Chapter Summaries

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.

Yin Xian retrieved an old bundle from the rubble and warned that the Four-Square Shrine would soon collapse, then left with his prize. Yang Qing and the others searched for an ancestral heirloom, but as the shrine began to shake and its doors shut, Yang Qing found and pocketed an ancient key.

• Yin Xian found old papers in the buried bundle, warned that the Four-Square Shrine would collapse within an hour, and left to pursue his own business.
• Yang Qing said Yin Xian was trying to defy heaven and rewrite his fate, but chose not to stop him and focused on searching the Ancestral Shrine.
• Yang Qing, Fen Liyou, Jiang Zhizhou, Bu Er, and the others searched the shrine for the Parchment Scroll as time ran short.
• Yang Qing heard a faint sound, found a fallen memorial tablet, and discovered an ancient key hidden in its base.
• The Four-Square Shrine began shaking and its doors closed, so Jiang Zhizhou and Bu Er tried to force an exit while Yang Qing pocketed the key.

Yang Qing and Fen Liyou escaped the collapsing Four-Square Ancestral Shrine, then joined Jiang Zhizhou and Bu Er in searching for Yin Xian. They reached a strangely flourishing residence and Yang Qing ordered Jiang Zhizhou to destroy a mirror, but an angry voice interrupted him.

• Yang Qing and Fen Liyou offered their blood at the ancestral shrine, and Jiang Zhizhou and Bu Er carried them out when its doors opened and it collapsed.
• Yang Qing urged the group to find Yin Xian, whose attempt to defy heaven and change fate had not yet produced any visible signs.
• Jiang Zhizhou found a residence filled with unusual auras and flourishing plants, while Bu Er found nothing in the opposite direction.
• Yang Qing led the group to the residence, where a warm gust of wind greeted them as they entered.
• Yang Qing told Jiang Zhizhou to knock down a mirror above the main building's door, but a furious voice demanded to know who dared touch it.

Yang Qing and his companions tried to stop Yin Xian from using a bronze mirror to change his fate, but Jiang Zhizhou shattered it after Yin Xian's blood touched the blade. The shattered mirror activated a Spirit-Gathering Formation, and Yin Xian became trapped as his blood continued to fall onto its fragments.

• Yin Xian revealed himself and admitted he had come to Four Directions City to defy Heaven and change his fate, explaining that his family’s crimes had left him crippled and imprisoned.
• Yang Qing ordered Jiang Zhizhou to destroy the bronze mirror, and Yin Xian leapt from his wheelchair to grab Jiang Zhizhou’s sword, cutting his hand.
• Jiang Zhizhou shattered the mirror, and Yin Xian collapsed into his wheelchair as he realized his plan had failed.
• Light emerged from the fragments as a strange wind withered the courtyard’s plants, and Yang Qing recognized the signs of an activated Spirit-Gathering Formation.
• Yang Qing urged everyone to flee and told Jiang Zhizhou to take Yin Xian away, but the wheelchair would not move as mirror fragments gathered around Yin Xian’s feet and his blood dripped onto them.

Yin Xian became trapped in a Spirit-Gathering Formation that drained his blood into a grave, and Yang Qing and the others tried to disrupt it by restoring the shattered bronze mirror and adding their own blood. Their plan appeared to work as Jiang Zhizhou and Bu Er pressed their bleeding hands to the gravestone, and thunder crashed overhead.

• The bronze mirror fragments drained Yin Xian's blood, and Jiang Zhizhou and Bu Er failed to free him from the formation.
• Yang Qing deduced that the mirror was channeling blood to a person or object, and Bu Er found a grave in the rear courtyard.
• Yang Qing, Jiang Zhizhou, and Bu Er pieced the shattered mirror together, which slowed the blood draining from Yin Xian.
• Fen Liyou suggested that the formation might require blood from people other than Yin Xian, so Yang Qing and the others added their own blood to the mirror.
• The trembling formation prompted Jiang Zhizhou and Bu Er to rush to the grave, where they found the coffin exposed and pressed their bleeding hands to the gravestone.
• Thunder crashed overhead as Jiang Zhizhou and Bu Er touched the gravestone with their bloody hands.

Jiang Zhizhou, Bu Er, and Yang Qing broke the Fate-Reversing Array in the Underground City, revealing a hidden passage to Four Directions City's Treasure Vault. They left without following Yin Xian inside and used a key from the Four-Square Shrine to activate a Nine-Star Combination Lock on the Library Pavilion, where they faced the challenge of solving its mechanisms.

• Jiang Zhizhou and Bu Er broke the bloodstained gravestone, causing the coffin to disintegrate and ending the thunder and lightning above the courtyard.
• Yang Qing, Fen Liyou, and Yin Xian arrived, and Yang Qing realized the Fate-Reversing Array had been intended to change the fate of the person in the coffin.
• A passage to the Treasure Vault appeared beneath the grave, and Yin Xian entered through a concealed passage in the screen wall.
• Yang Qing and the others left the desolate courtyard, and Yang Qing showed them the key he had found at the Four-Square Shrine.
• Yang Qing spotted the Library Pavilion and used the key on its lock, revealing a Nine-Star Combination Lock with nine challenges.

Yang Qing opened the Nine-Star Combination Lock, allowing the group to enter the Library Pavilion, where they found a biography describing Emperor Zetian’s plan to choose a successor. The group discovered a hidden staircase to the second floor but found an invisible barrier blocking the way up.

• Yang Qing deciphered the star-patterned protrusions, pressed a tiny button beside the keyhole, and completed the picture puzzle to open the lock.
• Yang Qing, Jiang Zhizhou, Bu Er, and Fen Liyou entered the Library Pavilion and found it filled with ancient books.
• Yang Qing found a biography of Emperor Zetian, which said he had sought to secure the Eastern Radiance Ancient Kingdom’s future and would choose a successor through treasures and extraordinary arts.
• Jiang Zhizhou and Bu Er speculated that gathering Eastern Splendor’s tokens could make someone the chosen Son of Heaven, while Yang Qing worried Emperor Zetian still controlled events centuries after his death.
• Yang Qing noticed a narrow staircase, and Bu Er ran toward it but struck an almost invisible wall blocking the way up.

Yang Qing and his companions discovered a second, better-preserved Four Directions City beneath the courtyard and wondered if it was Emperor Zetian’s legendary Void Land. After failing to find Yin Xian, they left and returned to Urn City, where battle had erupted.

• Yang Qing and the others found the Library Pavilion’s second floor blocked, then returned to the courtyard to investigate the tunnel.
• They descended into another Four Directions City, where food, clothing, and other objects remained pristine despite centuries underground.
• Fen Liyou suggested the underground city might be the Void Land, but Yang Qing doubted the legend could explain Emperor Zetian’s fate and the memorial tablets.
• The group searched the underground city and its outskirts for Yin Xian but found no trace of him, so they left through the Merit Forest.
• After another dozen or so days, Yang Qing and his companions returned to Urn City and found smoke rising from the beacons as cries of battle shook the city.

Yang Qing and his companions learned that Yin Xian had obtained the Imperial Heirloom Seal and was leading an uprising in Urn City to restore Eastern Splendor. Yang Qing concluded that the seal, rather than Yin Xian alone, was driving the rebellion, and set out to meet the city lord while insisting the seal must be destroyed.

• Yang Qing and his companions entered Urn City and learned that Yin Xian, a man in a wheelchair, had obtained the Imperial Heirloom Seal and was challenging the city lord.
• At Plum Blossom Villa, Ouyang Lin told Yang Qing that Yin Xian had gathered an army and brought most of Urn City's forces under his control.
• Yang Qing recounted the group's experiences in the Four-Square Land to Ouyang Lin and Pei Buji, then discussed how to stop Yin Xian's uprising.
• Yang Qing proposed seeking something that could inspire greater allegiance than the Imperial Heirloom Seal and decided to meet the city lord.
• Yang Qing explained that the seal could let Emperor Zetian choose a successor and argued that it had to be destroyed; Jiang Zhizhou agreed that it was suspicious and must be eliminated.

Yin Xian surrounded the City Lord's Mansion and demanded the Wengcheng City Lord surrender, while Yang Qing and his companions entered through a hidden passage to negotiate. Yang Qing asked the city lord to speak privately about preventing war.

• Yin Xian called a one-day truce and demanded the Wengcheng City Lord surrender or face an assault on the mansion.
• Yang Qing, Jiang Zhizhou, Bu Er, and Fen Liyou entered an empty house near the mansion to find a hidden passage.
• Fen Liyou led the group through the underground passage, and Jiang Zhizhou and Bu Er broke through walls and cleared rubble blocking their way.
• The four emerged in the mansion's council hall and were surrounded by the city lord's soldiers.
• Yang Qing explained that they wanted peace, and the Wengcheng City Lord dismissed his guards so they could speak privately.

Yang Qing and his companions arranged for the lord of Urn City to delay surrendering to Yin Xian while they sought Mo Yi’s aid. They reached the Western Regions Kingdom and learned that Mo Yi had become its new king.

• Yang Qing urged the lord of Urn City to temporarily agree to surrender, then secretly send a letter asking Mo Yi for reinforcements.
• The lord of Urn City gave Yang Qing a sealed letter and a small seal, and they agreed to set the surrender ceremony for one month later.
• Yang Qing and his three companions left Urn City in secret and hurried toward the Western Regions Kingdom to seek Mo Yi’s support.
• During the journey, Bu Er questioned whether Mo Yi would help despite his hostility toward them, and Yang Qing said Mo Yi would weigh the danger posed by Yin Xian.
• After ten days, Yang Qing and his companions reached the Imperial City and learned that Mo Yi had become the new king of the Western Regions Kingdom.