Chapter Summaries

Hu Ze's Avatar revealed an imperial mandate and used mysterious powers to overwhelm Prince Yong, Grand Confucian Wang Ran, and their forces. Wang Ran began to discern that Hu Ze was manipulating space and time, but his insight vanished before he could understand the technique.

• Prince Yong summoned the local gods, but Hu Ze's Avatar ordered them away and revealed a Five-Clawed Golden Dragon dharma form backed by imperial aura.
• Wang Ran conjured Ten Thousand Miles of Rivers and Mountains to shield Prince Yong, but Hu Ze's Avatar passed through its barriers and defeated the guards and scholars' attacks.
• Hu Ze's Avatar appeared beside Prince Yong despite Wang Ran's spacetime barrier, prompting Wang Ran to suspect that Hu Ze wielded the power of law.
• Wang Ran used his dharma eye and saw that Hu Ze's true form was displaced from where he appeared, while unseen women inflicted wounds through temporal dislocation.
• Wang Ran's emerging insight disappeared, and he wondered why even his dharma eye could not see what was happening.

Hu Ze used his Mysterious Nonbeing Art to torment Prince Yong and his guards, but Wang Ran uncovered how to reveal Hu Ze and resist the art. Hu Ze and his three female ghosts escaped, leaving Wang Ran's final attack to pass harmlessly through his Avatar.

• Hu Ze's Avatar tore into Wang Ran, then attacked Prince Yong, whose dragon power and armor failed to stop him from being wounded and losing an eye.
• Wang Ran noticed that spatial barriers blocked Hu Ze's attacks and spotted Hu Ze and three female ghosts through his Primordial Spirit Dharma Eye.
• Wang Ran told Prince Yong to use the Form-Shifting Talisman to escape, then asked him to use royal qi to keep Wang Ran's mind clear.
• Wang Ran realized Hu Ze was clouding their perceptions and used Clear the Cosmic Vault to reveal Hu Ze and the three female ghosts to everyone.
• Hu Ze acknowledged Wang Ran's insight, then vanished with the female ghosts; Wang Ran's Lip Spear and Tongue Sword passed through Hu Ze without effect.

Li Chen used Hu Ze's Avatar to frighten Prince Yong, while Wang Ran suspected illusion techniques but remained unsure how Hu Ze had evaded his final attack. The pressure helped push Bamboo Province toward upheaval, but Prince Yong swiftly crushed Lord Yong's preparations and placed him under house arrest.

• Wang Ran told Prince Yong that Hu Ze had likely used Illusion Arts to deceive their senses, though he privately admitted that Hu Ze's final evasion remained unexplained.
• Wang Ran warned a White Lotus Academy official that the court's growing pressure on Bamboo Province made an uprising imminent.
• Prince Yong hurried to Thorn Mountain Palace, and Li Chen watched his departure before sending Hu Ze's Avatar back.
• A secret report said the Yixian Army had mutinied in Bamboo Province as the Blood Robe Bandits attacked cities in Ma Prefecture.
• Prince Yong announced a campaign against the mutineers, executed several officials loyal to Lord Yong, and placed Lord Yong under house arrest.

Li Chen watched Great Qian’s succession crisis escalate after the emperor’s death, as Prince Fu took the throne and factional fighting spread across the court and provinces. With ten vassal princes marching on the capital, Fairy Zhang Hua ordered Hu Ze to raise troops in defense of the throne, leaving him poised to become a powerful force.

• Li Chen learned that the emperor had lost consciousness and recognized that someone might be plotting his death.
• Prince Yong conquered Bamboo Province, while Li Chen used an imperial campaign against rebels mainly to train his troops.
• After the emperor died, the ministers chose Prince Fu as the Kangping Emperor, while Hu Meiniang became empress dowager without gaining the regency.
• The Demon Kings and four great academies joined the struggle, and Hu Meiniang’s affair with the emperor and his killing of Confucian ministers intensified the crisis.
• Ten vassal princes raised armies against the Demon Empress, prompting Fairy Zhang Hua to order Hu Ze to defend the throne and promise him protection and rewards.

Li Chen decided to send Hu Ze to the Capital to defend Emperor Kangping, gaining the court’s legitimacy and strengthening his political position amid the Ten Dragons' Succession Struggle. After Nie Chen offered trained troops and scholarly allies, Hu Ze accepted his help.

• Li Chen assessed the Demon Empresses’ political methods and judged Hu Meiniang’s approach too reckless to admire.
• Li Chen told Shen Longcheng and Pan Ning that Hu Ze would march on the Capital to defend the throne and quell the rebellion.
• Li Chen explained that supporting Emperor Kangping would give Hu Ze the lawful authority and military standing to win over court officials.
• Li Chen returned to reality and informed Nie Chen of Hu Ze’s plan.
• Nie Chen offered trained elites and volunteers from among his friends and former classmates, and Hu Ze accepted.

Hu Ze rallied the Flat Hill Demon Kingdom’s forces and announced his march to the capital under imperial decree. As the army set out, Li Chen secretly absorbed the gathered fortune and prepared to rely on several carefully assembled forces for the campaign ahead.

• Hu Ze appeared in military armor and declared that he would march to the capital to aid the emperor, promising glory and advancement to those who followed him.
• The demons and scholars answered Hu Ze’s call, while Li Chen watched their shared fortune strengthen the Azure Dragon dharma form and flow secretly into him.
• Hu Ze drew his sword and ordered the army to march north, and the gathered forces began moving under their leaders.
• Li Chen prepared to bring Creation Sect provisions, hidden troops, and Pan Ning’s four Seven-Star and one Eight-Star Desolate Beast Battle Puppets.
• Li Chen planned to use his Insect Race legion disguised as Mutant Demons, Hu Ze’s retainers and trained young fighters, and aristocratic clans and Confucian scholars in the campaign.

Li Chen led Hu Ze’s army across the northern territories toward the Sacred Capital, relying on speed and force while avoiding unnecessary battles. After Prince Yu and Prince Jin let them pass, the army reached the Capital Region, where Emperor Kangping appointed Hu Ze Grand General.

• Li Chen considered how his army’s strength and numbers could support the emperor and help govern the Capital Region.
• Hu Ze’s Avatar ordered the army to march openly through Prince Yu’s territory and challenge anyone who tried to stop them.
• Prince Yu chose to let Hu Ze’s army pass, and Prince Jin made the same choice.
• The Flat Hill Demon Kingdom’s forces reached the Capital Region after more than half a month without incident.
• Emperor Kangping appointed Hu Ze Grand General before his army entered the city.

Hu Ze accepted his appointment as Great General and prepared to enter court, while privately criticizing the Empress Dowager’s harsh treatment of his opponents. Green Lotus Hermit arrived at his camp, revealing himself to be Li Chen’s disguised physical body, Master Taibai, and introduced himself as a seeker of the Sage Dao.

• Eunuch Yu proclaimed the decree appointing Hu Ze Great General and Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince, then told him that the Empress Dowager had ordered dissenting officials beaten to death.
• Hu Ze told Eunuch Yu that the Empress Dowager’s actions left him caught between the inner and outer courts, then agreed to attend court the next morning.
• Hu Ze told Nie Chen, Yan Zheng, and his other supporters that the Empress Dowager’s actions could help him by making her the villain, and arranged for them to meet leading figures at court.
• A guard announced the arrival of Green Lotus Hermit, and Hu Ze recognized the visiting scholar as Master Taibai, the author of several famous works.
• Hu Ze introduced Green Lotus Hermit as the Azure Lotus Sword Immortal and revealed that he had written the Analects; Li Chen said he had come to Central Province to seek scriptures, learn its arts, and affirm the Sage Dao.

Li Chen used the Green Lotus Hermit's fame and the crowd’s admiration to explore how collective belief could reshape identity and heavenly secrets, while planning to become a celebrated figure of Great Qian. The celebration ended with Han Li exposing two disguised intruders, who died by poison before they could be questioned.

• Hu Ze welcomed Li Chen as an old friend and celebrated his appointment as Great Qian’s Great General with a feast.
• Two intruders disguised themselves as servants and approached the Central Army Tent to probe the demon army’s strengths and weaknesses.
• Li Chen recited poems and drank with Hu Ze, drawing the crowd’s admiration as he considered how belief and imperial deification might create gods and political stars.
• Han Li sensed the intruders, attacked them with sword light, and brought both to their knees.
• Yan Zheng identified the intruders as poisoned death warriors, and Hu Ze ordered their bodies removed so the celebration could continue.

Li Chen learned that the two dead spies had left no useful information, while Hu Ze entered Great Qian’s capital and encountered the Sacred Spirit Grand Formation’s immense power. After receiving an imperial summons, Hu Ze attended court as the newly appointed Great General, entering the struggle for influence in Great Qian.

• Li Chen had the two suspected spies’ corpses fed to Yin Tao, but the Mother Empress found no useful information in them.
• Hu Ze entered the Sacred Capital and felt the Sacred Spirit Grand Formation suppress his cultivation and fortune.
• Hu Ze explained to Nie Chen that Great Qian’s formation was guarded by four sacred spirits and made the capital perilous for powerful outsiders.
• Hu Ze passed through the Vermilion Bird Gate, saw the sacred spirit phantom, and continued toward the Purple Zenith Hall as his attendants were turned back.
• Hu Ze bowed before Emperor Kangping at court on the twenty-first day of the fourth month in New Calendar year 100130.

Hu Ze impressed Emperor Kangping and the court by refusing premature honors and promising to pacify the realm within five years without taking command of the War Dragon Army. After court, Hu Ze left to meet Nie Chen, who asked how the audience had gone.

• Emperor Kangping welcomed Hu Ze and proposed granting him special privileges, but Hu Ze humbly declined them.
• Hu Ze rejected the offer to command the War Dragon Army, saying it should remain to defend the capital and that he could defeat the Rebel Kings with his own forces.
• Hu Ze pledged to pacify the realm within five years, winning the emperor’s and officials’ confidence.
• Emperor Kangping ordered Hu Ze to stay for a meal after court, and Hu Ze went to meet Nie Chen, who asked about the audience.

Hu Ze's Avatar followed Li Chen's advice on how to gain military authority without alarming the court, then met Empress Dowager Hu Meiniang at Kunning Palace. Hu Meiniang tried to draw him into her circle through intimacy and seduction, but Li Chen saw through her charms and was disappointed by her priorities.

• Hu Ze's Avatar secretly told Nie Chen that Emperor Kangping had offered him special privileges and military command, and Nie Chen advised him to seek authority over the Capital's troops while leaving the War Dragon Army untouched.
• Hu Ze's Avatar accepted the court's invitation to meet the empress dowager and rode in a sedan chair to Kunning Palace.
• Hu Ze's Avatar learned that Hu Meiniang was a Heavenly Fox Demon King and broke through her seductive arts with the Pink-Skull Illusion.
• Hu Meiniang welcomed Hu Ze's Avatar as a fellow disciple of Zhang Mountain and tried to draw close to him.
• Hu Meiniang's seductive fragrance and advances failed to affect Hu Ze's Avatar, while Li Chen inwardly dismissed her as foolish and shameless.

Li Chen, speaking through Hu Ze's Avatar, warned Hu Meiniang that Empress Xiao and the Xiao Household threatened her hold over the inner palace. He then offered her a strange life-form that could help her conceive an imperial son, leaving Hu Meiniang hopeful about securing her position.

• Li Chen advised Hu Meiniang to guard against Empress Xiao, whose family and Confucian support could challenge her influence.
• Hu Meiniang admitted that the late emperor had been unable to father children and said Emperor Kangping could likely do so.
• Hu Ze's Avatar urged Hu Meiniang to conceive an imperial child to strengthen her position in the inner palace.
• Hu Ze's Avatar presented a translucent, slug-like life-form and claimed it could help her bear a noble son.
• Hu Meiniang listened to his instructions, blushed, and began hoping the treasure would secure her status through her son.

Li Chen, disguised as Tang Taibai, the Green Lotus Hermit, visited the four great academies and used his scholarship and carefully cultivated reputation to become known as the Exiled Immortal. Emperor Kangping summoned him to court, where Li Chen maintained his invented overseas origins and concealed his true identity.

• Hu Ze's Avatar left the palace, while Li Chen and Xiao Qian arrived in the Ancient Capital of Great Qian disguised as the Green Lotus Hermit and his maid.
• Tang Taibai presented the Analects and Three Hundred Tang Poems to Yongzhen Academy, impressing its Grand Confucians.
• Li Chen visited the other three great academies and spread his classics and poetry through the Sacred Capital, becoming famous as the Exiled Immortal.
• Li Chen used Mind Reading, brainwashing, and planted suggestions to build goodwill among scholars and spread his reputation.
• Emperor Kangping summoned Tang Taibai and received him alongside Empress Dowager Hu Meiniang.
• Li Chen described his fabricated homeland of Great Tang, which he had established overseas with altered memories and forged records, while keeping his identity as Li Chen hidden.

Li Chen composed three celebrated poems praising Hu Meiniang, earning Emperor Kangping’s title of Poetry Immortal. Yue Dongyang interpreted the poems as satire of the Demon Empress and planned to protect Li Chen, but the story spread through the capital until Hu Meiniang discovered the mockery and flew into a rage.

• At Emperor Kangping’s command, Li Chen wrote three poems about Hu Meiniang while she and the court marveled at his talent.
• Emperor Kangping named Li Chen the Poetry Immortal, and news of the poems and his new title spread across the realm.
• At Yongzhen Academy, Yue Dongyang said the poems compared Hu Meiniang to a favored consort rather than an empress and recognized them as satire.
• Yue Dongyang warned that Hu Meiniang might retaliate and agreed with another official that they should protect Li Chen.
• Li Chen helped spread the story that he had toyed with the Demon Empress, winning greater admiration across the capital.
• Hu Meiniang learned of the mockery and became furious.

Hu Meiniang persuaded Emperor Kangping to issue an Imperial Edict ordering Tang Taibai’s arrest for High Treason and revoking his Poetry Immortal title. As Tang Taibai entertained scholars at a villa, Eunuch Ma arrived with the edict and used its dragon aura to suppress the students who tried to protect him.

• Hu Meiniang vented her anger over Tang Taibai’s humiliation of her, and Eunuch Ma urged her to seek an Imperial Edict to have him killed.
• Hu Meiniang asked Emperor Kangping to punish Tang Taibai, and he ordered the Northern Pacification Office to arrest him for High Treason and revoke his Poetry Immortal title.
• At the villa, Xiao Qian played the zither for Li Chen and the gathered scholars, then Lady Hua asked to take the name Huaxiangrong and sang for them.
• Eunuch Ma and the Embroidered Uniform Guards burst into the villa and accused Li Chen, who identified himself as Tang Bai, of deceiving the sovereign and defying his superiors.
• As the students confronted the guards, Eunuch Ma displayed the Imperial Edict, and its Five-Clawed Golden Dragon Dharma Form suppressed their courage and fortune.

Li Chen saw the Confucian ministers challenge the Imperial Edict’s authority and drive Eunuch Ma away from Yongzhen Academy. Yue Dongyang warned that overturning the order would be difficult, so Li Chen said he would seek help from the King of Pingqiu, Great General Hu Ze.

• Li Chen felt the Imperial Edict’s aura suppress his magic power and the surrounding Heaven and Earth Vital Energy.
• Yue Dongyang arrived with senior officials, whose literary qi weakened the Golden Dragon’s oppressive aura.
• Yue Dongyang rebuked Eunuch Ma for slandering Li Chen and ordered him to leave Yongzhen Academy.
• Eunuch Ma withdrew with the Demon-Quelling Bureau’s guards after the officials threatened to remonstrate with the Emperor.
• Yue Dongyang told Li Chen that persuading the Emperor to rescind the command would be difficult, and Li Chen named Great General Hu Ze as a possible ally.

Li Chen used Hu Ze’s Avatar to persuade Hu Meiniang to spare Tang Taibai by expelling him from the capital and barring him from office. Hu Ze then learned that the Fruit of Life had made Hu Meiniang pregnant with an embryo tied to the Insect Race mother womb, and he advised her to pass the child off as someone else’s so the succession would appear legitimate.

• Li Chen convinced the Confucian ministers that Hu Ze was a worthy ally and should be allowed to seek Tang Taibai’s release.
• Hu Ze’s Avatar told Hu Meiniang she lacked the authority to kill Tang Taibai, and she chose instead to expel him from the capital and bar him from office.
• Hu Meiniang complained that the Fruit of Life had shown no effect, so Hu Ze contacted the Insect Race mother womb and learned that she was pregnant.
• Hu Ze assured Hu Meiniang that the child could be made a boy, while privately recognizing that the embryo was essentially the child of an Insect Queen Mother and Emperor Kangping.
• Hu Ze advised Hu Meiniang to claim that a palace maid or female Demon Cultivator was carrying the child to protect its legitimacy and future succession.

Li Chen used the dispute over Tang Taibai’s expulsion to build Hu Ze’s standing among the Confucian Circle and recruit scholars, while preparing to keep Tang Taibai’s identity near Hu Ze. At Riverside Tower, he announced plans to travel, and influential officials supplied permits and privileges that would support his future movements.

• Li Chen considered how Hu Meiniang’s unborn child could give the Puppet Dao access to Great Qian’s Deification System and Dao of Fortune if the child survived and became emperor.
• Hu Meiniang agreed to spare Tang Taibai on the condition that he leave the capital and never receive a Great Qian office, prompting scholars to protest and mourn his exile.
• Li Chen accepted goodwill toward Hu Ze, recruited unaffiliated Provincial Graduates and frustrated Scholars, and weighed whether to abandon the Tang Taibai identity.
• Li Chen visited Confucian leaders and announced that Tang Taibai would travel, laying groundwork for accompanying Hu Ze on campaign later.
• At a farewell gathering at Riverside Tower, Hu Ze’s Avatar gave Tang Taibai a Travel Permit, and Confucian officials offered him documents and access permits for travel across Great Qian.

As Tang Taibai, Li Chen held a grand farewell by the Hualan River, trading poems for wine until more than a thousand masterpieces gathered immense literary fortune. He used the crowd’s will and that fortune to break into late-stage cultivation and begin condensing a Divine Seat, confirming that the world’s cultivation method worked for him.

• Scholars and people from across the Sacred Capital gathered by the Hualan River to see Li Chen off, and he agreed to trade poems for cups of wine.
• Li Chen recited celebrated poems for each toast, drawing a vast surge of literary qi that astonished observers near and far.
• After more than eight hundred poems, Yue Dongyang’s Dharma Eye revealed an immense green lotus forming from the gathered literary qi, as a golden pillar of light shone on Li Chen.
• Li Chen drew on the crowd’s emotions, the continent’s literary fortune, and the Immortal Mountain’s spirit veins to break through to late-stage cultivation.
• Li Chen recited more than twelve hundred poems before stopping, having reached a bottleneck near the late stage’s peak and begun condensing a Divine Seat as an Exiled Immortal among poets.