Recaps

Yang Qing and his companions entered a passage he believed was the Path to Ascension after learning the Rebirth Road ended ahead. They found Mo Yi and Mo Ze again, leaving their groups face-to-face in the passage.

• Yang Qing reasoned that the Path to Ascension ran alongside the Rebirth Road and that Mo Yi, Mo Ze, and their men were likely ahead.
• Pei Buji woke from the illusion formation and accidentally blasted a hole in the passage wall while striking at Jiang Zhizhou.
• Yang Qing had Bu Er and Jiang Zhizhou open a stone door because the Rebirth Road ended farther ahead, then led the group into the quiet passage beyond it.
• After the passage wall changed and Pei Buji spotted Mo Yi and Mo Ze ahead, Yang Qing decided they had to continue toward the only likely exit.
• Yang Qing and his companions rounded a bend and came face-to-face with Mo Yi and Mo Ze, and Mo Yi greeted them as if their meeting were a coincidence.

Yang Qing and his companions joined Mo Yi and Mo Ze as they searched for a way out of the ruins beneath Sunset Glow Slope, while Mo Yi suspected them of causing his losses. After the Mo brothers claimed the treasures in a stone chamber, Yang Qing took a half-tattered book and faced Mo Ze’s questions about his unusual background.

• Mo Yi reunited with Yang Qing and asked him to lead the group toward the Gate of Life, while accusing his party of being suspiciously unharmed.
• Yang Qing privately told Bu Er that the Mo brothers might blame them for the expedition’s heavy casualties, but said having the group along could help them find an exit.
• A soldier reported a treasure-filled stone chamber, and Mo Yi and Mo Ze hurried there with their men while Yang Qing’s companions stayed back.
• Yang Qing found half of a worn book lodged in a crack in the wall and kept it, though he could not read its blurred writing.
• After the Mo brothers collected the chamber’s treasures, Mo Yi praised Yang Qing, and Mo Ze questioned him about his background and the Northern Liang Ruler’s Wanted Notice.

Yang Qing and the others became trapped in a shifting passage, where a Blood Sacrifice seemed to be the only way forward. Pei Buji offered his blood, but a Black Hole opened beneath him and swallowed him, leaving the others trapped and warned to proceed with care.

• Mo Ze forced Yang Qing and his companions to take the left-hand passage despite Yang Qing's advice that the right-hand path was safer.
• The passage grew rough and impassable in both directions, and Jiang Zhizhou read a stone inscription suggesting that a Blood Sacrifice could reveal a way out.
• Mo Ze demanded that Yang Qing choose someone to sacrifice, but Pei Buji volunteered and cut his arm.
• Pei Buji's blood did not change the path, and a Black Hole opened beneath him as Jiang Zhizhou tried to help.
• Pei Buji told Jiang Zhizhou to warn Yang Qing that the road ahead was perilous, then let go and fell into the darkness.

After Mo Ze broke the Stone Bridge and left Yang Qing, Jiang Zhizhou, and Bu Er stranded, they descended into the hole where Pei Buji had fallen. They found a series of stone platforms linked by iron chains and began searching for a way onward.

• Mo Ze broke the Stone Bridge after Yang Qing refused to abandon the search for Pei Buji, then entered the passage with Mo Yi and his soldiers.
• Yang Qing chose to descend into the hole, and Jiang Zhizhou used Vine Rope to explore it before guiding Yang Qing and Bu Er down to a stone platform.
• The three discovered another lower platform across a gap, and Yang Qing recalled an old account of a sky road built along cliffs.
• Jiang Zhizhou found a hidden mechanism that revealed iron chains linking the platforms, and Bu Er crossed first to test the route.

Yang Qing deciphered the Remnant Book as a terrain map that revealed how to cross the shifting platforms, and the group found the Origin-Returning Divine Art. He concluded that the cavern was part of a sacrificial site and that he, Jiang Zhizhou, Bu Er, the Mo brothers, and Great Hero Pei had all become sacrificial offerings.

• Yang Qing, Jiang Zhizhou, and Bu Er discovered that their stone platform and the iron chains were moving, though they could find no mechanism on the platform.
• Yang Qing realized the Remnant Book was a terrain map and interpreted its clues to mean that some platforms were connected by hidden or nonexistent paths.
• Jiang Zhizhou carried Yang Qing across to the third platform, and Bu Er followed; the platform shuddered and began to descend.
• Yang Qing found a booklet hidden in an opening and identified it as the Origin-Returning Divine Art, which he gave to Jiang Zhizhou.
• Yang Qing explained that the cavern held offerings for a sacrificial site and said they had become sacrificial offerings after descending Sunset Glow Slope.
• Bu Er asked about the Mo brothers and Great Hero Pei, and Yang Qing reasoned that they were likely caught in the same peril.

Jiang Zhizhou, Yang Qing, and Bu Er discovered a hidden cave beneath a stone platform and entered it after their way back vanished. As they searched for an exit, the cave’s cold left Yang Qing dangerously weak, and the group pressed onward without finding shelter.

• Jiang Zhizhou and Yang Qing discussed the mysteries surrounding Emperor Zetian and decided to brave the trial before them.
• Yang Qing identified a raised spot on the platform, and Jiang Zhizhou activated it, lowering them to a hidden cave.
• Bu Er led Yang Qing and Jiang Zhizhou into the cave, and the platform rose away, cutting off their retreat.
• After the three walked deep into the cold passage, Yang Qing grew pale and nearly collapsed.
• Jiang Zhizhou tried to warm Yang Qing with his internal energy while Bu Er searched for firewood, but Bu Er found none.
• Yang Qing urged Jiang Zhizhou and Bu Er to find the cave’s exit despite his worsening condition.

Bu Er and Jiang Zhizhou escaped the Mountain Cave with the gravely ill Yang Qing after witnessing Mo Yi kill Mo Ze for a brocade box. They found themselves far from Sunset Glow Slope, and as Yang Qing slipped into unconsciousness, they considered using the Medicine Elder’s precious medicine to save him.

• Jiang Zhizhou reasoned that the upward-sloping passage led to an exit, and Bu Er carried Yang Qing toward it.
• Bu Er and Jiang Zhizhou heard the Mo Brothers outside and watched Mo Yi stab Mo Ze, take a Small Brocade Box, and leave with his surviving men.
• Jiang Zhizhou and Bu Er climbed down the vines with Yang Qing and hurried away before Mo Yi’s men set the Mountain Cave ablaze.
• Bu Er and Jiang Zhizhou found shelter far from Sunset Glow Slope, where Yang Qing was delirious and unconscious.
• Bu Er remembered the medicine bottle from the Medicine Elder, and while searching Yang Qing’s sleeves, he dropped a Booklet without noticing.

Jiang Zhizhou and Bu Er used the Origin-Returning Divine Art to restore Yang Qing’s body, then carried him to You City. At an inn, they spotted Ouyang Lin and feared he might reveal their whereabouts to Mo Yi.

• Jiang Zhizhou found a method in the Origin-Returning Divine Art that could restore Yang Qing’s root bone, and he and Bu Er began guiding their powers through Yang Qing’s body.
• After six hours, Jiang Zhizhou and Bu Er completed a circuit through Yang Qing’s meridians, and Yang Qing’s condition improved enough for them to leave Sunset Glow Slope.
• Jiang Zhizhou and Bu Er carried the sleeping Yang Qing for three days and entered You City, where Jiang Zhizhou took him to a nearby inn.
• At the inn, Jiang Zhizhou and Bu Er recognized Ouyang Lin and kept still to avoid alerting him or letting Mo Yi learn their whereabouts.
• Jiang Zhizhou noticed someone approaching Ouyang Lin and quietly pointed the visitor out to Bu Er.

Ouyang Lin refused Mo Yi’s summons and fought the men sent to capture him. Jiang Zhizhou joined the battle to help him, and the two fought together against Mo Yi’s forces.

• Ouyang Lin rejected the two men who ordered him to return to Mo Yi and left the inn, with Jiang Zhizhou and Bu Er following him.
• Ouyang Lin led his pursuers into the wilderness and fought them after they attacked him.
• Jiang Zhizhou spotted more of Mo Yi’s experts arriving and left Bu Er to protect Yang Qing while he went to help Ouyang Lin.
• Jiang Zhizhou confronted the newcomers and attacked them, and Ouyang Lin joined him in the fight.

Jiang Zhizhou, Ouyang Lin, Bu Er, and the recovering Yang Qing escaped the secluded city and headed toward Urn City to evade the Second Prince’s men. Ouyang Lin revealed that Urn City’s Treasure-Displaying Festival was approaching, and the group decided to attend in hopes of seeing the Eastern Radiance Treasure.

• Ouyang Lin and Jiang Zhizhou defeated the men surrounding them, then left the wasteland with Bu Er and the unconscious Yang Qing.
• Ouyang Lin explained that he had refused a task from the Second Prince and invited the others to travel with him toward Urn City.
• Jiang Zhizhou confirmed that Yang Qing was only exhausted, and Yang Qing later woke as the group crossed the mountain ridge.
• Yang Qing asked about Pei Buji, and Jiang Zhizhou said he suspected Pei Buji had found another way through the cavern.
• Ouyang Lin told the group about Urn City’s Treasure-Displaying Festival and its rumored Eastern Radiance Treasure, and they agreed not to miss it.

At Urn City’s treasure exhibition, Yang Qing recognized an ordinary-looking stone at a street stall as a jade pendant and followed the stallholder to meet its owner. The owner turned out to be Fen Liyou, whom Yang Qing had last seen in the dungeon, and Yang Qing asked where he had found the stone.

• Yang Qing and his companions visited the treasure stalls around the Gathering Sea Tower, where Ouyang Lin explained that the festival let people display unusual treasures.
• Yang Qing noticed a withered vine and an ordinary stone at a stall and asked the stallholder about them.
• Yang Qing identified the stone as a jade pendant, surprising Jiang Zhizhou and Bu Er and alarming the stallholder.
• The stallholder packed up and led Yang Qing and his companions to a courtyard, where his master was waiting.
• Yang Qing recognized the master as Fen Liyou, exchanged greetings with him, and asked where he had found the stone.

Yang Qing revealed that the Shadow Jade was a hidden heirloom and learned that the Fen Household had served the Yang Family for generations. Fen Liyou recognized Yang Qing as his young master, offered him lodging in Urn City, and explained that he had given the Fen ancestral estate back to the sovereign to leave imperial service.

• Fen Liyou explained that his household’s ancestral instructions required them to help anyone who recognized the Shadow Jade, and Yang Qing revealed how sunlight and volcanic rock concealed its true form.
• Yang Qing said his ancestors had lost the Shadow Jade, prompting Fen Liyou to kneel and address him as the Young Master.
• Fen Liyou explained that the Yang and Fen households had been closely tied since the Eastern Radiance Ancient Kingdom, and that the Shadow Jade had been the Yang masters’ official seal bestowed on the Fen retainers.
• Fen Liyou invited Yang Qing and his companions to stay in his courtyard in Urn City.
• Fen Liyou said he was now a commoner because he had returned the Fen Household’s ancestral estate to the sovereign in order to leave imperial service.

Yang Qing learned that his family and the Fen Household once lived in Urn City and sought their ancestral grounds with Fen Liyou. The search led them to the Four-Square Gambling House, where they offered a box as proof of their sincerity.

• Fen Liyou told Yang Qing that he had freed himself from his duties and wanted to uncover the Fen Household’s ancestral history in Urn City.
• Yang Qing read Fen Liyou’s ancestral chronicle and found that the Fen and Yang ancestral grounds were said to lie in a place called the Four-Square Land.
• Ouyang Lin said he knew of a Four-Square Gambling House whose master could uncover information, and Yang Qing decided to visit it.
• After night fell, Yang Qing and his companions went to the Four-Square Gambling House and were asked to present a token if they sought information.
• Jiang Zhizhou handed one of the attendants a small box as a token of their sincerity.

Yang Qing and his companions asked the Four-Square Gambling House about the Four-Square Land and were promised an answer after a few days. At the Treasure Exhibition, Yang Qing recognized a picture said to reveal the whereabouts of an Eastern Radiance treasure, and his unusual valuation left the stallholder asking why.

• Fen Liyou asked the Four-Square Gambling House about the Four-Square Land, and its mysterious master promised an answer after a few days.
• The master wondered whether Yang Qing's group was the party they had been waiting for and ordered his people to watch for them.
• Ouyang Lin told Yang Qing that a stallholder at the Treasure Exhibition was offering information about an Eastern Radiance treasure in exchange for identifying a picture.
• Yang Qing, Jiang Zhizhou, Bu Er, and Ouyang Lin went to the crowded stall, where Yang Qing recognized the picture.
• Yang Qing said the picture was both worthless and beyond price, then remarked that two more trees would make it even more valuable, prompting the stallholder to ask why.

Yang Qing and his companions learned that Mo Yi had come to Urn City seeking a map connected to the Eastern Radiance Ancient Kingdom and took refuge with the Four-Square Gambling House. After discovering the map stallholder had acted for a badly injured man, Yang Qing suspected the man was Great Hero Pei.

• Yang Qing sent Jiang Zhizhou and Bu Er to investigate the stallholder while he and Fen Liyou returned toward their courtyard.
• Ouyang Lin warned Yang Qing that Mo Yi and his men had arrived in Urn City, so the group planned to move to Fen Liyou's Secluded Villa.
• An employee of the Four-Square Gambling House revealed that Western Regions Royal Family members had been watching the Secluded Villa and led them to a safer property.
• Bu Er reported that Mo Yi had come after news that someone brought a map out of the Eastern Radiance Ancient Kingdom ruins.
• Jiang Zhiyou reported that the stallholder Xiao Zhou had taken orders from a badly injured man, and Yang Qing suspected the man was Great Hero Pei.

Yang Qing and Jiang Zhizhou rescued Pei Buji from Urn City before Mo Yi’s men could find him, and Pei Buji explained how he had survived and sought news of them. As Yang Qing told him about their recent discoveries, people from the Four-Square Gambling House arrived.

• Yang Qing sent Jiang Zhizhou to find the man who had used a drawing to seek news, suspecting he was Pei Buji.
• Jiang Zhizhou brought Pei Buji safely back, narrowly avoiding Mo Yi’s men, who were searching Urn City for treasure from the Eastern Radiance Ancient Kingdom.
• Pei Buji woke, recognized Yang Qing, Bu Er, and Jiang Zhizhou, and explained that he had escaped a hidden shaft only to encounter Mo Yi’s search in Sunset Glow Valley.
• Pei Buji recounted how he fled Mo Yi’s men, reached Urn City, and used the drawing to try to contact Yang Qing and the others.
• Yang Qing told Pei Buji about their recent encounters and plans, and Ouyang Lin announced that people from the Four-Square Gambling House had arrived.

Yang Qing and his companions learned from Yin Xian that the Four-Square Land lay within Urn City, sealed against entry except for descendants of the Fen and Yang Families. After agreeing to take Yin Xian with them, Yang Qing ordered the group to prepare a new hiding place outside Urn City.

• A visitor from the Four-Square Gambling House brought Yang Qing and his companions to meet its master, Yin Xian.
• Yin Xian revealed that his ancestors had guarded the Four-Square Land and that he was a descendant of the Yin Lineage.
• Yin Xian explained that the Four-Square Land was inside Urn City but sealed, and that his attempt to enter had left his legs without sensation.
• Yin Xian said only descendants of the Fen and Yang Families could pass through the active restrictions, and Yang Qing agreed to let him accompany them.
• On the journey back, Yang Qing told the group to find a new hiding place, preferably outside Urn City.

Yang Qing and his companions prepared to seek the Four-Square Land, wary of Yin Xian’s motives. Yin Xian revealed that they had been infected with a deadly Forbidden Land Gu and had to enter soon or die, leaving them with little choice but to go.

• Yang Qing warned Jiang Zhizhou and the others that Yin Xian was hiding an ulterior motive, and Fen Liyou offered Creek Bridge as a refuge.
• Yang Qing sent Fen Liyou to move the injured Great Hero Pei to Creek Bridge and divided the group, with himself, Jiang Zhizhou, Bu Er, and Fen Liyou set to pursue the Four-Square Land.
• Yin Xian told Yang Qing and the others that the Four-Square Land would appear within days and that they would have to wait fifty years if they missed the chance.
• Yin Xian revealed that the group had been infected with Forbidden Land Gu, showing them the black marks on their hands and claiming only entry into the Forbidden Land could free them.
• Yang Qing rejected Yin Xian’s claim that the infection was a splendid opportunity, but Yin Xian warned that they would die by the next day if they did not go.

Yang Qing, Jiang Zhizhou, and Bu Er followed Yin Xian to the Four-Square Land, where Yang Qing and Fen Liyou’s blood opened the gate. They entered the Merit Forest in search of the underground palace, but the group faced darkness and the danger of awakening the Dream Demon.

• Yin Xian led Yang Qing, Jiang Zhizhou, Bu Er, and Fen Liyou to the Four-Square Land and explained that their blood could open its gate and remove the Taboo Gu.
• Yang Qing and Fen Liyou offered their blood at the gate, and Yin Xian joined them to widen the opening enough for the group to enter.
• Yin Xian explained that the Merit Forest held the entrance to the underground palace and that the things Yang Qing sought were inside it.
• Yin Xian stopped Bu Er from lighting a fire, warning that it could awaken the blood-drinking Dream Demon.
• Jiang Zhizhou tied his sash to Yang Qing’s wrist, and the five entered the Merit Forest to find its single inscribed gravestone.

Yang Qing and his companions encountered the Dream Demon, a guardian beast drawn by the blood on Yang Qing’s hand, while Yin Xian revealed that he had schemed against them. Jiang Zhizhou and Bu Er fought the serpent as Yin Xian escaped, and the chapter left them seeking a way to strike its eyes.

• Jiang Zhizhou warned the group of danger after Yang Qing’s palm reopened and the smell of blood grew stronger.
• The Dream Demon appeared, and Fen Liyou and Jiang Zhizhou identified its blood-drawn hunger and the Heavenly Eye on its forehead.
• Yin Xian urged the others to sacrifice Yang Qing, then revealed that the Dream Demon would target Jiang Zhizhou because he carried Gu.
• Jiang Zhizhou and Bu Er attacked Yin Xian and the Dream Demon, but their blows barely marked the serpent, and Yin Xian fled into the forest.
• Yang Qing stopped Bu Er from pursuing Yin Xian, and Bu Er kept the Dream Demon occupied while Jiang Zhizhou looked for a chance to stab its eyes.

Bu Er, Yang Qing, Jiang Zhizhou, and Fen Liyou wore down the Dream Demon Snake by luring it through the Merit Forest, then followed it when it rushed toward the Underground Palace. They reached a clearing where the palace gate stood before a stone stele.

• Bu Er failed to pierce the Dream Demon Snake’s eye and escaped its venom with Jiang Zhizhou’s help.
• Yang Qing suggested splitting up to exhaust the serpent, and Bu Er and Jiang Zhizhou led it through the trees in pairs.
• The Dream Demon Snake suffered wounds and slowed as it smashed through the forest in pursuit of them.
• A rumble from the direction of the Underground Palace drew the serpent away, and Yang Qing realized Yin Xian had likely found the entrance.
• Yang Qing, Jiang Zhizhou, Bu Er, and Fen Liyou followed the serpent to a clearing and found the Underground Palace gate beside a stone stele.

The Dream Demon Snake broke open the underground palace and pursued Yin Xian through its trapped passages while Yang Qing and his companions followed. Yang Qing revealed Yin Xian’s family history and focused on the parchment scroll he believed could answer a mystery, leaving his group to deal with their own purpose in the palace.

• The Dream Demon Snake smashed the remaining monument and plunged into the newly widened underground entrance.
• Yang Qing led Bu Er and the others after the snake, warning them that the palace’s passages were dangerous and its traps might be active.
• Jiang Zhizhou spotted fog and needle holes in the passages, while Yang Qing reasoned that Yin Xian’s wheelchair could have let him avoid the footstep-triggered traps.
• Yang Qing explained that Yin Xian’s grandfather, Yin Zheng, had been expelled from the Yin Household after betraying it, and that Yin Xian sought a cure for his disabled legs inside the Four-Square Land.
• Yang Qing put aside the search for Yin Xian and resolved to pursue his own purpose, thinking the parchment scroll he carried might hold the answer he sought.

Yang Qing and Fen Liyou entered the Underground City after escaping the Dream Demon Snake, where they encountered Yin Xian, who had arrived first despite being badly injured. Yin Xian claimed the Four-Square Land belonged to his family too and tried to enter the Four-Square Shrine, leaving the groups confronting one another in the plaza.

• Yang Qing led Fen Liyou and the others down a different passage, while they wondered whether the Ancestral Grounds lay elsewhere underground.
• Yin Xian evaded the Dream Demon Snake through the dangerous passages of No Return and reached the Underground City, sacrificing his left arm to wound the creature at its tail.
• Yang Qing and his companions arrived in the Underground City and met Yin Xian in the plaza.
• Yin Xian claimed the Four-Square Land was also the Yin family's Ancestral Grounds and hinted that the Yang family had forgotten an important matter.
• Fen Liyou tried to bar Yin Xian from the Four-Square Shrine, and Bu Er rebuked him for insulting them.

Yang Qing and his companions entered the Four-Square Shrine and discovered that their ancestors were connected to the Eastern Radiance Ancient Kingdom. Yin Xian revealed that he could read every spirit tablet and began twisting a candlestick on the offering table, setting his plan in motion.

• Bu Er insulted Yin Xian, who demanded to know why Yang Qing’s group had the right to keep him out of the Four-Square Shrine.
• Yang Qing led the group into the shrine and recognized the same flower mark they had seen in the Eastern Radiance Ancient Kingdom’s ruins.
• Yang Qing and Jiang Zhizhou noticed that some spirit tablets were clear to them while others were blurred, and Yin Xian said clansmen could recognize their own ancestors.
• Yin Xian claimed he could read every tablet and thanked Yang Qing’s group for giving him the chance to benefit from the shrine.
• Yin Xian took a candlestick from the offering table and twisted it hard.

Yin Xian searched the Ancestral Shrine for a hidden object and told Yang Qing that a Yang Family Parchment Scroll was rumored to contain secrets concerning Emperor Zetian. After his search shattered a floor tile, a different-colored surface appeared beneath it, and Yin Xian realized he had found what he sought.

• Yin Xian broke open both candlesticks, found them empty, and became furious.
• Jiang Zhizhou and Bu Er attacked Yin Xian, and Bu Er wounded his shoulder.
• Yang Qing questioned Yin Xian about the Yang Family, and Yin Xian said its ancestral instructions mentioned a Parchment Scroll concerning Emperor Zetian.
• Yin Xian revealed that a second volume of the Parchment Scroll might be hidden in the Ancestral Shrine, while insisting the object he wanted was there too.
• Yin Xian searched the shrine again, shattered a floor tile beneath his wheelchair, and saw a different-colored surface underneath.