Chapter Summaries

At court, officials and powerful beings argued over Lin Ke's merits and the honors and authority he should receive, while the Sage Emperor remained silent. The dispute continued as Lin Ke watched the Twelve Ministers, who had yet to state their positions.

• The Grand Tutor and Grand Guardian opposed granting Lin Ke's mother the title of Imperial Patent Lady and questioned Lin Ke's qualifications for an official headquarters and command.
• The Grand Preceptor supported granting Lin Ke's mother the title and allowing Lin Ke to establish his own headquarters and command.
• Officials from many factions argued over Lin Ke's contributions and invoked their ties to his teachers and allies to support him.
• The supreme beings bickered noisily during the assembly, and their quarrels turned the court into chaos.
• Lin Ke looked toward the Sage Emperor and the Twelve Ministers, noting that the ministers had not yet spoken on the matter.

Lin Ke stood before the court as officials debated what rank to grant his mother, while Princess Tian publicly claimed him as her student and shielded him from attack. Supporters praised his many talents, and Lin Xuanji stepped forward as the dispute continued.

• The minister of the Gods and Ghosts Department proposed granting Lin Ke's mother the title of fifth-rank Imperial Patent Lady, prompting others to consider the political consequences.
• Princess Tian summoned Lin Ke, and the gathered officials and other races watched as he walked calmly to the front.
• The Stonefolk Emperor, Flowerfolk Emperor, and Golden Crow Emperor discussed Lin Ke's way of viewing all life as equal.
• Princess Tian told Lin Ke to stand behind her and declared that anyone who made trouble for him would answer to her.
• The minister of the Spirit Department and other ministers praised Lin Ke's talents and argued that he deserved more than a fifth-rank title for his mother.
• Lin Xuanji stepped forward as the ministers' praise ended.

Lin Xuanji declared that he would sacrifice his son Lin Ke and himself to defend the Sacred Path, turning the court against Princess Tian and leaving Wang Lin unable to respond. As Qi Tianxia looked to the silent Sage Emperor for help, Lin Ke suddenly asked whether his disciple had brought a drawing board.

• Lin Xuanji condemned Lin Ke and announced that he would execute his son in the name of the Way of Rites.
• Lin Xuanji appealed to the court to preserve its hierarchies and rites, then offered his life for the Sacred Path.
• Six ministers and many officials declared that they were willing to nourish the Path with their bodies, and some neutral officials joined them.
• Princess Tian threatened Lin Xuanji, while Wang Lin found herself unable to kill him or admit fault without damaging her heart of the Path.
• Wang Lin looked to Qi Tianxia, who considered appealing to the silent Sage Emperor but saw no way forward.
• Lin Ke's voice rang through the court as he asked his disciple whether they had brought a drawing board.

At the court assembly, Lin Ke proposed killing officials who claimed they were willing to die for the Sacred Path, turning the deadlock between Lin Xuanji and Qi Tianxia’s factions into a furious confrontation. He ended by threatening anyone who obstructed his mother’s first-rank imperial title, while enraged officials called for his execution.

• Lin Ke asked Wu Daozi to sketch the officials who proclaimed they would die for their path so he could identify them later.
• Lin Ke recited lines about a swordsman who killed without restraint and declared that he would help the officials fulfill their Sacred Path by killing them one by one.
• Officials on Lin Xuanji’s side condemned Lin Ke’s threats, while officials behind Minister Qi defended his proposal and criticized their opponents’ conduct.
• Lin Ke invoked the Imperially Sanctioned Staff and threatened to kill anyone who stood in the way of his mother’s first-rank imperial title.
• The officials recoiled at Lin Ke’s threats, then shouted that he was treasonous and demanded that he be executed.

At a court assembly, Lin Ke verbally denounced the officials who opposed him, drawing on a famous speech from his previous life. He declared that he would uphold the righteous path, and several allies stepped forward to support him.

• Lin Ke unleashed a long string of accusations against the officials, condemning their corruption and their attempt to usurp the throne.
• The officials were stunned and angered as Lin Ke continued to insult them, while onlookers praised his sharp tongue.
• Lin Ke called for Wu Daozi to finish his painting, then vowed to act against the officials and uphold the righteous path.
• Li Chungang stepped forward and condemned the corrupt officials, recalling how his past efforts to punish them had earned him the name Blood-Handed Butcher.
• Butcher Zhang and Matchmaker joined Lin Ke, and more of his allies stepped forward to stand with him.

Lin Ke’s supporters rallied behind him, while Wang Lin used her authority and the Sage Emperor’s approval to name Bai Zhantang, whose real name was Zhang Zhanmie, Crown Prince. The chapter ended in confusion when Zhang Zhanmie immediately declared that he was relinquishing the position.

• Chen An, Shopkeeper Tong, Li Chungang, Butcher Zhang, and Matchmaker stepped forward to support Lin Ke.
• Bai Zhantang volunteered to help Lin Ke, and Wang Lin backed him despite the other princes and princesses urging him to step down.
• Wang Lin asked Zhang Zhanmie to uphold the Sacred Path, and he agreed to serve the common people.
• The Grand Guardian objected to choosing a Crown Prince so casually, but Wang Lin invoked her elder brother’s approval and the Sage Emperor permitted it.
• Wang Lin announced Bai Zhantang as Crown Prince, and Zhang Zhanmie immediately declared that he relinquished the position.

Lin Ke challenged Great Wei’s harsh rites in a speech that awakened the rare Heaven’s Mandate on the Tongue and drew the Sage Emperor’s attention. The chapter ended as Lin Ke turned and found the Sage Emperor standing behind him.

• Zhang Zhanmie and Wang Lin rejected their princely status and voiced support for Lin Ke.
• Lin Ke addressed the officials with a history of China’s dynasties and argued that rites without benevolence became tyranny.
• Lin Ke’s speech awakened Heaven’s Mandate on the Tongue, frightening the officials who recognized the Second Realm talent.
• The Sage Emperor revealed his true appearance behind Lin Ke and silently instructed the officials not to interrupt.
• Lin Ke declared that he, the lowborn Lin Ke, asked Great Wei’s harsh rites to meet their death, then turned and saw the Sage Emperor.

Lin Ke blurted out that the Sage Emperor would be better as a woman, but the emperor laughed and welcomed his candor. The court transformed for a solemn deliberation, and the Grand Preceptor announced Lin Ke’s case before the human heroes’ souls.

• Lin Ke praised the Sage Emperor’s eyes, then said he would be better as a woman and hastily bowed in apology.
• The Sage Emperor laughed and said he liked Lin Ke’s words, prompting the ministers to switch from condemning him to praising his candor.
• The Sage Emperor replaced his gilded throne with a throne of white bones and changed into ceremonial attire, prompting the officials and others present to change their clothing and positions.
• Wang Lin changed Lin Ke’s plain clothes into black official-style attire.
• The Grand Preceptor stepped forward with a rusted chopping blade and announced the first deliberation: Lin Ke, before the human heroes’ souls.

The Grand Preceptor explained the Heroes' Tomb and the Sage Emperor's command that all races honor humanity's dead. The Heroic Spirits emerged from the Great Saber, learned that humanity now enjoyed peace, and were asked to judge Lin Ke after viewing his life and the court assembly.

• The Grand Preceptor declared that the Heroes' Tomb commemorated humanity's fallen and demanded reverence, threatening those who disrespected it or had harmed humanity.
• The Great Saber trembled, and the Heroic Spirits within it emerged, ready to fight the Six Clans, Six Kingdoms, and other races.
• The Sage Emperor calmed the Heroic Spirits and conveyed news of Great Wei's flourishing age, prompting some to rejoice and others to grieve over forgotten atrocities and sacrifices.
• The Sage Emperor asked the Heroic Spirits to judge Lin Ke, and the Grand Preceptor showed them Lin Ke's life and the events of the court assembly.

The Sage Emperor heard the heroic spirits condemn Great Wei’s harsh rites and praised Lin Ke, then appointed him to lead a powerful bureau overseeing officials. Lin Ke proposed turning it into a nineteen-member Great Wilderness Council, leaving the Sage Emperor to rule on his plan.

• The heroic spirits cursed the Sage Emperor and his ministers over Great Wei’s unjust rites, while praising Lin Ke and criticizing Lin Xuanji.
• The Sage Emperor invested Lin Ke’s mother as a first-rank Imperial Patent Lady and granted her a place in the Divine Path as a City God.
• The Sage Emperor established the Great Wilderness Bureau under Lin Ke, giving him authority to oversee officials and execute those beyond the reach of law and rites.
• Lin Ke accepted the appointment, then asked to revise the bureau’s structure so decisions could be shared among several councilors.
• Lin Ke proposed a nineteen-seat Great Wilderness Council with representatives from the Three Venerables, Six Paths, and Nine Schools, plus bodies for oversight and research.

The officials debated which registry Lin Ke should receive after the Sage Emperor accepted his appointment, with Qi Tianxia backing noble Confucian registry and Lin Xuanji favoring commoner miscellaneous registry. The Sage Emperor then announced the second deliberation: harsh rites, leaving the officials stunned by the prospect of changing the system of rites.

• The Sage Emperor returned from the Heroes' Tomb form to his normal form, and officials debated what registry Lin Ke needed to serve as an official.
• Qi Tianxia argued that Lin Ke deserved noble Confucian registry, while Lin Xuanji proposed commoner miscellaneous registry.
• Other ministers suggested Daoist, Buddhist, military, and martial artist registries for Lin Ke.
• The Sage Emperor told the Grand Preceptor to announce the next deliberation, and the Grand Preceptor declared, “The second deliberation: harsh rites.”
• The officials realized the Sage Emperor intended to change the system of rites, which could reshape the values and conduct of everyone under heaven.

The Sage Emperor exiled Lin Xuanji and appointed Minister Xun, then gave Lin Ke authority to establish the principles of ritual law across the Great Wei Sacred Dynasty. The Second Deliberation ended, and the court moved on to the Third Deliberation on evil.

• The Sage Emperor condemned Lin Xuanji, exiled him to Cloud Dream Marsh for thirty years, and appointed Vice Minister Xun as Minister of Rites.
• Minister Xun tearfully claimed he had long opposed the Harsh Rites and proposed that Lin Ke revise them.
• The Grand Preceptor asked Lin Ke to establish the overarching principles of ritual law, and Lin Ke accepted.
• The Sage Emperor approved Lin Ke's appointment, and the officials concluded the Second Deliberation.
• The Grand Preceptor announced that the Third Deliberation would concern evil.

Lin Ke learned that the Sages and powerful literary works guarded the Divine Land from the universe’s encroaching evil, while thirty-three rival worlds steadily grew stronger. The chapter ended with the Grand Preceptor warning that the Great Dao Battlefield would open within a hundred years and asking who would protect the Divine Land when the Sages fell asleep.

• The Grand Preceptor invoked Threefold Silence to prevent the officials from revealing the secret, but Lin Ke’s power of reform consumed the binding force.
• Wang Lin told Lin Ke that the Sages’ whereabouts would be revealed and that anyone who reached the seventh realm would have to make the journey.
• The Sage Emperor used the Imperial Jade Seal to reveal the universe, where the Sages and countless scriptures and books appeared as points of light guarding the Divine Land.
• Wang Lin explained that the Sages and their works suppressed the universe’s evil toward the Divine Land.
• The Grand Preceptor revealed thirty-three rival worlds, including Xiongnu, Xianbei, Jurchen, and Khitan, and warned that the Great Dao Battlefield would open in less than a hundred years.
• The Grand Preceptor asked who would uphold the Divine Land while the Sages and Sage Emperor were trapped in slumber, and Lin Ke realized why poetry and new paths earned manifestations from heaven and earth.

Wang Lin explained to Lin Ke how manifestation-producing works strengthened the Divine Continent and helped it influence hostile worlds. At court, Qi Tianxia proposed schools open to everyone, including people with servile status, and Lin Ke considered helping improve education.

• Wang Lin helped Lin Ke sense the cosmic paths and explained that his poems, essays, and other works benefited heaven and earth.
• Wang Lin described the Divine Continent’s strategy of using smaller cosmoses to invade other worlds and explained why manifestations helped beings endure the resulting temporal turbulence.
• Wang Lin contrasted Lin Xuanji’s support for noble status with Qi Tianxia’s belief that talented people could also come from commoners and those with servile status.
• The Grand Preceptor opened the court’s third deliberation on evil, and the assembled officials fell silent over the threat from other worlds.
• Qi Tianxia urged the court to establish schools and teach without distinction, arguing that anyone who wanted to learn should be admitted.
• Lin Ke admired Qi Tianxia’s proposal and considered using his knowledge from his previous life to help improve education.

After the Sage Emperor privately warned Lin Ke that he had a long way to go before he could overthrow him, Lin Ke returned to his courtyard and faced his companions’ questions. His poems then triggered an enormous literary qi eruption over the Capital City, which the Grand Preceptor contained with his seal.

• The Sage Emperor dismissed the court, privately told Lin Ke that he would need to grow stronger before he could overthrow him, and sent him back to his courtyard.
• Wang Lin, Qi Tianxia, and the others questioned Lin Ke about his private audience, then beat him when he claimed the Sage Emperor had told him to keep quiet.
• Minister Qi urged Lin Ke to continue his work and asked Wang Lin to give him something valuable; Wang Lin offered to find him a better doppelganger.
• Lin Ke’s poems from the Heavenly Origin Hall erupted into violent literary qi above the Capital City, and the Grand Preceptor calmed it with the Grand Preceptor’s Seal.
• The officials returned to their posts to carry out the Sage Emperor’s reforms, while Lin Ke suddenly felt a stirring in his bloodline.

Lin Ke witnessed his mother Lady Lin receive a lasting body and honors as a first-rank Imperial Patent Lady, which freed him from the last trace of the original Lin Ke's consciousness. Wang Lin then took him to confront Lin Xuanji, while Lin Xuanji calmly prepared a secret plan with Qi Ye's master.

• Lin Ke saw Lady Lin's remains restored and enshrined after she was posthumously named a first-rank Imperial Patent Lady.
• Lin Ke's tears and his mother's honors severed the last connection to the original Lin Ke's consciousness, and he vowed to honor Lady Lin's memory.
• Wang Lin took Lin Ke toward the Lin Residence to confront Lin Xuanji, prompting Qi Tianxia and the others to pursue them.
• The Lin Residence fell into chaos as Lin Xuanji's family members departed after his demotion and loss of rank.
• Lin Xuanji and Qi Ye's master discussed their plan to pursue the Great Path and seize their chance when the Sage Emperor entered slumber.

Wang Lin brought Lin Ke to confront Lin Xuanji in the Nine Heavens and unleashed the Heavenly Demon Formless Art, manifesting incarnations of the Hundred Schools to attack him. Lin Xuanji countered with the Four Treasures of the Study, but Wang Lin’s Buddhist incarnation transformed into a demonic figure and threatened to devour him.

• Wang Lin arrived at the Lin Residence with Lin Ke and attacked the old man who tried to speak for Lin Xuanji.
• Lin Xuanji vanished and challenged Wang Lin to meet him above the Nine Heavens, so she took Lin Ke there to watch.
• Wang Lin manifested dozens of incarnations representing the Hundred Schools and sent them to attack Lin Xuanji.
• Lin Xuanji used his inkstone, paper, brush, and Treasured Sword to repel the incarnations and counter their techniques.
• Wang Lin’s Buddhist incarnation revealed her demonic nature, transformed her appearance, and declared she would devour Lin Xuanji.

Wang Lin and Lin Xuanji fought a devastating battle, with Wang Lin ultimately weakening his Scholar’s Aura before escaping with Lin Ke. The others later spotted them descending together and wondered what had happened.

• Wang Lin combined Confucian, Daoist, Buddhist, and demonic power in a clash with Lin Xuanji that tore open space across a vast area.
• Lin Xuanji and Wang Lin traded brush attacks and Manifestation poems, but Wang Lin’s verses shattered his defenses.
• Wang Lin exploited Lin Xuanji’s momentary opening, struck him with her incarnations, and shaved away a tenth of his Scholar’s Aura.
• Wang Lin bowed to Lin Xuanji, then vanished with Lin Ke inside the Diamond Bangle.
• Qi Tianxia and the others found Wang Lin and Lin Ke descending, then saw Lin Xuanji return and speculated about what the two had done.

After Lin Xuanji’s fall left the Lin Residence in disarray, Lin Ke decided to buy it as a home and base for the Great Wilderness Council. The chapter left Lin Ke in Cloud Dream Marsh, newly advanced to the Second Realm of the Reformer School and planning to gather resources for his organization.

• Lin Ke and Wang Lin arrived at the Lin Residence and saw that its inhabitants had lost their former confidence after Lin Xuanji’s fall.
• Shopkeeper Tong suggested buying the Lin Residence, and Lin Ke decided to purchase it as a home for himself and his companions.
• Lin Ke explained that he needed a suitable base, and the group accepted his decision to buy the residence.
• Lin Ke’s original body returned to Cloud Dream Marsh and considered gathering demon beasts, treasures, and other resources to recruit members for the Great Wilderness Council.
• Lin Ke sensed his cultivation and confirmed that he had advanced to the Second Realm of the Reformer School.

Lin Ke confronted a Jade-Wave Three-Legged Frog guarding a Jade-Skin Moon-Chill Lotus and tested his newly reached second-realm Reformer School abilities against its explosive power. After Lin Ke defeated the frog’s tongue with his Bamboo Staff, the frog wondered if Lin Ke had an ancient bloodline and considered joining him.

• Lin Ke rode a Dark-Gold-Eyed Leopard to a pool where a Jade-Skin Moon-Chill Lotus grew, considering its uses and the possibility of cultivating it for production.
• A Jade-Wave Three-Legged Frog attacked the Golden Leopard, and Lin Ke returned the injured leopard to the Pokémon space to recover.
• The Jade-Wave Three-Legged Frog challenged Lin Ke over its territory and struck at him with its tongue wrapped in murky water.
• Lin Ke met the attack with his Bamboo Staff and used the exchange to study the frog’s explosive power through Reformer School-Essence-Taking.
• The frog, impressed by Lin Ke’s strength and suspecting he had an ancient bloodline, considered attaching himself to Lin Ke.