Chapter Summaries

Lilith and Namelia were accused of betraying the Blood Demon Society after becoming devoted to Li Chen, while Veronica secretly manipulated the rumors to keep them from returning. When they contacted Society President Mordred to explain their undercover mission, he gave them three days to come back or be disowned.

• Li Chen spent his days receiving worship in Holy Radiance City and his nights with Ophelia, Mariana, Lilith, and Namelia, while Carlos worried that the twins might expose their identities.
• Veronica told Lilith and Namelia that Blood Demon Society members suspected they had become the Holy See's dogs, though she and her husband had helped spread the rumors.
• Lilith decided to explain matters to Society President Mordred, but Veronica warned that he might imprison them if they returned, so the twins contacted him through a Crystal Ball.
• Mordred angrily threatened Lilith and Namelia and accused them of serving Li Chen, citing Carlos's reports about their behavior.
• Lilith insisted they were undercover and had obtained important intelligence, but Mordred gave them three days to return or never come back.

Lilith and Namelia considered using Li Chen to kill the Society President, while Veronica arranged for the Drake household women to gain Li Chen’s trust through a staged confession. Li Chen began another Purification in the Confessional, unaware that a Red-robed Cardinal had arrived outside old Castro’s home.

• After the Society President’s deacons rejected their appeals, Lilith and Namelia heard Veronica propose using Li Chen to kill him and considered the plan.
• Veronica told Nader that the sisters were plotting against the Society President and arranged to take Theresa, Grace, and their five daughters to Li Chen for confession.
• Veronica and seven Drake household women arrived at the Confessional, where Lilith and Namelia presented them to Li Chen for Purification.
• Li Chen dropped his pretense and began the women’s confession, while a Red-robed Cardinal arrived at old Castro’s gates.

Li Chen met Red-robed Cardinal Ludwig and Lina, who had once been rescued by him, and Ludwig mistakenly concluded that Li Chen was a secret agent planted by the Pope in Heavenly Strategy. At Ludwig’s scripture lesson the next morning, he demonstrated his Holy Light and asked Li Chen for his view on redeeming the wicked, and Li Chen replied, “Just kill the heretics.”

• Carlos told Li Chen that Red-robed Cardinal Ludwig had arrived with Lina, whom Li Chen recognized from the Fallen Immortal Mountains.
• Lina recounted how Li Chen had saved her, leading Ludwig to assume the Pope had planted Li Chen as a hidden chess piece in Heavenly Strategy.
• Ludwig invited Li Chen to attend his lesson on Judgment and Redemption, which was scheduled for the next day.
• At the Holy Light Grand Cathedral, Ludwig argued that the wicked should be given a chance if they turned toward the Lord and manifested six wings of Holy Light.
• Ludwig asked Li Chen for his insights, and Li Chen answered that heretics should simply be killed.

Li Chen’s casual remarks were mistaken for profound doctrine, winning him more devoted followers in Holy Radiance City. Meanwhile, Carlos betrayed Lilith and Namelia’s plan and told Li Chen that Blood Demon Society president Mordred would hold a ritual in the Black Pine Forest in three days.

• Li Chen’s offhand words triggered a holy phenomenon in the church, and Ludwig declared that he had achieved Great Divine Word resonance.
• Ludwig and Lina interpreted Li Chen’s casual remarks as scripture, becoming his fanatical students while Lina recorded his words in a notebook.
• At Drake Manor, Lilith and Namelia revealed that Veronica had found Mordred’s planned Blood Sacrifice Ritual in the Black Pine Forest, and Carlos agreed to consider their plan.
• That night, Carlos told Li Chen about Mordred’s ritual and offered to lead him there to destroy the Blood Demon Society.
• Lina knelt in the bell tower and recorded Li Chen’s breathing as another supposed scriptural reference.

Carlos arranged for Li Chen and Ludwig to ambush Blood Demon Society President Mordred at the third Blood Sacrifice Formation. Mordred waited for the carriage, unaware that Carlos had betrayed him first.

• Lady Ophelia and Wengennis noticed that Li Chen had been avoiding Deacon Lina, while Isabella understood why.
• Li Chen hid from Lina and cut off Ludwig when the cardinal tried to discuss his latest interpretation of Scripture.
• Carlos explained how he had planned Mordred’s death, shared his intelligence with Li Chen, and falsely claimed Mordred knew the Truth-Speaking Art.
• Carlos confirmed Mordred’s location to Li Chen and Ludwig, while Alfred assembled twenty elite knights for the mission.
• Mordred waited beside the third Blood Sacrifice Formation, planning to attack Li Chen and sacrifice Carlos if necessary.
• Heaven and earth abruptly changed as Carlos arrived with the carriage.

Li Chen and Ludwig killed Blood Demon Society President Mordred, and Carlos began turning the captured heretics into Holy See followers. The chapter ended with Carlos embracing his new position as a Deacon and deciding that uncooperative prisoners could be killed.

• Ludwig silenced Mordred while Li Chen killed him with a giant flaming sword, and Carlos watched in relief that he had betrayed the Society President rather than Li Chen.
• Li Chen ordered his knights to clear the area and Lina to record the victory, including Ludwig's role, in the Personal Guard's Sacred Words.
• Carlos approached Mordred's remains and promised to take care of his wife, daughters, and subordinates.
• Carlos persuaded Deacon Horne to consider joining the Holy See and told Mordred's four wives they could live if they pledged allegiance and repented.
• Carlos left the dungeon pleased to be a legitimate Holy See Deacon and resolved to kill prisoners who refused to cooperate.

Li Chen exploited the surrender of Blood Demon Society members to bring its women into his castle under the guise of reform and healing. As praise for his supposed victory spread, the Pope summoned the mysterious Personal Guard to the Papal Palace for a reward and ordered Ludwig to accompany him.

• Carlos told Li Chen that captured Blood Demon Society members regretted their actions and that the Society President's wives wanted to confess.
• Li Chen arranged for the attractive women among the captives to be taken to his castle while sending the men to the church to repent.
• Li Chen gave Flora a prolonged, forceful 'baptism' as Cecilia and the other wives watched and Lina recorded his actions as religious devotion.
• News spread through Holy Radiance City that Li Chen was reforming the Blood Demon Society, and the Pope learned that the Personal Guard had supposedly killed its president.
• The Pope ordered the mysterious Personal Guard to come to the Papal Palace for a reward and instructed the Red-robed Cardinal to bring Ludwig.

After delaying the Pope’s summons for seven days, Li Chen visited the Papal Palace and revealed that he had come incognito to see the truth for himself. The Pope recognized Li Chen’s formidable power, and Li Chen explained that the Holy See’s strength depended on the faith of its believers.

• Carlos told Li Chen that the Pope had summoned him, but Li Chen postponed the audience and spent seven more days at his castle.
• Li Chen traveled to Heavenly Sanctum City in a lavish carriage and arrived at the Papal Palace, where Cardinals complained that he had kept the Pope waiting.
• The Pope dismissed everyone from the Grand Hall, addressed Li Chen as Your Majesty, and clashed with him in a show of power.
• Li Chen said he traveled incognito to see how things truly were, then explained to the Pope that pure faith created loyal believers and powerful subordinates.

Li Chen met privately with the Pope, rejected the idea of bringing the Holy See’s doctrine to Heavenly Strategy, and challenged the Prophecy Mirror’s visions by showing a future in which he defeated the Devil Race. The Pope emerged without Li Chen, leaving the waiting Red-robed Cardinals uncertain about what had happened.

• The Red-robed Cardinals speculated about Li Chen’s identity while Ludwig worried that his return could disrupt the Holy See.
• The Pope asked Li Chen to promote the Holy See’s doctrine in Heavenly Strategy, but Li Chen refused and explained that he wanted to see the Amethyst Barrier.
• The Pope brought Li Chen to the Forbidden Land and showed him the Prophecy Mirror’s visions of the Devil Race devastating the empires.
• Li Chen argued that people should believe in themselves and changed the mirror’s vision to show him defeating the Devil Race.
• The Pope and Li Chen spoke until sunset, and the Pope later told the waiting Red-robed Cardinals that Li Chen had something to attend to.

Li Chen visited Emperor Charles in the Eternal Day Empire, where their familiar reunion stunned the emperor’s ministers. In private, Li Chen explained that he had destroyed the Blood Demon Society while traveling, and Charles questioned whether it had really been so simple.

• Layton told Charles that the Papal Guard had arrived alone at the palace, and Charles ordered him brought in.
• Li Chen addressed Charles by name, and Charles greeted him warmly before dismissing the ministers.
• Charles took Li Chen to his private study, where they shared tea and pastries.
• Li Chen said he had come to experience Everlasting Day using the Pope’s token and had been mistaken for the Pope’s Personal Guard.
• Li Chen claimed he had destroyed the Blood Demon Society after local people repeatedly asked him to intervene, and Charles doubted the explanation.

Li Chen and Charles discussed how Li Chen’s reputation and private visit could strengthen Charles’s standing against the Pope, then parted after a night of conversation. Back at Castro’s Manor, a captured heretic accused Carlos of being a Blood Demon Society deacon, and Li Chen killed the accuser, leaving Carlos stunned.

• Li Chen explained to Charles that his close relationship with the emperor could influence the Holy See’s bishops and nobles, and Charles praised the plan.
• Charles asked Li Chen about Heavenly Strategy’s technology, and Li Chen teased him with the unfinished concept of Spatial Technology.
• Li Chen and Charles talked through the night before Li Chen declined to stay and left the Imperial Palace the next morning.
• Charles personally escorted Li Chen beyond the palace gates, fueling speculation among the empire’s watching spies and elites.
• Li Chen returned to Castro’s Manor, where Carlos reported newly captured Blood Demon Society heretics.
• A captive accused Carlos of secretly serving the Blood Demon Society and plotting to assassinate Li Chen, but Li Chen killed the accuser with Holy Light, leaving Carlos stunned.

Li Chen secured Carlos’s loyalty and sent three Heretics to the Confessional, while Carlos mistook his casual remark about darkness and light for profound strategy. Preparing to leave the Eternal Day Empire for Heavenly Strategy, Li Chen gathered companions and agreed to accompany Hua Rumeng to the Azure Qilin Kingdom to see her daughter.

• Li Chen spared Carlos, demanded his loyalty, and ordered the three female Heretics taken to the Confessional for baptism.
• Carlos interpreted Li Chen’s remark about darkness and light as a calculated insight into how the Holy See maintained its power.
• Li Chen stayed at old Castro’s castle for several days, where old Castro and Alfred received loot from him as supposed Holy Relics.
• Xuan Ji reminded Li Chen that urgent memorials awaited him in Heavenly Strategy, and he decided to depart for the empire.
• Ophelia and the other women offered to follow Li Chen, while Hua Rumeng agreed to join him after asking to say goodbye to her daughter.
• Li Chen agreed to accompany Hua Rumeng to the Azure Qilin Kingdom to visit her daughter.

Li Chen and Hua Rumeng returned to the Azure Qilin Kingdom, where Li Chen disguised himself as a merchant despite wearing conspicuous Holy See robes. At the Chancellor’s residence, they learned that Hua Rumeng’s daughter, Su Wanqing, was to become an imperial consort, and found her alone and sorrowful in her chambers.

• Hua Rumeng warned Li Chen that the Azure Qilin Kingdom’s rulers were hostile to the Holy See, but Li Chen said he would pose as a Heavenly Strategy merchant.
• Li Chen and Hua Rumeng passed through the capital gates using his prepared merchant papers, while a City Defense Soldier secretly followed them.
• Li Chen suggested they spend the night at an inn before visiting the Chancellor’s residence, and Hua Rumeng agreed to stay with him.
• Hua Rumeng and Li Chen arrived at the Chancellor’s residence the next morning, where the old guard recognized her and revealed that her daughter would enter the palace as an imperial consort.
• Hua Rumeng questioned the sudden imperial marriage because Su Wanqing had been betrothed to Zhang Mingyuan, then hurried with Li Chen to her daughter’s chambers.
• Hua Rumeng and Li Chen found Su Wanqing sitting sorrowfully by the window.

Hua Rumeng returned to learn that Su Wanqing’s fiancé had died after the new emperor demanded her for his harem, and she confronted her husband over his willingness to sacrifice their daughter. Li Chen declared that Su Wanqing would join the Holy See and attend at his side, leaving Su Wenkang stunned.

• Su Wanqing told Hua Rumeng that the new emperor had demanded her for his harem and her betrothed, Mingyuan, had died in a suspicious riding accident.
• Hua Rumeng condemned the emperor and accused Su Wenkang of using the lineage’s greater good to force their daughter to submit.
• Su Wenkang returned home, argued with Hua Rumeng, and stormed into the rear courtyard after hearing Su Wanqing was with Young Master Li.
• Su Wenkang recognized Li Chen’s Holy See attire and Amethyst Token, then cautiously introduced himself and asked about Li Chen’s intentions toward his daughter.
• Li Chen announced that Su Wanqing would join the Holy See and attend at his side, leaving Su Wenkang speechless.

Li Chen demanded that the Azure Qilin emperor allow Su Wanqing to join the Holy See, then unleashed his Saint Realm power when the emperor refused. The emperor’s master recognized Li Chen as a Saint and knelt to beg his forgiveness.

• Su Wenkang redirected Li Chen’s request to the emperor, and Li Chen agreed to seek the emperor’s approval for Su Wanqing to leave for the Holy See.
• Hua Rumeng accompanied Li Chen and Su Wenkang to meet the New Emperor, who stared greedily at her before hearing their request.
• Li Chen asked the New Emperor to let Su Wanqing join the Holy See, but the emperor angrily refused and ordered him to leave.
• Li Chen released a terrifying Saint’s pressure that damaged the Imperial Study and summoned a Six-Winged Angel phantom over the capital.
• The head of the Heaven-Watching Institute rushed to the palace, recognized Li Chen as Lord Saint, and knelt to ask what had angered him.

Li Chen revealed that he was the Emperor of Heavenly Strategy after the Azure Qilin Kingdom’s director and emperor mistook him for a Holy See official and offended him. The kingdom held a state banquet in his honor, where the director asked why he wore the Everlasting Day Holy See’s attire.

• The director sensed Li Chen’s overwhelming power, knelt to beg forgiveness, and rebuked the Azure Qilin Kingdom’s emperor for offending him.
• The emperor kowtowed and apologized after Li Chen explained that he had sought to recruit Chancellor Su’s daughter for the Holy See.
• The director learned Li Chen was from Heavenly Strategy and confirmed he belonged to its Li Imperial Family, then announced that he was the empire’s emperor.
• The emperor, Hua Rumeng, and Su Wenkang reacted with fear and shock as the emperor ordered a grand state banquet for Li Chen.
• At the banquet, the director asked Li Chen why he wore the Everlasting Day Holy See’s attire, and Li Chen said the Pope had given it to him for his visit.

Li Chen humiliated the Azure Qilin Emperor by taking the Empress Dowager and Empress away, then kept them at a shabby inn. The chapter ended with the enraged emperor demanding that his master let the insult go unanswered.

• Li Chen demanded that the Empress Dowager and Empress cultivate with him, and the frightened Azure Qilin Emperor agreed despite his fury.
• Li Chen left the palace with both women as the emperor bowed him out, while ordinary people mistook him for a Holy See villain abducting them.
• Li Chen took the Empress Dowager and Empress to a shabby inn, where they stayed with him until dawn amid swirling holy light and sounds that fueled rumors.
• After hearing what happened at the inn, the Azure Qilin Emperor smashed his Glazed Glass Cup and demanded that his master respond to Li Chen's humiliation.

The Dean forced the emperor to offer Li Chen the kingdom’s palace candidates to make amends, and Li Chen went to Chancellor Su Wenkang’s residence to meet Su Wanqing and guide several women in cultivation. The visit expanded into a succession of private aptitude examinations, while Su Wenkang gratefully accepted a pill from Li Chen without realizing Li Chen considered such pills mere snacks.

• The Dean rejected the emperor’s hopes of revenge and ordered him to send the palace candidates to Li Chen as an apology.
• Li Chen left the inn with the Empress Dowager and Empress and went to Chancellor Su Wenkang’s residence to meet Su Wanqing.
• Li Chen instructed Su Wanqing, the Empress Dowager, and the Empress in cultivation, impressing them with his guidance.
• Su Wenkang brought more than a dozen palace candidates for Li Chen to examine, and the women later relied on the Empress Dowager and Empress to endure his intensive training.
• Li Chen gave Su Wenkang a pill, and the Chancellor knelt in gratitude while Li Chen regarded such pills as ordinary snacks.

Xuan Ji reassured He Ying and the other women preparing to travel to Heavenly Strategy while Li Chen toured the Heaven-Watching Institute in the Azure Qilin Capital. After arranging for its disciples to study at Heavenly Strategy’s Ministry of Works and rewarding a promising researcher, Li Chen followed the Empress Dowager to the top of the Star-Gazing Tower.

• He Ying wondered why Li Chen had not returned, and Xuan Ji assured her and the other women that Heavenly Strategy would welcome them.
• The Heaven-Watching Institute’s dean showed Li Chen its research into metal alloys, and Li Chen praised the work and offered exchanges with Heavenly Strategy’s Ministry of Works.
• Li Chen encouraged the institute’s leading young researcher and gave him a superior heaven-grade pill.
• The Empress Dowager pointed out the Star-Gazing Tower and persuaded Li Chen to climb to its summit.

Li Chen left the Azure Qilin Kingdom with its Empress Dowager and Empress and returned to Heavenly Strategy with a procession of women from several kingdoms. The newcomers marveled at the imperial capital, unaware that the Emperor they admired was riding at the front of the procession.

• Li Chen spent the day and night with the Empress Dowager and Empress at the Star-Plucking Terrace after the Dean cleared everyone else away.
• Li Chen announced he was leaving, and the Empress Dowager and Empress begged to go with him; he agreed to take them.
• The Azure Qilin emperor hid his relief at Li Chen’s departure, but the Dean warned him that his throne depended on the Dean’s favor.
• Li Chen returned to the Hundred Flowers Sect with the two royal women, surprising He Ying, while Hua Rumeng kept his identity secret from her.
• The procession reached Heavenly Strategy’s imperial capital, where the women marveled at the city’s prosperity and praised its emperor without realizing he was in the leading carriage.