from Hanlin Academician to Grand Academician while fighting for the Jing Kingdom army.
• Li Zhiliang’s Yellow River Chant palace star transformed into a Yellow River Pot that unleashed a vast river against the demon barbarians.
• The demon barbarians withdrew, and news spread that the human Sages were studying how the Literary Star’s power might transform palace stars into extraordinary powers.

Fang Yun reached Blood-Dropping Mountain and discovered the Demon Barbarians’ sacrifice to the Blood Tree, including the Stone Fetus Blood Egg. After learning he needed a Divine Burial Flower to approach the altar safely, he rode southeast to find one.

• Fang Yun crossed the Tree Realm, gathered divine treasures, and found the canyon leading to the Blood Tree.
• Fang Yun used literary qi to see through the canyon’s red light and observed the altar, the Demon Barbarians’ sacrifice, and the Stone Fetus Blood Egg.
• Fang Yun resisted the Blood Egg’s influence and discovered a tiny blood-colored speck inside his head.
• Fang Yun recalled that he could stop the Blood Tree’s final frenzy but needed a Divine Burial Flower to approach the altar unnoticed.
• Fang Yun rode Flowing Current southeast, away from the canyon, to seek a Divine Burial Flower.

Fang Yun gathered Divine Burial Flower petals and strengthened his Poison-Attack Literary Platform with the deadly mist of the Mist Crystal Woods before returning to watch the Demon Barbarians’ ritual. He completed his preparations for an assault and waited for the ritual to near completion, while news arrived that the Sages had discovered how to cultivate literary jade.

• Fang Yun entered the Mist Crystal Woods, endured the corrosive mist, and collected six Divine Burial Flower petals.
• Fang Yun used one petal to complete his sachet pellet, then absorbed the trees’ poisonous white mist into his Poison-Attack Literary Platform.
• Fang Yun returned to Blood-Dropping Canyon and saw that the ritual had weakened its participants while enlarging the Stone Fetus Blood Egg.
• Fang Yun completed his preparations and waited in the forest, planning to attack during the ritual’s final days.
• The Sacred Academy announced that the Sages had discovered literary jade, which could initially be formed from War Poetry of one’s own composition.

Fang Yun prepared to confront the Demon Barbarians guarding the Stone Fetus Blood Egg and rode Flowing Current to their canyon. He rejected Snake Illusion King's offers and continued toward Snake Jue Emperor and the altar.

• Fang Yun cultivated in the Tree Realm and sensed the Stone Fetus Blood Egg's pulsing quicken as the Demon Barbarians weakened.
• Fang Yun assessed the Demon Barbarians' defenses and prepared his treasures, relying on his sacred qi and Withering Force to counter their Half-Sage Burial Treasure.
• Fang Yun rode Flowing Current out of the forest, startling the ten Great Demon Kings guarding the canyon.
• Snake Illusion King offered Fang Yun safe passage into the Human Race Blood Tomb Mausoleum and later promised the Plague Lord would let him leave Burial Saint Valley safely if he withdrew.
• Fang Yun revealed his treasures, dismissed the Plague Lord's threats, and continued toward Snake Jue Emperor and the Stone Fetus Blood Egg.

Fang Yun’s negotiations with Snake Jue Emperor collapsed when he demanded a Sacred Qi Source the Demon Barbarians did not have, and both sides prepared for battle over the Stone Fetus Blood Egg. As Fang Yun summoned his forces, his Wind-and-Rain Dream Battle formed a jade horse that could cast the poem at a fraction of its usual Literary Qi cost.

• Snake Jue Emperor offered to have the Demon Barbarians escort Fang Yun in exchange for the Stone Fetus Blood Egg, but Fang Yun demanded an additional Sacred Qi Source.
• Snake Illusion King admitted the Demon Barbarians had no Sacred Qi Source, declared that peace talks were over, and rallied the Great Demon Kings to defend the canyon and the Stone Fetus Blood Egg.
• The ten Great Demon Kings formed a battle formation while Fang Yun projected his Realm of Family, State, and World and summoned his War-Poem Soldiers.
• Fang Yun repeatedly cast Wind-and-Rain Dream Battle, and the poem’s Palace Star emerged as a jade horse that could project the poem without War on Paper or Fluent Recitation.
• Fang Yun discovered that the jade horse used only one-tenth of his usual Literary Qi while drawing twice as much heaven-and-earth primal energy.

Fang Yun tested the endlessly reusable Ice River Horse and assembled a hundred-thousand-strong army of War-Poem Soldiers strengthened by Withering Force and the Martial Temple Literary Platform. As the army advanced, Flowing Current shielded it from the Demon Barbarians' opening assault, and Snake Illusion King prepared to meet it at close range.

• Fang Yun discovered that the Ice River Horse replenished itself every two breaths and could be used repeatedly, then named it and its kind of power literary jade.
• Fang Yun created twenty thousand Ice River cavalrymen, whose riders reached Fourth Realm strength and carried Withering Force and faint golden light that alarmed Snake Jue Emperor.
• Fang Yun summoned a hundred thousand soldiers with Marching to War and strengthened them with Withering Force and protective and assault-enhancing War Poetry.
• Fang Yun's Martial Temple Literary Platform beat a giant war drum, bringing the army into disciplined formation and amplifying its killing intent.
• Snake Illusion King ordered an attack, but Flowing Current shielded Fang Yun's army and raised a wall of water that withstood the Demon Barbarians' demonic arts.
• Snake Illusion King dismissed the failed assault and planned to destroy Fang Yun's army when it came closer, while Wolf Cong King seethed beside him.

Fang Yun's hundred-thousand-strong army attacked the ten Great Demon Kings, and his War Poetry weakened them and their Spirit Bones with Sacred Way power. The Wolf-Head Sacred Hammer failed to stop him, and the cavalry reached the demons.

• Fang Yun's mounted archers wounded Wolf Cong King and Snake Luo King, weakening them and shortening their lifespans with arrows infused with powerful effects.
• Snake Illusion King warned the Great Demon Kings that Fang Yun's War Poetry wielded Sacred Way power, as the attacks also weakened nineteen sets of Spirit Bones.
• Fang Yun cast linked War Poetry that unleashed a sandstorm, corroding the Great Demon Kings' blood-qi and strength.
• Snake Illusion King used the Wolf-Head Sacred Hammer, but Fang Yun's powers and Starfire Armillary Mirror blunted its first attack.
• Wang Jinglong's statue on Fang Yun's Sacred Soul Literary Platform shattered the hammer summoned above Fang Yun, while Snake Illusion King paid a heavy price for using the treasure twice.
• Fang Yun's eighty thousand cavalry engulfed the ten Great Demon Kings and twenty sets of Spirit Bones.

Fang Yun used endless war-poem soldiers, attacks infused with Withering Force, and his new Stone-Hunting Bow to wear down the Great Demon Kings and Spirit Bones. He then gave the bow to war-poem Li Guang, turning his inevitable-hit arrows into siege-hammer blows as Fang Yun considered creating still more literary jade.

• Snake Illusion King unleashed a Sage Aspect Strike that shattered more than ten thousand war-poem cavalry, but the fallen soldiers transformed into weapons that forced the Great Demon Kings to defend themselves with Sage Aspect Strikes.
• Fang Yun kept summoning cavalry and used his war-poem generals and other attacks to harass the enemy, while Withering Force steadily weakened the Great Demon Kings and Spirit Bones.
• Fang Yun formed the Stone-Hunting Bow, which fired a powerful arrow every breath and further drained the enemies' Sacred Qi.
• Fang Yun sent the Stone-Hunting Bow to war-poem Li Guang, whose inevitable-hit arrows struck with the force of giant siege hammers and destroyed a First Realm Spirit Bones.
• Fang Yun considered ways to condense more literary jade and thought about the power his war-poem generals might gain from weapons such as the Heavenly Wolf Bow.

Fang Yun fought the ten Great Demon Kings while conserving his Withering Force and concealing his intentions. After drawing out their strongest attacks, he faced Snake Illusion King’s threat as the battle continued.

• The Great Demon Kings switched to attrition, and Fang Yun rationed his Withering Force while practicing his growing combat skill.
• The Demon Kings waited for Fang Yun to run out of literary qi, but he kept fighting for hours as their spirit bones and sacred qi dwindled.
• Fang Yun withdrew the Marquis Wu Chariot and sent Flowing Current toward the canyon, prompting the Demon Kings to unleash repeated Celestial Aspect Strikes.
• Flowing Current dodged the attacks, and Fang Yun deliberately drew out three rounds of Celestial Aspect Strikes until the Demon Kings had spent much of their power.
• Snake Illusion King revealed that the Demon Kings had anticipated Fang Yun’s bait and declared that he was saving his own Celestial Aspect Strike for Fang Yun.

Snake Illusion King led the Great Demon Kings in pursuit of Fang Yun and trapped him in a Sacred Qi illusion. Fang Yun was left defending himself against their relentless attacks as the chapter ended.

• Fang Yun fled with Flowing Current and seven War Poetry generals while Snake Illusion King pursued him with seven other Great Demon Kings and their Spirit Bones.
• Snake Illusion King dismissed Fang Yun's Enemy-Blocking Poems as signs of weakness and urged the others to press the chase.
• Snake Illusion King used a Sacred Qi Celestial Aspect Strike to envelop the forest in an illusion that distorted Fang Yun's vision and bearings.
• The Great Demon Kings struck Fang Yun with eight combined Sage Aspect Strikes, sending him and Flowing Current crashing through the trees.
• Snake Illusion King explained that Fang Yun saw divine guards instead of his real attackers, while Fang Yun defended himself with his protective abilities and Flowing Current.

Fang Yun trapped the Great Demon Kings in his Realm of Family, State, and World, seized the Wolf-Head Sacred Hammer, and defeated Snake Illusion King with the Wolf-Shooting Arrow. Exhausted, he fled from Snake Jue Emperor, who cornered him and demanded to know how he had taken the hammer.

• Fang Yun expanded his Realm of Family, State, and World around the Great Demon Kings, used its powers to weaken them, and drew the Wolf-Head Sacred Hammer into a small mountain.
• Flowing Current swallowed the other Great Demon Kings and most of the spirit bones, while the Eagle Emperor Spirit Bones carried Snake Illusion King away.
• Fang Yun struck Snake Illusion King with the Wolf-Shooting Arrow, withering his body and leaving him gravely wounded.
• Snake Jue Emperor killed Snake Illusion King, then pursued Fang Yun as Fang Yun tried to escape and call Flowing Current back.
• Snake Jue Emperor caught up with Fang Yun and demanded to know how he had seized the Wolf-Head Sacred Hammer and severed his connection to it.

Fang Yun lured Snake Jue Emperor away from the canyon and revealed that his apparent weakness was a series of deceptions. Snake Jue Emperor launched his Venomous Labyrinth, but Fang Yun resisted his illusions, leaving Snake Jue Emperor to unleash his strongest illusion: the Ancestral Land Snake Cavern.

• Snake Jue Emperor used the Snake Emperor Spirit Bones to hold Flowing Current back while pursuing Fang Yun.
• Fang Yun stopped eight li from Snake Jue Emperor and explained that he had feigned weakness, conserved most of his literary qi, and drawn the Emperor away from reinforcements.
• Fang Yun revealed that his Realm of Family, State, and World was not truly damaged, making Snake Jue Emperor doubt his assessment of Fang Yun's strength.
• Snake Jue Emperor cast the Venomous Labyrinth, but Fang Yun's Poison-Attack Literary Platform fought its venomous snakes and Fang Yun unraveled the Emperor's illusions.
• Snake Jue Emperor consumed sacred qi and the Plague Lord's sacred blood to create the Ancestral Land Snake Cavern, a vast illusion crowned by a statue of the Ancestral God Luan Mang.

Fang Yun used the Ancestral Land Snake Cavern’s power against Snake Jue Emperor and wounded him with the Withering Force. As Snake Jue Emperor fell from the Fifth Realm to the Fourth, Fang Yun advanced to the Governance of the State Realm, though Jing Kingdom’s leaders did not discover his identity.

• Fang Yun let Snake Jue Emperor’s venomous snakes enter his Realm of Family, State, and World, then absorbed the cavern’s power with his Poison-Attack Literary Platform and Sickness Scripture.
• Snake Jue Emperor realized Fang Yun had been taking his power and sacred blood, then attacked him with divine light and two enormous snakes.
• Fang Yun used War-Poem Soldiers, War Poetry, and the True Dragon Ancient Sword to defend himself and erode Snake Jue Emperor’s scales with the Withering Force.
• The True Dragon Ancient Sword pierced Snake Jue Emperor’s heart core, forcing him to spend sacred qi and causing him to fall from the Fifth Realm to the Fourth.
• Fang Yun advanced from the Second Realm to the Governance of the State Realm, transforming his Realm of Family, State, and World.
• Jing Kingdom’s altars revealed that a new Third Realm Great Scholar had appeared, but its leaders could not identify Fang Yun.

Fang Yun’s national fortune and powers surged, allowing him to overpower Snake Jue Emperor and reveal his command of the Human Race’s instructional Sacred Way. When Snake Jue Emperor fled, Fang Yun summoned the Ancient Demon Cifang from the River of History to suppress him.

• Fang Yun’s Withering Force recovered, multiplied tenfold, and transformed as he advanced to the Third Realm.
• Fang Yun offered Snake Jue Emperor a place among the Human Race, but Snake Jue Emperor rejected the offer and recognized Fang Yun’s instructional Sacred Way.
• Snake Jue Emperor realized the danger and fled, recalling his emperor spirit bones to protect himself.
• Fang Yun summoned the Historian Way Stone Gate and River of History, then called forth Cifang to trap Snake Jue Emperor in a marsh.
• Cifang suppressed Snake Jue Emperor while Fang Yun remained in the Marquis Wu Chariot and examined his strengthened powers.

After killing Snake Jue Emperor and claiming his spirit bones, Fang Yun confronted Snake Mian Emperor at the Blood Tree altar to take the Stone Fetus Blood Egg. The Blood Tree’s killing power swept through the valley but did not harm Fang Yun, who lifted the egg as Snake Mian Emperor and the Great Demon Kings watched in shock.

• Fang Yun used his Lip Spear and Tongue Sword to help Cifang defeat Snake Jue Emperor, then killed Snake Jue Emperor with a sword strike.
• Fang Yun subdued Snake Jue Emperor’s violent spirit bones, gave sacred qi to the Eagle Emperor Spirit Bones and Snake Emperor Spirit Bones, and stored Snake Jue Emperor’s intact skeleton.
• Fang Yun flew toward the Blood Tree and demanded the Demon Barbarians submit or be executed, prompting Snake Mian Emperor to let him pass.
• Fang Yun entered the Blood Tree’s red light unharmed and advanced to the stone boat while Snake Mian Emperor and the two Great Demon Kings waited for him to fail.
• Fang Yun touched the Stone Fetus Blood Egg as a golden tree appeared between his brows; the Blood Tree’s killing force instantly killed the hundred-odd Demon Barbarians weakened by the sacrifice.
• Fang Yun lifted the Stone Fetus Blood Egg with one hand while Snake Mian Emperor and the two Great Demon Kings froze in shock.

Fang Yun took the Stone Fetus Blood Egg and Snake Jue Emperor’s hidden treasures from the demon barbarians, then forced them to swear not to attack humans in Burial Saint Valley. He began lecturing them while writing New Annotations to the Analects, whose punctuation choices risked a contest of sacred ways.

• Fang Yun claimed the diminished Stone Fetus Blood Egg, and Snake Mian Emperor recognized the Tree Venerable’s role in its failed gestation.
• Fang Yun accepted the demon barbarians’ sacred qi clusters and had Snake Mian Emperor retrieve the Bird Saint eggshell and other treasures from Snake Jue Emperor’s gallbladder lining.
• Fang Yun discovered the Plague Lord’s feigned-death avatar hidden among Snake Jue Emperor’s treasures and recognized its plan to absorb the Stone Fetus Blood Egg’s power.
• Fang Yun spared the demon barbarians after making them swear not to attack humans, and he gave each one a written character to show humans they meant no harm.
• Fang Yun compelled the demon barbarians to attend his lecture and began writing New Annotations to the Analects, marking its sentence and phrase breaks.

Fang Yun examined Confucius’s teaching and learning principles and decided to build patient, structured mass education around learning, review, and teaching. His insights brought him to the edge of the instructional sacred way, while the chapter ended with the author’s personal advice and reading recommendations.

• Fang Yun contrasted Confucius’s demanding method for gifted students with the patient, step-by-step guidance needed for mass education.
• Fang Yun argued that clear punctuation, simplified characters, explanations, and repeated exercises were necessary to help ordinary students learn.
• Fang Yun interpreted “Quietly retain what you learn, study without growing weary, and teach others without tiring” as a three-step method of learning, review, and teaching.
• Fang Yun decided to use this method at the future Fang Clan Academy, including having students explain lessons to their parents.
• Fang Yun recognized that his understanding had brought him to the edge of the instructional sacred way.
• The author explained the chapter’s educational message, shared a former classmate’s regrets, and recommended books on The Analects.

Fang Yun explained the first chapter of The Analects to the Demon Barbarians, combining pronunciation notes, word explanations, literal translation, and a deeper interpretation. His lecture stirred Sacred Qi and left the listeners enthralled, and he began revising New Annotations to the Analects before moving on to the next chapter.

• Fang Yun annotated the pronunciations of unfamiliar characters and explained the words and expressions in the first passage of The Analects.
• Fang Yun gave a literal translation and argued that learning brought joy when people could apply their knowledge, share it with like-minded friends, or improve their character despite being misunderstood.
• Sacred Qi surged through the valley as Fang Yun finished, and the Demon Barbarians became absorbed in his teaching.
• The Snake Mian Emperor marveled at Fang Yun's clear and profound explanation of a text he had studied for years.
• Fang Yun revised New Annotations to the Analects, then began explaining the second chapter to the Demon Barbarians.