Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• Empress Mu Xuehuang watches a vision of an uprising in Great Li. Rebel armies, led by commanders using titles such as Heaven-Warring, Heaven-Charging, and Heaven-Defying Great General, capture cities with apparent coordination.
• The rebels are not merely violent bandits: they distribute grain, and civilians welcome them as heroes. Officials seem to have opened city gates, suggesting corruption or bribery.
• The visions then reveal catastrophic disasters: devastating floods in the south and a severe drought elsewhere. People drown, starve, die of heat, or resort to suicide; profiteers exploit victims by charging heavily for rain rituals.
• Mu Xuehuang realizes the rebellion and disasters are future threats that could overwhelm the dynasty and its treasury.

Character development

• Mu Xuehuang’s initial anger at the rebels gives way to alarm and bewilderment as she sees their discipline, popular support, and apparent infiltration of the government.
• The suffering of ordinary people challenges her distance from their hardships. She begins to grasp how desperate conditions could turn the public against the dynasty.
• Her confidence gives way to fear and a growing belief that Great Li may be facing an almost fated collapse.

Significant themes

• Popular legitimacy: The rebels win loyalty by feeding people, while the dynasty’s authority appears increasingly hollow.
• Governmental decay: Indifferent soldiers and possibly compromised officials reveal weaknesses within the state.
• Natural disaster and human exploitation: Floods and drought devastate the population, while charlatans profit from their desperation.
• The limits of rulership: Mu Xuehuang’s lack of firsthand understanding of ordinary people’s suffering becomes starkly apparent.

Character interactions

• Civilians welcome rebel forces rather than fear them, and a young girl honors a rebel leader with a flower wreath.
• Government soldiers show numb indifference as rebels approach; provincial officials appear to have let them into cities.
• The visions depict families and communities suffering together—parents watching a child swept away, desperate people taking their own lives, and survivors enduring famine and heat.

Key plot points and events

• After seeing visions of future floods, droughts, rebellion, and widespread suffering, Empress Mu Xuehuang fears that Great Li may collapse under her rule.
• She resolves to change the future through advance preparation. Remembering veteran minister Yue Zhenling’s proposals for public welfare, she plans to put him in charge of flood defenses, irrigation, and other disaster precautions.
• A new vision shows Yue resigning publicly, declaring that his departure is permanent. He removes his official robes and hat, then leaves the court.
• The empress in the vision dismisses his departure, insisting that the dynasty can survive without him and that she can handle the coming flood.
• The vision then depicts a catastrophic Jiangnan drought: crops fail, refugees starve, and people resort to eating corpses and drinking the blood of the living.
• Horrified, the present Mu Xuehuang realizes that the lack of effective disaster relief may be connected to Yue’s resignation.

Character developments

• Mu Xuehuang shifts from fear and helplessness to determined resolve, believing preparation can avert disaster. Seeing her future self reject Yue’s counsel shakes her confidence and forces her to recognize her own potential stubbornness.
• Yue Zhenling is portrayed as a principled, experienced minister deeply committed to ordinary people. His solemn resignation suggests profound disappointment with the empress and the court.

Character interactions

• Mu Xuehuang recalls Yue’s compassionate policies and sees him as essential to preventing future disasters.
• In the vision, Yue’s formal resignation and departure meet the empress’s anger and dismissal. The contrast between his quiet resolve and her arrogance highlights how their relationship—and the court’s response to his advice—may shape the kingdom’s fate.

Significant themes

• Leadership and accountability: A ruler’s choices can determine whether a crisis is prevented or worsened.
• Listening to capable counsel: Rejecting experienced, public-minded officials may have devastating consequences.
• Foreknowledge and agency: Mu Xuehuang believes the future can be changed, but the vision shows that knowledge alone is not enough without humility and action.
• Disaster and human desperation: The drought’s horrors reveal how quickly famine can strip away dignity and social order.

Key plot points and events

• Mu Xuehuang’s simulation ends after showing how drought can lead to famine and plague, and how delayed relief can turn hardship into catastrophe.
• She connects the worsening disaster to veteran minister Yue Zhenling’s departure and realizes that both disasters and rebellions develop from underlying causes. She decides to investigate why people rebel rather than treating all rebels as enemies.
• The next day, Mu Xuehuang reverses her previous emphasis on suppressing rebels. She orders treasury funds spent on flood-control dams in the north and water-management works in the south, prioritizing the south, and puts Yue Zhenling in charge.
• Wang Yong objects, arguing that bandit suppression should come first, but the Empress insists on her decision. Yue accepts the assignment with renewed enthusiasm.
• After court, Wang Yong, Deng Shigao, and Zhao Chengfeng worry that the water projects will give the Flowing Sand bandits time to grow stronger. Deng reminds them that their original plot was to cover up a marriage alliance involving a Mara prince and a commoner woman. They had sought to kill Ning Que after he disrupted the plan.
• Believing Ning Que has fled beyond their reach and poses little threat, the ministers decide to leave him alone. In reality, Ning Que has joined Flowing Sand and intends to overthrow the Great Li Dynasty. He is now at its secluded headquarters.

Character developments

• Mu Xuehuang grows more reflective and empathetic. She recognizes that people may rebel out of desperate circumstances and shifts from punishment toward addressing root causes.
• Yue Zhenling is surprised to regain the Empress’s trust and gladly takes responsibility for the public-works program.
• Wang Yong, Deng Shigao, and Zhao Chengfeng remain focused on protecting their political conspiracy and underestimate Ning Que’s ambitions.
• Ning Que, though absent from the court scene, is revealed to be pursuing revolution rather than merely escaping danger.

Significant themes

• Prevention and responsibility: Early action can stop hardship from escalating into disaster.
• Empathy and moral complexity: People driven to desperate acts may be culpable yet also victims of circumstances.
• Public welfare versus political self-interest: Mu Xuehuang prioritizes the people, while the ministers seek to preserve their own scheme.
• Underestimation and unintended consequences: The court’s dismissal of Ning Que’s threat contrasts with his far-reaching plans.

Character interactions

• Mu Xuehuang questions the motives of the rebels and changes her policy accordingly.
• She firmly overrules Wang Yong’s objection and entrusts Yue Zhenling with the water projects.
• The three ministers discuss the rebellion and their conspiracy, ultimately agreeing to ignore Ning Que—an assessment the narration identifies as dangerously mistaken.

Chapter Summary

• Entering Water-Moon Grotto-Heaven: Mu Lingfeng leads Ning Que, Zhuge Qing, and their companions to Flowing Sand’s hidden stronghold. He uses an ancient mechanism—an invention associated with Ning Que’s father—to split the waterfall and reveal a path inside. Ning Que is impressed by the engineering and the grotto’s terraces, towers, and water-powered defenses.
• Ning Que becomes Juzi: Mu Lingfeng brings Ning Que to the cavern containing his father’s stone throne and explains that Flowing Sand has searched for him, hoping he will inherit the former Juzi’s mantle and lead the group. Ning Que recognizes the responsibility behind the welcome but sits on the throne. Mu Lingfeng and nearly ten thousand followers kneel to acknowledge him as their Juzi; Zhuge Qing joins them.
• A brief visit to his father’s memorial: Mu Lingfeng takes Ning Que to a chamber with a statue and altar honoring his father, Ning Yuanzhou, then leaves him alone. Ning Que feels little personal grief or connection, regarding Flowing Sand as merely the temporary background of his simulation.
• The next background begins: The system reveals that Ning Que’s karma points have risen to 6,280, while his Back-Penetrating Fist and Demon-Subduing Saber Technique have each reached 80% proficiency. He starts his second Background Editing and learns he is a personal disciple of the Fallen Star Pavilion, sent away for ten years as punishment. Pavilion disciples have now found traces of him in the Great Li Dynasty, raising questions about the sect’s power and his past.
• A new clue: Before leaving, Ning Que notices an indentation in his father’s statue. Pressing it opens a hidden compartment containing a secret letter.

Character Developments and Interactions

Ning Que accepts leadership of Flowing Sand despite privately treating it as a temporary role. Mu Lingfeng’s reverence and the followers’ unified kneeling establish their loyalty and expectations. Zhuge Qing is drawn into the group’s ritual of allegiance. Ning Que’s curiosity shifts from his father’s legacy to the mysterious Fallen Star Pavilion, while the concealed letter hints that his father left information yet to be discovered.

Significant Themes

The chapter contrasts inherited duty with personal detachment: Ning Que inherits his father’s position but does not feel emotionally bound to it. It also emphasizes hidden histories and mechanisms, from the concealed grotto to the secret compartment, while the new background introduces the tension between cultivating sects and political authority.

Key plot points and events

• Ning Que discovers a hidden compartment inside the statue of his father, Ning Yuanzhou, and finds an old letter. It says Ning Yuanzhou is alive but imprisoned somewhere secret, and directs Ning Que to find a man named Luo Chongxiao at the Star Pavilion using a password.
• Ning Que’s Flowing Sand background advances to 20%, and a new background—personal disciple of the Fallen Star Pavilion—appears at 0%. He suspects the Star Pavilion may be connected to the Fallen Star Pavilion.
• Feeling watched, Ning Que worries that the Great Li court may soon act against Flowing Sand after learning of its recent activities. He resolves to find his father, whose return could restore the organization’s strength.
• In Flowing Sand’s hall, Giant Hammer openly doubts that Ning Que can lead them and questions whether their long effort to overthrow the dynasty has achieved anything. Yin Jiuyou threatens him, and the two nearly come to blows.
• Ning Que interrupts the confrontation and announces that his father is alive and that he knows where to begin searching: the Star Pavilion. The members are startled, but the chapter ends with them admitting they have never heard of the place.

Character developments and interactions

• Ning Que gains a concrete lead about his father and recognizes that Flowing Sand needs more than his title as the Little Juzi—it needs renewed hope.
• Giant Hammer is disillusioned with Flowing Sand’s stalled rebellion, but his immediate question about Ning Yuanzhou shows that his despair is directed at the organization’s prospects, not Ning Que personally.
• Yin Jiuyou responds to dissent with force, exposing the group’s fragile unity.
• The Flowing Sand members shift from arguing over whether to follow Ning Que to listening closely when he offers news of Ning Yuanzhou.

Significant themes

• Hope and leadership: Ning Que’s revelation revives morale by pointing to the figure Flowing Sand still sees as its true leader.
• Legacy versus identity: Ning Que is Juzi Ning’s son, but must prove he can do more than inherit his father’s name.
• Disillusionment and loyalty: Years without progress have weakened Flowing Sand, leaving members torn between continued commitment and giving up.
• Secrets and hidden histories: The concealed letter and unfamiliar Star Pavilion suggest that Ning Yuanzhou’s disappearance is tied to a larger mystery.

Key plot points and events

• Ning Que insists that Star Pavilion is real and declares that his goal is to bring his father, Juzi Ning, back. Giant Hammer is startled but stops questioning him.
• While settling into Flowing Sand, Ning Que learns how deeply the organization is embedded across the Dynasty: its members work among ordinary people, in local institutions, and even in the imperial court.
• Secret reports say the Empress is unwell, has intensified the suppression of bandits, and has ordered major water-control projects. Ning Que briefly fears the crackdown targets him, then realizes the construction orders appear unrelated to rebels.
• Flowing Sand locates Star Pavilion at a Daoist temple on Great Marsh Mountain. A coded line from Ning Que’s father’s letter prompts the young Daoist to admit Ning Que alone into the hidden inner pavilion.
• An elderly Star Pavilion elder confirms that Ning Que is Ning Yuanzhou’s son and reveals that his father is imprisoned in the Skeleton Desert, at the Dynasty’s northern edge.
• The elder explains that Ning Yuanzhou was once selected by Star Pavilion for a chance to enter the secretive Fallen Star Pavilion. Instead, driven to change the troubled world, he founded Flowing Sand. To protect his pregnant wife, he surrendered himself and was exiled to the desert.

Character developments and interactions

• Ning Que presents himself with growing confidence as Flowing Sand’s returning young leader, while privately relying on a background he has fabricated or revised. He remains determined to rescue his father, though he knows little about Star Pavilion at first.
• Giant Hammer challenges Ning Que’s claim but is impressed by his resolve and lets the matter stand.
• Luo Qingwan checks in on Ning Que as he reads the court reports; he responds that nothing is troubling him.
• The Star Pavilion elder initially tests Ning Que’s confidence, then treats him with respect after hearing his firm answer. He shares the history of Ning Yuanzhou and his exile.

Significant themes

• Hidden identities and secret networks: Flowing Sand’s members are concealed throughout society, while Star Pavilion guards its own secrets.
• Ambition and sacrifice: Ning Yuanzhou gave up his place in a powerful order and ultimately his freedom to pursue social change and protect his family.
• Uncertainty and resolve: Ning Que lacks clear information about both the court’s intentions and his father’s past, yet acts with unwavering determination.
• Power and surveillance: The Empress’s broad reach and the court’s campaign against bandits raise the possibility that Ning Que’s rebellion could soon attract official attention.

Key plot points and events

• Shi Guangling, master of the Star Pavilion, tells Ning Que that his father, Ning Yuanzhou, is imprisoned in the Skeleton Desert. The location was confirmed through constellation divination.
• Ning Que learns that Wang Tianque, son of the Minister of Personnel, captured his father with a private army and sent him there. Ning Que resolves to kill Wang Tianque.
• Ning Que informs Flowing Sand of the discovery. The group recognizes that rescuing Ning Yuanzhou will be extremely dangerous: the desert’s deadly storms and monsters are joined by Great Li border troops and raids from the neighboring Mara Dynasty.
• Ning Que insists on going alone so the rescue plan will remain concealed. Despite objections from Mu Lingfeng and others, he sets out after Zhuge Qing equips him with supplies.
• Three days later, Ning Que enters the desert disguised as a prisoner. Flowing Sand has invented a brutal criminal record for him—murdering thirty-six people, including women and infants—to make him seem dangerous and ensure he is sent to the deepest part of the desert.

Character developments and interactions

• Ning Que shows resolve and filial devotion, calmly accepting the risks because Ning Yuanzhou is his father. His cold anger toward Wang Tianque adds a revenge motive to the rescue.
• Mu Lingfeng objects fiercely and offers to accompany Ning Que, driven by his promise to protect him, but Ning Que refuses.
• Zhuge Qing supports Ning Que by preparing food and water, then calls after him to return alive.
• Giant Hammer is impressed by Ning Que’s courage, despite having previously doubted him.
• Shi Guangling serves as the source of the crucial revelation, explaining both the Star Pavilion’s divination and the political circumstances of Ning Yuanzhou’s disappearance.

Significant themes

• Filial duty and sacrifice: Ning Que accepts extreme danger because of his bond with his father.
• Secrecy and political power: Ning Yuanzhou’s imprisonment was carried out privately, allowing the court to treat him as merely missing.
• Courage and loyalty: Flowing Sand’s members worry for Ning Que, while he chooses to bear the risk alone.
• Dangerous identities and deception: Ning Que adopts the fabricated identity of a mass murderer to infiltrate the Skeleton Desert.

Plot points and events

• Ning Que arrives at the final way station before the Skeleton Desert, where the other prisoners fear him after learning he has killed thirty-six people.
• The desert is divided into increasingly dangerous zones. The deepest region borders the Mara Dynasty, whose soldiers hunt prisoners for sport; exile there is effectively a slow, uncertain death.
• Ning Que’s system grants him rewards for his second background: a Fallen Star Pavilion token, the supreme treasure Fourfold Azure Cloud, the Four Divine Constellations Scripture, and astrological divination. These new resources make him far more confident about surviving the desert.
• As the convoy continues, soldiers discuss Ning Que’s father, Ning Yuanzhou, the imprisoned leader of Flowing Sand. He is being repeatedly tortured and healed so that officials can force him to reveal his organization’s headquarters. They also mention that Wang’s son has long been searching for Ning Yuanzhou’s son.
• Ning Que confronts an officer who predicts that the missing son will share his father’s fate. When the officer mocks him, a sandstorm obscures the scene; Ning Que reappears after killing him and severing his head.
• Ning Que declares that one more death means nothing to him. At his command, his shackles shatter, leaving the prisoners and escorting soldiers stunned.

Character developments

• Ning Que shifts from cautious confidence to open assurance after receiving powerful system rewards. His response to the discussion of his father also reveals a fierce personal resolve.
• The prisoners see Ning Que as both dangerous and potentially formidable, though they pity him for being sent to the desert’s deadliest region.
• The officers move from casual gossip and mockery to shock and fear when Ning Que kills their leader with apparent ease.

Significant themes

• Survival and escalating danger: The desert’s layered geography and recurring threats make exile feel like an ongoing sentence of death.
• Power, reputation, and intimidation: Ning Que’s known body count frightens the prisoners, while his sudden killing demonstrates that his threat is real.
• Family and vengeance: News of Ning Yuanzhou’s torture—and the search for his son—turns the journey into a personal conflict for Ning Que.
• Fate versus agency: Although the desert is designed to make survival unlikely, Ning Que’s new abilities and decisive actions suggest he may defy the fate intended for him.

Character interactions

• Ning Que silently observes the fearful prisoners, who keep their distance from him.
• Soldiers discuss Ning Yuanzhou’s torture and the search for his son; Ning Que challenges their assumptions when one officer predicts his death.
• After the officer insults him, Ning Que kills him in front of the convoy, openly asserting his willingness to kill again and provoking fear among both prisoners and guards.

Key plot points

• During a violent sandstorm, Ning Que breaks free of his shackles, kills the officers escorting the prisoners, and gives the other prisoners a key before leaving them behind.
• He arrives alone at the Skull Prison and tells the guards, “They all died,” claiming a terrible sandstorm killed both prisoners and officers.
• Warden Wu Pengfei questions him, suspecting he may have caused the deaths. Ning Que’s composed explanations give Wu no proof, so he orders Ning Que sent to the deepest part of the Skeleton Desert.
• There, Ning Que encounters a group of hardened prisoners led by a man covered in “kill” brands. After saying he was imprisoned for murdering a family of thirty-six, Ning Que asks whether they know a prisoner named Ning Yuanzhou.

Character developments and interactions

• Ning Que is revealed as dangerous, capable, and calculating. He frees the prisoners but proceeds alone, anticipates the warden’s questions, and maintains a calm, almost cheerful demeanor despite intense suspicion.
• Wu Pengfei is cautious and troubled by Ning Que’s arrival and criminal record. Though he suspects foul play, he lacks evidence and resorts to sending Ning Que into the desert.
• The freed prisoners move from disbelief to panic, then scramble to unlock themselves.
• The branded prisoner responds warily to Ning Que’s confession, establishing immediate tension between the two.

Significant themes

• Survival and brutality: The desert and prison are places where only the ruthless endure.
• Suspicion and ambiguity: Ning Que’s account appears plausible, but his actions and record leave others uncertain what really happened.
• Freedom and consequence: Though Ning Que helps the prisoners escape their chains, he is sent onward into an even more dangerous confinement.
• A hidden purpose: His question about Ning Yuanzhou suggests that reaching the prison—and finding this person—may be part of a larger plan.

Key plot points and events

• Ning Que arrives in the Skeleton Desert prison and asks the prisoners about Ning Yuanzhou. They recognize the name, but the scarred gang leader, Qin Qisha, refuses to answer and threatens him.
• A towering prisoner with nearly a hundred brands of “kill” intervenes only after Yi Tao offers Qin Qisha scarce meat. Yi Tao explains that each brand marks a dynasty that has condemned Qin, making him a fugitive from at least a hundred dynasties. Qin has made the deadly desert his refuge and commands prisoners through fear.
• Ning Que reflects that strength can attract followers, but lasting loyalty requires more than intimidation.
• Yi Tao says he was framed by Wang Tianque, whose powerful father helped destroy Yi Tao’s family and send him to prison. Ning Que thanks him for stepping in.
• That night, Yi Tao recalls seeing a convoy carrying a captive woman from Great Li into the Mara Dynasty. Ning Que reacts sharply and asks whether she wore a wedding dress.

Character developments

• Ning Que remains composed in the face of Qin Qisha’s threat, but his questions about Ning Yuanzhou—and his sudden reaction to the captive woman—reveal personal concerns beneath his calm.
• Yi Tao emerges as compassionate and unjustly imprisoned. Though timid and resentful of the powerful man who framed him, he risks helping Ning Que.
• Qin Qisha is established as a brutal, feared survivor whose authority rests on menace and demonstrated power.

Character interactions

• Qin Qisha tries to intimidate Ning Que into submission; Ning Que answers with composure rather than fear.
• Yi Tao defuses the confrontation by giving Qin meat, then warns Ning Que about him.
• Ning Que responds to Yi Tao’s help with gratitude and listens to his story.
• Yi Tao’s account of the woman in the convoy appears to connect to Ning Que’s own concerns, setting up a likely search or rescue.

Significant themes

• Power and leadership: Fear can secure obedience, but Ning Que questions whether it can create genuine loyalty.
• Injustice and powerlessness: Yi Tao’s fabricated conviction shows how the powerful can ruin ordinary lives with impunity.
• Survival in a lawless world: Scarce food, violence, and the desert’s harshness shape life in the prison.
• Compassion amid brutality: Yi Tao’s small act of kindness contrasts with the prisoners’ prevailing cruelty.

Ning Que learned that Su Yunjin had fled across the Skeleton Desert toward the Mara Dynasty and vowed that she would return. At the desert prison, he refused to work, struck a Prison Officer who whipped Yi Tao, and declared that the officer would soon slap himself.

• Ning Que realized Yi Tao's account of a woman fleeing in a wedding dress was about Su Yunjin, his wife, who had been taken toward Mara.
• Yi Tao described Su Yunjin's desperate flight and said people sent from Great Li to Mara met horrific fates; Ning Que insisted she would come back.
• The next day, Ning Que refused to work in the desert prison while Qin Qisha rested because he supplied food and water to the Prison Officers.
• After Qin Qisha spoke to the Prison Officers, one whipped Yi Tao and then tried to strike Ning Que.
• Ning Que caught the whip, lashed the Prison Officer across the face, and predicted that the man would soon slap himself.

Ning Que used his System to summon ice water in the Skeleton Desert, stunning the prisoners and Prison Officers. He let Yi Tao drink but stopped the Prison Officer, demanding that he slap himself twice first.

• The Prison Officer threatened Ning Que for talking back, while Qin Qisha took an interest in the newcomer.
• Ning Que asked Yi Tao if he wanted ice water and used the System to exchange 20 karma points for a bucket.
• The bucket of ice water appeared, shocking everyone, and Yi Tao drank from it eagerly.
• Ning Que drank the ice water as the Prison Officer reached for the bucket, then slapped the officer's hand away.
• Ning Que told the Prison Officer he could have water only after slapping himself twice.

Ning Que used magically summoned ice water and food to defy the prison officer and Qin Qisha in the desert prison. After the officer cut off his lunch, Ning Que redeemed a lavish meal and Instant Noodles, leaving the two authorities stunned when they came to investigate.

• Ning Que claimed the ice water as his own and told the prison officer and Qin Qisha they could drink only after slapping themselves; Qin Qisha held back from attacking him.
• Ning Que and Yi Tao drank the ice water while the other prisoners watched enviously, and the prison officer ordered that they receive no lunch.
• Ning Que spent points to summon food, including the chicken leg Yi Tao wanted, then made Instant Noodles with hot water.
• The prison officer sent someone to check their reaction and learned they had a far better meal than the guards.
• The prison officer and Qin Qisha hurried to see the food for themselves and were nearly faint with shock.

Ning Que used food and Plum Blossom Wine to win Yi Tao’s loyalty and draw the prisoners to his side. He then offered the Prison Officers and Qin Qisha a share only if they first slapped themselves, leaving them facing his humiliating condition.

• Ning Que shared a feast with Yi Tao, who knelt and pledged his life to Ning Que in gratitude.
• Ning Que exchanged Karma Points for Plum Blossom Wine, and Yi Tao drank his bowl in one gulp before collapsing drunk.
• The wine’s fragrance led other prisoners to Ning Que’s cave, where he offered them food in exchange for siding with him.
• The prisoners overcame their hesitation, ate the food, and showed Ning Que awe and respect.
• Ning Que told the Prison Officers and Qin Qisha they could eat only after the Prison Officer slapped himself to Ning Que’s satisfaction.

Ning Que forced the Prison Officer and prisoners to obey him by controlling their food, while Qin Qisha went to the Mara border and told the Mara commander about Ning Que’s supplies. Yi Tao later revealed that Ning Yuanzhou was imprisoned near the border under Mara guards.

• Ning Que made the Prison Officer slap himself, then ordered the prisoners and officers to obey him in exchange for food.
• Qin Qisha left with two followers and headed for the Mara border, planning to turn the Mara Dynasty against Ning Que by reporting his food supply.
• The Mara commander recognized Qin Qisha, heard his report, and agreed to deal with Ning Que before welcoming Qin Qisha and his followers inside.
• Yi Tao woke to find the prisoners and officers gathered respectfully around Ning Que, who told him they would no longer have to work.
• Yi Tao told Ning Que that Ning Yuanzhou was imprisoned near the Mara border under the Mara Dynasty’s guard.

Ning Que learned that his father was being held by the Mara Dynasty and that Su Yunjin had been taken there for a marriage alliance. When Mara soldiers attacked the prison to seize Ning Que over his food supplies, he broke his chains and killed two of them.

• Yi Tao told Ning Que that Ning Yuanzhou was imprisoned near the Mara Dynasty's border and explained that valuable prisoners were sent there for harsher interrogation.
• Ning Que decided he would need to visit the Mara Dynasty to investigate his father and find Su Yunjin, and he shared food with the prisoners and officers.
• Qin Qisha returned and warned the prisoners that their food might be gone after that night.
• Mara soldiers on horses and giant white wolves surrounded the prison, demanded its food and water, and ordered Ning Que taken away.
• Ning Que drew his sword, severed his chains, and beheaded the two soldiers who came to seize him.

Ning Que slaughtered the Mara soldiers and forced their surviving leader to take him toward the Mara Border, bringing Yi Tao as his interpreter. Warden Wu Pengfei learned of Ning Que’s escape, suspected his connection to the mysterious deaths, and sent a warning to watch Ning Yuanzhou.

• Ning Que broke free, killed the attacking Mara soldiers, and spared their leader after he surrendered.
• Ning Que told the leader through Yi Tao that he would go with him, then set off toward the Mara Border with Yi Tao.
• A Prison Officer reported Ning Que’s escape and the massacre to Wu Pengfei.
• Wu Pengfei linked Ning Que to the unexplained deaths and wondered why he had come to the Skeleton Desert.
• Wu Pengfei wrote a warning to keep a close watch on Ning Yuanzhou and sent it by eagle.

Ning Que traveled toward the Mara Dynasty with Yi Tao and learned that his father, Ning Yuanzhou, was imprisoned there and tortured for the location of a deceased cultivator's cave abode. The Mara Dynasty's patience was wearing thin, and Ning Que continued toward the border to rescue his father.

• Wu Pengfei watched a Gray Eagle fly toward the Mara Dynasty and mistakenly concluded that Ning Que had entered the Skeleton Desert to seek Ning Yuanzhou's secret.
• Ning Que and Yi Tao continued through the cold desert toward the Mara border, and Ning Que took armor from a Mara soldier to keep warm.
• Ning Que threatened the soldier leader, who sank into quicksand, and freed him after he agreed to answer questions.
• The soldier confirmed that Ning Yuanzhou was held under Mara guard and tortured by both dynasties to reveal the location of a cultivator's cave abode.
• Yi Tao told Ning Que that Ning Yuanzhou had revealed only that the cave abode lay deep in the Skeleton Desert, while its exact location remained unknown.
• Yi Tao reported that the Mara Dynasty was growing impatient with Ning Yuanzhou.

Ning Que learned that Mara planned to kill Ning Yuanzhou because cultivators had arrived seeking the Mara Holy Son and the desert ruins. After entering Mara as prisoners, Ning Que and Yi Tao were selected by a cultivator to scout the Skeleton Desert, possibly to locate the ruins.

• Yi Tao explained that Mara intended to act against Ning Yuanzhou within days, while Great Li favored patience, and that cultivators had come to Mara for the Holy Son and the ruins.
• Ning Que and Yi Tao disguised themselves as prisoners and crossed into Mara, where the border guards admitted them.
• The pair were confined in a beast cage, but Ning Que's sword power kept the animals away.
• At dusk, a cultivator arrived on a flying sword and selected prisoners from the cages.
• Ning Que and Yi Tao were chosen, and Yi Tao realized they were likely being recruited as scouts to find the ruins in the Skeleton Desert.

Ning Que and the other prisoners were sent into the Skeleton Desert’s deadly Death Zone to search for a cultivator’s ruins, while Feng Shande’s party sought information from Ning Yuanzhou. Ning Que saw his father alive in the Blackwater Prison, and Ning Yuanzhou left with Feng Shande’s group.

• Mara Dynasty cultivators selected prisoners as expendable scouts and promised they could keep anything they found in the desert.
• Ning Que questioned Feng Shande about claiming discoveries, then set out with Yi Tao, Mara soldiers, and Feng Shande toward the desert’s depths.
• Ning Que learned that Feng Shande belonged to the Huayang Sect and that the party planned to meet someone before searching for the ruins.
• The group descended into an underground Blackwater Prison, where Ning Que recognized its wounded prisoner as his father, Ning Yuanzhou.
• Feng Shande approached Ning Yuanzhou, whose chains were unlocked, and Ning Yuanzhou left with the group.