Recaps

Qian Renxue reflected on how her mission in Tiangou had grown into a life she no longer wanted to end, then spent the night with Lu Yuan instead of attending to court reports. The next morning, news that Xue Ye had lost consciousness coincided with a sudden destiny shift tied to the Succession Edict, sending them hurrying to the palace.

• Xue Ye named Xue Qinghe in the Succession Edict, and Qian Renxue admitted to Lu Yuan that she no longer wanted her mission to end quickly.
• Qian Renxue postponed the waiting officials’ reports and told Lu Yuan there would be no talk of the throne that night.
• Qian Renxue and Lu Yuan spent the night together, leaving the transcribed edict on the table.
• An attendant reported that Xue Ye had lost consciousness, and Lu Yuan saw the system announce the Succession Edict as a key item and a destiny deviation in progress.
• Lu Yuan and Qian Renxue rushed to the palace to reach the original edict in Xue Ye’s bedchamber.

After Xue Ye fell unconscious, Qian Renxue stopped the Imperial Clan Court from removing the Abdication Edict while Lu Yuan discovered that the Imperial Seal had been stolen and was being taken to the Ancestral Temple. With Xue Ye unable to awaken and the inner treasury due to be sealed soon, Lu Yuan set out to retrieve the seal while Qian Renxue stayed to secure the palace.

• Qian Renxue ordered the palace sealed and forbade anyone from removing items after the Imperial Clan Court tried to transfer the Abdication Edict.
• Lu Yuan noticed that the edict case's red thread had been retied, and the opened case revealed that the edict itself was still intact.
• Lu Yuan discovered the Imperial Seal missing from its concealed case, and the Imperial Clan Court identified Ancestral Temple sealing wax inside it.
• Qian Renxue and Lu Yuan learned that a carriage falsely bearing the Imperial Clan Court's name had carried the seal out of the Imperial City toward the Ancestral Temple.
• An imperial physician reported that Xue Ye would not awaken soon, and the clan chief said the Ancestral Temple inner treasury could be sealed within about an hour.
• Qian Renxue stayed in the palace to protect Xue Ye and the edict while Lu Yuan summoned the Fate-Breaking Spear and left to retrieve the Imperial Seal.

Lu Yuan raced to the Imperial Ancestral Temple and exposed a counterfeit Imperial Seal just before it was sealed away. He recovered the genuine seal and captured the plotters, then returned to Xue Ye’s bedchamber with both seals and prisoners, leaving the conspirators to be identified.

• Lu Yuan used Qian Renxue’s Regent’s Order to reach the ancestral temple and discovered that the seal was about to be sealed in the inner vault.
• Lu Yuan compared an impression of the seal with old records and helped the temple keeper confirm that it was counterfeit.
• The four seal bearers attacked and tried to escape, but Lu Yuan and the temple keeper stopped them and captured the survivors.
• Lu Yuan’s search revealed that the winged Spirit Master had hidden the genuine Imperial Seal beneath his armor.
• Lu Yuan returned to Xue Ye’s bedchamber with the real seal, the counterfeit, and two prisoners, then set both seals beside the succession edict.

After the Imperial Seal was recovered, Qian Renxue refused to seal Xue Ye’s Succession Edict while he was unconscious and chose to continue serving as Regent. Xue Ye awoke and asked for the edict.

• Qian Renxue questioned the two prisoners, and Lu Yuan revealed that the Winged Soul Emperor carried a genuine token issued to Prince Zhao's Residence.
• The Imperial Clan Chief traced the token to Prince Zhao's Residence, and Qian Renxue asked Prince Zhao to remain in the palace while the matter was investigated.
• Lu Yuan stopped the Winged Soul Emperor from swallowing a poison pellet, and Qian Renxue ordered those involved held separately.
• The Imperial Clan Chief said the recovered Imperial Seal could complete Xue Ye's Succession Edict, but Qian Renxue refused to affix it while her father was unconscious.
• The Imperial Physician announced that Xue Ye had awakened, and Xue Ye asked for the edict.

Xue Ye recovered from being drugged and ordered the palace sealed while the Imperial Seal theft was investigated. He personally stamped Qian Renxue’s Succession Edict, then revealed he knew she was impersonating Xue Qinghe and summoned the court to decide what name she would take on the throne.

• The Imperial Physician reported that an unauthorized Spirit-Calming Substance had been added to Xue Ye’s medicine, and Xue Ye ordered those involved detained along with Prince Zhao.
• The Imperial Clan Chief explained how the genuine Imperial Seal had been stolen and replaced with a counterfeit, and Xue Ye ordered the palace gates kept sealed during the investigation.
• Qian Renxue refused to stamp the Succession Edict while Xue Ye was unconscious, so Xue Ye pressed the recovered Imperial Seal onto it himself.
• Xue Ye told Qian Renxue he knew the real Xue Qinghe had died and explained that the edict confirmed his choice of her as successor without requiring her to keep that identity.
• Xue Ye summoned the court to a grand assembly the next day to draft a new edict, then told Qian Renxue to take off Xue Qinghe’s face when she visited him.

Qian Renxue revealed her identity before Heaven Dou’s court, and Xue Ye wrote an abdication edict naming her as his successor. The court stopped short of further objections, leaving the Imperial Seal’s final impression as the last step to settle the succession.

• Xue Ye had the Imperial Clan Chief read the Succession Edict, which named Crown Prince Xue Qinghe as his successor.
• Qian Renxue revealed her true appearance and six-winged angel martial soul, then admitted she had impersonated Xue Qinghe for more than a decade.
• Ning Fengzhi, the Imperial Clan Chief, and Ge Long defended Qian Renxue by citing her actions and refusal to seize the throne while Xue Ye was unconscious.
• Xue Ye declared that he had chosen her freely and wrote a new abdication edict naming Qian Renxue as his successor.
• Qian Renxue told the court that Xue Qinghe no longer existed and declared her name; Lu Yuan saw that only the final Imperial Seal impression remained.

Qian Renxue became the Heaven Dou Emperor after Xue Ye completed the abdication, then rejected Spirit Hall’s attempt to command her as its Young Lord. With her original destiny invalidated, she faced an unreadable future that she would choose for herself.

• Xue Ye sealed the abdication edict naming Qian Renxue and yielded the throne to her.
• Qian Renxue ascended the throne, and the court hailed her as its new emperor.
• Lu Yuan’s Fate-Breaking Spear gained a third permanent fate mark as Qian Renxue’s original destiny was invalidated.
• Qian Renxue refused Bibi Dong’s order to return to Spirit City and told the envoy that the Pope must address her through diplomatic channels as the Heaven Dou Emperor.
• Three months later, the Imperial Seal case was closed, Spirit Hall withdrew its influence from the empire’s heartland, and Qian Renxue’s edicts bore her own name.
• Lu Yuan found Qian Renxue’s future unreadable and told her she would write her own life from then on.