Chapter Summaries

Xu Qingxiao learned from Prince Huaining that unorthodox arts were the root of the blood-sacrifice plot and that investigating them would require unifying the world. After Great Wei offered Divine Martial Cannons to the Tuxie and Chuyuan dynasties to secure peace, Xu Qingxiao confronted Hua Xingyun, who said he had been waiting for him.

• Xu Qingxiao told Prince Huaining that he knew the five suspected masterminds planned to sacrifice blood and resurrect the Three Fierce Gods.
• Prince Huaining confirmed the blood-sacrifice plan and explained that unorthodox arts planted seeds of demonic influence, making the threat impossible to end permanently without unifying the world and investigating them.
• Xu Qingxiao showed Prince Huaining that Great Wei possessed one thousand Divine Martial Cannons, then promised to keep him alive if he survived and left to visit Hua Xingyun.
• Great Emperor Tuxie ordered his officials to secure a First-Rank Divine Martial Cannon from Great Wei, despite their suspicions about Xu Qingxiao's motives.
• Xu Qingxiao met Hua Xingyun in his Ministry of Punishment residence, and Hua Xingyun said he had been waiting for him.
• Xu Qingxiao asked Hua Xingyun who he really was.

Xu Qingxiao learned how Hua Xingyun had become entangled in the plot to provoke war and decided he could not risk leaving him alive. After Hua Xingyun took his own life, Xu Qingxiao learned that the Prince of Yongping had disappeared as envoys from the Tuxie Dynasty and Chuyuan Dynasty arrived to discuss buying First-Rank Divine Martial Cannons.

• Hua Xingyun told Xu Qingxiao that he had suppressed the consciousness planted inside him and explained his goal of provoking war among the Central Continent’s three dynasties.
• Hua Xingyun urged Xu Qingxiao to avoid provoking the remaining conspirators, but Xu Qingxiao refused to spare him and granted him twenty-four hours to see Great Wei one last time.
• Xu Qingxiao recited a poem on a mountain, and Hua Xingyun took his own life after warning him about the conspirators and learning about the thousand First-Rank Divine Martial Cannons.
• Xu Qingxiao kept watch until Hua Xingyun’s Primordial Spirit was extinguished, then considered the Prince of Yongping the remaining major threat.
• News arrived that the Prince of Yongping had disappeared, while envoys from the Tuxie Dynasty and Chuyuan Dynasty arrived to discuss trading for First-Rank Divine Martial Cannons.

Xu Qingxiao arranged Great Wei’s military parade and negotiated the exchange of First-Rank Divine Martial Cannons while preparing to confront the danger of the Central Continent Immortal Corpse. After the trade was completed, the story shifted to two figures meeting in a temple in the Western Continent.

• Zhang Jing told Xu Qingxiao that the Prince of Yongping had vanished for three years, and Xu Qingxiao ordered a secret investigation while prioritizing security for the military parade.
• Xu Qingxiao gave Wang Xinzhi a list of demands for the cannon trade and instructions for presenting Great Wei’s military strength at the parade.
• Xu Qingxiao asked Wu Ming to take him to the Central Continent Immortal Corpse, but Wu Ming said he would stabilize the Demon Domain first, a process expected to take three months.
• The negotiations with the Tuxie Dynasty and Chuyuan Dynasty stalled over territorial concessions before Xu Qingxiao helped finalize a deal centered on gold and trade terms.
• The Two Dynasties delivered their supplies to Great Wei, and Great Wei sent the First-Rank Divine Martial Cannons to Tuxie and Chuyuan.
• Two figures sat facing each other in a temple in the Western Continent.

Great Wei completed its First-Rank Divine Martial Cannon deal with the Tuxie and Chuyuan Dynasties, while the Prince of Yongping and Divine Monk Jialan plotted to destabilize the world and kill Xu Qingxiao. After the deal’s gold arrived in the Capital, Xu Qingxiao prepared to use the public display to build trust in Great Wei’s new Treasure Notes.

• Great Wei concluded three rounds of negotiations and traded First-Rank Divine Martial Cannons to the Tuxie and Chuyuan Dynasties for gold, with Xu Qingxiao’s involvement winning public support.
• The Prince of Yongping revealed himself to Divine Monk Jialan and proposed pushing other continents to demand cannons, hoping either refusal or acceptance would spark wars and chaos.
• Divine Monk Jialan and the Prince of Yongping discussed killing Xu Qingxiao and reviving the Demon Gods, while agreeing that awakening the Three Fierce Gods was a last resort.
• The Prince of Yongping left to lobby the other powers, and Divine Monk Jialan defended his disciple, who was spreading Buddhist Dharma in the Western Continent.
• Ten days later, the Tuxie and Chuyuan Dynasties delivered two thousand gold blocks, worth two trillion taels of silver, to Great Wei’s Capital.
• Xu Qingxiao arranged for the people to see the gold before the Great Wei Money House issued Treasure Notes backed by it.

Great Wei completed its Divine Martial Cannon transaction with the Tuxie and Chuyuan Dynasties, then opened the Great Wei Money House and made Great Wei Treasure Notes exchangeable for gold. When powers from across the continents demanded cannons, Xu Qingxiao agreed to supply them in exchange for wealth and recognition, while preparing to visit the Demon Domain and meet the Central Continent's Immortal Corpse.

• Wang Xinzhi explained the cannon delivery arrangements to the Tuxie and Chuyuan princes, and the transaction concluded with both dynasties receiving the cannons and formation jade.
• Great Emperor Tuxie ordered a cannon demonstration and discussed building more, while Great Emperor Chuyuan resolved to forge cannons and prepare campaigns beyond the Central Continent for spirit gold.
• Great Wei announced that half the gold from the transaction would benefit its citizens through the Great Wei Money House, where deposits earned five-percent interest and Treasure Notes could be exchanged for gold.
• Wang Xinzhi told Xu Qingxiao that factions from four other continents were demanding Divine Martial Cannons, and Xu Qingxiao agreed to provide one to each in exchange for resources, pacts, and recognition of Great Wei's monetary system.
• Xu Qingxiao decided he must travel to the Demon Domain to meet the Central Continent's Immortal Corpse.

Xu Qingxiao persuaded Great Wei’s court to avoid war and supply Divine Martial Cannons to the major powers, using the coming military parade to deter rivals and force hidden enemies into the open. After Great Wei invited the world’s powers to the parade, Wu Ming told Xu Qingxiao that the array formation was ready for their journey to the Demon Domain.

• Xu Qingxiao argued that Great Wei should sell Divine Martial Cannons to the major powers rather than go to war, so the nations would balance one another and Great Wei could expand its influence through trade and Great Wei Treasure Notes.
• Ji Ling worried that the military parade would force hidden enemies to act, but Xu Qingxiao insisted that Great Wei had to confront them to secure peace.
• Ji Ling approved Xu Qingxiao’s plan, and Great Wei agreed to provide the four continents’ powers with Divine Martial Cannons in exchange for gold, supplies, and signed agreements.
• Great Wei issued an edict inviting the world’s major powers to attend a grand military parade the following month and see its Divine Martial Cannons.
• Wu Ming visited Xu Qingxiao and told him the array formation was ready, allowing them to set out for the Demon Domain.

Xu Qingxiao prepared for his dangerous journey into the Demon Domain, leaving plans for Great Wei and saying farewell to Ji Ling and Zhou Ling. He entered the Demon Domain with Wu Ming, while the military parade and Great Wei’s future awaited his return.

• Wu Ming warned Xu Qingxiao that Great Wei could suppress the Immortal Corpse without risking his life, but Xu Qingxiao insisted on entering the Demon Domain and asked Wu Ming to eliminate members of the White Robe Sect.
• Xu Qingxiao wrote down plans for Great Wei as the Money House funded construction, the Capital prepared for the military parade, and envoys watched demonstrations of the Divine Martial Cannons.
• Xu Qingxiao gave Ji Ling his policy books and showed her the Three Demon Mark’s visions of a coming catastrophe; he left her the Central Continent Dragon Cauldron and explained that he had to face the threat.
• Xu Qingxiao visited Zhou Ling, who gave him a Great Sage’s Jade Pendant, then spent a day wandering quietly through Ping'an County.
• Xu Qingxiao met Wu Ming in the mountains, and they used the Taizu Ancient Token to open a passage and enter the Demon Domain together.

Xu Qingxiao learned that the Fierce Gods’ mark would consume him within months, but the Immortal Corpse granted him five months to become a Sage after two Sages intervened. As Great Wei revealed overwhelming military power at its parade, Xu Qingxiao’s enemies’ plans collapsed, and the chapter ended with him confronting the captured Prince of Yongping.

• Xu Qingxiao awakened the Immortal Corpse, which said the Fierce Gods’ mark could not be removed and would erupt within months unless he became a Sage or was suppressed.
• Zhaoge and Sage Zhu intervened to stop the Immortal Corpse from killing Xu Qingxiao, and the Immortal Corpse gave him five months to become a Sage.
• Xu Qingxiao left the Demon Domain for the Western Continent, while Great Wei’s parade displayed fifteen hundred Divine Martial Cannons and two hundred Celestial God Cannons.
• The Female Emperor agreed to revise the terms imposed on Tuxie and Chuyuan if their emperors abdicated, while Divine Monk Jialan entered nirvana after confirming Sage Lü was dead.
• The Immortal Corpse suppressed the Prince of Yongping when he entered the Demon Domain, and Xu Qingxiao appeared to deal with him.

Xu Qingxiao killed the Prince of Yongping and exposed Xunzi as the one who planted the Three Demon Mark, then watched Xunzi take his own life. Unable to become a Sage and facing death, Xu Qingxiao scattered his literary qi throughout the world to open a path to sagehood, and died as a bright moon rose.

• Xu Qingxiao confronted and killed the Prince of Yongping in the Demon Domain after revealing that the supposed Three Demon Mark planted by Miss White Robe was a deception.
• Xu Qingxiao found Xunzi beside a lake in the Capital, identified him as the true mastermind, and asked him to die; Xunzi confessed his plan and ended his own life.
• Xu Qingxiao avoided Ji Ling and left her counsel and books while Great Wei introduced Treasure Notes, opened Shouren Academy, and subdued its vassal princes.
• After failing to become a Sage, Xu Qingxiao returned to Ping'an County and asked Wu Ming to take his body to the Demon Domain after his death.
• Xu Qingxiao scattered his Second Sage power and literary qi throughout the world, wishing for two Sages to descend five hundred years later, then died as a bright moon illuminated the land.

After Zhou Ling revealed himself as the mastermind and unleashed the Seven Demon Gods, Xu Qingxiao returned through the world’s popular will, borrowed five hundred years to become a Sage, and ended the catastrophe. He departed with Zhaoge and the others to seal the Demon Domains, promising Ji Ling that he would return.

• Ji Ling mourned Xu Qingxiao as Wu Ming carried his remains to the Capital, where the people and officials gathered to honor him.
• Zhou Ling admitted that he had engineered the chaos to restore the Great Sage’s glory, then released the Seven Demon Gods’ true spirits over the Capital.
• The Female Emperor, Wu Ming, Daoist Wuchen, and other experts failed to stop the Demon Gods, so they called on the world to offer popular will to revive Xu Qingxiao.
• The people’s prayers brought Xu Qingxiao back, and he borrowed five hundred years from Heaven Above to become a Sage and confront Zhou Ling.
• Xu Qingxiao awakened Zhaoge and the other six figures, transformed the Demon Gods’ true spirits, and ended the impending calamity; Zhou Ling perished in Karmic Fire.
• Xu Qingxiao left with Zhaoge and the others to seal the Demon Domains after telling Ji Ling, “I’ll come back.”