Chapter Summaries

Yun Qing returned to the Yun Clan after more than a decade of cultivation, where his first encounter with the young Lineage head, Yun Huang, tested the clan's rule that concubine-born sons must kneel. Yun Qing greeted Yun Huang with a standing bow, and Yun Huang answered with overwhelming pressure.

• The Yun Clan gathered for its Spiritual Assessment Ceremony, with the young lord Yun Huang presiding and the return of eldest concubine-born son Yun Qing drawing everyone's attention.
• Yun Li and the other descendants anticipated Yun Qing's meeting with Yun Huang, who had forced concubine-born sons to kneel and punished Yun Li for refusing.
• Yun Qing arrived with the second elder, Yun Yuan, after more than a decade in the Primordial Chaos Ancient Cave, then met Yun Huang's gaze.
• Yun Qing greeted Yun Huang with a composed fist salute and bow instead of kneeling, provoking shock and delight among the gathered descendants.
• Yun Huang stopped tapping his armrest and sent overwhelming pressure toward Yun Qing.

Yun Qing underwent the Yun Clan’s spiritual aptitude test and revealed a legendary chaos dao embryo and primordial double pupils. After the clan recognized his extraordinary talent, Yun Huang accepted him as an elder brother and allowed him to stand when speaking.

• Yun Huang tested Yun Qing with his overwhelming pressure, but Yun Qing calmly resisted it, impressing the Young Lord.
• Yun Qing pressed his hand to the Immortal-Appraising Spirit Pearl, triggering a vast surge of chaotic light and spiritual qi that shocked the Yun Clan.
• The stele revealed Yun Qing’s chaos dao embryo and primordial double pupils, silencing the doubts of the clan and leaving Yun Li pale with shame.
• Yun Huang addressed Yun Qing as his elder brother and told him he could stand when speaking to him.

After revealing his chaos dao embryo and primordial double pupils at the Spirit Testing Ceremony, Yun Qing secured Yun Huang’s reluctant recognition and reunited with Yun Shuo. In the Heaven-Supporting Hall, Yun Qing reflected on the Soul-Tracing Secret Rite and realized Yun Huang was a reincarnated immortal origin.

• Yun Huang left the ceremony resolved to watch Yun Qing, while the Yun lineage’s younger generation reacted with astonishment to Yun Qing’s talents.
• Yun Shuo and Yun Yao congratulated Yun Qing, and Yun Yao began to warn him about Yun Huang’s treatment of concubine-born children before Yun Qing stopped her.
• Second Elder Yun Yuan praised Yun Qing and led him, with Yun Shuo, to the prepared Heaven-Supporting Hall.
• Yun Qing dismissed the attendants and reflected on how the Soul-Tracing Secret Rite had brought his and Yun Huang’s souls from other worlds into the lineage.
• Yun Qing sensed the immense destiny surrounding Yun Huang and concluded that he was a reincarnated immortal origin.

Yun Qing resolved to win Yun Huang’s trust and protect Yun Shuo, while Yun Huang remained suspicious of his concubine-born elder brother. Yun Huang chose Yun Shuo as a test of Yun Qing’s loyalty, setting their relationship on a dangerous course.

• Yun Qing recognized that opposing Yun Huang would be fatal and decided to cultivate a close, loyal brotherly relationship with him.
• Yun Qing discovered that Yun Huang’s lingering radiant yang qi was difficult to refine and grew more wary of his power.
• Yun Qing resolved to prove his value to Yun Huang and gain enough strength to protect Yun Shuo.
• Yun Huang questioned whether Yun Qing’s loyalty was genuine and recalled his distrust of concubine-born brothers.
• Yun Huang learned that Yun Qing had a younger brother named Yun Shuo and sent a ripple of spiritual power toward the Heaven-Supporting Hall to test Yun Qing’s devotion.

Yun Huang used Yun Shuo’s missed morning lessons as an excuse to pressure Yun Qing, who accepted responsibility and was ordered to serve at Perching Phoenix Hall for a month. Yun Qing accepted the command and prepared for the uncertain opportunity or danger awaiting him there.

• Yun Qing trained with his spear while Yun Shuo watched admiringly.
• Yun Huang’s avatar appeared and accused Yun Shuo of neglecting his morning lessons, directing his pressure toward Yun Qing.
• Yun Qing took responsibility for his younger brother and offered to receive the disciplinary whipping in his place.
• Yun Huang waived the whipping but ordered Yun Qing to attend him at Perching Phoenix Hall for one month, warning that any misstep would bring punishment.
• Yun Qing comforted Yun Shuo and looked toward Perching Phoenix Hall, anticipating what his new assignment might bring.

Yun Qing attended Yun Huang at Perching Phoenix Hall, quietly easing his routine and temper as Yun Huang struggled with an ancient formation. After the formation failed and backlashed, Yun Huang turned his frustration on Yun Qing and ordered him to leave.

• Yun Qing arrived at Perching Phoenix Hall before dawn and waited quietly while Yun Huang worked on a formation disk.
• Yun Qing replaced Yun Huang's cold tea with a warm cup, explaining that he needed to preserve his vital energy.
• Over several hours, Yun Qing handled small tasks around the hall, and Yun Huang gradually grew accustomed to his unobtrusive care.
• The Sunlight Immortal-Slaying formation failed, releasing a backlash that hurt Yun Huang and scorched jade slips.
• Yun Qing approached with Iceheart Soul-Calming Soup, but Yun Huang shouted at him to leave and accused him of trying to win favor through service.

Yun Qing helped Yun Huang resolve a problem in his formation and accepted an order to attend him for a month. After arriving at the Serenity Courtyard, Yun Qing found that Yun Huang had treated him with respect rather than setting a trap, then suddenly sensed that something was wrong.

• Yun Qing calmed Yun Huang with Iceheart Soul-Calming Soup and showed him how to adjust the formation, breaking its deadlock.
• Yun Huang followed Yun Qing's advice, completed the formation, and ordered him to stay in the Serenity Courtyard and attend him day and night for a month.
• Yun Qing accepted the order despite the courtyard's proximity to Yun Huang's sleeping quarters.
• Yun Qing found the courtyard well furnished and its staff respectful, with no one taking advantage of his supposed punishment.
• A steward delivered a food box from Yun Huang and told Yun Qing to come to the Perching Phoenix Palace at the hour of the hare.
• As Yun Qing reflected on Yun Huang's loneliness, he abruptly realized that something was wrong.

Yun Qing discovered that Heart-Cleansing Vine had stirred memories of his past life, then received an extravagant reward from Yun Huang that he took as an apology. The next morning, Yun Huang revealed a concealed training ground and invited Yun Qing to spar.

• Yun Qing realized the Heart-Cleansing Vine in his courtyard had drawn out memories and regrets from his past life.
• Yun Qing opened Yun Huang's food box and found a Phoenix-Perching Glazed Cup and Chaos Azure Lotus Cake.
• Yun Qing drank the nectar, which healed his hidden injuries and nourished his Chaos Dao Embryo, and concluded Yun Huang had rewarded him to apologize for the soup.
• Yun Qing noticed Heart-Cleansing Vine planted outside Yun Huang's sleeping palace and tried to examine it with his double pupils.
• Yun Huang revealed a concealed training ground and asked Yun Qing to spar.

Yun Qing avoided sparring with Yun Huang by using his unsuitable clothing as an excuse, but an urgent report about the Soul-Suppressing Stele sent Yun Huang into a fury. Yun Huang ordered Yun Qing to accompany him to the Ancestral Shrine, where they would deal with the incident.

• Yun Qing smoothed Yun Huang's collar and explained that his attendant's robe made him unfit to spar.
• Deacon Jia reported that Yun Shuo and Yun Hao had clashed and cracked the Soul-Suppressing Stele outside the Ancestral Shrine.
• Yun Huang revealed through his reaction that the stele's connection to the Ancestral Shrine Forbidden Grounds made its damage a grave offense.
• Yun Qing coughed at an ill-timed thought, and Yun Huang refrained from blaming him for Yun Shuo's actions.
• Yun Huang ordered Yun Qing to come with him and flew toward the Ancestral Shrine.

Yun Qing quelled the fight between Yun Hao and Yun Shuo, judged that both sides should answer to the Discipline Hall, and suspected someone had tampered with the Soul-Suppressing Stele. Yun Huang then summoned Yun Qing to the training grounds to fulfill his invitation to spar.

• Yun Huang arrived at the ancestral hall and gave Yun Qing authority to handle the youths' fight and the damaged Soul-Suppressing Stele.
• Yun Qing detected sinister energy around the stele's crack and used a black spear radiance to suppress the rampaging energy.
• Yun Qing ordered Yun Hao, Yun Shuo, and the other youths involved to give truthful accounts at the Discipline Hall and warned them against further trouble.
• Yun Hao protested that Yun Shuo should not receive the same punishment, but Yun Huang had the stewards escort everyone away.
• Yun Huang praised Yun Qing's handling of the unrest and called him to the training grounds for their long-delayed sparring match.

Yun Qing fought Yun Huang at full strength in the Perching Phoenix Hall training grounds, but Yun Huang decisively overcame him while holding back. After recognizing Yun Qing as the foremost of the Yun Clan’s Twelve Young Masters, Yun Huang received Yun Qing’s earnest reply.

• Yun Qing discarded his robe and spirit-calming jade pendant, summoned Silent Abyss, and launched a full-force attack on Yun Huang.
• Yun Huang countered Yun Qing’s intricate spearwork with Radiant Sun Divine Power and praised his distinctive intent, while judging him too slow.
• Yun Huang unleashed the Radiant Sun Seal, and Yun Qing used Chaos Return to Ruins to weaken it before the remaining force struck him down.
• Yun Qing rose to one knee after the blow, and Yun Huang acknowledged him as first among the Yun Clan’s Twelve Young Masters.
• Yun Qing wiped away his blood and answered Yun Huang with an earnest verse honoring him.

Yun Huang guided Yun Qing on how to deepen his understanding of Nirvana and let him decide how to handle the Ancestral Shrine incident. Yun Qing investigated the shattered Soul-Suppressing Stele and, suspecting a hidden instigator, summoned Steward Jia.

• Yun Huang explained that Yun Qing’s Nirvana needed to encompass Chaos’s beginnings, endings, and cycle of life and death, then soothed some of Yun Qing’s injuries and gave him the next day off.
• Yun Huang left Yun Qing to handle the incident involving his younger brother at the Ancestral Shrine as he saw fit.
• Yun Qing reviewed the Discipline Hall’s report and suspected that someone had arranged the conflict that shattered the Soul-Suppressing Stele, though he questioned whether the Fifth Elder was truly behind it.
• Yun Qing checked on Yun Shuo, thanked Yun Li and Yun Yao for protecting him, and sent them away to rest.
• Yun Qing ordered the elder on duty to bring Steward Jia, who had reported to the Perching Phoenix Hall, to see him immediately.

Yun Qing uncovered the Fifth Elder’s attempt to slant the report about the Soul-Suppressing Stele, while Yun Chi tried to implicate Yun Qing during Yun Hao’s appeal before Yun Huang. Yun Huang destroyed Yun Hao’s cultivation and then turned his attention to Yun Chi, asking whether he still wished to share the punishment.

• Yun Qing questioned Steward Jia, who confessed that Yun Hao’s chief steward had pressured him to omit how Yun Hao started the conflict and hoped to turn Yun Huang against Yun Qing.
• Yun Qing learned that the Fifth Elder had taken Yun Hao to Perching Phoenix Hall to apologize to Yun Huang.
• Yun Chi joined the audience and subtly suggested that Yun Qing’s influence had made his subordinates arrogant, while offering to share Yun Hao’s punishment.
• Yun Hao tried to blame Yun Shuo and complain about Yun Qing, but Yun Huang crushed him with an unseen force and destroyed his cultivation.
• Yun Huang asked Yun Chi whether he wished to share Yun Hao’s punishment.

Yun Huang punished Yun Hao and intimidated Yun Chi, while Yun Qing ordered sanctions against the servants involved. Yun Qing suspected Yun Chi was plotting to remove him before the Cloud Summit Tournament, but the identity of the visitor at his door remained unknown.

• Yun Huang crippled Yun Hao, dismissed Yun Chi and the others, and secretly considered using Yun Chi's Spirit-Devouring Body as a cultivation vessel if he broke the rules.
• Yun Qing ordered the servants who joined or encouraged the fight to be whipped, have their cultivation sealed, and serve for a hundred years at the Northern Border's Cold Iron Vein.
• Yun Qing encountered Yun Jun, Yun Hao, and Yun Chi in the corridor, where Yun Jun said the Young Lord had spared Yun Hao's life.
• Yun Chi saw Yun Qing heading deeper into the Perching Phoenix Palace and resolved to tell his grandfather so they could eliminate Yun Qing before the Cloud Summit Tournament.
• Yun Qing returned to Serenity Courtyard, treated his injuries, and suspected Yun Chi's faction wanted his place among the Twelve Young Masters.
• Someone knocked at Yun Qing's door, interrupting his thoughts.

Yun Qing received specially prepared medicine from Yun Huang and recovered from his injuries, while he and the second elder discussed the clan’s ties to the Young Lord and the incident at the Ancestral Shrine. Yun Huang caught them whispering, and Yun Qing prepared to report the Soul-Suppressing Stele matter under his watchful divine sense.

• The second elder brought Yun Qing three Nine-Turn Jade-Restoring Pills that Yun Huang had arranged to heal his radiant sun injuries.
• Yun Qing took a pill, rapidly healed his meridians, and sensed a growing affinity with radiant sun power.
• Yun Qing asked the second elder about the heart-cleansing vines, and the elder warned that the matter involved heaven’s secrets and the Yun Clan’s gamble to bind the Young Lord to them.
• Yun Qing raised the Soul-Suppressing Stele incident, and Yun Huang snorted after overhearing their private voice transmission.
• Yun Qing insisted he would report honestly to the Young Lord, while the second elder urged him to proceed under Yun Huang’s watchful attention.

Yun Qing exposed a hidden crack in the Soul-Suppressing Stele and traced the plot to the Twelfth Elder's branch, whose attempt to secure its place in the Cloud Summit Tournament might involve seizing his chaos dao embryo. Yun Huang withdrew after Yun Qing pledged his loyalty, but Yun Qing later discovered a Radiant Sun Seal mark near his sea of qi, suggesting someone was still watching him.

• Yun Qing showed Yun Huang evidence of the stele's concealed crack and sinister residual spiritual power, then requested permission to investigate.
• Yun Huang named the Profound Ascension Ceremony, prompting Yun Qing and the Second Elder to connect the plot to the Twelfth Elder's branch and its need to preserve its standing in the Cloud Summit Tournament.
• The Second Elder recalled the Twelfth Elder's interest in ancient Foundation Seizure and Cauldron Exchange arts, and Yun Qing deduced that the branch might try to transfer his dao embryo essence to Yun Chi.
• Yun Huang remarked that the spirit-devouring body and chaos dao embryo were excellent nourishment and vessels, so Yun Qing pledged his body and life to the Young Lord and the Lineage.
• Yun Huang's pressure dispersed, and the Second Elder gave Yun Qing a list of the Twelfth Elder's trusted followers before leaving.
• While cultivating alone, Yun Qing sensed a lingering wisp of spiritual power bearing a Radiant Sun Seal imprint near his sea of qi.

Yun Huang chose to keep Yun Qing’s chaos Dao embryo secret for now, preferring to watch him navigate the Yun Clan’s factions. Meanwhile, the Fifth Elder expelled Yun Hao’s household, and the Twelfth Elder and Yun Chi plotted to seize Yun Qing’s origin before Yun Huang grew too protective of him.

• Yun Qing resolved to turn the factions’ schemes against them and claim power for himself.
• Yun Huang recognized the value of Yun Qing’s chaos Dao embryo, decided to nurture him rather than seize it, and planned to reveal its secret another time.
• The Fifth Elder silenced Yun Hao’s parents, condemned their dealings with the Twelfth Elder, and ordered their household and involved servants to leave for Desolate City.
• Yun Chi told the Twelfth Elder that Yun Huang had not pursued the Ancestral Shrine incident, and complained that his spirit-devouring body needed pure chaos origin.
• The Twelfth Elder warned Yun Chi against confronting Yun Huang directly and urged him to obtain Yun Qing’s chaos Dao embryo before Yun Huang trusted him completely.
• When Yun Chi suggested they might use the Bone Talisman’s method for themselves, the Twelfth Elder angrily ordered him to stay silent.

Yun Qing restored the damaged Soul-Suppressing Stele with his Chaos qi, easing Yun Huang’s displeasure. Yun Huang then revealed the stele’s connection to the Ancestral Shrine Forbidden Grounds, leaving Yun Qing’s careful question about his origins unanswered.

• Yun Qing followed Yun Huang to the damaged Soul-Suppressing Stele and offered to repair it.
• Yun Huang granted Yun Qing permission to attempt the restoration, threatening him with the Discipline Whip if he failed.
• Yun Qing used his Double Pupils and Chaos qi to remove the stele’s baleful energy and repair its crack and inscriptions.
• Yun Huang praised Yun Qing’s use of the Chaos Dao Embryo after the stele was restored to an even richer radiance.
• Yun Huang explained that the spiritual vein beneath the stele connected to the Ancestral Shrine Forbidden Grounds, where he had merged with his physical body.
• Yun Qing asked whether Yun Huang had descended through the Soul-Tracing Secret Rite, but Yun Huang neither confirmed nor denied it.

Yun Huang questioned Yun Qing about his previous life before returning with him to the Perching Phoenix Hall, where Yun Chi joined the Cloud Valor Guards and tried to rival Yun Qing for a place at Yun Huang’s side. Yun Qing countered Yun Chi’s maneuver with familiar, attentive service to Yun Huang, leaving their rivalry unresolved.

• Yun Qing described his former life as an ordinary mortal after Yun Huang asked what that world had been like, and Yun Huang told him to make good use of his opportunity.
• Yun Huang and Yun Qing returned to the Perching Phoenix Hall, where Yun Chi reported for duty as a new member of the Cloud Valor Guards and presented Yun Huang with patrol and defense summaries.
• Yun Chi took a position opposite Yun Qing beside Yun Huang’s throne, hoping to prove his value and replace Yun Qing as the Yun Clan Prodigy.
• As Yun Chi prepared to speak, Yun Qing served Yun Huang hot spirit tea and then offered Yun Chi a cup, prompting Yun Chi to refuse on the grounds that his status was too low.

Yun Qing pretended to be injured to make Yun Chi believe the Twelfth Elder’s branch had an opening, then persuaded Yun Huang to visit the clan academy. Yun Chi joined their outing with guards, and Yun Huang’s arrival at the Sunshine Court silenced the gathered disciples.

• Yun Chi heard Yun Qing cough and concluded that Yun Qing was seriously injured, while Yun Qing revealed he had staged the weakness to bait the Twelfth Elder’s branch.
• Yun Qing covered his scheme with exaggerated concern for Yun Huang and asked to visit the Sunshine Court to teach there.
• Yun Huang agreed to accompany Yun Qing to the academy after Yun Qing said the young disciples longed to see him.
• Yun Chi volunteered to prepare the Immortal Luan Carriage and escort them, then secretly watched Yun Qing as they traveled with elite Cloud Valor Guards.
• Yun Huang arrived at the Sunshine Court, where the disciples stopped their activities and stared at him in shock and awe.