Chapter Summaries

Fang Yun entered Desire Land, found it had vanished, and discussed its possible connection to Sage Lü with Tian Songshi. After gaining a Literary Star Fragment from the Red Giant's Fire, he chose to stay in the Human Race Blood Tomb Mausoleum rather than risk a detour to Mist Village.

• Fang Yun entered Desire Land, but returned moments later and told Tian Songshi that it had disappeared.
• Tian Songshi confirmed that Desire Land was gone, and he and Fang Yun considered whether it had been part of Sage Lü's Literary World.
• Fang Yun said he planned to visit the Zong Family and learn the Heavenly Constancy Soul-Splitting Technique from Saint Zong, who owed him a debt.
• Fang Yun used the Mountain Bearer Great Sage Spirit Bones to activate the Red Giant's Fire and obtained the Star God Emperor's Literary Star Fragment.
• Fang Yun merged the fragment with his miniature Literary Star, strengthening his Literary Palace and its powers.
• Fang Yun decided not to go to Mist Village and remained in the Human Race Blood Tomb Mausoleum to avoid jeopardizing his plan to escort the sages home.

Fang Yun gathered the Human Race’s divine plants before the Lightless Graveyard descended and told the Great Scholars that the Sacred Mausoleum had vanished. Lei Konghe blamed Fang Yun for losing his chance to pursue the Thunder Ancestor, and the two exchanged accusations before Lei Konghe departed.

• Fang Yun proposed dividing the Human Race’s planted treasures between the Saint Origin Continent and a safe location, then stored the divine plants in the Heaven-and-Earth Shell.
• Lei Konghe returned to the Blood Tomb Mausoleum soaked and despondent, and Fang Yun revealed that the Sacred Mausoleum had vanished.
• Tian Songshi explained that Fang Yun had destroyed the Sacred Mausoleum on the Saints’ orders, while Lei Konghe said he had hoped to search it for traces of the Thunder Ancestor.
• Lei Konghe demanded an apology if Fang Yun’s actions had been unnecessary, and Fang Yun mocked him for making unreasonable demands.
• Lei Konghe quoted Fang Yun’s poem before leaving, and Fang Yun replied that Lei Konghe had built a three-foot wall in his heart.
• He Mingyuan and Tian Songshi concluded that Lei Konghe had missed the Sacred Mausoleum because he had lingered too long searching for treasures.

Fang Yun explored the Blood Tomb Mausoleum’s secret sites until the Lightless Graveyard spread across much of the area, threatening the gathered humans. He gave the Great Scholars a sacred qi source to help them survive and carry their treasures home, then agreed to transport Yi Zhishi’s fragmentary Six Discourses to the Sacred Academy.

• Fang Yun continued through the mausoleum’s secret sites, gaining strength while collecting materials for the new power he was creating.
• The Lightless Graveyard spread over more than half the Human Race Blood Tomb Mausoleum as strange tremors, divine light, and heavenly sounds suggested Great Sages were fighting nearby.
• Yi Zhishi and the gathered Great Scholars told Fang Yun they feared they could not endure the graveyard’s power or take their treasures out without enough sacred qi.
• Fang Yun left a sacred qi source with the Great Scholars so they could resist the Lightless Graveyard and bring more of their gains back to the Saint Origin Continent.
• Yi Zhishi entrusted Fang Yun with the fragmentary Six Discourses for delivery to the Sacred Academy.

Xu Fengsheng gave Fang Yun an unbreakable branch that seemed to be a supreme Agricultural School treasure, but the Great Ming Saint then appeared and tried to take Fang Yun to Sunless Peak. Fang Yun resisted, only to learn that the Great Ming Saint was a Great Sage and had restrained the Mountain Bearer Great Sage Spirit Bones.

• Xu Fengsheng showed Fang Yun a strangely ordinary branch and leaf that resisted Withering Force and the Mountain Bearer Great Sage Spirit Bones, and Fang Yun agreed to try to bring it back for the Agricultural School.
• The Great Ming Saint appeared above the Lightless Graveyard and used his voice to make the Great Scholars, except Yi Zhishi, want Fang Yun to go with him.
• Fang Yun recognized the Great Ming Saint and challenged him over entering the Human Race Blood Tomb Mausoleum and the danger of retaliation.
• The Great Ming Saint said the Human Sacred Mausoleum had vanished and restrained the Mountain Bearer Great Sage Spirit Bones when Fang Yun called on them.
• The Great Ming Saint revealed that he was a Great Sage, leaving Fang Yun shaken.

Xue Baiyi intervened when the Great Ming Saint tried to take Fang Yun to Sunless Peak, claiming Fang Yun as his own and teaching him to use Withering Force. Fang Yun experienced a tree’s life and death within moments, then tested his refined power on a Fifth Realm Great Demon King’s corpse.

• The Great Ming Saint offered Fang Yun a chance to submit, but Fang Yun refused to surrender.
• Xue Baiyi arrived and told the Great Ming Saint that Fang Yun had mastered Withering Force and was under his instruction.
• Xue Baiyi sent a blood-red light into Fang Yun’s Literary Palace, where Fang Yun experienced a seed growing into a powerful tree, walking, withering, and sprouting anew.
• Fang Yun returned to awareness after only a few breaths and felt Withering Force surge through him.
• Xue Baiyi gave Fang Yun a Fifth Realm Great Demon King’s spirit corpse to test his new power, and Fang Yun fired an arrow carrying Withering Force gathered into a more intricate form.

Fang Yun discovered that the Withering Force could hide inside an enemy, while Xue Baiyi gave him treasures and drove off the Great Ming Saint. Xue Baiyi warned Fang Yun to grow stronger before they met again, leaving the Great Scholars wondering why he was helping Fang Yun.

• Fang Yun's Arrow in the Stone failed to injure the Fifth Realm Great Demon King, but its Withering Force slipped into the demon's core and remained undetected.
• Xue Baiyi explained Fang Yun's new use of the Withering Force and gave him a Heavy Water Inkstone and three Star-Bearing Stones.
• Xue Baiyi challenged the Great Ming Saint, which departed after warning that it would come for Fang Yun when the Ancestor Coffin reopened.
• The Great Scholars recovered from the Great Ming Saint's influence, and Fang Yun told them what had happened.
• Xue Baiyi warned Fang Yun that he needed to become stronger and attain Saint Enfeoffment, then left after asking Fang Yun to write him a poem.
• Yi Zhishi concluded that Xue Baiyi was not helping the Human Race in general, but Fang Yun specifically.

Fang Yun sorted his Burial Saint Valley treasures and calculated how many Sacred Qi Sources he could use to take them away. As the Great Scholars prepared for the valley’s closure, Yi Zhishi revealed an enormous harvest and said he had killed twenty-four Emperor Realm experts.

• Fang Yun divided his treasures into categories and decided he could take away thirteen Sacred Qi Sources while preserving one for Hundred Coffin Island.
• Fang Yun chose which Sacred Way treasures to take, including the Saint Skull Ring, and gave up on taking the Sacred Qi Sources themselves outside the valley.
• The Great Scholars used Sacred Qi to wrap their treasures, then stopped absorbing power so they could rely on the sources against the Lightless Graveyard.
• Yi Zhishi displayed his vast collection of treasures, many of which he gave to Fang Yun, and revealed that he had killed twenty-four Emperor Realm experts.

Fang Yun and the Great Scholars gathered their treasures, celebrated the Human Race’s victory, and held a Classics Assembly in Burial Saint Valley. Fang Yun’s knowledge grew through debate as the Lightless Graveyard expanded to engulf the entire Blood Tomb Mausoleum.

• Fang Yun collected the Great Scholars’ treasures and discussed the Human Race’s gains and the Demon Realm’s losses with them.
• He Mingyuan proposed celebrating their achievement after they returned to the Saint Origin Continent, and the Great Scholars agreed.
• The Great Scholars held a Classics Assembly, where Fang Yun listened and recorded their discussion before Yi Zhishi urged him to contribute.
• Fang Yun debated the Great Scholars using insights from his work on the New Annotations to the Four Books, refining his knowledge through their arguments.
• Fang Yun steered the discussion toward Tempering Destiny, then listened and took notes as the Great Scholars debated.
• The Lightless Graveyard spread until it engulfed the entire Blood Tomb Mausoleum.

Fang Yun and the Great Scholars endured the Lightless Graveyard’s spreading cold until the Burial Saint Twin Dragons signaled that Burial Saint Valley was closing. As Fang Yun was carried away, a mysterious force struck his Literary Palace, leaving him unconscious while the branch he carried began to wither.

• As the Lightless Graveyard froze Burial Saint Valley, Fang Yun and the Great Scholars continued their Classics Assemblies until the Burial Saint Twin Dragons roared and Fang Yun bid them farewell.
• Fang Yun traveled to Hundred Coffin Island, sensed dangerous changes in the coffins, and reflected on the path of a Saint before gathering his treasures and the green branch Xu Fengsheng had given him.
• Fang Yun left the branch partially unprotected rather than use the last Sacred Qi Source, then prepared his treasures for the journey out of Burial Saint Valley.
• As Fang Yun was pulled through turbulent currents of time and space, the Soul-Suppressing Corridor blocked a mysterious force from reaching his Literary Palace, but the clash knocked him unconscious.
• The green branch in Fang Yun's hand withered, and its leaves vanished into the currents.

A mysterious force shattered Fang Yun’s Literary Palace relics, but the Sacred Way Eight-Faced Sword drove it away, and Fang Yun disappeared. As Burial Saint Valley’s survivors returned and rumors spread that Fang Yun was gravely injured, a disheveled old drunk sailed toward the middle of Dongting Lake.

• The Sacred Way Eight-Faced Sword repelled the mysterious force that threatened Fang Yun, who then vanished as another force searched for him.
• The bone dragons at Mount Ten Thousand Deaths opened the gate of Burial Saint Valley, and their mist exterminated the Sky Wolf Clan, including its Half-Sage.
• A white-robed man emerged from the bone dragon’s neck and flew away, while a giant man carrying a coffin briefly rose from the ground.
• Great Scholars returned from Burial Saint Valley, and rumors spread that Fang Yun was near death and could no longer use Literary Qi.
• The head of the Chen Sage Family opposed stripping Fang Yun of his privileges, silencing calls to remove them.
• An old drunk threw a silver ingot into Dongting Lake, then took an oar and rowed toward the lake’s center.

Ji Anchang recalled how his literary defeat by Li Wenying had ruined his standing and left him trapped in despair and drink. After overhearing scholars call someone the Poetry Sage, he challenged them to show him the poem.

• The old drunk rowed into Dongting Lake and fell asleep in his boat.
• Ji Anchang awoke sober and remembered how Li Wenying’s poem had defeated him, bringing disgrace and rejection upon him.
• Ji Anchang realized his boat had drifted from Dongting Lake into the waterway connecting it to the Yangtze River and resolved to return it to the boatman.
• Ji Anchang overheard scholars on a pleasure boat praise a man as the Poetry Sage.
• Ji Anchang called out and demanded to see the splendid verses behind the title.

Fang Yun answered Ji Anchang’s challenge with a verse so grand that Ji recognized the voices aboard the pleasure boat and realized who he had provoked. After Fang Yun gave him a graceful way to retreat, Ji rowed away in embarrassment while Fang Yun rested with Yi Zhishi, Li Wenying, and the others.

• Fang Yun replied to Ji Anchang’s challenge with a verse about startling the stars into the cold river, leaving Ji unable to answer.
• Ji Anchang recognized Li Wenying’s and Yi Zhishi’s voices aboard the pleasure boat and realized Fang Yun was there.
• Fang Yun addressed Ji Anchang, acknowledged his poor condition, and invited him to talk another day.
• Ji Anchang accepted the chance to withdraw and rowed away, later realizing he could have left by another means.
• Li Wenying praised Fang Yun for driving Ji away with two lines, and Fang Yun asked everyone to stop praising him.

Fang Yun negotiated with Yi Zhishi over a Literary Star Fragment in exchange for preventing Lei Konghe from attaining Saint Enfeoffment on the Saint Origin Continent, then spent a long night discussing the classics and the Sacred Way with Yi Zhishi and Li Wenying. After they parted, Fang Yun traveled alone to Peach Mountain in the Qing Kingdom.

• Fang Yun told Yi Zhishi he did not follow the path of Destiny and suggested he could attain Saint Enfeoffment in the Bloodmang Realm.
• Fang Yun offered Yi Zhishi half a year of use of a Literary Star Fragment, and Yi Zhishi agreed that no third person would attain Saint Enfeoffment on the Saint Origin Continent between them.
• Fang Yun, Yi Zhishi, and Li Wenying debated the classics, discussed sword control and other matters, and talked aboard the boat until the second midnight.
• Yi Zhishi departed for the Wu Kingdom, Li Wenying headed north to the capital, and Fang Yun traveled alone to the Qing Kingdom.
• Fang Yun arrived at the foot of Peach Mountain in his repaired Marquis Wu Chariot.

Fang Yun went to Old Peach Residence to confront Saint Zong over the Literary Star Fragment that Saint Zong had taken. Their meeting began with an eerie spatial anomaly, and Fang Yun prepared unfamiliar tea and water, leaving their exchange unresolved.

• Zong Ming recognized Fang Yun at the foot of the mountain, and Fang Yun sent him ahead with a Saint Body Fruit to request an audience with Saint Zong.
• Fang Yun rode the Marquis Wu Chariot up the stairs despite the Grand Academicians' objections, then announced that he had come to collect a debt from Saint Zong.
• Fang Yun entered Old Peach Residence and greeted Saint Zong without bowing, claiming his injuries made it difficult to move.
• Fang Yun found that Saint Zong's face remained turned the same way and that he could not reach the teapot, so he brought out his own tea and water.
• Zong Ming and the Grand Academicians watched in astonishment as Fang Yun revealed tea fish and a jade bottle whose contents even Saint Zong did not recognize.

Fang Yun met Saint Zong at Old Peach Residence, brewed Heaven-Listening Paste tea, and asked for the Heavenly Constancy Soul-Splitting Technique and the return of the Literary Star Fragment. Saint Zong tested Fang Yun’s understanding of the Four Books and the Analects, then praised his answer as auspicious signs appeared across the land.

• Fang Yun explained the origins of Heaven-Listening Paste and brewed it for Saint Zong, who savored several cups and the final plain water.
• Fang Yun’s aura surged as he drank the tea, and a tiny white-smoke fish flew from his mouth into the Tea Fish Tree.
• Fang Yun asked Saint Zong for the Heavenly Constancy Soul-Splitting Technique and sought the return of the Literary Star Fragment, offering a Saint Body Fruit in thanks.
• Saint Zong questioned Fang Yun about the Four Books and the Analects, and Fang Yun identified the Analects as foremost and quoted, “When you see the worthy, think of becoming their equal. When you see the unworthy, examine yourself within.”
• Fang Yun distinguished worthiness from goodness and self-examination from correction, prompting Saint Zong to praise him as heaven and earth trembled and auspicious signs appeared.

Saint Zong taught Fang Yun the Heavenly Constancy Soul-Splitting Technique, then left him a Literary Star Fragment. After Fang Yun departed, Zong Ming and the Grand Academicians interpreted his words, and Zong Ming’s insight invoked the voice of the Great Dao and earned him silver literary star light.

• Saint Zong taught Fang Yun the Heavenly Constancy Soul-Splitting Technique over three days and gave him a Literary Star Fragment.
• Fang Yun offered to resolve Zong Ming’s scholarly doubts before departing the Old Peach Residence.
• Zong Ming and the three Grand Academicians discussed Fang Yun’s interpretation of worthiness and self-examination, concluding that aspiring to the worthy could guide every path to sagehood.
• Zong Ming articulated three levels of learning in The Analects, invoking the voice of the Great Dao and receiving literary star illumination.
• Zong Ming successfully recited Fang Yun’s War Poetry Arrow in the Stone, and the Grand Academicians recognized Fang Yun’s generosity.

Fang Yun retrieved the Literary Star Fragment from the Ten Cold Ancient Land and settled its scholars’ rewards and future resettlement. He then returned to the Sacred Academy, gave the fragment to Yi Zhishi, and discussed the classics and the Way with him.

• Fang Yun traveled to the Ten Cold Ancient Land and sensed that its power had weakened and its edges were collapsing.
• Yan Huaishi welcomed Fang Yun at the Frost Lord’s palace, where Fang Yun promised a new lease on life once the Snow Goddess awoke.
• Fang Yun promised the scholars choices about resettlement and rewards, including divine treasures and Algae Fish for those who had protected the Literary Star Fragment.
• Fang Yun retrieved the Literary Star Fragment, distributed treasures, and lectured the scholars, their disciples, and their children on the classics.
• Fang Yun returned to the Sacred Academy, handed the Literary Star Fragment to Yi Zhishi, and spent four hours discussing the classics and the Way with him.

After returning from Burial Saint Valley, Fang Yun negotiated with the Crafts Hall over specialized Craftsmen School academies and showed its elders new engineering knowledge and mechanisms. He then revealed a mountain-sized stockpile of Sacred Thought Weapons, leaving the elders eager to claim the materials.

• Fang Yun summoned the Medical Hall's council elders for a meeting and then went to the Crafts Hall, where its seven council elders eagerly welcomed him.
• Fang Yun proposed establishing specialized Craftsmen School academies in the Jing Kingdom, and the elders hesitated over the political and educational implications.
• Fang Yun presented the elders with his book History of Engineering, which introduced new concepts such as optics and mechanics, and answered their questions.
• Fang Yun showed the elders a Dragonfire Mechanism and a Thunder Dragon Mechanism, which they immediately began examining.
• Fang Yun revealed a chain of peaks piled with Sacred Thought Weapons, and the seven elders rushed to inspect the treasure.

Fang Yun offered the Crafts Hall vast stores of divine materials and promised to share his inventions freely in exchange for support in establishing Craftsmen School institutions. The council elders tentatively agreed to name him Master of the Craftsmen School, while recognizing that his request for three years of support would tie the Hall’s future to his.

• Fang Yun displayed the Heavy Water Inkstone, star-bearing stones, Dragon Palace storehouses, and the gold-eating grass clan’s immense savings to the Crafts Hall elders.
• Fang Yun explained that he had a concrete direction for designing a Mechanism Mother Machine that could manufacture mechanisms and their components.
• Fang Yun asked the Crafts Hall to help establish institutions for training Craftsmen School scholars and declared that they should honor him as their Master.
• Fang Yun said he would claim only the title, share his inventions freely except for commercial uses, and pursue the Way of teaching and edification.
• Xiangli Yuan said the Crafts Hall would tentatively confer the title on Fang Yun and help build the institutions, provided he fulfilled his promises.
• Fang Yun requested three years, and Xiangli Yuan warned that the Crafts Hall’s future would hinge on his decision.

Fang Yun secured cooperation from the Craftsmen School, Medical School, and Agricultural School to establish academies and advance their Sacred Ways. He left the halls preparing for a meeting at the Western Sage Hall to plan a covert attack against the Demon Realm.

• Fang Yun and the seven Craftsmen School pavilion elders agreed to establish schools in Mi Prefecture, Xiang Prefecture, and Jiangzhou, and he asked to become their first headmaster and honorary headmaster.
• Fang Yun gave the Craftsmen School elders a list of divine materials, drafted a preliminary plan for the Mechanism Mother Machine, and swore an oath formalizing their cooperation.
• Fang Yun discussed contagious diseases and Warm-Heat Disease with the Medical School pavilion elders, then presented divine medicines and secured their agreement to establish academies and cooperate with the Agricultural School on cultivation research.
• Fang Yun wrote a first draft on Warm-Heat Disease and invited the Medical School elders to a meeting at the Western Sage Hall about a covert attack against the Demon Realm.
• Fang Yun presented the Agricultural School with a new theory of hereditary traits and warned that its Sacred Way could be overshadowed by the Craftsmen School, persuading its pavilion elders to cooperate.