Chapter Summaries

Xiao Yi explained that the Yin-Yang School’s pursuit of human-deity unity gave its practitioners divine power but caused severe flaws as backlash. She warned Chen Xiaojun that the Fire Division’s flaw was heartlessness and that his recent coldness showed it was already affecting him.

• Chen Xiaojun and Xiao Yi discussed how celestial phenomena had completed the synchronization between Xiao Yi and Lesser Siming.
• Xiao Yi explained that the Yin-Yang School’s experts united humans and deities to wield the power of heaven and earth.
• Xiao Yi described how the Metal, Water, and Earth divisions suffered different destructive flaws from their practices.
• Xiao Yi told Chen Xiaojun that the Fire Division’s flaw was losing the ability to empathize through the seven emotions.
• Chen Xiaojun recognized his own coldness and worried that he might eventually stop caring about his family.

Chen Xiaojun learned that the Eight Yin-Yang Curses were created as dangerous ways for Yin-Yang School cultivators to resist the flaws of their inheritances. Xiao Yi explained the Fire Division’s Six-Soul Terror Curse and her own Pure Yang Curse Seal, then warned that the Great Siming’s immense power rested on the isolating effects of heartlessness.

• Xiao Yi explained that the Fire Division’s violent yin-fiend power eroded cultivators’ emotions and that the Six-Soul Terror Curse could counteract this corruption by making negative energies clash within the user.
• Xiao Yi said the Sealing Sleep Curse Seal could suppress runaway negative energy when the Six-Soul Terror Curse failed, while Chen Xiaojun recognized it as the curse’s yang counterpart.
• Xiao Yi explained that the Eight Yin-Yang Curses were methods of self-salvation, and that she had used the Pure Yang Curse Seal to burn away her inner demon and turn its power into mental and divine soul energy.
• Chen Xiaojun recognized the Pure Yang Curse Seal as a variant of Taoism’s Samadhi True Fire, adapted by the Wood Division to cleanse inner demons and absorb their power.
• Xiao Yi told Chen Xiaojun that the Great Siming’s severing of the seven emotions protected him from the vast negative qi he had absorbed and enabled the cold precision of his Sword of War and Eye of Judgment.

Xiao Yi explained that the deities Lesser Siming and Great Siming were reborn as innate beings in this life and deeply connected to their human anchors, which could let them resolve their flaws through a stronger symbiosis. She proposed that she and Chen Xiaojun continue what they had done at the Dou Family to bring the deities’ powers into balance.

• Xiao Yi told Chen Xiaojun that Lesser Siming and Great Siming were fundamentally different in this life because they had been reborn within an Innate Spirit Treasure and fused with the world’s laws.
• Xiao Yi explained that she and Chen Xiaojun were anchors essential to the deities’ existence, so the deities would protect and guide them rather than treat them as replaceable vessels.
• Xiao Yi suggested that the deities’ erosion might be an attempt at attunement and that balancing Great Siming’s power of death with Lesser Siming’s power of life could resolve their flaws.
• Xiao Yi recalled what had happened at the Dou Family and proposed that she and Chen Xiaojun continue it by going to bed together.

Chen Xiaojun and Xiao Yi joined their powers in bed to explore the resonance between their divine origins. Their exchange intensified as the Black-Red Cocoon absorbed Xiao Yi’s life energy, and the synchronization was still underway when the chapter ended.

• Chen Xiaojun agreed to join Xiao Yi in synchronizing their powers and followed her to the bed in the East Room.
• Chen Xiaojun and Xiao Yi clasped hands, opened their seas of consciousness, and triggered a violent resonance between the Black-Red Cocoon and Lesser Siming.
• Xiao Yi sensed her life soul power flowing toward Chen Xiaojun as their divine powers mingled and balanced.
• Chen Xiaojun sent the Nethersea Seven Kill Sword’s negative aura into Xiao Yi, and her Immortal Evergreen Vine absorbed and purified it.
• Xiao Yi poured her life soul power into Chen Xiaojun, and the Black-Red Cocoon greedily absorbed it as death and life energies began to transform.

Su Ningxia and Gao Cuilan went to call Chen Xiaojun and Xiao Yi for drinks, but overheard their intimate exchange inside the study. They left to keep others away and waited for the pair to finish.

• Su Ningxia and Gao Cuilan approached the study to summon Chen Xiaojun and Xiao Yi.
• Su Ningxia heard sounds through the ajar door, and Gao Cuilan pulled her away before she could enter.
• The women overheard Chen Xiaojun ask whether they should stop and Xiao Yi tell him to keep going.
• Su Ningxia panicked about the impropriety, while Gao Cuilan urged her not to interrupt or reveal what they had heard.
• Gao Cuilan and Su Ningxia went to find an excuse for the Fifth Young Master and stayed nearby to keep others from approaching.

Su Ningxia and Gao Cuilan went to summon Chen Xiaojun and Xiao Yi but heard intimate sounds from the study and realized they were together. They kept everyone away from the door and told the others that Chen Xiaojun and Xiao Yi would skip the gathering.

• Su Ningxia and Gao Cuilan approached the study to fetch Chen Xiaojun and Xiao Yi for drinks.
• Su Ningxia heard sounds inside, and Gao Cuilan pulled her away before they overheard Chen Xiaojun and Xiao Yi refusing to stop.
• Gao Cuilan persuaded Su Ningxia to stay quiet, give the front courtyard an excuse, and prevent anyone else from entering.
• Zhu Wuneng asked why Su Ningxia and Gao Cuilan were flushed, and they blamed the summer heat.
• Gao Cuilan told the gathered guests that Chen Xiaojun and Xiao Yi would not come, while Chen Shurui and Chen Mu accepted the explanation with knowing remarks.

Chen Zhang confronted Black Tongue over his attempt to leave the Underground City and forced him to choose between joining the Soul Fighting City Alliance or dying. Black Tongue faced the ultimatum in silence, with his fear and desperation finally showing.

• Chen Mu mocked Zhu Wuneng after he compared Chen Mu's charm to Sister Xiao Yi, then dragged him off to drink while Gao Cuilan and Su Ningxia hurried away from the sounds in the Backyard.
• At Iron Jaw Fortress, Chen Zhang confirmed that the plain-faced middle-aged man was Black Tongue and asked why Tan Yashuang had brought him.
• Chen Zhang refused to help Black Tongue escape, explaining that the Dragon Court and the Three Ministries had sealed the routes out of the Imperial Capital and that Black Tongue's information made neutrality impossible.
• Chen Zhang gave Black Tongue two choices: surrender his intelligence and serve the Soul Fighting City Alliance, or be branded a criminal and killed.
• Black Tongue went rigid as fear and inner conflict appeared in his eyes, while Tan Yashuang watched and Chen Zhang calmly drank his tea.

Prince Xue Jiqing learned that Azure Bamboo was in the Forgotten Ruin Abyss and ordered the Empire to clear a path before the seven-day deadline. Meanwhile, Gao Cuilan and Su Ningxia kept Tao Ruyin from entering the study, then worried over whether they should tell the Matriarch about what they believed was happening inside.

• Prince Xue Jiqing learned from the Chen Clan that Azure Bamboo was in the Forgotten Ruin Abyss, where soul beasts and Underground Forces made the route perilous.
• Prince Xue Jiqing ordered purge units recalled and the great clans and sects notified so they could force a path to the Ruin Abyss and recover the Sword Lord.
• Gao Cuilan and Su Ningxia waited outside the study, distracted by the sounds they had heard and the long silence from within.
• Tao Ruyin brought food for the Young Master, but Gao Cuilan and Su Ningxia persuaded her not to disturb him and the Miss.
• Gao Cuilan and Su Ningxia worried that the Miss might be hurt and debated whether to report the situation to the Matriarch.

Chen Xiaojun and Xiao Yi’s joined powers awakened the hidden potency of the Yin-Yang Twin Lives Flower, driving their domains and understanding of their respective laws to new heights. As the Taiji Diagram spun faster, their spiritual and divine resonance reached a perilous peak.

• Chen Xiaojun and Xiao Yi’s soul powers and energies poured into the Black-Red Cocoon as their powers formed a cycle of purification and mutual transformation.
• The Yin-Yang Twin Lives Flower awakened and enveloped Chen Xiaojun and Xiao Yi in a black-and-white phantom, with each positioned in the Taiji Diagram’s opposing yin-yang eye.
• Chen Xiaojun’s yin-yang domain and sword intents deepened, while Xiao Yi’s five-elements conception and great void domain advanced rapidly.
• The Taiji Diagram accelerated until the pair’s fused spiritual and divine resonance threatened to overwhelm their consciousness.

Lesser Siming’s Dharma Body appeared in Chen Xiaojun’s upper soul nest and used reversed divine skills to nourish the Black-Red Cocoon and mend the heavenly scar caused by his burden of Great Siming’s power. The cocoon began recovering and the scar started to close, though Chen Xiaojun and Xiao Yi remained unconscious.

• The Yin-Yang Twin Lives Flower and Taiji Diagram vanished after the soul resonance ended, leaving Chen Xiaojun and Xiao Yi drained and unconscious.
• Lesser Siming’s Dharma Body manifested in Chen Xiaojun’s upper soul nest as her life-nature soul power resonated with the Black-Red Cocoon.
• The Black-Red Cocoon drew in Lesser Siming’s life force, and she reversed Two Fingers Cover All Life to feed it an even purer power.
• Lesser Siming reversed One Finger Severs Yin and Yang and sent a growing Taiji Diagram to press against Chen Xiaojun’s heavenly scar.
• The Taiji Diagram began disentangling and repairing the scar, reducing its size and weakening its unstable fluctuations.

Chen Xiaojun’s Sea of Consciousness transformed as Lesser Siming and the Black-Red Cocoon gave rise to a mysterious merged domain. When the changes ended, Chen Xiaojun awoke beside an unresponsive Xiao Yi, and Gao Cuilan and Su Ningxia rushed in after hearing him call for help.

• The Black-Red Cocoon stopped absorbing energy as Lesser Siming’s life-source energy expanded and transformed Chen Xiaojun’s Sea of Consciousness.
• The Yin-Yang Taiji Diagram continued repairing the Heavenly Scar while purple and chaotic gray light formed around Lesser Siming and the cocoon.
• A primordial will awakened within the merged domain, which swallowed Chen Xiaojun and Xiao Yi before Lesser Siming vanished and the cocoon withdrew into the Sea of Consciousness.
• Gao Cuilan and Su Ningxia heard Chen Xiaojun call for Xiao Yi and hurried into the East Room.
• Chen Xiaojun sat beside Xiao Yi, who lay fully dressed but barely breathing and unresponsive.

Chen Xiaojun found that the power of Severing in his heart might have weakened, but Xiao Yi collapsed and began her first Celestial Menstruation, leaving her condition a mystery. The next morning, Ye Xiuxin and Yang Jingxue questioned him, but he refused to reveal the truth without Chen Hong’s permission.

• Chen Xiaojun found Xiao Yi unconscious and ordered Gao Cuilan to fetch Sister Ru Yan.
• Gao Cuilan and Su Ningxia helped cover Xiao Yi while Chen Xiaojun worried over her condition.
• Ye Xiuxin returned to the mansion after Yang Jingxue sent a warning about Xiaojun and Xiao Yi, then confirmed Xiao Yi was breathing weakly.
• Ye Xiuxin ordered the others out and questioned Chen Xiaojun with Yang Jingxue about Xiao Yi’s collapse and first Celestial Menstruation.
• Chen Xiaojun said he could not disclose the matter without Chen Hong’s permission, angering Yang Jingxue.

Chen Hong revealed to Yang Jingxue that the ancient deities Great Siming and Lesser Siming were dwelling symbiotically inside Chen Xiaojun and Xiao Yi. The revelation bound the Yang Family more closely to the Chen Clan, and Chen Hong added that the gods came from elsewhere.

• Ye Xiuxin urged Yang Jingxue to consult Chen Hong before demanding answers from Chen Xiaojun.
• Yang Jingxue confronted Chen Hong, who warned that learning the Chen Clan's secret would bind their families together, and she swore not to reveal it beyond herself and Lord Cheng Lin.
• Chen Hong confirmed that the being Yang Jingxue had seen at the Chang'an Duke's Mansion was a deity who later split into two forms.
• Chen Hong revealed that Lesser Siming dwelled inside Xiao Yi and Great Siming inside Chen Xiaojun, and explained their divine offices and symbiotic bond with the children.
• Chen Hong explained the Divine Realm's structure and ended by revealing that Great Siming and Lesser Siming were gods from elsewhere.

The Chen Clan met with Clear Sky Sect leaders to explain why it sought cooperation with the Yellow Emperor Tang Family in Lankai Commandery. The meeting ended with Chen Zhang reframing the clan’s actions as cooperation among the Heavenly Soldiers Remnants, leaving Tang Potian speechless.

• Chen Hong, Chen Zhang, and Chen Xiaojun met Tang Yue, Tang Aotian, and Tang Potian at the Jade Hall of Abundance, with Ximen Wenlan and Yang Jingxue attending as witnesses.
• Tang Yue asked what the Chen Clan intended by involving itself in the Yellow Emperor Branch and Lankai Commandery.
• Chen Zhang said the Chen Clan needed skilled craftsmen and wanted to secure Lankai Commandery as a key junction in its logistics network.
• Tang Potian accused the Chen Clan of ignoring its shared history with the Clear Sky Sect and named other forging families that could supply craftsmen.
• Chen Zhang argued that the Yellow Emperor Tang Family belonged to the Heavenly Soldiers Remnants, so cooperating with it upheld their shared ties rather than violated them.

Chen Zhang proposed cooperation with the Clear Sky Sect in Heaven Dou City and Tianshan Commandery rather than in sensitive Lankai, easing the immediate confrontation while leaving room for the Yellow Emperor Tang Family to grow. Chen Xiaojun began explaining why the Clear Sky Sect sought to reunite with that family, but the chapter ended before he finished.

• Tang Aotian challenged Chen Zhang to recognize the Clear Sky Sect Main Line as the legitimate heir of the Mountain-Breaking Hammer lineage, and Chen Zhang declined to judge between it and the Yellow Emperor Tang Family.
• Tang Aotian argued that the Clear Sky Sect could meet the Chen Clan's needs better than the Yellow Emperor Lineage, and Chen Zhang clarified that he was open to cooperation outside Lankai Commandery.
• Chen Zhang proposed deep cooperation with the Clear Sky Sect in Heaven Dou City and Tianshan Commandery, focusing on civilian soul tools, advanced material processing, and specialized equipment outside sensitive fields.
• Chen Zhang asked Chen Xiaojun to explain the Chen Clan's ideas, and Chen Xiaojun said the Yellow Emperor Tang Family's few hundred members would add little to the Clear Sky Sect's existing strength.

Chen Xiaojun proposed six forms of economic and commercial cooperation to persuade the Clear Sky Sect to abandon its plan to merge with the Yellow Emperor Tang Family. He then offered Chen Clan support in seeking compensation from the Heaven Dou Imperial Family, leaving Tang Aotian to question whether the sect could pursue the claim alone.

• Tang Aotian admitted that the Tang Family envied the Chen Clan's concentrated talent and asked Chen Xiaojun how the Clear Sky Sect could grow stronger without merging with the Yellow Emperor Tang Family.
• Chen Xiaojun proposed guaranteed business, mineral and herb purchases, a medicinal herbs market, expanded trade, a logistics hub, and long-term military weapons contracts.
• Chen Xiaojun offered to help the Clear Sky Sect demand compensation from the Heaven Dou Imperial Family for two thousand years of deaths and injuries suffered while guarding against the Snowmen Tribe.
• Tang Aotian argued that the Heaven Dou Empire had granted the Tang Family land in exchange for guarding the passes, but Chen Xiaojun said generations of bloodshed had repaid that favor many times over and had also burdened affiliated soul masters.
• Tang Aotian asked whether the Clear Sky Sect might seek compensation without the Chen Clan, and Chen Xiaojun replied that the sect alone was not enough.

The Chen Clan offered the Clear Sky Sect a lucrative deal in exchange for abandoning its bid to absorb the Yellow Emperor Tang Family and yielding Lankai Commandery. Tang Yue weighed the loss of the sect’s strategic foothold against the risks of war, then sent Tang Potian to report the proposals and witnesses’ positions to the Elders Council while ordering Tang Aotian to monitor the Chen Clan.

• Yang Jingxue urged the Chen Clan and Clear Sky Sect to avoid open warfare, while Ximen Wenlan’s silence signaled her agreement.
• Tang Potian complained that the witnesses favored the Chen Clan, and Tang Aotian explained that their positions revealed the families’ true alignments.
• Tang Aotian argued that accepting the Chen Clan’s terms would sacrifice Lankai Commandery and undermine the Clear Sky Sect’s strategic position and Heaven and Earth Hammer Plan.
• Tang Yue ordered Tang Potian to report the negotiations and the Ximen and Yang families’ attitudes to the Elders Council, then told Tang Aotian to watch the Chen Clan.

Chen Hong warned the Ximen and Yang families that the Clear Sky Sect’s interest in the Yellow Emperor Lineage threatened their shared power in the Northern Region. Meanwhile, Ye Sirong returned to the Chen Duke’s Mansion with Dou Congtong and reunited with her family, where she learned Zhang Yin Tie had lost an arm defending the mansion.

• Chen Hong discussed the Tang Family’s unexpected hesitation and the Clear Sky Sect’s ambitions with Chen Zhang, Chen Xiaojun, Yang Jingxue, and Ximen Wenlan.
• Chen Hong asked Yang Jingxue and Ximen Wenlan to send warnings to their family elders and maintain the three families’ united stance against the Clear Sky Sect.
• Ye Sirong and Dou Congtong arrived discreetly at the Chen Duke’s Mansion, and Mu Jingming escorted them to the entrance.
• Gu Yuanchao welcomed Ye Sirong home and told her that the Chen Clan had been overjoyed to learn she was alive.
• Ye Sirong reunited with Zhang Yin Tie and discovered that he had lost his left arm fighting the Crimson Church’s attack on the mansion.

Ye Sirong returned to the Chen Clan with Dou Congtong and received a warm welcome from Chen Hong. Zhang Yin Tie learned that his older brother, Zhang Bitie, would replace him as Black Scale Guards Guard Leader while he recovered from losing his arm.

• Zhang Yin Tie accepted that his missing arm meant he would leave the front lines and learned that Zhang Bitie would take over his post.
• Gu Yuanchao explained that Heaven Dou City had become the clan's Northern Region headquarters and needed a Soul Saint Rank Assistant Commander to oversee the Black Scale Guards.
• Zhang Yin Tie accepted the handover to his brother and proposed a welcome drink for him with Gu Yuanchao and Ye Sirong.
• Chen Hong, Yang Jingxue, Ximen Wenlan, Chen Zhang, and Chen Xiaojun arrived at the mansion, where Ye Sirong and Dou Congtong paid their respects.
• Chen Hong welcomed Ye Sirong back and asked Chen Zhang to arrange for her, while Chen Xiaojun reassured her with a knowing look.

Ye Sirong reunited with Xia Yun, Zhu Shiyuan, and Xia Shuyao, then learned that her family had grown stronger while she was away. The chapter left her surprised to hear that her father was Deputy Minister of the Family Medical Department.

• Chen Zhang told Ye Sirong that He Song had died protecting the younger disciples and that word of her return had been sent to her parents.
• Xia Yun and Zhu Shiyuan welcomed Ye Sirong back and praised her advancement to Soul Saint.
• Xia Shuyao introduced herself to Ye Sirong and warmly befriended Dou Congtong.
• Xia Yun told Ye Sirong that her father Ye Zhengxin, her brother Cong Rong, and her clan uncle Ye Zhengyi had all reached the Soul Saint realm.
• Xia Yun revealed that Ye Zhengxin was Deputy Minister of the Family Medical Department, leaving Ye Sirong astonished.