Chapter Summaries

Yang Qing and his three companions survived the poisonous insects and murderous fighting on Shadowless Slope, then joined Mo Yi and Mo Ze at the far side. The group reached Sunset Glow Valley, where Yang Qing agreed to lead them into the suspected ruins of the Eastern Radiance Ancient Kingdom.

• At midnight, Yang Qing and his companions climbed Shadowless Slope as a thick mist swallowed the torchlight and the poisonous insects attacked the soldiers.
• Yang Qing gave his companions Poison-Avoidance Pills, and the four tied themselves together with a rope before leaving their stalled carriage.
• The companions crossed the slope while avoiding the insects and soldiers, witnessing the insects devour victims and Mo Yi and Mo Ze's men kill one another.
• Yang Qing and his companions reached the far side, where Mo Yi and Mo Ze's carriages were waiting; Mo Yi urged Mo Ze to return because of his injured arm, but Mo Ze refused.
• The party traveled to Sunset Glow Valley, and Mo Yi asked Yang Qing to lead them toward the suspected ruins; Yang Qing accepted and went ahead.

Yang Qing discovered that a lone mark on a boulder opened the entrance to the Eastern Radiance Ancient Kingdom ruins, though the unusual entrance made him suspect a trap. As Yang Qing and his companions advanced ahead of Mo Yi and Mo Ze, the stairs vanished beneath them and they fell into the depths.

• A soldier reported finding a mark on a boulder, and Yang Qing confirmed it was connected to the ruins.
• Yang Qing searched the valley for more marks but found none, then concluded the boulder itself might be the entrance mechanism.
• At Yang Qing's request, Jiang Zhizhou struck the mark, causing the boulder to crumble and reveal a stairway underground.
• Yang Qing warned Jiang Zhizhou and Bu Er that the entrance could be a deathtrap and saw a chance to escape Mo Yi and Mo Ze.
• Mo Yi and Mo Ze followed Yang Qing's group down the stairs, and Mo Yi's casual palm strike made the stairs disappear beneath the four companions, sending them plunging downward.

Mo Yi and Mo Ze searched for Yang Qing and his companions after they vanished, while the four found themselves trapped in a dangerous passage beneath Sunset Glow Valley. Yang Qing realized the supposed Eastern Radiance Ruins might be a deadly decoy, but surviving its traps could offer a way to escape the princes; the passage shook as Mo Yi’s men triggered a nearby trap, and Yang Qing led the group to the right.

• Mo Yi ordered his Guards to search for a secret passage, but they found no trace of one, while Mo Ze suggested the group might meet Yang Qing again if they were alive.
• Yang Qing, Jiang Zhizhou, Bu Er, and Pei Buji landed in a hidden passage after falling through a pit, and Yang Qing recognized that it might be another array of passage traps.
• Yang Qing noticed that the markings lacked the usual patterns and sent Bu Er and Jiang Zhizhou to look for more; they found other strange markings.
• Yang Qing concluded that the ruins in Sunset Glow Valley were likely false and that the markings had lured them into a deadly trap connected to the Eastern Radiance Ancient Kingdom.
• Bu Er realized that surviving the trap might help them escape the control of Mo Yi and Mo Ze, and Yang Qing agreed.
• The passage shook as someone from Mo Yi’s party triggered a nearby trap, so Yang Qing led the four toward the right to avoid them.

Yang Qing and his companions discovered that the underground passage was a deadly trap laid for greedy descendants of the Eastern Radiance Ancient Kingdom. They survived a poisoned needle mechanism and followed Yang Qing’s chosen route, which he identified as the road of reincarnation.

• Yang Qing recognized the passage as a trap after the marks disappeared and ominous lines appeared on the ceiling.
• Bu Er shielded Yang Qing while Jiang Zhizhou and Pei Buji struck the ceiling, exposing a mass of poison-coated needles.
• Yang Qing detected saltpeter in the breeze, and Jiang Zhizhou and Pei Buji used their cloaks to ignite the needles before they could fall and start a fire.
• Yang Qing led the group toward the left fork, and they entered a passage covered in old beast blood.
• Yang Qing identified the bloodstained passage as the road of reincarnation, alarming Bu Er.

Yang Qing and his companions followed the Rebirth Road and encountered the Three-Lives Stone, where a formation trapped them in visions of slaughter. Yang Qing escaped the illusion and rescued Bu Er and Jiang Zhizhou, but Pei Buji remained unconscious as they crossed the stone and left the mist behind.

• Yang Qing identified the bloodstained passage as a site for Eastern Radiance's sacrificial rites and recognized the giant stone as the Three-Lives Stone.
• Yang Qing and the others were caught in an illusion of slaughter while a thin mist crept toward them.
• Yang Qing broke free of the illusion, saw that Bu Er, Jiang Zhizhou, and Pei Buji were still trapped, and cut his arm to use his cry of pain to wake Bu Er and Jiang Zhizhou.
• Yang Qing led the group through the gap beside the Three-Lives Stone, while Bu Er leapt over it and Jiang Zhizhou carried Pei Buji across.
• Yang Qing saw that the Three-Lives Stone blocked the mist and warned the others that the Rebirth Road's formation could cloud their minds.

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.