Chapter Summaries

Plot points and events

• In the Netherworld, King Dizang brings Sun Wukong to Yin Mountain, heals his injuries, and warns him to obey the Underworld’s rules.
• Dizang shows Wukong Asuras preying on souls near the reincarnation paths. He proposes that Wukong earn merit by defeating them, which could help secure his release to the living world.
• Wukong, now wary after earlier defeats, asks how powerful the Asuras are. Dizang says Wukong is not yet strong enough and gives him the Ksitigarbha Sutra, instructing him to study Buddhist cultivation for fifty years before taking on the task.
• Wukong accepts the scripture and begins training on Yin Mountain.
• In the Heavenly Court, Gungun watches Wukong’s new, more disciplined behavior and approves of it, preferring that he become the obedient Victorious Fighting Buddha rather than the defiant Great Sage Equal to Heaven.
• A report arrives that Qin general Bai Qi has buried 400,000 Zhao prisoners at Changping. Their angry spirits have escaped the Underworld’s control, gathered resentful energy, and are attacking the Heavenly Court. Gungun rushes out to see the crisis.

Character developments

• Sun Wukong shows growing caution: instead of charging off immediately, he considers the danger and asks about the Asuras. He is also willing to study in exchange for a chance to return to the living world.
• King Dizang acts as healer, teacher, and potential advocate for Wukong, though he frames his help as service to Buddhism.
• Gungun reveals a controlling view of Wukong’s future, favoring a compliant Buddhist role over Wukong’s independent identity.

Character interactions

• Dizang treats Wukong’s injuries, cautions him about Underworld rules, and offers him a path toward redemption through training and service.
• Wukong expresses gratitude, questions Dizang’s motives, and ultimately accepts the scripture.
• Gungun observes Wukong from the Heavenly Court and comments approvingly on his change, before responding to the urgent report from his messenger.

Significant themes

• Discipline and growth: Wukong’s setbacks have made him more cautious and open to learning.
• Power and authority: Both Dizang and Gungun seek to direct Wukong toward roles they consider useful.
• Justice and consequence: Bai Qi’s mass execution produces a supernatural crisis, showing how violence in the human world can destabilize the Underworld and Heaven.

• A mass of wronged souls confronts the Heavenly Court. The spirits of the 400,000 prisoners Bai Qi buried alive gather at the South Heaven Gate, their immense resentful qi shaking the Court. They insist they will not enter the Underworld until Heaven answers for the massacre and demands justice against Bai Qi and Qin.
• The Heavenly Court debates how to respond. The gate general nearly attacks the spirits, but Gungun stops him. Ao Yue urges them to withdraw and trust Heaven to handle the matter. Star Lord Wude argues for forceful punishment, warning that allowing the spirits to threaten the Court would damage its authority. Ao Yue worries that harsh action could harm the Court’s reputation.
• Gungun takes responsibility as Netherworld Emperor. He orders Taiyi and the Deities of the Palace of Sublime Solemnity to subdue the spirits and bring them to the Underworld, where their cases can be judged. He does not promise a specific punishment for Bai Qi. Yang Jian pleads for leniency, explaining that the spirits are driven by injustice rather than deliberate disrespect, but Gungun tells him to return to his duties as a Heavenly Soldier.
• Gungun begins cleansing the resentful qi and summons Bai Qi. Using the World-Purifying Divine Light from his lotus throne, he starts purifying the qi. He then orders Hou Yi to go to Qin and bring Bai Qi to Heaven. Hou Yi recognizes the gravity of the massacre and obeys.
  Character developments and interactions: Gungun moves from calming the confrontation to firmly asserting his authority and taking charge of the judgment. Ao Yue is concerned with both justice and the Heavenly Court’s reputation, while Wude prioritizes its authority. Yang Jian shows compassion for the spirits and risks challenging his superiors; Hou Yi’s hesitation reflects his concern over Bai Qi’s deed. The chapter’s central themes are justice for the dead, the abuse of surrendered prisoners, the proper limits of authority, and the tension between compassion, order, and reputation.

Plot points and events

• After Hou Yi leaves, Yang Jian urges Gungun to learn from the former Heavenly Emperor Dijun and treat living beings with compassion. Gungun rejects the comparison, arguing that Dijun’s downfall came from political and cosmic forces, not simply cruelty.
• Gungun orders the assembled gods to help Taiyi suppress the 400,000 resentful souls from Zhao. Taiyi takes them to the Underworld, while the World-Cleansing White Lotus purifies the resentful qi. The gods feel both anger at the attack on Heaven and pity for the victims.
• Gungun summons Bai Qi, the Qin general responsible for the mass execution of Zhao prisoners at Changping. Bai Qi initially identifies himself as a Qin subject, but Gungun reminds him that he is also a Witch-Human sent by the Witch Race to help Qin unify the world.
• Gungun accuses Bai Qi of forgetting his original duty and warns that the massacre’s karma implicates the Witch Race. He also condemns the killing as a violation of the Human Race’s laws and customs.
• Bai Qi accepts personal blame and begs Gungun not to punish Qin. Gungun sees this as further proof of Bai Qi’s misplaced loyalty and curses him: Qin will betray and kill him, and will later suffer a similar slaughter of its defeated soldiers before another power overthrows it.

Character developments and interactions

• Gungun shifts from distracted ruler to stern judge, troubled by witnessing the victims’ suffering. His anger is sharpened by the risk that Bai Qi’s actions will bring consequences upon the Witch Race.
• Yang Jian acts as a moral voice, appealing for mercy, but Gungun dismisses his reasoning.
• Bai Qi is revealed as deeply committed to Qin and convinced that his massacre served its unification. He had not considered the wider karmic cost or his obligations to the Witch Race.
• The central confrontation is between Gungun’s concern for cosmic and human consequences and Bai Qi’s defense of military necessity and loyalty to Qin.

Significant themes

• Power, justice, and compassion: The chapter weighs political achievement against the suffering of those treated as expendable.
• Loyalty and duty: Bai Qi’s devotion to Qin conflicts with his responsibilities to the Witch Race and the Human Race.
• Karma and historical consequence: Gungun presents the massacre as an act that will rebound upon both Bai Qi and Qin.
• The human cost of unification: The victims’ souls make the price of conquest impossible to dismiss as a mere number.

Key events

• Bai Qi begs Gungun to reverse his decree. When Gungun refuses, Bai Qi attacks him, but Gungun’s imperial power—revealed as Solar and Lunar true essence—easily defeats him.
• Gungun orders Bai Qi punished for rebelling and for the slaughter of four hundred thousand Zhao prisoners: his Great Witch essence blood is taken, his immortal veins are severed, and his cultivation is abolished. A spatial formation prevents him from escaping the palace.
• Hou Yi meets the guards escorting Bai Qi and takes responsibility for returning him to Qin. He tells Bai Qi that his actions have cost him his place among the Witch Race and damaged how future generations may remember him.
• Bai Qi admits he feels guilty about the slaughter, but says he acted solely to protect Qin and enable its unification. He insists he has no regrets.
• A decree from the Ancestral Witches announces that Bai Qi’s three clans are to be exterminated. The news extinguishes his defiant smile.

Character developments and interactions

• Bai Qi moves from a powerful commander who dares challenge the Heavenly Emperor to a powerless, gravely injured man. Despite acknowledging guilt, he remains committed to Qin and accepts his place in history—even as the final decree delivers a devastating consequence.
• Gungun asserts his authority with contemptuous confidence, defeating Bai Qi and carrying out the punishment himself.
• Hou Yi treats Bai Qi with restrained sympathy but condemns his choice: Qin gained from the massacre, while the Witch Race shares its karmic burden.
• The Divine Generals obey Gungun’s judgment without sympathy for Bai Qi, viewing his suffering as deserved.

Significant themes

• Loyalty and responsibility: Bai Qi’s devotion to Qin conflicts with his obligations to the Witch Race and himself.
• Karma and consequences: His actions bring punishment not only upon him but, through the Ancestral Witches’ decree, upon his family.
• Power and authority: Gungun’s overwhelming strength and control of the palace’s space make resistance futile.
• Legacy: Bai Qi believes that even praise or condemnation cannot erase his place in history, but the chapter leaves that conviction shaken by the cost of his choices.

Key plot points and events

• After the Heavenly Emperor strips Bai Qi of his cultivation, Hou Yi takes him back to Qin. Ao Yue explains that Bai Qi’s massacre of Zhao prisoners was an act of loyalty to Qin alone—and thus, in the Heavenly Emperor’s eyes, betrayal.
• Ao Yue reveals that the Dragon Pearl’s appearance in HD signals the emergence of someone capable of unifying the Human Race. He believes the task now rests with that person.
• In Zhao’s capital, hostage Ying Yiren fears the people or king of Zhao will kill him after Bai Qi’s slaughter of 400,000 Zhao prisoners. Lü Buwei proposes helping him escape but argues that bringing Ying Yiren’s wife and son would risk discovery.
• Ying Yiren reluctantly agrees to leave his wife and son behind. Ying Zheng overhears him, takes the rejection stoically, and resolves to rely on himself and his sword.
• Ying Zheng reflects that Qin’s growing power could lead to unification, but worries that his aging great-grandfather, King Zhaoxiang, may not live long enough to complete it. He concludes that he must inherit the task.
• In Qin, the king first orders Bai Qi to return rather than press his victory, accepting Zhao’s offer to cede territory. Zhao then breaks the agreement. When the king orders a renewed invasion, Bai Qi refuses.

Character developments and interactions

• Ying Zheng emerges as fiercely self-reliant and ambitious. His father’s willingness to abandon him strengthens his belief that he needs no one’s protection; he begins to see himself as Qin’s future unifier.
• Ying Yiren is anxious and politically vulnerable, yet ultimately chooses his own escape over staying with his family.
• Lü Buwei acts as Ying Yiren’s adviser, arranging his escape while warning that taking the family would make it harder.
• Ao Yue and Yinglong discuss Bai Qi’s punishment and the Dragon Pearl. Ao Yue urges patience rather than direct intervention.
• Bai Qi is caught between Qin’s political decisions and his own limits: stripped of cultivation, recalled, and then unwilling to obey a new order to attack Zhao.

Significant themes

• Ambition and destiny: Ying Zheng interprets his circumstances and the Dragon Pearl’s presence as signs that he is destined to unify the realm.
• Loyalty and betrayal: Bai Qi’s devotion to Qin conflicts with the Heavenly Emperor’s expectations, while Ying Yiren’s decision to leave his family exposes the harsh choices of political survival.
• Self-reliance and abandonment: Ying Zheng turns his father’s rejection into a conviction that strength and protection must come from himself.
• Power versus political judgment: Military victories and defeats are shaped not only by force but by rulers’ orders, broken agreements, and competing loyalties.

Key plot points and events

• After returning from the Heavenly Court, Bai Qi regrets attacking the Heavenly Emperor and resolves to act more cautiously. He refuses a new campaign against Zhao, citing illness and arguing that his infamy from the Changping massacre would unite Zhao’s people against Qin.
• King Zhaoxiang interprets the refusal as defiance. Chancellor Fan Ju argues that Bai Qi is needed because Zhao may call on its powerful Demon-Hunting Corps, but the king rejects Fan Ju’s assurances and appoints Wang Ling instead.
• Qin’s army reaches HD but is held off by fierce resistance. Lord Pingyuan Zhao Sheng spends his fortune and even sends his wives and concubines to help defend the city. Qin’s reinforcements under Wang He and Zheng Anping still cannot break the siege, while HD’s food supplies dwindle.
• Zhao appeals to Chu and Wei. Chu sends a hundred thousand troops after Mao Sui’s mission; Lord Xinling Wei Wuji obtains Wei’s military authority with Ru Ji’s help and leads eighty thousand troops to Zhao.
• After nearly two years of siege, Qin is defeated by the allied armies. Zheng Anping surrenders, and Wei Wuji’s forces push into Hedong, forcing Qin to retreat.
• The king again orders Bai Qi to command the army. Bai Qi refuses, believing Qin should wait while the enemy is strong. The king strips him of his offices and negotiates peace, returning territories to Wei, Zhao, and Han.
• Blaming Bai Qi for the lost campaign and territory, the king sends him his sword with an order that amounts to a command to commit suicide.

Character developments and interactions

• Bai Qi moves from rash pride to self-reproach and caution. His refusal to lead is presented as strategic judgment, but the king sees it as insubordination. Their conflict escalates from disagreement over command to a deadly break.
• King Zhaoxiang becomes increasingly frustrated as Qin’s siege fails. He distrusts Bai Qi’s motives, rejects Fan Ju’s attempt to guarantee the general’s obedience, and ultimately makes Bai Qi the scapegoat for Qin’s losses.
• Fan Ju tries to persuade the king to recall Bai Qi, but the king recognizes that the chancellor may have a personal agenda and rebukes him.
• Zhao Sheng and the defenders of HD embody Zhao’s collective resistance, while Mao Sui and Wei Wuji secure crucial aid from Chu and Wei. Ru Ji’s theft of the tiger tally enables Wei Wuji to act.

Significant themes

• Pride, regret, and judgment: Bai Qi reflects on how overconfidence led to his earlier mistake, but his later prudence cannot repair his relationship with the king.
• The human cost of war and the power of shared grief: The Changping massacre fuels Zhao’s determination; soldiers and civilians unite to defend HD.
• Political mistrust and scapegoating: The king interprets strategic disagreement as personal disloyalty and blames Bai Qi for a defeat shaped by broader military and political factors.
• The limits of military strength: Qin’s numerical superiority cannot overcome HD’s determined defenders, and intervention by allied states turns the campaign into a major defeat.

Plot points

• In the Heavenly Court’s Hall of Fate, Gungun waits impatiently while Fate Star Lord Shaochen records the fate of Bai Qi, the Qin general.
• Shaochen’s account says Bai Qi will be executed by Qin after his military service, and the Witch Race plans to exterminate three branches of his family in retaliation for his crimes.
• Gungun objects to punishing Bai Qi’s relatives for his actions. He orders Shaochen to find suitable posts as earth or mountain gods for surviving family members, treating it as compensation.
• Shaochen raises signs of possible dissent in the Heavenly Court: Nezha and Yang Jian are meeting secretly, while former Jade Emperor Haotian has been making unexplained trips to the lower realm.
• Rather than eliminate suspected opponents without cause, Gungun plans to frustrate Yang Jian. He will arrange for Yang Jian to learn that the Heavenly Sovereign intends to take Ao Cunxin as a concubine, expecting Yang Jian to be unable to intervene without endangering his sister, Yang Chan.
• To prevent Nezha from helping Yang Jian, Gungun orders him sent to Qianyuan Mountain for secluded cultivation. He postpones dealing with Haotian.

Character developments and interactions

• Gungun is lazy, boastful, and fond of teasing Shaochen, but shows a genuine sense of justice by refusing to burden Bai Qi’s family with his guilt. As ruler, he also relies on calculated political maneuvering to contain potential threats while protecting his reputation for mercy.
• Shaochen is conscientious and deferential, though he pushes Gungun toward politically practical decisions. He understands Gungun’s temperament and helps carry out both the fate-recording and the plan against Yang Jian.
• Yang Jian, Nezha, and Haotian do not appear directly, but their secret meetings and movements cast them as possible threats to the Heavenly Court. Yang Jian’s affection for someone—and concern for Yang Chan—is presented as a constraint on his actions.

Significant themes

• Justice versus collective punishment: Gungun rejects the idea that Bai Qi’s family should suffer for his deeds, even while acknowledging the Witch Race’s authority and the Heavenly Court’s political concerns.
• Mercy and political legitimacy: Gungun insists that punishment must have justification, partly from principle and partly to preserve his public reputation.
• Power and intrigue: Suspected rebellion is met not with immediate violence but with surveillance, manipulation, and attempts to divide potential allies.
• Fate and responsibility: Shaochen records the cycle of violence and retribution surrounding Bai Qi, while Gungun intervenes to alter what can be done for the innocent.

Key plot points and events

• Gungun sends off part of his soul to reincarnate among the Human Race, aiming to secure a connection to the coming Han dynasty rather than compete for the short-lived Qin dynasty. He then goes to sleep, and the Dream Demon gives him a pleasant dream.
• In Qin, Bai Qi receives the King of Qin’s sword and understands it as an order to die. He initially erupts in anger, but remembers Gungun’s warning that his loyalty would be repaid with betrayal and that his execution would be retribution for killing hundreds of thousands of surrendered Zhao soldiers at Changping.
• Accepting that he deserves punishment, Bai Qi takes his own life. The King of Qin later orders three branches of Bai Qi’s clan exterminated, then regrets Bai Qi’s death and has a monument raised to honor his service.
• Qin mourns Bai Qi as a heroic general, while Zhao celebrates his death. Shaochen reflects that both reactions are understandable, though the world that produced such divisions is at fault; he removes Bai Qi’s page from the Book of Fate.
• In the Underworld, the ghosts of the Zhao soldiers confront Bai Qi, and he is swallowed by their vengeful ranks. Taiyi lets them fight so they can work through the regrets and guilt left by their lives; Nezha is disappointed that he cannot join the battle.

Character developments and interactions

• Gungun pursues his long-term interest in Han’s fortune, remaining carefree and indulgent even as he alters events through reincarnation.
• Bai Qi moves from outrage at the King of Qin’s betrayal to remorseful acceptance of responsibility. His final encounter with the Zhao dead makes clear that death has not erased his guilt.
• The King of Qin first condemns Bai Qi, then later recognizes his achievements and honors his memory, underscoring the contradiction between political expediency and respect for the general.
• Shaochen observes the opposing reactions of Qin and Zhao and responds by removing Bai Qi from the record he governs.
• Taiyi and Nezha differ in their expectations: Nezha hopes for action, while Taiyi considers allowing the spirits to confront one another a form of intervention.

Significant themes

• Retribution and moral responsibility: Bai Qi’s loyalty cannot undo the mass killing he committed, and he accepts his death as deserved punishment.
• The power and tragedy of royal authority: The King’s command leaves Bai Qi no real choice, illustrating the vulnerability of even celebrated servants of the state.
• Competing perspectives on justice and heroism: Qin’s gratitude and Zhao’s hatred coexist, shaped by very different experiences of Bai Qi’s actions.
• Unresolved consequences: The Underworld confrontation suggests that the victims’ suffering and the perpetrator’s guilt persist beyond death.

Plot and events

• Gungun’s divided soul enters the Reincarnation Tunnel and is reborn into an ordinary family in Pei County. The child is named Liu Bang.
• The Saints in Chaos learn of his reincarnation and discuss why he chose a common household rather than a royal family in one of the competing states.
• Tongtian assumes Gungun has made another poor choice, while Yuanshi mocks Tongtian’s judgment. Laozi breaks up their argument.
• Nuwa proposes that Gungun is deliberately yielding the chance to unify the Human Race to Ao Yue, expecting Ao Yue to abdicate the throne to him afterward.
• Houtu disagrees: she believes Gungun intends for Liu Bang to unify the Human Race himself, since that would bring far greater merit and fortune than accepting an abdication.
• Houtu and Nuwa wager over which outcome will occur. The stake is control of the Witch Teaching: if Houtu is right, Nuwa gives up her title as its leader; if Nuwa is right, Houtu gives her actual control.

Character developments and interactions

• Gungun remains offstage, but his choice to be born as a commoner sparks competing interpretations of his motives.
• Nuwa confidently trusts her understanding of Gungun and accepts Houtu’s wager.
• Houtu is equally confident, seeing Gungun as lazy but willing to work when the rewards justify it.
• Jieyin accidentally criticizes the mixed or reincarnated origins of several Human Emperors, then accepts Houtu’s diplomatic attempt to smooth things over.
• Tongtian and Yuanshi trade familiar insults over each other’s judgment and disciples; Laozi intervenes with weary authority.

Significant themes

• Reincarnation and identity: Those born human in this life count as members of the Human Race, regardless of their previous forms or ancestry.
• Merit, ambition, and effort: The debate hinges on whether Gungun would pursue the greater reward of unifying the Human Race or take an easier path through abdication.
• Power and control: The wager turns the uncertain future of Liu Bang into a contest over leadership of the Witch Teaching.
• Conflicting interpretations: Even powerful figures read Gungun’s motives differently, setting up the outcome as an open question.

Key plot points and events

• Houtu privately assumes Gungun will work to unite the Human Race because his greed can make him unusually industrious when there are rewards to be gained. She is confident Nuwa will lose their wager.
• Gungun wakes from a nap, practices a comical version of Taiji, and is approached by Shaochen, who thanks him for supposedly helping humanity.
• Shaochen explains that he found a mysterious, divinely marked person in the Book of Fate whose destiny he cannot read or control. He deduces that this must be Gungun’s reincarnated divided soul.
• Shaochen interprets Gungun’s action as a noble plan to end the wars among the human states and reunify the Human Race. Gungun, initially confused, plays along with the praise.
• Shaochen then admits he never believed Gungun’s lofty speech. He criticizes immortals and deities for repeatedly influencing human history to gather fortune, arguing that this treats humanity as a tool.
• When Gungun offers to send Shaochen to the mortal world to unify humanity himself, Shaochen eagerly accepts. Gungun turns the criticism back on him: as a former human who became a god, Shaochen is also exploiting the people who raised him. He scolds him and leaves, stunned by the reversal.

Character developments

• Gungun remains outwardly lazy and self-interested, but is quick-witted and capable of defending his choices—or flipping an accusation back on its speaker. His true motive for sending a divided soul into the Human Race remains unclear.
• Shaochen shows moral concern about divine interference in human affairs, yet his willingness to take Gungun’s offer exposes a contradiction: he, too, is tempted to treat humanity as a means to gain fortune.
• Houtu continues to view Gungun through the lens of his known greed and expects it to drive his actions.

Significant themes

• Divine interference and human agency: The chapter questions whether gods and immortals treat human history as something to manipulate for their own benefit.
• Hypocrisy and accountability: Shaochen’s criticism is undermined when he readily agrees to participate in the same project.
• Hidden motives and self-interest: Gungun’s apparent laziness may conceal practical calculations, while others interpret his actions as altruistic.
• Comedy through reversal: Gungun’s grand declarations and sudden counterattack turn Shaochen’s moral challenge into a joke at Shaochen’s expense.

Character interactions

• Houtu privately assesses Gungun and anticipates his behavior.
• Shaochen first approaches Gungun with reverence and gratitude, then shifts to candid criticism.
• Gungun humorously plays the benevolent ruler before offering Shaochen the chance to act himself; when Shaochen accepts, Gungun rebukes him for the very exploitation he had condemned.

Key plot points and events

• Gungun objects to Shaochen’s planned involvement in the Human Race’s coming unification, arguing that he, too, still considers himself human and deserves a share in its benefits.
• After calming himself, Gungun secretly sends Shaochen through reincarnation to the mortal world. Shaochen will assist Gungun’s divided soul rather than lead the unification himself.
• In Han, Chancellor Zhang Kaidi’s grandson is born and named Zhang Liang.
• With Lü Buwei’s help, Ying Yiren escapes Zhao and returns to Qin. By being acknowledged as the principal wife’s son, he gains legitimate status and a claim to the throne, though he worries about the wife and son he left behind in Zhao.
• The dying King Zhaoxiang summons Ying Yiren and Crown Prince Ying Zhu. Recalling a dream of a child who wanted a crown greater than his own, he learns that Ying Yiren’s eight-year-old son, Ying Zheng, is still in Handan.
• The king orders Ying Zheng brought back immediately and urges his heirs to keep marching east. He dies moments later, entrusting Qin’s future to them.

Character developments and interactions

• Gungun reveals his ambition and sense of entitlement, but also restrains his anger before arranging Shaochen’s reincarnation.
• Shaochen is placed in a supporting role in the human struggle, despite his objections to immortals seeking advantage among mortals.
• Ying Yiren moves from hostage and concubine’s son to legitimate royal heir. His political success is tempered by concern for his family in Zhao.
• King Zhaoxiang reflects on his reign with regret that he never conquered another state, but sees hope in the vision of Ying Zheng.
• Ying Zhu and Ying Yiren mourn the king and accept his final charge together.

Significant themes

• Power, merit, and self-interest: Gungun challenges the idea that divine intervention should be unpaid or disinterested.
• Identity and belonging: Shaochen and Gungun both regard themselves as human despite their divine status.
• Inheritance and destiny: Ying Yiren’s legitimacy and the king’s dream foreshadow Ying Zheng’s future importance.
• Ambition and unfinished work: The king’s final words frame Qin’s eastward expansion as a duty passed to the next generation.

Key plot points and events

• Following King Zhaoxiang’s death, Qin demands the return of Ying Zheng and his mother, Zhao Ji. Zhao, weakened after the Battle of Changping, agrees.
• Ying Zheng returns to Xianyang and wins the favor of Crown Prince Anguo, who gives him the Zhanlu Sword. Anguo becomes King Zhaoxiang’s successor but dies after only three days. Ying Zheng’s father, Ying Yiren, then becomes king, appoints Zhao Ji queen and Ying Zheng crown prince, and dies three years later. Ying Zheng ascends the throne as a minor, with Queen Dowager Zhao and Chancellor Lü Buwei holding power.
• In the Heavenly Court, Yinglong reports the rapid succession of Qin rulers to Ao Yue. He reveals that Lü Buwei is Zhao Gongming reincarnated and that Ying Zheng is a dragon-blooded child who received the Ancestral Dragon Pearl. Ao Yue authorizes Yinglong to descend and assist Ying Zheng in unifying the Human Race, without directly opposing Lü Buwei.
• Yinglong enters the Reincarnation Tunnel and is reborn as Meng Yi, son of Qin general Meng Wu.
• Ao Yue learns that Yang Jian visited Ao Cunxin before their wedding. Though he claims to have no romantic feelings for Cunxin, he burns the report after reading it, hinting at unresolved jealousy or unease.
• Ao Yue takes Ao Cunxin as his concubine in a relatively modest ceremony. Gungun notices the ceremony lacks the special honors Ao Yue had suggested, then focuses on the banquet food. The chapter ends as the Heavenly Consort arrives.

Character developments and interactions

• Ying Zheng rises quickly from hostage to king, but begins his reign under the influence of Zhao Ji and Lü Buwei.
• Yinglong takes on a covert role in Qin’s future, entering human life as Meng Yi to support Ying Zheng.
• Ao Yue balances Dragon Race interests against the influence of Zhao Gongming. His reaction to Yang Jian’s meeting with Ao Cunxin suggests that, despite his stated lack of love, the situation affects him.
• Ao Yue and Yinglong discuss how best to aid Ying Zheng; Ao Yue urges patience and cooperation rather than a power struggle with Lü Buwei.
• Ao Yue and Ao Cunxin are joined in a politically and racially motivated concubinage, while Gungun observes the ceremony as an amused, food-focused guest.

Significant themes

• Fate and political transition: Qin’s rulers die in rapid succession, clearing the way for Ying Zheng’s eventual rule and unification.
• Hidden influence and competing interests: Heavenly and Dragon Race figures intervene in human politics, while Lü Buwei also pursues influence through his role as regent.
• Power versus personal feeling: Ao Yue’s marriage arrangement serves political and racial purposes, but his response to Yang Jian suggests private emotions may complicate those motives.

Plot points and events

• Ao Cunxin arrives at the Heavenly Court for her wedding to Heavenly Sovereign Ao Yue. He does not come out to greet her, leaving her feeling slighted and questioning whether being a concubine means she deserves no respect.
• She enters the hall with her attendants and is formally welcomed as the Heavenly Consort. Several powerful figures remain seated, reflecting her comparatively low rank as an Eight Attendant.
• Seeing Ao Yue for the first time, Cunxin is startled by his handsome appearance. She approaches him, takes his hand, and the wedding ceremony begins before a statue of the Ancestral Dragon and his queen.
• Outside the hall, Yang Jian watches the wedding from his post as a Heavenly Soldier. Yang Chan comforts him, and he admits he met Cunxin privately before the wedding. He says they were fated to meet but not to be together. He had disguised himself, though the narration hints Cunxin likely recognized him because he used Guanjiangkou as his name.

Character developments and interactions

• Ao Cunxin begins angry and humiliated by Ao Yue’s failure to greet her, but her resentment softens when she sees his appearance and accepts his offered hand. Her concern for dignity remains central.
• Ao Yue seems regretful about marrying a woman he does not love and wonders whether he rushed into the decision. Despite his earlier absence, he signals for Cunxin to join him in the ceremony.
• Yang Jian watches from a distance, grieving his separation from Cunxin while accepting that the marriage was unavoidable.
• Yang Chan tries to comfort Yang Jian and worries that his meeting with Cunxin could expose their connection and endanger the Western Sea.

Significant themes

• Status, duty, and dignity: Cunxin’s concubine rank shapes how others treat her, while she insists that rank does not erase her claim to respect.
• Love versus obligation: Cunxin’s marriage is politically compelled, while Yang Jian and Cunxin’s feelings remain unresolved.
• Fate and loss: Yang Jian frames their relationship as a meeting without a shared future.
• Appearance and expectation: Cunxin’s surprise at Ao Yue’s youth and beauty sharply contrasts with her assumptions about him.

Key plot points and events

• After the Heavenly Sovereign’s wedding banquet, Gungun leaves without joining the guests in teasing the newlyweds. He notices Yang Chan comforting her brother but lets her stay, calling himself a compassionate ruler.
• Yang Jian sees Gungun’s departure and wonders whether the Heavenly Emperor knew in advance that Ao Yue would take Cunxin as a concubine. He suspects the Emperor may have helped arrange the marriage to punish him for once disobeying a decree and rescuing the Seven Fairies.
• Yang Chan doubts the theory, arguing that the Heavenly Emperor could hardly dictate Ao Yue’s marriage. Yang Jian admits he hopes she is right, but fears the Emperor’s lingering grudge.
• On the journey back to the palace, Gungun asks his attendants whether Ao Yue will be happy. The chief attendant claims Cunxin’s behavior showed she is in love with Ao Yue.
• The attendant suggests Gungun should take consorts of his own. Gungun is initially dismissive, but the prospect of a wedding banquet—and the gifts it would bring—wins him over. He orders the attendant to find candidates, prioritizing beauty and an agreeable temperament over rank or cultivation.

Character developments and interactions

• Yang Jian moves from grief over Cunxin’s marriage to suspicion, interpreting the Emperor’s silence as possible revenge. His past punishment still shapes how he sees the Heavenly Court.
• Yang Chan remains supportive and consoling, but challenges her brother’s assumptions and tries to reassure him about their protection as disciples of a Saint.
• Gungun appears indulgent toward Yang Chan, yet is also self-interested: his interest in taking consorts is ultimately sparked by the chance to host a banquet and collect gifts.
• The chief Divine Attendant confidently reads Cunxin’s feelings and then steers Gungun toward marriage, appealing to both pleasure and political ceremony.

Significant themes

• Grief and suspicion: Yang Jian’s heartbreak makes him question whether events around him are part of a deliberate plot.
• Power and uncertain justice: His fear of the Emperor’s influence reflects the vulnerability of those living under heavenly authority.
• Love and political marriage: The chapter contrasts Yang Jian’s painful loss with the attendant’s belief that Cunxin genuinely loves Ao Yue.
• Self-interest beneath ceremony: Gungun’s proposed marriage is framed as a personal and social occasion, but the prospect of receiving gifts proves decisive.

Key plot points and events

• Gungun reflects on being the only one among its peers without a partner. It decides to follow Ao Yue’s example and let its subordinates find it a consort.
• Back at the Heavenly Emperor Palace, Gungun reads the Primordial World Beauty Catalog, an unofficial ranking of beautiful women compiled by Soaring Serpent. Yang Chan, newly returned to service, spots herself ranked 376th and becomes curious about the list.
• Gungun dismisses the catalog as unreliable, criticizing it for leaving out Queen Dowager Zhao, then uses a divine mirror to watch Zhao Ji and her male favorite, Lao Du, having sex. The attendants and Yang Chan are embarrassed by the public spectacle.
• Once Gungun leaves, Yang Chan secretly reads the catalog and resents its rankings, believing several women placed above her are less beautiful and elegant.
• Yang Chan learns from the other attendants that Gungun is considering taking a Heavenly Consort because Haotian and Ao Yue both have partners, leaving Gungun the only one alone. She is relieved, assuming Gungun’s choice will not affect her family.

Character developments

• Gungun moves from jealous self-pity to deciding to seek a consort, though its interest quickly shifts to voyeuristic entertainment.
• Yang Chan remains wary of Gungun, but is also drawn into the beauty rankings. Her curiosity turns to wounded pride, then relief when she learns Gungun plans to choose a consort.
• The attendants are embarrassed by Gungun’s behavior but comfortable enough to reassure Yang Chan and gossip with her.

Significant themes

• Loneliness and companionship: Gungun’s decision is prompted by seeing others paired off.
• Vanity and subjective beauty: The unofficial catalog provokes curiosity and resentment, while its rankings are treated as arbitrary.
• Comic contrast between status and conduct: Gungun’s immense authority is juxtaposed with its childish jealousy and shameless entertainment.
• Voyeurism and embarrassment: Gungun watches an intimate scene openly, leaving its court staff mortified.

Character interactions

• Gungun casually instructs Yang Chan to return to her duties, and she stays close to observe it.
• Yang Chan asks Gungun about the catalog and its rankings; Gungun answers without concern for her reaction.
• The attendants share the news of Gungun’s plan with Yang Chan and encourage her to read the catalog after Gungun leaves.

Summary

• Plot/events: The narrator explains that a long conversation with a friend kept them from posting an update tonight. They are taking the day off and plan to resume updates tomorrow, aiming to finish by 6 p.m.
• Character development: The narrator is trying once again to improve their sleep schedule by going to bed and waking up earlier.
• Themes: Balancing social life and commitments, maintaining routines, and setting practical goals.
• Character interactions: The narrator reconnects and chats with a friend they had not seen in a long time.

Plot points

• After reviewing potential brides, Gungun remains dissatisfied. He asks Dream Demon to create a dream about a Female Immortal he loves, but Dream Demon says this is impossible because Gungun has no real romantic feelings to draw on.
• Gungun decides he should take a concubine and appoint a Heavenly Consort, partly because Haotian and Ao Yue have partners and he does not want to feel left behind.
• Dream Demon proposes several candidates: a Great Shaman, Chang’e, Yunxiao, Bai Yin, Huo Ling, and a descendant of Nuwa. Gungun rejects each for personal or political reasons.
• Dream Demon then suggests choosing a Dragon Race maiden to strengthen Gungun’s alliance with Ao Yue’s people and secure the Heavenly Court’s rule. He names Ao Tingxin, the capable fourth princess of the East Sea.
• Gungun considers the idea but postpones a decision until his chief Divine Attendant returns, hoping that attendant might find a more suitable candidate. Dream Demon then sends him into one of his usual pleasant dreams.

Character developments and interactions

• Gungun is lonely and eager to uphold his status, but his search is driven more by comparison with other rulers than by affection. He rejects candidates with blunt, comic objections and begins to consider marriage as a political tool.
• Dream Demon acts as a candid, somewhat exasperated adviser. He flatters Gungun outwardly while quietly recognizing the absurdity of his reasoning, then shifts from romantic suggestions to strategic counsel.
• Their exchange is teasing and irreverent: Gungun’s standards repeatedly frustrate Dream Demon, while Dream Demon’s suggestions expose Gungun’s vanity, caution, and political concerns.

Significant themes

• Marriage as politics: A consort could strengthen alliances and reinforce the Heavenly Court’s authority.
• Loneliness versus desire: Gungun wants a partner in principle, yet has no genuine romantic attachment.
• Power and insecurity: Despite his high position, Gungun worries about the stability of his rule and the influence of potential rivals.
• Comedy through contrast: Gungun’s grand title and ambitions clash with his fussy, impulsive approach to choosing a bride.

Plot and key events

• After the wedding celebration, Ao Yue and Ao Cunxin are left alone in the bedchamber. Ao Yue recalls a secret memorial from the Western Sea’s Turtle Chancellor before lifting Cunxin’s veil. The scene skips ahead to the morning.
• Cunxin wakes to find Ao Yue gone and briefly worries he may be displeased with her. She learns he has gone to court and begins preparing to receive the Female Immortals who are expected to pay their respects to the new Heavenly Consort.
• At court, Ao Yue raises the Human states’ request that Heaven recover the lost Yu Province Cauldron, one of the Nine Cauldrons. The cauldron was lost when Qin seized the Zhou royal domain and later dropped it into the Wei River.
• Wen Zhong argues that the Nine Cauldrons protect the fortune of the Nine Provinces and symbolize the Son of Heaven, so Heaven should help retrieve the missing cauldron. Star Lord Wude counters that the Human Race must bear responsibility for its own wars and losses.
• Bi’an proposes a compromise: Heaven should not recover the cauldron, but should stabilize the Nine Provinces’ fortune. Gungun suggests using the dragon veins formed from dragon souls planted at Mount Li. Ao Yue approves the approach but orders that it remain undisclosed for now. Bo Yikao is tasked with informing the Human states that they must recover the cauldron themselves.

Character developments and interactions

• Ao Cunxin moves from wedding-night nervousness to morning relief, then turns her attention to her new duties as Heavenly Consort. Her uncertainty about Ao Yue’s feelings reveals her lingering anxiety about their marriage.
• Ao Yue remains composed and politically focused despite the wedding. His approval of the dragon-vein plan—and decision to conceal it—suggests he has a broader strategy concerning human sovereignty and fortune.
• Wen Zhong and Wude clash over whether Heaven should assist the Human Race, with Wude accusing Wen Zhong of bias because of his human origins.
• Bi’an mediates between their positions, separating the question of recovering the cauldron from the need to protect the Nine Provinces’ stability.
• Gungun, who has been quietly eating fruit, offers the practical solution that shapes the court’s decision. Ao Yue recognizes that Gungun understands his larger plans.

Significant themes

• Responsibility and consequences: The court debates whether the Human Race should bear the costs of its own conflicts.
• Political legitimacy and symbols: The Nine Cauldrons represent both the unity and fortune of the Nine Provinces and the authority of the Son of Heaven.
• Intervention versus restraint: Heaven refuses to solve humanity’s immediate problem while still acting to prevent broader instability.
• Marriage and duty: Cunxin’s new personal role is set against Ao Yue’s immediate return to the responsibilities of rule.

Key plot points and events

• Ao Cunxin formally receives the female immortals as the Heavenly Consort. She enjoys the ceremony but is corrected by a Divine Attendant: she may not command the immortals to rise, and she should say she was “taken as a consort,” not “married.”
• Despite the corrections, Ao Cunxin declares that she will oversee the female immortals and distribute gifts, following her mother’s advice to show both authority and kindness.
• Yang Chan, attending the ceremony, is unsettled by how happy Ao Cunxin seems and wonders whether she has stopped loving Yang Jian.
• When the others leave, Yang Chan tries to speak privately with Ao Cunxin. Ao Cunxin refuses, sharply stopping Yang Chan from calling her “sister-in-law” in public.
• Ao Cunxin reflects that her new position and her relationship with the Heavenly Sovereign have changed her circumstances. She blushes at recalling their intimacy and decides to visit the Heavenly Court’s garden.
• Convinced that Ao Cunxin’s feelings have changed, Yang Chan resolves not to tell Yang Jian, fearing it would hurt him. Instead, she goes to comfort him—but finds another girl clinging to him and asking him to teach her magic.

Character developments

• Ao Cunxin is adapting to life as Heavenly Consort. She is proud of her new status, eager to exercise authority, and increasingly satisfied with her marriage, though thoughts of Yang Jian still unsettle her.
• Yang Chan shifts from suspicion to certainty that Ao Cunxin has changed her heart. Her concern for Yang Jian leads her to keep the news from him and try to console him.
• The Divine Attendant acts as Ao Cunxin’s guide to court etiquette, correcting her repeatedly despite her irritation.

Significant themes

• Status and etiquette: Ao Cunxin learns that rank limits what she may say and do, even as she tries to assert her authority.
• Changing loyalties and identity: Her new role and marriage appear to be reshaping her feelings and public relationships.
• Protective silence: Yang Chan chooses to conceal painful news from Yang Jian, believing that sparing him the truth is an act of care.

Character interactions

• Ao Cunxin’s exchanges with the Divine Attendant reveal the gap between her confidence and her unfamiliarity with Heavenly Court customs.
• Her encounter with Yang Chan is tense: Yang Chan seeks a private conversation, but Ao Cunxin insists on keeping their relationship formal in public.
• Yang Chan’s intended comfort for Yang Jian is interrupted by the sight of a flirtatious girl seeking his attention.

Plot points and events

• After the seventh fairy, Zi’er, died as a mortal, Haotian and the Golden Mother of Jade Pool had a daughter, Lu’er. Lu’er hopes to reconcile her father with his nephew Yang Jian and visits him at the South Heaven Gate, claiming she wants him to teach her spells.
• Yang Jian is uncomfortable with Lu’er’s attention but struggles to reject her because she is young. When Yang Chan arrives, Lu’er recognizes her as another cousin and explains that Haotian himself praised Yang Jian’s achievements.
• Lu’er accidentally reveals that Yang Chan is going to pay respects to the newly appointed Heavenly Consort. Yang Jian realizes this concerns Ao Cunxin, his former love.
• Yang Chan offers to accompany her brother to the mortal world, but Yang Jian refuses, insisting their relationship ended when he rejected Divine Lord Yinglong’s proposal that he marry into the Dragon Race. He still seems affected by the past.
• Elsewhere, Ao Yue learns that Lu’er has gone to see Yang Jian. Gungun suspects a conspiracy, and Ao Yue agrees.

Character developments and interactions

• Lu’er is affectionate and idealistic: she admires Yang Jian, wants to learn from him, and believes family ties can heal old divisions. Her innocent bluntness exposes information Yang Chan meant to keep from Yang Jian.
• Yang Jian remains wary of Haotian’s family and emotionally guarded, yet agrees to teach Lu’er after his shift. His reaction to the Heavenly Consort news reveals lingering pain about Ao Cunxin.
• Yang Chan is protective of Yang Jian and uneasy about Lu’er’s arrival. She tries to shield her brother from upsetting news.
• Ao Yue and Gungun respond suspiciously to Lu’er’s visit, interpreting an apparently innocent request for lessons as a possible plot.

Significant themes

• Family bonds and estrangement: Lu’er hopes kinship can mend the conflict between Haotian and the Yang siblings.
• Duty, sacrifice, and lost reward: Yang Jian reflects that saving Zi’er cost him the chance to become a Chief God, but he would make the same choice again.
• Unresolved love and regret: The mention of Ao Cunxin shows that Yang Jian’s past relationship still weighs on him.
• Misinterpretation and suspicion: Lu’er’s innocent actions are quickly reframed as a conspiracy by Ao Yue and Gungun.