Chapter Summaries

Ning Que was confronted by Liu Fusheng and the Supreme Sect, but the Divine Stone Guard and Shadow Guard arrived to protect him. They rejected Liu Fusheng’s demand for justice and fought the Supreme Sect, leaving the battle as a massacre.

• Liu Piaoying identified Ning Que as the killer of the Supreme Sect disciples, and Liu Fusheng ordered his experts to attack him.
• Ning Que’s system summoned his second background, bringing the Divine Stone Guard and Shadow Guard to his aid.
• The Divine Stone Guard and Shadow Guard killed four Supreme Sect guest elders and greeted Ning Que as the Fallen Star Pavilion’s long-lost senior brother.
• The guards defended Ning Que and dismissed Liu Fusheng’s claim that the Supreme Sect deserved justice.
• Liu Fusheng attacked Ning Que, and the Supreme Sect charged into battle as the two guards began cutting them down.

The Fallen Star Pavilion’s guards slaughtered the Supreme Sect’s protectors, and the Divine Stone Guard killed Liu Fusheng—or so it seemed. After returning to the ruined sect, Liu Piaoying discovered her father had survived by destroying a Life Wheel, and Liu Fusheng planned to expose the Fallen Star Pavilion’s secret through the Moon Gazing Pavilion.

• The Divine Stone Guard and Shadow Guard killed the Supreme Sect’s guest protectors and overpowered Liu Fusheng despite his half-step divine concentration cultivation.
• Liu Fusheng threatened to reveal a secret that could destroy the Fallen Star Pavilion, but the Divine Stone Guard struck him down before he could speak.
• The Shadow Guard warned Liu Piaoying not to trouble Ning Que again, then escorted Ning Que back to the Fallen Star Pavilion.
• Liu Piaoying returned to the deserted Supreme Sect and found Liu Fusheng alive, having survived by crushing a Life Wheel.
• Liu Fusheng told Liu Piaoying to contact the Moon Gazing Pavilion so he could report the Fallen Star Pavilion’s secret.

Ning Que returned to the Fallen Star Pavilion after ten years away and learned that the pavilion's former master had regretted driving him out. His arrival drew the attention of his estranged junior brother Xing Chenyuan, while Liu Fusheng threatened to bring the pavilion under investigation.

• Liu Fusheng recalled the Moon Gazing Pavilion's past purges of Evil Cultivators and vowed that the Fallen Star Pavilion would not escape the coming purge.
• The Divine Stone Guard and Shadow Guard brought Ning Que into the Fallen Star Pavilion, where disciples recognized him as its former greatest genius.
• Pavilion Master Xingyunzi welcomed Ning Que and revealed that the previous pavilion master had regretted driving him away for his junior brother's sake.
• Ning Que's background progress increased as he asked about his junior brother, and he learned that his departure followed the sect's shift of affection to the pavilion master's son.
• Xing Chenyuan arrived with several Inner Pavilion elders and challenged Ning Que to prove how much his cultivation had advanced.

Ning Que confronted the Fallen Star Pavilion elders over the half-volume rubbing of the Four Divine Constellations Scripture, which Xing Chenyuan had secretly kept. He invoked Lu Tong’s final wish to demand the rubbing, leaving the pavilion’s leaders shaken by the secret Lu Tong’s name raised.

• Ning Que refused to spar with Xing Chenyuan and asked whether the rubbing he had left in the scripture repository was still there.
• Ning Que cited the sect rule requiring anyone who secretly kept a cultivation manual rubbing to have their cultivation crippled and be expelled.
• Mo Qingdi and the elders claimed the rubbing remained untouched in the Star Treasure Pavilion, but they hesitated when Ning Que demanded they bring it out.
• Mo Qingdi accused Ning Que of defying the elders, and Ning Que replied that he was fulfilling Lu Tong’s final wish.
• Ning Que revealed that Lu Tong’s remnant soul had led him to a final letter for the Fallen Star Pavilion and that Lu Tong had wanted to see the rubbing, stunning Xingyunzi, Mo Qingdi, and Xing Chenyuan.

Ning Que used Lu Tong’s missing scripture rubbing to pressure the Fallen Star Pavilion, then foresaw Xing Chenyuan destroying the sect through evil cultivation. Xingyunzi rejected Ning Que’s warning despite seeing a similar vision, while the Moon Gazing Pavilion began investigating the Fallen Star Pavilion and news of Ning Yuanzhou’s escape reached the Great Li Dynasty.

• Ning Que demanded that Mo Qingdi find Lu Tong’s missing rubbing, and Xing Chenyuan reacted with panic.
• Li Jieyang told Ning Que that the Four Divine Constellations Scripture’s last page contained a Foresight Art, which Ning Que then used to see Xing Chenyuan leading the Fallen Star Pavilion to ruin.
• Xingyunzi divined the Fallen Star Pavilion’s destruction and saw the Moon Gazing Pavilion lead an attack on it.
• Ning Que warned Xingyunzi that Xing Chenyuan practiced evil cultivation and would destroy the sect, but Xingyunzi refused to believe him.
• Liu Piaoying reported to the Moon Gazing Pavilion that the Fallen Star Pavilion might harbor an Evil Cultivator, and news of Ning Yuanzhou’s escape from the Skeleton Desert reached the Great Li Dynasty.

Ning Yuanzhou’s escape from the Skeleton Desert and return to Flowing Sand alarmed Great Li’s officials and Wang Tianque, who feared his revenge. At court, Mu Xuehuang recognized Ning Yuanzhou as the man linked to the rebellion in her vision and became convinced he was the cause.

• Zhao Chengfeng and Deng Shigao told Wang Yong that Ning Yuanzhou had escaped the Skeleton Desert and returned to Flowing Sand, which had united under his leadership.
• Wang Yong, Zhao Chengfeng, and Deng Shigao drafted a memorial urging the court to deal with Ning Yuanzhou’s return quickly.
• Wang Tianque panicked, fearing Ning Yuanzhou would seek revenge because he had sent him into the Skeleton Desert while trying to learn his secret about a cultivator’s ruins.
• At morning court, Wang Yong and other officials presented reports and a portrait of Ning Yuanzhou to Mu Xuehuang.
• Mu Xuehuang compared Ning Yuanzhou’s appearance with the rebel leader in her vision and concluded that he was the same man.

Mu Xuehuang began a third simulation hoping to confirm that Ning Yuanzhou led the rebels, but it showed a boy in her war-torn childhood era instead. After bandits slaughtered his family, the boy picked up a bloodied blade and faced them.

• Mu Xuehuang dismissed court and prepared to use the simulation to investigate Ning Yuanzhou.
• The simulation showed a young boy playing music on a leaf in a village caught in the late emperor’s wars.
• The boy shoved a nearby girl out of danger just before an explosion engulfed the village.
• The boy searched the burning village and found his parents dead beside a blood-stained well.
• Bandits mocked the boy and beheaded his mother, and he picked up a butcher’s knife with fury in his eyes.

Mu Xuehuang watched Ning Yuanzhou survive the massacre of his village, grow into a skilled warrior, and leave to build an organization that would help the oppressed. She recognized the village and her own childhood self in his memories, then saw Ning Yuanzhou gather the people who would become Flowing Sand’s founding veterans.

• As a boy, Ning Yuanzhou killed the bandits who had slaughtered his village and murdered his parents.
• Ten years later, Ning Yuanzhou practiced swordsmanship at his parents’ graves while Ahe urged him to leave the village and explore the world.
• Ning Yuanzhou told Ahe he planned to found an organization to help people crushed by oppression, and Mu Xuehuang recognized the village and her childhood self in the scene.
• Mu Xuehuang realized the young man was Ning Yuanzhou, the future founder of Flowing Sand and a threat to the Great Li Dynasty.
• After leaving the village, Ning Yuanzhou saved more people and gathered Mu Lingfeng, Yin Jiuyou, Luo Qingwan, and other martial-world wanderers as Flowing Sand’s founding veterans.

Mu Xuehuang watched Ning Yuanzhou and his companions become wanted fugitives after killing Zhao Heng and later found Flowing Sand after escaping over a cliff. Years later, Ning Yuanzhou refused to pursue cultivation so he could continue his campaign to overthrow Great Li.

• An old man begged Ning Yuanzhou and his companions to avenge his daughter, whom Zhao Heng had raped and killed before corrupt officials framed a vagrant for the crime.
• Ning Yuanzhou and his companions burned the Zhao Residence and killed Zhao Heng, prompting the prime minister to make them wanted fugitives.
• Cornered at a cliff, Ning Yuanzhou and his companions vowed to overthrow the corrupt age, named their group Flowing Sand, and leaped into an abyss that led to a lake and a hidden realm.
• Years later, an old Cultivator invited Ning Yuanzhou to join the Star Pavilion, but Ning Yuanzhou declined cultivation so he could overthrow Great Li and restore justice.

After learning from Ning Yuanzhou’s life that official corruption helped drive Great Li toward rebellion, Mu Xuehuang ordered the Fire Phoenix Guard to investigate corrupt ministers while publicly launching a campaign against Flowing Sand. The guard detained Wang Yong, Deng Shigao, and other officials in the Palace of Quiet Reflection and confronted them with their alleged crimes.

• Mu Xuehuang reflected on the simulations and concluded that corrupt officials and disasters had helped create the conditions for rebellion.
• Mu Xuehuang ordered the Fire Phoenix Guard to investigate ministers named on her list and uncover their crimes.
• At court, Mu Xuehuang announced an offensive against Flowing Sand and made Minister of War Zhao Chengfeng pledge his life on its success.
• The Fire Phoenix Guard blocked the ministers from leaving court and escorted Wang Yong, Deng Shigao, Li Rui, and others away.
• At the Palace of Quiet Reflection, the guard commander accused the detained ministers of stealing disaster-relief grain, seizing land, and murdering people to hide their corruption.

Mu Xuehuang ordered Zhao Chengfeng to destroy Flowing Sand, but Ning Yuanzhou evacuated its bases before the army arrived. After recognizing that Zhao’s reported victories involved no captured enemies, Mu Xuehuang denied his request for reinforcements and ordered him to find Ning Yuanzhou; meanwhile, Ning Que received a rubbing of the Four Divine Constellations Scripture.

• Wang Yong and Deng Shigao worried that Mu Xuehuang’s purge would expose their corruption, though both claimed they had destroyed evidence.
• A spy in Lizhou City sent Flowing Sand a warning that Zhao Chengfeng was leading an army against them and that their contact points were watched.
• Ning Yuanzhou ordered Flowing Sand to abandon its bases near Lizhou, and Luo Qingwan marked a mountain route for the withdrawal.
• Zhao Chengfeng found Flowing Sand’s bases deserted and reported capturing territory and supplies without fighting its members.
• Mu Xuehuang noticed the reports listed no enemies killed, denied Zhao Chengfeng’s request for reinforcements, and ordered him to locate Ning Yuanzhou.
• At the Fallen Star Pavilion, Xing Chenyuan delivered Ning Que a rubbing of the Four Divine Constellations Scripture.

Ning Que discovered that the later passages of the Four Divine Constellations Scripture had been altered, but Mo Qingdi and Xing Chenyuan denied responsibility. Meanwhile, the Moon Gazing Pavilion confirmed the Fallen Star Pavilion’s ties to Evil Cultivators and set out to confront it, while Ning Que’s plot progress stalled at 70%.

• Ning Que spotted dangerous alterations in the scripture copy Xing Chenyuan gave him and accused Xing Chenyuan and Mo Qingdi of tampering with it.
• Mo Qingdi denied the accusation, and Xingyunzi proposed that the council of elders examine the copy, but Ning Que left without waiting.
• The Moon Gazing Pavilion told Liu Fusheng and Liu Piaoying that the Fallen Star Pavilion was linked to Evil Cultivators and announced a punitive expedition.
• Liu Fusheng and Liu Piaoying joined fifty Moon Gazing Pavilion experts on their way to the Fallen Star Pavilion.
• Ning Que checked the System Panel and found that plot progress had reached 70% before stopping.

Ning Que left the Fallen Star Pavilion after his warnings about Xing Chenyuan went unheeded, while Xing Chenyuan secretly cultivated the Demon Star Sect’s Star-Devouring Art. The Moon Gazing Pavilion breached the mountain gate and accused the sect of harboring an Evil Cultivator, as Xing Chenyuan rushed to meet the attackers.

• Ning Que told Xingyunzi he would leave the mountain, then departed despite Mo Qingdi and Xing Chenyuan pretending to apologize.
• Ning Que saw dozens of Moon Gazing Pavilion cultivators hurry toward the Fallen Star Pavilion and realized disaster had arrived.
• Xing Chenyuan used the altered Four Divine Constellations Scripture to cultivate the Demon Star Sect’s Star-Devouring Art and vowed to revive the sect.
• The Moon Gazing Pavilion breached the mountain gate, and Steward Ge accused Xingyunzi’s sect of sheltering an Evil Cultivator who had killed fellow cultivators.
• Xingyunzi recalled Ning Que’s warnings and suspected Xing Chenyuan, while Xing Chenyuan transformed into black vapor and headed for the mountain gate.

Ning Que realized that Xing Chenyuan’s actions were advancing the Fallen Star Pavilion’s storyline, while Ning Yuanzhou’s return was moving Flowing Sand’s progress. Meanwhile, the Moon Gazing Pavilion searched the Fallen Star Pavilion after Liu Fusheng accused it of ties to the Demon Star Sect, and the chapter ended with stewards identifying its scripture as an evil cultivation art.

• Ning Que saw the Fallen Star Pavilion’s progress rise and noticed that Flowing Sand’s progress had begun moving as well.
• Steward Ge and the Moon Gazing Pavilion stewards surrounded the Fallen Star Pavilion, where Liu Fusheng accused Xingyunzi of harboring evil cultivators in revenge for the deaths of Supreme Sect protectors.
• The Moon Gazing Pavilion searched the pavilion but initially found no objects or techniques connected to the Demon Sect.
• Liu Fusheng revealed that the Fallen Star Pavilion had supposedly descended from the Demon Star Sect, and linked its Four Divine Constellations Scripture to that sect’s evil cultivation art.
• Mo Qingdi presented a copy of the scripture, which the stewards identified as an evil art closely resembling the Demon Star Sect’s Star-Erosion Art.

Xing Chenyuan blamed Ning Que for the altered scripture, prompting the Moon Gazing Pavilion to detain the Fallen Star Pavilion and hunt him down. As Ning Que learned the imperial court had destroyed a Flowing Sand outpost, he turned back and was intercepted by Moon Gazing Pavilion stewards.

• Xing Chenyuan claimed Ning Que had copied and altered the Four Divine Constellations Scripture, and Steward Ge ordered the Fallen Star Pavilion detained while sending people to capture Ning Que.
• Ning Que noticed the System Panel's progress rising and continued down the mountain, leaving the Fallen Star Pavilion behind.
• Ning Que learned from villagers that Zhao Chengfeng had led imperial troops to wipe out a Flowing Sand outpost and search the village.
• Ning Que hurried back toward Flowing Sand, but Moon Gazing Pavilion stewards surrounded him on the mountain path.
• Ning Que admitted he was the Fallen Star Pavilion's eldest senior brother, and Steward Ge ordered the stewards to seize him.

Ning Que faced arrest by the Moon Gazing Pavilion after Xing Chenyuan framed him for altering a scripture with demonic arts. He used his third Background Edit to assume the identity of the Holy Son of the Purple Sky Holy Land, leaving Steward Ge and the other stewards afraid to arrest him.

• Ning Que repelled a Moon Gazing Pavilion steward's attack and demanded to know why the Pavilion was trying to arrest him.
• Steward Ge accused Ning Que of altering the Four Divine Constellations Scripture, while Ning Que blamed Xing Chenyuan of the Fallen Star Pavilion.
• Ning Que realized he was outnumbered, then activated the system's third Background Edit, which offered him three background choices.
• Ning Que chose to become the Holy Son of the Purple Sky Holy Land, and the system transformed his appearance and bearing.
• Ning Que said he would go with the stewards but warned Steward Ge that sending him away would not be simple, making the stewards hesitate.

Ning Que was taken to the Moon Gazing Pavilion as an alleged evil cultivator, while his former allies and enemies confronted him in prison. The Purple Sky Holy Land learned that someone resembling its Holy Son had appeared, despite the Holy Son having died three years earlier.

• Ning Que calmly agreed to go with Steward Ge but warned the Moon Gazing Pavilion that it would bear the consequences if it arrested the wrong person, and Steward Ge ordered him taken away.
• Rumors spread that Ning Que had copied a scripture and become an evil cultivator, and Xingyunzi visited him in prison to apologize for the Fallen Star Pavilion's treatment of him.
• Xing Chenyuan, Mo Qingdi, Liu Fusheng, and Liu Piaoying taunted Ning Que, who warned that they would soon kneel and beg him to spare their lives.
• A young man told the Purple Firmament Sacred Lord that he had seen the Holy Son traveling with the Moon Gazing Pavilion's stewards, though the Purple Firmament Holy Son had died three years earlier.

The Purple Firmament Sacred Lord recalled how the Purple Firmament Holy Son had died saving him, then learned the Holy Son might still be alive inside the Moon Gazing Pavilion. Meanwhile, Ning Que faced Heavenly Thunder Punishment in the pavilion’s prison and refused to confess, leaving Steward Ge to order the punishment carried out.

• The Purple Firmament Sacred Lord ordered Sword Slave to investigate reports that the Purple Firmament Holy Son was alive in the Moon Gazing Pavilion.
• The Purple Firmament Sacred Lord remembered how the Holy Son had sacrificed himself to save him from more than a dozen supreme experts three years earlier.
• Liu Fusheng and Liu Piaoying accused Ning Que of murder and urged Steward Ge to punish him.
• Steward Ge ordered guards to bring the Heavenly Thunder Torture Implements after Ning Que insisted he was innocent.
• Xingyunzi tried to persuade Ning Que to confess, but Ning Que said his accusers would soon be the ones begging for mercy.
• Steward Ge angrily ordered the guards to carry out the punishment.

Ning Que endured the Moon Gazing Pavilion’s heavenly thunder punishment with the Four Divine Constellations Scripture, but the arrival of the Purple Firmament Sacred Lord’s Sword Slave revealed him as the Holy Son. Sword Slave rescued Ning Que and turned his wrath on everyone involved in his arrest.

• Ning Que used the Four Divine Constellations Scripture to absorb heavenly thunder, but Steward Ge summoned more bolts after Liu Fusheng accused him of deception.
• A commotion outside the prison interrupted the punishment as the Moon Gazing Pavilion shook and the thunderbolts went out of control.
• The Purple Firmament Sacred Lord’s Sword Slave entered, knelt before Ning Que, and addressed him as the Holy Son.
• Steward Ge recognized the Purple Sky Holy Land and realized Ning Que might be the Holy Son believed dead three years earlier.
• Sword Slave struck Steward Ge through the Moon Gazing Pavilion and threatened to bury everyone involved in Ning Que’s arrest.

Ning Que was revealed as the Purple Sky Holy Land’s Holy Son after the Moon Gazing Pavilion mistook him for an Evil Cultivator. Xing Chenyuan confessed that he was the real Evil Cultivator and framed Ning Que, but Sword Slave prepared to search his soul for what he was still concealing.

• Sword Slave’s arrival left Steward Ge, Liu Fusheng, and the others terrified, and Ning Que emerged to remind them that they had once mocked his warning.
• Liu Fusheng and his daughter begged Ning Que for mercy, but he rejected them, and Sword Slave condemned the Moon Gazing Pavilion for mistaking its Holy Son for an Evil Cultivator.
• Xing Chenyuan arrived with Mo Qingdi, and Ning Que identified him as the person who had falsely accused him.
• Sword Slave beheaded Mo Qingdi and moved to kill Xing Chenyuan, while Steward Ge revealed that Ning Que was the Purple Sky Holy Land’s Holy Son.
• Xing Chenyuan knelt and confessed that he practiced a sinister offshoot of the Four Divine Constellations Scripture and had framed Ning Que to divert investigators.
• Ning Que suspected Xing Chenyuan was hiding more, and Sword Slave reached for his head to search his soul.